Weekend Thread (Dec-30-Jan 2nd) 3/4-day #s R1 49.5m/64.3m, Sing 42.8m/56.4m, Pass 16.15m/20.7m, Moana 10.97m/14.3m, WH 10.6m/13m, Fences 10m/12.7m

[BadAtGender]

I considered writing an essay in defense of MMFR, and how everyone criticizing it is wrong beyond belief.

 

Then I realized that I'd already done just that, back in February, for the BOFFYs.

 

“Discussing Mad Max: Fury Road is difficult, not just because it engenders an amazing emotional connection with its audience, but also because it’s such a layered film. There is so much THERE that it’s like picking at an errant thread in a sweater factory. You can just keep tugging and tugging and it never ends. Books could be written about it and not fully explore it. Actually, in the future they probably will. There will be college classes in the coming years that focus on it, for a variety of subjects: film theory, women’s studies, creative writing, sociology, economics. You name it. I could see a reasonable argument for building an archeology course around it.

 

But we certainly don’t have that kind of time.

 

An interesting context to take the film is to compare it to those it is superficially similar to. While any given year will have a large slate of sequels, 2015 had several films that were new, largely nostalgia-driven entries into venerable series. Star Wars and Rocky both had their seventh films, Terminator its fifth, and Jurassic Park and Mad Max their fourth. All attempted, to greater or lesser degrees, to connect both to older fans while offering something to appeal to a newer, more diverse audience. This isn’t to say that all were successful, but you can see the evidence of Hollywood group-think in their overall construction. There was a consensus that this was the year to bring old things back, bigger and better than ever.

 

But Fury Road diverges rather starkly from there. Unlike the other films, while it allows nostalgia to exist within its framework, it isn’t driven by it. Every other film brought back an old, familiar face (or more): Harrison, Arnie, Sly, and… the T-Rex, I suppose. Those elements were front and center for the film. While Fury Road has things that tie it back to the original trilogy, they’re often more cute asides than a critical feature. And even in the case of something like Max’s Interceptor, the film nearly goes out of its way to say “nostalgia isn’t important” can be discarded in a fiery explosion.

 

Every other film was an attempt to erase some sort of mistake that existed in between the original great(s) and the present. And while you could argue that Thunderdome is a bit of a mixed effort compared to the first Mad Max films, it’s still managed to generate one of the most enduring pop culture references. No, George Miller wasn’t trying to correct a mistake. He didn’t have a prequel trilogy to contend with.

 

Even so, the film did have to prove it was worth watching to the older viewers. Unlike the other films, he didn’t (or couldn’t) bring back his familiar star. Max needed to exist, but he wouldn’t have Mel Gibson’s presence. This didn’t prove to be a detriment, however. Miller’s approach, even back with the original films, was less concerned about internal continuity and more about consistent theme. Max isn’t the hero of a single saga, but a protagonist of multiple stories that may or may not actually connect to each other. In many ways, the Mad Max series bears more in common with classic myths than it does with any modern film franchise.

 

There is an obvious disadvantage of this approach. Nostalgia allows a film to rest on past successes, and by taking a deliberately different path, Fury Road needs to stand on what it brings to the table itself. It’s easy to see why this might make a producer nervous. There are many ways that could go wrong, not least of which is that fans of the originals may take umbrage and start the negative word of mouth early.

 

However, thankfully, Fury Road doesn’t misstep. If anything, it manages the near impossible: discarding all but the barest elements of the original films and still surpassing them. Engaging viewers, new and old. An implied message is, “this may not be entirely familiar, but it’s still for you. Come along on this ride.”

 

Managing to hit this near mythical sweet spot happens because of an absolute attention to detail. Every element of the film’s construction is chosen to mesh into a greater whole. By doing the work at every level, from storyboarding to production and costume design to filming to editing, it’s created a deeply layered experience. It’s possible such an effort can go wrong. Try too hard to control for everything and a film can feel stifled and overly controlled. But George Miller and John Seale and Margaret Sixel and everyone else involved managed to pull it off. Even if at times it seemed to be falling off course, there was that perfect mental vision holding it together, pulling the elements of construction in just the right way to become this fuller, layered whole.

 

What results is a viewing experience that’s matched by very few films. Fury Road is a film that encourages and rewards multiple viewings. The car chase action is riveting enough to provide enjoyment in early viewings, but beyond that you can tease away at the design elements, hinting at the worldbuilding and backstory and character connections that may not be apparent at first. And then you can look into the actual filming practices used. How the shots are framed and cameras centered. What cuts are made.

 

It almost feels limiting to call Fury Road the best action film ever made. But I truly believe that’s the case. Not only that, it’s one of the best films ever made, period. It is, without hyperbole, “perfect in every way.””

 

(Unfortunately I had to relive the fact that this forum basically collectively used TFA for jizz material in the awards voting. Not one of our finer moments, to be honest. I'd be worried about the same thing happening this year with Rogue One, but Rogue One is actually pretty great.)

[franfar]

1 minute ago, trifle said:

 

if you are in an airport outlets can be very limited and you can be lucky to get one much less multiple outlets.  and they are small so a large multi usb plug won't fit.  I also make sure I have a book besides a kindle.  There isn't always power when you need it, or you don't have time to use it, or are on the go too long to charge.  There are ways to carry excess batteries etc but it is another complication and I never once thought 'gee I wish I didn't have a cord to my phone.'

I charge my electronics fully before going to the airport, which eases the strain a bit.

[WrathOfHan]

4 minutes ago, DamienRoc said:

 

(Unfortunately I had to relive the fact that this forum basically collectively used TFA for jizz material in the awards voting. Not one of our finer moments, to be honest. I'd be worried about the same thing happening this year with Rogue One, but Rogue One is actually pretty great.)

You got it the wrong way, Damien.

[trifle]

2 minutes ago, fracfar said:

I charge my electronics fully before going to the airport, which eases the strain a bit.

 

Yeah, but then at your connecting airport your phone/lapdop has run down and if it hasn't because you had a plane plug, it will while your flight is delayed repeatedly.  and if you are in meetings, you may not be able to charge before going to the airport. I am not saying it is an insurmountable problem in 7 out of 10 cases, but I see it as a negative, not a positive, to remove the earphone jack. Why not give you the option to plug in?

[grey ghost]

1 hour ago, DAR said:

Still what I use for music or mostly podcasts.  Still works great

 

 

Is this a JW reference cause that thing's a fuckin dinosaur. 

[FilmBuff]

Saw sing this afternoon.

 

Found Sing was a sweet little movie, and my nephew loved it! Found the messages in the movie really moving and heart. A tad bit predictable and felt like they tried to incorporate too many characters at some points. Found some characters like the elephant and female pig was underutilized. Great song covers. 

 

B+

[The Panda]

1 hour ago, DAR said:

Still what I use for music or mostly podcasts.  Still works great

 

 

How are you supposed to use Spotify on that museum artifact?

[Incarnadine]

36 minutes ago, Fancyarcher said:

 

Haven't you heard, Disney is an evil corporation bent on world domination.

 

 

[Eevin]

29 minutes ago, DamienRoc said:

I considered writing an essay in defense of MMFR, and how everyone criticizing it is wrong beyond belief.

 

Then I realized that I'd already done just that, back in February, for the BOFFYs.

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

 

 

(Unfortunately I had to relive the fact that this forum basically collectively used TFA for jizz material in the awards voting. Not one of our finer moments, to be honest. I'd be worried about the same thing happening this year with Rogue One, but Rogue One is actually pretty great.)

Are the BOFFYs like an awards thing for BOT?

[Porthos]

41 minutes ago, Fancyarcher said:

 

Haven't you heard, Disney is an evil corporation bent on world domination.

 

AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT, CITIZEN! 

[Fancyarcher]

9 minutes ago, Incarnadine said:

 

 

 

Not signed in

 

New age mouse empire. 

[filmlover]

2 minutes ago, Porthos said:

 

AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT, CITIZEN! 

I would rather live in this evil empire than the Trump one we face, tbh.

[yjs]

3 hours ago, cannastop said:

Wait, what exactly did they do? Did you watch a subtitled version?

yup, subtitled version.

3 hours ago, Jim Shorts said:

 

They were just making fun of k-pop.  I didn't see anything wrong with it.

They were Japanese characters singing J-Pop. Different two things  

2 hours ago, Jason said:

Haven't seen the film yet, but based on a very short clip I found on youtube (looks to be an official release) it's Japanese, not Korean.

 

I don't want to judge having not seen the context, but from that clip it feels very much like a caricature of J-pop played for laughs. Including a part where the J-pop band doesn't understand the Koala's instruction to stop their performance. Keep in mind that aside from that being a stereotype, it's not even true. Members of J-pop/K-pop bands generally do understand English, and I think anyone would have understood the accompanying gestures.

 

I don't know if that's how @yjs's friends interpreted it.

 

Also - for the record, red pandas are from China, not Japan.

Yup, I understand that they were just minor comic relief characters and they weren't supposed to be treated equally and have depths like others but them being unnecessarily dumb/annoying/kawaii and not being able to communicate with Buster Moon was associated with nothing but their caricatured "J-Popness". (it's also in the promo clips so I don't think it's a spoiler)

like watching William Hung being ridiculed next to "normal people" that are Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood and wondering if it's a pure coincidence or we actually need a better Asian representation in Hollywood. 

Edited January 2, 2017 by yjs

[elcaballero]

52 minutes ago, Fancyarcher said:

 

Haven't you heard, Disney is an evil corporation bent on world domination.

What role does Tele play in this?  

[filmlover]

1 minute ago, elcaballero said:

What role does Tele play in this?  

He's no longer a part of the Disney family since they decided to cancel that stupid show he was involved with.

[elcaballero]

1 minute ago, filmlover said:

He's no longer a part of the Disney family since they decided to cancel that stupid show he was involved with.

That's what he wants you to think...

[Wrath]

11 hours ago, Ethan Hunt said:

Sing is absolutely insulting

Sing defines the difference between being crowdpleasing and bring genuinely good. But it wasnt bad and it was fun. I liked it better than SLOP but I didnt really like SLOP that much.

[Fancyarcher]

6 minutes ago, elcaballero said:

What role does Tele play in this?  

 

He's an assistant general. He's a very much a "disgruntled type of person".

[yjs]

3 hours ago, cannastop said:

Wait, what exactly did they do? Did you watch a subtitled version?

oh btw they didn't dub the song parts here because of the copyright issue, just the lines.

[DeeCee]

20 minutes ago, elcaballero said:

What role does Tele play in this?  

Tele is now exiled on Lah'mu.