Jaws (1975) review

(10/10)

Steven Spielberg definitely has a knack for horror as well as drama. In fact, he came up with the acknowledged best horror film of all-time.

PLOT:It's summer on Amity Island and everyone's getting ready to have beach parties by the water. That is, until talk of a huge shark killing people starts buzzing around. Police Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) starts getting nervous and protective about the citizens and tourists of Amity Island, so he calls up oceanologist, Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), to help gather information and convince the mayor to close the beaches and send someone out to kill the shark. The mayor says no, until another fatal attack occurs. The mayor succumbs and hires expert shark-hunter, Captain Quint (Robert Shaw), who goes for a high price. Now the chief, oceanologist, and Quint must go out on the ocean and catch the beast. It's a good plot idea executed brilliantly.



ACTING:The performances in here are all great and memorable. The three main characters definitely clicked somehow and stole the show. The shiners, including the three main characters, were Roy Sheider as Chief Brody, Richard Dreyfuss as Matt Hooper, Robert Shaw as Quint, Murray Hamilton as Mayor Larry Vaughn, Susan Backlinie as Chrissie Watkins, and Lee Fierro as Mrs. Kintner. Each played a truly memorable part.

SCORE:The score is brilliantly done by the great John Willams. The score is not only memorable, but iconic, as everyone remembers the Jaws theme.

EFFECTS:The effects of the blood, remains, and the shark itself are still today haunting and as scary as they were. They also looked more real than any blood effects you might find today. If you didn't know, they used a mix of stock footage and a mechanical shark to make "Jaws" real. The result (though in behind-the-scens interviews, they say the shark was malfunctioning) was a violent, scary, and harrowing trip into the water and back out.

CAMERAWORK:The camerawork in here was actually pretty good. Spielberg caught some amazingly creepy and artsy shots. I didn't think Spielberg was that much of a camera expert.



OTHER CONTENT:This film is iconic to everyone who has seen it. No one can forget such a memorable film. If you ask someone, "What's the movie with the shark?", they'll most likely say "Jaws". Everything is memorable in here, from lines, to characters, to certain scenes, and to even the music! More importantly, today this is still extremely scary and can make more than one person scared to get in the water, and can fill just about anyone with undeniable terror. Even more importantly than that, it's so scary because it's real. This monster isn't a regular Frankenstein or zombie, it's a real-life, natural animal. The same goes for the characters. Everything in here could very well be true. That's what makes it so good. Spielberg's sense of perfection came out in a different form, but it was definitely there.

OVERALL,an epic horror film with a brilliantly executed plot, great acting, iconic score, haunting effects, good camerawork, extreme terror, real events, and everything about this film becoming memorable.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) review

(10/10)

If I had to use only one word to describe this film, it would be: amazing.

PLOT:In recent events, evidence has come up relating to extraterrestrial activity, from boats appearing in the desert to high-speed UFO chases in the country.  Among these events, we follow two paths to the same ending: that of Bob Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) and Lacombe (Francios Truffaut). Bob witnessed the UFO chase along with his neighbor, Jillian Guiler (Melinda Dillon), who loses her son to the aliens, and both start to effortlessly make models of where he expects them to land. Lacombe has been traveling the world with claims all related to the same, extraterrestrial story. When he finds the right coordinates and signal tones, he decides to make this a government issue. As you can infer, each is led to the same spot somehow. It's a very well thought-out plot executed very uniquely.

ACTING:The acting was very great. Each actor gave an entertaining and convincing performance. The shiners are Richard Dreyfuss as Roy Neary, Francois Truffaut as Lacombe, and Melinda Dillon as Jillian Guiler, with respects to Cary Guffey as Barry Guiler. He actually played a pretty creepy kid!



SCORE:The score was done by the great John Williams, so you know it has to be good. The score contained a unique, bold, and catchy theme that any fan would recognize right off the bat.

EFFECTS:For its time, the effects were a marvel. They still are pretty awesome as of today. The bright UFOs and detailed desings of the UFOs are amazing at most. I wish effects looked this real today. Even the aliens looked neat and real!



OTHER CONTENT:This film was the "2001" that everybody liked: unique, amazing, suspenseful, and even perfect. Just as in "Schindler's List", I saw Spielburg's perfectionism appear yet again. He has definitely earned my respect as a director rather than a producer (Goonies). I believe this film will live forever in the hearts of the curious young and old.

OVERALL,an epic sci-fi film with a well thought-out and unique plot, great acting, Williams score, marvelous effects, and Spielburg's sense of perfectionism.

Schindler's List (1993) review

(10/10)

This is possibly the best film on the Holocaust that has been and will ever be made.

PLOT:Based on a true story, this takes place during the Holocaust when Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), a German businessman, sees an opportunity to make money off of the Nazi's powerful reign. He decides to give several out-of-work, useful Jews a job in a pot-making factory with his associate, Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley), who is also Jewish. Business is booming for a while until Schindler's Jews are assigned to a labor camp under the cruel hands of Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes), who is cruel enough to snipe random Jews from his home balcony. Though Schindler is only in it for the business, he begins to develop a heart and sense of humanitarianism. He then finds himself trying to save the Jews over his business. It's a very interesting plot based on the true story and it's executed to this finest and truest performance.



ACTING:The acting was brilliant. Neeson has always had my respect from when he fought a sith lord (Star Wars), to when he went searching for his daughter who is also a fish (Ponyo), and even when he crash landed in a pack of wolves (The Grey), but in here was without a doubt his best performance yet and will probably always be. I really don't know, for I can see a lot of potential in Neeson. I also thought Kingsley did a fine job. Fiennes didn't do a bad job either. There really wasn't a bad performance in this entire 3 hour film.

SCORE:The score is composed of several haunting themes that seem just elegant enough for such an unelegant event. I didn't care for it, but it was very well composed.



OTHER CONTENT:This was, simply put, a perfect film. The editing was perfect, the relation to the true story was perfect, the direction was perfect; everything was just perfectly done. Spielberg shows us in here that he has a sense of perfectionism not seen in his other films. This has got to be his best work by far. I was truly a fan of the clean-cut editing, for it did the job of making perfect cinema. This also had enough shocking violence and emotional stirrings to touch my heart and give me the feel of how haunting the whole thing was.

OVERALL,an epic film with a finely executed plot, brilliant acting, well composed score, clean cut editing, and every thing being made to look perfect.