Ty Watches "Furiosa"

My wife and I saw "Furiosa" over the weekend. Let’s discuss.

This was a movie I was going to the theater to see no matter what. I have been looking forward to it since it was announced. Look, "Fury Road" may be the greatest action movie ever made. I think it is. It is full throttle, non stop action, and that is what I love about it. And it is not a "Fast and Furious" movie. Those have their place, but the whole "Mad Max" series has created a sci-fi world that absolutely fascinates me. It is the type of dystopic future movie that I am inclined to watch over and over again. And I have. I've seen the other "Mad Max" movies multiple times, with "Fury Road" leading the way, with at least a dozen viewings. So, giving me the backstory of Furiosa, Charlize Theron's character in "Fury Road", is all I want in a summer action blockbuster. We went out the day after it opened, we were in a relatively empty theater, and we sat back and watched.

My wife was not into the movie. These movies aren't for her. She likes her action movies to be superhero driven. But, I appreciate her wanting to go out and watch a movie series with me that I adore.

I loved this movie. Now, it is not on "Fury Road" level. That is a masterpiece. If "Furiosa" got to the level of "Fury Road", I don't think I'd have to watch any other action movie ever. But "Furiosa" has a place in my heart. I knew going in that this movie was going to be more of a story. George Miller told us that much during his interviews. And he and his crew told a great story. I loved getting to see where Furiosa came from and how she ended up where she did. Seeing her home, The Green Place, at its height, was pretty cool. It was also brutal because those of us that have seen "Fury Road" know the demise of The Green Place. And even in a movie that is more of a slow burn, we get a pretty dope chase scene right after Furiosa is captured. And the action sequences continue throughout the movie. There is a non-stop 15 minute action scene on a war rig that is one of the best things I've ever watched on any medium. It is a damn work of art. I also liked that we got to see Immortan Joe before he takes everything over. He is still evil as hell. We get to see The Bullet Farm and Gas Town before it all gets blown to hell. We see how some alliances started, and how some broke apart. We get to see early versions of the War Boys. We see the wasteland that has been created in this world. And it is bleak.

The performances in this movie are incredible. They bring back some of the people from the original movies. The actor who played Immortan Joe originally has since passed away, but his replacement did a damn fine job. The mothers in The Green Place are protective and totally badass. The first driver of the war rig may be one of the few people I have rooted for in this series. And then we have Anya Taylor Joy and Chris Hemsworth. Hemsworth is endlessly watchable as the main villain. He has no redeeming qualities. He is evil through and through. And I couldn't get enough of his work here. He really went for it and he definitely nailed it. I want to see him do more roles like this because he was truly foul and truly amazing here. Anya Taylor Joy did more than just justice to Theron's work. Joy embodied Furiosa. I read that she had to do a bunch of acting with only her eyes, she does not have a bunch of lines in the movie, and she hit a damn homerun with her eye acting. I know her story, yet I was endlessly surprised by what I was seeing. The final scene between her and Hemsworth is one of the best things I've ever watched. Joy was magnificent.

I loved "Furiosa". While speaking with a family member who also saw the movie on opening weekend, he said that, while not on the level of "Fury Road", he gave it an 11/10, he gave "Furiosa" an 8/10. I think that is fair. I'd probably go 8.5 or 9/10, but that is me. "Furiosa" is an achievement. I recommend this movie wholeheartedly. It will be on my best of 2024 list. I can already tell. Go see it now. I plan on going a few more times to see it in the theaters. Maybe I'll see you there. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Ty Watches the Trailer for "Furiosa"

The trailer for "Furiosa" came out this morning and you better believe I watched it asap. We've made no secret about our love for "Fury Road" on this site and podcast. My review was given a title along the lines that I gave the movie "10 Thumbs Up". RD has said, and I find myself agreeing with him from time to time, that it may be the best movie ever made. So when they announced "Furiosa", we were both already in. Now with the trailer coming out, and watching it, I want to throw all of my money at this movie.

The trailer is amazing. It takes me right back to the feelings I had when I first saw the trailer for "Fury Road". This new movie is a prequel I guess. But we get to know the story of Furiosa now. We get to find out how she became the super badass that she was in "Fury Road". Charlize Theron is not reprising her role, and I do not think she even has a cameo. But that is what I'd expect from an origin story. This time Ana Taylor Joy is playing a young Furiosa, and she looks just as bad ass. There is a moment in the trailer where she smears oil on her head and it takes me right back to the first time we see Theron as Furiosa in "Fury Road". There are also shots of the world pre the economic collapse, to give us even more backstory. They do also show the mechanical arm in the trailer, so I am assuming we get to see how that all came about. We also get a very rugged and ravaged looking Chris Hemsworth. I didn't even know it was him at first glance. I thought it was the guy that played Tormund in "Game of Thrones". But it is Hemsworth with some shaggy hair and a very unkempt beard. He also has a funny way of speaking in this trailer, and he looks to be a real villain, which will be very cool to see him play a role like that in a George Miller action movie.

Going away from the main two actors, we get a lot of the world that we have all grown accustomed to in this "Mad Max" world. It is a dessert. There are crazily built cars everywhere. There are the albino soldiers. We see a young Immortan Joe. There are people that are going to help Furiosa. We got to see her family before everything went haywire. It looks like there is going to be a massive amount of car chases and things getting blown up. Taylor Joy has a pretty big body count from the trailer alone. There is one scene where she sets a trap for a car chasing her and the car gets ravaged by a pointy, sharp gate.

The movie looks amazing.

What I loved most about this trailer was the opening scene though. It starts with a crawl, giving us information. We then see Taylor Joy as Furiosa walking into a desert, away from her abandoned bike, and she looks hurt. She says a few words and then we are thrust into this chaotic world that Miller has created. Why do I love this so much you ask? Because this is how Miller starts all the good "Mad Max" movies. The formula works and I get an idea of what I am in for from the jump.

I can't wait to see this movie. That should be very clear. There is no official release date as of yet, but we do know that it will come out in 2024. The sooner the better for me. "Furiosa" is going to be one hell of a movie, and this trailer is pretty phenomenal. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Ty Watches "Thor: Love and Thunder"

For date night this week my wife and I watched "Thor: Love and Thunder". We both wanted to see the movie. We liked "Ragnarok" a lot, and with the whole crew back we figured this one would be great too. While not great, I thought this movie was okay. It could have been better, but there are little critiques I have here and there.

What made "Ragnarok" so great was the way they used comedy and seriousness all within the superhero world. "Love and Thunder" was almost too goofy. They leaned way too far into the humor aspect. I like a good comedy, but with the whole superhero thing, you have to juggle those two things. We are talking about a world in which superheroes and villains exist. There are bound to be some serious things going on. There was another break in the whole vibe of the movie every time Christian Bale was on screen. He played the villain. He was Gorr the God Butcher, and he did a pretty good job. But whenever he was on screen he was overacting. He was too serious. Even when he was trying to be funny/menacing at the same time it came off as too serious. It was creepy. He was creepy. And I assume that is what they wanted in this role. But whenever Bale wasn't on screen, or when they just focused on Thor, it was joke after joke. There was too much. Even when they tried to make him more serious it was done in a light tone. And I appreciate Chris Hemsworth and his acting ability and the fact that he can be funny. But in this movie it was just too much.

The movie also moved kind of slowly. It was definitely slower than most MCU movies, especially after the more recent MCU movies. It kind of took awhile for it to get to the point. And it felt like it took awhile. Scenes went on for a little too long. It was too much at times. The stuff with Russell Crowe was a bit over the top. So was some of the Christian Bale stuff as well. They meandered a bit longer than they did in "Ragnarok". They went away from what made "Ragnarok" so great.

Even with these critiques, this movie still worked. It was more fun than some of the other MCU stuff. I liked that there wasn't all this backstory. I appreciated that there weren't a ton of new superheroes or villains I needed to learn about. I liked that they kept the cameos to an extreme minimum. I appreciated that scenes with all the gods featured gods from Greek mythology. These are gods we all know or have heard of before. Hemsworth was solid. Tessa Thompson rules. She is such a badass. Taika Waititi does great as Korg. Natalie Portman's return was great and much deserved. Bale was chewing the scenery, but he was still fun and creepy. I liked the look of New Asgaard. The music, even with it being Guns N Roses, was fitting.

All in all, "Love and Thunder" was uneven. There were parts I liked and parts I didn't like so much. I'm glad I watched it at home and not at the theater. I had fun but it felt slow. I do not get the mass criticism from some MCU fans, but they are an unreasonable bunch. "Love and Thunder" is a fine movie. Watch it at home if you have Disney +. That is the best way to consume the movie.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.  

Ty is ready to embrace SNL again with the news that Tracy Morgan will be hosting

Go ahead and get the tv out of storage

With the recent news that Tracy Morgan will be hosting the second episode of the upcoming season of "Saturday Night Live" I have a renewed faith in the people at NBC.

I'm so happy and was extremely pleased when my wife told me this news and I confirmed for myself by checking online. As most of you know, I'm a HUGE Tracy Morgan fan. He was my first stand up comedy show I went to. I've seen the majority of the movies he's done(he was exceptional in his last role in "Top five"). His character, Tracy Jordan, on "30 Rock" made him the household name he deserved to be. That is one of the most iconic and hilarious characters that's even been on TV. I would love to see the movies that Tracy Jordan had the posters of in his dressing room, especially "White cop, Black Cop". But, what I liked most, was the absurd characters he did on SNL. Brian Fellows is one of my all time favorite skits that's ever been on SNL. Astronaut Jones was so bizarre and uproarious. His impression of Star Jones in the best one out there. When he played Shaquille O'Neal's dad on a skit and had to give him a spanking, I was laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes. I could go on and on about the many hilarious characters he played during his stint on SNL. The fact that the people at NBC and, Lorne Michaels especially, reached out to him and asked him to host is so, so great. For all the shit that's talked about Lorne Michaels, he does do some great, thoughtful things sometimes. Sure, the episode Morgan hosts will get great ratings, but what Michaels did by inviting him is an extremely classy move. He's putting Tracy Morgan in a very comfortable situation for him, by putting him back on the stage where he became a star. This is also a great idea and place for him to make his return to comedy and acting. Like I said before, he's being put in a low stakes situation, for himself, other people take the hosting of SNL way too seriously. Morgan will thrive on this stage. He knows the SNL stage like the back of his hand. He was there for a good amount of time and appeared on many skits during his run. I can't think of a better spot for him to return to the small screen.

This gives me hope that SNL may be turning a corner and getting back to some good skits and writing with the decision to have Morgan host. Normally, they'd stroll whoever the flavor of the month is, like last season when they had the girl from "50 Shades of Grey" host. That episode was awful. There were some decent hosts last season, Chris Hemsworth blew me away with how funny his episode was, but for the past couple of seasons, SNL has been in a rut. I think that should change with the people they've booked to host the first couple episodes of the upcoming season. They have confirmed flavor of the month, but also a comedian of big fame and a hugely successful movie, Amy Schumer and they have one of their prodigal sons returning in the aforementioned Tracy Morgan. Schumer will be good, because this is what she does. Tracy Morgan will be great, because he's done it before and he deserves this more than anyone right now. He's a comedy legend and that legend began on the stage of SNL. I can't think of a better way for him to honor the memory of his deceased friend by going out on that stage and crushing SNL. I hope they do all his famous characters because that will make me remember the good old days and he is so comfortable doing them. I love that Morgan is hosting and I haven't been this excited for an episode of SNL in quite some time. Thanks SNL and, more importantly, thank you Tracy Morgan for doing this. The world needs you and your comedy back and I cannot wait for you to host SNL.

I'm filled with joy and anticipation.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and co host of the X Millennial Man podcast. When he heard Tracy Morgan was going to be on SNL, Ty did the Super Bowl shuffle. Follow him on twitter @tykulik.