GDT's The Shape of Water

[jellydonut25]

I need to get out and see this. It’s one of the final 9 movies of 2017 I have left to see, and it’s one of like 3 that I think will actually potentially make my year-end list.

[Dr Kain]

[Baltan II]

Saw it on its first week in DC and loved it! Quite possibly my favorite movie of 2017, which had a lot of good films in the first place.

[lhb412]

I'm holding onto hope that it'll come to a local theater next weekend, but Guillermo hinted in a recent tweet that the next expansion is after New Years.



In better news, after the latest expansion the movie has now cracked the B.O.'s top ten.

[Gwangi]

Great, great movie! Was this as good as "Pam's Labyrinth"? In my opinion no. "PL", I thought was Guillermo's lightening in a bottle. But this one was a winner all the way.

In the end, I did not see this so much as a monster movie, but more so a Cold War thriller, that just happened to have a Gill Man, played beautifully by Doug Jones. Sort of a darker take on "Revenge of the Creature", but instead of Marineland for all to see, they put him a top secret government facility. Sally Hawkins was outstanding, and I really, really hope that they let her show much more of her acting chops in "Godzilla 2.

Using Leonard Maltin's rating scale, I give TSofW ***1/2 stars.

[Dr Kain]

I still don't get the love for Pan's Labyrinth. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't good.

[jellydonut25]

Pan’s Labyrinth is Del Toro’s best film.

[lhb412]

[Dr Kain]

[lhb412]

^ Well, I mean, we say 'flawless' but that's really impossible. No film is without flaws. It's just a matter of the god stuff making us not care or ignore the flaws.

[lhb412]

I hope the world doesn't end before I can see this film.

[Dr Kain]

[mr.negativity]

[tbeasley]

I really loved it. Universal has their work cut out for them now if they ever do remake Creature from the Black Lagoon, Shape of Water is about as good a reimagining of that premise we'll ever gonna get.

[Jinzo Ningen]

The Shape of Water is really gaining steam. Got a slew of Oscar nominations, which will only bode well for the film and should help it get a wider release so hopefully more people get a chance to catch it in theaters. Wish I could be one of them. There are no exhibitors near me that are showing the film. Ugh. I either have to drive hours or else twiddle my thumbs until it comes out on Blu-ray. Hope these award noms help change/increase the distribution pattern and get more copies out there.

[lhb412]

Ha! Finally!

The Shape of Water comes to two of my local theaters this Friday!

[lhb412]

Just got back from my second showing (much better audience this time: laughing at all the right bits and gasping at the right bits). The Shape of Water is a delightful film. A romantic comedy for Universal Monster fans, a gore-fest for the chick-flick crowd. This may be GDT's most broadly enjoyable and accessible film ever.

Doug Jones' 'Amphibian Man' was, of course, wonderful. Totally different from Abe Sapien, who was articulate and delicate while this guy is wild, strong and powerful. Incredible cast, some of the best actors working today in my opinion, so it's no surprise to me that Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Octavia Spencer, and Richard Jenkins delivered with excellent performances. Jenkins' character was probably my favorite. I empathize with them all, but related to him the most. Sadly, I didn't really know much about actor Michael Stuhlbarg. Looking over his credits list I see that I've seen him before but somehow hadn't recognized him before now. He's great, and he's apparently having something of a break-out year at age 49 so good for him!

In the leadup to the film the speculation on, well, fish-man sex was one of the loudest discussions about it, but what's great about this movie is how this movie reminds (in ways big and small) you that everyone is sexual. To me, showing that our heroine masterbates as part of her daily routine felt as big a deal as the human on monster love scenes. Similarly, I love how GDT handled the Sword of Damocles that hung over our heroes (a mute woman, a black woman, and a gay man) at all times by existing in America in 1963. It's so natural and just sunk into there fabric of everything, like the sun: you know it's there, but everyone tries not to look at it.

It's funny, because while The Shape of Water could have only sprung from GDT's headspace actually watching the film you feel he's stretching. Not in a bad way; he succeeds in branching out. Although certain aspects have GDT's recognizable fingerprints all over it (Shannon's character Strickland is one of GDT's trademark fascists) it feels different from every film he's ever made. There's a bit of Jean-Pierre Jeunet in the style, and a bit of Edgar Wright in the editing and use of quick montage, and overall it's less conspicuosly stylized and theatrical than his other American films, coming off the heels of his most theatrical (not that I'm complaining - different movies different approaches: Crimson Peak for life!). After seeing The Shape of Water I'm pretty confident that GDT could tackle many different genres and do them justice. Hopefully, still including monsters of course.

And speaking of GDT's 'trademark fascists': they just grow more and more relevant. The Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth felt that more urgent on recent rewatch.

[Henry88]

If You Want to Have a Staring Contest With the Oscars, You Will Lose: On a Historic Set of Nominations
With several surprising turns, including a shocking six nominations for Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘Phantom Thread,’ this year’s Academy Awards field marks a major shift that could portend a new future. Here’s how it happened.
https://www.theringer.com/2018/1/23/169 ... -surprises

[jellydonut25]

I’ll grant I haven’t seen and know very little about Phantom Thread, but a bunch of nominations for a movie about 18th century fancy dressmakers doesn’t seem like a very un-Academy thing to do.

[lhb412]

Good lord, I'm glad I avoided the final trailer! It gave away an insane amount of the movie. The few TV spots I saw seemed to be based on the first, less spoilery trailer.

[klen7]

[lhb412]

Sadly, this'll be the first GDT film without one of the director's classic commentary tracks for the home video release. He usually takes advantage of explaining the influences and references and whatnot in his films, but he thinks this film really 'speaks for itself' and doesn't warrant him talking through it.

[DannyBeane]

I just watched this last night in a basically empty theater and I loved it. I loved all the nods to golden age hollywood. The colors were gorgeous. All the characters were just perfect. It was just a masterful film.

[mr.negativity]

[Dr Kain]

Well, at least Dumbkirk didn't win.

Get Out should have won, but nope, that would require racists voting for a movie that exploits themselves.