The Year in Movies: 1929

The Mysterious Island (1929)



About the only thing this movie has in common with Jules Verne's novel is the title, but that's a-okay. There is a reclusive scientist (Lionel Barrymore) with a submarine on an island; it's just that everyone knows he's there. Which is too bad for him when a former friend (character actor Montagu Love, who's probably best known as Zorro's dad in the Tyrone Power version) wants to steal his technology in order to power a military coup.

The new plot is pretty great though. There's a romance between Barrymore's sister (Jacqueline Gadsdon, who has a small role in It) and one of the lead workers on the submarine project (Lloyd Hughes, who was Ed Malone in the 1925 Lost World movie). Better than that is how things spin out of control once Love's character invades the island. Barrymore's two subs fall into hands on opposite sides of the conflict, leading to an undersea battle and ultimately to the discovery of an undersea city, merpeople, and a giant octopus. Totally fun.

The Manxman (1929)



It's hard for me to like this early Hitchcock melodrama about two friends in love with the same girl. Mostly that's because Anny Ondra and Malcolm Keen's characters have to make ridiculous decisions in order to drive the plot. But once I'm past that, I do enjoy the drama of the position they put Carl Brisson's character in. And the Isle of Man is a great setting for the story.

Pandora’s Box (1929)



It's rough to watch the characters in Pandora's Box - especially Louise Brooks' - go through the ringer the way they do. Some of it's their own doing, but not all of it. Some of it they do to each other and it becomes a depressing spiral into despair. And yet there's a glimmer of hope at the very end for one of the characters, even though it's made possible by something horrible that happens to one of the others. Thoroughly sad, but capped with just a hint of catharsis.

The Canary Murder Case (1929)



I had high hopes for William Powell and Louise Brooks together in a murder mystery, but sadly, this is no Thin Man. I've seen a couple of other Philo Vance movies (at least one other one with Powell and the one with Basil Rathbone, for sure) and I'm not crazy about the detective. Powell and Rathbone are both too cool for the dandy that I feel like Vance is supposed to be, and neither is as awesome as Vance as they are as Nick Charles and Sherlock Holmes. Vance comes off as an also-ran kind of character and The Canary Murder Case is about that level of story.

Brooks plays an evil nightclub performer with a long line of jilted and/or blackmailed men who would benefit from her death. After A Girl in Every Port and Pandora's Box I'm tired of seeing Brooks play snotty, entitled characters, so already we're off to a bad start. The mystery is also pretty easy to figure out, even though the way the killer covered their tracks is ludicrously unbelievable. I still like seeing two of my favorite actors onscreen, but I kept wishing I was watching them in something else.

The Iron Mask (1929)



Speaking of wishing I was watching something else, I'll never complain about Douglas Fairbanks, but for spoilery story reasons, I prefer other versions of The Man in the Iron Mask to this. I've never read the novel, so maybe this one is totally faithful, but I still don't care for how it ends. It also takes a crazy long time to set up the Iron Mask scenario.

I'm not thrilled either with the device of turning the movie into a talkie by having Fairbanks simply narrate over silent movie footage. Fairbanks has a great voice and I don't particularly miss intertitles, so it's fine from a creative standpoint. It just feels like a cheap way of making a sound version when other productions were doing things like having actors dub their voices onto an audio track.

Ultimately, if I want to see Fairbanks playing D'Artagnan, I'll re-watch his version of The Three Musketeers.

Blackmail (1929)



Hitchcock gets more into thriller territory with this story about a woman who kills in self-defense, but wants to cover it up. And as the title suggests, someone makes that difficult for her. Complicating matters is the case's getting assigned to her police detective boyfriend. It's a great setup with some tense moments, but sadly it doesn't wrap up very well. The ending is rushed and its unclear how events have affected the characters.

The Cocoanuts (1929)



Probably my favorite Marx Bros movie. I never know what Zeppo contributed to the group, but it has strong bits by Groucho, Harpo, and Chico. Especially great are the two-rooms scene, the auction, "Why a duck?," and Harpo's reaction to boring speeches.

Diary of a Lost Girl (1929)



After the thoroughly depressing Pandora's Box, I wasn't sure I was ready for another Louise Brooks/GW Pabst collaboration, but Diary of a Lost Girl is beautiful and lovely. It's the antithesis of Pandora's Box, which was about a woman whose own flaws were largely responsible for her downfall. In Diary, Brooks plays a woman whose fall is no fault of her own, but because of the cruelty and heartlessness of people who are supposed to be looking out for her. She makes the most of it though and finds first a modicum of joy, and then finally a new family and purpose. It's uplifting and challenging at the same time. Loved it.

The Virginian (1929)



It's surprising how many parallels there are between this and High Noon, starting with their lead actor. Both sort of end up being about a lawman who has to face an enemy over the objections of his new wife. But where Will Kane is frustratingly inscrutable in High Noon, making him seem selfish and proud, I know exactly what drives the original Man With No Name.

The Virginian spends plenty of time setting up the conflict between its anonymous title character and Trampas, the villain. It's because of Trampas (in part, anyway) that the very sweet friendship between the Virginian and his best pal goes horribly wrong. That's not enough to force the showdown though and Trampas continues needling Cooper's character until he feels he has no choice but to throw down in the town's streets. When the Virginian explains this to his fiancée (Mary Brian, who was Wendy in 1924's excellent Peter Pan) she doesn't understand, but I do. And the film's spent enough time on her that I also understand why she doesn't.

Tarzan the Tiger (1929)



Tarzan the Tiger has some of the problems that many serials do with the same groups of characters being captured by, escaping from, and getting recaptured by the same groups of other characters. But not to the extent of, say, Son of Tarzan. For the most part, Tarzan the Tiger stays fresh and moves quickly. Some of that's because it mixes up the scenery between Tarzan's jungle mansion, the jungle itself, an Arab slave camp, and the hidden temple-city of Opar. Villains are defeated through the course of the story and new ones come along to take their place, though there are a couple of consistent ones, too. Allegiances shift. It's an above-average serial.

Frank Merrill is an impressive Tarzan, physically. He wears a goofy wig and headband - and I'm never excited about the look of over-the-shoulder furs - but he's ripped and handsome. Natalie Kingston is a great Jane, too. She needs saving a couple of times, but she saves Tarzan too and there's a way of watching the serial in which she's the hero and he's the MacGuffin. When he goes missing in the jungle, she throws on her own junglewear and heads out in search of him. By the end, they're a team, with neither overshadowing the other.

10 Movies from 2015 That I Liked a Lot

11. Creed



Fantastic. Hard to see the final fight through my tears, though.

Actually, I could say that about most of the Rocky movies anymore. Something about where I am in my life right now helps these movies hit me hard. Exceptions are III and IV; not that I don't love III, but it's not as emotional for me as the others. I rewatched all the numbered ones and finally saw Rocky Balboa for the first time shortly before watching Creed and loved the whole experience, but I wonder if I wouldn't have liked Creed even more if I didn't have all the others in such close proximity to compare it to. Especially Rocky Balboa which was pretty much perfect and a bigger surprise.

Still, wonderful movie.

12. The Martian



I have a knee-jerk, negative response to survival films, mostly because I dread spending two hours with just one character. I know that that's almost never the actual case in these movies, but it's a Pavlovian reaction by this point. Many reviews told me that The Martian spends a lot of time with the people who are trying to rescue Matt Damon, but I still had to push myself into the theater. And of course I'm glad I did.

Damon's character faces his problems with intelligence and humor. That's true of all the characters, really, so the whole movie is refreshingly positive and inspirational. It's the movie that Tomorrowland was trying so hard to be. The drawback is that its lightness dilutes the tension and suspense somewhat, but The Martian is inspirational science fiction first and survival thriller second. It totally succeeds at that primary purpose.

13. Trainwreck



A drawback to seeing this later than a lot of people is that it couldn't possibly live up to the hype I was hearing. It's a funny movie and I cared about the characters, but I wanted to be laughing harder than I was, not just chuckling quietly. A very good romantic comedy, but not one I'll be revisiting a lot.

14. Ant-Man



Another very good superhero movie from Marvel. I love that it has its own tone and stands apart from the other Marvel films, while totally fitting in with them at the same time. I had a lot of fun with it, but the bar on Marvel movies has been raised so high at this point that I'm sort of disappointed if I'm not losing my mind over how awesome they are. Not fair, but that's where I am.

15. SPECTRE



As huge a Bond fan as I am, I was frankly unexcited to see SPECTRE. The trailers emphasized themes that have been thoroughly explored in the previous three Bond films: distrust, Bond's going rogue, etc. And the lackluster theme song did nothing to draw me to the theater on opening night. That said, once I saw it, I immediately went back the following night.

The first time, I spent the movie trying to figure out the plot. It felt lighter in tone than the trailers suggested, but was that a decoy? How much could I trust Madeleine Swann? Was Christoph Waltz playing Blofeld or not? I ended up being satisfied with the answers to those questions and looking forward to seeing the movie again the next day.

And I liked it even better the second time. Knowing what to expect plot- and tone-wise, I was able to focus on the themes and characters. I love what it says about Bond and how he's grown since Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. His final confrontation with Waltz' character - the self-styled "author of all your pain" - is remarkable and wonderful. Waltz wants to be so consumingly important in Bond's life, but Bond's not having it. I love that he's matured to that point, even though I absolutely dread the potential repercussions in the next movie.

The reason it's not higher on my list is that not only is it nowhere near my favorite Bond movie, it's not even the best spy movie I saw this year. If you're interested in more detailed thoughts about it, I wrote those up, too.

16. Pitch Perfect 2



Might even like it better than the first one. The humor is still uneven and I really don't care for the way it resets the group's success to zero so that they can repeat their climb to the top again, but the addition of Hailee Steinfeld, Keegan-Michael Key, and for the love of God: Das Sound Machine...

Look, sometimes a sequel just needs to do what the first one did and do it a bigger. I don't say that often, because it doesn't work that often, but it sure works in this case.

17. What We Do in the Shadows



My expectations were too high. The concept is hilarious and the trailer had me rolling, but the movie never made me fall out of my chair in laughter and - fair or not - that's what I thought I was going to get. Still, super funny and highly recommended. Looking forward to the just announced sequel: We're Wolves.

18. Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials



Don't know if the Maze Runner movies are getting lost in the mass of other YA dystopia adaptations or if I'm just reading the wrong film coverage. It feels like no one's talking about these, though, and that's a shame. They're solid adventure stories with interesting characters who have complex motivations and are played by appealing actors. Ready for the next one.

19. Spy



Paul Feig and Melissa McCarthy do it again. This time, they made a great spy spoof that also became one of my favorite Jason Statham movies. What keeps it from being higher on the list is the amount of time it spends on McCarthy in sad, cat lady disguises. It does that so that she can break free of them and be awesome - and once she does, it's great and I love it whole-heartedly - but I had to get through that stuff to get to the great stuff, so that keeps me from loving it.

It also doesn't help that all the US marketing for the movie focused on cat lady. I had to go to Korea to find a poster of McCarthy looking cool. It makes me very sad that US marketers didn't think anyone wanted to see that.

20. Black Sea



An excellent, undersea heist thriller. Not nearly as much about the tension between the English and Russian halves of the team that the trailer would have you believe, but that stuff is certainly in there. My issue with it has nothing to do with the movie itself and everything to do with what I wanted it to be. The thriller stuff is totally in there and it's very good, but ultimately the movie is more interested in the emotional journey of Jude Law's character and that takes the story in a specific direction I was sorry to see it go. If this list were about objective quality and not about my personal reactions, Black Sea would be in a different spot.

The Abyss (1989)

Who's In It: Ed Harris (The Rock), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves), and Michael Biehn (The Terminator, Aliens).

What It's About: Close Encounters of the Wet Kind.

How It Is: For two hours, it's a perfectly constructed thriller. It's the characters' actions that continually ramp up the tension and lead them from set piece to set piece, so the story feels very organic and holds together wonderfully for most of the movie. Ed Harris plays the foreman of an underwater drilling team that's tasked with helping some Navy SEALs find a missing submarine. The SEAL commander (Biehn) grows increasingly unhinged as the story unfolds, but the best drama is between Harris and his estranged wife (Mastrantonio), who's also recruited to assist in the mission since she designed the drilling platform.

Harris and Mastrantonio's relationship is what anchors the whole story amidst all the craziness. It's hard not to get the feeling that Cameron is working through his own relationship issues, but the two characters feel like a real couple who have disconnected from each other because they're both so stubborn and independent. If there's a negative aspect to the way they're presented, it's that Harris is clearly the good guy in their relationship at first, but that becomes less true as the movie progresses and Cameron lets us get to know Mastrantonio better. By the end, all I want is for these two to survive and have a second chance at working things out.

As strong as most of the movie is though, it doesn't quite stick its landing. I'm enough of a scifi nerd to appreciate that undersea aliens are somehow responsible for most of what's happening, but honestly, The Abyss would be a stronger film without that aspect. It works best when it's focused on the characters' trying to survive. And though the aliens' appearances are mysterious and exciting during the first two hours, the resolution of that plotline in the movie's last fifteen minutes feels tacked on and hokey. It's like the special edition of Close Encounters where you get to see inside the ship. It's unnecessary and works against what the rest of the film has been building towards.

But man, those first two hours...

Rating: Four out of five water tentacles.

Saturday Matinee | The Incredible Petrified World (1957)

You know what I miss? Watching old movies and and writing about them. I got the bug around this time last year, but burned myself out by trying to do it daily. I actually liked doing it that often; I just couldn't keep up with the schedule. But what if I try to do it weekly instead...?

Who's In It?

John Carradine (Stagecoach, House of Dracula), Phyllis Coates (The Adventures of Superman, Panther Girl of the Kongo), Robert Clarke (The Man from Planet X)

What's It About?

Three scientists (Clarke, Sheila Noonan, and Allen Windsor) and a reporter (Coates) escape a wrecked diving bell and take refuge in air-filled, but underwater caves.

How Is It?

Interesting for Superman fans, especially those - like me - who like Phyllis Coates as Lois Lane in the first season of the '50s TV show. Coates plays a reporter here too, but she's no Lois Lane. Her husband is leaving her for another woman, leading Coates' character to hate everybody. And sadly, that one note is the strongest characterization anyone gets in this movie.

Sheila Noonan's (Beast from Haunted Cave) character isn't so bad and gets a couple of good scenes in while arguing with Coates over the reporter's attitude, but like all the other characters in the movie, Noonan's has no life outside of the movie's plot. Even John Carradine is wasted as the inventor of the diving bell. After the accident that leaves the bell stranded at the bottom of the ocean, Carradine seems more concerned about figuring out the flaw in his design than he does about the presumed deaths of the four victims.

There's barely a story here at all. A ton of set-up (including a pointless documentary about sea life that's the only appearance of the octopus from the lying poster) finally leads to the point where the four leads are stranded and escape to some dry, undersea caves. Most of the movie is an unexciting survival tale as they explore the caverns. They meet a stock-footage monitor lizard and a crazy hermit with a fake beard, but that's as thrilling as it gets.

Meanwhile, Carradine and Company are on the surface planning a second expedition with a new diving bell. It's all for science though, not a rescue mission, since everyone believes that the first divers are dead. That means that there's no tension around the second mission and - without anything to be afraid of in the caves - no stakes for the main cast. There are some volcanic earthquakes toward the end of the movie, but by that time the second expedition is underway and the resolution is obvious. In fact, the earthquakes are just there to push the leads out of the caves so that they can be spotted by the second team. I know that sounds spoilery, but "spoiler" implies that a surprise is being ruined and I promise that there are already no surprises in the way this movie ends.

Grade: D+

The Arctic Marauder

I'll have to forgive you if you hear the description of Jacques Tardi's The Arctic Marauder and think that it's a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea rip-off. After all, it does have ships that mysteriously blow up as eerie lights shine below the ocean surface.



And the destruction does end up being caused by the anti-social crew of a submersible, who do occasionally like to go for walkabouts on the ocean floor.



But The Arctic Marauder doesn't steal from 20,000 Leauges so much as improve on it. After all, Nemo's crew never traveled like this:



The Arctic Marauder takes out all of Verne's boring travelogue stuff and replaces it with awesome. The Marauder is also the name of the villains' seacraft and it's even more cool than the Nautilus. And rather than just being withdrawn from society like Nemo, the Marauder's captain is a full-blown whackadoo who wants to destroy the world.



There's also this creepy, old bat to complicate things in the best possible way.



And of course there's some good, old-fashioned cephalopod hating.



While not exactly a cliff-hanger, the ending does necessitate a sequel, so the lack of closure is the only negative comment I can make about this thing. Even then, though, there's a way of reading it where the book says everything it needs to. Still, I hope Tardi's working on the follow-up right this very minute, because I want a lot more of this.

Evil Sea-Spiders Hate Cephalopods

[Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine]

White Shark Africa looking for cage-diving interns

I got a very cool email this morning from White Shark Africa. I doubt I can add any information that isn't in the brochure above (click to Great White size it), but man if I was in a different stage of life I'd be all over this. Visit the website or email Zerilda Lodewyk in Recruitment for more details.

Review: Camouflage, by Joe Haldeman

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know that I don't finish a lot of novels. I follow Bookgasm's Hundred-Page-Rule that states, "If a book's not good by page one-hundred, stop reading it." In fact, I've modified it into my own, even more hardcore version: "If by page one-hundred you can stop reading; do." That keeps me from debating whether or not a book is "good." The standard isn't technical quality; it's whether or not I can put it down. So on the rare occasions that I do finish a book, it's because it's really damn compelling. Camouflage is that kind of book.

I picked it up because there's an undersea angle. In prehistoric times, a spacecraft crashes into what will eventually become the Pacific Ocean and settles on the seabed. A lifeform leaves the craft and we're told that it's from a planet so volatile and forever quick-changing that the inhabitants have learned to evolve just as quickly. In effect, they've become immortal, because they can transform themselves into whatever it takes to survive whatever they encounter. This particular specimen spends its first million or so years on Earth as an undefined sea monster, eventually transforming itself into a shark and then a killer whale (basically whatever's at the top of the local ecosystem's food chain) as it discovers those species. When it encounters humans, it decides to become one of those.

Alongside this plotline is a separate one that begins in the year 2019 when scientists discover the craft and attempt to raise it and then study it. The leader of the project is a grizzled, former Navy admiral named Jack Halliburton, but the main character in these sections is Russell Sutton, the marine engineer whom Halliburton hires to oversee the project. Other characters come along as the project develops, including a NASA scientist named Jan whom I couldn't help but imagine as Helen Mirren. These sections - with their enjoyable banter and hints at a romantic triangle between the three main characters - ground the novel and gave me some likable people to relate to. Which was very important early on as the alien - Haldeman calls it "the changeling" - learns to become human in its own story.

As enjoyable as the science project plot is, the changeling's story is the fascinating one. It comes ashore in 1931, more or less human in form, but with all the moral development of a great white shark. It's tragic then, but not shocking when the changeling's first action on land is to kill a young man and take his identity. Nor is that the last heinous act the changeling will commit as it learns to assimilate into human culture.

What's utterly captivating is the skill with which Haldeman gradually endeared me to this character. He doesn't pull any of the usual, manipulative tricks. In fact, he makes his job harder for himself by refusing to give the changeling a name, consistently referring to it as "it," and continuously putting it into situations that show how inhuman it is. It endures rape dispassionately, for instance. Why wouldn't it? It can feel pain (though it's tolerance for pain is much greater than ours), but doesn't understand emotions like anger or humiliation. Not at first anyway.

Well, not ever, really. But as it continues life amongst humans, switching from one identity to another (some kept for years or decades; others for very short periods of time), it does begin to pick up concepts like compassion and wonders if it will ever understand love. But even then, Haldeman never anthropomorphizes the creature. It's not "becoming human," it's very much alien, but is simply trying to understand the culture in which it's found itself. I sort of fell in love with it, and with Haldeman's unbelievable ability to set up impossible writing challenges and then meet them with such apparent ease.

I've always enjoyed it when authors run parallel, independent stories that are going to meet up eventually. It's a lot of fun to try to anticipate how the pieces fit together and Camouflage is no exception. There's a second immortal character that I haven't mentioned yet - Haldeman calls him the chameleon - who's much more violent and bloodthirsty than the changeling and wants to find others like him only to destroy them. Unfortunately, I figured out how this character fit into the 2019 story fairly easily (although Haldeman did make me question my theory at least once), but that was only a small bit of enjoyment stolen. The final confrontation between changeling and chameleon is exciting and satisfying. 

As remarkable as any other part of the book is the end. I wouldn't dream of spoiling it, because you absolutely need to read it, but Haldeman finishes the story exactly where he needs to and not one second later. It's abrupt, but as I thought about possible ways to make it less so, I realized that it's also perfect. Like the rest of the novel.

Underwater! (1955)

Almost as funny as Charlton Heston's playing a Mexican detective in Touch of Evil is Jane Russell's playing a Cuban newlywed in Howard Hughes' Underwater!. She gets top billing, but her role is actually a supporting one. The main character is Richard Egan's Johnny Gray, a former underwater demolitions expert who's recently moved to Cuba and married Theresa (Russell).

Johnny's best friend is a treasure-hunting conman named Dominic Quesada (Gilbert Roland, who also played the Cisco Kid in the movies). Dominic believes that he's discovered an important wreck in shark-infested waters, so with the help of a local priest who knows the wreck's history and a woman named Gloria - who's only real function in the movie is to own the boat the team uses (actress Lori Nelson had a much better part in Revenge of the Creature that same year) - he and the Grays try to recover the treasure. Two things complicate the operation: 1) the ship is perched precariously over the edge of a huge cliff and could fall over while the divers are poking around, and 2) a group of disreputable-looking shark hunters keep dropping by to see what the group is up to (and don't seem to be buying the story about hunting for rocks).

As much as I love underwater stories, it's often easy for filmmakers to get so wrapped up in photographing the setting that the story drags. That's not a problem for Underwater!. There's a lot of cool photography - especially of sharks - but director John Sturges (The Old Man and the Sea, The Magnificent Seven) never stops the action to make us spend a lot of time on it. One of the ways he does that though is also a weakness in the movie. Egan narrates a lot of it, which keeps things moving, but also means that the audience is often being told what's going on instead of allowed to experience it for themselves.

The story itself is exciting. The threats are real and I was always curious to see what was going to happen next, even if I wasn't particularly invested in the divers' finding the treasure because they're so unlikable. Johnny and Dominic are charming enough guys, but they're also greedy and devious. Theresa occasionally objects to Johnny's more selfish decisions - and he initially caves to her objections - but all he has to do is pout and mope to make her back down. It's not that I didn't like her, it's just that she was too weak to affect his actions in any meaningful way. Even the priest - while never actively participating in any ruthlessness - turns a blind eye when Johnny and Dominic invite the hunters aboard to get them drunk and then pull weapons on them. The movie makes an effort to redeem at least Johnny at the end, but his transformation comes out of nowhere and feels contrived rather than legitimate.

When Johnny and Theresa aren't arguing though, they're a sweet couple and seem committed to making their relationship work. They've only known each other for a little over a year, so they're still learning about each other. And though Theresa sees a darker side of Johnny's character than she's seen before - and the revelation threatens to tear them apart - she never comes across as wanting to ditch him. And Johnny, for all his faults, loves her too. I'm not saying whether they stay together at the end - or even whether they both survive the adventure - I'm just saying that I became invested enough in them as a team that I really wanted them to.

Three out of five sunken galleons.

Pass the Comics: You Kept the Vacuum Tubes

The History of Aquaman Explained



[Comics Alliance]

The Neptonian



Kyle Latino's undersea webcomic has begun.

Zegra, Jungle Empress is The Deserter's Prize



Zegra has to rescue a native girl (and herself) from a couple of former Legionnaires. [The Comic Book Catacombs]

After the break: giant monsters, Tracy villains, Atomic Robo, Mysta of the Moon, and Peppermint Patty kicks some bootie.

Movie News: I'm Too Sexy for My Lines

I've been a bad blogger for the last couple of days, so I'm sorry about that. I'm under deadline for a story in which Western Bigfoot has to solve some grisly murders, so that's been distracting (in a good way).

Pirates of the Caribbean 4 ship and casting news



/Film has a couple of pictures of something that sure looks like it was made for Pirates of the Caribbean 4, as well as casting news about Jack Sparrow's sidekick for the film.

After the break: TCM goes Under the Sea, Cinematic Titanic goes to Tiki Island, and Christopher Nolan goes to MI6. Also, Thor and Muppets updates.

The Neptune Factor (1973)

The Neptune Factor is most assuredly not "the most fantastic undersea odyssey ever filmed." That wasn't even true in 1973 (not with movies like Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea predating it by 20 years). What it is is a fairly mundane, '70s disaster flick only without the all-star cast (Ernest Borgnine was the biggest name they could muster) or special effects. That's not to say that it's worthless; just very disappointing.

The plot's pretty simple. An undersea earthquake sends a submerged ocean lab into the giant crevice that it was located next to and a rescue is mounted. Tension is created not through action, but through the lack of it. The search for the missing lab is long and tedious for the workers, but the movie does a nice job of making that interesting for the audience. Since it never cuts to the lab to let us know if they're okay or not, we're invested in the hunt too. And that makes us equally frustrated by frequent setbacks like unusually strong underwater currents, aftershocks from the quake, and waiting for proper equipment.

One example of proper equipment is a mini-sub called Neptune. Before it's arrival (it's just been overhauled and hasn't been tested since it was), the primary search was conducted by a military sub that was too large to go into the crevice to look. Once Neptune arrives, things start to look up, except that her by-the-book captain isn't as emotionally invested in the search as the rest of the team - people who've worked with the missing men for a long time. So there's some interpersonal drama too as the rest of the sub crew tries to make the captain take risks against his better judgment.

How to make giant fish lame after the break.

Movie News: Might them find treasure?

New Treasure Island movie



The same Sherlock Holmes producer who's making a new Three Musketeers movie is also planning a Treasure Island remake. He's working hard at being my new Favorite Person in the World. [/Film]

Pirates 4 Casting Spoiler



Who is this woman playing in Pirates of the Caribbean 4? Check /Film for the answer, but be warned that there's a small spoiler in the revelation.

Avatar 2: The Oceans of Pandora



"The Oceans of Pandora" isn't the Avatar sequel's sub-title, it's just what the movie will likely be about. According to James Cameron, "Part of my focus in the second film is in creating a different environment – a different setting within Pandora. And I’m going to be focusing on the ocean on Pandora, which will be equally rich and diverse and crazy and imaginative, but it just won’t be a rain forest." He's quick to add though that "I’m not saying we won’t see what we’ve already seen; we’ll see more of that as well." [/Film]

Ka-Zar movie?



It's hard to tell which specifics in this CHUD article are based on fact and which are speculation, but while talking about Marvel's plans to follow up their blockbuster movies with a bunch of smaller-scale ones, Ka-Zar gets mentioned. For those who don't know, Ka-Zar is Marvel's take on Tarzan, only with a booty-kicking jungle wife, a pet sabretooth, mutant cavemen, and lots and lots of dinosaurs. How can this not be a movie?

CHUD doesn't mention it, but I also have to wonder if that long-rumored Shang Chi movie might finally get made now.

Demon guns, cursed cowboys, Black Widow, Oz the Great and Powerful, and Star Wars after the break.