The Avengers: Age Of Ultron

The second Avengers installment has the team going up against the accidentally created artificial intelligence of Ultron (James Spader).  Cutting to the chase, Age Of Ultron is descent enough with the type of action we've come to expect from the Marvel world, but it's just like it's story and ever growing characters, a bit bloated.  There are good attempts by director and writer Joss Whedon to explore and further develop the characters, particularly with characters Banner and Black Widow, but even at 141 minutes, it's a far too ambitious undertaking, and so the allusions to the lapsed time period since the last fiasco, feel forced and campy, even with the rather good editing. Here, the cgi is way too obvious an effect however cool, as in the opening sequence which felt more like the trailer of an Xbox or Playstation game.  So it becomes a problem of how do you align that tongue and cheek humor and character development and growing conflict of the last installment among the Avengers, with the seriousness of the stakes at hand.  To it's credit however, Age Of Ultron does introduce us to some great new characters, minus Ultron who seems even in this age of technology to be improbable and disappointing as a foe.  But if the Transformers AI characters could do it, you'd think. Underlying themes of AI and what it means to be conscious and all the other deeper implications were not lost on me in the effort: but in this case, I wasn't impressed.   I also like that this installment seems like other movies to be taking story direction and character cues from films like 2009's Watchmen.  The strong and perhaps universal selling point for me was watching the Avengers all coordinate and work together, simple as that. It would probably be easy to conclude that I didn't like the movie and that would be wrong.  I just was expecting more quality and a better pacing, not everything thrown out there at once rather heavy handed in segments.

Mad Max: Fury Road

Mad Max: Fury Road is a hell of a reboot to the franchise. Writer and director George Miller of the orginal shows that after nearly 35 years, he still has the goods. Starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron, Fury Road is a visual treat to behold with visceral old school action devoid of the heavy use of special effects. It is also Miller's use of old school, tried and true film techniques that allow the action to really carry the story along.  As the viewers may know, it was never about the dialogue in these movies or even the acting for that matter.  But if you're lucky enough to get great actors like Hardy and Theron (looking like a young Sigourney Weaver), then it's certainly a plus that comes through. Miller utilizes the best elements of silent films and spaghetti westerns to more than measure up to his original and it appears that there will be more to come.  That's what's up.

Fruitvale Station

Fruitvale Station starring Michael B. Jordan is a film that chronicles the last 2 days leading up to the tragic shooting of Oscar Grant by transit police. It is directed by upcoming director Ryan Coogler, who's also at the helm for the upcoming Creed film, also starring Michael B. Jordan.  Jordan here, gives his most powerful performance to date and it's really no surprise if you've seen his previous work in film and television. What makes this movie so powerful besides great performances, is how the ordinary life events and struggles of a young Grant and his family are captured amidst the unexpected violence of the new year. Fruitvale Station is certainly a movie of it's time and before in lieu of the still prevalent racial tensions and incidents of police brutality, but it gives a more personal and honest scope to the fragility of life, than become just another extended sound bite to capturing a tragic story.

Kung Fu Killer

2014's Kung Fu Killer (Kung Fu Jungle) stars Donnie Yen as a convicted ex police martial arts instructor who is released to help hunt down a serial killer (Wang Baoqiang) targeting martial arts experts.  Overall, it's a solid enough kungfu film with good use of a somewhat improbable plot and better than decent action scenes to move the story along.  As you would expect, Donnie also serves as the fight choreographer and so there's no surprise at the action quality.  At 52 years of age, Yen is still very viable and I give him much homage, especially in the last 8-10 years for keeping Hong Kong action movies viable, relevant, and always striving to maintain integrity and authentity to the martial arts genre. Much credit is also given to Wang Baoqiang for being formidable villain and martial artist to counter Yen.  

Unity

Focus

The only thing to focus on in Focus, was just the beautiful people and scenery.  Beyond that, it's is overwrought with unbelievably bad character development and poor acting that does nothing to meaningfully align itself with the convoluted plot.

Mortdecai

Starring Johnny Depp and Gwyneth Paltrow, this movie just sucks so bad. I like British humor and all, but come on.  Mortdecai is really, really horrendous and ill represents the talents of those involved. I got nothing else.