Jaws (1975)

Jaws (1975) is a horror/thriller film by Steven Spielberg. This film is an adaptation from the novel by the same name by Peter Benchley and is the movie that put Spielberg’s name on the map. The film is about an enormous great white shark that goes around killing the swimming community of Amity Island and is up to Sherriff Brody (Roy Scheider) to put a stop to the shark while keeping the people of Amity safe. When the shark first strikes the mayor of Amity doesn’t want to listen to Brody about shutting down the beach because it’s summer season and it’s their biggest tourist time of the year. Brody reluctantly decides to not shut down the beach and then another person is killed by the shark which is when a bounty is put on the shark and it sparks a hunt with everyone from amateurs to professional hunters going after the beast. In an interesting twist, Sheriff Brody is the sheriff of an island, but is terrified of going into the water, but the shark makes Brody leave his comfort zone and enter the waters of Amity to track down the beast and kill it.

Jaws was an amazing film and due to problems with the animatronic shark malfunctioning we didn’t see the shark for the first hour of the film, but instead we had the camera swimming around the ocean giving us the shark’s point of view. We saw what the shark saw which made the shark even more terrifying because we didn’t know if we were dealing with a hammerhead shark or a great white shark. The score for this film was terrific, the “dun-dun-dun-dun” went perfectly with the shark and to this day remains an amazing piece. Everyone who has watched Jaws associates that piece of music with danger. The camera shots were incredibly done especially when the shark attacks one of the little boys, the camera does an amazing close up of Brody’s reaction. This film had every aspect of being a B-Type movie, from the ridiculously large shark, the fact that we didn’t see it until an hour into the film, but in the end it turned out to be one of Spielberg’s biggest masterpieces.

Spielberg did an amazing job in this film given the fact that it went over budget, it went over its shooting schedule, and problems kept arising. This film will go down as one of the greatest films in the 20^th century and I highly recommend it to anyone to go see it.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010) is a comedy film starring Michael Cera and Mary Elizabeth Winstead and directed by Edgar Wright. The movie is based off the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels by creator Bryan Lee O'Malley. The story takes place in Toronto, Canada and it revolves around the life of Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) and his friends and band-mates on their band, Sex Bob-Omb. In the beginning of the story we are introduced to the cast: Kim (Alison Pill), Stephen (Michael Webber), and “Young” Neil (Johnny Simmons) where Scott announces to the rest of his friends that he is dating a 17 year old High School girl named Knives Chau (Ellen Wong). One night while having a dream, Scott dreams of a girl who he madly becomes obsessed with after finding out that the girl wasn’t just in his dreams, but that she was real. That girl turns out to be Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and once he meets Ramona, he begins to pursue a relationship with her and soon she decides to give him a chance. This is when Scott realizes that in order to continue to date Ramona he must defeat her seven evil exes’ which include Gideon who is known as G-Man Graves the person who has signed the Sex Bob-Ombs to a contract and has forced them to sell out. After defeating Gideon, Scott and Ramona continue to date and are very happy with each other.

Scott "dreaming" of Ramona for the first time.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is perhaps an excellent example (besides Star Wars) of The Hero’s Journey. At first Scott was living in the ordinary world until Ramona appeared in his dream which was the call to adventure, which Scott at first wanted to refuse. Wallace portraying the part of the mentor convinced to chase after what Scott really wanted which was Ramona. Scott got put through tests which were fighting her seven evil exes’ and defeating Gideon, the allies were his friends: Kim, “Young” Neil, Stephen, Wallace, and his sister Stacy. The enemies were of course the seven evil exes’, Julie who warned Scott to stay away from Ramona, and Envy Adams, who is the ex girlfriend who broke Scott’s heart in the past. Scott approached the inmost cave where he went through an ordeal when he fought Gideon and unfortunately died. Luckily for Scott he had earned an extra life after one of the previous fights and Scott returned and this time managed to defeat Gideon and get the girl. This film is amazing and it appeals to a broad audience. Kids could enjoy it due to the video game type feel it has to it, young teens could enjoy it due to the love story between Scott and Ramona, young adults through adults could enjoy it due to the fighting scenes. The director did an amazing job with this film. The camera shots were amazingly done, the soundtrack and score went perfectly with the movie. The editing was done extremely well.

Scott and Knives taking on Gideon

I am a huge fan of this film that I would recommend anyone see it. This film is amazingly done, the cast fit in perfectly with the characters that they portrayed. I give this film a 5/5.

(500) Days of Summer

  

(500) Days of Summer (2009) directed by Marc Webb is one of the best examples of non-linear story telling. This film is perhaps considered an anti-love story film as it tells the tale of how Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) meets and falls in love with Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel) and their relationship starts off great once Summer decides to go out with Tom, but as in all love stories the relationship speed bump occurs, but unlike any other love story this couple does not recover from it. 

 The story is told non-linearly as it hops around from time frame to time frame. In one scene we could be experiencing the events that transpired in day 290 and all of the sudden the next scene takes place on day 1, which is the day that Tom meets Summer. Summer Finn is pessimistic and believes that she will never find true love and later she meets Tom, the man who falls madly in love with her. This film is also a good example of the Hero’s Journey. The hero of this film is Tom who is living in the ordinary world until he comes across  the call to adventure when he meets Summer. When he meets Summer that is when he becomes attracted to her and starts pursuing a relationship with her and then on day 22 he misinterprets what Summer said on the elevator ride and decides to back off. Tom’s sister Rachel (Chloë Grace Moretz) is the mentor in this film always giving advice to her older brother, telling him that “there’s plenty of fish in the sea”, basically stating that there will be other women in his life besides Summer and that he needs to move on from her.

This film not only has all the aspects of the hero’s journey, but it’s also a great example of Expecation vs. Reality. During the scene where Tom goes to a party at Summer’s apartment, Tom expects to reunite with Summer and in reality Summer is introducing everyone to her fiancée. Tom’s expectation of getting back together with Summer is cut short and he storms off. In the end Summer is happily married and Tom is following his dream of being an architect, and at a job interview Tom meets a new girl by the name of Autumn who he asks out on a date and she accepts thus making Rachel’s statement about plenty of fish in the sea true. 

(500) Days of Summer is an excellent example of non-linear storytelling, this film sort of reminds me of Following (1998) by Christopher Nolan. (500) Days of Summer is one of my favorite films and I would recommend it to anyone. If I had to give it a score, I would give it 5 out of 5 stars.