ROAD RAGE: a review of "Mad Max: Fury Road"

"MAD MAX: FURY ROAD"
Based upon characters and situations created by George Miller
Screenplay Written by George Miller, Brendan McCarthy & Nico Lathouris
Directed by George Miller
**** (four stars)
RATED R


Never will I ever forget the first time I became introduced to the dystopian ultra-violent world of Mad Max.

I was 13 years old in the summer of 1982, and on opening day, my parents and I ventured out to the River Oaks theater in Calumet City, IL. to see Writer/Director George Miller's "The Road Warrior." Starring the then relatively unknown Mel Gibson as the perpetually haunted and hunted post-apocalyptic nomad Max Rockatansky, the film's bare bones of a plot involved Max aiding a small community residing within a dilapidated oil refinery against the horrific onslaught of a warlord and his Mohawk adorned, leather clad wearing, motorcycle riding marauders, a battle which culminated in a fever dream of a car chase through the desert wastelands. The film felt like a jet propelled ride into oblivion and was also a feature during which I shielded my eyes more than once, and jumped out of my seat in applause often. Due to its unrelenting rapaciousness, inventiveness and ferocious shock and awe inspiring visuals and velocity, it was a film unlike anything I had ever witnessed before...and equally so for my parents.

You see, when going to the movies with my family, we were habitually late, missing previews and sometimes as much as the first reel of a film, thus making us remain in the theater to view what we had missed during the subsequent screening. The same occurrence happened with "The Road Warrior," where we maybe missed the first 15 minutes or so. As the film's next screening began, and my cages already supremely rattled by what I had already seen, I watched the beginning of the film to the point where my parents and I originally entered and to my surprise, my parents made no attempts to rise and leave. Before I knew it, we had watched the entire film for a second time and then we left the theater to head back home. On the way home, I asked my Father why he and my Mother didn't make any motions to leave, especially as I was convinced that they had been repulsed by every single minute of the thing. My Father then answered with with the following: "I just couldn't believe it! I have never seen anything like that and I just had to see it again to make sure that I really saw what I saw the first time!" That was almost exactly how I felt too.

Granted, it would be nearly impossible for any new entry within the "Mad Max" series to re-capture the feeling of experiencing this character and this world for the first time, but I have to say that George Miller's "Mad Max: Fury Road," the first Mad Man film in the 30 years since the third installment "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" (1985), comes pretty damn close. At the age of 70, George Miller has returned to and has essentially re-created his signature cinematic creation with a blood boiling level of skillfulness and creativity that filmmakers decades younger than him have been wholly unable to grasp.

"Mad Max: Fury Road" now stars Tom Hardy in the titular role made famous by Gibson. Almost immediately, Max is pursued, captured, and imprisoned by the chalk skinned army of the War Boys, the militia of the self-imposed dictator Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), a terrifying figure with flowing gray hair, battle plates covering his muscular body and a face mask of long, gnashing teeth making him appear as being somewhat of a cross between Darth Vader and Bane from Director Christopher Nolan's 'The Dark Knight Rises" (2012). 

In the land of the Citadel, Immortan Joe rules over the environment through his control over the area's water supply, as well as having additional influence over the nearby locations of Gas Town and Bullet Farm. Even more atrociously, is his imprisonment of five wives (all played by Courtney Eaton, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Riley Keough, Zoe Kravitz and Abbey Lee) as his society's breeders, plus the additional imprisonment of all other able bodied women as sources of nourishment as their milk is being harvested.

But the one armed Imperator Furiosa (a volcanic Charlize Theron) has her own plans to at last thwart Immortan Joe once and for all and Max, again finding himself in the center of a violent vortex, adheres to his strict moral code as he aids Furiosa in her righteous quest.

George Miller's "Mad Max: Fury Road" is a film of ravenous, rampaging momentum, as it is basically a film that exists within a perpetual sense of motion. Yet unlike most films that succumb to ADD editing techniques and an arsenal of CGI special effects that underwhelm rather than elevate, Miller keeps the CGI to a relative minimum and utilizes the craft of combining white knuckle performances, superior cinematography by John Seale, set and costume designs, practical effects and a world class team of stunt players to inject a visceral realism into the hybrid landscape of Westerns, punk rock aesthetics, grim Sci-Fi, and comic book/graphic novels. Instead of being a cinematic experience where you are numbed by the audio/visual bludgeoning, Miller makes you feel every physical and emotional impact like a body slam. Let's face it, "Mad Max: Fury Road" puts most action films to miserable shame and definitely makes "The Fast And The Furious" franchise look and feel like preschool kids riding Big Wheels on the playground.

It is truly amazing to me that Miller has created a film that functions as a 120 minute car chase film peppered with scant dialogue which resonates as much as it does, especially when I could easily go for quite some time without ever seeing a car chase or explosion ever again. What Miller achieves with "Mad Max: Fury Road" is undeniably exhilarating and exhausting, operatic and overwhelming and to do so with the barest bones of a plot is remarkable indeed, for Miller has richly envisioned a full cinematic universe with its own rules and codes, while it simultaneously and gleefully breaks down the boundaries of what the movies can actually achieve.

On a purely visual level, "Mad Max: Fury Road" delivers the goods with sights and sounds that dazzle triumphantly. A car chase through a lightning filled sand storm. A quieter but no less intense sequence set at night and within a blue hued field of mud during which Max and Furiosa attempt to get their rig unstuck as Immortan Joe's forces rapidly approach. And man, did I love the sight of the literally flame throwing guitarist strapped to a giant rig that was also augmented by War Boys pounding on a set of war drums, as they provided the film's villains with their own soundtrack into battle, much like the iconic sequence form Director Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" (1979), where Lt. Col. Kilgore (Robert Duvall) and his troops drops napalm bombs set to Wagner's "Ride Of The Valkyries." 

Thankfully, Miller understand that his film cannot resonate through mindless violence alone. Quite the contrary, and especially surprising within a film that contains so little dialogue, "Mad Max: Fury Road" not only has much on its mind, it is a film of surprising humanity and profundity. I have to say that with Tom Hardy slipping into the role made famous by Gibson, I felt that in addition to his incredible physicality and expressiveness, he injected a level of soul that I had not really experienced in quite the same way in past Mad Max adventures--a feat made all the more impressive as he spends what could be the first third of the film trapped, powerless and eventually manacled to the hood of a car.

Yes, the character of Max functions as a variation of David Carradine's Caine from television's "Kung Fu" (1972-1975) or most certainly, Clint Eastwood's "Man With No Name" character. Truth be told, Max is not really the engine that drives the stories of his films. He is the eternal drifter who finds unwittingly finds himself caught in situations he never created and somehow retains a certain moral compass within a lawless landscape. For me, Hardy completely nailed that unique haunted/hunted quality that exists within the soul of Max but for the first time, I really felt that sense of Max forever combating his specialized brand of physical, psychological and existential anguish. It's not Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome but Constant Traumatic Stress Syndrome! Mad Max is indeed the man who is desperately trying to remain sane in an insane word yet who always somehow finds whom to temporarily align himself with on his path of justice, fairness and survival.

Even as good as Hardy is, "Mad Max: Fury Road" emphatically belongs to Charlize Theron. As Furiosa, she also possesses her own specialized haunted/hunted quality but within the course of this film she is fueled by a bottomless supply of vengeance and a personal crusade that borders on the Biblical. Much has already been written about the feminist subtext of "Mad Max: Fury Road" (as well as the preposterously infantile male backlash) and to that I feel the need to quibble with those articles just a little bit. In this film, the feminist attributes it contains is no mere subtext, it is the story itself, the real engine that drives the film straight down the white line nightmare. And frankly, any film that contains a clan of women warriors named "The Vulvari" is certainly wearing its heart upon its sleeves.

What else does a figure like the cult leader Immortan Joe and his atrocities represent and reflect but real world monsters like the organization of Boko Haram and their atrocities against girls and women, for instance? Additionally, we have the War Boys, who do serve as radical extremists driven to acts of voluntary suicide with Immortan Joe's promises to live again in Valhalla, and how those promises play out in the conflict that brews over the course of the film within the ailing War Boy, Nux (played by Nicholas Hoult).

But even greater is Millers' explorations within the ideas of what women represent and ultimately are in the post-apocalyptic future of "Mad Max: Fury Road" and it is dehumanizing indeed. In this world, women have been devalued and dehumanized to simply functioning as nothing more than commodities to be owned and therefore, tortured, raped, abused and ultimately, discarded. The most beautiful are to be under Immortan Joe's lock and key as his band of wives, while all the rest are utilized as living milk machines.

With women being reduced to existing as "things," where does this leave a woman like Furiosa? With her one arm, that is often augmented with a mechanical appendage, perhaps Furiosa is a women who is not even seen as being a woman at all, as she is considered to be "damaged goods." She is neither dominated sexually or through any sense of nurturing or nourishment. Since she is not seen as being an equal to the men, and not even as an equal to the women, she is only an unknowable and underestimated "other" and with that, Furiosa becomes a weapon that Immortan Joe never saw coming.

For all of the women within "Mad Max: Fury Road," Furiosa is the defender and the emancipator and Charlize Theron provides her with a rightful gravity, rage and yes, empathy that provides the film with a depth that it otherwise would not have if it was solely one car crash after another. I also feel that by having Theron front and center, Miller has trumped the powers-that-be at Marvel (i.e. Disney) and especially DC who are falling all over themselves with attempting to explain just why they feel that their comic book feature films just cannot have a woman at the core. Furiosa is the possibly the most vital and vibrant action film heroine I have seen since perhaps Uma Thurman's "The Bride" in Writer/Director Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" series (2003/2004) and believe me, it should not take another 10 years to come up with a new heroine.

If I had any criticism against "Mad Max: Fury Road" it would have to be with a slight choppy quality to some of its action sequences. There were just bits and sections where everything appeared as if the film had been sped up faster-a quality I felt to be initially disorienting as it seemed to be a bit of a cheat. I guess that I missed seeing a certain fluidity to the chases, like what was seen in Director Steven Spielberg's peerless truck chase in "Raiders Of The Lost Ark" (1981) or the outstanding freeway chase section in The Wachowski's "The Matrix Reloaded" (2003), for example. But after a while, I got used to it as I felt it lent itself greatly to the film's rabidly hallucinogenic quality. Even so, as Miller proceeds with the next installment, which he has already revealed to be entitled "Mad Max: The Wasteland," I do hope he smooths things out a little bit.

That said, quibbles are just quibbles, especially for a film that is as bracing as this one and functions near the very top offerings of George Miller's oeuvre, including the Satanic, suburban satire of "The Witches Of Eastwick" (1987), the harrowing medical drama "Lorenzo's Oil" (1992), the dark, surrealistic children's fantasy of "Babe: Pig In The City" (1998) and of course, "The Road Warrior."

Certainly it can never be as good as the first time. But to start anew...George Miller's "Mad Max: Fury Road" makes for a blistering beginning.

SAVAGE POSTSCRIPT:
Just to keep you informed, "Mad Max: Fury Road" is indeed rated R for intense scenes of violence throughout. Even for a film that is as bombastic and violent as this one is, George Miller shows considerable restraint as to what is shown on screen and the violence is unusually bloodless. That being said, your friendly neighborhood film enthusiast strongly recommends that you parents out there to not take any children under 13 to this one.

I JUST WANT TO BE POPULAR: a review of "The D Train"

"THE D TRAIN"
Written and Directed by Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogel
**1/2 (two and a half stars)

It is more than a bit confusing to me that a film this astute, odd and daring could also be so painfully obvious.

"The D Train," the Writing/Directing feature film debut from Jarrod Paul and Andrew Mogel, is a well intentioned, perceptively observed near miss of a film that could have benefited from a tad more nuance, ambiguity and depth. That being said, whatever minor criticisms I hold against the film certainly does not mean that Paul and Mogul didn't try their hardest because "The D Train" was effective, at times queasily so, as the duo certainly mined a true sense of pathos that Jack Black delivers in another strong performance that allowed him to stretch his dramatic wings even further within the confines of a most complicated character.

Jack Black stars as Dan Landsman, a suburban Pittsburgh husband to high school sweetheart Stacey (Kathryn Hahn), Father to their teenage son Zach (Russell Posner) and a newborn baby, and local businessman for a small company owned and operated by the kindly and old school Bill Shurmur (Jefferey Tambor). Conversely, Dan is also the highly unpopular yet self-appointed chairman of his graduating class' 20th High School Reunion committee, which is currently struggling to find willing attendees for the event.

While channel surfing late one night, Dan happens upon a national suntan lotion advertisement starring none other than Oliver Lawless (James Marsden), once the most popular kid of their graduating class. Feeling that if he is able to convince Oliver to attend the class reunion, the event will be an unquestionable success and therefore making himself, at long last, the hero, Dan travels to Los Angeles in pursuit of the supposedly famous Oliver Lawless and spinning an intricate web of lies in the process.

For a man who never at any point within his life ever existed as "the cool guy," Dan Landsman is about to discover just how far he is willing to go, and ultimately descend, in his quest to finally be popular.

With the concept of high school reunions and the resulting levels of anxiety the event causes for its main characters resting at the core, Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogel's "The D Train" possesses quite a bit in common with the likes of Director George Armitage's "Grosse Point Blank" (1997) and Director Jason Reitman and Writer Diablo Cody's bruising and acerbic "Young Adult" (2011), yet unfortunately is not as entirely successful as those films. What I felt "The D Train" achieved very well was the creation of a dark, angry and deeply sad character study of a figure whose lack of popularity as a teenager has taken such severe roots within his life that he not only grows unappreciative of all of his relative good fortunes as an adult, his lack of the popularity he feels that he rightfully deserved in the past has made him a pathetic misanthrope in the present.

Paul and Mogel do mine this situation for more comedic moments, essentially contained in the film's title, as Dan desperately attempts to create a nickname for himself (all terrible, by the way) utilizing the first letter of his first name to absolutely no avail. To that end, the tales he weaves about his high school days to his peers, wife and even his son are of such falsity that while we laugh initially, we soon begin to question whether Dan is delusional. as he constantly tries to re-write the past to the point where he believes the lies over the reality, due to the considerable pain the past has caused for him.

By the time he makes it to Los Angeles, after weaving lies to both his wife and boss about the purpose of his trip, and has now embarked upon a night's worth of cocaine, pain pills, and copious amounts of alcohol alongside Oliver Lawless solely to keep pace and to hopefully snare him for the class reunion, we are really only just beginning to see the lengths of Dan's deceptions to those closest to him as well as himself and the aftermath threatens to unravel him.

Before I continue, dear readers, I have to say that I actually cannot believe that I am about to reference the following film within this review but it actually does indeed serve a purpose. Here goes..

In Director Michael Miller's horrendously unwatchable and unfunny "National Lampoon's Class Reunion" (1982), which was indeed written by John Hughes, there was just one kernel of a good idea lodged deeply within the excruciating horror film parody: the character of Gary Nash, a figure so bland that not even one of his classmates are able to remember who he was. With regards to "The D Train," the character of Dan Landsman is a portrait of a very similar figure conceived and portrayed much more realistically and Jack Black skillfully finds the right notes that occasionally cut to the bone. With this role, I truly have to give considerable credit to Jack Black for again taking risks in order to grow as an actor as his performance, while not quite reaching the heights of his career best work in Writer/Director Richard Linklater's "Bernie" (2011), shines from the same level of commitment and his willingness to fearlessly travel down some dark alleys.

Dan Landsman is a man consumed with a sense of quiet rage the bubbles and later explodes for injustices that only he is able to perceive and the class reunion serves as his final attempt for him to claim what he felt was his all along. This quality does indeed bring the character within the realm of Rupert Pupkin, Robert DeNiro's classic delusional misanthrope from Director Martin Scorsese's "The King Of Comedy" (1983), or at least Patton Oswalt's disturbed football fanatic in Writer/Director Robert D. Siegel's "Big Fan" (2009), and Black's work within "The D Train" is often heartbreaking as well as more than a little unnerving.

James Marsden, an actor who has never quite grown on me, also delivers some fine, textured work in the character of Oliver Lawless, a figure who falls into the same traps as Dan yet he arrives through the opposite side if the mirror of popularity. Yes, Lawless has snagged the leading role in a national commercial but when we first see him is Los Angeles, we can immediately see that this just may be his only big break, something that Dan refuses to see as he remains so in love with the high school hero of his past. But, what happens if you are an individual who has peaked at the age of 17 and has simply continued to fall further and further ever since?

For Oliver, attending the class reunion allows him to play into his classmates' (especially Dan's) perceptions and fantasies of being the one person who escaped the small town for greater fortunes out in the big, bad world. Regarding his relationship with Dan, this situation provides Oliver with a false sense of power, which he manipulates to his advantage once he does arrive back in his hometown and crashing in Dan's home with his family to boot. Dan, being so star struck and manipulative, doesn't realize initially that he is the one being manipulated. If Oliver Lawless is such a big time actor, why doesn't Dan ever question why he had to foot Oliver's plane fare and provide him a place to stay? It is only when Dan feels that his own sense of imagined power is threatened and ultimately, usurped that his fears of failure and insignificance are unleashed in a morass of bad behavior resulting in potentially disastrous consequences. But all is truly upended when Dan's fears of failure and insignificance collide with Oliver's.

Without revealing any spoilers, I will say that "The D Train" contains one sequence that truly arrived like a slap in the face and if you do scour the internet, I am more than certain that you will indeed discover what the sequence is. It is the moment where these two characters of Dan and Oliver collectively make a fascinating and even disturbing commentary upon the sometimes insidious nature of popularity and the power one can easily wield over another in the process. While shocking, it is not a sequence of shock value but it was one that made me truly snap to attention as it seemed that at last, "The D Train," after its lengthy set-up, had been so spun on its axis that the remainder of the film would follow suit in an equally audacious fashion. Well...

Despite the strong characterizations and performances and also for not treating the aforementioned spoiler free scene as a disingenuous nudge-nudge-wink-wink moment. and I do commend Paul and Mogel for taking every moment within the film very seriously, I did wish that they actually had more to say than they presented.

For so much of the first third or so of "The D Train," I kept wondering to myself just why oh why Dan does not see the obvious quality of his life as it is. Yes, I get it. He feels denied of some sense of recognition and admiration that he feels that he is most deserving. Even so, for all of his unpopularity, during his teen years and in his adult life, he did end up married to a very lovely wife, is now a Father, is set within his career, is a home owner and so on, and frankly, he possesses so much more than what some people are graced with in life. Again and yes, I understand that Dan's inability to see the greatness he has already made for himself is (partially) what makes "The D Train" a tragic comedy. But I do think we can easily gather this assessment of Dan very early in the film and therefore, we end up just waiting for the duration of the film to discover whether Dan finally sees, or does not see, his life for what it is and additionally Oliver for what he is and is not. This aspect gives "The D Train" an "is that all there is?" quality which does rub against the good and unrepentantly uncomfortable material that is often on display.

But, please do not let any negative thoughts from me persuade you from not giving a new independent film a chance, especially one that is  just so close as this one. In fact Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogel have indeed created quite the cinematic calling card. One that makes me very curious to see what they come up with next time.

AVENGERS DISASSEMBLE: a review of "Avengers: Age Of Ultron"

"AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON"
Based upon the Marvel Comics series created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Written and Directed by Joss Whedon
***1/2 (three and a half stars)

What hath Tony Stark wrought?

"Avengers: Age Of Ultron," Writer/Director Joss Whedon's sequel to his stupendously entertaining "The Avengers" (2012), as well as the latest installment in the ever expanding Marvel Comics film universe, falls just a hair from the astoundingly great heights set by the first film. But that being said, Whedon also plunges provocatively deeper than before, thus making for a film that is indeed more soulful, humane and even as bombastic as it often is, the film is unquestionably a decidedly more intimate affair than its predecessor.

Yes, I have often lamented about the excessive presence of superhero/comic book themed extravaganzas at the expense of other types of films being made quite often. But, as I have to admit to myself, I am part of the "problem" as I still continue to head out to the theaters to see these films, thus doing my part to increase the hefty box office spoils which only ensures that more comic book movies will be made.

Aside from perhaps Director Alan Taylor's lackluster, assembly line styled  "Thor: The Dark World" (2013) and Writer/Director James Gunn's "Guardians Of The Galaxy" (2014), which I still contend was not as clever as it thought it was, I have to also admit that I have been more than pleased with how well this cinematic universe is being constructed and executed. Alongside Director Jon Favreau's inaugural "Iron Man" (2008) and Directors Joe and Anthony Russo's superior "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" (2014), Joss Whedon has truly found a remarkably impressive sweet spot in bringing these colorful characters to rich, vivid life from the page to the silver screen as he seems to be less concerned with costumes, powers and special effects and more concerned with the people behind the masks. And trust me, dear readers, we are all the better for it as "Avengers: Age  Of Ultron" possesses a most inventive brain, a depth of soul and a strong, beating heart, while not diminishing the fire and brimstone for even a moment.

Like the movies of James Bond and Indiana Jones, "Avengers: Age Of Ultron" opens with Earth's Mightiest Heroes at the climax of their latest adventure. Their mission is to infiltrate a HYDRA outpost in the Eastern European locale of Sokovia and intercept the evil Loki's scepter, gone missing after the destruction of S.H.I.E.L.D.

During the melee with Baron Wolfgang von Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann) and his minions, the Avengers encounter Pietro and Wanda Maximoff a.k.a. Quicksilver and The Scarlet Witch (played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen), fraternal twins who became the Baron's unwilling science experiments and are now adorned with the powers of super-speed and telekinesis, respectively. While the scepter is apprehended, Wanda, who also possesses the ability to create vividly nightmarish hallucinations, afflicts our very own Iron Man, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) with an apocalyptic vision that serves as the catalyst for the Avengers' most crucial excursion to date.

Back at the Avengers home base, and utilizing artificial intelligence discovered inside the scepter's Infinity Stone, Stark, with assistance from Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), continues to covertly complete his new global defense system entitled "Ultron," Unfortunately, unexpectedly, and unbeknownst to Tony Stark--always as these things go in the Marvel universe--Ultron is a sentient being who emerges to full three dimensional life (as voiced and performed through motion capture technology by James Spader) with the intent to "evolve" the planet Earth through the annihilation of all human life.

Scaling the globe from Africa, to Seoul and a return to Sokovia for the literally sky-high and earth shattering climax, it is up to the Avengers to save the world once again. That is, if they do not fall apart in the process.

If Joss Whedon's "The Avengers" represented the Marvel Cinematic Universe at its highest peak, "Avengers: Age Of Ultron" comes pretty damn close. After 11 Marvel films (with "Ant-Man," the 12th, arriving this July) in a rapid seven years, there is now more than enough of a familiarity to the overall Marvel experience as all of the films essentially follow the same arc: heroes (either singular or within a group) battle against some force intent on world domination or destruction and emerge victorious only to face a greater threat next time. We have seen it all before and then some. But, what made "Avengers: Age Of Ultron" a special experience was the purely magic touch that Whedon has brought to the table.

As with the first film (and for me, above all of the other solo Marvel films), Joss Whedon somehow possesses this uncanny ability to render his filmmaking vision in such a tremendously and lovingly fluid fashion. From a visual standpoint, and especially with the massive amount of CGI special effects on display, he has proven himself to be one of the few filmmakers currently applying the technology with a sense of wonderment, inventiveness and with such a vibrant seamlessness that the film's many action sequences truly look and feel like the images that flew through my brain as I read the comic books featuring these very same superheroes so long ago.

Take the film's opening set piece as the heroes battle the forces of Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. Echoing one spectacular sequence from the first film, I absolutely loved how Whedon breathlessly follows the Avengers in full tilt, his camera resting upon one hero caught in the throes of the fight before panning over to a teammate involved within their own particular skirmish and then, panning to yet another and another Avenger combating and vanquishing one foe after another. For me, it is a terrific way to tone down the rampant ADD editing that has typically plagued most action films while discovering new and often exhilarating ways to present the stories contained within the fight sequences, all the while keeping us on the edges of our theater seats in the process.

But fancy cinematography and copious special effects would mean absolutely nothing without having a story to tell and having a team of fine actors to bring the material to life. As I stated within my assessment of the first film, it would have been so easy (and therefore, lazy) to allow Robert Downey Jr. to just walk off with the film, reducing everyone else within this large and increasing cast of characters to be nothing more than supporting players. Here is another area where Joss Whedon does not fall into the same traps as most filmmakers. Whedon realizes that if he is fortunate enough to have the cast that he has, then he needs to give each and every one of them something of value to do. Somehow, he has again discovered ways to deliver the material to his actors (and these world class superheroes) in spades.

As I ruminate over "Avengers: Age Of Ultron," I am still shaking my head in amazement with how Joss Whedon has been able to keep so many spinning plates in the air, from those aforementioned action sequences to the variety of characters upon display. I cannot express enough to you that what Whedon has achieved is no easy feat and is precisely the element that has undone many superhero films that have arrived before, most notably Director Bryan Singer's hugely disappointing "X-Men" (2000/2003) films (sorry not a fan at all), Director Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man 3" (2007) and possibly the very bottom of the barrel, Director Joel Schumacher's horrendous "Batman And Robin" (1997). Unlike those films, in which the plethora of characters were just shuffled from one end of the screen to another willy nilly, Whedon assures that every single character has their specific moment to play within the fullness of their specific arc, regardless if the characters are major or supporting. For as much time that is devoted on the front-lines of the film to the likes of Iron Man, Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and The Hulk, and their respective story lines, the tapestry that Whedon weaves is that much richer by the inclusion of additional stories that occur on the fringes, for example, the bitter rivalry that exists between Quicksilver and the archer Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and how that plays out over the course of the film.

Furthermore, with "Avengers: Age Of Ultron," it feels as if Whedon has slightly shifted Robert Downey Jr. from being the film's anchor and tilted it a bit more towards Chris Evans, who continues to impress in his reprisal of the ultimate "man out of time" Steve Rogers/Captain America. For that matter, Scarlett Johansson, grows even further into her role as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, and so successfully that she undoubtedly makes a great case for her character to have her own damn movie! Lucratively, expanding the focus of Evans and Johansson's characters is of course, designed to set up not only "Captain America: Civil War" (arriving May 2016) plus "Avengers: Infinity War" parts 1 and 2 (arriving in 2018 and 2019). But to save the entire enterprise from solely existing as a soulless money grab, Whedon again proves himself to be a masterful storyteller who ensures all of the pieces fit together conceptually as this specialized brand of serialized films continues to increase.

If the first batch (oh, excuse me, Phase 1) of the Marvel films were all stepping stones to the first Avengers movie, then Phase 2, has been leading up to breaking the band apart. While The Avengers has been a tenuous team at best, all societal misfits or outcasts (mostly) blessed/cursed with superhuman abilities and simultaneously afflicted with all manner of psychological traumas merged with hefty clashing egos providing the ever present friction, Whedon utilizes this second film to bring the team to its breaking point, essentially having them save the world despite themselves. And here is where the richness of Whedon's writing comes into play.

For all of the cataclysm that encapsulates "Avengers: Age Of Ultron," Whedon always adheres to the overall humanity of the piece, the very thing that completely eluded Director Zack Snyder's pummeling "Man Of Steel" (2013), which was completely undone by its callous usage of constant carnage. Whedon knows that if those of us in the audience are to give a whit about anything that occurs in his film, he understands that what will move us are the motivations, and most importantly, the consequences of all of the characters' actions.

What else is "Avengers: Age Of Ultron" but an exploration of Tony Stark's bottomless hubris? While his inventive genius is relentless, Whedon utilizes this film as the unleashing of Stark's darkest impulses and fears, despite the purity of his intentions. Up until this point, Stark's demons have been largely internalized, from his fears of mortality in "Iron Man 2" (2010) to his PTSD combined with his increasing feelings of guilt and responsibility as depicted in "Iron Man 3" (2013). By the events of this new film, Tony Stark's demons have become more externalized as all of his inner struggles have boiled over into what could potentially become a self-fulfilled prophecy of the world's apocalypse, as enacted by Ultron.

Thankfully, the presence of Ultron made for a much more interesting and compelling villain than the bland mustache twirlers seen in "Thor: The Dark World" and especially in "Guardians Of The Galaxy." James Spader, an actor who I have always felt holds one of the best and most unique speaking voices in the movies, brings this attribute front and center and to an extremely impressive effect. Spader has been able to take what could have been standard dialogue about the world's destruction and has infused it with layers that twist and curl with the affectations of  his voice making the character of Ultron a figure that is simultaneously petulant, philosophical, and psychotic.

Again Whedon utilizes the character to dig even deeper as Ultron is essentially nothing more than an extension of Tony Stark himself--basically, Stark's darkest side. Additionally, the army of Stark's robots that Ultron eventually controls could also be viewed as representations of Tony Stark's ego run destructively amok forcing our hero to continuously fight variations of himself plus his legacy and his teammates are also forced to fight with and against him while dealing with their own anxieties that have also been unearthed throughout the course of the film,

The extended climax war sequence is truly notable not solely for the spectacle but also for the humanity Whedon has executed throughout. Defeating Ultron and the robots is paramount but not at the expense of the civilians (take that, "Man Of Steel"). Whole sub-sections of this sequence are focused not just on the fighting but the logistics in figuring out how to save innocent people from...well, themselves. I appreciated this approach (as well as another when Iron Man and Hulk duke it out in Africa, all the while trying to bring Hulk's rage away from innocent people) especially as I have grown so exhausted by the waves of CGI death and destruction that permeate these sorts of films. It was refreshing to actually make the consequences of their actions exist and work as crucial parts of the story itself and I would love to shake Whedon's hand for doing so.

But with all of the psychological drama and tormented superheroes running around,  will assure you that Marvel has not descended into Christopher Nolan territory. "Avengers: Age Of Ultron" remains a living comic book that delivers tremendous bang for your buck but does indeed appreciate giving audiences so much more to chew on. Joss Whedon is a filmmaker who feels is necessary to give us the time to devote to a longing romance between Hulk and Black Widow, which gave the film an honestly touching  "Beauty and The Beast" poignancy. Whedon felt is necessary to give the film many quiet sequences allowing us to get to know these characters in more personable fashion. I loved the back stories of Hawkeye, Black Widow, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, especially a sequence set in Hawkeye's tranquil life away from the front lines.

And yes, Whedon also finds many opportunities to infuse a relaxed, wise and sharply witty sense of humor throughout--I loved an early sequence where The Avengers, all in celebratory mode, each take a crack a attempting to lift Thor's Asgardian hammer, for example.

By the inclusion of these elements, what we have with "Avengers: Age Of Ultron" is a comic book film that is also about families, fractured or otherwise. From parents and children (Tony Stark and Ultron) to variations of siblings (Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye and Black Widow, Stark and Bruce Banner, etc...), Whedon gives us families that love and hate, fight and renew, are pushed to their limits, implode and re-structure, all the while giving us characters that we can care about because they care about each other.

Even with all of this praise, I do think that it is a good thing to know when to walk away as Joss Whedon has announced during the film's press tour that this film will be his last for the Marvel franchise. Where the first film was so wondrously light on its feet, "Avengers: Age Of Ultron" contains a certain heaviness. Yes, it is appropriate for the story (or stories) that it is trying to tell but also because I think the strain of holding a gargantuan amount of characters and material aloft was indeed showing. Better to know when to quit than to stick around and make a messy movie. So, I bid the best of luck to Joe and Anthony Russo who have decided to take the reins for the next Captain America and Avengers films, fr if they are up to the challenge, then I think they can make those films soar highly.

But, how great it was to have had Joss Whedon for as long as we did as he has indeed helmed two of the finest films this genre has had to offer. Films of great excitement but also of great empathy, style and class. When it comes to making movies, to accomplish those feats is heroic to me!

SAVAGE CINEMA'S COMING ATTRACTIONS FOR MAY 2015

After four months of cinematic wasteland, with barely anything of interest worth screening, we have now arrived.

May marks the official beginning of the Summer Movie Season and if all of the films that I have seen listed within Summer Movie Preview articles make their way to my fair city over these next four months, I am hoping the quantity and quality of the films released will more than make up for the quiet months during the early part of the year.

I already have my ticket for Writer/Director Joss Whedon's "Avengers: Age Of Ultron," which I plan to see this weekend. But also upon my radar this month...

1. Writer/Director George Miller returns to the post-apocalyptic Australian wastelands with "Mad Max: Fury Road," with Tom Hardy taking over the titular role from Mel Gibson in what already looks to be a violently extravagant ride.

2. Jack Black stars in "The D Train," an independent comedy/drama concerning a high school reunion has already piqued my interest.

3. While I have not been terribly impressed with early trailers that I have seen, I am indeed interested in the new fantasy escapade "Tomorrowland" solely due to the direction of Brad Bird.

4. There has also been some buzz surrounding the dark comedy "Welcome To Me" starring Kristen Wiig that has caught my attention and if it makes its arrival, hopefully I can catch that one.

5. Finally, at the end of the month, one of my cinematic and writing heroes makes his return after a four year absence. Writer/Director Cameron Crowe's latest romantic comedy, the long gestating Hawaiian odyssey "Aloha," will, at long last, be released after being pushed from a Christmas 2014 release. While this sort of a move tends to not be the best sign, I hope that Crowe can make my heart smile once again.

Now, that is a packed schedule and I hope that I am able to keep up with them all. So, as always, I'll see you when the house lights go down!

THE WES ANDERSON COLLECTION: THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL: A SAVAGE CINEMA EXCLUSIVE BOOK REVIEW

THE WES ANDERSON COLLECTION: THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
by Matt Zoller Seitz
with an introduction written by Anne Washburn
Published by Harry N. Abrams
1st Edition February 10, 2015
256 pages

If you are anything like myself and are still caught within the the lustrous, melancholic afterglow of  "The Grand Budapest Hotel," Writer/Director Wes Anderson's finest film excursion to date, and you wish to delve even deeper inside the mythical Eastern European world of old, then look no further than The Wes Anderson Collection: The Grand Budapest Hotel, Author Matt Zoller Seitz's lavish companion book to his equally lavish and extraordinary publication The Wes Anderson Collection from just last year (and profiled in the March 2014 section of this site).

As with Seitz's previous gorgeous tome, this new volume is triumphantly more than simply a celebration of Wes Anderson's most recent film. This is yet another meticulously researched and presented publication that gives the reader and fan a front row seat into Anderson's creative process while also creating a reading and visual experience that is as enlightening and as labyrinthine as the film itself.

In addition to the plethora of film stills, behind the scenes photos, conceptual artwork, storyboards, screenplay excerpts, and interviews with the film's leading actor Ralph Finnes, Costume Designer Milena Canonero, Composer Alexander Desplat, Production Designer Adam Stockhausen and Cinematographer Robert Yeoman, Seitz provides us with three extensive interviews conducted with Wes Anderson during various stages of the film's post-production/pre-release period in which all manner of topics from cinematic influences, character motivations, story and plot developments to even the writings of Author Stefan Zweig (which inspired the film and some of which are also included within this book) were vibrantly discussed.

Additionally, Seitz collaborates with a team of esteemed writers, playwrights, film critics, and film historians, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison's very own David Bordwell, who all contribute essays concerning various aspects of the filmmaking process (shot compositions, set design, visual effects, etc...) and how they each relate to Anderson's most recent opus.

What results is a book that is deeply intoxicating, illuminating and surprisingly does not decrease the magic of the actual film itself. In fact, I feel that what Seitz has achieved with this book (just as he achieved with his previous installment) is to fashion a reading experience that serves to enhance the viewing experience of "The Grand Budapest Hotel," as one would easily be able to return to the feature film with an even greater appreciation for how it was all conceived and executed. And furthermore, viewing the film again, I feel, would inspire you to then return to Seitz's book to discover even more about the process behind the product.

Most importantly, Seitz has also gone quite the distance in giving Wes Anderson full credence as a serious filmmaker whose cinematic escapades are made of the purest artistic intent and not smug, self-congratulatory, superior minded motion pictures meant to keep all potential audiences at arms lengths.

Matt Zoller Seitz's The Wes Anderson Collection: The Grand Budapest Hotel is completely inviting, unquestionably immersive and the perfect reading selection for fans of not only Wes Anderson, but of the full art and artistry of the movies.

LOSING MY EDGE: a review of "While We're Young"

"WHILE WE'RE YOUNG"
Written and Directed by Noah Baumbach
**** (four stars)

"I'm losing my edge
I'm losing my edge
To the kids coming up from behind...
...But I'm losing my edge to to better looking people with better ideas and more talent 
And they're actually really, really nice..."
-"Losing My Edge"
LCD Soundsystem

Aging is a most peculiar experience once you hit your 40's, or at least, it has been a most peculiar and often uneasy transition for me.

As I look backwards on my life, I can easily tell you that for myself, my late 20's felt to me to be like one long year spread out over quite possibly four years. The natural restlessness of the age notwithstanding, there just was this incessant need to not only try and discover a sense of purpose for my life but to also begin to feel comfortable within my own skin, all the while feeling as if I was not making any progress. Along with that, I had to begin dealing with those first realizations that maybe any fantasies I held about becoming a filmmaker or someone that carried some sense of public recognition was more than likely never going to happen. Or that if it did, it would occur in a way that felt comfortable to my own sense of integrity as the horror stories of the big, bad real world in cinema, publishing and the like only showed me that my skin is just too thin for industries that are famously cutthroat. Whatever happened would happen but it would have to be organic and on my own terms, therefore ensuring that wherever I found myself, it would felt right to my spirit.

By the time I turned 30, I actually felt comfortable. I was comfortable within my own skin as if the number of my age felt just right with who I felt myself to be internally. By this stage of my life, certain avenues had begun falling into place. I was married, had begun my career as a teacher, and furthermore, forced myself to become a writer and cherish the title not through any sense of attaining public recognition but finding satisfaction with the artistic process itself. If I was going to call myself  writer, then just get down to it and write! Of course, I continued to house fantasies of fame and glory (and I guess I still do) but again, between the ages of 30-34, it all felt as if I had finally arrived within my own life.

And then, I turned 35.

35 was the first time in my life when I felt that the numerical value of my age did not represent me whatsoever. People began to refer to me as "Sir," which felt like a knife in the heart as well as the back for could these young people not see that I was obviously one of them? I still wore my ever present baseball cap. I still frequented the local record stores, movie theaters and was up on (then) current pop culture. Sure I had some gray hairs sprouting in my goatee but hey, those were earned weren't they? It didn't mean that I was necessarily getting old, did it? Older, certainly. But not old.

35 rapidly found itself at 40, 42 and now 46 and with each year, and regardless of how thankful I am to still be a part of this existence, the numbers have troubled me more than ever and almost to the point where I really don't even wish to acknowledge how old I am anymore. While I still wear my baseball cap and frequent the very few record stores that remain, I am not as up to the minute knowledgeable about current pop culture and I am shocked to discover that in many cases, I just don't care anymore, partially because I don't see the artistic value as compared to the pop culture that formulated me and partially because, I just can't keep up with it all. I don't own a smart phone. I don't text. I don't utilize Twitter and I do harbor an inherent distrust of some aspects of advancing technology and the ever encroaching and less private world of social media, especially for the generations behind me.and what it may mean for our collective future. And furthermore, the gray in my goatee has nearly taken over. What is happening to me?

All of those emotions sit at the deeply perceptive core of Writer/Director Noah Baumbach's "While We're Young," his seventh feature film and as far as I am concerned, it is the very best film he has released in the 10 years since his extraordinary family drama "The Squid And The Whale" (2005). I have to first express to you that I was just about ready to give up on Mr. Baumbach as the films he has released since "The Squid And The Whale" have only disappointed me to varying degrees. Where "Margot At The Wedding" (2007) was just an ugly escapade that did not pay off whatsoever, his more recent and critically acclaimed features "Greenberg" (2010) and "Frances Ha" (2012) to me felt to be increasingly smug, self-congratulatory and painfully plastic excursions that didn't feel to constructed out of anything seemingly honest, therefore making themselves to be nothing more than hipster fabrications of real life.

By contrast, "While We're Young" is piercing and poignant, uncharacteristically warm (for Baumbach) yet righteously and rightfully bitter and never once strikes one false note. It felt as if Baumbach had taken some of the thematic frameworks of "Greenberg," "Frances Ha" and even his debut feature "Kicking And Screaming" (1995) and fashioned what just may be his most complete screenplay and therefore, his most multi-layered film to date as he takes us through an odyssey of middle age ennui, fear and confusion as it clashes against young adult ambition plus also functioning as a smart social commentary and screwball romantic comedy which even has ample space to house a central mystery and even some very funny scatological humor. We have a few weeks before the behemoths of the Summer Movie season take over the theater screens so, I do indeed happily urge you to head out for this film, even if it does make you look uncomfortably at yourself.

"While We're Young" stars Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts as Josh and Cornelia Srebnick, a New York based documentary filmmaker and his wife, a documentary film producer and the daughter of legendary documentarian Leslie Breitbart (a most welcome return from Charles Grodin). Josh and Cornelia, now in their mid-40's, are struggling with the choices, twists and turns their lives have taken over the course of their relationship and while still madly in love, they have found themselves stuck in a rut. After one completed and vastly underseen documentary film, Josh has been ensconced in the tedium of creating a follow-up feature...for 10 years. The couple's best friends, Marina (Maria Dizzia) and Fletcher (Beastie Boys' Adam Horovitz in a fine, relaxed performance), also in their mid-40's, have now become first time parents, making Josh and Cornelia feel alienated and unfulfilled as they are childless due to two past miscarriages.

Feeling adrift, it is almost a miracle for Josh and Cornelia as they meet and build a hearty friendship with Jamie (a terrific Adam Driver) and Darby (the subtle and strong Amanda Seyfried), a married couple in their mid 20's. Jamie and Darby are charming, open, and eager individuals who befriend Josh and Cornelia graciously. They house vast music collections upon vinyl, watch VHS cassettes, invite the older couple to block parties and seemingly hang onto every one of Josh's self-perceived pearls of wisdom. Additionally, as Darby makes her own ice cream, which she is in the process of selling. and Jamie is an aspiring documentary filmmaker and fan of Josh's past work, Josh and Cornelia are not only swept away by the seemingly free-spirited couple, they each witness doors into their own pasts and they chart their respective futures.

Soon, Cornelia is taking hip-hop dance classes with Darby, Josh adopts to wearing pork pie hats and wingtip shoes to emulate his own youth as well as the youthful confidence Jaime represents, and they both cast off their oldest friends in pursuit of this virtual fountain of youth. But are the two couples as compatible as they seem or even wish to be, especially as the ideals of two generations may not be as in sync as hoped?

Noah Baumbach's "While We're Young" is a perfect candidate to exist as a companion piece to Writer/Director Judd Apatow's "This Is 40" (2012), as Baumbach has crafted an experience that is perfectly in tune with both of the generations it is representing, as well as the emotions and motivations contained with the characters. With "France Ha," I just felt as if every single moment within that film from characters, motivations, performances and even dialogue all existed within sets of invisible quotation marks. With "While We're Young," those feelings were entirely non-existent. Baumbach has crafted a wise, very funny and often deeply acerbic film, filled with a vibrant and literary wit that fuels a collective of characters that are instantly recognizable, especially as the features within these characters are remarkably and again, uncomfortably like our own.

I loved how Baumbach did not make any wide-sweeping generalities about the two different generations depicted in the film and in fact, he sort of upended them. Yes, there is a terrific montage sequence early in the film which depicts the mid-40's Josh and Cornelia are more socially isolated and attached to technology while the mid 20's Jamie and Darby are more outgoing and social. Where Josh exercises alone with earbuds in place inside of a health club, Jamie plays basketball with friends on outdoor public courts. You get the picture. But soon, Baumbach slowly and smartly complicates and deepens matters, especially once we arrive at sequences where the core moral values inside of the characters become revealed, thus making "While We're Young" work as a decidedly pointed social commentary.

Noah Baumbach asks extremely difficult questions for each generation as well as having the characters perform the same tasks of themselves. With regards to the 40's, as represented by both Josh and Cornelia, we are seeing two people dealing with issues of relevancy and mortality. On a more immediate level, Josh and Cornelia are coiled inside of an existential crisis where they are each wondering if they, and the ideals with which they have formulated themselves, have become obsolete, therefore fading each of them into obscurity. Have they actually become the very people society thinks they should be by this time in their lives? Or even more probing, what Josh and Cornelia perceive society wants for them to have achieved. Josh and Cornelia are each faced with questions of what the true definition of success actually means, especially as Cornelia feels societal pressure with not being a Mother and Josh is forever engulfed with his cerebral documentary that may never get finished.

As their relationships with Jamie and Darby grow closer and more intertwined, we also gather the sense that as Josh and Cornelia look at their new friends, they are not only seeing versions of themselves in their respective 20's but also the perceptions they have held of each other, making Josh and Cornelia begin to each resent the other for not becoming who they felt they should have become.

With regards to the 20's, as represented by Jamie and Darby, what begins as something more free wheeling and carefree ultimately reveals itself as being much sharper than Josh and Cornelia have begun to realize. Especially, with Jaime, we have characters who are much more opportunistic, cunning, savvy, and duplicitous than first perceived plus the added bonus of being industrious and uniquely talented. Once Josh and Jaime become friends, it is a relationship where Josh, at first, feels charmed and even disarmed by Jaime's admiration and openness. And the relationship then progresses from one that Josh (again) perceives as being "Mentor/Protege" to one where they become rivals and creative competitors, to the point, where Josh is supremely unnerved by Jaime's rapidly approaching footsteps. In fact, Jaime's entire aesthetic is cloaked inside of a "means to and end" quality that sets itself up for late film confrontations between himself and Josh, which even further finds itself inside of a generational battle of ethics and even levels of narcissism.

With "While Were Young," Noah Baumbach is asking us, from generation to generation (and in this case, I would suppose "Generation X" and the "Millennials"), what are the ideals that shape us? What are the morals that have we grown up with that helps to formulate how we wish to navigate the world? More specifically, when you have a generation, unlike my own, where so much of their lives have been documented and technology has become the tool to continue an unhealthy level of narcissism, what does that mean for the future?  Near the opening of the film, as Josh is giving a lecture, he expresses that documentaries should not only be about the subject at hand but also a personal statement about the filmmaker. Yet, by film's end, he questions what a documentary even is anymore to a generation that is constantly filming themselves. The film's final image, which of course, I will not reveal, is a killer, as Baumbach delivers an image that made me feel the impending and possibly inevitable decay of our societal morality and the effect was surprisingly chilling and profoundly effective.

Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts are pitch perfect and completely convincing and winning as our middle aged heroes. Stiller, in particular, has really found himself to existing as the perfect conduit for Baumbach's parables, as they allow him ample room to stretch his dramatic muscles while still giving him considerable space to demonstrate his unquestionable comedic skills and impish subversiveness.

And yet, how strange it was to see the lines of age slowly embedded into Stiller's face as well as Naomi Watts', who remains as lovely as ever but even still, it is happening. But, what of Adam Horovitz, the former Beastie Boy who is now adorned with not only the same lines of age but a mop of hair that is completely gray? Are they, and therefore are we all really getting older like this? Again, this is happening. It's really happening.

"We're old men," Horovitz as his character Fletcher exclaims with a bemused expression to Stiller's Josh. Maybe so and therefore I may need to begin facing a certain reality. And yet, I can and I can't. Noah Baumbach's "While We're Young" taps so specifically into this quandary that it is truly a surprise that the film is as enormously entertaining as it is.

While I'm not sure if "While We're Young" will end up as one of the best films of 2015, I am so thrilled that it is Noah Bambach's best film in many years. Welcome back, Mr. Baumbach. Take off your coat and stay a while.

SAVAGE CINEMA DEBUTS: "SHAUN OF THE DEAD" (2004)

"SHAUN OF THE DEAD" (2004)
Screenplay Written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright
Directed by Edgar Wright
***1/2 (three and a half stars)

To begin, I must publicly offer my endless and most heartfelt apologies to Terry Bell for having his DVD copy of this film for far too terribly long.

To continue, I must reveal to you a confession that just may surprise many of you: Until just last night, I have never seen "Shaun Of the Dead."

Yes, dear readers, you did read that correctly. I have never seen "Shaun Of The Dead," Co-Writer/Director Edgar Wright's breakthrough feature film as well as his second feature length directorial effort overall, and now that I have, I now understand what all of the fuss has been about over these last 11 years since its original release as it did not disappoint in the least. In fact, I am kicking myself quite a bit for not having seen it sooner and therefore, having been aware of the immense creativity and inventiveness that is housed inside of the mind of Wright from essentially the beginning.

I do remember seeing the trailer many years ago and feeling that it looked to be a film that I would indeed head out and see. But, for whatever reasons, when "Shaun Of the Dead" was released, I just never made it out to the theater to see it and once it hit home video, for whatever other reasons, I just never rented it and then, time passed, more and other movies entered my life and like so many films that I haven't seen, "Shaun Of The Dead" just found itself being swept aside.

And here is where Terry Bell enters the picture.

I met Terry Bell many years ago while teaching at a preschool where he was also employed part-time and in addition to his daily morning news duties as an on-air announcer/journalist on Wisconsin Public Radio (yes, I do have my connections here and there). If you were to meet Terry, I really believe that you would be fully taken in by the immediate level of his sincerity, openness and kindness as he truly represents what a "gentleman" is and should be. He also does indeed carry quite the subversive streak to his spirit as evidenced by our mutual love of Kevin Smith films and his natural sense of  humor which can exhibit a high satirical streak when he wishes to share it. So, when he first expressed to me his massive enthusiasm for "Shaun Of The Dead," it didn't surprise me but it certainly did indeed inform me that if he found value to that film, it would be worth my time to view it.

And yet, I still didn't rent it.

Terry had invited me to his home to watch it on many occasions but I could never get my schedule to link up with his. So, finally, he loaned me his personal DVD copy of the film for me to watch at my convenience, to which I was most appreciative and definitely had the full intention of watching it right away.

But, upon a shelf, right my my television, it sat. For years...and again, to Terry, I deeply apologize.

Within those intervening years, I finally became officially acquainted with Edgar Wright via his two most recent films, the stunning, one-of-a-kind video game fantasia "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World" (2010) and the outstanding apocalyptic science-fiction excursion and middle age ennui satire "The World's End" (2012), In those two movies, I was witness to a filmmaker of immense talent, an undeniably feverish level of creativity and one who possessed a cinematic eye that is firmly unique, idiosyncratic and filled with a rare and downright joyously gleeful storytelling outlook.

Both "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World" and "The World's End" felt as if Wright was randomly pulling every single idea from the inside of a revolving madhouse but in actuality, the films were so meticulously constructed and choreographed that if just one element were to be out of place, the entire escapade would fall to pieces. I distinctly remember as I watched both of those films, with my mouth often wide open in amazement, that I had thoughts that there would be no conceivable way that this high amount of energy and inventiveness could sustain itself for the entirety of the whole film and in both cases, I was happily proven wrong.

And still...for whatever reason, and again, even with the film just sitting right near the television, I still didn't watch "Shaun of The Dead."

Maybe it was possibly because I might have felt that the time for that particular film had come and gone for me. Maybe it is just me having some sense of fatigue with the whole zombie craze and petulantly, I was just going to be stubborn about it even though "Shaun Of The Dead" was far ahead of the full zombie resurgence in pop culture as it pre-dated Director Ruben Fleischer's "Zombieland" (2009), as well as Author Max Brooks' World War Z (2006) and its 2013 film adaptation from Director Marc Forster, plus of course, the hit AMC television series "The Walking Dead."  (And truth be told, I am completely unfamiliar with most of those as well.)

Yet, something compelled me to just go ahead and watch the film last night, for maybe, the time was right. Something in the atmosphere or something just as ephemeral but yes, I placed the DVD into the player and began to take the ride.

As many of you are already so deeply familiar, "Shaun Of The Dead" stars the film's Co-Writer Simon Pegg as the titular Shaun, a 29 year old electronic store employee in suburban London, whose life is caught in a directionless rut.

Being disrespected by his younger employees, fraught with an estranged relationship with his Mother Barbara (Penelope Wilton) and his Stepfather Phillip (Bill Nighy), and enduring tensions with his flatmate Pete (Peter Serafinowicz) over the endlessly annoying presence of their other flatmate and Shaun's life-long best friend, the lazy, flatulent, perpetually unemployed (save for the occasional drug deal) Ed (Nick Frost), would be bad enough. There is Shaun's long running yet tenuous relationship with Liz (Kate Ashfield), now at the three year mark and stuck in the same groove of spending night after night at the local pub The Winchester...with Ed plus Liz's flatmates the stuffy, bespectacled David (Dylan Moran) and his girlfriend, struggling actress Dianne (Lucy Davis of the BBC's "The Office").

After one broken promise too many, Liz dumps Shaun thus forcing him to seriously re-think the course of his life plus devise a way to return himself to Liz's good graces. But there's a little matter of a zombie apocalypse that has suddenly made an outbreak throughout the town, forcing Shaun and Ed to retrieve their friends and family to bunker down within The Winchester, which an army of hungry zombies have surrounded.

If there ever was a time to grow up and take charge of one's life, there is no better time than during a zombie attack. Is Shaun up to the task?

In being such a late arrival to the Edgar Wright party, so to speak, it was a strange feeling finally watching "Shaun of The Dead." It was kind of like reading a book completely out of order, starting with the latest chapters, then moving back and forth a bit before settling into reading the beginning, as conceptually, "Shaun of The Dead" serves the first installment of the self-described "Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy" of films from Wright, Pegg and Frost, which includes "Hot Fuzz" (2007) as the second installment and "The World's End" as the final entry. Now that I am more aware of Wright cinematic aesthetics, it was interesting to see how far he has developed them with his more recent films but to then see how they originated...and to that end, just how skilled he was in the first place.

"Shaun Of the Dead" is a film that may essentially feel like a one-joke movie but is in actuality, a wonderfully multi-layered experience  On one level, the film serves as an homage to both Director George A. Romero's "Dawn Of The Dead" (1978) as well as Writer/Director John Landis' iconic amalgamation of horror and comedy, "An American Werewolf In London" (1981), In addition to Wright's now signature visual razzle dazzle, Wright and Pegg's screenplay is filled from one end to the other with delightfully arranged witticisms and wordplay which is all delivered in a rapid fire style akin to a 1930's screwball comedy or a film starring The Marx Brothers, making for a film that is a graceful as it is gory.

As a thriller, Wright just nails the sense of terror perfectly. As in the early films of Steven Spielberg, Wright stages his story in a somewhat nondescript sleepy suburban area instead of London based landmark, thus bringing the extraordinary right in the middle of the very ordinary, which is first exhibited in a wonderful and unedited tracking shot where Shaun heads to the market from his flat, and we gather the mundane splendor of daily life in his neighborhood before it is all torn to shreds. As with Writer/Director M. Night Shyamalan's "Signs" (2002), Wright stages much of the apocalypse off-screen, which for me, increased the sense of paranoia and unease that exists for quite a long stretch of the film and remains steadily intact even as I was laughing at the dialogue and sight gags. No easy feat, handled brilliantly and I think that even John Landis himself would be proud.

I enjoyed that the arrival of the zombies was never fully explained in the film, which also created a certain amount of intensity. Any ideas of what is happening upon a larger scale are only depicted in quick flashes of newspaper headlines, abbreviated newscasts and very quick shots of abnormalities (people dropping dead in the street or flashes of persons running in fear through the camera frame, for instance) and seemingly innocuous moments that actually signify encroaching doom (people suddenly falling ill, complaints of headaches, coughing). These are moments that almost trick you into making you wonder if you saw and heard what you did indeed experience an d it is honestly effective and does provide the proper scares while not sacrificing any of the comedy. One extremely clever bit occurs while Shaun is flipping channels to try and find out any information and if you haven't seen the film yet, just try and solely pay attention to the audio from each channel, which is presented only in snippets and fragments, yet when strung together actually presents a full news update.

By the time, the zombies have been fully revealed, Wright continues to keep us off balance as he keeps mining the comedy even through some horrific gross out effects. When Shaun and Ed at long last realize that there are zombies right in their garden, the means at which they do comprehend the danger plus how they undertake measures of properly killing the zombies are sharply hysterical. If armed with only a stack of record albums, which ones would you use as a potential weapon? Prince? Dire Straits? New Order? The debates are hilarious and remain so, even as your palms begin to sweat. Then, there is another very funny sequence where Dianne takes center stage as she attempts to utilize Method Acting techniques for herself and her friends so they can surreptitiously make their way across town to The Winchester amidst swarms of zombies undetected. Just terrific physical comedy occurring just as you're waiting for carnage to blaze out at you.

Once the action moves to The Winchester and the scares, action and gore becomes more intense (one major character meets a particularly grisly end--NO SPOILERS if you haven't seen it), Wright still somehow finds ways to make the comedy and the overall uniqueness of "Shaun Of the Dead" stand out. One terrific fight sequence in particular, during which Shaun, Liz and Ed while brandishing pool cues take on one hungry zombie as the jukebox blares Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" is as blissfully executed as the finest movie musical. Again, this sequence, which is a precursor to the dizzying, exhilarating and staggeringly choreographed fight sequences to come in "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World" and "The World's End," shows just how breathlessly creative Wright was from the start.

But then, and most surprisingly, was that element of pathos I mentioned earlier.

In addition to action and horror, "Shaun Of The Dead" actually boasts a decent love story and one where the female (usually given short shrift and all manner of cliches in such a male-centric film) is actually given quite the conundrum which flies to an existential crisis. Kate Ashfield's Liz is presented as the stereotypical long-suffering and neglected girlfriend who is constantly brow-beating her man (in this case Shaun) for not being motivated. Additionally, they are a couple that never gets to be alone as Ed is always in tow, a reality that forces Liz to bring about her flatmates so she won't be lonely. The true crux of the relationship is The Winchester itself, the symbol of Shaun's ultimate inertia and the bane of Liz's existence as she wishes to not spend even one more night inside of the pub for this is where she has spent essentially every night for three years while dating Shaun.

Once the zombies descend upon the town and our heroes take up refuge inside of the Winchester, Wright very slyly plays the location as eliciting different responses and feelings from different characters. Where it is solace and comfort for both Shaun and Ed, it is nothing but purgatory for Liz. To think, that the place that she never wanted to set foot inside of again is the place where she just may be eaten alive by zombies. So, what to do? Either accept her doom or howl against the universe and try to fight her way out, and if she fails, at least some zombies will go with her. Her level of action perfectly suits what we know about her from the early parts of the film regarding her emotional maturity and her desire to live and experience life to its fullest. Certainly zombie fighting was not ever in the plans that she made for herself but she remains true to herself all the while, promising to go down swinging if she has to.

"Shaun Of The Dead" also carries the theme of arrested development as mostly viewed through the friendship, and therefore, love story between Shaun and Ed. While comical throughout, Wrigh somehow finds a certain sense of honest emotion in the proceedings to give sincere weight to the situations for our heroes as they grow more dire while trapped inside The Winchester.

With Ed, and especially after establishing him as a useless layabout, Wright positions him as being quite possibly the most prepared person to handle a zombie apocalypse because his mind dulled by a lifetime of playing video games has indeed made him the most desensitized to the whole affair. He actually kind of enjoys the arrival of, and therefore the act of killing zombies, as if he is living inside of a video game (shades of themes to come in "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World"). That being said, his heart is also the largest, most loyal and he makes one of the largest sacrifices in the film for nothing more than his friendship with Shaun, and I was surprisingly touched.

Then, there is Shaun himself who does indeed snap to life once the zombies arrive. Yes, Wright is clearly taking a page from the Romero playbook by suggesting that we, as a society, are already zombies stuck in our daily rituals on auto-pilot. But, in Shaun's case, we are given a film that charts his path into adulthood. For instance, it has been expressed that one never fully grows up until one's parent dies. In this film, Shaun is faced with the impending mortality of both of his parents and he is indeed forced to make a fateful and honestly painful choice while inside The Winchester--easily the film's most wrenching scene and Simon Pegg really gives it all he's got on a most convincing dramatic level.

With both "Shaun Of the Dead" and "The World's End," Wright has given us parables that detail characters respective fears of the future. While the main character in "The World's End" attempts to keep the future at bay by trying to make his glory days of the 1990's last into his 40's and ultimately, forever, "Shaun of The Dead" features our hero trying his damnedest to hang onto the present for as long as possible so the future will just nt arrive at all. If everything remains the same, then painful process of change and then, growing up won't have to be endured.  

But as the zombies attack, Shaun very quickly realizes that he has the capability to be a leader, to be inventive, to think on his feet, to discover untapped levels of bravery, honor, resourcefulness and to not just succumb to his worst and laziest impulses.

Since I had seen Wright's later films first and have seen essentially just how much further he has taken his unquestionable filmmaking gifts, that is purely the only reason that I didn't award "Shaun of The Dead" four stars. Think of it like this: Say the very first Wes Anderson film you saw happened to be "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (2014) and then, you happened to see "Rushmore" (1999). I think seeing "Shaun of The Dead" now is akin to something like that. But no matter, I have just ordered myself my own DVD copy to add to my personal archives and I feel that I had better check out "Hot Fuzz" while I am at it.

And in the meantime, Terry, let's hook up, so I can at least, finally get your DVD back to you!