skjam

Parasite (2019) dir. Bong Joon-ho

When we first meet the Kim family of Seoul, South Korea, they're living in a cramped, insect-infested basement apartment. No one currently has a paying job, so they're having to steal wi-fi from the neighbors to try to get any quick temp assignments they can, like folding pizza boxes for a day. Ki Woo (Choi Woo-sik), the eldest son, wasn't able to get into college despite his good English skills, and wasn't able to turn his mandatory military service into a lasting career. However, his school friend Min (Park Seo-joon), who did get into a good university, drops by and offers Ki Woo a tempting job opportunity.

Min has been the English tutor to wealthy high school girl Park Da Hye (Jung Ji-so) for a while, but is headed overseas for further study. He rather fancies Da Hye and plans to court her once she is also an adult, so doesn't want to turn her tutoring over to some other fellow he can't trust. With his excellent English skills and trustworthiness, Ki Woo is someone Min thinks can do the job properly. Problem! Ki Woo doesn't have any of the qualifying documents or references. Min suggests just lying--Park mother Yeon Kyo (Cho Yeo-jeong) is not the brightest and is easily fooled.

Ki Woo's artistic but kind of lazy sister Ki Jung (Park So-dam) whips him up some fake documents to make it look like he went to a good school. Yeon Kyo is mildly buzzed during the job interview and sure enough doesn't notice anything wrong. She also gives him the Western name "Kevin" as English tutors use such names and it sounds classier to her. Yeon Kyo does oversee the first lesson, and Ki Woo demonstrates that he's actually pretty good at tutoring. She happens to mention that her young son Da Song (Jung Hyun-jun) needs a new art tutor as the extremely active boy keeps driving them off.

This gives an opportunity for Ki Woo to introduce Ki Jung as "Jessica", a friend of a friend who's Korean-American and went to art school in Chicago. Ki Jung does a quick wiki search on "art therapy" and bullshits her way through the interview, but does catch that Da Song is working through some trauma and bonds with the boy. She also realizes that this scam can be extended to get her parents employed as well.

Driver Yoon (Park Keun-rok) is easily framed to get him replaced by Kim patriarch Ki Taek (Song Kang-ho), who among his many short-lived previous jobs has picked up excellent driving skills. Housekeeper Moon Gwang (Lee Jeong-eun) is harder to dislodge, as she came with the house (the original owner was also the designer, famed architect Namgoong.) It takes discovering a secret weakness to get her replaced by the Kim mother, Chung Sook (Jang Hye-jin), a former athlete and also a good cook. At last, the entire family is making good money!

However, the Namgoong house has a dark secret hidden within its walls, and the Kim family are about to reap the consequences of their actions.

This contemporary thriller won Best Picture at the Oscars, the first time a foreign-language film had ever done so. It has darkly comedic moments before the full reveal of what's going on and the horrific climax.

The movie leans heavily into social commentary. For example, the Kim family has decently good clothing for job seeking, as many poor people do, but their substandard living conditions have given them a distinct scent that marks them apart from the rich Park family. Once Park father Dong-ik (Lee Sun-kyun) notices it, he can't stop commenting on the smell, not noticing how this is getting under the skin of Ki Taek.

And despite their wealth and social status, the Park family isn't a very happy one. They're estranged from each other in various ways, so it's easy for the Kim family to fill emotional needs for them. It's not that the Parks are evil, or even particularly mean, but they are thoughtless and insensitive, especially Dong-ik.

The movie is shot well, with sets designed to symbolize the themes of social difference and division, and how poverty "flows downhill." The acting is skillful enough to overcome the language barrier even for those not used to subtitles.

At first, it doesn't seem like the Kim family's plans are all that bad. They're good at the jobs they're applying for, and scamming rich people in return for actual value can come off as an objectively funny crime. But depriving other people of jobs hurts them (Ki Woo and Ki Taek have a brief moment of conscience over the fate of Driver Yoon), and there is more at stake than they initially realize. Their greed gets people killed.

Content note: Gory violence, some fatal. There's on-screen but clothed sex. Ki Woo and Da Hye are attracted to each other--he's an adult and she's a minor, though Ki Woo (and Min) state that he's going to wait until she's out of high school before going further. A person's allergies are deliberately triggered. Classism. Usage of Native American stereotypes. Sewage erupts through a toilet. Some rough language. This is definitely an "R" movie.

Overall: This is very different from the other Best Pictures I've watched this month which gives it extra punch. Bong is a good director, and I like all the movies I've seen of his. Most recommended to thriller fans with strong literacy so they can follow the subtitles.

Woman on the Run (1950) dir. Norman Foster

Frank Johnson (Ross Elliott) is out walking his dog Rembrandt (uncredited) one evening when he witnesses a gangland slaying. He gets a good look at the killer, but not vice versa as the gunman shoots at his shadow instead before driving off. When the police, led by Inspector Ferris (Robert Keith), arrive, Frank slowly realizes that if the gangsters killed one witness, they'll have no qualms about killing him. While the cops fetch his wife Eleanor Johnson (Ann Sheridan), Frank slips away.

Eleanor is a bitter woman and their marriage is on the rocks. She's initially convinced that Frank isn't so much running from the gangsters as finding a convenient excuse to run out on her. Inspector Ferris is not so sure about that, and searches the unhappy couple's apartment for clues to where Frank might run. It's notable that there are no photos of Frank, who is nondescript and hates any picture of himself. But there's lovely sketches and paintings of Eleanor as Frank is a high-strung amateur artist who is his own worst critic, which is why he refuses to sell his work or have it exhibited.

Ferris puts a watch on the Johnsons' apartment, and Eleanor escapes through the skylight. Only to discover that Dan Legget (Dennis O'Keefe), a particularly persistent reporter, has staked out that escape route. Dan promises to help Eleanor look for Frank in exchange for an exclusive interview. Eleanor ditches him as soon as she can, but he shows up again anyway and she's largely forced to allow him to join her.

This movie makes good use of the San Francisco location, not just the streetcars and Chinatown, but the overwhelming number of sailors in the city and businesses that cater to their needs. (But the murder location is in Los Angeles and the end amusement park scenes are in Santa Monica.) It gives the movie a strong sense of being in an actual place.

Over the course of the plot, Eleanor learns a lot of things she didn't know about her husband. Surprisingly, most of them are good. Neither of them had communicated properly. Between his inability to handle showing his art to the public and her demands that he finally amount to something, things had escalated to the point they were barely talking, and even then only to quarrel. But it would seem that Frank still loves Eleanor, and just maybe she still loves him back.

Which would be lovely if there weren't still gangsters out to kill Frank for what he knows.

Ann Sheridan is good as Eleanor, and Mr. O'Keefe also does a fine job. In small but crucial roles, we have Sam (Victor Sen Yung) and Suzie (Reiko Sato) a pair of Chinese nightclub dancers. Their stage makeup is kind of cringy, but once out of it, they're refreshingly non-stereotyped for the time period.

There are some nice suspenseful moments, such as when Eleanor is trapped on a roller coaster when she finally makes an important connection.

The ending is maybe a touch too glib to be a proper noir.

This movie is in the public domain, but I am told most of the copies floating around are very bad transfers. You may want to seek out the good restoration version. Recommended to black and white thriller fans.

Maniac (1963) dir. Michael Carreras (aka "The Maniac")

Four years ago, French schoolgirl Annette Beynat (Liliane Brousse) was raped by a neighbor. That man was caught in the act by her father Georges, who decided not to turn him over to the police, but instead use an acetylene torch to murder him in a manner so horrific it even made the American newspapers. Deemed insane by the court, Georges has languished in an insane asylum ever since.

In the present day, American artist Jeff Farrell (Kerwin Matthews) comes to Camargue, a rural area of Southern France noted for its horse ranches. He quarrels with his current lover, a spoiled rich woman, and since she owns the car, is now stranded in the small village where Annette and her stepmother Eve (Nadia Gray) operate Georges' inn. Jeff immediately finds Annette (now 19) attractive and flirts with her. She in turn seems to be somewhat attracted to the exotic Yank and open to romantic feelings for the first time since the incident.

Eve also sees something in Jeff, and with her greater experience and more direct approach, wins him away from Annette, so the two older people are soon having an affair. Problem! While Eve is no longer in love with Georges, she still feels loyalty to him, visiting him every week in the asylum, and unable to get a divorce because Catholic. She has a plan, though. Georges, she says, is actually much better now and could live in the outside world if it weren't that revealing he's no longer insane would simply get him transferred to regular prison. If he's sprung from the asylum, Georges has promised to go overseas, send for Annette, and leave Eve free to move on with her life.

Jeff, romantic that he is, is okay with this plan, though Annette is uncomfortable with it. Especially the illegal parts. Eve and Jeff decide to go through with it anyway, meeting the escapee (Donald Houston behind a thick mustache and dark glasses) and driving him to the docks where a ship is waiting.

The next morning, Inspector Etienne (George Pastell) is questioning the residents of the inn, who claim to know nothing of Georges' escape. Before he leaves, the police officer drops a bit of a bombshell. Two men are missing from the asylum. Quickly, the simple plan unravels in a series of twists.

This film is another of Hammer Studios' early crime thrillers before they pivoted to horror. We never see what Georges does with the torch, nor is it described beyond that it made the American papers, it was that horrific. But the opening is all the lurid stuff we get for a long while. The movie takes its own sweet time developing the romantic relationships before the halfway point when the escape happens. Finally, it's rollercoaster time!

The acting is generally okay, though the French accents sometimes are less than intelligible (can't speak to their authenticity. Jeff gets stiffer as the movie moves into the thriller section of the plotline.

The landscapes are pleasant, especially the abandoned quarry at the climax. Might have looked even better in color.

Content note: Off-camera murder, we see corpses after except for the first one for obvious reasons. Some lesser violence. A little blood. Off-camera rape, consensual extramarital sex. Female toplessness from the back. Adults smoke and drink alcohol, not always wisely. It's implied the local boys see Annette as "soiled goods."

Worth seeing once just to enjoy all the twists. Recommended for patient viewers who are okay with a slow buildup that's more romance than suspense.

The Adventures of Tartu (1943) dir. Harold S. Bucquet

Dateline: London, 1940. The Blitz is on, and recovery crews are working on a damaged hospital. One of the German bombs failed to go off, and Captain Terence Stevenson (Robert Donat) is called on to disarm it. (I got Danger: UXB flashbacks.) This task is complicated by the presence of a little boy patient who can't be moved and the nurse taking care of him. Everyone involved demonstrates the British stiff upper lip. Tense moments later, the bomb is disarmed, but Captain Stevenson is called to Headquarters.

It turns out that our protagonist was in civilian life a chemical engineer, and due to his background is fluent in both Romanian and German. Even though he's not been trained in spycraft, Captain Stevenson turns out to be the man the British need for a desperate mission. It seems they've received information that the Germans are developing a new poison gas in occupied Czechoslovakia. And as it just so happens, a chemical engineer and member of the Romanian Iron Guard, Jan Tartu, has fallen into the hands of the Resistance and died. They've managed to conceal this fact from the Fascists, so the plan is to have our hero impersonate Tartu and infiltrate the Nazi poison gas factory.

Jan Tartu soon pops up at the German consulate in Czechoslovakia, fleeing the Romanian Resistance, and is accepted as a guest worker. He's a foppish lecher who's even more enthusiastic about being a Nazi than the German soldiers. Tartu is assigned Inspector Otto Vogel (Walter Rilla) as his mentor, and billeted at the house of widow Anna Palacek (Phyllis Morris) where Otto has a room. Also in the house is Anna's adult daughter Paula (Glynis Johns), who does forced labor at the artillery shell plant, and the beautiful collaborator Maruschuka Lanova (Valerie Hobson).

Tartu's one contact in the Underground is caught by the Gestapo within moments of their meeting and executed. So he must navigate the task of getting assigned to the poison gas laboratory and contacting the local resistance to help blow it up without an easy entry. Perhaps his charm and cunning will help?

This propaganda film (also known as Sabotage Agent) was designed to raise British morale by depicting their secret agents as heroes while the Nazis are cruel, corruptible and greedy. Robert Donat is clearly having a lot of fun in his dual role as the upright Stevenson and the slimy (yet with a moral core) Tartu. Maruschuka is smoldering as the woman who's playing up to the invaders for a chance to regain her family fortune...and/or get information to the Underground.

Because of the film standards of the time, much of the reality of Nazi occupation has to be softened for the screen. Those denounced are taken away to be executed offscreen, Maruschuka keeps her clothes on during liaisons (a big moment is when she takes off her hat) and there's no mention of extermination of specific groups of people. The poison gas is only described and we never see it in action.

In the last few minutes, his identity as a spy revealed, Tartu/Stevenson gets to be an action hero, punching and shooting Nazis. (It's a bit rushed to finish the movie in a reasonable time limit.) The gas factory has some impressive sets, though I suspect they were mostly painted backdrops.

I was pleased to discover my copy was the British version of the film, which includes a brief scene of Stevenson saying farewell to his mother that was clipped from the American cut.

This is a decent thriller with good casting, even if it's pretty obvious propaganda. Well worth watching if you like your spy stories to have clear good and bad guys.

The Snorkel (1958) dir. Guy Green

Paul Decker (Peter van Eyck) has gotten away with murder before. Years ago, he murdered his wealthy friend Mr. Brown by drowning him in a boating "accident" so that he could marry the widow and her considerable inheritance, including an Italian villa near the French border. Now Mrs. Decker has outlived her attractiveness and usefulness to Paul. He comes up with a brilliant plan to commit the perfect crime, using the device mentioned in the title.

At first it's working a treat. Both the local police inspector (Gregoire Aslan) and British consul Wilson (William Franklyn) see that there's no possible way Mrs. Decker's death could be anything but a suicide. Soon, however, there's a bit of a hitch. Paul's stepdaughter Candace "Candy" Brown (Mandy Miller) arrives from her boarding school in England earlier than expected (by Paul), accompanied by her governess Jean Edwards (Betta St. John) and dog Toto (Flush). Candy isn't buying the suicide verdict for a moment--her mother was expecting her, had no reason to take her own life, and there's no note or letter as you'd normally expect from such a carefully planned suicide. Plus, she witnessed Paul killing her father as a little girl, and although no one has ever believed her, she's never trusted the man since. Toto almost gives away Paul's hiding place, but unlike his The Wizard of Oz namesake, no one pays attention to his antics.

What little credence the authorities give to Candy's testimony is dispelled when it turns out that Paul was in France the whole time, giving him an unbreakable alibi. Not deterred by this setback, the teenager continues snooping and asking questions, picking at the edges of Paul's elaborate plan. There's no help for it, Paul will have to shut her up permanently!

This thriller came from Hammer Films a few years before they struck on their horror formula and is a clear precursor to those movies. There's excellent camerawork and the opening scene is especially well done. It's a silly and overelaborate way to commit murder, but that's what makes it intriguing. The middle part is less inventive, but it leads to a mostly satisfying ending.

Van Eyck does a good job as the cold-blooded killer. Mr. Decker is a writer of novels, but apparently not a very successful one as it's established early on he doesn't have his own money and didn't like his wife spending hers for herself. He's also probably not a mystery writer or someone would have noted an ability to think up locked room murders. He's superficially charming, which has taken in everyone but Candy. The plot requires Paul to demonstrate strong swimming skills a couple of times, something the casting director forgot to mention to the actor.

Candy is afflicted with Cassandra levels of no one ever believing her when she states the truth. Her dog dies abruptly after Paul was the last person seen with it? Clearly a total coincidence! Paul tries to murder her in exactly the same way as her mother? She was clearly trying to commit suicide herself! She's threatened with the loony bin if she doesn't stop making these wild accusations.

It's played relatively subtly, but I suspect Jean is sweet on her employer, which contributes to her ignoring clear warning signs and not taking simple precautions like never leaving Candy alone with Mr. Decker, despite knowing what the girl thinks of her stepfather. Wilson's failure to catch on is a bit more excusable as he doesn't know the family well and isn't trained in detective work or how to deal with teenagers.

Content note: Murder, attempted murder, death of a dog. Candy is throughout the film treated as delusional even though she's absolutely correct about what's going on.

This isn't one of the true masterpieces of suspense cinema, but it's good enough that you won't regret seeing it. Recommended to old-style thriller fans.

Suddenly (1954) dir. Lewis Allen

Back during the gold rush, Suddenly, California was the kind of place where things happen in a hurry. Nowadays, it's a much sleepier town. Slim the deputy (Paul Wexler) jokes to a passing motorist that the town fathers are considering changing the name to "Gradually." But today's going to be a little different. Sheriff Tod Shaw (Sterling Hayden) learns that the president of the United States of America (never named or seen) will be getting off the train there for a trip to a vacation resort. Security needs to be tight, especially as the Secret Service has it on good authority that an assassination attempt is in the works.

To make sure the president's safe, the Secret Service has called in the sheriff's department, police officers from the nearest large city, and the FBI. Or at least that's what FBI agent John Baron (Frank Sinatra) and his two co-workers claim. He's come to make sure the house on the hill overlooking the train station is secure.

The inhabitants of the house are "Pop" Benson (James Gleason), a former top Secret Service agent who took a bullet to the heart and miraculously survived, but was invalided out; Ellen Benson (Nancy Gates), Pop's daughter-in-law whose husband was killed in Korea, giving her a hatred of guns; and Pidge Benson (Kim Charney), her eight-year-old son who doesn't understand his mother's fears and likes watching violent movies and playing with the cap gun Sheriff Shaw gave him.

When the head Secret Service agent and Sheriff Shaw arrive at the house, Mr. Baron reveals his true colors by shooting both men. The agent is killed, and Tod badly wounded, allowing him to be taken captive. It turns out that John Baron and his two accomplices are mobsters, John being an expert hitman who's been paid to assassinate the president. The people in the house are held hostage so that Baron can make his shot from this perfect angle. Tense drama ensues.

This black and white thriller did modest box office, but has gained notoriety for certain similarities to the Kennedy assassination a decade later. It's very much a star vehicle for Frank Sinatra, who does an excellent turn as the seemingly cold-blooded killer who enjoys shooting people a little too much.

John Baron is quick to claim that he's not a traitor, or really working against the interests of the United States. He won a Silver Star in World War Two (but then was released on a Section Eight.) He doesn't know who the money is coming from for the assassination, but considers those people suckers as if the president dies, he'll simply be replaced by the vice-president; and things will go on exactly as they would have otherwise for the enemies of America. Baron is thrilled, however, by the prospect of killing such a prominent person, and perhaps being the first person to ever successfully get away with a presidential assassination.

Baron's good at making plans, and things go relatively smooth at first, but starts coming unglued once the situation starts throwing curveballs at him. His henchmen Wheeler (Christopher Dark) and Benny (Paul Frees in a rare non-voice acting role) aren't as good at planning or as confident about the chances of success.

This movie wears its values on its sleeves. A dying stoolie is "proud to be an American." Tod's pursuit of Ellen for marriage despite her repeatedly making it clear she's not interested seems noxious to modern eyes, but it's eventually made clear that her objection is not because she doesn't love him, but because he carries a gun in the performance of his duties. Ellen is depicted as entirely wrong in her hatred of guns and war, with the men in her life insisting that it's not a matter of guns being dangerous, but who holds the gun and uses it for which purpose. Baron is the wrong man to have a gun, because he thinks it makes him powerful and important, a "somebody", when he kills. But Pop, Sheriff Shaw, and even Pidge are the right men to have guns, because they use them to protect.

Content notes: Pidge, a child, is repeatedly threatened with death. Gun violence, not particularly bloody but repeatedly fatal. May not be suitable for small children or sensitive viewers.

Overall: A pretty good short thriller which will appeal most to Frank Sinatra fans.

Scared to Death (1947) dir. Christy Cabanne

There's an unusually chatty corpse in the morgue tonight, and it wants to tell us all about how it got there. Laura Van Ee (Molly Lamont) made a poor choice in marrying Ward Van Ee (Roland Varno), son of eminent physician Dr. Joseph Van Ee (George Zucco). It was a drunken bet gone horribly wrong and the two younger people despise each other. Ward would be willing to grant her a divorce, but Laura's holding out for more money, and she's also pretty sure the two men are trying to drive her insane. (It's noted that she has a phobia of anything covering her face--Laura wouldn't have done well in 2020!)

The house is excessively full tonight. Local security guard and former police officer Bill Raymond (Nat Pendleton) is romancing the disinterested maid Lilybeth (Gladys Blake) between bouts of yearning for a crime to happen. A Professor Leonide (Bela Lugosi), professional magician and former inmate of the house when it was an insane asylum, has arrived along with his deaf-mute little person companion Indigo (Angelo Rossito). He has history with Dr. Van Ee, history that might be bad for the doctor's reputation, and prevails on that man to be allowed to stay. A Mrs. Williams (Dorothy Christie) also drops by with hints about the doctor's past. Terry Lee (Douglas Fowley), reporter for the Times, and his slightly dim phone operator girlfriend Jane Cornell (Joyce Compton) also pop by once there's a report of mysterious goings-on. Plus, there's someone lurking about in a green mask who may or may not be any of those people.

Various spooky things happen, and Laura ends up--scared to death!

This comedy-thriller is best known for being Lugosi's one starring role in a color movie. He does his best with the material handed him, alternately jolly or menacing as the scene requires. But the script is thin stuff, hoping to distract with complications instead of weaving a complete web. Why is there a little person? To distract the audience, apparently. Entire subplots are just dropped between scenes.

And the comedy and thriller bits don't mesh well either, making this feel more like a movie that can't make up its mind what it wants to be, rather than a coherent blend of genres. The music is poorly planned as well. You can see good ideas peeping out from behind the curtains, but they are never allowed to take center stage.

Overall, a mediocre movie which is for Legosi fans and the "make wisecracks while watching movies" crowd.

Absolution (1978) dir. Anthony Page

Father Goddard (Richard Burton) teaches Latin and Doctrine at St. Anthony's, a Catholic boarding school for boys. A joyless man, Father Goddard is also a form master who oversees the dormitory for one group of the students. Two boys in his form are of special interest. Benjamin "Benjie" Stanfield (Dominic Guard) is bright, athletic and good-looking. Father Goddard thinks he may have the makings of a priest and favors him. Arthur Dyson (David Bradley) has a damaged leg he must wear a brace on, has a tendency to wander off topic in class, and is a suck-up to Benjie. Father Goddard finds him annoying and vaguely unsettling.

Things start heating up when Benjie runs across a drifter called Blakey (Billy Connolly) in the school's forest. Uncomfortable with his role as the teacher's pet, Benjie bonds with the banjo-playing vagabond. Father Goddard, quite naturally, does not approve on several levels.

Benjie decides to abuse the seal of the Confessional by claiming that he's murdered Blakey and buried him in a shallow grave. When Father Goddard checks, he finds only a scarecrow, and is infuriated but can say nothing because confessional seal.

But soon Father Goddard hears another confession, that this time Blakey really is dead. And shortly thereafter, Arthur (who has been getting on Benjie's nerves) disappears. Is the priest a victim of an extended and cruel practical joke, or is there something even more sinister afoot?

This psychological thriller takes its own sweet time getting to the thriller part. Blakey is not a good person, being a thief and a layabout, but seems harmless enough to Benjie if you don't count morals. And the early school scenes could easily have been leading to comedy. But there's a point to how claustrophobic and dreary the school seems, and Father Goddard has clearly spent too much time cooped up there instead of learning about the outside world and adapting to modern times.

To be honest, stretches of the film bored me, but it picks up considerably after the scarecrow incident, and the ending is stunning.

Content note: a couple of shockingly violent scenes, including police brutality. Blakey gives Benjie alcohol, and Benjie is also offered what might be a regular cigarette or a "funny" one. Blakey jokes about Father Goddard possibly wanting to molest boys. (Thankfully, this is not one of Father Goddard's problems.)

Overall: The movie's okay, but not worth going out of the way for. Do take a look if you're a Richard Burton fan.

Jaws 2 (1978) dir. Jeannot Szwarc

It has been four years since the island community of Amity suffered a series of attacks by a great white shark. Most of the people have recovered, and things are looking up, with a new Holiday Inn (tm) opening, and Len Peterson's (Joseph Mascolo) real estate business is booming. But some disturbing incidents are occurring. Some scuba divers go missing, a speedboat explodes for no apparent reason, and a killer whale washes up on a beach with huge chunks bitten out of it. Police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) becomes convinced that another man-eating shark has taken up residence in the local waters.

Mayor Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) is not convinced. After all, the one shark being near Amity was the result of a once in a lifetime fluke. All these incidents could be other things unconnected to each other. And Amity's economy is finally back on track, another shark scare could kill the tourist trade. Even Ellen (Lorraine Gary), Chief Brody's wife, is a little skeptical. And Mr. Peterson, her boss, is downright derisive.

When Chief Brody overreacts to a mysterious shadow in the waters off the public beach, shooting (cyanide bullets!) at a harmless school of bluefish, the town selectmen fire him.

Meanwhile, the older Brody son Michael (Mark Gruner) is in high school now, and participates in the local teen culture of sailing small, often improvised boats. (Even the stereotyped nerds sail!) His little brother Sean isn't ready to help sail, but is old enough to want to tag along. When his father's worries about the possible shark beach Michael with a terrible land job, Michael is easily convinced by a hot girl to go sailing with the gang anyway, and Sean is taken along because he threatened to fink.

Of course, as the audience has known all along, the killer shark is very real, and it's up to ex-chief Brody to save the teens...or what's left of them.

When the original Jaws was a huge success, the studio insisted on a sequel. Steven Spielberg refused to return as director, having done everything he wanted to do with sharks. The substitute director didn't work out and relative newcomer Szwarc was tapped. After floundering around for a while, the director, writer and crew were able to cobble together a workable story. They were fortunate enough to get several key actors back, though Richard Dreyfuss refused, so marine biologist Hooper is "in Antarctica" for the duration.

The movie itself is pretty good, nicely shot and uses John Williams' music well. Chief Brody's emotional trauma from the first movie resurfacing and affecting his judgement is portrayed well, and it's believable that the people around him begin to have doubts about his fitness for duty.

On the other hand, the shark's behavior is ludicrously unrealistic, more like a serial killer than a wild animal. This peaks when the shark manages to take out a helicopter! I mean, it's cool, but no.

Content notes: A couple of gruesome corpses, a touch of swearing, the camera lingers over swim-suited women's butts. Peterson's behavior towards Ellen is uncomfortably touchy-feely; in-movie it's mostly treated as inappropriate because she's married to the protagonist, but it's also inappropriate behavior toward an employee in general and society's attitude towards that has hardened.

Oh, I should mention that the reason that I'm reviewing this movie is because there was a big sticker covering up the "2" on the DVD cover, and I thought I was getting the original.

Still, this is an enjoyable summer blockbuster film and welcome in a time when most of us can't get out to the beach.

Hanna (2011) dir. Joe Wright

Hanna (Saoirse Ronan)has been raised since infancy in an isolated cabin in the Finnish wilderness by her father Erik Heller (Eric Bana). He's taught her survival, hunting and combat, a bunch of encyclopedia entries, and a cover story to give anyone who asks. Hanna's grown into a strong girl who can take care of herself. Or at least, she's pretty sure of that. Sure enough to press the button that her father has told her will summon the CIA. As it happens, the button does in fact alert the CIA to Erik's location.

Erik's long gone by the time they arrive, but the CIA is able to capture Hanna and take her to a secure location in Morocco. Hanna insists on talking to Erik's old boss Marissa Wiegler. When the woman gets too close, Hanna kills her and escapes. What Hanna doesn't know is that Marissa (Cate Blanchett) sent in a double, and is still alive.

Hanna is befriended by British tourist Sophie and her family, but is dogged by the now-rogue Marissa and her deadly underlings as she heads to Berlin for a reunion with her father. She has some questions that need answering!

As might be expected from a modern movie with the CIA in it, there's a lot of "black and gray morality." Hanna kills quite a few CIA operatives, some of whom were not actually trying to kill her at the time. Marissa and her crew, on the other hand, have no compunction about slaughtering innocent civilians just to shut their mouths. Erik's not clean-handed either.

There are some trippy visuals and fairy tale motifs. The former is used best in a scene where Hanna suffers sensory overload as every electronic device in a motel room activates at once--one of the things Erik didn't prepare her for is just how noisy civilization is! One other lesson he skipped was emotionally connecting to people; the seemingly air-headed Sophie helps a bit with that.

Marissa is an effective villain, part Big Bad Wolf and part Evil Stepmother. She's clever, ruthless, but has her failings, such as liking impractical footwear. The accent chosen for the character sounds incredibly phony but this may be deliberate.

Content notice: child abuse.

Recommended for action movie fans.