Just When You Thought It Was Finally Safe..."The Shallows"

The Shallows (2016)  

Rated PG-13

Starring Blake Lively

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra

The Story:

Nancy (Lively) goes out surfing at a secluded beach where her mom once tore up the waves. When a few other surfers head to shore, Nancy decides to try for one more wave.

Clearly Nancy has not grown up watching shark movies!

:)

Arguably, this is one of the best shark movies since Jaws, and I've sat through enough of them to know what I'm talking about here.

Collet-Serra breaks from his usual thrillers with Liam Neeson to direct a thriller with a killer shark instead.

Apparently Liam Neeson wasn't available to play the part of the killer shark.

So instead, this is all about Nancy and her fight for survival just a few hundred yards off shore and safety.

Thankfully she went to medical school, so she will be able to tend to her wounds to keep her from simply bleeding to death and making the movie rather boring.

The film follows very much in Spielberg's shoes by letting a lot of the killer shark go unseen, and just ratchet the tension by knowing he's out there, waiting, and there's nothing our human protagonist can do about it.

So that leaves Lively to carry the film, and she does so quite admirably. Put in a bikini and stuck on a rock for most of the film, she does her best to run the gamut of emotions and keep you enthralled with her desperate plight.

At the end, there's got to be a showdown between human and monster, and while it may be a little over-the-top, this is B-movie thriller/monster movie and the conclusion works perfectly for the film.

Overall, I was very entertained from start to finish, and someday I'll add it to the film library.

Final Grade: B+

You'll Age Faster Than She Does..."The Age of Adaline"

The Age of Adaline (2015)

Rated PG-13

Starring Blake Lively, Michiel Huisman, Ellen Burstyn, Harrison Ford, Kathy Baker, Anthony Ingruber

Directed by Lee Toland Krieger

The Story:

Adaline (Lively) is a lovely lady after the turn of the century who has it all, a good husband, a beautiful baby, and then she loses her husband in an accident. Moving on without him, one night she is involved in a freak accident that leaves her with the inability to age. She watches as her daughter (Burstyn) grows up and older than she is. She moves every few years to avoid running into people who knew her previously and having to explain why she looks so young. Then, at a New Year's Eve party she meets Ellis (Huisman) who is going to give her a second chance at love and life.

But no, we aren't done just yet! You see, once upon a time, Adaline had dared to love again when she met William (Ingruber). However, she left without a trace, and he was heartbroken. Yet William would age as most people do, and now a much older William (Ford) is celebrating his wedding anniversary with his wife (Baker) when their son, Ellis comes home bringing his new girlfriend with him.

Imagine William's surprise to see his lost love standing right before his very eyes.

So where to begin, the good news, or the bad news?

We'll start with the good news.

The cast, from top to bottom, does a great job. Believable, sincere, they never once let you doubt that this tale is unfolding before you and their emotions will help carry your emotions through to the very end of the film.

The bad news, the movie is slow in the pacing as it drags out near the two hour mark.

So one of two things should have happened, add a little to the movie to take it to the full 2 hours (or beyond) by fleshing out a little more of the story and characters which might have given the story a bit more zip and momentum and tighten up a few of the plot pieces, or trim some of the scenes down or eliminate a bit of the fluff to make it move at a quicker pace.

It is the 21st Century after all, and audiences aren't dumb, and you give away half the movie in trailers these days, so let's pick up the pace and get to it.

In other bits of good news for the film, if the world was waiting for the next Harrison Ford, well you could do worse than Anthony Ingruber. While not the spitting image, he's got the physical frame and the voice range of the man who would be Indy or Han. Let's see what the future holds for this guy.

So know going in that it's going to take a bit to get the ball rolling, but the last half of the movie delivers.

Final Grade: C+