Mad Max: Fury Road
For me the original Mad Max trilogy is hit or miss. The first film was pretty raw, but not without its charm and cool low-budget action sequences. The second is an action masterpiece, an extremely strange masterpiece, but a masterpiece nonetheless.The third film is absolute shit. I mean "2 men enter 1 man leaves" is a catchy phrase and all, but that is literally the only redeemable part of the movie. It is essentially apocalyptic Australian Neverland with Tina Turner, aka garbage. I think I gave it a 2/10 in my review 2 years ago. I had heard good things about this new flick but I was still a little hesitant to believe that it could be as good as everyone said. Afterall, it had been 30 years since George Miller made Beyond Thunderdome and they had replaced Mel Gibson in his iconic role. The movie cost $150M which seems astronomical considering the inherent risk of returning to the Austraulian desert wasteland after 30 years, but every single dollar is apparent on the screen. Simply one of the most breathtaking flicks I have ever seen. Glad I spent the extra bucks to see it on an IMax screen. The movie is pretty much the epic final chase scene from the second film lengthened to an entire movie. So simplistic of a plot risks losing the audiences attention without anything for them to cling on to. George Miller is able to combat this and add a surprising amount of emotional depth by introducing the badass Furiosa and her quest to free the wives from their evil ruler. While the title might include Mad Max, Furiosa steals the show from the title man. Tom Hardy is alright as Max, he is a little bit more of a klutz than the stoic portrayal Mel made famous, but he is upstaged by Charlize Theron in his own movie. This is not a bad thing tho because Furiosa is an awesome, badass, original character worthy of leading an action epic. There are lots of boring articles online discussing whether or not this was a femenist film, and possible ramifications for the future of Hollywood action films, so check those out if you must. The film delivered everything that fans of the original series wanted, iconic desert imagery, hilarious characters/outfits, and of course EPIC action pieces. The only true weak spot of the film is the villain who is a little forgettable. However that is just a minor gripe as this flick is too fast paced and heart pounding to allow you any time to notice the villains deficiencies. I cannot praise this film enough, prolly rivals Aliens for greatest pure action film ever made. Truly a great summer popcorn flick. Hopefully this flick made enough money that they can greenlight a sequel and fix the mistake of not including Mel Gibson. #LongLiveMel
9.2/10
Nightcrawler
When the rave reviews first started coming out for this movie I initially thought to go see it in theaters, however my reservations at seeing Jake Gyllenhaal staring in it prevented me from doing so. I have to say I am very glad I decided to finally give it a chance and get the blu ray from Netflix. Nightcrawler is a very sleek looking film with an incredibly interesting plot, well written/original characters, and an amazing performance by JG as Lou Bloom. Lou is truly one of the most incredible characters in recent film history. Sort of a psychotic autodidact who believes anything he reads online and stops at nothing to meet his career goals. From the commercials I had some idea of where the movie was going, but I have to say that I was still surprised at how it got there. Although, I have to say that I saw one of the big reveals at the end of the movie coming a mile away. Nevertheless, Nightcrawler is definitely one of the more cooler most original movies to come out in a while, I hope that Dan Gilroy directs some move movies in the future, and I will be eager to check them out if he does. And yes, Jake Gyllenhaal's performance is so good that I think I will finally have to forgive him for Donnie Darko. Highly recommended.
9/10
High Sierra
I am a HUGE fan of both Humphrey Bogart and Film Noirs so when I saw that TCM was having a Film Noir marathon every Friday for the next 2 months I was very excited. Their first marathon included some classics, The Maltese Falcon and M, however I was most interested in watching a HB movie I had never seen before, High Sierra. While this wasn't a bad flick it also wasn't anything special. I was a little surprised that TCM had categorized it as a film noir as there is no femme fatale nor any mystery; I thought it would be more accurately called a Ganster flick. The film included a fine performance by HB, his first staring role pavingd the way for Maltese Falcon later in the year, but there were also several very weak elements to the film. Early Hollywood films are full of nostalgia and charm, but they also have a tendency to be a little too light hearted for my liking. There is some cool scenery and a few interesting characters but the film lacked any true feeling of suspense. If you haven't seen an HB flick before and want to know what he is all about I would start with The Maltese Falcon or Treasure of the Sierra Madre. I would only watch High Sierra, if like me, you are a huge HB fan and want to see his entire catalog.
5/10
Jurassic World
Been seeing a lot of positive buzz about the latest Jurassic Park sequel, Jurassic World. While the original is an absolute classic, and star Chris Pratt certainly has some charisma, I think people need to have more restrained expectations. If you are still super pumped after watching the below clip from the film then you are either delusional or an idiot.
Hold onto your butts...
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