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.

True Story

True Story 

Rating 6 out of 10

This movie didn't get much press.  Most have not even heard of it.  True Story is actually based on a true story.  Back in 2001 Michael Finkel while writing for the New York Times was found guilty of plagiarism.  He embellished his story on some African children and lost his job and creditability.  Not long after he found out that accused murder Christian Longo was picked up in Mexico telling everyone he was the writer.  Guess he didn't hear about the plagiarism.  In real life the two looked a good bit alike.  In the movie not so much. Finkel is played by the chubby again Jonah Hill and Christian Longo is played by the creepy again James Franco.

Longo was accused of killing his wife and children, stuffing them into suitcases and throwing them into the Oregon ocean.  Finkel having no work reaches out to Longo only to find out he is a big fan.  He agrees to give Finkel the scoop on his story if he will in return help him with his creative writing.  The guy is clearly nuts.

The movie is interesting although it creeps along at a fairly slow pace.  Finkel's wife is not crazy about her husband hanging with a murder.  Finkel thinks of this as a way to get back on top. The movie tracks from their meet on through the murder trial. The acting is pretty good even though I'm not a fan of Jonah Hill or James Franco.

This would make a good rainy day rental.

So that Happened: A Memoir

So that Happened: A Memoir

Rating 8.5 out of 10

I have been trying to get back into listening to audio books again on my long drives rather than my XM radio or podcasts.  I like audio biographies.  Just about any audio biography will do.  I wouldn't call my self a big fan of Jon Cryer, but I knew a good bit of his work and consider myself a Two and Half Men fan.  I have seen Cryer on several talk shows pushing the book and thought I'd give it a try. I am very glad I did.  

Cryer is a funny guy and turns out knows how to write an entertaining book while making fun of himself more than anything else.  One thing about audio biographies tho is the people always tend to over explain their childhood.  Jon does this a bit although not enough that I was tempted to skip ahead.  

He does not leave anything out or sugar coat any lumps he may have taken.  One of his first movies was with Demi Moore called No Small Affair (which I actually saw in 1984).  During this film he and Demi had a romantic fling.  Which became a crazy topic when he later co-stared with her second husband Ashton Kutcher.  He talks about making Pretty in Pink and how he didn't really care for Molly Ringwald or Andrew McCarthy.  Talks about plenty of his failures.  About people thinking he was gay (he likes girls) roles he almost got (Chandler on Friends).  He goes into detail about landing the part of Alan Harper on Two and Half Men and goes into great detail of the meltdown Charlie Sheen had.  

I found the book highly entertaining and flowed quickly.  Laughed alot.  I consider myself more of a Cryer fan than when I started.  

Furious 7

Furious 7

Rating 7.5 out of 10

The blockbuster season has begun with the seventh edition of the Fast and Furious series that began with few expectations back in 2001.  Hard to believe that when the first one came out no one knew who Paul Walker or Vin Diesel was.  Jordan Brewster was considered the star name of the movie.  Fourteen years and billion$ later we roll into one of the biggest money making franchises in movie history.  The first movie was mainly based on fast cars and hot women.  The series has evolved into more of a super hero fantasy where cars fly and our stars can leap buildings with a single bound.  That makes for some loud exciting park your brain at the door/ don't think about the plot sort of way.

Seven begins where Furious 6 left off.  The brother of the bad guy the gang disposed of is mad and out for revenge.  That is a bad thing when that brother is Jason Statham.  He is out to kill the whole Furious gang and has the tools to do it.  The movie starts with an epic fight scene between Statham and The Rock inside the LA FBI office.  Testosterone flies as they crash thru glass walls.

Once the gang figures out Statham is out to kill them they fight back to avenge the death of their Asian friend by going on the attack.  They join forces with Kurt Russell who runs some unnamed CIA type of government special unit.  Russell wants a chip that a computer guru invented that can use   all existing cameras to locate anyone in the world.  Unfortunately the computer person has been kidnapped by bad guys. The Furious gang are the only ones that can save her by parachuting in cars from 10,000 feet that drop their fast cars on the winding road behind the caravan taking her to the torture room.

As I said park the brain at the door.  Maybe leave it at home.  It's been rumored that I can pick a movie apart from time to time and it took real effort here.  Of course you can drive a car off a 300 foot cliff and survive without a bruise if your car has a metal cage on the inside to protect you.  This movie has several laugh out loud crazy stunts that had me rolling and impressed.

If you liked the other Furious movie you will be entertained with this one.  Duane Johnson has taken the movie to a new level and Statham is on of the best bad guys around.  I was entertained even though all the absurdity.

The Gunman

The Gunman

Rating 5 out of 10

This has been the dead zone for dumping movies.  I haven't been motivated to see anything in some time.  I was out of town and looking for something to kill time.  I decided to give Sean Penn's new movie a chance.  If nothing else I'd get some action.  Sadly that's about all there is here and the action is not that great.

Sean plays James Terrier, an ex-special forces turned hired gun in the Congo where goons are trying to extend the fighting there to give them more time to plunder the natural resources (gold, silver, diamonds).  When he crosses a line he didn't want to cross he retires and leaves the country.  Fast forward eight years later and Terrier is doing good helping the poor in Africa when some goons show up looking for the "white man".  This of course means something has surfaced about the covert mission eight years ago and bad guys are out to kill him.  Then the fun begins.

Penn shows off his new Superman style abs as he chain smokes thru the movie.  They try to hide the paint by numbers plot by making it so complicated you can't really follow it.  Or maybe I just lost interest.

There are a couple good action scenes and Penn does everything he can.  This will make a decent rental on a slow rainy day or maybe watching on cable.  I would not pay full price for this movie.