Haze over the skyline, humidity in the air, Wolverine and Star Trek in the megaplex – yep, winter’s finally over and it’s time to dive into summer. (Spring only lasted a couple of weeks, but then spring only ever lasts a couple of weeks in Toronto.)
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In honour of the season – and its attendant wall of blockbuster tentpole movies – the Revue Cinema is screening Steven Spielberg’s Jaws this Tuesday and Wednesday, the better to remind us what perfect summertime entertainment looks like.
Jaws is one of my very favourite movies. It’s pure cinema from the first frame to the last, and it’s one of the few Big Summer Movies driven entirely by character. It’s also scary as hell in its first hour, and almost giddy with tension in the second. Yes, it’s 34 years old and it’s in glorious mono and the shark looks a little creaky by contemporary standards. Doesn’t matter. Spend ten minutes in the dark with it and you’ll be hooked.
Want something of an earlier vintage? The Bloor is playing a 3D print of the original Creature From The Black Lagoon on Monday and Wednesday, as a tie-in with a 3D art exhibit called The Deep Inside. (The event’s Facebook page is here.) As underwater monster movies go, it certainly has its moments, but for enduring filmmaking and thrilling human drama, I gotta go with Spielberg, Scheider and the shark.
One other thing: According to its Hot Docs page, tickets are still available for Sunday evening’s third and final screening of 65_RedRoses, an outstanding documentary that I really can’t recommend highly enough. So just put that in the back of your mind.
