Bros (2022)

The "first" Hollywood studio gay rom-com could have rested on its laurels and just followed the rom-com formula but with two cute guys and likely it would have made a fortune. But Bros isn't that movie. Bros manages to be Schrödinger's rom-com, both a genre film leaning into the tropes one would expect, and also a clever rejection of all things rom-com at the same time. Yes there is a scene near the end when one lover runs to the other to win them back, but that's not really whats going on there either. It manages successfully to have its cake and eat it too. What's more queer than that?

Bros starts out with the bold assertion that love is not love is not love. This film and its hilarious star/writer reject the idea that queer love needs to hit into the heteronormative models reinforced in rom-com after rom-com. We're different the movie screams and it is in that difference that the real beauty is found. Courting here includes group sex, anonymous hook-ups, polyamory. The film doesn't shy away from discussing butt sex, and not as the butt (pun intended) of a joke, but as a legitimate part of life and love. 

And for a film that is all about two cis-white guys falling in love Bros manages to centre a whole parade of other intersectionalities confirming without reservation that the alphabet community truly is as diverse as the rainbow implies. Bros doesn't handle this with kid gloves. A huge part of what makes Bros so damn funny, and Bros is a seriously hilarious movie, is that it is a bunch of queer inside jokes that don't pull their punches. As queer people we get to make fun of ourselves and Bros does that in such a clever, empowering, self-depreciating, and just damn funny way. Eichner's triumph here is his script, one of the funniest and touching rom-coms I've come across in a long time. 

And it is also quite romantic. As I said Bros both manages to play into what works in the best rom-coms while also reinventing it in new ways, not just because it's two men at the centre of this story but because it is just doing it differently. Love isn't love, as Eichner sings near the end, and yet here we are falling in love with the genre all over again as we never have before. 

Bros

Starring: Billy Eichner, Luke Macfarlane, Ts Madison, Monica Raymund, Guillermo Diaz, Jim Rash, Bowen Yang, Harvey Fierstein, Dot Marie Jones, Peter Kim, Kristin Chenowith, Debra Messing, Ben Stiller, Kenan Thompson, Amy Schumer

Director: Nicholas Stoller

Writers: Billy Eichner, Nicholas Stoller

 

Blonde (2022)

Blonde isn't really a biopic of Marilyn Monroe. It is more about us that it is about her. Based on a work of fiction which is centred around her as a character, created for our consumption, the film follows this idea through to its logical conclusion. What we are watching is how we create and destroy our idols and how they are nothing close to the reality of the human being at the centre of it all. Blonde explores the story of a little girl who grows up to be a legend and how the process of this consumes her. 

Director Dominik has shot a dream like film that constantly reminds us that we are the audience, we are the dreamer and Marilyn is the dream. We see snippets of her life but never all of it. Often the parts we want to see, but then juxtaposed with the parts we don't. And Dominik constantly reminds us we are the watcher, utilizing the male gaze as it centres on the pin up girl, the actress, the celebrity, then focusing on how that gaze affects its subject, as a form of violence. Blonde is always reminding us of our role as viewer, we cut away from watching her to watching the cameras, to being blinded by the flashes. We are complicit. 

Armas does impersonate Monroe, and does an amazing job of it accent or not, but she also reminds us that there is a human being in there underneath the blonde. She is always layering pain underneath Marilyn's affects and characterizations. Because Marilyn was a role to be played first by Norma Jean. She makes visceral the pain involved in being the famous blonde bombshell, and being her all the time. 

Blonde documents the ways the men in her life, from the lovers she chose, to those she didn't, to the bosses and presidents, the the audience itself (to us) always prevented her from being herself, from having the agency she needed. Even when she finds some love and affection, it gets poisoned by the entitlement the men in her life feel. And the film connects this to something bigger. There is a legacy aspect to it. She comes from a history of men abusing women, raised in it. She witnesses the result of her mother's suffering, and how that impacts her going forward. The film sees this as a part of a larger whole, a rot in our culture, that will go on long after her. 

I was somewhat surprised by the film's NC-17 rating as most of the sex is kept off screen, and mostly presented as violence, never exciting. There is a scene of sexual assault early on but it is momentary and mostly suggested, we don't watch it, yet it is important for the narrative of what she endures to be successful. There is a scene near the end where she performs oral sex but this too is shot so that you can't see it, just her eyes and she narrates her feelings during it. It's almost as if understanding what a victim feels is too much to be put in a movie and earns a higher warning label than the bloody deaths of thousands we see in TV shows. 

And maybe that's what's going on here, a film which wants us to rethink how we see the idols we worship and destroy. Blonde will challenge us because it is about us, the ugly side of us. It is about how we revel in what we enjoy and punish it for our own desires. Blonde choses one of the most famous examples of this idolatry that exists in our social awareness to highlight its point. But underneath all of it Blonde reminds us there was a human being at the centre of it all. And there always is.   

Blonde

Starring: Ana de Armas, Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale, Xavier Samuel, Julianne Nicholson, Casper Phillipson, Chris Lemmon, Scoot McNairy

Writer/Director: Andrew Dominik  

 

Decision to Leave (2022)

Decision to Leave is quite a tone shift for the celebrated director of films like Lady Vengeance, Oldboy, and The Handmaiden. While his films have often incorporated humour, Decision to Leave borders on farce, from the absurdity of the script to the bold directing choices designed to illicit laughs. But to see it only as that is reductive. It also touches on feelings of remorse and loss while playing with the femme fetal trope as a device, something he leaned into a little much for my tastes. In the end for me Decision to Leave was inconsistent enough that it it didn't grab me as much as it might have otherwise. But that doesn't mean it's not fascinating and often quite entertaining.  

Decision to Leave is the story of a cop who falls for a suspect, a beautiful woman who may or many not be guilty but keeps turning up associated with crimes. And she's foreign to add to the cliched nature of the character. I struggled with his choice to focus on this hackneyed plot point, especially because he has his central character ham it up for the camera instead of taking it on seriously. Was he mocking the idea? I didn't get that from the film's story which, by the end, seems dead set on making this story tragic. The first half is silly often to the point of ridiculous but then second becomes so over dramatic. Perhaps I was missing something in how it got to where it was going, but I was never able to be fully onboard. 

In spite of that there were very interesting aspects of the film which pulled me in. Kim Ji-yong's amazing cinematography was fascinating; playful in parts while classically dramatic in others. This was juxtaposed with the film being lit in a pedestrian manner, making it often feel like an independent film as opposed to the lush, rich environments I'm used to in Park's films. Again this dichotomy was jarring for me.  Again perhaps I am missing something said by this. But it made the film gripping to watch. 

But as the film reached its almost operatic conclusion, I was struggling to well up the emotion necessary to truly embrace it. I have certainly been thinking about it since. Decision to Leave is provoking, but I'm not sure always in a way that is encouraging. 

Decision to Leave

Starring: Tang Wei, Park Hae-il

Writer/Director: Park Chan-wook 

 

Lou (2022)

Janney is incredibly compelling and believable as the kick ass loner trope who is usually played by an aged male action star. Her screen presence and acting chops sell this story despite the film being rather cliched and falling into a lot of the traps that these sorts of movies tend to be littered with. But Lou is a fresh take on an old saw and that in itself makes it more watchable than most films like this. But despite her performance the film is full of the predictable twists and turns you can often see coming a long way off. The cast is above this but they do make it more enjoyable than it would be otherwise. 

I'll give it credit for its ending. I kinda liked the climactic moment, was moved by it despite not buying into much of the story. Perhaps this too was a moment born out of Lou's difference from male driven films of this genre. The final second snapped me back but it also put a smile on my face. In the end I wasn't sad I watched it. I wished it had been something better but I still enjoyed it. 

Lou

Starring: Allison Janney, Jurnee Smollett, Logan Marshall-Green, Matt Craven

Director: Anna Foerster

Writers: Maggie Chon, Jack Stanley

 

Athena (2022)

Athena is as intense and cathartic as you may have heard. A non-stop emotional rollercoaster from the moment it starts, Athena grabs hold and doesn't let go. It is a collision course to a tragic ending and that's clear from the first frames. But the journey there is bold and honest in its audacity. 

In the vein of 2019's Les Miserable (whose director is one of the writers on this piece), Athena tackles the issues facing immigrant communities in France head on, in this case the story of four brothers. One of them, a child, is killed by police, and another is a French war hero aligned with the order, while another is part of an antifa like resistance, and another caught in the middle. It is operatic in scope, like a Greek tragedy, but it is also very persona and very right now. 

Director Gavras' approach is to put the pedal to the metal and just keep going. The film rarely relents. Its setting is over the course of roughly 24 hours and therefore it doesn't take breaks just keeps going. And it is tragic, painful, yet richly powerful. The cast are excellent, giving raw and sustained performances. Athena is one of those films where all the pieces just come together. 

It isn't a long film. Just sit down and let it wash over you. Be ready for something remarkable. 

Athena

Starring: Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon,  Ouassini Embarek 

Director: Romain Gavras

Writers: Ladj Ly, Elias Belkeddar, Romain Gavras

Don't Worry Darling (2022)

Sometimes a film can be overwhelmed by the stories around it. The back stage drama surrounding Olivia Wilde's second directoral effort takes up so much oxygen it's hard for the film to stand on its own. But this feminist nightmare about men literally creating a world where women can't move and where the villain is basically Jordan Peterson, is better than it is getting credit for, even if some of the ideas are well trod.

Visually sumptuous, Wilde films her cautionary tale beautifully creating a midcentury modern utopia that is cracking at the seams. And she fills her movie with actors up to the task of breathing full life into her story. It is about entitlement, about people who feel the right to take away what others have gained to fill their own emptiness. Certainly pairing this with the 20th Century aesthetic doesn't feel original, Wilde overcomes this with a well paced narrative and (as I mentioned) strong cast that brings it all together. 

The third act gets a little too explainy, but doesn't go over the edge. I little more mystery might have made this tale just perfect. But its story remains powerful and frightening, especially with how salient it all is. So maybe it doesn't all come together as perfectly as her last film but it still still a strong and provocative movie that is engaging throughout and leaves you a little shaken.  

Don't Worry Darling

Starring: Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Chris Pine, Olivia Wilde, Gemma Chan, Kiki Layne, Nick Kroll

Director: Olivia Wilde

Writer: Katie Silberman

 

Pearl (2022)

While I found X to be a solid horror film that had some things to say about sex-positivity, I wasn't wowed by it as many were. Yet it intrigued me enough to have interest in the simultaneously shot prequel, Pearl. But in the end I feel similarly about Pearl in that it is interesting enough but feels like it never quite crosses the finish line for me. 

Here's what I liked. Similarly to how X utilized a film making style that harkened back to both 70s porn and 70s horror, Pearl harkens back to an earlier time with its style of film making. Everything from the title cards to the styles of performances feels like it comes from another era (despite some jarring anachronistic phrases/dialogue in the script). I expect we'll see a film that looks like it was shot in the 80s when we get to the third film in the trilogy, Maxxxine. West has a lot of fun with, without exploiting the idea too much, of paying tribute to eras of film making. 

I also really appreciated Goth's embracing of the character. The film asks her to play the role in a rather 2-dimensional manner but she brings more to it than that especially in an elongated, uncomfortable monologue near the end, which really is fascinating to watch. She takes the character by the horns and really runs with it in a way that is truly impressive. 

But this does tie into something that didn't work for me. The film, like X, often feels inconsistent, being silly at times, higher camp at others, serious occasionally, and gruesome in moments but never in a way that feels integrated. And her character works that way too. There are times we're seeing interesting development of her character and other times we're watching her chew scenery, and the transitions don't support the back and forth as much as I needed to really buy into it. 

But Pearl remains utterly watchable and the whole narrative with its legacy elements has become somewhat fascinating. While there are too many weaknesses for this to be some second coming of a horror classic, it is still worth a watch and could spark a lot of discussion. 

Pearl

Starring: Mia Goth, David Corenswet, Tandi Wright, Matthew Sunderland, Emma Jenkins-Purro

Director: Ti West

Writers: Mia Goth, Ti West

 

See How They Run (2022)

I love whodunits. They are one of my favourite genres. See How They Run is self-consciously a whodunit, referencing not only the conventions of the genre but the grande dame herself, Agatha Christie, both figuratively and literally. Think Scream but for the drawing room mystery set. 

The film pairs Rockwell (who is always a delight to see on the big screen) with Ronan (who has a great deal of fun as the plucky young mystery solver in training) to create a great little combo who are investing a murder at the famed London production of The Mousetrap, one of the most famous murder mysteries of all time. The film has fun with the idea of a mystery in a mystery. 

And that's what this film is. A lot of fun. It's light and breezy, funny and clever, and never really too deep into anything. Its mystery is sufficiently satisfactory, again if not brilliant, but the real fun is the characters and the banter. See How They Run is a fun time that plays with the idea of a mystery, that revels in all the tropes of the whodunit. 

The story is fast paced enough and the characters (who are all characters) are all delicious enough to make its tight runtime jam packed and entertaining. Special shout out to Dickinson who's take on Richard Attenborough is both spot on and rather hilarious. Some of the twists and turns are less convincing than others but again the point is to just play with the genre and embrace all its silliness. See How They Run does what it sets out to do. 

See How They Run

Starring: Sam Rockwell, Saoirse Ronan, Adrian Brody, Ruth Wilson, Reece Shearsmith, Harris Dickinson, David Oyelowo

Director: Tom George

Writer: Mark Chappell

Goodnight Mommy (2022)

American remakes of foreign horror films have a reputation for not being as good. While this isn't always true (I'd argue Haneke's English language remake of his own film Funny Games - also starring Watts - is as disturbing if not more than his original version) perhaps it has something to do with attempting to make a film more palatable to the American audience whose sensibilities are somewhat different than other markets. This version of Goodnight Mommy is remaking an Austrian film. I'm not going to compare the films, instead just focusing on this film on its own. I'm not sure if the flaws of this film stem from its source or from its own impulses, but more often than not Goodnight Mommy felt disappointing. 

Without spoiling anything Goodnight Mommy has a "twist" and it often feels like the film is going to great lengths to distract us from it. The film is marketed in a sleight of hand manner to ensure we think this movie is one thing before it pulls the rug out from under us to show us it is something else. But I'm not sure the film works so well in its subterfuge. 

I don't mean the twist isn't a surprise. I'm saying the lengths the film goes to to build up its false narrative often feels so off and unbelievable that it takes away from the enjoyment of it. What I mean is the film could have crafted a story that was compelling on its own before switching gears to its surprise but so often the build up to that felt unreal, unbelievable. And it often felt clear in how it could have done that as it could have leaned well into the issues of loss and how staggeringly hard parenting is. But the film more often than not feels like a cross between Home Alone and Mommy Dearest but without any sense of camp and more eye rolling moments. 

And when all is revealed the rest of the story makes little sense. Thinking back to how characters act feels unnatural in light of the real story. There is a great potential here for a fascinating story about how parents feel they fail their children. But Goodnight Mommy doesn't pull it off. At least this version doesn't. Watts does what she can with the material and there are moments in her performance when I started to see some of it come through, but never enough to overcome its rather pedestrian horror movie impulses. 

Goodnight Mommy

Starring: Naomi Watts, Cameron Crovetti, Nicholas Crovetti

Director: Matt Sobel

Writer: Kyle Warren

The Woman King (2022)

The Woman King cleverly upends all the tropes of historical epic, inverting the gender and colonialist cliches and by doing so making something original. It does stick to many of these conventions but the juxtaposition of what we usually see in these sorts of films with the reversed position drawn here makes the audience examine these tools more closely and perhaps give us new perspective. 

One small and subtle example of this is the way the people of Dahomey speak the language of their audience (English) while the European and African foreigners speak subtitled languages. This connects us to the Dahomey in a way that is used in traditional historical epics to ground us in the side we are to identify with. But it is rare western audiences are asked to identify with an African kingdom, even when the Africans are painted as the good guys we are often still to see them as the other. The Woman King eschews that, ensuring we are part of this kingdom and we know who to root for. 

The film also plays a bit fast and loose with history, as most western histories do, to ensure that we can buy into our citizenship here. Okay maybe quite a bit fast and loose. Just like European historical dramas downplay the sins of their empires, The Woman King attempts to soften Dahomey's involvement in the slave trade to help us root for these characters and see them as our heroes. Again The Woman King isn't guilty of anything that scores of western films didn't do as well. Still, the film is guilty of adding in an anti-slavery fiction into the Agojie's actual pro-slavery history. But something that makes it stand out is in how it does connect the dots between their own involvement in the slave trade and the essential role of western colonialism in that trade existing at all. 

So in this way The Woman King is triumphant in using the tools of western movie making to tell a different sort of story. I'm not sure it is entirely successful. I found the lost daughter subplot a bit hokey and the film's narrative cuts some corners conveniently a few times. It remains entertaining and engaging all the way through and the strong cast lead by the always amazing Davis is breathtaking. But there were times I wish it was a bit stronger. 

And I do fault the film for ignoring any semblance of queerness. The story is about women warriors committed to rejecting relationships with men. Yet the film is very chaste with their connections with each other, never acknowledging the complex nature of their sisterhood. Any sexual or romantic feelings they have are directed towards the male characters. Watching The Woman King you'd never imagine two women could love each other more than friends. And in a film that is subverting our expectations about gender and race, to have it be rather heteronormative was disappointing. 

But it still remains and epic feeling historical drama. While its characters are mostly fictitious it speaks to a real time, a real place, and real people who existed and suffered and conquered and it pays them fairly worthy tribute. 

The Woman King

Starring: Viola Davis,  Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, Shelia Atim, John Boyega, Jordon Bolger, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Adrienne Warren, Jayme Lawson,  Jimmy Odukoya

Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood

Writers: Dana Stevens, Maria Bello

 

Pinocchio (2022)

I have my problems with Disney's 1940 adaptation of Pinocchio and I have my issues with Disney's remaking all their animated classics in "live action" while infusing little to no new insight or perspective. They often feel like they are more about the spectacle than of the reinterpretation. Pinocchio is a very much an example of this whole phenomenon, and exercise in technical wizardry and narrative copying. 

What's new? Well... not much. Like many of these adaptations the film attempts to ape the original very faithfully, copying many lines and scenes directly often veering from facsimile to add in silly jokes, mostly especially anachronistic jokes (like a reference to Chris Pine???). The film does explicitly indicate that Geppetto lost a son and that his creation of the puppet is somewhat in his loss and longing. I wish the film had explored this more but it throws it out there and then leaves it. 

Also the film explains itself quite a bit. At one point Honest John, under the guise of thinking through his ideas, explains explicitly why he wants to kidnap Pinocchio as if we couldn't figure that out as we did in the 1940s version. The film also makes it clear no one sees Jiminy Cricket (other than just as a bug) but Pinoch. The Blue Fairy actually tells Jiminy he's not real. Even the ending explains itself exactly to us, characters tell us what's happening so we have no doubt or perhaps interpretation. 

There are some new songs but the problem here is that the song have to "share the stage" with the original songs and they just don't hold up. Perhaps they would be good enough on their own but hearing them alongside When You Wish Upon a Star, I've Got No Strings, etc. the film highlights just how average they are. Also they seem oddly chosen. The film dedicates a new song to a minor character, focusing on the character development of someone who is out of the film moments later. 

And how about the spectacle? I'm not sure the film improves the experience this way. The hyper "realism" in a scene like Pinocchio's puppet show performance makes it less magical than in the original animated version. The Blue Fairy's animation feel needlessly elaborate, almost distractingly so. And the whole Pleasure Island sequence seems so intent on making a visually stunning amusement park that it saps all the horror and discomfort that the original held. It's all technical without much soul. 

But the ending saved the movie slightly for me. At the end of this Pinocchio the puppet does not "become a real boy" at least not in the literal way he does in every other adaptation I've ever seen. In this one the film tells us that his becoming isn't about a physical transformation but about who he becomes. And I think there is something lovely and profound about that. Sure as I mentioned before I wish the film didn't feel the need to have a character explain all that to the audience directly. But I still appreciated the sentiment. 

Pinocchio

Starring: Tom Hanks, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cynthia Erivo, Keegan-Michael Key, Lorraine Bracco, Giuseppe Battiston, Luke Evans, Lewin Lloyd, Kyanne Lamaya

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Writers: Chris Weitz, Robert Zemeckis 

Funny Pages (2022)

Funny Pages is so very inspired by the absurd comedy comics from which it gets it title (think Mad Magazine or old fashioned Tijuana Bibles) that is becomes one itself. All the the characters are exaggerations, often grotesque in some provocative way, and they behave in two dimensional off putting manners. The film is shot like an underground 90s film with a grainy unpolished look. And like those comics Funny Pages never feels quite real while trying to pass along some truths. It sometimes succeeds but other times loses itself in its conceits a little too much. 

As the credit roll on Funny Pages I did find myself reflecting on what I just witnessed, just as our hero does, in all its absurd glory. Some of it made me laugh out loud. Other parts made me annoyed, especially in the repetitive nature of much of it. Other parts were disturbing. In truth I felt the same weird mix of emotions one feels when reading that style of satire comic. The good and the bad of it. 

Matthew Maher is a standout as the object of our heroes obsession. His character seems tailor made for Maher's style yet he transcends this by bringing a deeply tragic side to his buffoon. I wish other characters were drawn as complexly as Wallace but the film doesn't have time to do that for most. So they remain caricatures like the pages they are based on. 

Funny Pages descends into a great deal of sadness as it moves along and a lot of it won't resonate for a lot of the audience.  The film is short but never seems to find the path to building into some of the emotions that it is trying to evoke. But for those it does it ends up being rewarding. Funny Pages often feels like a few hits in a bunch of misses. But the hits were strong enough for me to have enjoyed it. 

Funny Pages

Starring: Daniel Zolghadri, Matthew Maher, Miles Emanuel, Maria Dizzia, Josh Pais, Marcia Debonis, Michael Townsend Wright, Cleveland Thomas Sr. 

Writer/Director: Owen Kline

 

Jaws Franchise (1975 - 1987) REVISIT

What do you say about the film that was the first real "summer blockbuster," launched the career of one of the most successful film makers of all time, and scared a generation out of the water? It changed the way we experienced movies and holds up as one of American Cinema's best. It is horror and spectacle and drama and commentary on the state of America all at the time and, remarkably, what it says remains true today. Its exploration of masculinity, nationalism, and capitalism is both astute and prescient.  

Here's my one hot take on what is relatively a perfect film; the third act goes on too long. This is also the section where you see the most of the famously disastrous shark prop which drags it down a bit. But other than that Jaws is rock sold.

There is a lot in Jaws that pushes the boundaries. I remember being shocked when I first say it that one of the most centred shark attacks is on a young child. It is extremely powerful, scary, and effecting because we don't see children be victims in these movies. That's often too much for audiences. But Jaws goes there.

Up to this point summer hadn't been a time when movie studios released their big films, assuming audiences were travelling or focusing on other activities than movies. But Jaws changed all that, turning the season into a time when the biggest, most exciting films were released. It is also the example that sets the cliche about sequels being worse than the original. Unfortunately the legacy of this film never does live up to this classic, although I'd argue the follow ups aren't as bad as legend has it. The genre Jaws inspired doesn't fare well either. Few shark movies end up being very good and usually are cheap B-movies enjoyed for their camp factor. 

But none of that takes away from the fact that Jaws is a brilliant and always entertaining film. It is very much a film of its time but also a film that holds up and remains watchable even to this day. In my opinion Spielberg has made even better films since this but it showed that he was a real talent who would go on to change cinema as we know it. 

Jaws

Starring: Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton

Director: Steven Spielberg 

Writers: Peter Benchley, Carl Gottlieb

The first sequel to Jaws follows the more-of-the-same-to-a-bigger-degree theory of sequels. Relatively close story to the first but with more shark attacks. Unlike Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park Spielberg wouldn't return to this series. Instead Szwarc steps in with an exploration of PTSD themes as Brody struggles with seeing sharks everywhere. Some feel this makes the film a bit of a Vietnam movie, a metaphor for the experience of surviving and coming back from war.  He balances delivering more of the thrills people wanted from the first with making his story about something. 

To be clear 2 doesn't reach the narrative or film making heights of the first film but I still find it interesting enough to be watchable and thought provoking. The character development outside of Brody himself is slim to none and the climax doesn't have the same catharsis the first offered. 2 is a more gruesome film, upping the gore factor which has both its plusses and minuses. It feels a bit like a proto-slasher film mixing in that genre's tropes (teens being attacked after sexual escapades for example) despite the genre not being fully formed yet as it would be subsequently in films like the Halloween series. It relies more on the horror tension than on the underlying dread of the first film. 2 does seem stuck in trying to emulate the first but never achieving the same glory. But this is the plight of quite a few sequels of the era and beyond. As far as sequels go it's not terrible and genuinely quite watchable. 

Jaws 2

Starring: Roy Scheider, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton, Joseph Mascolo, Jeffrey Kramer, Mark Gruner, Ann Dusenberry, Marc Gilpin

Director: Jeannot Szwarc

Writers: Carl Gottlieb, Howard Sackler

The third Jaws film was part of a wave of threequels that took advantage of the of-the-moment trend of re-emerging 3D. What does it have going for it? It embraces its B-movie sensibilities and doesn't try, like the previous film sort of does, to be another masterpiece like Jaws. It just tries to be a fun movie about a shark eating people and doing so in exciting 3-D. 

But this is where it falls down. The 3-D isn't well executed and includes a lot of body parts floating towards the audience and a really bad scene of a shark breaking through plated glass that just looks terrible. The film is often called Jaws 3 when in formats that don't allow the 3-D elements to be utilized but you can still tell as its obvious when something is supposed to jump out at you although usually it looks fairly unreal. 

And it falls down in that Jaws 3 mostly fails in trying to have fun. There are many shark attack moments which could have been deliciously gory and the film rarely even has the shark successfully attack anyone.  The film doesn't deliver on the campy scares that it should with characters often just barely escaping. Jaws 3 never develops its characters (the Brody sons who are now on their own to fight great whites) in any interesting way. There is no life lesson to be learned here. But a young coked out Dennis Quaid looks really good as does a young Lea Thompson. That might be the only redeeming feature in Jaws 3-D or Jaws 3.

But I will give it props for eschewing the sort of sexism and racism that one would expect from a movie of this caliber and era. The film has fairly progressive ideas about women's roles in movies and in subverting our expectations of people of colour. Films made long after this are often fairly egregious in their exploitation and the Jaws series, including this film, remarkably tell a fairly "woke" story.  

Jaws 3

Starring: Dennis Quaid, Louis Gossett Jr., Bess Armstrong, Simon MacCorkindale, Lea Thompson, John Putch

Director: Joe Alves

Writers: Carl Gottlieb, Richard Matheson

Jaws the Revenge was the first Jaws film I ever saw. As a child it was one of the first "horror" films I ever saw and I remember feeling brave to be able to watch it. I could handle Jaws the Revenge which I remember enjoying as a young kid probably due to it being accessible enough for me. But then I had never revisited it until now. 

I was happy to say it holds up well. This film doesn't really deserve the hate it gets. Films often have a narrative created for them in media that perpetuates regardless of the film itself and everyone just piles on. The Revenge is one of those films for sure. It really isn't terrible. In fact it can be quite interesting. 

It's about a middle age woman being gaslighted by those around her, and perhaps even having her sexuality controlled, who takes control and becomes the hero of the story. People harp on the fish coming back from the dead plot but really the film never confirms this outright. In my watch I see Ellen being paranoid, I mean who wouldn't be after such trauma, and perhaps seeing connections where there aren't any, but then taking control and becoming the hero. 

Sure the film isn't perfect. It's a bit on the cheap and rushed side but what is here is no worse than most big budget sequels of today and their absurdist plot lines. The Revenge has some nice call backs and tie ins to the first film providing some nice resolution of the entire story. Overall while not brilliant it's a fun film and one that I think is unfairly maligned. 

Also it's another film you can add to your annual Christmas rewatch due to its holiday season setting. 

Jaws the Revenge
Starring: Michael Caine, Lorraine Gary, Mario Van Peebles, Lance Guest, Roy Scheider 

Director: Joseph Sargent

Writer: Michael de Guzman