Into the Deep. 2025

Directed by Christian Sesma
Starring Scout Taylor-Compton, Richard Dreyfuss, Stuart Townsend, Jon Seda, AnnaMaria Demara, Tom O’Connell, Callum McGowan, Lorena Sarria, Ron Smoorenburg, Tofan Pirani, Quinn P Hensley, and Maverick Kang Jr.

SYNOPSIS:

Modern day pirates on the hunt for sunken drugs kidnap a boat of tourists and force them to dive into shark infested waters to retrieve the contraband.

Nothing about director Christian Sesma’s VOD budget shark attack/modern-day pirates thriller Into the Deep is particularly good. Let’s get that out of the way. The ending credits are far more baffling and intriguing than anything within the actual movie, where Richard Dreyfuss delivers a speech about shark conservation. Everything about the speech (from discussing cruelly hunting and murdering them to make soup out of their fins or how an alarming number of types are gradually going extinct) is well laid out and worth preaching about. The question is, what the hell is it doing here in a movie that has no traces whatsoever of that message?

Into the Deep is as generic as they come, with sharks standing in as childhood trauma and fear to face. Now, as an adult, Scout Taylor-Compton’s Cassidy is taking steps toward overcoming general ocean fright by boarding a boat with her boyfriend Gregg (Callum McGowan) on a quest for sunken treasure. Naturally, this is the same body of water where her father was teaching her how to swim before he was “viciously” murdered by a shark (quotations are necessary since nothing about this film is graphic or intense, and the actors mostly look like they are flailing to stay afloat whenever presented with the acting challenge of pretending a shark is dragging them down under.)

Sailing alongside another couple, plans quickly go sideways once some pirates storm the ship. Leader Jordan (Jon Seda, playing the character as a cross between sociopathic and 1980s bike-riding bad boy, mostly to unintentional comedic effect more than terror) and his criminal gang hold everyone hostage, demanding that Cassidy (the smallest of everyone here) uses the shark cage to reach the bottom of the ocean and bring back up several kilos of valuable drugs. Yes, there is more than one kind of treasure here.

While Cassidy attempts that, there are also flashbacks (some going as far back as her being a child) with her survivalist, ocean expert grandfather Seamus (a jittery Richard Dreyfuss who seems incapable of sitting still while delivering wooden dialogue) teaches her everything she needs to know to one day face her fear. Such flashbacks are visually ghastly, with unbelievably washed-out colors.

There isn’t much else to say other than that it is trite and entirely clichéd with questionable acting, aside from one or two displays of ferocity from Scout Taylor-Compton. Whether it’s director Christian Sesma or screenwriters Chad Law and Josh Ridgway, someone (or everyone) failed at ensuring anything about this formulaic genre exercise matched the intent spoonfed during the ending credits. There are no points for an actor showing up during the credits and giving an activist speech inside a film that has nothing to do with activism. That’s not deep; it renders Into the Deep shallow. And that’s without getting into what passes for special effects here.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ / Movie: ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association, Critics Choice Association, and Online Film Critics Society. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews and follow my BlueSky or Letterboxd 

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Bob Dylan is one of the most important musicians of his time. He revolutionized the music landscape, pushing the boundaries of folk music with poetic lyricism that went against traditional songwriting. Many of his songs became anthems for civil rights and anti-war movements in the 60s and inspired other genres moving forward. This past holiday season, A Complete Unknown was released to theaters, a biopic covering Dylan’s initial rise to fame. 

Dylan is portrayed by Timothée Chalamet, who bears a resemblance to a younger Bob. Chalamet does an impressive job of being able to disappear into the role, as at some point in the movie I almost forgot it was him. He nails Dylan’s distinctive voice and his delivery really amplifies the line he’s reading. It is no secret that Chalamet is a talented actor, and in this movie, that is no different. 

What is interesting to note is that this biopic doesn’t cover Bob Dylan’s entire career – just his rise to fame, which spans from 1961 to 1965. We see him move to New York City with almost nothing except his guitar and dreams of becoming a successful musician. The movie sees how over the course of just a couple of years, Dylan solidifies himself as a cultural icon. So while the movie covers a small portion of his life, it is arguably the most pivotal part.  

Bob Dylan was known as someone who hated conforming to traditional music and always pushed himself to create something different than what was normal at the time. This is what the conflict centers around. We see Dylan face plenty of external pressure to do exactly what his fans and the record label want. They want him to stick with his folk roots that initially made him famous, and continue to perform his most popular songs during live performances. But Dylan has no desire to do any of the sort and would rather create music that challenges and redefines the folk genre, for which he faces an extreme amount of backlash. 

The 1965 Newport Folk Festival serves as the movie’s climax. This was a significant moment in music history, when Dylan shifted from acoustic folk to electric folk, combining the folk and rock genres for the first time. He performed three songs backed by electric instruments, which fans saw as a betrayal of traditional folk. This was my favorite scene, as it contextualized a lot of previous scenes that showcased Dylan’s rebellious nature and refusal to conform.  

I got a lot out of this moment, as I love and enjoy when artists experiment with their new material when they can easily stick with the music that they might be known for making. An artist can make an album that becomes a smash hit, though when it comes to the album that follows it, they are faced with a choice. Do they essentially make the same album again and confirm their success? Or do they branch out and create something that ventures into a new style, despite what their fans might be used to? 

I found this movie to be interesting. I went into it knowing close to nothing about Bob Dylan, and while it did only cover a small portion of his life and career, it meant that the movie was able to drill down into this short time period and give a lot of attention and care to everything that came with it. Bob Dylan’s entire career spans a very long time, he is still performing to this day. Perhaps a movie that tried to cover more of his career would’ve resulted in a lot of important context being cut for time’s sake. I’m glad the movie was set during a small period, as it allowed more focus on what was happening. I got a lot of enjoyment out of it, and I feel inspired to go check out some of his work. 

“This will definitely end my career.” That was Naomi Watts’ initial response to the prospect of writing her first book, “Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I’d Known About Menopause.”

Through her menopause-focused wellness brand, Stripes Beauty, and openness about her experiences with perimenopause in her late 30s while also trying to conceive her children with then-partner Liev Schreiber, Watts was already one of the foremost celebrities to address the aging process for women. “Dare I Say It,” to be published by Crown on Jan. 21, builds on her earlier efforts. It melds expert medical opinion, case studies from other women and Watts’ own experience.

“I hope it feels like an honest, cozy chat with a girlfriend and that will lead them to having that conversation in real time if they’re too scared to open up,” Watts says.

She’s candid about getting “baby Botox” (a small dose of the injectable) between jobs to preserve her facial expressions onscreen. The actor recently received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her performance as Babe Paley in Ryan Murphy’s “Feud: Capote vs. the Swans,” which she calls “a role of a lifetime. One of if not my best role.”

In her book, she shares an endearing anecdote about husband Billy Crudup, whom she married in 2023, assuaging her fears about exposing her hormone patch during their first tryst by pointing out the gray hairs on his testicles. “Those to date remain the most romantic words I’ve ever heard,” Watts writes.

That levity was intentional. “I was always wanting to bring humor into it because we know the pain points,” she tells The Times.

After overcoming her fear of the unknown as it relates to being a debut author, Watts aimed to write the kind of book she wished she had when she was struggling through symptoms alone. Watts’ mother entered menopause early too, at the age of 45, but they never spoke about it until Watts mustered up the courage to bring it up with her.

“I guess these are the conversations I didn’t have with you because my mother never had them with me,” Watts recalls her mother responding in “Dare I Say It.”

“I wished there was a book when I was suffering through it, flailing and filled with shame and doubt and confusion,” Watt says.

Perhaps the strongest part of “Dare I Say It” is when the book tackles HRT, or hormone replacement therapy, which got a bad rap in 2002 when a Women’s Health Initiative study asserted that HRT caused breast cancer and cardiovascular disease, among other health concerns. Watts writes that the study was actually commissioned to see whether HRT decreased risk of heart disease — it didn’t — and that it was stopped after researchers observed a slight increase in risk of breast cancer. Subsequent research has suggested that the benefits of the drug outweigh risks, especially for younger perimenopausal women. Advocates says HRT has been proven to help with bone density and to prevent or lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. This is not to mention the symptoms of menopause and perimenopause it’s most commonly used to treat.

“Women have been taught not to complain. To suck it up, this is a natural process, you must go through it,” Watts says. “But you don’t have to suffer. The bad studies that happened in 2002 just left us with so much fear.”

Watts stresses that she is not a doctor, and that everyone should discuss the best options for them with their own physician.

“But some doctors just say no without exploring that person’s medical history, and that is not OK. It’s because they’re not educated themselves,” she maintains.

“Dare I Say It” and other resources can act as a stop-gap for those without adequate support dealing with their symptoms.

“I tried to put together these doctors that I trusted, and it’s up to the reader to draw out of it the information they feel suits them,” Watts says. “If you come in with some preparation you can have a very nuanced conversation about what you’re experiencing, what your needs are and if this is right for you.”

Watts continues: “As one of the doctors says, we are still very connected to the misogynistic, patriarchal messaging that women are at our expiration date once our eggs are gone. That’s still there, no matter how far we’ve moved as a society. It’s just ingrained.”

Watts declines to directly respond to a question about incoming Vice President JD Vance’s seeming past endorsement of the view that the purpose of postmenopausal women is to look after their grandkids, simply saying: “Let the fact that I’m saying nothing say everything.

“We’re not going off to the corner and pulling out our knitting needles,” she says, “although I do love to knit.

“We have a lot left to do and it’s up to us to alter that messaging,” Watts continues. “Experience and time on the clock really matters. Women at this point in time have more experience, and we have something to offer to the younger generations.”

Other than grandchild care.