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× Talk abut Movies & TV here. Just tell us what you have been watching. Have hyper-academic discussions on visual semiotics. Whatever, it's all good.

Mad Max: Fury Road

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30 May 2015 23:45 #203168 by Shellhead
Replied by Shellhead on topic Mad Max: Fury Road
Comparing Mad Max with Mad Max: Fury Road is like comparing Alien to Aliens. Despite the shared setting and characters, they are working with different genres. A horror movie needs a slower pace than an action movie.
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31 May 2015 19:54 #203183 by DukeofChutney
Replied by DukeofChutney on topic Mad Max: Fury Road
Saw Fury Road today, best action film i've seen in ages. I really liked the old 'Shelias', felt that was funny, and Theron bossed it.

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31 May 2015 22:11 #203185 by Disgustipater
Replied by Disgustipater on topic Mad Max: Fury Road
Here's a pretty involved look at the CGI done in the movie.

www.fxguide.com/featured/a-graphic-tale-...f-mad-max-fury-road/

Looks like they mostly did real cars/explosions with augmented backgrounds.
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01 Jun 2015 12:49 #203201 by Michael Barnes
Replied by Michael Barnes on topic Mad Max: Fury Road
Yeah, all of this lionizing of the film for being somehow "anti-CGI" and all is sort of off-base. There's PLENTY of modern film tech used in it and PLENTY in it that wouldn't be possible without it. The key differentiator is that the SPECTACLE and what draws the most attention is real-world stunts, props, cinematography, editing and other old-fashioned qualities. The effects are used to ENHANCE those things- it's not like something such as Age of Ultron where 90% of what you are seeing on the screen during a major action scene might be simulated/digital.

On Mad Max...I saw Road Warrior first (I was six) and I remember watching Mad Max on TV like, every other Saturday. I actually didn't get that RW was Mad Max 2 until later on when I was talking about the movie with a friend's mom of all people...she LOVED the movies and explained it all to me, but it was still confusing because Mad Max obviously wasn't post-apocalypse.

But here's the deal. It's a very different kind of movie in a lot of ways, it's really closer to Death Wish or even Dirty Harry- it's a cop revenge story with a very light (and really kind of vague) SF/futurist element. The genius of it, at the time, was that it sort of brought together hot rod car chase movies like Death Race 2000 and Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry and vigilante movies. It was a perfect storm for drive-in theaters at the time, and the film was actually marketed toward "car culture" audiences and it was specifically widely distributed in the US South because it was felt that was where it would perform the best. But Miller was doing some unique things with it, and it was coming along right around the time the New Wave of Australian cinema was happening so it was unusual also unexpectedly well-made given its micro budget. It was mentioned above that it was closer to a horror movie than some kind of post-apoc epic, and I think that's accurate. I also think it's accurate to hold Alien/Aliens as comparatives. First film is a horror/haunted house film with an unexpected biological/Darwinian subtext, second completely expands the world and tells a story with a much larger scope and really in a different genre.

But you can TOTALLY see everything Miller was setting up in Mad Max come to fruition in Fury Road, even. You've just got to approach Mad Max more like a high-end grindhouse picture, because that's what it really was. It did really well, and that gave Miller the money and clout to push it out there even further in RW.

Don't dismiss it...it's a really great picture in its own right. As is Thunderdome, you bunch of haters.

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01 Jun 2015 15:04 #203212 by jur
Replied by jur on topic Mad Max: Fury Road
This being the first MM movie I ever saw, I liked the Duran Duran reference, and was blown away when my mate pointed out that the bleak swamp scene uses Hieronymus Bosch for inspiration.

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02 Jun 2015 10:10 - 02 Jun 2015 10:14 #203234 by Gregarius
Last edit: 02 Jun 2015 10:14 by Gregarius.
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02 Jun 2015 13:29 #203256 by SebastianBludd
Replied by SebastianBludd on topic Mad Max: Fury Road
My wife and I saw it last week and we both loved it. The action was stellar, of course, but I was surprised and riveted by the depth of the world and I really enjoyed trying to divine relationships and motives from the context on the screen. One of my absolutely favorite moments in the movie, bar none, is when the War Boy lieutenant pops over to the driver's side window of the War Rig to ask Furiosa about their detour after she goes off-road in the beginning of the movie. The way he pauses and considers her for a few beats is brilliant; so much information is conveyed in those few moments. You not only learn something about the scope of her authority under Immortan Joe, but it also immediately establishes the high stakes for her character because she knows that she can only bluff her escort for so long. And then when he orders everyone in the escort vehicles to change formation and you see how organized (and capable, as seen by how they handle the russian hedgehog vehicles) they are you also figure out that they're going to pose a significant challenge once they figure out what's really going on.

Also, the lunatic invention on display with the vehicle and character designs exceeded my already-lofty expectations and my brain was lighting up for the duration of the movie like I was a 6 year-old seeing Star Wars in the theater for the first time. Seriously, it says something about this film that the giant spiky garbage truck with a fucking back hoe excavator on the back was one of the more understated vehicles.

I saw Age of Ultron and while i liked it, it was pretty much in one ear and out the other. I keep thinking about images and scenes from Fury Road and I can't wait to see it again so I can soak it all in.

Michael Barnes wrote: Yeah, all of this lionizing of the film for being somehow "anti-CGI" and all is sort of off-base. There's PLENTY of modern film tech used in it and PLENTY in it that wouldn't be possible without it. The key differentiator is that the SPECTACLE and what draws the most attention is real-world stunts, props, cinematography, editing and other old-fashioned qualities. The effects are used to ENHANCE those things- it's not like something such as Age of Ultron where 90% of what you are seeing on the screen during a major action scene might be simulated/digital.


It's amazing, reading that article Disgustipater linked to, how much of the movie was CGI, but CGI in ways that I would never have expected. Their day-for-night technique was brilliant, as was their almost-seamless compositing. I had no idea the shot of Max on the pole while the tanker blew up amidst all of the other vehicles was a digital composite shot, but the fact that it was a real vehicle really exploding sells the illusion. CGI is a tool that's been consistently misused since it became cheap enough to be widespread, so it's refreshing to see it used as a digital replacement for old-fashioned practical effects (matte paintings, removing rigs/cables from shots, composite shots) instead of using it to create unconvincing people, vehicles, and explosions wholesale.

I was also surprised to read that the shots of the guitar and the steering wheel flying toward the camera weren't CGI but were instead filmed with a high speed camera. I thought both of those shots looked too "perfect" so I assumed they were completely digital.

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02 Jun 2015 13:40 #203257 by Michael Barnes
Replied by Michael Barnes on topic Mad Max: Fury Road
Here's another interesting piece written by a film editor about why all of this worked:

vashivisuals.com/the-editing-of-mad-max-fury-road/

It's all about center framing, fixing the viewer's eyes right in the middle of the frame on a subject. It's something you actually might not notice unless someone points it out...but it really speaks to the difference in how the action in this film is so clear compared to what you see in any number of other recent action movies. The funny thing is that this isn't a technique that goes back to The Road Warrior...it goes back to fucking Thomas Edison experimenting with motion picture cameras. There's also discussion of eye-tracing. Good stuff.

YES, that bit with the War Boy lieutenant was so oddly brilliant and I think it's one of my favorite moments in the entire film...just kind of a throwaway moment, it seems...but it had this strange kind of impact. Mainly because, like you said, that was SO PACKED with information and suggestion. "Just go with it".

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02 Jun 2015 13:45 - 02 Jun 2015 13:45 #203258 by Columbob
Replied by Columbob on topic Mad Max: Fury Road
Just rewatched the original trilogy last week (thanks, TMN Encore!), not in any particular order (3-1-2 if you must know). The Road Warrior's still the best.


Mad Dog wrote:

Gary Sax wrote: It's blasphemy, but I am not overly fond of the first movie myself. I think it's a bit slow and boring.


I'm so glad someone else feels this way too. I love Road Warrior and most of Thunderdome. I wouldn't care if I never see the first movie again.


The first movie's pretty bad, some crappy acting with a melodramatic third quarter. You wouldn't really know it's post-apoc either.
Last edit: 02 Jun 2015 13:45 by Columbob.

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02 Jun 2015 13:46 #203259 by Michael Barnes
Replied by Michael Barnes on topic Mad Max: Fury Road
This is good too, a piece about the editor...who is also George Miller's wife.

www.huffingtonpost.com/margaret-gardiner...esses_b_7309464.html

Interesting point in here- because there is so little dialogue, comparatively, that made the editing and composition of sequences very open-ended.

Academy Award for editing, for sure.

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02 Jun 2015 14:05 #203262 by Shellhead
Replied by Shellhead on topic Mad Max: Fury Road

Columbob wrote: Just rewatched the original trilogy last week (thanks, TMN Encore!), not in any particular order (3-1-2 if you must know). The Road Warrior's still the best.


Mad Dog wrote:

Gary Sax wrote: It's blasphemy, but I am not overly fond of the first movie myself. I think it's a bit slow and boring.


I'm so glad someone else feels this way too. I love Road Warrior and most of Thunderdome. I wouldn't care if I never see the first movie again.


The first movie's pretty bad, some crappy acting with a melodramatic third quarter. You wouldn't really know it's post-apoc either.


Because it isn't post-apoc. The original Mad Max movie doesn't take place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, it takes place in a relatively isolated area at the edge of the Outback, before the apocalypse referred to in The Road Warrior. Max is a police officer, with a desk at a police station, co-workers, and a chief. After catching one careless member of Toecutter's gang, Max is forced to release him because a sleazy attorney arranged for bail to be posted, which strongly indicates the existence of a legal system, a judge, and society in general. When Max's wife buys an ice cream cone, she pays for it with money and not with some form of barter. That's civilization. Toecutter's gang is uncivilized, but the existence of a violent gang does not automatically constitute an apocalypse.
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02 Jun 2015 15:38 #203272 by SebastianBludd
Replied by SebastianBludd on topic Mad Max: Fury Road

Michael Barnes wrote: YES, that bit with the War Boy lieutenant was so oddly brilliant and I think it's one of my favorite moments in the entire film...just kind of a throwaway moment, it seems...but it had this strange kind of impact. Mainly because, like you said, that was SO PACKED with information and suggestion. "Just go with it".


As I think about that moment more I realize that it's one of several during the film where Miller did a great job of tapping into emotions that people can relate to, even amongst all the post-apocalyptic craziness. The bit with the lieutenant resonated with me because I flashed back to times in my youth when I'd be dealing with a competent, semi-gruff guy in his 40's who all of a sudden gives you the stare when he's sizing you up and trying to figure out if you're lying to him. I could relate to the War Boys' hero worship of Immortan Joe when he first appeared during the chase. I understood Nux's desperation to please Immortan Joe by putting a bullet in Furiosa's head, and, even though he was still a villain at that point, I reflexively felt embarrassed for him when he immediately tangled his chain and fell down as Joe drove off in disgust. I understood the competition between the War Boys, and who can't relate to the mortally-wounded War Boy wanting to go out in a blaze of glory?

All of that was conveyed with action, body language, editing, and non-expository dialogue. People that complain about there not being plot in Fury Road are used to other modern blockbusters where there are dialogue-heavy exposition dumps in between action scenes. I would not be surprised in the least if the complainers watched the action scenes passively and then were waiting for explanations that never came. After all, it's not like there's a lot to unpack in a Michael Bay action scene.
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02 Jun 2015 16:49 #203276 by Michael Barnes
Replied by Michael Barnes on topic Mad Max: Fury Road
Another component of that scene was that the lieutenant came across as just a regular dude- not some kind of crazy, culty psychopath. It's that classic Miller thing where he builds a memorable character with very, very little.

On Shell's comments about Mad Max- the bit with the lawyer is all part of the vigilante genre, especially in the 1970s. A key component of those movies (again, think Dirty Harry and Death Wish) is a failure of the legal system...so it's important genre-wise for that lawyer to show up and get the gang member out while the cops are powerless to do anything about it.

Of course, moving into RW and beyond, all of that doesn't matter anymore. In Mad Max, it's all about living at the "fringe" of civilization or in that kind of twilight between civilization and where it dissolves, which makes it really more of a distinctly, nationally Australian movie. You see that theme a lot in the Aussie films from the 1970s/80s. Even...wait for it...Crocodile Dundee has elements that trend. Walkabout, The Proposition, Chopper, Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Piano, Wake in Fright, Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert...all of those feature a similar theme. Which is why, I think, that it is significant that these films have an Australian origin.

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02 Jun 2015 16:52 #203277 by jur
Replied by jur on topic Mad Max: Fury Road
Makes Australia look like a pretty fucked up country. Which, perhaps, it really is.

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02 Jun 2015 18:58 #203282 by ChristopherMD
Replied by ChristopherMD on topic Mad Max: Fury Road
I've always thought the first movie takes place at the start of the apocalypse. Things are starting to turn bad and lawless gangs are sprouting up, but mostly it hasn't reached the more isolated areas yet. People are still going about their business like everything is going to return to normal. Then shit really hits the fan after the first movie and we get the montage at the start of Road Warrior.
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