Jaws (1975)

                Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg, is a suspenseful film about a once quiet summer resort town whose waters become plagued by a menacing killer shark.  The film follows main protagonist, police chief Brody, as he tries to keep his town’s water safe from the killer shark, eventually having to hunt it down and kill it himself.

                The suspense and horror created by this film is so intense that since its release nearly 38 years ago, some people are still afraid to go swimming at the beach.  Jaws utilizes various cinematic elements to achieve this high level of suspense.  Arguably the biggest suspense-creating element used is the soundscape during certain scenes.  The “shark’s theme” (Da-Dum, Da-Dum…) used during scenes where the shark stalks its’ victims is so effective in creating an uneasy, suspenseful feeling that it has become one of the most universally known tones.  Another cinematography element used to convey suspense are the POV shots from the shark’s point of view as it approaches its victim.  These low angle POV shots create a helpless, uneasy feeling in the viewer as they watch the shark slowly approach oblivious swimmers, knowing that they are about to be doomed. 

                Spielberg does an excellent job in marrying all these cinematic elements together to create a timeless horror film, sure to scare people out of the water for decades to come.  

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)

Side note: This is a spanish spoken film, which I had to view with english subtitles. The original title of the film is "El Laberinto del fauno" 

                Pan’s Labyrinth, written and directed by Guillermo Del Toro, is a Spanish-spoken dark fantasy film about a young girl named Ofelia who encounters a faun which claims that Ofelia is a princess from another realm and must complete three tasks to prove herself.  During her quest to fulfill these tasks, Ofelia encounters various mystical creatures which guard certain relics that she must retrieve and return to the faun.  Ofelia completes the first task with ease and is given her second task from the faun, this time with strict warnings.  Ofelia fails to heed these warnings but still manages to complete the task, much to the faun’s disappointment.  After some time, the faun returns and forgives Ofelia for her mistake and gives her the third task, which is to retrieve her newborn brother and bring him to the labyrinth.  Ofelia retrieves her brother from her crazed step-father who chases after her to the labyrinth.  There the faun tells Ofelia to hand over her baby brother so he can use some of his blood to open the portal to their realm.  Ofelia refuses and the faun disappears right as her crazed step-father arrives and shoots her dead.  Ofelia’s blood spills into the labyrinth and she wakes up in a mystical castle where she is appointed princess.

                The cinematography, production design, and theme all work together harmoniously to create a dark yet magical film.  The element that contributes most to make this such a great film is without a doubt the flawless production design.  Special effects, makeup, and CGI all contribute to making the mystical creatures in Pan’s Labyrinth come to life.  One design choice I was particularly happy about was the choice to make the two main creatures, the faun and the Pale Man, live actors with heavy makeup and costumes rather than creating them purely with CGI.  The excellent set design and lighting of the actual labyrinth creates a world within a world which is hard to describe in words.  The unique storyline of this film also sets it apart from the mass of stereotypical fairy tale movies.  Unlike typical fairy tale movies, the characters of Pan’s Labyrinth actually seem like real people facing real problems.  This heavy focus on realism sprinkled with Ofelia’s fairy tale encounters can induce quite the noggin’ scratcher on whether Ofelia is actually interacting with these mystical creatures as we see or if she is actually imagining them.  This realization was the one thing above all else that made me realize that this was an excellent movie, after it was over it made me think, and rethink, to the point that I wanted to watch it again.

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

              Reservoir Dogs (written and directed by Quentin Tarantino) is an independent film about eight criminals who plan and execute a diamond store heist which goes horribly wrong and amidst the chaos the crew must decide if one amongst them is an undercover cop.  The crew consists of six professional criminals who have never met, and two crime bosses who organized the scheme.    Throughout the film, the remaining criminals return to a warehouse to deal with the aftermath of the botched robbery and attempt to uncover the identity of the one who betrayed them.

                Reservoir Dogs utilizes a variety of different cinematic elements and techniques to convey a highly intense and dramatic atmosphere.  One of these elements is a non-linear storyline.  The way in which this non-linear story is presented is that the post-robbery scenes shot within the warehouse are occurring in “real-time” and are briefly interrupted with flashbacks of past events to give the audience critical background information at key points within the film.  Tarantino did an excellent job with the timing and placement of these flashback scenes which changes up the mood of the film at times, and keeps the audience’s interest peaked.  Another interesting technical element used in this film was the abundance and length of many scenes utilizing a “long shot”, in which the actors interact at a relatively far distance away from the camera for extended periods of time, occasionally moving closer while the camera stays in a fixed position.  This creates a more realistic atmosphere that makes the audience feel like they are actually in the warehouse and less aware that they are watching a movie as opposed to films that utilize more close ups and thus requires “cutting” between different actors faces.  The film also makes use of a fair amount of long-takes and steadicam shots to add to the realistic effect.  One notable example (which can be viewed below) of a well executed long-take/steadicam shot occurs while one of the criminals is torturing a cop.  The camera follows behind the criminal as he walks out of the warehouse to his car and then back to his original location, all in one continuous shot.  While this continuous and free flowing shot adds realism, the main contribution to the realistic effect is accomplished by the diegetic soundscape created by a song playing from an in-scene radio.  As the camera (and audience) follow the criminal out of and back into the warehouse, the volume of the song changes accordingly with the location of the camera, creating a realistic soundscape.  All the elements in this scene were extremely well executed by the director, the cinematographer, and the sound designer. 

           Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs makes for a great watch with its interesting plot and excellent execution by all who were responsible for the technical aspects of the actual filming.  It should be noted that due to some scenes of excessive violence and the abundance of foul language throughout, some viewers may be easily offended by this movie.

            

                                          SKIP TO TIME 2:09. END AT 3:35 

             

  

(for all the Tarantino fans out there...) 

         

            

 Batman Returns (1992)

Tim Burton’s “Batman Returns” lives up to expectations in this delightfully dark, action packed film.  The plot of Batman Returns is centered around main protagonist Batman aka Bruce Wayne and his struggles upholding order and justice in the fictional city of Gotham.  The main antagonist is a deformed villain named “Penguin” whose initial plan is to blackmail a powerful man, Max Shreck, into helping him become a respected and powerful figure of Gotham.  Shreck, who plans to build a power-draining plant, learns that his secretary Selina Kyle knows of his plan and pushes her out of the building’s window, presumably killing her.  Selina’s body is then swarmed by stray cats which brings her back to life as the super-villain “Catwoman”.  Catwoman and the Penguin eventually team up in an attempt to get rid of Batman and attempt to frame him for murder.  Batman prevails and exposes the Penguin’s ulterior motives which drives him back into the sewers where he formulates a new plan to kill Gotham’s first born sons.  Batman foils the Penguin’s plans once again and a show-down between Batman, the Penguin, Catwoman, and Shreck occurs in the Penguin’s lair where Catwoman finally exacts her revenge on Shreck, and the Penguin is killed.

            Anyone who knows Tim Burton’s style knows what to expect of the overall atmosphere before viewing Batman Returns; a dark setting and a gloomy overall atmosphere.  Batman Returns is no exception; the setting takes place in a mostly drab city during a cold, snowy winter.  Tim Burton and the production designer Bo Welch do a phenomenal job of creating the overall visual atmosphere within Batman Returns.  The design and appearance of the sets perfectly portrays a bleak and crime riddled city characteristic of the Batman universe, which cannot compare to any “real” location that could have been chosen to be used for this film.  A few minutes into the film and the audience is already immersed in a dark, gothic type atmosphere with leafless trees of winter, and colorless run-down buildings.  The makeup and costumes of the actors all work exceptionally well contributing to this gothic theme, with those of the Penguin and Catwoman being the best examples. The Penguin’s short, round stature, flipper-like hands, and makeup all give him the appearance of an evil penguin villain.  Catwoman’s stitched-up costume is a great representation of her shattered innocence “re-stitched” together to form a new vengeful personality.  All these elements contribute to the effect that the audience is immersed within the Gotham universe.

            As far as the plot of the film goes, it feels rather rushed given all the sub-plots taking place and some story aspects are never addressed.  One unexplained event is how the Penguin managed to acquire his evil gang of circus performers if he has presumably never left the sewers before using them to kidnap Max Shreck? One silly aspect of the film is the Penguin’s army of suicidal penguins.  I couldn’t help but laugh during the scene where the missle-strapped penguins march to bomb Gotham square.  If the desired effect of this scene was comedic, then by all means it was perfect.  The biggest letdown of the film is how the climax was resolved. It felt rather unsatisfying when the Penguin died simply from falling into the water of his lair rather than a dramatic fight scene.  Albeit for some arguably minor flaws, the overall storyline makes for a great movie.

            Any fan of Tim Burton’s style, Batman lovers, or anyone who just wants to watch a good movie should absolutely give Batman Returns a go.  The overall immersive atmosphere of Batman Returns makes the viewer feel like they are actually present in Gotham city watching firsthand all the events that unfold and makes this two hour movie seem like it was only a few minutes long.