Dear Max, An Advice to a Future Film Aficionado Who Will Come to Appreciate the Greatness of “Mad Max: Fury Road” (2015) and the Badness of “Armageddon” (1998)(Part II of II)

(Continued from Part I)

Take, for example, character development.

Furiosa has very little dialogue, but her prowess and character are evident from what’s presented on screen. That’s the product of good acting and fine directing, neither of which exists in any Michael Bay film.

Or take the action sequences.

In Mad Max, you see Immortan Joe’s gang hopping from one car to the next and boomeranging using long sticks. The visuals and the intensity are gripping. Meanwhile, in Michael Bay films, you get big explosions layered on top of even bigger ones to the point of sensory overload. To get a taste of an example, you should watch “Armageddon” (1998) if you haven’t already.

Both “Mad Max” and “Armageddon” are mindless entertainment, but the former was nominated for ten Academy Awards (winning six) while the latter made many critics’ list of the year’s worst films. Movie critics are often unkind to mindless films, but as these two movies show, even in the category of “Movies that require no thought,” there are good films and bad.

Here’s what I predict will happen in your movie-watching future, and some advice on how to handle what’s to come.

Thanks to your dad, you’ve already seen a lot of excellent movies. Because of your friends, you’ll come to see tons of movies in the range of awful to bad.

You have to, and should, suffer through these bad movies. It’s how you learn what makes great films great and, perhaps more importantly, it’s the only way your friends will go to the movie theater with you.

In so doing, a word of caution: it’s important not to fall into the trap of dismissing an entire genre of movies. I’ve observed that many people who have taste in film tend to fall in love with “artsy” films that no one knows about while ridiculing commercial blockbusters that everyone sees.

To me, that seems awfully narrow-minded. Movies are, after all, entertainment. What’s wrong with millions of people loving them?

My hope is that you’ll eventually settle into a happy balance of enjoying a great film of any kind.

It won’t be easy getting there, though. For years, likely through uni, you’ll probably be in the extremes of being surrounded by friends who think Michael Bay films are great or being in a circle of movie lovers who won’t give the “mindless” Mad Max series the light of day.

Whatever happens, I’m looking forward to the day I get to debate movies you, much like I did with your dad regarding “The Alpanist” (2021) (which debate turned into my review that appears here)

Here’s to hoping that you’ll have a life full of film satisfaction.

Sincerely,

Joe