I have been a huge fan of director Christopher Nolan ever since I saw Batman Begins. The man who breathed new life into The Caped Crusader has easily become one of my favorite filmmakers. He really understands that movie-going audiences are very smart these days, and he continues to challenge them and ask them to think outside the box.
Insomnia is about two Los Angeles detectives who are dispatched to the town of Nightmute, Alaska to investigate the homicide of a teenager. In my opinion, it is Christopher Nolan's most under-appreciated film. It is a very tense thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat as the plot progresses. It really is one of those blink-and-you'll-miss-it films that challenges you to pay close attention to every little detail. However, there is a plot-hole in the movie that deserves attention. Shortly after the investigation begins, the detectives arrive at a cabin that they believe is owned by the suspect. However, there is no exposition that explains how they knew to be there. I do not want to discourage people from watching this movie by pointing this out, but it is a very important plot point that should have been explained.
Al Pacino plays Will Dormer, a detective who has reached near-legendary status in the law enforcement ranks. Pacino is very good at playing a cop who is not only possibly nearing the end of his career, but is also somewhat of a mentor to Hilary Swank's character. His performance is also very good for another reason: the town of Nightmute is light outside all day long. It is because of this that Dormer does not get any sleep during the entire investigation. While some people who watch this movie may think that Pacino is "phoning it in" as you might say, I always think that he brilliantly plays someone who has not gotten any sleep while desperately attempting to find the suspect.
Robin Williams brilliantly plays Walter Finch. He is so calm and cool on the outside, yet you can see behind those intelligent eyes that at any moment he is going to snap. I absolutely dig the fact that in a film that is just under two hours, we do not actually see Walter Finch until just over an hour into the film. When you have a film that continues to build tension about the antagonist without actually seeing them, it makes the moment you do see them very gratifying. Also, there is something particular to say about Robin Williams in this movie. The fact that he was in a movie with Al Pacino, and the fact that he upstages Pacino, speaks very highly of his talent as a dramatic actor.
Hilary Swank plays Ellie Burr, a detective who assists Dormer in the investigation. It is very clear from the beginning that she respects and admires Dormer very much. There are even hints that she is starstruck by the fact that he is working with her on the case. Swank masterfully portrays this character as someone who is an intelligent detective, but who also wants to learn as much as she can from Dormer, who is possibly a hero to her.
Christopher Nolan directs this film, and you can clearly see how talented he is, even though he was not as popular in 2002 as he is now. Tonally, this is a very dark film that, combined with stellar cinematography, beautifully captures the feeling of isolation and what it is like to live in Alaska. Dormer is a character who is outside his element in this part of the world, and Nolan knows that. This movie is extremely under-rated, and did not get the attention it deserved when it was in theaters. If you are looking for a real white-knuckle of a movie, I highly recommend you check Insomnia out!
Thursday, July 9, 2015
Stick With What You Are Good At
When I was a boy, I remember seeing countless advertising campaigns for this movie called Kazaam. After all, it was a pretty big deal that NBA superstar Shaquille O'Neal was going to be in a movie. Personally, I find the end result to be a mixed bag. There are some good things about the film, and a whole bunch of bad things.
The movie Kazaam, which also happens to be the name of Shaq's character, is about a young boy named Max who unknowingly releases Kazaam the genie from his lamp, or in this case a boom box. Kazaam must now grant Max three wishes. There are several issues that arise right off the bat with this movie. At the beginning of the film, we are led to believe that Kazaam is trapped in a lamp. That is all well and good, however when Max accidentally releases him, he has somehow gone from being trapped in a lamp to being trapped in boom box, with no given explanation as to why this has happened. Shortly after this scene, there is a sequence where Kazaam gets his powers back (because somehow he lost his powers, although we are never told why that has happened either). Now, because Kazaam is a genie, he can magically appear anywhere. Okay, fine. I can deal with that. However, in the scene where Kazaam gets his powers back, he is chasing Max around an abandoned warehouse on a bicycle. Why doesn't he just keep reappearing places in order to block Max's exit? Also, why does he get his powers back by riding a bicycle at breakneck speed? Couldn't he have gotten his powers back another way? Also, why is Kazaam a rapping genie? Why? Is that his superpower or something? If the filmmakers were going for an original take on a genie, that is fine. Just give me some explanation as to why he raps. Another thing that bothers me about this movie is that whenever Max calls Kazaam (which is very similar to the way Winona Ryder calls Beetlejuice...saying his name a certain number of times and he appears), something very strange happens. The first time Max calls Kazaam, Kazaam is on a date and Max appears in a glass of water and jumps out of the glass onto the table. Why? Is Max a genie now also? The second time Max calls Kazaam, Kazaam magically appears. Now, why doesn't this happen the first time? I thought genies were summoned by their master, not the other way around. There is also a scene where Kazaam stars fading away for some mysterious reason, and then proceeds to Kung-Fu the crap out of the bad guys. He is a genie, right? Can't he just make them magically disappear? One final note here: Kazaam makes it very clear that he cannot grant ethereal wishes. For example, he cannot make people fall in love. He can only grant physical wishes, like wishing for a giant mountain of candy, which actually does happen in the movie. However, Max's final wish is that his father be given a second chance at life. I could be wrong here, but I do not think there is anything physical about making a wish from the heart. Also, Kazaam smiles....A LOT. It is not amusing, either. It is very, very creepy.
For all the shortcomings this movie has, Kazaam is a film that actually has some redeeming qualities. Max is a child of divorce, and this has clearly had an effect on him. He is a smart-ass kid, who gets into trouble at school and has hideouts that he goes to when he just wants to be alone. As a child of divorce myself, I can identify with how Max feels. There are also a couple of very meaningful conversations between Max and Kazaam about how much Max misses his father, and what life as a genie is really like for Kazaam.
Shaquille O'Neal plays the genie Kazaam. I have stated in a previous blog about why I personally think athletes do not make good actors. If Shaq wanted to try his hand at movies like Michael Jordan did, forget about it. He could not beat Jordan on the court, and he cannot beat him off the court either. Stick with what you are good at, Shaq. Keep slam-dunking the ball, and people will continue to love you.
Francis Capra plays Max Connor, and he is actually the best part of the whole movie. He is a wonderful child actor, who just oozes the kind of sassy, smart-mouthed punk that we all knew in school. He is great in the film, and manages to make the movie actually somewhat bearable to watch.
Paul M. Glaser directed this film, and it is very clear right from the beginning that he was going for a movie that is fun for a family to watch. Children are the main target audience here, and there is nothing wrong with that. If this movie were geared for adults, Glaser would have actually cared about the countless plot holes that I have mentioned.
As I mentioned before, this movie is fun for children to watch with their parents. Kids will enjoy it, and adults will analyze it. Watch it for good, family entertainment. That is all I can say.
Big Money
Moneyball is a film that came along at a time when I was really starting to respect Brad Pitt as an actor. He was starting to choose very good projects to become involved in, which made me want to see him more and more in film. I had always wanted to see Moneyball, and I am very happy to have just watched it for the first time because now I plan to watch it over and over again until I know it by heart.
Moneyball is based on the true story of how the general manager of the Oakland A's, Billy Beane, used computer analysis to assemble a winning baseball team on a tight budget. It is even said in the film that using this tactic flies in the face of what baseball scouts have done for over a hundred years. This movie raises many excellent questions, and definitively gives excellent answers to those questions. Are players really worth the money that they are getting paid? Do teams really pass on signing a pitcher because he throws funny? Do age and off-field antics really tell you how good a player is? Well, just because a player is not getting paid good money does not mean he is a bad player. Yes, that pitcher may throw funny, but he gets racks up strikeouts with his pitches. It does not matter to Billy Beane what a player does in his personal life, there is only one thing that matters to him: if you have a good OBP (on base percentage), you can play for the ball club. If Scott Hatteberg does not know how to play first base, then teach him. It is all about the basics with Beane, but nobody else sees that.
Brad Pitt plays Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane. As I mentioned before, this film came along at a time when I was really starting to admire Pitt's work as an actor. I truly believe that in the past few years, he has become true Oscar potential with whatever project he gets involved in, and he proved that when he won the Oscar for 12 Years a Slave as one of the producers on the film. He plays Beane as cool and confident, yet always having this undercurrent of fear that his plan might not work out. While I have not seen Brad Pitt's entire filmography, I can honestly say that of the films of his that I have seen, his role as Billy Beane is my favorite of his.
Jonah Hill plays Peter Brand, an economics major from Yale University, who also gets appointed as Assistant General Manager. I was quite pleasantly surprised with Jonah Hill in this movie. He is mostly known for his comedy which, except for a couple of exceptions, I am not a fan of. However, what I loved about his role in this movie is that he is in many ways the voice of reason for Billy Beane. He teaches Beane that the goal is to get talented players who are undervalued. Not to take anything away from Brad Pitt, but I believe Jonah Hill makes Brad Pitt better in this movie because it really is the back-and-forth between these two actors that is the focus of the film. With this film, and with Wolf of Wall Street, Jonah Hill has become a very good dramatic actor.
It was very bittersweet to see Philip Seymour Hoffman in this movie. He was one of my favorite actors. The bright light that the magic of cinema casts on the world is a bit less bright without his talent. In Moneyball, he plays Oakland A's manager Art Howe, who does not agree at all with the way Billy Beane is running things. He manages the team and fills out the lineup card the way he wants to because he feels he knows better than some executive that sits behind a desk all day long. Hoffman is perfect at playing the old-school, stubborn, cranky manager who plays the game the way he wants to play it.
I have unknowingly become a fan of director Bennett Miller. I was recently going through my movie collection and I realized that, without my knowledge, I have come to own all three of his films. He does such great work with character relationships in his movies. What he does with Moneyball is really quite interesting because he does not just make a movie about the sport of baseball, he makes a movie about the business aspects of baseball. That is one of the many reasons why this movie is as great as it is.
I absolutely loved this movie in every aspect. As much as I love film, it is very rare when I love a movie so much that I cannot take my eyes off it. That is what Moneyball did to me. If you are a fan of sports, or even sports history, I highly recommend you watch this movie. You will not regret it.
Moneyball is based on the true story of how the general manager of the Oakland A's, Billy Beane, used computer analysis to assemble a winning baseball team on a tight budget. It is even said in the film that using this tactic flies in the face of what baseball scouts have done for over a hundred years. This movie raises many excellent questions, and definitively gives excellent answers to those questions. Are players really worth the money that they are getting paid? Do teams really pass on signing a pitcher because he throws funny? Do age and off-field antics really tell you how good a player is? Well, just because a player is not getting paid good money does not mean he is a bad player. Yes, that pitcher may throw funny, but he gets racks up strikeouts with his pitches. It does not matter to Billy Beane what a player does in his personal life, there is only one thing that matters to him: if you have a good OBP (on base percentage), you can play for the ball club. If Scott Hatteberg does not know how to play first base, then teach him. It is all about the basics with Beane, but nobody else sees that.
Brad Pitt plays Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane. As I mentioned before, this film came along at a time when I was really starting to admire Pitt's work as an actor. I truly believe that in the past few years, he has become true Oscar potential with whatever project he gets involved in, and he proved that when he won the Oscar for 12 Years a Slave as one of the producers on the film. He plays Beane as cool and confident, yet always having this undercurrent of fear that his plan might not work out. While I have not seen Brad Pitt's entire filmography, I can honestly say that of the films of his that I have seen, his role as Billy Beane is my favorite of his.
Jonah Hill plays Peter Brand, an economics major from Yale University, who also gets appointed as Assistant General Manager. I was quite pleasantly surprised with Jonah Hill in this movie. He is mostly known for his comedy which, except for a couple of exceptions, I am not a fan of. However, what I loved about his role in this movie is that he is in many ways the voice of reason for Billy Beane. He teaches Beane that the goal is to get talented players who are undervalued. Not to take anything away from Brad Pitt, but I believe Jonah Hill makes Brad Pitt better in this movie because it really is the back-and-forth between these two actors that is the focus of the film. With this film, and with Wolf of Wall Street, Jonah Hill has become a very good dramatic actor.
It was very bittersweet to see Philip Seymour Hoffman in this movie. He was one of my favorite actors. The bright light that the magic of cinema casts on the world is a bit less bright without his talent. In Moneyball, he plays Oakland A's manager Art Howe, who does not agree at all with the way Billy Beane is running things. He manages the team and fills out the lineup card the way he wants to because he feels he knows better than some executive that sits behind a desk all day long. Hoffman is perfect at playing the old-school, stubborn, cranky manager who plays the game the way he wants to play it.
I have unknowingly become a fan of director Bennett Miller. I was recently going through my movie collection and I realized that, without my knowledge, I have come to own all three of his films. He does such great work with character relationships in his movies. What he does with Moneyball is really quite interesting because he does not just make a movie about the sport of baseball, he makes a movie about the business aspects of baseball. That is one of the many reasons why this movie is as great as it is.
I absolutely loved this movie in every aspect. As much as I love film, it is very rare when I love a movie so much that I cannot take my eyes off it. That is what Moneyball did to me. If you are a fan of sports, or even sports history, I highly recommend you watch this movie. You will not regret it.
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Good Game
I just watched He Got Game for the first time. I remember hearing so many good things about the movie back when I was in high school, but I never got the chance to see it. I am very glad I did because this is a very powerful film, and I very proudly give it my "stamp of approval".
He Got Game is a story about Jake Shuttlesworth, a convicted felon, who must try to get his son Jesus to attend Big State to play college basketball. The reason for this particular school is because it is the Governor's alma mater, and he thinks very highly of Jesus. If Jake is able to do this, his prison sentence will be reduced.
Denzel Washington masterfully commands the screen as Jake Shuttlesworth. Jake is a man who not only sees this opportunity as a chance to get out of prison early, but also as a chance to seek redemption and forgiveness from his family, particularly from his son. I have been a big fan of Denzel Washington for many years. He always brings a certain quality, a certain essence, to his roles that only he could bring. At the same time, he disappears into every role. He is perfection at playing a man who knows he has done wrong, and wants to get his life back on the right track.
This leads me to a topic that, quite honestly, I was not going to talk about unless the opportunity presented itself. It has with this movie. In my opinion, athletes are not actors. Athletes belong on whatever court or field they play on. Unless a movie is being made where the athlete actually serves the story (as in Space Jam where the story actually revolved around Michael Jordan), or on the rare occasion where an athlete actually retires from their sport and becomes an actor full-time, and fully dedicates themselves to the craft of acting (as is the case with Dwayne Johnson, who has proved to be quite a serviceable actor), it is my opinion that athletes do not make good actors. Does Ray Allen do a good job at playing Jesus Shuttlesworth? Actually, yes. Could they have gotten an actual actor who knew how to play basketball to play the role? Probably. Would the movie have been any better if they had done so? Maybe. It is just something that I feel can sometimes take you out of the movie-going experience.
Spike Lee expertly crafts this film. This was the first time I have watched one of his films. It was clear right from the beginning that he has his own voice, and a certain style that he brings to his movies. The way the camera is positioned, the way inserts are used, even the few flashbacks that show the rough upbringing that Jesus Shuttlesworth had....all of it has a reason that they are used in the way that they are. That is what makes this movie, and Spike Lee, special.
He Got Game is one of those films that I had heard so many good things about that I was afraid it was being over-hyped. I am glad it was not. This is a great redemption story, with a powerful performance by its lead actor.
He Got Game is a story about Jake Shuttlesworth, a convicted felon, who must try to get his son Jesus to attend Big State to play college basketball. The reason for this particular school is because it is the Governor's alma mater, and he thinks very highly of Jesus. If Jake is able to do this, his prison sentence will be reduced.
Denzel Washington masterfully commands the screen as Jake Shuttlesworth. Jake is a man who not only sees this opportunity as a chance to get out of prison early, but also as a chance to seek redemption and forgiveness from his family, particularly from his son. I have been a big fan of Denzel Washington for many years. He always brings a certain quality, a certain essence, to his roles that only he could bring. At the same time, he disappears into every role. He is perfection at playing a man who knows he has done wrong, and wants to get his life back on the right track.
This leads me to a topic that, quite honestly, I was not going to talk about unless the opportunity presented itself. It has with this movie. In my opinion, athletes are not actors. Athletes belong on whatever court or field they play on. Unless a movie is being made where the athlete actually serves the story (as in Space Jam where the story actually revolved around Michael Jordan), or on the rare occasion where an athlete actually retires from their sport and becomes an actor full-time, and fully dedicates themselves to the craft of acting (as is the case with Dwayne Johnson, who has proved to be quite a serviceable actor), it is my opinion that athletes do not make good actors. Does Ray Allen do a good job at playing Jesus Shuttlesworth? Actually, yes. Could they have gotten an actual actor who knew how to play basketball to play the role? Probably. Would the movie have been any better if they had done so? Maybe. It is just something that I feel can sometimes take you out of the movie-going experience.
Spike Lee expertly crafts this film. This was the first time I have watched one of his films. It was clear right from the beginning that he has his own voice, and a certain style that he brings to his movies. The way the camera is positioned, the way inserts are used, even the few flashbacks that show the rough upbringing that Jesus Shuttlesworth had....all of it has a reason that they are used in the way that they are. That is what makes this movie, and Spike Lee, special.
He Got Game is one of those films that I had heard so many good things about that I was afraid it was being over-hyped. I am glad it was not. This is a great redemption story, with a powerful performance by its lead actor.
Monday, July 6, 2015
80's Science Fiction/Adventure Gem
I had never seen Flight of the Navigator up until a couple of hours ago. It came as a personal recommendation by my very good friend Michael Shreve, as he had nothing but great things to say about the movie. I will say that knowing this is a Disney movie, I immediately thought that there was no way this movie was going to let me down. I was right!
The beginning of the movie starts in the year 1978. David Freeman is playing outside with his brother Jeff. He falls into a ravine, and then mysteriously wakes up in the year 1986. However, what seems likes minutes to him has actually been eight years. He has no memory of how this happened. Unbeknownst to him, a spaceship picked him up when he fell. The on-board computer, Max, is collecting specimens from other galaxies to study, and David is one of them. However, because David's human body is too fragile to travel at lightspeed, the spaceship does not return him to the spot where he was taken from. This is why he wakes up in 1986. The two of them then engage in a magical adventure.
Director Randal Kleiser did a wonderful job directing this movie. The film is scary and fun all at the same time. The tone of the film is exactly what you would want from a Disney movie. It can be watched by children and adults alike.
It is very hard to find decent, let alone good, child actors in film. However, Joey Cramer did a wonderful job as David. I think part of the reason was that he was only thirteen years old, and sometimes when you are that young you have a better imagination than when you are an adult. He did a fantastic job, and his performance is very believable.
Paul Reubens does the voice of Max (although he is credited as Paul Mall). My favorite part of the movie is after Max scans David, Max becomes a more human computer that displays an actual personality. You can hear this wonderful change in his voice, and you can even catch that iconic Pee-Wee Herman laugh a few times.
Typical Disney goodness. Those three words describe this movie in a nutshell. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and if you are a kid at heart than you will to. Thank you, Michael Shreve, for recommending this movie. I loved it!!
The beginning of the movie starts in the year 1978. David Freeman is playing outside with his brother Jeff. He falls into a ravine, and then mysteriously wakes up in the year 1986. However, what seems likes minutes to him has actually been eight years. He has no memory of how this happened. Unbeknownst to him, a spaceship picked him up when he fell. The on-board computer, Max, is collecting specimens from other galaxies to study, and David is one of them. However, because David's human body is too fragile to travel at lightspeed, the spaceship does not return him to the spot where he was taken from. This is why he wakes up in 1986. The two of them then engage in a magical adventure.
Director Randal Kleiser did a wonderful job directing this movie. The film is scary and fun all at the same time. The tone of the film is exactly what you would want from a Disney movie. It can be watched by children and adults alike.
It is very hard to find decent, let alone good, child actors in film. However, Joey Cramer did a wonderful job as David. I think part of the reason was that he was only thirteen years old, and sometimes when you are that young you have a better imagination than when you are an adult. He did a fantastic job, and his performance is very believable.
Paul Reubens does the voice of Max (although he is credited as Paul Mall). My favorite part of the movie is after Max scans David, Max becomes a more human computer that displays an actual personality. You can hear this wonderful change in his voice, and you can even catch that iconic Pee-Wee Herman laugh a few times.
Typical Disney goodness. Those three words describe this movie in a nutshell. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and if you are a kid at heart than you will to. Thank you, Michael Shreve, for recommending this movie. I loved it!!
Capturing a Culture
I just finished watching Dazed and Confused for the first time. Of course, I had heard great things about it, so I was excited to watch it. The movie surprised me in many positive ways.
While this movie does follow a group of high school seniors who conduct initiations on freshman, this film does not follow a narrative storyline. Rather, director Richard Linklater captures the culture and time period of America in 1976. This makes the movie rather special for people who never experienced that lifestyle because the movie is a time capsule and a window into what that world was like. Everything from the clothing, to the music, to phrases like "whatever", "alright, man", and "far out", this movie just makes you want to lie down on a football field and get high right along with these characters. Also, I finally know now where McConaughey's famous phrase "Alright, alright, alright." comes from. It happens twice in the film, and it made me smile each time.
The film has a great ensemble cast including Ben Affleck, Milla Jovovich, Jason London, Joey Lauren Adams, Parker Posey, and Matthew McConaughey. For the purposes of this blog, I want to highlight just a few of them. Ben Affleck plays Fred O'Bannion, the asshole senior that just loves to bully the freshman. This movie was released before Affleck was a household name, but his spark still shines bright so early in his career. Parker Posey plays Darla Marks. I had not really seen much of her work except in Blade Trinity and Superman Returns. She brings a certain sass to the roles that I have seen her in, which she does indeed bring to Dazed and Confused. She is as foul-mouthed as ever, and I cannot help but think that she is somehow related to J.K. Simmon's character from Whiplash. Matthew McConaughey plays David Wooderson, the cool, calm character who just enjoys living life. Not taking anything away from the rest of the cast, but McConaughey truly looks and feels like he belongs in that time period. Also, like Affleck, you can see his talent so early in his career. It is amazing to think that these two would go on to become Oscar winners.
I love period films. For me personally, they are a window unto a world that I otherwise would never have seen or experienced. Dazed and Confused is exactly that. If you want to know what it was like to live in a time where people just did not give a damn, I highly recommend this movie.
While this movie does follow a group of high school seniors who conduct initiations on freshman, this film does not follow a narrative storyline. Rather, director Richard Linklater captures the culture and time period of America in 1976. This makes the movie rather special for people who never experienced that lifestyle because the movie is a time capsule and a window into what that world was like. Everything from the clothing, to the music, to phrases like "whatever", "alright, man", and "far out", this movie just makes you want to lie down on a football field and get high right along with these characters. Also, I finally know now where McConaughey's famous phrase "Alright, alright, alright." comes from. It happens twice in the film, and it made me smile each time.
The film has a great ensemble cast including Ben Affleck, Milla Jovovich, Jason London, Joey Lauren Adams, Parker Posey, and Matthew McConaughey. For the purposes of this blog, I want to highlight just a few of them. Ben Affleck plays Fred O'Bannion, the asshole senior that just loves to bully the freshman. This movie was released before Affleck was a household name, but his spark still shines bright so early in his career. Parker Posey plays Darla Marks. I had not really seen much of her work except in Blade Trinity and Superman Returns. She brings a certain sass to the roles that I have seen her in, which she does indeed bring to Dazed and Confused. She is as foul-mouthed as ever, and I cannot help but think that she is somehow related to J.K. Simmon's character from Whiplash. Matthew McConaughey plays David Wooderson, the cool, calm character who just enjoys living life. Not taking anything away from the rest of the cast, but McConaughey truly looks and feels like he belongs in that time period. Also, like Affleck, you can see his talent so early in his career. It is amazing to think that these two would go on to become Oscar winners.
I love period films. For me personally, they are a window unto a world that I otherwise would never have seen or experienced. Dazed and Confused is exactly that. If you want to know what it was like to live in a time where people just did not give a damn, I highly recommend this movie.
A Mad Launch
The Mad Max film series is my favorite movie franchise. It is post-apocalyptic mayhem at it's finest. If you combine that with a good story about surviving in a world with limited resources, you cannot lose.
Mad Max centers around the character of Max Rockatansky, played by Mel Gibson, who seeks vengeance after his best friend, wife and child are murdered by a motorcycle gang. The fury that he unleashes upon them is nothing short of jaw-dropping.
Before I say what I want to say about Mel Gibson, I would like to get something out of the way. I have never cared about an actor/director's personal life. As long as they make good movies, that is all that matters to me. Unless you commit murder, beat a woman, or do something like what Roman Polanski did, I just do not care. To the best of my recollection, Mel Gibson has apologized for what he has said in recent years, so there that is. Now that I have gotten that out of the way......I have always been a fan of Mel Gibson. He is a great actor and director who always gives 110%. Sometimes people forget that he has got a couple Oscars on his mantel. It is really great to see him get at least somewhat of a career resurgence with movies like Edge of Darkness and Expendables 3.
I have so much respect for George Miller as a director. He has superbly crafted these Ozploitation movies to perfection. There are so many great action directors who have given us so many great...and awful....action movies. Sometimes I feel like George Miller puts them all to shame.
As awesome as the movie is, however, I feel I should address a minor plot hole. There is a scene in the movie where Max's wife is getting ready to go have a picnic with their baby boy. Only, when she leaves to go on the picnic, her son is nowhere to be found. Later on in the scene, he is magically back with her mother. Did she just forget to take him with her? It is minor, yes, but still noticeable.
The Mad Max series, quite simply, is one of the greatest action movie franchises of all time. The original movie made Mel Gibson a star, and it is hard to imagine what his career would be like had he not done it. These movies really put Australia on the map, as if to say "Hey, we can make great action movies too!". George Miller deserves all the credit, as he should. Now, go see Mad Max: Fury Road!! You won't be able to catch your breath!!!
Mad Max centers around the character of Max Rockatansky, played by Mel Gibson, who seeks vengeance after his best friend, wife and child are murdered by a motorcycle gang. The fury that he unleashes upon them is nothing short of jaw-dropping.
Before I say what I want to say about Mel Gibson, I would like to get something out of the way. I have never cared about an actor/director's personal life. As long as they make good movies, that is all that matters to me. Unless you commit murder, beat a woman, or do something like what Roman Polanski did, I just do not care. To the best of my recollection, Mel Gibson has apologized for what he has said in recent years, so there that is. Now that I have gotten that out of the way......I have always been a fan of Mel Gibson. He is a great actor and director who always gives 110%. Sometimes people forget that he has got a couple Oscars on his mantel. It is really great to see him get at least somewhat of a career resurgence with movies like Edge of Darkness and Expendables 3.
I have so much respect for George Miller as a director. He has superbly crafted these Ozploitation movies to perfection. There are so many great action directors who have given us so many great...and awful....action movies. Sometimes I feel like George Miller puts them all to shame.
As awesome as the movie is, however, I feel I should address a minor plot hole. There is a scene in the movie where Max's wife is getting ready to go have a picnic with their baby boy. Only, when she leaves to go on the picnic, her son is nowhere to be found. Later on in the scene, he is magically back with her mother. Did she just forget to take him with her? It is minor, yes, but still noticeable.
The Mad Max series, quite simply, is one of the greatest action movie franchises of all time. The original movie made Mel Gibson a star, and it is hard to imagine what his career would be like had he not done it. These movies really put Australia on the map, as if to say "Hey, we can make great action movies too!". George Miller deserves all the credit, as he should. Now, go see Mad Max: Fury Road!! You won't be able to catch your breath!!!
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