The Shallows (2016) or, Stuck on a Rock

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Star Blake Lively, with a shark fin protruding ominously from the sea in the background, looks ready to take action - and great in a bikini - on this poster for Jaume Collet-Sera's The Shallows

A beautiful blond medical student from Texas has gone to Mexico in a fit of grief and doubt concerning the direction of her life, but she now has to learn the hard way that it is unadvisable to surf alone in unknown waters ...

The Shallows is written by Anthony Jaswinski (Killing Time (2002)) and directed by great Spanish filmmaker Jaume Collet-Sera (House of Wax (2005)).
It is a well-oiled high-concept shark thriller, which has unfortunately exorcised some heart in its narrative in favor of its slender concept. Held together with its well-shaped star Blake Lively (Hick (2011)), who does well but is ridiculously hot and is utilized for her full visual thrill here, the film leaves a somewhat shallow impression, (no pun intended). - An impression of a filmmaker giving himself a creative dare coupled with visual showing off, rather than of well-earned gasps and terror.
But The Shallows is exciting on its way, and Marco Beltrami (Little Evil (2017)) sometimes cuts a menacing score. There are visually impressive elements, - one involving a buoy attached to concrete blocks, - although the CGI shark and jellyfish still sometimes appear somewhat fake. It isn't as good as Collet-Sera's best to date, thrill-ride Non-Stop (2014), and it is far from a match for its sub-genre's eternal classic, masterpiece Jaws (1975). But The Shallows is worth seeing for fans of shark movies.

Related post:

Jaume Collet-Sera: Non-Stop (2014) or, The Text Messaging Terrorist!

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 17 - 25 mil. $ (different reports)
Box office: 119.1 mil. $
= Big hit (returned at least 4.76 times its cost)
[The Shallows premiered 21 June (New York) and runs 86 minutes. Louis Leterrier was hired to direct but dropped out in 2015. Filming was supposed to take place in the Gulf of Texas but the filmmakers were denied a film permit there for safety concerns. Shooting instead took place in New South Wales and Queensland, Australia, from October 2015 - January 2016. Lively reportedly did many of her own stunts. The film opened #4, behind holdover hit Finding Dory, fellow new release Independence Day: Resurgence and holdover hit Central Intelligence to a 16.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd week and grossed 55.1 mil. $ (46.3 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China with 15.2 mil. $ (12.8 %) and France with 4.1 mil. $ (3.4 %). Collet-Sera returned with The Commuter (2018). Lively returned in All I See Is You (2016). The Shallows is certified fresh at 79 % with a 6.49/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Shallows?

54 (1998) or, Disco, Baby, Yeah!

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+ Best Music Movie of the Year + Best New York Movie of the Year + Best Period Movie of the Year

Glamorous poster for Mark Christopher's 54

QUICK REVIEW:

We are at New York's Studio 54 disco, and the 80s are right around the corner: A young dreamer from Jersey arrives and is lucky enough to get a job there; sex, drugs, some fame and lots of disco follow.

54 is an excellent guilty pleasure full of lovely young people: Ryan Phillippe (Flags of Our Fathers (2006)) is criminally hot here, and so is Salma Hayek (30 Rock (2009-13)). Neve Campbell (Scream 4 (2011)) does well, and Mike Myers (Wayne's World (1992)) is phenomenal here in his first dramatic movie role as the cynical, superficial impresario of the seemingly never-ending party.
The development of the story is pretty imperceptible, sometimes nearing banality, elegantly avoiding real crises.
54's original 93 min. cut appears as a celebration of Studio 54, disco and good parties. I ate it raw.
However, the film was envisioned quite differently by its writer-director Mark Christopher (Pizza (2005)), who was forced by Miramax to re-shoot and cut out several parts of his original vision, downgrading gay and sex scenes. A 105 min. director's cut, which includes 30 min. of footage that is not in the original cut, has since been released to acclaim. - I really want to see this version as well!
If you want to read more about how a bad test screening and the infamous Weinstein brothers took apart Christopher's original version, you can do so here.

 

Related post:

 

1998 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess  

Watch the infectious trailer for the film here

Cost: 13 mil. $
Box office: 16.7 mil. $ (US only)
= Big flop, with some uncertainty
[54 made a paltry 99k £ in the UK, which is the only foreign result I've been able to find. - It was a big flop. Had Miramax left it alone, it might have succeeded as a more risqué film, similar to Boogie Nights (1997). - We will never know now.]

What do you think of 54, original and director's cut, depending on what you've seen?

The Homesman (2014) - Revisit the harsh American West with Jones, Swank and a wagonload of crazy women

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+ Best Western of the Year

The rough and weary French poster for Tommy Lee Jones' The Homesman

In the middle of the 19th century in Nebraska territory, a small community is stuck with three women who far different reasons have lost their minds and need to go away, before tragedy ruins their homes forever. A strong, religious maiden sets out for the long voyage and soon partners up with an aging, cynical renegade.

The Homesman is an adaptation of a 1988 novel of the same name by Glendon Swarthout (The Shootist (1975)). It is the 4th film directed by great American actor/filmmaker Tommy Lee Jones (The Good Old Boys (1995), TV movie), who also stars in the film in the lead alongside Hilary Swank (Boys Don't Cry (1999)). It is nice to see her in a fleshy, good part becoming of her sizable talent here finally again, and together the two lead an ensemble as great as probably any director today could wish to work with:
John Lithgow (Obsession (1976)), James Spader (Secretary (2002)) and Tim Blake Nelson (Lincoln (2012)) play men with each their faults. Hailee Steinfeld (Begin Again (2013)) plays a small role that seems like a respectful hat-tip to her fine performance in the great True Grit (2010). Meryl Streep (The Hours (2002)) and fine character actors complete the cast.
The film offers a stark look at living conditions in the Midwest in the period: it has not a single frame of glamor or traditional western macho warmth. - And that is refreshing. It also refuses to be a suspense-picture; refuses to saw off some of its detours and knots to be a 'straighter' picture, and instead offers serious representations of its issues of insanity and survival in the rugged American country of yore. It moves along as an episodic yarn very much following the mind of its rugged filmmaker. Jones also injects moments of brevity that are testament to his humorous affinities.
Homesman opens with some marvelous landscape images, accompanied by Marco Beltrami's (The Hurt Locker (2008)) phenomenal score, which seems to manage to direct our very souls into the film like so many harps in very little time.
The Homesman serves food for thought and for discussion. - Why did that happen? - Is that right? And so on. It isn't neat nor readily digested. SPOILER Its ending becomes nearly mythological, as Jones is carried off in sorrow and devil-may-care attitude on a raft. I loved the ending. It was as if I had been on a journey with Jones for the film's 2 hours, and now he sailed onwards, singing and doing his jig to mark the parting. Jones is cinema's most endearing geezer in The Homesman.

Related posts:

Tommy Lee Jones: 2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V] 

2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]  
Men in Black 3 (2012) - Third MiB-chapter entertains the suits and shades off of everyone! (actor) 
Hope Springs (2012) - Making an old marriage work, peppered with Streep at her best and top-grade talent all-around (actor)

Watch the film's great trailer here

Cost: 16 mil. $
Box office: 2.6 mil. $ (and counting)
= So far a huge flop
[The Homesman's prospects look exceedingly glum at the moment, since it has already enjoyed a limited American run in November-December, unless it makes a wider release soon. It has competed in Cannes and been shown in Telluride and at The AFI Film Festival. It has already been released in most markets and probably simply got out at the densest period at the American movie year and didn't make the commercial cut. It needs all the admissions it can get right now, so don't miss it.]

What do you think of The Homesman?
Other fine westerns about women in the West and/or insanity?