TV/Movies Megathread

[Tonitrus]

The film opens with the Keystone Kops that are the Main Force Patrol, engaged in a hilariously negligent hot pursuit of the vicious Night Rider, across the surprisingly well-maintained roads that exist following, we are told via title card, the end of civilization (try not to notice the busy restaurant, well-stocked auto mechanic, or most bafflingly the operational British Petroleum refinery that can be seen over the course of the film).

Mad Max 1 isn't after the end of civilization is it? Its during its rot.

That was always my impression.  1 was the decline, and 2 was shortly after total collapse/nuclear Armageddon.

[11B4V]

The film opens with the Keystone Kops that are the Main Force Patrol, engaged in a hilariously negligent hot pursuit of the vicious Night Rider, across the surprisingly well-maintained roads that exist following, we are told via title card, the end of civilization (try not to notice the busy restaurant, well-stocked auto mechanic, or most bafflingly the operational British Petroleum refinery that can be seen over the course of the film).

Mad Max 1 isn't after the end of civilization is it? Its during its rot.

That was always my impression.  1 was the decline, and 2 was shortly after total collapse/nuclear Armageddon.

[Ideologue]

The film opens with the Keystone Kops that are the Main Force Patrol, engaged in a hilariously negligent hot pursuit of the vicious Night Rider, across the surprisingly well-maintained roads that exist following, we are told via title card, the end of civilization (try not to notice the busy restaurant, well-stocked auto mechanic, or most bafflingly the operational British Petroleum refinery that can be seen over the course of the film).

Mad Max 1 isn't after the end of civilization is it? Its during its rot.

It is.  I interpolated the subtitle on one of the theatrical trailers (IN THE NOT TOO DISTANT FUTURE... THERE WILL BE NO CIVILIZATION--dee doo dun dun dee doo dun dun, and so forth).

Movie itself only sez:  "A FEW YEARS FROM NOW..."

My main point is that civilization is said to be falling apart, no reason is given, and civilization does not actually appear to be falling apart, since there are all sorts of businesses operating, there are well-equipped if poorly-supervised police, fully functional courts with rules of evidence and everything, and even weenie defense Mihalis running around.  And when we see the (sub)urban decay, it's just people walking and talking and having a good time going in and out of each other in what seems to be a normal town in Victoria, and which was in fact a normal town in Victoria.  My intent was to poke fun at the exploitation-film, very 70s conceit that the arrival of a biker gang presages the end of it all.  I mean, Anarche Road?  You'd think they'd just elected Obama or something.  But mea culpa for the factual error and thanks.   Any future version that materializes will be corrected.

[Ideologue]

The Road Warrior (1981)

Directed by George Miller
Written by George Miller, Terry Hayes, and Brian Hannant
With Mel Gibson (Max Rockatansky), Bruce Spence (The Gyro Captain), Kjell Nilsson (Lord Humungus), Vernon Wells (Wez), Emil Minty (The Feral Kid), and Harold Baigent (The Narrator)

Only two years out from the phenomenal domestic financial success and worldwide impress that was his (in retrospect) artistically disappointing first film, a new George Miller joint arrived in theaters in Australia and shortly afterward in America.  For reasons that probably have more to do with history and geography than its true quality, Mad Max had spawned a sequel.  And in the annals of film follow-ups, Mad Max 2, or The Road Warrior, or Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior--whatever you wish to call it--rules the wasteland.

In each aspect where Mad Max fell short, sometimes into mediocrity, The Road Warrior achieves greatness.  Mel Gibson's performance is more refined; the character of Max finally remolded into a potentially menacing figure, now approaching the terminal psychopath we were blandly told he was becoming in the last film.  The storytelling is more sage and its set-ups more profitable.  The stunts are better and more numerous, their spectacle more spectacular.  The threat is bigger, badder, and understandable in its goals.  The characters are more interesting inherently, rather than interesting only when they have something offbeat to say.  The apparently obligatory pair of gay villains nevertheless seem to have a loving, healthy relationship that matters to the story and that just incidentally happens to involve marauding, and one of them being on a leash.  Indeed, even though they were arrived at by raiding BDSM stores (not a joke), the costumes in The Road Warrior are better, too.  And, most vitally, George Miller has now committed to a post-apocalypse we can comprehend; and, by shooting on location in the scrublands outside Broken Hill and the endless highways of the Outback, rather than a populous exurb of Melbourne, Miller has given us here a vision of his brutish future that is believable, bleak and beautiful.

The film begins with a voiceover, and in one of Miller's few missteps, we are provided with black and white stock footage of mid-20th century conflict that sort-of illustrate the narrator's words, even though the images we witness have little directly to do with the nuclear conflict we are told occurred between two great warrior tribes (USA! USA!) which has rendered civilization null (for real this time).  The montage's 1.33:1 aspect ratio renders its connection with the 2.35:1 film to follow even more tenuous.  Remember the opening sequence of Soylent Green?  Like that, but less thematically simpatico, less inspired, and a lot more garbagey.  The word is that this wasn't used in the Australian version; it's a toss-up since the narration is important, but the imagery is weak.

Never fear, it's a mere hiccup, if a distracting one, suggesting the piss-poor production value of a Burt I. Gordon creature feature—odd, when what we're about to witness is one of the best-looking science fiction movies featuring several of the most expertly-constructed chase sequences of all time.  As a showcase of stuntpeople clambering upon moving vehicles, The Road Warrior's climax still surpasses Spielberg's truck chase in Raiders filmed around the same time, and Miller's and second unit director Brian Hannant's outstanding work is outdone only after twenty-seven years had gone by, and then only arguably, by Tarantino's Death Proof.  (And in an earlier sequence, a real guy really almost got snapped in half.  You'll see it if you watch closely.  The use of your legs is a small price to pay for a good take, right?)

In the years after the murder of his family, and the collapse of the Australian government (which would likely not be impacted so severely by even the worst-case nuclear war between the US and USSR, but nevermind), Max has taken to living in the Outback as a scavenger on the roads, with only his unnamed dog for company, fighting off less successful mounted predators and stealing their gasoline- and food-laden kills; and, it is implied, making his own kills when he's had to, as well.  But after a chance intertwinement with the faintly ridiculous but inventive captain of a pornography-emblazoned gyrocopter, he is led to the Shangri-La of this particular cursed Earth: an operational oil well with refining capabilities, run by the last educated and civilized band of humans around—altogether, a potential locus for the rebuilding of society or even a new utopia.

Once there, however, Max and the Captain learn that they're not the first to discover its location, and that Max is far from the most dangerous scavenger around.  Like a khan's horde equipped with automobiles instead of horses, an army of freaks has besieged the settled people--and, like their Mongol antecedents, surely intend to leave none who have heretofore defied them alive, despite any promises to the contrary.  Their leader: the enigmatic Lord Humungus--a man, or creature, equivalent in stature to a small house; masked to hide a hinted-at disfigurement, its nature never fully revealed though implied to be radiological; an appreciator of history, and the possessor of a meticulously-kept and deadly artifact, used to sparing but great effect; a wise and charismatic organizer of men.  At his side is Wez, a bemohawked fiend, a lover as well as fighter, who keeps his bleach-blonded boyfriend on his bike's bitch seat when he's riding, and perpetually on the aforementioned leash.

Max, though desperate enough, hesitates to involve himself; for the time being, he observes.  Not until he witnesses the ugly results of a sortie by the oilers does he interfere--and whether this is because he is moved to action by guilt over his inability to save a female oiler from rape and murder at the hands of Humungus' soldiers, or whether he just saw an opportunity for gas and supplies is brilliantly unclear.

Upon his arrival, Max winds up part of a road skirmish (the road war comes later) between the oilers and the Humungus, and blood is drawn on both sides.  Wez' lover is killed, and in a mirroring of Max' own past, the Humungus' lieutenant becomes increasingly aberrant, from an already pretty high baseline, in his pursuit of revenge.

After the fighting, Max provides the oilers their last hope for a breakout: retrieving an abandoned big rig from the highway, fixing their tank full of precious juice to it, and drawing the Humungus' army into a running and costly fight for the gasoline while the bulk of the population makes their way to the coast.  If Max does care--and despite the oiler's leader's entreaties and insults, it's no sure thing he does--he doesn't let his feelings stop him.  Once the rig is acquired, he demands his payment, and takes his Ford Falcon out of the compound in an attempts to break the Humungus' lines solo.  Wez, fixed on Max as a focus for his rage, pursues.  If Max' poorly-considered plan worked, the movie would be over, or if it worked even less well than it actually does, we'd have the futuristic Vanishing Point we never wanted.

Instead, Max barely survives, the beneficiary of an exquisitely shot airborne rescue, and Wez is punished for his overzealousness, finding himself now the one on the end of the Humungus' leash.  Meanwhile, Max is now bereft of much choice.  He finally agrees to participate in the oilers' escape as driver of the tanker, although his injuries mean he's the one now who has do to the convincing.  Of course, you know that there have been some slight modifications made to the plan since he left.  Max, however, does not.  Ignorant of the true nature of his mission does Max go to war.

The Road Warrior features one of the great twist endings, even if the logistics of getting all that into the tanker are a little nebulous, and when Max smiles at the hopeless absurdity of it all, it's not completely clear whether the transformation into a terminal psychotic is complete, or if we've witnessed the redemption of a monster, however meaningless and lonely the fulfillment of that redemption promises to be.

Yet a quibble: while the psychological ambiguity hits the spot, the factual ambiguity of whether Max did or did not know of the true silicate nature of his haulage has spawned debates and could and should have been made clearer.  It's obvious enough to me that the weight was added to dupe Max; why would he permit himself to be so laden by his allies when speed and maneuverability are essential?  To others it has not been so obvious; their answer to the question asked above is that it was the oilers' and Max' attempt to give their joint ruse the look of realism in the face of the Humungus.  Well, that has some merit, but I still don't think Max knew.  George Miller is no help; on his commentary, as one of film's most memorable endings plays out, he discusses the lighting and shooting order.  How fascinating.  Thank you, George.

But Miller getting bored with own movie's sleight of hand aside (hey, I'm sure he's seen it a zillion times), what we've got here is a lot of cars, a lot of explosions, a lot of bloodied and broken bodies--and so well edited and shot!--and the conclusion of Wez, finally let off his chain and finding that revenge is not so sweet, especially when you wind up smashed to pieces between a nitro-burning funny car and a Mack truck in your desperate attempt to attain it.

Twist be damned, the enormity of the climactic setpiece is easily worth a B+ all by itself.  However, the results of George Miller and company's maturation as filmmakers and writers, particularly in their characterization of Max and his counterpoint in Wez, combines with the pure adrenaline of the action (FOR REAL THIS TIME) to elevate The Road Warrior to a triumph.

The narrator returns in the closing moments, and tells us that in the years to come, Max enters the realm of legend for his tribe.  This insistence is earned.  And it is certain that for as long as our great warrior tribe exists, we shall remember the Road Warrior too.

A

[Ed Anger]

Lordy. Too wordy. Brevity is the soul of wit.

C-

[Malthus]

Saw an A&E miniseries called Longitude. I quite enjoyed it. 

It is the story of the genius carpenter-turned-clockmaker who finally solved the problem of determining longitude by making a truly accurate clock that could withstand the rigours of a sea voyage and remain accurate. He was spurred on by the promise of winning a fabulous fortune - 20,000 pounds, in the mid-18th century - which drew out all of the kooks and crankpots with various absurd and unworkable solutions.
.......
It's a fine production, filled with great British actors, and well worth seeing.

Saw this when it was made back in 2000, a co-production with UK channel 4. 

They're not clocks, but maritime chronometers; if you go to the Greenwich Observatory you can see all four of John Harrison's original chronometers; up close, astonishing pieces of machinery, most of which are usually running .

I actually did see them, when I was in England for my brother's wedding. But I did not know their history and significance then.

What really impressed me was, that for experimental machines, they are very pretty indeed.

[Josquius]

S1m0ne- This film is very very good. But very unknown. By the same guy who made Gattica. A film maker has a computer generated actress that he fools the world into thinking is real. Hijinks ensue.

Evangelion 3.0- Kind of depressing. Too long since I watched 2.0 I think. I don't get it.

I've also been watching Bob's Burgers lately. Great series. Kind of King of the Hillish. Does anyone know where it's set? I thought it was New York but seems kind of off.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Evangelion depressing?  Hard to believe.

[mongers]

I actually did see them, when I was in England for my brother's wedding. But I did not know their history and significance then.

What really impressed me was, that for experimental machines, they are very pretty indeed.

Indeed and I need to get up to town and see them again, call it a pilgrimage. 

I've got some stamps featuring them somewhere and I recall those are quite pretty too.

[Josephus]

Mia Kirshner is right now in our office, helping to clean out her dad's office. I met her, shook her hand. She's wearing tight blue jeans. Every now and then she bends down to put stuff in boxes. She's wearing what appears to be pink panties.

[Liep]

Just watched ep 1 of Continuum. The lead looks like Jodie Foster, I like it much more than I thought I would (mainly watched it just because it's on HBO Go and I'm bored).

[Viking]

Just watched ep 1 of Continuum. The lead looks like Jodie Foster, I like it much more than I thought I would (mainly watched it just because it's on HBO Go and I'm bored).

I like how on that show the supposed bad-guys of today (big greedy corporations) are the supposed good guys (or at least the forces of order and peace) and the bad guys are the supposed good guys of today.

It is actually a bit disturbing for me to see all my counter-cultural assumptions about the nature of corporations and the luddite and leveler scum that oppose them confirmed.

It's a bit like watching a movie where Robin-Hood, the Lone Ranger and the Rebel Alliance are the bad guys while Prince John, The Emperor and the Ranch Boss are the good guys. It causes me sufficient dischord that I remain intrigued. Casting Cancer Man from X-Files as a good guy makes it that much more delicious.

That said, story, dialogue, acting, pace and action are mediocre, not bad, just mediocre.

[Sheilbh]

The internet is struggling. While I'm trying to watch NEW POIROT on ITVPlayer

[Liep]

They're still making new Poirots? How is that guy still alive?

[Viking]

They're still making new Poirots? How is that guy still alive?

They pickled the little grey cells.