FBG Movie Club - DotM: George Miller (1 Viewer)

[jwb]

Mad Max / The Road Warrior of course spawned a slew of post apocolyptic movies. And predictably, most of them are terrible. But that's why we have MST3K!

MST3k Versions:
City Limits
Warrior of the Lost World

These are both really funny.

 

[jwb]

I did end up watching the Monochrome version of Fury Road. It came with whole Mad Max set I bought, and I had forgotten it was in there. I'd read online that it feels like an entirely different film, so i went in hopeful...

Nope. Not really. In fact, the black and white proves distracting in places (especially the storm/etc). Miller has a brief intro where he tells the story of a road warrior scene he saw in black and white and he loved it so he decided to release Fury Road this way. He says he thinks it's the best version of it, but I'll politely disagree with him. It's Fury Road in black and white but it doesn't feel much different at all - I would not go out of my way to see it. I love old B&W films, but they shot that way because they had to - putting a modern action film in B&W didn't work for me beyond "hey it's in black and white".

 

[Ilov80s]

We have a busy day tomorrow, so the plan is to start up the new director thread a day early when I get home from work today.

June is @Ilov80s birthday month and the rule was we get to pick the director no questions asked from the other for those 2 months. What I found interesting is that both of us chose directors we aren't that familiar with. He can speak up more, but I'm pretty sure he's only seen 2 of 20+ movies, which means he has seen 0 movies in what might be the best movie trilogy of all time.

I’ll leave the suspended for the thread but I’ve only seen 2 of directors films and none are from that trilogy.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

We have a busy day tomorrow, so the plan is to start up the new director thread a day early when I get home from work today.

June is @Ilov80s birthday month and the rule was we get to pick the director no questions asked from the other for those 2 months. What I found interesting is that both of us chose directors we aren't that familiar with. He can speak up more, but I'm pretty sure he's only seen 2 of 20+ movies, which means he has seen 0 movies in what might be the best movie trilogy of all time.

I’ll leave the suspended for the thread but I’ve only seen 2 of directors films and none are from that trilogy.

Oooh...Sam Raimi!?

 

[KarmaPolice]

We have a busy day tomorrow, so the plan is to start up the new director thread a day early when I get home from work today.

June is @Ilov80s birthday month and the rule was we get to pick the director no questions asked from the other for those 2 months. What I found interesting is that both of us chose directors we aren't that familiar with. He can speak up more, but I'm pretty sure he's only seen 2 of 20+ movies, which means he has seen 0 movies in what might be the best movie trilogy of all time.

I’ll leave the suspended for the thread but I’ve only seen 2 of directors films and none are from that trilogy.

Oooh...Sam Raimi!?

You think Spiderman 3 is that good?

 

[KarmaPolice]

Alright, alright, alright..... time to fire up the new thread.

 

[Eephus]

Alright, alright, alright..... time to fire up the new thread.

Fires up arguments about the best movie trilogy.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

We have a busy day tomorrow, so the plan is to start up the new director thread a day early when I get home from work today.

June is @Ilov80s birthday month and the rule was we get to pick the director no questions asked from the other for those 2 months. What I found interesting is that both of us chose directors we aren't that familiar with. He can speak up more, but I'm pretty sure he's only seen 2 of 20+ movies, which means he has seen 0 movies in what might be the best movie trilogy of all time.

I’ll leave the suspended for the thread but I’ve only seen 2 of directors films and none are from that trilogy.

Oooh...Sam Raimi!?

You think Spiderman 3 is that good?

I don't think it's nearly as bad as people make it out to be.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Alright, alright, alright..... time to fire up the new thread.

Fires up arguments about the best movie trilogy.

I will only be hearing arguments for, and will call on @krista4 if needed.

 

[KarmaPolice]

We have a busy day tomorrow, so the plan is to start up the new director thread a day early when I get home from work today.

June is @Ilov80s birthday month and the rule was we get to pick the director no questions asked from the other for those 2 months. What I found interesting is that both of us chose directors we aren't that familiar with. He can speak up more, but I'm pretty sure he's only seen 2 of 20+ movies, which means he has seen 0 movies in what might be the best movie trilogy of all time.

I’ll leave the suspended for the thread but I’ve only seen 2 of directors films and none are from that trilogy.

Oooh...Sam Raimi!?

You think Spiderman 3 is that good?

I don't think it's nearly as bad as people make it out to be.

Emo Peter is pretty bad. I think I agree more than disagree with you, but to me it's mostly just overstuffed, and not with great villains.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Babe.

Wait, this is a kids movie??

 

[KarmaPolice]

What I was thinking about a bit watching Babe is when the end of kids movies like this was. Around this time, maybe?

My 9 year old said she loved it, and I enjoyed myself as well. The movie had such a big heart at it's core. It's just that in 2024 kids movies are safe to a fault, and it's shocking when you have some of the dark scenes that are in Babe. She didn't miss a beat and at one point sat on the floor to get closer to the screen. I understand that it can be a hard needle to thread, but I think we need more movies like these that have some scary and sad things in them, but that ship seems to have largely sailed. I am really glad we decided to squeeze this one in. We are going to watch Babe 2 this week.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Don't we all want Peter Gabriel To sing this to us?

Peter Gabriel - That'll Do

Written by Randy Newman and performed by Peter Gabriel.Lyrics:A kind and steady heart can make a grey sky blue,And a task that seems impossible, is quite pos...

youtu.be

 

[Eephus]

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)

Miller has few equals when it comes to filming taut action sequences but I think the story really got away from him in this one. There were too many scenes that served more to construct the universe than to advance the plot. Dividing the film into chapters fed its disjointedness even more. At its core, the film was a revenge story but there were long sections where the relationship between Furiosa and Dementus was buried under the political struggles of the wastelands. For example, there was a 40 day war that served little purpose and was seemingly forgotten by the final showdown.

The highlights were the set pieces with the tanker truck that were beautifully staged. Miller is a master at setting up these complex scenes up while maintaining a logical geometry. You always know exactly where the main characters are physically with respect to one another. I could quibble that some of the CGI fire effects weren't the greatest. In the 80s, Miller's stunt crew would have probably used real explosions but the scale of Furiosa made this impossible.

I'm probably coming off as too negative here. I had a great time watching in the theater. It probably could have been a half hour shorter because there was a lot of peripheral stuff. But that's typical of the series which has always had an bunch of grotesque side characters who are as interesting as the leads.

 

[Eephus]

The Witches of Eastwick (1987)

I wanted to watch this during Miller's month but couldn't find a free stream until it showed up on Tubi this month. It's one of his rare non-franchise films made with the biggest stars he's ever directed. It was adapted from John Updike's novel but with substantial changes to make the three witches more sympathetic characters.

It starts off like Sex in the City set in a small New England town with Cher, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer dreaming of their ideal man. They get their wish when a mysterious stranger played by Jack Nicholson comes to town. It's a great role for him with a handful of monologues that display his seductive charm. Veronica Cartwright is also excellent as a townsperson who has visions of the evil lurking beneath.

Miller is very good at creating a disquieting environment that appears normal on the surface. He uses lots of slow zooms, unusual compositions and camera angles that seem slightly askew. But as in Lorenzo's Oil, he slows the camera down and uses long takes for the key dialog scenes. I thought the film really lost its way towards the end but that's mostly the script's fault. It's never explained how the witches gain their powers as the movie stumbles to its conclusion aided by some cheesy 80s special effects. The ending is disappointing but Miller's films are always interesting visually and it's fun to watch peak-Jack strut his stuff.