May 2015

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015.)

Country: USA
Running Time: 116 minutes
Directed by: George Miller
Starring: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Zoë Kravitz, Riley Keough, Abbey Lee

I have seen the new Mad Max film and it truly is mad. Undoubtedly, this pun will be made by countless other internet reviewers as well but hell, I’m not proud. Director George Miller has returned to the series after thirty years and he did it triumphantly.

In a brutal post-apocalyptic world, warlord Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) rules over the freaks and monsters in his desert Citadel. But then Furiosa (Charlize Theron), his most trusted driver, escapes in one of the war rigs. With her she takes Joe’s most prized possessions – his wives. Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) gets caught in this by sheer accident and does whatever it takes to survive.

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Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015.)

Country: USA
Running Time: 141 minutes
Directed by: Joss Whedon
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Anthony Mackie, Stellan Skarsgård, James Spader, Samuel L. Jackson

If you’ve heard about Avengers: Age of Ultron, you pretty much know what to expect from this film even if you haven’t seen it… and you probably did, judging by its box office. The latest film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise is spectacular, funny and occasionally dramatic – thanks to the screenplay by Joss Whedon. It’s says a lot about MCU films that, after seven years, we have come to expect a certain level of entertainment from them.

Avengers: Age of Ultron re-unites us with a group of now-familiar heroes – from genius billionaire Tony “Iron Man” Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) to Norse god Thor (Chris Hemsworth). As if half a dozen superheroes wasn’t enough, the film introduces new characters such as telepathic/telekinetic Scarlett Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and superfast Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). Over them looms a new threat – artificial intelligence called Ultron (wonderfully voiced by James Spader). Built by Tony Stark to protect humanity, Ultron instead decides to follow time-honored tradition of AIs everywhere and go on a murderous rampage with an army of robots.

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