TOMORROWLAND

(2015) 130 Minutes, Rated PG

A.C.’s Review:  Over a decade ago Disney launched one of the most successful movie franchises ever when they spun off one of their theme park rides into the Johnny Depp lead PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN. Hoping to repeat that success the company had high hopes by bringing to the big screen TOMORROWLAND starring George Clooney (GRAVITY) and Britt Robertson last seen in the romance flick (THE LONGEST RIDE). The results unfortunately turned out to be less than spectacular.

Trying to summarize the story for a review is nearly impossible and that may be one of the flaws about the movie. Britt’s character Casey, an optimistic teen whose family is about to fall on hard times when her father will be put out of work with the downsizing of NASA’s shuttles space program. She is gifted a special pin that when she touches it shows her a place called Tomorrowland. What is Tomorrowland? Well, again it’s hard to explain but Casey is hell bent to get there. The benefactor of the pin reveals herself to be a robot who looks like a young girl named Athena. In order to get to Tomorrowland they must join forces with a man named Walker (Clooney) whom Athena brought to Tomorrowland when he was a child. At some point he was exiled from Tomorrowland and is now bitter. Enough with this description….its again too hard to summarize but basically the trio must save Tomorrowland and the very Earth itself from destruction.

I hope this movie wasn’t marketed to children because I think children would be very restless watching this movie. For a light hearted alleged family flick it seems a little dark when some cops are disintegrated by evil robots pursuing Athena and Casey . Not to mention there is this whole strange vibe when Walker now an adult is sharing screen time with Athena whom he was in love with as a child. The implications are awkward at best. Also its telling how mismanaged this film is. Athena and her actress stole every scene that she was in…but appears nowhere in the trailers. The focus was on Clooney and I will admit I have a bias that this guy is one of the most over hyped movie stars out there. I don’t get his appeal. He looks just like a regular guy. Throw a hard hat on his head and he could be any construction foreman anywhere in the world. Sure he can say his lines good enough but he’s nothing special.

The movie while not quite fizzling at the box office isn’t exactly lighting it on fire either and has opened up a debate as to the future of original properties in Sci Fi…since sequels and reboots now rule the day. Also this is the third year in the row of an under performing would be block buster for Disney. Following the failures of JOHN CARTER and THE LONE RANGER. Don’t worry too much about Disney who now owns most of the known universe including The Muppets, Star Wars and Marvel Comics. They are having a good run with AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON and STAR WARS Episode 7 should launch into the stratosphere this December.

Best Scene: It turns out the Eiffel Tower is really a launch pad to take the Trio hurtling into space in order for them to reach Tomorrowland.

A.C.’s Rating: DVD

SAN ANDREAS - updated

(2015) 114 Minutes, Rated PG-13

A.C.’s Review:  The disaster film is a time honored tradition dating back to the weeks after the TITANIC’s sinking when the first low budget film arrived to detail the tragedy that shocked the world. A long held favorite of this genre is tackling “The Big One”…the massive long overdue quake that is destined to hit Southern California when the San Andreas fault line at long last slips under the Teutonic pressure that has been building up underneath some of America’ most prime real estate.

Different takes on the subject have been presented  such as the soap opera-ish EARTHQUAKE in 1974 with Lorne Greene and a cast of thousands. Then there was SUPERMAN-THE MOVIE where Lex Luthor’s entire scheme was to  create prime beach front property in Nevada by wiping out So-Cal by triggering the San Andrea fault. There are many more but now in 2015 we have this movie.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson fresh from a glorified cameo in FURIOUS SEVEN stars as a helicopter rescue pilot who must risk all to save his daughter and estranged wife when The Big One hits. There are spectacular scenes of destruction as a swam of quakes exacts its toll on Hoover Dam, LA and ultimately the gorgeous city of San Francisco. It may be mostly CGI but in a movie like this the CGI is done with such expertise that it looks pretty convincing.

The story is obviously a simple one but it doesn’t need to be anything else for a movie of this type. Johnson does a fine job as the pilot and the supporting characters such as Paul Giamatii’s seismologist and Archie Panjabi as a TV reporter all do an admirable job as they soldier along in their subplot.

I really feel I have nothing critical to say about this movie other than how the family comes together at the end is a little bit to coincidental and there is also the tired disaster movie trope of the pilot’s wife having an evil and cowardly new boyfriend who is just in the movie to get thrown into the body count with a spectacular death.

I see a lot of movies, and this is by far one of the best that’s come out in 2015. Highly recommend.

Best Scene: Hard to pick as there are so many but the sequence of a tsunami bearing down on San Francisco was pretty epic.

A.C.’s Rating: Full Price (Must be seen on a big screen) Preferably in an RPX or  IMAX theater.

Mike’s Review:  Kind of boring and over hyped.  I liked the idea of this movie, the Rock saving people in a disaster movie has all kinds of potential but for some reason I just couldn't get into this movie.  First off I thought the special effects could have been better, sure some of the scenes were pretty cool, but the poor Golden Gate bridge has been destroyed in a lot of movies. You would think by now they could come up with something else to give you a wow factor.  I thought all the scenes in the little boat were very fake looking and the whole saving his daughter underwater scene was so over done it was almost comical.

The back story of the other daughter dying and leading to the divorce, either should have been rethought or just not even used.  I even like Carla Gugino as an actress but she just didn't seem to fit as a wife or soon to be ex-wife of the Rock.  If they had spent more time developing the characters and story and maybe even changed the cast around a little bit then this movie could have been huge.  

Best Scene: I liked it when the rich guy got squished.

Mike's Rating: DVD

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

(2015) 120 Minutes, Rated R

A.C.'s Review:  Mad Max returns to theater’s for the first time in over 30 years…with the director of the original film no less but controversial Mel Gibson is nowhere to be seen. Stepping into the shoes of the Road Warrior is actor Tom Hardy. He is joined by Charlize Theron playing an equally tough warrior named Furiosa.

From a technical standpoint this film would have to be considered a masterpiece. Outside of a CGI dust storm/tornado sequence it appears that his film was done with practical real world effects. I cannot even begin to fathom how much work must have gone into putting these action scenes on film. Nearly the entire running time of the film is one long chase/and battles as Max and Furiosa seek to spirit away the lovely and comely wives/breeding stock of the hideous ruler of land known as Imortann Joe who holds sway over an apocalyptic landscape from his fortress  The Citadel. Joe controls the only source of water and thus the people.

The realistic nature of the action pretty much trumps a lot of the CGI action (most notably the battle in the snow during the opening) of AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON. The story is thin though as the above description of the escape from the Citadel is pretty much the content of the entire film. There are a few breaks in the frenetic action but all in all its pretty nonstop.

Tom Hardy  easily replaces Gibson but his fans may be disappointed. Hardy is not given much to do for the first quarter of the movie as he is a helpless prisoner of Immortan Joe and his ”War Boys” with a mask covering most his face he is virtually mute throughout.

The biggest strike against the movie is that there are a ton of characters but outside of Max, Furiosa and Joe I don’t think we get any of their names. I looked up the cast list on the internet and they all have pretty fanciful names but the movie doesn’t slow down to get to know who these people are and their relationships to one and the other.

Best scene:  Anything involving the “Biker Grannies” they were great characters (with no distinguishable names alas)

A.C.’s rating:  Matinee

Bean's Review: Quite the road race escape.  The action was just about non-stop.  The action sequences kept the movie from being unwatchable, as I did not like the story line.  The characters are too bizarre and as such it is difficult to relate to them.  The constant killing and bloodiness was over the top and the blood giving and milking concepts were just unpleasant.  Most of the characters are down-right “yucky”.

As opposed to being centered on Max, played by Tom Hardy, the movie seemed to be about Imperator Furiosa, played by Charlize Theron.  I would have liked to see development of the Max character and also less time with him wearing the stupid face mask.

Best scene:  Max telling Imperator that she needs to accept and deal with the past, or she will go crazy

Bean’s rating:  DVD – I would not see this movie again.

Mike's Review: After all the hype and and waiting...This Mad Max lives up to the "Car"nage it created.  I agree with A.C. and Beans reviews on the point that this movie needed more character development and more of a story line then just going after some "escaped breeders". But having said that I think this movie was more about the cars, car chases and all of the over the top destruction and "road rage" that you can think of.  

I saw this movie more along the lines of Crank with Jason Statham.  A high octane over the top demolition derby with everything throw in and at you.   Don't go to see this movie thinking its going to win an Oscar for the plot or acting.  See this movie just to see stuff destroyed and blown up.

Best Scene: There were some incredible live action stunts and the vehicles were so over the top it was insane.  I think I even saw a "ripsaw" tank dressed up with a car body

Mike's Rating: Worth the price of the ticket.

POLTERGEIST

(2015) 93 Minutes, Rated PG-13

A.C.’s Review:  1982 is wildly regarding among movie fans as one of the  best years for films including THE THING, BLADE RUNNER, FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH, the highest regarded Star Trek film-STAR TREK II-THE WRATH OF KAHN  and Spielberg’s classic E.T…and then there was the OTHER Spielberg film that summer...POLTERGEIST.

Jumping ahead to 2015 a remake has just hit the screens once again telling the story of a mother, father and their three children who move into a new home which turns out to have been built atop a cemetery where the tombstones have been removed but not the bodies. Now the restless spirits need someone to “lead them into the light” to escape the purgatory and they abduct the young child…a little girl into their spirit world. The race is now on to save the little girl before she is lost forever. Aiding the family is a team of paranormal experts/enthusiasts.

The names and the characters have changed slightly but it’s all pretty much the same as the 1982 original. The effects are more sophisticated but that is about it. The movie was neither remarkable or unremarkable. On the positive side there are some atmospheric over head shots of the neighborhood the family resides in next to some menacing looking power lines that may or may  not have something to do with what is going on in their house and it was nice to see MAD MEN’s Jarred Harris turn up in the role of the lead paranormal expert. One the down side it was kind of ridiculous during the big climax when the house is destroyed not one neighbor comes out to see what’s happening.

Best Scene:  Once the little girl is lured into her closet she looks back and sees her room far away through the closet doors as she is trapped in the spirit realm.

A.C.’s Rating:  DVD