Land Ho! (2014) Reviews

• A funny sweet and likable little film, emphasizing character over story

  runamokprods2014-08-08

  Two aging ex-brothers in law - the extroverted, lovable and slightly embarrassing Mitch, and the more introverted, sad-sack Colin take off for a getaway to Iceland. Their adventures are low key and episodic, but the comic rapport between the two men makes it hard to stop smiling. There's no big catharsis or lesson learned, no moment when the smiles turn to tears, nothing that screams 'important movie'. Just an enjoyable hour and a half spent with two eccentric old guys finding themselves and each other on the road in a strange place. The film looks very nice for it's tiny budget, and the two lead performances by Earl Lynn Nelson (a surgeon in real life) and Paul Eenhoorn (an accomplished Australian actor) create a fun naturalism that feels as authentic as if it was all improvised, with us just listening in on these two quite lovable older men.

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• What do you do when you're Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die?

  steven-leibson2014-07-26

  I took the title of this review from the 1976 Jethro Tull album, which is an appropriate time period for this movie because Mitch and Collin, the two main characters in this movie, appear to be either pushing 70 or in their 70s like many boomers. Mitch was a doctor. Collin was a bank manager. Neither is working any longer. Both are now divorced. And alone. The two were married to a pair of sisters, which makes them ex-brothers-in-law but more important, old friends. It's giving nothing away to tell you that the movie spends five minutes in Kentucky and the rest of the time in Iceland. This is a road trip movie that follows a set pattern. It starts sort of rocky, gets into a swing, there's a trumped up moment that drives the characters apart, then there's resolution. It seems like every road trip movie is written this way. Only the surprises differ. In this movie, there's a third main character that never speaks. It's the incredible geography of Iceland, which Mitch and Collin explore throughout the movie. This is an enjoyable film, which looks lightly at some of the issues associated with growing older that many baby boomers just like Mitch and Collin face today. See the world through Mitch's and Collin's eyes and you'll feel a bit better about the journey. Better yet, buy two first-class tickets to Iceland like they did.

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• A very enjoyable way to spend an hour and a half

  jmarki-902-9810422014-01-20

  Was lucky enough to have seen the premier at Sundance. Since it does not feel like the kind of flick that will find mass distribution, there is no telling where or when you might get the opportunity to see this movie, but if indeed you get that chance - do not miss it! A straightforward theme with a nominal plot made up of a number of nearly free-standing scenes and only a couple where chronology is all that important. The cast, sound, cinematography, direction, writing and featuring the magnificent scenery of Iceland were all wonderful and Earl Lynn Nelson is a treasure. The scene in the museum (ad libbed according to members of the cast) alone is worth the price of admission. Four of us 50-somethings saw it together and it was a long time after we left the theater before any of us could stop smiling. That's entertainment!

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• Dreary, Unfunny and Possibly Suicide-Inducing

  marsanobill2014-08-21

  Actually the spoiler is that there is nothing to spoil about this depressing mess. It has no plot and no story. I'm a man in my 70s, and if at age 30 I'd thought that THIS represented my future I'd have been tempted to end it all right then. The principals are two old men. One has money and has not yet given up on life; the other is less wealthy and having recently divorced is glum, taciturn, self-pitying. The former dragoons the latter to go on vacation in Iceland, which he generously pays for, and relentlessly tries to bully his buddy into cheering up. They smoke some weed. They dance on the beach. There's locker-room humor and fart humor for connoisseurs of same but there is no real humor and no wit. The sound track varies from annoying to hateful. There are some handsome views of Iceland; however, the Northern Lights seem to have been off duty during filming, and I desperately wanted to see something, anything that would make this experience worthwhile.

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• Talking heads in Iceland

  euroGary2014-10-29

  In 'Land Ho!', Mitch (Earl Lynn Nelson), a retired American surgeon who smokes pot and who calls women 'broads', inveigles his staider Australian former brother-in-law Colin (Paul Eenhoorn, who has the kind of familiar face that will have you thinking "Oh, wasn't he in... that thing... with the thing?") into taking a trip to Iceland, where the pair drive around in a massive car and have conversations. And that is about it as far as the plot goes. Judging by the naturalistic style of speaking (repeats, pauses etc), a lot of the conversation is ad-libbed. This doesn't work so well when other characters are involved - the segment where the retirees spend time with two much younger women is especially trying, largely because Karrie Crouse delivers her lines in such a drawling monotone the viewer has to resist the urge to yell at the screen "WAKE UP, WOMAN!" But when sharing the screen with nobody but each other, Nelson and Eenhoorn well convey the easy rapport between two men who have known each other for decades. I like the fact that the film avoids the big revelation so common in this sort of production (I was braced for one of the men to announce "This is going to be my last trip - the doctors have given me six months" or similar, but it didn't happen). The film does end rather abruptly, though. What is very apparent is the amount of product-placement: the shot of an Icelandair 'plane, the close-ups of Lonely Planet's Iceland guidebook, the mention of a real-life Reykjavík restaurant called 'Dill'. Not to mention the Icelandic scenery, lovingly shown in all its bleak interestingness. Unfortunately the 2014 London Film Festival showing I attended cut the credits (grr!) so I don't know whether Icelandair, Lonely Planet, Dill and/or the Icelandic Ministry of Tourism actually *did* sponsor the film; if they did, it would be interesting to know what came first: the idea for the film, or the sponsorship?

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