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Non-Review Review: Jaws

Jaws is a pretty impressive film. Not only did the film serve to launch Steven Spielberg’s career and subgenre of monster creature features, it also effectively kick-started the summer blockbuster. However, watching it again all these years later, it’s amazing how well Jaws holds up – far better than the vast majority of films that it ultimately inspired. There’s a lot of reasons that Jaws works, and a lot of them come down to Spielberg working as director, but also in the scripting and the acting. It’s rare for a movie to produce one character that we truly care about. Jaws manages to produce four compelling leading characters – the three men who ultimately end up on the boat, and the shark itself.

Finally copping on…

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Non-Review Review: The Blob (1958)

I’m surprised that The Blob doesn’t get more love as a late-fifties creature feature. It has all the right ingredients, from a compelling monster, a clever central metaphor and a dashing lead in Steve McQueen. Sure, the special effects haven’t aged well, and the movie occasionally veers into the realm of cheese, but it is a wonderful example of type of monster movies American studios used to churn out during the fifties – seemingly disposable little horrors that ended up a lot smarter and more sophisticated than most viewers took them for.

It came from outer space...

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