This week’s pick is the final chapter of the Mad Max Trilogy, or at least it is until George Miller gets Fury Road out of the film can and into theaters after almost thirty years since the franchise dried up. Mel Gibson stars for the last time as the post apocalyptic do-gooder in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985).

Thunderdome is my least favorite of the films for several reasons, mostly because of how soft Max has gotten in his old age. The film opens where it’s obvious that it has been several years (namely by Mel’s long 80s metal do) since Max helped the outpost settlers of the wasteland battle the Humungus and his barbarians.

As Max is trucking across the desert, he is knocked clear off his camel driven monster truck by a plane piloted by Jedediah (played by Bruce Spence from The Road Warrior). Jedediah steals Max’s rig and leaves him marooned in the desert with nothing. Following the tracks, Max arrives at what is known as Bartertown, a desert outpost where survivors of the nuclear holocaust come to trade precious materials.

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This week’s pick is The Road Warrior (a.k.a. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior) (1981). Mel Gibson dons his black leather uniform once again in this second installment of the franchise.

The Road Warrior begins with a narration sequence with an elderly man’s voice as it is shown to the audience the widespread pandemonium, which has steered the world towards nuclear Armageddon. Mad Max I shows the audience the beginning of the end. The Road Warrior picks up after the world has been destroyed and society hangs by a narrow thread.

Max roams the wasteland of Australia with his battle-torn black V-8 interceptor and his cattle dog foraging for supplies mainly food, and fuel for his gas-guzzling supercharger. Much like the first film, the first several minutes of the film offer an amazing chase sequence where Max is being pursued by a band of marauding punks led by the vicious Wez (Vernon Wells) who plan to kill Max and take his vehicle and what precious supplies he has left.

Max foils their attempt and wreaks two vehicles in an amazing crash sequence. Max commanders what fuel he can from one of the wreaked cars and fends off an attack by Wez who was shot in the arm with an arrow.  Collecting what he can Max sets off again with his dog and his even more damaged vehicle.

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This week’s Monday Pick is the 1979 action thriller Mad Max, a film that lunched one of the most lucrative franchises in film history. The Mad Max trilogy has spawned many imitations over the last thirty plus years, but they fail to add up to George Miller’s fantastic vision of the ultimate dystopian future.

Mel Gibson (who was virtually unknown at the time) stars as police pursuit man Max Rockatansky. He patrols the highways of the not too distant future Australia that is on the verge of complete anarchy and lawlessness. In the first installment of the series, Miller shows the audience that in this future, resources like food, water, and gasoline are becoming scarce and society is beginning to break down. The Main Force Patrol (MFP) is the uniformed highway safety enforcement whose main purpose is to stop marauding gangs who pose a threat to the society they are desperately trying to preserve.

The first ten minutes of Mad Max are filled with some of the most impressive and dangerous stunts ever performed in any film before or since. The MFP is in pursuit of an escaped convict who calls himself the Night Rider. Along with his girlfriend, the two take off in one of the force’s fastest V-8 pursuit vehicles and are successful in evading several pursuit units.

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On the surface, The Beaver is the story of Walter Black’s struggle with depression and the unorthodox means with which he copes, and, finally, his desperate attempt to return to a normal life. On a deeper level, it presents a much darker problem: What if one morning you woke up to find you had lost all interest in your family?

No reason, no explanation, just disinterest and dissatisfaction with the very things you thought were supposed to make you happy. This is Walter Black, played by Mel Gibson in perhaps the best performance of his career. Walter is CEO of a successful toy company, is married to a beautiful, smart woman successful in her own right (and played by director Jodie Foster), and has two children.

However, Walter’s life is far from perfect: His son Porter (Anton Yelchin) hates him and keeps an ongoing list of post-it notes detailing each quirk of his father that he himself exhibits and needs to rectify. Hhis youngest son Henry feels so ignored that he retreats into anonymity, so much so that when his own mother picks him up from school, she needs to make several passes to find him. His wife Meredith herself struggles to keep her family together before throwing up her hands and throwing Walter out.

But serious as these family problems are (and they aren’t particularly serious—what teenage boy doesn’t resent his father? What child doesn’t feel neglected? What mother doesn’t feel she’s the family adhesive?) they’re not the cause of Walter’s depression, or at least he seems so oblivious to them that it seems unlikely.

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Todd Philips’ Hangover 2 had better be the funniest movie in decades. In the midst of all the drama on the set between Galifiniakis, Gibson, and now Liam Neeson, this film is coming across as more dramatic than comedic.

About a month ago, it was announced that after putting his foot down, the film’s star Zach Galifiniakis won the battle to have Mel Gibson written out of the film. He was initially supposed to have a cameo in the film, much like the controversial Mike Tyson did in the first film. Zach wanted none of that, so Gibson had to go.

Later, he was replaced by the ubiquitous Liam Neeson, who filled Gibson’s shoes with his particular set of skills. Things seemed to quiet down, but now it looks like Giamatti is joining in all the fun with a cameo, according to Deadline.

It’s very difficult for this film to remain a secret, given it’s public shooting locations in Thailand. Some very spoiler-happy images have already gone up online, which may just ruin the film for you, so don’t click if you can’t handle it.

Hangover 2 is set to hit theaters May 26th, 2011.

Welcome to this week’s On the Radar where we delve into all corners of the entertainment, tech and geek Internets for news, views and whatnot that may have escaped our regular coverage this week. Let is know if we missed something interesting. Otherwise, on to the links!

• The Fantastic Four reboot is still happening, and now with a completely CG Thing.

• We can’t wait for Stone’s Social Network, but these parody posters are pretty damned entertaining as well.

• Because we love lists, Adult Swim brings us a list of the Most Invasive Surgeries on the network. Mind you, this is before Children’s Hospital aired.

• Leonardo DiCaprio has passed on Mel Gibson’s viking picture. We can only imagine what that phone call sounded like.

• Want do get women like Don Draper? The Mad Men School of Seduction can help.

• The second half of Caprica‘s first season gets a trailer, and it looks pretty cool.

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Welcome to this week’s On the Radar where we delve into all corners of the entertainment, tech and geek Internets for news, views and whatnot that may have escaped our regular coverage this week. Let is know if we missed something interesting. Otherwise, on to the links!

• Mel Gibson is, apparently, still a racist. Who knew? Oh yeah, we did.

• You will not see any more Sex and the City movies. Yes, try to console yourself.

• Do you like Toy Story? How about porn? If so, this is for you.

• The Twilight Saga: Eclipse opens bigger than The Dark Knight. Suck it nerds.

• In other movie news, people really hate The Last Airbender.

• Here’s a preview of that show where people act stupid and have stupid nicknames. Which one? Take you’re pick.

• Apparently, men are attracted to women with small feet. Really, it’s science and stuff.

• Apple is apparently reworking the Apple TV yet again. When do we abandon this device and move on?

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When this Mel Gibson starrer came to theaters, I didn’t get a chance to see it so my first exposure to it was on Blu-ray. I won’t go into a full review of the film here (I’ll leave that to our own Shannon Hood) but suffice it to say I liked director Martin Campbell’s mix of cop procedural, revenge tale and conspiracy thriller. Gibson plays Boston Detective Thomas Craven who’s daughter is brutally murdered right in front of his eyes after a rather brief homecoming.

This horrific act spurs Gibson’s character on a path of revenge and a quest for justice that takes him in many different directions as he crosses paths with all manner of characters. Of course, things are not as they seem and the crime is not s simple assassination gone wrong, nor was Craven the target as everyone, except him, suspect.

During the course of his investigation Craven discovers a wider conspiracy that leads to the power corridors of the highest levels of government. Into this mix comes Ray Winstone’s Jedburg, a shadow operative who ‘s motivations and loyalties are unclear.

Is he a friend or foe and who does he work for? These questions arise as the film progresses and as Craven and Jedburg have several scenes together. Even though the other actors in the film, including Danny Huston, Shawn Roberts and Bojana Novakovic, are quite good, Gibson and Winstone elevate their scenes together and make this movie, at times, a real pleasure to watch.

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Avatar only dropped 14% from last weekend, and is still putting up huge numbers after seven weeks in release.  Once again, it maintained the top spot at the box office with $30 Million. Only six million to go before it breaks $600 Million domestically. At this rate it will hit that number this week for sure.

Mel Gibson’s revenge thriller Edge of Darkness managed a lukewarm $17 Million on just over 3,000 screens, which was a little lower than expectations. Kristen Bell’s romantic comedy When in Rome placed third, with $12 Million. The Tooth Fairy only dropped 29% for fourth place with an additional $10 Million.

The Book of Eli came in at number 5 with $8.7 Million.  It has almost earned  back its $80 Million budget. Outside of the top five, things were not so rosy. In its second week in release, Harrison Ford’s Extraordinary Measures tumbled completely out of the top ten into 13th place for the weekend.

That’s gotta be painful for Ford, and for the fledgling CBS films. Legion also dove about 60%, but a low budget probably ensures that it will still be profitable.

Mel Gibson returns to the big screen after a personal and professional hiatus of over seven years. His last starring role was in 2002′s We Were Soldiers. Many are hailing Edge Of Darkness as Gibson’s “comeback.”  So is it?  Meh. He is fine as a grief stricken Boston Detective, but he won’t be winning an award any time soon. There are a dozen actors that could have navigated this role equally well. That’s not knocking Gibson, but it’s a pretty  generic role.

Edge of Darkness veers into spoiler territory early, and often, and I don’t like to spoil movies, so here is a spoiler-free synopsis. Gibson plays Craven,  a single dad who goes to pick up his grown daughter from the train station. It is obvious he loves her very much. She seems slightly distant. Sensing something is wrong, he implores her to tell him what it is.  Shortly after they get home, she becomes seriously ill. Craven takes her to the hospital, but as soon as they reach the front door, his daughter is violently gunned down in front of him.

The rest of the movie concerns Craven trying to uncover the mystery behind his daughter’s death. It involves government conspiracies, shady political types, evil corporations, and unconscionable greed. Because Craven has no family left, his vengeance is of the reckless variety, which too often translates into over the top.

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Lately, there seems to be plenty of news in Hollywood surrounding two men: Mel Gibson or Leonardo DiCaprio. And in one case, both of them. But, this post is about Gibson and his newest acting role which will probably take him right up to the time before he gets started on his Viking project with DiCaprio.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation will star Mel as a career criminal who finally gets caught in Mexico. There, he’s sent to a prison and learns to survive with the help of a 9 year old boy. The movie is based off of a script that Gibson wrote and will be directed by Adrian Grunberg, the 1st Assistant Director of his most recent film Apocalypto.

The movie kind of sounds like Empire of the Sun meets The Shawshank Redemption, although I’m sure it’ll be far more gritty and violent than either of those movies combined. I wasn’t ever really that down on Mel Gibson after his arrest and breakdown (not that I condone his actions or things he’s said) but I’ve always enjoyed him as an entertainer and artist. So, it’s nice to see that he’s making a comeback.

Filming is set to start in March, in San Diego and Veracruz, and will be financed by Gibson’s own ICON Productions with Apocalypto‘s 2nd AD, Stacy Perskie, producing the film.

According to Variety, the movie likely to be Mel Gibson’s next directorial effort will be a viking story, written by William Monahan (The Departed, Kingdom of Heaven), and starring once and future heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio. It’s really early in the process to be saying this – as Gibson is finishing up The Beaver with Jodie Foster, and DiCaprio just finished principal photography on Christopher Nolan’s Inception – but I got pretty excited when I read the headline to the story.

Of course, I initially had hoped that maybe Gibson was going to star in the movie as well, but he’s done well enough with the period movies where he was just behind the camera (Apocalypto). Monahan, has been on a steady role since breaking in, with KoH being his first credited feature writing gig. He also scripted the soon to be released Martin Campbell, Mel Gibson starring movie Edge of Darkness.

DiCaprio’s ventures into periods, beyond the 30′s or 40′s, has been the 17th century Man in the Iron Mask, and the 19th century Gangs of New York. So, it’ll be interesting to see him stepping back further to meet the time frames of Gibson’s previous movies (13th century in Braveheart, 16th in Apocalypto, and the first century in The Passion of The Christ).