blockbuster

In The Deep (The Shallows review)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

Jaws did an excellent job in 1975 of creating a movie monster out of the great white shark. You see dear readers, for a long time people believed that sharks had never attacked a human being. And it wasn’t until the early 21st century that some attacks happened which inspired Jaws.

This lead to sport fishing of sharks over a few decades and a sever decline in several shark populations. But that was before scientists worked to prove that sharks were not vengeful man-eaters and as well, our medical ability to respond to bites has dropped the fatality rate down considerably.

But some myths are slow to die, and as such directors have to come up with inventive ways to tell a story…

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The Shallows (2016)

Cast: Blake Lively, Oscar Jaenada, Brett Cullen, Sedona Legge
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
released on blu-ray September 27, 2016
******* 7/10

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IMDB: 6.4
Rotten Tomatoes: 77%, Audience Score 61%
The Guardian: ***/*****

Jaume Collet-Serra is a Spanish film director and producer. Known for such films as House of Wax, Orphan, Unknown, Non-Stop, and Run All Night. Collet-Serra will also direct his fourth collaboration with Liam Neeson in the 2017 action-thriller The Commuter.

The Shallows is definitely his best film to-date, in a very lean thriller that makes good use of Blake Lively as both a comedic and dramatic actress. With that said, let’s go over the plot, shall we?

The film introduces us to it’s lead Nancy (Blake Lively) pretty much right away, with her on a trip to visit a secluded beach in Mexico, one which her mother visited while pregnant with Nancy. Seeing as how Nancy’s mother recently passed away, the daughter thinks it apt to surf the beach and think upon whether she ought to continue medical school.

Meeting up with two other young guys, she surfs the waves for several hours before the locals decide to head in. Nancy is not content with this and decides to ride one more wave. As she is preparing to surf, she notices a dead whale, and is then attacked by a great white shark.

Using her wits, some costume jewelry in the form of a stitch job, and befriending a seagull she names Steven, Nancy is able to bandage her leg wound with parts of her wetsuit, and perch herself upon a rock for the night. Unfortunately she is about 200 yards away from the shoreline, and while she eventually sees both a drunken thief eaten by the shark, as well as the two young men from the previous day attacked, Nancy still cannot get back to the shore. One of the guys was wearing a GoPro, so Nancy records a message to her dad and sister, and makes an attempt for a buoy.

I’m not going to tell you how the story ends, but I will say this. Yes you could compare it to Jaws, but in some ways it reminds me more of other survival stories like 127 Hours and Hitchcock’s The Birds.

Pros: It will get your heart pounding and engage your senses, while also making you feel like you’re there with Lively as she determines what to do at each twist of the plot.

Cons: The backstory of Nancy is somewhat tacked on, and there are moments where it was obvious she had been CGI’d right into the body of a competent surfer, making me wonder if an unknown but talented actress might have done a better job.

Runtime: 1 hour 26 minutes

Points of Interest: This is the second time Lively has led a movie, the first was The Age of Adaline. Jaume Collet-Serra was adamant that this movie be billed as one of survival as opposed to gore and that it was note a “creature movie.”

This summer was kinda bland. So it was nice to finally see a solid blockbuster thriller shot on a shoestring budget. The spirit of the film is definitely inside of this theme of survival, and while Blake Lively is not the most diverse choice on the planet, she does well in this particular role. If you have any interest in either survival films or movies that riff off of the common shark in the water homage, you’ll probably enjoy The Shallows.

 

 

 

I fully expected this movie to startle me and make me think on that classic tale of man vs shark, and the immortalized phrase… don’t go in the water. Well, if I’m being perfectly honest, I have no plans to go in the water for the next ten years at least. So good job to The Shallows, for giving me a deep fear.

Tim!

The Second Coming… Of The Blockbuster (Cross Talk Ep. 10)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

The term globalization has been around forever, but for one reason or another we didn’t really pay attention to it, at least in my humble opinion, until telecommunications began flattening the world with the popularity of the Internet. And this flattening of course was physically helped by companies all over the world investing in laying fiber optic cables seemingly everywhere.

World historians have been writing and lecturing about globalization for much longer than that time period, if we’re going to be really honest. When countries began sending explorers around the world, like Christopher Columbus in the 15th century, that was probably the first major event that helped flatten the world.

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So as countries are able to share content and ideas more cheaply, the trajectory of creative endeavours continues to be shaped, but in a somewhat unknown and rather sublime way. Let me use a metaphor to explain what I’m eluding to more clearly. If in the past local markets were like rain falling upon a field, then we no longer rely on local markets only, and instead global markets move like tornadoes through a county.

It’s a global phenomenon which dictates how our world changes going forward.

But what the heck does that have to do with films timotheories?

Good point dear readers, I would have to admit that I don’t know exactly what it has to do with the future of films, but Chris and I, as well as a few critics we trust on these matters, are starting to see trends emerge with films, and we believe that the global film market is having a major impact on the types of films which are released based on box office earnings. Effectively, the global film market has a greater hold on the film calendar then ever before.

Episode 10 of Cross Talk is all about considering that maybe the reason why we continue to see bad movies being made is that in fact North American markets are not the only piece of the pie any more… And quality may be taking a backseat to blockbuster entertainment.

I’m out of theories for now, but please check back tomorrow for an album review that makes me sad, Every Time I Die. It’s a fun album, well, actually it might not be a fun album, depending on your perspective. Please comment, subscribe, and share this with friends. We want to hear your feedback!

Tim!

Walk It Off (The Walk Review)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

Passion Pit is one of those bands that a lot of people really like, and which I can see the value of, but just aren’t for me. I’ll try to out my finger on it dear readers, just for you.

Take for instance, the song Take A Walk. In the music video, the director wants us to feel the experience of a ball on it’s path through the city, country, and various places. They accomplish this to some effect, which is really cool. But the problem is that this couldn’t actually happen, so the band has managed to lie to us.

And it bothers me!

But what if a director could evoke that same feeling of travel synthetically and get a positive response? I might just be into it then.

 

 

 

The Walk (2015)
Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ben Kingsley, Charlotte Le Bon,  Clément Sibony, César Domboy
Director: Robert Zemeckis
released on blu-ray January 5, 2016
******** 8/10

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IMDB: 7.5
Rotten Tomatoes: 85%, Audience Score 81%
The Guardian: *****/*****

Robert Lee Zemeckis is an American film maker and screenwriter. And he is something of an icon in the American cinema, having directed several blockbusters over the past few decades (Romancing the Stone, Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Forrest Gump, Cast Away, Flight).

The Walk is his first move since the success of Flight in 2012, but does it get the same Zemeckis effects treatment, that is either lauded or loathed?

Let’s read about the story first.

 

Philippe Petit (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is standing on the highest platform of the Statue of Liberty where he explains his fearless, love of wire walking, and what inspired him to hang wire between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and walk it.

We go back to Paris, France 1973 and see into his life. He is a street performer who performs illegally and always on the run. One day after biting a jawbreaker candy, Philippe visits the dentist. It is there that he reads a magazine article about the the unfinished Twin Towers. He is inspired to walk across them.

After a flashblack, we learn more about Philippe, his first experience with high-wire walkers at the circurs, his parents disapproval when he practiced everyday, and his eventual break-in to circus owner Rudy “Papa Rudy” Omankowsky’s show (Ben Kingsley). Philippe charms Rudy into teaching him the trade and he finally leaves home.

On a trip through town Philippe sees a young lady named Annie (Charlotte Le Bon), performing her music to a crowd. He sets up shop and steals her audience. Later she comes to rebuke him, but he apologizes while simultaneously defending himself. It begins to rain, and Annie leaves, but Philippe finds an umbrella and wins her affection. He has his first accomplice.

Annie convinces Philippe and her professors to let him practice at her school. This is where he becomes friends with his second accomplice Jean-Louis (Clement Sibony), a photographer. Philippe lands his first performance via Papa Rudy, held over a lake, while a fishing contest takes place. But the fishermen boo him, and he loses concentration, then falls in. After his embarassment, Philippe vows to walk Notre Dame to redeem himself. He prepares at night and performs as tourists arrive in the morning. He succeeds but is arrested.

Jean-Louis introduces to Philippe accomplice #3, Jean-Francois, aka: Jeff (Cesar Domboy), who is afraid of heights and can’t speak English. The team travels to New York City for the first time to inspect the towers. Initially Philippe panics at the scale of the buildings, but once he sneaks in and climbs to the observation deck, his passion returns.

Upon return home, Philippe organizes the “coup” for August 6th 1974, which is just ahead of winter and the tower completion.

Rudy wants Philippe to use a saftey harness, but Philippe refuses and explains it would defeat the purpose of the walk. Rudy changes his mind and he gives Philippe all of his lesson payment money back to allow him to complete the coup.

The team returns to New York, and go under cover to learn all of the technical information about the building. During this process Philippe accidentally steps on a nail which goes through his foot. This does not deter him though, and he continues on, without seeking medical treatment.

Let’s put on the plot brakes now. Otherwise the whole story is ruined, and you need to witness The Walk to experience the full effect of climax.

 

Pros: The suspense of whether this movie will culminate in what we were all hoping for. When we watch the walk and actually get the sense of dread and freedom expected it. The lead characters all manage to suspend our disbelief that they are in fact not French.

Cons: The New York characters feel a little stale, and as a consequence some of those scenes seem to drag on. Some of the dialogue feels a bit forced and the narration by Philippe is unnecessary in places.

Runtime: 123 minutes

Points of Interest: There have been reports by some film reviewers that the screening of this film in theaters actually caused people to throw up from vertigo. Robert Zemeckis said that while he didn’t believe it, the goal of the film was to evoke that feeling all the same.

 

 

 

As I mentioned earlier, Zemeckis has something of a track record for focusing on special effects, technological tricks, and visually impressing. Whether this has resulted in some bad movies on his part is somewhat subjective.

And the real reason why I take issue with Passion Pit is because I was supposed to see them live one year as part of the Sonic Boom festival in Edmonton and they decided to play a DJ set instead of performing their music! So sometimes seeing isn’t REALLY believing.

Either way I’d take The Walk!

Tim!