Tag Archives: Jaws

The Godfather Trilogy

Adapting Mario Puzo’s best-selling novel, Francis Ford Coppola drew up several themes lying dormant within its pages and augmented them in a uniquely cinematic fashion to create a masterful saga.

401. Close Encounters of the Third Kind

For my final podcast, I look at how Steven Spielberg effectively remade his first feature, Firelight to deliver a message of hope.

377. Mindhunter

Mindhunter marks the fourth time David Fincher has depicted serial-killers. Far from resorting to tired clichés, with the second season he has again broken new ground.

357. The Shining

In adapting Stephen King’s best-seller, Stanley Kubrick drew on a genre other than horror and used a new motif that he would repeat for the rest of his career.

322. Yi Yi

As the title to Edward Yang’s masterpiece indicates, Yi Yi is a series of doubles; narrative, thematic, visual and aural, that deliver a subtle family portrait.

209. Raiders of the Lost Ark

Thirty-five years old, Spielberg’s classic was inspired by more than just the Saturday matinee serials he watched as a child.

207. Jerry Maguire

“Show me the money.” “Shut up, you had me at hello.” For such a quotable film, Jerry Maguire’s most important line is “Fewer clients. Less money.”

195. Minority Report

Critics often chide Steven Spielberg for inappropriate optimism and not knowing when to end his films. They should reconsider Minority Report.

157. Jaws

For all the fun stories and anecdotes about how the shark didn’t work, none of them help explain how Steven Spielberg managed to deliver a masterpiece.

150. The Bridge on the River Kwai

With this Oscar winning classic, David Lean stopped being an ‘English filmmaker’ and became an ‘international star director’.

American Trailers

This extended video-essay charts the development and possible future of the America movie trailer. Beginning in 1912, taking in the coming of television and suggesting where it might go in the age of the internet.

116. Fight Club

When it was released, Fight Club was rubbished by critics and rejected by audiences. Now it’s regarded as a masterpiece. So what changed people’s minds?

71. The Summer Blockbuster

With young audiences off from school, Hollywood knows there is more money to be made in the summer than at any other time.

45. Spielberg & Friends

Steven Spielberg is one of Hollywood’s most influential filmmakers ever, so what accounts for his phenomenal success?

19. Trailers

The first trailer dates from 1912 and ever since then, they have been carefully refined to make sure that they attract the right audience.


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