Review: Mad Max: Fury Road - Worth the wait!

We've all had our hopes dashed by bad remakes and reboots of classic movies...this, my friends, is not one of them. This is genuine, bona fide Mad Max...in fact, it's Mad Max with a triple boost of nitro.

Mad Max: Fury Road - Legacy Trailer

Some epic-ness right here.

Have been waiting for this movie ever since the summer after 4th grade, when I caught a re-run of Thunderdome on TBS and fell in love. Spent the rest of that summer building dune buggies out of Legos.

Yep, it'd be better with Mel, but Charlize is certainly an upgrade from Tina Turner.

Mad Max: Fury Road Full Theatrical Trailer

A sneak peak of this movie took Comic Con by storm, and the full length thing just gets better...pumped to spend some more time in the wastelands with Max!

Some friggin' insane practical car 'sloding effects in store...

Aaaand a trailer drops for Mad Max: Fury Road

Yeeehaw! Sign me up for this one.

Mad Max: Fury Road footage debuts at ComicCon - brains 'splode

Not available for public consumption, but footage of the new, long awaited Mad Max movie debuted at Comic-Con and has folks raving. Crazy, intense, channeling the aesthetics of the original trilogy...here's a snippet from one viewer's description:

At one point, muzzled Max, chained to the back of Hoult’s car, watches in awe as trucks and cars get swirled up into a flaming dust storm, exploding and sending bodies flying every which way. The shot is unflinching, the violence unforgiving; the scene seems to be on the edge of ending at every turn, but it just keeps going, getting more and more brutal and loud, until Hoult finally cuts the tension:

“What a lovely day,” he shouts. “What a lovely day!”

Write-ups with some spoilers are out there (see: MTV, iO9) if you're interested. Folks are going nuts about the footage, which is pretty frickin' great news.

They also released some promo posters, which I'm not in love with.

Only the mad survive!

BTW, Max looks to have added some new weapons to his arsenal (AK mags, pistol mags added to the outfit), but still has the old, iconic sawed off double.

World War Z - Very Late Review

Did not make it out to see this one in theaters to see the Brad Pitt Zombie Movie aka World War Z. Was finally able to watch it this past week.

Got the "New Unrated Cut" version, though I'm not sure what's different about it...probably more gore? Yeehaw!

I went in with low expectations and was happy to have 'em exceeded.

The opening is by far the strongest part of the movie...from driving with the family to utter chaos in a matter of seconds. The scene in the grocery store was just about perfect in painting the picture of what the local Food Land would look like in that level of scenario. Not a place you want to take the family.

Then comes the running, hiding and fighting to survive. Movement is life. Makeshift bayonet on the found bolt gun, stabbing zombies left and right. Pretty much up until they hop on the helo outta Newark, it's an awesome movie.

After that point, it becomes a fairly so-so movie. The globe trotting, Where In the World is the Zombie Cure...not what we wanted. I liked the trip to Korea, the special forces guys held up their as the last remnants in their fallen base. I'd much rather have stuck with these guys for the remainder of the movie - or heck, even just brought some along for the rest of the ride...but, alas.

The rest of the movie...a bit meh. "Uneven" is what a better film critic would call it. The super human swarming zombies in Israel were silly at best. Lame ending. Too much world, not enough war. We got a few glimpses of a better movie, but sadly, 'twas not to be.

Instead of focusing on finding a cure, they shoulda just focused on killing zombies en masse. How tough is that? Come on, we all wanted to see A-10 Warthogs strafing hordes of undead and Navy SEALs fighting back wave after wave of walkers.

Hmm, maybe I should start penning that script. The Walking Dead meets Act of Valor. Coming to a theater near you, for the low, low price of $150 million!

Given the potential of awesomeness contain in the source material, and the amount of money spent, World War Z should have been better. Overall...enjoyable and worth a watch, but not great.

First shot of Tom Hardy as Mad Max

Via Comic Book Resources

Looks like black is still the official color of the apocalypse.

Short Film/Concept for Lights Out Movie

Survivalists! Mutant zombie bikers! Really good production values! Odd battle tactics. Check it out.

Edited to add: I do think this and other "Prepper" movie efforts face an up hill battle pleasing their intended niche audience. Unlike most audiences, survivalist-types tend to have a laser focus for accuracy in firearms and, to a lesser extent, tactics. We love to nitpick this kind of stuff. For those especially prone, remember that it's all entertainment, and on a limited budget at that.

What impressed me most was the production quality - the aerial shots, professional cinematography and yes, apparently even actors from the Walking Dead!

Here's an update from the Lights Out Saga Facebook page:

Lights Out Saga is an independent film series based on the wildly popular book "Lights Out" by David Crawford. We are making a series of three feature-length films based on the story, which will be seen in millions of homes. Here's a short film that will give you an introduction to our work. We start filming in just a few months, and anticipate having all three movies "in the can" in 2014.

Your Thoughts on World War Z?

I'm not going to get a chance to see the biggest budget zombie movie ever this weekend, but I wanted to hear from the tribe.

World War Z the movie has very little to do with World War Z the book, and rumors of extensive re-shoots had many judging the film dead on arrival long before it even hit theaters. But, it's out, and initial reviews from the pro movie reviewers are that World War Z is actually pretty good.

Of course, because the artsy film critics enjoy a film doesn't actually mean it's any good.

So, what's the verdict from you, survivalists, preppers and die-hard fans of apocalypse fiction?

Lights Out...the movie?

I remember reading Lights Out when it was posted online, free of charge at one of the forums back in the day. Don't think I ever got through to the end--but pretty cool to see that it will be made into a movie or web series of some kind. We'll find out details on the 18th!

World War Z Trailer

It's Brad Pitt vs. the Zombies in what looks to be the biggest budget zombie movie of all times. While it shares the same name as the best-selling Max Brooks' World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie Wars, there's not supposed to be much else in common between the two.

The departure from the source material, plus reports of substantial re-shoots to fix serious problems with the original draft of the film have many dumping on this film already. The zombies this time around look to be of the "fast" variety, and the trailer shows that the Zeds are at least capable of enough thinking to come up with a zombie pile/ladder to overcome obstacles.

Why you'd make a movie based on a book, and then not base it at all on the source material, is beyond me. But, it's a big budget zombie extravaganza, so I'm pretty much in regardless.

Red Dawn Remake Trailer is Here - Wolverines!

Thor versus Chinese/North Koreans - I'm in!

Who else is pumped for #TheGrey?

Kicks unholy ass sounds about right.Whoever came up with Liam Neeson versus a pack of man-eating wolves deserves a medal. The Grey looks great.

You guys and gals as excited as I am?

Review: Travis Haley - Adaptive Carbine

I have limited budget to dedicate to firearms training (and when I say limited, I mean it), so instructional DVDs have played an important part of my skills development. The Magpul Dynamics "Art of" videos have been hugely instructional to me and helped to increase my carbine skills far beyond what they would be otherwise.

Travis Haley was one-half of the instructor line-up for Magpul Dynamics. He recently left Magpul (on good terms) to start a new firm, Haley Strategic, allowing him to do consulting, design work and training with a wider client base.

Adaptive Carbine is Haley's first post-Magpul training video, and his first solo effort. I linked the trailer the other day, here. What can I say, it looked too good to pass up.

Unlike the Magpul Dynamics series, Adaptive Carbine is not filmed during a course -- it's a direct, one-on-one with Haley. This allows Haley to spend more time and detail on getting across his personal shooting philosophies and explain more in depth many of the mechanics and nuances behind what he does. It's an exceptional opportunity to get focused instruction from one of the best in the business.

Tip of the Day: Internet Movie Firearms Database

You've probably heard of IMDB--the internet movie database. But you may not have heard of IMFDB - the database dedicated to cataloging the firearms that appear in movies, TV shows and video games. Want to find out what kind of shotgun Sarah Connor used at the end of T2? It's right here. What kind of pistol is Eli toting? They've got that. If they don't have an answer to your movie/firearms trivia questions, I'd be surprised.

Go, now, and spend hours browsing >

Trailer: Delta Zulu

Saw the trailer for this posted on DVM; here's a longer look at the movie. Looks like it could be fun.

Review: Battle: Los Angeles

Summer starts early with Battle: Los Angeles, an action-packed alien/disaster movie. Some great visual effects and lots of action. Nothing particularly memorable, distinct or remarkable about it, but a totally watchable and engaging movie.

The guy who played Two-Face (Aaron Eckhard) is a marine a few days from retirement. He's been there, done that and has been scared by the death of men under his command. His retirement plans have to wait, though, as alien invaders from outer space decide to hit, intent on stealing earth of its precious water. Mankind, of course, must go.

Two Face is put in charge of a bunch of indistinct, completely forgettable marines and sent to go rescue some civilians holed up inside a police station. Nothing, of course, goes according to plan. The film follows the marines closely--we only see the unfolding war of the worlds from their perspective.

I read someone equating the movie to a mashup of Blackhawk Down and District 9, which is pretty accurate, though both Blackhawk and D9 were much better movies. That's not to say Battle: Los Angeles is bad. There's lots of action and cool special effects. The CG is very good. There are a few jump moments. There are certainly plenty of good ingredients, but there's no special extra. Battle: LA is just a bit predictable, routine and generally forgettable.

If you're looking for a movie to go see this weekend, by all means, check it out. Battle: Los Angeles isn't a must see, but it's not a bad time, either.

Movie Review: Tomorrow, When the War Began

Ya, they think they're pretty hardcore.

Based off of a series of young adult novels of the same name, Tomorrow, When the War Began is an Austalian-produced retread of Red Dawn. Same story--foreign invaders (this time a coalition of evil Asians) invade Australia (they want the koalas) and a group of mostly good looking teenagers avoid the initial attack and then begin to wage a war of resistance against the baddies. 

It has good production values, with explosions and largely convincing effects; the producers spent some good coin producing the movie. The actors are unrecognizable Aussie/Kiwi actors and do a serviceable job for the most part. Some are annoying and the movie sadly lets most of 'em make it through to the end. I wanted a higher death rate, that's for sure.

It's an odd movie, as the protagonist is one of the girls and the easiest on the eyes. She turns into a regular she-Rambo, taking the lead of the group, killing bad guys and toting the gun for most of the movie. The guys, meanwhile, are mostly wimps, cowards and are generally useless. The movie has action, but there's also an abundance of relationship/hormonal teen stuff. I suppose the movie is trying to appeal to both male and female teen audiences, but struggles to walk that line and ends up being a fairly ridiculous at times. There's also a fair amount of language in this, so parents may want to keep younger teens from viewing.

However, there are some good scenes, some so-bad-it's funny moments, and the Red Dawn rip-off plot is kind of fun in a nostalgic kind of way. A two-star kind of movie. If you're in the mood for a quasi-cheesy survival movie, I'd probably just  recommend the original Red Dawn, though.

Review: Carriers

Came across this end-of-the-world movie on Netflix, read some decent reviews and gave it a try. Carriers was a limited release movie (100 screens), dumped briefly into theaters for unexplained reasons. It stars Chris "Captain Kirk" Pine and a couple other quasi-recognizable actors, is well acted, good cinematography and generally a decent movie...not sure why it didn't get a wider release (I wasn't sure why The Road didn't get a wider release either...); there are plenty of steamers that make it into theaters, so this should have been given a better shot.

It follows the story of two brothers and their girlfriends, journeying across the country after a world-ending pandemic. Not the zombie kind of outbreak, just some horrible 100% fatal virus. Most everyone is dead and the brothers are planning on heading to an old family vacation stuff on the beach to wait things out. 

The movie isn't an action movie or a horror movie; more a suspense/thriller. The journey doesn't go as planned and the group has to deal with the complications along the way: What to do about the father and his sick daughter they meet on the road? Leave them, kill them and take their stuff, bring them with at the risk of getting infected? Tough, bleak decisions. It's not a cheery movie, that's for sure.

Overall, pretty decent movie, if a bit serious, depressing and a little slow. I prefer a bit more fun or action in my end of the world movies (Road Warrior, Book of Eli, Red Dawn), so I probably won't watch this again and wouldn't give it a "buy" recommendation. It's certainly worth a free view on Netflix. Oh, and it's only PG-13, so expect less violence, language and so-on than the typical fare. 

Battle: Los Angeles Trailer

Special thanks to Izzy G. for mentioning this - looks like it could be awesome!