MAD FREAKING MAX: FURY FREAKING ROAD

Many thought that Mel Gibson’s fall from glory made Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome the last installment in the Mad Max franchise, ending it on a very, very low note. Thank God the director wasn’t gonna be satisfied with that. Now, 30 years after the last and least of the series, a 70 year old George Miller, director of Happy Feet and Babe 2: Pig in the City, as well as the entire Mad Max series, returns to bring the Australian post-apocalyptic action series back to it’s former glory. Mad Max: Fury Road is the perfect reboot, recapturing everything great about Max’s old adventures and leaving out all of the bad. Tom Hardy is flawless in the role of the titular character, just as good as Mel Gibson, Charlize Theron portrayed a powerful and dangerous heroine known as Imperator Furiosa, and Nicholas Hoult played a “war boy” named Nux. The villain, Immortan Joe, was played by Hugh Keays-Byrne, who happened to be the same actor as the one who played the antagonist in the first Mad Max. No film is flawless, but, well, I don’t know, maybe this one is. Everything was style and action, excitement and thrills, and yet, it didn’t seem to matter that there wasn’t much else. There were so many different ways the movie showed power and meaning without much dialogue. I mean, I could watch this dubbed in any language and still understand what was going on most of the time. The meaning came from the way each character was presented, what they were trying to do, and how they acted differently from the start to finish. For example, one might start out just trying to make it out alive, and end up saving the day. Then again, who really even cares about that stuff, I mean there’s a character who has bloody jagged teeth and no eyes and is playing a guitar/axe/flamethrower on a truck full of speakers. That’s honestly enough to get me to the theater. No need for a summary or anything like that, it’s another straight-on A+.

Avenge it again!!

The Avengers broke box office records and hooked millions of people onto the superhero genre. Now, Avengers: Age of Ultron is continuing to do the same. Ultron focuses on the evil AI named, you guessed it, Ultron. He challenges the Avengers and tears them apart, so they have to reunite to take down this ever growing threat. There's a lot wrong with this film, and a lot right too. To start with, it perfectly grasped the exciting, colorful feeling we get from the comics, though it felt like it lost a bit of seriousness that it could have used. Ultron, voiced brilliantly by James Spader, is ever threatening and seemingly unstoppable, or at least that's how it should have been. I didn't like the way he joked around and acted like a normal, awkward human. It took away from his powerful and dangerous roots and made him a joke. His plan seemed inconvenient, too, as it would be so easy for a computer connected to the whole world's network to launch all of earth's nuclear missiles. We were introduced to a number of new heroes, all of which I was a huge fan of. I don't need to go into them, but they're all very likable and had strong bonds to each other and the rest of the team. It was a one-of-a-kind experience, with all these colorful characters fighting and making an awesome team based off of their own special selves. One way I judge the quality of a team up movie is I ask myself if I'd enjoy a solo movie of each of the team members. Of course, we've seen a solo Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, and Thor, so the only ones left are Hawkeye, Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Vision. The answer is yes. Definitely yes. This movie is an over-the-top thrill ride. It's full of witty humor and some of the best action I've ever seen on film. What it lacks in suspense and tensity, it makes up in fun and nerdiness. It perfectly recreates the mood and spirit of the first with new characters to create a beautiful (possibly not the best use of the word) joy ride that entertains anyone. A+