Tag: Jaws

July 1, 2013 / / Main Slate Archive

JAWS

 

To call JAWS a classic film is an understatement.  It is the yard stick against which every modern monster movie is measured.  To this day, the film still draws crowds, drives Narragansett beers sales, and terrorizes skittish beach goers wherever a shoreline is visible.  What is it about JAWS that is so alluring?  What gives this film the ability to scare audiences as easily today as it did 38 years ago?  It certainly isn’t the riveting dialogue, or advanced special effects.  Rather than these, it is the film’s cinematography and camera work which make the shark attacks feel personal–a sensation that defies generations.

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June 1, 2011 / / Main Slate Archive

JAWS – A Perfect Engine

Jaws – 1975 – dir. Steven Spielberg

No critique by an amateur film critic could ever refute the monumental experience that is Jaws.  It’s possible to examine the socio-political themes in Amity Island, the class struggles between characters, and the great battle of man versus nature; but to unveil a hidden flaw, an imperfect note in this film, is impossible.  The film is good.  So good in fact, most fans can probably recall their first time witnessing it, that experience of hiding behind their hands from an unseen monster.  It’s cinema’s Moby Dick and once again, in the chaotic world outside the theater, we can again bear witness to life imitating art.

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March 10, 2009 / / Main Slate Archive

Sand and Blood: THE MUMMY

The Mummy – 1999 – dir. Stephen Sommers

Whether it’s action, romance, or angry, angry beetles, Stephen Sommers’s 1999 hit The Mummy has what you’re looking for.  Marketed as a next-generation’s Indiana Jones, The Mummy succeeds as a film by delivering exactly what it promises – and a little bit more.

With an ensemble cast including Brendan Fraser, pre-Oscar Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, and Arnold Vosloo, there are enough contrasting, zany characters for any “Which character are you” Internet quiz.  But what keeps The Mummy from being just another visual-effects-laden Hollywood song and dance?

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