Australian director George Miller has a new film out this weekend, his first since his action movie magnum opus “Mad Max: Fury Road” roared into theaters in 2015, and subsequently took the Academy Awards by storm. While that film’s prequel, “Furiosa,” is still filming, Miller’s new project — a heady, fascinating tale about storytelling, desire and humanity, “Three Thousand Years of Longing,” starring Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba — hits theaters today.
This film is far more cerebral and philosophical than the diesel-fueled delights of the “Mad Max” movies, but Miller’s oeuvre is a delightfully varied one, not boxed in by genre or medium. He creates films that are wild, wacky and always deeply human.
Miller is best known for his post-apocalyptic “Mad Max” films, starting with 1979’s “Mad Max,” which introduced us to the concept of the desert-based road warrior, speeding through the end of the world in leathers. Mel Gibson starred as Max Rockatansky in three of Miller’s films before Tom Hardy took over in “Fury Road.” Watch “Mad Max” on AMC+ or rent it everywhere; follow that up with “The Road Warrior” (1981) on HBO Max; and take in the resplendent Tina Turner in “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” (1985), available to rent everywhere. “Mad Max: Fury Road” is available on HBO Max.
Between “Thunderdome” and “Fury Road,” Miller branched out, directing the dark horror-inspired comedy “The Witches of Eastwick” (1987) starring Jack Nicholson, Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer and Cher. He reteamed with Sarandon on the 1992 real-life drama “Lorenzo’s Oil,” about a couple searching for a cure for their young son’s rare disease. Both films are available to rent on all platforms.
