The Phantom of the Opera (1989) rated R for graphic violence/gore, brief nudity, some language, and smoking

Indulge me on a brief trip down memory lane to recount the story of how I came across this film.  I'm about 7 years old.  I have just watched and "fallen in love" with The Phantom of the Opera mini-series starring Charles Dance.  Around the same time but after watching the mini-series, my grandparents had exposed me and my sisters to the music of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's beautiful musical "The Phantom of the Opera".    Lucky for me and my sisters, my parents noticed our interest in most things related to "The Phantom of the Opera" and encouraged it. Within the same year of all of that happening, we took a trip to the local video rental store (not Blockbuster) and saw a film listed as The Phantom of the Opera.  After excitedly begging our parents to rent it, our parents quickly give in probably because they were being supportive of our love of "The Phantom".    Unfortunately they weren't familiar with who Robert Englund was and what specific role that  he was famous for.  Boy were we shocked and horrified shortly after starting to watch this movie.  For some unknown reason, our parents let us watch this movie all the way through despite the material and subject.

This picture is a slightly different take on the classic "Phantom of the Opera" story.  It starts in "modern day" New York City.  Christine Day (played by Jill Schoelen) is eagerly preparing for an audition for the "next big thing" in theatre.  After finding a haunting, beautiful piece of music written by a man named Erik Destler back in the mid to late 1800s.  During the audition, Christine is knocked unconscious by a falling sandbag.  When she comes to Christine has been transported back in time to 1880s London.  She's still Christine Day but she's an understudy to the diva of the London opera house La Carlotta (played by Stephanie Lawrence).

Like the original story, unusual happenings and accidents have been plaguing the latest production of Faust.  A mysterious creature known as the Phantom of the Opera (played by Robert Englund) is blamed for the incidents.  Just like in the original novel, the Phantom seems to be obsessed with Christine.  In this version, the Phantom is named Erik Destler and he literally made a deal with the devil to have immortality through his music.  Unfortunately the devil tricked Erik by cursing him with hideous perpetual wounds on his face that the Phantom covers up with human skin.  In this version, Christine's lover is named Richard (played by Alex Hyde-White) and apart from the name difference he is essentially Raoul from the original novel.

Just as in the original novel, Christine must choose between her beloved Richard and the horrifying Erik.  This version features more literal supernatural aspects as opposed to many of the other versions.  This is also the most graphic, gory version of any of the Phantom pictures.

For years afterwards I was haunted by this version both because I was really too young to watch that kind of film and because the deaths were very disturbing at the time.  Rewatching the movie as an adult was quite an experience for me.  On the one hand many of the special effects haven't stood the test of time.  Still the scenes where Erik is sewing on and cutting the human skin from his face are pretty intense if only in concept.  The acting for this movie was pretty good considering it's a horror movie  Robert Englund is his usual wonderful self in this movie adding his own special darkness to the Phantom.

This movie is worth watching if you are curious but I wouldn't recommend it for younger audiences.

Wolves rated R for bloody violence throughout and some sexuality

I came across this movie after discovering that I had channels that I didn't know that I had.  I was intrigued by the plot and because Jason Momoa is in it.

Cayden Richards (played by Lucas Till) is a fairly typical teenager in high school with everything going for him until he starts to experience physical and emotional changes that are anything but typical for anyone let alone a teenager. The changes include him feeling and being stronger as well as feeling "out of control" in moments of pleasure and anger. After his parents are brutally murdered, Cayden immediately assumes that he is responsible as a result of his changes  and flees his home.  In the grip of anger he finds that he changes into a werewolf.

As he journeys through town after town, he comes across a guy named Wild Joe (played by John Pyper-Ferguson) who directs him to a town named Lupine Ridge to find out more about his past and thus find answers to his current problem.

On his first night in Lupine Ridge Cayden crosses paths with the beautiful and mysterious Angelina (played by Merritt Patterson) as well as the secretive but kind John Tollerman (played by Stephen McHattie).  Cayden unintentionally gets the attention of the enigmatic, dangerous Connor Savage (played by Jason Momoa).  It quickly becomes apparent that Lupine Ridge holds many answers to Cayden's past but it is also full of peril for Cayden and those that he befriends.

I went into this movie with low expectations and thus wasn't disappointed.  The story was pretty good.  The acting was pretty good.  And if you're a fan ofJason Momoa like me, I don't think that you will be disappointed.  I feel like this is a great "popcorn" movie and worth watching at least once.  

Hugo rated PG for some thematic material, action/peril, and smoking

I wasn't sure what this film was about when I heard about it and so I didn't give it much thought.  A friend recommended this to me but didn't talk too much about what it was about.  I didn't understand why until after watching this movie.

Part of the problem of telling what this movie is about is that this movie has many stories that sometimes intersect and sometimes just happen parallel to each other.  The title character is a boy named Hugo (played by Asa Butterfield).  After experiencing a terrible tragedy, Hugo lives alone in a train station and takes care of the clocks in the station making sure that they are running correctly and such.  He has a knack for working with mechanical things which he learned both from his father (played by Jude Law) and his uncle (played by Ray Winstone).  He also is a smart kid who is able to figure things out well.  He secretly works on an automaton when he has spare time and tries very hard to avoid the attention of the Station Inspector (played by Sacha Baron Cohen).  

The Station Inspector is a "broken man" in that he suffers from an old war wound in his knee that forces him to wear a brace.  The Station Inspector is also a bit of a "follow the rules" type of person and he pays especial attention to children who wander around the station as he seems to enjoy turning orphans over to the orphanage.  Fortunately for Hugo the Station Inspector is not the brightest bulb in the world although he means well and takes great pride in his work.

Hugo's life is changed when he gets caught stealing from the station toy maker Georges Melies.  It starts with Georges spotting then confiscating a precious notebook that contains some unusual drawings in it.  The notebook belonged to Hugo's father but Hugo doesn't reveal this to Georges.  After Hugo frantically enlists the help of Georges' god daughter Isabelle (played by Chloe Grace Moretz) to retrieve the notebook from Georges, a strange and unexpected adventure unfolds that will involve all of the main characters and bring in some new characters along the way.  The result of all of those lives intersecting sometimes has tragedy but overall is surprisingly wonderful.

After watching the film and seeing all of the detail that is woven into this story I finally understood why the previews and my friend weren't able to accurately describe what this movie is about exactly.  I recall hearing at one time that this movie tells of a boy searching for his father.  While that is true to an extent I wouldn't say that that is the plot of this story.  

I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of well known actors that starred in this movie whether as main or side characters.  They were all brilliant.  My personal favorite would be Sacha Baron Cohen mostly because he played a type of character that he hasn't played before while still keeping his own flair to it.   For anyone who thinks that Sacha Baron Cohen isn't a good actor and only plays the same character or variation of the same character, I would recommend this picture if only to give you a glance at a different side of a fairly well-known actor.  

I did not know that this was a Martin Scorcese picture when I watched this movie.  I'm glad that I didn't because in my personal experience I don't like the Scorcese pictures that I have seen so far.  I know, I know.  How dare I call myself a fan of movies if I don't like the great Martin Scorcese.  Don't get me wrong.  To say that the man is talented is generally considered an understatement at best.  I'm not saying that his accolades aren't well deserved.  I'm just saying that for some reason I haven't enjoyed the few other films of his that I have seen.  The exception at present for me is Hugo.  I thought that it was a wonderful movie.  I thought that the cinematography was beautiful.  I cared about all of the characters even the minor ones.  I was curious and excited to see how this film would play out.  When the film played out the way that it did I loved it.  

I also wasn't surprised that the subject of old films needing to be preserved was included in this movie.  One of the few things that I am aware about Mr. Scorcese is that near and dear to his heart is his firm belief that some of the old movies should be cherished and preserved and that it is a tragedy when old movies are carelessly discarded or simply ignored even.  I must say that I couldn't agree more.  

For without these old movies we wouldn't have been able to have what we have today.  It is because those that came before took a chance on something new and different and put themselves out there sometimes spending all of their money just to share a vision with the world.   Sometimes it didn't work out and sometimes it did.  Also, without these old movies, we wouldn't be able to see the visions of the past.  We can't really know exactly what film making was like in those days for the simple fact that that was then and things were so different then.  While you can read about how things were and maybe see photographs, it's quite different to see the "moving pictures" with the "old" actors and sets and the look and how exciting it was to see an occasional colored portion of an old black and white picture.  

So if you get a chance to watch this movie and you are the least bit curious, please indulge yourself.  

Blair Witch rated R for language, terror, and some disturbing images

I confess that I was unimpressed with the idea of remaking The Blair Witch Project because I felt and still feel that it is unnecessary.  The original was ground breaking and was entertaining enough on its own.  It offered a different take on more traditional horror that hadn't been seen before so how could a reboot possibly improve on it?

In this Blair Witch movie, we meet James (played by James Allen McCune), his girlfriend(?) Lisa (played by Callie Hernandez), his friend Peter (played by Brandon Scott), and Peter's girlfriend Ashley (played by Corbin Reid).  James is the much younger brother of Heather from The Blair Witch Project and he has apparently been haunted by what happened to her.  He is naturally fixated on the idea that Heather might still be alive.  Lisa (who may or may not be his girlfriend, the movie didn't do a good job of conveying whether she is or isn't his girlfriend) has a documentary project due and Peter asks his quest to find his sister to be the subject of the documentary.  Ashley is working on the project with Lisa and Peter is best friends with James so obviously this means that the other couple must accompany them into the woods.

James is very insistent on tracking down the source of a video recently posted online.  The video appears to show someone running from something in what looks like a creepy house and James immediately goes "That's my sister in the video!".  Mind you, no one can see who is being chased because the view point is first person pov.

James manages to find that the video was posted from a tape that was found in the woods by a young local couple Lane (played by Wes Robinson) and his girlfriend Talia (played by Valorie Curry).  Lane and Talia first ask to go with the other group then demand to go with the other group in exchange for leading James and his group to the location where the tape was found.  With reluctance, James and the other agree to let Lane and Talia come with and off they all go.

From the beginning things start out wonky.  First Ashley gets a large cut on her foot while the group is crossing a stream (presumably the famous stream featured in the first movie).  Instead of doing the sensible thing of turning back considering the severity of the injury, the group presses on after James puts a butterfly on her foot and wraps the foot.  While the group is camping for the night, they all hear mysterious sounds and Lane goes missing.  After finding Lane seemingly wandering in the woods looking for the source of the sounds, the search group returns back to camp.  The strange events continue when  the group wakes up the following day at 2pm with no memory of anything happening from the time they fell asleep until waking up and then discovering stick figures arranged around the camp area.  As the group is attempting to leave the woods, Lisa figures out that Lane and Talia are the culprits behind the stick figures being arranged around the tent.  James and his group angrily order Lane and Talia to go away while deciding to remain in the woods or return.  They decide to remain in the woods of course.

Lots of predictable jump scares ensue.  Eventually James finds out "the horror" of what happened to his sister.  The End.

I was especially disappointed with this film because it looked and felt like the filmmakers of this film just decided to redo many shots of the original movie pretty much shot for shot.  The only reason that I noticed this was because I watched The Blair Witch Project just prior to watching Blair Witch.

The biggest difference that I noted between this one and the original was that they didn't set the stage.  They didn't "lull the audience into a false sense of security" both with proper introductions of the characters and having nothing "frightening" (or rather strange because honestly this movie just wasn't scary in comparison to the first time that I saw the original) happening.  They didn't make any of the characters likeable.   I could care less who was who and what was happening to any of the characters. I frankly was rooting for the witch to get rid of Peter already because he was by far the most obnoxious of all of the characters.  I couldn't help but laugh at Talia's ridiculous death.  The lights flashing outside of the house made me wonder even when I first saw the preview if the filmmakers were trying to imply that the witch was an alien because the flashing lights were very X-Files-ish.

Yay we finally get to see the "witch".  Damn it's painfully obvious that it's a person wearing stilts and some weird arm extensions.  I particularly "enjoyed" (note the irony in my tone) that the filmmakers tacked on this stupid tid bit about how "the witch was tied high in the tree and had stones attached to her legs and arms".  While this seems to be an explanation given for the "witch's "appearance apparently the "person" seen in this film isn't the witch at all (this from the writer of this crap no less).  The "witch" is supposed to be a victim of the witch.  Way to go filmmakers for making that clear! (Again note the irony in my exclamation.)

Also great job filmmakers (more irony) ripping off the much better, actually frightening film The Ruins with the tree growing out of Ashley thing.  Unfortunately it felt tacked on like the story about the witch being tied to the tree with weights on.  We only observe the tree growing out of Ashley twice and the filmmakers did nothing other than include it.  

I suppose that the filmmakers were "brave" for trying to remake a classic, ground-breaking film.  It just fell so flat and was so disappointing.  The filmmakers would have done better to spend their energies actually making a great or at least good film because it sounds like they have a good reputation that implies that they have great potential for great films.

If you enjoyed this film, kudos to you.  If you're like me, I'm sorry that you wasted time watching this tripe.

 I would skip this one if I were you.

La La Land rated PG-13 for some language **spoilers**

I was sold from the moment that I saw the first trailer for this movie.  It just looked so good and so right up my alley.  I wasn't very disappointed.

Based off  of the look of this movie I assumed that this film takes place back in the day.  It is in fact a very modern tale with elements excellently incorporated from more traditional musicals associated with Gene Kelly and such.

In LA we meet Mia (played by Emma Stone).  Mia is a struggling actress who works at a coffee shop at the Warner Brothers Studios while she tries to catch her big break.  When we meet Mia, we shortly afterwards meet Sebastian (played by Ryan Gosling).  Sebastian is a struggling jazz artist who really just wants to get up enough funds to purchase an historic jazz club, remodel it to reflect its jazz roots, then hopefully work to keep jazz alive and possibly revitalize it.

After crossing paths a few times, Mia and Sebastian fall in love and start dating.  Sebastian encourages Mia to break away from her usual toiling to get an acting job by writing her own play and doing her own thing.  Sebastian also introduces Mia to "real" jazz as opposed to what most people are exposed to that is called "jazz".   Mia encourages Sebastian to follow his dream of staying true to himself while working to open the club of his dreams.

Things start to go sour for the couple when Sebastian signs on with a band with an old "friend" Keith (played by John Legend).  Mia observes that Sebastian seems to be losing himself but tries to be supportive while focusing on her play.  When Mia is suddenly faced with success, they question whether they can stay together while still living their dreams.

Overall the movie was fantastic.  The music was wonderful.  The cinematography was lovely.  The chemistry between Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling as as on point as ever.  The story was great.  The acting was excellent.  Very worth watching if you are curious.  Be prepared for it to be a little long.

****SPOILERS****.  Don't read further if you don't want to have the ending spoiled.  ;-)

My disappointment is related to the end.  I know that the ending was inspired by another movie that had had a positive effect on the filmmakers.  I agree that this ending is "more realistic" but I would rather that Sebastian had chosen to fight for Mia rather than let her go.   I felt that their chemistry was much better and more powerful than the chemistry between Mia and her husband.  I know that that was the point but anyway.  I am glad that the filmmakers at least gave us a glimpse of Mia and Sebastian together  even though it that ended up being a dream sequence.

The Phantom of the Opera (TV mini-series 1990) **some spoilers**

As a child, I became aware of The Phantom of the Opera through this mini-series.  My father introduced me and my sisters to this mini-series after it had been recorded on vhs.

This tv mini-series is based off of the play by Arthur Copit of the same title.  Arthur Copit's play was in turn inspired by the original novel The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux.  As such this mini-series had some details that were at least more reminiscent of the original novel that aren't usually seen in other film versions of The Phantom of the Opera.  For example, this particular mini-series has the unique distinction of being the only "Phantom picture (rather mini-series)" filmed on location at the Palais Garnier featured in the original novel. Besides that obvious difference from some of the other "Phantom pictures", this mini-series also features actual operatic pieces referenced and/or featured in the original novel.

In this version of the classic story, Christine Daee (played by Teri Polo) comes to the Palais Garnier to join the chorus.  She has been sent to Paris by the dashing Comte Philippe de Chagny  (played by Adam Storke).  Unfortunately for Christine, the old opera house manager Gerard Carriere has just been replaced by a new manager Monsieur Cholet (played by Ian Richardson).  Monsieur Cholet is most intent on providing a grand stage for his "beautiful and talented" wife Carlotta (played by Andrea Ferreol).  Unbeknownst to Monsieur Cholet, the opera house is haunted by a ghost called The Phantom of the Opera (played by Charles Dance).  The Phantom of the Opera is in fact a flesh and blood man named Erik who lives below the opera house in his house on the edge of a lagoon.

After hearing Christine sing one night, Erik is captivated and determines to offer to train her both to improve her singing and because he loves her and wishes to spend time with her.  Christine is pleased to be given the chance to have singing lessons as this was her intention and hope when she had first arrived at the Palais Garnier.

When the Phantom offers her lessons, he insists on remaining anonymous and as such will wear a mask during their time together.  Christine obviously finds this a little strange but decides to go along with it out of eagerness to learn.

As she spends time with the Phantom, she begins to grow fond of him both because he is granting her wish to learn to sing and due to spending time in close proximity.  Just as things seem to be heading in a more romantic direction as far as the Phantom is concerned, Philippe arrives in Paris.

As in the other versions of this story, Christine finds herself torn between her love for Philippe and her "love" for the Phantom.  After she hurts the Phantom as a result of first fainting away at the sight of his face rather than embracing him as she promised then escaping from him, Christine decides that she must try to make amends.  As such she sings for the Phantom during a production of Faust.  Once more she finds herself torn between her two loves and must make a choice.  Will it be her scarred but loving Erik who helped her achieve her goals and dreams?  Or will it be her childhood love whom she now regards with more adult feelings of love?  If you don't know then I suggest you look it up online because the answer is the same as in all of the other Phantom works whether they are print, film, or music.

As I stated above, this mini-series featured many details referenced or used in the original novel.  If you want to know them all, I would advise reading the original novel then watching this mini-series.  If you don't want to enjoy the experience of reading the original novel then watching this mini-series I suppose you could look it up online or ask someone who could answer.

In any case, I am very fond of this version of The Phantom of the Opera for a number of reasons besides some that I have already mentioned.  For me, this film has sentimental value due to my father enjoying this movie and memories of watching this movie with him and because of him.  The sentimental value has increased with the passing of my father.

Another reason that I love this version is largely due to Charles Dance's performance as Erik.  In truth, as young as I was, I was captivated by Charles Dance as Erik.  While my girlhood didn't tremble (1,000 points to anyone who gets that reference ;)  )  he was definitely one of my first "loves" of film.  The writers and Charles Dance were able to bring more humanity to the character while still maintaining aspects of the darkness that is part of the original Phantom.

Consider that in the original novel, the Opera Ghost starts out as somewhat mischievous ghost with an air of menace if crossed.  He then becomes something of an obsessive homicidal demon of a man who as it turns out is just as bad as people feared and yet ends up a "pitiful creature" who really just wants to be loved.  Don't get me wrong.  I am not criticizing the original novel in any way, shape, form, or fashion.  We wouldn't have this wonderful mini-series without the original novel.

What I am saying is that Charles Dance made him as relatable as possible considering the character and the circumstances that the character dealt with.  He displayed humor albeit dry humor but it was still funny.  While her voice attracted him, this Phantom seemed to genuinely love Christine more so than I feel is conveyed in other Phantom works (not that that is a good or bad thing).  Probably one of the best parts of Charles Dance's performance as the Phantom is that it is understated and subtle.  Many of his emotions are beautifully conveyed despite the masks that he wears throughout the movie.  To this day, I adore Charles Dance and am willing to watch many things that he is in simply because he is in them because of this movie.

I confess that I was appalled and a little angry when a magazine published an article about this mini-series in 2004 when Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's great The Phantom of the Opera made it to the big screen.  The article was talking about a handful of the noteworthy Phantom film works that had been released over the years.  Of all of them, this mini-series was criticized as the worst because "the phantom was a wuss" essentially.  I felt then and I feel now that the writers of the article obviously misread and didn't understand Charles Dance's performance in this mini-series.

This movie is also special to me because it taught me a valuable lesson.  In this picture Teri Polo does a very excellent job as Christine.  She portrayed her with sincerity and truth even when the truth isn't nice.  I'm specifically referring to a habit that Christine has in this picture when confronted with a situation involving either Erik or Philippe and in one instance both in which she finds she isn't getting her way (essentially).

To elaborate more, when she wants Erik to take off his mask to show him that she loves him and he tells her no a few times she says one of the worst things (in my opinion the worst thing) that a person can say to another person who cares about them.  She starts her statement with "If you love me" and continues from there.  She makes a similar starting "If you love me" statement to Philippe when she wants him to take her back to the opera house to sing for Erik.

The lesson that I learned from watching this as a child is that saying "If you love me" is a terrible thing to say to someone who loves you because it is forcing them to do something that they don't want to do and will probably ultimately hurt them more than can recompense for whatever immediate gratification you might be getting by using this against them.  I am very glad that I learned this lesson at such a young age and would never condone using a statement like that unless someone's life truly depended on it.

The story of this film provides an alternate history to the Phantom, where he comes from, who he is, why he's in the opera house, what happened to his face, etc.  While it might not be as interesting to some as other works, I thought that it was good, better than some others even.

Two words of explanation/spoiler before I end this.  First word of explanation/spoiler, in the original play that this mini-series is based off of, the actress who portrays Christine also portrays the Phantom's beautiful mother.  I guess the intention is to imply a disturbing Oedipal-complex thing with the Phantom because Christine reminds him so much of his mother who loved him (I personally loved that the Phantom's mother actually loves him in this picture but anyway).  The only problems with that is A)It's confusing as heck if you don't know.  B)  The Phantom is a baby when his mother dies so how is it Oedipal if he doesn't even remember what she looks like?  But I digress.

Second word of explanation/spoiler, unlike other productions of the Phantom of the Opera, the audience isn't intended to see the Phantom's face.  When the Phantom's mask comes off, his back is to the audience and it is up to the actress who portrays Christine to convey to the audience just how horrifying his face looks.  By the way, Teri Polo did an excellent job.

Lights Out rated PG-13 for terror throughout, violence including disturbing images, some thematic material, and brief drug content

After seeing the preview for this film, I decided that I was too scared to watch it.  After it was available at Redbox my sister surprised me by renting the dvd.  It was surprising both because I had told her that I felt too scared to watch it and she herself hadn't expressed interest in seeing this picture.  Since she had gone through the effort of renting the dvd, I felt that I might as well watch the movie.

This picture opens with a mysterious death of a man named Paul (played by Billy Burke).  At the time of his death, Paul was married to Sophie (played by Maria Bello) and they had a son together named Martin (played by Gabriel Bateman).

Martin has an older half-sister named Rebecca (played by Teresa Palmer) who lives on her own.  Rebecca is "struggling" with setting up boundaries with her hook-up Bret (played by Alexander DiPersia).  Bret obviously wants to be officially exclusive with Becca but Becca has been doing her best to dissuade him of that idea.  While Becca is dealing with Bret she gets a call from a social worker saying that her brother apparently hasn't been sleeping well at home because he keeps falling asleep in class.

Bret takes Becca to the school to get Martin to take him home for the day.  As they are returning to Sophie's house, Martin claims to have heard his mother talking to her friend Diana (played by Alicia-Vela Bailey).  To Becca, Diana is just a euphemism for their mother's mental problems so she angrily assumes that her mother's mental problems are affecting Martin just as she had been affected as a child.  Soon the frightening truth comes to light (so to speak) and it's up to Martin and Becca with some help from Bret to try to save themselves and their mother from Diana.

Another reason that I had been reluctant to watch this film was the knowledge that Diana had been given permission from Sophie to stay in the house with her, potentially putting her children in harm's way particularly the young Martin.  I was disgusted and horrified at the idea that a parent would subject their children to something like Diana.  After watching the film and seeing the explanation of why Sophie would allow Diana into her life, I understood although I didn't entirely forgive.

The film was better than I expected and I wasn't as scared as I worried that I would be.  The picture unfortunately relied a little too heavily on predictable jump scares.  I was pleased by the unexpected intelligence and resourcefulness displayed by Becca, Martin, and Bret in particular.  The movie ended somewhat surprisingly.  The entire cast was great.

Orca rated PG for some violence, gore and some language

Long before the film Blackfish came out, a group of filmmakers and actors posed the idea of what could happen when man crosses paths with orcas and the possible repercussions that could ensue particularly if an orca's family is harmed by man.

Before I continue further let me put a bit of disclaimer in this.  The film Blackfish is not a work of fiction like the film Orca.  It is a moving and disturbing documentary chronicling the controversial capture of orcas and the potential dangers and consequences both to the whales and to humans who are involved.  The film was at least partly inspired by the tragic events surrounding an orca named Tilikum and some of his trainers that died in the course of working with him.

I personally haven't watched Blackfish and I don't intend to because it all sounds too sad for my taste.  Still, it sounds like it is worth watching if you are curious.  It has been described as "a very good film" that if nothing else presents a perspective of the subject material that hadn't been seen before.  But I digress.

Around the time that the film Orca was made and released, there were quite a few "large creature" suspenseful/horror films that all came out at the same time, the most well-known being Jaws of course.

In this film the idea is presented by marine biologist Dr. Rachel Bedford (played by Charlotte Rampling) that orcas are so intelligent that they are capable of remembering things like slights/injuries/attacks made against them.  Further, Rachel believes that their intelligence makes them capable of exacting revenge against those that wrong them.

In a small fishing village, a fisherman named Captain Nolan (played by Richard Harris) directs his crew to hunt orcas despite warnings from Rachel and others to leave the orcas alone.  In the course of the hunt, a pregnant female orca is wounded by Captain Nolan and his crew.

For some barbaric reason that isn't explained, Captain Nolan orders the wounded female to be strung up and hung from the mast of the boat and he doesn't put her out of her misery.  It is implied that if she had been immediately released instead of strung up, she might have had a chance of surviving her wounds.  In any case, the poor thing spends the rest of the day and part of the night slowly bleeding to death after miscarrying her calf.  While she is dying, her mate watches from the water.

Almost immediately after the female was captured, the crew seems to feel remorse but no one does anything to try to remedy the situation.  I know he's the captain and all but honestly could you stand by while an animal is being mercilessly tortured to death in front of you?   When the crew decides to head back in, Captain Nolan orders that the whale be cut down.  The guy who cuts the whale down is grabbed by the male orca and torn to pieces in the water.  Thus begins the reign of terror and revenge that the male orca will exact in recompense for his family's deaths.

At first Captain Nolan tries to put the events of the previous day behind him as much as possible while dealing with the loss of his crew member's death.  But to his chagrin (because he doesn't actually seem bothered that he senselessly ordered the slow torturous death of an animal) the dead female orca's body has mysteriously washed up on shore.  Rachel angrily criticizes Captain Nolan for butchering the whale.

Around the same time a local Native American man named Umilak (played by Will Sampson) warns Captain Nolan that, according to his people's beliefs, the angry orca isn't finished causing trouble and that things will only get worse for Captain Nolan and possibly the town.  Captain Nolan scoffs at Umilak's warning and focuses on his crew member's funeral.

Meanwhile, the fish that the town depends on for their economy have all fled supposedly because of an orca that has been sighted in the usual fishing waters.  As the townspeople are talking about and to Captain Nolan about what he did to the whale, pandemonium breaks out in the harbor.  The orca is deliberately going around and punching holes or at least putting huge cracks in the hulls of all of the fishing ships except Captain Nolan's.

The whale continues to wreak devastation and even maims a young woman who was a part of Captain Nolan's crew before Captain Nolan decides to challenge the whale in the open water.  Rachel and Umilak insist on accompanying Captain Nolan on his journey.  A battle of mettle turns physical leading to the somewhat surprising climax.

I watched this movie not by choice but because my mother decided this would be a good movie to watch.  I confess that I was horrified particularly by the brutal scenes involving the female orca.  This film isn't so much a horror film as a depressing drama with some scary food for thought.  The atmosphere of almost the entire movie is sad.

The effects haven't stood the test of time so be prepared for some cheese.

I was actually very much rooting for the whale in the final climax.  I also cultivated a sense of fear of orcas in that even though this movie is entirely fiction, the idea of a killer whale coming after people is frightening at best.  The knowledge that they can learn, plan, and execute their plans with "grim" efficiency doesn't help.  It also doesn't help that these powerful animals can come onto the beach if they want to.

Don't get me wrong.  I respect and appreciate orcas.  I think that they are amazing and beautiful animals.  I just don't want to be in the water with them.