“Star Trek: Into Darkness”     film review by Gary Chew Maintaining linkage with itself has to be one of the underlying secrets of success for the durable “Star Trek” franchise. The linkage with all the star trekking from its outset when Gene Roddenberry got the space fable launched in 1966 to the very motion picture that's just been released (“Star Trek: Into Darkness”) makes it clear its genesis was in broadcast television. The Trek characters continue, even if they are now younger and played by others who, in many instances, weren't yet born when the series began. At present, we remain in the prequel mode of this enduring future of which Jim Kirk and Mr. Spock --- as well as the rest

 “The Great Gatsby,” a film review by Gary Chew   The most salient point in F. Scott Fitzgerald's great novel, “The Great Gatsby,” comes when Nick Carraway admonishes Jay Gatsby: “You can't repeat the past.”   Making sure to abide by that admonition had to be what Baz Luhrmann was up to when he co-wrote and directed the Fitzgerald classic now opening across the nation. Although the story takes place as the twenties roared, this “Gatsby” has much that makes it seem as though it's actually 2013 and a grand, splashy embellishment of “Gatsbys” of the past.   That's because of the film's visual effects of recent vintage. Not only are the lavish parties thrown by Gatsby and the entire film in 3

“Mud” film review by Gary Chew   Imagine if you can, a film actors’ school for men only. The primary acting coaches at the school are Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall ... and maybe Sam Elliott.   Now you have a good impression of how most of the men in “Mud” talk and act. “Mud” was a contentious film at Cannes last year; written and directed by native Arkansan, Jeff Nichols. His earlier film was “Take Shelter” (2011).   Two of the males in “Mud” who seem as though they might have been influenced by Jones and Duvall are in their early teens. Tye Sheridan (“The Tree of Life”) plays 14-year-old Ellis and Jacob Lofland (from Yell County Arkansas) plays his best bud, Neckbone, the same age. Th

“The Company You Keep.” film review by Gary Chew   Robert Redford's new movie, “The Company You Keep,” needs a larger plate. It's more than dinner for Thanksgiving and Christmas, combined. Good things are on the plate but, some intended for the film, spill, in considerable measure, onto the tablecloth. The main course cast is a gourmet repast that would waft an aromatic varietal through any movie house. Director Redford plays an anonymous, liberal attorney in upstate New York who used be a Weather Under-Ground Guy of the early 70s. Susan Sarandon has the role of Sharon, a middle-aged wife and mother in Vermont, who was, back then, a compatriot of Redford's character. He was Nick then; i

“A Map of Tulsa” book review Gary Chew   No doubt another really fine writer like native Tulsan Benjamin Lytal could write a story about the city in which he or she grew up, and give touching expression to that town and some of the people he or she knew while there.   But since I lived in Tulsa, Okla., for nearly 30 years, I'm partial to “A Map of Tulsa,” Lytal's first novel. It's likely I was living there when he was born.   One of my most memorable experiences in Tulsa happened after dark one evening, while I was driving home to my high-rise apartment among the tall buildings Lytal writes of when he describes our skyline. It was along the Arkansas River, near where 21st joins Riverside