Mad Max: Fury Road - MAD Indeed!

Mad Max: Fury Road movie review

 

I am no fan of the Mad Max movie franchise, but I have seen the 1st Mad Max and 1/2 of Mad Max 2 & 3 on television. For as long as 30 years, several people last saw Mad Max on the big screen when Beyond Thunderdome was released, and a lot of changes have happened since then. Not just in what passes for action franchise movie-making today, but also in the world of the post-apocalyptic anti-hero himself. Mel Gibson, the former titular character with the black leather jacket with a tragic past, has now been replaced with English actor Tom Hardy in what is now an ageless role.

When we first meet Hardy’s Max, he’s seemingly stuck somewhere between The Road Warrior and Beyond Thunderdome -- still in command of his iconic supercharged V8 from the former film, but also sporting the long locks of the latter. A chase begins almost immediately -- a mere appetizer for the feature-length pursuit that makes up the guts of Fury Road -- and results in Max being held captive in the Citadel, the mountaineous headquarters of the ghastly Immortan Joe.

Instead of execution, Max's punishment must be more severe!

The ambiguous backstory has been a hallmark for George Miller's series, and this enables him to reset Fury Road effectively. Is this a remake, a reboot, a sequel, or a fusion of all three? It does not matter at that point. The world painted here is reminiscent of that imagined in the previous films, and at the same next level. It took the evolution of the End of the World to its next logical, jarring, yet at times beautiful place.

Charlize Theron’s Imperator Furiosa is a high-ranking warlord of Immortan Joe’s army. The protagonist of the movie, she goes on the run from Joe alongside his Five Wives on a specially-designed War Rig. Max’s equal in physicality, driving skills, and tortured past, the one-armed Furiosa stands at the forefront of a cast full of imposing female characters that also includes “The Wives” -- and a group of gun-wielding, dirt-bike riding grannies who almost steal the show. Of course, Miller has often excelled in such portrayals.
 

Decent movie and all, but someone should've told Charlize she had sh*t on her face the whole time.

What I loved the most about the film is the eye-gouging action sequences, so this means audiences are witnessing non-CGI visual effects on the screen. From several cars crashing and flying in the air to a tanker truck exploding right in front of your face, there is nothing more that anybody could demand for in this action flick! Combined with the feral Australian outback setting and the post-apocalyptic ambience, it is a rollercoaster ride filled with mad action, mad violence, and mad intensity.

Fury Road frequently undermines such expectations. Not that any Mad Max fan would anticipate (or want) romance for the character, but Miller works hard to keep the viewer off-balance in general. A particular arc involving one of The Wives sets up a storytelling trope, then does a 180-degree turn away from that, then sets up another trope before doing yet another 180. And this is all capped off by one of the secondary villains, Nathan Jones' perfectly named Rictus Erectus, delivering a moment of genuine pathos as he yells plaintively into the wind. Brilliant.
  

What a lovely day indeed!

I do wonder how the typical moviegoer will react to Fury Road’s unwillingness to play by 2015’s mainstream multiplex rules. But the trailers for this film have not lied; the action is insane, even more so when one considers that so much of it was achieved through practical means, and that a large part of the movie is made up of that central chase.

The over-the-top stunts and eccentric characters and designs are all hugely important to Fury Road, as are the troubled figures like Max himself and Furiosa, but it’s the overriding sense of the film’s uniqueness. Like the world it creates, it is a thing of beautiful brutality.
Mad Max: Fury Road, from my perspective, undoubtedly and definitely deserves an outstanding rating of 9/10!

Avengers: Age of Ultron - A MARVEL of a Movie!

Avengers: Age of Ultron movie review

I started to become a fan of the superhero film genre ever since I watched The Incredible Hulk on the big screen, which persuaded me to go see later superhero movies at the cinema. At first, I thought that those kind of movies were just a form of mindless escapism, but then I realized that they were more than that. They're exploring the superheroes' backgrounds through dramatic storytelling and action-packed sequences, and that is what I like the most about Marvel movies. So now, I would be giving out about my thoughts on 'Age of Ultron'.

To begin, I was simply astonishined of how the sequel managed to recapture the magic and excitement when Earth's Mightiest Heroes were assembled onscreen for the first time, especially when they appeared in each others' films in the last couple of years. Still, as far as sequels go, -- not traditionally Marvel Studios' strongest entries until Captain America: The Winter Soldier -- Avengers: Age of Ultron is a solid and entertaining followup.

It's ironic because Disney bought Marvel! (if you know what I mean)

It's a small miracle that Age of Ultron doesn't collapse under its own weight.  But ultimately the film's laden with numerous moving parts, some of which call attention to its story mechanics and forced elements.

While 'Age of Ultron' is often comedic with Ultron having his fair share of laughs, the story has an ominous core. This stems from what Scarlet Witch shows most of the superheroes: ''visions'' which simultaneously travel back to the heroes' backstories, from Black Widow's Salt-like past and Captain America's further establishment as a man out of time, while also foreshadowing events for Marvel Cinematic Universe's Phase 3 films. These revelations begin to show the cracks within the ranks of the team, but it's ultimately the actions of Stark that causes most of the bad blood between team members.
 

My reaction to the Bruce/Natasha romantic subplot

Yes, Natasha now has an interest for Banner, a romance which seems to come completely out of the blue given the aloof nature of her character and her past closeness to both Cap and Hawkeye. We're supposed to believe that they each see themselves as cold-blood assassins so that's the basis for their bond, but the whole star-crossed lovers angle just feels forced.

The widening gap between Cap and Stark seems to set up the main element for Captain America: Civil War and we also get a sense of which Avengers will be on which side of that looming battle.

An epic brofist...of SCIENCE!

The Avenger's new additions, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and the Vision, all get their moments to shine in the spotlight. Taylor-Johnson's Quicksilver is definitely a secondary character, but his and his sister Wanda's past drives their evolution from antagonists to Avengers. Olsen makes the most of what she can with Scarlet Witch, a role that doesn't really allow her to show much range until the homestretch.

OK, enough about our heroes. What about the titular villain?  As portrayed by Spader, Ultron is as brilliant as his egotistical co-inventor Stark. He's more a doppleganger to Tony -- one wants to destroy humanity, the other wants to save it -- than the Pinocchio to his Geppetto despite what the film's use of that classic Disney song would have you think. Spader's Ultron owns the screen whenever he's on it. Loki may be the most charismatic MCU villain and the Winter Soldier the most physically intimidating, but Ultron offers a perfect cocktail of the former's charm and the latter's aggression.

Ultimately, Avengers: Age of Ultron can't recapture the charm and majesty of seeing Earth's Mightiest Heroes assembled for the first time. That said, it's still a lot of fun and offers plenty of great action and character moments. Although the movie wasn't as thrilling as the first installment, I would still rate this movie an 8/10!

I literally cheered when I saw this!

Star Trek review coming soon!

What's up people! Sometime this month, I will be releasing a Star Trek review which some of you may have known through my Instagram, but if not then you'll be aware of it in this post.

Next month, otherwise known as the start of the season of summer movies, expect reviews of highly-anticipated blockbusters on this blog such as Avengers: Age of Ultron and Mad Max: Fury Road. Until then, keep posted on more details for the coming month!

Furious 7 - A Heartwarming Farewell

Furious 7 movie review  

Even after Paul Walker's sudden, tragic death, audiences worldwide have been anticipating the latest installment of the franchise for nearly 2 years. Like any other F&F movie, it is mostly about defying physics, fast cars, and high-octane action sequences. Having written that, it also managed to pay tribute to the late celebrity in a unique send-off.

In Furious 7, Dom's crew are now seen living ordinary lives after the events of the previous film when Owen Shaw's brother, Deckard, enters as the film's Winter Soldier when he carries out an assassination on former crew member Han in urban Tokyo. After Deckard nearly succeeds on killing DSS agent Luke Hobbs, Dom is forced to recruit his team for one last ride against Shaw.
 

Earn that paycheck, Tyrese!

The plot of Furious 7, I would say, is slightly scrambled. It is a plot where the crew are shuttling between L.A., Azerbaijan, Abu Dhabi and back, with the wall-to-wall action sequences in between being long enough for Tyrese Gibson to crack a joke or Vin Diesel wooing Michelle Rodriguez' character who's still experiencing amnesia. This includes a heart-throbbing scene when the antagonists skydive with cars from high up onto a mountain range. It seems unrealistic, but what can I say, it's just Fast & Furious after all.

Kurt Russell is introduced as Mr. Nobody, a mysterious government official, when he offers the crew to obtain God's Eye, the supercomputer from The Dark Knight invented by Ramsey. I thought it served as an intriguing plot device, but in the story itself it is inadvertently nonsensical. Furious 7 does cut back on the overcomplicated plot, horror movie director James Wan does try to flex on high-budget, adrenaline-fueled action.

Ocean's Eleven 2.0

I was almost lost just by watching the climax, as the fight sequences were all interconnected but lousily arranged. The rest of the crew split up to allow Ramsey shut down God's eye, Dom dealing with his 'business' with Shaw, with Hobbs leaving the hospital to save the team, and can cut away randomly at any time.

Despite the movie indulges in one or two action sequences too many, I thought the tribute was well-executed with a touching speech and clips of PW from previous movies. I didn't even try to think of a better ending after the 1st and 2nd viewing.

If only Dom had shot Shaw in the first place, this movie would've ended in 5 minutes.

For the sake of Paul Walker, I will be rating Furious 7 a satisfactory score of 7.5/10!

Last but not least, I just want to share a Furious 7 TV spot which nearly moved me to tears:

SpongeBob SquarePants: Sponge Out of Water - The Cartoon Avengers?

SpongeBob SquarePants: Sponge Out of Water movie review

As a huge fan to both the original series and the first ever Spongebob movie released in 2004, I was quite glad to hear of the long-awaited sequel "Sponge Out of Water". I can try and shake off my fandom towards the series, but then admittedly the SpongeBob cartoon is intended to be entertaining for all age groups that contains very clever elements to it. What I've noticed is that it still uses the classic cartoon tradition of "one character annoys the hell out of another character".

To start off this review,  I would say that Sponge Out of Water is a family movie of moderate quality. It has got a few surreal, comedic moments, but also a few of them a huge heaping mess. I know, it is unusual to criticize something like this to be untethered, but when it prevents the plot to feel the way it should you felt like you received a mixture of various SpongeBob episodes cramped into one feature film.

The plot, however, was loaded with *ahem* clichés. I know several Hollywood blockbusters I can think of which do this, such as Captain America: The Winter Soldier a.k.a my favorite movie. The "secondary-protagonist-dies-but-not-really' and the "primary-protagonist's-best-friend-gets-brainwashed" clichés actually entertained me, but what I'm saying is that the movie has unfortunately not succeeded in being original. In my opinion, if another SpongeBob sequel is under development, I would hope for it to possess an original plot.

Was it SpongeBob who got the idea of filling the script with clichés?

Don't get me wrong, I completely enjoyed the character's performances. The movie made use of most of the show's ensemble, like Mr. Crabs (Clancy Brown), Squidward (Rodger Bumpass), and Sandy Squirrel (Carolyn Lawrence). Also, in place with SpongeBob's previous pairing with his ever-faithful companion Patrick Star is the alliance he formed with the miniscule series villain Plankton. It is a matter that has been discovered many times on the series before, but it is still a lot of fun and excitement here.

As for the visuals, the live-action/ animation 3D hybrid was executed perfectly through a technical point-of-view. I found nothing incomplete from the CG. However, it still places 2nd to "The Lego Movie", the movie with stop-motionesque animation that was rendered thoroughly and complicatedly.

Great, another superhero team!

 To conclude, Spongebob: Sponge Out of Water brings every series character together which feels like a true ensemble with a scoop of comedic, dramatic, and goofy moments. But also it feels like it ran down a kitchen sink that makes it a collection of great ideas thrown together like clay. Having written all that, I would give this film a highly agreeable score of a 7.5/10!

 

Lone Survivor - Marky Mark Enlists In The U.S. Navy Seals

Lone Survivor movie review 

  

You know, I feel really grateful when I think of American men & women from the U.S. military forces who have risked their very lives to stand up for their nation. It is another level of bravery, as this is an occupation in which skill can only take a person so far. In Lone Survivor, director Peter Berg recreates the horrifying events that took place in "Operation Red Wings' into a sadistic, emotional, but otherwise interesting movie.

Lone Survivor, as you can tell, was inspired by a true story. In June 2005, four SEALs are sent deep into enemy territory to capture Most Wanted Taliban leader Ahmad Shah, who is responsible for killing more than 20 U.S. Marines as well as villagers who were aiding American soldiers. Halfway into the mission, they are inadvertently discovered by a sheep herder and his two children, and after a lengthy debate they decide to release the villagers over executing them in order to avoid backlash. As they escape, they are greatly outnumbered by an army of Taliban soldiers high up on the Afghan mountains of the Hindu Kush.

"Anything in life worth doing is worth overdoing. Moderation is for cowards."

 The first time I watched this at the movies was with my mother and it was approximately 1 year, 1 month, 25 days ago (not bragging my Math skills or anything), and right after I got out the theatre I decided to go ahead for another viewing with my 2 friends. I didn't have a good reason to watch it a second time as I thought it was really good, and I wasn't a master of movie reviews at the time.

The words "Based on true acts of courage" found on the poster is what haunts me the most. From the title and plot itself, people would know the inevitable ending. But through the determination of the four brothers, you can't help but hope for a change in their fates.

"I understand, and I don't care. I care about you, I care about you, and I care about you."

At its core, Lone Survivor is an American war film. The SEALs are the heroes, the Taliban are enemies, and the heroes are able to fight on like in video games or other movies. In the first 40 minutes, the movie shows a bunch of SEAL recruits training in boot camp, but you won't feel dull of that. After the mission goes awry when accidentally discovered by civilians, they are faced with a decision between killing them and letting go. From here, the intensity begins to climb. What is the right thing to do? What would you do? Faced with that moral situation, they decide to cut them loose - soon after, Taliban forces are hot on their tail.

The next 40 minutes or so, it turns into an action-packed, non-stop brutal gunfight. Many shots were fired, and many injuries were sustained. Tension begins to rise at this part of the movie, and with an abundance of slow-motion shots and clear close-ups of kills and wounds, the excellent direction and cinematography provides a painful journey that makes you cringe or tear up the same as the four soldiers.

"If I don't go home, you don't go home!"

The movie became very emotional towards the cilmax. As you can see, the four men who quarrel in the woods are imperfect — genuine men. The four men who take cover behind a bank of rocks and foliage, preparing for an incoming wave of insurgents are the guys you see on Navy SEAL brochures. The moment the action sequences commence, you begin to feel empathy towards the characters. Stock footage of Navy SEALs, combined with the actors portraying the characters involved in the operation, was placed in the movie to create a realistic atmosphere that moves the viewers into tears.

I thought that this was a beautifully-writen, well-scripted, neatly-acted movie. This is why I will rate this masterpiece an overall rating of 8.5/10!

Lone Survivor, if some of you don't know, is based on the book of the same name written by Marcus Lutrell, the sole survivor of Operation Red Wings. Visit your local bookstore as soon as possible if you wish to buy it.

Lone Survivor by Marcus Lutrell

Lone Survivor review (coming soon!)

Hey guys! I just want to inform you of an imminent review I'll be posting on this blog sometime this week, and the film reviewed will be about modern warfare, called Lone Survivor starring Mark Wahlberg and Ben Foster. This 'based-on-a-true-story' movie was their 2nd collaboration after Contraband.

Next month, I will be reviewing Furious 7, and I'll possibly review Home as well if my schedule isn't 'cramped'. Sit back, relax, and stay tuned for more details on my reviews!