For this little project, I have chosen these three movies (so called 'blockbusters' in this case) to compare: (Also, there may be spoilers, so proceed with caution)
My Opinion on each of these films;
Jaws - While, by today's standards, this movie comes off as cheesy, and now that we all have some kind of education about sharks and what they are actually capable of, it's safe to say this movie just out right demonizes them. However, I actually like this movie, especially the dinner scene with the father and son, it's a 'touchy, feely' moment that honestly, you don't see to much in modern day horror movies. It actually made me care about the main character and his son, which surprised me. Over all, I think it's a decent movie that everyone at some point in their lives should watch. (The video below shows the dinner scene)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - In all honesty, I did not like this movie that much, I can understand why some people think this movie is the weaker of the original trilogy. For starters pretty much every action sequence in this entire movie, is a chase scene! Now don't get me wrong, I like chase scenes just as much as any other guy, and I really liked Mad Max Fury: Fury Road's chase scene (which was pretty much the entire movie). The chase scenes, though fun, just got a little repetitive for my taste. I also found Sean Connery's character Professor Henry Jones, to be a little annoying (though I guess this is because where as Indiana can do pretty much everything, Henry's just so, inept). (The video below shows not only one of the many chase scenes, but also, god dammit Henry! Why are you so inept?)
The Avengers - This movie is considered by some to be a 'comic book triumph,' and I can see why. Consisting of a cast of good, likable characters, glorious action sequences, and special affects, it's hard for me to even think about not liking it. Honestly though, what I liked most about this movie was actually not the movie itself, but rather the Marvel cinematic universe's build up to it. You see, in my opinion (not that it probably matters to you) Disney and Marvel studios delivered on all the hype that they built up for this movie, which isn't something that happens very often. Most of the time, all the hype ends up ruining it in the end. (The video below shows one of the many after credit scenes that would aid greatly in the build up to the Avengers movie, this particular one is the after credit scene from the first Iron Man movie)
Violence and Mature content;
Jaws - By today's horror movie standards, it would not be nearly bloody enough, but I think the amount of blood works nicely for this movie. When the shark attacks happen, you only briefly see the individual getting attacked, and they get quickly dragged under the water,which becomes quickly filled by their blood (it's graphic, but it's not going you scar you anytime soon, well, at least it did not leave me scarred). I guess you could say the two most graphic parts in the whole movie is when (spoilers) they blow up the shark into a shower of bloody gibs, and when they cut into the belly of a shark, or I guess I could include when they see the body of the first shark attack victim on the beach (Of yeah, and there is some nudity, but it's not like you actually see anything). (the picture below shows when the protagonist inspects what's left of the sharks first victim on the beach)
The Avengers - Actually, I am surprised, despite all the action, explosions, and individuals getting thrown around or shot, you would think there would be some gore, but there is not any gore at all. I think the only swear word used in that entire film is 'ass' (unless you count "mewling quin" as one, but most people won't get that). I think the violence and mature content of this film is very true too modern blockbusters: Increase the action, but reduce the gore and mature content as much as possible.
Special affects;
Jaws - Well the special affects may be primitive today, and I would not give the movie an award for them. I however, respect what Steven Spielberg did with this movies special affects, and what he had to do wasn't easy. For starters he had to rely on mostly practical affects, and a big one was the 'star' of the movie, the shark. This animatronic (or you could say, robotic) shark was full of difficulties and issues, and because of that, he came to the conclusion that they would just have to severely limit the amount of time the audience sees the shark. Which worked out to be an advantage, as this lead to them using the iconic 'sharks point of view shots,' which I thought were more interesting than actually seeing the shark. Because people did not see the shark as often, it also helped create a more tense atmosphere that would become iconic with the movie itself, it is also considered one of the reasons for why Jaws did so well and became the classic that it is today. (That picture below shows Steven Spielberg in the jaws of the infamous animatronic shark, also they named the shark "Bruce.")
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - Just like with Jaws, this movies special affects are mainly reliant on practical affects. It is clear that George Lucas made sure that the props and set designer departments where not under funded. I guess one of the best parts about practical affects, is that if they are done in a certain way, they age much better than many modern day CGI filled movies, for example that scene in which a certain character drinks form the wrong Holy Grail and ages rapidly to the point of death, still looks pretty much just as good as it did when the movie came out, in 1989. I actually really liked the 'optical illusion' they used for the bridge in the 'leap of faith' test when Indiana was going over it. The best part is, I am pretty sure they did that with just practical affects. (The picture below shows Indiana attempting to cross the said bridge)
The Avengers - I don't know why people even bothered to complain about the very large use of CGI and green-screen in this movie, it's comic book superhero movie, they sort of had little choice. Dare I mention those older Marvel movies whose names I dare not speak, there is reason why practical affects are, impractical, for a super hero movie (watch them, you won't complain about CGI in The Avengers movie after, trust me, in fact you might just thank Marvel Studios). The CGI and green-screening is some of the best I have seen in a superhero movie, and this really started to show during the large battle in New York city. Also, on an important note, with that said CGI, they managed to make the Hulk look good! Now we can hopefully forget how 2003's CGI was clearly not ready for him. (The picture below shows how the hulk looked from 2003 - 2012, 2012 being from The Avengers movie)
Critical Success;
Jaws - On Metacritic, the movie has a Metascore (that's the score the movie critics gave it) of 86 and a user score of 8.7. It has a score of 97% on Rotten Tomatoes (excuse my language, but holy shit, that's the highest score I have ever seen Rotten Tomatoes give on a movie)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - On Metacritic, the movie has a Metascore of 65, and a user score of 8.5. The movie has a 88% on Rotten Tomatoes, but an Audience score of 94%.
The Avengers - The movie on Metacritic, has a Metascore of 69, and a user score of 8.0, that may seem low for a movie like The Avengers, but we have to remember that the DC fanboys who hate any and all things Marvel just because it's Marvel, have probably affected the user ratings... This movie has a rightful rotten Tomatoes score of 92%. Though I don't know whether or not that score was affected boy DC fanboy bias.
Legacy;
Jaws - For this, I won't bother counting the sequels, for starters they where not directed by Steven Spielberg, and they just, well, to but it lightly, sucked, a whole lot. However, I think that the movies real legacy comes from the fact that it not only brought the horror genre out of the B-movie level with it's success, but also started the trend of blockbusters being released during summer months (and new era blockbuster movies in general). It should be noted that before the success of Jaws, Blockbusters were released during the winter months instead. (Below, and Example of a pre-Jaws horror movie, it may reek of cheese, but I would probably still watch it though)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - In all honesty, I am no expert on the Indiana franchise, and I don't really know if The Last Crusade left a true legacy in it's own right. However I do know that the Indiana movies would bring about the rebirth of the 'adventure film' genre, as the success of these movies would show how much audiences appreciated this genre, which would start many more quality adventure series and, uh, not so good ones. (Below, a poster for the Stargate movie, which was one of the more successful series to come out of the new adventure genre that the Indiana movies helped create)
The Avengers - There is a lot I could talk about here, but I will focus on that this movie would pretty much set the standard for how a modern day comic book superhero movie should be (Now of course there does not have to be comedy, but that helped). Which I think acts as a double edged sword for Marvel, as we seen with the disappointing Avengers: Age of Ultron, all other avengers movies are going to have a lot to live up to and surpass the first one, or else just be "meh, could have been way better" like Age of Ultron was. However, DC is now really going to have to try if it wants to surpass Marvels cinematic universe anytime soon. (Below, love it or hate it, Batman vs Superman, compared to the Avengers, was really just a very average superhero movie)
My opinion: Out of these three movies, I enjoyed The Avengers the most, liked Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade the least, and respected Jaws the most.
Violence and Mature content: The most violent and I guess mature of these movies is Jaws, second Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and despite the fact that The Avengers movie had probably the most action out of these three movies, it is the probably the least violent and mature (I am going by gore/blood here)
Special affects: Though technically speaking, obviously The Avengers has the 'best' special affects if compared to Jaws and The Last Crusade, But Jaws, unlike the Avengers, Steven Spielberg used the fact that his special affects were not working correctly to his advantage, which ended up improving the movie in the long run, few movies have done that. So I sort of think Jaws and The Avengers tie in this case.
Critical success: Over all, by just using Metacritic, and Rotten Tomatoes, Jaws comes out on top of the other two movies. The Last Crusade has the lowest score on Metacritc , at least in the Metascore section, but it's user score surpasses The Avengers. If you count it's audience score, The Last Crusade surpasses The Avengers on Rotten Tomatoes aswell, but with it's regular Rotten Tomatoe score, is surpassed by The Avengers. The Avengers actually has the lowest scores on Metacritic. So, without a doubt, looks like Jaws wins here.
Legacy: Jaws wins here without a doubt, I mean seriously, what other movie brought a genre out of a B-movie level and also brought about the new blockbuster era, while also changing what times said movies were released. The Avengers was good, but none of that happened, and I know the Indiana movies brought about the rebirth of the adventure film genre, but it just isn't as impressive to me as what Jaws did.
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