San Andreas

"The entire state is collapsing in on itself, but let’s take a brief interlude to talk about our relationship. Why didn’t it work between us?"

"I don’t know. But let’s get to San Francisco where there are millions of people evacuating, so we can search for our daughter."

"Hey! Look! There she is!"

"Oh, no! A tsunami. Why is it moving toward the earthquake instead of away from it?"

"No time for questions! Just drive over it in the boat we “borrowed!”"

Journey to the South Pacific

Imax doc following a boy who fishes a lot and goes to school on a boat. Technically awesome, as always, but a dull subject.

Mad Max: Fury Road

Third viewing.

The last movie I saw three times in the theater is Casino Royale, so "Fury Road" is special. One of the topics that keeps coming up is that this movie is secretly a piece of feminism. “We are not things,” the breeders declare, as they try and escape. One of them cuts off a brutal looking chastity belt. Uttering two simple lines, you can easily conclude that Imperator Furiosa was one of those breeders; a sex slave who found a new job as a warrior when she reached a certain age. In this movie, women represent all things good. And they free the world from the tyranny of man. And Max helps out a little, but only when needed. Is it a piece of feminism? Ask yourself that after you tune into Jurassic World and watch Bryce Dallas Howard run through the jungle in high heels.

Mad Max: Fury Road

Second viewing. Spoilers galore.

There has been an uncharacteristically high number of people who have pulled me aside to talk about this movie. With both positive and negative comments, George Miller has made a big splash. You don’t hear these kind of passionate arguments, yay or nay, about Avengers 2. George Miller has lit a fuse, and it’s exciting. The second viewing helped me notice a lot more of the post-apocalyptic weirdness in the script. Many of the lines made me crack up with delight. Describing anything tragic or unfortunate as, “mediocre!” The warboys obsession with Valhalla and chrome. The slave drummers, and the slave with the flaming guitar. The cancer. Those kinds of quirks are forbidden by big studios. Which makes me think that Miller and company received less studio interference than normal. Which is great. I hope this movie makes a billion dollars.

Mad Max: Fury Road

**SPOILERS**

Boom. Here it is. The trailers promised us something, and behold. Like a shot of nitrous oxide straight into the pleasure center of the brain, George Miller and his wife, editor Margaret Sixel, deliver the daring, balls-to-the-wall summer movie we all so desperately needed. This makes Fast and the Furious look like "Winnie the Pooh." The minimal dialogue and complicated set pieces are exhilarating. But the people who say this movie is just one big chase are wrong. There is inner logic. There is cause and effect. There are bursts and lulls. During the brief periods of respite, filmmakers use their screen time judiciously giving us small tidbits of backstory; refreshingly simple and all we need to know. Maybe the best and most surprising thing about it: Mad Max isn’t even the hero! Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) is driving the war machine and the plot. Armless, covered in grease, and saving the slaves, she’s the best action hero, male or female, to emerge from the dust in a long while. She literally rips off the villain’s face!! Awesome. Thank you George Miller.

Avengers: The Age of Ultron

Enjoyable and entertaining to watch, but there’s nothing new or surprising here. I kept waiting for a big twist, or the introduction of a new superhero. Or a cameo. Something. It might be a while before a superhero movie surprises me with something different, but I’ll still keep buying tickets until then.