Tomorrowland

This movie stars George Clooney as inventor Frank Walker and Brit Robertson as Casey Newton, a teenaged girl who is very bright herself.  Casey’s father Eddie (Tim McGraw) is a NASA engineer who has taught Casey to appreciate science.  With NASA decommissioning the launch pad, her father will lose his job.  She sneaks in with the intent to sabotage the work being done to remove the launch pad but ends up in jail.  When her dad comes to get her, she is given a pin with her belongings. Everytime she touches the pin, she is taken to a new place known as Tomorrowland.  However, she is the only one to see it. 

After time, touching the pin does not let her see anything new.  In search of answers, she meets up with Athena (played by Raffey Cassidy) an Audio-Animatronic recruiter for Tomorrowland who had given her the pin.  Athena sends her to meet with Frank Walker who had also been recruited by Athena as a young boy. 

Frank Walker had been banned from Tomorrowland after an invention of his went wrong and now he is a crotchety loner.  Once at Frank’s residence Casey is attacked by a hologram figure of a dog but she se’s through the ruse and remains much to the chagrin of Frank.  A group of robots are searching for Casey and in order to escape Frank takes her to Tomorrowland.

George Clooney was terrific as usual as was the young up and coming actress Brit Robertson.  Tim Mcgraw was also tremendous in the small part that he played.  Hugh Laurie also did great in his small part as the governor of Tomorrowland.  Brad Bird directed and produced this movie and wrote the screen play.  Having the same person do all worked out fabulously.

I thought that this movie was fantastic and I enjoyed every moment.  George Clooney who is a political person, made a statement in this movie and the point was well taken.  We should not take for granted what we have today.  

I gave this movie 3 out of 4 stars.  

Mad Max: Fury Road

This version in the Mad Max saga stars Tom Hardy as “Mad” Max Rockatansky and Charlize Theron as Furiosa.  Max is a loner with bad memories from his past.  He is captured by war boys and taken to the citadel to be used as a blood donor for War Boy Nux who is sick. 

The citadel is a kind of cult led by the Immortan Joe.  Joe has five women who have been chosen as wives to be breeders for him.  Furiosa hides the women in her war rig and takes them with her to search for gas.  Furiosa goes off course infuriating Joe once he realizes his wives are gone.  He and his army go after her taking Max with them so he can continue supplying blood for Nux.  After a skirmish, Max and Furiosa join up and continue on while evading the armies that are in pursuit. 

In my opinion this was the worst edition of all the Mad Max movies. I don’t think Charlize Theron is a good actress and Tom Hardy performed one the worst acting jobs of his career - not at all filling in well for Mel Gibson.  There were several lesser known actors in this movie and none of them really had to act and didn’t.  The acting was terrible in every aspect of this movie.  It was a complete sleeper. 

George Miller did a great job directing in the first three Mad Max movies starring Mel Gibson opposite Tina Turner.  Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy were a nightmare.  The special effects were pretty cool to look at but that’s about the only positive. 

The story line was weak so it was doomed from the beginning.  I went into this movie hoping to be entertained but wasn’t.  I feel that George Miller could have cast the parts better as well.  

I gave this movie 1 ½ out of 4 stars.

Spy

This movie stars Melissa McCarthy as Susan Cooper, a trained CIA analyst who has only been allowed to guide agents in the field through their various cases in times of trouble from an office chair.  She generally works with Agent Bradley Fine (Jude Law) and has quite a crush on him.  One day while guiding Fine, she witnesses his death at the hands of Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne) who is the daughter of Fine’s latest target.  Fine had killed the target before learning the location of a nuke bomb. 

Rayna is now the new target but knows the identity of all the other agents. The leader of the CIA (Allison Janney) believes that Rayna could lead them to the bomb.  Susan volunteers to travel to Paris to spy on Rayna’s contact, De Luca.  Agent Rick Ford  (Jason Statham) is upset by allowing a “lunch lady” to get involved and quits his job.  He shows up in Paris, however, and begins to interfere with Susan’s espionage. 

Once again Melissa McCarthy is terrific in a comedy role and she was perfectly cast.  Jason Statham, Jude Law, and Rose Byrne were fantastic.  This movie was laugh-out-loud funny but definitely rated R due to nudity and a lot of profanity.  So if that’s not your kind of movie, you won’t like it.  If you liked “The Heat”, check this one out as you will definitely enjoy it. 

Paul Feig did an excellent job directing Spy and the music was great as well.    If you go see this movie, go with no expectations and you will like it as much as I did.  

I gave this movie 3 out of 4 stars.  

Entourage

Many movies have a lot of stars but this one was really filled with big-time actors and actresses.  Entourage is based off of the HBO series of the same name.  It stars Adrian Grenier as actor Vincent Chase, Kevin Dillon as Johnny “Drama” Chase (Vincent’s half brother), Jerry Ferrara as Turtle, and Kevin Connolly as Eric (“E”) Murphy.  

Vincent is a big star and stipulates that he will direct as well as act in his next movie.  All four men have been long time buddies who Vincent brought along when he became big.  Now E is his manager, Turtle is his driver, and Johnny, who is also an actor, tags along. 

Vincent’s former agent, Ari (Jeremy Piven) who is now a studio head, has reservations about letting Vincent direct but goes along with it.  He discovered Vincent and has stuck by him from the get-go.  Many issues occur in the making of the movie and it predictably goes over budget.  Ari must convince the movie’s financier to provide more money.  The financier, Larsen McCredle, (played by Billy Bob Thornton) sends his son, Travis (Haley Joel Osment), to determine if more money is warranted.  A screening party is planned and Travis attends where he meets Emily Ratajkowski, who he is immediately attracted to.  He becomes angry when he discovers that Vincent also likes Emily and follows them to Emily’s house.   This creates problems for Vincent in getting his money.

The movie lets you into the lives of not only Vincent but also E, Johnny, and Turtle.  E’s ex-girlfriend is pregnant while he sleeps with a host of women.  Johnny, who has no respect for women, wants to become a big-time actor like his brother, and Turtle has made a lot of money on his own and has a huge crush on Ronda Rousey.

I thought all of the stars appearing in this movie were terrific.  Many had only cameo appearances but it gave the allusion of a real Hollywood atmosphere.  Appearances were made by Mark Wahlberg, Ed O’Neill, Liam Neeson, David Spade, Pharrel Williams, Kelsey Grammer,  Warren Buffet, Jessica Alba, Gary Busey, Andrew Dice Clay, Mark Cuban to name a few, as well as some big sports figures such as Tom Brady, Russell Wilson, Clay Matthews III, and Rob Gronkowski.    The movie was great from beginning to end.  The development of the characters was fantastic.  The movie Entourage followed the TV series Entourage quite well.  

I gave this movie 3 ½ out of 4 stars.  

Aloha

Aloha stars Bradley Cooper as Brian Gilcrest, Emma Stone as Captain Allison Ng, Rachel McAdams as Tracy Woodside, and Bill Murray as Carson Welch.  Brian is an ex-military man who left the service to work for Carson Welch as a contractor making much more money.  After a mishap in Kabul, he is being given one last chance by Carson.  His job is to convince a Hawaiian king to give up land for an Air Force pedestrian gate and his blessing.  Captain Ng has been assigned to assist. 

Tracy and Brian had been a couple many years ago with Tracy expecting marriage.  Brian had other ideas, however, and they broke up.  The pilot who flew Brian to Hawaii was Tracy’s now husband, Woody, who according to Tracy doesn’t talk.  When they land, Tracy is there to greet Woody and upon seeing Brian, invites him to dinner.  Brian brings Captain Ng who he is falling for but old feelings surface between Brian and Tracy. 

This movie was directed by Cameron Crowe who is one of my favorite directors of all time.  He also wrote this movie and I found it to be very entertaining.  It was a mix of romance, humor, and a little action. Emma Stone played her perky role to perfection and her character was extremely likeable.  This was one of Bradley Cooper’s best performances as well. 

Rachel McAdams and John Krasinski (who played Woody) were fantastic also.   Alec Baldwin played a small part as General Dixon who had a strong dislike for Brian.  That dislike was made clear by Alec Baldwin’s portrayal who was perfectly cast.  Danny McBride also had a small part so there were a lot of stars in this movie. 

I think this movie was excellent but it wasn’t Cameron Crowe’s best film.  He did a much better job with Jerry McGuire and Almost Famous since both affected me greatly.  This movie was enjoyable but left me wanting more.  

I gave this movie 3 out of 4 stars.