Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller)

[Ezee E]

These are among the top 5 most annoying people on the planet.

It's like their constantly trying to prove to other people, while also making a silly, overly dramatic gesture and show of their fandom, that they are the most super of fans, that even a subtitle might spoil their precious fandom.

Just leave the theater and come back. It's easier to tune off some chatter rather than some random humming.

[Thirdmango]

These are among the top 5 most annoying people on the planet.

It's like their constantly trying to prove to other people, while also making a silly, overly dramatic gesture and show of their fandom, that they are the most super of fans, that even a subtitle might spoil their precious fandom.

I don't plug my ears and hum in theaters, but I'm often able to see movies without seeing previews. I didn't see any avengers previews nor this one. But I have seen them for like Jurassic World and Ant Man. I'm just often good at keeping myself off the types of places on the internet that would spoil me to geeky things. I would disagree whole heartedly that this is me trying to prove to other people that I love my fandom as most of my friends are quite surprised when they find out I was blind after the fact, and I would imagine most people who do go in blind aren't trying to show off to other people how cool they are but in fact just wanting to enjoy something without knowing basic characteristics of the movie before hand.

[Dukefrukem]

Ever since Lazlo said the other day he doesn't watch trailers, I started to try it. It's difficult. But I close my eyes in theaters. Did that this weekend.

Fuck anyone who hates me for doing it.

[Ezee E]

Ever since Lazlo said the other day he doesn't watch trailers, I started to try it. It's difficult. But I close my eyes in theaters. Did that this weekend.

Fuck anyone who hates me for doing it.

But you're not humming.

[Ivan Drago]

I felt like it was so fast-paced in the beginning, that there were a couple things I missed (why was Nux spraying his lips with chrome, and what was his tribe sick with?), but those are minor gripes I had with what's otherwise the most exciting, visceral, and layered action movie of the last decade. I was awestruck and on the edge of my seat throughout every action scene, and while I was shocked at what Miller and co. got away with, I applaud them for it, as well as for the narrative subtext and Max's subtle progression along with it. I'm loving this universe more and more with every Mad Max movie; here's hoping word-of-mouth helps it at the box office so Miller can make the next one. I'm just rambling at this point, and that's not doing this movie any justice. Whoever hasn't seen it yet should just go watch it, because it's a unique blockbuster that must be seen to be believed. Without question, my favorite movie of the year so far.


And with a memorable movie, comes a memorable theater experience; ten minutes before the previews started, Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban sat three seats down from me. I didn't try to talk to them afterwards out of respect, but her perfume made the entire theater smell fantastic.

[Dukefrukem]

I felt like it was so fast-paced in the beginning, that there were a couple things I missed (why was Nux spraying his lips with chrome,

I took it as a quick way for them to get high to pull off whatever act they were going for; plus they kept mentioning the "shiny" gates of babylon or something on those lines. Figured it was meant to be an act of honor. Esp when Immortan Joe sprays it in his mouth.

[Pop Trash]

"You shall ride eternal. Shiny, and chrome" - Immortan Joe

[Pop Trash]

And with a memorable movie, comes a memorable theater experience; ten minutes before the previews started, Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban sat three seats down from me. I didn't try to talk to them afterwards out of respect, but her perfume made the entire theater smell fantastic.

Are you in Nashville?

[Mal]

This movie gave me tingles up and down my body.

[Pop Trash]

It's depressing this made about $25M less than Pitch Perfect 2 this weekend and only about $5M more than Avengers 2 in its 3rd week!

[Ivan Drago]

Are you in Nashville?

I certainly am. Are you?

[transmogrifier]

1. I don't think anyone's opinion is 100% their own. I have a friend who refuses to see any promotional marketing for any film from trailers/images/reviews, etc. He closes his ears and eyes and starts humming when trailers are being shown in theaters. He likes going in blind but even that is an influence in itself and will eventually cloud his judgement. ? .

Some people take watching movies far, far too seriously.

[Pop Trash]

I certainly am. Are you?

Nope. I remembered you weren't on the coasts, and that seemed like the only other logical place for Kidman/Urban to be (in America at least).

[Dukefrukem]

Some people take watching movies far, far too seriously.

Who might those people be?

[Gittes]

These are among the top 5 most annoying people on the planet.

It's like their constantly trying to prove to other people, while also making a silly, overly dramatic gesture and show of their fandom, that they are the most super of fans, that even a subtitle might spoil their precious fandom.

I agree that this particular method isn't the best, but if people prefer to limit their involvement in a culture of anticipation, that's OK. I also wouldn't look down on those who derive enjoyment from the promotional content that accompanies movie releases. I've been there, and it was fun, but my opinion changed. I wouldn't close my ears and eyes and hum, but I recently exited a theatre during a trailer that I didn't want to see. Paul Thomas Anderson made the following comments during the press tour for TWBB, and this stuck with me:

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: With all this talk about the radical distribution model for the new Radiohead album, Paul, I wondered if what they did might have inspired you to think that maybe you should just put your new movie up on the web and let people pay whatever they want for it... I'm joking. I think.

ANDERSON: God, I mean, it's every person's dream, I suppose, to have ownership. Unfortunately, to make a film this size, it would be impossible to finance myself. I'd have to come up with something that I could do on a smaller scale so that I could do that. Because you don't get pride of ownership when you make a film. You get pride of authorship. And you get paid for it — that's the switch-off. But movies aren't far behind [music] in falling apart — I mean, the business itself. One of the films that I have the fondest memory of seeing is Gallipoli, because I knew absolutely nothing about it. My brother said, ''Let's go see this movie.'' And I said, ''What's it about?'' He said, ''I'm not going to tell you.'' And I hadn't seen the poster, I hadn't seen a trailer or anything, and it was such an amazing experience. [Talking about the Radiohead release] just made me think of it. To be able to just kind of get something as close to the bone as possible, without too much intrusion...

[Dukefrukem]

Gotta ask-- who are the other four?

Easy.

1. Conservatives
2. Liberals
3. pro-capitalists
4. anti-Souls-Gamers

[Dead & Messed Up]

Okay...

This was amazing on a creative level, upping the ante quite a bit for the series. At a certain point, the film stops feeling like a film and like a dream - or a coked-up parallel universe to the other films, containing the same punk western aggression but skipping their more relaxed world-building. Every shot with the Doof Warrior is a highlight, and even quiet scenes like a slow crawl through a marsh offer nomads on quadrupedal stilts. The one thing this series will always have over other action pictures is an inerrant imagination. It'd be worth watching the film on mute just to study the culture suggested by costume and set design.

As far as pace goes, the film veered mostly between relentless and exhausting. By the end, I was primed more for a nap than applause or jubilation. It might've crossed over into too much. Too many shots, frames too full of action, sound mix nearly unbearable at times - I must've missed 60% of the dialogue during the first big chase, and it took me a while to realize exactly what happened to Immortan in his final moments.

Even so, there's no denying the film is successful at keeping the stakes clear and the overall geography of the chases clean. I think I was continually hoisted one inch above my seat for the last half hour - and if I was breathing, it sure didn't feel like it.

Hardy was fine, but I wanted more of him being active and fewer of those chintzy flashback moments - I like the subversion of him being helpless for so long more in theory than in execution. Furiosa was superb, Nux was superb. Immortan was fearsome.

As for the gender stuff, that's easily worth a rewatch in itself. The scene where Splendid puts herself between Immortan and Furiosa is perfect, the harvesting of milk, the Vuvalini, how the film ends with the women being literally raised (and bearing the most vital seed of all). Also interesting is how Immortan commands a death cult that could symbolize any sort of religious fanaticism but suggests the Islamic in its desert-bound setting and aggressive subjugation of women.

There are times where Miller's interest in the cancerous and deformed feels too shorthandy and exploitative - that stumpy little person in the chair didnt look like a makeup effect, he looked like a stumpy person in a chair. One of the cool things about Thunderdome is how Master Blaster gained nuance over the course of the film, so the idea of a little person riding a developmentally disabled person was allowed to be about more than its own oddness. A great scene here has Nux revealing that he named his tumors.

These complaints are pretty small, though, in the face of how intense and imaginative the film is. Hard to believe that such a film got a big budget and a wide release and is currently enjoying a great weekend (given its series' R-rated violence and former cult status and 30-year series hiatus).

[Winston*]

It's depressing this made about $25M less than Pitch Perfect 2 this weekend and only about $5M more than Avengers 2 in its 3rd week!

Looks like it's doing really well outside of the US though.

[Sven]

Nice write-up, DaMU. I actually loved how much of the first act's audio was drowned in the roaring mix. Gave it a bit of Altman flair, really blending the individuals with their environments.

[Ivan Drago]

I want the next Fast and the Furious movie to crossover into this universe.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Nice write-up, DaMU. I actually loved how much of the first act's audio was drowned in the roaring mix. Gave it a bit of Altman flair, really blending the individuals with their environments.

I respected where Miller was going with that decision, for sure, but I was so interested to hear what these people were saying that it was frustrating. "Witness?" They said "witness," right? I want to understand post-apocalyptic suicide rites, damn it.

[Pop Trash]

Has there been an explanation as to why Max's flashbacks were of a female child? Is that something from Thunderdome or is there supposed to be some bit of narrative (like Mad Max 3.5) between the world of Thunderdome and Fury Road?

[Skitch]

DAMU wrote a lot of words. Wowzers. Braving the theater this coming weekend.

[Sven]

I respected where Miller was going with that decision, for sure, but I was so interested to hear what these people were saying that it was frustrating. "Witness?" They said "witness," right? I want to understand post-apocalyptic suicide rites, damn it.

A rewatch will no doubt be rewarding, with all that context in place now. Twist my arm, why don't'cha. I think I will see it in 3D next time too..

[Sven]

One of the cool things about Thunderdome is how Master Blaster gained nuance over the course of the film, so the idea of a midget riding a retarded person was allowed to be about more than its own oddness.

I do love how Master dons a three-piece suit in the last act of Thunderdome.