THREE FILMS - IN THE HEART OF THE SEA, HE NEVER DIED, THE HATEFUL EIGHT

IN THE HEART OF THE SEA

Moby Dick is in my opinion one of the greatest novels in American literature. I say that not only as a reader but also having taught it in the classroom as a high school literature teacher. This movie recounts the events of the Essex a whaling ship sank by a giant whale and its survivors who were then adrift at sea. This is all told in flashback to Moby Dick author Herman Melville (researching Moby prior to writing it) who is interviewing one of the last survivors, a now middle aged man who was a cabin boy on the doomed ship. Director Ron Howard has a tendency to tell stories in the broadest most general strokes reducing complex people and stories to easy plot points and stereotypes. However, this bracing adventure yarn is fit for this type of direction. Chris Hemsworth (Thor in the current Marvel films) is the most solid and chiseled of action heroes. Only negative part of this otherwise engrossing and interesting tale is the CGI whale which looked completely phony ( compare it to the model whale in the 1956 version of Moby Dick) as well as the greenscreen ocean in general. Still, two hours plus went by like nothing. An interesting scene - Maybe the most genteel declaration of cannibalism I've ever seen in a film. Rather than actually show it, the grown up cabin boy describes in the present day what it involves which actually makes it all the more riveting and tense.

HE NEVER DIED

This is a bad film but one that is highly enjoyable because it is cheesy and laughable but also has a surprisingly good ending. Henry Rollins, who showed more emotion when fronting Black Flag and the Rollins Band, is the most wooden of actors even when breaking out of his usual routine of grunts and shrugs and attempting to show anger. Here he is an immortal being who must take human flesh from time to time to avoid giving into his bloodlust. The plot involves something to do with him finding out he has a daughter and becoming the target of local gangsters (headed by Steven Ogg, Trevor of GTA fame). Low budgeted and looks it. I found the ending which tells who Rollins really is and why he is living this way to be satisfying and the best part of the film. If they ever bring back Mystery Science Theatre 3000, this would be a good movie for them to mock.
 

THE HATEFUL EIGHT

I have never been a fan of Quentin Tarantino. His films are either a complete collection of scenes "borrowed" from other films or hollow, substance free talkathons or a combination of both. THE HATEFUL EIGHT is the latter. Almost three hours in length, the films spends nearly half of its time introducing the characters. Here Kurt Russell transporting fugitive Jennifer Jason Leigh picks up fellow bounty hunter Samuel Jackson and a sheriff (by his own description). A snowstorm forces them to seek shelter in a local resthouse in the middle of nowhere in Wyoming. Other people also trapped in the resthouse may be criminal associates of Leigh. Dull as much as it is interesting and overly impressed with its own dialogue and set-up (both Tarantino trademarks). Tarantino also borrows from himself as the end reminded me slightly of RESERVOIR DOGS, Tarantino's least objectionable film. 

 

THE REVENANT

Director Alejandro Innaritu's follow-up to BIRDMAN (a film I really liked) is not perfect although it is big and entertaining full of breathtaking cinematography and action scenes.

What I liked - There are a number of memorable images - the 15 minute battle shot in frenetic bursts and by a spinning out of control camera between Indians and a hunting party of soldiers and scouts that opens the film, Leonardo DiCaprio being brutally attacked by a bear not once but twice, DiCaprio being sucked down some rapids as he tries to escape from Indians, DiCaprio riding his horse off a cliff into the trees below then disemboweling the dead horse and crawling inside to stay warm, the bloody knife and tomahawk fight at the end with the snow staining red....The panoramic camera angles make the best use of the breathtaking natural beauty....Tom Hardy steals the show as the villainous Fitzgerald and is deserving of a Best Supporting Actor nomination.

What I didn't like - I don't hate Leonardo DiCaprio. He's not my favorite actor but he generally picks good films to star in. I just feel he's miscast here. He doesn't look the part of a stoic supertough scout who could live off the land. Heck, he can't even grow a proper beard....The sub-plot about mistreatment of Native Canadians didn't detract from the overall story but neither did it add a lot - Felt like that should have been a different film....THE REVENANT is two and a half hours long and sometimes felt like it. In particular, I could have done without the two lengthy fever dream sequences. They add nothing to the story and are not particularly creative in how they're shot.

I would still recommend this film because it's so beautifully shot and because the action scenes are gripping and sometimes disturbing. However, it could have been better with a few adjustments (like a more fitting actor in the lead role and edited slightly).

          

THE LOBSTER

The dystopian set-up of THE LOBSTER is an original one - A world, maybe in the future (although it doesn't look futuristic) or maybe an alternate reality, where people who find themselves single must report to a hotel in the country where they have 30 days to find a partner or be transformed into the animal of their choice.  While they are staying in the hotel, the single people can earn extra days of life by helping hunt down "loners"  people who have chosen to remain single and now live in a nearby forest where they commit acts of rebellion against the state.

The hero is played by Colin Farrell whose wife leaves him at the beginning of the film and so he must report to the hotel (bringing along his brother who was there a few years before and was unable to find anybody and is now a dog) where he has a series of adventures and mild SPOILER ends up joining the loners about halfway through the film.

At first I was bit off put by both the use of language and the dialogue.  Characters speak very directly without any trace of irony or humor.  This is done utilizing the Brechtian technique of distancing so as to make it impossible to totally identify with any of the characters.  However, as the film went on and we saw what a different world this is, it all made a kind of sense.

I enjoyed THE LOBSTER.  One of its key strengths is a lot it is actually very funny.  The deadpan humor is expertly written.  The clever idea that is the film's bedrock is only added onto and built up during the narrative.   

What I felt the film was showing was a world where coupling is how the government controls the lives of its citizens (police ask people in public who are alone to show their marriage certificates) not unlike 1984 with its monitoring of all aspects of citizen's lives or BRAVE NEW WORLD with too much sex, drugs, everything destroying the family unit but having the same effect of making people easy to control.

People in this film are forced to base their relationships on trivial similarities such as both being near-sighted or limping or having nice hair.

A slight SPOILER but I believe that in fact people are not turned into animals.  We are never really shown or explained to how this happens but a brainwashed population believes it.  Most likely they are just killed.

I've seen two of Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos' other films DOGTOOTH and ALPS.  They used many of the same odd techniques (speech patterns, weird relations, strange settings) but this is his first English language film and his best so far.  I hope his next film is equally imaginative and thought provoking.    

 

     

FIVE FILMS - THE WAVE, TAG, SCOUTS GUIDE TO THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE, #HORROR, ASMODEUS

THE WAVE

This Norwegian disaster movie features a lot of standard plot details of the genre - Foreshadowing through various warning signs, a hero who is not believed at first about what is to come, fear of disturbing the local tourist industry, family separated during the actual event, finding each other after it is over. The disaster here is an avalanche that creates a massive tsunami in a fjord. It's a solid thriller and a very traditional disaster film- something I haven't seen in awhile. Good entertainment. I wish there had been more scenes of the giant wave- That part is very quick. 

 
TAG

Director Sion Sono's prolificness is matched only by his weirdness. This film whose narrative style reminded me of David Lynch features a schoolgirl who transforms into a bride about to get married and then a marathon runner all the while dodging a killer wind that cuts people in half, homicidal well armed school teachers, and a man wearing a pigs head as a mask. In the end, I'm not sure what it was all about despite an attempted explanation at the end. Something about the nature of reality and fiction. I liked the visuals and it was a stimulating movie as you try to figure out what is going on. This made up for the emptiness at the heart of art without meaning. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it but I did enjoy it on a purely entertainment level (which is perhaps not what the director intended) 

 
SCOUTS GUIDE TO THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE

Filled with gross out jokes, this paint by numbers zombie horror flick at least gives us a slight variation on the typical undead. Here the infected are the result of a bio-weapon accidentally released from a lab. There are fast zombies and also animal zombies. The three teenage cub scout heroes team up with a stripper. Fast paced, filled with gory gags ( this is more of a comedy than a horror/comedy). The best part is the always reliable David Koechner as a scoutmaster with a Dolly Parton fixation. Entertaining but not memorable. 

 
#HORROR

Not sure what this film was about. The only real horror parts are at the very beginning and at the very end. The rest is teenage mean girls carrying out teenage mean girl behavior with some artistic flourishes particularly in the social media game the characters play throughout. Looks nice but ultimately not very scary. There's message in there too about mean girls and social media but it is lost in the muddle.

ASMODEUS

Low Budget talky limp horror about a serial killer loose in a halfway house for female convicts. Spends a lot of time building up the character's personalities and back histories which I liked but the actual horror part is not particularly well directed and the narrative is wildly uneven.