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Anya Taylor-Joy in ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’
Anya Taylor-Joy in ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’
Butcher Baker Nightmare Maker
(Severin Ultra HD Blu-ray)
Writer-director William Asher told the gory tale in swift visual strokes. After all, he was a master craftsman, having helmed “I Love Lucy.” The first OMG moments arrive early when the breaks on a vacationing couple’s car fail on a winding mountain road. They veer around honking traffic and then they see it ahead—a lumber truck with a tall tree trunk sticking out at windshield level, and nowhere to swerve but off the cliff. 14 YEARS LATER: Their son Billy has grown into a high school athlete under the (too) loving care of his aunt. She’s a bit inappropriate, as we’d say nowadays, with a loony religious rationalization and a set of psycho-sexual problems soon to surface.
Butcher Baker Nightmare Maker (1981) is nicely shot and edited and decently acted, a descendant of Carrie with blood-splattered scenes and crazed mayhem in small town America. Subtexts include class resentment, homophobia and high school bullying. And how’s this for a nightmare: When Auntie is awakened by her clock radio, the first thing she hears is a report on Ronald Reagan’s plans for America. The new release features audio commentary and a second disc of interviews with cast and crew. (David Luhrssen)
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
(In Theaters May 24)
In 2015, George Miller rebooted the Mad Max franchise with Mad Max: Fury Road. That film felt both new and familiar, propelled by heroine Furiosa, and an affecting performance from Charlize Theron. Nine years later, Miller offers up a prequel that builds his apocalyptic world while also revealing Furiosa’s origin story. Whether either element is necessary results from the allusions and inferences of Fury Road.
Once again, Miller’s story is revved up by female lead Anya Taylor-Joy, appearing as the younger version of Furiosa (played here as a 10-year-old by Alyla Browne). What’s new is Chris Hemsworth as power crazed Dementus, decked out in a prosthetic hooked noose and a scraggly long beard to match his scraggly long hair. He abducts Furiosa and does terrible things that prompt her to quietly nurse her revenge fantasy. She makes herself important by learning all there is to know regarding fixing and driving the high-octane vehicles of her desert world.
The film is chock-full of action sequences; largely skirmishes for fuel, ammunition, food and water. Miller’s increasingly female-centric apocalyptic vision pits a few women against many men. Received with measured glee, Miller’s hat-trick makes us wonder where he’ll take us next. (Lisa Miller)
The Garfield Movie
(In Theaters May 24)
Written and directed by Mark Dindal, The Garfield Movie is approved by roughly half of Rotten Tomatoes’ critics. We meet Garfield (voice of Chris Pratt), as a kitten, while he’s being abandoned by his dad Vic (Samuel L. Jackson). Garfield finds the susceptible Jon Arbuckle (Nicholas Hoult), showing the man big, sad-feline eyes. Fast-forward to grown-up Garfield, settled into the easy-chair life with Jon and their canine-friend Odie (Harvey Guillen).
While Jon is away, Odie and Garfield are pet-napped by Garfield’s long-lost dad who needs their help to save himself from Vic’s ex-partner (Hannah Waddingham). They must steal truckloads of milk, prompting Garfield to meet and befriend the intimidating, yet gentle, purple bull Otto (Ving Rhames). Garfield comic fans will be disappointed by this nicer Garfield who only rarely espouses the philosophy that justifies his lay-about existence. With its emphasis on adventure and cartoonish derring-do, the PG-rated film’s bounty of sight gags is for its youngest viewers. (Lisa Miller)
Sight
(In Theaters May 24)
Angel Studios continues producing uplifting films that highlight faith, adapting the autobiography of Chinese immigrant Dr. Ming Wang (From Darkness to Sight). Having survived China’s Cultural Revolution, Wang defies the odds to attend MIT and Harvard. He becomes an eye surgeon in Tennessee, at a clinic visited by a Catholic nun (Fionnula Flanagan). She arrives with Indian orphan Kajal (Mia SwamiNathan), whose sight was tragically taken by her own mother.
Working under Misha Bartnovsky (Greg Kinnear), Wang pioneers a technique to restore the girl’s sight. Along a separate storyline, the film details Wang’s Chinese upbringing, especially his traumatic childhood experiences. In the present day, Wang establishes a non-profit charity where he and his colleagues, have provided sight-restoration surgery, free of charge, to residents of 55 nations. Director Andrew Hyatt’s feel-gooder makes it difficult not to like what we see. (Lisa Miller)
