#2,155: Max Max: Fury Road

Ip Man - ★★★☆☆
I always like a movie about someone who is good at what they do. And Ip Man does it with a big smile!

Ip Man 2 - ★★★☆☆
This movie is like Rocky 2, because it picks up just after part 1, but it's also like Rocky 3, because we have a crazy MMA-precusor bout between different fighting styles, but then it's also Rocky 4, because everything about Twister is Drago. And then, just for good measure, it's like Rocky 5 during that dumb pre-credits scene.

And for Mrs. Ip Man, this movie is like Jaws 2, because her character development has been undone for the sake of a second plot.

The Babadook - ★★☆☆☆
The first half of this movie had me. The slow burn build up, reminded me a little of The Exorcist. After a little while, I was even rooting for some kind of monster would show up to eat this pesky kid.

But his peskiness goes over some kind of line, from character to signal lantern. You can't help but feel it's being overplayed so that they can reverse you on him, and by the time he finally goes to sleep, the movie had lost me.

The second half is jammed full of so many Important Moments and Memorable Things and Clues that I never found any of it creepy again. I spent my time working out what the Big Message would be, as film beats the audience about the head and neck with it.

I guess I subscribe to the notion that there's nothing supernatural going on in this movie, just a sick, unreliable narrator.

Mad Max: Fury Road - ★★★★★
What really gets me about this is how deliberate everything is. This movie turned out great, but it could have been terrible and it would have been just as hard to make.

Watching the phalanx of crazy vehicles streaming towards the Fury Road itself to give chase, I could only hope that the people making new Star Wars movies care as much about them as George Miller and crew cared about making this.