Movie Review: Jaws (1975)

Duh-na. Duh-na.

The Somerville Theater and Coolidge Corner Theaters are both celebrating "Jaws" this month. And why not? It's local to Massachusetts. We've had more recent shark sightings around Boston than any summer in memory. And this year happens to be the 35th anniversary of "Jaws". Excellent!

This movie's been reviewed countless times, so instead we're going to look at what can happen when film making plans go awry. If the film crew is creative, they come up with genius improvisation; if not, you get Tommy Wisseau's "The Room".

Let's take a moment to recall another great film from 1975, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." As originally scripted, King Arthur and company ride horses. Unfortunately, when they looked at their funding, the Pythons didn't have the budget for that. Says Terry Gilliam, "I think the restrictions made the film better, because if we'd had the money for real horses there would have been no coconut shells, which are far funnier. So we were saved by poverty from the mediocrity to which we aspired!"

Meanwhile, over in Martha's Vineyard, Speilberg & co. were having terrible difficulty with their mechanical shark. It broke down a lot. The technical difficulties kept delaying filming.

(The mechanical shark, if you're wondering, was named "Bruce" -- Bruce later gets a nod from Pixar's vegetarian shark in "Finding Nemo")

Frustrated that they can't show Bruce as much as planned, Speilberg has to show us something else: the underwater, shark POV shot. Creepy. Unnerving. Genius. We're looking up at all those legs dangling. It's horrifying!

An Emerson film professor would have us go off on the whole voyeur element to these shots, how looking up at a skinny dipping girl from the killer's POV is like the shower scene in "Psycho". We'll spare you. Just know that this great film was made even better by technical difficulties, and go watch it again.

Happy 35th, Bruce! You can now run for president!

Final Score = A

Coming Soon to a Theater Near You!

Though 2010 brought very few film crews to the Boston area, we will soon be seeing the release of last summer's films. Keep an eye out for:

"The Town" -- September 17, 2010

A bank robbery film starring John Hamm and Ben Affleck, directed by Ben Affleck. We actually think this will be good.

"The Company Men" -- October 2010

Three men try to survive corporate downsizing... rather timely. Stars Tommy Lee Jones (please, please don't do the accent again!), Kevin Costner (he doesn't do accents, right?), and Ben Affleck.

"The Fighter" -- December 2010

This one is aiming for an Oscar nomination... can't you just smell it? Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg star as boxing brothers in the crack infested streets of Lowell. Based on the true story of Mickey Ward. This could potentially be an amazing film.

"The Zookeeper" -- June 2011

Perhaps there is a yearly quota on Kevin James movies. In this one, he plays a lonely zookeeper who can talk to the animals... when they start giving him love advice, a Kevin James movie ensues.

"Locked In" -- no release date

A sort of surreal mystery starring Ben Barnes and Eliza Dushku. We wonder if we will ever see this one in the theater.

Movie Review: The Proposal (2009)

We've reviewed films that shoot Boston-for-New York, Boston-for-Paris, Burlington-for-New Jersey... but here's a rare first: Gloucester, Massachusetts filmed to look like Sitka, Alaska.

Huh.

When you watch, "The Proposal", you don't recognize the backdrop as Massachusetts, for one key reason: Digitally added snow-capped mountains and glaciers. The VFX work was done by local post-production company, Brick Yard, and it's flawless. Well done, on with the review!

Sandra Bullock kicks off "The Proposal" by entering her NYC publishing company as her employees dive for cover: the same entrance, though not quite as effective, as in "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Working Girl". Fine, we get it, this establishes her as the bitchy boss (but not really -- has Sandra ever been bitchy?). Her underling, everyman's actor Ryan Reynolds, obediently fulfills her every whim... often while grumbling. This includes the title "proposal"; she forces a ridiculous marriage upon him to keep her US work visa. Now the pair must go to his hometown in Alaska to tell his parents.

We were prepared to hate on "The Proposal" as just another summer wedding movie, but this one actually has some classic romantic comic appeal. Bullock and Reynolds can banter, and it's very entertaining. Much of the charm comes from Reynolds. His character is cynical yet likeable, career driven yet still an angsty teenager around his father. It's fun to watch him gradually grow a spine.

The film does venture into the absurd gag every so often: a eagle kidnaps a puppy, an unattractive stripper takes things too far, Granny goes native, and so on. These moments of stupidity take away from what would otherwise be a well-acted film.

One final kudos: "The Proposal" cast Betty White as the grandmother, a whole year before her pop culture resurgence. As always, she's hilarious.

Final Score = B-

Housekeeping!

Hello readers,

We here at The Boston P.A. appreciate your readership, and wanted to say... thanks!

Lately, we're considering upgrading ourselves to an actual domain name, and we recognize that the quality of writing should improve if we do. From this post onward, we promise:

1) We will comb through posts for typos, spelling & grammar errors. Mind-blowing, we know!

2) Ban the phrase "It doesn't work" in all film reviews.

(or, ban the writer who keeps using it)

3) Ease on the Kevin James references. He's supposedly a great guy. For Kate Hudson and Nick Cage, however, it's still open season.

If you, readers, have anything you would like to see, we would consider your feedback as well. And thanks again for checking us out!

Friday Scoreboard

Happy Friday!

It's been a long, mostly production-less summer for Greater Boston. Other than this spring's romcom "What's Your Number" with Anna Farris, there haven't been any films in town. Is this the end of the Boston film industry? We really hope not.

Periodically, we post a scoreboard of all the movies we have reviewed thus far. As always, we grade on a curve. Here are the latest rankings:

A..... The Departed

A-.... The Friends of Eddie Coyle

A-.... Gone Baby Gone

A-.... Good Will Hunting

A-.... Shutter Island

B+.... Black Irish

B+.... Mystic River

B+.... School Ties

B...... Blown Away

B...... The Boondock Saints

B...... Edge of Darkness

B...... Love Story

B...... Monument Ave

B...... Overnight

B...... The Thomas Crown Affair

B-..... The Invention of Lying

C+.... Surrogates

C...... The Bostonians

C...... The Maiden Heist

C...... Paul Blart: Mall Cop

C-..... Alex & Emma

C-..... The Box

C-..... Ghosts of Girlfriend's Past

C-..... What's The Worst That Could Happen

D+.... Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

D+.... My Best Friend's Girl

D...... What Doesn't Kill You

D-..... Bride Wars

D-..... Furry Vengeance

D-..... The Women

F....... The Pink Panther 2

And for Not-Made-In-Boston Movie Reviews:

B- Practical Magic

D- Knowing

(click the links on the sidebar for our reviews of each film)

Movie Review: Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009)

"Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" filmed locally in spring of 2008, alongside "Shutter Island", "Surrogates", "Bride Wars" and "The Proposal". Before judging the movie itself, we pause to be grateful for the surplus of jobs back then -- many of us got our start that spring.

We can honestly say this film -- for which we had low, low expectations -- is not as bad as "Bride Wars". It too has a wedding theme, complete with a stereotypical bridezilla, cat fighting bridesmaids and a gag where the wedding cake gets destroyed... but we didn't feel as icky after watching this one. Still, it would not make a good date night film, nor is it female friendly enough to be a chick flick. We don't know what this film is good for.

"Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" spins off Dicken's A Christmas Carol, where a loveless douchebag (Matthew McConaughey) must learn to appreciate long term relationships. Jennifer Garner plays his snappy childhood friend, and does a decent job here. Most of the actors manage to come out of this film with their dignity, with the exception of Michael Douglas. His pervy Jack Nicholson impression doesn't work. He was a much better slimeball in, oh let's say, every other movie he's been in.

The camera work is very distracting at times, as it suddenly starts panning around a dinner table or pulling out from a conversation for seemingly no reason. You'll note how rarely we bother to comment about cinematography; needless to say, it's bad here.

We weren't completely offended by this movie, but there isn't much purpose in seeing it. It's better than "Bride Wars", though we probably won't bother again with either of these films.

Final Score = C-

The Top 5 Summer activities of Bostonians... in the movies

It's another hot, sultry summer day... the kind when the humidity drives you crazy. It's enough to make a New Yorker throw a trash can through the pizza shop window.

In Boston, we have our own ways of handling the heat:

The TOP 5 SUMMER ACTIVITIES of Bostionians... in the movies.

5) ROMANTICALLY WALK THROUGH BOSTON PUBLIC GARDEN.

Nothing establishes Boston quicker than a walk-and-talk through the Boston Public Garden... unless you're chasing a girl and trying to apologize. Either way, this is a lovely way to spend the moments after your meet cute.

4) GO TO CHURCH.

Yes. Because, according to film lore, everybody in Boston is a devout Catholic. A lot of soul searching goes on in the summer. You might even run into the Boondock Saints.

3) GO TO THE BEACH, BUT DO NOT SWIM.

New Englanders like to go to the beach just to look at it (The Bostonians), or to make sand donuts with their sports cars (The Thomas Crown Affair), but we do not EVER go in the water. For starters, it's too cold. The waves aren't that great. There's pollution sometimes. Also, there's this:

Let's go swimming!

(Why haven't we reviewed THAT movie yet...? We will. Coming soon, Jaws!)

2) WATCH A PARADE.

Boston has plenty of summer festivities, from the 4th of July celebration, to the North End festivals, to the "Oh No, I Think I Just Killed My Husband Parade" that Marcia Gay Harden's character is marching in here.

And who doesn't love a parade?

1) FINALLY KILL THAT GUY YOU'VE BEEN WANTING TO MURDER.

We know, we know, it's the lazy days of summer. But if you don't hurry up, pretty soon it's gonna be September, then October, and before you know it the ground will be too hard to dig that shallow grave (Practical Magic). It's best to just kill him now. Lure him up to a rooftop (The Departed), or over to the quarry (Gone Baby Gone), or into the back room of the bar (Monument Ave). Take advantage of the nice weather while it lasts.