"Two men enter! One man leaves!"

   FOLKS, I sometimes forget how much I like movies and then I watch a bunch of good ones in a row and I'm like "movies are the best" and I am just constantly enamored with STORIES and how people TELL THEM and I've been learning a little bit about film theory and it is making me like movies EVEN MORE.

   ANYWAYS. Here are the movies from the previous screencap post:

• Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (85)
• Matchstick Men (03)
• Princess Bride (87)
• Room (15)
• Zoolander (01)

   If you're wondering how soon Max gets beyond the Thunderdome in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, it is pretty much right away. As in Road Warrior and Fury Road, Max isn't a character in these movies so much as a catalyst; things are already happening when he comes on the scene, and would have happened without him, he just sort of trips into playing a part. An accidental, reluctant savior, of sorts. George Miller assigns some messianic imagery to Max, either directly through paintings on walls or indirectly though the structure of the story - where Max arrives, helps a group through violent change, and then leaves the group to build their own lives in his absence and pass their story down. There are believers and doubters in the groups he encounters in the three subtitled movies, along with a Big Bad on the other side. Anyways. Beyond Thunderdome is good! Tina Turner is fabulous! This movie has the least sexual violence out of the series!

   You know how there are some phrases that are weirdly hard to say? Think "rural juror". "Long con" is one such phrase for me, which makes talking about Matchstick Men somewhat difficult. Don't worry though, it's still a good flick. When you watch it you can play a fun game where every time Frank comes onscreen in increasingly ridiculous garb you can say to your movie-watching companion (in my case, boyfriend) "wow, you should get a shirt/hat/outfit like that." It's hilarious, I promise. Also, the first movie I saw Sam Rockwell in was Moon and you NEED to watch Moon asap.

   Highly recommend going to see Princess Bride in a theater full of other people who love Princess Bride. Mega joyful.

   Room is amazing and I cried throughout the whole thing. I wish I had something more intelligent to say than "this movie is important and painful and beautiful, please go see it." Brie Larson won best actress and she deserved it. I haven't read the book yet, but when I got home from seeing the movie I put a hold on all three formats that my library has of it, and whichever one comes in first is going to be consumed.

   I've finally seen Zoolander and so many of the jokes from my youth suddenly make sense. Blue steel.

"I'll drive"

   LO, THE MOVIES from the last post.

• Mad Max
• Mad Max: Road Warrior
• Mockingjay Part One
• Stranger Than Fiction
• Cowboys & Aliens

   I've watched Mad Max: Fury Road enough that I decided I needed to understand where it came from, and thus was born my quest to watch all of the Mad Max movies. Now all we have left to watch is Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome and if it is as much of a step upward/forward as Road Warrior is from Mad Max, I will be very pleased. Mad Max feels like a movie a highschool student would make. It's weird. It's nearly plot-less. It has a very optimistic view of a post-apocalyptic world (there are hospitals? and a fairly un-corrupt police force?). Road Warrior sets Max up as essentially a tertiary character who stumbles on an already-unfolding conflict, and is pretty clearly the visual ancestor of Fury Road. I am enjoying these movies! And now I can look forward to seeing Tina Turner in Beyond Thunderdome and then I'll have a complete idea of the Mad Max story and eventually I'll shave my head and then pretend it isn't because Furiosa is so fantastic.

   SPEAKING OF movies that make me want to change my hair, Natalie Dormer is great in Mockingjay. I still haven't seen the second part, I'm interested to see how they do it. The book wasn't as good as the first two, but was still enjoyable, but this movie is probably on par with the other ones. It's quite good. I don't have much to say about it? These movies do well with representation.

   Stranger Than Fiction was a bit odd but ultimately I enjoyed it! Whoever designed the interiors did really well! It made me think of Good Will Hunting, which is a good flick!

   WHY DO I LIKE COWBOYS & ALIENS SO MUCH?

   As a last note, I've rediscovered Polyvore and I've been making some sets inspired by the movies I watch and you can take a gander at them if you want. I like them, maybe you will. Here is a link!

"I live. I die. I live again."

   As you have by now guessed, I've been watching a lot of Star Wars and a lot of action! adventure! and I have no regrets. The movies from the previous post are as follows:

• Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (80)
• Mad Max: Fury Road (15)
• Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (83)
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens (15)
• Tombstone (93)

   We've all been blessed with Rey and we all love her, and I'm sure we're all pumped for whatever revenge-fueled shenanigans Captain Phasma is going to get up to in the next installments of Star Wars and I am So Stoked whenever I see more and more women filling roles that previously would have defaulted to men. Even seeing a bunch of female pilots running around in the background of The Force Awakens makes me excited. Did you know that crowd scenes in movies and TV are typically ~80% men? That is ridiculous and stupid and Star Wars is moving towards 50/50 representation and that is a beautiful thing (I've also been thinking about how Joss Whedon keeps killing dudes and adding ladies in the Avengers movies, but that is another conversation for another time).

   Speaking of more women in movies: Mad Max: Fury Road is a triumph, I will never be convinced otherwise. Of all the new movies I've seen over the past year, Fury Road takes the "most thought about and discussed" cake.  This movie is simultaneously subtle and in-your-face. On one hand you've got women shouting "WE ARE NOT THINGS" and cutting evil-looking chastity belts off with bolt cutters, on the other hand you've got women who act on their ideas, fight tooth and nail, and push through pain and difficulty while acknowledging that they sometimes need help. I've read more about Mad Max: Fury Road than I have about any other movie (unless I count the LotR movies, which I don't because wow that's an unquantifiable amount of time spent on one story) and here are two favorites.

   Hahahaaaaaa, and now: Tombstone. This movie is ridiculous and I love it in a similar way to how I love Sahara. Without Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday the whole thing would fall flat. Every time he says anything I want to repeat it out loud immediately. "I'm your huckleberry," "I've got two guns, one for each of you," "If I thought you weren't my friend, I don't think I could bear it," "I have not yet begun to defile myself." Whenever I talk about Tombstone I just start quoting Doc Holliday. Forgive me if I don't shake hands. You're a daisy if you do.