Underrated films Part 2
I'm in the process of redoing the Home Theatre Room. As part of that process, I had to rewire stuff which'd been dormant since we moved in in August 2003. Numbah One Son made a specific request to have the old laserdisc (LD) player hooked up, since he wanted to see Star Wars*, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
So one day I'm ensconced back there blogging and e-shopping and so forth when it dawns on me that I can watch some films I hadn't seen in ages. So I popped in The Endless Summer II. For inadequately explored reasons, this film is on widescreen in LD but only on the dreaded pan-and-scan (P&S) on DVD. WTF?
At any rate, this film was, at the time when LD was the hot ticket, the reference film I used for evaluating LD players and TV sets. The cinematography is nothing short of breathtaking. You will sit there, agape, looking at flawless footage of Fijian coral reefs or Costa Rican beaches or even some lunatic named Laird Hamilton surfing waves the size of a 6 story building. But, technical characteristics aside, this is a great film qua film.
Much of the credit goes to director, co-editor, co-producer, narrator and documentary (& surfing) legend Bruce Brown. His narration is suffused with gentle-but-not-lame humor** and the main characters, Wingnut and Patrick, are engaging and likeable. The locations, ranging from Costa Rica to France to South Africa to Australia, are spectacular. The adventures which envelop the surfing are also engrossingly fun. The film itself is part sequel, part remake and part homage to the original The Endless Summer, the highest grossing documentary of all time.
You needn't be a surfer to love this film. Watch it.
-J.
* What's with this "A New Hope" bullshit?
** There's one pan shot that passes over a guy with lo-o-o-ong blond dreadlocks surfing, and struggling to keep the world visible, and the voiceover comment was "...practical hairstyle for surfing..."
So one day I'm ensconced back there blogging and e-shopping and so forth when it dawns on me that I can watch some films I hadn't seen in ages. So I popped in The Endless Summer II. For inadequately explored reasons, this film is on widescreen in LD but only on the dreaded pan-and-scan (P&S) on DVD. WTF?
At any rate, this film was, at the time when LD was the hot ticket, the reference film I used for evaluating LD players and TV sets. The cinematography is nothing short of breathtaking. You will sit there, agape, looking at flawless footage of Fijian coral reefs or Costa Rican beaches or even some lunatic named Laird Hamilton surfing waves the size of a 6 story building. But, technical characteristics aside, this is a great film qua film.
Much of the credit goes to director, co-editor, co-producer, narrator and documentary (& surfing) legend Bruce Brown. His narration is suffused with gentle-but-not-lame humor** and the main characters, Wingnut and Patrick, are engaging and likeable. The locations, ranging from Costa Rica to France to South Africa to Australia, are spectacular. The adventures which envelop the surfing are also engrossingly fun. The film itself is part sequel, part remake and part homage to the original The Endless Summer, the highest grossing documentary of all time.
You needn't be a surfer to love this film. Watch it.
-J.
* What's with this "A New Hope" bullshit?
** There's one pan shot that passes over a guy with lo-o-o-ong blond dreadlocks surfing, and struggling to keep the world visible, and the voiceover comment was "...practical hairstyle for surfing..."
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