We’re ranking the movies of George Miller! The Australian director emerged as part of the so-called Ozplotation wave of the 1970s and 1980s, which combined minor budgets and genre filmmaking with rough-and-ready Australian locality. Miller’s 1979 Mad Max launched the career of Mel Gibson and primed the Aussie outback for any kind of post-apocalyptica for decades to come. 1981’s Mad Max 2 (aka The Road Warrior) remains a sci-fi action classic, while Beyond Thunderdome seemingly closed out the trilogy as its own cult film.
Miller answered Hollywood’s call with The Witches of Eastwick and Lorenzo’s Oil, before returning to Australia to produce the enormous hit Babe, and directing its dark sequel Pig in the City. An eclectic filmmaker capable of marrying multiple realms of technology, Miller moved into animation to direct the two Happy Feet sequels. (And see Miller’s Five Favorite Films ever.)
After an extended period, Miller returned to Mad Max with Fury Road, a Best Pictured-nominated film and among the most towering action films of the 21st century. Most recently, he’s directed Three Thousand Years of Longing, before returning to the wasteland for Fury Road prequel Furiosa, starring Anya Taylor-Joy. —Alex Vo
Critics Consensus: With exhilarating action and a surprising amount of narrative heft, Mad Max: Fury Road brings George Miller's post-apocalyptic franchise roaring vigorously back to life.
Synopsis: Years after the collapse of civilization, the tyrannical Immortan Joe enslaves apocalypse survivors inside the desert fortress the Citadel. When...
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Critics Consensus: A harrowing tribute to the heroism of parental love, Lorenzo's Oil is kept from abject misery by George Miller's sensitive direction and outstanding performances from Nick Nolte and Susan Sarandon.
Synopsis: True-life drama of a father and mother who battled against the odds to save their son's life. Augusto and Michaela...
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Critics Consensus: Retroactively enriching Fury Road with greater emotional heft if not quite matching it in propulsive throttle, Furiosa is another glorious swerve in mastermind George Miller's breathless race towards cinematic Valhalla.
Synopsis: Snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers, young Furiosa falls into the hands of a great biker horde led...
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Critics Consensus: Staging the improbable car stunts and crashes to perfection, director George Miller succeeds completely in bringing the violent, post-apocalyptic world of Mad Max to visceral life.
Synopsis: In a not-too-distant dystopian future, when man's most precious resource -- oil -- has been depleted and the world plunged...
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Critics Consensus: Beyond Thunderdome deepens the Mad Max character without sacrificing the amazing vehicle choreography and stunts that made the originals memorable.
Synopsis: In the third of the "Mad Max" movies, Max (Mel Gibson) drifts into an evil town ruled by Turner. There...
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Critics Consensus: Visually dazzling, with a thoughtful storyline and catchy musical numbers, Happy Feet marks a successful animated debut from the makers of Babe.
Synopsis: Mumble (Elijah Wood), a young emperor penguin, lives in Antarctica. Like others of his kind, he needs to be able...
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Critics Consensus: While devotees of John Updike's novel may want to put a hex on George Miller's cartoonish and effects-laden adaptation, Jack Nicholson lends enough decadent devilry to make this high-concept comedy sizzle.
Synopsis: Three small-town friends, Alexandra (Cher), Jane (Susan Sarandon) and Sukie (Michelle Pfeiffer), each having lost the man in their lives,...
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Critics Consensus: Although its story isn't as impressive as its visual marvels, it's hard not to admire Three Thousand Years of Longing's sheer ambition.
Synopsis: Dr. Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton) is an academic -- content with life and a creature of reason. While in Istanbul...
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Critics Consensus: The animation is as eye-popping as ever, but Happy Feet Two's narrative is too noisily incoherent to recapture the Oscar-winning charm of its predecessor.
Synopsis: Mumble (Elijah Wood) the penguin, now called the Master of Tap, has an unusual problem: Erik, his son, is reluctant...
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