JORDAN:
Review of The Blue Lagoon:
Throwing it back to 1980, we watched The Blue Lagoon. I remember that the first time I encountered this film was on I Love the 80s, a VH1 special that led me to believe it was all about two teens having sex on an island. But this movie was so much more than that – although Brooke Shields definitely played a smokin’ hot leading lady (and made me wonder whether how she still knew how to shave her legs having grown up on an island…), I really enjoyed the characters because it was both funny and thought-provoking to watch their progression from children to youth to parents. It left my imagination reeling about what it would be like with limited or no socialization from other people and society. Some parts of this film made me laugh at their absurdity; a lot of the scenes seemed to be B-roll from island shots, such as all the images of sea life. And, while watching the natives perform their sacrifice was life-altering for Richard (played by Christopher Atkins), it did not seem to be a necessary scene. Overall, I really enjoyed this movie as a creative spark and as a form of simple entertainment.
Review of Shutter Island:
This movie was a great psychological performance. I really enjoyed the twist at the end and I was thrilled that it recalled movies such as The Sixth Sense and The Matrix in its cleverness. I really didn’t care for the soundtrack as much, but the storyline was engrossing and I found myself following the movie all the way to the end, always hoping that there would be yet another twist to satisfy my curious brain. I won’t let too much of the movie go, but I think that it was a tight storyline and made sense in most of the applicable points. It does creep me out though, so this movie might be a good one to watch with other people – and to spend the night huddled close to them if you’re a ‘fraidy cat like me.
LIBERTY:
Review of The Blue Lagoon:
This wasn’t my sort of movie. I can see why people like it, but there was something weird about the whole thing, especially all of the naked children (that could just be my natural prudence speaking, but there were way too many underwater shots of naked swimming). I think that I tend to like movies that move at a slightly faster pace, and there were long scenes where nothing really happens and there is no dialogue. I ended fast forwarding through most of the second half of the movie and watching the parts with dialogue. I also wished that Richard and Em would have just talked more to each other. It would have solved a lot of their problems. The scene where Em gets her first period was just confusing–first she calls to him for help and then she tells him to go away? Although I guess I can understand her stress over the whole issue–if I were in a similar situation, I would have freaked out as well. But it’s odd to introduce that topic and then not talk about it for the rest of the movie. I thought that the movie would have ended perfectly when they were covered in mud and then walked back into the jungle. They clearly wanted to stay on the island–why suddenly have them found? I suppose that at least their son won’t have to die alone. I just don’t think that they’re going to have a good life back in the real world–it will be like the reception that Tarzan had. I may be over thinking the whole thing, though. In any event, not my movie–too slow and an unsatisfying ending.
Make sure to take a look at the other movie reviews Liberty and I wrote and our other collaborative work: comic alterna-history zine The Bearniverse.