I was able to see Mad Max Fury Road today.  I must confess that having seen it, I am not sure how to classify it.  It does not fit neatly into the various pigeon holes that Hollywood has created to classify films.  Was it a reboot, a sequel, an entry in the mythos of Mad Max separate unto itself?  I really don't know.  As with all things George Miller, he doesn't play or care about the rules of others.

I have to confess that I was not sure what to expect.  There have been some good films in this lineage of film, and there have been some rather odious ones, if you don't know what I mean look up Tina Turner in chain mail and you will get it.  I was prepared for it to be bad.  Largely because anytime Hollywood resurrects a film series I enjoyed a lot from years gone by, the end result was a total steaming turd more often than not.  Starsky and Hutch, 21 Jump Street, Swat and I could go on and on...

I was pleasantly surprised.  The film managed to capture the essence of the earlier films, escapist entertainment filled to overflowing with non-stop edge of your seat action.  This one delivered on that point and then some.  The explosions per minute and car crashes per scene were off the chart.  The action was flawlessly done, and the special effects budget was not spared.  The bad guys were bad, insidious and foul.  And the protagonists were morally complicated.  It ticket off the dystopian film boxes neatly in that regard.

On the point of the post apocalyptic films, this one caught the gritty hanging onto life and sanity by a hair's breadth.  When I say gritty, I really mean that.  The actors all are caked in a solid layer of dirt throughout the film.  This wasn't some after the end of the world film where everyone is wearing dashing white costumes that look freshly pressed and neatly laundered.  For once on this point I was happy that they got this point correct.

Going back to madness...  Some movies hint at madness.  Some bring it into view but never go there.  Some play at the edge of the gaping maw.  This one charged the mouth of madness and takes the viewer on a roller coaster ride through the heart of lunacy before chewing its way back out into the world of semi-sanity.  This film captured the Mad part of Mad Max and took it out for a ride.

All of that is not meant to say that this film does not suffer from some rather huge plot flaws.  This film certainly has them.  It has them in droves, some so big you could literally drive a semi-truck through them, sarcasm intended.  Rather than detail them, let me just say it has them, and when you see the film you will get what I am talking about.  There are a few other items that serve as pointless distractions in the film, but they were easily ignored.

Let me say that this film is worth a view.  I would rate is as a solid B grade on the typical A through F grading scale.  
 

During last year's playoffs for the National Football League, an incident took place that has been labelled Deflate-Gate.  It was alleged and later proven that a large percentage of the footballs being used by the Patriots were not properly inflated.  The NFL commissioned a report to attempt to get to the bottom of the matter.  They hired Ted Wells to lead the investigation, and produce a report.  The investigation appears to be concluded and the report was released today.

The report came to the following conclusions:
-  The balls used by the New England Patriots were intentionally under-inflated.
-  There was a sophisticated scheme of deception employed by Patriots employees.
-  Staff members of the Patriots admitted they carried out the act.
-  The guilty staff members said they did so at the direction of the starting quarterback, Tom Brady.
-  The employees of the Patriots involved turned over their phone records, emails, and text messages on this point, and fully participated in the investigation interviews.
-  Tom Brady refused to turn over any phone records, emails, or text messages.  And Mr Brady gave an interview that was directly contradicted by the Patriots employees in question.
-  The report concluded that Tom Brady did not fully comply with the process.
-  The report concluded that Mr. Brady more likely as not did as he was alleged to have done.

This may seem like a trivial matter.  Let me be clear, it is not trivial at all.  The Patriots as an organization CHEATED and broke the rules of the game.  An under-inflated football is easier to catch, easier to handle, less likely to fumble.  In a game of inches like professional football, any advantage in a game of similarly skilled pros can be massive, and make the difference between a win and a loss.  

The NFL has clear and unambiguous rules on the nature of the footballs, and how they are to be inflated.  There is process whereby all of the rules are validated as it relates to the status of the individual footballs prior to the game start.  The NFL rules were broken in the case, and according to the report, the rules were broken at the direction of Tom Brady, starting quarterback, public face of the Patriots franchise.

Now let me be clear, this was not a criminal proceeding.  Mr Wells was not required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.  He was required to prove preponderance of the evidence.  Having read through what is available, he did just that.  And given the lack of willingness of Mr Brady to fully participate in the process, it is clear what took place.

Before my legal background friends interject let clarify one point.  Mr Brady is required to fully participate in any investigation brought forward by the NFL as a condition of employment.  He does not have the same rights he would have in a criminal proceeding.  He does not have the right to remain silent.  It is understood that compliance is required.  It was why Mr Goodell did not bother with giving Mr Wells subpoena power.  It was clear all players will comply fully. 

There is no way to sugar coat this.  Rules were broken.  The extent to which this cheating may never be fully known.  The validity of this year's Super Bowl championship is tainted.  Did the Patriots deserve to be in the Super Bowl?  We will never know the answer to that question.

The real question is what to do now.  Do you punish the entire organization for the actions of a handful of people in the Patriots organization.  In team sports that is exactly what happens.  One player commits a penalty, the whole team suffers.  It is painful, and costly, but that is the nature of professional football.

I feel that the commissioner has no choice but to void the Patriots championship last year and award it to the Seattle Seahawks.  Further I think it is clear that the Patriots staff members that broke the rules should be fired and barred from participating with the NFL in any way ever again.  Tom Brady should be suspended from the league for no less than an entire season, and be forced to forfeit all pay and benefits for this season.  Any bonuses Mr Brady was paid for last season's 'performance' should be repaid.  He should further be barred from consideration for the NFL Hall of Fame ever.  

I further believe the Patriots franchise should be stripped of all of next year's draft picks and be forced to be a serious fine.  All wins from last year should be voided.  Let's remember this is not the first offense for this organization.  They were found to be cheating in a Super Bowl in the past.  

I don't say any of that lightly.  I am not being flippant here.  And I am not being a Patriots hater.  I am a fan of the game.  I take seriously the rules under which the game is supposed to be played.  I take seriously the notion that the game is supposed to be fair to all teams, and all opportunities in any football contest should be available to both teams.  Anything else is not fair to both teams.  Unfair contests lead to unfair results which erodes the faith of the fans in the outcome of games.

The substance 'stick em' was banned because it violated the integrity of the game.  It gave players that used it an advantage over players that didn't.  The use was banned to protect the integrity of the game.  The same is true here.  Both teams did not play the game with under-inflated balls, which calls into question the overall outcome of at least one game and given Mr. Brady's lack of honesty and compliance with the investigation we do not know how many games were played with under-inflated balls.

The integrity of the game of football was violated.  Last season was a mockery of the game.  In order to restore the faith of the fans in the game, this should not be taken lightly!

We went to see Avengers today in the afternoon.  I was concerned that after how excellent the first movie was that this film might suffer from the 'sophomore curse' as it were.  It happens sometimes after the first one the second one might have been a total let down, and a complete steaming turd.  

My fears we for naught.  This movie was significantly better than the first.  Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the first movie.  This movie was successful on all fronts.  The writing was solid.  The acting was top notch.  The special effects were off the hook awesome.  One could tell that it was tightly directed, and cleanly edited.

It was clearly an action / adventure movie of the highest order.  In that vein it did not fall prey to the many tired tropes out there in this genre of film save one, but it did not distract from the broader story which was good.

The only part of the film that fell short for me was the hulk / black widow romance element.  It seemed to come out of left field without any real groundwork having been put down.  By that I mean there was not a hint of anything between the two of them in the first film, and this film seems to start with something there between them.  This was the only element that I did not enjoy in the film.

We saw it in 3D and I felt comfortable having paid full price for it.  This is usually my gauge for how good the movie was.