"Justice League: Doom" (2012)

Starring Kevin Conroy, Tim Daily and Nathan Fillion
Written by Dwayne McDuffie
Directed by Lauren Montgomery
Rated PG-13 - Language, violence
Running Time: 77 Minutes
Trailer

Batman (Kevin Conroy) and the rest of the Justice League, including Superman (Tim Daly), Wonder Woman (Susan Eisenberg), Flash (Michael Rosenbaum), Martian Manhunter (Carl Lumbly), and Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion) break up a robbery by the Royal Flush Gang.  With help from Cyborg (Bumper Robinson), Batman determines that the gang is using phase-shifting technology to walk through walls and steal diamonds.  But interrogating the gang on how and where they got such information is fruitless.

Soon after, the villains Bane (Carlos Alazraqui), Cheetah (Claudia Black), Metallo (Paul Blackthorne), Star Sapphire (Olivia d'Abo), Mirror Master (Alexis Denisof), and Ma'alefa'ak (Carl Lumbly) are brought together by the immortal Vandal Savage (Phil Morris).  He gives them each an assignment to take out a member of the Justice League, and informs them exactly how to do it.  In return, they each receive $100 million, and a promise of greater wealth and power in the future.

And so the Legion of Doom systematically and simultaneously takes out each member of the Justice League.  Bane buries Batman alive in his own father's grave.  Metallo shoots Superman in the chest with a kryptonite bullet.  Green Lantern is forced to face his own failure, and his will is broken.  Flash is fitted with a bomb that will explode if he stops running.  Wonder Woman is drugged and believes she is fighting multiple versions of Cheetah - but is actually beating up every person she sees.  Martian Manhunter is poisoned so that he sweats magnesium, and is then lit on fire.

But the most devastating revelation of all may be the source of Savage's information: Batman's own files on the League, and the contingency plans he created to take the heroes down should the occasion arise.

Now the Justice League must pull together and defeat the villains before Vandal Savage can unleash his true plan to take over the entire world.

"The Amazing Spider-Man" (2012)

Starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Rhys Ifans
Written by James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent and Steve Kloves
Directed by Marc Webb
Rated PG-13 - Language, superhero violence
Running Time: 136 Minutes
Trailer

Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) is a teenager at Midtown High School, where he lives a fairly anonymous life.  He has few friends, is practically invisible to women, and occasionally suffers humiliation at the hands of jock bully Flash Thompson (Chris Zylka).  He has a crush on hottie science nerd Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) but lacks the guts to ask her out.  Peter lives with his Aunt May (Sally Field) and Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen), a kindly blue-collar couple in Queens, after his parents mysteriously disappeared years earlier.

One evening, while cleaning out the basement, Peter finds an old briefcase that belonged to his father.  Hidden inside is a revolutionary formula for combining the genetics of two species of animal.  Determined to find out more about his father and what he was working on, Peter sneaks into OsCorp to meet his father's old colleague Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans).  He finds that Connors is still working on genetic combinations in order to regrow his amputated right arm.  While sneaking around Oscorp, Peter breaks into a high security lab where he is bitten by a genetically-engineered spider created as part of his father's and Connors' project.

The spider imbues Peter with a host of incredible super powers.  He can stick to walls, has enhanced agility and speed, and a "spider-sense" that allows him to sense danger and be more aware of his surroundings.  Despite his excitement over this new development, his relationship with Uncle Ben and Aunt May begins to fray.  One night after a fight, Peter runs out of the house.  Uncle Ben goes to follow him.  After Peter declines to stop a convenience store robbery, Uncle Ben steps in, and is shot by the perp.

Peter decides to use his new powers to track down the man who murdered Ben.  After his first attempt goes disastrously wrong, Peter realizes he'll need to hide his identity in order to continue his search, and fashions a mask.  Soon enough, he's created an entire costume and an identity, and continues trying to track down the criminal with the unique tattoo who killed his uncle.

Connors, meanwhile, is under a great deal of pressure.  His boss, Rajit Ratha (Irrfat Khan), is pressing him to make progress on his projects in order to save the life of Oscorp's owner, Norman Osborn.  When Ratha tells Connors he intends to test his new serum on unwitting patients at a nearby veteran's hospital, Connors tries to beat him to the punch by testing it on himself.  The results are, at first, incredible, but soon enough the terrifying truth emerges: Connors' new serum intermittently turns him into a huge lizard-like beast with incredible regenerative powers.  As Connors behavior grows more and more obsessive and out of control, Peter realizes that he must put aside his own vendetta, embrace his responsibility, and become a true hero.

"Con Air" (1997)

Starring Nicolas Cage, John Cusack and John Malkovich
Written by Scott Rosenberg
Directed by Simon West
Rated R - Violence, language
Running Time: 115 Minutes
Trailer

I recently noted that "Air Force One" was the kind of turn-off-your-brain action picture that can be a ton of fun.  While both can be labeled part of the "Die Hard on a plane" subgenre, "Con Air" makes "Air Force One" look like an intelligent Oscar-worthy film.

U.S. Army Ranger Cameron Poe (Nicolas Cage) is sent off to do a dime after killing a man in a barfight.  Eight years later, he's finally being released to go home to his loving wife (Monica Potter) and meet his daughter for the first time.  He hitches a ride home on a US Marshal Service prisoner transport plane carrying some of the nation's worst fiends.

Once airborne, the cons stage a well-planned siege of the plane.  Led by Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom (John Malkovich), the convicts take control of the plane, killing several of the guards and taking the rest hostage.  Cyrus and his cronies, including Nathan "Diamond Dog" Jones (Ving Rhames), William "Billy Bedlam" Bedford (Nick Chinlund), Joe "Pinball" Parker (Dave Chappelle), are being paid to hijack the plane in order to spring South American drug lord Francisco Cindino (Jesse Borego).  Cindino has promised them all a large sum of money and save haven in a non-extradition country for their help in his escape.  The plane is also carrying a number of other cons who aren't in on the plan, but are more than eager to join in when they see what's going on, like serial rapist John "Johnny-23" Baca (Danny Trejo), but also a few more than content to simply sit by and see what happens next, like the quietly insane Garland Greene (Steve Buscemi).

Poe's best friend on the inside, Mike "Baby-O" O'Dell (Mykelti Williamson), is diabetic and starts to go into shock.  Unable to leave his friend behind, Poe convinces Cyrus and the others that he wants to go along with their plans, saying he's got 15 years left and nothing more to live for than the hope of freedom on a beach.  He vows to save Baby-O and to protect the lives of the captured guards.  Meanwhile, on the ground, US Marshal Vince Larkin (John Cusack) must figure out how to keep hot-headed DEA Agent Duncan Malloy (Colm Meaney) from simply blowing the plane out of the sky, killing Poe and the other hostages.

"Air Force One" (1997)

Starring Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman and Glenn Close
Written by Andrew W. Marlowe
Directed by Wolfgang Petersen
Rated R - Violence, language
Running Time: 125 Minutes
Trailer

"Die Hard" pretty much created its own subgenre.  Throughout the 1990s, there were plenty of "Die Hard on a ____" films.  "Under Siege" was "Die Hard on a boat," "Sudden Death" was "Die Hard in a hockey stadium" and so on.  1997's "Air Force One" is pretty well "Die Hard on a plane."

President of the United States James Marshall (Harrison Ford) is in Moscow delivering a speech in the wake of a successful joint military operation to capture the rogue Russian hardline General Radek (Jurgen Prochnow).  In his speech, he paints a picture of a new American foreign policy - zero tolerance for terrorism.

Once Air Force One is airborne, a Russian news crew aboard is revealed to be a group of terrorists loyal to Radek.  They kill much of the crew and capture many of the President's closest advisers, as well as his wife Grace (Wendy Crewson) and daughter Alice (Liesel Matthews), and demand Radek's release from prison.  The leader of the terrorists, Ivan (Gary Oldman) warns that a hostage will be killed every half hour until he has received word that Radek is free.

Unbeknownst to Egor, Marshall has managed to hide in the bowels of the plane and escape capture.  While Egor negotiates with Vice President Kathryn Bennett (Glenn Close), Marshall begins to retake the plane all by himself, using his experience as a US Marine.  Meanwhile, in Washington, Bennett faces a political crisis as Secretary of Defense Walter Dean (Dean Stockwell) attempts to usurp command of the situation from her at a critical time.

With his wife, daughter and political career at stake, and lives hanging in the balance, Marshall must face down the terrorists alone, and race against time before they kill more of the hostages.

"Evolution" (2001)

Starring David Duchovny, Orlando Jones and Julianne Moore
Written by David Diamond, David Weissman and Don Jakoby
Directed by Ivan Reitman
Rated PG-13 - Language, crude humor, mild violence
Running Time: 101 Minutes
Trailer

After a meteor crashes in the desert in Arizona, two local scientists, Dr. Ira Kane (David Duchovny) and community college geology professor Harry Block investigate.  What they find intrigues them: the meteor seems to be "bleeding" some kind of organic material, which itself appears to evolve and adapt at an astonishing rate.

Soon enough, the United States military has taken over the crash site and squeezed Harry and Ira out.  The project is run by General Russell Woodman (Ted Levine), who holds a grudge against Ira for an incident years prior when Ira was a government scientist, and Dr. Allison Reed (Julianne Moore) a clumsy but attractive scientist who finds herself attracted to Ira.  Meanwhile, wannabe firefighter Wayne Grey (Seann William Scott) discovers that the creatures are spreading after one of them kills his boss at a local golf course.  He takes the creature's body to Harry and Ira, who determine that the aliens can't exist in our atmosphere, but it's only a matter of time before they evolve to breathe our air.

With the military unwilling to listen to them, Harry, Ira, Wayne and Allison must figure out how to destroy the creatures before they spread beyond Arizona to the rest of the world.

'The Shield' Season 1 (2002)

Starring Michael Chiklis, Benito Martinez and CCH Pounder
Created by Shawn Ryan

Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) is a different kind of cop.  He runs a unit in the Farmington division of Los Angeles called the Strike Team.  Consisting of Mackey, his partner Shane Vendrell (Walton Goggins), Ronnie Gardocki (David Rees Snell), and Curtis 'Lem' Lemansky (Kenneth Johnson), they are plain-clothes detectives who target gangs and drugs in Farmington.  The problem is that Mackey doesn't always play by the book, often using excessive force, planting evidence, and even cutting deals with crooks in order to get the job done.  His partner Shane is often ruled by his temper, making poor decisions without thinking.

Into Farmington comes Captain David Aceveda (Benito Martinez) with aims to get Mackey off the streets.  He's inserted his own mole into the Strike Team in order to gather intel on Mackey's illegal activities.  But when the mole ends up dead, Aceveda suspects Mackey was the shooter, but can't prove it.

Meanwhile, detectives Holland "Dutch" Wagenbach (Jay Karnes) and Claudette Wyms (CCH Pounder) work a variety of cases that bring them into contact with all kinds of different sickos.  Dutch is intelligent, but a nerd, and unpopular with the other cops who don't respect him, despite his being a great detective.  Claudette is older, more in tune with how people work, using her instincts more than her book smarts.  But the two work extremely well together, and form a close bond.

Uniformed patrolmen Danielle "Danny" Sofer (Catherine Dent) and Julien Lowe (Michael Jace) work the streets in their patrol car.  Julien is gay, but extremely religious, which puts him in a difficult position.

Over the course of the season, these cops are all that stand between the good citizens of the district and total lawlessness.  But with cops like Vic Mackey on the streets, where is that line?

"Prometheus" (2012)

Starring Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender and Charlize Theron
Written by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof
Directed by Ridley Scott
Rated R - Sci-fi violence and brief language
Running Time: 124 Minutes
Trailer

Archaeologists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) have made an amazing discovery: ancient civilizations on Earth sharing a common imagery that they couldn't possibly have in common.  They're excited to find that the images are actually coordinates for a star system light-years away from Earth.

Several years later, Shaw, Holloway and a team of explorers and scientists arrive on LV-223 via the starship Prometheus.  Along for the ride is ship's captain Janek (Idris Elba), icy Wayland Corp. representative Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron), android David (Michael Fassbender) and a handful of scientists, doctors, and ship's crew.  Shaw and Holloway explain their theory that a race of beings they call the Engineers are actually responsible for the rise of human life on Earth, and that the cave paintings were an invitation to come and meet them.

On LV-223, Shaw and the others discover a massive hollow structure full of corridors and a breathable atmosphere.  Further mysteries compound: the human expedition soon finds that the Engineers within are all dead.  A series of containers seems to be leaking black, organic material of unknown composition.  The crew brings some samples back to the ship to examine as a storm closes in, but soon things begin to go very wrong. Two of the scientists are trapped in the alien structure, and they are not alone.  Some kind of creature lurks within the black liquid.  Back aboard the ship, David reveals that he has ulterior motives as he begins to experiment with the liquid himself.

As Shaw learns more about the creatures and the fate of her vaunted Engineers, she begins to realize just how wrong she was about them.  And if she can't stop what's happening on LV-223, the Earth may just suffer the same horrific fate as the Engineers.