#context: bruce is literally only 18 and had to kill a guy and he is WRECKED

[snowlikeash]

The rooms were simple and sumptuous at once; everything was of the finest quality, the draped colors muted to browns and yellows and deep greens. High pile carpet allowed bare feet to sink into it as if into fresh loam. It was a comforting place with a comforting smell, incense clinging to the curtains. At this hour, moonlight drenched the room with white-blue light. Here was Ra's al Ghul's public study, where his finest pupils were allowed to approach him.

Bruce leaned against the door, feeling unstrung. He was too tired to mind his posture. All he remembered to do was lower his eyes.

"Ustadh," he said, voice crackling like his throat was raw. It was. He had been weeping.

From a sunken section of the floor, Ra's observed his guest. His eyes, a clear glass-green, were questioning at first, then softened.

"Mahzun," he said, sadly, leaning back in the divan he was sitting in. "Come to me."

Shoving himself off the doorframe, Bruce slunk forward like a wounded dog. He collapsed on his knees in front of Ra's, his forehead bowed deeply, almost touching Ra's knees.

A ringed hand rested on Bruce's head, then pushed through his hair, a soothing motion.

"Habibi," said Ra's, with a gentle voice. "I am sorry. I had to be sure."

Bruce flinched. It hurt to know this man, that he trusted, that he believed in, would inflict harm on him like this.

[yarnzipangirl]

And now, from the rewatch of Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice (Ultimate Edition because I love myself):

-I am reasonably certain that Clark’s emotional state during 98% of this movie is just ‘WHY THIS?’ with a dash of ‘CAN YOU NOT?’

-I can understand people who are annoyed we had to watch the Waynes die AGAIN, and yet, I cannot imagine this movie without this scene in it.  Because this movie is the very first time I feel like a Batman-having movie actually made Bruce’s motivation have any true meaning outside of kind of excusing why a man with that kind of resources would be Batman.  It makes it clear that the equation isn’t “boy loses parents, decides to fight crime”; it’s “boy loses his whole world, decides to fight LOSS” and that is a vital VITAL difference, especially for this movie.  

-also this is the most beautifully shot thing, and again I applaud Snyder’s tendency to reintroduce the importance of the mother in this situation.  Also that shell casing hitting the ground gets mirrored later and it kills me.

-and that Bruce’s father dies after curling his fist, dies in anger when he was a doctor, sworn to do no harm, feels like foreshadowing, like a warning; when a good man breaks his vows, goes darker, nothing good comes of it.  (And yes, I understand he was defending his family, totally reasonable, but we’re talking about this moment as metaphor, as how Bruce REMEMBERS it).

-oh god, I forgot Jimmy Olsen was Grant Gabriel on Smallville.  *FACEPALMS FOREVER*

-hey Bruce, when TEENAGE GIRLS are afraid of you, perhaps time to reconsider your life decisions.  The fact that he doesn’t even try to take care of them or comfort them says SO MUCH about where his head is.

-I feel like if there was justice in the world, every time someone described DCEU Superman as an ‘unfeeling god’ they would have to watch the 10 seconds where Clark comes in to see Lois bathing with his goobery little glasses and his grinny face like she hung the moon and his little bag of groceries to make her dinner and the flowers just for her and how he’s literally just so in love with her he can’t stand not stepping into the tub to kiss her Right Then.  Still didn’t get it?  Again.  Nope, you don’t get the abs.  You don’t DESERVE the abs.

-Alfred deserves all the scotch.  All of it.  And a raise, if only for dealing with this betta fish of a human being we call Batman.  I feel like Clark should have been able to hear Alfred screaming ‘fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck’ the entire movie at registers too high for others to hear because that is definitely how he feels.

-I will defend this Lex Luthor to my dying breath because this motherfucker scares me.  And he scares me because unlike the other kind, I’ve MET this motherfucker.  This motherfucker ran a company I worked for.  All douchbro and open door policy and casual workplace until you don’t give him what he wants and then the knives come out.  And I think the reason why he doesn’t work for a lot of people is that we’re still in the era where this kind of businessman villain hasn’t been villainized properly yet.  We have the mental templates for the oil tycoon or the 90s environmentally disastrous CEO, the 00s real estate-stealing asshole, and now the 10′s Wall Street wolf, but THIS kind of monster is the one we’re still getting a feel for.  The (I hate to make this comparison) Mark Zuckerbergs, the tech moguls who are increasing human suffering in less direct, less easy to define ways while always pretending to help us.  In ways that to some degree people still admire.  Lex Luthor as a competent-Donald-Trump analogy is easy and familiar in comparison.  This is one step forward and while I wouldn’t say it’s without it’s faults, it’s brave as hell and real as hell.  This is OUR monster, folks.  

-Following up on the ‘Perry totally knows’, I’m pretty sure Perry gave him the sports piece to try and take his mind off of All The Terrible and was fighting him because goddammit, son, you can’t take on the world, it is KILLING YOU.

-I was absolutely livid with the original cut, I’m gonna be honest, and the reason boils down to (well, the parts where the plot literally doesn’t make sense re: blaming Superman but mostly) the fact that without Clark investigating the Batman, meeting people who are scared, who feel cornered, who have lost a husband and a father to that brand... Clark would never actually fight him.  Clark doesn’t GET angry at personal slights or personal threats.  He gets angry because Innocent People Are Living In Fear From This Asshole, that innocent people are dying either because the Batman hasn’t noticed that his brand victims die or DOESN’T CARE.  Without these pieces, Clark’s rage makes literally no sense and even his ‘civil liberties’ argument makes so little sense since ‘how would he know?’

-Clark’s little smile as Lois is Lois at him, basically going ‘why yes, I’m going to throw myself into this pit of snakes to find a needle in the haystack UNDER these snakes’ mixed up with his concern and just UGH these two UGH

-the little sound clips of the world engine at various points, like when Bruce is going to the grave in his dream.  *SHAKES FIST TO THE SKY* AAAAAART

-and the angel in the stained glass with a blue tunic and a red cape.

-Okay, Bruce? Comparing Superman to the Joker is like... just flat unfair.

-Lex and Bruce both leave that little threeway meeting with purpose while Clark is just so clearly like ‘...what the fuck just happened?  What the- WHY ARE RICH PEOPLE LIKE THIS?”

-The amount of loathing Bruce has for the Bruce Wayne act conveyed purely through face acting is FABULOUS.  Bathroom excuse bathroom excuse OH MY GOD KILL ME I HATE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS JACKASS I APPARENTLY AM.

-*insert me crying about How Unhappy Clark is re: all the people around him treating him like a savior and the whole reference to the skulls thing and just Clark, honey-*

-Clark needs to watch some cartoons.  Someone should just like... set his dial permanently to happy joyful things because the news is just Not Good.

-Once again, those people with the ‘unfeeling god’ nonsense, what with this unfeeling god calling his mother because he’s feeling lost and confused and he doesn’t know what’s the right thing to do.

-Bruce trying that Selina and Talia line on Diana: LOL.  Diana’s response: ALSO LOL.

-ngl, after certain things happened in GoT, I cannot imagine Clark standing in the flames at the capitol building without the subtitle of ‘...dammit Cersei’

-I will never understand how they ever thought cutting Clark bringing bodies/survivors out of the Capital Building was a scene they could cut.  It is So Vastly Important.  

-Alfred’s just... gonna stand here and watch Bruce become literally everything he hates, yup, up, this is great, this is Scotch scotch scotch scotch scotch scotch scotch and I Don’t Blame Him.

-Back to the ‘Perry White Totally Knows’ comment, that look at Lois while Lois begs for a helicopter?  Right after referencing that Superman is CLEARLY at the ship?  Hell yeah, Perry knows.  Also Perry is the man.

-I will also defend this fight to my dying goddamn day because Snyder knows how to do some beautiful things with cinematography and this is the ugliest, most brutal, painful fight to watch and it GODDAMN SHOULD BE.  Because heroes fighting heroes is ugly, because Bruce is ugly at this point, Clark is so lost and there is nothing really noble or ‘good’ in this fight.  Even Clark who’s fighting to try and save his mother is giving in to his frustration at everything, at the world, at this GUY who’s a giant douche to him in person and hurts people to make them do what he wants and doesn’t care when they die.  And I feel that’s a huge portion of this fight, that both of them feel the other one is apathetic to suffering and it makes them ANGRY.  

-...though I snerk every time at Bruce realizing the Kryptonite’s worn off.  Yeah.  Yeah, buddy.

-Also this most recent rewatch honestly completely changed my view on the Martha line.  I have, since the beginning, thought it was a good, meaningful scene that worked in the context of the movie, but I always thought it was clumsy.  It’s only now, watching it again, really taking in everything around it that I realize it DOES in fact make absolute sense, and it works perfectly.  Because Bruce has just been TALKING about Clark’s parents.  He doesn’t CARE that Clark has parents, doesn’t care that he has a mother and father.  Clark doesn’t say ‘save my mother’ because Bruce is That Far Gone.  But Clark called Bruce by name, KNOWS who he is: he doesn’t just say ‘Martha’ to save his own mother, he says ‘Martha’ because this is literally Clark’s last ditch effort to appeal to the human being named Bruce Wayne inside that batsuit.  He is trying to snap him out of this.  And he is trying to make his mother into a random bystander for Bruce to save so he WILL save her.  He is pointedly disassociating himself from his mother to try and save her; he is saying ‘fine, kill me, but you have to save this innocent woman’.  And it’s only the combination of these things that actually breaks through the 18 months of obsessive hatred.  Honestly, Lois telling him it’s his mother’s name is just icing on the cake, a quicker end.  Clark might have been on his back, with a spear in his face, but Clark Wins That Goddamn Fight because he pulled the play that made Batman into Batman again.

-you know, I’ve been looking forward to Clark coming back and seeing Martha see him and Lois and Bruce but DAMN if I can’t wait for Lex Luthor to see Clark returned to life.  *insert gif of Jason Momoa with the folding chair* 

-Martha waves to the Batwing flying away and that is adorable.

-You’d think the US government was dating Superman considering how many times they decide to fuck him.  FFS, guys.  Let him throw the monster into space without shooting him in the back just ONCE.

-Best. Enter. Player. 2. Moment. Ever.

-Watching Batman play ‘hoooooly shit, dodge dodge dodge dodge’ with Doomsday feels like a kind of karmic return like.  Look, asshole, THIS is what a Kryptonian monster who wants to raze the entire Earth is like and you are SO not even remotely prepared for that fight.

-...I forgot he actually pulls the spike in deeper so that he can stab Doomsday properly because I needed that heart, you know?

-Bruce trying to cover that hole in the suit as he bundles Clark up, totally not thinking about another suit in a glass case in his house, not thinking about the woman he just saved so she can bury her son.  Nope, nope, nope, Bruce Wayne is JUST FINE, thanks for asking.

-The Worst (read most painful) Look Ever between Lois and Diana and you know there’s a part of Diana that’s like ‘at least you get to bury him’.

-AND THERE GO THOSE SHELLS HITTING THE CONCRETE AGAIN, thanks symbolic things that hurt me down to my soul.

-you know, in the comics, Bruce REALLY REALLY hates Lex, like enough to be all right with helping to murder him (yeah, legit) but imagine, if you will, how much he’s gonna hate him NOW.

-Still a goddamn hopeful ending even if it breaks my heart.  ‘Men are still good’.  UGH.  UGH THIS UNIVERSE.

[justanothercinemaniac]

Epic Movie (Re)Watch #187 - Jaws

Spoilers Below

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: Yes.

Do I remember it: Yes.

Did I see it in theaters: Yes.

Was it a movie I saw since August 22nd, 2009: Yes. #446

Format: Blu-ray

0) This is one of my favorite films of all time, one I love so much and is so important to me it is practically a part of my DNA. This recap will reflect that.

1) This film gets off to an INCREDIBLE start for within literally the first minute two key elects are established: the phenomenal use of point of view shots and John Williams’ iconic score.

2) The first kill.

Susan Blackline’s performance is absolute incredible as Chrissie Watkins. The screams of terror she gives and the horrific pain across her face are gut wrenchingly visceral. To get the effect that she was being pulled across the screen the filmmakers hooked her up to a rig underwater which would pull her, creating a violent effect which makes an impression on the audience. Everything in the few seconds of terror is wildly strong, but it is made even more powerful when juxtaposed against the eerie and haunting silence after Chrissie is pulled under the water.

3) Roy Scheider as Chief Brody.

Director Steven Spielberg wanted to cast someone who would represent an average joe. Charlton Heston showed interest in the part but Spielberg knew if he cast the acclaimed actor then the shark wouldn’t stand a fighting chance. Scheider is not Heston, he’s not some big shot action star with glamorous looks. He looks like that guy you’d meet at a bar. You don’t see an actor when you look at Brody. You don’t see Scheider struggling with lines or with motivations. You only see Brody, the man who cares for his family and his town. The man who is very much defined by his fear of the water. Scheider plays Brody with absolute honesty, heart, and humanity, making him the perfect protagonist to follow along in this film.

4) Brody’s walk through town really helps to establish Amity as a character. Because that is exactly what the town is: a character. As important as Brody, the shark, or Quint is the town of Amity. You overhear bits of conversation, you are able to start identifying its citizens and see what makes them unique. You understand their interests, their priorities, their fears. All of it helps define Amity as a character which I think is great.

5) Murray Hamilton as Mayor Larry Vaughn.

Hamilton plays the spineless politician well, but not without later empathy. The trick to Vaughn is he can’t come across as senseless, just thoughtless. You understand his motivations, you understand that he thinks he’s actually doing what is best for the town. But it is motivated by greed and money which is placed over the importance of human life. If Vaughn were a good mayor he’d be more concerned with the lives of his citizens as opposed to their wallets.

6) This scene on the beach is what I like to refer to as, “the calm before the storm.” (The “storm” hits at three minutes thirteen seconds if you decide to watch.)

By establishing Brody as the protagonist and having the audience see things the way he does, there is an intense tension to the scene. A cloying, piercing, subtle, and understand tension. This is born out of skilled cinematography (I still can't believe some of the tricks they used in this scene), editing, pacing, and again the fact we’re pretty much seeing things as Brody does. It speaks to something the film does incredibly well: there is always tension (via practically perfect pacing) until the very end. Something can always go wrong.

7) This line has unexpectedly become one of the most memorable from the film, for some unique reasons.

Bad Hat Harry is the production company of director Bryan Singer who named it after this line.

8) According to IMDb:

Several decades after the release of Jaws (1975), Lee Fierro, who played Mrs. Kintner, walked into a seafood restaurant and noticed that the menu had an "Alex Kintner Sandwich." She commented that she had played his mother so many years ago; the owner of the restaurant ran out to meet her, and he was none other than Jeffrey Voorhees, who had played her son. They had not seen each other since the original movie shoot.

9) This image is now referred to as the Jaws shot when in actuality it is the reverse Vertigo shot.

It comes from tracking the camera forward and zooming out. There’s a shot in Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo which moves the camera backward while zooming in. Either way, it is an effective and unsettling visual which let’s you know something is up.

10) Quint’s intro is incredibly telling of his character.

His eccentric behavior is very telling of how sort of crazed he is, while his defining confidence/arrogance is also very defining. The man is able to easily capture the attention of an entire room full of people as well as the audience, bringing them all to silence.

11) Roy Scheider and Lorraine Gary have a very nice chemistry with each other. It’s loving, trusting, you can tell they really care for each other and how long they’ve ben with each other. It gets you invested in their relationship and - by extension - Brody’s family.

12) Horror films usually need to have some sort of sense of humor about them.

Ellen Brody [after she told Brody that their son could sit in his boat since it’s just at the dock, but then she sees a picture of a shark tearing up a boat]: “Michael! You heard your father! Out of the boat NOW!”

13) The scene with the two fishermen trying to catch the shark COULD be pointless but it fits perfectly in the film’s pacing. It also ups the stakes considerably, showing off just how strong the shark is. It’s also our first like at clumsiness leading to tension. The fisherman is slipping as he tries to get out of the water, he can’t get his foot up which is VERY real and very frightening as the audience expects/hopes he’ll get up time and time again.

13.1) Before I forget: the filmmakers named the animatronic shark Bruce on the set. This was because Steven Spielberg’s lawyer at the time was also named Bruce. Later, when Finding Nemo needed to name it’s lead shark, they decided to name it Bruce after this little bit of trivia.

14) Richard Dreyfus as Matt Hooper.

Dreyfus rounds out the trio of Brody, Quint, and Hooper nicely. You are able to see his intelligence and passion in every moment of screen time, as well as a wonderfully snarky sense of humor. He is confident in himself but not arrogant like Quint, commanding many of the scenes he’s in. The first truly great showcase of Dreyfus’ acting talent comes from when he is examining the remains of Chrissie Watkins. He is able to make the audience feel just as gut wrenchingly sick as he is which is not an easy feat. This film is only as great as it is in part because of its excellent cast, and Richard Dreyfus is no exception.

15) Mrs. Kintner’s confrontation.

The pain shown off by actress Lee Fierro is all too powerful and honest. Parents are not meant to bury their children and yet she has had her son die in one of the most awful ways imaginable. Her confrontation with Brody is heartbreaking and wonderful because of this honesty, making it one of the (if not the) saddest moments in the film.

15.1) Fun fact: Mrs. Kintner’s slap across Brody’s face was real and had to be done with every take. I believe Roy Scheider said it was difficult acting like the slap surprised him after a while.

16) The son where Brody’s son mimics his father at the dinner table is an excellent example of what helps this film transcend the standard horror movie: it has an incredible amount of humanity. You get to know the people of the town too the members of Brody’s family. Their fear is all too real, but there are these quiet moments. Moments of sympathy, of connection, of pure character that just get you more invested in everyone. And the more invested you are in Brody’s family, the higher the stakes become for the audience.

This trend of humanity continues in the following dinner conversation between Hooper and Ellen Brody, where Hooper’s backstory is flawlessly and organically told within the context of the scene and Brody’s fear of water is further developed. These aren’t tropes, it’s not the oversexed (and sexist stereotype of a woman) blonde who dies first. It’s people. Normal, every day people who die. THAT’S what makes the film so scary. THAT’S what makes its heart so pure. It’s humanity is pure.

17) I do love the nice bits of humor in this film, which are usually born out of character interaction.

Brody [after Hooper says they need to look for the shark]: “Yeah, but I’m not drunk enough to go out on the water!”

Hooper: “Yes you are.”

Brody: “No I’m not.”

Hooper: “Yes you are.”

Brody: “I can’t do that.”

Hooper: “Yes you can.”

18) Hooper’s wealth is interesting, because occasionally character’s born into high privilege are shown as dicks and douche bags. But not Hooper. Hooper is intelligent, he doesn’t expect handouts, and yes he takes advantage of the opportunities he has but he doesn’t belittle people without those opportunities. His later outrage at Quint comes from Quint’s judgment of Hooper, not from Hooper’s judgment of Quint’s social status. It kind of all helps make the character unique.

19) Hooper’s dive.

This was actually reshoot in Steven Spielberg’s pool. As the director explains it, after a test screening he got, “greedy,” for one more good jump scare and so redid this scene to accommodate  that. Personally I think the director succeeded. The tension is born out of slowing down the pacing not speeding it up, while I jump every time Ben Gardner’s head just comes floating out of the boat because you are NOT expecting it. I think it’s the scariest moment in the entire film and I love it for that.

20) Mayor Vaughn’s total dismissal of the FACT that the shark is a threat, going so far as to prioritize harmless graffiti instead of something which has killed three people, is what makes him not only ignorant but negligent. He’s being a coward in his decision, because if he admits the shark is as big a problem as it is then he’ll ruin the summer. He even goes so far as to insult Hooper’s intelligence, that of a man who literally studies sharks for a living. It’s the moment the audience truly hates him the most.

21) The Fourth of July.

If you remember note #6 (the calm before the storm), what I talked about there applies here. But amplified tenfold. The look of total terror on the faces of the first family to enter the water relates to EXACTLY what the audience feels. You know this is not going to go well, you know something is lurking under the water we can’t see, and it makes the tension all the greater.

22) We as the audience are trained to ALWAYS attribute POV shots with the shark, meaning the use of POV before we see the false fin makes us believe that fin IS the shark. But we know something is off because there is one key element missing: music. We never get the shark’s POV without John Williams tension filled score, so to have the former without the latter speaks to some form of deception in the back of our minds. And then when the shark DOES attack, when it is in the pond, the music returns.

23) The death of Michael’s boat instructor is the first slight glimpse we get of the shark but it’s so submerged in water it’s barely anything. But it speaks to the idea that with each kill you see the shark more and more.

24) This line is wildly powerful in reminding the audience of Mayor Vaughn’s humanity.

Vaughn: “Martin, my kids were on that beach too.”

25) Outside of his introduction, I have yet to really talk about Robert Shaw as Quint.

Shaw is able to play Quint as an aggressive jackass and alcoholic quite well (unfortunately as the result of some “method acting” on Shaw’s part). He has this wonderfully tense rivalry with Hooper (again, through some “method acting” with Richard Dreyfus) and dominates every scene he’s in. Shaw commands the screen, making sure you pay attention to him at all times. This helps make Quint a perfect standout character in the film and absolutely amazing.

26) According to IMDb:

Robert Shaw ad-libbed the "Here lies the body of Mary Lee" line after director Steven Spielberg prompted him to give Brody's wife (on the dock) a hard time. Asked later where he quoted it from, as it would require getting a license and release from the author to be used in the film, Shaw said that was unlikely, as it was off an old grave marker in Ireland.

27) The dynamic the trio has on the boat while hunting the shark is incredible.

It is RIPE with conflict, with Hooper and Quint already having a rich rivalry and Brody not exactly the most patient with their bullshit. Story is conflict and that is what makes it interesting. It’s never boring when they’re on the boat, they’re always butting heads and are clearly tense because of the shark their hunting. All in all, it’s an important dynamic that helps make the film great.

28) THE SHARK IS REVEALED!!!

Roy Scheider improvised this now iconic line:

Much like Ben Gardner’s head, the shark jumps out at the rare time when you’ve let your guard down. There’s no build up to it, there’s no waiting for it to happen, it just freaking appears out of nowhere and the look Brody has on his face when he sees it is comparable to how the audience feels: one of absolute terror. And as soon as the shark shows itself, you know shit just got real. The ensuing encounter with the shark is beautifully tense and paced, taking hold of you and never letting go. It’s totally amazing.

29) Steven Spielberg makes his only cameo ever in a film he directed as a voice on the radio calling for Brody and talking with Quint.

30) Hooper and Quint comparing their scars is further excellence on the film’s part of showing off humanity. It’s not like they study sharks at a zoo or in a closed environment. It’s real, it’s dangerous, their lives leave scars on their body as well as their mind. As you’ll see next.

31) The USS Indianapolis.

I get chills every time I watch this scene, holy shit. The writing of the USS Indianapolis scene - as I remember from a documentary on this film - was the result of pure collaboration. Almost everyone contributed a bit to the monologue, from the writers to actual survivors to Roy Scheider even. And it’s absolutely incredible. Robert Shaw is captivating, nailing the speech in an extended shot. The audience is never bored by the story and it is INCREDIBLY important to understanding Shaw’s character (even though he botched it the first time by trying to actually get drunk and do it). In a film filled with incredible actions and scares, this is by far my favorite moment and I think the strongest few minutes in the film. Just…wow.

32) Following the Indianapolis story with a shark attack helps support the film’s perfect pacing. There’s no filler in between. You go from one captivating moment to the next with total smoothness. It’s great.

33) The shooting star in this film was an accident but now a Steven Spielberg trademark.

34) So the shark was originally in much more of this film. The big reason Steven Spielberg and the other filmmakers used the phenomenal device of point of view shot was simply because the damn animatronic was not working. This meant that they could use it very limitedly but damn if it isn’t just placed in the perfect moments for the rest of the film.

35) I mentioned in note #12 that little moments of clumsiness help drum up the tension. At no moment is that more true than when Brody very momentarily squeezes Hooper against the stern of the ship and he has to climb out, almost slipping in the water in the process. It’s very short but VERY memorable.

36) It is Quint’s hubris which almost gets them killed, by pushing his boat too far and getting it stranded in the sea with the shark. It is this literally fatal mistake which gets the captain to finally put his ego aside and trust Hooper’s skills.

37) Well, if this isn’t VERY telling of the intense fear Hooper has before going down in the shark cage I don’t know what is.

Hooper [trying to clean his goggles]: “I’m out of spit.”

38) The shark cage.

This is another moment of wonderful tension in the film and it comes from SLOWING DOWN THE PACING. We know that the shark is down there and the longer we wait the higher the tension gets. And then it shows up almost out of the blue, knocking into the cage and almost killing Hooper. Almost being the key word, although that wasn’t always the case.

Originally Hooper was meant to die as he did in the source material (where he had an affair with Brody’s wife) and the only reason he survived in this film was because of good footage. To get film of the shark underwater with the cage, the filmmakers had a second unit out in the ocean with a miniature shark cage and a little person in it posing as Hooper (so that way the shark would seem bigger in comparison). One day Spielberg gets a call from this unit and hears that they got the most incredible footage they’d ever seen of the shark destroying the cage and the director asks if the little person was in the shark cage. He wasn’t. The footage was too good not to use so they let Hooper live!

39) Quint’s death continues the film’s trend of very real mistakes drumming up tension and having an organic result (slipping on the watery deck, his hand getting crushed by a canister so he falls into the shark’s mouth, etc.). And the look on his face as he dies is uncomfortable, horrific, and amazingly acted.

39.1) Quint's name comes from the Latin word for "fifth". Quint is the fifth person killed by the shark. That is all.

40) The final killing of the shark is very much cause and effect, Brody is clearly making this up as he goes and that is where some of the tension comes from. According to IMDb, however:

Peter Benchley (author of the original novel) was not happy with Steven Spielberg's ending where the shark is killed when a compressed air tank explodes in its mouth, claiming it was unrealistic. Spielberg defended himself by saying he will have held his audiences' attention for two hours and they would believe anything in the end no matter how unrealistic or unbelievable the ending really was. Spielberg even thought of an ending where after the shark is blown up, Brody would look up to see several shark fins.

41) You want to know why this film is perfectly paced? Because as soon as the shark dies all tension is gone, meaning that it was literally the moment of greatest tension. There is such an incredible sense of relief we feel as the audience upon it blowing up that is shared by the character’s. It makes Jaws more than a storytelling experience but also an emotional one as well.

Jaws is a masterpiece of cinema. Perfectly paced, acted, with an amazing sense of adventure and horror, it is absolutely incredible. The film takes hold of you and never lets go. Every second is interesting. Every moment is finely acted. Every decision is wonderful. It is just an amazing film and everyone needs to see it!

[watchingthesuperbowl]

Grading Super Bowl XXXVI

What was the final score?

New England 20, St. Louis 17

How much of the game was close? What was the “edge of your seat factor” like? (20 points)

In a purely scoreboard sense, the Patriots had a double-digit point lead for a third of the game. That doesn’t seem all that close. In context, though, it was much closer than that. 14 points was hardly a safe lead against this Rams offense. St. Louis moved the ball consistently all night, but just as consistently got bogged down around the Patriots’ 35-40 yard line and failed to score. The Rams had zero three-and-outs in Super Bowl XXXVI, but managed only three points in the first 50 minutes of play.

So watching this game, it was nothing like the previous year’s Super Bowl in which New York wasn’t scoring because they were getting dominated. The Rams eventually pulled it together in their first drive of the fourth quarter, down 17-3. Kurt Warner led his team on a methodical 77-yard touchdown drive to cut the lead to seven.

New England got the ball back, up 17-10 with around nine minutes on the clock. They had every opportunity to kill clock, but went three-and-out, punting the ball back to the suddenly heating-up Rams offense. St. Louis did what they’d done all day, moving the ball consistently down the field but hitting a brick wall near midfield. Rams coach Mike Martz decided to punt with no timeouts left and four minutes on the clock, pinning all of his team’s hopes on its defense. Once again, with a chance to kill clock and ice a championship, the Patriots punted after a three-and-out.

Needing a touchdown with less than two minutes on the clock and no timeouts left, Kurt Warner went to work. A short completion to Az Hakim turned into an 18-yard gain when Hakim cut upfield and gained an extra ten yards or so instead of stepping out of bounds immediately. Kick return wizard and reserve wideout Yo Murphy was one-on-one with a linebacker on the next play, an 11-yard Warner to Murphy completion to the Patriots’ 26 yard line. On the third play of the Rams’ final possession of regulation, Ricky Proehl came open on a nominally illegal pick play and Warner hit him for a touchdown. It felt closer than the scoreboard all day, but now there was no such thing as closer than the scoreboard. It was 17-17.

The Rams didn’t know this at the time, but Tom Brady is obviously some kind of warlock. Brady got the ball inside his own 20 with 1:21 left on the clock and zero timeouts.And he did Tom Brady things, completing three passes to J.R. Redmond, one to Troy Brown, and another to Jermaine Wiggins in order to drive to the Rams 30. After Brady spiked the ball to stop the clock with 0:07 left in regulation.

And then Adam Vinatieri came on to kick what would be the game winning field goal. He had never missed a kick indoors before this kick, and he still hadn’t after the kick. 47 yard field goal is good, Patriots win, upset complete. (Score: 18 out of 20. A couple points deducted for the Rams being down 10+ points throughout the entire third quarter.)

Was there any kind of comeback? Was there ever any indication that the team which was trailing had a chance to come from behind and win? (15 points)

Absolutely, yes. Down 14 points as the fourth quarter began, the Rams tied the score at 17-17 with less than two minutes remaining in regulation. If the game had gone to overtime, you’d have to think St. Louis would be the more likely winner. The Rams’ offense, one of the greatest in NFL history, had just scored two touchdowns in eight minutes. Before the game winning drive, it had been more than a quarter since New England had even earned a first down.

If Vinatieri misses that kick or doesn’t get the opportunity, the Rams probably win the game. It would have been the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history. (Score: 14 out of 15.)

Did the great players come through with great performances? (15 points)

Frankly, nobody had a great performance. Maybe Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri. Almost to a man, everybody on the field played pretty well but nobody played extremely well.

Tom Brady, who’s obviously going to win an all-expenses-paid trip to Canton, Ohio at some point, was named the MVP despite fairly ho-hum statistics. (16-27, 145 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT) I assume he won the award because of the way he led the game winning drive - and also because someone had to win it. (I probably would have voted for Vinatieri, FWIW.)

Kurt Warner, who’s already visited the big famous museum in my hometown in Northeast Ohio, threw for 365 yards and a touchdown, but also had two costly interceptions.

At one point in the game, play-by-play man Dick Stockton said that Rams running back Marshall Faulk might be the greatest running back who ever lived. I think that’s an indication of a tenuous grip on reality by Stockton (Jim Brown says hello), but Faulk was a great player, a deserving Hall of Famer, and one of the better backs of the past few decades. He played well but not remarkably so, running for 76 yards and gaining 54 more through the air.

The second-tier stars all did about what you’d expect. Rams receivers Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce each had five receptions for 50 or so yards, Troy Brown of the Patriots had six catches for 89 yards. Patriots running back Antowain Smith, hardly a star but a guy who ran for 1157 yards and 12 touchdowns in the regular season, gained 92 yards on the ground. (Score: 9 out of 15. A good but not great score for a game in which each individual star was good but not great.)

Were the teams historically great? (10 points)

Oh, heck yes. I wrote about these Rams a couple of weeks ago. The Greatest Show on Turf was in inner-circle great offense that could do everything and do everything well. The St. Louis defense in 2001 wasn’t as great as the offense, but it was darn good. They finished seventh in the NFL in points allowed and third in yards allowed. They could bring it defensively.

At the time, the Patriots were considered a fluke, a good team that got hotter as the weather got colder. With the benefit of hindsight, we can see that this was the beginning of an unrivaled run of dominance that’s still underway sixteen years later. New England won three Super Bowls in four years, won seven AFC championships in 16 years, and the Bill Belichick/Tom Brady combination has won five Super Bowls and counting. Belichick wasn’t quite done building his juggernaut in 2001, but he was close. (Score: 10 out of 10)

Were there memorable moments that will be talked about for decades? (10 points)

Vinatieri’s field goal, for sure. As I write this, he’s still playing and still excellent more than 15 years later, and this kick is one of the first things that comes to mind when people think of him. It would not surprise me even a little bit if Vinatieri became the third placekicking specialist in the Pro Football Hall of Fame after he finally retires. There are a lot of kickers who had great careers, but nobody has the same kind of “clutch” reputation that Vinatieri has. This single kick has a lot to do with that reputation.

If not for the Patriots’ game-winning drive, the tying touchdown, a pass from Warner to Ricky Proehl, would likely be the enduring image of this game. And New England fans would still be freaking out about the illegal pick that caused him to be so open. (Score: 9 out of 10)

How was the quality of play? Were there a lot of penalties, punts, and turnovers? (15 points)

Really good. It was clear what the teams were trying to accomplish on both offense and defense, and they mostly executed those gameplans.

The Patriots didn’t turn the ball over all day, didn’t kill themselves with penalties, and got good performances from their defense and special teams. (That field goal!) The New England defense had a gameplan very similar to Belichick’s plan to shut down the Bills in Super Bowl XXV: Allow complete passes underneath, but absolutely do not allow the receiver to run after he catches the ball. They did this extremely well, with very few exceptions.

St. Louis turned the ball over three times. One of them could easily be filed under “crap happens”, when Ricky Proehl was blasted by a defender just after making a catch. Proehl fumbled, but just about anyone would have coughed it up in that situation. It was a great defensive play and not a poor offensive play. Warner’s two interceptions were particularly bad, and almost certainly decided the game. One of them was a pick six for Ty Law, who broke on a poor pass and was off to the races to give New England a 7-3 lead in the second quarter..

Penalties weren’t a factor, punts were thankfully less common this year than last year, and I never got the feeling I was watching garbage football. It was a nice antidote to Super Bowl XXXV. (Score: 13 out of 15)

Are there any other factors that add to the greatness of the game? This covers things like weather, story line, rivalry matchup, legacy franchises, unexpected results, etc. (15 points)

It seems almost impossible to fathom from the perspective of 2017, but the Rams were 14 point favorites. This game was, at the time, the second-biggest upset in the history of the Super Bowl.

The Patriots win was an unexpected result, and the fact that they were even there was perhaps more unexpected. New England went 5-11 in 2000, started 2001 with three losses in four games, and they were 5-5 as Thanksgiving approached. Their franchise quarterback, Drew Bledsoe literally nearly died during the second game of the season when he suffered a sheared blood vessel in his chest. Their quarterback coach, Dick Rehbein, died suddenly and unexpectedly in August. Everything was going wrong. You’d have been laughed out of the room if, during the third week of November 2001, you would have predicted the Patriots would win the Super Bowl while holding the St. Louis offense in check throughout the game. But here they were.

Super Bowl XXXVI was the first Super Bowl played after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and as such was a particularly emotional day for players and fans. It’s difficult to quantify or put into words what the day was like, but there was a low-level feeling of dread that something terrible would happen to go along with a swelling sense of national pride and identity. An entire book could be written about the return to normalcy that cultural touchstones like Super Bowl XXXVI provided, but this isn’t the time or place for such a book. Suffice it to say that this was a big friggin’ deal. (Score: 13 out of 15)

How does the game grade overall? (sum of all previous categories, 100 points)

86 out of 100. The second-best Super Bowl ever played at this point, a whisker behind the absolute classic the Steelers and Cowboys played in Super Bowl XIII.

If you wanted to claim that this is the greatest Super Bowl ever played, I certainly wouldn’t argue with you. It’s there or thereabouts.

Ratings and rankings of Super Bowls I-XXXVI:

1. Super Bowl XIII - Pittsburgh 35, Dallas 31 - 87 points 2. Super Bowl XXXVI - New England 20, St. Louis 17 - 86 points 3. Super Bowl XXIII - San Francisco 20, Cincinnati 16 - 85 points T4. Super Bowl XXV - New York Giants 20, Buffalo 19 - 84 points T5. Super Bowl XXXIV - St. Louis 23, Tennessee 16 - 84 points 6. Super Bowl X - Pittsburgh 21, Dallas 17 - 80 points 7. Super Bowl XXXII - Denver 31, Green Bay 24 - 77 points 8. Super Bowl VII - Miami 14, Washington 7 - 74 points 9. Super Bowl XXX - Dallas 27, Pittsburgh 17 - 69 points T10. Super Bowl IX - Pittsburgh 16, Minnesota 6 - 68 points T10. Super Bowl XXXI - Green Bay 35, New England 21 - 68 points T12. Super Bowl XVII - Washington 27, Miami 17 - 67 points T12. Super Bowl XXVIII - Dallas 30, Buffalo 13 - 67 points 14. Super Bowl XIV - Pittsburgh 31, Los Angeles 19 - 65 points 15. Super Bowl XVI - San Francisco 26, Cincinnati 21 - 62 points 16. Super Bowl XIX - San Francisco 38, Miami 16 - 61 points T17. Super Bowl III - New York Jets 16, Baltimore 7 - 58 points T17. Super Bowl XXII - Washington 42, Denver 10 - 58 points 19. Super Bowl XXI - New York Giants 39, Denver 20 - 57 points 20. Super Bowl XXVII - Dallas 52, Buffalo 17 - 55 points 21. Super Bowl XXXIII - Denver 34, Atlanta 19 - 53 points 22. Super Bowl VI - Dallas 24, Miami 3 - 52 points 23. Super Bowl XX - Chicago 46, New England 10 - 51 points 24. Super Bowl I - Green Bay 35, Kansas City 10 - 50 points T25. Super Bowl XVIII - Los Angeles Raiders 38, Washington 9 - 49 points T25. Super Bowl XXIV - San Francisco 55, Denver 10 - 49 points 27. Super Bowl XXVI - Washington 37, Buffalo 24 - 48 points 28. Super Bowl VIII - Miami 24, Minnesota 7 - 47 points 29. Super Bowl XV - Oakland 27, Philadelphia 10 - 44 points 30. Super Bowl IV - Kansas City 23, Minnesota 7 - 43 points 31. Super Bowl XXXV - Baltimore 34, New York Giants 7 - 42 points T32. Super Bowl II - Green Bay 33, Oakland 14 - 40 points T32. Super Bowl V - Baltimore 16, Dallas 13 - 40 points 34. Super Bowl XXIX - San Francisco 49, San Diego 26 - 39 points 35. Super Bowl XII - Dallas 27, Denver 10 - 38 points 36. Super Bowl XI - Oakland 32, Minnesota 14 - 35 points