It's very difficult to keep the line between the past and the present.

Do you believe that someone out of the past can enter and take possession of a living being?

We may be true with the past, but the past is not through with us.

Welcome back to the next picture show, a movie of the week podcast devoted to a classic film and the way it's shaped our thoughts on a recent release. I'm Tasha Robinson here again with Genevieve Koski and Keith Phipps. Scott Tobias went walking his dog Iris along the beach earlier today and they've both since disappeared, but we're pretty sure they're okay. Anyway, have you seen the price of beach closed signs lately? This podcast can't afford to have those made up just for him.

On the first half of this episode, we discussed the happy accidents and deliberate artistry of Stephen Spielberg's Jaws.

With this half, we'll look at another movie about a giant shark hungry for an entire beach load of people.

John Turtle Tubs, The Meg. Oh, okay. What's saying, sorry. I mean, the Meg. Much like Jaws, the Meg is based on a novel, and it went through a whole lot of screenwriters on its way to the screen. Also, much like Jaws, it features a giant shark. And the resemblance is mostly in there. Or do they? Unlike a lot of shark movies, the Meg does actually try to establish

characters who matter, who are fighting their own inner battles, and have something to prove

besides just killing a shark. It takes up the capitalism problem again, though it's also back

to the hubris of scientists who don't yet realize how interfering with nature is arrogant

foolishness that will eventually doom humanity.

And yet it's a pretty unmemorable film, in spite of all its attempts to be big, serious, meaningful,

and maybe even important.

That might be because it's also so clearly and obviously calculated to be profitable.

The Meg is the latest international co-production in a recent line of films designed to straddle the line

between the American market and the potentially crucial lucrative Chinese market. latest international co-production in a recent line of films designed to straddle the line between

the American market and the potentially crucial lucrative Chinese market. The film takes place

off the coast of Shanghai and features an international cast starring several prominent Asian

actors in primary roles. It also feels like it lands somewhere between a Chinese drama and an

American action movie. The attempt to hit the right checkboxes may be part of the problem here,

or maybe it's just the over-reliance on a cute dog named Pippin.

We'll talk about it after the break.

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