San Andreas is the latest disaster movie to hit the theaters. It’s available as a 3D experience, as well as the regular 2D. There is some good use of 3D, which is how I saw it. It’s almost enough to recommend seeing it in 3D, but you won’t be missing too much if you don’t see it that way. This film is a traditional disaster film, reminiscent of several others.

Dwayne Johnson plays Ray, a helicopter rescue pilot working out of L.A. The film starts with a TV news crew interviewing him and his team as they rescue someone who’s crashed their car in the hilly L.A. suburbs. He’s going to go camping with his daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario), before she goes off to college in San Francisco, but is called away, because other matters get out of hand.

In a separate storyline, two seismologists from Caltech, Doctors Hayes and Park (Paul Giamatti and Will Yun Lee) have developed a predictive model of earthquakes, and go to the source of their latest prediction, near Las Vegas. Their calculations are accurate, and all hell breaks loose. They are caught up in a colossal quake along a previously undiscovered fault line near the Hoover Dam. After returning to Caltech, Dr. Hayes’s model shows that the actual San Andreas fault is about to give way, from L.A. up to San Francisco.

We find that Ray is about to get divorced from his wife Emma (Carla Gugino), and she’s moving in with her new boyfriend, a real estate devloper who’s building will be the tallest in San Fran. He offers to take Blake to SF since Ray is no longer able.

Then, the big one hits L.A., and Ray, who was on his way to Vegas in his chopper to help with rescue attempts there, turns around to rescue Emma, who’s downtown. Meanwhile, Blake is trapped up in San Francisco, and Ray decides to fly up to save her. There’re some spectacular bits of destruction going on. There are some scenes reminiscent of 1974’s Earthquake

From there, onward, the situation goes from bad to worse. The disaster porn really kicks into high gear. Ground shakes, buildings tumble, and so on. What we see is more on a personal level, as the movie sticks to following the characters instead of the bigger picture. Perhaps personal isn’t the right word, it’s more intimate. They are involved in the situation, but the focus is clearly on them in the midst of all the chaos.

I have to say that I am a huge fan of these Disaster Porn flicks. All the destruction at the hand of Nature really just amplifies how powerless we are, regardless of what we believe we are in control of. San Andreas is a good film with an OK script. The side story with the seismologists really helps the story, IMO. There are several typical disaster movie tropes in the film, but they’re not too much of a cliche. There are a few graphic deaths, the kind you’d expect in a film like this. I do recommend the film.

There is one issue that bothered me early in the film, but I will explain it below.

Spoilers follow, so you may stop reading if you do not want to be spoiled.

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I have one major quibble about the film. Ray’s on his way to Vegas, supposedly with his crew. When he decides to go save his soon to be ex, his crew disappears. What happened to them? I’m trying to remember if they were even in the helicopter when his wife calls for help. There’s no mention of them beyond that point, and they were supposed to all be comrades from Afghanistan who stuck together, no matter what. THEN, he decides to ignore all that’s happening around him in L.A. and fly up to San Francisco. I guess his sense of duty went out the window right with the rest of his crew.

Before you reply, yes, I know it’s a movie and I’m not supposed to expect things like consistency, but still, I had to mention it. It’s a pretty big plot hole that they could’ve explained better. I hope that explanation shows up as a deleted scene when it’s available for rental/purchase/etc.

Mad Max: Fury Road is the latest Mad Max movie from George Miller. You’d think the series is done, having shown enough, but you’d be wrong. 90-95% of this movie is action thriller, and it pays off.

That being said, it helps if you’ve seen the other MM films, but it’s not entirely necessary. Society has totally broken down and degenerated into chaos. There are towns, whose sole focus is the production of some sort of product. Each trades with the others, but it’s a dangerous operation. Raiders loners exist everywhere. Max (Tom Hardy) is one such loner, captured at the beginning of the film, and is brought to the town run by Immortan Joe, whose commodity is water. He leads his people with promises of reincarnation, and glory through battle. While he’s no Ayatolla of Rock and Rolla, he’s definitely got some form of barbaric psychosis, with a ‘uniform’ to match.

Meanwhile, a trade event is happening. Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron), leaves with her truck and trailer on the premise of getting gasoline and ammo from nearby towns. She diverts from that plan and goes her own way. The chase is on. Meanwhile, Max has type O Negative blood, and has been imprisoned in the hospital, plugged into Nux, who’s suffering from an indeterminate illness. All warriors are summoned to chase down Furiosa. Nux is a driver, and lashes Max to the front of his vehicle, and they give chase.

Why is Furiosa running away? Where is she going? I’ll leave that for you to find out. This film is one long chase scene, punctuated by periods of exposition. I really couldn’t understand why they made another Mad Max movie, but then again, it’s been 36 years since the original Mad Max film was released (34 since The Road Warrior). This film offers no insight into the world that was, but honestly, it’s not necessary. The action is frenetic, even sped up at times, but it isn’t rehashing stunts you’ve already seen. It’s an exciting film that hooks you and doesn’t let go. Recommended.

Note: This film has extreme violence.

Avengers: Age of Ultron is the latest film from the Marvel Comic Book Universe. It was written and directed by Joss Whedon, who also did the same for the first Avengers movie. The bulk of the review is spoiler-free, but some discussion of the events is necessary. There will be a break in the review before those details are revealed, but notice will be given, first.

After the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Avengers have been on a quest to recover special items that were lost – weapons, devices, and artifacts. Amongst those are the relic called the Chitauri Scepter, which was the device Loki used in the first Avengers movie to summon the Chitauri to Earth. They have traced it to be in the possession of a man known as Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, in the nation of Sokovia. The movie starts with the raid on his castle, with all of the Avengers in on the attack. Some things occur that interfere with their complete success, but they manage to escape with the scepter, mostly unscathed, and angering the nation of Sokovia in the process.

The raid is (mostly) successful, and the intention is to return the scepter to Asgard, Thor’s home, where it can be properly protected from falling into the wrong hands. However, before that happens, Tony Stark and Doctor Bruce Banner (aka the Hulk) examine it, and unintentionally unlock something they shouldn’t have. And with that, the fun begins. They realize they must contain what has been created before it gets out of control.

There’s a lot that happens in this movie. Many subplots are revealed, as is some of the backstory of a character or two. In most movies, this would have been eliminated as unnecessary, but here, time is devoted to a bit of exposition. I suspect that some of the material that was not actually shown may end up as extras on the release to home video. What is shown, however, explains some of the Avengers’ motivations and drives, and is important to the story. There is a lot of humorous banter throughout the movie.

The runtime of the film is 141 minutes, so be prepared. It has been released in 3D and traditional 2D. While I did not see the 3D version, I do not feel it is necessary to pay to see that version. Highly recommended if you are a fan of comic book films, as this one follows along with the first Avengers movie in its quality.
As with other Marvel movies, there is a short clip in the middle of the credits, however, in breaking with tradition, there isn’t one at the end of them.

Regardless, it’s a good action movie, with a touch too much shaky camera action.

Spoilers follow, so you may stop reading if you do not want to be spoiled.

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This is spoiler space

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Spoilers below, you were warned!

I am left feeling a slight letdown now that I’ve seen it, but perhaps that’s from all the media exposure this film has received in the last few months, but I don’t know. Maybe it fell flat in some ways, mimicing the underlying concept of the need to evolve: The Avengers really don’t seem to have changed all that much nor have they felt the need to. Hard to say, but maybe I’m just overanalyzing it.

Oh yes, and Whedon broke a movie trope – In war films, the guy who shows us a picture of his best girl/wife and family has to die. It’s a rule. That didn’t happen with Hawkeye!

One thing I noticed was that for some characters, the Avengers would use their actual names instead of their superhero names. For example, they’d call Black Widow Nat, Natasha, or Romanov, or Iron Man as Stark, or Tony. Other characters, like Captain America, Hawkeye, and Thor, would be called Cap, Hawk, or Thor. I can almost understand why, but I wonder if this familiarity, or lack thereof, indicates the rift amongst the team, and how they will choose sides in the expected Civil War story, which is rumored to be the topic of the next movie.

James Spader is the voice of Ultron, and his vocal delivery has the deliberately slow cadence of Raymond Reddington from The Blacklist. It took me a while to get past that.

One thing that gets me about computer/A.I. personalities is how they seem to be unique, and there are no such things as backups, so that once something’s gone, it’s gone. I never understood why. In this film, there are two – Jarvis and Ultron. Jarvis is unique, but Ultron seems to be able to transfer to multiple bodies. Why not just duplicate ‘himself’ and remove the need?

Gemma Bovary is a French film that was released in 2014, but coming to the US soon. The French dialogue is subtitled and there is some English. It was one of the latest movies from the Arthouse Film Festival.

This movie follows the life of Martin, a well-read baker in a small town in the Normandy section of France. One day, while tending his garden, new neighbors move in across the lane. They introduce themselves as Charlie and Gemma Bovery [sic]. They have decided to leave England for a while, and start a new life elsewhere. Charlie restores furniture, and Gemma has decided to embrace the country life wholly and completely. She loves all the breads that Martin bakes, and they become acquainted over time.

Martin begins to see parallels between the lives of Gemma and the literary character, Madame Bovary. She has become the lonely wife of an uninvolved husband, much like the Madame in Gustave Flaubert’s novel, which, coincidentally also took place in Normandy. He becomes a voyeur of her comings and goings, hoping that Gemma’s fate is different from the Madame’s.

The film is a bit of a black comedy. I can’t comment on the parallels between the book and the movie, since I never read it. Perhaps that made it more appealing, but even so, I found this movie entertaining in its own right. Recommended to those who enjoy a bit of French Cinema.