CONCUSSION  3.0***

 

      Okay this movie starts out with a typical soccer mom whose married & living with her spouse  & 2 elementary/middle school school age kids . Her name is Abby . One day she suffers a mild concussion when hit by a baseball thrown by her son & not too long after she gets restless  .. has an itch that needs to be scratched ? So she decides to become a high scale escort/prostitute . I know this has a familiar sound to it . BUT the twist is that her spouse is another woman, she is a lesbian & she is setting up to become an escort with other women . This will involve leading a double life & learning how to be a lesbian escort/lover with a variety of women . Most are younger as she's 42 but a few are older. Most are the passive type but some want to dominate & control .

 

What I liked most is that even though this is a movie about "lesbians"...it's not really just about  about lesbians...it's about people and relationships and the primary character could have been straight. I was impressed with the delicate handling of the homosexuality. Finally a movie that doesn’t over discuss  or over analyze it...it just is.

 

It's a fascinating movie with an excellent script and solid direction, both by  a woman, Stacie Passon  

If you're curious about such a story line then this is good one to watch. You should find it on Netflix, Redbox or other TV or streaming channels.

 

It’s rated “R” and that would be a hard “R’ … lots of sexual content.

 

Clark

 

PROLOUGE: This review is longer than I usually do but I was so taken by this movie I couldn’t hold back much although I did edit and delete some fine stuff.

MAD MAX Fury Road  4.0***

        Mad Max Fury Road is Director George Miller's return to the franchise he started way back in 1979 with Mad Max and 2 sequels.. This movie is  one continuous rush of action and high octane exhilaration !!!!. It is absolutely filled  to the brim with over-the-top unbelievably  ridiculous action sequences that keep you on the edge of your seat totally  amazed at what Is happening on the screen. Now this film doesn't have much of a plot  but seriously you're not going to see this movie for a heavy plot. Also, in case you have not seen the earlier Mad Max movies, no worry…. you don’t need to… the story is independent and stands alone from the previous films.

The setting is once again that of a stark, distant, chaotic future, after normal civilization has collapsed and just about everyone has gone crazy. Max  ( Tom Hardy) is still a loner survivalist, on the run from his past. He is kidnapped by the really BAD guys called War Boys, an army under the leadership of a cruel dictator named Immortan Joe They take Max back to Joe’s camp…or better to say, hell hole.  When a beloved cultist commander of Joe, named Furiosa ( Charlize Theron), goes rogue and makes a run for in in a supped up tanker truck and takes with her  five of Joe’s enslaved wives, Joe gets really pissed off and  leads his whole army after them …. an army of deviants and mutants along with their fantastically evil vehicles To begin with during the awesome chase, Max is  chained to  the hood of Joe’s vehicle facing the hood ornament, a skull   In these opening chase ACTION scenes, the viewer goes through something that could only be described as the place where hell touches Earth, with lighting storms, sand storms, wind storms, and just about everything else that can be thrown at the viewer. Ax pulls through, escapes from Joe and his deviates and teams up with Furiosa who is trying to lead the women to the place where she grew up, in hopes of a better life.  And the chase continues.

 

This harsh unforgiving universe is fully developed, with just about every hellish detail up on the screen, every element coming together in an almost  magical way for not much is spoken so as to allow  the camera to capture the emotions, reactions, and powerful images, a hard-to-believe and impressive achievement when one considers the number of spectacular moments throughout the entire film.          

 

In this film, vehicles burn, crash, tumble, fly, and spit fire continuously, and the drivers and riders are uniquely strange and fearsome  There is power, disgust, hate, hunger, envy, and almost anything else you can think of emanating from everyone and everything on the screen, You can feel every emotion by letting the movie grab you and throw  you into total shock and awe, not believing  what you are seeing.  To make it even more unbelievable is that 80% of the effects seen in the film are real practical effects, stunts, make-up and sets. CGI was used sparingly mainly to enhance the landscape, remove stunt rigging and for Charlize Theron's left hand which in the film is a prosthetic arm.

 

Charlize Theron dominates her role as Furiosa. This is truly her movie, and she is amazing in it. But hey, the Max is back. Tom Hardy is a perfect replacement for Mel Gibson who was in the other 3 Mad Max movies…. perfect as the ultimate road warrior. He and Charlize  have great chemistry and work well off of one another.

The overall scope of this film is just incredible. The world Director George Miller has created is nasty, gritty, and just plain disgusting at times but so so realistic for post-apocalyptic times. Overall, Mad Max Fury Road is a breathtaking experience, filled with amazing action sequences and some of the best looking visual effects I have ever seen.  

 

A MUST see for action fans and SHOULD be seen on the big screen in a theater. WARNING: This movie is  probably just too intense and violent for most ladies. But if you handle that , this is one of the best action movies ever.

 

Rated R for intense sequences of violence throughout, and for disturbing images.

 

Clark

 

PRODUCTION NOTES:

1. The movie was shot in real time sequence which I believe enhances the story .

 

1. In creating the look of the film, Director George Miller laid down two rules for the production to follow. Firstly the cinematography should be as colorful as possible in order to differentiate the film from other post-apocalyptic movies which typically have bleak  desaturated colors. Secondly the art direction was to be as beautiful as possible, as Miller reasoned that people living in the post apocalypse would try to find whatever scraps of beauty they could in their meager environment.
    
    
2. Instead of the reboot being a remake of Mad Max (1979), revealing how Max  became The Road Warrior, George Miller decided that the reboot will take place in the post-apocalyptic Australia, years after the new Max (Tom Hardy) lost his family, because he did not wish to do a remake or retell the story that had already been told and he wanted to update the universe and the wasteland and wanted new moviegoers to remember Max as a man with nothing to lose after losing his family.
    
3. The flame-shooting guitarist in the movie is Australian artist/musician Sean Hape, better known as Iota. In an interview, he said the guitar weighed 132 pounds, and shot real gas powered flames which he controlled using the whammy bar.

 

1.  
    
   BELOW is a link for a You Tube video about the incredible and amazing vehicles used in the movie. Even if you’ve already seen the movie, you’ll enjoy seeing this video.
    

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zgkawcew2u8&feature=player_detailpage

 

 

 

TOMORROWLAND   2.8**

           Sci-Fi is a genre with two opinions . You pretty much either love a Sci-Fi film or you hate it.  Rarely does it fall in the middle. But it just so happens that  Tomorrowland is a film that does fall in the middle. On the one hand, it's a visually stunning film that doesn't rely on mind-blowing special effects or spectacle. But on the other hand, there just wasn't a great story to back up the visuals. The message the film gives is inspiring, but the reality is that a film isn't good because of what it tells us to feel, but  it's whether or not it gets us to feel that way.

Britt Robertson as Casey, a brilliant, optimistic older teenager, stars with George Clooney as Frank Walker, also brilliant but disillusioned, two people with very similar objectives in their hope to save humanity, but Frank's idealism has been shattered . It's only when the two meet does his faith in a new beginning truly start. But as actors and characters, they both take a back seat to Raffy Cassidy who nails it as Athena, a super smart and super cute teenage robot  

The film sold itself in the trailer as a trip to a mysterious new world like we have never seen before, Tomorrowland. It’s a place where all imaginations can come to true.   But the letdown comes when it turns out you’re only in Tomorrowland for about 15 minutes. Most of the movie is taken up by Casey and Athena and eventually Frank  trying to get to Tomorrowland. So the trailer was something of a bait and switch.

 

Also, the viewer never has a clear picture of what the film is trying to say, and I don't think the filmmakers did either. In the  first 3/4s of the movie all we see is the main female characters, Casey and Athena running around the country until they find Frank ( George Clooney). When he comes into the picture there is a little more action, but really there is too much meandering about and not enough story development. The problems are not due to the acting. That is fairly decent, but actors can't compensate for a bad script.

 

I have to admit that despite the negatives, Tomorrowland kept me entertained. Its production design is deliciously retro. The special effects are very good and Britt Robertson brings  credibility and a likable performance as Casey.  George Clooney brings his usual conviction and charisma, and Raffey Cassidy is fascinating as Athena, the mysterious girl/robot.

 

I hope “tomorrow”  ends up being like the one imagined in this film... but, unfortunately it may end up being more similar to the one portrayed in “Mad Max: Fury Road”. ( I’ll be seeing and reviewing the Mad Max movie next).

 

This Disney film is rated PG… so the kids can go but may have a difficult time understanding the story…I did even though I’m an “older” kid.

 

Clark

SPY GAME  3.2 ***  ( a 2001 Movie)

        Spy Game centers on the relationship between a cynical senior CIA operative Nathan Muir (Robert Redford) and his protégé Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt). The movie begins with the capture of Bishop  following a failed non-CIA rescue mission in a Chinese prison. This sparks a crisis between the USA and China and, as tensions escalate, Muir is forced to reveal to the upper level CIA officials all he knows about Bishop. . From their early days during  the Vietnam War in the 70's, to the end of the cold war in Berlin during the 80's and then to the mean streets of Beirut in the 90's where Bishop's relationship with Muir ends..Bishop’s capture occurs on  Muir’s final day before his retirement and Muir must call upon all of his negotiating skills, his contacts and his intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the CIA to find a way to free Bishop before he is executed because the CIA has decided to abandon him.

Although Redford and Pitt receive equal billing, this is really Redford's movie. He is the focus for the complex plot and Pitt appears mostly in flashback. Redford is at his best  and is well cast as the ageing CIA warhorse who has seen it all and done it all. Pitt is reliably good but  his character doesn’t have enough screen time.

 This is one of the few movies that's intellectually challenging to watch. It takes patience and a quick assessment of each scene to understand and keep up. None of the acting is over the top or explicit; most everything is controlled, subtle, and delicately handled.

Ultimately  “Spy Game” is about the conflict between loyalty and friendship versus betrayal and treachery. Muir attempts to make up for a lifetime of politically motivated deception  with a final act of selflessness. Compared with any number of action thrillers about secret agents,  this movie refreshingly  tells it the way it is or the way you might think it should might be. The meticulous day to day  "tradecraft" actually makes way more sense than say, a watch with a laser cutter built in or a car with missiles and an ejection seat. All in all, a very watchable and believable film.

 

One of the lapses in the movie is when Redford is supposed to be 25 years younger in the flashback  to Vietnam. It's a sad fact that no amount of makeup, aviator sunglasses and 70s-style sideburns can disguise the fact that he looks just as craggy then as he does in the present day.

 

Rated R for language, some violence and brief sexuality

 

Clark

 

12 ANGRY MEN  4.0***

 

This is a 1957 film portraying an excellent courtroom drama with a unique twist. Instead of following the trial itself, the viewer has a unique chance to observe the events behind the closed doors of a jury room. The film begins with the end of the trial and the judge’s final instructions to the jury.. The jurors retire to deliberate the case. A preliminary vote is taken and the result is 11:1 in favor of a guilty verdict. Eleven jurors have raised their hands to convict a young non-Caucasian man of killing his father. Only Juror No.8 (Henry Fonda) has doubts. At first even he does not truly believe the young man to be innocent but notes (rightfully) that the defense lawyer did a poor job  and that the boy might be given the benefit of a doubt. Since the boy is to be executed if found guilty his life is now in the hands of the jury and Juror No.8 reasons that the least they could do is talk about the case a bit. As time goes on some of the jurors begin to change their minds and find that there is perhaps enough reasonable doubt not to convict the young man after all. But not everyone is easy to convince.

 

The plot of the film is excellent and it is fascinating to see what little things can influence which way a verdict goes. But where this film really succeeds is in presenting the characters of the 12 jurors. The character of each of the jurors emerges through a wonderful mix of perfect casting, excellent dialogue and near-flawless acting.. The dialogue is astoundingly riveting right  up to the brilliant finale. I was quite impressed with the camera angles and lighting that made the film more suspenseful. Also the choice of using Black and White made the film all the more powerful.  All in all it succeeded in creating an experience  like you were really there in the jury room with them - and you can feel the tension built up as the movie proceeds.

 

Henry Fonda is eminently suitable and excellently believable as the dissenter who brings home the importance of a jury's duty to examine evidence thoroughly and without prejudice. Joseph Sweeney is delightful as Juror No. 9, the quiet but shrewd old man who misses nothing, while E.G. Marshall brings his usual firmness and authority to the role of Juror No. 4. All the actors shine but perhaps the best performance is that of Lee J. Cobb, Juror No. 3, who is a hard, stubborn, aggressive and vindictive man. Other cast members include: :Martin Balsam , John Fiedler, Jack Klugman, Edward Binns, Jack Warden,   Ed Begley, George Voskovec, and Robert Webber.

  

  Clark

 

WOMAN IN GOLD  3.2***       

 

          This film presents a WWII true story about a Jewish survivor of World War II, named Maria Altmann ( played by Helen Mirren), a former Viennese who wants a famous family painting by Gustav Klimt returned to her possession since it was stolen by the Nazis. She enlists the help of a family friend, lawyer Randy Schoenberg ( Ryan Reynolds), who also has WW II connections. But he is young and inexperienced in the law of repatriation of art. The painting (see below) of her aunt is famous for its size, the gold leafing, and its early twentieth century modernism.  It has come to be referred to as the "Mona Lisa" of Austria because of its popularity, and its government steadfastly refuses to consider her claim

 

 Maria Altmann's connection to this stellar painting  is that it reminds her not only of her aunt, but the family, friends, and life style that she lost forever when she fled with Vienna her husband with little more than the clothes on their back. The fight she and  Schoenberg  wage is against a system and a government that appear insurmountable. “Woman in Gold” is told in two stories, one about the pursuit of justice for the return of the painting, and the other through flashbacks before and after the Nazis occupied Vienna, showing Maria's life in Vienna and the loss of much of her family to the Holocaust . Edited together, you get enough background into the Holocaust and the war to understand Maria Altmann's motivation to seek long-overdue justice not just for herself, but all the other Jews and others who lost everything during WWII with little or usually no hope of restitution.  

 

The movie is well acted  and the cinematography is gorgeous, especially the scenes in Vienna   The movie is somewhat slow at the beginning  but once it gets up to speed, it becomes quite captivating. By the end of the film, I was quite satisfied and both my wife and I give it “thumbs up”.

 

Clark

         MAGGIE  3.0***

          ‘Maggie’ is a realistic and engaging film about a zombie/viral outbreak told through the loving relationship of a father and his infected daughter.

While most zombie movies have in common is an emphasis on the gory aspects of an outbreak, showing chases, swarms and battles that pit humans against a relentless zombie enemy with few weaknesses. Maggie takes a different approach to a zombie-like virus that gives it a sense of authenticity not often achieved in the zombie sub-genre.

 

In spite of Maggie’s (Abigail Breslin) best efforts to shield her family from her infection, her father, Wade, (Arnold Schwarzenegger), refuses to let his eldest daughter die amongst strangers. When retrieving her from the hospital, he’s warned of the symptoms and instructed on quarantine procedures. At first Maggie seems fine aside from the gnarly gash on her arm and darkness around her clouding eyes. But as the virus spreads, her body devolves into its more predatory being and her hunger for “meat”, i.e. human flesh, will become insatiable. At this point she must be killed.  

 

No time period or specific location is identified, giving the movie a generic quality of Anywhere, U.S.A.  Also, In spite of this terrible contagion, the world has not nosedived into chaos as is usually the case in zombie movies. In fact there is still an effective authority maintaining order and containment.  Though people exercise caution, life goes on. In addition the condition of the infected  is akin to other deadly  viruses and it somewhat parallels situations involving terminal illnesses except for the horrible final stage.

 

In the most reserved and vulnerable performance of his career,  Schwarzenegger digs deep to show the soul of a broken man, helpless against a virus that is taking away his most precious gift, his daughter . It's a moving and surprising display of emotion from the former governor of California  

  Abigail Breslin is a truly talented actress. In her performance you see the deterioration of not just her body, but all her hopes and dreams. Breslin  truly captures the  anguish and despair of a girl who knows she has no future, and probably even more so, the heartbreak and grief  she suffers from her  final interactions with her friends and  family, especially her dad. Breslin is remarkable.   

 

“Maggie” is a moving dark drama. But it is NOT a horror movie. It is, instead, a captivating story about horrible things that can happen.

 

Clark

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON  3.0***

 

        To begin with let me say that this Avengers movie is so over the top and has soooo much going on constantly, that it’s like trying to chug a gallon of your favorite milkshake in a matter of minutes or like thrill riding the biggest and fastest roller coaster for 2.5 hours non-stop. It’s just toooo much !!!!

 

After an ass kicking opening action sequence with all the Avengers, it becomes a story about Tony Stark (Iron Man) and Bruce Banner (Incredible Hulk) wanting to follow through on a world peacekeeping program they have designed: “The Ultron Program”,  that would maintain peace world-wide forever . But things go horribly wrong  in the course of creating the super, self-thinking (artificial intelligence) robot named Ultron.  Instead of wanting to provide world peace, Ultron decides to destroy the world.  As a result the Avengers must reassemble and stop Ultron and his legions of cloned robots.

 

The characters and the interaction among them; Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, The Hulk, Hawkeye, and The Black Widow are back and doing what they do best: trade one liners and bicker while they throw down with the bad guy. It's a real kick to see Robert Downey, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, and Scarlett Johansson in these iconic roles that fit them like gloves.   Samuel L. Jackson is back as Nick Fury, a part he was born to play. Newcomers Aaron Taylor Johnson and Elisabeth Oleson are Quicksilver and The Scarlet Witch, mutants with very special powers who start out on the wrong side, but like so many of the misguided in the Marvel Universe, eventually see the light. James Spader is the actor inside the robot Ultron  and does a good job especially with voicing the at times menacing  and at other times charming sides of  Ultron. But the problem and it is a BIG one is that Ultron" is supposed to be one of the most dangerous and merciless enemies in the Marvel universe and, instead, he is too charming when he should be really kick-ass frightening with the result that his villainous potential is wasted.  

 

There is not really a story here with a lot of great surprises.  Instead it is just a string of events that lead to another string of events. And  we  have the same pattern of a story. A villain that has an evil plan and needs to be stopped. This is not a problem as long as the movie keeps the viewer invested with other subplots and the villain is truly menacing. Here, the only thing it has going for it other than seeing our heroes interact, is one action scene after another that all feel kind of the same. In fact, the action is so bloated and loud at times, that after a while it  becomes exhausting and boring.  Part of it is that Ultron’s robot army is just not seen as a menace. While  there sure are a lot of them  they seem weak and no real threat to the Avengers.  

 Well, from what I’ve said so far you  probably think that I did not enjoy the movie. But I really did, actually, I had a lot of fun with it. But fun is not the only thing I look for in a movie. A movie can be fun in a lot of different ways. This movie did it with its great and vivid action scenes (though too repetitive), the dynamic CGI, the snarky and smart dialog, and an almost compelling though rushed villain.

All things considered, Age of Ultron is a very good escapist action film  which could have been sooo much better.

It is rated “PG-13” and, in my opinion, should be seen in IMax 3D for maximum enjoyment.( if you are in the Raleigh area I highly recommend the Imax downtown rather than the pseudo Imax at Cary Crossroads )

 

Clark

McFARLAND  USA  3.2 ****

            It should surprise no one that as a Walt Disney film, McFarland USA is intended to be a heartwarming and inspirational drama. The movie is based upon a true story where underprivileged kids facing overwhelming odds and a down-on-his-luck coach form an unlikely friendship and surprise themselves and the small  Mexican immigrant town of McFarland with their efforts.  Largely thanks to talented cast and keen direction,  McFarland  avoids over- sentimentality, never forcing you into feeling something unearned, nor relying upon  feel good themes  to do the work. Instead what follows is an authentic, true-to-life telling of otherwise unremarkable and overlooked high school boys transformed into athletes and then into true contenders.

 

Kevin Coaster, plays Jim White, a washed up high school football coach, who begins the film at a career low point. After losing his job following a hot tempered outburst, White moves his family to a cracker-box house, in a dicey, poor neighborhood in California's San Joaquin Valley, where he get a last-chance teaching/coaching position at McFarland High School. After a bad start, White soon takes notice of a group of Latino teenagers with a talent for running and stamina developed after years of grueling work picking crops both before and after school to help support their families. With the principal’s support, he decides to start a cross country team, knowing nothing about long distance running or even track, but willing to put in the effort, believing that his team has the potential to be a contender.

 

McFarland USA also offers a powerful immersion into the culture of these Mexican immigrants and their grueling work as pickers that is so much a part of their lifestyle.  For a film that could have easily turned into another clinched sports movie, Director Caro was careful to choose  examples of daily life that  depict the difficult and harsh reality of living in  a migrant community   

 

McFarland owes much of its commercial appeal and likability to Costner's convincing portrayal of a flawed and arguably difficult guy with fundamentally moral instincts. Like few other actors, he is capable of embodying an ethical ideal through his forceful, yet understated performance, and infuses the picture with an  all-American quality and believability.

 

For the sports enthusiast and those in search of an uplifting, feel-good  story, McFarland USA is a worthy film to see. Don't expect overwhelming cinematic brilliance, but expect to be inspired and leave feeling good.

 

Both my wife Sara and I liked it and appreciate the fact that it is a great family film that has no cursing, no sex and no violence… a PG rated film.

 

Clark