Scarlett Johansson has two box office hits this weekend with Captain America and more surprisingly, Under the Skin, which had a per screen average of $35,000. Under the Skin is enjoying mostly great reviews but the positive ones are very positive, with nine scores of 100 at Metacritic. Salon’s Andrew O’Hehir wrote of Under the Skin:
One of the many startling things about “Under the Skin” is how complicated and distressing a story can be told with almost no dialogue and absolutely no explanation or back story. On one level this is a horrifying, surreal and possibly allegorical tale about male-female relationships and the link between sex and the death wish, and on another it’s a work of downscale British social realism where you can feel the damp and the cold, the dismal blocks of “council flats” (i.e., public housing) and the second-rate suburban houses. We experience the sometimes barren, sometimes beautiful Scottish landscape alongside Johansson’s character, whose adopted persona is that of a woman from England running some complicated family errand that’s gone awry. In one of the movie’s most memorable sequences, when Johansson appears to be struggling with the costs and consequences of her assumed human identity, Daniel Landin’s camera adopts her point of view, moving through the ordinary street life of Glasgow, all those shoppers and office workers and pubgoers unaware of the monster in their midst.
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Sure the plot isn’t substantial or original, but this movie is all about mood. I loved it. Found myself holding my breath in terror and suspense several times, especially during one particular under ‘water’ scene. See it.
“Actually I never saw Species”
You must! It’s a lot of fun, and if the skeletons are as similar as they say, it’s bound to be known as SPECIES is to UNDER THE SKIN what Bava’s PLANET OF THE VAMPYRES is to ALIEN. We just need confirmation from Grazer that he’s never seen SPECIES to come full circle.
I liked it the first time I saw it, when it was called Species.
(Actually I never saw Species, I’m just laughing at how groundbreaking everyone – like Andrew O’Hehir and Anthony Lane – says Under the Skin is.)
I even really liked her in The Horse Whisperer. At least she has a Tony, so far.
Scar Jo should have been nommed for Match Point in some damn category.
And I think category confusion, as well as being awesome twice (canceling herself out) made her miss in 2003.
I oddly align with you on most of your ranks, Joe 🙂
From Best to Worst-The Films of 2014
1. Noah 4 stars A
2. The Grand Budapest Hotel 3 1/2 stars A-
3. 300: Rise of an Empire 3 1/2 stars A-
4. Grand Piano 3 1/2 stars A-
5. Captain America: The Winter Soldier 3 stars B
6. The Monuments Men 3 stars B
7. Muppets Most Wanted 3 stars B
8. Non-Stop 3 stars B
9. Need for Speed 3 stars B-
10. Mr. Peabody and Sherman 3 stars B-
11. Robocop 3 stars B-
12. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit 3 stars B-
13. The Nut Job 3 stars B-
14. The Lego Movie 2 1/2 stars C+
15. Sabatoge 2 stars C
16. Labor Day 2 stars C
17. Ride Along 2 stars C
18. Pompeii 1 star D
19. The Legend of Hercules 1 star D-
Just saw CA last night, she fricken owns it, how they haven’t given this woman her own superhero movie yet is beyond me.
Let’s hope they let us see it at some point. I just heard it’s great, and the trailer SOLD me completely.
Proof again that women (and African Americans) rule at the box office!
Is she currently the best american actress never nominated for an Oscar….Screw that, now that she’s living in Paris wouldn’t it be cool if she became the first american to become an European art house darling….move over Scott Thomas.
I cannot wait to see this movie. Low-budget, mood-based, sci-fi body horror? You mean there’s a director BESIDES Cronenberg who wants to make this kind of movie, and make it great?! SIGN ME UP.