Dead Calm (1989)
Directed by Phillip Noyce
An Australian couple takes a sailing trip in the Pacific to get over the recent loss of their son. While on the open sea, they come across a sinking ship with one survivor who is not at all what he seems.
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What critics compared Dead Calm to
They're towing a sailboat behind them so that, presumably, we can be reminded of Polanski's "Knife in the Water" (a psycho terrorizes a married couple aboard their yacht; it also inspired the Australian oceangoing thriller "Dead Calm").
The material provided here is paper thin: After a tragic prologue lifted from the screenplay structures of "The Changeling" "Don't Look Now" and "Dead Calm", "The Descent" settles into it's main narrative of six young ladies who decide to reclaim a sense of youthful danger in their responsible adult lives by going on a caving expedition in the Appalachian mountains.
This last one, Side Effects, looks like an homage to the '80s heyday of the twisty psychological thriller—Fatal Attraction, Jagged Edge, and Dead Calm—and to a large extent, it plays out as exactly that.
Just when we thought that Hollywood had emerged from the stock Cold War villain era, Australian director Phillip Noyce (Rabbit Proof Fence, Patriot Games, Dead Calm) has cleverly resurrected the classic US enemy in an espionage thriller reminiscent, in story and style, of Alfred Hitchcock's Saboteur.
On paper Salt sounds like an interesting film prospect; a spy thriller starring Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetal Ejiofor, all excellent actors who tend to pick good projects to work on, under the steady hands of Australian director Phillip Noyce (The Quiet American, Dead Calm).
His fact-based The Quiet American was solid, as was his breakthrough thriller Dead Calm .
Those first two films, along with “Dead Calm,’’ a thriller Noyce made with Nicole Kidman in 1989, exemplified a talent for generating the tension that results in excitement or suspense.
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Now Miller—who went on to produce, write and/or direct other acclaimed films, including Dead Calm , Lorenzo’s Oil , Happy Feet and Babe —has returned to where he started, and this explosively revved-up reboot, epic in every sense of the word, may become the crowning achievement of his already impressive career.
The best thing about open-sea survival movies like Dead Calm, the magnificent Abandon Ship with Tyrone Power, Hitchcock's Lifeboat, or even the otherwise disappointing Life of Pi, is the immensity of the opponent.
Noyce, known more for the action thrillers "Dead Calm," "Patriot Games" and "A Clear and Present Danger" than small, dramatic gems, chose to make this film, which is adapted from the novel by Doris Pilkington and based on a true story, over his usual blockbuster fare.
Director Phillip Noyce ("Dead Calm") and his cinematographer Christopher Doyle ("In the Mood for Love") deliver a one-two punch with this and their upcoming collaboration "The Quiet American."
As directed by Phillip Noyce ("The Quiet American," "Dead Calm"), who works from novice screenwriter Christine Olsen's adaptation of "Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence" (which was written by one of the walker's subsequent daughters), this is one of those rare examples of true visual storytelling.
Based on a book by Molly's daughter, Doris Pilkington, and written for the screen by Christine Olsen, "Rabbit-Proof Fence" is the first film Noyce has directed in his home country since his 1989 nail-biter "Dead Calm."
Here one can easily trace the intertextual play with Dead Calm, Adrift, Ghost Ship, The Shining, TimeCrimes , Carnival of Souls – and even the infernal crabs from Pirates of the Carribean: At World’s End put in an uncanny appearance.
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Veteran director Philip Noyce was a choice pick for the mostly single-location flick Dead Calm.
Bilo je to odlično "Opasno more" ili "Dead Calm" sa svega troje likova u tumačenju Nicole Kidman, Sama Neilla i Billyja Zanea.
La historia en general es remanida a más no poder, la inventiva brilla por su ausencia, el celular de Amy parece contar con una batería infinita, los intentos de comentario social de última hora de Sparling están manejados con trazo muy grueso -sermón sobre las masacres estudiantiles símil Columbine en 1999 de por medio- y para colmo de males Noyce, como decíamos antes, ya perdió la chispa ochentosa de las disfrutables Terror a Bordo ( Dead Calm , 1989) y Furia Ciega ( Blind Fury , 1989), su homóloga de los thrillers de espionaje a lo Juego de Patriotas ( Patriot Games , 1992) y Peligro Inminente ( Clear and Present Danger , 1994) y hasta su acepción más grasienta del suspenso, aquella de Sliver (1993), El Santo ( The Saint , 1997) y El Coleccionista de Huesos ( The Bone Collector , 1999).
And director Phillip Noyce (“Dead Calm”) has delivered a fantastic-looking movie that shifts from stark black and white to brilliant colors to all the grays in between.
Director Phillip Noyce (whose work ranges from Dead Calm and Salt to Sliver and The Saint) goes through the motions here, with the exception of one moderately clever visual conceit.
Considering how much palpable fear and suspense Noyce created all those years ago in "Dead Calm" (where Billy Zane's character terrorized Sam Neill and Nicole Kidman's married couple at sea characters), it's all the more disappointing that the chase and "danger" scenes here lacked that same degree of dread and suspense.