Water Movies

[Peppin Kishore]

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Adam Tank and I just had Travis Loop as a guest on our podcast Water We Talking About, and he gave us an update on his initiative to do in-depth reporting on the PFAS issue. And our next guest is Aoife Kelleher , associate producer and lead researcher for the water documentary Brave Blue World. So I thought it would be a good time to repost my review on two very different water movies, Dark Waters and Brave Blue World...

It was the best of water, it was the worst of water, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the year of COVID and Brave Blue World and the year of Dark Waters. Two films on water bridged the gulf between Charles Dickens' spring of hope and darkness of despair, showing audiences two sides of the ongoing evolution of the water industry.

I declared to my parents that I was going to be a chemist when I grew up, locked myself in the bathroom and mixed a formulation of iodine, hydrogen peroxide and talcum powder. The blend produced a violent reaction. Not chemically...but when I dropped it on my mother's brand-new bath mat, her response was pretty reactive. After grounding me for two weeks, my parents presented me with a chemistry set to focus my ambitions on more controlled experiments. (We didn't talk about the vial of sodium cyanide included in the chemistry kits of the day.)

I just watched the scene above from XXX: State of the Union, and started wondering how they do it. Certainly they don't actually shoot bullets, as that would be dangerous for the actors (and probably wouldn't work, according to Mythbusters). Is there a common way this effect is created? If not, how was it done for the movie XXX: State of the Union?

The first technique (for modern films) is CGI. I don't really think these need much explanation, so: onto the next one! In the past this effect was created through firing bursts of air into water.

Spielberg certainly has more flexibility than most with his budget. He actually attempted the effect shooting pellets (not bullets) being fired through water into blood bags. Pellets are normally made out of lead.

In the still frame, it looks like they did some editing to make the pellet look like a bullet. They probably used pellets as a safer, lower power alternative to bullets, perhaps not wanting to risk damage to their water tank.
- In movies, what do they shoot into water to simulate bullets? - Quora

In other words, sometimes a toga is just a toga. One more thing: Shape of Water was a Fox Searchlight production, and all the movies shown came from its predecessor company, Twentieth Century Fox, making it easier and cheaper to secure permissions.

The cast, led by the usually marvelous Paul Giamatti was a good one, even better now in hindsight as Bryce Dallas Howard has made quite a name for herself with Black Mirror and the Jurassic World Series.

The worst part of it all is that there were signs of it being something else, a beautiful shot here, an important theme there, a brief flash of clarity, but it was drowned out by the heaviest of hands trying to force us a serious movie about a grass wolf, an eagle, and a water woman.

This film tells the entertaining story of a group of young divers who go looking for a legendary treasure ship in the Bahamas. While diving, they stumble upon an airplane wreck full of illegal drugs, leading to an underground storyline of mobs and underwater action. The movie has an abundance of shark footage, most of which was filmed using live, wild sharks in their natural habitat. The movie also stars Jessica Alba and Paul Walker, and the exotic scenery will take you off your couch and into your next dive trip!

Based on real-life experience, Sanctum is a cave diving thriller produced by James Cameron. This is one that will have you glued to the screen; however, this tense and gripping movie may not be suitable for those who are claustrophobic or planning to take their PADI Open Water Diver certification.

Deep Blue Sea stars Samuel L. Jackson, whose character takes on genetically modified sharks at an isolated research facility from which the sharks are trying to escape into the open ocean. This one obviously packs both action and suspense as Samuel L. Jackson fights his way to victory over these fishy friends.

While on a dig in a Romanian forest, a group of scientists finds a huge abbey built over the entrance to a network of caves. They hire a team of divers who are armed with new high-tech scuba gear (essentially a modified rebreather) that allows them to stay underwater for a full 24 hours. They soon discover they are not alone, as scary creatures make their presence known.

Based on true events from the 1991 Perfect Storm, this epic disaster movie follows a group of fishermen who get caught at sea during the worst possible conditions. Featuring George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg, the film received mixed reviews but is still worth a watch so you can decide for yourself.

This riveting docu-movie, directed by Laura McGann, is packed with incredible underwater footage and tells of the relationship between freediver Alessia Zecchini and her safety diver, Stephen Keenan. Filmed in some of the best freediving locations around the world, it also provides a behind-the-scenes look at the sport of competitive freediving.

Waters also works as a visual artist and across different media, such as installations, photography, and sculpture. The audiobooks he narrated for his books Carsick and Mr. Know-It-All were nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album in 2015 and 2020, respectively.[2] In 2018, Waters was named an officer of the Order of Arts and Letters in France.[3] He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2023.[4]

Waters was born on April 22, 1946, in Baltimore, Maryland, one of four children born to Patricia Ann (ne Whitaker) and John Samuel Waters, a manufacturer of fire-protection equipment.[5] He was raised Catholic by his mother, though his father was not Catholic.[6] Through his mother, who immigrated to the United States from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, as a child, he is the great-great-great-grandson of George P. Whitaker of the Whitaker iron family.[5][7] Waters grew up in Lutherville, Maryland, a suburb of Baltimore. His boyhood friend and muse, Glenn Milstead, later known as Divine, also lived in Lutherville.[8] Waters lived at 313 Morris Avenue in Lutherville from his early teenage years until he moved out in his early twenties. Waters and Milstead shot many of their early films at the house, dubbing the front lawn the "Dreamland Lot".[9]

The film Lili inspired an interest in puppets in the seven-year-old Waters, who proceeded to stage violent versions of Punch and Judy for children's birthday parties. Biographer Robrt L. Pela says that Waters's mother believes the puppets in Lili had the greatest influence on Waters's subsequent career (though Pela believes tacky films at a local drive-in, which the young Waters watched from a distance through binoculars, had a greater effect).[10]

Cry-Baby was also a product of Waters's boyhood, because of his fascination as a seven-year-old with the "drapes" then receiving intense news coverage because of the murder of Carolyn Wasilewski, a young "drapette", and his admiration for a young man living across the street who had a hot rod.[11][12] Waters was privately educated at the Calvert School in Baltimore. After attending Towson Jr. High School in nearby Towson,[13] and Calvert Hall College High School, he graduated from Boys' Latin School of Maryland.[14] While still a teen, he made frequent trips into downtown Baltimore to visit Martick's, a beatnik bar, where he and Milstead met many of their later film collaborators.[15] He was underage and could not enter the bar proper, but loitered in the adjacent alley, where he relied on older patrons to slip him drinks.[16]

I was always drawn to forbidden subject matter in the very, very beginning. The Wizard of Oz opened me up because it was one of the first movies I ever saw. It opened me up to villainy, to screenwriting, to costumes. And great dialogue. I think the witch has great, great dialogue.[18]

Waters has stated that he takes an equal amount of joy and influence from high-brow "art" films and sleazy exploitation films.[19] In January 1966, Waters and some friends were caught smoking marijuana on the grounds of New York University, and he was soon kicked out of his dormitory. He returned to Baltimore, where he completed his next two short films, Roman Candles and Eat Your Makeup. They were followed by the feature-length films Mondo Trasho and Multiple Maniacs.[20]

Waters's 1981 film Polyester starred Divine opposite former teen idol Tab Hunter.[22] It was the first time that Waters was not the primary camera operator for his own work, as he had started collaborating with local film student David Insley.[23][24] Since then, his films have become less controversial and more mainstream, although works such as Hairspray, Cry-Baby, Serial Mom, Pecker and Cecil B. Demented still retain his trademark inventiveness. Hairspray became a hit Broadway musical that swept the 2003 Tony Awards;[25] and a film adaptation of the Broadway musical was released in theaters on July 20, 2007, to positive reviews and commercial success.[26] Cry-Baby, itself a musical, also became a Broadway musical.[27]

In October 2022, it was announced that Waters will adapt his novel, Liarmouth, into a film. Village Roadshow Pictures will produce, and Waters will write and direct.[33] Waters has often created characters with alliterated names for his films, such as Corny Collins, Cuddles Kovinsky, Donald and Donna Dasher, Dawn Davenport, Fat Fuck Frank, Francine Fishpaw, Link Larkin, Motormouth Maybelle, Mole McHenry, Penny and Prudy Pingleton, Ramona Ricketts, Sandy Sandstone, Sylvia Stickles, Todd Tomorrow, Tracy Turnblad, Ursula Udders, Wade Walker and Wanda Woodward.[34] On September 18, 2023, Waters was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Dreamlanders Ricki Lake and Mink Stole were among the guest speakers.[35]

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