Jaws (1975)

Spoilers Ahead 

There is a quite respected institution in Los Angeles that endeavors to preserve and restore LA's historical sites. Last Remaining Seats helps to fund the conservation of historical LA buildings and landmarks. How do they do this you ask? By showing movies at old theatres (the Orpheum is almost 100 years old) during the month of June. The showings used to only be on Wednesdays (still mad I missed King Kong because of my high school graduation) with occasional Saturday movies. This year, they had about two movies a week and a couple of new venues including San Pedro. Last Saturday was the final film for the 2017 season of Last Remaining Seats, Jaws. Good thing is they had a gorgeous print.

I won't be going in to great detail for the plot of Jaws because the film's been out for over forty years however, I will be talking about some of the more fascinating elements for the film. Before the start of the film, several of the men who worked on Jaws discussed making it. Universal didn't think it would do well (they were more focused on Earthquake) which might be the single greatest underestimation of a film. The production designer, Joe Alves, relayed a story about how he, Spielberg, and another guy went to the editor's house to film a scene in her pool. In order to do so, somebody (Alves very specifically didn't say a name) had to go to the wardrobe department at Universal Studies and steal a (fake) head. I am operating under the assumption that Steven Spielberg stole from Universal to make a movie. Also on the production side, that shark used cutting edge tech (for the time) and was built in five months and had to be constantly repaired do to the production schedule.

The main thing I wanted to discuss is Quint, the crazy old sea bastard that hunts sharks. His introduction is one of genius. After the shark (affectionately named Bruce after Spielberg's lawyer) kills for the second time, the town holds a meeting to decide what to do. Chief Brody is calling for closing the beaches which is an unpopular opinion. (Little background: setting is a small beach town that makes all of their money during the summer.) The mayor's also a complete moron and dresses like it. After some discussion over a $3,000 bounty for the shark, Quint makes his presence known by scraping his nails on a chalkboard. His "sales pitch" is where it gets interesting. Quint addresses not the mayor or other town officials but, speaks directly to Brody. It shows his level of respect for Brody and his lack thereof for the rest of the town. Here's why, Brody (an outsider) is the only person who is reacting rationally to a killer shark incident. Quint is a very intense man with even stronger convictions. That being said, he will admit when he's wrong (by following Hooper's more techy approach after his way fails spectacularly.)

Now for the evening as a whole, Last Remaining Seats always tries to provide something interesting before the screening. That night had music played on the Wurlitzer organ as well as some thoughts on classic theatre curtains. Believe me when I say that these people know way more about old theatre curtains that you ever thought existed. The audience was amazing except for the lovely lady who was the most excitable person on the planet. She had to make some kind of noise every time something even remotely shocking happens. It wouldn't bother me except that she sat right next to me and she had to be incredibly shocked whenever there was a single drop of blood on the screen. This movie has a shark killing people. There's going to be some blood happening. It was just annoying and irritating.

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

Wonder Woman (2017) Spoilers Ahead

I am a fan of comics (both DC and Marvel) although I haven't read a ton of them. However, I have been excited for almost every single comic book movie that has come out. (I am just so sick of Spider-man movies though.) And for anyone who is wondering, I do enjoy Daredevil, Elektra, and Green Lantern. I think they get way too much hate. That being said, I immensely enjoyed Wonder Woman.

I went with my mother to the Mary Pickford Theatre to see Wonder Woman. We were on vacation in Palm Springs and it was one of the few movies we were able to see together. The thing to remember about Palm Springs is that it's predominately senior citizens. About 90% of the audience appeared to be over 60. It was different.

The film starts off in present day with Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) heading to her office when she receives a package from Wayne Industries. It is the original plate for the photo Bruce Wayne saw in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. This then kicks off her main reminiscing about what happened in WWI.

We first start off learning about her life on Themyscira and a brief history of the Amazons. As Diana (the only child of the Amazons) grows, she becomes highly skilled in combat. During a fight with her aunt and teacher, Antiope, she unleashes some power that is not normal for Amazons to possess. It is after this fight that she first meets Steve Trevor (Chris Pine). And by meet, I mean she dragged his ass out of his crashed/sinking airplane. As Trevor is the first man she's ever seen, she is excited and curious. Almost immediately, the Germans hunting for Trevor appear and a big battle with the Amazons ensues. Though using more primitive weapons, the Amazons are victorious but, Antiope dies. Diana defends Trevor as he fought with them and tried to help Antiope. Queen Hippolyta questions Trevor to find out what he knows and why he's there. This is when they learn about WWI and that Trevor is trying to stop the creation/use of a new chemical weapon. Diana, believing Ares (the Amazons' nemesis) to be behind the war, wants to go and help end the war. Hippolyta refuses. This leads to Diana stealing some weapons and armor to sneak out with Trevor. They were caught by Hippolyta who let them go but, not before reminding Diana that she could never return.

After a small conversation about men and women, Diana and Trevor arrive in London. Shenanigans ensue that mostly revolve around Diana being ignorant of societal gender norms in the early 20th century. These moments would have been better if she actually got some respect for knowing how to read a mad scientist's encrypted journal because no one else neither recognized nor could read Sumerian. Through a series of political nonsense, Trevor collects the other members of his team: fast-talking Sameer and sharpshooter Charlie. Together, the merry band go off to the front in order to destroy the factory creating the new form of mustard gas. Along the way we meet Chief, a Native American smuggler who doesn't take a side in the war. We also learn that Charlie has some PTSD. While moving through the trenches, Diana learns of a village that had been enslaved on the other side of No Man's Land. This then sets off the greatest sequence in the entire film. Watching Wonder Woman cross No Man's Land and then having the entire trench follow her to save the village is a work of art and needs to happen in film more often.

After this, the team goes to infiltrate a party at German High Command to figure out the exact location of the gas. Diana and Trevor have a huge fight and she goes off on her own. During this final battle, Trevor and the guys come up with a plan to destroy the gas while Diana battles Ares. (Not spoiling that reveal.) Turns out, Diana herself is the Godkiller as only a god can kill another god and she is the daughter of Hippolyta and Zeus. Before the final blows, a Casablanca-esque moment occurs. I won't spoil what happens as it's very important. Ares is defeated, WWI ends and we come back to the present day where Diana thanks Bruce for the picture.

Positives: The film is well-written and excellently acted. The characters all work and the comedic time is damn near perfection. I love the costumes but, especially Diana's as Wonder Woman.

Negatives: Because so much time is devoted to develop Diana's character, some other characters fall by the wayside. Sameer, Charlie, and Chief are less developed as I would like and I only noticed because they tried to develop them a little bit. I just wanted to know more. The one character that I felt was slightly misused was Dr. Maru. We learn nothing about her and I want to know more as she was fascinating and could have been an excellent foil to Diana.

Overall Rating: 4.7/5