— jurassic park —

***WON 3 OSCARS***

John William’s motif for Jurassic Park is ever so present in my mind as I write this post, there is an instant recognition to it, a comforting tune in amidst all the insanity that takes place in Jurassic Park! FilmMunch would like to welcome you to the Jurassic Series!

Most of you have noticed that I am particularly excited about Jurassic World, and you can even listen to 9mins of the new score by Michael Giacchino on an earlier post. It is interesting to note that John Williams is not performing the score, even though he did so for the first 3 films in this ‘jurassic’ saga. From the preview, we can rest assured that Michael has the skills and an already amazing repertoire to, finger-crossed, live up the John William’s, Welcome to Jurassic Park motif!

Growing up, Jurassic Park was a family favourite, and I can not recall how many times I watched the film, on my much adored VHS copy. It was only till recently, that I revisited the ‘Park’, this time in all it’s amazing Full HD glory, Remastered! This film is wonderful, and full of many iconic moments. Steven Spielberg has always garnished us with suspenseful and intriguing opening scenes. He loves opening sequences, you can tell this from the first 2 Jurassic’s and even with the Indiana Series, opening scenes are key to the progression of his films, a perfect appetiser if you wish.

The film is almost flawless when it comes to it’s editing. There are many great examples of Jurassic Park’s use of clever editing, but I’d like to focus on only two scenes. The opening sequence is full of suspense, and by having a forklift move a secretive box into an enclosure, we are instantly intrigued, the mystery of what is inside already haunts us! But, the moment that really puts you at the edge of your seat is when the camera cuts to inside the box, looking out, we are at the POV of the mysterious beast, and he/her/it is peeping out, observing! Add the amazing sound effects, for which this film won an Oscar, you really start to feel fright, even 22 years after it’s original release.

Another most iconic moment is again, close to the beginning of the film. They have just landed at the helipad, and Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) along with Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) are about to be amazed by the very first dinosaur they have ever seen. The score establishes a foreboding tone, we see first the face of Dr. Grant, what is he seeing that is so horrific!? The camera cut’s to Dr. Sattler, she too has this horrified look! And then, the amazing cut to the first CGI of a Brachiosaur. The score doesn’t skip a beat, and the iconic tune hits, it’s enough to bring a full grown man to tears, it’s beautiful. John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) then says the most memorable words, “welcome to Jurassic Park!”

Jurassic Park won another Oscar for Best Visual Effects, and it’s well deserved. The amazing use of computer generated animation and animatronics brings these fascinating beasts to life. Turns out that there are about 14minutes of computer animation, which took months, literally, to be able to achieve the final product. Combined with amazing animatronics, those dinosaurs, look real! So real, that they foster fear, especially the infamous T-Rex. The action sequences, combined with Indiana Jones inspired adventure really make this film entertaining. It’s hard not to love this film, and no doubt there are millions of fans eager to see the Park re-open. I am sure most FilmMunchers are nervous at the same time, and are hoping that Jurassic World can live up to it’s original counterpart.

Many have said that there isn’t enough sub-text to this film, that it’s purely for entertainment purposes. Although for the most part, that is true, we can glean some interesting messages from Jurassic Park. The message that greed for money is wrong is clear in this film, it only leads to problems, big problems. In addition we live in the modern age, and technology is constantly developing and evolving. It’s essential to keep technology in it’s right place, it is here to facilitate life, perhaps not create it. These issues are ever so relevant today, artificial intelligence, is every day becoming more and more, less of a sic-fi idea, so what will we do, when, as according to ‘Dr. Chaos’ (Jeff Goldblum), “life finds a way”?

Jurassic Park is essential viewing, and sets the bar very high for what’s to come!

Jurassic Park Trilogy available for purchase here.

TRIVIA COOKIES: Samuel L. Jackson is in this film! Re-wactching it recently, it was a shock to see him! So is Newman, from Seinfeld!

This film is based on a fiction novel by Michael Crichton, entities, Jurassic Park.

Jurassic Park was released on June 11th 1993, Jurassic World will be released on June 11th 2015, exactly 22 years later!

— project almanac —

What’s not to love about time travel films? If you could go back, what would you do different?

The standard of time travelling movies has to be massive, in this day and age, with a long list of history making epics, such as the Back to the Future trilogy and 12 Monkeys as major contenders. Oh, and who can forget, The Terminator legacy! Which is still going. Up against these majors, it’s going to be challenging.

Project Almanac definitely accepted the challenge. There’s this great, high energy and fresh feel about it. With a POV style of filming, that puts you right in the drivers seat of this “temporal displacing adventure.” If you’re wondering if it’s going to have that ‘Blair Witch Project’ jitteriness, then don’t worry, it’s not that bad.

It’s a film for all time travel fans, film enthusiasts, or just easy watchers. The cast and crew on paper are generally new to this but it doesn’t show. It’s always great to see up and coming actors give it their all, it adds a certain rawness that puts you closer to the characters and storyline.

Despite other reviews, I Personally loved this film. It keeps the audience thinking and maintains great suspense. The calibre of directing and acting shouldn’t be judged on their previous merits, but instead, on ones personal experience from watching the movie. Each interpretation is different, especially when it relates to time travel.

The thought of Time Travel is such a mind-bender. Jumping back and fourth from each dimension, resulting in a paradox. Or the thought that life is preordained. Perhaps, the possibility of altering the past and the present. Who can resist a good ‘Time Traveller Flick’?

Project Almanac available for purchase here.

TRIVIA COOKIE: In one scene, the group needs to connect two cables together to make time travel possible, but the cables aren’t long enough. This is a reference to Back to the Future, where Doc needs to connect the clock towers cable to the street lamp in order to send Marty back to 1985. It’s this moment that Doc gets tangled up on a branch and the cables fall short.

– Scott Niehus

NELSON REMUNCHES: I have many criticisms regarding this film. It has Michael Bay written all over it. Over-the-top product placements, dumb-esquely written female characters, and of course the teenage girls in short shorts, thanks Michael Bay…

The idea’s of this film, I relish in. My issue is that from the trailer, we know that they manage to time travel, this is a given. Except the film sluggishly reaches the point of time travel a little too late, nearly 50mins into the film. The consequences of time travel are only explored nearly 70mins into the film, and by this point, you’re barely hanging on. Perhaps the most provoking line is when the main character has a moment of clarity and awareness and says, “the world in ending…”. Time Travel is an amazing thought and I love the idea, it’s this love, that made me hate Project Almanac, because it feels that the opportunity to make a truly amazing Time Travel Film was squandered. All the cultural references to other films and popular culture are not enough to save grace with Project Almanac.

— [rec]2 —

Whenever I watch a good film, like I thought [Rec] was, the anticipation of a sequel is great, and that’s how I went into [REC]², but perhaps I set the bar too high, and the fall was greater!

The story continues, and it feels as if it’s only about an hour or two after the event of the original, maybe less. Must say that I love it when a sequel just picks up straight away, [REC]2 does that, exactly, so it feels like you’re immediately back in, which is good. Unfortunately, there is nothing new here, it’s really much of the same thing, again, no real innovation.

This doesn’t meant that the film isn’t entertaining, because it’s multi-angle point of view story-telling technique works, but the fact is that the story it’s telling doesn’t have any mystery behind it anymore, it feels like what were watching, we already know. But if you’re a fan of the first film, then you have no choice, you must see this film, because Manuela Velasco is back! Interestingly enough, she wears exactly the same clothing to the clothes she wore back in 2007, this kind of reminds of what Clint Eastwood did with his famous poncho in the Dollars trilogy!

Again the directors chooses to add as much realism to the film as possible. The SWAT team outside the apartment complex, plus all the crowds and onlookers were real people, not actors. In addition the director chose to go with a ‘first-person-shooter’ style, which is interesting to watch, but gets a touch repetitive.

Not the sequel I wanted, nevertheless watchable. I know I said I wouldn’t make a commitment to watch the third and fourth instalments, but guess what I went and did? Part three and four reviews coming next…

Purchase a copy here.

TRIVIA COOKIE: For the New Zealand release of this film in 2009, the marketing team there, was given $7500. $5000 was used as the prize for a competition. The competition was to have people come up with ingenious marketing techniques, apparently the response was overwhelming and split a few ways. Here is a link to some of the ‘stuff’ people came up with, enjoy!