Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

mad-max-fury-road-vehicles

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Director:

George Miller

Starring:

Tom Hardy

Charlize Theron

Nicholas Hoult

Plot:

A woman rebels against a tyrannical ruler in post apocalyptic Australia in search for her homeland with the help of a group of female prisoners, a psychotic worshiper, and a drifter named Max.

Review:

So do you like car chases? If so this is the movie for you. The entire thing was one amazingly choreographed chase scenes after another.

The visuals were stunning. From the desert to the cars to the disgusting people. There was like one moment of CGI that was kind of cheesy looking. Overall, though, it really showed what you can do if you have a lot of time to choreograph and great stunt people.

I’ve never seen a Mad Max movie before so I did feel a little lost regarding history and what was going on in the world. I kept waiting for explanations but they weren’t there. Basically, I guess, all you need to know is it’s a post apocalyptic world and shits fucked up.

Loved Charliez Theron’s character. She was a total badass. There’s a scene where Max, Tom Hardy, has three shots to take out a light at long distance. He takes two and misses. She moves to stand behind him and doesn’t even say anything. She’s already proven she’s the better shot by that point and all he does is hand her the gun. Loved it.

I thought the score was off in a couple places. I felt like the music should have been super dramatic, loud, and frantic but instead it was slow and light and almost ethereal. It didn’t seem to fit the movie. Thankfully it was only in a couple of places.

Overall, the movie wasn’t as psychotic and scary as I expected it to be from the trailers, but I still liked it. It looked phenomenal and Charliez Theron was amazing. I’m interested to see if/when we get a sequel.

4/5

Magic Shifts (Kate Daniels #8) By: Ilona Andrews

MagicShifts_CV

Magic Shifts (Kate Daniels #8) By: Ilona Andrews

Plot:

After breaking from life with the Pack, mercenary Kate Daniels and her mate—former Beast Lord Curran Lennart—are adjusting to a very different pace. While they’re thrilled to escape all the infighting, Curran misses the constant challenges of leading the shapeshifters.

So when the Pack offers him its stake in the Mercenary Guild, Curran seizes the opportunity—too bad the Guild wants nothing to do with him and Kate. Luckily, as a veteran merc, Kate can take over any of the Guild’s unfinished jobs in order to bring in money and build their reputation. But what Kate and Curran don’t realize is that the odd jobs they’ve been working are all connected.

An ancient enemy has arisen, and Kate and Curran are the only ones who can stop it—before it takes their city apart piece by piece…

Review:

*Sigh* There are few things better than a new Ilona Andrew’s book. Normally I put off reading as long as I can, but when this was delivered to my kindle at midnight the only thing keeping me from reading it was the fact my kindle was downstairs and I was warm and cozy in bed. My laziness wins out over a new book apparently.

Anyway, I devoured this book in one day and now the wait begins for the next. I was curious to see how Kate would figure out how to fight her super powerful father and thought they had forgotten about it until the absolute end of the book and I realized the entire book was really a way to fight her father. It was interesting and unexpected since I didn’t try and think up my own solution. Nothing I could come up with would be better than what Andrews creates. NOTHING.

The book starts out immediately with Kate killing some ghouls and because of that it took me a few pages to get into it. I wanted to know how they were coping living in the suburbs, I wanted all the relationship stuff. I was impatient but they didn’t make me wait too long. I am a little concerned about how things there are developing. I hope in a later book a human that isn’t a difficult/annoying person is introduced. They’ve moved from one pack but they’re being joined by everyone it feels like. On one hand I love the characters and I’m glad they’re there, but how is that going to work with the real pack?

So many questions left in the series and there are so many amazing characters that I feel that Ilona Andrews should be in line to have their consciousness uploaded to a computer so that we will always have a new book

5/5

 

V for Vendetta (2005)

V for Vendetta (2005)

Director:

James McTeigue

Starring:

Hugo Weaving

Natalie Portman

Rupert Graves

Plot:

In a future British tyranny, a shadowy freedom fighter, known only by the alias of “V”, plots to overthrow it with the help of a young woman.

Review:

I use to have a V doll that went through the entire V speech, including climactic music. Yeah. I’m awesome.

I’ve evidently watched too many British shows recently because Natalie Portman’s accent bugged me. Never has before so I decided to just ignore it. She’s a fine actress, but apparently her British accent needs work.

It took one man with a particular set of skills and a wide spread broadcast to motivate a nation. It’s a beautiful idea.

The feeling and the speeches, everything in this movie elicits a rebellious reaction in me. I just watched a TED talk about how the world isn’t as bad as we think and yet now I feel the desire to over throw a government.

I thought of this movie because of the recent action movie list, but watching it again I realize there aren’t that many action scenes. They’re there and pretty awesome, but the movie is about a message not about kicking ass.

It’s been a while since I’ve read the comic and all I remember is that it was pretty brutal.

5/5

The Mystery Woman (Ladies of Lantern Street #2) By: Amanda Quick

Mystery Woman

The Mystery Woman (Ladies of Lantern Street #2) By: Amanda Quick

Plot:

Beatrice Lockwood, one of the intrepid ladies of Lantern Street, is in the middle of a case when her past comes back to haunt her.  Joshua North, a former spy for the Crown, has come out of a self-imposed retirement after a disastrous case that left him scarred and forced to use a cane.  He is hunting the villain who is blackmailing his sister.

The trail leads him to Beatrice who is his chief suspect.  But when he realizes that she is not the blackmailer they set out to find the real extortionist.  Passion flares between them as they dodge a professional assassin.  Meanwhile a mysterious scientist intent on resurrecting his dead lover using an ancient Egyptian formula for preserving the bodies of the dead is also hunting Beatrice. He is keeping his dead love perfectly preserved in a special, crystal-topped sarcophagus filled with the special fluid.   But he needs Beatrice’s paranormal talent to activate the reviving properties of the preservative in the coffin.  Time is running out for everyone involved.

The two cases collide at a mysterious country-house filled with artifacts from ancient Egyptian tombs.  The drama concludes in the mad scientist’s laboratory where Joshua discovers that the past he thought was dead is still very much alive — sort of.

Review:

I love Amanda Quick, Jayne Castle, whatever she wants to call herself. Under her Quick name her books are more historical but they still have the paranormal bent which is great. I’m not a huge historical romance reader but the addition of psychic powers makes it so much more fun.

Joshua was, possibly, the first male lead I’ve read who openly refuses to believe in psychic abilities. He’s polite to Beatrice and never really calls her a liar or fraud, but he says that her observations were made because of logic. It’s cute and never really gets annoying and was actually kind of refreshing.

Beatrice was your normal strong female who has psychic powers and lives in the Victorian age. Nothing really amazing about her, I liked her, but nothing really stood out. I did feel bad for her sexual encounters, though, Joshua could have worked a bit harder in that area, if you know what I mean.

4/5

 

Dredd (2012)

Judge Dredd 2012

Dredd (2012)

Director:

Pete Travis

Starring:

Karl Urban

Olivia Thirlby

Lena Headey

Plot:

In a violent, futuristic city where the police have the authority to act as judge, jury and executioner, a cop teams with a trainee to take down a gang that deals the reality-altering drug, SLO-MO.

Review:

Recently I came across a thread that asked you to list the greatest action movies of all time. Now I wouldn’t say that the list that came to my mind was the greatest, but they’re all really good and some of my favorite movies.

Judge Dredd was on my list and I realized it’s been way too long since I’ve watched it. What if I don’t like it anymore?

Not possible.

Judge Dredd is one of those movies that I joke I’m going to buy for everyone at Christmas. It’s almost always cheap and there’s really no good reason for someone not to own it. I say I’m joking, but am I? One day…

A quick disclaimer, I have never read a Judge Dredd comic or watched the original movie.

Karl Urban as Dredd is such a badass. The way his face is in a perpetual frown and the fact that he barely speaks. Perfect.

Ma-Ma, Lena Heady, is an evil as fuck villain and you know this immediately because the movie starts with her having three dudes skinned alive and then thrown from near the top of a skyscraper while doped up on drugs that slowed time.

Seriously?

Yup.

Olivia Thirlby, Anderson, provides a nice newbie to ride along with. She’s a mutant that has psychic abilities, she reads people’s minds. By the end of the movie she’s earned her position as a judge, though, I’m not sure if I’d call her a badass. However, when she invaded that dudes mind and messed with him it was pretty cool.

The movie as a whole is great and I wish desperately that it had received a sequel, but it bombed in theaters because… people can’t enjoy a graphically violent sci-fi action movie? I don’t know, but it’s sad. To add insult to injury Urban’s TV show Almost Human was canceled too.

Bitter?

Yeah.

I highly recommend this movie.

5/5