FAST & FURIOUS 6 (Rated PG-13)

If anyone is unfamiliar with the “Fast & Furious” franchise, it’s a fair guess that person has been living under a rock or is a captive in the police state of North Korea where American films are banned.

Except for the disdain of pretentious, high-brow film critics, “Fast & Furious,” running strong in its fifth sequel on the fast-paced thrills of underground car-racing, is enormously popular with the Cineplex crowd.

“Fast & Furious 6” is a laudable successor to “Fast Five,” when the grease monkey crew, lead by Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel), first met up with the no-nonsense federal Agent Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), a man with even more muscles than Toretto.

Once again, the racing enthusiasts, mostly accustomed to running outside the law, are drawn back into a high-stakes assignment that might ordinarily fall into the domain of a James Bond-type adventure.

Since the Brazilian heist, the crew has been laying low, with ex-cop Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) living with his wife Mia (Jordana Brewster) and baby child in the Canary Islands.

Dom, Brian and the entire gang remain fugitives from the law, constantly looking over their shoulders, no matter where they travel. Previous good deeds don’t get them a free pass.

Agent Hobbs reenters the picture with an offer the gang could refuse, but if they did there’d be no movie full of fast car chases with vast amounts of destruction and mayhem left in their wake.

The assignment involves taking down the malevolent leader of an elusive criminal outfit, one that has targeted the defense capabilities of the Western world, including an American military base in Europe.

The villain is a bloke with a British accent named Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), who’s got his hands on a nuclear weapon designed for annihilation of the West. Ernst Stavro Blofeld would be proud of his evil ambitions.

Other than the fact that Dom and Brian love to drive fast cars on crowded streets, what’s in it for the gang?

Hobbs offers all of them full pardons if they will come to London and get behind the wheel to take down Shaw’s organization.

Complicating matters somewhat is the reappearance of Dom’s old girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), who suffers from amnesia but still remembers how to deliver powerful kicks and punches.

Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson are back to provide some comic relief and tech support. Gal Gadot, very much the beautiful model-type, knows her way around fast cars, while Sung Kang knows his way around this lovely crew member.

Fast car chases take place in the narrow streets of London, with plenty of vehicles getting rammed and flipped in the air like an automotive circus act. Later the action gets ramped up to a tank on a highway chase.

The best, and yet most ludicrous, chase of all involves the villain’s cargo plane trying to achieve lift-off while dragging several of the crew’s cars attached to towing hooks.

You may take a deep breath long enough to realize that this one sequence takes so long that it has to be the world’s longest runway. But like most things in this film, the incredulous does not matter.

Let’s be clear about one thing: “Fast & Furious 6,” like its worthy predecessors, is mindless entertainment of the first order. But it is exceedingly good and provides great payoffs for action junkies.

There’s no sense denying that everyone needs to check their brains at the door. Realism is an expendable commodity. All you need to do is to hang on for a great ride filled with excitement and stimulation.

Some critics have so much contempt that they will arrogantly claim that the film appeals to, in the words of one unnamed source, “the least-common denominator audience.”

I shall wear this offense to the general populace as a “badge of honor.” What we have here is cartoon fun in great abundance. A condescending, patronizing and pompous attitude is unnecessary and counterproductive. Insulting the audience’s taste is no way to win an argument about a film’s merits.

If you enjoyed most, if not all, of the “Fast & Furious” films, particularly the last one set in Brazil, you will likely find this sixth entry to be a winner.

“Fast & Furious 6” tips its hand at the end with the introduction of a well-known British action figure. Yes, number 7 is on its way, and it could get interesting.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

You can’t get closer to our hunter-gatherer ancestors than by clawing in the earth with your fingers. Here’s a delightful poem about digging for bait by Marsha Truman Cooper, a Californian.

A Knot of Worms

As day began to break, we passed
the “honk for worms” sign,
passed it honking again
and again, to wake up the worms
my dad said. It was only
about another half mile to
the aspen grove and our worm digs.
The humus, spongy and almost
black, turned over easily.
I used my bare hands to put
some moist earth into a coffee can
and, as the aspen glittered
in the risen sun, I gently
slid the fresh, fat bait into my container.
I heard the worms still in the ground
gurgle as they tried to escape,
while the ones in the can began
to ball up as their numbers grew.
Streamside, surrounded by mountains
with snow lingering into summer,
I picked out a worm and my dad
arranged it on the hook to save
my small fingers. Now you can purchase
a time-share on that land.
The colony of aspen, thinned
by the builders, continues to
tremble. No amount of honking
brings back the worms.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright 2012 by Marsha Truman Cooper. In 2013, Finishing Line Press will publish the chapbook, A Knot of Worms. Poem reprinted by permission of Marsha Truman Cooper. Introduction copyright 2013 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

THE HANGOVER: PART III (Rated R)

The wild and crazy times cannot last forever when the party scene begins to lose steam and fizzle out. That’s pretty much the case with “The Hangover” franchise.

The first “Hangover” film was, and remains, the best of the series. The setting of Las Vegas for a bachelor party gone horribly wrong resulted in comedy gold.

The second film took the Wolfpack to Thailand, where the boys encountered their nemesis Mr. Chow and made a series of bad decisions, of which some were quite comical.

Nevertheless, “The Hangover Part II” didn’t manage to completely capture the absurdist comic elements of the original. So it appears a return to Vegas is now in order.
 
Now two years later, “The Hangover Part III” opens with the clueless member of the Wolfpack, Alan (Zach Galfianakis), a man-child still living at home, thinking it would be a good idea to adopt a pet giraffe.

The group’s black sheep has ditched his meds and given into his natural impulses in a big way, resulting in a complete lack of good judgment while typically operating without boundaries.

Alan’s family decides it is time for an intervention, and the best ones to help are members of the Wolfpack. The boys plan a road trip to Arizona so that Alan can check into a rehab clinic.

They are not on their way to a bachelor party or a wedding in a foreign country, so what could possibly go wrong? After all, Mr. Chow is locked up in a Thai prison.

The pack’s nominal ringleader Phil (Bradley Cooper), the dentist Stu (Ed Helms), and the patsy Doug (Justin Bartha), having recovered from the disastrous trip abroad, think helping a friend should prove uneventful.

What the Wolfpack did not count on, however, was being kidnapped in the desert by the gangster Marshall (John Goodman), and his henchmen, including the one they group calls Black Doug (Mike Epps).

Unknown to the Wolfpack, the psychotic Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong) made a daring prison escape and is headed to Mexico to apparently recover a hidden treasure of millions in stolen gold bars.

Marshall claims that Mr. Chow absconded with his share of the purloined gold treasure, and knowing how the Wolfpack has interacted with the Asian gangster, he thinks they are his best chance to locate him and the loot.

The hapless Doug is taken hostage to ensure that the Phil, Stu and Alan will hunt down Mr. Chow in Tijuana, recover the gold and return to Las Vegas within three days to save Doug from certain death.

Mr. Chow, the cokehead lunatic who popped out naked from the trunk of a car in the first film, proved to be funny when his scenes were limited to creating mayhem.

In “Part III,” the Asian crime boss becomes a bigger part of the picture, but not to greater effect. Now he’s not so much funny as he’s a menace to society and the group’s safety.

Oddly enough, “The Hangover Part III,” as if it has run out of ideas for manic wackiness, veers off into a more earnest crime thriller, complete with scenes of violence and brutality that are occasionally punctuated with comic relief.   

After betrayal and an unfortunate encounter with the Tijuana police, the Wolfpack must chase Mr. Chow to Las Vegas for the inevitable showdown, including a dazzling scene on the rooftop of Caesar’s Palace.

The familiarity of the Vegas scene helps somewhat to return the film to its comic roots, though the appearance of Heather Graham, now a housewife retired from prostitution, adds little.

Melissa McCarthy brings a nice comic touch in her cameo as a Vegas pawnshop clerk who gets all dreamy-eyed when she falls for Alan.

Don’t rush to leave when the credits roll, because half-way through there is a very funny scene that is reminiscent of the morning-after amnesia that worked so well in the original film. Nothing in this film tops the physical disfigurement of Stu.

Unfortunately, “The Hangover Part III” falls short of recapturing its initial brush with a truly innovative comic formula of unbridled mayhem.

Having admired the wacked-out originality of the first film’s hilarious antics, I was hoping for more of the same. Though the overall outcome is somewhat disappointing, “The Hangover Part III” has funny moments that are enjoyable; there just aren’t enough.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Once a year, artists, community groups, students and teachers descend on the center trail of the Middletown County Trailside Park to install the annual EcoArts: Lake County Sculpture Walk.

This year’s installation began last Saturday May 18, and continues through Tuesday, May 28.

They encourage the public to come and see the evolution of a large scale public art exhibit and perhaps meet an artist or three.

The Middletown County Trailside Park is a jewel in the county park system; a 107-acre, natural landscape of woodlands and meadows.

There are three miles of trails for walking, cycling and horseback riding. There are benches and picnic tables scattered throughout the park. The Sculpture Walk exhibit is sited along the first one-third of the meandering center trail.

Each year the EcoArtists are challenged to create work that relates to nature. Art works may incorporate natural or recycled materials or engage in issues or content relating to the earth’s ecology.

This matter is taken to heart annually by local artists and Lake County nonprofits including students at the Lake County International Charter School and Marianne Martinelli’s class at the Coyote Valley Elementary School.

Now in its 11th year, The Sculpture Walk is a free, long-term public art exhibit that draws over 3,000 viewers each season.

The opening reception is Sunday, June 9, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. It is free and open to the public.

The Sculpture Walk will be open from dawn till dusk until mid-October. There is a free self-guided tour book at the entrance to the center trail and docent tours can be arranged by appointment.

EcoArts of Lake County is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the visual arts, visual art education and ecological stewardship for artists, residents, and visitors to Lake County.

For more information visit www.EcoArtsofLakeCounty.org , or contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 707-809-5398.

NICE, Calif. – The award-winning Featherbed Railroad is hosting an open event featuring the art of Lake County artist Jim Colling on Sunday, May 26.

This special reception, which takes place from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. will feature special food pairing with Lake County wines and supports charities in Lake County.

Colling will be painting “plein aire” during the reception with a wide variety of his exceptional works on display.

Attendees can participate in the wine and appetizer pairing for a $15 donation which includes wine tasting and appetizer pairing.

To round out the afternoon, local musician Michael Barrish will be on hand to make ears happy, too.

Featherbed Railroad is located at 2870 Lakeshore Blvd., Nice.

For more information call Featherbed Railroad at 707-274-8378 or visit www.featherbedrailroad.com .

UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Lake County Wine Studio (LCWS) is presenting a one-night performance show with guitarist/song writer Jack Williams at 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 5.
 
Williams’ music, rooted in his native South Carolina, was shaped by a 54-year career of playing folk, rock, jazz, R&B, classical and the popular music of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. He is counted among the most dynamic performers on today’s “folk” music circuit.

Williams is an uncommonly unique guitarist, a writer of vivid songs with a strong sense of place, and a storyteller in an old Southern tradition who further illustrates each tale with his guitar.  

A sought-after artist on all contemporary acoustic music stages, from coffeehouses and festivals to music halls and city arts stages; from acclaimed appearances at Newport, Boston, Philadelphia, Kerrville, New Bedford SummerFest Folk Festivals, his musicianship, songs, stories and commanding presence have established him as an uncommonly inspiring and influential performer.
 
Friendships with two great singers had an enormous impact on Williams’ career and on the development of his own singing voice.

In 1973, his relationship with the late Harry Nilsson resulted in an album effort at RCA during an ill-fated period of music industry turmoil.  

Until 2002, he sometimes toured as solo accompanist to his friend, the late Mickey Newbury, with whom he co-wrote, co-produced and recorded a live album and video, Nights when I am Sane (reissued as Winter Winds).
 
From 1958 through 1988, along with playing jazz trumpet and classical guitar, Williams was best known as an electric guitarist in a series of original rock bands and smaller acoustic ensembles.  

As a hired-gun guitarist in the Deep South of the Civil Rights-Easy Rider 1960s, Williams’ bands accompanied the likes of John Lee Hooker, Big Joe turner, Jerry Butler, Hank Ballard, the Shirelles and the Del-Vikings.  

Enriched from these varied influences, Williams’ music is truly an “All-American Southern” music. In the late 1960s he gave in to his troubadour nature and began performing solo – singing and playing a gut-string guitar and touring from coast to coast.

Lake County Wine Studio is located at 9505 Main St. in Upper Lake.
 
For reservations and additional information, contact Susan Feiler at 707-275-8030 or 707-293-8752, or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .