Over 35 years after George Miller branded the iconic post-apocalyptic universe of Max Rockatansky, he returns in 2015 with the highly anticipated prequel of sorts, Mad Max: Fury Road. While I'm admittedly far from a die-hard fan of the franchise and by no means an expert on Miller's long thriving tale, I can guarantee that this latest adventure delivers the same type of thrills and aura as the original.
Move over Mel Gibson while Tom Hardy takes the reins as Max Rockatansky, a rebel consumed by survival and disgraced by what the world has become. As Max finds himself imprisoned by a group of sand dwellers, he crosses paths with another rebel named Furiosa (Charlize Theron) who struggles to escape and return to the civilization where she was born.
As advertised Mad Max: Fury Road is literally a two-hour, high-octane chase scene that delivers on action and intensity. But although the fast-paced sequences grow tiresome as the minutes accumulate, a gratifying finale and excellent performances from Hardy and, to a larger degree, Charlize Theron help make this blockbuster franchise reboot worth the watch.
Stars: 2 and a half stars out of 4
Grade: B-
As I mentioned before when I did a rapid review for the Scientology documentary, Going Clear, HBO has become a major player on the festival market. Leaving the landmark Sundance Film Festival with the rights to both Going Clear and the new Kurt Cobain documentary, Montage of Heck, they've cemented their position as a distributor of upper-echelon films.
Dissecting the birth, death and everything in between of grunge music pioneer, Kurt Cobain, through the use of home videos, live interviews and interpretive animation sequences, Montage of Heck paints a devastating portrait of drug addiction. While the heroin epidemic sweeps across our nation and filters into suburban homes at an alarming rate, this documentary is suitably timed and severely eye-opening.
Cobain became an overnight megastar after the release of Nirvana's iconic grunge album, Nevermind, changed the face of rock music in 1991. Cobain undesirably became the voice and face of a generation as he sadly withered away by relentless addiction with his lifetime partner, Courtney Love. Montage of Heck is a depressing but necessary examination of Cobain's struggles with heroin even after the life-changing birth of his daughter, Frances Bean Cobain.
Stars: 2 and a half stars out of 4
Grade: B-
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