THE POOP SCOOP: One More Conjuring & Two More Spielberg Classics

THE CONJURING: LAST RITES on Digital October 1 and Blu-ray, 4K and DVD November 25 from Warner Bros. “The Conjuring: Last Rites” delivers another thrilling chapter of the iconic Conjuring cinematic universe, based on real events.  Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reunite for one last case as renowned, real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren in a powerful and spine-chilling addition to the global box office-breaking franchise. From New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Pictures, the film is directed by franchise veteran Michael Chaves and produced by franchise architects James Wan and Peter Safran. Additionally, a 4-film collection featuring the 4 “Conjuring” films and a 9-film collection featuring the entire “Conjuring” universe will be available on Digital on October 7.  The 4-film collection will also be available on Blu-ray and DVD on November 25.

Steven Spielberg’s MINORITY REPORT and CATCH ME IF YOU CAN on 4K December 9 from Paramount. Both Minority Report and Catch Me If You Can were remastered this year in 4K and the sparkling new transfers were reviewed and approved by Spielberg.  The films also will be presented with Dolby Vision and HDR-10 for optimal image quality.  The 4K Ultra HD and Limited-Edition SteelBook presentations will include the feature film on 4K Ultra HD, a Blu-ray with legacy bonus features, and access to a Digital copy of the film. Originally released in 2002, Minority Report was a global hit hailed as one of the best sci-fi films of the 21st century. Catch Me If You Can also premiered theatrically in 2002 and was a massive hit with both audiences and critics.

ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST on 4K UHD november 11 from Warner Bros. Now that the movie is 50 years old, perhaps we can finally forgive it for winning the Best Picture Oscar over Jaws (buy probably not). Based on the 1962 novel of the same name by author Ken Kesey, the film is considered by critics and audiences to be one of the greatest films ever made.  

F1: THE MOVIE on Blu-ray, 4K and DVD October 7 from Warner Bros. Starring Brad Pitt, directed by Joseph Kosinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, “F1: The Movie" is (so far) the highest grossing original feature of the year.

Dr. Seuss’ HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS 25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION on 4K Ultra HD & Steelbook Coming November 11 from Universal.  This special release also includes over 30 minutes of brand-new bonus content exploring the making of the beloved holiday classic.

EDDINGTON on Blu-ray October 7 from A24. A standoff between a small-town sheriff (Joaquin Phoenix) and mayor (Pedro Pascal) sparks a powder keg as the neighbors feud in May 2020. From Ari Aster, director of Hereditary and Midsommar, the movie stars Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone and Austin Butler.

WEAPONS on Digital Now and Blu-ray, 4K & DVD October 14 from Warner Bros. When all but one child from the same class mysteriously vanish on the same night at exactly the same time, a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance. 

The Gialli Cult Classic, A HYENA IN THE SAFE, on Blu-ray November 25 from Celluloid Dreams. A Hyena in the Safe has never been officially released in the US. In fact, no English dub exists, and this Blu-ray release will feature the film in its original Italian language with English subtitles exclusively. 

NOBODY 2 on Digital Now and 4K, Blu-ray and DVD October 7 from Universal. Bob Odenkirk returns as Hutch, an overworked assassin who just needs a break, in this bareknuckle action-thriller. 

SHUDDER: A DECADE OF FEARLESS HORROR and CREEPSHOW: THE COMPLETE SERIES on Blu-ray November 11 from Shudder. 10 of the streaming service’s best movies in one boxed set. On the same day, Shudder releases all four seasons of their acclaimed anthology series, Creepshow, based on the original film by George A. Romero and Stephen King. 

THE NAKED GUN (2025) on 4K, Blu-ray & DVD November 11 from Paramount. Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. (Liam Neeson) follows in his father's footsteps in THE NAKED GUN, directed by Akiva Schaffer. 

David Cronenberg’s THE SHROUDS on Blu-ray & DVD October 21 from Criterion Collection. David Cronenberg returns with one of his most personal films.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: THE FINAL RECKONING on Digital Now and 4K & Blu-ray October 14 from Paramount. Both the digital and physical releases come with hours of bonus content, including behind-the-scenes interviews, exclusive commentary, and deleted footage not seen in theatres.

Lambcast #775: JAWS 50th Anniversary Celebration

What 50th Anniversary celebration would be complete without a podcast about the greatest movie ever made? Richard Kirkham hosts this lengthy (but well worth it) discussion of Jaws, featuring personal insights, anecdotes and opinions from Howard Casner, Jay Cluitt, Nicole Ayers, Aaron Neuwirth, Amanda Kirkham and your furry friends at FREE KITTENS. 

LISTEN HERE:

Lambcast #775 Jaws :50th Anniversary Celebration

JAWS at 50: Richard’s Personal JAWStory

Richard’s Personal JAWStory

By Richard Kirkham

Kirkham A Movie A Day

Richard Kirkham tirelessly writes about every movie he sees in theaters on his blog, A Movie A Day. He is also the operator and frequent podcast host at The Lamb (Large Association of Movie Blogs), which is the world’s largest movie blogging community. Richard was kind enough to share his own experience seeing Jaws for the first time…

Those of us who lived through the phenomena that was and is Jaws can never look back without thinking how it changed us. Those who came after can never live in a world where Jaws did not influence the way movies are made and marketed. Any one who lived before Jaws knows how it changed the movie world, and looking back on summer movies will be a nostalgia of a different order because Jaws is in your world now.

Some might think that this is hyperbole, but the number of films, filmmakers, academics, marketers and film-goers who have been influenced by this movie is undeniable. I have actually read on line comments that dismiss Jaws and suggest it is somehow just a footnote in film making history. If editing is a footnote, if the addition of sound and color to films are footnotes, if the study of film as an artistic medium is a footnote, then maybe they are right. (BUT THEY ARE NOT!!!) The combination of story, director, script, acting and especially marketing created the modern world of film. There may be some negative consequences (like Shrek 4 opening on 4000 screens), but the variety of stories and film-making that have resulted from Jaws is just undeniable. This is the gold standard.

I saw Jaws on opening day in the Summer of 1975, with my friend Dan Hasegawa. Dan and I went to the Hasting's Ranch Theaters, three moderately sized screens located just north of the big Pacific Theater Hasting's Theater. We knew next to nothing about the film except what was shown in the trailer. The trailer gives you a good impression of the action and adventure that is coming your way, but I think it undersells the horror aspect and that is what we were most surprised about. From the beginning cello strokes and underwater POV shot, we are creeped out. It still did not prepare us for the intense opening sequence that everybody held their breath through. Later in the movie, I literally saw 500 people sink into their seats in dread and then jump out of the seat, simultaneously. I am not exaggerating…the audience levitated at least a foot out of their seats when Ben Gardner appears. There have been gotcha moments in films for years; Alan Arkin's dying leap for a blind Audrey Hepburn or Carrie grabbing poor Amy Irving's arm are those kinds of jumps. This made them all look quaint by comparison. I had seen The Exorcist a couple of years earlier, after it had been talked about and described to me for months. It was still frightening and made me jump, but that was despite what I knew was coming. Here, we did not know what was going to happen, and after that first scene it seemed like anything was possible. Amanda has seen this movie maybe more than other movie in her life and she still covers her eyes for a few scenes.

Hasting's Ranch Theater in the 1970s.

The movie is so much more than a horror film, however. This is a struggle of a family man to cope with the inadequacies that plague him, it is the story of a place that defines itself as a paradise, suddenly being stripped of it's self concept. Most of all, it is the story of a quest by an Ahab like character for vengeance against the monsters that have defined him for the thirty years since his own encounter with the Great White Whale. Quint is the greatest movie character ever prior to 1980. He is memorable for his tics, dialogue and the performance of a great actor whose work in this movie was not properly recognized by any critics groups of the time. If you were to ask people, what great supporting actor role performance they remember from any time in the 1970s, Robert Shaw in Jaws will be mentioned. I'll bet that none of the five other actors nominated for Academy Awards that year would make the top fifty mentions on that standard. The monologue that Quint delivers on the Orca, about the U.S.S. Indianapolis, is without a doubt one of the greatest scenes in movie history. It stands beside Micheal's kiss in Godfather Part 2, Kane's rage in Citizen Kane, and even the airport scene in Casablanca. Robert Shaw re-wrote the dialog for himself, and his delivery, starting off with a self knowing smirk, transforming to a terrified memory and finishing off with a self-deluding smile and bit of panache, is something I would imagine every actor now looks at with awe. I am not an expert on performance, but this whole scene seemed real, every bit of it.

JAWS At 50: "Rycke's Personal JAWStory"

Rycke’s Personal JAWStory

By Rycke Foreman

Rycke Foreman is an author, filmmaker and longtime friend of Free Kittens. He was kind enough to share his own experience seeing Jaws for the first time…

I saw it for the first time when I was about 5 years old. We lived in Forth Worth, Texas, and I'm pretty sure we saw it in a second-run theater. I was as fascinated as I was scared; afterwards, I was afraid "Jaws" (as I'd call the shark) was going to break up through my bathtub and get me while I was bathing.

When it made its TV debut a year or two later, I made sure to watch it again, and that inspired me to make my first attempt at writing a story. It was awful and totally plagiarized the movie. I had forgotten it, but my mother sent a photocopied version to me at some point, so I was able to re-read it. It was hard to follow what was going on, exactly, but it was all dialog, no action. "Roy" and "Richard" had fallen into the water, and were screaming to each other how they needed to get back on the boat, fast, because they were scared that Jaws was going to eat them.

During Junior High School, I watched it more than 100 times. Years later, I eventually wrote a Jaws spoof as a novel, with a lead character named Roy. I don't really pay attention, but I think it is my best selling book. (Maybe a hundred copies out there.) Also, to this day, I have a hard time setting foot in the ocean--step past the knee and quietly, subtly, the first "dun dun" echoes through the back of my mind. Which is all a roundabout way of saying that Jaws is by and far the most influential film in my life.

JAWS at 50: "A Personal JAWStory"

A Personal JAWStory

By D.M. Anderson

It’s hard to believe Jaws is turning 50 this year. It was a watershed moment in movie history and I remember it like it was yesterday. If you weren’t around in the summer of 1975, you can’t imagine the impact it had on everybody. Not just audiences, but on popular culture. The first true summer blockbuster, Jaws scared the bejeezus out of damn near everybody, so much that many won’t even venture into the ocean to this day (including yours truly).

To kick off Free Kittens Movie Guide’s celebration of Jaws’ Anniversary, I thought I’d share my own recollections of seeing it for the first time. The movie may be turning 50, but my personal Jaws-iversary is about 49.5 years because it was months before my mother agreed to let me see it.

I was 11 when Jaws opened in three local Portland theaters, the Southgate Quad, Town Center Tri-Cinema and the Foster Road Drive-In (all of which are now long gone). Based on all the TV spots, newspaper ads and the enthusiasm of my friends who saw it first, Jaws was numero uno on my gotta-see list. 

Mom shot down those plans pretty swiftly. “Absolutlely not. A friend at work told me a dog gets eaten, and a dead man is floating in the water with no eyes.”

This was still a few years before defying her authority was an option. I was heartbroken. There it was, the mother of all movies, the cinematic Holy Grail playing at the Southgate theater only five miles away, rendered forbidden fruit by my mother. Sure, I knew the whole story already, regaled by friends whose parents had no objections to letting them see it. But because it was rendered off limits, Jaws became the only movie I wanted to see. In ensuing months, I would occasionally beg Mom again, hoping she’d change her mind, but was always met with a stern no. She’d offer the same reason almost every time: “That’s not the kind of movie a kid should see.”

On rare occasions when I felt brave, I’d counter with, “But it’s rated PG. You’ve let me watch PG movies before, like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”

“Butch Cassidy never devoured the Sundance Kid,” she said, probably proud of her response. “Jaws is a horror movie, and you’re not going to see a horror movie about a fish that eats people. It‘ll give you nightmares.”

The Oregonian's ad for Jaws on opening day, June 20, 1975.

It was at this time I’d usually sulk back to my room, not understanding her reasoning. I’d watched lots of horror movies before, but for some reason she had a problem with Jaws. And with my limited debating skills, I was unable to convey how much it meant to me to actually see a fish eat people.

Then in November, on my 12th birthday, Mom finally decided it was okay for me to invite a couple of friends to see Jaws at the Southgate Quad. I’m still not sure what prompted her sudden change-of-heart. Perhaps it was Dad’s idea, thinking it would be nice for he and Mom to have the house to themselves for a few hours (which didn’t happen often). If that was the case…eew.

By this time, the film had been out for six months. Everyone else and their dog had already seen it, including my two friends, but that didn’t matter. After months of hype and hearing everything second-hand, I finally got to see this pop culture phenomenon for myself.

The Southgate Quad Cinema, where Jaws played for almost a year in Portland, Oregon.

And just in case anyone reading this is like my mother and has never seen it…Jaws takes place in the fictional coastal town of Amity (in real life, Martha’s Vineyard), where a 25-foot great white shark starts attacking swimmers. In order to save this vacation town from financial ruin, sheriff Martin Brody (Roy Scheider), shark expert Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) and loony charter captain Quint (Robert Shaw) set out on a rickety fishing boat to kill the shark. That’s the movie in a nutshell, and while it doesn’t sound like much on paper, the story is so masterfully told that it rightfully made a superstar out of young director Steven Spielberg. We don’t even see the shark until about halfway through, which made it even scarier (it has been well-documented that the decision not to show the animal too much stemmed from the fact the mechanical shark broke down pretty often).

The final act (onboard the fishing boat) is still one of the most relentless and entertaining third acts ever made. And who really cares if you can’t actually blow up a three ton shark by shooting the scuba tank lodged in its mouth? It’s sure as hell a better ending than the one offered by original Jaws author Peter Benchley, where the shark simply rolls over and dies. By the way, if you never read the original novel, don’t bother. It sucks.

To this day, Jaws is one of the few movies that lived up to all the hype…and then some. We’ve all gotten amped-up to see uber-promoted blockbusters only to walk out of the theater thinking, “So what?” But Jaws was everything I hoped it would be: scary, funny, surprising. It was not the shocking gore-fest Mom feared - only five people are actually killed - and the poor little pooch she was so worried about doesn‘t die onscreen…in fact, it’s only implied that he dies. 

There is that jolting scene of one victim’s head popping at the screen with an eye missing, which scared me so bad my popcorn went flying, but Jaws was always more than just a “gotcha” horror movie (I personally don't consider it a horror movie at all...more of an action-adventure tale that simply happens to make some folks pee their pants). Leaving the theater, I felt like I saw just something special, more than just another flick my parents dropped me off to see while they went shopping (or have the house to themselves...again, eew). In ensuing years, not too many movies gave me that same rush, and the last movie to hit me with the impact of Jaws was Pulp Fiction.

But as my mom feared, the movie did give me nightmares. After coming home from the movie on my 12th birthday, some time during the night I crept into my parents’ room and crawled into bed with them. Man, that guy with his eyeball missing really did freak me out.

Jaws played for damn near a year at the Southgate theater, where I watched it twice. Then when the movie finally made its way to the second-run theaters in town, I caught it three more times (some of you younguns might have to Google ‘second-run theater’). This makes Jaws the movie I’ve seen on the big screen more than any other.

50 years later, I still think it is the greatest film of all time. Sure, like any kid, something shiny & new would come along to briefly takes its place, like Star Wars or Escape from New York or Halloween. But then I’d revisit Jaws again and back to the top of the list it would swim. For me, Jaws isn’t just a great film; it remains a nearly perfect film.

THE POOP SCOOP: Jaws 50th Anniversary Edition

JAWS 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION Coming To Disc and Digital June 17 from Universal. JAWS made history in 1975, turning a young Steven Spielberg into a household name and boldly establishing the summer blockbuster spectacle that revolutionized the film industry. Winner of three Academy Awards, including Best Original Score, JAWS has become a global phenomenon, and half a century later, it still holds a grip on audiences around the world. Universal Pictures Home Entertainment celebrates this cinematic milestone with the JAWS 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION. This Combo Pack features the never-before-seen documentary, JAWS @ 50: THE DEFINITIVE INSIDE STORY, a brand-new look at the making and legacy of the film directed by Laurent Bouzereau and from National Geographic, in partnership with Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Documentaries, Nedland Media, and Wendy Benchley. The disc and digital include over five hours of bonus features with an inside look at the making of the film, deleted scenes, original on-set footage, and much more! JAWS will also be available in an all-new limited edition SteelBook with never-before-seen artwork.

JAWS @ 50: THE DEFINITIVE INSIDE STORY:

• Steven Spielberg shares an authorized look inside the story of JAWS in this documentary. From Peter Benchley’s epic novel to Spielberg’s film, JAWS continues to influence pop culture, cinema and shark conservation. With interviews from Hollywood’s most influential directors and shark scientists, the legend of JAWS is endless.

BONUS FEATURES ON 4K UHD, BLU-RAY AND DIGITAL INCLUDE:

• Deleted Scenes and Outtakes – Over 13 minutes of content

• The Making of JAWS - An insider look into the making of this classic film, this original full-length documentary is filled with exhaustive cast and crew interviews, archival footage, outtakes, and much more!

• JAWS: The Restoration - An in-depth look at the intricate process of restoring the movie.

• The Shark is Still Working: The Impact and Legacy of JAWS - A fan-made documentary that focuses on the many ways JAWS has helped shape elements of pop culture and influence a generation of filmmakers.

• JAWS Archives

• Storyboards

• Production Photos

• Marketing JAWS

• JAWS Phenomenon

• From the Set – Available on Disc only

• Theatrical Trailer