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gridloreSo, Mad Max:Fury Road. I'll admit, when I heard this was coming I moaned a little. It's been done, Beyond Thunderdome sucked, why can't they do something new? Then I read the reviews. Here's mine.
This movie is preposterous. It breaks all laws of logic. Nothing in this film would work on anything resembling a long term basis.
It is also brilliant, fun, visually stunning, exactly what it says on the tin, loud, funny at some point, poignant at others, and draws you in even as you realize that this is all crap. Especially the PoleCats. The heroes are strong-jawed, the villains are villainous, and the mooks are color-coded. We even get character development!
Of course, the center of a Mad Max movie are the cars and the post-apocalyptic mutants who drive them. This film is set around three cities, The Citadel, which has water and food; Gastown, which provides precious fuel and lubricants; and Bullet Farm, which provides arms and ammo. There is very little back story given, but the plot is driven by a delivery of goods to Gastown gone wrong. Which leads to everyone getting in their insanely-modified vehicles for a rolling shootout.The Citadel's fleet includes this vehicle:
Not pictured: the taiko drummers in the back.
None of the vehicles make a lick of sense, but they are awesome so we just cheer each insane car as it appears.
The plot, such as it is, it just an excuse for a series of chase and combat scenes. Charlize Theron steals the movie as Imperator Furiosa. One of my favorite things in the movie is Furiosa is missing her left arm below the elbow, and has a pretty cool prosthetic. This point is never harped on, never given an expository moment. She's just missing an arm.
What's really cool is that writer/director George Miller, who also did the original Mad Max movies, went old school on this. This is the first SF/F film I've seen in years that had more credits for stunt men and women than CGI artists. When's the last time you saw a film fade to black for a scene change? There are many such cuts here, and they work. And his use of color! During one sequence in a sandstorm, we go from blue saturated to a flash of yellow to black and white back normal color all in the midst of dizzying action. Far from being jarring, it makes things more intense.
And just to show what a deft touch he has as a director, my favorite bit in the film. . . SPOILER WARNING
At one point, the big rig the heroes are on needs to stop for repairs. At this point the pursuit is down to one vehicle. It's night. Max tells them to take the rig half a kilometer down the road and starts walking back towards the sound of the pursuing car. Shortly thereafter, there's a ball of fire in the distance, and Max comes back lugging a ton of ammo and covered in other people's blood. I simply love that Miller kept Max mysterious in this moment; what could have been an epic fight scene is left to the imagination.
This movie deserve the big screen and a large popcorn. Turn off your logical brain and enjoy the spectacle. Five exploding punk Penguins of out of five.
Sadly, after the movie we got lunch.kshandra had wanted Sizzler last night, but I suggested Chili's. We went to the location on El Camino Real at Lawrence Expressway, despite having had a poor experience there last time. We will never walk into that location again. Chili's is far and away our favorite restaurant, but that one? No.
We, as usual, order the 2 for $20 special. Kiri got a steak and I got my usual chicken fajitas. The chips, salsa, and queso were fine, as was Kiri's steak. But my fajitas? The plate was smoking. Not steam from nice juicy chicken, but actual fucking smoke. Lots of it. Out of curiosity, I pried up one of the chicken slices that was actually touching the plate. Burned black to about 2mm depth. The rest of the chicken had been rendered utterly dry and tasteless.
How does a line cook miss this, and what kind of moron looks at a platter that is literally pouring off smoke and serves it? My appetite was ruined, and I just asked that the fajitas be taken off the check, and told the manager that we would never again visit that location. No excuse.
After that, we did shopping which was boring except for how our local Smart & Final has been remodeled.
We should've gone to Sizzler.
This movie is preposterous. It breaks all laws of logic. Nothing in this film would work on anything resembling a long term basis.
It is also brilliant, fun, visually stunning, exactly what it says on the tin, loud, funny at some point, poignant at others, and draws you in even as you realize that this is all crap. Especially the PoleCats. The heroes are strong-jawed, the villains are villainous, and the mooks are color-coded. We even get character development!
Of course, the center of a Mad Max movie are the cars and the post-apocalyptic mutants who drive them. This film is set around three cities, The Citadel, which has water and food; Gastown, which provides precious fuel and lubricants; and Bullet Farm, which provides arms and ammo. There is very little back story given, but the plot is driven by a delivery of goods to Gastown gone wrong. Which leads to everyone getting in their insanely-modified vehicles for a rolling shootout.The Citadel's fleet includes this vehicle:
Not pictured: the taiko drummers in the back.
None of the vehicles make a lick of sense, but they are awesome so we just cheer each insane car as it appears.
The plot, such as it is, it just an excuse for a series of chase and combat scenes. Charlize Theron steals the movie as Imperator Furiosa. One of my favorite things in the movie is Furiosa is missing her left arm below the elbow, and has a pretty cool prosthetic. This point is never harped on, never given an expository moment. She's just missing an arm.
What's really cool is that writer/director George Miller, who also did the original Mad Max movies, went old school on this. This is the first SF/F film I've seen in years that had more credits for stunt men and women than CGI artists. When's the last time you saw a film fade to black for a scene change? There are many such cuts here, and they work. And his use of color! During one sequence in a sandstorm, we go from blue saturated to a flash of yellow to black and white back normal color all in the midst of dizzying action. Far from being jarring, it makes things more intense.
And just to show what a deft touch he has as a director, my favorite bit in the film. . . SPOILER WARNING
At one point, the big rig the heroes are on needs to stop for repairs. At this point the pursuit is down to one vehicle. It's night. Max tells them to take the rig half a kilometer down the road and starts walking back towards the sound of the pursuing car. Shortly thereafter, there's a ball of fire in the distance, and Max comes back lugging a ton of ammo and covered in other people's blood. I simply love that Miller kept Max mysterious in this moment; what could have been an epic fight scene is left to the imagination.
This movie deserve the big screen and a large popcorn. Turn off your logical brain and enjoy the spectacle. Five exploding punk Penguins of out of five.
Sadly, after the movie we got lunch.
kshandra had wanted Sizzler last night, but I suggested Chili's. We went to the location on El Camino Real at Lawrence Expressway, despite having had a poor experience there last time. We will never walk into that location again. Chili's is far and away our favorite restaurant, but that one? No.We, as usual, order the 2 for $20 special. Kiri got a steak and I got my usual chicken fajitas. The chips, salsa, and queso were fine, as was Kiri's steak. But my fajitas? The plate was smoking. Not steam from nice juicy chicken, but actual fucking smoke. Lots of it. Out of curiosity, I pried up one of the chicken slices that was actually touching the plate. Burned black to about 2mm depth. The rest of the chicken had been rendered utterly dry and tasteless.
How does a line cook miss this, and what kind of moron looks at a platter that is literally pouring off smoke and serves it? My appetite was ruined, and I just asked that the fajitas be taken off the check, and told the manager that we would never again visit that location. No excuse.
After that, we did shopping which was boring except for how our local Smart & Final has been remodeled.
We should've gone to Sizzler.
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Date: 31 May 2015 02:50 (UTC)no subject
Date: 31 May 2015 04:17 (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 Jun 2015 07:00 (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 Jun 2015 14:14 (UTC)