I'd like to see the new Mad Max film, but I'm not sure if it'll live up to the originals.
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MrKnickerbocker
clap hands
I've never seen the originals, so I'm pretty excited to check this one out.
I saw the trailer twice before AoU and for what it is, it looks pretty good, but I don't like that genre at all. The whole "unspecificed time after unspecified apocalypse where everyone wears weird clothes, weird makeup and act like savages" thing throws me off completely... I much prefer apocalyptic stuff where they show you how and why it happened... which would be blockbuster disaster movies, or books.
Original Mad Max explains a lot of that.
Maturin
Sköldpadda
Watched Interstellar (2014).
Finally saw it, and loved it. A film about the watch and the bookshelf, of time and memory, and people talk about how it deals with science? Talk about missing the point. Much like The Dark Knight Rises, Interstellar is a sprawling film with a lot of untidy bits and pieces - including logical flaws and scenes and pieces of dialogue that are far from perfect - but as a whole it works despite its obvious imperfections. Relativistic time and its consequences has been done a lot in science fiction, but most often it is assumed that whenever humanity attempts interstellar travel we will have conquered aging. This film is much closer to home, and tells a very personal story of love between father and daughter. And in that, it succeeds.
Finally saw it, and loved it. A film about the watch and the bookshelf, of time and memory, and people talk about how it deals with science? Talk about missing the point. Much like The Dark Knight Rises, Interstellar is a sprawling film with a lot of untidy bits and pieces - including logical flaws and scenes and pieces of dialogue that are far from perfect - but as a whole it works despite its obvious imperfections. Relativistic time and its consequences has been done a lot in science fiction, but most often it is assumed that whenever humanity attempts interstellar travel we will have conquered aging. This film is much closer to home, and tells a very personal story of love between father and daughter. And in that, it succeeds.
MrKnickerbocker
clap hands
Mad Max: Fury Road...
...I don't get it. The action sequences are great, but the movie is devoid of character or actual drama. People are treating this film like it's a gift from the gods and I just. Don't. Get. It.
...I don't get it. The action sequences are great, but the movie is devoid of character or actual drama. People are treating this film like it's a gift from the gods and I just. Don't. Get. It.
I wasn't interested in the movie and didn't plan on seeing it, but the insane hyping and circlejerking over it is making me go see it and judge it for myself.
That all happens in the original. In a very near future, fuel runs out, the economy collapses as a result and the state desperately attempts to maintain order by increasing police brutality, which fails.
I just saw Mad Max: Fury Road.
Spoiler free: The greatest action movie of our time, and possibly the best made movie of the last 10 years. See this movie. See it now.
Spoiler free: The greatest action movie of our time, and possibly the best made movie of the last 10 years. See this movie. See it now.
Knick, I am so sorry you didn't get it. This is a movie that, save for its incredible sound effects, editing, and score, is devoid of the need to use sound to explain what is going on. Every single aspect of the story is explained visually. The words? They just make it a little more clear.
In this movie, Furiosa is an Imperiator, a driver of a War Rig that moves fuel around the holdings of Immortan Joe and his two brothers, the People Eater and the Bullet Farmer. These powerful machines are a status symbol in society - gasoline is how food and water travel in the areas ruled by Joe, and how they defend from the scavengers without. But Furiosa has betrayed Joe - and her War Rig is loaded with his five wives, genetically pure women that he is attempting to breed a non-mutated child upon.
Very early on in the movie we are shown Joe's two current living children. Neither are healthy - both require oxygen to survive in all situations. One is a tiny man, akin to a child born under the effects of thalidomide, while the other is physically fit but clearly unintelligent. Joe himself has flesh that is blistered and weak and he requires a Bane-like breathing apparatus to move around. In the very first scene, Joe is barely able to move on his own, but he rules because he controls access to water. Water is life. But it is clear this is not enough for Joe.
As we watch his most loyal servants gird Joe, they place a codpiece on him, bearing his symbol in the only prominent display on his costume; this is juxtaposed to the brutal chastity belts that his wives wear, designed to tear off any invading object. These two objects tell the story that Joe later confirms in dialogue: his true goal is not power as represented by fuel or by water or by food or ammo. He is not trying to wage war or conquer the wastes. His goal is to breed pure - something neither he nor his brothers have been able to accomplish.
Why is this so? Again, we are treated to a visual show that tells us why. Joe rules the Citadel, looking over the masses from literally on high. He distributes water from a massive font that he controls. His War Boys are slavish and insane and worship him as a god; they believe this life is their first, soon they will reach their half life and upon their death, be welcomed to Valhalla. Joe has created a cult of literal worshipers, who call him the Immortan - they believe he cannot die. But immortal gods do not spawn flawed humans. He is trying to create his legacy. Again, this is later confirmed in dialogue - his brothers questioning why Joe has thrown away thousands of gallons of gas, dozens of vehicles, even more in War Boys and ammo, for five women. But we don't really need to hear this to understand why.
Similarly, Furiosa's motives are equally justifiable. It is evident from the first introduction of the character that she hates what she does. While the others who serve Joe worship him (rather literally) and (also literally) salivate at the chance to die for him, her eyes show a certain determination and a toughness that is mirrored only by the look one sees in Max's eyes. The same determination - survival.
See, now I get to Max. Max's place in this movie is as a fellow traveler. The story wouldn't work without him - without Max's intervention, Furiosa would have been captured, and probably killed, and certainly never have overthrown and killed Joe. But he is the muscle and the advisor, while Furiosa is the leader. When their crew of escaped slave-wives and strange old women and a War Boy-turned-good need a leader, they look to Furiosa. Max might fight along side her and save her life and give her advice that she needs to hear, but he isn't the hero. Furiosa is the hero, because she made things happen. She is responding to Joe's tyranny over life itself - first by emasculating him by stealing away with his prizes, and then by challenging him for dominion - and finally by executing him using the war machine that he rides and the breathing apparatus he requires, each step required for her growth from desperate fugitive to conqueror. We watch the carnage through Max's eyes, who, as a captive of Joe's War Boys used for his pure blood, merely uses Furiosa to escape his bonds. While he eventually wants to help protect Furiosa and her escapees, this is not because of any feelings towards her, but out of desperation to make good his past failures.
Immortan Joe and his two brothers represent the worst of society - a society preoccupied with genetics, with sex, with conquering. There are no direct analogues here. This is not a tale told to give a specific warning, but to remind us two truths that we all know: one, that tyrants create always their own worst enemies, and two, that the bigger one is, the harder they fall. And when we watch Joe fall and how his body is literally torn apart by the masses he teased with a hint of water, we realize that he fooled nobody but himself in his quest for true immortality.
You can definitely see why this movie got the anti-feminists up in arms. Furiosa is a powerful action hero, motivated by emotions and need and strength. She is able to be angry, sad, hurt, wounded, and even to show great caring, while still being strong. She has more agency than any female action character since Sarah Connor, and proudly should be considered beside her, Ripley, and Officer Lewis as one of the finest female characters ever written in action/sci fi.
Also the action is fucking awesome. See this movie. See it now in theatres, as big a screen as you can.
In this movie, Furiosa is an Imperiator, a driver of a War Rig that moves fuel around the holdings of Immortan Joe and his two brothers, the People Eater and the Bullet Farmer. These powerful machines are a status symbol in society - gasoline is how food and water travel in the areas ruled by Joe, and how they defend from the scavengers without. But Furiosa has betrayed Joe - and her War Rig is loaded with his five wives, genetically pure women that he is attempting to breed a non-mutated child upon.
Very early on in the movie we are shown Joe's two current living children. Neither are healthy - both require oxygen to survive in all situations. One is a tiny man, akin to a child born under the effects of thalidomide, while the other is physically fit but clearly unintelligent. Joe himself has flesh that is blistered and weak and he requires a Bane-like breathing apparatus to move around. In the very first scene, Joe is barely able to move on his own, but he rules because he controls access to water. Water is life. But it is clear this is not enough for Joe.
As we watch his most loyal servants gird Joe, they place a codpiece on him, bearing his symbol in the only prominent display on his costume; this is juxtaposed to the brutal chastity belts that his wives wear, designed to tear off any invading object. These two objects tell the story that Joe later confirms in dialogue: his true goal is not power as represented by fuel or by water or by food or ammo. He is not trying to wage war or conquer the wastes. His goal is to breed pure - something neither he nor his brothers have been able to accomplish.
Why is this so? Again, we are treated to a visual show that tells us why. Joe rules the Citadel, looking over the masses from literally on high. He distributes water from a massive font that he controls. His War Boys are slavish and insane and worship him as a god; they believe this life is their first, soon they will reach their half life and upon their death, be welcomed to Valhalla. Joe has created a cult of literal worshipers, who call him the Immortan - they believe he cannot die. But immortal gods do not spawn flawed humans. He is trying to create his legacy. Again, this is later confirmed in dialogue - his brothers questioning why Joe has thrown away thousands of gallons of gas, dozens of vehicles, even more in War Boys and ammo, for five women. But we don't really need to hear this to understand why.
Similarly, Furiosa's motives are equally justifiable. It is evident from the first introduction of the character that she hates what she does. While the others who serve Joe worship him (rather literally) and (also literally) salivate at the chance to die for him, her eyes show a certain determination and a toughness that is mirrored only by the look one sees in Max's eyes. The same determination - survival.
See, now I get to Max. Max's place in this movie is as a fellow traveler. The story wouldn't work without him - without Max's intervention, Furiosa would have been captured, and probably killed, and certainly never have overthrown and killed Joe. But he is the muscle and the advisor, while Furiosa is the leader. When their crew of escaped slave-wives and strange old women and a War Boy-turned-good need a leader, they look to Furiosa. Max might fight along side her and save her life and give her advice that she needs to hear, but he isn't the hero. Furiosa is the hero, because she made things happen. She is responding to Joe's tyranny over life itself - first by emasculating him by stealing away with his prizes, and then by challenging him for dominion - and finally by executing him using the war machine that he rides and the breathing apparatus he requires, each step required for her growth from desperate fugitive to conqueror. We watch the carnage through Max's eyes, who, as a captive of Joe's War Boys used for his pure blood, merely uses Furiosa to escape his bonds. While he eventually wants to help protect Furiosa and her escapees, this is not because of any feelings towards her, but out of desperation to make good his past failures.
Immortan Joe and his two brothers represent the worst of society - a society preoccupied with genetics, with sex, with conquering. There are no direct analogues here. This is not a tale told to give a specific warning, but to remind us two truths that we all know: one, that tyrants create always their own worst enemies, and two, that the bigger one is, the harder they fall. And when we watch Joe fall and how his body is literally torn apart by the masses he teased with a hint of water, we realize that he fooled nobody but himself in his quest for true immortality.
You can definitely see why this movie got the anti-feminists up in arms. Furiosa is a powerful action hero, motivated by emotions and need and strength. She is able to be angry, sad, hurt, wounded, and even to show great caring, while still being strong. She has more agency than any female action character since Sarah Connor, and proudly should be considered beside her, Ripley, and Officer Lewis as one of the finest female characters ever written in action/sci fi.
Also the action is fucking awesome. See this movie. See it now in theatres, as big a screen as you can.
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MrKnickerbocker
clap hands
I didn't miss anything in your description, all of it was made very clear in the film. My problem is: I didn't care. I didn't care about a single person in the movie. Honestly, the most sympathetic character is Nux, the naive War Boy that slowly realizes the truth and still retains his bravery and honor.
You say that all of the story is told through visuals, yet, look at Furiosa's back story: apparently she comes from a wonderful land full of beautiful women and she was ripped away from her family and survived by becoming in Imperiator. We don't learn this through visuals, we learn this by one of the breeders continuously saying, "The Green Place! The Green Place!" We are never shown what Furiosa has lost, and the dialogue telling us what she has lost is ludicrously clunky and ham-fisted. Yet, when she learns what she has lost, we're expected to actually feel something for her and not find a laborious scream-and-sink-to-your-knees moment inappropriately funny? Sorry, but the visuals failed there.
The same can be said of Max's backstory. "Devoid of the need to use sound to explain what is going on" is the biggest miscalculation made by the filmmakers. I didn't see the other Mad Max movies. I understand that I should have watched them considering this is a sequel, but a 30 year gap between series installments means you need to work a little harder to make sure your audience is not confused. Now, I'm not an idiot, so I understand that Max had a daughter and she died and he's haunted by it. But the visuals are not enough to make me care for him. They are presented like movie trailer acid trips thrown at the audience in flashes and half-glimpses. One single scene, either a flashback or a single line of heartfelt dialogue that isn't grunting, could have gone a long way towards making the hero likable and sympathetic. As it is, I don't give a shit about Max.
So we've got a 2 hour action sequence with 2 lead characters who are almost impossible to root for, or even if I could care for them, impossible to be scared for. I'll admit, Furiosa's mission was noble and heroic, but it's the cargo, the innocent pregnant women, who make me feel for her mission. Her backstory is irrelevant because, like Max's story, we only catch glimpses of it. The world-building was great (although I would have liked to have seen more of it), the action was great, but action is all about stakes: if I have no personal stake in the lives of the protagonists, why is the action thrilling?
You say that all of the story is told through visuals, yet, look at Furiosa's back story: apparently she comes from a wonderful land full of beautiful women and she was ripped away from her family and survived by becoming in Imperiator. We don't learn this through visuals, we learn this by one of the breeders continuously saying, "The Green Place! The Green Place!" We are never shown what Furiosa has lost, and the dialogue telling us what she has lost is ludicrously clunky and ham-fisted. Yet, when she learns what she has lost, we're expected to actually feel something for her and not find a laborious scream-and-sink-to-your-knees moment inappropriately funny? Sorry, but the visuals failed there.
The same can be said of Max's backstory. "Devoid of the need to use sound to explain what is going on" is the biggest miscalculation made by the filmmakers. I didn't see the other Mad Max movies. I understand that I should have watched them considering this is a sequel, but a 30 year gap between series installments means you need to work a little harder to make sure your audience is not confused. Now, I'm not an idiot, so I understand that Max had a daughter and she died and he's haunted by it. But the visuals are not enough to make me care for him. They are presented like movie trailer acid trips thrown at the audience in flashes and half-glimpses. One single scene, either a flashback or a single line of heartfelt dialogue that isn't grunting, could have gone a long way towards making the hero likable and sympathetic. As it is, I don't give a shit about Max.
So we've got a 2 hour action sequence with 2 lead characters who are almost impossible to root for, or even if I could care for them, impossible to be scared for. I'll admit, Furiosa's mission was noble and heroic, but it's the cargo, the innocent pregnant women, who make me feel for her mission. Her backstory is irrelevant because, like Max's story, we only catch glimpses of it. The world-building was great (although I would have liked to have seen more of it), the action was great, but action is all about stakes: if I have no personal stake in the lives of the protagonists, why is the action thrilling?
You're the second person I've heard say this, LC. I wanted to see it anyway, but I'm looking forward to it a lot more now.
One slight downside: it looks like cinema tickets have gone up to £9.49, and that's without booking fees.
One slight downside: it looks like cinema tickets have gone up to £9.49, and that's without booking fees.
CriedWhenBrucieLeft
Meme Only Account
Just say the bad word, Brigs. Say it.One slight downside: it looks like cinema tickets have gone up to £9.49, and that's without booking fees.
'Shit'?
SixesAlltheway
Ancient Mariner
I watched Apocalypto the other day. Great, great movie. Who cares about historical accuracy when there's like 2 hours of non-stop action 
I remember liking it as a 35 year old. Oh dear.
SixesAlltheway
Ancient Mariner
It's straight up action. Not much else. But I mean, what's not to love about that? The final chase scene is like 40 min long...I think the movie is the best of Rambo:First Blood, The Indiana Jones Trilogy, Apocalypse Now and uhmm....Cannibal Holocaust.