The last movie you saw Thread

[Lalaith]

Oh, yes, that's right.



I wouldn't watch a movie like that unless under pain of death.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

That is correct, though there is a eucatastrophic aspect to the story.

Beth read the book about six months ago, while she was dealing with her Dad's illness. After he passed away in April and the film came out on video she wanted to watch it, and we had some time last night. How someone who just lost a close family member to that disease, and who knows that it could be genetic in her family (and indeed very closely resembles the main character), could watch that film at this time, I truly can not comprehend, but I have long known that Beth is an unusual person.

I could, of course, have refused to watch it with her, but that seemed like a cowardly thing to do.

[Primula Baggins]

You're braver than I am, and Beth is braver than us both.

[Passdagas the Brown]

Mad Max: Fury Road. George Miller's still crazy, and it's wonderful. Best film of the year for me.

[Alatar]

For those who aren't aware, Mad Max Fury Road has also been adopted as something of a standard bearer for feminism. Which may seem bizarre given the testosterone fuelled look and feel of the film. But, without any spoilers, the females in the movie are the instigators, while the males are merely reacting to events. Also Charlize Theron as Furiosa kicks ass. And there's no love interest.

[Passdagas the Brown]

For those who aren't aware, Mad Max Fury Road has also been adopted as something of a standard bearer for feminism. Which may seem bizarre given the testosterone fuelled look and feel of the film. But, without any spoilers, the females in the movie are the instigators, while the males are merely reacting to events. Also Charlize Theron as Furiosa kicks ass. And there's no love interest.

I loved that element as well.

George Miller seems to be kicking the common trend of directors becoming less inventive as they get older. He's still firing on all cylinders, literally and figuratively!

[River]

Finally saw Mad Max. It was insane. S said he would've liked it better if they cut all the dialog. I argued that the movies these days need to at least pretend to have a plot. But maybe it would have worked as a silent movie with a heavy metal soundtrack?

Anyway, I liked it. You can't not like a movie that manages to put Flea (or a Flea acolyte) on a moving truck and somehow make it ridiculously awesome as opposed to ridiculously stupid. Even my husband appreciated it more after he found out that no, the effects weren't all CGI. Also, I liked how Furiosa's relationship with Max lacked even the slightest whiff of romance. It was more like coworkers than anything else. Or comrades in arms. I did, however, sense a bit of a love story going on between the red-headed sex slave and Nux. Or maybe she was just the only one who had it in her to recognize that he was as much a victim on Immortan Joe as the rest of them were.

[Túrin Turambar]

But maybe it would have worked as a silent movie with a heavy metal soundtrack?

I actually think that's an awesome idea. The Artist showed me that a film can work very well with very little dialogue, and I wish more directors were willing to experiment with it.

[yovargas]

But maybe it would have worked as a silent movie with a heavy metal soundtrack?

Funny you say that cuz my one big complaint with the movie, and I was surprised by how much it bothered me and that I haven't heard anyone else mention it, is that I felt the soundtrack should've been more of a wild, rocking, guitar-hero affair. Considering how batshit crazy everything else was, the soundtrack was often disappointingly traditional which clashed a lot for me.

Oh, and FYI, George Miller has said that they're going to do a dialogue-free track on the home release.

[River]

I dunno. For me, soundtracks rarely pull me out of the story (Ladyhawk being an exception). If it's good, I notice. If it's not, I usually take no note at all. But, now that you point it out, more metal would have been good. Appropriate, even. But Dies Irae worked really well when it was deployed. Really really well.

I suspect that the movie did have to make some concessions to expectations and average tastes. More metal might have been off-putting. Same with no dialog (though I'm now wishing someone dared).

[yovargas]

I will definitely be very curious to check out the soundtrack-only version when it comes to blu-ray. I'm very intrigued by that.


On a sidenote, while just googling about the movie, I found this story about how, while the movie was refreshingly free of romantic subplots, the
Mad Max stunt doubles for Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron's met on set in the Namibian desert and are now married with a 14-month old son. Awwww.

[Passdagas the Brown]

But maybe it would have worked as a silent movie with a heavy metal soundtrack?

Funny you say that cuz my one big complaint with the movie, and I was surprised by how much it bothered me and that I haven't heard anyone else mention it, is that I felt the soundtrack should've been more of a wild, rocking, guitar-hero affair. Considering how batshit crazy everything else was, the soundtrack was often disappointingly traditional which clashed a lot for me.

Oh, and FYI, George Miller has said that they're going to do a dialogue-free track on the home release.

I feel exactly the opposite. That's part of what makes Miller's films so unique, IMO. Everything is so mad, that if he piled on a rocking soundtrack, it would have dragged the film down into obviousness. The more traditional synthetic/industrial/orchestral soundtrack, coupled with the extraordinary insanity of the visuals (including a guy with a guitar strapped to a massive truck) somehow elevates the scenes into the realm of the sublime. There's a wonderful contrast there. Otherwise, I think, the film would have played like an extended rock video.

[yovargas]

I dunno....I can see why you might feel that way but on several occasions, I felt like I was hindered in fully enjoying the gleeful wildness of it all because the soundtrack was being all serious-and-somber-string-section. It didn't need to be all wailing guitars (though IMO any scene with the crazy guitar-and-drums truck around should definitely feature more crazy guitar-and-drums!) but for me, much of it needed to feel wilder.

[yovargas]

INSIDE OUT! As a big Pixar fan, it's been sad to see them in a slump the past few years but they're back to brilliant form with this one with one of their boldest, most audacious stories executed with buckets of love, humor, and intelligence.

[Alatar]

Is it released?? That's my weekend sorted...

[yovargas]

It was released here last nite for some reason.

It's an unusually adult film. Despite being totally "kid safe" and being cute and silly and funny, more than any other Pixar movie, it feels like the themes are way more for grown ups than for kids. This adult found himself shedding a tear or two...

[Frelga]

That's interesting to hear. It didn't look like much from the trailer.

[Beutlin]

This adult found himself shedding a tear or two...

Did you punch a wall afterwards to feel manly again?

[yovargas]

That's interesting to hear. It didn't look like much from the trailer.

At an early point in the movie, as the concept started to revealed itself, the friend I saw it with turned to me and said "Is Pixar making a movie about depression??" They....kinda did. It's surprisingly psychological.

This adult found himself shedding a tear or two...

Did you punch a wall afterwards to feel manly again?

It would not be appropriate to this forum to share what this particular gay dude does to feel manly.

[Beutlin]

Not the fact you are gay. I knew that already.