Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Jaws (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet)


5 stars and the dvd is a bargain
Well, I bought the DVD dts and I think you'll like the extras such as the outtakes, deleted scenes, and especially an excellent documentary. You'll get the behind the scenes from Spielberg, the actors, photographers, and the producers. In today's film world this movie could be made rather easily, but back then you'll see the tremendous undertaking that went into this production. The movie itself, of course, is just amazing. At one point Spielberg says that the shark is the star, but the scenes on the boat will show you 3 stars at the top of their game. The sound quality is outstanding and exact, but I do have one complaint.... on the 5.1 DTS their isn't much activity from the back 2 speakers. The sound coming from the front 3 is great, but they could have done more. This movie is just as suspenseful as when I saw it in the mid-seventies. I hadn't really watched it in awhile and I had forgotten the outstanding acting performances by Scheider, Dreyfuss, and Shaw...
Finally On DVD
Jaws was Stephen Spielberg's first hit and after his initial reluctance to release his movies on DVD, it finally makes its DVD debut. We all know the story, a great white shark terrorizes the waters off of Amity Island. The movie is based on Peter Benchey's best-selling novel. This is one of the rare instances where a movie is actually better than the book it was based on. In Mr. Benchey's novel, there is are some extraneous sections such as an affair between Ellen Brody and Hooper that really don't add to the story. The movie streamlines the book and the changes made bringing it to the screen actually improve on the book. The performances of three stars are superb. Roy Scheider plays Chief Brody as an everyman. We can all relate with him as he is just trying do his job and the right thing but is caught in the middle. He wants to close the beaches to catch the shark, but the people he is protecting want them opened as the water is the source of their livelihoods...
JAWS Dazzles on Blu-Ray
The original summer blockbuster, Steven Spielberg's JAWS quickly became my favorite film growing up, having devoured it on VHS and on ABC's Sunday Night Movie presentation (the one with the added footage) so many times I could recite dialogue before I was out of grade school. Over the years I've been able to see it on the big screen (thanks to a visit with Lukas on Martha's Vineyard back in `96 or so), but despite that - and having reviewed numerous laserdisc and DVD releases over the years - only now with Universal's Blu-Ray edition do I feel like I've really, completely seen "Jaws." This is a spectacular HD presentation on every level and is sure to thrill fans of this classic 1975 screen adaptation of Peter Benchley's bestseller.

There's not much I can say about the movie that hasn't been written or documented - from behind-the-scenes books to countless documentaries - since the film's 1975 release date. Spielberg's miraculous direction took advantage of every difficult...
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