Mad Max 2.

Review #707: Mad Max 2.

Cast
Mel Gibson (Mad Max Rockatansky), Bruce Spence (Gyro Captain), Vernon Wells (Wez), Emil Minty (The Feral Kid), Michael Preston (Pappagallo), Virginia Hey (Warrior Woman), Kjell Nilsson (Lord Humungus), Max Phipps (Todie), and Arkie Whiteley (The Captain's Girl) Directed by George Miller (#380 - Mad Max, #392 - Happy Feet, and #493 - The Witches of Eastwick)

Review
Mad Max 2 (also known as The Road Warrior) was released just two years after the original film. The first movie was brutal, but effective in its bleakness, especially on a low budget. This time around, the sequel has a bigger budget but more importantly, the sequel has more excitement and more (dare I say it) awesomeness. The environment of the movie and how much of a wasteland helps to the movie's advantage in making for cynical bleakness. Gibson is just perfectly well suited for a hardened character such as this, and the rest of the cast (especially the Gyro Captain) are perfectly well suited. Wez and Lord Humungus are brilliantly effective villains, and the climax of the movie is helped especially by them. The action in the movie is fast paced but also satisfying. This is like a Western, only if the West was Australia, and revolving around the apocalypse. It's a movie that pulls no punches, and is relentless in its dystopian punk outlook. It's a brisk 96 minute film that manages to be extremely slick in its approach, so go see it.

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.

Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Review #706: Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Cast
Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark / Iron Man), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner / Hulk), Chris Evans (Steve Rogers / Captain America), Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow), Jeremy Renner (Clint Barton / Hawkeye), James Spader (Ultron), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Don Cheadle (James Rhodes / War Machine), Elizabeth Olsen (Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Pietro Maximoff / Quicksilver), Paul Bettany (Jarvis / Vision), Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill), Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson / The Falcon), Linda Cardellini (Laura Barton), and Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter) Directed by Josh Whedon (#312 - The Avengers)

Review

It's a good movie. Is it great? No, but it is an entertaining movie. While it admittedly stuffs itself a little too much with a bit of everything, that's not to say the movie isn't too imperfect. To say there is a load of heroes in this film is a bit of an understatement, though the movie doesn't utilize all of them, which is disappointing if you liked War Machine. Or the Falcon. But hey, at least we get three new heroes into the fray, though Quicksilver in this film isn't as interesting as the one played by Evan Peters in X-Men: Days of Future Past. Why the two versions are so different is beyond me. Olsen does make Scarlet Witch seem interesting, which is welcome with me. As usual, our main six Avengers are good with each other, and it is nice to see some character development for Hawkeye (in the sense that I remember his name now. Oh, and something about a family), which is fine. But of course, this review can't function without mention of James Spader as Ultron. I knew at some point I'd talk about Spader (who I find perpetually awesome in The Blacklist. Boston Legal was fun to watch when I was younger, though it's been about...four years since I've seen it), and here we are. I like his performance. Yes, he's constricted to just his voice, but I find his tone very well suited to a role such as this. His performance is really entertaining, though I wonder if he is up to the same level as Loki's villainous role in the first film. The effects are nice, and it is refreshing to see The Vision's look, though I do wonder why he made a cape (No capes!). But the movie is good. It does over stuff itself with characters and plot lines, but to be fair, it's not like that's all a bad thing. This Marvel universe is only getting bigger, and I can't wait to see what's next. It's not a step back from the first film, more of a transition to the next phase, which is fine with me. Enjoy the movie, and try to snag as much popcorn as you can. Or whatever. 

Trailers seen before the movie: Insidious 3 (ha!), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (double ha!), Masterminds (meh), Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (interesting), and Fantastic Four (why?).

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.