Captain Fantastic
Review by Paul Preston
Welcome to Today I Watched…, a series of posts documenting my new challenge – watch a movie a day for the rest of my life. Keep coming back to TheMovieGuys.net to find out what I watch each day…and get my take on it.
When I see a movie that’s a new release in theaters or for home viewing, I’ll give it a proper review in the “Reviews”, otherwise, I’ll write about it here.
Feb. 16, 2017 – Colin Hay: Waiting for My Real Life – catch the review of this music doc about the lead singer of Men at Work in the HOME VIEWING category of The Movie Guys.net.
Feb. 17, 2017 – The Lego Batman Movie – catch the review of this spring blockbuster in the REVIEWS category of TheMovieGuys.net.
Feb. 18, 2017 – Captain Fantastic
Viggo Mortensen’s Academy Award nomination here is a bit of a surprise. Not that it happened, he’d been nominated for a number of awards leading up to the Oscars so it seemed like he was on the short list, but that it happened for a performance that was subtle in a movie that is otherwise eccentric. I’m used to The Academy awarding showier performances. He had every opportunity to go over the top as a man who has retreated to the woods to raise his family off the grid, but Mortensen grounds the whole film in reality.
Mortensen’s Ben took to the woods with his wife as they agreed to educate and physically train their kids in the forest. The film begins with an event that causes Ben and the kids to re-enter the world (road trip!), where they don’t fit in and, even worse, have their way of life challenged. This challenge comes from Ben’s sister and his father-in-law, in some powerful scenes about a father’s right to rasie his kids as he sees fit. The film gives equal time to having fun with the survivalist kids being fishes out of water (freaking out at the fast-paced violence of video games and ogling people who are fat – something not seen in the wild).
This is a unique story – seriously, if you’ve seen anything like this before, speak up. It’s well-acted, Kathryn Hahn and Frank Langella give great supporting performances. The SIX kids in Ben’s family are all good, too, continuing a run of fine child performances in meaningful films. I don’t expect great child and teen performances in dopey angst-ridden YA dramas. Director Matt Ross is one of my heroes simply for playing Alby in Big Love, now an ongoing directorial career is assured with this strong entry.
Directed by: Matt Ross
Release Date: July 29, 2016
Run Time: 118 Minutes
Country: USA
Rated: R
Distributor: Bleecker Street Media
