I liked the message better than the movie. Here’s a film by a brilliant filmmaker (Brad Bird – Incredibles, The Iron Giant) that has something to say, something I believe to be very important, but says it in an uninteresting and overly obvious way. Characters repeatedly recite the theme of the film until much of the message loses its meaning.

Tomorrowland plays more like a high budget, Disney channel movie special. It doesn’t seem like the type of story worth telling on the big screen. What’s worse, the trailers gave away most of the best parts so there’s a lot of boredom as you wait between long scenes of exposition (characters are constantly sitting around explaining the plot to each other, purely for the audience’s benefit) for something to happen (which you already knew was coming if you saw the trailers).

It’s certainly not a terrible movie but I found myself bored through a large amount of the running time. It’s purely passable evening entertainment but for someone like Brad Bird, that’s nowhere near what he’s capable of.

This is a documentary about the famous recording engineer, Rick Hall and his little recording studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama that ended up creating some of the most iconic and famous songs of the 1960’s and 70’s. I knew of Rick Hall’s name and a little about the era but I had no idea just how iconic, influential, and incredible Rick and his team of studio musicians were.

This studio had a who’s who of pop stars from The Rolling Stones to Lynyrd Skynyrd and a countless number of R&B greats as well. What was really surprising to me was the contribution that the studio band (a 4 piece of white guys) made to so many great R&B tracks. It’s a testament to creativity over musicianship and the power of collaboration. This is a great documentary.

I loved this. I’m not a big fan of Hockey (only been to a few live games ever and maybe watched one full game on TV) but to enjoy this film, you don’t need to care about Hockey. The film follows the story of the Russian hockey team during the mid-1980’s. Set against the backdrop of the end of the Cold War, this is a truly compelling story of what it was like to live in Russia at the time and what these guys went through.

I was riveted start to finish. One of the better documentaries I’ve seen in a while. I particularly loved all the candid interviews with the Russian team members, so many years later. Despite not caring much about hockey, I was engrossed start to finish and it was definitely a story worth telling.

I’m not sure I liked this one as much as the first SpongeBob movie but I’m glad the original creative team was back for this. It shows. There’s all kinds of bizarre references and surreal sequences that only they would have thought of, and that was the best part.

The voice talent was excellent as always and hand drawn animation was a joy to watch (one of the first animated films released in years with hand drawn animation). Some of the story points felt like a bit of a re-tread of previous TV episodes and a few of the running gags got a little tired but overall, I enjoyed it.

This was hilarious. I think I laughed more with this sequel than the original film that started it all. The plot’s not really any different than the first in its basic structure but I’m totally fine with that. This is supposed to be a good time at the movies with some fun characters you like and hopefully laughs and it checked all of those boxes for me.

I think this was even better than the first in some ways. I don’t know why so many critics have been lukewarm in their reactions. Maybe I was just in a good mood. But I can’t remember the last comedy I went to that I laughed out loud this much. If you liked the first Pitch Perfect, you’ll love this one as well.

This is a very hard-to-find movie from the late 1980’s starring Rutger Hauer. He’s great in it as you’d expect and surrounded by a passable supporting cast. This must have had a very low budget because it’s mostly people dressed in rags, wandering around a wasteland. But it’s one of those post apocalyptic movies that paints a bleak, yet interesting, view of a future dead Earth.

The main plot revolves around this highly violent game that is played for sport using clubs and a dog’s skull as the “ball”. That’s probably one of the films biggest strengths is its focus on just a few people, a small team, playing this game and looking for redemption. Exposition is kept to a minimum and the final game is pretty exciting.

The ending seems jarringly abrupt like they just ran out of money and rolled credits but I enjoyed seeing Hauer in action, some of the sets and ideas. This is probably a pass for most people but if you love post apocalyptic movies, this is one to check out.

This is kind of an interesting vampire film. Though it received much more critical praise than it deserved. It’s well acted, well shot, but the characters lack a specific goal (beyond basic survival) and so there are long stretches of boredom between some truly interesting scenes and ideas.

Byzantium is more of an indie film (looks great by the way) but also suffers from a lot of the overwrought feel that a lot of indie films contain. If at least 30 minutes was cut from the running time, the pacing would have been so much better. The 2nd half is much more engaging than the first as the main characters deal with some real conflict and stakes. If you’re a huge fan of vampire stories, there’s enough here to recommend it but otherwise, it’s probably a pass.

Fury Road is an absolutely stunning achievement in action filmmaking. The relentless pace, broad creativity, and lack of pace-slowing exposition all combine into a film that I believe will be talked about for years to come.

You ever notice how so many films especially from the 1970’s and 1980’s get replayed long after their debut whereas most films coming out in the last decade seem to be forgotten almost immediately? I predict Fury Road will be one that is being watched and talked about 10 years from now. It’s that good.

The creativity on display here is just staggering. Nearly every scene is throwing something new at you that you’ve never seen before. The film is packed with clever ideas in this post apocalyptic wasteland world. And the stunts, oh the stunts. Just jaw dropping. The pace is relentless, the vehicles are astounding, and there are tons of well-drawn characters using very little dialogue. This is truly a show not tell movie in the best way.

I loved Charlize Theron’s Furiosa character. A strong female character that never once becomes the damsel in distress. The other women characters are similarly treated with respect. In some ways, Furiosa is the star of the film which was a nice surprise as well.

Tom Hardy did a great job as Max. Loved his performance but I couldn’t help but wish that Mel Gibson had a chance to play this role again. As an older Max, with Mel’s charisma and baggage, it could have been really interesting. But I’m happy to have Tom as the new Max and totally on board with his portrayal.

There’s a few plot point issues that don’t quite add up but the entire film is so epic, so fast paced, so compelling, frankly, just plain fun, start to finish that none of that mattered. I loved Fury Road and can’t wait to see it again.