Oops, hey, look over your shoulder. Who is that masked man on the corner? Is he a hero…OH MY GOD, NO! It’s a deeply disturbed, homicidal psychotic with daddy issues.

Yes, here it is! The quintessential examination of the Top 5 Villains of all comic based movies. And these are not your typical little Sandman type bad guys, we went to the deep well. Doug, Jeremy and I chose the most despicable raging lunatics, madmen and maniacs (not including yours truly of course) to round out our individual favorites.

We “request” your presence at this most heinous episode of the Movie Madness Podcast. Should you decline I would suggest keeping an eye out for blue girls, white faced guys and maybe an older gent with a weird helmet waving his hand at your car.

Remember, should you disagree (I wouldn’t recommend it for this episode) you can always let us know 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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In this episode we turn to the dark side of the force! And yes we speak of “He who must not be named”! Will one Villain rule them all? You’ll have to listen in to find out. Visit our facebook page and leave us a comment and your villains list!

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This is by far the best in the series and this is why:

• Mission Impossible: make a movie with great action, terrific characters and an awesome plot and story…MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
• Mission Improbable: add some great practical effects mixed in with CGI and come up with believable action sequences…MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
• Mission Implausible: manage to keep the audience engaged and in their seats for the entire film without the usual “Aw C’mon,” gasp…MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation is easily “best of breed” and also my favorite of the franchise. Not once was I thrown out of the film by some cheesy special effect or lame piece of dialogue.

The IMF gang is in disarray. Alen Hunley (Alec Baldwin), head of the CIA, is coming after the team with the intention of taking it apart under the auspices of Langley. Unfortunately there’s a terrorist organization (think Specter or Chaos) intent on taking over the world and destroying IMF first. Enter Ethan, Benji and Luther and expect tons of action! With great direction and cinematography and a terrific sense of humor, Rogue Nation is a hit.

Unfortunately not all is perfect. The bad guy, Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), suffers in comparison to any of the Movie Madness Top Male Villains. Alan Rickman or Jack Nicholson, either one, could kick his butt and, the movie is a bit predictable. Particularly having seen even one of the trailers, it’s easy to see where it’s going. Agree or not I think you’ll like this one.

4.5 out of 5 stars and you just have to see this one in the theater!

As always let us know what you think 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+

Devoid of laughter, ripe with female stereotypes and with no relationship between the characters, Hot Pursuit is a black hole of comedy. All of the life seems to be sucked out of it. Reese Witherspoon and Sophia Vergara, in a buddy movie, seems a natural. Unfortunately there’s not a hint of a connection between them.  The characters are extremely exaggerated (not in a good way) and the dialogue is some of the worst I’ve heard.

I’m blaming this almost entirely on a poor choice of directors. There are plenty of great buddy movie directors and any of them would have been a better choice than Anne Fletcher. The director of such great action films as 27 Dresses and The Proposal (tongue stuck firmly in cheek), does not belong at the helm. The film plays more like Mean Girls than The Odd Couple. I was definitely looking forward to a female version of the latter.

Wiitherspoon plays Cooper, an unlikeable female Barney Fife-like character (hard to imagine) and Vergara is Daniella Riva, a drug lord’s shrewish wife. Vergara’s husband is testifying against his boss and Cooper is charged with getting he and his wife to court. The plot was good and could have been fun, but the characters are so incredibly annoying Hot Pursuit falls flat.

This film just doesn’t work. The writing is stilted, at best. The direction doesn’t make any sense. Why would you not want the audience to root for the Cooper and Riva? Both seemed clueless and uninteresting and I could have cared less. Even the villains were bland and generic. I would miss this movie like avoiding a zombie locked in an outhouse. Why bother. It’s just not worth the trouble.

Rating: .5 out of five stars

16.  Oklahoma! (1955)

Yep I’m an old softy but I tend to think that good musicals are the ones we really love.  How can you not love Oklahoma!? It’s just darn good fun! With such great songs as “I’m just a girl who can’t say no” or “Surrey with the Fringe on the Top” and the title song “Oklahoma” this one definitely belongs on the list of the best ever. The score is great, the plot simple and fun and the characters are as memorable as any in film, musical or not.

Add a few great names (and singers) like Shirley Jones as Laurey, Gordon MacRae as Curly, fantastic character actors like James Whitmore as Mr. Carnes, Eddie Albert as Ali Hakim and one of the great villains of all, Rod Steiger, as Jud Fry and you have one of the most re-watchable films, ever!

17. The Little Mermaid (1989)

Well, maybe sometimes it is all about the music, but not with The Little Mermaid. The Little Mermaid brings to the screen one of the great fairy tales, made with love and attention to detail that’s almost impossible to believe. The characters are characteristically wonderful, particularly Ariel (Jodi Benson), Sebastion (Samuel E. Wright) and Ursula (Pat Carroll). Each of them brings emotion to their characters that rivals anything Disney has ever done.

Then there’s the music. The Little Mermaid has two of my top five songs from animated film: “Under the Sea” and “Kiss the Girl.” Both of them were rightly nominated for Oscars and both were sung brilliantly by Wright. Pardon the alliteration.  More importantly the story, the plot and yes the voice acting were all off the charts, phenomenal. I loved Beauty and the Beast but I found myself having more fun and getting more involved, with Ariel. Oh, and Pat Carroll was brilliant as the evil Ursula, one of Disney’s best villains.

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!

With the recent release and box office success of Iron Man 3 we decided it would be fun to take a look back at all three Iron Man movies! From casting choices to villains we discuss all things Iron Man. We also raise the question should this be the last stand alone Iron Man movie with Robert Downey Jr. Listen in and find out! Then let us know your thoughts on All things Iron Man! Email us moviemadnesspodcast@gmail.com or call the voice mail number 260-573-0015

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After re-watching all the Stanley Kubrick movies, the thought came to me, why not make your next post on Movie Madness Podcast about his films, so here it is. Stanley Kubrick for me, made his films always with a sparkle of mad story telling, with a twist of classical music thrown in, its like he is making these films for him and no one else. For me he was a Visionary he wanted us to not just watch but also listen to and feel his movies. With what could be a controversial move I’m starting from 1960, for I feel that is the start of the genius. 1960 was the release of Spartacus. This very famously starred Kirk Douglas in one of his most famous roles. This movie was a huge commercial success earning six Academy Award nominations and winning four, this told the world that Kubrick was a great Director in the making. Next was Lolita in 1962, this film for me is hard to watch, it stars the great James Mason who plays a character who has a crush on a young teenage girl, and  follows their journey through their lives. Its great for James Mason’s acting but I could not warm to it. Next up was the brilliant Dr Strangelove, in 1964. This film was a black comedy set after World War II, and the start of the cold war. Its a brilliant watch with Peter Sellers playing three very different roles. For me this starts off the path of Kubrick doing movies that stay with you because, you are always thinking about them, even days after watching them. 1968 is here and so is 2001: A Space Odyssey.   This for me is one off the greatest science fiction movies of all time. It shows us the story of Mans rise to power and where it could lead in the future. Its worth seeing alone for the brilliant use of music and early special effects, and not forgetting Hal, who in my view is, one of the greatest “Movie Villains” of all time. 1971 and A Clockwork Orange is brought into the world by Kubrick. This is one great movie but, it is, a very violent movie. The film could be described as an exploration of violence and experimental rehabilitation by the law, and what sort of measures they could go to to stop this violence. I was glued to this film there is so much going on, it shows how far Kubrick would go to make his film stand out and get noticed. I’m keeping this short and sweet. I shall return with final part of this great Directors work.

We love all kinds of movies here at the Movie Madness Podcast but we’re all geeks at heart and love fantasy movies! We’ve already counted down our Top 10 Male Fantasy Villains and in this episode we offer up for your listening enjoyment The Top 5 Fantasy Heroes. There we’re so many to choose we had to miss some of your favorites? So let us know what we missed! Email us moviemadnesspodcast@gmail.com or call us and have your list played on the show 260-573-0015. You can also post on the Facebook page!

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