Tomorrowland

First Hit:  Interesting scope, parts that excelled, but overall this movie fails to deliver an engaging film from beginning to end.

The film’s early opening scenes included Casey, a truly curious smart girl (Britt Robertson), trying to hamper a rocket’s launch thereby keeping her engineer father employed. It also included Frank Walker (Young Frank played by Thomas Robinson and older Frank played by George Clooney) telling the story through two sets of eyes, the young curious smart boy and the wise old man who’s given up hope.

These three characters are pulled together by Athena (Raffey Cassidy); a robot created from the future whose mission is to find hope in the human race and give them the clue to the possibilities by giving out Tomorrowland pins.

The point of the film finally comes towards the end, when Nix (Hugh Laurie) gives a speech about how humans don’t care enough to fix the problems they are facing. The lavish way this film is presented is wonderful and engaging. The movie felt long which isn’t good and at 130 minutes, it was long.

Robertson was good and I felt that she did a great job of embodying her role. Robinson was cute and his early scenes were wonderful to watch. Clooney was good but there was something missing that kept me thinking “Clooney” and not about the role he was playing, Frank Walker. Cassidy was fantastic. I was fully engaged when she was on the screen, her way of being this robot was amazing. Laurie was a wonderful antagonist and his colloquy on the future was on target. Damon Lindelof and Brad Bird wrote a lengthy screenplay which is a commentary on how we are mortgaging our future and not paying attention to our self-created predicament. Bird did a great job of creating wonderful pictures of the now and the future, but it dragged on and could have used some snipping to tighten it up.

Overall:  A bit overblown, visually nice, but in the end not a very good film.

Pitch Perfect 2

First Hit:  The upside was the music the downside was the comedy, which was sophomoric, staged, and unnecessary.

I’m not much for musical films but when done right as part of the plot it can be good. The singing here was very strong and some of the representations of current and older songs were fun to hear. Unfortunately the part of the plot that didn’t work was the staged comedy scenes.

Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) rowing across the lake, Fat Amy hanging from the middle of the stage and her costume rips. Yes the screenwriters and director used this to push the plot in a particular direction but the women in the film are too old and too smart for this sort of plot.

The only actress that seemed to fit age wise for college was Emily (Hailee Steinfeld). Beca (Anna Kendrick) sang well but I couldn’t help but think she wasn’t really interested in the role. The silly scenes of her being pulled up into a tree on the retreat or her unintelligent comebacks to Chloe (competitor lead singer) weren’t in-line with her, the depth of her character or the film.

Kendrick is a very strong singer and it is unfortunate that the screenplay had her underplay her skills. Wilson is hard to watch. Her voice is mediocre compared to the rest of the cast (occasionally flat or sharp) and having her be the brunt of the humor because of her size is type casting and unfortunate. Steinfeld was good and seemed to be the only person who was age appropriate for the part. Kay Cannon and Mickey Rapkin wrote a very poor script and the story they created to put the Bella team into a situation where they had to sing well to get their reputation back, was lame. Director Elizabeth Banks didn’t make this film stand out but she wasn’t given much of a script to work with.

Overall:  This film probably didn’t need to be made and there better not be another.

Mad Max: Fury Road

First Hit:  One very, very long chase movie consisting of unrealistic and poorly choreographed scenes that were generally bad enough to have the audience laugh.

Yes the fun things about the original Mad Max films were the bizarre chase scenes. However, what made it watchable and interesting was the story line outside of the vehicle chases. Here there is little story and even less of anything of interest.

Max (played by Tom Hardy) says so little that virtually no emotion comes from him except when he hallucinates his daughter in front of his eyes. Then there is Charlize Theron as Imperator Furiosa, a driver for Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) the emperor, sort of speak, of his group of people. I cannot go into the story because it is simply one long huge chase scene and the hero’s survive - what else would I say?

Theron is OK but I’m puzzled as to why she would take this role – it just lacks the depth I’m use to seeing from her. Hardy was OK as well and I don’t know why he made this film except maybe for the money. George Miller and Brendan McCarthy wrote a meaningless script filled with staged chase choreography. Miller directed this film with this vision: How many crashes can I get on film (one - beginning to end), how bizarre can I make the vehicles (electric guitar and player as a hood ornament) and how can I bury any semblance of a story (just have people chase each other).

Overall:  Not much of a film and less of a story.

Hot Pursuit

First Hit:  Mediocre story, partially slapstick, occasionally good out-loud laughs, but in the end it just wasn’t enough.

The set-up is that Officer Connor (Reese Witherspoon) grew up admiring her police officer father. She always wanted to be a cop. But with an embarrassing incident early in her career, she finds herself down in the evidence room. She gets a call to assist moving a drug informer and his wife to Dallas to testify against the head of a drug cartel.

The wife Daniella Riva (Sofia Vergara), is an opposite type person from Conner, her protector. The rest of the film is about putting them in instances where their differences are expounded. From the type of underwear to how they talk, their body styles, height and age.

The quips by the news organizations about their age and height were funny as was some of the dialogue on the bus they found themselves riding. However, the same bus scene had a shooting sequence when they were driving the bus that I found awkward and poorly designed.

This was the way of the whole film, poorly crafted scenes mixed with funny scenes (like her Cooper changing clothes in the sporting goods store).

Witherspoon was, at times, amazingly engaged and funny, like her very fast talking after being covered by cocaine powder. At other times it didn’t work and the scripting and acting felt tried. Vergara was really funny when she was talking about her shoes and what she can and cannot do. But I also found her restricted by the storyline. David Feeney and John Quaintance wrote an uneven script, which the director Anne Fletcher failed to remedy.

Overall:  Although amusing at times, the outtakes at the end showed how fun and funny this film could have been.

Far From The Madding Crowd

First Hit:  Strong acting on all fronts and with luscious photography this was a good film but its length took away from it being better.

This long famous Thomas Hardy novel has Carey Mulligan as Bathsheba Everdene;  a woman whose parents died while she was young.

She works on her Aunt’s farm, tills the soil and rides horses like a man; meaning in Victoria England women rode side saddle whereas Bathsheba rides straddling the horse. She is very strong, self assured, independent and wants to stay that way. Gabriel Oak (Matthias Schoenaerts), the sheep herder neighbor, is fully smitten by Bathsheba and after a few friendly visits, asks her for her and in marriage. She is shocked and says "no", explaining she doesn’t want to be married. She ends up inheriting a large home and land. After arriving she takes charge and immediately begins to make the land profitable.

Her wealthy neighbor William Boldwood (Michael Sheen) takes a liking to Bathsheba and also asks for her hand in marriage because he wants to take care of her (“provide safe harbor”). She turns him down as well. Then she becomes smitten by handsome and reckless soldier (Tom Sturridge) who touches her in more ways than one. She agrees to be married and soon regrets the decision. He fritters away her farm on gambling and eventually confides he loves another. This leaves Bathsheba to make some difficult decisions.

The movie is lusciously filmed and many details are exquisitely shared. The cast was well chosen, however the script is a little long winded in the way this story was shared.

Mulligan is very good. She definitely has grown as an actress and reverentially delivers this character role. Her semi-smile is her strong suit as it says so much. Schoenaerts is perfect as the noble, strong, silent, friend and suitor. Sheen is fantastic as the once spurned noble neighbor that sees and wants to have Bathsheba in his life. Sturridge is great as the charming, sexy soldier that has his way with Bathsheba. Jessica Barden is wonderful as Bathsheba’s assistant. Juno Temple as Fanny Robbin is great in the small and pivotal role as Sturridge’s true love. David Nicholls wrote an extended yet colorful screenplay. Thomas Vinterberg directed this well, just a little long.

Overall:  This was a film to just watch and luxuriate in its tone and tenure.