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Young Adult (2011)
Young Adult (2011)
2011 | Comedy, Drama
8
7.6 (5 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Charlize Theron (2 more)
Patton Oswalt
Elizabeth Reaser
Patrick Wilson (0 more)
Adulting Not Suited For Everyone
First off, in order to enjoy this deliciously vapid slice of life film I highly recommend suspending your moral compass to get a truly enjoyable viewing. Charlize Theron is absolutely PERFECT as ghost writer Mavis Gary, who for the most part, hasn't matured beyond her glory days as a popular high school cheerleader and displays questionable morality traits as the film progresses. She's tall, blonde, and beautiful and as such was destined to go on to do amazing things in life...until life got in the way. Enjoying moderate success as a ghost writer of a once popular young adult series, Mavis's only real source of income is dwindling, as the series is coming to an end as she struggles to write a satisfactory ending which mirrors what's happening in her own personal life. As luck would have it, an old high school flame of Mavis's sends her an e-vite to a celebration for the birth of his first child and the events that unfold is anything short of cringe worthy, rage, and ultimately dissapointment. I highly recommend this quant little film that I feel doesn't get nearly as much attention and praise as it deserves, it makes for one heck of a Friday night in!
  
The Astronaut's Wife (1999)
The Astronaut's Wife (1999)
1999 | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
4
5.8 (10 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Turgid obstetric-horror SF movie from the days before Johnny Depp rode his Keith Richards impersonation to global superstardom. Depp goes off into space, comes back (maybe) possessed by aliens; on his return Theron is unsettled by his odd behaviour, especially when it turns out she has been impregnated by this guy.

Basically Quatermass meets Rosemary's Baby, only not as good as that sounds. Not very much happens for long periods of time, apart from regular close-ups of Theron's toes; vague atmosphere of stately menace doesn't make up for the lack of real scares, thrills, or ideas. Charlize Theron, at the age of 24, carries the movie as well as can be expected in the circumstances, Depp is all over the place. In the end the plot turns out to be a cigarette paper's width away from being total gibberish; the DVD has two alternate endings, neither of which is much cop. Gynaecologists with an interest in foot fetishism will probably love it - everyone else, not so much.
  
The Old Guard (2020)
The Old Guard (2020)
2020 | Action, Fantasy
Theron makes this film watchable
In this time, where new cinematic experiences are limited to home viewing, it is fun to take a break from watching (or re-watching) classic films to check out a new movie.

And this one, THE OLD GUARD, is a fun enough and well worth checking out.

Starring Charlize Theron and based on a limited-run comics series from 2017, THE OLD GUARD tells the tale of a group if immortals (beings who cannot die) who bond together to serve the greater good of humanity.

While the plot is rather "by-the-book": young, hip, ego-maniacal mega-industrialist uses nefarious methods to capture the immortals to use for his own (money making) purposes, the star power of Theron holds this piece together in interesting ways.

Make no mistake - this is Theron's film (as the oldest of the immortals) and she is terrific. She demands attention anytime she is on the screen and when she shares the scene with strong actors like Chewitel Ejiofor(12 YEARS A SLAVE) and young Kiki Lane (IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK), it makes for an interesting film, indeed. Unfortunately, the rest of the Immortals (Luca Marinelli, Marwan Kenzari and - especially - Matthias Schoenaerts) are rather bland and the "big bad" (played by Dudley Dursley himself, Harry Melling) and his generic henchmen just aren't interesting enough.

The Direction, by Gina-Prince Bythewood, and the fight choreography is professional, but nothing special, which adds to the "meh" I was feeling whenever Theron was not on the screen.

But there is enough going right in this film that in this day where there is a dearth of new entertainment available, THE OLD GUARD fills the void quite well.

Letter Grade: B

7 Stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank (ofMarquis)
  
The Fate of the Furious (2017)
The Fate of the Furious (2017)
2017 | Action
This 8th entry in the Fast & Furious series is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, it's half a boring movie with a annoyingly cringey villain (not bashing Charlize Theron, but her character writing and direction is just awful), but on the other hand, it's more of the same stupid action that is laughably far away from the original at this point (not a bad thing). The entire last hour is ridiculous and so horrifically entertaining. Jason Statham taking out waves of thugs on an aeroplane with a gun in one hand, and a baby in the other, is definitely a series highlight. This franchise has essentially turned into that Tugg Speedman trailer from Tropic Thunder, and I'm ok with that.
  
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David McK (3219 KP) rated Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) in Movies

Jun 9, 2024 - 4:02 PM (Updated Jun 9, 2024 - 4:07 PM)  
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)
2024 | Action
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
I kinda get why this was subtitled 'A Mad Max saga'.

That was to get the punters in.

I kinda don't.

He isn't in it, in either incarnation (Mel Gibson, or Tom Hardy)

Instead, we have a prequel to the breakout character from Fury Road - that of Imperator Furiosa - but here re-cast to be played by Anya Taylor-Joy instead of by Charlize Theron.

This also takes place over a longer period of time - something like 15 years - than Fury Road does, and so sacrifices the break-neck speed of that previous film for something a bit more sedate.

We also, here, have Chris Hemsworth absolutely chewing up the scenery (and loving every second of it!) as the villain Dementus!
  
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
2015 | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Charlize Theron (4 more)
Tom Hardy
The Sets and the Crazy Cars
This wild conjured apocalyptic world they created.
Driving thru hell and back.
An Adrenaline ride filled with nitrous oxide, and greasepaint galone...
My wife hates this film, but I loved it.... she normally has great taste. This time I respectfully disagree...

   I didn't expect much of this film and it completely blew me ou of the water, I was amazed and I'm not the only one: In a Cannes press conference for the movie, Tom Hardy apologized to George Miller for the reportedly complicated relationship between the star and the director during filming. He stated: "There was no way, I mean, I have to apologize to you because I got frustrated. There was no way George could have explained what he could see in the sand when we were out there. Because of the due diligence that was required to make everything safe and so simple, what I saw was a relentless barrage of complexities, simplified for this fairly linear story. I knew he was brilliant, but I didn't know how brilliant until I saw it. So, my first reaction was 'Oh my god, I owe George an apology for being so myopic'." Charlize Theron mentioned similar experiences where she had no idea what she was filming, up to the point where she would ask the director what the hell he was doing. In the end, seeing the finished film greatly exceeded her expectations as well.


  Give it a shot... it won an Oscar for gawds sake...


  plus an alternate movie poster for your enjoyment.
  
Atomic Blonde  (2017)
Atomic Blonde (2017)
2017 | Action, Mystery, Thriller
Soundtrack (1 more)
Fight scenes
Confusing plot (0 more)
Style over substance?
This is basically a slightly above average spy film - given the above average rating solely based on the killer soundtrack and great action scenes. Charlize Theron makes a pretty good kick ass action star. However the plot itself is a bit confusing at times, drags quite a lot and seems to have almost been pushed to the background in favour of the stylish music and fight scenes. The basic premise as well is sadly lacking in originality, it's so similar to numerous other spy films just with a cool 80s setting. It does however have a great supporting cast, but James McAvoy has been massively underused in this as he's a fantastic actor and needed more screen time. The ending was alright though, just a shame it took so long to get there.