The Beach (2000)
Directed by Danny Boyle
Twenty-something Richard travels to Thailand and finds himself in possession of a strange map. Rumours state that it leads to a solitary beach paradise, a tropical bliss - excited and intrigued, he sets out to find it.
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Borrowing heavily from both "The Lord of the Flies" and Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" (itself based on Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"), the story does have a fair amount of built-in intrigue due quite simply to the time-tested plots.
While it thumped along, I had plenty of time to ponder the other and better movies that it reminded me of: The Mosquito Coast (1986), The Deer Hunter (1978), and Apocalypse Now (1979), as well as William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies.
Here, DiCaprio swallows caterpillars, totes an AK-47, slays a shark, gets high and mistakes himself for Martin Sheen in "Apocalypse Now" or is that Charlie Sheen in "Platoon"?
The film indexes Apocalypse Now, and The Deer Hunter, as well as The Blue Lagoon and Ursula Andress's sexy bikini scene from Dr. No, with a little bit of The Lord of the Flies thrown in for good measure.
("Primal" being a relative term here: mostly he skulks around the brush wearing a headband, in one of the movies many blasphemous allusions to Apocalypse Now .)
When the film finally stops boring us with an hour long onslaught of pretty trees, clear water, and tanned bodies, it just becomes this really weird combination of Lord of the Flies and the last 30 minutes of Apocalypse Now.
Also, he blatantly pilfers scenes from "Apocalypse Now" and "The Deer Hunter" -- although Boyle would probably call these scenes homages shaped by Richard's pop-culture mind.
As in the book, Boyle's film draws parallels between the collapsing life on the island and key moments from Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter, not because these characters experienced Vietnam, but because they know Hollywood's version of that dark chapter.
While it thumped along, I had plenty of time to ponder the other and better movies that it reminded me of: The Mosquito Coast (1986), The Deer Hunter (1978), and Apocalypse Now (1979), as well as William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies.
As a critique of Generation X amorality, vapid pop culture, and Western exploitativeness, The Beach comes off as unintentional self-parody, especially when it lapses into riffs from Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter.
The film indexes Apocalypse Now, and The Deer Hunter, as well as The Blue Lagoon and Ursula Andress's sexy bikini scene from Dr. No, with a little bit of The Lord of the Flies thrown in for good measure.
DiCaprio picks up where his blistering cameo as an orgy-prone, coke-head actor in Woody Allen's "Celebrity" ended - going for broke and loving it.
A Three Musketeers rip-off (The Man in the Iron Mask) was released in early '98 to capitalize on the frenzy, and Leonardo made a nice cameo in Woody Allen's Celebrity.
But Tilda Swinton ( "Conceiving Ada," "Orlando") lends the film a morsel of complexity as Sal, the community's peculiarly indifferent chieftain.
In the other two notable roles are Guillaume Canet, as Etienne, and Tilda Swinton (1993's "Orlando"), as Sal.
Supporting performers lend only cosmetic support to the exercise, with Canet and the comely Ledoyen both adequately engaging and "Orlando" star Tilda Swinton convincingly weighty as the communal leader Sal.
As such, while the likes of Virginie Ledoyen ("A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries," "Jeanne et le gar�on formidable"), Tilda Swinton ("The War Zone," "Orlando") and Guillaume Canet ("Barracuda," "Sentimental Education") are easy on the eye, they inhabit sketchily drawn characters at best.
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The film represents a reunion of the Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, A Life Less Ordinary trio of director Danny Boyle, producer Andrew Macdonald, and screenwriter John Hodge.
Adding silly gimmicks that muddle the film's momentum as a thriller, the Trainspotting duo of writer John Hodge and director Danny Boyle clumsily dumb down the themes of Alex Garland's 1996 novel about a young traveller who imperils a community of anti-tourists on an idyllic beach in Thailand.
One would think that edgy, hallucinogenic "Trainspotting" team of Danny Boyle (director) and John Hodge (screenwriter) would be a perfect pair to adapt "The Beach," prodigy-novelist Alex Garland's edgy, hallucinogenic, travelogue about Southeast Asian adventure gone awry for a GenX-er with wanderlust.
If movies could be compared to flesh and blood people, then "The Beach" - the latest film from the creative team responsible for "Trainspotting" and "A Life Less Ordinary" - would be one of the world's gorgeous inhabitants.
The Beach was adapted from Alex Garland's cult novel by screenwriter John Hodge and director Danny Boyle, the filmmaking team behind Trainspotting.
You won't hear in the ads that The Beach is the fourth film by the talented trio of writer John Hodge, director Danny Boyle, and producer Andrew Macdonald, who brought us the brilliant and inspired Trainspotting (1996).
While director Danny Boyle and screenwriter John Hodge (both from "A Life Less Ordinary" and "Trainspotting") try to elicit both eroticism and danger from that part of the material, few decent sparks fly from either aspect.
Director Danny Boyle who impressed audiences with "Shallow Grave" and "Transpotting" then hit a bump in the road with the uneven "A Life Less Ordinary" really seems out of his element in this very lightweight, mainstream Leo vehicle.
I even enjoyed most of "A Life Less Ordinary" (1997), even though it was a lesser film that didn't really go anywhere.
I should check out Boyle's commentary to find out just how troubled this production was, because it underachieves in an unusual way for him -- even the two Boyle films I like less ( Slumdog Millionaire and A Life Less Ordinary) are hardly "underachieving" failures so much as bad ideas socked over with oppressive virtuosity and misplaced faith in themselves.
Their last film, "A Life Less Ordinary," was drained of color and bloodless in its corny optimism.
Overrated director Danny Boyle ("A Life Less Ordinary"/ "Trainspotting"/"Shallow Grave") is skilled mostly at getting energetic performances from the actors and having beautiful visual sets.
Director Danny Boyle who impressed audiences with "Shallow Grave" and "Transpotting" then hit a bump in the road with the uneven "A Life Less Ordinary" really seems out of his element in this very lightweight, mainstream Leo vehicle.
I thought "Shallow Grave" (1995) was a wonderfully dark and twisted crime thriller, and I still haven't gotten totally over the head rush that is "Trainspotting" (1996).
Eccleston in Shallow Grave, Renton vs. Begbie in Trainspotting, Murphy's bloody woodland spree in 28 Days Later , the Sun-God killer/whatever in Sunshine ( Tim's review ).
This is a film by the men who made "Shallow Grave" and "Trainspotting" (that smack flick that gave Ewan McGregor a case of the bends), so leave your Teen People at home: It ain't that kind of party.
Boyle, Hodge, and producer Andrew Macdonald have made two of the most innovative and exciting films in recent memory, Shallow Grave and Trainspotting.
In his first film, Shallow Grave, he portrayed three people trying to decide what to do with a lot of cash and a dead body.
While it thumped along, I had plenty of time to ponder the other and better movies that it reminded me of: The Mosquito Coast (1986), The Deer Hunter (1978), and Apocalypse Now (1979), as well as William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies.
The film indexes Apocalypse Now, and The Deer Hunter, as well as The Blue Lagoon and Ursula Andress's sexy bikini scene from Dr. No, with a little bit of The Lord of the Flies thrown in for good measure.
The fun of taking in stories about imaginary societies, whether its Lost Horizon or 1984 , lies in the detailing given to the fictional worlds values and customs, and what they reflect about our own reality.
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The fun of taking in stories about imaginary societies, whether its Lost Horizon or 1984 , lies in the detailing given to the fictional worlds values and customs, and what they reflect about our own reality.
Thwarting ticket sales to DiCaprio's rabid prepubescent fan base with an R rating, tepid sexual subplots have been added -- between Richard and Francoise (French sylph Virginie Ledoyen), and between Richard and the commanding woman who presides over the community (''The War Zone'''s Tilda Swinton, who, with her remarkable Dutch master's visage, always looks coolly in control).
For Tilda Swinton (most recently seen in The War Zone), this is a surprisingly conventional role.
As such, while the likes of Virginie Ledoyen ("A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries," "Jeanne et le gar�on formidable"), Tilda Swinton ("The War Zone," "Orlando") and Guillaume Canet ("Barracuda," "Sentimental Education") are easy on the eye, they inhabit sketchily drawn characters at best.