CAPTAIN PHILIPS (2013)

ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS

• Best Picture (Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, and Michael De Luca – Producers)
• Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Barkhad Abdi)
• Best Film Editing (Christopher Rouse)
• Best Sound Editing (Oliver Tarney)
• Best Sound Mixing (Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith, and Chris Munro)
• Best Adapted Screenplay (Billy Ray)

Christopher

This movie was crazy. I didn’t really expect to enjoy it but I thought it was great! I think I must really like movies involving modern day pirates. I think I’m alone on this but I have always thought of Life Aquatic as my favorite Wes Anderson movie. But anyway, Captain Philips held my attention all the way through. Before we watched it I thought the movie was going to drag on, I really couldn’t imagine what the story was going to be the whole time. But it worked in every way! I really don’t have a lot to say except I loved it so if you haven’t seen it yet, check it out! It’s at Redbox at least.

Elizabeth

I really did not want to see Captain Philips when it first came out. Pirates are too scary and it just seemed way too stressful. But Chris pointed out that it was probably going to get nominated for Oscars, so I knew I would have to see it. But I’m glad it did get nominated, because it was really good.

Captain Philips is not as stressful as I thought it was going to be, but I mean that in a good way. I guess it helped that I knew Captain Philips (Tom Hanks) wasn’t going to die because the real Captain Philips is still alive. But the pacing of this movie was so good because it wasn’t relentless, but still kept you going. I liked that it focused a lot on the pirates, especially Muse (Barkhad Abdi) and what their situation was. That helped the movie avoid an ultra “Go USA!” tone that would have really gotten annoying. I also liked that they didn’t really focus on anyone’s family – the most you see is Philips’ wife in the beginning. We don’t need to check back with everyone’s families like they do in The Perfect Storm (which I hate) because we understand how worried and upset they must have been without needing to spend time seeing it. I also loved the relationship of Philips and Muse – they seemed to be weirdly equal, but then not at all equal, all at the same time.

Also, Captain Philips makes Tom Hanks look like a total badass, but also like a nice dad type of character. Who wouldn’t want to see that?