2012 Movies

2012 is already going to an amazing year for movies, so much that list will be full of movies that I am very eager to see. We have a movie I never thought would be made since it had to have 4 separate set up movies, a sequel to my all time favorite comic book movie, favorite director returns, and we should have a prequel that doesn't suck (ahem Mr. Lucas).

In no order I give you the movies I cannot wait for in 2012:

The Dark Knight Rises - July 20th -- I am very excited to see what Mr. Nolan has in store for what seems to be his final Batman storyline. Bane (Tom Hardy) is the new bad guy on the block and from what I have seen he looks to not be joking around. I expect quite a lot from this movie, seeing as how the Dark Knight was my favorite comic book movie ever. Throw in Catwoman (Anne Hathaway) and you have a lot going on. This is easily one of the movies I am most anticipating seeing in 2012.




The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - December 14th -- The Lord of the Rings showed that you can make a huge trilogy and make it epic and extremely well done. Once I heard someone else besides Peter Jackson was doing this movie I was already thinking how it was a mistake. The movie gods decided to shine down on this movie and Jackson came back on. He also split up the novel into two parts which means even more LOTR fun! The first three films were #1 on my list of best movies of the last decade, so you know I am eager to see this!



Django Unchained - December 25th -- How else would you ring in Christmas but with some Tarantino slavery themed fun. Needles to say Mr. Tarantino is one of my favorite directors of all time so any movie he touches is something I cannot wait to experience. This time he is doing a period piece about a free slave (Jamie Foxx). The cast is impressive: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joesph Gordon-Levitt, Samuel L. Jackson, Christoph Waltz, and Kurt Russell to name a few will be in the movie. I haven't even seen a trailer and it is easily one of the most anticipated movies for me of 2012.









The Avengers - May 4th -- Marvel films have been on a serious roll with Thor and Captain America being solid entertaining movies that came out last year. All the marvel movies were leading up to the Avengers, which has a lot to live up too. This is a movie that most of the nerd community thought would never happen. I find it extremely cool that this movie is even coming out. I can't wait to see Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, and the rest battle to save the earth. I am also hoping for a lot more then what I have seen in the trailer, namely who is the bad guy and hoping it is not just Loki (from Thor). Avenger assemble!




Prometheus - June 8th -- Ridley Scott returning to his roots to do an Alien prequel of sorts, sign me up! Alien is easily of my favorite horror/sci-fi movies of all time. I was lucky enough to see it at the theater when it was re-released some years back and the movie plays so much better on the big screen. The cast is impressive: Charilze Theron, Michael Fassbender, and Noomi Rapace will star. The trailer had the serious Alien vibe to it and I cannot wait to see what they do with this film.



Lincoln - December (no date set) -- Spielberg directing Daniel Day Lewis as Abraham Lincoln. I am not sure what else is needed to say besides that. Reports from the set is that Lewis had not dropped the accent of Lincoln and will only respond to being called Mr. Lincoln. From the one picture I saw online he seems to have enveloped the role. I am already saying he will be nominated for best actor at the Oscars. I have some high hopes with my favorite actor and director teaming up for the first time.

Brave - June 22nd -- I have to put any Pixar movie on my list because they have all (ok besides Cars 2) been amazing pieces of film. I have faith that Brave will be another movie that surprises me and becomes a favorite. The movie isn't about cars or toys this time around. Seems like they are doing a period piece starring a red haired young lady. As per usual the premise of the Pixar movies never seems be normal and that is why the probably work so well.



The Apocalypse - 2012(?) -- I seriously have no idea what this movie is about besides that is being directed by Seth Rogen and starring Mr. Rogen, Jonah Hill, James Franco, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, and Craig Robinson. All it says on imdb is "Two guys take on the end of the world." If this comes out in 2012 I am there.

The Amazing Spider-Man - July 3rd -- A reboot is a tad early but the old web head has had a few good movies and one amazing one. I am eager to see the new direction they take with a new director( Marc Webb of 500 Days of Summer fame) at the helm. The cast is intriguing with Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, and Rhys Ifans as the Lizard. I am going to go out on a limb and say Ifans will steal the show as the Lizard, but that is just a guess. Spider-Man movie, count me in!



G.I. Joe: Retaliation - June 29th -- I know the first one was a piece of shit, but this is the toys and cartoon I grew up on so I will give them another chance. The trailer looks like ball busting fun. This time it seems like they kill off most of the cast from the first movie (good move!) and throw in some The Rock! Looks like also decided to use the real Cobra Commander (not sure if Joesph Gordon-Levitt is doing a voice). Also has Bruce Willis as the original G.I. Joe. Anyway I am not expecting much here but I just an eager to see a non-stop action movie starring the toys that made my childhood.



Others: Looking forward to seeing Judd Apatow's follow up to Knocked Up, This is 40.... Also we will have a new bond movie Skyfall.... The zombie war movie World War Z stars Brad Pitt and should be good...John Carter looks like it has all the elements of a good sci-fi movie....The Expendables 2 should have more 80's star power and fun.

JAWS filming locations, part 1 - Edgartown: Amity

Knowing that we were going on holiday in the area and that a detour to Martha's Vineyard was easy enough, we absolutely had to go location-hunting for Jaws. Most of the film had been shot there, interiors and exteriors.

Martha's Vineyard is of course different from how Amity Island appears. It's quite large, with several towns. It's history is in whaling, not sharks, with the island of Nantucket just to the east - the opening location for the events of Moby Dick. Ferries, large and small, arrive from all directions from the mainland to several different docks. Amity appears to be quite isolated, but the fast ferry from Hyannis took us less than an hour.

In preparation for a home-made tour, we watched the film and read the paperbacks (see this previous article about the making of Jaws). We were only there two full days - Day 1 was spent in Edgartown, where we stayed. I picked up a copy of Memories of Martha's Vineyard - a map inside confirmed additional locations that we could visit next day. We hired a car for Day 2 and visited all compass points of the island. For those with more time on their hands, there are bus routes over most of the island, as well as coach tours.

Edgartown was used as the hub of the fictional Amity Island. This is where most of the buildings and street scenes were shot. The dock area has been heavily remodelled since the movie, but the tiny car ferry where Police Chief Brody locks horns with the mayor is still operational. This is also where Jaws had a production office. All these locations are only a few minutes away from each other, on foot.

AMITY TOWN HALL

Edgartown Town Hall stood in for Amity Town Hall. 

In the meeting room farthest from the street, the big clock and the curved desk were in the film

Just inside the Town Hall main entrance - note the corridor and floor tiles

The delicatessen is between the Town Hall and the crossroads

An original prop from the movie inside the delicatessen

AMITY MAIN STREET

Amity 'Main Street' - the crossroads where Chief Brody gets caught up with the marching band - turn left here to get to the Town Hall 



This bank at the crossroads is good for getting your bearings



Turn around and go uphill from the crossroads
- this road leads to the 'Amity Police House'

The gatepost (bottom left) was in the shot where Brody leaves the police house from this side entrance and walks (left to right) on a mission to get sign-making supplies

Street view of the Amity Police House (now a private residence)

Across the road from the Amity Police House
is this impressive tree, there at the time of filming

The bike shop in between the Police House and the crossroads

Also on this street - this house stood in for the Amity newspaper office

Back at the crossroads, turn right to go to the docks, or straight ahead to see the 'office'.
The shop you see on the left is where they run the Jaws Walking Tours

The trees behind the crossroads (seen behind the marching band) - leads towards the Jaws Production Office

Jaws production office - front door

Production office - front door

Production office - side entrance

DOCKSIDE

Sheriff, you're going to need a much bigger boat...

Edgartown harbour as it is now

The Edgartown Gallery building influenced the design of Quint's fishing shack (built on the other side of the island)

The gallery is just behind the car ferry
- they avoid showing it clearly in the film

Side view of gallery - as seen from the ferry

CAR FERRY

Pricey for such a short ride, but the road's washed out

You can just see the Edgartown lighthouse in the background

Getting on the ferry - gallery building in the background

Perhaps Spielberg sat here...



On the Chappaquiddick side - Edgartown docks and ferry in the background



Edgartown lighthouse on Chappaquiddick 
- one of five lighthouses on the island

These photos probably appear meaningless to anyone who hasn't seen the movie, and also fairly meaningless even if you have. The memorable action in the film takes place on beaches, no longer recognisable, and at sea, with only the horizon visible in the background. But the visit gave me a great appreciation of how much was done with so little. Of course it means a lot personally to visit the location of a movie that made such a lasting impression 35 years earlier. But really, for anyone to connect with the story, all you have to do is find a beach and be brave enough to enter the water.

On the next part of this tour of Amity Island we'll head south, to the beach, and west to where Quint lived...


JAWS filming locations, part 2 - South and West: bonfire beach and Quint's dock

JAWS filming locations, part 3 - North and East: Brody's house, State Beach

A Jaws-themed Walking Tour is run from Edgartown, click here for details.


This website has a simple hitlist of the best locations - on Movie-Locations.com


This site on IGN was invaluable for before and after pictures.

( All photographs in this post are copyright of Mark Hodgson and David Tarrington © 2011 )

A Merry Christmas to mall!

I've heard of shopping malls with zombies,
but this is ridiculous.

How did I not know about this? A giant Godzilla Christmas tree set up in the Aqua City Mall in Odaiba, Tokyo Bay, back in 2006. Click here for more seasonal Japanese kaiju decorations. 

Is that snow? No wait! Aaaaaah!

Wishing you all a Happy Christmas, and a Happier New Year in 2012...

NFL Power Poll - Week 15

These are the top of the NFL for me right now, these six teams could all make a serious run at the superbowl this season:

1. Green Bay Packers (13-1)

2. New Orleans Saints (11-3)

3. New England Patriots (11-3)

4. San Francisco 49ers (11-3)

5. Baltimore Ravens (10-4)

6. Pittsburgh Steelers (10-4)

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These teams have a good shot at making the playoffs but will need to get hot to upset the elite teams ahead of them. They are all capable of beating an elite team, with some luck:

7. Atlanta Falcons (9-5)

8. Houston Texans (10-4)

9. Denver Broncos (8-6)

10. Detroit Lions (9-5)

11. New York Jets (8-6)

12. Dallas Cowboys (8-6)

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These are teams that need a lot to go right for them to make the playoffs. Poor or inconsistent play has lead them to a point where most likely they cannot decide their own fate, but would need some other teams losses to make the playoffs.

13. New York Giants (7-7)

14. Cincinnati Bengals (8-6)

15. San Diego Chargers (7-7)

16. Seattle Seahawks (7-7)

17. Oakland Raiders (7-7)

18. Arizona Cardinals (7-7)

19. Philadelphia Eagles (6-8)

20. Tennessee Titans (7-7)

21. Chicago Bears (7-7)

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These teams are looking to build for next season. Maybe they will start trying out new guys or rookies and see who will work best for the upcoming season. A lot of these teams play the best at this point in the season because they no longer have anything to lose.

22. Carolina Panthers (5-9)

23. Miami Dolphins (5-9)

24. Kansas City Chiefs (5-9)

25. Washington Redskins (5-9)

26. Cleveland Browns (4-10)

27. Jacksonville Jaguars (4-10)

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These teams are on a serious losing streak or have been losing for most of the season. They most likely are looking to future and possible firing the coaches they have at the helm right now. Do not be surprised to see them drafting high in 2012.

28. Buffalo Bills (5-9)

29. Minnesota Vikings (2-12)

30. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-10)

31. Indianapolis Colts (1-13)

32. St Louis Rams (2-12)

The making of JAWS (1975) - books and documentaries

Jaws is a movie that just keeps on giving. A huge new book and yet another documentary are still unravelling its mysteries. There's a fascination about almost every aspect of the film's production - the script, the acting, the music, the special effects, the cinematography, the logistics...

In September of this year we went on holiday to Massachusetts, staying in Boston and Provincetown, with a deliberate detour to Martha's Vineyard. The latter is the island that stood in for Amity, the fictional location of the community with a shark problem. In 1974, the island had the very real problem of a huge Hollywood film crew that invaded for five months to shoot Jaws.

To try and get the most of this out-of-the-way destination, I went through everything I had on the making of Jaws to pinpoint the main filming locations. What's left to see? Someone must have done an exhaustive location tour of the island by now, but darned if I could find a complete guide online. I will of course share our  photos of what we found with you, but first, here's what's out there about behind-the-scenes of Jaws.

BOOKS

I went back to the two books originally published in 1975 about the making of the film. These helped form a rough guide to where everything was shot.

At the time of release, photographs of the making of the film were very restricted - you'd more likely see photos of a real shark than the mechanical ones. 'The Making Of The Movie Jaws - On Location On Martha's Vineyard' was written by islander Edith Blake, who took publicity photographs and followed the crew around. This is all from the islanders' perspective and particularly good at naming when and where locations were used.

Scriptwriter Carl Gottlieb wrote the view from inside the production team - 'The Jaws Log'. He candidly talks about how the production scraped through by the skin of its pointy teeth. Starting shooting without a complete script, with unproven special effects, on a project that hadn't been attempted before - a story of the sea that was going to be shot at sea, instead of in a studio tank. Over schedule, over budget, with many physical special effects proving so impossible that they had to be 'shot around' and 'written around' until they simply had to work or there wouldn't have been a movie!

Shooting downwards, the camera angle didn't give away that they're in a lagoon

The bays around the island are shallow enough to enable the crew to set up the underwater tracks level for the shark to run on. They could also rig lights, sink boats in the relative safety of shallow water while appearing to be far out to sea. The bays were also wide enough to offer a clear horizon. Shot from the right angle, there would be no coastline visible. It was like the largest studio tank ever. The shape and depth of the bays was the crucial reason why the island was initially chosen.

Having chosen this as a key location, the production then looked over the island for every other building and beach needed for the story, for interiors and exteriors. The town hall, police house, Brody's house, docks, ferries, beaches were all on the island.

Both those books have since been revised and republished in slightly larger paperbacks. But now the best ever book on Jaws is 'Memories From Martha's Vineyard' which has exhaustively checked around for all the photos taken at the time by the islanders. A hefty coffee table book awash with behind-the-scenes photos.

The islanders who found themselves cast in the movie are also all tracked down, interviewed and presented as they are now! Even if they just had one line in the movie... "Pippit! Pippit!"

A large map helped pinpoint some more locations, but it also reveals some scenes that weren't shot at Martha's Vineyard at all. I've been duped again! Turns out that the Jaws ride at Universal Studio in Hollywood was actually a location - for instance, the reshoot of the discovery of Ben Gardner's boat (a scene originally shot at sea, far less effectively in broad daylight) as well as a lot of underwater footage, like the prop shark attacking the cage, and the upwards shots of kicking legs.

But the book is mainly about the epic island shoot, sifted from hundreds of photos taken by islanders who found that there was little preventing them from getting close up to the action, even unwittingly photographing scenes that never made the final cut, or were reshot later. If you got the deluxe version of the book, there's also a DVD of 8mm footage, like the 'Teddy attack' that was rejected by Spielberg as too much...

But the multitude of rare photographs are more revealing than the documentaries, especially about the technical trickery used for many classic sequences. Like revealed is the rig used for the 'shark entering the pond', the elementary woodwork used to support the camera for so many recognisable scenes.

An astonishing book, from fans who didn't even get to see it in the cinema first time round.
Interview with the author of Memories From Martha's Vineyard here

I bought this on the island but didn't have time to read it there. There's a very useful map in it though.

This website was the best guide to how the locations had changed in 35 years, and got us to the best sights. The guide, in two parts, is unfortunately incomplete, only covering the East side of the island.

DOCUMENTARIES

They've little information on locations, but while I'm on the subject, here's a starter guide to the best Jaws documentaries.

The very best ever is the jawesome two-and-a-half hour documentary spread over three sides of the 1995 Signature Collection laserdisc box set. This was subsequently shortened for the 30th Anniversary DVD release. Laurent Bouzereau's epic programme included a few tantalising clips of deleted FX scenes - including a glimpse of that Teddy scene (the guy in the rowing boat - "You guys all right?"). I guess that the relatively small amount of behind-the-scenes footage indicates that Spielberg is still reluctant to demystify the movie too much.

The interviews, including plenty of Spielberg, are the main meat and extremely entertaining, mainly because Richard Dreyfuss is so much fun in it.

In The Teeth Of Jaws (1997) was made for a Jaws evening on the BBC. An hour long, it featured new interviews with Edith Blake, Peter Benchley, Richard Dreyfuss, Zanuck and Brown, though the Spielberg footage is taken from the laserdisc documentary. It offers contemporary footage of the surviving Orca and the film barge at rest in Menemsha (both have since been moved to a less public location). Plus there's a great account of all the writers who tackled the pivotal USS Indianapolis monologue, leaving Robert Shaw, himself a writer, to take all the versions of the scene and nail the final version the night before it was filmed.

The Shark Is Still Working (2009) is an independent production which includes a raft of new interviews designed to supplement what was covered in the 1995 laserdisc documentary. It includes newer interviews with many involved in the production who are sadly no longer with us. The above artwork is how it's planned DVD release would originally have appeared. (The Shark Is Still Working will now be included with the September 2012 Blu-ray release of the new Jaws restoration). Even after everything I've seen on the film, I'm still hungry for more and can't wait to see what they've done. The documentary has a page on Facebook.

Check out this interview with the producers of The Shark Is Still Working here on Cinema Retro...

http://www.cinemaretro.com/index.php?/archives/68-Major-New-Documentary-on-Jaws-Exclusive-Interview!.html

MAGAZINES

I didn't see many serious articles about the making of Jaws in the UK. The usual sources that I'd normally rely on failed to reveal very much. The only detailed coverage I'd expect were Cinefantastique (which reviewed it) and American Cinematographer which did a small piece on it. Hard information about the special effects had to wait for the much later documentaries.

Here's one article that I have from 1976, for the UK release. They actually went and interviewed Spielberg! Because Jaws stayed in UK cinemas for months longer than expected, Film Review presumably ran out of 'puff piece' press releases and had to come up with new material!

It also talks at length about how the film avoided a more restrictive rating. In the UK, Jaws had an 'A' certificate. Anything harsher would have barred anyone under the age of 14 - if it had an 'AA' certificate. James Ferman, then head of the BBFC, is said to have considered the decision carefully, but thought that the second half of the film was an epic adventure film that 10 and 11 year-old boys would enjoy. Worried that younger viewers would get nightmares, Ferman arranged a special screening for children and consulted child psychiatrists. In the end the 'A' certificate was "reinforced" with an extra warning - on the poster is (a fairly small) tagline "May be particularly disturbing to younger unaccompanied children." Strange that the censors will bend over backwards for a blockbuster...

The same article mentions that Spielberg got three percent of the profits! Ker-ching!

A ton of US magazine coverage can be found here at JawsCollector.com.

My review of Jaws is here - having seen it on its first run in the cinema and on every format since.

The first part of my photo-guide to Amity Island will surface shortly...

NFL Power Poll - Week 14

1. Green Bay Packers (13-0)

2. Baltimore Ravens (10-3)

3. New Orleans Saints (10-3)

4. Pittsburgh Steelers (10-3)

5. New England Patriots (10-3)

6. Houston Texans (10-3)

7. San Francisco 49ers (10-3)

8. Denver Broncos (8-5)

9. Atlanta Falcons (8-5)

10. New York Giants (7-6)

11. New York Jets (8-5)

12. Detroit Lions (8-5)

13. Dallas Cowboys (7-6)

14. Tennessee Titans (7-6)

15. Oakland Raiders (7-6)

16. San Diego Chargers (6-7)

17. Cincinnati Bengals (7-6)

18. Arizona Cardinals (6-7)

19. Chicago Bears (7-6)

20. Seattle Seahawks (6-7)

21. Philadelphia Eagles (5-8)

22. Carolina Panthers (4-9)

23. Kansas City Chiefs (5-8)

24. Miami Dolphins (4-9)

25. Jacksonville Jaguars (4-9)

26. Buffalo Bills (5-8)

27. Washington Redskins (4-9)

28. Cleveland Browns (4-9)

29. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-9)

30. Minnesota Vikings (2-11)

31. St Louis Rams (2-11)

32. Indianapolis Colts (0-13)