MYST Post #6: Mad Max: Fury Road

I have never seen any of the Mad Max films, and neither had my dad. All I know is that they were a trilogy of post-apocalytpic insane adventure films from the 70's and 80's starring Mel Gibson and that they were apparently really good. So although the trailers of insane action and actors Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron whom I love are what drew me to the theatre to catch this movie, it was the fourth entry in a franchise who's last movie came out around 30 years ago, and that hasn't usually been a formula for success.

And all I can say is, this ain't no Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

This is by far the best movie I've seen in theaters all year, and probably the most fun theatre-going experience I've had since I saw The Dark Knight Rises in 2013. This is a movie that deserves to be seen on the big screen more than a lot of films I can think of. Yes, I absolutely loved films such as Birdman and Boyhood, but I saw those after their theatrical releases and on my TV at home and I didn't feel like I'd lost anything by not seeing it in the theatre. I know this movie would not have made nearly as gigantic of an impact that it made on me had I not seen it on the big screen. Mad Max: Fury Road is basically one giant chase scene, on which the characters are attempting to get from Point A to Point B, to a different Point that slightly surprised me in the best way possible. This is originality in every sense of the word, the set design, the costumes, and the characters are all some of the most creative and inventive things I've ever seen, and they're all born out of the mind of Director George Miller, who basically slaps the action in the face with a film that doesn't tell, but shows every other action movie today what they're doing wrong and how to do it right. The action is insane, chaotic, and purely crazy. But it's a controlled crazy. There's no shaky-cam, you don't get lost in what's happening, every single moment of action is easy to follow and exciting to marvel at. The editing is fast and energetic but doesn't lose you and only enhances the visceral feeling you get from them. With 90% real, practical effects, in a world so filled to the brim with green screens and CGI, you can feel the reality of the danger. Yes the action's a bit out there and cartoony, but the action stays within the laws of the world that the movie has set up for itself, and it is a sight to behold.

This is by far one of the greatest action movies I've ever seen, and although it's mostly because of the action, it's because of other things too. Like a stunning turn by Charlize Theron as Furiosa, an emotional character arc by Nicolas Hoult as you see the emotion behind one of the cronies of the bad guy and what role he plays, and a classic B-Movie villain in Immortan Joe. Tom Hardy is solid as Max and provides the eyes for which the audience sees the messed up world, even if Max himself is also pretty crazy. But although the story may seem somewhat thin, it's great because of Miller's reluctance to hold the audience's hand, and his trust in them to understand the plot as it unfolds, lets the audience and characters go through the story together, and uses the great work of Theron and Hardy to show what they're feeling or their intentions in a single stare. Miller has probably created the most feminist action blockbuster I've ever seen, with Theron basically being the main action star, and a slew of strong female supporting characters that upends the damsel in distress cliche. And every shot of this movie is a painting, because the cinematography and color schemes used in the film are some of the most stylized and cool of any action movie I've ever seen. All in all, I absolutely loved this movie and am probably going to see it again, which is why I give Mad Max: Fury Road a 5 out of 5.

MYST Post #5: Avengers: Age of Ultron

I don't like Superhero movies a lot, the only ones that I like are The Dark Knight Trilogy.

…

And Iron Man.

…

And Spiderman 2.

…

And the Avengers, Captain America: Winter Soldier, X-Men: Days of Future Past-

Ok so I REALLY like superhero movies. But that's not a bad thing. Sure the amount of them has become has become excessive and they're the biggest moneymakers in movies right now, but for every Iron Man 2, there's the Dark Knight. And for every Green Lantern, there's the Avengers. So like any genre it has the good and the bad, but lately Marvel Studios has been doing incredible work including Guardians of the Galaxy, a fun space opera in the vein of Star Wars, Captain America: Winter Soldier, a 70's style espionage and conspiracy thriller, and the Avengers, all around one of the most fun experience you'll have watching a movie. So here we are with the sequel to the Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron.

The first thing one asks when seeing a sequel to a beloved movie is, "Is it as good as the original?" While although this is an unfair thing to ask of a film, to be a better than another, Avengers: Age of Ultron is not as good as it's predecessor, but that doesn't mean that it's a bad movie at all. Quite the contrary I really liked Avengers 2. First of all you're reunited with all the characters from the first one that you love and the clever writing and banter between the characters in the quieter moments is just as fun to watch and amazing as the technically incredible action sequences though while at some moments is a little to reliant on CGI and can seem fake at certain times, overall delivers a lot of the same incredible cinematic battles and action-interplay between the heroes that we've taken for granted from these movies. The villain, voiced and motion-captured by the fantastic James Spader, Ultron is a compelling and sarcastically funny villain with real motivation but towards the beginning is developed far too quickly and becomes a villain so rapidly it's a little bit jarring and out of nowhere. And there are moments throughout the film in which some scenes feel a little arbitrary and feel a little bit like they were only created as setups for future Marvel Universe films. The Hulk vs. Iron Man Hulkbuster Armor fight is incredible, and the development of Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye as a man amongst these Gods was a nice surprise as he felt underdeveloped in the last movie, and here comes off as one of the most compelling characters in the film. And again back is Joss Whedon's witty and clever script that consistently produces some of the funniest laughs and moments you will find in any superhero movie ever, and the best part is, is that his humor isn't derived from gags or setups for jokes, but from us the audience knowing the characters so well and how they operate together, at times begrudgingly, which makes for some hilarious moments that don't undermine the serious moments and beats throughout the film. Overall I had a great time with Avengers: Age of Ultron, although not as good as the original, it still gives us more of what we love in the humor, action, and characters that we've come to cherish in these films. I give Avengers: Age of Ultron a 3.8 out of 5.

MYST POST #4: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Let's just get one thing straight right off the bat. After watching this movie there are now only two things that I am afraid of in this world: Apes eventually becoming smarter and taking over the Earth.

…

And spiders.

Definitely spiders.

But yes, now after watching Director Matt Reeves's Dawn of the Planet of the Apes I can definitely list the possible monkey takeover of civilization as one of my fears that will probably one day come to fruition if we keep spending all our time checking Facebook and Twitter and don't check the lock on the orangoutang cages every once in a while. Reeves previous work includes the found-footage monster movie Cloverfield, and you can definitely see that the director has a great skill in gradually building tension throughout an entire film. In Cloverfield it was the increasing destruction and danger of the monster and the anxiety about what the actual monster looks like until the final reveal at the end. And here, you see him go to work in slowly but surely raising the tension throughout the entire movie between the colony of now-intelligent and advanced apes, and the band of struggling humans who've survived the plague that wiped out most of humanity, as they work to find peace and avoid war. And if you've ever seen any promotional material for the film and this being part-action movie, you know the whole "peace" thing doesn't work out. But that doesn't mean you know exactly where the story's going because there were a couple times that I was caught off guard by the film and it kept me on my toes causing me to think that this was not going to have a cookie-cutter, Hollywood cliche-filled, good-guys-triumph-over-bad kind of ending. One instance is when you see an ape walking through human territory, and the humans pick up their guns and are ready to shoot until they see how innocent the ape is kind of just rolling around and laughing and acting very childish, the humans then put down their guns and begin to interact with the ape. He then jokingly grabs one of their guns and begin to flaunt it around as if he doesn't know what it is still laughing. And then quickly turns on them and shoots and kills one of them, as he stares down the other for a good couple of seconds with a menacing grin and kills him as well. This is a perfect example of taking a situation that the audience might be familiar with ("the two sides comings together to find maybe they're not so different" cliche) and then flipping it on its head and jarring your expectations completely. It also serves as an incredible introduction to the character of Koba, one of the antagonists of the film who wants war and not peace with the humans, and in one scene Reeves effectively shows the menace, intelligence, and brutality of his character and basically everything you need to know about him in one scene. 

And yes the movie is an action movie, but it's also a movie about humanity, that has real poignant drama, well-timed small doses of humor, and performances that are Oscarworthy, mainly that of Andy Serkis. The motion-capture technology used to capture an actor's performance and then digitally recreated to turn him into, in this case, an ape, is probably some of the best I've ever seen. And his character Caesar is not just a technical marvel, but he is one of the most compelling characters that I've seen on screen in a while, he has hopes and dreams, he's a loving father and husband with a family, and he's a leader with good qualities and also flaws like any person. Ironically Caesar is the most human character in the movie…AND HE'S NOT EVEN HUMAN! 

Overall the film was very well-made and left me with little to no complaints, my only real complaint is that I wish there was little more to the ending after the big conflict/battle, a little more resolution. And that a few of the human characters were a little one note. But other than that, the movie has stellar action sequences, some of the most human characters I've seen on film in a while, a story that is not predictable in any way, some fantastic and tense direction by Reeves, and an incredible performance by Serkis. I'm going to give Dawn of the Planet of the Apes a 4.75 out of 5. It's one of the best movies I've seen in a long time.