Cop Car
Starring Hays Wellford, James Freedson-Jackson, Kevin Bacon, and Shea Whigham
Cop Car is an independent adventure film that follows two young boys running away from home who come across a mysterious sheriff’s car. Normally if you have a movie centered around one child actor let alone two your movie is doomed. This isn’t the case at all for Cop Car. We never learn the age of our two main characters but they’re very young. Maybe around 9 or 10, and they actually act like 9/10 year olds. Not only is acting good, but so is the directing. The movie builds up to a very intense climax and very long camera shots help us build intensity. One aspect of the movie that I’m not hearing much about is how funny it is. There’s some ridiculous banter between the two young leads that’s delivered very well. The movie does have some flaws. Mostly with pacing. I felt like some things could’ve been moved around in the movie and it would’ve flowed much better, and although the movie is very good there isn’t anything new or groundbreaking in it. This isn’t that much of an issue, because the movie is very well done, it just can feel a bit too familiar at times however, I’d still recommend this movie to anyone that doesn’t mind movies that have a bit of a slower pace. Grade: B+
Mad Max: Fury Road
Starring Tom hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, and Hugh Keays-Byrne
Mad Max: Fury Road follows a group of women who attempt to escape a tyrannical dictator in post apocalyptic Australia with the help of the one and only Mad Max. This is the most refreshing movie of the year. In a world clustered with green screen and impractical effects it was so nice seeing such a fantastic movie filmed on location with great stunts and practical effects. Anyone that’s familiar with the Mad Max franchise knows that these movies don’t have a lot of plot, and there’s a ton of action, and this movie is no different. Out of the 2 hours of run time I’d say there might have been about 20 minutes that weren’t action packed. A movie like this normally would have very weak characters, but thanks to excellent writing and directing the characters in this movie have a lot of depth. I cared about the characters I was supposed to care about and I hated the characters I was supposed to hate. If you liked the previous Mad Max movies, you’ll definitely like this one as well. If you weren’t a fan of them I’m not sure if this one will change your mind, but it has my seal of approval and I’d definitely recommend it. Grade: A