Blank Check with Griffin & David - Mad Max: Fury Road with Emily Yoshida

Episode Date: May 24, 2020

Emily Yoshida (Night Call podcast) joins #thetwofriends to discuss George Miller's magnum opus Mad Max: Fury Road. Together they examine the masterful world building, the flawed leadership of Immortan Joe, lumps, the performances of Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy, Nicholas Hoult and so much more! SFX: "VVZ-A#3-2.wav" by sorohanro; "Vuvuzela-04.wav" by theTone; "horror ambience 07.wav" by klankbeeld. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.

Oh, what a cast! What a lovely podcast! Yeah, great. Did I fuck up the mic? No. No? Okay. It is a lovely podcast, though. Yeah.

It's a lovely podcast. Despite my immediate fear that I had ruined the entire episode, it is a lovely podcast. Lovely is the word I would use to describe it. This is going to be a lovely cast. It's raining outside and I'm sick. Yeah. Okay, wait. I went to Chinatown and I'm sick. Yeah. Okay, wait.

I went to Chinatown. I got a pork bun. Ooh, cozy. Wait, what are you doing this to me? I'm sick. You don't want a bun? I couldn't go. A little bun.

I ate a lizard to get ready for this episode. You ate a two-headed lizard? Yeah, I ate two pounds of sand. Was that like a bad idea? I drank some water. Aqua-Cola? I mean, sorry, sorry, water. Aqua-Cola? I mean, sorry, sorry, sorry. Aqua-Cola

TM. Hello, everybody. This is Blank Check with Griffin and David. I'm Griffin. I'm David. And this is a podcast about filmographies. Directors who have massive success early on in their career and are given a series of blank checks to make whatever crazy passion projects they want. And sometimes those checks clear, and sometimes they bounce, baby.

And this is one of the biggest clears of all time. At least culturally, you know, in terms of perception. Like Avatar is a humongous clear in terms of like return on investment versus doubts against it. Yes. I mean, this made less money than Avatar. But this is creatively one of the greatest clears in history.

Well, yes. And also, expectations would have been so low. Well, it just felt like we've been through this a bunch of times. We always get hyped up. The thing is going to disappoint. And then it comes out, it does really well, and everyone loves it. And it's sort of like, oh, great. Had you guys been tracking the long development road of Mad Max

the furious development road the furious development the fury road to making it honestly I don't think so because it's been going on for so long I feel like it wasn't I think I was vaguely aware

of that that right that he had always been trying to make a fourth one and then it would be announced like Mel's not gonna be in it and he'd be like yeah well obviously

Mel's not gonna be you know like right but it always sounded stupid and then I remember that trailer posted. Yeah. The first one.

Which was at Comic-Con the year before it came out. And I was like, well, this looks great, but it's a trailer. Yeah. Good trailer, though. Good trailer. Yeah. And then I think there were just more trailers, and it sort of became like, well, okay, this is, I think this is gonna rule.

I'm gonna do a rough timeline of the development thing. Because I weirdly was not even that big of a Mad Max fan at that point. I became a fan later into the development cycle. But I remember tracking it because it felt like another Curio story like the Terry Gilliam Don Quixote where it was like, oh, this is some cursed movie that's never going to happen. Yeah. Sure. Which also made it feel like if it happens, it will either be a disaster or it will just be.

He never got to make it. Isn't that the weirdest thing in the world? It's so weird that he made it and people are like, eh. People are like, oh. I was there. I was there. You were there for the first audience. For the first screening of it.

It was the most anticlimactic thing that I've ever. And people were just kind of like, hmm. They were just like, okay, I guess I guess well that's out of our system it's like Chinese democracy or something 100% that's so

it's usually a Chinese democracy situation you wait that long and then everyone's like oh no we're definitely no longer that interested in this

I mean Buckethead though Buckethead though well he rips on that album but it is so bizarre like re-watching this I just kept on thinking about Man Who Killed Don Quixote where it's like the fact that that movie already doesn't exist. When it just, it felt like it either needed to be a masterpiece or a disaster. Piece. Yes.

Is so bizarre. And then there was that thing where after it played at Cannes Con, then the release got canceled and Amazon dropped it. And it was like, okay, well, this is fulfilling the legacy. Now the movie is not going to be seen ever again. The thing is that it's not even that bad. It's just nothing. And now it's just quietly on iTunes. It's not bad.

I gave it an okay review. It's sort of an interesting movie. There's stuff to grapple with. It's way too long. When you know the context of it, then that's when you're truly underwhelmed by it. But if it came out sans context, you'd be like,

this is weird and vaguely European. This is Gillian's best film in years, I guess by default. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, introduce our guest,

please, before you delve into it. Well, this is a main series on the films of George Miller. Yes, that's right. We've gotten to the final film,

which is also the namesake of this miniseries. That's right, that's right. It's Mad Pod Fury Cast. Is the miniseries. What?

Yeah, well, it's great. But you don't like it? Of course. Oh, you think that's great. Emily's, oh, she's making a sign to cheer us on for our miniseries title. She's taken out a big foam finger and it says number one miniseries title ever?

No, Emily, no Vuvuzelas in the studio. Put it away. She's holding the Vuvuzela up to her mouth, and then she's pouring White Claw into it? And then she's blowing and she's spraying White Claw all over the studio? Our guest today... Sorry for the mess, everyone.

Our guest today, fresh off the Fury Road, an expat, our mother, Mama, writer of the upcoming FX series Shogun. A writer. A writer. The only writer.

No, I am a writer. The only writer. It's Mama herself, Hollywood Emily Yoshida. Hello, my war boys. Pass it. Do not grow addicted to water. I just want to say that all the time. Yeah, he's a really cool guy.

I think he's great. He's a cool guy. I don't love what he's done with the Department of Justice, but I do think he's got a lot of the right ideas. Here's my thing. Do I agree with all of his policies? No. But the economy is booming,

and he's electable. He's electable. We can't outthink ourselves on this one. People just like someone who's unpretentious and speaks directly to you. He says what nobody else, like everybody is thinking, but nobody wants to say. You can have a glass of agua cola. He's a man of deep faith.

He's a family man. Big family man. Big family man. Big time family man. He cares about traditional family values in the way that I do. Now, is he perfect? No. Does he lock women in a vault? We all No. But show me one man in the vault.

We all have. Occasionally. That's the point. But, you know, he's also empowering them. He is. Yes, that's true. Giving them a job. And here's another thing.

How is he supposed to be a warlord with all this criticism? They're not even giving him a chance. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? All these bad faith arguments. I know. It was a perfect,

I don't know. What is a phone call in the Fury Road universe? A firework? Like flair? Loud speaker address. A perfect primal scream. This movie shouldn't exist.

We have said it on at least one other episode in this miniseries. But this film, weirdly, is like the genesis of this podcast. Because we had been doing Star Wars for a year. We were trying to figure out what the show should be after Star Wars ends. That's right. And we go see this, and I show up and I'm covered in hives. As you love to remember, you were covered in hives.

And I'm freaking out. Yep. That whole first screening kind of felt like a fever dream to me, which is sort of appropriate for this movie. And I said, I think I know what the premise of the podcast is. It's the blank check thing. We're extrapolating that from the George Lucas thing. And that was before the movie started. Yes.

And then the movie ended. You saw the perfect test patient. Great example. And for five years we've been building up to this episode one could say in a way

and now I'm sick any hives though? all the hives no hives but re-watching the movie it felt like that first time watching it where I remembered like

when we walked out and you were like that's amazing and I was like yeah that's really good and I felt like I was less blown away by it

than everyone else and then when I saw it two days later and I didn't have hives I was like, yeah, that's really good. And I felt like I was less blown away by it than everyone else. And then when I saw it two days later and I didn't have hives, I was like, oh, fucking masterpiece. Movie to end all movies. It is a tough movie to watch when your brain already feels like it's on fire. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It is so overwhelming that if your body is in any way compromised and you feel uncomfortable, it's kind of an attack on the senses. Right?

Yeah. But still a masterpiece. It does really challenge you to have your cognitive, you wouldn't want to watch this movie drunk, I don't feel like, even though it is crazy and feels like a midnight movie

in a lot of regards. I wouldn't want to watch it impaired in any way because it moves so, you want to appreciate every single moment of it, every frame of it. I don't want to watch it impaired in any way because it moves so – You want to appreciate every single moment of it, every frame of it. I don't know. And it will buzz you up just fine. Oh, yeah, yeah. You will feel like you are on the finest speed.

And it takes your full attention and your full focus. So if there's anything distracting you, like an ebriation or a physical ailment, it becomes a battle. Did you see this film at that first New York screen or did you see it at Cannes? I did not see it at Cannes. I was at that Cannes, but I did not see it there. I was trying to

figure this out. I couldn't remember because I don't think, I think I just saw it in theater. I think I just saw it when it was out because I wasn't going to press screenings really regularly at that time. 2015. Yeah. Right? A simpler time.

Yeah. Sure. I guess. Yeah. Why not? Yeah, simpler. I remember that press screening was in 3D. Oh.

Which was. No, it wasn't. I am all but certain because the second time I saw it, I saw it in 2D and I advised people because I was like the 3D is a little overwhelming. Maybe it was in 3D. I am all but certain. I don't remember that. Because that is one of the only times in the last five years that I feel like a studio has screened a movie in 3D for Christmas. They used to do it all the time.

As a matter of course. But that's about the cutoff point where it stops happening. That was where it started to stop. Oh, I feel like they were doing it all the way until I left New York. I feel like I would get 3D screens. The last movie a theater made me see in 3D

that wasn't like Alita Battle Angel or something that was actually Oh yeah, I definitely saw Alita Battle Angel in 3D. Of course we had to see in 3D. Of course. I'm not joking.

That was shot for 3D. Another Junkie XL soundtrack. Yes, 100%. Tommy. But the Marvel movies weren't being screened in 3D. The last Marvel movie they showed me in 3D

was Doctor Strange. And again, I think they were kind of like, well, this one's, you know, it's all loopy. That's fairly recent, though. That was last year. 2016, my friend. Doctor Strange. Oh, sorry. Doctor Strange.

I thought you said Doctor Sleep. I wish Doctor Sleep was in 3D. Yeah, why not? We're in 8D. I wish the brim of that hat were peering out into the audience. God, is he so good if Rebecca Ferguson just ate you in that movie? She just came out of the screen and actually munched on your soul. We obviously have too much to talk about with Fury Road,

but Emily, what do you think of Doctor Sleep? I didn't see Doctor Sleep! Emily saw Doctor Sleep. What are you talking about? She was no longer professionally obligated to see films when that came out. That's so good. Was that in the fall? I liked it a lot.

Did that come out in the fall? I didn't even realize until you guys were talking about it on some podcast that Ewan McGregor was in it. He is in it. Guess what? He's good. Yeah, he's pretty good. Well, great. Good for him.

He's still my first love and probably my last love. It began and ended with Ewan. It did. He's the only person whose picture I've ever put in a locker. Really? Picture of him in what? Was it just Ewan or ever put in a locker. Really? Picture of him in what? Like, was it just you in or was he in a movie? It was like from a

Vanity Fair profile or something. Okay. I remember he was wearing like a peat coat, so the collar, it was like a close picture, but he looked really, really hot. And I took the Vanity Fair from the public library, slammed it down on Xerox,

put that Xerox in my locker. Xerox, black and white, full color. Black and white slammed it down on Xerox. Put that Xerox in my locker. Xerox. Black and white full color. Yes. Black and white. Black and white Xerox. He's had so many good hairstyles over the years. Oh, yeah.

Like, cut it all off. Looks fine. Like, get it all tough deep. Looks fine. Had one rat tail. Looks fine. Oh, my God. Made it work.

So you had a black and chrome edition photo. It was shiny and chrome. I tried to watch that for the rewatch. I mean, we'll get around to all this. I want to talk the development cycle of this, just speed around it, okay? That makes very room. So, like, 1997, I think roughly, George Miller says, last thing on my mind, you know, he's like in Babe World and he's on a flight. I think it's an Australia to US flight.

I have to immediately correct you. I'm so sorry. George Miller bought the rights back from Mad Max in 1995. Yes. So he definitely, even if he was not like, you know, interested, he definitely was like, maybe I'll want to do this someday. He clawed the rights back. A lot of that seemed to be control of home video

to prevent anyone else from making it. Sure. I found a quote from him that said, at the time I came up with this idea, doing another Mad Max was the last thing on my mind. And that was after he had bought back the rights. But he claims he has a fever dream on... I'm not getting a phone call now.

He has a fever dream on like Australia to US flights and the whole movie just comes to him. He like sees it. Which I feel like I have fever dreams all the time and then go like oh my god I have to remember this. This is such a good movie and then I wake up and I'm like that's the worst thought that anyone's ever had.

But he had the basic tenant of this thing. And he starts sort of Clawing at it And working at it He goes He sets it up at Fox Because he has the rights back Even though Warner Brothers

Had released the last two Mad Maxes Yep At the time Everyone's presumption was It's gonna be Mel Yeah It was gonna be Mel

Mel's still hot Right What women want Had just come out I'm not joking Well so yeah Also Mel was What women want

Proven Proven In the box office Proven In 2000-2001 had just come out. I'm not joking. Well, so yeah. Also, Mel was what women want. Proven. In the box office. In 2000, 2001, they're pretty actively in like, you know, if not pre-production, active development,

pre-pre-production. Sure. 9-11 happens. Yes, that is true. 9-11 happens. Turns the economy upside down. It destroyed the Australian dollar. Yes.

And so guess what he had to do? He had to. Yes. And so guess what he had to do? He had to do it. Do you know what he had to do? He had to make some happy feet? He had to turn to happy feet. Yeah. It's just so funny to think that he was like, I can't do Mad Max. I guess I'll break out those penguins to dance.

He was like, I had this on the back burner. He's like watching the news in real time, like's like I have to he crosses out a picture of Mel he like takes down a picture poster of Mel because it puts up a penguin he takes out giant penguin feet slippers

this is what the world needs start mo-capping Savian Glover I'm gonna need that tap dancing but a couple years later he's like right at the threshold like 2003

he's like I think we're ready to go and then the Iraq war happens he got a green light yes happy feet too he was gonna film in the I mean He's like, I think we're ready to go. And then the Iraq war happens. He got a green light. Yes. Happy me too. He was going to film in the, I mean, he, because of, right. First there was rain, which that seems like a tougher problem to deal with.

But then also the Iraq war. Right. Oh yeah. The rain, didn't it make flowers bloom where they were planning on shooting? They were like, we're going to shoot in this wasteland. And it like turned into a waste. The green place. It literally turned into the green place.

There are like, I believe, three different times that happened where they were prepping to shoot, had a location, and then they suddenly had unexpected rainfall. It became too beautiful. Truly. But I think like the locations changed and the years changed. And three times that happened. They got fucked up by weather. Twice they got fucked up by terrorism. Sure.

But he had a script co-written with Brendan McCarthy, who is some comic book writer who wrote shit like this that just looks like Ben Hosley issue one. You know what I mean? Rogan Gosch is the name of this. I think he did 2000 AD stuff too. Yes, he's like in that sort of Peter Milligan, British 90s, you know.

Tank Girl, yeah, yeah, yeah. Did a lot of 2000 AD. He co-wrote it with him. Another guy comes in later, Nico Lothoris. Who is an actor in the first Mad Max. Right, so I don't know. He an actor in the first Mad Max. Right. So I don't know.

He played Grease Rat in Mad Max 1. But also, by all accounts, this film never had a proper script. It was pretty much storyboarded first. I think it's more right. They were building the designs of the cars and all that shit. Like that's what it was. And then at some point they did like sort of a transcript of the storyboard so that people could do their jobs. sort of a transcript of the storyboard so that people could do

their jobs. At most stages of this film it didn't sound like they had a hard script. So whether Mel Gibson controversies, Gibson, right. Economy turnarounds. At one point he wanted to hire Heath Ledger. Yes.

That didn't work out. So around 2007, 2008 you're like, Heath Ledger's gone. Mel's been canceled. The gods, Mother Nature keeps on spiting me. This is the Fury Road. You're narrating the Fury Road of the last 20 years. All the major tragedies.

9-11 and Mel Gibson. And then Happy Feet. And Happy Feet, of course. No, but the major tragedies. Heath,et. 9-11 and Mel Gibson. Well, and then Happy Feet. And Happy Feet, of course. No, but the major tragedies. Heath, Mel, 9-11. And Happy Feet comes out and is a huge hit and he wins the Oscar

and he's like, fuck it, I'm just doing it animated. Right. And he announces, I'm doing R-rated CGI manga style. Would have been amazing.

Would have been amazing. And he's like, that's my way around it because I don't want old Mel and Mel comes with his own baggage now and young actors seem terrified at the prospect of taking over the role and I

don't know who to do it and the weather keeps on fucking me over. My vision's too big. I'm going to do it animated. And then he sort of just goes like, it doesn't feel right. I guess so, but then in 2009, so six years before this movie came out,

they start their location scouting. In 2010, they hire Thomas Hardy and Charlize Theron to make two movies. Right, at first announced as Furiosa. It was going to be a back-to-back thing.

But Hardy's essentially getting hired off of Bronson. Yeah, and probably some Inception. He's starting to get other parts. But in terms of what's actually hit, Bronson is the one. He's pre-Bane. Yeah. He's pre-Bane. And they said it was down to Renner and Hardy.

And Renner seemed like the obvious choice because he was so fully the studio franchise guy at that moment. And Hardy was like the cool ascending guy. But do you think, you know, maybe like Nolan is flipping him some Inception footage? Look at this guy. Right. Warner Brothers is so beholden to Nolan and his taste and all of that. I mean, 2009, I filmed a little movie, Hold for Applause, called

Beware the Gonzo. You gotta beware the Gonzo. You gotta watch out for Horny Rob Becker. With Zoe Kravitz. I'm holding up my foam finger again. Yes. Yeah, it says Horny Rob is my one favorite. Horny for Horny Rob. Horny for Horny Rob. Zoe Kravitz is in that film. Zoe Kravitz is in that movie.

And while we were filming, she kept on telling me that she was auditioning for Mad Max 4. That she was going through the rounds with it. And I was like, that's never going to happen, right? And she was like, I don't know. He's very convinced it's going to shoot the next year. Can you tell me her character's name in Beware the Gonzo? Oh, in Beware the Gonzo? Evie.

Yeah. There you go. Can you tell me the character's name in Mad Max 4? I think her name is Easy Evie. I thought she was Toast. In Beware the Gonzo? Evie. Yeah. There you go. Can you tell me the character's name in Mamet? I think her name is Easy Evie. I thought she was Toast. In Beware the Gonzo. In, yes, she is Toast the Knowing, of course. Toast the Knowing.

She's the sort of, you know. The gadgety one. Exactly. Don't fucking test my Beware the Gonzo knowledge. Okay. Wait, now I want to test your Beware the Gonzo knowledge. Eddie Gonzo Gelman? Sure.

That one's easy. Everyone knows him. You your Beware the Gonzo knowledge. Eddie Gonzo Gellman? Sure. That one's easy. Everyone knows him. You got to beware him. You must. But, yeah, she was like, the script, there's no script. He just, like, you sit in a room and he explains stuff to you. He says it's going to film next year. They don't know who's playing Mad Max.

Right. But it was like. It does sound like pie in the sky. He's making it seem like it's, like, on the runway. A year later, they cast Hardy and it's like, okay, I guess we're ready to go.

And the movie still doesn't film for another year after that, right? Does it film in 12 or 11? Well, if I can, I want to correct myself. Okay.

The heavy rains causing the wildflowers to bloom, that happened in 2011. So there were many rain problems, but the wildflowers rains, that was 2011. So they had to. There was but the wildflowers rains, that was 2011. So they had to. There was an earlier one in the early 2000s.

It happened a couple times. Oh yeah, rain happened a couple times. But principal photography did finally begin in 2012 in Namibia. They also shot in Australia, obviously. Filming supposedly lasted for 120 days. And then it did a lot of reshoots in 2013. Okay. Filming supposedly lasted for 120 days. And then it did a lot of reshoots in 2013.

Okay. But even still, it takes two years after that for the movie to come out. Correct. That does come off, though, and I mean this as a huge compliment, as a two-year editing job. A hundred percent. Right. A hundred percent. And a husband and wife working together for two years.

Yes. Like it feels like a movie that could. And pausing for meals. Of course. And taking care of themselves. There were 150 stunt performers. Most of them Cirque du Soleil type folks or Olympic athletes. Eve Ensler was on set.

Yes. Advising on feminism. But also advising on like female victims of violence and on sex trafficking. Yes. I mean, he took all the themes of the movie very seriously. It's filled with practical effects and stunt work and all that stuff, but it still has tons of visual effects. And they're working on the colors and they're fucking with the frame rates and all that stuff. They claim that zero injuries happen, which is, they should have gotten a Nobel Peace Prize for filming this movie

without any stun injuries. Or crew injuries. But wasn't it, like, not fun to shoot, though? I don't think it was very pleasant. A nightmare. Everyone who worked on this

said it was going to be a disaster. Uh-huh. But nobody got hurt. Nobody got hurt. Okay. It's more probably just that they were like,

and, uh, drive the cars! And they would drive the cars and everyone would just run around and they would be like, great, great! And everyone's like, what the fuck is this thing? As much as this movie is like, it feels like a two-year editing job,

it's also a movie where by all accounts he was just sort of going like, and this piece is just you do this thing and I move the camera this way. And people would be like, what is going on? Explain this to me. And he'd be like, I can't. Yeah.

And he apparently be like, what is going on? Explain this to me. And he'd be like, I can't. And he apparently was like, Theron and Hardy weren't getting along. Hardy and Miller weren't getting along. Theron and Miller weren't getting along. Like no one was getting along. Everyone was losing their minds. And he has said in retrospect, like the actors have said we didn't trust him enough. It was clear he knew what he was doing and we couldn't see it. And he has said, I actually take that hit.

I don't think I explained myself well enough at any given moment. I mean, I would love to know what that script looked like if they just transcribed it from storyboards. What were they reading to get a sense of what they were doing? When Zoe Kravitz was auditioning, she told me

that it was literally just her looking at a book of storyboards. I mean, that would be fine by me, like, honestly. You're seeing the movie, right? Especially, I mean, it's not like she has a ton of lines, but if you know what you're going to, like, what part you're going to play visually in it, like, I don't know. sometimes the hardest things to do as an actor are like two-second insert shots where they're like, we just need a close-up of your hand grabbing this cup of coffee. And because you're putting so much thought and energy just into the grabbing of the coffee cup, the camera's just on that.

It's isolated away from any behavior in the rest of the scene. It becomes so unnatural, and it looks really weird, and it's hard to do in a way that doesn't make you self-conscious um i think that's a factor and another thing is a lot of this movie if you look at the behind the scenes footage is like the cars are completely stationary in the middle of a desert and he's filming them at a low angle and he's just saying like act like like flames are going off around you and i think you just feel like a moron if you're doing like a two second insert shot

where it's just like shift gears in a stationary car. I think everyone was just like, there's no way this is gonna look cool. There's no way this is gonna make sense. And also like no offense to George Miller, who's great, but like he's great,

but he's like, and then recently in my life, if you're Zoe Kravitz, you have made Babe Pig in the City and Two Happy Feet. Right, right. I get that Mad Max 2

is great. I get that you once made action movies, but you don't, you're not up to date. You don't know what these are like now. And how much of this- I don't know if Zoe Kravitz was saying that, to be clear. I don't either., you're not up to date. Like, you don't know what these are like now. And how much of this.

I don't know if Zoe Kravitz was saying that, to be clear. I don't either. I more mean just like a younger person. Sure, yeah. Riley Keough was saying that. It does. I feel like so much of this podcast has come back to this thing of, like, you can't go home again. Like, when massively successful directors try to go back to their early films, it almost never works.

Whether it's directly continuing an old franchise or just the sensibility or trying to get back to their early films, it almost never works. Whether it's directly continuing an old franchise or just the sensibility or trying to get back to the filmmaking style. There are people like Shyamalan who can go like, I'm going to strip myself of all the excess and force myself to become a new type of filmmaker. But it's very rare that someone goes back to being like, I'm just going to make a simple, uncomplicated movie or a guerrilla style movie or a small movie or whatever it is but with him it's

like the only thing he's going back to is the property like I feel like he had a completely new idea of how he wanted an action film to look like it wasn't any kind of regression I don't think there's much nostalgia in this even for original Mad Max like other than knowing like oh it's a Australian wasteland Like there's not a whole lot. I don't think visually or stylistically it has anything to do with those movies, which I love. I think it's a big distinction.

Yeah. But you know, like re-watching Road Warrior so recently for this, we were sort of struck by how much like Road Warrior and Mad Max feel like Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2. Right. And then Road Warrior and this feel like evil dead and evil dead 2 right and then road warrior and this

feel like evil dead and evil dead 2 to a certain extent with a movie in between where he's like now i can do the full crazy version yeah yeah yeah um but it does feel right you're right it's so much an evolution that it avoids being a regression and And like luckily for him, like having gotten back the rights for it, he does like it's a pretty malleable property. I mean, like it doesn't really have that many rules. So if you own that IP and then can, you know, but you have new ideas like it's kind of best of both worlds because it's like you have an IP, but you're also like I have a zillion other things I want to do, though besides like revisit what I've already done.

It is just incredible that like you have this franchise, these three beloved movies that capture the launch of a massive, massive movie star. Yeah. Even though he is no longer beloved. It's like one of those roles where you're like how does someone else take that over? That's like one of those roles where you're like how does someone else take that over that's like impossible and that you have this like incredibly

like powerful up and coming actor take on the role and make it his own sure talk about Venom yes okay

I just won the check this is a Venom prequel he takes over for Topher Grace the disgraced Topher Grace and makes it his own no but it's

it's fascinating how much this movie is just like, doesn't matter where this is in the timeline. Doesn't matter how this connects to what Mel Gibson did or didn't. Mad Max is now just kind of like, he's an archetypal figure. Right. This is not worried about explaining how it connects. This is a continuum.

This is a series about just sort of this type of figure in this type of world. I mean, it was such an egoless performance. I don't think he even was miked for it. So. This is a real putters and murmurs. This is the putteriest. The best of the decade. To answer your question, Emily, Margaret Sixel had 470

hours of footage to edit, which took her three months to watch before she was even ready to edit it. Oh my god. Right. But don't you think if your editor is anyone other than the person you're married to, they quit when they get that hard drive? Yeah. I don't know.

How are you paid for that? Are you just like in love and support from your partner aqua cola do not become addicted to money I don't

I don't know I mean usually you'd think with these movies it's more like where you have the four editor block

you know like you know it's just sort of like yeah of course they needed multiple editors people had to

go off and do other things yeah you have a lot of you have a lot of assistance.

Mad Max Fury Road. The plot. I don't know. The plot of the film is that there's this guy called Max. They go fast, and then they go fast the other way. I feel like I have to say that Ben feels like a little muted during this episode. He doesn't feel

like his full enthusiasm is on display here. And I mean, but to be fair, though, it dry. Oh, my God. It is a dry movie. The thing about that, Emily, is actually, it recently was officially announced that I'm pivoting in 2020 to sort of more

of a dry kind of situation. Oh, wow. This is really great dry kind of situation. Oh, wow. This is really great for you, then. Yeah, yeah. So this is just dry as a bone, and I'm loving it. Which that's the other thing Ben's really into now is bones. Oh, I've always been into bones, but I'm like really getting into them. 2020, it feels like the three things you've really put up on the vision board are dryness.

Yes. Bones. Yes. Which there's obviously a lot of overlap there, and chains. This movie covers all three. I have a whole note about all the chain work in this movie. See, maybe he's being a little muted

because he's in finest film critic mold. He has his laptop in front of him. Maybe he has prepared copious notes. I've got a good amount of notes. Also, I'm letting you guys do the whole background. Yeah, we're doing the content. Leading up to the movie stuff. I don't know about that stuff.

So you're saying you're not toast to the knowing about that stuff. No. But he is capable. He is capable and he is splendid. Let's be honest.

Thank you so much. How rare is it that in 2020, Year of Our Lord, a franchise movie, a fourth film in a franchise, even if it is one that isn't like that isn't super plot driven, where you can just start out the film with narration that vague. I would love somebody to make an opening crawl for Max.

That's just the opening monologue. Mad Max Fury Road. My name is Max. Oh, the Star Wars curl Yes That's what I mean For that monologue Like But the fact that that movie

This movie can start off With that And that's all you need to know You don't need to have seen Any previous Mad Max movies It doesn't matter Yes 100% Sort of part of the magic

Of this movie Well that's why it doesn't It's only Mad Max in name Like Because And vague theme Well yeah the vague theme The theme is gasoline That's part of the magic of this movie. Well, that's why it doesn't, it's only Mad Max in name. Like, because. And vague theme. Well, yeah, the vague theme. The theme is gasoline and dryness and cars.

And dead family. Sure. Vaguely. But, like, what movie doesn't have that now? Like, that feels, like, I think that that's one of the most, kind of, the weakest links of it is, like, seeing flashbacks of a little girl, like, being like, why didn't you save me? Like, that just feels very like video game-esque. Oh yeah. Like dumb narrative shit.

Which is whatever but it gets through it so fast you don't care. There's so little of it. I think about this all the time especially like in comparison to something like yes I will say these two words on this podcast. Mortal Engines,

where there's, I think that there is as dense of an imaginative of a world being built here. I just think that this actually has the confidence to just be like, yep, here we are. And I do think that Mortal Engines also does a pretty quick, like, there are big cities on wheels, and there you go. And here we go.

But I think that, like, there's so little that it's almost like a neg from the movie at the beginning where you're like, give me more, instead of being exhausted by it, which is, yeah. Confidence is the key word with this movie because it just narratively, like, which is, yeah. Confidence is the key word with this movie because it just narratively like barrels forward so fast. It makes it very clear which things are absolutely crucial, important to understand going forward. Yeah.

But a lot of it is just like, if you want to dig into this, you can. If not, trust that I have it figured out in my head. I'll use shorthand. Like, I remember watching this for the first time and things like, you know, seeing Furiosa's tattoo and her talking about being taken away. I'm like, when's the scene coming when she has the big dramatic monologue where she talks about the fact that she was one of a Morton Joe's brides?

And then when the movie ends and you're like, oh, right, you don't need to do that. Any other movie like this, you're watching it as an audience member, you're like, when are they going to get to the reveal? But the point is, if you've done the math in your head already, the reveal is unnecessary. This movie doesn't have a first act.

Yeah. No. The second act is the first act. Yeah. It just starts into an action scene. The first act happens before the words Mad Max Fury Road come up. Right, right. The first act is Ben.

Okay, here we go. My name is Max. My world is fire and blood. Once, I was a guy from New Jersey, a road warrior searching for a righteous cause. As the world fell, each of us, in our own way, was broken. It was hard to know who was even more crazy, me or everyone else.

Emily is visiting New York City. We love to have her. Hollywood. And she's staying with me. And so we watched this movie together. Oh my God, humble brag. Did they put you up in business class or first class? I can't actually answer this as a joke because I did go first class.

Emily did fly here. In number one class. But while we were watching it. I should be up front with everybody because I know people are talking and the rumors are true. I have gone Hollywood. You have.

Emily is covered in jewels. She also said that I can't look at her, which is very annoying because she's staying with me for a week. And like inconveniently sitting right across from you right now. But she, unfortunately, she has a suit of mirrors. So that I can only see myself if I look apart. And David is also wearing the black bar from the Parasite photo. Yeah, right.

The poster. But anyway, while we were watching, Emily was like, ooh, I have a hot take. And I was like, is it positive or negative? And you said, positive, but people will think it's negative and would tell me no more. Okay, here we go. Well, and it sounds stupid, too, but I can explain it. There are two movies that came out in 2015, or that at least were in festivals in 2015. And the other one I did see at Cannes that I think kind of were the most prescient

about what life post-2016 would feel like. The other one was Green Room, which I did see there, which is, I think, one of... If I was doing my decade list, I think that would be on it. That's a very, very important movie for the last 10 years, I think, for me.

Agreed. Yeah, Fury Road, though, I think more specifically... That, I feel like, is a a green room is a very good dramatization of politics and violence and just like how just how toxic everything feels now. Like it just feels 100 percent. All of that is is encapsulated in that. I think that Fury Road more specifically is like the best cinematic and like cathartic vision of what it feels like to be on Twitter. Yes.

I mean, with the war boys. Yes. A hundred percent. Well, yeah, I know it's annoying to talk about. Yes.

The internet. It's a very annoying take to have, but like, I really mean it because it's not just the war boys. So it's not, and I don't mean this along like ID ideologies or factions or something. I mean that the way that it's not just the war boys it's not and I don't mean this along like ideologies or factions or something I mean that the way that it is non-stop

it never stops everybody is screaming all the time there is never a break everybody thinks that there's a nice version of this somewhere but there's not

you're trying to get to the green place it's not there and then while you're going you're just trucking along because you can't stop and then every once in a while somebody comes in and is like I am the scales It's not there. Right, but you're- And then while you're going, you're just trucking along because you can't stop.

Just trying to block people. And then every once in a while, somebody comes in and is like, I am the scales of justice! And just comes barreling in with machine guns and that's what it feels like. You gotta get your crossbow from like, oh, I have another one over there, I guess. Okay.

And that, I feel like the chaos, the nonstopness, the like, there's always something new coming down the barrel. That is what it feels like to be online post 2016. I do think the war boys are a wonderful metaphor though. Here's my parallel take I've been working on. Okay.

I think the reason these movies are so potent, all four of them in different ways, is the thing that George Miller understands is that society is fucking ridiculous and silly, that we keep on building these rules and these structures. Yes, that even in an apocalypse, eventually someone will be like, well, I'm the king. And everyone's like, this guy said he was the king. My currency is this and we trade with this and this is the route we take.

My title is a Morten. I've got like a shoulder thing right here. Everyone's like, pretty cool. All right, King. I was looking up, I was trying to find the What a Lovely Day quote or like the clip of it. And I was like, Mad Max Fury Road, what? And then like it had suggestions. And it was like, what is wrong with Immortan?

What's up with that guy? Has he gone on WebMD? He's got a couple things. He is sick. It feels like he should air that shit out instead of putting a carapace over it. It's a fair question. And talcum powder, which I think is proven to be bad for you at this point.

If I lived in this society, though, I would be the war boy who delicately blows the talcum powder all over. It's probably the best job. Yeah. I kind of like the guys who just have to climb on the little wheels to make the levers go up and down. Otherwise, they just chill. Yeah. I was going to say, though, yes, the fact that society ends and then so quickly it rebuilds into an equally stupid system.

Yeah. And so quickly it rebuilds into an equally like stupid system. Yeah. That I think the thing he gets is like we are all still so stupid and primal in base in terms of what is driving us at all moments. And we use like intellect and intelligence and language and art and all these sort of like trappings of sophistication to try to hide all of that and act like we're striving for bigger things and deeper things and we have other things driving us. But it's like everyone just wants their fucking guzzoline. Everyone just wants to be like the king and the most powerful and the most respected. At the end of the day, we can gussy it up however we want.

But people are trying to not starve or trying to have somewhere safe to sleep. People want to believe in something. They want to believe in something. Yes. And they want to have some sort of family around them. Yes. And they want to have some sort of respect. They want to have friends.

Right. And blood. And blood. There's actually a ton of blood in this movie. No, no. Yeah. And Twitter is such a like a witness me sphere

of just everyone yelling like I need to exist I must exist at every moment but guys Twitter's stupid oh it's real dumb most people who watch this movie don't even have Twitter accounts

yeah it's sort of weird to think about yeah it is crazy how many people are have just made the right decision and have never touched Twitter in their life. That doesn't seem like my cup of tea.

Yeah, why would I do that? Thank you. Right, yeah. Because it's not like people are like, you gotta join Twitter. Why do I have to join Twitter? Ah, it's great. Oh, the discourse. People talk about it like smoking.

It is indistinguishable from how people talk about smoking. As well as the people are like, I assume it will eventually be illegal. I started 10 years ago. Like, yeah. I just have to assume that that's coming down the pike at some point. Or I will die from it.

No, I will stop when I am threatened with a lawsuit. No, I started doing it in college or high school because all my friends were doing it and I didn't want to feel left out. I met so many people from doing it, but a lot of them have left.

Silence your phone. I did. You're there to make noise. I don't know why. It's silenced. Look at the button. The other overlap between Twitter and smoking is I only do it when I'm drunk. Oh, boy.

So, yes, this movie starts as if you've missed a whole movie already. 100%, right. Where he's just like, you know, you think it's, oh, voiceover narration, then him standing out in a cliff, and it's a moment of introspection, and then you realize it's one brief moment for him to eat a lizard before he gets back in a car in the middle of a chase that's been going on for who knows how long. Right, and then he gets captured.

Yes. And turned into a blood bag, of course. No one explains that. Because he's a universal donor. He is a universal donor. Which you will miss if you blink during the scene where he's getting tattooed. Yes, I want to read his tattoo to you because I love it.

And you see it for like five seconds. Here's what the tattoo says. Day 12,045. Height, 10 hands. 180 pounds. No name. No lumps, which is my favorite part. No bumps.

Full life clear. So he's not a half-life boy. Because the war boys are like little radiation boys. Oh, oh, gotcha. Two good eyes. Love that. No busted limbs. Piss okay.

I don't know when they tested that. Genitals intact. Multiple scars. Heels fast. O negative. high octane, universal donor. What does high octane mean? I think it just means his blood will really get you going. Oh, okay. It keeps Lone Road Warrior run down on the Powder Lakes V8, no guzzling, no supplies, isolate psychotic, keep muzzled.

That's the entire thing that they write on his back. That's on screen for like three seconds. If that. Yeah. I love that he was deemed psychotic. Yeah, they're like, this guy seems kind of wild. Jeez, relax. Calls himself mad, Max.

I read some quote, I think from Sexel, who said that 60% of the movie is either sped up or slowed down. Yeah, that they keep messing with the frame rate. That they shot everything at normal frame rates. And then when he was watching the edits and they kept refining it, if something wasn't clear, he'd slow it down. And if something was too clear, he'd speed it up. He wanted everything to occupy just the amount of time it took to register.

Yeah, yeah. And that's the other big part of this. I mean, he gets, what's his name? John Searle out of retirement. Seal, the cinematographer, out of retirement for this movie. And the whole principle of it is the most important element has to be perfectly in focus, as close to the center of the frame as possible because we're going to be cutting so fast that the brain needs to develop a process for understanding what it should be focusing on. Right. He would keep saying to Seal, like, you need the crosshairs of the camera on their noses. And Seal would be like, I don't get it. I'm, like, cutting.

And he'd be like, don't worry about that. Well, this actually is the case, I think, for it being, like, the movie of the future. Yes. Especially if you're talking about movies that people aren't going to be looking at a second screen during because you literally can't. Right. You can't. Right.

That would just be, like, looking at a second screen while just sitting next to traffic going by. You'd just be hearing noise. And as proven by the blood bag thing, major plot points are revealed within three seconds of a shot without dialogue. Yeah. Yeah. And it feels like that density of information, though, is like I feel like more so than 3D or something else that feels immersive.

Like the density of information is immersive in the opening section of this movie. So you cannot like you have to be fully in it. You can't be doing something else. You can't be still making popcorn. And then, you know, you go from there, like already being all in. And that basically carries you through the whole film. And that's like 3D felt overstimulating for this movie. Like, I thought the 3D conversion itself was pretty good in a technical level, and he put effort into it.

But the movie is just giving you so much. No, there's no reason to watch it in 3D. There's no reason. Right. The technology, the technological advancement in this movie is him understanding the way human beings process information. And the frame rate, too. I mean, it's not like he's the only person to mess with frame rate. But I do think that, like, the nature of the frame rate in this or then the shutter speed specifically in this film is, like, is basically makes you feel like you're watching a 3D movie,

even if you're not, just because of the clarity of the images. Like, you're not, yeah, again, you don't need 3D for it. I always love the inventiveness of vocabulary in these kinds of movies, but man, I'm so surprised to hear that this wasn't heavily scripted.

There's so many moments that I just love how it's like they kind of sound like they're saying gobbledygook. Sure. But you know exactly elementally what they're talking about. I don't think any of it was really improvised in that way. It was more that he didn't write a script in the

traditional sense. You know, he didn't sit down and do line for line. Got it. He was thinking images first, then dialogue to supplement it. You know, and most often the dialogue is sort of just more color into it. It's very rarely something that isn't being conveyed visually. Well, this is the thing that I like.

Okay, so he obviously created this entire system of belief or quasi-religious belief, like the whole Chrome, Highways of Valhalla thing, like what the war boys do when they're going to go on a suicide run or something. Witness me. Witness me, yeah. It is cake spray, by the way. It's cake spray? I called it.

I called it. We were wondering what the silver spray was. It's cake spray. It's like it's some Ace of Cake shit. They're all just icing each other. Icing their bros. But yeah, no, but to invent this entire system of like this is what they do. This is the ritual. This is what they believe in. And then to really just winnow it down to these very sparse beats where we get just a glimpse of what that looks like in operation is like so

unpretious i think that most people especially who do like world building the tendency is like well i came up with all this shit i'm going to show you every single aspect of i'm going to lord of the rings it and it's so not concerned with honoring itself it's just like this exists as a piece of of color for the world. We'll see it exactly as long as we need to see it. And there's no,

like, we'll leave all the mythology to people who make the Mad Max wiki. Which I'm currently reading. Yeah, which is very in-depth. But I think

doubly so for people who spend this long on one project. When you consider that he spent almost 20 years in development in this movie, aside from the fact

that he's already had three previous films, aside from the fact that he built it out so much, when you have a movie living in your head for that long, I feel like so often it is neither this nor The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. It's a thing where it's like they just don't know how to translate this to me anymore. It's been inside their brain and unexpressed for so long that they've stopped figuring out how to put it into any sort of language that is connectable to any other outside people. And this movie is just – as you said, it's so stripped down. And then even when you're starting to see the other tribes, how they're based around other objects or other currencies, there's so much shorthand there where you're just like, I'm sure he has answers for all of this. I can infer a ton and I respect the hell out of him for not telling me everything I think I want to know. But the real question is for everybody in this room,

are you more of a gas town boy or a bullet, bullet farm boy? God. Bullet farm. Cause it's bullity. Well, cause it's a farm. Yeah. That's true. I'm definitely a gas town boy. Ugh. God. Bullet farm. Because it's bullet-y? Well, because it's a farm. It's a farm. That's true.

It sounds nice. I'm definitely a gas town boy. You know, the people eater, he's a bigger guy. He's well-dressed. You know, the bullet farmer is kind of like, eh, and he's got bullets for teeth. Yeah. Bullet farmer seems mad. To your point with the bullet farmers, it does seem like they maybe have a better dental plan.

That's true. Lisa needs braces. Just all fillings. But I mean, you know, I would want to be, I mean, Emily and I both agreed, it seems cool to be Morton Joe's son who just sits in a chair and looks through a telescope. That seems to be like the chillest of the jobs. Yeah. Like up in the

Citadel. What's that guy's name? He's definitely got a name because everyone has a name. I'll always remember Rick Diserectus, but he is the big boy. And a brother! A baby brother! And he was perfect! And he was perfect! And everyone! Let's find out.

That moment with Rictus Erectus after the baby dies, that is like a moment. I feel like I've mentioned this in the room that I just finished where it's like, it's one of these great moments that I can only compare to the the the Rancor dying in Return of the Jedi and the guy who comes and mourns him. His name is Corpus Colossus. Corpus Colossus. That's right. Of course.

Yeah. But like just a little tiny glimpse of like somebody mourning or like feeling life or death who's like ultimately pretty inconsequential to the plot but it's just like oh there's like all this other stuff going on which is like

I love I love I love Rancor-esque moments like yes it's so good okay wait

so first first 30 minutes of this movie are essentially 30 minutes 30 minutes the movie fades at 30 minutes

on the shot of the firecracker he gets the mask fades at 30 minutes on the shot of the firecracker he gets the mask off at 45 sure I timed it there's an additional 30 minutes

but it's the first 30 minutes start with Max giving his monologue and ends with him going into the storm it going black and you've seen

the flare fade right but like through all of that it's like end of high speed chase into those like catacombs him trying to swing on the hook away from the war boys. They're finally capturing him into opening credits. Then you see in the sort of inner workings of the Immortan Joe temple and his speech, the release of the water.

Chilling out, getting some blood. The release of the water is one of the most infuriating. There's two really scary looking things in this movie that don't have to do with cars. And one is the water being dumped on all those people. Wretched is what those people are called. That's mean. Rude. I don't think Immortan Joe is a nice guy.

I gotta be honest. I think he comes up with mean names for people. I feel the way you feel, David, when someone doesn't finish food in movies watching a Morton Joe spill all this water up to the wretched he does spill a lot because a lot of it

is just going no fucking way very silly get a little tap a little faucet have everyone line up what's the other thing the other thing is

when the Fuvolini lady slides down the rope with no pants on that definitely I mean. That just, like, makes me cringe every time. She's obviously built up years of calluses, one assumes. But, come on.

Not a pleasant life. Yikes. The Valkyrie? Megan Gale herself. That's right. Who was supposed to play Wonder Woman. I told Emily. Yeah, I learned that.

And Hugh Key Burns was supposed to play Martian Manhunter. That's right. But, of course, Hugh Key Burns, who plays Morton Joe, is also Toe Cutter in the original Mad Max. It is truly wild. Like just beyond, like he's like, I'm going to make a fourth Mad Max 15 years later. And everyone's like, why would you do that? Yeah. Mel Gibson's not in it.

Yeah, obviously. It's going to have Tom Hardy. Okay. Tom Hardy. I mean, sure. I guess he's up and coming. Who's going to be your villain? Maybe he could get a big. No, no, no I mean, sure. I guess he's up and coming. Who's going to be your villain? Maybe he could get a big...

No, no, no, no, no. I'm going to get the guy from my first Mad Max movie. So you're bringing back Toe Cutter? No, new character. He's going to play someone else. How old is he? I don't know.

60s? Maybe 70s? He's old. He looks like me. He's got my hair. Do you have any other villains? No. I mean, like, not famous ones.

Right? It's just a bunch of guys I mean I guess like Charlize Theron and Nicholas Holt are the other two names in this movie yeah but Holt's another guy who's on the up and coming track

almost all the wives like became they all became but like I mean this is like most of it's early for all of them right

I have been surprised that Rosie Hunting Whiteley Huntington Whiteley is the one who doesn't seem to have capitalized off of this. Because I think she's very good in this. She's only made two movies. I know.

I think she mostly, one, I think she had an absolutely horrendous time making this movie. They had to pluck out all her eyelashes because they got weird chemicals in them during. Which she apparently was not happy about because she's a professional supermodel and she was like I need eyelashes and her first experience

was Transformers which was also presumably a nightmare yeah great movie Transformers Dark of the Moon and American Masterpiece the other film that predicted Twitter

but yeah so I don't think she had a great time but I think also she just has like a bustling modeling career she just went back to bustling modeling career.

Yeah. She just went back to it. But like Abby Lee was a model before this. And then after this has gone on to have a pretty good acting career. Yeah. She was kind of more at the age, I think, when models are like, I'm going to try acting because you're kind of aging out of it. Sure. But she's like, she's so good.

She's so good. I love, she's so funny in Neon Demon. She is. She's so funny in Neon Demon. She barks up an eyeball. Yeah. It was one of the so funny in Neon Demon. She barks up an eyeball. Yeah, it was one of the best things I saw that year.

She, yeah, Abby Lee's still doing stuff, you know? She's in The Dark Tower, she's in, I just think, I think Hudson and Wiley

has a lot of integrity in this movie. She's great. With the least screen time of the brides, and she has to sort of carry a lot of emotional weight. Mm-hmm. I i mean you don't see

them escape the tanker really fully until the 30 minute mark and she's dead before the hour mark yeah and that has to feel like a consequential loss to multiple different characters probably shortened her shooting time yeah she only shot for seven years yeah as opposed to everyone else shooting 10 um i tried to watch this in the black and chrome edition. If I can do a little corner here on some thoughts. I have no interest in that. I've thrown it on. I've looked at it.

Yeah. I don't care about this black and white thing. I mean, I love a black and white movie. Can I offer my thoughts? Sure. We're covering a movie I've seen as many times as I have with this. Sometimes I'm like, if there's an alternate version, I'll watch the alternate version this time. Or I'll watch it with commentary this time because the film is already playing in my head nonstop.

So I tried watching it with this. And by the time they get to the end of the opening set piece where they're caught up in the storm, I was like, why am I watching this without color? Right. Because this is a movie that uses color so fucking well. Yeah. because this is a movie that uses color so fucking well and when the first production stills came out from the movie in like 2013 like a year before it even they showed footage

for the first time at Comic Con the stills were super desaturated and everyone was like oh it's this kind of look it's what all modern upon brown town I want to see those I'll show them to you. They look bad. Total Brown Town.

And you were like, okay, so great. It looks like everything else. Modern Mad Max looks like fucking everything else. And then when people saw the Comic-Con reel, they were like, this thing looks fucking insane. They claim that 90% of it's practical. The stunts you see in the trailer are nuts. I have no idea what the plot is, but also this thing is so fucking colorful. Dunce you see in the trailer are nuts.

I have no idea what the plot is, but also this thing is so fucking colorful. So when that first trailer came out and it's like a fucking Crayola box and you're not used to seeing that in this type of film. It looked like this. Yeah. Lame. Oh, that's, yeah. Nobody wants that. Right.

Like it's like basically sepia toned. Right. Right. Looks crummy. Yeah. I mean, one of the great things about this movie, because I think that you could do that saturated kind of yellowed look, which is very, I associate with like Breaking Bad when everybody did like color grading to make everything look yellow. Like, it's like, because we're in Mexico. Traffic. Yeah.

Oh, definitely traffic. But I think that the saving grace of this movie is that they kept the sky blue. Exactly. That's what I was going to say. Like having a blue sky in all of those shots where everything is basically brown and yellow and like some red when people are bleeding out of their blood bags. But like the sand is like bright yellow and the sky is bright blue and the fire is bright red and the colors really like pop. Yeah. And watching it in the black and white version, you get, I'm sorry, the black and chrome version.

It makes you realize like. Black and chrome edition. Edition. There's this quote, I forget who it is, but when color was first introduced to film, one of the key filmmakers of that time period was like, this is going to ruin the art form. People were just figuring out how to use black and white. Yeah. And this is an extra tool that people weren't ready for. And watching this movie in black and white

makes you realize how well he uses color, how much he does know how to use color, that you're removing from it, something that actually is an important storytelling asset. Yeah. When something like Parasite gets thrown out as like, oh, guess what? They're going to release a black and white cut. I'm like, I don't care.

I don't give a shit. And I love that movie as much as I love this movie, but I see no value to it. The weird kind of value you get from watching a little bit of this movie in black and white is because so much of it is practical, it feels like you're watching Metropolis or something. And because so much of it is visual

and doesn't rely on dialogue, it feels like you're watching some odd 1920s epic. Right. The version of this I would like to see him do just as a thought experiment is him going further and just doing it's black and white, it's only score with inner titles.

No, forget the black and white. With inner titles. I want him to do the silent film version and have it as a thought experiment. Whatever. I have no interest in that. I kind of- Watching this movie with the sound on in black and white just feels like,

what am I doing? Why am I removing one of the key elements? I don't get the black and white thing. Yeah, I don't understand why people... I love Bong's quote about it because he did it for Parasite. Yeah, yeah. He's like, well, black and white movies

are very classy and arty, and I just thought, what if my movie looked like that? That feels the same. He was more like, I'm like, yes, that is what doing your movie... Right, that's the only reason they do it. I mean, I was somewhere, I'm like yes that is what doing your movie that's the only reason they do it

I mean like I was somewhere I can't remember but like I was well it was like somewhere like a bar or something

and they were playing like the local news it was in LA and it was like the night before the Oscars and they were just going through like the nominees

and they showed like a two second clip of Parasite and I was like watching it from across the room in this bar like with a chyron underneath it. Just like not at all ideal. But it had that shot of like when they're at the little corner convenience store.

And, you know, he's coming down the alley to meet his friend near the beginning of the movie. It's such a beautiful shot. Like the color in it is so gorgeous that I was just like, damn, what a beautiful movie that was on top of everything else like and that's like in the most unideal situation possible it was yeah

it was yeah I don't know why anybody would do the black and white thing for that I think it is just the thought experiment thing of like

do you know this thing that Soderbergh did with Raiders of the Lost Ark yeah where he was like I'm gonna convert it into black and white and turn off all the sound

and put it to the social network score. That was just him being like, I like fucking around. Like he wasn't like, this should be in theaters. No, no, no. But this is my thought experiment. His thing was like, I want to do this so I could study just the visual storytelling of Raiders and not be distracted

by anything else. And I just want to focus on like the visual math of this movie. Right. And I think that's focus on the visual math of this movie. And I think that's the value to doing something like this. But also, it's not really that interesting as its own thing.

It's like peak digital special feature. You can toggle it on for half a second. You can compare and contrast. But it's its own version of the movie. What are you gaining from it? Yeah. Yeah. I was going to say one other thing.

I mean, well, have you guys watched the score-only version of The Last Jedi, which is available as an option? No, I haven't. That is quite delightful.

That's why I was almost on board with you. I kind of like the score-only version. Sure, yeah. No dialogue. Yeah, yeah. Because these movies

that are very music-driven, often it is kind of a fun thought experiment. Like, oh yeah, I basically get what's going on. Exactly. But not black and white. It's a nice looking movie. I'm going to stand by this. The feature I wish you could do and you can't do them at the same time is

score only black and white. Just to see how it plays. We're fighting. We're fighting. This is a fight. We're fighting on the Fury Road. Yes exactly and I will meet you in the I don't know. But there is the Black and Chrome edition. I own it now.

I suppose I could watch it. You know what I wish you could... Not for this movie, but I think about Lord of the Rings actually a lot while watching this movie just because of the way that it does compositing and digital and stuff feels kind of like of the same school.

Sure. Both Weta movies. Yeah. Yeah, that's probably why. I didn't realize. Sure. Both Weta movie. Yeah. Yeah. That's probably why I didn't realize that it was a Weta movie. That makes sense. Australia. But just like the,

because I remember that movie being such like the, the beginning of, of, of, of color grading and stuff and like being able to see an alternate color grade, because I think that a lot of that stuff can age really poorly. Yeah.

So like seeing either like a less color graded movie or like a re like kind of just like remastering, but just for color. Yeah. I think that could be a cool feature to do, but that's different than just taking all the color out. Sure. It would be interesting. Look, it would be interesting just to compare and contrast because these things can be done

so quickly and easily to see the desaturated version of this movie, to see the movie that is like the clean footage they shot because this is at one extreme end of the spectrum. Yeah, definitely. With a movie that's this good, it's fascinating to try to watch it in any sort of way so you can sort of focus on different components. But the version of this movie that came out in theaters

is the best version of this movie. Absolutely. Far and away. I agree. 100%. Right. It doesn't really need to be messed with. The plot though.

Yes. So they go on the Fury Road. Right. Well Furiosa Imperator Imperator Furiosa. And we do

Stan. And we are obsessed. But also just beautiful that this character is introduced with you know walking away from the camera starting on the back

of her neck seeing the brand and now she moves further and further away towards the truck. You see her robot arm, and you see the wheel. Yes. And, of course, you have Immortan Joe doing his sort of like, we have to get food from God. He's explaining what's going on to his people. But you're seeing like the milk farms. You're understanding. The ladies hooked up. Right. You know, like he's explaining what's going on to his people. But you're seeing like the milk farms. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. You're understanding. The ladies hooked up. Yep. Right. Yep. Yep. The whole sort of functioning economy of Gastown.

Yes. So, and. So she's, right. She's a trucker who's going on a run. Mm-hmm. And everybody has to come to see her off because imports and exports, super important. Yeah. And I think it's just part of the cult of the war boys, you know, where it's like, you know, this is a fun trip. Everything has to feel like a religious event.

She's got the water and she's going to bring the water and get Guzzoline and bullets. Because we provide. And Murtanjo provides for his people. A hundred percent. And so off she goes with her war rig which is so cool and sounds like a whale anytime it honks they layer in whale sounds

they want it to be like a big Moby Dick kind of thing all the vehicles are functioning yeah which is the thing that's completely insane yeah it's nuts

what kind of they should all go to jail for building cars because they started building them in like what 2002 or something yeah sure they designed it right 100% like a lot, 2002 or something? Yeah, sure. They designed it right, 100%. Like, a lot of those had been

around for a long time before they shot. But yeah, it's so weird to think that, like, you know, you wake up at 4am, you go to hair and makeup, your entire body is caked in white makeup, they shave your head, you know, give you the black eyes, right? And it's like, get in your car. You get into one of those things,

you're like, oh, turn it on, I guess. The weirdest thing to think about is so often if the car is actually moving, it's like get in your car you get into one of those things you're like turn it on I guess the weirdest thing to think about is so often if the car is actually moving it's probably moving at like 30 miles per hour so you're like Charlie's there on pretending that you're like in the race of your life in this giant fucking like gonzo car

driving like a grandmother yes all the boys are sort of I just love that shot of them going to get their wheels. That's what I was going to say. Just communicating the world so quickly that they're all just like getting their wheels.

And one of the few dialogue setups is Nux is hooked up to Max and he's talking to his friends. To go see off Furiosa. One of the only think he's too weak to go see off Furiosa. One of the only times there's proper info done where someone's like, Furiosa's gone blah blah blah! Like, you know, someone

actually tells him what's going on. That's when they're off to chase her. He's gonna strap the blood bag, Max, to the front of his car, placing Max in the middle of the action. Well, he's gonna die historic on the Fury Road. Of course he is. Right, if I'm gonna die, that's what I'm gonna do. But right, because Furiosa goes off the action. Well, he's going to die historic on the Fury Road. Of course he is. Right. If I'm going to die, that's what I'm going to do. Right.

But right, because Furiosa goes off the road. But once again, the fucking restraint of just the guys coming up to her window and being like, it's that way. And her just sort of nodding. And then the guys going back and being like. I'll pass it down. I think she knows what she's doing. That it takes like 10 minutes for them to question.

Is she fucking us over? Because they're dealing with the spiky cars who are great and we stand and we're obsessed when the war boys are finally trying

to catch up with them like you know there's already she's already dealing with the regular which is like three spiky VW bugs which is a reference

to Peter Weir's great exploitation movie The Cars They Pairs and then I love the spiky RV. I just I just love it when there's a level up, you know, where it's like, I get these guys are spiky cars.

They're like, geez, these guys are hard. Well, let's get the spiky RV. Let's get the spiky tractor trailer. But like their lives suck. Yeah. At least the wretched get like a water bath once a month. Those guys, it's just like, what do

we got? Spiky cars. Anything else? If someone comes here, we spike them. That's our deal. Isn't it so depressing that this movie is like, you know, the three currencies, water, gasoline, and bullets. That's what the best fucking idea of the movie is. No, it's on point, but it is just like, it's probably going to come down to that, right? I mean, it's probably where we're going.

Right, it's food and guns and machines. And chains. And blood. And so the first half hour is all that happening. Right, these people slowly coming to realize that Furiosa is going off the rails. And she just goes into the sandstorm. Her whole move of when she goes off the path,

I was thinking about that a lot. Because it's all in full view because it's a desert. So Joe is watching her. They're not going down an alleyway. No, it's not like, okay, once I'm turned around the corner, then we can sneak off. There's really no other way for her to do it. So I was just like, how do you make that calculation

of when you can deviate from the path so that you still have enough time? Like it feels like a very – like it is a movie where – it's a chase movie that takes entirely – plays entirely on like an open, just flat expanse. So there's no topography. It's not like the Bourne Identity or anything like that. It's – I don't know. I just – I thought that was kind of funny. or anything like that.

It's, I don't know. I just, I thought that was kind of funny. It also feels like so much of her move with people questioning her before it starts to become an actual, like, violent chase is her being like, I have built up such a reputation that they will not question me.

I will get, like, 10, 15 minutes going off course where I want to, building up a little bit of a lead on them before they even start to question my motives. Well, they have to find that the wives are gone first. Right. There's that, which is what they check on when he sees them veer off.

And then, of course, you've got that great set, the weird school, we are not things, all that stuff. Go on, Emily. This is my only problem. You're doing Emily face. This is my only problem with the whole movie.

I think that although we are not things stuff is really silly and bad. Sorry. I love it because it's like as they keep saying it's what's her name? The splendid and Karad Rosie hunting the white is the one who came up with we are not things. So it's like they're very elemental language. Right. Because they keep saying like she's the one who said it.

We are not things. She's become their spiritual leader. She's their... There's a little sort of, like, you know, individualistic self building within. I feel like they should have taken the milk ladies with them, too. But the milk... Oh, well, sure. But they're very comfortable sitting.

Like, I don't know if they'd be into the whole, like, come on, guys, hide in a water tank. They don't seem very mobile. I don't know if they'd be into the whole like come on guys hide in a water tank they don't seem very mobile yeah I don't know it's like I think that this movie is fun and fine and I don't think too hard about it but I do think that like when people are like it's super feminist

I'm like yes Furiosa is like a cool character but I think like if you examine it's feminism too hard it doesn't go that far but like Eve Ensler yeah no it's super broad but i think i think that if you appreciate it on those levels like great totally works within the movie it's just it's just criticism around it i i almost cried several times re-watching it this morning just because i can't believe it exists there were moments where something would just happen on screen

i can't remember specific ones because it was like five or six times where I was just like, how is this a thing that not only was made but came out, was well-received, was a hit, and got copious Oscar nominations. Like it fully has earned the reputation it deserves. And beyond winning all the Oscars, like that year, the critics and the sort of cool kids were like, well, that's obviously – That was the critics pick. That should be the winner. Right, right. What even won that year? Spot critics and the sort of cool kids were like, well, that's obviously That was the critics pick. That should be the winner. Right, right. What even won that year? Spotlight?

Yeah. That's the Spotlight Revenant year. Yeah. Yeah. Is that the year? Yes, it is. Is that the year, right? Because it was that thing where it was like

I do love Spotlight. Oh, because that was a fun Oscars because it won all those technical awards and every single person who came up to accept an award for Furiot looked incredible. They were amazing. Like they walked off the set. It was so funny because they were also all sitting together

and you would just see one of them stand up wearing like, you know, 40 carpets and being like, oh! And they get up

and be like, George, you're nuts, mate! It was great. Six Oscars it was. Yes. Then when Leo and Inoratu won, it was like,

oh fuck, is this going to go to the Revenant? And then Spotlight at the end of the night was kind of a pleasant surprise. Right. I love Spotlight. I mean, it is a very different movie from Mad Max Fury Road, I would say. And from The Revenant.

I would say The Revenant and Fury Road have more in common. 100%. Spotlight, especially starting with Tom Hardy. With a mumbling Tom Hardy in it. Yeah, that's the right Tom Hardy. That's why it was annoying when it felt like oh they're gonna give it to bad Fury Road

yeah like the Revenant which is Fury Road with like pretension over explaining Cold Fury Road Cold Fury Road nice Cold Fury Road

Burry Road by the way joke give him some points Revenant could have done yes give come on give her points oh oh oh five comedy points okay five comedy five comedy cubes ice cubes Give him some points Come on Give him points

Five comedy points Five comedy cubes Give him some comedy points for that That was funny By this point we should have our comedy point coins We're getting close We are actually making physical comedy point currency We're trying to disrupt the American economy.

I have been on an email chain thread about this, even though I was barely aware that it was happening. Every day I get another email that's like, so here's the update on the coins. And I'm like, why are we making coins? Do you ever feel like you've created an economy of fire and blood? I just want people to witness me. That's all I want.

Comedy town. Comedy. Comedy town. Comedy. Pod town. Yeah. Ay, ay, ay. Anyway, so after the, but the storms, they go into the storm.

They go into the heart of the storm and then there's the moment at minute 30 where the screen goes black. But before then is when the score builds finally. It'd be, you know, beyond the just like humming score.

It does some real like blomps. It has a melody. It goes, you know, right? And you see the car going into the storm and exploding. beyond the just like humming score it does some real like blomps it has a melody it goes you know right and you see the car going into the storm and exploding Max has been trying

to free himself from the hood of the car the entire time and that's when Nux is like you know what a glorious day he pumps himself up

he spills pours water all over himself no it's gasoline isn't he gonna he's gonna explode it's gasoline not water

what am I talking about and what was I going to say? There's something else that happens. I guess Max is just trying to consciously. Right. He's just like, yeah. And it's speaking a lot. Because I was watching it with subtitles, too.

There are, like, transcribed lines of dialogue. Specific things he was saying. It is just part of the brilliance of this movie that that's when he's the most verbal. Right. I also think that the whole driving into the storm thing, another thing I really respect about this movie is that driving into the storm, whether literally or just sort of tonally, theoretically, is always a thing that happens in the last like 10 minutes of the movie. Like the minute 30 of this movie looks like the end of most movies. Of this kind of movie.

It looks like the end of Return of Skywalker. Is that what that movie was called? Rise of Skywalker. Remember all those ships? The dead speak! Splashing. But we've talked about this before. At minute 30 when the screen goes black,

our entire audience bursts into applause. And then you could also hear them exhale. That's so cool. Like everyone had been holding their breath. So cool. Armand White was on his feet, pumping his fists. Wait, really? I remember him being very into the movie.

Really? He was there, and I kept on checking him. He was there with, it seemed like, three or four family members. Like, he was like, this is a big one. That's sweet yeah aww now I'm looking up his review

um watch me be totally wrong I think he liked it I'm looking it up um but you guys it's another thing uh

about George Miller is he knows peaks and valleys so well he knows when to take his foot off did not? no but I mean like that doesn't mean anything.

Yeah. Yeah, well, okay. That's just like the part in Wet Hot American Summer with the day by day and like everybody's feeling it

and then boo! Perhaps, perhaps the greatest joke in a movie. It's so good. Is when they just, they're just the whole, they're just clapping

and then they all boo at the same time. It always gets me. That is the funniest shit in the universe. It's so good. I mean, God, it has a lot of competition with like 12 other bits in Wet Hot for me. Right, right. Sure. I just recently rewatched Wet Hot because I was like

feeling crappy one day. That's what it's for. I used to watch it like twice a month. Oh, I've seen, it's up there. It's one of the most watched movies of my life. I think it is the movie I've seen most of my entire life. It would be in my top five. It would be up there with a Star Wars for sure. I had a flipper disc of it and a movie starring Jerry Stiller

that I have still never heard of. I have to look up the name of the, that was on sale in a shop in, oh fuck. Britain. What? Wait, I'm a shop in oh fuck Britain what? wait I'm sorry I love how I don't see it coming until I'm halfway into an anecdote

and then I'm like no that never happens though I lived in Britain when this happened to me what? there was a store in Britain in uh there was a store?

what? called Poundland okay what? which in Americaland. Okay, what? Which in America- Wouldn't it be called Dollarland? In America, sounds very pornographic, but in England, just meant that everything in the store

was available for one pound. Why would it cost one pound? Yeah. Because it was- What do you mean? Because it was cheap, shitty stuff. That's why it cost one pound. You know what I'm saying?

Why wouldn't it cost like a rupee, a peso, a dollar? Oh my God. I once bought computer. I used to like going to Poundland just to see like, what do they have on sale that's like, like not even remotely cost. I bought computer speakers once and I was like, I can't believe.

I mean, I really respect that you will admit on the podcast that you love to go to Poundland. He said he once liked. I love Poundland. It's true. He doesn't like it anymore. Please tell me that there go to Poundland. He said he once liked. I fucking love Poundland. It's true. He doesn't like it anymore. Please tell me that there's a Poundtown. He once liked going to Poundtown.

But they had DVDs, one pound each. They have great sales at Poundtown. But that's the balance, though. You know, the tricky thing is they have so much good stuff there that you have to use a lot of restraint to not blow your load at pound town. Please just keep going. I'm enjoying this. Someone actually wrote an article about this, which I truly appreciate.

Oh, right. Someone I went to college with wrote an article about this flipper disc. Because I then said to him, go to Poundland. And buy this flipper disc because Wet Hot American Summer is one of the two sides. Gwilym Mumford. Shout out Gwilym Mumford. He now works for The Guardian. You had a friend named Gwilym. Yeah, well, there's Welsh people in England.

Telling someone to go to Poundland. It sounds like telling someone to go fuck themselves. Why don't you go to Poundland? But the other side was a movie called The Independent starring Jerry Stiller and Janine Garofalo

which is like a mockumentary where he's like a sort of like a Z grade right. He's like a trashy exactly.

I never watched it but I had Wet Hunt American Summer that was like side A. Wow. And it was that movie was never released in Britain

just theatrically because it was barely released theatrically here no yeah and I just remember coming home putting it on and show it

like to my friends I was like you're gonna like this thing like you know it's sort of in the vibe of you know movies you like and like

what's the first joke in Wet Hot American Summer I think it's David Hyde Pierce being like I said I said no there are like 87 jokes before that. That's like the

first interaction in that movie. Is Janine Garofalo coming up to him? No, no, no. Because the movie opens with everyone waking up. Yeah, there's the speaker. There's the kid talking on the radio. There's some visual gags there. Anyway, anyway. I just remember that moment, him saying, I said

no, them all just jumping in their seats and being like, wait, is this going to be great? Yeah. It's a big moment for me. Oh, it's humongous. Anyway, day by day. That's the best part. I think before that, though, I think the first laugh that I get from that movie is it's not the I said no one.

It's their first interaction where they just like say hi to each other for the first time. And then she looks away and she takes it's a podcast. So you won't see me. But she just takes her mug and she goes. That is so good. I know exactly what you're talking about. It's also funny that Janine Garofalo was in both of the Flipper Discs. Yeah, that's probably, it's like a Janine Garofalo

super pack for the fans. Oh boy. There's that bit in the first mug interaction before they've actually spoken where they were miming little bits to each other and he mimes. Oh he throws his mug

accidentally. Where he has like a hole and then there's like a cat that screeches in the background. When is that not funny? Just throwing something and then a crazy sound effect and a cat. But then I believe they hard cut to the cafeteria and someone drops their plate at breakfast and they use the exact same sound effect again within 10 seconds.

It's so good. That's the bit that destroys me. The hardest I laugh in that movie is the Alan Shurmur run. Oh, yeah. I mean, obviously that's great. And there's one Zach Orth reaction shot. He's so funny. He's crucial to both Alan Shurmur and Day by Day because he has the loudest booing.

Because he's right in the phrase. It's so good. But there's one where he's laughing so hard and then he has to force his eyes open and it looks like he's in pain laughing so hard. It's the best comedy ever. It's the best movie. It is one of the most influential movies to me.

It's a perfect comedy. It is one of the most influential movies to me. It's a perfect film. Oh, I love it. I rewatch Rudd doing his dramatic hiccup. You want to talk about perfect alternate versions of movies? Have we all watched The Fart Cut? Oh, I've watched The Fart Cut. No. Have I watched The Fart Cut?

The Fart Cut's incredible. The Fart Cut is incredible. It's just the movie. It's the movie. They add in extra farts. But they're all so well-timed. Really? They do a lot of them, but they make very specific choices, so when he's picking up the shit from the floor,

every time he bends over, there's another fart. Okay, I'm writing this down. You should do that for Fury Roads. Black and Chrome and Farts Edition. Is What on American Summer the Fury Road of Black and Chrome and Farts Edition. Is What on American Summer the Fury Road of comedy? Probably. It just never stops.

You should do a fart cut on this show. We should do a fart cut of this episode behind the Patreon paywall. We're going to announce for the first time we're adding another tier to Patreon. It's just whatever episode came out that week with extra farts. The tier costs $20. I was about to say, in terms of the labor it would take that week with extra farts. The tier costs $20. I was about to say, in terms of the labor it would take for you to add farts. I feel like Ben would be into it, though. Like, Ben would put the labor. Because the thing is, I gotta do it Foley style.

Totally. You have to do each fart yourself. You can't just rip them. You can't rip rips from the internet. No. The fans demand Verite farts. Yes. Anyway, after the storm.

After the storm. Then you have the great one-on-one set piece. You know, Max, you know, finding Furiosa and then fighting the one-on-one combat. And he's still just trying to get his fucking mask off. Wants that mask off. You really want it off for him. He also needs the chain off. He has to like carry Nux with him.

It's so fun that Nux is sort of just there and as they're fighting, like keeps getting sort of and then finally wakes up. I think it's like the first part where he starts like filing away his mask and it's when all this other shit. Is that before the storm?

I can't remember. There's like a part where he's. No, that's after the storm. It's after the storm. Because during the storm, he's just trying to get himself freed from the hood of the car. When he wakes up, it's the fire. He's trying to get it.

Yeah. That gross detail where like looped into the chain is. Is the blood. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, but I think it's when the Gastown people start showing up or something or who starts showing up in that after the storm. And then like he turns and sees them and then he turns around and immediately starts, like, filing. And that was, like, one of the early parts that I was like, this just feels like Twitter for some reason to me.

But it also feels like Looney Tunes. That's what's so great. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, yeah. 100%. I was about to use that exact same comparison. But I think that's part of, like, the speeding up some of the footage. Yeah.

Is you have these basic human movements, which are now amped up and sped up to like it feels like Chuck Jones. Yeah. Where like Bugs Bunny is able to in one instant go from one extreme pose to another. Yeah. The way he's looking back over his shoulder and then like very quickly filing. I didn't know that Jeremy Renner was up for this, but I can't imagine. He's not funny enough.

There's nobody. He doesn't sound right for it, even though it's funny that he is. It's not like he's far from Tom Hardy physically. And at that point in time, it felt like, oh, of course that's the obvious choice to replace Mel Gibson.

I've never seen him dirty, Jeremy Renner. He seems too clean. Well, you keep hanging out at his house. It's weird. Get dirty, Jeremy. You won't listen. I'm just peeping, trying to give him advice.

You show up to his home with two sacks of fertilizer. You know, and jeans. Hey, when they come out. Put on the jeans, Jeremy. Bring them up. Bring them up. They will be up by this point. You should say that. Oh, Ben's winking.

Oh, they're up. Isn't that what they say at the end when they're trying to bring them up. They will be up by this point of Ben's winking. Oh, they're up. Isn't that what they say at the end when they're trying to bring them up? You should do that every time you un-earth your jeans.

You have this great Furiosa Mad Max fight and it's like the movie is slowing down for the first time with an intimate two-person fight scene

where these two characters, the two movie stars are finally getting to like interact. But they're also both just in survival mode. They're like wild animals. Yes. Meanwhile, the girls are cutting their chastity belts off. Oh, the chastity belts with the teeth.

Love them. Yep. I mean, I hate them. They're very bad, but like I love them also. But also the symbol, the skull and the chastity belt is the same as what's on Furiosa's wheel. I mean, all these things of how you see how she's, like, built her life as a former Morton Joe bride. Right. Yes.

Recontextualized all these elements and tried to own them herself. But Max grazes Rosie Hunting-Whiteley with the bullet. Mm-hmm. But Max grazes Rosie Hunting-Whiteley with the bullet. And it sets up this element that makes the Furiosa thing so much more clear of how freaked out a Morton Joe gets if his wives are damaged. That they need to be these perfect human specimens. That they all need to be former models. Or the daughters of celebrities. Right. Or granddaughters.

Yes. Right. I guess Priscilla Presley kind of counts as a celebrity. Yeah. But yeah. But I do love that Max is like, I'll steal the war rig. Drives off five seconds later. Right.

It stops working. Right. Right. Right. That she, the brides are all freaked out. Lisa Marie Presley. What am I talking about? Priscilla's grandmother.

Yes. The brides are all freaked out and Furiosa's fine with it because she just knows, like, you think I'm a moron? Like, I set this truck up so that no one else can operate it. Anyway, so that's why they sort of ally with Max, like, pointing guns at everyone and being like, I love Tom in that mode. That's the mode I want him in. Yeah.

Distrusting everyone. Grumpy. Yeah. Distrusting everyone. Grumpy. Yeah. In the condition he's in and also being like the only man among them at this point and pointing guns at everybody. It's like he doesn't feel dangerous. He

just feels foolish. Yes. And like having the ostensible even though he's obviously not the lead of the character. This is the lead character. This has been very well established but I think this is kind of the first where you're like yeah this isn't the hero of our story. He's gonna

become a better person through this but right now he's just crazed. He's still in caged animal mode. Well that's the beauty of sort of decentralizing Max from the sort of import of the story and the narrative

is that he can actually just be like truly mad. Like he's like a feral animal. Where when he has to fulfill more of the obligations of a protagonist, the guy has to be a little more conventional hero movie star. And in this,

he can just be like Tasmanian Devil. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right after that is when Nux climbs aboard, starts doing damage, and they just throw him off, and they're like, Immortan Joe is a, he eats Schlanger, you know, whatever their line. And that's the moment where Nux's whole worldview,

life story is just completely upended. I love Max getting his jacket back from him, too. Yeah. Yeah. But it's just such a, like, Nux is just completely upended. I love Max getting his jacket back from him, too. Yeah. Yeah. But it's just such a, like, Nux is, he always sucks. Yeah. Like, he does a bad job in the storm. He does a bad job there.

He does a bad job at Gan later when he's told Morton Joe, he's like, I get on there! And he just falls right in Morton Joe's like, whatever. Doesn't he say, like, mediocre? Yeah, yes, mediocre. So good. You know, the only, finally in the end he redeems himself. But, like, most of Yeah, yes, mediocre. So good. You know, the only, finally in the end, he redeems himself.

But, like, most of the time, he's a shitty war boy. Yeah. Which I love. He's so sick. He just wants to be in the club. He's got his two lumpy friends. He does have his little lump voice.

That's the most Ben moment of the movie entirely. He's so sad about them, too. It's the little smiley face. But he, like, has names for them. Yeah. So cute. I just

I think that if it wasn't for the fact For what? The lumps? The lumps. But if it wasn't for the fact

that Tom Hardy is so strange and wonderful in this movie and Charlize Theron is like one of the most incredible action hero

performances in recent history. Somehow, Nicholas Hoult gets lost in that. I know. But he is so, so good in this movie. And I think re-watching it, once you kind of are done being bowled over by the two leads, then you can really appreciate. The work he's doing.

Such good work. Such good comic work. I don't know he's doing. Such good work. Such good, like, comic work. Like, I don't know. Yes, very comic. Right, right. But, like, you know, when you're all made up, I feel like people

will underrate your performance maybe just sort of out of hand because it's like, oh, well, the Wayne Cup must be doing a lot of work here. Right? You know, like...

But I just think... I think... His lips, too. Mm-hmm. His weird chapped lips. Super chappy. I find that dismissal frustrating because I think so often

it is being that made up frees up an actor, gets them out of their head, you know, makes them feel distance enough from themselves that they haven't added freedom and then people chalk that extra energy up to, oh, they just look weird. I'm responding to the design. Joe Reed gave him

Best Supporting Actor on the show. He gave him the credit he deserved. He witnessed him. It remains very wild to me that Charlize didn't get a Best Actress nomination. I guess so. It felt like that was going to happen. No, it didn't. She didn't get any precursors. It's not wild.

I'm saying it felt like it was going to happen when the movie came out to me. And then she proceeded to not get any precursors. You're way too optimistic. They never nominate action people. The Sigourney Weaver thing is is the 100% exception to the rule. But this felt like the movie. I feel like it's the exception that proves the rule in a weird way. Yeah, 100%.

It just doesn't happen. I'm going to find you the best actor nominee. Never forget, you guys, though, all women are superheroes. That's true. That's true. And I didn't know that until they told me. Yeah. Here were the five best acting best actress nominees.

When is this coming out? That reference is going to be a hell of an old. May. It'll be really fresh. People are re-watching that. The Oscars. May 24th. Here were the five best actress nominees.

Brie Larson for Room. The winner. All Women Are Superheroes. Cate Blanchard for Carol Good movie Great movie Saoirse Ronan for Brooklyn Charlotte Rampling for 45 Years Which was like a nice career nomination

And then of course she was like People are racist against white people I can't remember what she did It doesn't matter Something French Right, very French But it was very annoying that she did that And then of course

the one person who really deserved to be there and this was huge and this was really great that they recognized this. Jennifer Lawrence for Joy. Oh boy.

Oh my God. That is the one where you're like well it's a it was a loaded year. I want to talk about something I was thinking about this.

Talk about somebody who is like evaporated. She's chilling. I mean, good for her. She was in a movie last year. Dark Phoenix. Oh, right. She was really in that movie.

We're X-Men. We have to be the... Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. She's in Dark Phoenix. Is that a direct quote? Probably. Honestly.

She gives some speech like that before she gets shoved into a wall and then dies. Listen, Cyclops, I have a 345 flight out of Burbank, so I only can do two or three takes of this scene. That's what every moment of her performance, all 28 of them, feels like. Is Nicholas Holt in Dark Phoenix? He is. It's the first X-Men movie that I haven't seen. You missed a lot.

Everyone who saw it also didn't see it. That's the problem. We watched it and then we left and we were like, I still just want to complete it and see all the X-Men movies. You just saw it. No, I don't remember that. I would remember that. I took a nap.

She has a movie coming out this year. Is it her secret surprise movie? She has a secret surprise movie? Is it called Secret Surprise the Movie? It's the movie about where she plays a soldier who has a brain injury. Really? It's very Oscar sounding. Who's directing it?

Lila Neubauer. She should just have fun. I agree. What? I don't know. Someone called Lila Neubauer who's never made a movie. I wanted Red Sparrow to be the thing. Okay, I'm just going gonna do a kind of like,

mm, mm-hmm. I mean, the equation is, not consensually. She needs my best friend's wedding. Like,

Julia Roberts was in, this became the take where it's like, she needs to do a rom-com. I'm like, I agree to get it, but like, I don't know.

She should just do whatever she wants, but I'm saying, but I'm saying that like, I like, when I saw it, she wanted to make, she's the author of I'm saying that like, I like, when I saw it. She wanted to make, she's the author of that movie.

I know. I know. And I was like, cool. Do a kind of pulpy assassin movie. That sounds great. I just didn't love the movie, but like more stuff in that line of thinking though is,

is great. Like she should just have mother. I'm sorry. I don't think that's the title of that movie. Can you try Mother There we go Mother

Yeah I'd like her to make more movies I enjoy Jennifer Lawrence I enjoy the comedy stylings And the joyous stylings Of Jennifer Lawrence She might come back hard She might

I don't know It is kind of a point Where we're now asking that question Yeah we're like It does feel like her As star As our favorite ingenue, it feels extremely dated and old now. Her tripping everywhere and stuff feels like a real thing we had to get out of our system.

It feels super. That was sincere sort of early Twitter energy. It was like, she's great. She's just like us. She eats snacks. She loves to snack. She loves to snack. Her best friend is Amy Schumer.

All this stuff just totally, everything is the same. It's so bizarre to think about. But then when I watch old weekend updates and so many of the jokes are about Julia Roberts leaving Kiefer Sutherland at the altar and then the Lyle Lovett thing and all these weird sort of arcs of her career. It does feel like it was that thing where she was so much, of like arcs of her career it does feel like it was that thing where she was like so much so fast

everyone loved her she was everything then everyone was like fuck this why is Julia Roberts being crammed down our throats and then by the time

my best friend's wedding came around everyone was like of course we always loved her she has never stopped being our favorite movie star

I'm not saying it literally has to be a romcom but she needs to find the movie like that. I agree. I don't know. I don't know. She's also so ridiculously young.

Yeah, she is. Right. She's like Bradley Beal or whatever, where you're like, God, she's been around forever. It's like, nah, she's like 28. Yeah. How old is she?

She's 29. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Born in 1990. 90s, baby. Only true 90s kids would understand. Only true 90s kids would understand. Only true 90s kids would understand.

Anyway. Let's talk about Fury Road. So they go to the canyon with the bikers. What do you think of the bikers, Ben? Like the yarn guys? Yeah. Exactly. The yarn guys.

Yeah. Scavengers. I mean, I like that they're sort of like no strings attached, even though they do have strings attached. You know what I mean? Like they're like really out there. They're like covered in strings attached, even though they do have strings attached. You know what I mean? Like they're like really out there. They're like covered in strings. Like they're covered in like rags.

No, I know. Many strings attached. There are many strings attached. They're actually joy heads because they're big moms. When you think about it. They are. They're like anti-Pinocchios. But like no one's holding them down.

You know, they just, they own the canyons. Yes, that's their deal. They're like. And they ride dirt bikes which I love I haven't ridden a dirt bike in so long and when I watched this

it was bringing me back wait dirt bike Benny hasn't even ridden a dirt bike recently no I haven't I haven't had a chance where am I gonna do it in Brooklyn

I guess I could bike it out they ride like ATVs I feel like around Brooklyn you could do it alright do it

I will hit the Fury Road or like Prospect Park Ben and I both live on the Fury Road we do I feel like, around Brooklyn. You could do it. All right. Do it. I will. Hit the Fury Road. Or like Prospect Park. Ben and I both live on the Fury Road. We do. Which is? 101 Fury Road. Eastern Parkway.

Yes. This is when the movie introduces the notion of where they are going. Sure. Which is the green place. Mm-hmm. But yes, after Canyon, they have the confrontation with the bikers at the Canyon. Yeah. But yes, after the canyon, they have the confrontation with the bikers at the canyon. They blow up the canyon, but Joe's amazing massive car, which is cool.

Isn't it funny that his name is Joe? Joe. And so he's like, my name's Joe. It's just not clicking for kind of like apocalyptic dictator. I need a prefix. He gets over the war rig, and this is when Rosie Hunting might die, when Joe attacks him directly

and she falls out. And he runs over her. He runs over her. She went under the wheels as Max says. But that's when they talk about the green place right after that. Also skipping over one of my favorite bits in the movie which is Max finding all the

guns. Yeah that's great. Which is another bit with like Looney Tunes speed and energy of just him constantly reaching to different places and adding to the pile and every gun looks more ridiculous than the last one. I love how crazy all the guns are. I want to go back to the canyon bikers for a second

just because I think that in this movie they are I would actually rank them pretty low because they are like maybe the one thing or the one type of person in this world that feels familiar to me like i was just like comparing to them so like they look like tuscan raiders basically like same vibe same energy you do have a tuscan and i think like when you are using these actual vehicles. Again, working vehicles that are like seven cars piled on top of each other.

The spitting of the gasoline into the pipes and stuff. There's no other movie that has that in it. I've never seen anything like it. Yeah, the thing with the bikers is mostly fun to watch her kind of like pop them

out of the sky. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But themselves, it doesn't feel alien at all. They're not the biggest threat either. No, no. She kind of just moves past them. There's just some terrain. They're called the biggest threat either. No. She kind of just moves past them. There's just some terrain.

They're called the Rock Riders, according to the Mad Max wiki, which is kind of corny. We should talk about the war party. Yes, war party. Fuck. Because, right, of course, initially he sends the war rig and some boys, but he then has to call everybody in to come get her. And that, yeah, you know,

bunch of fun people. The whole team. But we should talk about this. But the DuFourier, I think is, I think... He is like, if Jaws, like the score was 50% of why it was good, DuFourier at least gets 25%, right? Yeah. Like, without him, Mad Max doesn't win Oscars. I think that that is

when you, that's when the whole thing gels for me, when I see that guy. I'm just, then I know how to watch the rest of the movie. I mean, I love the drummers too. Sure, yeah, yeah, yeah, great. All of it. I mean, to me.

It's not good before then. It's just that when that happens, then I'm just like, oh great, here I am in this movie. I didn't realize I was watching this movie, but I'm now watching this movie. Is it the coolest thing? It's kind of the coolest. I think it might be the coolest.

Of all time? I swear. Yeah. In a movie that I've ever seen. I think it's the coolest thing. It's just one of the best things that anybody ever decided to do. It's just the best. It is one of the coolest things.

And it's real, as you know. I was reading a 150-pound fucking guitar that could actually shoot flames. They blindfolded him. Seems dangerous. Yes, it does. Especially with the blindfold. All fair. And he has this whole backstory to him

where he was a blind child, so he learned music so that he could communicate with other people. Correct, yes. And they found him in a cave and then used him for their own good. Yes. Which rules.

But I also just love that, in addition to being like fucking awesome, brilliant world building, sort of like tone setting, as you said. It also serves such a good narrative purpose. It essentially makes the bad guys theme music diegetic. Right, right. So that in a movie where it's open plains and you constantly want to know, like, are the bad guys getting close? Do they have time or not? If you start to hear it in the distance.

But I also like when they're blocked. This is not the Deuforia, but when the road is blocked and the drummers just go down to, like... Yeah, yeah. They're not, like, pumped up right now, but they're still going. Yeah, and the fact that, like,

most of the score, I mean, it's a good score but it's pretty, I mean, the textures of it and the instrumentation of it is pretty normal, pretty standard. But then when you,

I think that it would possibly be a jarring move to have an electric guitar line in the middle of that, at least now, for what's standard sounds in an action film, except for middle of that, at least now for what's like standard sounds in an action film, except for the fact that you have an actual guy who's playing.

Yeah, have a guitar there, it's great. It's kind of crazy that he didn't get Best Supporting Actor. It is, should I call up the list? Yeah. The mop from Joy made it in. I was invented. That's what he said.

That was his best line in Joy. Thanks for inventing me, Joy. She was like, I'm Joy, by the way. She doesn't even say it in the movie. Here are the people who dared beat up the Doof Warrior or Iota. Doof Warrior as himself. No, Iota. Oh, Iota as?

Plays the Doof Warrior. Koma Doof Warrior. Sylvester Stallone in Creed. Mark Rylance in Bridge of Spies, the man who beat him. Hack. Standing man. as Koma Doof Warrior. Sylvester Sloan in Creed. Mark Rylance in Bridge of Spies, the man who beat him. Hack. Standing man.

Christian Bale in The Big Short. Remember that? Yeah. Played the drums. Mark Ruffalo in Spotlight. And then look at this, Betrayal. Tom Hardy in The Revenant. Oh, right.

Fucking keeping the Doof Warrior out. Yep. He could have maybe publicly announced he was stepping aside. That is a good putters and murmurs though. Yes. I've been meaning to re-watch that movie. The Revenant? I will never watch it ever

again. I don't like it. I find it boring. I saw it early so I was like, oh, is this thing going to rip? And then 20 Minutes In was like, not the... It didn't rip and rev? And not my was like not not it did rip and rev and not my tempo not your tempo

you know what I'm saying JK Simmons after all the stuff we've discussed Fletcher drum teacher whiplash is our first

night scene they shot those scenes in the daytime they just you know good day for night turn on the old bluey that's what I love

the blue flip on that blue that's just hard blue yeah they get stuck in the mud you got the whole mud scene you see those walkers you see the

stilt boys the weird stilt boys they refer to it stilt boys they go I think that's a tree like they're not sure Nux doesn't know he calls it that thing over there

and they have to like that's a tree he's like yeah whatever we just gotta tie the rig up to the thing the tree thing he says it that thing over there. And they have to, like, that's a tree. He's like, yeah, whatever. We just gotta tie the rig up to the thing. The tree thing. He says the tree thing, which is really funny.

This is the green place, we later learn. Right, they don't know it, yeah, because it looks all blue. Because it's the blue place. Right. But they look like the Landstriders from Dark Crystal. I saw this movie the second time

with a friend of the podcast, Joe Garden, and his former Onion cohort, Todd Hanson, a great guy. And when the Doof Warrior came on screen, he, like, literally, we were sitting in the front row of the second section of an AMC where they have, like, the bar up,

you know what I'm talking about, the railing, and he grabbed the railing and started rocking back and forth and just chanting yes at the reveal of the doof warrior and then when these guys appeared

the stilty boys the stilty boys he just went I want to know everything about them that's the that's the mark of a good

movie that's the NG's feeling that's the like tell me everything about that guy yeah he just turned to me and said, who are they? I want to know everything about them. Do they know each other? It was such an infectious feeling. Are they friends?

Or are they just out there on a run? They just ran into each other. Crow fishermen. Of course they are. Of course they are. Do they, like, fish irradiated crows out of the mud? Yeah, I think they go around the bogs and like get shit out of the bogs.

Cool. Because it's like the green place just turned into like a bog, which is why you get stuck, I guess. Oh, man. I love a bog. I'm a boggy boy. Who doesn't?

Bogs are cool. Bogs are cool. You ever see the petrified people out of bogs? Oh, yeah. This is like one of the early creepy things that I was into as a kid

because my mom had a book of them. It was a book about bog people called The Bog People and it was by somebody named P.V. Glob. What? Glob's bog people? What? She also had a log.

Here it is. P.V. Glob. A Danish archaeologist. Here he is. Here's a picture of him in a bog. V.V. Glob. A Danish archaeologist. Yep. Here he is. Here's a picture of him in a bog. Wait, I want to see. Chilling in a bog.

What a bog boy. He is a bog boy. Glob, I mean. Right? He would investigate like the Tulland Man or whatever. Yeah, the Tulland Man. All the creepy bog people. What do we think of Max walking off screen?

There's also the stuff with the bullet farmer where they shoot him and he's blind. And the beautiful moment where Max is trying to take the shots and she's trying to,

Furious is trying to note him and he's not listening and she comes over his shoulder and he just like closes his eyes and hands the gun back to her

and uses him as a rest for the gun. Yes, which is great. It's just the moment where he goes like, I get it, this isn't my movie. I'm fully seating control of this movie to you. I's just the moment where he goes like, I get it, this isn't my movie. I'm fully ceding control

of this movie to you. I also just love the bullet farmer, them holding the flare up to his eyes and him being like, I can't see it, I don't see it.

This is Tin Nose? No, that's the people eater. Oh, right, of course. That's the big boy. Oh, Tin Nose is the people eater. But the guy who comes for them in the night

is the bullet farmer. Is the bullet farmer. He's the one who says, I am the scales of justice. Which is a great line. And show me the lie. Maybe he is. I like the Bullet Farmer a lot. That's me also.

Hit me. I'm a Libra. Scales. Matt Max walks off screen, comes back covered in blood, washes himself with breast milk. Yeah. And they go, are you hurt?

And she goes, it's not his blood. It's not his blood. No further comment. Done. Takes a little milk bath. Very cool. And then how do they, what happens? And then after that we meet the Vuvula. They just keep going.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just the sun comes out. There's another fade to black, I think. Yeah, yeah. There's a time jump. There's a lot of fade to blacks. There's a time jump. There's a lot of fade to blacks. I was saying that like- Yeah, we were saying that so many fades.

Yeah. And it's like, I think it's good for the nonstop nature of the movie, but also like it kind of gives it a sort of almost comforting like TV movie feel or something where I'm like, oh, like it's a commercial break, but not in a way, it feels cheap, it just feels like, I don't know, it feels comfy. Yeah, no, it feels like watching a TV show on DVD.

It has these nice little reset moments. You desperately need those. You need them. In this movie. So they arrive to... Meg and Gale on a you know Valkyrie. Yeah. Just on a platform.

Sliding on a rope naked. Slides down. That's true. Badge first. But it's a trap. Sure. That they identify.

They don't fall for it. Yeah. Yes. Right. That's when Max is like that's bait. That's when he does that. Right.

Yeah. Right. That's bait. I also didn't shout out but that great moment before Rosie Hunting-Whiteley dies when he checks on her and she's fine

and he gives her the little thumbs up. Oh yeah, the thumbs up is great. It's so good. Yeah. He's such a good physical actor. He really is. Green Place, no good. Right.

She thinks, oh, now we're close to the Green Place and they're like, first of all, you passed it. Yeah. Second of all, our new it. Second of all, our new plan

right across this salt land forever. A lot of positives. Again, Twitter. Big upside. What if we just did this forever? I'm gonna win this argument. There's gotta be something.

If I keep on replying, I will eventually win this argument definitively and no one will be able to quote me or screencap me or dunk on me. The thing about a salt flat is, if you need salt, it's right there. All the salt. You could never run out of salt. Yeah.

And also not bumpy. Flat. A little bumpy. Also, unlike a bog, pretty dry. Pretty dry, Ben. It's cool. Dry stuff. You should get really into salt i love salt

curing the genes and salts oh i was thinking about sea jeans doing a dry well yeah you suggest i've tried to get you remember i was asking you if i could use your dock yeah i remember that it's not my dock i have no ownership over it. But whatever. It's not like anyone's going to know. I just need a rope and a couple of jeans, and I was going to put them in the water and then take them out, and they'd be all crystallized, Emily.

I know someone who has a property. Can you imagine salty jeans? That has water. I can, actually. I've jumped into the ocean in jeans before. But for a long time, so it's really built up. How long do you stay down there? And it's got barnacles on it. And there's lobsters that have been pinching at it.

You don't see the lobsters, but you know they've been pinching. It's all about the little pinches. Two things I want to say for the listener at home. Ben mimed out pinching at the jeans. He did an adorable little claw pinch motion. Secondly, David's face went bright red when Ben implied he owned a dock. I do not own a dock.

So I now want to start this rumor that David owns a dock. David owns a dock. He's ashamed of it. Just want to make it clear. Real estate mogul. I'm fine with this bit. We should make a bit.

Not that I own property, just a dock. Just a dock. I think that's funny. You're buying docks left and right. What do you think you're using the Patreon money for? Docks. He kept saying invest in do docs to Griffin and I. We're like, all right, David.

I mean, everyone needs a port in a storm. Wow. Wow. That sound. I will say that I know someone. That really shut him up. I just want to make it clear to listeners that I know someone who does have, they don't even own it, but their parents have a property that's on the water.

Hummel Pass. And Ben, knowing this, asked me if he could, and in all seriousness, if he could hang jeans off the dock for, I don't know, six to 12 months to make some quote unquote sea jeans. Reasonable request. And I was like, one, no.

Two, I don't think they'd like that. Imagine looking at it. What, the jeans? They would love it. Oh, right, the jeans? They would love it. Oh, right, the jeans. They would smell so bad. Three, I don't think the jeans would make it. That's my clear.

So bad. I don't think. They wouldn't come close. Now, you could put them in a salt bath or maybe with some herbs and pickle them. Herbie jeans. Herbie pickled jeans. Saged jeans. I think that would actually be kind of cool.

Immersing stuff in salt does make it softer. The ocean aspect of it, like the plankton, all the little dead things that are going to be in it is going to be really gross. Freezes in the winter. I would advise against it. I'm going to rethink the concept, but I think you've made a lot of good points.

I'm so glad, because I had forgotten he did that, but that all got discussed on the podcast. I just want to underline all this again, because people ask me all the time, how much of the Ben thing is a bit? To which I always go, look, he knows he's funny, but also he is truly doing all of these things. He will talk about it seriously for an hour and a half.

And also, this kind of shit happens off mic. 100%. Yes, yes, yeah. 100% I had to have an extended conversation with Ben about how he couldn't make CG. These are real serious conversations that happen away from any audience. There was no one was capturing this. This was not around other people, maybe Griffin,

but that's it. But Ben was basically like, can you work that request up the chain? And I'm like, I'm telling you that the request is stopping here. It's stopping right here. This is the end of the request.

Up the chain. He's our beautiful boy. So, Max is like, Perfect in every way. Exactly. Max is like, rather than go across

the salt flat I love that he says this he has a suggestion he suggests it yeah he says I suggest yeah that we go back

to the citadel it's undefended they're all still chasing after us we take it from you know take the power back the narrative audacity

of this movie to say hey you know how this movie has been so far for half of its runtime going in one direction? What if we just stop here? And then went back. Perfect turn.

There's even a conversation where they're like, should we go around? He's like, no, no, no. No, I think we should go right back. Yeah. We should go through the canyon again. Yeah. It's great. They cleared it.

Ten point turn back in the opposite direction. Right. Yeah. It is very cute that he says, I suggest. It's a nice. I know. Because at that point, he's surrounded by suggest. It's a nice... I know. Because at that point he's surrounded by

all the Vuvolini and the wives. Who are some old women who are like, we've been doing this shit. And like, men basically ruined the world

and we don't trust you. Like, he has to be vouched for, basically. Yeah, Furiosa's really, he's fine. Yeah, he's okay. This is another moment that's been mummified.

We have the muscles still in the back. Right, right. Furiosa falling to her knees uh dropping her arm shop um i mean you it makes sense why uh these images and these memes are circulated so frequently on the internet because this movie feels like the internet and when these types of things happen the only way you can think of expressing yourself is with images from this film well and and the most i feel like the most used gif is the what is it indiscriminate men's screaming or whatever like while she's um while she's driving like that is the most commonly used one which again most sense on Twitter. Yes. So then they go back.

They have another amazing action sequence. That's when the pole cats are introduced swinging left and right. I said this to Emily when we were watching but like it is crazy how like circusy and corny so much of the action is like them like swinging around and grabbing each other and like it never feels that way.

You're like, yeah, this is awesome. This is so hardcore. But actually, it really is just so acrobatic. Oh, and if you held on to any of those shots for longer than a quarter of a second, it would be laid bare as such. But the magic of editing. Also, I forgot. In the first run out, they're doing a lot of editing. Also, I forgot, in the first run out,

they're doing a lot of the spears, the expensive spears. Yes, love those spears. I love it because it just looks like they're throwing fireballs. It's just, and with the two arms, we're like.

That's the first witness me guy is the guy who's like. Yeah, it's great. Great, great, great stuff. That is a place where he really amplifies this movie from the three previous though. Yes. Is that. The action choreography is just out of control.

Right. Because I mean, Thunderdome obviously has a lot of fighting and the other ones are more vehicle based. But this one has sort of like the acrobatics. Yes. The crazy like stunts of the jumping and the swinging and all of that. There's that whole

extended sequence in the final battle where like Max keeps jumping from vehicle to vehicle like he's with the people eater kills that guy

or you know or maybe uses him as a shield and he gets shot puts his foot on the gas his big fat foot and then like jumps from that car

to another car and then gets snatched by a polecat. Oh boy. Oh, boy. I love that Furiosa's cool gas pedal is like a foot sizer. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, that thing that she can jam down? That rules.

Yeah. Very cool. I also love that the- I like Nux's little bird. Sure. What wiggles. Is there a theory that this takes place, not in our future,

but like an alternate timeline that is maybe like the present day? Like Mad Max 1 is Mad Max 1. Yeah. Like the world disintegrating from the 70s on. Something like that. Because all the cars that are used, there's not like current day cars that are used. No, but they do worship the V8 engine,

which is Max's engine. Yeah. Which follows your thing. It's basically like, if you take Mad Max 1, it's happening right around the near future. The old ladies are supposed to, I always take it as, have lived

in a world we remember. It's not like this is set 500 years into the future. Can I throw out a counterpoint? Because you've now reset with Tom Hardy, a younger actor, the amount of time that has passed

in our world between Thunderdome and this has not passed within these two films. It's been a few years rather than 25. Right. So if the first Mad Max takes place in the near future, in 1980, right? Sure. Then this movie might take place if the first Mad Max takes place in the near future right in 1980 right sure

then this movie might take place in like 2002 hey in like an alternate timeline 2002 yeah so should I look

Chicago was the best picture winner should I get into those nominations is that who the duphorier was must have okay

I detail I just because this movie is so dense that every time I rewatch it, I find other things I hadn't picked up on or connections or communications or things. It's an obvious one,

but it just never really stood out to me that Furiosa has the skeleton arm on her driver's side door so that when she's driving the car, it looks like she still has a bone in her arm. Whereas in fact, a rubbit arm. Her rubbit arm is, by the way, it looks like she still has a bone in her arm. Whereas in fact, a rubbit arm. Her rubbit arm is, by the way, very cool. Cool and I like it.

Very good. But the final sequence that we're talking about with the Polecats and such, the death of Immortan Joe, he dies before Rictus Erectus. In classic Mad Max faction. The ultimate baddie. The ultimate baddie dies kind of in the middle of it all. Right, yeah. Right.

His death is pretty great, though. Yeah. Furious is like, remember me? Mm-hmm. Rips off his face. It's cool. Yeah. But you've also got Nux's big sacrifice,

which is my favorite moment in the movie. It's my whole thing of, it's my same argument that I'll make for any big world-building movie where like, at the beginning of this thing, you knew none of this language and none of these rules. And by the end,

Nux is saying, witness me, and you're like crying because you're like, I'm gonna witness, he's gonna go about hell. Like, you know, you're fully inducted into all this.

It's everything I love about movies. But you can enter into something with nothing and within two hours be speaking, as you said, an entirely different language. Yeah. I love it.

They've communicated things to you visually and verbally that suddenly are imbued with so much fucking deep meaning and have no relation to the world as you know it. And then Max saves Furiosa by giving her his blood

and, you know, voluntarily. That's the line. Yeah. Go on. I'm so sorry. It's also when he's like I'm Max that's my favorite reading it's so

he's so like doesn't want to say it no actor would do that and he throws away he's just like Max my name is Max but he's like delivering it with an energy of like a boy who is too nervous to ask a girl out at a middle school dance. Furious is pretty cool. Yeah.

But this was the big revolution of this movie when it came out. And it doesn't even feel that revelatory anymore because I think a lot of stuff has kind of followed suit. Although I'm now trying to think of specific examples. trying to think of specific examples. But it feels less out, like it felt very iconoclastic in that you have these, this two very good looking people as the leads of an action movie.

And they're just friends. They are just pals. They're pals. No kissing. They help each other. And then he goes. Yeah, he doesn't go up there to be the king with her queen

or to her queen or whatever. He's like, ugh. I would argue that not enough movies have followed suit. I wish more did. It's a thing I always love to see. I would argue that kissing is good and everyone should kiss. Yeah, I mean, this is actually... But they don't have

toothpaste anymore. I know. I mean, the kisses here, oof, pretty gross. Yeah. Sorry, go ahead, Emily. No, but I think that the debate of kiss, kiss, kiss versus don't kiss in Hollywood

is like an I'm just like imagining like two people on either side and like their arms folded. No, no, no. The other guys

are like I mean I feel like this is the podcast. David's doing great physical comedy that none of you can see. Shut up. But I feel like

I feel like in the short time that I've gone to Hollywood I feel like this is a thing that is discussed a lot. Yeah. Which is just like, do we need that? And I actually think in a lot of cases, I think that people argue for kiss, kiss, kiss without actually building something that you actually care about when people kiss. So that's the problem with that. I don't think Max and Furiosa should kiss, to be clear.

It would be a little odd, honestly. There's nothing in this movie that suggests they're going to do that. You think Nux and Capable should kiss? Oh, very cute, both of them. Yeah, very cute. Cute little guys. I'm just generally saying that kissing,

as long as everybody wants to do it, is good. People should do it. And if hot people want to do it, and they're both interested, and I'm allowed to see that? They want to show kissing to you. They want to show me the kissing?

David wants to see it. They want to show kissing to me. Miller's been... There's not enough kissing in movies, really, honestly, though. She came around to my side. I mean, one of the earliest films.

The Kiss. The Kiss. That's true. Guy with a gross mustache kisses his wife. And it's set at... Template, you went, this is going to be

one of the main genres. You have action, you have train thriller. And kissing. People leaving factory. Gross mustache kiss. It is funny to think that, right, they're like,

we got a great movie. It's a romance. It's called The Kiss. What's in it? The Kiss. It is funny to think that, right, they're like, we got a great movie. It's a romance. It's called The Kiss. What's in it? The Kiss. And then someone else is like, I want to do something along those lines, but should they like talk before they kiss maybe? And thus like a genre is born.

It is a thing. Miller, I mean, as we said, at one point thought this was going to be two movies shot back to back. Then it was like, maybe it's three, but I'm going to make them one at a time. be two movies shot back to back. Then it was like, maybe it's three, but I'm going to make them one at a time. He has been stuck in some protracted legal battle with Warner Brothers over the profits of this film, which has halted making another one, which he claims he wants to do. He always said, I want to do something in between, but then come back to Mad Max.

He is, hopefully by the time this episode comes out in production, he's supposed to be in production this spring on his new movie his uh genie romance starring idris elba until the swinton yeah uh rub that bottle aka my shit um but but the end of this movie i think is so beautiful and so poetic and and uh almost makes me cry every time i see it and watching it this time it made me realize as much as i want to stay in the mad max world um doing any sort of follow follow up to this will ruin it a little bit. Because the beauty of this ending to me is the bride's all being up on the platform, rising up, her recognizing suddenly that Max is not there, looking into the crowd, seeing him, Tom Hardy as only he can, acting like he is embarrassed to be on camera, sort of giving her like the knowing nod and then kind of like shrugging it off

like I'm going to head out of here. This isn't my movie. This is your moment. I don't belong here. I don't get a happy ending. I'm Max. I'm doomed to be doing this fucking forever. I'm on to whatever the next thing is.

And then they literally just rise out of frame. Correct. I mean, you go to black with them rising up into the heavens. Yeah, isn't it the platform cutting off her face as she's looking back? Yeah, which is so fucking beautiful. But if the next movie starts and it is Furiosa or it's Max, then you immediately rob a little power

from oh these two people had this moment and they went their separate ways and they're leaving the movie what if there was a prequel well it could be that'd be cool I'm down for anything a Furiosa prequel that's without Tom Hardy he should do whatever

the fuck he wants he should do whatever the fuck he wants he made this it's all good. Box office game, guys. May 15th, 2015. Mad Max Fury Road. We all know it. Number two. Open number two. Number one. $45 million. Is that one directed by Elizabeth Banks? That's the Banks.

That's the time they took it to the Banks. Literally and figuratively. They sure did. It's also one of those like Austin Powers movies that made the more than the original movie made in its opening weekend. That's my favorite set. I think they're the only two. Crazy.

So Pitch Perfect 2, of course, was dominating the convo. $69 million. Mad Max comes in with $45 million. It's just so funny to think that it's like Mad Max, like Fury Road. We're like, yeah, of course, that must have been number one. No, Pitch Perfect 2. It had to be. Number's like Mad Max, like Fury Road. We're like, yeah, of course, that must have been number one. No, it's perfect two. It had to be.

Yeah. Number three at the box office. Tell me. Number three at the box office. Yeah. It's made $372 million in three weeks. No, that's number five. Wait, what was it?

Furious seven. Furious seven. So much fury. So much fury. This was such a good year for me and my fear of cars. Was Cars 3 also this year? No, that was 2016. Okay.

Number three at the box office. It's made 317. 72. 72. In three weeks. In three weeks. What kind of a movie makes that? Is it a Disney film?

Sure. It's not Beauty and the Beast, is it? No. But is it a live action Disney remake? No. No. No. But it is. I just think the simplest. What are it a live-action Disney remake? No. No. No. But it is.

Just think the simplest, what are the movies that make the most money? Zootopia? It's Avengers Age of Ultron. Oh, of course. Oh my God. Oh God. If only Ultron had sang a song

about how he was the beast. I know. The fourth highest grossing film at the box office this week was about two ladies going on a road trip. Is it Hot Pursuit? It's Hot Pursuit, my friend.

Which we told everyone we were going to see. Number five was Furious 7. Okay. And now our miniseries has come to a close. So we're definitely

going to have to do a bonus episode. Yeah, we're doing a bonus episode. Because we're not even done with fucking Miller yet. No, we're doing a bonus episode.

The bonus episode is his segment from the Twilight Zone movie. Yeah, right. But what a masterpiece. What a lovely film. I can't believe it exists. What a lovely film. I can't believe it exists. It blows my mind.

Will we ever see something like this again? It's such a perfect storm of elements in terms of it being the right person, going back to a well, but trying to, as you said, Emily, evolve it. Thanks, George. Thank you, George. Make another one, you weirdo. It's good to see you, Emily.olvent thanks George thank you George make another one you weirdo

it's good to see Emily thanks been too long great to be back yeah great to be back in the box so happy to be back

for this movie it's been a very long episode let's be done watch TV Shogun on FX sometime in the next five years sometime in the next

five years that's right listen to Nightcall Listen to Night Call. Listen to Night Call. Emily, thank you for coming back. Thank you for having me. Love you, Emily. And thank you all for listening.

Please remember to rate, review, subscribe. Go to patreon.com backslash blank. Go to patreon.com backslash blank check. Backslash blank check is hard to say. I've just realized. Should have figured that out sooner. www.patreon.com Okay, I'm sorry.

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