Fury is a foul smelling, diesel guzzling, steel death trap. It’s also a new movie written and directed by David Ayer and starring Brad Pitt. The film is a rolling snapshot of the European theater in World War II and the men that fought there. What it is not is a war picture with a lofty purpose, like Saving Private Ryan, or one with a political motive, like The Hurt Locker. Fury is a gritty, gory story of five guys in a Sherman tank trying to survive the Great War. It’s simple.

Brad Pitt is Top Sergeant Don “War Daddy” Collier, a hard driving taskmaster who’s managed to keep his tank crew alive for years.  His crew: Boyd “Bible” Swan (Shia LaBeouf), Grady “Coon-Ass”Travis (Jon Bernthal) and Trini ‘Gordo’ Garcia (Michael Peña) are trapped with him in a WWII hell not of their own making. They are crawling through Germany in a tank that’s nearly helpless against the much more powerful German Tigers. They are crawling because Germany, at the order of Adolph Hitler, is fighting the allies for every foot of ground.  Enter Norman Ellison (Logan Lerman), a fumbling stenographer and typist, to fill out their tank crew. He is just as green as you might expect.

These characters are what makes Fury so special. There is very little character development, instead Ayer depends on archetypes. Look at nearly any WWII movie with Alan Ladd, John Wayne or Audie Murphy and you’ll see the same. My father was so good he could tell you in five minutes which character would be the hero, which the coward and which one would die. He was never wrong.

Yep, I could have told you what would happen with each member of the tank crew after I met them. Fury is so uncompromising in telling a good story that the background of the characters became secondary. This film is a journey from beginning to end, does it really matter what happened before? If you think so, demand a prequel!

Fury gave me the feeling I was an intimate…a member of the tank crew family, joining in as the group played, fought and even got drunk and obnoxious. That’s the importance of archetypal characters: it’s easy to match them to ones you’ve seen before and match them up.

This is not a movie about “guts and glory,” as some may suggest, but a movie about getting the hell back home in one piece. There is one exceptional moment when Don Collier sees a woman looking at the troops letting off steam in the town square. He takes the green tank driver, Norman, up to a pleasant apartment where they are greeted, not too pleasantly, by a woman and her cousin. Instead of what they expected, the Sargeant is just looking for a little hint of home. He finds it-an island of peace in an ocean of war.

The mistake is in making Fury more (or less) than it is. It’s a really good film, but it’s not about some grandiose scheme to win a war or destroy some foreign ideology. Fury is about squeezing as much out of life in a war and not getting dead. It’s also about killing so many Nazis that there are none left to kill you. George S. Patton once said, “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.” I never got a sense in the movie that anyone gloried in taking life. It was only expedient to kill the “other bastard.”

Ayer’s direction and Brad Pitt’s acting certainly headlined the piece, but everything in the film was top notch. Even the now familiar, “This is the best job I’ve ever had,” from the tank crew, fits. I would strongly suggest seeing Fury in the theater. The action and explosions are just too good to miss on the big screen.

Rating 4 Stars out of 5!

I enjoy the show New Girl , The chemistry of the lead characters is great, you actually believe these people like each other and would be friends in real life even if they weren’t paid to hang around each other. Well Damon Wayans Jr and Jake Johnson found a way to continue their bromance AND  get paid!

The premise is quite outlandish  but quite original haven’t seen a buddy cop movie before where the actors were impersonating cops and having a blast until they meet up with bad guys that want to end their fun.. permanently,

There is actually a twist here you don’t see coming! The 9 people in the theater all said Ahh ! when it happened.

The chemistry was great as usual and Nina Dobrev (Vampire Diaries) was beautiful but was the only character without one funny line.

Justin ( Wayans) exasperated comment when he was coerced into wearing the cop uniform to a party  I look like Danny Glover before he got too old for this shit!  made me giggle

Ryan (Johnson)  was 100 % over the top but smarter than he looked just like the detectives in 21 Jump Street , in which he had a small part.  My sister says he is better in small doses, and cant ever be quiet in  a role but he was great in  indie movie Safety Not Guaranteed

I saw it with my sister and a friend although we  shook our heads at some unrealistic situations we laughed at least once every 5 minutes and were genuinely surprised  once which happens once in a blue moon with a comedy. 22 Jump Street was my favorite comedy so far this year but this is a close second. I give it a  3 out of 5 and say its a rental and the whole family would enjoy it ( well not grandma , some bad language) !

Hey guys! We’re back and talking about a couple of movies that we had great fun discussing: The Expendables 3 and Let’s Be Cops. Sylvester Stallone has brought back The Expendables for another action-packed thrill ride and we’re going to talk about it. We just can’t get rid of the guy. We’re also going to expose the truth about the surprising Jake Johnson, Damon Wayans Jr. vehicle called Let’s Be Cops. Why is it surprising? We’re going to tell you, but you’re just going to have to tune in.

We also want you to contact us with your opinions and comments & movie reviews at: moviemadnesspodcast@gmail.com or call them in to 260-573-0015. You can also post them to our Twitter and Facebook accounts. Remember, if you don’t include your input we’re just going to assume we’re right.

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Every once in awhile a movie strikes a chord with us and no movie in the history of the Movie Madness Podcast has sparked more discussion before it came out than Guardians of The Galaxy! We were in two camps, Doug and Craig had predicted a critical bomb and only a mild box office success Jeremy was the lone champion never wavering in his full support of The Guardians both critically and financially!  So who was right? you’ll have to listen in to our Mini Review of Guardians of The Galaxy starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista and the voices of Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel to find out! But wait there’s more! Craig has a review of Get on Up the James Brown bio pic starring Chadwick Boseman, Nelsan Ellis and Dan Aykroyd. Craig thinks there’s Oscar potential in Get on Up so listen in and find out more about this gem that might get missed amongst the blockbusters. We would love to hear your movie reviews! You can email them moviemadnesspodcast@gmail.com, Phone them in 260-573-0015 or post them to Twitter or Facebook

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Have you ever gone into the theater expecting a movie to turn out one way only to be disappointed or if your lucky it turns out better than expected!  These are two of those movies! You’ll have to listen in to find out! Is it Lucy starring Scarlett Johannson and Morgan Freeman or Hercules Starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, John Hurt and Ian McShane. We’ve given our reviews let us know yours call our voice mail 260-573-0015 or email us moviemadnesspodcast@gmail.com or post on our Twitter or Facebook Page

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Sometimes it amazes me how many different kinds of movies we review here on the Movie Madness Podcast and every now and then we’ll see two movies that are so far apart in themes that we laugh at having them in the same mini review! This is one of those times! As we bring you reviews of the comedy Sex Tape starring Jason Segel and Cameron Diaz. Switching gears we dive into Disneys Planes: Fire & Rescue starring the voices of Dane Cook, Ed Harris and Julie Bowen. Both these movies should be hits right? Well I think you’ll be surprised at what the Movie Maniac Craig has to say! So Listen in and then send us your reviews. You can email us moviemadnesspodcast@gmail.com, call us 260-573-0015 or post them to Facebook or Twitter

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We have finally emerged from the darkness of our favorite theater and boy do we have some reviews for you! Pop in your ear-buds and join us as we review Maleficent starring Angelina Jolie, Sharlto Copley and Elle Fanning. We reset and review Edge of Tomorrow starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. Then its a trip down 22 Jump Street with Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill. After that Jeremy tries to transform Transformers: Edge of Extinction starring Mark Wahlberg into a good movie! But wait there’s more! Craig weighs in on Clint Eastwoods Jersey Boys and Tammy starring Melissa McCarthy. Finally we saved the best for last! How to Train Your Dragon 2 starring Jay Baruchel and Cate Blanchett could this be the best animated movie of the year? We’ve given our reviews let us know yours call us 260-573-0015 email us moviemadnesspodcast@gmail.com or post on our Twitter or Facebook Page

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What do you get when you cross two great casts with time travel? One great movie! How great you might ask? Well one of us believes that X-Men: Days of Future Past is the best Marvel movie ever made! There are so many great performances its hard to pick the best one. Who’s your favorite? Is it James McAvoy as Charles Xavier or Patrick Stewart as Professor X. Or maybe your a little on the dark side and prefer Michael Fassbender as Erik Lehnsher or Ian Mckellen as Magneto. Maybe your the loner type and prefer Hugh Jackman as Wolverine or Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique. No matter who you pick your getting a great performance! We want to know what you thought of X-Men: Days Of Future Past. You can email your reviews to moviemadnesspodcast@gmail.com or call them in 260-573-0015. You can also post them on Twitter or Facebook

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The big guy is back! And this time he’s not chasing Ferris Bueller around New York! He’s doing what Godzilla should do which is bring some serious pain and destruction to his fellow monsters! Listen in and find out what Jeremy, Craig and Doug think of this modern day version of Godzilla and the performances of Bryan Cranston, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen. How does it stack up against the classic Godzilla? Listen in and then let us know what your review of Godzilla is. You can phone them in 260-573-0015 or email them to us at moviemadnesspodcast@gmail.com You can also post them to Twitter or Facebook.

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We do love our comic book movies here at the Movie Madness Podcast and Spider-Man is one of our all time favorites! There has been great debate amongst Jeremy, Craig and Doug about how good The Amazing Spider-Man 2 will be. Well the wait is finally over and the guys sit down to give you their spoiler free review of The Amazing Spider-man 2! starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Jamie Foxx. Which one of the guys review is closest to yours? We want your Amazing Spider- Man 2 movie reviews! Phone them in 260-573-0015 or you can email them to moviemadnesspodcast@gmail.com. You can even post them on our Twitter or Face Book Page.

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