Deep Water Horizon

Deep Water Horizon

This is a disaster movie with sub-titles. The oil rig’s catastrophic destruction overwhelms the film. Any human-interest stories are marginalized by non-stop devastation. This is a very technical film. Laced in the dialogue are explanations of the rig’s operation and what went catastrophically wrong. Big pressure dials, lots of buttons are displayed to show the rig’s complexity. Peter Berg, the director, did an effective job depicting the disaster and fatal decisions leading up to the explosion. But the annihilation becomes wearisome.

The first hour of the movie is set up. The movie starts with Mark Walberg and Kate Hudson wife and husband waking up in bed. Walberg has lost his Calvin Kiln underwear model six pack replaced by just one pack and Hudson is puffy in the wrong places (desperately needs a manicure). From there things escalate. There are some fine performances. Kurt Russell who plays Mr. Jimmy the tough but compassionate rig boss and John Malkovich is his counter point. Malkovich is the BP executive desperate to meet deadlines by cutting expenses. The clash between Russell and Malkovich is the start of cataclysmic dominos culminating in the death of eleven men and culminating in billions of dollars in damage.

The movie gives short shrift to the ensuing ecological disaster. Over 130 million gallons of oil was released into the Gulf polluting 1,100 miles of shore lines. Countless numbers of wild life perished. BP would pay $20b to settle claims. Berg just gave one sentence at the end of the film.

Unless you are a rough neck or a bored retired catastrophe underwriter this film is not for you. 

The Hateful Eight

The Hateful Eight

This film felt more like a play than a movie. It was divided in to five chapters and the first three chapters are as slow as molasses on a winter’s morning with lots of dialogue and little action. The film is set during a blizzard in post-civil war Wyoming in a stagecoach way-station. The majority of the action takes place in a one room cabin. Samuel L. Jackson is an ex-military officer turned bounty hunter transporting two dead frozen criminals. Kurt Russell is also a bounty hunter but his prisoner is alive and nasty, Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Tarantino has a distinctive approach to violence, academically it is referred to as the “aestheticization of violence”. I have no idea what the hell its means but after seeing this movie it must mean lots of crap. When the film revs up in the last two chapter’s blood and brains splatter all over the screen. It is violence for violence’s sake. Tarantino’s’ violence is predictable and at this point lacks imagination.

There is an excessive use of the “n” word in the movie. Tarantino is like some kid trying to see how often he can say a bad word before getting his ass kicked. It is offensive, dull and unimaginative. Hay Qunit, a location suggestion, the South Bronx.

This movie is humorless. Tarantino usually interjects some light comedy i.e. Pulp Fiction-Royal with cheese for a quarter pounder. The lack of humor makes the film grim.

The plot is not too complicated. It does not have the intricate twits of Pulp Fiction. It is more like Kill Bill with cowboy boots. It is an excuse for Tarantino to wallow in mayhem, guns, machetes, and poison as is his want.

The actors are his usual ensemble. Their acting is more cartoonish than dramatic. Jackson is more loquacious than the rest but completely bad ass.  Kurt Russell is almost unrecognizable behind his beard. Tim Roth, who is English, has a lousy British accent. Jennifer Jason Leigh gets dirtier and bloodier as the film progresses.

This film disappoints. I think it is just an ego film. Much has been said about the 70mm format of the film. Here size does not matter, but content does.