jaws Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Because of the commercial pressures Hollywood places on filmmakers these days, many directors adopt a sort of "one for them, one for me" career strategy that allows them to exercise their creativity while maintaining a degree of viability at the box office. Brad Silberling, despite an array of films that really do run the gamut from intimate character studies to effects-laden opuses, seems to have effectively synthesized the two more and more effectively with each subsequent effort. Starting with straightforward studio fare like Casper, he quickly graduated to meatier projects, including the semi-autobiographical Moonlight Mile, before tackling an adaptation of the first book in Daniel Handler's Lemony Snicket series.

But he seems to have truly captured both his own creative idiosyncrasies and the demands of a summer blockbuster with Land of the Lost, a sprawling, bizarre big-screen reimagining of the Sid and Marty Krofft TV series from the 1970s. The film stars Will Ferrell as a disgraced scientist trying to rebuild his reputation while dodging aliens, dinosaurs, and oversized crabs, and Silberling brilliantly brings the film's fantastic world to life. Cinematical recently spoke to the director via telephone from the film's Los Angeles press day, where he discussed the prospect of making a madcap, foul-mouthed summer movie, explained how (and why) he managed to include an extended homage to "A Chorus Line," and talked about the summer movie that inspired him to become a filmmaker.

LEGOs really are the perfect toy, aren't they? Think about it: no pesky gender divide about what boys and girls like, they thrive off of pure imagination, and they come in handy for some pretty geeky fan art. Now, we've already seen Silence of the Lambs done in LEGO, recreations of our favorite scenes, but now an industrious group of individuals at Speckyboy Design Magazine have compiled some great examples of movie posters that are made of those oh-so adaptable plastic building blocks. There's a poster here for everybody, including a few nods to the current summer movie season (my favorite just might be the Inglorious Basterds recreation courtesy of Dr. Sinister -- it's not easy to find a bat that small), but we've also got some classics like Jaws by LegoLyons, and Rocky by Marcin ImpreSariO to round out the mix.

So it just goes to show that with a little imagination and a few plastic blocks, there is no limit to what a fan can, or will do. Check out some of our favorites in the gallery below.

We tend to feature a lot of movie poster photoshopping contests on Cinematical because a) they're tons of fun, and b) they promote creativity and imagination. This latest one is close to being one of my favorites -- over at SomethingAwful.com, as part of their Photoshop Phriday, they asked folks to create public service announcements out of movie posters (or, as they say, "rehabilitated them to be educational, informative, and inspirational"). So, for example, the classic Jaws movie poster suddenly turns into an advertisement to join the Amity Island High Swim Team, and The Spirit poster featuring Sarah Paulson turns into a PSA against germs. One of my personal favorites, although a tad fuzzy, takes the famous Fight Club poster and transforms it into a PSA for fighting infections. Some very funny and unique creations to be found, for sure.

Check out the ones mentioned above and a couple other favorites in the gallery below, then hop on over to SomethingAwful.com to see the rest.



[via Superpunch]

Earlier this year, I alerted you to a bloody ear cake, Blue Velvet-style. But now the blood ante has been upped -- just in time for the spooky, Halloween-themed month of October. Forget just one lone, severed body part, and go for a whole bunch -- feet, hands, and more floating in the crisp blue sea! The above is just part of an excellent shark attack cupcake display made by Moogieland.

Now, it isn't specifically Jaws inspired, but man, these would be great for any Jaws-themed night or movie-themed costume party. Best of all, anyone can make them. The more cake-skilled can whip it all up from scratch, while the cake newbies can grab toy sharks and doll parts.

But, if you like to keep your severed parts away from your food (boo), you can always check out Spider-Man, sock monkey style.

Over the past few weeks, movie ratings have been a popular topic for discussion. While Kevin Smith's upcoming Zack and Miri Make a Porno appealed an NC-17 rating (and won), The Dark Knight was enjoying a record-setting box office take and a pretty controversial PG-13 rating. Once again, we ask: Why is sex more inappropriate than violence? Should raunchy language and a few "thrusts" be condemned while a dude with half his face falling off and a psychopathic, murderous clown get off practically unscathed? And are there other issues at work here? Does a film with a giant budget and an all-star cast get it "easier" than a smaller film with a lesser-known cast and a director who chain smokes profanity?

No doubt there are shady politics at play here (as is all over this fine country of ours), and over the years there have been a number of films that deserved a different rating. Over on OMG Lists, they currently have up a list of six wrongly rated movies; films that, for one reason or another, deserved either a lower or a higher rating. It's a weird system, for sure -- these days, if you're a comedy, you kinda want that 'R' rating because your box office take will most likely be higher. However, if you're a horror flick, you want to try for a PG-13. Strange world we live in ...

But anyway, among the films featured on their list are Planes, Trains and Automobiles, which, at the time, received an R-rating because of a few profanity-laced scenes, but totally could've gotten away with a PG-13. Or what about Jaws ... with its PG rating! Hey, it's a film about a giant shark that devours people -- bring the whole family!

I don't know how I never saw these, but some old Canadian Filmmakers Festival posters are sailing through the web, and they show what spoofing should be like. Think Jaws -vs- a fisherman, the little Poltergeist girl swayed by hockey, Superman ready for winter, and Dorothy in a pair of sensible boots rather than slippers. But my favorite is above, because it would make one hell of an awesome comedic remake of The Birds. Canadian geese -- they're the real birdly foe. They take over outdoor spaces, attack you to mark their territory, and they're scarier than Hitchcock's mean feathered fiends. If only these were the sort of spoofs hitting the big screen these days.

Check them out in the gallery below, and read more about the festival over here.



[via Slashfilm]

It would be easy to offer you appropriately themed movies for the Fourth of July. There is, of course, Independence Day, plus flicks like Yankee Doodle Dandy, or on a more serious note, Born of the Fourth of July. But what's the fun in that? You could come up with those yourself. I could be snarky and offer only British fare, which is actually very tempting, but I have something else in mind: Independence-themed chills.

The two films for this double feature are not centered specifically on the Fourth of July, but the date is important to both stories -- whether it's the tale of tourists and teeth, or parades and creepiness. Do you see where I'm headed? For this double feature, in honor of the Fourth of July, I give you: Jaws and Cape Fear.

It usually takes about a week after the kids get out of school for summer to kick in, and if there was ever an official starting line, it's Fourth of July weekend. Maybe you're hitting up a barbecue with some friends this weekend, relaxing by the pool or shooting off some fireworks -- and that's cool. Enjoy yourself. Me? I'll be doing a little of the BBQ, but I'll also enjoy a screening of at least one of the following seven films. See, what's summer without a memorable summertime flick ... or several?

This year's best summertime film (according to me), The Wackness, hits theaters in limited release tomorrow before rolling out to other cities. That film caters a bit more toward a specific time period (1994) and a specific location (NYC), but those summer-in-the-city flicks are rare, especially a good one. Instead of following all those kids who left town, went to camp, traveled abroad, what have you, The Wackness remains with the one dude who didn't leave town. The kid who was stuck spending his summer on hot pavement, dealing pot to his therapist while chasing the girl of his dreams.

But perhaps that's how you remember summer growing up. Or maybe you spent most of your summers in camp, or on the baseball field, or with a few of your best pals on another bizarre adventure. Those summer months hold a lot of memories for you, I'm sure, as they do for me. And what's up with summertime movies and awesome soundtracks? Ever notice that? Anyway, here are some of my favorites ... feel free to tell me yours.

It's a good thing that Steven Spielberg's Jaws is a film that gets watched over and over again by generation after generation, because that means Roy Scheider has now become immortal. Sad news, movie fans: Roy Scheider, star of Jaws, Klute, The French Connection, All That Jazz, Blue Thunder, 2010, Marathon Man, and a whole bunch more, passed away earlier today at the age of 75.

According to The New York Times, "Mr. Scheider had suffered from multiple myeloma for several years, and died of complications from a staph infection, his wife, Brenda Seimer, said."

Born in New Jersey in 1932, Mr. Scheider made his big screen debut in 1964's The Curse of the Living Corpse. From those inauspicious beginnings he became one of Hollywood's most unlikely leading men. Although his later career was peppered with lots of low-end product, the actor left behind a lot of excellent work*. He was nominated twice for an Academy Award (The French Connection and All That Jazz), but to millions of movie-lovers he'll always be remembered as the uncomfortable, no-nonsense, oddly lovable Police Chief Martin Brody, the island cop who hated the water.

* I'm sure you have your favorite Scheider moments, but here are a few (relatively) lesser-known titles that you might enjoy checking out: The Seven-Ups (1973), Sorcerer (1977), Still of the Night (1982), 52 Pick-Up (1986), and Naked Lunch (1991). One of the actor's last quality jobs was providing the narration for The Shark Is Still Working, a Jaws documentary that he endorsed quite happily. Fans will definitely want to check that one out.

Rest in peace, Mr. Scheider. I'm about to go grab my Jaws DVD.

"You're gonna need a bigger boat."

In her latest column for Variety, Anne Thompson details the production histories of Cloverfield (due for release from Paramount Pictures on January 18) and Paranormal Activity (pictured; screening soon at Slamdance and looking for a distributor). She says that both "borrow admiringly from the 'Blair Witch' playbook," which she defines as: (1) "casting unknowns who can improvise," (2) "scare [audiences] with a homevideo documentary style," (3) "build suspense by not showing everything." The entire article is well worth reading, but raises the question: Does the "playbook" for The Blair Witch Project deserve imitation?

I know some people were genuinely spooked by The Blair Witch Project, believing it to be "real" found footage, but according to my admittedly unscientific investigations, for every person that was scared there were three people who were irritated by the horrible "improvised" performances and/or nauseated by the 'shaky cam' photography. The film's incredible financial success -- especially compared to its tiny budget -- spawned dozens of (creatively) cheap imitations, like a copy of a copy (with apologies to Multiplicity). Frankly, if I never see another poorly-made 'shaky cam' horror film I will be quite happy. And I reserve a special place in Cinematic Hell for crap masquerading as "the real thing" just to try and shake a few coins loose from horror junkies like myself.

The third point -- "not showing everything" -- actually hearkens back to "pure classical horror," as acknowledged by Paranormal Activity co-producer Steven Jay Schneider. He doesn't list titles, but the classics must include the Universal Studios monster flicks of the 1930s and the superb, atmospheric pictures Val Lewton produced for RKO in the 1940s. Of course, Steven Spielberg's Jaws is probably a bigger influence on today's younger filmmakers as far as creating suspense without showing everything (right away); Cloverfield director Matt Reeves directly references him in the article.

I admire filmmakers who try to be inventive, so I hope Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity turn out to be good, suspenseful pictures. But an interesting story, characters I care about, and a dark atmosphere are what make things genuinely creepy in my ideal horror playbook, not big-budget studio productions pretending to be homemade indies or homemade indies pretending to be "real."