REAL STEEL (Rated PG-13)

Though a comparison to “Transformers” is inevitable, the action-packed “Real Steel” is so much more than robots engaged in full-on, brutal destruction of each other.

“Real Steel” is more like the original “Rocky,” focused on a boxing competition where the underdog hero makes a comeback and gives his all.

The setting is the near distant future, where the public’s thirst for violence and carnage is greater than what mere mortal athletes can give.

The boxing world has evolved, if you will, to the point where robots have replaced the pugilists and the boxing ring has no limits in regards to personal safety.

Hugh Jackman’s Charlie Denton is a washed-up boxer who is forced, by circumstances, to hustle as a small-time robot fight promoter.

Traveling the back roads of rural America in his truck hauling a broken-down robot, Charlie tries to stay a few steps ahead of debt collectors and other unseemly characters.

The seamy underground boxing venues include a traveling carnival where Charlie’s second-rate robot is even no match for livestock.

Though he is constantly on the run, Charlie finds his life more complicated by the sudden death of his ex-wife; he discovers that he has a 12-year-old son.

The boy’s aunt (Hope Davis) wants custody of the boy, but first Charlie strikes a cash deal so that he’ll babysit his estranged son Max (a winsome Dakota Goyo) for the summer.

At this point, “Real Steel” is no longer just the story of a peripatetic fight promoter looking for his next payday at a venue not sanctioned by World Robot Boxing.

The underdog boxing story involves an alienated father-son duo reluctantly teaming up to rebuild and train a scrap-heap robot and turning it into a boxing contender.

At another level, the storytelling is grounded in a tale of redemption for the lost and forgotten souls of the father, his son and the abandoned machine they intend to revive.

Max names his junkyard robot “Atom,” which needs serious repair work. Charlie finds suitable help at the boxing gym where he once trained.

The gym is now run by the deceased owner’s daughter, Bailey (Evangeline Lilly), Charlie’s longtime friend and apparent possible love interest.

Appearing undersized and physically vulnerable, Atom does not look like the type of robot to survive a bout with machines larger and more imposing.

But cunning and guile may prove more important. The robots are operated by humans using computers and remote control devices.

The father-son team debut Atom at an underground site. To their surprise, he wins the fight and then keeps winning other bouts, and in the process establishing a reputation.

Soon enough, Atom enters the ring against established contenders at sanctioned robot boxing venues. He keeps on winning.

Meanwhile, the world champion robot is an enormous machine aptly named Zeus, a fearsome black robot that is described as “The Death Star.”

Not only has Zeus never been beaten, but also, no other robot has even survived beyond the first round with him. Does it take much to envision the Zeus-Atom showdown?

Zeus’ owners are the villains. Tak Mashido (Karl Yune is the calculating robot engineer. The striking beauty Farra Lemkova (Olga Fonda) is cold and merciless; she also looks like a Kardashian sister.

As to be expected, the big fight day comes, with challenger Atom, against all odds, going up against the formidable, undefeated Zeus. The result may be more surprising and satisfying than you would expect.

“Real Steel” has nicely choreographed fight scenes, thanks in part to Sugar Ray Leonard’s role as the film’s boxing consultant.

To be sure, “Real Steel” has plenty of hard-core action, but in the end it is a gratifying, warmhearted story that is ultimately about salvation. It’s a much better film than I had anticipated.

DVD RELEASE UPDATE

The NBC network has just canceled “The Playboy Club,” after airing only three episodes. The peacock network has had much better luck with “Chuck.”

To my surprise, “Chuck: The Complete Fourth Season” is being released on Blu-ray and DVD, complete with all 24 episodes. That can only mean that “Chuck” is just now starting its fifth season on the fall season.

An action-comedy/spy-drama hybrid, “Chuck” is about a computer nerd working a dead-end job at an electronics chain store.

In the first season, Zachary Levi’s Chuck found that his brain became the repository of CIA and National Security Agency secrets.

The fourth season has Chuck in love with his handler, Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski). His mom also comes in from the cold, escaping the evil control of an international arms dealer to become part of Chuck’s spy life.

As always, Chuck is trying to keep his professional and personal worlds separate. On some days, he outwits assassins and hordes of black-clad martial arts bad guys.

Not unexpectedly, the Blu-ray edition contains an exclusive interactive experience special feature.

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

The film will be shown on Sunday, Oct. 9, at Clearlake United Methodist Church, 14521 Pearl Ave., in Clearlake.

Doors open at 5:30 p.m., with the film starting at 6 p.m.

Recently Paul Ryan, head of the House Budget Committee, accused President Obama of fomenting “class warfare” by suggesting that the richest Americans should pay “their fair share” of taxes.

This film makes it utterly clear that the very opposite is true. In fact, the very richest have long waged a quiet and incredibly successful economic war against the rest of humanity – including the middle class today.

See this film (for free, as always) and you will better understand the causes of the economic misery the world is currently suffering.

In fact this documentary, released in 1996, predicts the very Great Recession in which we currently find ourselves.

Recessions and depressions don’t “just happen.” They are carefully engineered by the ruling elite to transfer even more money – and hence power – into their own hands.

This film is not a work of art, nor does it enjoy great production values. Here, it’s the content that matters. It is information-dense, and ends with a detailed, well thought out proposal to end this country’s cancerous deficit relatively simply and with relative lack of pain.

You know how cancer cells form a mob, and seize nutrients and space dedicated solely to their own growth? According to the film’s writer and narrator Bill Still, this is how the Federal Reserve and other global central banks function today and since their establishment.

If you are motivated to understand why so many of us are struggling, and what we might do about it, this film is for you. It runs one hour, 45 minutes in length.

For more information call 707-889-7355.

Her visit, sponsored by local book group, “The Bad Girls Book Club,” brought answers to many questions about the creation and characters found in her highly acclaimed novel, “Into the Forest.”

Translated into 12 languages, “Into the Forest,” is an eerily realistic apocalyptic tale set in Northern California.

According to Publishers Weekly, “From the first page, the sense of crisis and the lucid, honest voice of the … narrator pull the reader in. A truly admirable addition to a genre defined by the very high standards of George Orwell’s 1984.”

Guests expressed great concern about the book’s conclusion and their hopes for the future of the story’s main characters and not-so-futuristic society.

Hegland, a writing instructor at Santa Rosa Junior College as well as an accomplished author, shared her enthusiasm for The Big Read and book groups in general.

“That’s what the Big Read is all about, groups reading books in common. Everyone intersects with a book differently … it’s exciting to get the conversation going,” Hegland said.

The Lake County Big Read is a National Endowment for the Arts program, co-sponsored by Arts Midwest and the Lake County Office of Education.

Grantees work with the community to create diverse, interesting and creative connections to literature through community partnerships.

For more information about Jean Hegland, visit her Web site, www.JeanHegland.com.

For more information about the Lake County Big Read, and future events, visit This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or www.NEAbigread.com (communities) or like them on Facebook.

The trio will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 23.

General admission seats are $20; reserved $22.

This vibrant group’s beautiful, handmade harps and fresh arrangements are complimented by lush vocals, flute, penny whistle and percussion.

Your heart-strings will be touched by their romantic Irish airs and ballads, and by the exciting rhythms of South America.

“California Celtic” is a term which can be used to describe Triskela Harp Trio's sound: a fusion of world folk traditions, early music and original works.

Triskela's arrangements for three lever harps, voice, Irish whistle, flute and percussion transport listeners to an other-worldly, yet richly familiar, place

While the trio never fails to delight audiences with lively jigs, reels and other classic Celtic fare, the ladies of Triskela always have a surprise up their sleeves with unexpected music from Latin America, the Middle East and beyond.

Since 1997, Diana Stork, Shawna Spiteri, and Portia Diwa have played their eclectic repertoire throughout Northern California, performing at Grace Cathedral, the Festival of Harps at the Dorothy Spreckels Performing Arts Center, the SF Celtic Music Festival, and even at SF City Hall.

In 2008, Triskela's recording of Diana Stork's uplifting piece “Wedding Bells” (from their debut CD, Voice of Tara) was selected for the feature documentary “Reclaiming the Blade,” narrated by “Lord of the Rings” star John Rhys-Davies.

Named after the triskele – an ancient Celtic symbol consisting of three interlocking spirals -- riskela combines harp music and spirit, using the beauty of music to bring harmony to the world.

Sunday’s show will include a special “History of the Harp” presentation at 1:15 p.m.

Ever wondered about where the harp originated, or had questions about the construction of a harp? Here is a chance to have your questions answered.

Opening for Triskela is the a cappella group, Il Mio Divas, singers of Renaissance-era madrigal songs. The group is made up of women from the Lake County under the direction of Claudia Listman.

The group is composed of seven and is an outgrowth of The Noble Singers, the group that sings at the annual Renaissance Christmas Pageant & Feast in Middletown every December. These women, who come from a variety of musical and dramatic backgrounds, just didn’t want to quit singing when the pageant was over so they formed Il Mio Divas.

They now perform annually at the Lake Renaissance Festival in Lower Lake on Memorial Day Weekend (costumed as wenches), as part of The Nobles Singers in the Renaissance Christmas Pageant in December (costumed as nobles), and at various local theatrical productions, parties and wineries. Most recently you saw them in the Vintage Productions presentation of “Romeo and Juliet” at the Soper Reese.

Tickets are on sale now, available online at www.SoperReeseTheatre.com; at the Theatre Box Office, 275 Main St., Lakeport or by calling 707-263-0577.

The box office is open Thursdays and Fridays, 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and on the day of the show for two hours before show time.

The reading will begin at at 7 p.m., at St. John’s Church, Lakeport.

“The Fall of the House of Usher" will be the centerpiece, but a sampling of Poe's poetry and a shorter work entitled “Three Sundays in a Week” also will be included.

There will be a short discussion period after the performance. The event is free.

According to www.americanliterature.com, “The Fall of the House of Usher” unfolds in a gloomy and foreboding atmosphere that draws the reader in as the story builds in suspense while traveling toward its climactic conclusion.

St. John’s is the historical church at 1190 N. Forbes St., at the corner of Clearlake Avenue, in Lakeport.