Tomorrowland

Tomorrowland, the latest film from director Brad Bird just confirms what I have always thought of him as a director, that he should stick to directing animated movies. His live action films (there have only been two and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol was his first) have always left me wanting for more. His animated work like The Incredibles and The Iron Giant on the other hand were highly entertaining. He needs to go back to that art form because Tomorrowland is only getting two buckets of Killer Korn and that's me being generous.












Tomorrowland's marketing campaign had me curious about checking out this tepid film. The trailer was genius, okay genius may be too strong a word but it was very smart. Casting George Clooney as Frank Walker the irascible old man was undoubtedly a coup but even he couldn't save this slowly sinking ship and hey, this ship be sinking. George stars opposite Britt Robertson who plays Casey Newton and their dynamic bordered on annoying. There's also Athena, an all knowing recruiter for Tomorrowland played by Raffey Cassidy. Now to be quite honest none of this movie made any sense and the plot holes were immense.

Written by the slightly less than talented Damon Lindelof whose only really decent credit on his resume was being a writer the hit TV series Lost. He also wrote Star Trek: Into Darkness and Ghost Protocol but outside of those two projects his other works are too weak to mention. Brad Bird and Jeff Jensen also had a hand in this $190/240 million dollar capsizing wreck. Basically this was Disney trying to turn another ride of theirs into a movie (Pirates of the Caribbean was the first attempt) and they failed miserably. I really can't see Disney turning a profit on this one. It rates a zero on the Matthews' shits and giggles scale.

Tomorrowland doesn't make you laugh, cry, or make you feel anything at all. There's very little suspense or thrills and even the kids in the audience (and there were quite a few) found it boring and they were obviously the targeted demographic. Maybe in the hands of another studio this movie could have been something interesting but it had that kid friendly Disney feel all over it and kids today are far too sophisticated for that. They are watching Daredevil on Netflix and Game of Thrones on HBO (when mom and dad aren't around) and Tomorrowland can't compete with that on any level. The movie is not even visually or emotionally arresting and I found myself looking forward to the end. Oscar award winning composer Michael Gacchiano put together a rather good score without much to work with and sadly it was wasted on this schlock. Skip this tepid movie and see Mad Max: Fury Road again, trust me you'll be happier and I'll see you at the theater.  

Mad Max: Fury Road

Mad Max: Fury Road, the latest film by George Miller is light on story but full on with action and it's the action that simply takes your breath away. This movie is an over the top, testosterone fueled, relentless spectacle that takes the Mad Max brand to another level. I have never seen anything like this movie and I doubt I ever will. I know the movie year is just getting started and there's a certain movie about a war amongst the stars that has yet to come but right now Mad Max: Fury Road is the most entertaining movie of the year. I can't help but give it four and a half buckets of Killer Korn.










I'm just going to start my blog off with this...HOLY SHIT!!!!! Mad Max: Fury Road is one movie I am definitely going to see again. It's got so much of what you want and what you need in a Mad Max movie along with some things you don't want. However, the good outweighs the bad so much that you can easily ignore that pesky bad stuff. Tom Hardy this time is the laconic/frenzied survivor Max taking the place of Mel Gibson and he looks like he was born to play the part. Where Mel was lithe and looked like he wouldn't be able to take or give a sufficient ass whooping, Tom is hulking and comes across as someone you don't really want to fuck with even when he's locked up. The lovely Charlize Theron plays Imperator Furiosa and  believe me when I tell you, you have never seen Charlize like this before. I had no idea she had the chops to do the action stuff but you buy it when you see it and that's all that matters. The rest of the cast includes Nicholas Hoult who plays Nux, Hugh Keays-Byrne who plays Immortan Joe, Zoe Kravitz, Josh Helman, Nathan Jones, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Riley Keough, Abbey Lee, and Courtney Eaton. The rest of the cast doesn't really matter, trust me.

Now remember when I said how the good outweighed the bad and how the good was SO good that you'd ignore the bad? Well if you know me then you know how much a good story impacts heavily on how much I like or dislike a film. This movie, yeah it's super light on story, paper thin in fact (not to mention it's in annoying 3D) BUT the shit that goes on as this movie rambles and rumbles down Fury Road is so jaw-droppingly sick that you'll forgive George, Brendan McCarthy, and Nick Lathouris for taking writing credit on this. The fact that three guys wrote this is pretty damn funny when you take into consideration how little dialogue this is and the fact that a fifth grader could have come up with the plot. The saving grace is the fifth grader couldn't have dreamed up these action sequences if you sent him to bed on acid. I would love to give you a hint as to what you should prepare yourself for but fuck that, you're on your own and you know what, you'll thank me. Just know this, I have never ever seen a movie like Mad Max: Fury Road in all my movie going years.

George Miller has truly outdone himself this time. He's made up significantly for the lack of women presence in the previous three Max movies. He's even gave clues to just how broken a man his iconic character is. Something he failed to deal with the first time around. Tom Hardy is right now the man and his chemistry with Charlize is palpable. Those two should definitely do more movies together and if Fury Road does well at the box office, there will be at least one more pairing of these two. The cinematography was beautiful. Shot by Oscar award winner John Seale, not just was the bleakness of the wasteland captured beautifully but so was the muck, the sand, the rock, and the green place. The colors were deep and vibrant and the framing was excellent. Tom Holkenborg aka Junkie XL scored this movie and he definitely impressed me. After his score on 300: Rise of an Empire I was left wanting. Not this time around. On Fury Road he seems to have come into his own, evolving as a musician and realizing the difference between putting music in a movie and scoring. Well done sir. Since the second line of this entry revealed that I have every intention of seeing this movie again then you can best believe that I highly recommend Mad Max: Fury Road. It is without a fucking doubt one of the best shits and giggles film ever made and I'll see you at the theater.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Avengers: Age of Ultron is the latest film from writer/director Joss Whedon and his new movie is a roller coaster spectacle of a ride. While it is widely known that I despised the first Avengers movie due to many reasons, it seems that Joss set out to redeem himself and he absolutely succeeded. Age of Ultron isn't perfect but it is an incredible improvement over it's predecessor and because of that I give Avengers: Age of Ultron four and a half buckets of Killer Korn.












This action/adventure movie is chock full of shits and giggles and that in my humble opinion is what the first Avengers film was missing. Comparing the two films, Age of Ultron succeeds on far greater levels that Avengers ever did. That may be due to less pressure on Whedon because in truth he did it already. He's already brought the greatest collection of super heroes to the big screen anyone has ever seen. Granted he still needed to bring the bang (which he did in ridiculous ways), but Age of Ultron couldn't possibly be worse than the first one so he had nowhere to go but up and up is just where Joss went. The cast is pretty much the same this time around with a few cool cameos thrown in for good measure. Robert Downey Jr. reprises his role as Iron Man, Chris Hemsworth is back as Thor, Scarlett Johansson is the Black Widow again, Mark Ruffalo plays Bruce Banner/The Hulk, Chris Evens plays Steve Rogers/Captain America, and Samuel L. Jackson is back as the one eyed Nick Fury. Also joining the cast this time is James Spader who adds quite the frightening element to the villain Ultron, and Paul Bettany who plays Vision (one of my favorite heroes from my childhood).

Tony Stark is delving into artificial intelligence because he's still somewhat anxiety riddled from his missile guiding shenanigans in the first Avengers. He wants to build an iron shield around the earth to defend it from all comers, so there won't be a need for The Avengers anymore. He needs Loki's scepter to aid in that process, a process which fails miserably. Tony's creation would be called Ultron and when he comes online he immediately attacks Jarvis (removing all competition) and begins to craft a plan to destroy mankind with an extinction level event. It's that event that's kind of hard to swallow but the point is made that mankind is destined to destroy itself because it's in our nature. I don't mind Ultron's plan so much because the skirmish between Iron Man and the Hulk was worth the price of admission alone. It was hilarious, ferocious, ridiculously violent, and all around wonderful. It makes up for Ultron's hokey event. Bottom line is there was a far more concrete story with great 3D and graphics than there was in the first. Cohesive plot? Cute love story? Shits and giggles? CHECK ALL THE BOXES!!!

Flying in on the cameo carpet is War Machine played by Don Cheadle and the Falcon played by Anthony Mackie. Those two characters along with Quicksilver played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson and the Scarlett Witch played by Elizabeth Olson. Three out of those four will formulate the new Avengers. Now War Machine and Falcon together is unprecedented. Two talented Black actors in a major franchise like this gives me hope that diversity is FINALLY coming, which is definitely a good start. Now interestingly enough not everyone who worked on the first movie came back for the second. Alan Silvestri, the man behind the heroic theme of the Avengers passed on scoring the sequel. Picking up the scoring duties here are Danny Elfman and Bryan Tyler. Not that you could tell the difference between Alan's score and what Danny and Bryan did. They basically scored the film using Silvestri's musical cues from the first film. Same heroic and dramatic themes Silvestri blessed the first film with are all throughout this film. Honestly if I were Silvestri I would demand a check be cut in my name. All in all though, Avengers:Age of Ultron is a must see, loud, fun spectacle that's worthy of repeat viewings so I may see you on line if not at the theater.