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NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Thursday, April 9, 2015

2015 in Film - The Superheroes Return




The Summer of 2015 is shaping up as an adequate year for the Superhero/action style movies.  A good, but not great year.


Avengers: Age of Ultron

Avengers, the heavy hitter that everyone on earth wants to see.

The last Avengers film grossed an incredibly massive $1.5 Billion at the box office.  The original Avengers keeps moving up on my "best of" movie lists.

In the new Avengers we see Tony Stark building a peacekeeping program, Ultron: a self-aware, self-teaching, artificial intelligence. However, Stark's plan backfires when Ultron decides that humans are the main enemy and sets out to eradicate them from Earth.

And yes, I will be there on opening night.











Mad Max: Fury Road

A re-boot of the old Mel Gibson franchise.

"Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior" (1981) was the only one I like from the original series.

How this new one plays out who can tell.

Jurassic World

Been there.  Done that.  So why bother?

This looks like the movie studio wants to milk a dead franchise for a few more bucks.



Terminator Genisys

He is back.

While Jurassic Park might be milking a dead franchise, the Terminator stories are right out of our daily news.  Governments all over the world are building warrior Terminators backed by artificial intelligence.

The extermination of man in just a matter of time.

Ant-Man

Can a loser of a comic character be an entertaining movie?  I have my opinion but will withhold judgement.




Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011) racked up $694 million at the box office.  Tom Cruise now returns for the fifth installment of the series which has made over $2 Billion in ticket sales.

I was there from the start watching Tom Cruise films.  It is hard for me to remember what movies were like before Cruise. 

Fantastic Four

Another reboot of a franchise.  The first two Fantastic Four movies were respectable if not great.

Watching Jessica Alba as Sue Storm and Chris Evans as Johnny Storm were treats.  How this version turns out we don't know.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

In the 1960s the original Man from U.N.C.L.E. was brought to TV because of the international mania for this new fangled series called James Bond.

Here we are almost sixty years later and James Bond is still going strong so why not revive The Man from U.N.C.L.E?  

Set against the backdrop of the early 1960s period of the Cold War, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. centers on U.N.C.L.E. agents Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin. The two team up on a joint mission to stop a mysterious international criminal organization, which is bent on destabilizing the fragile balance of power through the proliferation of nuclear weapons and technology.

Will modern audiences with no memory of the original TV show be put off by the title?





The Transporter Refueled

Always watchable on TV a slow Saturday afternoon.

Shooting, fights, fast cars and hopefully faster women.  What is there not to like?


The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials

The 2014 Maze Runner was surprisingly entertaining.

In that film a 16-year old boy, wakes up inside an underground service elevator with no memory of his identity. A group of male youths greet him in a large grassy area called the Glade that is enclosed by tall, stone walls. Every month, a new boy and supplies arrive in the elevator.  The boy learns that a vast Maze surrounding the Glade may provide the only way out. During the day, designated Runners search the Maze for an escape route, returning before nightfall when the entrance closes. No one has ever survived a night inside the Maze.

The story continues.

Victor Frankenstein

Frankie never goes away.

Victor Frankenstein is an upcoming horror film based on contemporary adaptations of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein. The film stars Daniel Radcliffe as the hunchback Igor and James McAvoy as the scientist Victor Frankenstein


The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2

Katniss Everdeen is back to face down the evil President Coriolanus Snow.

With $2.3 Billion in ticket sales, The Hunger Games franchise is going strong.  Katniss goes off on a mission with the unit from District 13 as they risk their lives to stage an assassination attempt on President Snow, who has become increasingly obsessed with destroying her.

Jennifer Lawrence alone is worth the price of admission. 


Spectre

Speaking of Bond, James Bond. . . . . 

Here we are at Bond movie number twenty-four.  Skyfall, the last Bond film, grossed $1.1 Billion worldwide.

The producers have keep the franchise fresh with a steady re-casting of new James Bonds.




Star Wars: The Force Awakens

You know you are going to see it.  But you also know you are being scammed for money and that the film will probably suck.

The last two Star Wars movies were mostly a major disappointment.  All of us wanted to see Darth Vader in action.  Vader is a man who can get things done.  But instead of Vader we got stuck with an annoying Hayden Christensen eating up screen time.

Now Lucas/Disney drags out the geriatric cast from the 1977 movie trying to beat life into the franchise.

No one ever dies in film.  There is always a contrivance, an "alternate dimension" to bring a character back to life.  But not here.  

I want Darth Vader and they refuse to give him to me.  Screw these bastards.


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."See, I'm not a monster, I'm just ahead of the curve."
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The Dark Knight - The #1 Superhero film of all time.
Somehow I doubt that any of the new releases will match up.

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