On the Road Again: Mad Max 4 hits the Highways

In recent weeks some mixed news has come my way, some that I feel deserves my attention.

And that is the recent announcement of Mad Max 4: Fury Road which is now to be made in Broken Hill, NSW ironically enough where 1981’s Mad Max 2 was shot, so having this series to do its principal photography in its native land is fantastic news.

But what is not so fantastic are the rumored casting choices of Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron, as an Australian who loves this series (well, the first two in the series anyway and to give you a sense of how much, the only thing stopping them from reaching the top of my favorites list is the Star Wars Trilogy) I feel very strongly that it should be headlined by Australian actors, Hardy was born in England and Theron in South Africa, now I have nothing against them at all but to me this wreaks of the possibly similar decision to cast Tina Turner in the previous film, which I’m sure was made to “appeal the series to international viewers.”

WTF, seriously, this series needs no such appeal nor in my eyes does it need to be made to please them before us, WE’RE the ones that gave them this series and it shouldn’t be dumbed down once more in favor of international box office, the first two Mad Max movies didn’t have hundreds of millions of dollars, shit they didn’t even have tens of millions of dollars but what they had were raw, savage, kinetic guts and an all Australian cast but guess what, they made shit loads of money regardless and made a star of Mel Gibson, as well as his director George Miller.

But look, I could be wrong and it could be a good film despite those obstacles and I’m certain to go check it out when it hits cinemas but so far it’s not off to a good start and as someone who loves MM 1 and 2 so much, I can’t help but feel a little disappointed.

Trailer Watch: Avatar

Seeing as how I didn’t do a trailer watch on the teaser of Avatar, I thought I’d better do one for the main trailer that was recently released.

And to cut through the bullshit as I like to do here, this trailer is not only very fucking awesome but it is also outstanding, showing off a scope and size that only someone like Cameron can provide and the way this trailer shows off his filmography is expertly handled, as if it is saying to the audience “remember all of those badass films you grew up watching like The Terminator and Aliens, well he did those” and again, you get a much better sense of what the film will be like and based off what we’ve seen, it looks as though Cameron has done it again and captured lightning in a bottle once more.

But of course, I could be wrong as I also have severe doubts as to how well it will do at the box office seeing as how Transformers 2 despite horrible reviews became the year’s highest grossing film, I don’t know if this film will reach those heights or even the heights of New Moon, which seems to be the only film that stands a chance of making that amount of money, but the future is always in motion so I can’t wait now more than ever to see how this plays out.

Full Avatar Trailer to be released this week

Hello all,

No reviews this week after last week's double header but I will fill you all in this week about some really cool news.

And that is the online release of the full theatrical trailer to James Cameron's Avatar, I found a bootleg version a while ago and LOVED it but you should be able to find it at davestrailerpage.co.uk or movie-list.com with various HD options.

Stay Tuned for my thoughts on the trailer itself over the coming days.

Film Review - Days of Thunder (1990)

Days of Thunder stars Tom Cruise as Cole Trickle, a rookie race car driver wanting to make it to the big leagues of NASCAR Racing, but after being severely injured in a crash, he loses his edge and he’ll have to rely on the help of his doctor played by Nicole Kidman who would later become Mrs. Cruise in real life to regain it for one last victory.

Days of Thunder, well I have to say that I did enjoy it a lot more than Top Gun, which was an okay film not all that great where as this I felt was far better written but in this instance not enough to save it, despite some excellent stunt sequences, I also felt just as strongly that the movie felt telegraphed and really little no more than Top Gun in a car.

But hey, like I said, I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected to so I’ll give a 3 out of 5.

Film Review - G-Force (2009)

G-Force is the latest family production from Jerry Bruckheimer and it concerns a crack team of guinea pigs who are on a mission to stop an evil electronics millionaire played by Bill Nighy and prove their worth to their human counterparts.

G-Force is not a bad film but it also not a very good one, with most of the first half consisting of repeats of the same joke be it either a fart joke, a one liner or a plot to escape their new home, luckily once the action kicked in during the second half the film found its footing but a little more of that would have gone a long way.

Out of the two family films released these holidays, one would be better advised to see Up instead and action fans wanting to see this should wait for Avatar in December, as for my rating well I liked the action scenes and the cast but the rest didn’t do much for me at all so I’ll give it a 2 out of 5.

Editorial - Recommending Movies: Good or Bad?

This one is a more general editorial piece but like a lot of the others, its one that I feel is worth paying attention to and that is the recommendation of movies to family and friends.

Now, most critics I’ve listened to i.e.: Roger Ebert, Gene Siskel and Mark Kermode dance around this issue but most of the time will recommend the film they’re reviewing anyway where as I personally actually do have a problem with doing that.

Now the reason for this is because of the fact that I honestly do not know how that film will play with the people I’m giving the review to, I alluded to this in an earlier editorial regarding this subject but one of my feelings when regarding films is that certain ones are going to speak to certain people, in my case be it Die Hard, Dead Poets Society and Star Wars to name a couple of them, but in terms of recommendations I actually hesitate to do so because of this fact.

So there you have it folks, my editorial on recommending movies and how some are better at it than others.

Film Review - Angels and Demons (2009)

Angels and Demons stars Tom Hanks once more as Harvard professor Robert Langdon who finds himself on his way to the Vatican after the death of the Pope and four cardinals who are hot favorites to replace him are kidnapped and due to be killed once every hour in a space of four before the bomb goes off that will destroy them all in a bath of light.

And that last part of the plot explanation is pretty much going to give you the feeling of a rousing adventure in the style of Indiana Jones, well sadly it doesn’t and the whole thing just feels ludicrous in many ways, first off the plot could very well have been the plot of the next Batman film if Heath Ledger had lived to play the Joker again with the Vatican standing in for Gotham City, secondly the use of the four elements Earth, Wind, Fire and Water made me think ‘why not just throw Heart in there to make the full set while you’re at it and have them summon Captain Planet at the end of the movie’ I mean that’s how stupid this film is.

Oh and if all of that isn’t enough, every time Hanks comes across an important plot point it turns into ‘we must go there’ dun dun dun dun dun dun dun I mean as I’ve said earlier in my review, the whole thing just feels cartoonish and also for people who are meant to go quickly they like to take they’re sweet time while they’re at it I mean you just end up putting your finger to your watch to signal to them to get going before someone gets killed, I mean can’t you sight see another time when a bomb isn’t threatening to blow everyone to kingdom come I mean come on.

I could of course go on but to close things off, this movie does not come recommended unless you want to laugh yourself stupid at the ludicrousness of it all but in terms of an actual rating well I will say that in it’s defense this is probably the funniest film I’ve seen since Hot Fuzz so I’ll give it a 1 out of 5 on that basis.