San Andreas

San Andreas

Rating 6.5 out of 10

With this movie you get what you see in the trailer.  A disaster movie that reminds of the old Earthquake or Towering Inferno movies of the 70s with much better special effects.  You don't expect too much just huge buildings falling right and left and Duane "the Rock" Johnson's huge biceps flexing.  This movie delivers for what it aims for.  Campy action and over the top acting.

Ray Gaines (Johnson) is an ace helicopter pilot on a search and rescue team outside Los Angeles.  Everyone has heard of the dreaded San Andreas fault that runs along the spine of California and how one way the big one would destroy everything.  That time has finally come and it looks like San Francisco is going to get the worst of it.  That's bad for the residents of San Fran but also bad for Ray Gaines as his daughter is there and he must save her.  After he pulls is soon to be ex-wife off the top of a tall building as it's falling during one of the many earthquakes they head North to San Francisco to get their daughter.  It's all action from there.

This movie is entertaining.  You know what you are expecting.  You will get that and not a penny more.

Pitch Perfect 2

Pitch Perfect 2

Rating 8 out of 10

I enjoyed the first Pitch Perfect.  Not as much as my teenage son or my movie buddy Ted, but I liked it.  I didn't (and still don't) think one of the main characters, Fat Amy, was nearly as funny as everyone else did.  I do like the singing and synchronized moves all the groups make.

With Pitch Perfect 2 we join the ladies four years later.  Now most are seniors at the now famous Barton College.  The ladies have won the US Acapella Championships three years in a row.  When they are invited to do a show in front of the president there is disaster when Fat Amys pant's split and no underwear. They are banned from the US Championships and the only way to redeem themselves is to win the World Championships which no US team has ever done.  Rocket science it's not.

The song choices are spot on for the most part.  Dancing is good.  Just a fun way to blow a couple hours.  For me the absolute highlight of the movie is John Michael Higgins and Elizabeth Banks as the two commentators that constantly had me rolling with their un-PC comments.  "Acapella is for those girls not pretty enough to be cheerleaders".

I was entertained.  I would say a tick below the first one yet still worth watching.  My hot date sang every word and bounced in her seat to where I was afraid we we be asked to leave.  That was fun to watch too.

Tomorrowland

Tomorrowland

Rating 4 out of 10

This movie definitely wins with best advertising campaign of the year.  For months I have been seeing the small clips either in movie previews or later on the tv ads.  The clip of the cute girl picking up a pin with a funky looking T on it and is magically taken to another world where people are using jet packs and George Jetson is flying his car to Spacely's Space Sprockets for work.  The ad's show all the pizazz without a clue what the movie is about.  That pretty much describes the movie.  The movie is amazing to look at.  Almost no plot to speak of. 

The movie starts with the young girl Casey (Brittany Robertson from the tv show Under the Dome) who is so smart she helps her rocket scientist dad solve complicated problems yet is so upset they are closing down NASA she keeps sabotaging the destruction of the space shuttle platform.  Thus she ends up spending the night in jail.  When she gets out she finds the cool round pin in her belongings with a big T (1964 Worlds Fair pen).  This magic pen when she touches gives her a glimpse of Tomorrowland.  She later finds out she is being recruited by a little girl to help save the world and Tomorrowland which was built years ago when the smart people realized we were destroying our planet.  

We are half way thru the movie before pretty boy George Clooney joins.  He was recruited when he was a child then thrown out later for not conforming. When Casey shows up on his doorstep it sets off some alarm that sends robot guys there to destroy them both (go figure).  We then find out the people in Tomorrowland realized the crazy way humans have ruined Earth they don't want them up there to ruin it too. Insert Clooney's politics here. The ending will leave you scratching your head if you are still awake. 

The movie runs an hour forty seven minutes and seems much longer.  The visuals were as I said incredible.  The story was boring nonsense.  

Mad Max

Mad Max

Rating 6 out of 10

I am a big fan of the original Mad Max movies.  Specifically the Road Warrior.  The Road Warrior was the first VHS tape I rented when I bought my first VCR back when dinosaurs roamed the earth.  Have watched it a dozen times.  So I was very excited to see the series get a reboot with one of my favorite actors, Tom Hardy playing Max.

With this movie you get what expect from watching the trailer.  Tons of action from start to finish.  This movie is like getting in your neighbors sports car and before you have a chance to get your seatbelt on he puts the pedal to the floor and does not let go until the ride is over.  This isn't really a remake of the Max movies as a reboot.

In the future the world seems to be turning into desert.  Gas is at a premium even though everyone seems to drive cool hot rod cars.  Water is at as much a premium.  There is a big city run by a ruthless bad guy that controls the water named Nux.  He has these bald headed minions that paint themselves white and like to spray paint their teeth silver (don't know why).   The bald white guys capture Max in the beginning of the film after a crazy car chase and hold him draining his pure blood.  At this time Nux is sending out a convoy of his bad guys led by bad gal Furiosa (bald Charlize Theron) on a gas run.  Only Furiosa goes rogue taking off across the desert in an 18 wheel tanker taking Nux's breeding women who all happen to look like Victoria Secret models. Max gets involved and the action continues.

The action is virtually non-stop.  My issues with this movie is it should be called Mad Furiosa as Charlize is much more the star and Max is back up.  That's not terrible.  As you might guess plot line was not a major issue here.  75% of the movie is them driving thru the desert with the bald white guys doing their best to bring them down.  The ending was a little goofy for my taste.

I was still entertained and felt I got my monies worth.  I gave it a six.  My movie buddy Ted whom I would have seen this with would have given it an eight.

El Machina

El Machina

Rating 6.5 out of 10

This is a movie most of you probably have not even heard of.  I saw a preview a month ago and thought it sounded interesting.  It came out the same weekend as the Avengers so it was clearly lost in the shuffle.  This movie is the anti-Avengers.  While the Avengers is all bam and wow action from the first frame and stars a plenty.  El Machina is basically a three star movie with alot of dialog.   Why they named it El Machina I have no idea.

Here we have a reclusive billionaire genius who has invented a realistic female robot with artificial intelligence.  He is Nathan Bateman (Played by Oscar Isaac- the best character actor working today). He brings in a young programmer and internet expert to "test" his robot and give his opinion  on how the artificial intelligence works.  Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson- He was in a movie I liked alot About Time a few years ago) spends time with Ava (the beautiful Alicia Vikander) every day talking to her and testing her.  She is so realistic he begins to have feelings for her.

Caleb begins being torn between Ava and the crazy billionaire Nathan.  There is alot of good dialog that moves at a fairly slow pace.  Crazy things happen at the end.

I was entertained even though a few times I wanted the pace to pick up a bit. They really need to change that name.  It makes it seem like some foreign language film.

This is a good rental.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Rating 8 out of 10

When the original Avengers came out in 2012 (three years ago???)  I geeked out and consider it one of my top ten favorites of all time.  LOVED it.  So needless to say I greatly anticipated the release of this new version of Avengers and yes the bar was set pretty high.  While I think the first one was probably better Avengers: Age of Ultron is a great movie.

Ultra takes up a few years after the Avengers saved the world and destroyed New York City.  This movie starts off with the Avengers moving in on a not so secret hideout of some really bad Germans that somehow have the magical pitch fork thing from the last movie.  Not sure how the bad guys got it but they don't stand a chance in holding it.  Once the Avengers get it back before Thor can fly home with it Tony Stark (Ironman) gets his hands on it and tries to come up with a magical robot that would end all wars and create peace on Earth. The problem is the magical robot (Ultron) decides the only way to have total peace is to kill all humans.  This is bad.

The Avengers once again battle the bad guys and sometimes each other to save the world.  A couple new people are introduced and a few are brought back from the past and or other movies (Captain America).  The action is first rate as you would expect.  If I were going to nit pick a bit (not that I'd ever do that) I'd complain that the bad guys they battle in this movie are alot like the bad guys in the last.  I do like the new characters and enjoyed the movie a good bit.