'Tomorrowland' flies with uneven storytelling during Memorial Day Weekend

This Memorial Day weekend was one of the worst that Hollywood has seen in years with mediocre films headlining the three-day holiday. I thought the Walt Disney picture would be a summer dark horse in the early part of the season but it looks as though that title will go to another film.

The Brad-Bird directed film was hidden in secrecy for months but once the trailer was released, it looked like nothing else that would be coming out this summer. The film looked very imaginative, visually stunning; an original film that was built on Walt Disney's idea of the future.

Britt Robertson (The Longest Ride) plays Casey, a rebellious optimist and science prodigy, frustrated by the apathy that she sees in the world around her, does her best to make a change in her own world. By night, she sneaks into NASA to stop them from dismantling a launchpad but putting herself on the radar of interested parties. When she is slipped a special 'T' pin, Casey uses it to travel to a different dimension that has the potential to save our future. But to get there, she will need help and finds Frank Walker (George Clooney, Gravity), a reclusive scientific genius who had visited Tomorrowland decades ago and reluctantly helps Casey get to the futuristic world.

This film didn't suffer from the acting of the two main stars. Robertson played the role of a stubborn, optimistic teenager wonderfully, getting on the nerves of the hermit, Walker. Clooney, ever the class act, believably played the cranky, argumentative but smart Frank Walker. Although I wish his role was bigger, Hugh Laurie (House) was not a believable villain but played it with charisma. Director Brad Bird (The Incredibles,Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol) did a wonderful job directing this film. It is important to note that Tomorrowland is not disappointing or a failure. It is a visual spectacle and idealistic, bringing the audience's view of the future to the screen for audiences to enjoy. While the visual and genius of a futuristic world that began as an idea that Walt Disney brought to life with Walt Disney World, the film's storyline gets disjointed and lost in the shuffle.

An enjoyable film for children but overall, it fell short of expectations for the adult audience.

'Mad Max: Fury Road' is paved with explosive insanity

Sorry that I haven't been able to update but I hope that everyone is doing well. We're really hitting the road hard with the summer movie season and quite frankly, the best movie of the summer, possibly the year, came racing into theaters this past weekend.

Max (Tom Hardy) is out in the Australian wasteland, the world left a desert after nuclear war. After being captured by the savage War Boys, the army of cult leader Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne). Water and gasoline are scarce and become the two main commodities for trade so runs have been made on the "Fury Road". After Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) betrays Joe by stealing something valuable from him, she teams with the renegade, Max, as they face down the wrath of Joe and his tyrannical army.

I first thought that Avengers: Age of Ultron would be the movie of the summer. Honestly, it still might but Mad Max: Fury Road is tough competition to take that title. This movie has been incredible, surpassing my expectations before it's release (Rotten Tomatoes' 98% rating also had something to do with it). I praise this film on its acting by the two main stars, the screenplay, the live-stunts, action sequences and direction. In the screenplay, the theme of the movie has carried over from the previous installments; that theme is survival. Staying alive is Max's main goal in the world, key for everyone left after the war.  The theme of home, vengeance, and solidarity are sub-plots but unites everything together in this movie. The acting of Hardy, Nux (Nicholas Hoult) and Theron was stellar, truly bringing their power to the roles and embracing their characters in this world. Their determination to survive the wasteland, stop Joe, and search for their a family or home, ties them together and helps the audience care for them.

What really caught my eye was the live-stunts and action sequences. There was very little CGI used in making this film. While most action films now rely on this technology, it is refreshing to watch a film use actual wide-open spaces, using their own designed cars, and stunts was like watching a classic Western brought back to entertain audiences again. In my eyes, Mad Max is more than an action film but can also be seen essentially as a Western on wheels.

George Miller's direction of the film helped bring this film to life after rising from "developmental hell", where it languished for years. His idea for the film and writing breathed new life into this franchise, putting it back on tracks and giving the vehicle a Hemi engine to power this new beginning. Two other films are already in the plans for Miller and with Hardy wearing Max's leather jacket, the action standard will belong to the 'Mad' for a while.

Avengers: Age of Ultron makes a novelty exciting again

The movie event of the summer, possibly the year, has arrived. Months of anticipation and buildup after the first team-up, the crowning jewel of Marvel Studios' phase two blasted into theaters this weekend. All the key players from the first Avengers have returned, led by the genius writer-director Joss Whedon.

The movie centers around Ultron (voiced by James Spader), an artificial intelligence created by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) in order to act as a shield to the world and give the Avengers time off of saving the world. Through his cold, robotic logic, Ultron sees humanity as the disease that needs to be wiped away in order to protect the world. It's up to Stark along with Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), and The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) to stop the mad program.

Let me be clear: Avengers: Age of Ultron is flat-out amazing. It throws the audience right into the action with the attack of a HYDRA base. You get to see how well the team works together after a shaky start in the first film. It shows how much of a difference three years makes, showing that they have a great level of trust among them. Once Ultron is operational, you can cue epic battles, group conflicts, visions of the future, and proper buildup for phase three of the Marvel Cinemative Universe. As a supervillian, Ultron does need help and he finds that in Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Scarlett Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), the two "miracles" we were introduced to in the post-credits scene of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Their gifts helps Ultron's plans of distracting the Avengers and having them fight among themselves.

With all of these players, there is a lot going on throughout the course of the two-and-a-half hour epic. Every single character from the first film got their fair share of screen time, which is difficult when you have those many moving parts and characters. Two that got more screen time and back story were Black Widow and the previously underused Hawkeye. We learned more about the human sides of the former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.

For the most part, Whedon does a great job of juggling these characters and their intertwining stories like the pro that he is. He can be forgiven for stumbling a bit by rushing the story along. There are few moments to breathe in between action scenes or cosmic bombshells. Whedon has helped establish a universe that has broken box office records and captured an ensemble crew of heroes on the big screen for the first time. Unfortunately, this is Whedon's Marvel swan song and I think he's done a great job of sending the Avengers off into phase three with the Russo Brothers set to take the reigns of Earth's Mightest Heroes with the two-part Infinity War.

The dialogue is where the film really shines, as this is what Whedon does best in all of his projects. Specifically, the banter between Stark and Ultron provides some of the best lines of the movie (Stark's one-liners were also the best), with Ultron's severe father issues leading to some great verbal sparring with Stark. Ultron establishes himself as arguably one of Marvel's best villains so far in the Universe through his dark sense of humor and philosophical monologues. James Spader's voicing of the villain made Ultron all the more better. 

Overall, Avengers: Age of Ultron is a spectacular movie. While it may stumble occasionally with the plot and the glamour of a superhero team-up has worn off, it is still one of the best films Marvel has made so far. With Phase Two coming to an end with the release of Ant-Man later this summer, Marvel continues to display its staying power in Hollywood. I did come in with high expectations for this movie; while all of them were not met, I had a fantastic time at the theater and cannot wait for the two-part Infinity War sequel coming a couple of years later.