Here's another thing I need to pay closer attention to the next time I see Jurassic World - the sets for the park --- I didn't realize they filmed in that abandoned Six Flags in New Orleans.
So now when I see the movie again, I need to pay closer attention to several things I missed:
- The sets for the park
- Mr. DNA's cameo
- Jimmy Buffet's cameo
- Which raptor is which
- The arms on the I-Rex (they're supposed to be much larger than the T-Rex's)
Maybe I will see it in 3D next time. Did you see the movie yet? What did you think? Did you notice any of these things I missed?
Attention Guests and Visitors: This review contains revelations about a motion picture that could potentially affect your theatrical experience (AKA "spoilers"). Read at your own risk.
I went to see Jurassic World last Thursday night at Hollywood Blvd (dinner + movie theater). and had a good time. Overall I enjoyed the movie...it was neat to finally see a Jurassic movie where the theme park is open to the public. Been waiting 22 years for that! Also one of the actors/characters from the first movie is back - the Asian scientist (forgot his name) who worked in the lab -- he's still there.
And got a kick out of seeing some of the "new" dinosaurs brought in this time around such as the gigantic whale-like dino who performs for the crowd by jumping out of the water like Shamu, splashing everyone. And then there's a huge new dino that is a cross between a T-Rex and something else even meaner and nastier than the original T-Rex in the 1993 movie (of course he is released from his cage and terrorizes everyone and everything in the park). Those two dinos "meeting" face to face in the end of the movie was the best part!
The trailer didn't show Vincent D'Onofrio, so seeing him in this was sort a pleasant a surprise. The minute he shows up I knew he was a goner. You can't tease a raptor and expect to live. I liked the two child stars of the movie - one kid about 10 and the other about 14 or 15. Of course they had to make at least one of them be a dinosaur geek; he had a bushy haircut like a kid from the 1970s. When did that come back in style? Oh well it gave him some personality at least. And I liked how the other kid could care less about dinos. There's a funny scene where the younger kid catches the older brother smiling at a pretty girl in the park and he says to him "what good is it to just stare at them?".
At first, I thought the park was going to be like Pleasure Island from Pinnochio with the entire island filled with kids, but it turned out that they are there to meet their aunt who works at the park (and supposedly got them free passes), played by Bryce Dallace Howard, who was nasty in The Help. I would have liked to have seen her character from The Help get eaten by dinos. I couldn't believe she was the same actress. She was OK; I could imagine her in a rom-com one day. She has good chemistry with the male lead Chris Pratt and their banter is kind of funny. The only thing that got me rolling my eyes was seeing her walk and run around the park all day in her high-heels. Come on! At least change into some gym shoes at some point. The parents in the movie pretty much only show up in the beginning and ending. It might have been fun if one of those actors were played by the kids from the original film. But they got Judy Greer and one of the actors from the TV show The Office (don't know his name but he played the CEO I think).
When the kids get to the island, they expect to meet their aunt, but she's too busy "working" with the head of the park, who's played by the adult "Pi" in the movie The Life of Pi. He's pretty shady, and he dies a good death when his chopper crashes into the "aviary" filled with flying dinos. One of the nerdy guys from the TV show New Girl plays a nerdy tech guy in the park, and he's sort of the Sam L. Jackson role from the original except he doesn't die. He's got an oddly nostalgic fascination with the "original park" - the Park from the first movie that never saw the light of day.
One of my favorite parts in the movie is when the two brothers ride the spherical glass tram ride through the park, and have to watch an intro video hosted by Jimmy Fallon. That tram was cool and I loved how the dino stuck his claw in it and how the cell phone vibrated as they were upside down. That was pretty cool. In one scene the heroes mourn the death of a brontosauraus which is kind of melancholy but I think it was there to show how nasty the giant T-Rex hybrid can be when he is on the loose.
Hmmm. who else did I recognize? Can't think of anyone else, except there's the aunt's "assistant" who is supposed to chaperon the kids, but she loses them. She kind of looked like Megan Fox with a British accent, and I liked how she got her just desserts at the end, payback for losing the kids - some giant pterodactyls fly in and grab her and throw her in the water.
And then, the grand finale. Eveyone in the theater cheered when the T-Rex came onscreen. The hybrid monster and a T-Rex - battling one-on-one like in a Godzilla film. It was epic. And the raptors jumping all over the hybrid. Classic. Who would have thought the T-Rex would turn out to be the good guy?
Oh, and the BEST line in the movie is when the female announcer on the PA says, “Due to a containment anomaly, all guests must take shelter immediately!”
Dumb fun. Recommended only if a fan of the other Jurassic movies. Or monster movies.
The Shopworn Angel is one of my favorite movies because it's not a typical romantic comedy with a happy ending.
The year is 1917 and WWI is underway. Jimmy is a soldier stationed in New York before being sent overseas. We get a sense of his character's loneliness when he goes into a soda shop to write himself a few postcards.
Margaret plays Daisy, a nightclub singer famous enough to get her picture in a magazine or two. How to describe her personality? Well, let me put it this way; from the first minute she appears onscreen in her high-rise apartment, you get a good idea of how she might treat someone like Jimmy if she ever had the chance.
Alas, they do meet-cute and Jimmy is instantly hit by cupid's arrow (bless his little heart) despite unreciprocated feelings from Daisy and sneers from her jealous boyfriend-manager, played by Walter Pidgeon (Mrs Miniver). Jealous of a country bumpkin, you might ask? It's true - in one scene, Mr. Miniver knocks over what appears to be a ceramic Statue of Liberty that Jimmy won at Coney Island (Ah, the days when they gave out fragile ceramic prizes).
Jimmy is very good in this role. His character, Private Bill Pettigrew, has all the idealism that we love about Jimmy Stewart which makes the character so convincing. Pettigrew's sincere determination to win over Daisy before he leaves for the trenches will melt your heart. I swear, every time I watch this movie and see Jimmy with a box of chocolates in one hand and flowers in the other I ask myself will they or won't they? He and Margaret Sullivan had such great chemistry; it's hard for me to choose which movie with them I love more - this one or Shop Around the Corner.
All of the performances are top notch, including a very memorable performance by Hattie McDaniel who has to make a very brave decision toward the end of the film. If you have not seen this film, I highly recommend adding it to your must-see list. It's a beautiful, thought-provoking film. Directed by HC Potter.
If you want to read more about the making of the film, check out the TCM full synopsis here, where you'll find trivia and more about the production (before she died, Jean Harlow was considered for the part of Daisy).
This is a really fun musical comedy, featuring some wonderful songs by George Gershwin, and an Oscar-winning dance number, back when they gave Oscars for Best Dance Direction.
Fred Astaire plays an American entertainer visiting London. At one point, a crowd of people recognizes Fred and they get him to dance on the spot. It's a fun dance scene on a city street.
Joan Fontaine, proving she can handle the lead in a romantic comedy, is the titular damsel, who lives in a mansion with her father (Montagu Love) and numerous servants. Joan's "distress" is that she's forbidden to leave the mansion after she attempts a runaway to find a lover.
One of the young teenage servants named Albert (Harry Watson of The Watson Family) plays matchmaker and attempts to get Fred to fall in love with Joan and vice versa. Albert is really funny in this movie. Plenty of mistaken identity hilarity ensues.
George Burns and Gracie Allen play Astaire's sidekick assistants. They're not essential to the plot but provide plenty of comedic relief with zany one liners and retorts. In one scene, George and Gracie tour the mansion; a sign inside reads "Do Not Finger Art Objects" and Gracie giggles thinking "Art Objects" is a man's name.
I imagined Ginger Rogers - Fred's usual co-star - playing the lead insted of Joan, but Joan really won me over; she has good chemistry with Fred. Joan's part doesn't require any dancing, except for one scene where she and Fred frolic on the castle grounds.
A high point in the film is the carnival sequence featuring the Oscar winning dance number in a fun house. Gracie really impressed me with her singing and dancing chops!
Highly Recommended. Directed by George Stevens. Written by P. G. Wodehouse.
Last month Jurassic Park was re-released in US theaters in a special 20th anniversary "3D" release. I went to go see it, curious about how the added 3D effects would turn out. I also wanted to give the film a second look; it had been 20 years since I've seen it. The 3D turned out to be OK; there were a few spots where the effects looked especially cool, including the scene where Sam Neill and the kids are running in the field with the ostrich-looking dinosaurs.
I liked all the philosophical discussions that the scientists have with the park's creator and visionary, Richard Attenborough. Also I was impressed with the entire cast. Everyone was great, including "Newman" from Seinfeld, who is really the main villain in the picture, not the dinosaurs. Also it's funny how that Barbasol can's design hasn't changed any in 20 years.
OK. Let's talk about the technology in this.
The CGI dinosaurs still look good, even though CGI has improved tremendously in the last 20 years. I still can't get over how realistic that CGI tiger looks from The Life of Pi. And that T-Rex is still as scary as hell. But I couldn't help but notice a few "puppet" dinos, including the one that hatches out of the egg early on. No doubt it would be done in CGI today.
There are a few outdated computers, naturally, but I don't hold it against the film. I also noticed a few "floppy disks" sitting by Newman's computer, which are totally obsolete. It's funny how these little things usually go unnoticed at the time.
Notably absent from the film are any cell phones. I know this is a sore subject to bring up with any movie made before 2000, but I can't help but noticing these things. No one has one! I suppose if more of the characters had one and could communicate with each other more often, it would certainly change the outcome of events of the film. Sigh!
This movie has grown on me, with it's many iconic and memorable scenes. I love the part when the dinosaurs make their way into the kitchen of the dining area, and then the museum lobby. It's so cool to see the banner that reads "When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth" drop over the T-Rex in the lobby of the museum, and when you see the shadows of the dinosaurs on the illustrated ones on the wall. So neat.
Directed by Steven Spielberg, it is a great heart-pounding thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat, and makes you think about how the characters mess with nature. 'There were 2 sequels, both inferior to the original. I tried to watch Jurassic Park 2 on DVD and it was so terrible that I couldn't get through the entire thing. Park 3 was not very good either.
Henry B. Walthall is the moral center of the film; in the film, his character loves Dante's Inferno and creates a museum exhibit devoted to it.
Spencer Tracy, in a swell performance, plays a man who learns some important lessons in life from Dante's The Divine Comedy: INFERNO. The film is known for a 10-minute sequence showing a visual interpretation of hell, including people burning at the stake, falling off cliffs into a river of fire, and more. It's all in glorious black-and-white; combined with the haunting musical score, it's a very impressive and thrilling sequence worthy of an Oscar for Visual Effects - they are really impressive. Here's a video clip of the Hell sequence.
More on the film (some spoilers): The film begins with images of fire and smoke. Then the camera slowly pans out and we realize we are looking at burning coal. Tracy plays a sailor assigned to the boiler room on a luxury cruise liner. Some hoity-toity socialites look down at the men and start laughing. Carter looks up to a snickering woman and thinks to himself, "sister, one day I'm going to be up there laughing".
He soon gets fired, and finds work in a carnival sideshow tent. He soon gets fired again, and is almost arrested when he is sitting at a beverage stand and cannot pay for his drink. A kindly old man (Henry B. Walthall, who was also in Birth of a Nation and Judge Priest) offers to pay for the drink. Carter is impressed and takes a liking to him, discovering that the old man (or "pop" as he's called) runs his own sideshow at the fair, which is sort of a run-down museum called "Dante's Inferno". Pop gives Carter a tour of the exhibit which features well known historical figures whose lives were doomed: Alexander the great, Cleopatra, etc. Carter likes the museum but notices no one is buying tickets. With a gift of gab, Carter steps up and "sells hell" (he says, "if there's one thing I know something about, it's hell!").
After assuming the role as master showman, the museum exhibit becomes a hit. He also falls in love with Claire Trevor, who plays Pop's daughter and employee of the exhibit. She and carter soon get married and have a baby. Then Carter expands the museum into a much bigger attraction with a live theatrical show, rides, and more. In one interesting sequence, someone tries to commits suicide in the exhibit by jumping off a ledge and everyone thinks it's part of the show; it then becomes an even bigger hit. In a montage sequence we learn that Carter builds an empire out of amusement parks all over the world. The adorable child actor who plays Carter's son is played by Scotty Beckett (1929-1968).
One day an inspector comes to warn Carter that the exhibit is not stable and is in a dangerous condition; Carter bribes the inspector to keep quiet about it. Soon the entire structure falls apart and Pop is injured. (The inspector commits suicide.)
Pop wakes up in a hospital room and asks for his favorite poem: Dante's Inferno. He shows it to Carter - this is when the 10-minute sequence of hell begins. Carter is warned, but when he and his wife are called to testify in court, both of them lie - Carter to save himself, and his wife to save their child.
The couple separates for awhile, and in the grand finale, Carter attends the maiden voyage of his luxury cruise, which becomes a disaster: the guests all get drunk, the substitute boiler room workers become drunk and rowdy, and Carter's little boy finds his way on the ship. A fire is started and soon spreads throughout the ship. The climax is a thrilling fight for survival, and Carter is back in the boiler room trying to save the ship.
In the end he is reunited with Claire Trevor. Carter, now a business failure, says to his wife, "all I have to offer you is my love". She says, "that's all I ever wanted".
I highly recommend this film, but it is difficult to find. This film is not available on DVD yet but I hope one day it is. I saw it at a revival house on a couple of occasions.
I saw Little Fugitive at a screening at a revival house; after the show I asked a few people if they had ever heard of it before this screening, but no one did.
Another suitable title for the film could be "A Kid in Coney Island", since that's basically what it's about. A boy spends an entire day and night exploring the amusement park, all by himself.
It begins with him running away from neighborhood bullies; he leaves with some grocery money that his mom left on the counter. There's more to the story, but I don't want to give it all away.
It's fun to watch him wander aimlessly through the streets of Brooklyn, eventually boarding a subway that takes him to Coney Island. I have never been to New York, but this film really gave me a glimpse of what it might like to be there during this time.
This is not like Home Alone: Lost in New York - no slapstick or lowbrow humor. The kid, whose name is Joey (played by Richie Andrusco), is about 5 or 6 years old (actually younger than Macauley Culkin was in those 1990s films).
Joey plays every game, goes on all the rides, buys watermelon, cotton candy, etc. There are some very humorous moments throughout the film, especially when his brother comes looking for him. There are many candid shots of people and scenes that you feel like it's almost a documentary.
The film is even said to have inspired the filmmakers of the French New Wave, and such films like The 400 Blows, which I thought of throughout this movie; you can see the influence.
None of the child actors in the film ever became famous, though the movie's posters promoted the young star to be the next big thing. I don't know what happened to them.
You can find the DVD on a Kino Edition DVD. It might even be played on Turner Classics from time to time.
Fred Astaire plays an American entertainer visiting London. At one point, a crowd of people recognizes Fred and they get him to dance on the spot. It's a fun dance scene on a city street.
One of the young teenage servants named Albert (Harry Watson of The Watson Family) plays matchmaker and attempts to get Fred to fall in love with Joan and vice versa. Albert is really funny in this movie. Plenty of mistaken identity hilarity ensues.
I imagined Ginger Rogers - Fred's usual co-star - playing the lead insted of Joan, but Joan really won me over; she has good chemistry with Fred. Joan's part doesn't require any dancing, except for one scene where she and Fred frolic on the castle grounds.
Spencer Tracy, in a swell performance, plays a man who learns some important lessons in life from Dante's The Divine Comedy: INFERNO. The film is known for a 10-minute sequence showing a visual interpretation of hell, including people burning at the stake, falling off cliffs into a river of fire, and more. It's all in glorious black-and-white; combined with the haunting musical score, it's a very impressive and thrilling sequence worthy of an Oscar for Visual Effects - they are really impressive. Here's a video clip of the Hell sequence.
I saw Little Fugitive at a screening at a revival house; after the show I asked a few people if they had ever heard of it before this screening, but no one did.