RealHumanBean

After three decades, Mad Max returns to cinemas. I had high hopes for the fourth installment (to my knowledge confirmed as a midquel between Road Warrior and Beyond Thunderdome) and the return of George Miller's direction gave me hope, even without Based Mel. That is why I am happy to report that Fury Road wholly delivered. It is not as good as Road Warrior, but hey, being 2nd best ain't too bad.

I'll start with the obvious. Tom Hardy is great as Max and is worthy as a successor to Based Mel. His Max carries all the nuances Mel carried and while not as dynamic as Mel Hardy still keeps his stoic demeanor flawlessly through the film. A newcomer in the series is Charlize Theron as the warrior Imperator Furiosa. She's totally badass, even more so then The Amazonian in Road Warrior. She may be one of the coolest female badasses I've seen.

Speaking of these two, what makes Fury Road work as an action movie is how fragile Max and Furiosa are. The peril is real as is the threat of them dying. It is easy to root for them and feels great to see them succeed. However, it is just as easy to root for the villains. They're so delightfully insane that it's just pure jot to see them on screen. One dude has a powdered wig made of bullets and sits in a chair mounted to a car. Another dude is eyeless and rides on top of a car playing a flaming electric guitar for a majority of the film. The villain of the film, Immortan Joe, while not nearly as good as Lord Humungus from Road Warrior, is still pretty cool and his design is one of the best villain designs I've seen in a while.

The guy who steals the show is Nux, played by Nicholas Hoult. He is so insane it is awesome, and his character arc throughout the film is strong, poignant, and genuine. Goofy like the Gyro Captain, but also a tragically well written character, Nux serves as the most memorable side character. Good thing he has lots of screen time. The War Boys in general may easily be the best and most fun group of baddies I've ever seen in a movie. On the downside, the sex slaves Immortan Joe is chasing aren't memorable and are just kinda there and some of their dialogue is confusing. They're walking talking MacGuffins, but what else could they be?

The thing to be most commended is the action. Fury Road starts fast and never lets up. It is basically one long action scene, but the action is so visceral, intense, genuine, and mad that it never gets old or tiring. This is without a doubt the best and most fun blockbuster action I have seen in a theater in quite some time. The direction is pitch perfect and the editing is high octane. The sound also perfectly accompanies the direction in bringing these sweeping car fights to life. The sound effects are perfect and the score, ranging from classical or booming orchestral, compliments each scene.

The plot is-oh come on who watches Mad Max for the plot? There's a truck. In it are sex slaves a tyrant wants. Max gets tangled. Drive away from the tyrant or die trying. That is Fury Road. It serves its purpose and echoes a typical Mad Max plot and serving as a segway into the mind blowing action scenes. For all its runtime the movie is entertaining as Hell while also being masterfully crafted.

In short, this is the Mad Max movie George Miller dreamed of making. As a Mad Max film, it succeeds in leaps and bounds. It is one of the most intense and thrilling action movies I've ever seen and rights all the wrongs commercialized blockbuster have inflicted. Nostalgic without ever feeling rehashed, this trip down Fury Road is one Hell of a ride that should not be missed. Please, I urge you to go see this film if you are A) A Mad Max fan B) An action movie fan C) One who actually cares about great quality high budget movies not about rehashed superheroes or toy lines.

Don't let this suffer the same fate as Dredd. Help the return of the violent R rated testosterone high action movie succeed.

Ex Machina is the first film by writer and director Alex Garland. It stars Domhnall Gleeson as a man who is tasked by a scientist played by Oscar Isaac to watch over a robot played by Alicia Vikander to see if she is really AI or not.

The strongest point in the film is the acting. There's very few characters in the film and the setting is very claustrophobic. This puts the focus of the film on tight discussions made by the small cast. Tension is high and only increases as the film goes on. Oscar Isaac is excellent as the scientist Nathan. His character is very interesting and has lots of nuances. Alicia Vikander is pitch perfect as the android Ava and she is a very unique cinema robot. Domhnall Gleeson, whom I like as an actor, was only serviceable in the film. This is more the script's fault than his performance. He is not given much to do despite being the protagonist and he starts to behave out of character towards the end.

The direction is mesmerizing and makes even the sluggish parts of the film enthralling. It is shocking to me that this is Garland's first film. He shows lots of potential. Unfortunately, the script isn't strong enough to support the excellent cinematography and visuals. It builds tension up until the finale, but rather than pay off the finale is just a cliché'd mess. Characters behave irrationally, a small little decision is acted without any rational thought put into it, and the ending itself was extremely predictable. The score is also mediocre and is more of that trend in indie films where they think quiet ambiance = a film score.

There isn't much else to say about Ex Machina. It's a beautifully looking movie and the acting makes it as interesting as it can be given the flawed and uninspired script. I can say it is leagues better than Chappie at least. However, it doesn't bring any new and fresh ideas or themes to the genre, making it a pretty forgettable foray into the AI subgenre of science fiction.

Lost River is Ryan Gosling's directorial debut that follows a single mother in a Michigan town who is swept into a dark underworld, while her teenage son discovers a road that leads him to a secret underwater town. It's also a complete trainwreck.

I'll start with my most important point. Ryan Gosling has done a fantastic job, regardless of this being his first film as director. The cinematography is breaktaking. The score is mesmerizing. The actors all seem like they know what they're doing. And that's it. The writing, also by Gosling, is aimless and empty. He tries too hard to be deep, symbolic, and expressionist. The central theme (Chasing the American Dream) has been done to death, and done much better by even Gosling's peers like Nicolas Winding Refin, whom it feels like he's trying to replicate.

The first half is solid. It sets up the characters and plot very well. But then it slowly degenerates as the running time races on. The final third in particular is a jumbled and rushed mess that screeches to a premature conclusion with many character arcs either unsolved or unsatisfied. The performances themselves aren't very standout. Christina Hendricks is ample as the single mother but she never gets a chance to shine. Actually, that's something I can say about everyone. Their acting wasn't bad, but they have nothing to do. They're hollow shells. It makes the plot hard to care about and makes it feel like it's being dragged on despite it also being too short and rushed.

From what I know, the film was poorly received at Cannes and 15 minutes were cut out. I wonder if these 15 minutes would make the film better or worse. It's a shame. There is some great talent and originality at work here, but it's squandered by a quite frankly terrible script. Pure style over substance, but man is the style nice to look at and hear.