....and thought it was good entertainment and very good movie making.
The Link
I liked it much more than "Grizzly Man" or that flick about those two scuba divers mistakenly being left behind with all the sharks when their dive boat captain failed to count heads before heading home.
However, I didn't like it as much as some other survival movie stories I've seen, like Burt Reynolds' "Deliverance" or Richard Harris' "Man in the Wilderness."
Director Danny Boyle masterfully uses every new and old cinematic technique in the book to interestingly tell this true story and successfully gives viewers the unique perspective of being pinned by a fallen boulder in a rocky crevasse about the size of a closet, isolated and all alone in the immense vastness of Utah's canyonlands.
Creative camera angles with mostly unrepeated multiple views, really good editing, flashbacks and hopeful dreams about the future all prevented movie monotony from being a problem.
And James Franco's fine portrayal is interesting, revealing, nuanced, brave, resourceful, measured and even humorous.
He's nominated for Best Actor, but this flick is really more of a showcase for director Boyle so I don't feel Franco will win the acting academy award.
And the movie's resolution is not done as well as the buildup and climax, IMHO, so I don't foresee a Best Picture or Best Director victory either.
Heck, since the outcome, even though amazing, courageous and uplifting, is already so generally well known, unlike the ending of "Slumdog Millionaire," there was little suspense about what's going to happen.
The suspense was more about how Boyle and Franco were going to show it.
The storyline, location and and everything else is covered so thoroughly that I think this is a movie that, while definitely good, probably only warrants a single viewing for most folks.
For me, it certainly was well worth the $5 for my one viewing, but I know that's all I'll require.
The story was already so well publicized that, even though this film about it is very well done, I found my emotional payoff came when I first heard the breaking news about the ordeal and survival and not when I saw the motion picture.
So, in the theater, I enjoyed observing the technical excellence of the movie making more than seeing this interesting, emotional story brought to life.
JMO.
The Link
I liked it much more than "Grizzly Man" or that flick about those two scuba divers mistakenly being left behind with all the sharks when their dive boat captain failed to count heads before heading home.
However, I didn't like it as much as some other survival movie stories I've seen, like Burt Reynolds' "Deliverance" or Richard Harris' "Man in the Wilderness."
Director Danny Boyle masterfully uses every new and old cinematic technique in the book to interestingly tell this true story and successfully gives viewers the unique perspective of being pinned by a fallen boulder in a rocky crevasse about the size of a closet, isolated and all alone in the immense vastness of Utah's canyonlands.
Creative camera angles with mostly unrepeated multiple views, really good editing, flashbacks and hopeful dreams about the future all prevented movie monotony from being a problem.
And James Franco's fine portrayal is interesting, revealing, nuanced, brave, resourceful, measured and even humorous.
He's nominated for Best Actor, but this flick is really more of a showcase for director Boyle so I don't feel Franco will win the acting academy award.
And the movie's resolution is not done as well as the buildup and climax, IMHO, so I don't foresee a Best Picture or Best Director victory either.
Heck, since the outcome, even though amazing, courageous and uplifting, is already so generally well known, unlike the ending of "Slumdog Millionaire," there was little suspense about what's going to happen.
The suspense was more about how Boyle and Franco were going to show it.
The storyline, location and and everything else is covered so thoroughly that I think this is a movie that, while definitely good, probably only warrants a single viewing for most folks.
For me, it certainly was well worth the $5 for my one viewing, but I know that's all I'll require.
The story was already so well publicized that, even though this film about it is very well done, I found my emotional payoff came when I first heard the breaking news about the ordeal and survival and not when I saw the motion picture.
So, in the theater, I enjoyed observing the technical excellence of the movie making more than seeing this interesting, emotional story brought to life.
JMO.
