San Andreas

It is time for everybody’s favorite action star to take on one of his biggest threats. You’ve seen him layeth the smacketh down on everyone from Stone Cold Steve Austin to John Cena. You saw him take on The Mummy as The Scorpion King. He wrangled up teeth as The Tooth Fairy, and got retaliation as a G.I. Joe. He was fast, he was furious. But now. Now he must take on an Earthquake. It’s The Rock vs Mother Nature, and a falls count anywhere match for box office. It is, San Andreas!

Great opening right? I know I loved it. So, San Andres is coming at us like a hurricane. You’ve seen it everywhere. Billboards, every other commercial, all over The Rock’s social media. The film is directed by Brad Peyton and stars The Rock, Alexandra Daddario, Carla Gugino, Ioan Gruffudd, Paul Giamatti, Art Parkinson, Hugo Johnstone-Burt, Will Yun Lee, Kylie Minogue, Arsenal err I mean Colton Haynes, and Todd Williams. The story follows a rescue-chopper pilot on his journey to save his daughter after a massive earthquake hits and threatens to knock California off the face of the planet, and destroy life as we know it. Sounds like your generic disaster film right? Wrong. Your generic disaster film does not have The People’s Champ.

San Andreas is a lot of fun. It definitely the disaster movie of all disaster movies. Think The Day After Tomorrow meets 2012 on crack, with The Rock. The movie runs almost like a freaking video game. When you follow The Rock on his journey, it’s like he has to go through levels. Fly a chopper, drive a truck, fly a plane, and drive a boat. It just gets more and crazier as the film goes. The story is it important? No. this is a cliché disaster film. It has its cheesy one liners, its crazy unsurvivable action, and its cliché coincidences. If this was made with any old action star, you wouldn’t care, but it’s the Rock. You get into it because you love to see him defy the odds.

Paul Giamatti is your typical disaster movie scientist that finds a way to track earthquakes moments before the super quake happens. Carla Gugino is sexy as always and amazing in the role. And the icing on the cake is Alexandra Daddario. This girl is so gorgeous and so stunning that when she is on screen you are immediately drawn to the character. Makes you want to leave the theater, go home, and watch her on True Detective. You know what I’m talking about.

This is not an Oscar winner folks. This film isn’t even remotely realistic. But honestly if that’s why you are going to San Andreas then you are a moron. It’s just fun to sit down and watch. It has its problems though. Like with most of the disaster film genre it tries to add too much character development. It tries to give you these heartfelt feel bad for me back stories, and in the end you just don’t care. You are there to see buildings fall. Let them fall. The script had a major flaw that did really bother me though. There is this one character that keeps escaping danger and he kind of the pseudo heel of the story. You are waiting for him to get it, and you just want The Rock to beat the snot out of him. Sadly, when he does bite it, it’s very anti climatic. And you are left thinking “well that was a pointless storyline.”

In the end, San Andreas is a fun action flick that if want to get away for a few hours, shove popcorn in your face, and turn off your brain, this is the place to go. It’s fun, exciting, action pact, and filled with really hot chicks. In the water. Yes folks, Alexandra Daddario swimming around in skimpy tight clothes. That’s your .5 bonus. Giving San Andreas a Jeebus score of 4.5.

The Jeebus Score explained

The Jeebus score is out of a possible 6 points. Films are giving a max of 1 point each for Acting, Entertainment, and Casting, and a max of .5 for Dialog, Cinematography, and Direction. There is also a possible bonus up to .5. Any film between 2.5 and 4 is considered a good film. 4-5 is a great film. Anything over 5 is an incredibly amazing film. To get a perfect score of 6 a film will pretty much have to be The Empire Strikes Back or The Godfather.

Tomorrowland

This has been a film that has been highly talked about in the entertainment industry. One that I have been looking forward to and have been very intrigued by. After the first teaser that showed nothing more than a young girl picking up a pin and whisked away to a magical futurific world, I figured I didn’t need to see anything else. I was all in. So earlier today I had to make a decision on what to see tonight. This film or Poltergeist. And I guess it’s safe to assume, I chose, Tomorrowland.

Tomorrowland is the newest adventure film from Disney Pictures. The film stars George Clooney, Britt Robertson, Hugh Laurie, Raffey Cassidy, Thomas Robinson, Kathryn Hahn, Tim McGraw, Keegan-Michael Key, and Judy Greer. It is directed by Brad Bird, as well as co-written by Bird and Damon Lindelof. The film is titled after the Disney Parks futuristic themed park of the same name. Bird has said that his script was influenced by Walk Disney’s depiction of a utopian future for our world.

The trailers have all been very vague. And that is part of the magic that this film has, you don’t know a lot about it. So I am not really going to tell you what it is about. The basics are this girl (Robertson) finds a pin that shows her another world, a world of the future. She has to go on this adventure with a man (Clooney) and young girl (Cassidy) so that they can do something to save somewhere. Did that make sense? Did it help? Are you still in the dark, yet intrigued? Good, I’m glad. Let’s get into.

The film is a big mystery that you spend 75% of the film wondering what is going on. The film always has stuff going on, but not things that really tell you what is going. You are trying to figure out what the premise and what they have to do all film long. And the journey is the fun part of this film. The cinematography is beautiful. The CGI is seamless; it is incredible how they brought these visuals to you. Brad Bird’s direction is particularly a plus on Tomorrowland. He brings you into this world and you believe every aspect of it.

The casting and characters were all a lot fun and very well cast. Robertson is going to be a good star going forward. She is you main star and carries the film, and that’s hard to do when you are up against George Clooney. Clooney has had a tendency to phone it in every now and then, because he is The Cloon. He can just be himself and it’s all good. He tones back his Clooneyisims, and really draws you into this character. But, as good as these are, the breakout star is Raffey Cassidy. She plays a mysterious girl, and she is what you will walk away remembering. This girl is young but very very talented.

There are a lot of problems though with this film. The tone is a little all over the place. It has an Old school Disney film feel to it at times, but then gets really deep with a message that it is beating you over the head with. When you finally get to the big reveal, the threat, it’s kind of lackluster, and weak. It gets silly and you are kind of taken out of the film toward the end. There are a lot of scenes that are cartoony out of the mix.

I saw this film in IMAX. And I will tell you this, it is a film meant to be seen in IMAX. It is beautiful, and amazing in every way. So that’s Tomorrowland. A decent film, worth going to see. I’m scoring it with 4.2 on the Jeebus Scale. So what say you Jackass Nation? Have you seen Tomorrowland? Are you excited for it, what are your thoughts? Sound off in the comments below.

The Jeebus Score explained

The Jeebus score is out of a possible 6 points. Films are giving a max of 1 point each for Acting, Entertainment, and Casting, and a max of .5 for Dialog, Cinematography, and Direction. There is also a possible bonus up to .5. Any film between 2.5 and 4 is considered a good film. 4-5 is a great film. Anything over 5 is an incredibly amazing film. To get a perfect score of 6 a film will pretty much have to be The Empire Strikes Back or The Godfather.

Mad Max: Fury Road

One of the most hyped films of the last two years has been the sequel to a franchise we haven’t seen an installment for in about 30 years. From the stories of set problems, to the film getting push backed nearly a year. Not always a good thing. However, when it came to this, Mad Max Fury Road, whatever they did during that time of pushing this film back and getting it to us, they did a freaking badass job! This film is epic upon epic, upon action, upon badassdom! It is an adrenalin rush, nonstop thrill ride. I don’t know what other clichés I can through at you to describe this movie. I’m actually having a really hard time concentrating on getting my thoughts out to this film. A matter of fact, I don’t think I can, I am way too wrapped up in what I just saw to coherently tell you about this film. I’m going to have to sleep this off and come back to you tomorrow.

Ok, let’s try this again. Mad Max Fury Road stars Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Riley Keough, Zoe Kravitz, Abbey Lee and Courtney Eaton. It is written and directed by the series original writer/director George Miller. And guess what, Miller is 70 years old. You would never expect that. Mad Max Fury Road tells the tale of Furiosa (Theron) as she attempts to flee War Boys cult leader King Joe, along with his five wives. As she sneaks them out of their land The Citadel, her journey becomes intertwined with that of Max (Hardy). Realizing that they are out for freedom and not more war, Max makes the decision to help them attempt to survive the journey to Furiosa’s homeland that she taken from so many years before.

No joke. This thing is literally a 2 hour action thrill ride. There is very little downtime. When there is, the story is pushed and the characters are flushed out. Miller does an incredible job giving you reasons to relate and root for these characters in the very short scenes in between intense action sequences. The action drives this film. Like the Mad Max films of the past this one is right on par. If not more. Every now and then a film comes along that is so special, and so unique that it advances the action film genre. This will be one of those films. Fury Road will be regarded as one of the greatest action films of all time.

 It is shot beautifully. Every scene is crisp and clear, and the CGI is mixed with the practical effects seamlessly. There is not an ounce of shaky cam during the action, you see and feel every single explosion and shot with such detail that you almost in these vehicles with these characters. The designs are very reminiscent of the original trilogy, yet add a new day feel to them. Now I didn’t see this in IMAX, or even X D or 3D. I went to my regular 2D screen and saw a normal digital screening. But will say, that after watching it, I plan to go see it again in an AMC Prime or IMAX screen, this is one of those films that needs to be witnessed in that high definition, with superior sound quality.

I don’t get why people are calling it Charlize Theron’s film. Yes she is a top billed actress in it, and a star, but I never got the feeling that this wasn’t a story about Max. It’s not really told from her point of view, I felt more that I was following Max around, but I get why I could be construed that way. There are also complaints that Theron’s character is too badass in the film, and to that I say you are crazy. If anything, I would’ve liked her to be even more badass. She is incredible. I was kind of taken out of the film for a while, while trying to figure out who one of the wives was, then it hit me, oh that’s the Rosie chick from Transformers 3. Good to see her again. Hoults character is very intriguing, it’s kind of the first time we see one of the craziest with some actual heart, and you get to know him some and feel for him.

Minor problems with the film, no film that isn’t The Godfather or Empire Strikes Back is perfect. If you are not a fan of the Mad Max films, you are not going to like this one. In 2 hours, it is probably an hour and a half of car chase action. So if you to this film not know that it is indeed a Mad Max film of old, yea you might walk out not liking it. But that’s really it. It is made to be an adrenaline rush. And that’s what it is. So I am scoring it a 5.0 with a .4 bonus for its insane action sequences that keep you heart pounding all movies long, bringing us to a 5.4 on the Jeebus scale. SO what say you Jackass Nation? Are you a fan of the Mad Max franchise? Are you looking forward to this one, or have you already seen it? Sound off in the comments below!

The Jeebus Score explained

The Jeebus score is out of a possible 6 points. Films are giving a max of 1 point each for Acting, Entertainment, and Casting, and a max of .5 for Dialog, Cinematography, and Direction. There is also a possible bonus up to .5. Any film between 2.5 and 4 is considered a good film. 4-5 is a great film. Anything over 5 is an incredibly amazing film. To get a perfect score of 6 a film will pretty much have to be The Empire Strikes Back or The Godfather.

The Avengers Age Of Ultron

Nearly two years ago to the day I sat in a theater, watching a dream come true. Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, and Thor, on screen together. Marvels The Avengers changed the game. Then, in its end credits, around 245 in the morning, The Mad Titan Thanos made his debut. Since that moment, I have been waiting for this night. The return of Earth’s mightiest heroes! Could this film live up to the hype? The first one was so special because we had never seen these characters, on screen together. The Marvel villains can be one sided at times, could Ultron live up to Loki? Well, yes. In every sense of its being, it was epic!

The Avengers Age of Ultron tells the story of Earths Mightiest heroes coming together again to finish what they started in Marvels The Avengers however, during their wrap party they are greeted by a creation that Stark and Banner had been working on to create peace. However this creation, this Artificial Intelligence has decided the best route for peace, is extinction. The film stars Robert Downey Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansson, Arron Taylor-Johnson, and Elizabeth Olsen. It is once again written and directed by the great Joss Whedon.

The pace is epic in this film. We open up with the Avengers on a mission and we never really slow down. It is nearly a 2 and half hour action scene. That’s not to say the story does not follow suite. Whedon has done and incredible job bringing these characters back together, and while the magic of seeing them for the first time is gone, the charisma between the characters is so much fun to see unravel. There is a lot of worry that the film would be to dark, however it is quite the opposite. While it is dark and gritty, there is no lack of fun and jokes. Every joke hits perfectly.

The cinematography is beautiful. Every shot is nearly seamless. The CGI is incredible. Hulk is once again amazing to see on screen. The story is well written. Ultron is a well-rounded villain that makes you fear for everyone in this film. And for good reason. Whedon does such a good job with this script. Are some of the beats the same as the first film? Yes, but that doesn’t make it any less fun. There is a lot of heart to this one. To the point that I was actually tearing up at certain scenes.

Now that’s not to say I don’t have any negatives. I had a few issues. There is no explanation for the end of Iron Man 3. Stark is just, Iron Man again. I guess forget that he said he was done. Also Ultron is kind of just thrown together. While he has no lack of personality, there is not much to his creation. Short montage and boom. I’m here; there are no strings on me. There is a random cross thread which I assume is meant to build the greater universe, a short scene with Thor, that feels out of place and is never mentioned again. Other than those, I don’t have much to complain about.

I think the biggest positive about Age of Ultron, is its character development. We get three new members this go around. Marvel’s version of Quicksilver, his sister The Scarlett Which, and The Vison. And I enjoyed all three of them. The accents the twins are given are little off. And Olsen has a hard time keeping it up in some scenes. Vision is incredibly well done. A character that could come off as pretty goofy comes off, pretty epic. There is a lot of develop to the Hulk and Black Widow as well as their relationship. You get hints toward the Civil War between Stark and Rogers. As well as Hawkeye. Hawkeye final gets the respect he deserves.

So all in all. Age of Ultron is an incredible film, and a must see in the theater. Before I get my Jeebus score, I am going to let you in a little surprise. I will be releasing my first video review within the next week. It will be much more spoiler heavy and meant for fans who have already seen the film. But know that it is coming. So, score. Age of Ultron is epic as I have said, I gave it a 5.0, with a .5 bonus for spoilerific reasons I can’t tell you here (wait for the video) giving us a Jeebus Score of 5.5.

The Jeebus Score explained

The Jeebus score is out of a possible 6 points. Films are giving a max of 1 point each for Acting, Entertainment, and Casting, and a max of .5 for Dialog, Cinematography, and Direction. There is also a possible bonus up to .5. Any film between 2.5 and 4 is considered a good film. 4-5 is a great film. Anything over 5 is an incredibly amazing film. To get a perfect score of 6 a film will pretty much have to be The Empire Strikes Back or The Godfather.