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Blue Crush (Widescreen Collector's Edition)

Blue Crush (Widescreen Collector's Edition)

List Price: $12.98
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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Riding the WIld Surf
Review: Without a doubt, "Blue Crush" has some of the most beautiful and awe-inspiring shots of surfing ever-recorded on film. But these shots do not a film make. There must be dramatic tension and concrete story-telling in order for any film to be considered successful.
The director, John Stockwell and his writer, Lizzy Weiss have fashioned "Blue Crush" in such a way that the whole enterprise is targeted towards the conclusion: the surfing contest. Some of what comes between the beginning and the conclusion are fairly interesting and the actors: Patricia Bosworth, Michelle Rodriquez (always impressive and strong), Sanoe Lake and Matthew Davis all do a good job. But there is a nagging feeling that during most of this film Stockwell is merely marking time until the surfing contest and even that does not have the drama and catharsis it should have.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Blue Crush is not all wipeout....
Review: "Blue Crush" was not thee best movie depicting surfing but it was nice to see a film that shows life in Hawaii. Aside the awesome cinematography though im nooo expert surfer myself, the editing people did a good job. "Blue Crush" gets bonus points for positive potrayal of Hawaiian People and a few actual celebrities I recognized. I myself a local boy from hawaii was glad to see that on screen.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Blue Crush- A great chick flick
Review: I must say that this was an awesome film. My friend Mathew, a 14 year-old kid, loved it from DK. I loved Blue Crush, and it was great. My God, Kate Bosworth is gorgeous and so is Michelle Rodriguez. The great surfing scenes truly helped out the movie, and I must say John Stockwell does a great job of directing this film featuring spectacular surfing stunts. The film is beautiful, and just simply amazing. Blue Crush, was the best!
I love Kate Bosworth, and I love the movie. She is so pretty! I would definetly see Blue Crush, in theatres August 16th! My friend Mathew loved this movie, he would recommend this movie as well. I must say you should see this film! Blue Crush is rated PG-13 for Sexual Content, Teen Partying, Language and A Fight. So not a terrible choice for the kids. So see Blue Crush if you know what's good for you! See BLUE CRUSH! You'll love it!`

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Sick movie!
Review: Yes, I will be the first to admit off the bat that this movie is the typical 'teenager overcomes all odds' type of movie but I have to say that I was actually impressed by the script and especially the acting. Kate Bosworth is a refreshing new face to Hollywood and filled the lead role perfectly. Michelle Rodreguiz is always amazing in any role that she is faced with and plays (as usual) an exceptionally good bad-... Something that I also give thumbs-up to is the movie's chance at putting exceptionally new talent out there in the public eye. Sanoe Lake is perfect for her role and all of the surfer locals throughout the movie are absolutly picture perfect and give the whole set of the movie a very personal feel for Hawaii and the culture. The film is surprisingly good and the camerawork is some of the best I've seen in a long time; to actually see the mechanics of the waves and to gain a new respect for their power is amazing. This is a must-see for any teenage girl or boy looking to follow a dream that anyone ever told you was unrealistic and for any adult just looking to have a good time.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Blue Crush Crushes Girls Everywhere
Review: Blue Crush - Good surfing movie, injustice to females. What was up with this movie? You had three kick butt girls in the beginning, especially Kate Bosworth and then everything went downhill, and I'm not talking about the shotty face-placing or the loser ending. They made the lead to be all about girl-power and then in the mid-last part of the movie she doffs all of her I-won't-take-any-crap attitude and dons a sexy dress like all the other gold-diggers. To top that off, she goes hysterical and asks her jock boyfriend what she should do! God, making women look pathetic never looked so crushingly easy.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: This Movie needs to be "crushed"
Review: This movie was horrible. Other than the surfing scenes this movie stunk! I expected so much more from this movie! This movie has a weak plot and the acting is BAD! Don't waste your money!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Better than you might think--keep an open mind
Review: It would be easy to dismiss a film about surfer girls of Maui--if you didn't actually pay attention to the film without preconceptions and keep an open mind. It is a tribute to a number of things, the indomitable human spirit among them. It shows us that the sport of surfing--at the extremes is a very hazardous undertaking, not to be taken lightly, but with tremendous emotional and spiritual awards for those that are able to master both their own fear and the awesome deadly environment of the waves themselves. The fact that this is the story of one girl who has given herself over to a lifestyle centered around surfing, with all of the sacrifices that entails, and who has had a close encounter with death that haunts both her performance and her dreams, should not obscure the fact that, surfing aside, she is a woman with other obvious needs as well. It might be easy for cynics to dismiss the romantic elements of the film, the theme of trophy girfriend vs trophy winner, but if you do so you truly miss the point of the story--which after all, isn't that difficult to grasp. She has real, significant existential problems in achieving her goals, her kid sister doesn't respect her, she's practically broke, she has no boyfriend, she loves surfing but is afraid of dying trying to surf the big waves. If she can get it all together, she can turn pro and maybe all of these problems will be solved as a natural consequence. This is a natural, terrific story with real verisimilitude. The characters are appealing, the problems believable, and the experience of the big waves are incredible.

My only real complain is the soundtrack--with all of the incredible modern surf bands like the Insect Surfers and the Mermen, and Slacktone, you would think the producers would be hip enough to include real surf music. But, aside from that one niggle, I thought it was a great film--and I usually do not like "popular" films. I hated "Titanic" for instance.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Genuine summer entertainment
Review: Blue Crush comes at the end of a mostly dismal summer season filled with sequels (Episode II, MIB, Austin Powers) and films that aspire to begin franchises (Spiderman, XXX). Blue Crush serving neither of these aspirations, comes as a rarity. In summer movie terms it's surfing stunts are more awe inspiring and captivating then anything in XXX (the lame steroid induced, videogaming, interesting dialouge not included Vin Diesal/Mark Vincent package that cornered audiences with no other cinematic option). It also has a more captivating message of grrrl power then the high profile indie The Good Girl. (the overrated Jennifer Anniston vehicle.)
Having said that the film centers around Anne Marie. A former professional surfer whose fear of the big waves has begun to overshadow her competitive edge. She works as a maid with her two friends (one of which is played by Michelle Rodriguez), and reluctantly takes measures to compete in a surfing competition referred to as Pipe Masters.
Her hesitance, however, leads her into the arms of a cuddly football player, and rather then risk failure of the competition she becomes tempted to hide behind her knight in shining armour. Which path she'll finally take is forlong conclusion, but the film makes the journey viable with it's sincere performances and well done direction by John Stockwell.
The surfing stunts are probably more incredible then anything offered in a summer movie thus far because there is no CGI to them. It's genuine movie magic, because for the first time all summer we have something that's actually genuine. Kate Bosworth gives a sturdy leading performance, and the engaging chemistry she maintains with her female costars gives the film a human energy. Faizon Love (The Replacements, and Made) gives a scene stealing performance as a pro bowl offensive lineman with sanitation issues.
Blue Crush is a surprising film. Not only for the girl power message audiences can actually get behind, but also for the starmaking performance provided by Kate Bosworth. Who, regardless of the success of this film, will certainly see bigger and better things.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Loved Every Minute Of It
Review: My teenage daughters and I all rated this a 10 on our family 1-10 scale. Having been to the North Shore, we all enjoyed the familiar sites. Having surfed on a very limited basis, seeing those surfers riding those waves was truly awe inspiring. I personally enjoyed the spectacular photography and the excellent music. Plot was okay and the strong willed leading women were refreshing. Having a guy respect the strong woman was especially appealing. Well worth seeing.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The best Hollywood has to offer?
Review: "Blue Crush" is a fun, beautifully-shot and well-acted film about 3 young surfers trying to make a living on the North Shore of Oahu. They scrape by on what little they can, and surf when they're not forced to work to make enough money to eat. Surfers have been doing some form of this activity on the North Shore since the 1950's, living 5 to a room on the floor of a shack, eating nothing but canned beans all winter long. However, this time the young surfers also happen to be women, who in the genre of surf films are most often "Bettys," pretty things to wait on the beach while the guys ride the waves. In "Blue Crush," we see the story instead of Anne Marie (Kate Bosworth), who is trying to make a comeback at Pipeline 3 years after hitting her head on the reef, and her two friends played by Michelle Rodriguez and Sanoe Lake.

The surf cinematography in this film was top-notch. Simply gorgeous, whether shot from land, in the water, under water, a helicopter, or a camera board mount. Shots taken after a wipeout were blurry and confused, very effective. The sound was also fantastic. At the luau the night before the contest you can hear the surf pick up.

However, the editing of the surf footage was sloppy. Some of that can be expected. Close-up shots in flat water of someone paddling (or being towed) cutting to far-away shots of a big wave is pretty typical. But too many of the waves were edited together clumsily, and eventually the limited number of shots started to show through. Watching someone from underwater get sucked over the falls is one thing, but the third or fourth time you see that same shot, it loses some impact. Same for the shots of moves, or people dropping into waves, especially the digitally composited ones with stunt doubles' faces erased for the lead actress. There's a later helicopter shot of a peeling wave where a completely fake (digital) surfer is inserted, and it's awful! It looks faker than the XBox (or whatever) game the characters play.

Speaking of the characters, I liked them. Well-acted and not the conventional "surfer" stereotype (male or female). I felt like it gave me a good look at the difficulties of young surfers trying to scrap out a viable life on the north shore of Oahu. We see just about the dirtiest aspects of the tourist industry, and the flip-side, the locals who don't want the "haoles" around even though they implicitly depend on the tourists for their livelihood. Nothing is black-and-white; Drew is both an outwardly hostile local and yet he also tries to help Anne Marie (his ex) get some waves at Pipe to prepare for the contest. I thought Chris Toloa was very good as Drew. Keala Kenneley was also charismatic as "the" surf star, with the rest of the pantheon of world-class surfers that occupy the north shore of Oahu not present at all or shown in only a few shots (Layne Beachley and Rochelle Ballard in particular, who stunt-doubled for Kate Bosworth).

Overall, I enjoyed it and would recommend it. It's a step far above most of the dreck that Hollywood produces in the "surf" genre, which isn't hard to accomplish given that the current cream-of-the-crop are films like "Point Break," "North Shore," and "In Gods Hands." However, I'm still waiting for Hollywood to produce a surfing movie that "gets it," something I can point clueless friends and relatives to and say here, this is "why." For this film, too much of the "why" revolved around the dangers of surfing Pipeline and the desire for contests and sponsorships. All that was missing was shark attacks.

Yes, it was Anne Marie's (and her sister's) ticket out of a relatively bad situation, but ... why surfing? Why did she put up with any of it, why not just move away and get a decent job on the mainland? Those who don't know won't find the answer here... appropriate then that the best-represented member of surf industry in the film, Billabong, has as its motto "Only a surfer knows the feeling." Aside from a touching sequence of surfers as the credits roll, I don't think viewers of "Blue Crush" will be any closer to knowing for having watched the film.


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