The Shallows (2016)

The Shallows - 2016

It's Shark Week in the USA, and that means it's Shark Week on the blog, too.  Today's edition features 2016's "The Shallows", in which we see a young woman surfing in a remote location.  Things go from bad to worse when she ends up alone and the victim of a shark attack who is hungry for her blood.

The film's cast includes Blake Lively, Oscar Jaenada, Brett Cullen, and Sedona Legge.

Finding her way to a remote beach in Mexico, med student Nancy Adams is looking for a little relaxation before returning to work.  After hearing of this beach from her mother, Nancy decides to pursue her passion for surfing there.

After making sure her board is ready, Nancy hits the waves.  There are only two other surfers out that day.  They surf together for a while, enjoying the day.

Eventually, the other two surfers leave, and Nancy is now alone at the beach.  She sees a bunch of seagulls swarming over a dead whale and she moves closer to take a look.

As she turns away to catch a wave, a shark that has been feeding on the whale turns its attentions to Nancy.  It grabs Nancy's surfboard and eventually gives her a severe bite in the leg.

She quickly makes her way to a small rock formation in the middle of the secluded bay.  The only other inhabitant of it is a seagull who itself was injured by the shark.  Nancy is trapped with nowhere to go.

At night when she thinks it's safe, Nancy tries to make a break for it.  Unfortunately, she gets caught up in some fire coral which only adds to her discomfort.

When she sees someone who can help her, Nancy is horrified when he is literally bitten in two by the shark after stepping into the water.

With the shark circling and getting more daring, Nancy knows she has to do something or her time will run out.

She first tends to the seagull's wounds.  Not wanting to abandon him, she sets him adrift in the direction of the beach on a piece of broken surfboard.  (The shark has already eaten the other two surfers who came back the next day.)

She spies a buoy that she thinks she can swim to.  The only problem is a field of jellyfish swim in her way.  Not only is the shark still nearby, her rock island has now been covered by the tide.  She needs to move...and fast.

She's able to swim to the buoy while the shark is patrolling elsewhere, and only just makes it onto the platform as the shark swims near.

After being battered around on the unstable buoy, Nancy knows she's got to do something.  Ingeniously, she finds a way to destroy the shark once and for all.

She eventually makes it to land and is rescued by the man who brought her to the beach in the first place.  We also see that her seagull friend made it to land safely as well.

A while later, we see that Nancy is now a full-fledged doctor and is ready to get back in the water.  She runs her hand over her injury before rushing with her sister into the waves of Galveston, Texas.

Cast rundown:

   Blake Lively......................................Nancy Adams

   Oscar Jaenada..................................Carlos

   Brett Cullen......................................Dad

   Sedona Legge...................................Chloe Adams

And that's it for The Shallows.  Though this film is about a shark attack in the middle of a secluded bay, the actual shark only has about 4 minutes of screen time.  For those interested in our seagull friend, his name was Sully, and at the time of filming, he resided at a seagull sanctuary in Australia.

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Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)

Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - 2011

Coming up next is 2011's "Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides".  This particular installment in the Pirates franchise sees Jack Sparrow as he searches the seas for the legendary Fountain of Youth.  This time he's joined by Blackbeard.  Multiple factions seek the Fountain, and it's a race against time to see who will get there first.

The film's cast includes Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Penelope Cruz, Ian McShane, Kevin McNally, Keith Richards, Richard Griffiths, Astrid Berges-Frisbey, Sam Claflin, Stephen Graham, Gemma Ward, Judi Dench, Robbie Kay, Roger Allam, and Oscar Jaenada.

Captain Jack Sparrow is in London.  He's here to get Joshamee Gibbs released from prison.  Gibbs is being accused of being Jack Sparrow.

Jack's plan works until it doesn't.  He's captured and taken away.  Gibbs is taken off to prison.

Jack's taken to the palace, where he comes face to face with King George II, who tells him that he wants Jack to help locate the Fountain of Youth.  The Spanish, he says, are already on their way.  "I will not have some melancholy Spanish monarch, a Catholic, gain eternal life!" says the King as he pounds his fists on the table.

When the King says that he's got a captain all lined up, Jack is interested to see who it is.  It turns out to be Barbossa, now a privateer in the King's service.

When Jack asks Barbossa what's become of the Black Pearl, Barbossa tells him that he lost the Pearl as he lost his leg.

Barbossa tells Jack that there's nothing wrong with joining the winning side.  Jack, thoroughly disgusted that his beloved ship is lost, engineers an interesting escape with the help of a cream puff.

The King gives Barbossa a thumbs up when Barbossa tells him that he'll take care of Jack.  Barbossa heads out to track him down.

Part of Jack's escape strategy involves hitching a ride on a passing carriage.  The passenger thoroughly enjoys having her carriage used by a pirate...until she realizes he's stolen one of her earrings.  (Recognize anyone you know in this cameo?)

Jack heads to a local pub to find out about an impostor who is posing as him in order to procure a crew for a ship.  It turns out that Jack knows this impostor.  Her name is Angelica, and she and Jack have a torrid past.

After they escape some British soldiers, Angelica tells Jack that in order to gain eternal life from the Fountain of Youth, a ritual needs to be performed involving two silver chalices and the tear of a mermaid.  Jack is then hit by a poison dart and passes out.

When he wakes up, Jack finds he's been conscripted to serve as a deckhand on board the Queen Anne's Revenge, a ship owned by the dreaded pirate Blackbeard.  It's no ordinary ship.  The crew's overseers are some sort of zombies.

Jack finds a moment alone with Angelica, and she confesses that she is Blackbeard's daughter and the First Mate.

Meanwhile, Barbossa has enlisted the help of Gibbs (who also knows the way to the Fountain) and they must race the Spanish to get there first.

Jack organizes a mutiny in order to gain an audience with the elusive Blackbeard.  When he emerges from his quarters, Blackbeard says, "Gentlemen, I be placed in a bewilderment.  There I were...resting...and upon a sudden, I hear an ungodly row."

Blackbeard uses some sort of voodoo magic on Jack, and convinces him to lead them to the Fountain of Youth.  Blackbeard's death has been foretold at the hands of a one-legged man.  Angelica is anxious to save her father's life.

On board Barbossa's ship, he gets annoyed when his lunch is interrupted.  "Shut your trap and make way," he tells his First Officer.

Gibbs and the rest of Barbossa's crew are concerned about Whitecap Bay, a place fabled for its vicious mermaid tales.  "Sea ghouls" and "devil fish" are how Barbossa describes them, and he gives a speech that rouses the men's courage.

Angelica sweetens the deal for Jack.  She shows him Blackbeard's prized possessions.  Instead of being sunk, Jack finds that his beloved Black Pearl has been magically put inside a bottle.  Angelica agrees to let him have it in exchange for his help.

At Whitecap Bay, Blackbeard's men are put into a boat and told to sing in order to lure the mermaids to them.  They only need to catch one in order to harvest a tear.

After a while, the mermaids show up and captivate the men.  "My heart is pierced by Cupid.  I disdain all glittering gold.  There is nothing can console me but my jolly sailor bold," they sing.

Things quickly turn deadly, and the sailors' worst fears are confirmed when the mermaids turn violent and swarm the boat.

Jack organizes an explosion which scatters them.  When he's finished, he stands up and says, "Did everyone see that, because I will not be doing that again."

In the chaos ensuing from the explosion, they catch a mermaid named Syrena, who had stayed behind to protect a missionary (brought by Angelica to help save her father's soul) from the explosion.

With the mermaid now a part of their group, Blackbeard has Jack navigate the way to the Fountain using his compass.

Philip the missionary and Syrena start to bond when Philip acts as her protector.

Barbossa, Gibbs, and company are hard on their heels.  When Barbossa catches a poisonous frog, he adds it to a growing collection.  "Fortune continues to favor us," he says.  He plans on using the poison of the frogs by rubbing it on his sword and running it through the man who took his ship and his leg: Blackbeard.

Jack is sent alone to search for the chalices.  He makes his way to Ponce de Leon's ship, the Santiago, and begins the arduous climb up to it.

The glass case they use to transport Syrena breaks and she falls to the ground.  Her tail vanishes and legs appear.  Unable to walk, Philip carries her the rest of the way.

Once on board the ship, Jack looks around and sees a ton of treasure as well as Ponce de Leon (look familiar Disneyland lovers?).  He also finds Barbossa lying in wait.  The chalices aren't there.  They've already been taken.  Jack and Barbossa team up to find them.

Blackbeard and his crew are able to harvest a tear from Syrena by pretending to kill Philip.

Jack and Barbossa do indeed find the chalices, but they have to steal them from the Spanish.

When he barters his compass in trade for the chalices, Jack passes it to Gibbs and tells him that the compass will lead him to freedom.

The pirates eventually find what they are looking for: the legendary Fountain of Youth.  They walk around in awe at what they see.

Barbossa is waiting to battle it out with Blackbeard.  He tells him all the things he's done wrong and must answer for.  "Such crimes do include, but are not limited to, piracy, treason, murder, torture of the most heinous sort, including the brutal theft of one used, twisted, hairy right leg," says Barbossa with satisfaction.

With the help of Syrena, Jack gets the chalices (which had been smashed to death by the Spanish).  Syrena rushes back to save Philip, who had been injured in the fighting.

Blackbeard and Angelica are both injured.  The only way to save them is water from the Fountain.  Jack tricks them both in regards to which cup they should drink from.  Blackbeard gives up his years to Angelica, and she is saved.  Blackbeard is instantly swept away, leaving nothing but bones.

Angelica is furious that the years she now possesses were taken from her father.  Jack rows her to a solitary island and maroons her there.

Barbossa leaves the Royal Navy and takes command of Blackbeard's ship and crew.  He has the crew set sail for Tortuga.

Jack meets up with Gibbs, who found the Black Pearl.  As they walk into the sunset, Jack tells Gibbs, "It's a pirate's life for me."

Cast rundown:

   Johnny Depp.........................Captain Jack Sparrow

   Geoffrey Rush.......................Captain Hector Barbossa

   Penelope Cruz.......................Angelica

   Ian McShane.........................Blackbeard

   Kevin McNally........................Joshamee Gibbs

   Keith Richards.......................Captain Teague

   Richard Griffiths.....................King George II

   Astrid Berges-Frisbey..............Syrena

   Sam Claflin............................Philip

   Stephen Graham....................Scrum

   Gemma Ward.........................Tamara

   Judi Dench.............................Society Lady

   Robbie Kay.............................Cabin Boy

   Roger Allam...........................Prime Minister Henry Pelham

   Oscar Jaenada........................The Spaniard

And that's it for Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.  Both Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz agreed to star in the movie before they had seen the script.  This was the only Pirates film not to be nominated for an Oscar.  This film was banned in China because it portrayed a storyline that featured ghosts, the afterlife, and the supernatural.

A post-credits scene shows Angelica as she is marooned on a desert island.  A voodoo doll of Jack washes ashore.  She picks it up and smiles.

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