Eagle vs Shark (2007)

I saw this movie at Sundance 2007. I really enjoyed watching this show, I caught about 5 movies in 4 days and this was the best out of all of them.

This movie was entertaining, I was never bored. It reminded me of Napoleon Dynamite however different enough to not be a rip off. All the characters were great! They added exactly what was needed in this movie to make it fun to watch.

Favorite Quote "Some people don't have sleeping bags"

Anyway this is really worth a watch and look forward to having a copy at home to watch over and over.

Fmovies: Overly quirky, uber-dorky love story revolves around two nerdy souls and their eventual courtship through a series of underdeveloped though often heartfelt scenes. Writer-director Taika Cohen shows a certain talent for creating enduring eccentricities on screen but fails to tie everything together into a cohesive whole. Many of Eagle vs Shark's brief scenes display a knack for the underlying subtlety present in such overtly bizarre characters, Cohen is simply too obsessed with the light-hearted weirdness of it all to make many of the scenarios stick with viewers.

Most resonance subsides afterwords simply because these two principal characters feel far too old to be acting as mentally immature as they do, in effect rendering much of this oddball character study indulgent and unrealistic. There are enough sincere bits and eccentric surprises thrown around to warrant a viewing by the indie-leaning younger crowd raised on Napolean Dynamite, but in the end Eagle vs Shark remained a glorified and overextended short, hardly transcending it's student film roots.

I really liked this film, I went into thinking it was going to be an off beat comedy with no real substance. Surprisingly it was not only a comedy it actually had a plot and significant character ark. I think that is what really separates it from Napoleon Dynamite which also explores outsiders. In this film the characters grow and recognize things about themselves. The humor is still very much there and the actors do a great job with their characters. There is also some really cool cinematography and animation in the film that was an unexpected bonus. The scenery was really amazing it made me want to go to New Zealand! I would highly recommend this film. It was really entertaining for me and I really liked the accents!

Eagle vs Shark fmovies. Eagle Vs. Shark is a quirky comedy from New Zealand, with "Flight Of The Conchords" Jermaine Clement, and a cast of unknowns.

It's a very funny film, with some good directing and a decent score. My only quip is it feels like it's been done before...(read more)e. The wall paper and tapestries remind instantly of that legendary Garden State scene, there's animation of the Michel Gondry arts and crafts vein, a little blonde girl who very much resembles a certain Little Miss Sunshine, a leading man doing his best Napolean Dynamite, and a leading lady playing a dotting, kind hearted, quite woman ala Miranda July in "Me and You etc". Yes there all here including a soundtrack of obligatory indie pop, I heard a Devandra Banheart cover of "Body Breaks".

That being said, the movie works. It's funny, painfully awkward, mean, and consistently goofy. Loren Horsley gives a terrific performance as "Lily" the films hero, who is at the beginning of the film for reasons never clearly expressed absolutely in love with clueless uber-loser Jarred. The two get together at an Animal Dress up party, and all's well until Lily discovers Jarred is planning to get revenge on a man who bullied him in high school (which seems to be his only really coherent thought). So its off to Jarred's home town, and uncertain revenge and love.

Jarred is ridiculously unlikable, and Lily has the loving patience of a saint, it's the sheer awkwardness of the performances which make any of this believable, the little ticks like the compulsive lying, the monotone speech, awkward stance, clothes, droll humor. The performers really drive home the story well which in the hands of others could have been God awful.

Though writer/director Taika Cohen has borrowed a lot of elements from other films working in similar fields, he does so naturally, with a poise, grace, and nerdiness, left out of a lot of the quirky, funny, hip, indie rom-coms. Nothing brilliant, but a solid comedy, that plays better to absurd than it does thoughtful, but I laughed all the way through, and would recommend to others, if it sounds like the thing for you. It's pluses easily beat out it's minuses.

I'm not really into actors, or following "the stars', but Loren Horsley's performance here was really kind of enchanting, and I would definitely be interested in seeing her again. "I am...Dangerous Person..."

Sundance Film Festival Grand Prize nominated film Eagle Vs Shark is a romantic comedy with a twist from New Zealand director Taika Cohen. The film tells the story of two socially awkward misfits; Jarrod(Jemaine Clement), a depressed video game store clerk and Lily(Loren Horsley), a quiet fast food waitress as they fall in love and go to Jarrod's home town where he is planning to get revenge on a high school bully. It is hard not to compare Eagle Vs Shark to US indie hit Napoleon Dynamite as both films' main characters have some similar mannerisms and much of the humour is created from that, however this film has a lot more going for it than the indie success story from Idaho. The character of Jarrod is very well acted and generates a lot of big laughs, but it is the excellent performance from Loren Horsley as Lily that truly makes the film. The audience really cares for her and she is what takes a good comedy film and makes it a great film regardless of genre. Eagle Vs Shark is a very funny, well acted and excellently written film and I would urge anybody to see it if they have the chance.

I saw this movie last night for the AFI Dallas Film Festival. I bought the ticket for this one on a whim and boy am I glad I did. I was expecting something quirky silly as the only New Zealand/Australian films I'm really familiar with are Muriel's Wedding and Strictly Ballroom. What I saw was a very cute film about two geeky people trying to find happiness and meaning in their life through love.

It's very easy to be sympathetic towards Lilly, not only is she funny as an awkward person, but she's actually very sweet and quite beautiful when she stands mesmerized by her love interest, Jarrod. And I swear I think I knew Jarrod in High School! I mean, seriously. He looks and acts very similar to someone I went to school with. So much so, that nearly every time he opened his mouth I had to giggle.

The movie had similarities to Napoleon Dynamite in that it starred the same type of awkward social outcasts. But I enjoyed this movie more than ND simply because it focused more on the hope and happiness of Lilly than on angst and anger of Jarrod (who is very similar to the attitude of ND).