Tommorowland (2015)

Tomorrowland is a Science Fantasy movie set in the present day.

I saw this film yesterday in a cinema in Singapore with a friend.

George Clooney and Britt Robertson star in Tomorrowland as Frank Walker and Casey Newton respectively. Frank (Clooney) is a boy genius, while Newton (Robertson) plays a dreamer who loves space. They are assigned the task of saving the world by Athena, played by Raffey Cassidy. I feel like this sums up the characters to a tee as most character depth is replaced by one liners etc.

They must travel to Tomorrowland, run by David Nix (Hugh Laurie) a world filled with the potential for the future. When they complete their task, they may be able to save our reality.

My heart sank when the movie started as the ending was given away within one minute. Unfortunately, this kills the momentum and impact that the rest of the movie could have had. It also means that while the movie while the movie has enjoyable moments, it was never exciting.

This movie also acts as a travel advertisement aimed at getting children to annoy their parent. The first third of this movie included an advert for Disneyland. While the second third includes an advert for the Eiffel Tower.

There are moments in this movie when Physics are thrown out of the window. This is alright in most movies, however this one is a science based movie. Even though it is science fantasy, there are certain  elements that should be scientifically based. 

When Nix is introduced for the second time in this movie, his role is obvious. When he explains his motivation, I find myself agreeing with his logic. I feel that for a movie such as this, this shouldn't be the case. There is something wrong when you feel that the protagonists journey is vague.

The performances were lacklustre from the entire cast, who made it obvious that this was a paycheque movie. The momentum is killed from the get go and unfortunately most of the characters are a deep as a paddling pool.

While I did not enjoy this movie, I have to note that Tomorrowland is not a movie aimed at adults in any way.

Number of times I looked at my watch: Seven

Recommendation: Have your kids watch it while you do whatever else you want to do. 

All feedback is welcome, have a great day.

Mad Max 4: Fury Road (2015)

Mad Max: Fury Road is an action movie set in post apocalyptic Australia.

To pre-empt this review, I saw the movie in 3-D IMAX.

Tom Hardy takes up the mantle of Max Rockatansky, a man silenced by his madness and solitude. He meets Imperatore Furiosa (Charlize Theron) and a group of women, played by Zoe Kravitz, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Abbey Lee, Riley Keogh and Courtney Eaton. They are joined by War Boy Nux, portrayed by Nicholas Hoult.

This movie is great. The performances all around had a great understanding of their characters. Max is the lens through which the audience sees the world. A man who is unwillingly thrust into helping Furiosa and the women. This is the Max from the previous movies. Quiet, with a tough exterior and a softened interior.

Charlize Theron is the stand out character in this movie. Her character holds the primary protagonist role alongside Max. Her story is the one that drives the movie. The impressive thing about this movie is that she could match Max in any way. Max and Furiosa compliment each other well, one compensating for the others flaws. This helps make the film great.

Nux is the character who evolves the most in the movie. His transformation serves as a nice way of demonstrating the change in one of the movie.

Regarding the group of women, they all have their role to fill, and evolve over the course of the movie. Zoe Kravitz and Rosie Huntington-Whitely stand out regarding their performances.

Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) is a hulking, almost god like villain who has a silent power over all characters. It is incredible how menacing the character can appear, given his lack of dialogue. His power and reputation was built well by other characters. He is a flawed character, but that makes him more relatable.

Regarding the story, it is well done. It takes what is the equivalent of a long car chase and turns it into an evolving story. Where most directors would have solely has car chases, this film uses the chase to forge the characters into who they are by the end of the movie. It is a testament to cinema that something like this can still occurring a summer movie.

The story has layers and allows every character to have human moments and human motivations. It allows the audience to feel a moment of empathy for every character, no exceptions.

The action in this movie is non stop and creative. You can feel every flame and explosion. The vehicles, expanding on the characters and helping to highlight the post apocalyptic destruction. The universe is best shown through the action as the vehicles show how crazy the world has become.

This is a world that I am happy to see return. It is showing how the wasteland has evolved into tribes over time. Each tribe has their own style.

This movie is a great movie to watch. Tom Hardy is an actor that I am happy to see bring back the character of Max Rockatansky. This is a must watch film, which has so far been my summer movie of the year.

Number of times I looked at my watch: Zero

Recommendation: Watch it. IMAX is better. 

All feedback is welcome, have a great day.

Mad Max 3: Beyond the Thunderdome (1985)

Mad Max 3 is an Australian movie set in a post apocalyptic future.

I find this movie difficult to review as I am unsure what I think about it after this viewing. The reason for this is that this movie feels like two movies being squashed into one. Each half of the film could be very interesting by itself, but together there is something not quite right.

The first half of this movie involves Max (Mel Gibson) going to Barter Town to track his stolen stuff. There he meets Aunty Entity (Tina Turner), who asks him to take out Master/Blaster (Angelo Rossitto/Paul Larsson).

This half of the movie tells an interesting tale about the rebuilding of civilisation. Very basic rules are in place, but it is still a little bit savage. Aunty attempts to rule with a iron fist, but the civil conflict with Master Blaster stands in her way. The building of tension was very good. The ending of that part is full of tension.

The second half is about the first generation post apocalypse. It tells the story of children searching for Tomorrow Morrow Land. Max is rescued by a group of children who believe that he can fly them to safety. He tries to convince them that he is not the saviour.

This tale is the weaker of the two, most of that could also be due to the fact that it relies heavily on child actors. From most movies that I have seen, children are a weak part of most movies, partially due to an inability to fully control their emotions. Either way, they made the film seem weaker.

Mel Gibsons portrayal of Max Rockatansky is as good as ever. He is joined again by Bruce Spence, this time portraying Jedidiah the Pilot, a new character despite the similarities.

The biggest problems of the series start when the two storylines collide. These are two storylines that didn't really fit together. It seemed as if they were jammed together in order to have the traditional vehicle based action scenes of the previous two instalments. 

It also seems like it was the only reason to have the seemingly invincible Ironbar Bassey (Angry Anderson). Here is a character I am unable to understand at all. He is a fierce warrior, but there was no motivation for his action bar the fact that he is Auntys henchman. I say he is invincible, because he didn't die despite being beaten and blown up.

The action scene is ruined by it. What could have been very good is ruined by the lack of risk brought about by Bassey's lack of death.

Mad Max 3 is a decent set of two movies, ruined by the attempt to mash theses storylines together.

Number of times I looked at my watch: Six

Recommendation: Watch only if you want the full Mad Max experience, or want to attempt to watch the experiment. 

All feedback is welcome, have a great day.

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)

Mad Max 2 is an Australian movie set in a post apocalyptic future.

This movie delves deeper into George Millers post apocalyptic world by introducing the audience to the wasteland. The Wasteland is a barren land that was only teased in the original Mad Max.

The introduction to the movie does something important by both showing and telling the audience the history of the world of Max. It serves that audience well as it means that nobody has to have seem the original Mad Max to understand the film.

Mel Gibson returns to the role of Max Rockatansky, this time hardened by a long life on the road. All in all, this is my favourite portrayal of Max so far as it seems to be the most iconic. This Max is fundamentally selfish. Everything he does is for his own benefit.

In this instalment he is joined by the Gyro Captain, very well played by Bruce Spence as well as a group of gas hoarders. The most notable of these hoarders is "Feral Boy", superbly portrayed by Emil Minty. 

Opposing these hoarders are a gang lead by the Humungus (Kjell Nilsson), a gang whose actions make them fierce and rabid. The actions of this gang make the audience fear them as they are unpredictable, despite "The Humungus's" control and order over them. A prime example of this is with Wez (Vernon Wells), the attack dog of the gang, who runs purely on emotion.

While the film clearly tries to state who the good guys are, as well as the bad guys, I tend to disagree. This situation, like most in this world, is a case of moral ambiguity. Our protagonist only gets involved with a side because he wanted something. It adds an extra dimension about how you and your loved one would survive in a similar situation.

Millers characters jump off the screen as they seem so surreal. It is easy to get lost with theses characters at times. The one thing which both the actors and crew need to be acknowledged for is how characters are unable to say much, but their actions tell a thousand words, each of which expands the scope of the movie.

The cinematography of the movie is beautiful. It shows how much focus Miller has to every detail of the universe that he is building. This is highlighted in the vehicle based action. Every turn is made to intensify the action. This is how to do car stunts and I am not sure that I have seen any of this quality since this movie was released.

Mad Max 2: Road Warrior is a fantastic movie that builds, and significantly improves on the original.

Number of times I looked at my watch: Zero

Recommendation: Watch it if you have the opportunity. 

All feedback is welcome, have a great day.

Spooks: The Greater Good (2015)

Spooks it a tense spy thriller which delivers on everything fans of the series expect.

Spooks: The Greater Good tells the story of Will Holloway (portrayed by Kit Harrington), a former MI-5 agent, who is sent in search of Harry Pearce (Peter Firth), a spymaster who recently disappeared after a bungled operation.  This is the minimum I can say about the movie without spoiling anything, however I still feel like it is too much.

For anyone who expects an action packed spy movie, please think again. This film is all about the cat and mouse games as everyone attempts to work out who is allied with whom. To me, it gives what is possibly one of the most realistic portrayals of being a spy that I can imagine on screen.

Everything about this movie is presented in a matter of fact way, including the fights. The action was not the prettiest, or the best choreographed, but it gave the sense of real people, who have some training, fighting.

This movie is not about Kit Harringtons character, but rather a case study of Harry Pearce, portrayed by Peter Firth. Firth steps back into his role from the TV series and it fits him like a glove. The cold persona has only become icier with time. It makes me want to watch all of his moves intently. As a fan of the tv shows, it felt like putting on a pair of slippers and returning to a forgotten, yet comfortable, routine.

The twists and turns that this movie provides make this a movie where one is genuinely unable to predict what would happen next. Telling the story through the eyes of Kit Harrington's Will Holloway is a clever move as it only helps further the legend of Harry Pearce. This move also allows the viewer to learn about the inner working of the service from an outsiders perspective, making it easier to digest for newcomers to this particular world.

Regarding fan service, this movie had a ton of it, but it remained subtle. Most of the service was fortunately used to help either advance the plot or better develop characters.

The cinematography in this movie was a massive homage to scenery. Every panoramic appears to be a love affair with the area being filmed.

This film is a perfect example of how to transfer a TV show to film in a way that satisfies both fans of the series and newcomers alike.

Number of times I looked at my watch: Zero

Recommendation: If the lack of action bores you, this film may not be for you. A must if you are a fan of the Spooks TV show.

I hope you enjoyed this review, please let me know what other movies you would like me to review.

Have a great day. Looking forward to your feedback.

Mad Max (1979)

With two weeks before Mad Max Fury Foad (2015) is released, I have decided to review the original trilogy of movies in honour of it. So let's rev our engines and begin.

Mad Max is an Australian movie set in the near future.

Mel Gibson plays the titular Max, an officer (bronze) with the MFD who drives one of their interceptors. Max has a loving wife and child. He is seeking to retire from his job in order to live the quiet life with them.

To solely base this review on the character of Max would be unfair as in its hearts, Mad Max is an ensemble piece.  It takes the characters that surround Max and uses them to highlight the different facets of his life. Goose, his partner in the MFD, represents Max's desire to be a cop, while his wife Jessie represents his happiness and stability.

I am going to post a spoiler here, as the movie came out in 1979. As he loses each of these characters, he loses what they represent to him.

The villains in the piece, the motorcycle gang names the Acolytes are delightfully kooky, each member manages to have their own personality. The highlights of this gang for me are the faithful second Bubba Zanetti and the charismatic leader Toecutter.

Toecutters charisma oozes off the screen. It is difficult not to be enamoured by his natural persuasiveness.

Regarding the story, it is a typical police fair, someone who wants to get out but keeps getting dragged back in. 

The story is heightened by the setting and incredible cinematography. It nailed its characters in such a way that the world feels lived in. You can feel the breaking of society at its hinges. This feeling makes Mad Max feel like an origin story. The creation of a legend.

This feeling is only highlighted when the V8 is introduced. It is set as the potential final final vehicle.

For an origin, this is one of the greatest origin that I have watched in a while. The story is simple, but the purpose of that is to help build the world and the characters. 

This is a great origin story for hero. Something to definitely watch.

Number of times I looked at my watch: Zero

Recommendation: Give a watch before watching the other Mad Max movies. 

All feedback is welcome, have a great day.