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Jaws (1975)
Tragic, Inspirational, and Entertaining
Jaws has been called the first "summer blockbuster" movie; it is very entertaining and well made for its time. The director, Steven Spielberg, did an excellent job building suspense and providing the audience with effective jump scares as well as a nice sprinkling of humor. His efforts were supported by the iconic score of the great composer, John Williams.
Jaws tells a tragic story about a highly intelligent and courageous shark defending her territory against human invaders. The movie fails to show us the shark's back story, but it seems to me like she found the mutilated corpses of some of her children after humans cut their fins off to sell to the Chinese market.
The villain of our story is Quint, a professional killer who the humans hire to kill the grieving mother. Quint is a Captain Ahab type character who decorates his walls with the JAWS of the sharks he has slaughtered, much like serial killers of human women who keep gruesome trophies of their victims.
Our inspirational shark heroine continued to battle the humans after being shot, stabbed, and harpooned multiple times. She even managed to gloriously triumph over the evil Quint before meeting her tragic and spectacular demise. Although the ending was horrific, it was appropriate since in real life a shark is unlikely to prevail against a group of armed human hunters.
Please be warned that Quint is a toxically masculine character who uses a derogatory slang term that will likely offend women who have a certain skeletal deformity or who very much enjoy the company of men. Furthermore, the movie fails to feature any non-white characters. Maybe Disney will produce a less offensive remake of Jaws with a woman of color cast in the villain role...perhaps an animated version featuring a black shark instead of a white shark. Of course, they'd have to replace all the guns with cellphone cameras.
Mr. Nobody (2009)
Interesting, peculiar, and unfocussed
This is an interesting, well made, and peculiar movie! We first learn that the main character, Nemo, is for some unexplained reason the only remaining human who has not undergone anti-aging treatment; he will therefore soon be the last person to die of old age. You might reasonably deduce from this that this movie will explore issues of mortality and immortality, but you would be wrong. We also learn that Nemo appears to be suffering from dementia, but the movie is not about dementia. We then discover that Nemo was born with the ability to see the future, but that also is not explored.
The impression of dementia largely stems from Nemo's disjointed and contradictory memories, which we see in flashbacks. Eventually, however, we realize the confusing flashbacks are not due to dementia, but rather caused by Nemo shifting between parallel universes (or perhaps hypothetical realities) in which chance events and/or decisions he made altered the course of his life. How or why this happens to Nemo is not explored. In one reality Nemo travels on a spaceship to mars, and interjected through the movie are narrative monologues espousing principles of biology and physics...but the movie is not really about science.
So it seems this movie is an exploration of how our decisions and random events can dramatically change our lives, which is a fine subject for a movie. Near the end, however, the movie throws a few arbitrary curve balls which undermine the rest of the film. So I would say this movie is creative and entertaining, but the writer(s) were unable to create a coherent theme or message.
Nomadland (2020)
Very Beautiful, Very Genuine
In a realistic and unmannered fashion, Frances McDormand portrays a woman who begins living in a van after losing her husband, her job, and her house during a recession that devastated her small town. The movie presents a compassionate but unvarnished view of grief, community, death, and the nomadic lifestyle of many financially marginalized people in America (some of whom are more challenged than is depicted in this film). The movie is filled with beautiful cinematography and people, and will elicit a variety of emotions in viewers.
Clarkson's Farm (2021)
Beautiful, Educational, and Funny!
This brilliant series provides an inside look at the trials and tribulations of running a family farm. The fact that Jeremy Clarkson is the novice farmer which the show follows makes it enormously entertaining. The co-star of the show, farmhand Kaleb Cooper, trades barbs with Jeremy as adeptly as James May or Richard Hammond (Jeremy's co-stars in previous shows). Packed with great cinematography and moments of hilarity, this show will engage you and give you a new appreciation of farmers.
The Lobster (2015)
Original and Thought Provoking
This movie certainly held my interest, though I'm not sure I'd describe it as entertaining. The beginning of the movie had humorous elements, introducing the very original premise of a society in which love and marriage (heterosexual or homosexual) are mandated by the state; the consequences for noncompliance are severe. In fact, unmarried people are hunted down and (sort of) killed. As the movie progresses, however, it becomes increasingly dark as we see depressed, immoral, and/or desperate people commit a series of terrible acts. We are introduced to a resistance group of unmarried people that is also cruel and tyrannical. In a creative and non-preachy way, this movie demonstrates the corrupting and dehumanizing nature of totalitarian governments that try to impose their utopian vision using the state's monopoly on legal violence and coercive powers.
The Master (2012)
Excellent acting, overrated movie
This is a movie about an alienated, alcoholic, and violent war veteran who is befriended by a charismatic and apparently self-deluded cult leader. "The Master" (the cult leader) attempts to "cure" the veteran of his problems by using psychotherapeutic techniques he invented or adapted to fit his ideological rhetoric. Philip Seymour Hoffman gives a great performance as the cult leader, but the relationship between his character and the veteran does not really make emotional sense. I suppose the purpose of the relationship is to contrast the cult leader's unrealistic view of human nature (i.e., we are perfect, we are not animals) with the behavior of the veteran, who keeps acting like an animal. Unfortunately, this is not enough to provide a satisfying movie experience.
The biggest problem with this movie, however, is the lack of racial diversity in the cast. One important character was smart enough to see through The Master's delusional nonsense. Although this character was the cult leader's son, he nevertheless could have been played by an African American actor.
Extra Ordinary (2019)
Pleasant Entertainment
In this movie, a troubled woman must overcome her fears to help a father save his young daughter from being raped and killed by demons. Though violent and gory in parts, this movie also manages to be charmingly humorous and even heartwarming. A plot twist near the end results in a memorable sex scene. This movie is pleasant entertainment in my opinion, but potentially offensive to those who seriously believe in supernatural phenomena like ghosts and fallen angels.