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Mad Max: Fury Road |OT| What a Lovely Day | RT: 98% | Metacritic: 89

gabbo

Member
As a pure action film, I actually found Fury Road to be more satisfying than T2, although that's obviously a great movie (and one I've seen many, many times).

I think T2 aims are loftier, but it does so at the expense of being pure action. Fury Road isn't as lofty, but tells it's story just as well and remains nearly non-stop action.
 

RangerX

Banned
As a pure action film, I actually found Fury Road to be more satisfying than T2, although that's obviously a great movie (and one I've seen many, many times).

Fury road is imo, after a lot of contemplation and analysis, genuinely the greatest action film ever made. Its majestic in its perfection. I grew up with Aliens,T2,Predator, Raiders but this beats them all for me, and by some distance.
 
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I guess for me, action movies that have an emotional quotient degrade the repeat-watch factor a little, despite being great movies themselves. T2's material is very heavy and has a very huge story to tell. If I'm watching T2 I need to be emotionally prepared for the rollercoaster ride as I always shed a tear when Arnie asks Sarah to lower him into the lava. Fury Road is balls to the walls action mayhem that is very, very well done because it doesn't need to explain the universe like T2 does. I think a better comparison would be Predator.

BM88glX.jpg


Straight up action-badassery distilled for 2 hours. For a more recent example, then John Wick comes to mind.
 

gabbo

Member
I guess for me, action movies that have an emotional quotient degrade the repeat-watch factor a little, despite being great movies themselves. T2's material is very heavy and has a very huge story to tell. If I'm watching T2 I need to be emotionally prepared for the rollercoaster ride as I always shed a tear when Arnie asks Sarah to lower him into the lava. Fury Road is balls to the walls action mayhem that is very, very well done because it doesn't need to explain the universe like T2 does. I think a better comparison would be Predator.

BM88glX.jpg


Straight up action-badassery distilled for 2 hours. For a more recent example, then John Wick comes to mind.

There's a lot more depth to FR that than there is in Predator IMO (not that I am knocking Predator at all, but let's be real). It's an Alien/Aliens clone and a damn good one, but it's heart is in Arnold blowing shit up and less the sociopolitical ramifications of America's 1980s foreign policy.

It's like you people haven't even seen The Matrix.
Touche, to a degree.
 
Fury Road is in every way a better film than Terminator 2. In a lot of ways, it's not even that close a call.

But I've never been as big a fan of T2 as a lot of people here, but then again there's definitely a Church of Cameron vibe to some of the proselytizing on the film's behalf.
 
Fury road is imo, after a lot of contemplation and analysis, genuinely the greatest action film ever made. Its majestic in its perfection. I grew up with Aliens,T2,Predator, Raiders but this beats them all for me, and by some distance.

I'm going to need to give it a couple more viewings but I could see this holding true for me as well. The film really surprised me and I went in with very high expectations.
 
This year was the best year for movies, for me, in recent memory.

Fury Road headlines that list.

Yup.

And I still haven't even seen The Martian, Bridge of Spies, The Big Short, The Assassin, Room, The Revenant, or any of the other films I'm sure I'll be interested in after awards season.
 
'Mad Max: Fury Road' Named Rotten Tomatoes' Best Reviewed Film of 2015

It's nice to be fresh.

Rotten Tomatoes has announced the recipients of the 17th Annual Golden Tomato Awards, which honor the best reviewed films and television programming of 2015.

Mad Max: Fury Road received the highest percentage of positive reviews out of any movie with a wide release and was "Certified Fresh" at 97 percent.

On the win, director George Miller said in a statement: "It's always gratifying to have a positive critical response. It is, after all, how we learn about our work. And now here's a Golden Tomato! How cool!"

http://news.yahoo.com/mad-max-fury-road-named-rotten-tomatoes-best-215149424.html

http://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/rt-hub/golden-tomato-awards-2015/
 
Finally bought this on bluray, think I will have my second viewing of this movie tonight. Hope the movie looks as incredible as I think it will be in high def.
 

Simo

Member

Haha thats awesome!

Miller has been doing the interview rounds again and has mentioned that he's ready for the next one, although obviously doesn't confirm it's greenlit or anything, but says before he does he's going to do a smaller film first that he's recently come up with.
Speaking with EW, Miller said that while he has an idea of what he wants to do in a Fury Road followup, he’s turning his attention to a different project before piecing together another Mad Max film:

“Yes, I have. And certainly having conversations about it. But I’m not sure if it’s the very next movie I want to do. I’ve got something a bit smaller before we go back out into the wasteland — something that’s contemporary that we can get through fairly quickly. And something with not too much technical difficulty. Something more performance-based and so on, just to clear the exhaust.”
http://screenrant.com/mad-max-fury-...dium=Social-Distribution&utm_campaign=SR-FB-P

He also addressed his age and while he may have one more in him, it might have to pass to a younger director to continue the series.
MAD MAX WILL HAVE A LIFE AFTER GEORGE MILLER

Wednesday, January 06, 2016 - 11:00 PM
By Julia Lowrie Henderson

Fresh off the success of "Fury Road," writer and director George Miller has two more "Mad Max" scripts in the works already — largely because the lengthy delays on the last film gave him and fellow writer Nico Lathouris plenty of time to dive deep into the backstories of the characters. "Pretty soon we had what happened to Max after 'Fury Road,' what happened before, what happened to the other characters, how it evolved." Considering Miller is now 70 years old, and that it took 15 years to make "Fury Road," we wondered: what if he retires before all of his post-apocalyptic dreams make it to the big screen?

Unlike George Lucas, who now regrets handing off his Star Wars franchise, Miller says that he is absolutely willing to let another director take over the keys to the Mad Max kingdom. And he's genuinely excited about the crop of young directors he might get to choose from. "People are directing younger and younger, they're getting a real sense of cinema very, very early, and there's some great directors out there," he says. "You see films every day and you know it's a good film because you get excited by the possibility of cinema. You walk out of the movies thinking, 'Oh, anything's possible!'" Would he be willing to leave Mad Max in an up-and-coming director's hands? "Yeah, of course."

Listen to a bit of their conversation above — you can hear Kurt Andersen's full conversation with George Miller on next week's show.
http://www.studio360.org/story/mad-max-will-have-life-after-george-miller/

And of course Tom Hardy is contractually obligated for the sequels, with The Revenant released he's obviously been asked about the sequels:
After the rapturous reception Fury Road received, Tom Hardy is Mad Max now. And there will be more, right?
“Yeah, there’s gonna be more, totally. I mean, that’s the point — I gotta pick up the mantle and move forward. I’m now playing Max, yeah ... but Mel Gibson is Mad Max. So I’ve still got a lot of work to do.”
http://www.news.com.au/entertainmen...e/news-story/63b150b821700501a8fa1119a38178de
 
It's like you people haven't even seen The Matrix.

The action in The Matrix is a very different beast, often more surreal than visceral. It's a beautifully shot and paced film, but it's more contemplative and operates under very different disciplines than Fury Road did. You get much more time to breathe and think in The Matrix. Furiosa doesn't sit in a chair and tell anybody the story of how the wasteland came to be the way it is.
 

Simo

Member
No idea if this a legit site, first instincts says it's not, but they posted this which contradicts what he's been saying last week and I haven't seen any other site pick this up...
Australian director of the snubbed “Mad Max: Fury Road” George Miller: “I won’t make more ‘Mad Max’ movies. ‘Fury Road’ with Charlize Theron, Zoë Kravitz, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Riley Keough was forever getting completed. If you finish one in a year, it’s considered a leap of faith. Start, stop, start again.

“I’ve shot in Australia in a field of wild flowers and flat red earth when it rained heavily forever. We had to wait 18 months and every return to the US was 27 hours. Those ‘Mad Maxes’ take forever. I won’t do those anymore.”
http://pagesix.com/2016/01/11/george-miller-will-never-make-another-mad-max-movie/
 
Miller got a DGA nom.

The Directors Guild of America kept strong guild streaks alive for “Mad Max: Fury Road” and “The Revenant” Tuesday with nominations for filmmakers George Miller and Alejandro G. Iñárritu, respectively.

The two joined Tom McCarthy (“Spotlight”), Adam McKay (“The Big Short”) and Ridley Scott (“The Martian”) in the feature film category.
 

Jigorath

Banned
“I’ve shot in Australia in a field of wild flowers and flat red earth when it rained heavily forever. We had to wait 18 months and every return to the US was 27 hours. Those ‘Mad Maxes’ take forever. I won’t do those anymore.”

Maybe he's saying he doesn't want to shoot those films in Australia anymore?

/wishful thinking
 

Simo

Member
"We don't need another hero" is now playing on the work satellite radio....I'll take that as a good sign towards Fury Road's Oscar nom chances this morning. lol
 

jett

D-Member
I except Mad Max to sweep all the technical stuff, has a chance at costume and makeup too, those seem like weak categories. Miller might even get the best director award, the "academy" might be apprehensive about giving it to Iñarritú two years in a row.

10+ Oscar Nominations including Best Picture and Best Director!

It's actually an even ten.
 

Jigorath

Banned
I except Mad Max to sweep all the technical stuff, has a chance at costume and makeup too, those seem like weak categories. Miller might even get the best director award, the "academy" might be apprehensive about giving it to Iñarritú two years in a row.
.

Revenant getting BP totally leaves the door open for Miller to get director, cause they ain't Inarritu the award twice in a row. Or they can just be boring and give everything to Spotlight.
 

jett

D-Member
Revenant getting BP totally leaves the door open for Miller to get director, cause they ain't Inarritu the award twice in a row. Or they can just be boring and give everything to Spotlight.

I haven't seen Spotlight, but that would probably be the lamest result.
 
Spotlight is a great movie tho. Sure it's not flashy, and it's more traditional Oscar fair, but it's super low key and restrained while being entirely compelling.

That being said, Mad Max is obviously better. I wouldnt be upset if Spotlight nabbed BP, but I really really want Miller to get best director.
 

gabbo

Member
I've basically accepted that there is no way in hell it's getting Best Picture, but I'm all in for Miller getting Best Director
 
D

Deleted member 80556

Unconfirmed Member
So glad to see the Academy is taking Fury Road in account. Hope they get a couple.
 

Timeaisis

Member
Hoping for Best Director as well. No chance in hell it'll win Best Picture. I'd say The Revenant will but Inraitui won last year...
 

ghst

thanks for the laugh
finally got to see it in a decent cinema after missing its first run in the summer.

no words. absolutely breathtaking piece of filmmaking. the best experience i've had in a cinema in a decade. every frame is filled with equal parts love, artistry and brutality. makes star wars look like a tepid plastic cash in.

astonishing achievement that has no right to exist in this day and age.

games workshop need to put every penny in their coffers together and throw them at miller and the key talent behind this masterpiece to put a 40k film together.
 

Error

Jealous of the Glory that is Johnny Depp
The action in The Matrix is a very different beast, often more surreal than visceral. It's a beautifully shot and paced film, but it's more contemplative and operates under very different disciplines than Fury Road did. You get much more time to breathe and think in The Matrix. Furiosa doesn't sit in a chair and tell anybody the story of how the wasteland came to be the way it is.

That probably helps Fury Road feels like such a ride with blazing fast pacing, the world is implied but never fully explained with long exposition. I like how subtle the world building was in Fury Road.
 

Simo

Member
So given Fury Road's Oscar nominations today..uh yesterday..I found a couple of interesting interviews that discuss the story and making of the film that I don't believe I or anyone else posted here.

This first one is a video from last month where George Miller talks about the journey making Fury Road from storyboard to screen with co-writer & illustrator Brendan McCarthy and co-writer & and dramaturge Nico Lathouris. You get to see a lot of concept art, storyboards and other images including a official road map of the Wasteland and where the story takes place:
http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/vid...015-Mad-Max-Fury-Road-Creating-the-Apocalypse

The other interview is a 42 minute podcast with Brendan McCarthy where he talks in detail about the story and film including Mel Gibson's involvement:
http://ukscriptwriters.podomatic.com/entry/2016-01-12T06_12_18-08_00

On fleshing out the story:
The final film you see is about 80% of what I and George wrote. And what George and Nico then refined and came up with some great stuff that seemed so blindingly obvious when you see the film but when me and Goerge were doing it, we didn't see it. For example: the control of the population in The Citadel by water was not something we had worked out. We had another device. Obviously through conversation, Nico and George said really he (Immortan) should be pumping water, and that's how he controls the population because he had to control them somehow. We had an ideology controlling War Boys, which is a critique of the standard "death for glory" etc, but also he had to control the commodities. That became the theme of the movie - you had to control the water, so that's basic and then the human body itself. Once the theme of the film became obvious, then Nico was able to focus certain bits that needed sharpening and did a very nice job on that

On Warner Bros. stepping and putting a stop to filming in South Africa...without the book ends of the movie...
There was some interesting stuff that you probably are not aware of. In the middle of the shoot Warner Brothers decided that The Citadel sequences were too expensive and the movie was starting with her (Furiosa) just turning off the road. They'd cut out the front and end bookends of the film. I was thinking "Holy Christ!". George invited me over to Africa to watch the shoot and that just happened and it was like it really threw the wrench into everything. We were all sort of thinking how to make it work but George, strange enough, had a lot of calm about it because he knew he didn't have a movie without those bookends. And by the time he delivered this amazing footage, Warners said "you're actually right" so that's the shoots in Sydney that followed the shoot in Africa - that wasn't thought of as 're-shoots'. They weren't re-shoots, they were actually the stuff that was originally planned to be shot featuring The Citadel at the front and end of the movie - that was the stuff that Warner Brothers for a while took out and put it back in again. This is the kind of stuff that you have to deal with then you make a movie. The horrific kind of stuff that those people pull on you.

The WB stuff I knew about though having spoken to crew members back in 2012. Basically the scenes where Max tries to escape the Citadel and the scenes following involving Immortan, the water scene and Furiosa leaving the Citadel along with the final scene of the movie where they come back and are "lifted up" didn't get filmed in 2012 in Cape Town, South Africa because Warner Bros. put a stop to production because Miller had gone over time and budget. They had actually built these sets in Cape Town but Miller had the foresight to ship them all back to Sydney and as McCarthy said when WB saw the footage they gave Miller all the time and money to shoot the rest of the film in December 2013.

Consequences of replacing Mel Gibson:
One of the big things that had happened with Mad Max is that the story that you've seen in Fury Road was the story that was written with me and George and Nico 15 years ago. The story hasn't changed at all from the version that I wrote with him. But the big change was that Mel Gibson was going to be Mad Max. It was going to be the 4th Mad Max in this Mel Gibson series. Now, due to all sorts of things, Mel's meltdown and the film being up and running and then collapsing three times - Mel had to drop out as he got older. And then they looked around for the new Mad Max and Heath Ledger was pretty much going to play Mad Max and he died. And finally Tom Hardy appeared.(...) We realized that Tom Hardy was the natural choice, but Tom Hardy has a sort of different weight as an actor to Mel Gibson. And Mel Gibson having done three Mad Maxes beforehand brings in history with him. Mel Gibson is Mad Max if you look at the first trilogy. He doesn't have to act as Mad Max, he has to dial himself down but he is Mad Max innately. So Mel Gibson in the role against Charlize Theron as Furiosa is a much weightier Max. When you put Tom Hardy in there, he does his own interpretation of Mad Max - a new Mad Max and he isn't as weighty on that side of the balance. So it feels that she's stronger than him in the film, you know as the kind of presence. That was my understanding why it felt a bit imbalanced in favor of Furiosa.
(...)
I'm also talking about the weight. The perception of the character in the film is that she is weightier than him. If you put Mel Gibson back in there he weighs it back over to Max. And that's a casting thing. So once had lost his main Mad Max, it's like Raiders of the Lost Arc without Harrison Ford or something. Now once you've lost that you've got to then eventually find the right character who's going to bring his own dynamics and you don't quite know who that's going to be because Tom Hardy hadn't played Mad Max ever before.
(...)
I understand the critique that Max is lighter in the film than he should've been. He should've been weightier, maybe more dramatic scenes or whatever. But I think that if you consider... also a lot of the publicity and how the film got picked up in the social media was that the feminist thing got very - I felt overstated in terms of the overall movie. I mean if you just picked up that she's freeing those girls from sex slavery and takes them to an idyllic matriarchal society - if you pick that bit up, that's a a certainly a strong part of the film, but it's not the whole film. So if you consider really, Max is strapped to the front of the vehicle for the first half an hour, he then bests the Warrior Woman in a fight, takes their truck but is persuaded to take them with him. As he goes along he can't wait to get rid of them at some point but gradually becomes invested in what they're about. You see her (Furiosa) go to the Green Place that doesn't exist, so she's failed in her mission and basically she takes those girls to their death. They meet the old ladies and decide that again, the woman - Theron's character, decides to take them all out in the wasteland and find somewhere. But Max who has lived out there knows there is nothing out there and in the end he intervenes and says "Look, the only green place I've seen is back there". And if you notice in the film, the actual only greenery is at the top of The Citadel. So then it's Max who becomes the pivotal... with that turn-around scene which comes at the end of act two where they kind of agree that they're going to go back the green place, and get there ahead of the war lord and defend it. We see the warrior woman's, the Theron's mission end in failure and it's Max who takes it up and then turns it around, thwarts what they're trying to do and gives them a solution. And then puts everything he's got into bringing about - letting their mission if you like be accomplished, and then new society starts to form in their green place that they'd just come from. And he leaves and continues on his wandering.

Fury Road's original ending:
The thing about Fury Road is , when you had Mel Gibson - and I'm going back 17 years to when we first talked about the story, the idea about Mel Gibson who was then about 40 years old - still as Mad Max. The idea that he'd still be wandering around the wasteland in a pair of black leather trousers looking for himself started to feel a bit old. So you thought - maybe it's time for him to join the human race again and be the custodian of the new society. In the original draft that I wrote with George, which was the one that was going to be shot with Mel Gibson when it was first greenlit - he goes up in the platform in the end with them. He stays as part of that society because he has found this woman that - you know, you don't think he could meet a woman that could ever be equal to him or be worthy of him and be for her, yet in the Charlize's character you feel that - ok, Max has met her. Again, with recasting with Tom Hardy you're not quite sure whether or not Tom Hardy in a sense feels too emotionally young to partner with Charlize Theron. You're kind of pointing the finger at all the issues we had, we discussed and decisions that we made. And I made my decisions and argued for Mel Gibson going up the platform at the end and becoming part of society. In the hero myth of Campbell, he doesn't remain in the wasteland forever, he comes back and rejoins society.

A friend spoke to storyboard artist Mark Sexton and had some nice back story and info on what happened with Miller's involvement and story for the video game too.
 

Trey

Member
I liked the ending they went with. Max found his redemption, but he's still lost to the wasteland. It would've been too easy to just pair him up with Charlize.

Thanks for sharing.
 
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