The news being what it is, the critics at Rogerebert.com each submitted an entry into this really entertaining list: Favorite Uplifting Movies.
It gave me a chance to write about a movie I’ve always wanted to write about.
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Blue Crush!!! LOVED. IT. Even the scenes where Kate Bosworth’s face is CGI’d onto someone else’s surf-tacularly skilled body. Just loved that the women were sexy, but not because they were cute or hot or whatever, but because they were powerful and talented and living their dreams. Sigh. Need to go splash my face with saltwater now. :) Love you.
Stevie – so so glad to hear you feel the same way. Yeah, in its own way – it’s really good on the details – their lives, their clothes – the class issues on Hawaii (my friends who live there described exactly that environment btw locals and tourists) – and yes, I just love all those girls!! – and those crazy football players they train to surf!
Why is it so entertaining??
I should have known you would have loved it too. We are kindred spirits. xoxo
Love you too.
and the Lenny Kravitz song playing over the end-credits. LOVE.
Oh yeah!!! Forgot about that!
Sexy summer romance!
I’ve been going to bed every night with Desk Set. It soothes me. Kate and Spence, of course, but also a certain late-fifties vibe, Rockefeller Center, smart women abundant, grown-ups, a budding middle-age romance based on brains and affinity, not on cuteness, and a classic office Christmas party with the incomparable Joan Blondell dancing with a green ribbon on her head. Also there is that one moment when Spence obviously surprises Kate and Joan with a parody of a drunken bum, and both women LOSE IT! A real moment! It’s just sublime.
// a classic office Christmas party with the incomparable Joan Blondell dancing with a green ribbon on her head. //
I know!! What more does one need in life?
It’s been a while since I’ve seen that one but I love it too – really smart and fun.
I’m with you! Desk Set is one of my favorite movies of all time. My three favorite bits:
* The old lady who used to be the pinup girl.
* The “Mexican Avenue” bus line.
* The older women’s encyclopedic knowledge of pretty much everything. Relics of a bygone era!
Plus pretty much everything else about it. ;)
So great to find another Desk Set fan!
Babe: A Pig in the City.
Oh God yes.
Love Blue Crush! Yes I agree, no such thing as a “guilty” pleasure, this movie is just a pleasure! Several Reasons:
– Great soundtrack that really sets the mood
– Great use of location, really felt like you were there- colors so bright you gotta wear shades
– Kate Bosworth gives a nuanced, very believable performance
– Great opening, it takes a LONG time until they even get to work to start their day jobs, I love that they get up early to start the day surfing before school and work
– Real surfers playing themselves in competition
– Love the end, how she didn’t “Win” per se, which would have seemed unrealistic given the competition she was in, but how she “won” by conquering her personal demons
– Really made you feel like you were experiencing big wave surfing, the point of which seems to be to avoid drowning if at all possible. Terrifying and exhilarating, you can understand the rush this provides the participants. Not for me though, thanks.
The whole final surf competition is just great, whenever the movie is on I make sure I flip back for this last 20 minutes or so. Everything about it seems real, from the announcer to the other surfers to the crowd to the photographer. It’s got perfect pace, editing, music- just a wonderful, “feel good” sequence.
If I have a minor complaint at all about the movie it’s that I didn’t love the actor playing the love interest, he seems a little too passive and soft-spoken to be an NFL Quarterback to me.
Doesn’t matter, I love this movie!
Todd – love to hear your further thoughts on Blue Crush! It just works so well! I agree with you about the love interest – although one thing I liked about it is that the whole thing is not positioned as a “great love” or even “the one” – it’s probably a time-and-place thing, that helped them both grow – especially her – a good guy who ended up coming through. I also liked that he was a jock. And not, say, an accountant. The movie understands that jocks really get each other in a way that is unique – that competition, that risk-taking, that devotion to One Thing to be The Best at One Thing.
// I love that they get up early to start the day surfing before school and work //
Yes! My beach town life was like that. I lived near the beach in college and would run down to the end of the block to take a quick swim before heading off to class. And if the wind was a certain way, then you KNEW the waves would be perfect (I don’t surf, but I love swimming in big waves) – and it was a beach day you wouldn’t want to miss. Living that near the ocean – you just have a relationship to it like you have a relationship with other people. I’m sure people in other regions of the country (and world) have similar relationships to their surroundings – the feelings of the prairie, or the mountains – these things change daily, have personalities.
and yeah, I don’t want to surf. I like big waves, but 10 foot waves is as big as I’m willing to go. Those huge green monsters? NO. But I really admire the people who can do it!
I love how the other surfers at the end are cheering her on – so rooting for her. That’s another jock-like thing that people who AREN’T jocks fail to understand.
My friend Allison spends a lot of time in Hawaii – her sister lives there – and she says, too, that the conflict/tension between locals (native Hawaiians, plus Hawaiian-Hawaiians) and tourists and professional big-wave surfers is often extreme. It’s not just a culture issue (this is our land, our beach, you rich folks don’t own it) but a class issue. And the film understood that, too!
I’m so glad I picked that movie. There were so many other contenders – but I had already written about them – so this has been really fun.
Happy to give more Blue Crush thoughts!
The opening 10 minutes of the movie are really great, and could be studied as a way to introduce characters in a specific time and place. It starts with the song choice, “Could You Be Loved”, by Damien Marley. Rather then a Bob Marley tune, which would be more expected, this Damien Marley track seems to be something the girls would listen to, and puts the viewer right in the mood. The whole movie is giving an inside look at a culture we don’t often get to see, and this song choice was perfect to get us “inside”.
The song starts while Anne Marie is running on the beach. They all get up early to surf, but she is up even earlier to train, which is revealing of her character’s strength. I love when they get the phone call from the kid sleeping on the beach to monitor the early morning waves, that seems like such a true detail, again bringing us “inside” this world.
“Could you Be Loved” continues while Eden is in the shop working on a surf board, while Anne Marie wakes her sister and friend Lena (Sanoe Lake, who is nothing if not an authentic surfer girl), and when they get in the car to drive to the beach. It culminates when Sanoe Lake yells “WHOO” when they get to the beach and she sees the first big wave, timed just to the “WHOO” in the song, as in “Could You be Loved, WHOO, and be Loved”.
It’s not a new trick to use music to transition from one scene to the next, but this particular sequence is honestly one of my favorite uses of music in any film ever. By the time they get to their Hotel jobs as maid, we are DEEPLY immersed in the world of these girls.
I’m not as in love with some of the middle sections of the movie, particularly when it comes to the romance. If I’m not mistaken, the scene where they sleep together involves him pre-paying her for a week of surf lessons in a weird, creepy, hookerish type scene that still feels just off to me. And no offense to Matthew Davis, who I have seen act perfectly fine in other movies (Tigerland is a great one), but he is just too passive to be an NFL quarterback. Those guys are loud, brash, cocky, leaders of leaders. I just didn’t buy it.
It doesn’t matter, because the last 20-30 minutes or so, when the surf competition starts, are just great film making, no other way to say it.
There is an authenticity to the surfing that really puts you in water and gives you a sense of what it’s like. My favorite part of the film is when she takes the ride that actually wins her the first round, but then wipes out at the end. The surf keeps pounding her, she gets to the surface to take a quick breath, and then BOOM, another wave drives her under. It’s almost impossible to watch that and not hold your breath. The movie creates a visceral feeling as well as any movie I can think of. The announcer says “Not that she probably cares right now, but the scores are in and she made it ot the next round”. I agree, at that moment she was probably only caring about not drowning. However they filmed it, it just seemed REAL.
And I love that the movie gets that their can be glory in defeat. And that her main competition helped her catch the wave at the end. And that the announcers and photographers seemed so authentic. And how about those great reaction shots from the other surfers? And of course the great one-two music at the end, “Everybody’s got their Something” into the “Cruel Summer” remix.
I have watched the last stretch of this movie at least 20 times, probably more. As you say, it just “works”.
Todd, you are the BEST!
I just re-watched it too – fresh in my mind – so I’m loving how you walk us through this.
// I love when they get the phone call from the kid sleeping on the beach to monitor the early morning waves, that seems like such a true detail, again bringing us “inside” this world. //
Yes. So true – and something you wouldn’t think of. Also, because she and her friends are busy – with jobs, and driving people to school and all the rest – they can’t just sit out on the beach all day waiting for a wave. They couldn’t afford it. They need to squeeze it in when they can and therefore need advance warning. Great!!
(The “making of” is great too – have you watched that? They cast real surfers – the third girl in the little trio is a real surfer from Hawaii – and the guy who plays her ex-boyfriend, the tough-guy surfer – is obviously not really an actor – although he does a very good job, I think! – but part of the “reality” of the film. He has standing in that Hawaii community – not the professional surfers but the LOCALS – and his involvement was really important to get other people on board. They all trusted that Blue Crush was trying to film their world and do it right.)
I agree that there was a hooker-ish vibe to that interaction that gave me a weird feeling – I was glad Eden called it out when she was getting dressed to go out with him – and that DRESS she wore that HE bought for her. I mean, really?? If some guy bought me that dress, I’d be like, “You have got to be kidding me.” There was an interesting class critique there (like, when her buddies – still maids – come into the room and she’s there lolling around in a robe). But it wasn’t dealt with enough.
The scene between her and the guy that I really liked was when she left the luau party and walked into the nearby water. and he followed. Their conversation there – in the water – was a VERY well-written scene. And feminist, too – in a gentle and very human way. She’s freaking out – not about him and her – but about why she’s afraid of the competition which also leads into her questioning of him – “HOW do you see me.” “WHO is it that you see when you look at me.” The final line of that scene: “The girl I first met on the beach who would never ask a guy to tell her what to do” is perfect – because it kind of re-aligns the movie with its initial intentions – and gives the power back to her – even though in that scene she’s freaking out.
I think if his character had been developed a bit more – or if he was like, “I’m sorry – I like you better in your cut-offs than in that dress – I don’t know what I was thinking” … that might have helped with taking the edge off of that weird hookerish vibe.
The surfing sequences are amazing – including that horrifying one you mention. I was swimming in the ocean yesterday and there were big waves. (I mean, nothing like those of course). But waves that were so high that they were above the horizon line. So, let’s say, 8 foot waves. And they were coming one after the other. It was a workout just standing in the surf – and hilarious – because everyone had to just keep diving under the waves or crashing through them – there was no break in the action. And I thought about your comment. I was picturing Okay, so what if these were 30 foot waves. Holy SHIT.
It was great, as you say, that she did not win the competition. BUT – as she said to him in that wonderful scene when they’re fully clothed in the water – she wants a girl to be on the cover of Surfer magazine. And she’s PISSED when she says it. She doesn’t care if it’s her. The movie allows her to be pissed off at how unfair that situation is. The larger victory – her gracing the cover of that magazine – is a victory for all “girl surfers” – and I just felt so happy for her!!
I, too, loved that real-life surfer-girl coming out and setting her up on the right wave. SUPPORT!! That was one thing that the director said he really wanted to get across is how supportive everyone is of each other even as they are competitive – because everyone knows that surfers die all the time and any one of them could die doing what they love.
A couple of people on Twitter said that I had “forced” them to rent it – !!!! hahaha – because of the piece I wrote, and that makes me happy. I hope they like it too! How could they not?
I haven’t watched any making of stuff on Blue Crush, but I’m not surprised that the lead surfer guy was an actual surfer from Hawaii. All of the “locals” seemed really authentic, I guess because they were. The “locals” vs “tourist” vibe was one of the things I liked best about the movie. All of the scenes with these “non-actors” played great.
And I know that the surfers in the competition were real surfers. Keala Kennelly (the surfer who helped her at the end, after she had already clinched the round) added a LOT to the movie.
It’s a mistake many sports movies make, trying to get actors to play the sport seems much harder than getting athletes to act. I love DiCaprio, but Basketball Diaries makes me cringe during the Hoops scenes because he is supposed to be a star, yet he really is not very good. Compare that to what Ray Allen did for He Got Game. If you can’t “sell” your sport these movies don’t work.
Another little detail I liked in Blue Crush, how there is no “parking lot” at the competition, you just park wherever you can in the brush. Little details like that throughout the movie are what makes it. They have the lingo down, the waves at the beginning aren’t “huge” or something, they are “double overhead”. The movie just knows it’s stuff when it comes to the surfing world, and it’s a little thrilling to be let inside.
And yeah, when you describe swimming in the surf, I think anyone who has ever been in the Ocean and had maybe a moment where you were a bit disoriented by the surf could feel the absolute terror of being out there in those huge waves.
I wish it was as sure handed with the romance. I like Bosworth’s performance a lot, and the scene you mention after the Luau is a good one for her. But as for him, I’m just not sure what he wanted or where he was coming from. I think you are right that if they had just fleshed it out more it may have worked better. As it stands, I feel the whole romance was kind of shoe-horned into the movie as a way to provide some tension or drama, but really if the football players were not in the movie at all and they just spent more time in the water I think it would have been better.
So fun to talk about this movie!
My go to “Feel Good” movies: (lots of sports stuff here, the formula just works)
The Sandlot
Rudy
Hoosiers
The Bad News Bears (Original)
The Right Stuff
Apollo 13
Dazed and Confused
Go
Swingers
The Big Lebowski
The Rookie is another one for me!
I love many on your list – Apollo 13, Bad News Bears!!
The sports-genre really really works for me.
Speaking of Dazed and Confused – it’s Linklater’s birthday today!
This is what kind of year it’s been:
I see this post and it puts a smile on my face and I think instantly: Easy…I Wanna Hold Your Hand.
Then I go to check a fact on Wikipedia before I comment here and one thing leads to another and I find out Theresa Saldana died last month.
Then I remember that the main reason I Wanna Hold Your Hand holds so many happy memories for me is that it was the last great laugh-fest my mother and I had in a theater back in 1978. Her health took a severe turn for the worse soon after and she spent the next nine years dying an inch at a time. Not saying there weren’t other good times, but there was never anything as pure as that again.
Anyway, that’s what kinda year this has been!
But it’s still my great uplift movie. Nothing can take away the memories of me and mom literally rolling in the aisles in a nearly empty theater way back when.
R.I.P. Theresa and Wendy Jo!
I Wanna Hold Your Hand is really really special. I am so sorry about your mother.
You know I was just on a panel with Nancy Allen this past April about the challenges women face in the film industry? She had some horror stories. Being told at 22 that she was too old for an ingenue role, and etc. She talked a lot about Wendie Jo (they created a cancer support network together – a business that still flourishes). It was such an honor to meet her. And she had some really funny stories about I Wanna Hold Your Hand and how insanely fun and crazy it was. They all became lifelong friends.
and yes, Theresa Saldana died. Wonderful actress. Horrific thing that happened to her – and she really helped raise awareness about stalking -but with that poor young Youtube star getting shot by a fan a couple months ago – we still have the problem she faced, and are still helpless in the face of it.
SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN!!
One big grin of a movie.
Totally!
Bring It On is another one for me.
And Blue Hawaii! The mid-ish period of Elvis movies have a lot of pure silly joy in them where the goal is to make people happy – and it works.
Girl Happy! Viva Las Vegas! Blue Hawaii!
If I’m in what I call my “black hole”, The Awful Truth”, “Holiday” , “Love Crazy” and any Thin Man movie bring me back to the surface. Totally forgot “Manhattan Melodrama”. They help me come up for air. Looking at this list maybe I’m obsessed with Myrna Loy? Though, really any Rosiland Russell comedy does it for me too. Between “Auntie Mame” and “The Women”, it’s better than meds! Or maybe maybe I’m coveting strong women from a bygone era. At this point who knows ?? I’m not ashamed.
Jennchez – All of these are wonderful – I agree on all of them. Especially “Holiday”!! God, I want to be in that “play room” with those people, horsing around.
Love Crazy!! Ha!
I was just working on a long piece about Dean Stockwell and re-watched Song of the Thin Man – it had been a while since I had seen one of those movies (I have the box set!)- and yes, I just settle into their joy, the wit, the whole Myrna Loy-William Powell thing!