When it comes to children’s animated movies, Disney and Pixar are an industry leader in creating films that children love and remember for a lifetime. Trying to compete, 20th Century Fox has created a movie that it hopes can do the same. Epic is the story of a girl who is consistently overlooked by her father. When attempting to reconnect with him, she inadvertently stumbles across the adventure of a lifetime. While Epic may not be a film that goes down as one of the greatest animated films of all time, it arrives in theaters just in time for summer vacation and provides a good opportunity for children to watch a movie during their time off.

Headlining a star-studded cast, Amanda Seyfriend plays Mary Katherine, the main protagonist of the film. Mary’s father, Professor Bomba (voiced by Jason Sudeikis), is a scientist who has studied artifacts that he believes will lead him to an unknown group of warriors who protect the forest. As Mary looks to visit her father, she comes across a gathering of glowing leaves. Upon catching one, she is shrunken and transformed into a completely new world. While attempting to find her way back to normalcy, she comes across the Leafmen tribe. Although initially unwilling, Mary eventually works with the Leafmen in their battle against the Boggans, led by the powerful Madrake (Christoph Waltz).

Also lending their voices to the film are Colin Ferrell, Beyoncé Knowles, Aziz Ansari, Josh Hutcherson, Steven Tyler and Pitbull.

Directed by Chris Wedge, who also did Ice Age and Robots, the film seems to lack what similar movies from Disney and Pixar offer. In Epic, it is easy to connect to the loveable characters and also feel emotionally attached during the battle between good and evil. However, it doesn’t carry the same weight as, say, Woody and Buzz, Nemo or Lightning McQueen. Instead, its simply a movie where you hope the good guy will come out victorious and learn a lesson that reconnects her and her father.

Epic is sure to be one of the best movies for children this summer. It certainly delivers in terms of entertainment and value, but it probably wont leave you with a lasting memory of the characters or plot. Nonetheless, when the summer heat rises and you need to find a cool, relaxing place to take the kids, Epic will provide a nice little reprieve.

First released in 2012 for the Nintendo 3DS, Resident Evil: Revelations was a system seller. It took the Resident Evil franchise back to its roots, offered graphics that showed what the portable system was capable of and gave the 3DS one of its first must-play titles. Capcom, now knowing they have a hit on their hands, look to bring the game to as many gamers as possible by porting the game to the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U and PC. While we’ve seen games get frequently ported from consoles to handhelds, we rarely see it the other way around. Does Resident Evil: Revelations work on the consoles and PC despite it initially being made for a system with far less graphical power? Yes and no.

At its core, Resident Evil: Revelations offers the same story, the same levels and the same gameplay as its predecessor. The story is untouched, the slow gameplay pace of previous Resident Evil games is intact and the game is evidence of why the newer action-based Resident Evil games pale in comparison to the style of the older titles. To sum up the story, you’ll play as both Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine as they investigate a cruise ship in events that take place before Resident Evil 5. While the majority of the game is the same, Revelations does offer some improvements over the original game, though they are limited in number.

The first improvement is the addition of a new difficulty mode accessible after beating the game. This mode, dubbed Infernal Mode, enables players to start the game over again with their current weapons and items while fighting tougher versions of the game’s horrifying monsters. It’s not ground-breaking material, but it does help replayability along with adding in a feature that the 3DS game was sorely lacking. To go along with this new difficulty is the addition of a new enemy type which helps add some variety to the game. The Raid mode, a score-based mode featuring levels from the story, also returns along with additions such as new characters, skills and weapons.

In true Capcom fashion, the game adds additional unlockable costumes for each of its protagonists, each more ridiculous than the last. Get a load of Chris Redfield in his too-small sailor outfit! Finally, some gender equality when it comes to costume choices.

Where Resident Evil: Revelations falters is the graphics. While Capcom has done its best to upscale the graphics, they are far from high-definition and the game’s portable roots clearly show. While many gamers will be able to look past the graphics and enjoy the game, the title is definitely not one you’ll want to use to show off your new HDTV. Additionally, the controls feel sluggish and not responsive at times due the more precise nature of analog sticks and mouse control compared to the 3DS circle pad.

As you’d expect from the title, revelations to the overall Resident Evil plot are fast and furious, making this a game worth playing for those who have never had the opportunity and are fans of the series. If you’ve previously played the game on the 3DS, you’re better off waiting for a steep price drop as the new additions aren’t enough to relive the horror at full price. Resident Evil: Revelations is available as of May 21st, 2013.

The action in the NHL playoffs has been hot enough to melt the ice, and a field of 16 has quickly been chopped in half over the last two weeks. The field will soon be trimmed down to four, and the Stanley Cup Finals will unfold in the weeks after that. Here’s a look back a lot of action from the pro sports world in the past week as well as a few things that shouldn’t be missed in the upcoming days.

The Chicago Blackhawks took the league by storm during a historic regular season, but they find themselves down 2-1 to an experienced and tough Detroit Red Wings team that is determined to get to the final round. The Blackhawks will need to win three of the next four games in the series in order to advance, which seems unlikely on paper.

The Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks continue to exchange punches, and both have held serve on their home court. The series has essentially been minimized to a best-of-three, two of which will be played in Southern California. Whoever comes out of the series will likely be fatigued, and the many trips to and fro either Chicago or Detroit won’t make things any easier.

Major League Baseball has just passed the quarter pole in its 162-game regular season, and a handful of skilled teams are jockeying for a leading position that they hope to maintain down the stretch run. The New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves have been streaking recently, and the Braves are currently enjoying a five-game margin over the second-place Washington Nationals. The Yankees are looking down at everybody in the AL East, but the Boston Red Sox don’t appear ready to go away anytime soon.

The Texas Rangers have taken firm command of the AL West, having stretched their lead to a half dozen games over the Oakland Athletics. The Rangers are built for success from the ground up, which means they can lose a superstar such as Josh Hamilton and still keep the train moving. Hamilton now plays for the Los Angeles Angels, who are 11 games behind Texas less than 50 games into the season. Ranges fans can look forward to a very bizarre stretch of games in the upcoming week, when they will play a doubleheader in Arizona on Memorial Day before traveling back home for a two-game series against the Diamondbacks in the following days.

Summer is here and it’s movie time for fans young and old, especially if you like big action, sci-fi, comic and kids movies. Even if you don’t, chances are good the summer movie season will find you something to like.

Iron Man 3 is out and is definitely the big hit of the season thus far, even though Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby tried to unseat it and the four year mission of the Star Trek sequel Star Trek 2: Star Trekkier (just kidding. It’s Star Trek into Darkness) succeeded in knocking the Iron Man out of the first place, but not by much. They’ll face some heat from late month releases looking to cash in on the long Memorial Day weekend: Fast and Furious 6, The Hangover III and Epic, a computer-animated film about teen reduced in size and joining the Leaf-Men whose job is to protect the forest against evil. Starring the voices of Amanda Seyfried, Colin Farrell, Beyonce Knowles and Josh Hutcherson, it is set to displace the long-running The Croods, at least for a couple of weeks.

Then in June we see the return of beloved characters Mike and Sully, and how they moved from college rivals to best friends in Pixar’s Monsters University, the prequel to the popular Monsters Inc.  White House Down brings the action with director Roland Emmerich. Channing Tatum, rejected by the Secret Service, must rescue the president, played by Jamie Foxx, and the cop buddy cliché is slightly subverted with The Heat, starring Sandra Bullock as an uptight FBI agent expected to partner with an anything-goes Boston cop played by Melissa McCarthy. For horror fans, June brings The Purge, a strong premise thriller wherein one night a year all law is suspended.

July ushers in a few more sequels, with some more Despicable Me (the appropriately titled Despicable Me 2) in which Gru joins the Anti-Villain League to help put down a super criminal, played by Al Pacino, and Grown Ups 2, the sequel to Adam Sandler’s inexplicably popular Grown Ups, because apparently he and his friends needed another four month vacation in Massachusetts.  That’s ok, the rest of us can go see the giant robo epic Pacific Rim from Guillermo del Toro; his return to directing (his last was 2008’s Hellboy II: The  Golden Army) and his homage to Japanese monster flicks as humans pilot giant robots to fight alien, Godzilla-like monsters appearing from the ocean’s depths. Should be fun!

Game of Thrones airs Sundays at 9pm ET on HBO, available through Time Warner Cable!

“Second Sons”

Arya wakes up a captive of the Hound. She contemplates killing him, but then he reveals that he’s awake and calls her bluff. He lets her know that he saved Sansa from being raped and murdered, and they are headed to the Twins, to intersect with Robb and Catelyn and the Freys.

Daenerys learns about the Second Sons, a for-hire army of 2,000. She meets with their leaders, one of whom is misogynistic and offensive to her. She tries to convince them to join her, but the rude leader refuses. Later, the leaders plan to assassinate Daenerys in the night so that they don’t have to face Unsullied army.

Stannis meets Gendry at Dragonstone and confirms his noble birth. She indicates that she may be planning to slaughter Gendry in some way. Davos continues to learn how to read. Davos learns about the intended sacrifice and tries to convince Stannis that it is not justified to kill an innocent. Stannis says he will free Davos as long as he does not rise against Melisandre. Stannis reveals that he saw a vision in the flames of a great battle in the snow, and is convinced that the Lord of Light exists.

Tyrion meets Sansa in her chamber and tells her that although he did not choose the marriage, he will treat her well. Joffrey escorts Sansa down the aisle during the marriage ceremony, pointing out that her father is gone. Margerye approaches Cersei at the wedding reception, calling her “sister” and mentioning a song about the Reyne family sung by the Lannisters. Cersei points out that Lord Reyne built a castle like Casterley Rock, eventually rebelled against Tywin Lannister and the entire family was slaughtered. Cersei tells Margerye that if she ever calls her “sister” again, she will have her strangled in her sleep.

Melisandre meets with Gendry and begins to seduce him. But she then ties him and applies leeches to take his blood. After the leeches are removed, Stannis and Davos arrive. Stannis throws the three leeches into the fire, calling one Robb Stark, one Balon Greyjoy, and one Joffrey Baratheon.

Olenna teases Loras and Margerye that family ties will become very complicated. Tywin confronts Tyrion about being drunk, reminding him of his duty to bear a Stannister heir. Loras awkwardly tries to talk with Cersei, but she brushes him off. Joffrey confronts Sansa and cruelly teases her. Joffrey commands Tyrion to carry Sansa to her room, but Tyrion insults and threatens Joffrey. Tywin defuses the tension and Tyrion stumbles out of the wedding hall drunkenly. They both reluctantly prepare to consummate the marriage, but Tyrion stops and says that she should wait until she is ready. Later, Shae greets them in the morning and realizes they did not consummate.

Miros of the Second Sons comes to Daenerys’s chamber, seemingly to kill her, but then reveals that he went against the other Second Sons’ orders, killing the other leaders, because he wanted to fight for her beauty. He vows to serve her.

Sam and Gilly talk awkwardly as they take shelter in an abandoned shelter. Sam discusses possible names for the boy infant as she starts a fire, and also reveals that his father had been cruel. After a huge number of crows gather outside and make noise, he goes outside to confront them. Suddenly they disperse and a White Walker–the same one who led the army of White Walkers at the end of Season 2–appears to take the infant boy. After the Walker destroys Sam’s sword and pushes him to the side, Sam charges with the shard of weapon he had found further out beyond the Wall. The weapon causes the Walker to shatter, and Sam and Gilly run away from the crows.

The 2013 Billboard Music Awards recognized some of the most talented artists in the industry, some of whom performed during the show.

The biggest news belongs to Taylor Swift, who won eight of the 11 awards for which she was nominated. Always graceful toward her fans, Swift said to the crowd, “You are the longest and best relationship I ever had.” That was probably her way of poking fun at herself for the number of relationships she’s had since breaking out in 2006. It’s easy to see why her fans adore her so much.

Swift also performed her hit “22” moving from the backstage to the main stage on the back of a bike. There were a dozen dancers and a plethora of red balloons.

Justin Bieber had a big night too, boos not withstanding. He performed twice and won three awards: top male artist, social artist, and the fan-voted milestone award. It was winning the fan-voted award that led to the boos within the audience. In his acceptance speech, while he didn’t apologize for anything, he did allude to his recent outbursts in the public eye.

Bieber performed with will.i.am for one song and solo for “Take You.” For his performance, he wore leather pants and vest and a one-sleeved black shirt. He performed under the beam of blue lasers.

Maroon 5 and fun. each won one of the awards for which they were nominated. Gotye and Rihanna were tied for second-most wins, winning four of them.

At one point, Kid Rock, the presenter for the top rap song award, sparked controversy by saying, “Let’s give it up for people lip-synching under pre-recorded music.” Lip-synching is a controversy that’s plagued musicians since Milli Vanilli, so that probably wasn’t a smart thing to say.

Tracy Morgan, the host, appeared dressed as Psy in a yellow suit, as Psy was onstage presenting an award. The two had a dance battle to Psy’s single “Gentleman.”

All in all, it was a night of controversies, show stopping performances, and Taylor Swift winning nearly all the awards.

Catch all of this week’s must-see TV shows on Time Warner Cable!

This week on Bates Motel, Norman has a date to his school dance but a surprising turn of events leads him to go home with somebody else. Catch up with the town of White Pine Bay Monday in “Midnight”, May 20 at 10 p.m. on A&E.

The Goodwin Games, a new series debuting on Fox this Monday, May 20, at 8:30 introduces the story of a wealthy man who dies, leaving behind a fortune. His family will not lay hands on it so easily, however; they must first undergo a series of games that are meant to strengthen them as individuals. The cast of characters includes three siblings: a bad boy, an overachiever and an underachiever.

On Tuesday, May 21, the season finale of Dancing with the Stars ends its season 16 finale. At 9:00 on the ABC network, Tom Bergeron will announce the shows’ newest winner on this tenth week episode. The finalists include Zendaya and Valentin Chmerkovskiy, Jacoby Jones and Karina Smirnoff, Kellie Pickler and Derek Hough and Alexandra Raisman and Mark Ballas.

ABC’s popular mockumentary, Modern Family, will air a new episode on Wednesday, May 22 at 9:00. When Phil’s mother passes away, the group attends a funeral. The family gets together to help bring together her final wish before leaving Florida. Gloria faces a dramatic court case stemming from a warrant. Another character finds himself facing somebody unexpected from the past.

The season finale of NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit will air this Thursday, May 23, at 9:00. Detective Benson finds herself in one of the most dangerous situations yet. In this episode, titled “Her Negotiation,” concludes the 14th season of the series with the story of a man who exposes himself in a park but ends up outwitting even the most experienced detectives on the case. Everything is on the line in this dramatic finale.

Director J.J. Abrams’ follow-up to 2009′s Star Trek is as action-packed as its predecessor right from the first frame, as Kirk and Bones bolt along the surface of an alien planet while Spock is lowered into the mouth of an erupting volcano. When Kirk reveals the Enterprise’s presence to this planet full of aliens who have “barely invented the wheel”–thereby disobeying the Prime Directive–he’s hauled in front of Starfleet Command just as a rogue officer named John Harrison (played by Benedict  Cumberbatch, best known for the BBC‘s Sherlock) perpetrates an unprovoked attack on Starfleet headquarters. Commander Marcus, head of Starfleet Command, orders Kirk and the Enterprise crew to pursue Harrison into the Neutral Zone and take him down–an act of aggression that is likely to lead to war with the Klingons, the belligerent race that lives on the other side of the Neutral Zone. As the Enterprise pursues Harrison into this dangerous territory, it becomes clear that his attack wasn’t just a single act of terrorism, and that there are much bigger forces at play.

Into Darkness is likely to satisfy fans who enjoyed the first film: it has the same snarky dialogue and rapid-fire editing, moving the narrative along at a fast clip that prioritizes action over exposition. This choice sometimes results in a plot hole or two (do the crew’s communicators really work all the way across the galaxy?), and the third act is choppy, but the pace of the story and the actors’ chemistry make these problems easy to overlook. Into Darkness displays Abrams’ usual talent for spot-on casting: in addition to the Enterprise crew (in which Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, and Karl Urban, in particular, inhabit their iconic roles like they’ve never played anything else), the addition of Benedict Cumberbatch as the brilliant and calculating John Harrison and Peter Weller (most recently seen on Dexter but forever enshrined as Robocop) as Commander Marcus add depth to an already near-perfect ensemble. There were moments when I found myself wishing the movie were longer so that beloved characters could have more screen time. (Cho, in particular, gets short shrift in this script.)

As for whether die-hard Trekkers will be pleased by this installment, that’s harder to say. The writers have wisely avoided the tricky morass of time travel that made Abrams’ first foray into the franchise, with its retroactive continuity changes to the original series’ timeline, tough for many to swallow. Abrams and his co-writers clearly have an indulgent love for the original series, and there are the requisite winks and nudges: “Dammit, Jim, I’m a doctor, not a torpedo technician!” Urban insists at one point. And the bromance between Kirk and Spock remains at the center of this newly imagined universe, as it was for the old. All told, Star Trek Into Darkness is an at times campy but entirely worthy addition to the Star Trek canon.

After nine years on the air, The Office went out on a heartwarming note with a final episode taking place one year after the penultimate episode. The central conceit of the show, that everything happening in the office was being filmed for a documentary, came to fruition as the office staff gathered for a “reunion” a year after the initial airing of the documentary. The characters reflected on the way that having nine years of their lives filmed impacted them, creating a bittersweet homage to the passage of time.

The finale also focused on the wedding of Dwight, the oddball who spent the whole series aspiring to the position of manager he finally attained, and Angela, the petite, uptight member of the accounting staff. This, even more than the retrospective panel, drew guests from years past – most significantly, former manager Michael Scott, who was arguably the series’ central character for seven years. His return and subsequent comments were among the episodes most memorable moments.

Pam, whose idyllic marriage to sweet prankster Jim endured a rough patch in the last season, surprised him by selling their house so that he could rejoin the sports company he helped build. Hence, Dwight’s wedding and reception and the post-reception office party served as their farewell to the staff of which they had been a part for most of their adult lives. Meanwhile, zany receptionist Erin found her birth parents at last through the documentary.

Former staff members Ryan and Kelly reunited at the wedding and ran off together, while Nellie, who had spent a long time trying to adopt a baby, gleefully took the infant Ryan abandoned. Andy, despite the erratic behavior he displayed after leaving Dunder Mifflin to follow his show business dreams, got an ideal position with the office of admissions at his alma mater, Cornell, while Oscar, who’d had an affair with Angela’s ex-husband, launched a campaign for his senate seat.

It was a charming episode that took some characters in unexpected directions but brought nearly everyone to a sense of satisfying closure. As befits an ensemble show driven by complex characters, it was an emotionally rich send-off that left its audience wanting more but grateful that the series could end in such an appropriate manner.

The season 12 winner of American Idol will be revealed tonight at 8 PM on FOX, available through Time Warner Cable!

In Wednesday night’s American Idol final performances, neither Candice Glover or Kree Harrison “stole the show,” nor did they cause their popularity to go up or down. Both finalists performed admirably, if a little wearily, but that’s to be expected after the nearly four-month journey they’ve traveled in seeking to be named THE American Idol, Season 12.

Ms. Harrison opened the evening with Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel,” and although she hit all the right notes, the song lacked the “oomph” that everyone kept waiting for. For her potential single release, Harrison performed “All Cried Out,” which better suited her country style. She started out interestingly, but by the chorus, it was apparent that this number, just like her opening song, was at best, very ho-hum. For her reprise number, Kree rehashed “Up To the Mountain,” and although it was by far her best work of the night, it still paled in comparison to her previous rendition of the tune several weeks ago.

Glover’s opening song, “Chasing Pavement,” was given a nice R&B, jazzy arrangement which allowed her to stretch out somewhat, and she performed it effortlessly, if a bit laid-back. For her would-be single, Glover did “I Am Beautiful,” which could have been a knockout punch, but instead she appeared to play it safe. Glover trotted out the tear-jerker “I Who Have Nothing” as her reprise tune, only this time she incorporated an a capella opening that was very powerful. By the ending, most of the audience were on their feet and it felt, if anything, like her “coronation” song.

The judge’s commentary was a bit hit-or-miss, with congratulations being noted more than the actual performances. With Randy Jackson having announced this would be his final season, “The Dawg” was uncharacteristically subdued, while Nicki Minaj, Mariah Carey and Keith Urban were also less enimated than normal.

The producers have a star-studded lineup of guest performers on tap, including Adam Lambert (in a duet with Angie Miller), The Band Perry (dueting with Janelle Arthur), Four Seasons frontman Frankie Valli (with the Top 12 male finalists), Korean sensation Psy, as well as a pre-recorded performances by Keith Urban. It’s also reported that Randy Jackson will play bass behind a rare performance from Mariah Carey.

Barring a “country-music” fan voting blitz, Candice Glover is expected to be in the middle of all the confetti and hugs-and-high-fives at the conclusion of tonight’s program.