At the Cinema - May 2015

Mad Max:  Fury Road – 10

You’ll like this movie if you liked The Road Warrior and have tried to forget Beyond Thunderdome.

Australian director George Miller launched the un-likeliest of movie franchises when he starred an unknown actor named Mel Gibson in a low-budget gem called Mad Max in 1979.  It was worthy of a sequel.  Now, the sequel to a surprise hit always has a bigger budget and a longer running time.  But it isn’t always a classic like Mad Max 2:  The Road Warrior released in 1981.  How classic?  A recent Rolling Stone Reader’s poll ranked it the number 1 all-time action movie.  More on that poll later.

It’s pretty common that the third movie disappoints, and Mad Max:  Beyond Thunderdome in 1985 lived down to that expectation.  The series seemed to have died and Miller turned his attention to the Babe movies.

Which brings us to 2015 and the amazing Fury Road.

If there is any justice in the world, in about 8 months Mad Max will win the Oscar for Best Cinematography.   I try not to make these statements too quickly, but Fury may be the best chase movie ever made.  There are a number of reasons for that.

First, that’s all it is.  It’s really one long extended chase movie.  It’s full bore and relentless in its action from the first seconds.  By the time it stops to take a breath and kind of explain things, the audience is too amped up to care. 

Second, the stunts are so audacious and realistic that it makes the CGI loaded action movies of today look pretty ridiculous.  I'm sure there's some CGI in the crowd scenes, and one dust bowl scene, but I think everything else is real, or as movie-making real as it gets.

Third, there’s no blurry action.  Movies, especially in flight sequences tend to make you want to believe something happened, instead of showing you.  Here, you see it all and if anything the motion is sped up, yet it's clear as a bell.

Finally, there’s a big surprise.  Tom Hardy ably assumes the Mad Max role.  But it is Charlize Theron as Furiosa (a character worthy of a movie all her own) that carries the narrative of the movie.  I couldn’t have been more surprised.  Not that she can act – I already knew that.  It’s that Miller would essentially gamble the franchise by turning this into a feminist statement of empowerment.  Actors don't win Oscars for roles in action movies, and Charlize shows what an injustice that can be. 

Furiosa is trying to free the sex slaves of the emperor of a water-starved civilization.  She sets off on a breakneck escape and we are soon blessed with actual character development right in the middle of the chaos.  It’s all an amazing achievement in narrative, action, and movie-making.  Don’t ask me how they did it.  While it’s not for everyone, if you like action for action’s sake, this is a movie to savor.  Hold on tight.

Pitch Perfect 2 – 9

You’ll like this movie if you liked Pitch Perfect, and if you like Anna Kendrick, and if you don’t like Anna Kendrick, we need to have a long talk.

Pitch Perfect was a surprise hit in 2012, carried by Kendrick and her musical chops which were honed on Broadway since she was a youngster.  With good musicals not exactly the norm on the big screen it became a cultural phenomenon of sorts, aided by the viral nature of its music.

A sequel was inevitable and you can queue up the rules.  Bigger Budget, longer running time, etc. etc.  It’s kind of the opposite of deflategate.  It’s Inflategate.  First time director Elizabeth Banks goes for it in a big way.  The movie isn’t perfect.  There’s a lot of fluff and filler, extending the running time unnecessarily, probably to justify the budget, and fill out the soundtrack.  It goes on too long, and the ending is inevitable, including a blatant Glee-copy.

Those are the negatives.  The positives dwarf those things and there’s a ton of fun along the way.  The acting and performances are delightful, as that little sprite of talent Anna Kendrick carries the day, while all the supporting characters are terrific as well, including the newest Barden Bella, Haley Steinfeld.

The movie is hilarious, especially in the first 30 minutes when the Bellas are disgraced in a performance for the President and a full house at Lincoln Center.  The setup is thus in place.  They are suspended from competition unless they can win the World Title of A Capella.  Their often uproarious journey is set.  Don’t think too much, just go with it.

The Age of Adaline – 2
At 4 PM on Mother’s day I officially concluded my entertainment obligation for the day when I eagerly left the theater of my yearly chick flick. 

This is the story of Adaline, played stoically by Blake Lively.  Her aging is halted in an accident when her car goes underwater and is struck by lightning.  We know this because there is a narrator to explain it like he’s Rod Serling.  This sets the tone for everything that is wrong with the movie.  When you are not confident in the visual story-telling you are attempting, have someone ominously explain it.  But, of course all narration reminds me of the insipid and insufferable Carrie Bradshaw, so kill me now, which is what I think I said exiting the theater.  Narration is a red flag, and it's just the beginning in this flick.

This is obviously a fantasy, so while there is no expectation of believability in the story, it would be nice if there was something else to grab unto in this movie.  Alas, nothing.  The relationships, the chemistry (or lack thereof), the acting, the narrator, the story, the people – it’s all so lame as to be a snooze fest of the glossiest order.  Even my beloved Ellen Burstyn is so irritating as Adaline’s daughter that it is no wonder everyone is so unhappy.  If “24” returns I expect watching this movie to replace waterboarding in the torture scenes.  If I had to watch this movie looped over and over I'd confess to anything.

The Avengers:  Age of Ultron – 4

It is only because I have the highest regard for director Joss Whedon that I went to see this sequel to the first Avengers movie, which I despised.  I wanted to see if Joss could improve on the first one.  Good news – he has.  Bad News – not by much.

Apparently there is a timeline that extends from the first movie, through a TV series (Marvel’s Agents of Shield) into this movie that will explain what the hell is going on.  The movie starts in full bore action with the Avengers attacking some outpost, and I can only assume a viewer of the TV series would know what was going on.  As for me, I’ve never been lost faster.

There are some good action scenes, and that’s clearly the strong suit here, but this is the 5^th movie that Robert Downey’s Iron Man has appeared in, challenging the Hugh Jackman “Wolverine” perpetual portrayal.  Gosh they must make a lot of dough to keep doing the same thing over and over.  Despite the Whedon banter, none of the superheroes are particularly interesting, and the feeling one gets is that the biggest Issue they had was cramming this story down to 2 ½ hours or so.

I’m not going to even try to tell you what this movie is about above the razzle dazzle, something about a monster robot named Ultron getting artificial intelligence, and becoming a menace to society, more than even a Kardashian.

Halfway through the movie Samuel L Jackson appears because Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman were apparently unavailable to play the token old actor role which the 3 of them must fight over IN EVERY SINGLE MOVIE.

The Avengers will apparently make a boatload of money for Whedon, and I’m happy for him.  Now, please, a sequel to Serenity.  A real story about human beings would be nice.

And in conclusion let’s look at the Rolling Stone’s Reader Poll for Best Action movies:

10 Die Hard

9 Terminator 2:  Judgement Day
8 Raiders of the Lost Ark
7 Rambo
6 Lethal Weapon
5 The Matrix
4 Predator
3 The Bourne Identity
2 Alien
1 The Road Warrior

Here’s mine but I had to turn mine up to 20:

1 Jaws

2 Star Wars
3 Die Hard
4 Terminator 2:  Judgement Day
5 Raiders of the Lost Ark
6 The Abyss
7 Lethal Weapon
8 Serenity
9 The Road Warrior
10 Terminator
11 Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
12 The Warriors
13 Minority Report
14 Kill Bill 2
15 Vanishing Point
16 Saving Private Ryan
17 Alien
18 The Dark Knight Rises
19 The Long Kiss Goodnight 
20 Billy Jack

What’s yours?

At the Cinema - April 2015

Frank Sinatra:  All or Nothing at All – 10

This HBO Documentary is more than just a portrait of the pre-eminent performer of the 20^th Century.  It’s quite simply a history lesson.  Alex Gibney does it again with a fabulous documentary using the plot device of Sinatra’s 1971 retirement concert as the backdrop.  The evolution of society is painted against the evolution of music.  I grew up in a home where his records were played constantly, and my mother the bobby soxer never wavered in her love for Sinatra.  I got to see him in concert, and I understood his importance.  If you do, or do not understand his importance, see this.  The talent, the flaws, the romances, the Mafia, the Kennedys, the influence, are all here.  To say Sinatra lived a full life would be the understatement of that century.

What I remember about listening to Sinatra was the respect he had for each song.  He would give credit to the composer, the arranger, and his band.  He didn’t have the greatest voice, but he had a gift for nuance and inflection, and most importantly he delivered the song like he meant it.  Vocal lessons should start with his catalog, which by the way I still have, although the Sirously Sinatra station on satellite radio has rendered that less necessary.

Gibney shows us why Sinatra was a presence.  In my mother’s last few moments I put my ipod on her pillow and let her leave to Sinatra, because he once said “may the last voice you hear be mine,” and that seemed like a fine idea.

Ex Machina – 8

It was the last day of the month and I realized the improbable had happened.  I hadn’t seen a movie in a theater all month, mostly because I found none interesting.  But this movie looked up my alley – bizarre – so I took a flier.

Oscar Isaac, the guy who played Llewyen Davis, couldn’t be more different here.  He plays tech genius Nathan Bateman who has invented google (although the names have been changed to protect the dominant) and he lives in a secluded compound where he’s programming life-like robots with artificial intelligence.  He brings one of his employees, Caleb Smith (Domhall Gleeson) to his secluded compound to introduce him to his latest creation, Ava.  He wants Caleb to conduct a Turing test – find out how realistic she is.  Well she’s real enough for Caleb to fall for her, and the results are as awkward as well, real romance. 

The setting and the special effects are pretty magical.  It’s a cool movie, although not groundbreaking.  However, the reference to Turing made me think of Alan Turing, whom I assumed the test is named after.  His story is told in The Imitation Game, which was my pick for best movie of 2014.  So, when I left the theater I stopped at Best Buy and bought the newly released blu ray of that movie and watched it again.  Even better the second time.  I also hit the Wikipedia page of “Turing test” and found out why they named the movie “The Imitation Game” which was never explained.  I digress and ramble but there’s a lot to think about here.  In summary, I’ve learned a lot, including don’t fall in love with a robot.