Mad Max Fury Road Review

"What a Lovely Day"

I was not too familiar with the Mad Max franchise, I was aware of it and the trailers for this movie were pretty decent. After hearing and seeing the reception this movie had gotten I was very eager to see and wow it did not disappoint. Mad Max Fury Road a tremendous action movie and will probably end up being the best action movie this year.

Hi my name is Joe

This movie is essentially 1-2 large action sequences and they are amazing. There is a lot going on but its easy to follow, the practical effects look great. The movie has logic too it and more or less feel grounded. There is also so much detail in everything from the vehicles to the weapons, the movie also looks great there is a ton of eye candy and the dessert look works really well. I think above all else and what sets Mad Max Fury road a part form something like the Avengers is that it feels dangerous. You know Max has to live at least but whether its Max, Furiosa etc. it feels like one wrong move could spell the end and it kind of is like that. Its often something very small or minor that causes something to go wrong and throughout the movie you are pretty much on the edge of your seat.

Like I mentioned before the world is very detailed, between the society/cult that the War Boys have developed to how the cars are outfitted. Things like the pseudo religion around the V8 or even terms like the organic mechanic bring so much depth and detail to the world that makes it feel lived in. The characters are also very well done and well done and develop through their actions rather than through exposition, which is fair enough hard to have a deep conversation when your being chased by a bunch of marauders. Max is the main character and hints of his backstory are given but the real star is as many people have said Furiosa. While we don’t here too much about Furiosa backstory she is definitely the driving force of the movie, she instigates the whole conflict and while we don’t know what she has done for/under Joe it must have been a lot to make redemption such a big motivation for her. While Max by no means take a back seat he is more of a lens through which the audience experiences the movie. The wives are pretty great, they are all very unique and have their strengths and weaknesses. Much praise to Rosie Huntington Whitely who was terrible in Transformers 3 but shows up here showing that she can act. Nux the War Boy is pretty great and has a really good arc during the movie. And Immortan Joe wow what an amazing villain, he looks like the final boss of a video game and has an amazing presence.

Anyway Believe the hype This movie was amazing. Go See it!

10/10

Disclaimer: One of the Accounts I work on at work is Roadshow, the distributor for WB Films including Mad Max. I also worked on the campaign for this movie at work.

Kingsman: The Secret Service Review

Kickass Spy movie

Thug Life

Initially had pretty low expectations, had seen the trailers and it looked pretty average.  After learning it was directed by Mathew Vaughn(Kick-Ass, Xmen First Class) and had an R Rating my interest was piqued though the trailers still gave my doubts. Anyway after seeing it I have to say it was pretty tremendous, it really was a Kickass Spy Movie.

Stand out of the cast was defiantly Colin Firth, being known for his dramas and romantic comedies you don’t really know what to expect but wow he was really good and had some great action scenes especially a certain one he as in a church. Rest of the cast was fine, Sam Jackson's(Richmond Valentine) accent was kind of strange but overall good villain, the protagonist "Eggsy"(Taron Egerton) was good, "Roxy"(Sophie Cookson) was decent though I wish she did more and Sofia Boutella as Gazelle, (Richmond Valentine 2IC) was really good and had some great fight scenes. Mark Hamill is also in sounding like a less crazy British version of the Joker.

Story was fairly interesting, it’s a spy movie so a few twists and turns which is to be expected but its not your usual spy movie. It brings some original stuff and is overall also solidly executed. The action was really where it was at, the action is in the same vein as Kick-Ass very violent but really really good and very creative. There isn't too much blood but its definitely there and the damage inflicted is definitely above and beyond what you will see from your usual PG13 action movie.

♫Take me to Church♫

Overall really good movie, did not expect to enjoy it as much as I did. If an action movie a notch above the usual or a spy movie that will probably be way more violent than the next Bond movie sounds good to you than go see this movie you're in for a treat.

9/10

Ray's Top Movie's of 2014

1. Guardians of the Galaxy

2. Gone Girl

3. SnowPiercer

4. Edge of Tomorrow (Live Die Repeat)

5. Grand Budapest Hotel

6. Captain America The Winter Soldier

7. 22 Jump Street

8. Lego Movie

9. Interstellar

10. Hobbit Battle of the Five Armies

Special Mentions: Boyhood, Selma, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Xmen Days of Future Past

Hunger Games Mocking Jay Part 1 Review

Hunger Games Mocking Jay Part 1 

♫This Girl is on Fire♫

I enjoyed this movie for the most part, character wise I think everyone did a good job(save for the President snow.) were interesting, Katniss was not as mopey and actually did some cool shit. Story wise it felt like thing were being dragged out there are some cool action scenes and some good story scenes especially at the end but a lot of it is just people talking in an underground bunker. A few highlights were the propaganda creation scenes since I work in Advertising I found these pretty interesting about the message they were trying to send. The final scene(s) as well were pretty good and yeah that PTSD eh I guess that why it’s a disability. Overall good movie but it looks like the movie probably did not need to be split into 2 parts. 

8/10

Snowpiercer Review

Snowpiercer

Who vows to fight like a man for what’s right night and day

I saw this on plane on a pretty terrible screen but none of that stopped this from being probably one of the best movies I have seen in 2014. Snowpeircer is a I guess technically a Korean film though its in English about the denizens of a train that speeds through a post apocalyptic earth. There is a class system on the train and it follows the passengers from the back(lowest class) and their attempts to get to the front. Its not your typical movie being based on a French graphic novel "Le Transperceneige" , directed by a Korean and primarily in English.

This movie was amazing , quite the surprise, I had heard good things about it but did not expect it too be as good as it was. Characters were really good, very interesting and the actors behind theme did a terrific job, especially Tilda Swinton and Chris Evans.  Action was pretty good as well, there is not too much of it but what is there is was very well done. Story was really good, find out about the train and its take on issues in the real world be in global warming or the wealth gap. The journey through the train is very interesting and seeing all the different carts and the people in them gives the movie a good progression and there is a lot of creativity on display.

I wholly recommend seeing this movie, not sure how easy it is to see at the moment but if you get a chance or know where to get things on the internet than it’s a really good watch and you won't regret it.

Overall really good movie one of the best of 2014(even if it's actually from 2013)

9/10

Go See this Movie

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Hobbit Battle of the Five Armies Review

Hobbit Battle of the Five Armies Review

One Shot, One Kill

Saw this movie twice for some reason ill start with the movie itself then talk about the HFR.

On the movie I thought it was pretty decent for what it was. Action was good story was I guess interesting enough although there are a few too many favorable coincidences. The characters were fine Bilbo was good, bard was cool, the elf king was fabulous , and Thorin Oakenshield becoming a bit of a villain was pretty good. Some of the shoehorned cameos during the LOTR avengers scene were a bit out of place but it was still cool. The movie is not perfect though and there is quite a bit to pick a part. The CG was very heavy handed, it looked nice and all but between the colour palate, and heavy use the battles looked straight out of a game and really have any soul to them. Still cool but were not really as grounded as LOTR and had a sort of mythological look, retelling of a great battle look to them, like retelling a glorious battle.

Create your own stories with the new Nemesis System

Some of the things the characters did were also a bit off, Legolas has a silly moment and the portrayal of the lake town army militia was a bit strange in once scene they are grabbing gear from old armories then during the battle they look like peasant militia.

One of the most off things about the movie was the ending, possible spoilers but it is really abrupt. LOTR had closure for everyone but in the hobbit the battle is won then Bilbo heads home. We don’t see anything rebuilt we don’t see what happens to humans, dwarves and elves and there is a weird scene trying to tie the hobbit to Lord of the Rings in an extremely heavy handed way.

The movie plays around with the theme of obsession but does not really capitalize on it super well most of the various characters, armies etc. are fixated on something but there isn't really any attempt to show how similar they actually are.

One last thing the damn adviser there are so many opportunities to kill the guy and he does not die during the movie other characters die not him which kind of sucks

On HFR3D

So I was this movie twice once in regular HFR3D and a second time on IMAX HRF 3D. Now I'm generally fine with HFR I think its overall better especially for certain scenes and I think it does add to the hobbit. But it does have its issues certain CG heavy scenes look like they are out of game and sets/costumes can look fake especially at the beginning. IMAX HFR 3D was considerably better than regular HFR 3D the issues were still there but it was not as bad and I felt like everything came together better. If you have the option I recommend IMAX HRF3D

Overall decent movie, it probably did not need to be 3 movies I'm sure a 2hr cut will be better or maybe re-cutting the hobbit as a miniseries would be good idea. Good movie not perfect sad to see middle earth go.

8/10

 

Fury Review

Fury

This was an ok movie, there was nothing really wrong with it but nothing super great. Cast was fine, action was fine, story was fine, I did have a few gripes though. Everything basically happens in one day the rookie character. He has like 50(I exaggerate) life changing, milestone events happen to him in about the space of a day. I get war can have that effect on people but 1 day seems a bit fast. The "lasers" in the trailer turn out to be tracer rounds and they are not as prevalent in the movie.

Overall the movie was pretty average and you could probably easily watch something a lot better.

6/10