Jaws

Movie: Jaws

Genre: thriller

Synopsis: Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) is the police chief of Amity, a small east-coast island community whose economy depends on beach visitors.  When a shark attack occurs days before July 4th, the town mayor is unwilling to close the beaches for fear of losing tourist dollars.  It soon becomes apparent that a really big white shark has picked Amity to be its feeding grounds.  A shark expert (Richard Dreyfus) and Chief Brody team up with a grizzled fishing boat skipper (Robert Shaw) to try and hunt and catch the great white.

My two cents: Believe it or not, I had never seen this movie.  When I had the opportunity to see it today in a movie theatre, I jumped at the chance.  I can see why it was such a blockbuster. Even after 36 years, the movie packs a wallop.

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Page One: Inside The New York Times

Movie: Page One: Inside The New York Times

Genre: documentary

Synopsis: This was a fascinating movie.  Without any narration, cameras spent a year inside the New York Times, chronicling how the newspaper is dealing with the tremendous changes being forced on printed news media by the internet. You get to follow around the editor-in-chief and department heads.  The largest part of the movie is devoted to a reporter by the name of David Carr.  David was working on a huge story about the demise of The Tribune Company – owners of The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, among other papers.  There is extensive discussion about the role of printed media in today’s online environment.  About why pay for something that is free on the web?

My two cents: A great movie.  I am a long-time fan of newspapers.  It saddens me to see my daily newspaper getting smaller and smaller.  The Sunday paper is now the size that the weekday paper used to be.  Arguments are made by the web-fans, but nothing convinces me that we do not absolutely need to keep our daily newspapers in business.  Anyone with an interest in news, media, or the impact of the web on printed media will enjoy this documentary.

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The Trip

Movie: The Trip

Genre: road trip

Synopsis: This was an odd movie.  It starred Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon playing themselves.  Steve has gotten an assignment by The Observer to review some of England’s finer restaurants.  He had planned on taking his girlfriend on this trip.  When she pulls out at the last minute, he asks his old friend Rob to accompany him.  The majority of the movie consists of ongoing banter between the two, generally while doing impressions of various famous people.

My two cents: An interesting movie.  A lot of laughs, but was a little bit too different for me.  For the first 45 minutes, it was amusing when they would carry on discussions while doing various impressions.  Then it just got old.  Steve had a few scenes where he was trying to come to terms with how his career has progressed and his ever advancing age -  but there just seemed to be a lack of focus or cohesion in what was going on.  

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