"Marnie"/"Mad Max: Fury Road"

I have an odd pairing to write about today. "Marnie" and "Mad Max: Fury Road." Well, at least they both start with "M." (Have I written about "M?" Can't remember.)

"Marnie." A Hitchcock film I hadn't seen yet. And, yes, it's a bit of a letdown. There are a couple of decent scenes in it (e.g. the robbery in the office), but the script pushes the fashionable-at-the-time (and maybe even now still) psychology of recovered memories. While Tippi Hedren admittedly does a great job with her role, Sean Connery looks like he's just going through the motions most of the time. At least Diane Baker looks hot when she's onscreen. Yeah, I just gotta say "meh." Pains me to write that, and it might be the first time a Hitchcock film has left me this way. Might not be the last, as I've watched mostly his classics.

Now, "Mad Max: Fury Road." I watched this about a week ago and watched it again today. Last week, I enjoyed it but thought of it as a B+ pic. Today's rewatch clarified a lot in what is a really, really fast-paced movie.....and yeah, I'm bumping it up to an "A." The characters seemed much more defined to me in the second viewing. This film has the current studio film nasty habit of firing the setup exposition at you with all the subtlety of a super water cannon, and does it in roughly four minutes. That's about the only negative I can say about the movie. Of course, a lot of that exposition is unnecessary if you know the previous "Mad Max" entries.....but there are still some newer things you'll need to know at the outset.

But yes, I'm sure you've heard plenty about this movie already, and I agree with the positives. It's a movie told more through action than anything else but doesn't leave you feeling like a halfwit when you're done watching it. Tom Hardy is.......okay.........really, they could have gotten about any other faceless actor to play this part. Charlize Theron is good, but there's not a lot in the way of meaty dialogue for either of them to work with. My favorite performance is by the guy who played Nux, Nicholas Hoult.  But.....this film's all about the plot and look.

One more note: I saw Zoë Kravitz' name in the credits....thought "hmmmm," looked her up, and yes, it's Lenny Kravitz' and Lisa Bonet's daughter. I knew there was a reason I keep getting this AARP material in the mail.