As I noted in my review of Peter Benchley’s “Jaws” novel (1974), Steven Spielberg’s film streamlined the plot and eliminated all the subplots. In the
Because I can’t leave my readers hanging like one of those hapless characters dangling above a shark’s maw – as happens at least once in
As the shark subgenre of horror became increasingly glutted in the 21st century, it became important for a new movie to stand out, to have the
In “The Descendants,” another great Hawaii-set film from the same year, George Clooney says “This is paradise? F*** paradise.” And his character merely has financial
“The Shallows” (2016) is minimalist shark horror as high art. Surfer/med student Nancy (Blake Lively) gets stranded on a rock two football-field lengths from a
As time goes by, Renny Harlin’s “Deep Blue Sea” (1999) is becoming more appreciated as a great horror action thriller from the dawn of CGI
Peter Benchley wrote “Jaws” (1974) before the boom of shark literature and films — indeed, his book and the subsequent Steven Spielberg movie (1975) launched
“Back to the Future Part II” (1989) imagines “Jaws 19” hitting theaters in 2015. Rather surprisingly, that franchise didn’t have another entry after the fourth
Sometimes I look at my old reviews and cringe. When I listened to a “How Did This Get Made?” podcast episode ripping into “Deep Blue
“Jaws” (1975) was a famously expensive and physically punishing production, mostly because it used a mechanical shark. But the film was intense, and a classic,