What was the last film you watched?

[Mel O'Drama]

Piranha (1978)

I was surprised to find myself enjoying this immensely. Could the Blu-ray upgrade have actually improved the quality of the film's content? Or are my expectations particularly low this week?​

 

[Willie Oleson]

JAWS (the wet version, I think), it was on Netflix.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

JAWS (the wet version, I think)

And now the big question, Willie...



Has it changed your opinion from your previous viewing?:

I've watched JAWS on YouTube (very bad quality upload) only for the horror moments and I have to say I was a little disappointed, hence my confusion regarding the popularity of this movie.

 

[Alexis]

Hereditary.

I saw it at the cinema on a date, I'd been enticed by the creepy trailer. It was supposed to be going for this Rosemary's Baby/Don't Look Now/Exorcist vibe. I thought it was awful. Pure trash. But not even good scary thrilling trash. It was incredibly slow, the pacing was terrible. Unlike the film it mostly copies Rosemary's Baby which has the most perfect pacing and is a joy to sit through. Hereditary just plods along. It's a small cast but even Toni Collette and Gabriel Byrne don't save it. The plot is a bit flimsy too. After a major thing happens, a death. A gruesome one at that, there is no dealing with police at all. This horror that happened is just accepted as an accident without so much as an interview or anything.

The big reveal at the end was laughable. I mean literally the whole cinema erupted into laughter at was supposed to be the climactic reveal. The director just handled it very badly. The allusions to the occultism were there but they were just not enough, it was clumsily done. The tone just wasn't menacing enough. The paranoia wasn't heightened enough. Yea... I hated it. They should retitle it for DVD and call it Not Enough.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Has it changed your opinion from your previous viewing?:

I can't answer that with a simple Yes or No.
I loved the picturesque town and it just screams "mini-series me!" (more additional plotlines)

It is my impression that JAWS wants to be a monster movie and a disaster movie (which is possible) but there is one major flaw: where's the danger?
Well, it's in the water obviously and this big fish turned out to be a very nasty surprise. But once they had acknowledged that they were dealing with a killer shark all terror and suspense ended right there and then - but the movie was going to last for another hour.
Usually it's the point where the characters are planning an escape, and will they succeed?

But the people of Amity Island didn't need to escape, all they had to do was not going into the water. Admittedly, it's inconvenient because people like to swim and go on fishing trips.
Nevertheless, people don't need to go into the sea in order to survive so I don't really get the tagline "Amity Terrorized By Shark".
In worst-case scenario, Amity Island would become a ghost town because people would leave to find a job or start their business elsewhere. Unfortunate, yes - terrifying, no.
(commercial thinking here: make the shark the main attraction, make it the American Loch Ness).

As for the characters, the acting was adequate, maybe very good but it's hard to tell since there wasn't much personal drama going on, not even a love affair or something like that.
There were some quarrels with the Mayor but I would have liked to see more townspeople getting involved, and 2 main characters weren't even locals.
Like I said, that could work for a longer version.
As a result, the time they did spend on "character" story seemed too long and it was just waiting for the big showdown.

Conclusion: it wasn't great as a psychological thriller and it wasn't great as an action-packed blockbuster movie.
And yet it's (still) regarded as a quintessential pop culture phenomenon of the seventies. I don't have a problem with that at all, the audiences loved it and they represent the seventies.
But maybe it wouldn't hurt to revise these classics every now and then in order to decide if they are still the Best Movies Of All Time, purely based on the movie itself rather than its cult status.

Personally speaking, I think The Shallows is a better shark movie but not because of the shark. What impressed me the most was the water, all that majestic, merciless water.
And that's another thing about JAWS: it doesn't feel very wet.

As for a possible JAWS series: I'd like it to be all about the town, and the shark as a sub-plot. Come to think of it, it would be great season finale cliffhanger.

Sorry Mel O'Drama, it's probably not the answer you had hoped for because I know how much you love these movies - but I didn't want to insult you with a simple "yeah it was all great" just to get it over with.

Rating (out of 10): 6.5

 

[Mel O'Drama]

It is my impression that JAWS wants to be a monster movie and a disaster movie

It's interesting you picked up on the disaster film element. One of the books I've read includes an analysis that Jaws nicely bridged the gap between the disaster movies of the early Seventies and the slasher films of the late Seventies, with elements of both.

Spielberg has always steered clear of categorising Jaws as a monster movie, choosing instead to treat it as "an A-Z adventure story".

But the people of Amity Island didn't need to escape, all they had to do was not going into the water. Admittedly, it's inconvenient because people like to swim and go on fishing trips.
Nevertheless, people don't need to go into the sea in order to survive

Indeed. But I guess the conflict comes from the element summed up by the Mayor: "Amity is a summer town. We need summer dollars". The people that live on the island year round (less than 1,000) are relying on the income generated by the summer tourists (when the population expands to over 10,000) to see them through the winter. The book goes into more depth with this, firstly by painting a picture of previous poor summers and the disastrous effect it's had on the townspeople, and then by letting the reader know that once word of the shark got out the majority of accommodation was still empty at the height of summer where it would normally be packed to capacity.

It's still not a disaster in the sense of an earthquake or volcano heading towards the town, but they definitely have to deal with it or quality of life would suffer hugely.

commercial thinking here: make the shark the main attraction, make it the American Loch Ness

Yes - that would almost definitely happen today.

there wasn't much personal drama going on, not even a love affair or something like that.

There was a love affair in the book between Brody's wife and Hooper the shark expert which really affected the dynamics between the three men on the boat.

Personally speaking, I think The Shallows is a better shark movie but not because of the shark. What impressed me the most was the water, all that majestic, merciless water.

Interesting. I've only seen it once and am hoping to rewatch it this summer, so I'll look out for the water.

As for a possible JAWS series: I'd like it to be all about the town, and the shark as a sub-plot.

Re-reading the first two books recently, I was thinking how Amity: The Series would make a great vehicle, in the same way that Psycho gave us Bates Motel. There's so much more detail in the books - so many different characters and angles. The aforementioned affair, mafia subplots, sexual tension between the younger characters in Jaws 2. Plus some of the victims are expanded on. It would make a great ongoing series I'm thinking three seasons at around ten episodes a pop.

Sorry Mel O'Drama, it's probably not the answer you had hoped for because I know how much you love these movies - but I didn't want to insult you with a simple "yeah it was all great" just to get it over with.

Oh - no need to say sorry, Willie. If it's not your cup of tea, then it's not your cup of tea. But good for you giving it another shot.

 

[Willie Oleson]

There was a love affair in the book between Brody's wife and Hooper the shark expert which really affected the dynamics between the three men on the boat.

Funny, I haven't read the books and yet I managed to pick something essential that was missing in the movie.

I've only seen it once and am hoping to rewatch it this summer, so I'll look out for the water.

Use this for that extra 3D wet-effect.

It would make a great ongoing series I'm thinking three seasons at around ten episodes a pop

I'm having this strange feeling that it's actually going to happen.

 

[James from London]

“A film in which genuine emotion is put aside for post-modern frisson …" True enough, but I really enjoyed the post-modern frisson - even if the film is so long it took me about four days to watch it.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

My first rewatch of...

The Shallows

With "all that majestic, merciless water". ✝



​

✝ ™ ® 2018 Willie Oleson

 

[Seaviewer]

"Bad Teacher"

I watched this mainly because I recently saw the TV show. The movie is harmless enough but I don't know why anyone would think that watching the same character relearn the same lesson on a weekly basis would sustain an ongoing series. Picking up after the movie would have been a better bet but I guess they were saving that for a sequel.

 

[James from London]

This movie begs the question: is a film about obnoxious people doing obnoxious things and which is told from the point of view of its most obnoxious character, who never truly atones for his actions, in itself obnoxious? Scorsese is such a wonderfully seductive filmmaker that it almost doesn't matter, but I still found myself looking out for some evidence of actual humanity. It arrives, finally and briefly, in the last fifteen minutes (of a three hour film!), but it's kind of worth the wait. And DiCaprio's just brilliant -- and much more fun than he was in The Revenant.

In the end, I don't think it is an obnoxious film. You're just ultimately left to make up your own mind about the story it tells.

 

[supermanfan]

Star wars the last Jedi it was ok kinda sad to see Carrie fishers last performance as princess Leigh

 

[Swami]

Crocodile Dundee.

Swami

 

[Mel O'Drama]

When A Stranger Calls (2006)

Each time I watch this I feel like I really shouldn't like it. The original was a great film, after all. But something about the remake really grabs me. I enjoy that it's mostly limited to one setting with quite long scenes and a small cast. It's quite atmospheric and it looks good too (a little too slick and polished here and there, perhaps, but nothing unforgivable). And I wouldn't say no to living in the Mandrakis house.

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

The Crooked Sky

Pimpernel Smith

Below Zero

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

The Mark of Zorro
They Who Dare
The Train
Operation Amsterdam
The Two-Headed Spy
The Agitator
The Mob
Blind Spot
Devil Girl From Mars
Horror Expresd
Sleeping Car To Trieste
Carry On Admiral
Never Let Go
Hell Drivers
Heavens Above!
Piccadilly Third Stop
The Big Job
The Big Money
The Innocents
Innocents in Paris
Meet Me Tonight
Crosstrap
Dateline Diamonds
Flying Deuces

 

[Jason73]

I watched Pride tonight on a recommendation from @Ome and absolutely loved it. I laughed. I cried. I learned.

 

[Ome]

I laughed. I cried. I learned.

It's such a great movie and I loved how confident Mark Ashton was, against all odds, he persevered and made a difference.

 

[Payton Cross]

Blade

 

[James from London]

You can tell it was a play -- there are only three scenes, they're mostly two-handers, and each takes place in a different hotel room -- yet it totally works as a film. Russell Tovey and Arinze Kene are really, really, really good (I saw Arinze Kene in a play he wrote recently and he was Carol Jackson's younger lover on Enders once upon a time and he's clearly gonna be a massive star, but I kind of like that he's still relatively undiscovered and so feels like a bit of a secret). The story (football v sexuality v friendship v fame) is totally gripping, it's only ninety minutes and the whole thing just flies by.