A franchise will be reborn next Friday when Mad Max: Fury Road is unveiled in theaters. It’s been an entire 30 years since the title character has appeared on the silver screen. The original trilogy of dystopian future action flicks made a little known Aussie actor named Mel Gibson a star.
This time around Tom Hardy (of Bane fame) is Max with Charlize Theron and Nicholas Hoult in the supporting cast. George Miller, director of the first trilogy which dates back to 1979 (like me), is behind the camera once again.
There is no doubt that a generation or more of younger moviegoers don’t have much of a connection to the Max character. Yet my suspicion is that Fury Road will open very solid and the absolutely terrific trailers only help. The return of Max could yield an opening gross in the mid 40s as I see it.
Mad Max: Fury Road opening weekend prediction: $45.4 million
We’ve arrived at my top five most anticipated 2015 Summer Movies, set to start rolling out in about three weeks through the end of August. If you missed my first two posts covering numbers 15-6, have no fear, just click here:
This brings us to the heavy hitters on my list of must-see flicks for the season.
And away we go:
5. Mad Max: Fury Road
Release Date: May 15
As mentioned in my first post, this July’s Terminator: Genisys didn’t make my top 15 cut because of what I consider its blah trailer. Mad Max: Fury Road represents the opposite. It looks flat out awesome as director George Miller reboots the series some 35 years after the first Mad Max with Mel Gibson. Tom Hardy steps into the title role with Charlize Theron costarring.
4. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
Release Date: July 31
Pushed up from its original December release date, Tom Cruise’s fifth Mission pic brings in his Jack Reacher director Christopher McQuarrie. Series regulars Ving Rhames, Jeremy Renner, and Simon Pegg are back and joined by Alec Baldwin. 2011’s Ghost Protocol was a high point for the franchise and let’s hope this keeps it going.
3. Jurassic World
Release Date: June 12
The famed dino franchise begun by Spielberg gets a reboot with director Colin Trevorrow taking over and Star Lord himself Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard headlining. The trailer has me ready to return to that dastardly park immediately.
2. Tomorrowland
Release Date: May 22
Disney has enlisted their Incredibles director Brad Bird (he also directed the aforementioned Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol) for this live-action tale featuring George Clooney, Britt Robertson, and Hugh Laurie. The plot is being kept under wraps, but the trailer suggests a visual feast. With Bird behind the camera, expect something special.
1. Avengers: Age of Ultron
Release Date: May 1
The first picture of the summer is my most awaited and is certainly poised to be the season’s highest earner. Three years after teaming Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye and more – Joss Whedon is back again directing Marvel’s superhero team in the breathlessly awaited sequel to the second highest grossing domestic earner of all time. James Spader voices the title character villain. Don’t be surprised if this has the largest opening weekend in box office history – beating out, yes, The Avengers.
And that’ll do it, friends! I hope my list assists you with your popcorn viewing pleasure coming very soon…
If Seth MacFarlane lent his considerable talents to doing an audio commentary for an old western film, it would probably have the same effect as watching A Million Ways to Die in the West. Yet it would probably be funnier.
The “Family Guy” creator and maker of the wildly successful Ted in 2012 hits a sophomore slump here. West is set in the Old West of 1882 and MacFarlane’s Albert Stark is well aware of his surroundings. He is an aimless and wimpy sheepherder whose only ability seems to be noticing that the era he lives in is a real bummer. Outlaws kill for no reason and there is a myriad of diseases that can kill you, not to mention even the old timey cameras and blocks of ice that can humorously lead to violent ends. He meets his sarcastic counterpart in Anna (Charlize Theron), who also is highly cognizant of the miserable time period they’re stuck in. Unbeknownst to Albert, she is married to a notorious gunslinger Clinch (Liam Neeson) and trying to get away from him. Meanwhile, Albert is trying to get over his ex (Amanda Seyfried) who just left him for the proprietor (Neil Patrick Harris) of a successful mustache grooming shop titled The Mustachery.
The first hour of West presents us with the idea of its main characters aware of their bad luck in being stuck in the West and stretches the premise about as far as it can possibly go. The second half is at times more of a traditional Western, albeit one with an extremely generous heaping of bodily fluid gags and occasional drug humor. As you’d expect, no ethnic group of religion is spared from the constant quips, but they often feel like they’d be about the 12th most amusing line on a “Family Guy” episode.
Unlike his TV show and Ted, MacFarlane moves from voiceover work to being in front of the camera. Unfortunately, MacFarlane the screen presence is surprisingly dull much of the time. Neeson has little to work with in his menacing bad guy role, but it is odd nowadays to see the actor searching for a family member that actually left him intentionally. Part of the problem is that MacFarlane saves most of the funniest lines for himself and leaves little for Neeson, Theron, or Seyfried to work with. Harris has his moments and there is a subplot with Giovanni Ribisi and Sarah Silverman that has its share of genuine laughs.
By now we’ve come to expect plenty of non PC lines and gross out moments from MacFarlane. There’s much of that to be found here yet it doesn’t come close to the comedic heights of “Family Guy” at its best or Ted. The supporting cast doesn’t have enough to do and even a couple of well done cameos don’t help much. I will, however, admit that watching Ribisi repeat his dance moves from Ted had me laughing hard, even it was only for about five seconds.
MacFarlane and his cowriters Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild seem to believe the Albert character’s ongoing musings about the Old West and its nastiness are uproarious enough to make this worthwhile. Too often, those jokes play out like Albert’s firearm shooting abilities in the picture – some hits but plenty of misses.
“Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane enters the world of film for the second time with A Million Ways to Die in the West, his directorial follow-up to the smash hit Ted from two summers ago. Unlike his previous effort, MacFarlane stars this time around and he’s brought along an all-star cast including Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson, Amanda Seyfried, Giovanni Ribisi, Sarah Silverman, and Neil Patrick Harris.
The R rated western comedy is unlikely to match Ted numbers, which debuted to $54 million on its way to a domestic gross of $218 million. However, I still expect it to do solid business. It may seem like an odd comparison, but I see last year’s Identity Thief as a mark of what I believe West could open at. That picture made $34.5M in its opening weekend and I credit that to the goodwill audiences had for star Melissa McCarthy after Bridesmaids. In the same way – many moviegoers are simply very curious to see what MacFarlane has up his sleeve this time.
There’s plenty of competition out there as there always is around this time of year, but not a whole lot in the way of comedies. Neighbors has already made the bulk of its money and Blended with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore debuted weakly over Memorial Day weekend. Like Thief, I think West posts a low to mid 30s opening.
A Million Ways to Die in the West opening weekend prediction: $33.6 million
The 2005 Oscars showcased easily the biggest Best Picture upset since 1998 when Shakespeare in Love won out over Saving Private Ryan. This time around, Ang Lee’s cowboy romance Brokeback Mountain was widely expected to take the top prize.
However, at the end of the evening, it was Jack Nicholson reading the name of Paul Haggis’s Crash as the winner. Other nominees were Bennett Miller’s Capote, George Clooney’s Good Night, and Good Luck, and Steven Spielberg’s Munich.
The ensemble race relations drama Crash has since garnered the reputation of one of the most undeserving Best Pic recipients of all time. While I agree it wasn’t the year’s best, it’s a pretty damn good film in my estimation. Other flicks I would’ve considered: Woody Allen’s Match Point and Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, which I rank as the greatest superhero flick of all time.
While Mountain was snubbed for the big prize, Ang Lee did take Best Director in a category where the nominated directors matched the pictures honored (this was rare before the Academy switched to five to ten nominees in 2009). Lee won out over Haggis, Miller, Clooney, and Spielberg.
The Best Actor category went as planned with Philip Seymour Hoffman winning for his spot-on portrayal of Capote. Other nominees: Terrence Howard in Hustle&Flow, Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain, Joaquin Phoenix for Walk the Line, and David Strathairn in Good Night, and Good Luck.
I might have considered Russell Crowe in Cinderella Man or Viggo Mortensen in A History of Violence. Of course, the Academy rarely honors comedy which left out someone else I would have thought about – Steve Carell for his terrific work in The 40 Yr. Old Virgin.
As June Carter Cash, Reese Witherspoon was victorious in the Best Actress category in Walk the Line, over Judi Dench for Mrs. Henderson Presents, Felicity Huffman in Transamerica, Keira Knightley in Pride&Prejudice, and Charlize Theron for North Country.
My list would have certainly included Scarlett Johannson in Match Point.
George Clooney won Supporting Actor for Syriana over Matt Dillon in Crash, Paul Giamatti in Cinderella Man, Jake Gyllenhall in Brokeback Mountain, and William Hurt in A History of Violence.
Clifton Collins Jr.’s fine work in Capote should have been included and, for an outside the box pick, Mickey Rourke in a memorable role in Sin City.
Rachel Weisz’s win for Supporting Actress in The Constant Gardener showcased a weak category that included Amy Adams in Junebug, Catherine Keener in Capote, Frances McDormand in North Country, and Michelle Williams in Brokeback Mountain.
Two performances jump out in my mind that I would’ve had: Maria Bello in A History of Violence and Taryn Manning in Hustle&Flow.
Ultimately the 2005 Oscars will be remembered for that Crash upset. This would also not be the last time where Ang Lee would take home Best Director without his project winning Best Picture. We’ll get to that in an Oscar History post in the future.
All My Life... I Wanted To Be A Blogster 