Hey everybody, we did it again! The Movie Madness Podcast gang got caught up in life. The bad news: we are way behind in letting you know what we think, “sigh.” The great news: you guys get a whole load of terrific mini-reviews to “catch up on” while we get to tell you what we think. Right or wrong, you gotta admit, all of us, Craig, Doug and Jeremy have lots of opinions and we stick to ’em (that is till Doug has to admit defeat). The good news: Craig and Jeremy are right there to give Doug a big hug and comfort him. It’s all warm fuzzies guys! And yes, we are prone to hyperbole (particularly Craig)!

Before we leave you and still on the subject, Craig, our Movie Maniac, was invited to join the guys at one of our favorite podcasts at In Session Film. He had a great time and we think he did us proud! Just click and check out the San Andreas, Top 3 Disaster Movies and WALL-E episode: episode 119.

As always, you can let us know what you think about any of our episodes, the movies we review or give us your Top 5s, 10s or 25s at: moviemadnesspodcast@gmail.com or call the voice mail # 260-573-0015 or post them to Twitter, Facebook or the Ultimate Movie Geeks community on Google+

And please let Craig know what you think too about episode 119. He was a basket case after.

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Verdict: ✰ ✰ ✰ 1/2 –  –

As a long time fan of the Fast and Furious movies, I have an emotional stake in the characters that have driven this entire series. Vin Diesel’s acting, with the possible exception of looking angry, has the emotional depth of an engine block. But his almost insistent pounding of loyalty to his family in all these movies are what makes him the rock he is that everyone clings to. When the motor oil hits the fan, you know it’s okay because you expect him to be there with a four foot lug wrench in his hand, looking the bad guy dead in the eye without any backing down. And that can be comforting.

Paul Walker (rest in peace), on the other hand, has emotion pouring from those blue eyes of his. You never see Paul without a smile on his face unless he’s pissed… which isn’t often. I have always loved seeing Paul come on screen in any movie he is in because he takes things easy, is always at least a little humored by the situation, no matter how dire, and everything seems to fall into place with him there. I’ve always pictured Paul Walker as the Hollywood actor who forgot he was a Hollywood actor and just acted human. Humble. Grateful. In love with life. He, as a person, amazes me.

That said, this movie is all action from the first moment to the last. Clocking in at 137 minutes, this flick pushes the PG-13 envelope and keeps the language clean while doing stunts that literally had me gripping the armrests and saying the dirty words for them. Fortunately, I saw this movie during Avengers 2’s opening weekend and I was alone in the theater.

Sebastian Shaw’s big brother Deckard (Jason Statham) is right at home kicking all kinds of ass and making Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) work overtime as he avenges his little brother from that ass kicking he took in Furious 6. This time, Dom and his family aren’t alone. Along for the ride is a humorous, fellow ass kicker named Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell the way I remember him from the old days) who is above the pay grades of most black ops types. He’s the guy who tells Men In Black what to do! And he happens to have been hunting Deckard Shaw for some years now.

As it is, he and Dom are after the same thing for different reasons. So much for street racing in L.A. Hello counter-terrorism! And yet, taking it to the streets is exactly how Dom and his family get it done. With fast cars, smart plans, and lots of guts. Street Racing in L.A…. not to mention flying cars across Abu Dhabi… has never seen this level of power! Everyone in this movie is tough. And all throughout, everyone gets to show what they can really do. No one on the planet can tell me that hand to hand combat between Michelle Rodriguez and American Mixed Martial Artist Ronda Rousey is a cat fight. This was one of the best fights I’ve seen on screen yet!

By the time the two hour and seventeen minute mark rolled by, I had to pee so bad it hurt, but I couldn’t skip anything. <rant> Bring intermissions back, Hollywood! </rant> But I will say this… the tribute this movie and its cast performed for their late comrade, Paul Walker, was extraordinarily beautiful and I, for one, admit that I bawled like a baby! Not because he will be missed (he will be very missed) but because they made the tribute to him seem as though Paul Walker is still here with all of us, still a part of our journey, though he is for certain on other journeys now. The beauty of just simple looks, from the actors on screen during this tribute, can speak volumes and are told in just a few short minutes. This tribute alone made this movie priceless, at least to me.

Which leads me to the oddly placed spiritual aspect of Furious Seven… which helped it stand apart from the first six of the series. All throughout it was implied that “Eternity is in this moment” and the idea that being mindful, an ancient spiritual practice in many religions, gave the movie a level of depth I wasn’t expecting. It was touching and kept me grounded as I watched.

All in all, this was a very nice ending to a long series of extraordinary action movies that true fans will very much enjoy.

Grab on to your seat, hold onto your water and get ready for a pulse pounding, heart stopping non-stop action flick! Furious 7 is one of the best of the breed, except you have to leave your mind (maybe your whole brain) at the door. My own theater had a little box by the door iced and ready for mine. It was quite convenient.

Don’t ever get me wrong, this movie was obviously about a galaxy far, far away and maybe a different universe. Obviously physics works entirely different in that universe, because there is nothing in Furious 7 that remotely resembled our Earth. The only thing that makes this work for me is all of the Furious movies flirt with impossible happenings. With Furious 7 it not only flirts, but takes it to bed and wakes up early next morning for breakfast with it. I’m not kidding: guns that fire with out power and with unlimited cartridges, cars that fly without wings and bad guys that should star in Terminator movies.

7 has the same old crew, Dominic and the boys (and girls), but there’s some nice additions, Kurt Russell and Jason Statham, good guy and bad guy respectively. Russell is the crusty old government agent that just won’t stop and Statham the Energizer Bunny of villains. He just keeps running. Somehow, and that’s never explained, he shows up wherever the team is and, no matter how much he gets stomped, he seems to keep fighting.

Furious 7 is classic old school film magic, like the six shooters that fired eighteen or the horse and rider that died several times in the same western, only 2015 style. Just remember when you walk into the lobby that Furious 7 is part of a “persistent world” where Dominic Toretto is king and his “family” manages to defy physical limitations. Accept that and you will really like this film. If you cannot, don’t even bother. I’ll give you that this one is great with popcorn and peanut M&Ms!

Rating: 3 out of 5 and this should be seen in the theater!

Hello again everyone! This is the Movie Maniac “shooting from the hip” along with Doug and Jeremy and tons of trailers. Whether it’s The Minions, Avengers: Age of Ultron or Star Wars: The Force Awakens there are some great trailers out there and we are stoked! Join us as we freewheel a pretty good episode about some great movies and maybe even a couple of TV shows. As always we want your input at: moviemadnesspodcast@gmail.com or call the voice mail # 260-573-0015 or post them to Twitter, Facebook or the Ultimate Movie Geeks community on Google+

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