"A chef salad, please."
Whoever picks the songs to be played in Cold Stone Creamery has fantastic taste in music. I was there the other day and I heard "Where Is My Mind?" by Pixies, "Stand By Me" by Ben E. King, and "California Dreamin'" by The Mamas & The Papas. I know I was there for ice cream, but hearing the song "California Dreamin'" combined with the imagery of that glass display counter made me want to order a chef salad.
Jurassic Park 3D: Revisiting Childhood
My friend and I did end up seeing Jurassic Park 3D, as if that's any surprise. I was still undecided while writing my previous post on the three-dimensional re-release, but by the time I was done writing, I had convinced myself I wanted to see it. I'm pretty convincing.
Taking a nostalgic approach, we decided to get candy we liked to get when we were kids, just to add to the whole experience. I picked Twizzlers. A comically massive bag of Twizzlers.
As I expected, seeing Jurassic Park in the theater again was a hell of a lot of fun. As much as I enjoy watching it on my relatively tiny television at home, this movie was definitely made for the big screen. I was struck by how amazing the special effects still look. I'm guessing they touched up the CGI a little bit, at least the lighting and color matching, because it looked flawless. My knowledge about how the movie was made and the limitations of practical effects was the only thing that tipped me off when a shot employed CGI. If I didn't have that knowledge, I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. No matter what kind of effect was used in each shot, to me it just looked like there was a real life dinosaur being filmed.
My motivation for seeing this re-release had almost nothing to do with the 3D, but I felt that the extra dimension might at least make the experience an interesting one. I considered it a potential bonus. I ended up enjoying it quite a bit though. It seems like a lot of people who dislike 3D movies especially dislike when a movie that wasn't made specifically to be in 3D is post-converted into 3D. But to me, I think a huge part of what made Jurassic Park 3D so enjoyable was the fact that the movie wasn't originally made to be in 3D, simply because it didn't have any of those gimmicky shots I notice all the time in 3D movies. Where something happens like a character swings an axe right in front of the camera, which I'm guessing is supposed to make the audience feel like they're about to get hit. Or where something in the composition of the shot is only there to take advantage of the 3D. The audience is supposed to be focusing on something in a wide shot, but then a character runs right by in the foreground, distracting you from what you're actually supposed to be looking at, simply to add depth to the shot. I feel like I see these kinds of shots in 3D movies over and over again. I thought 3D was to make the movies more immersive, but these kinds of shots just make me aware I'm watching a movie and take me out of it. Doesn't that defeat the purpose? So it was refreshing to see a 3D movie that had absolutely none of that going on.
One thing that really stuck out to me in the whole experience had nothing to do with the movie itself, but with the behavior of other people in the theater. There seems to be an alarming amount of people that have forgotten how to just sit down and watch a movie. I'm not even talking about the small boy with child-size 3D glasses sitting next to me who spent about 75% of the running time looking everywhere but at the screen, and also kept ogling my monstrous, seemingly endless supply of Twizzlers. He was just a young kid, so I suppose he had an excuse. I'm more talking about the numerous adults I saw pulling out their cellphones and texting during the movie, which distracts other people who are actually trying to watch it. A fantastic 20 year old movie, which was probably one of the cinematic highlights of your childhood is re-released, you pay a small fortune to see it in the theater in 3D, and you text people instead of paying attention to the movie? I don't understand you at all.
Imagine an alternate reality...
Where they make movies about the effects of nuclear weapons as an allegory for the very real threat of giant monsters attacking cities.
Ray Harryhausen
June 29, 1920 - May 7, 2013
When I read that stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen had died, I knew I had to make a post about it. He influenced and inspired so many other filmmakers, and fueled the imagination of generations of children, just as the work of Willis O'Brien in the movie King Kong had done for him as a young teenager. He is probably most known for the skeletons in Jason And The Argonauts, but I always loved his stop-motion dinosaurs the most, which appeared in movies such as The Animal World and One Million Years B.C.
One of my absolute favorite things he's done though is a project that he never finished. He started working on Evolution Of The World when he was still a teenager, around 18 years old. He clearly got better at what he did as his career went on, but there's something so beautiful about this unfinished film. The creatures seem so lifelike, and you can see the amount of imagination and passion that went into every frame. Just the other day I was thinking about posting it on this blog, but didn't get around to doing so. It would have been pretty strange if I had, because the very next post after it a few days later would have been this "RIP Ray Harryhausen" post. It seems fitting to post Evolution Of The World here now.
It's truly wonderful to see a man with a long, successful career of doing exactly what he seemed to be most passionate about. There's a lovely facebook post by Harryhausen's family that talks more about him, and has several quotes about him by a few of the filmmakers he influenced and inspired. You can also check out the "Creature List" on his official website to look at many of the creatures that he created for movies.
When I read that stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen had died, I knew I had to make a post about it. He influenced and inspired so many other filmmakers, and fueled the imagination of generations of children, just as the work of Willis O'Brien in the movie King Kong had done for him as a young teenager. He is probably most known for the skeletons in Jason And The Argonauts, but I always loved his stop-motion dinosaurs the most, which appeared in movies such as The Animal World and One Million Years B.C.
One of my absolute favorite things he's done though is a project that he never finished. He started working on Evolution Of The World when he was still a teenager, around 18 years old. He clearly got better at what he did as his career went on, but there's something so beautiful about this unfinished film. The creatures seem so lifelike, and you can see the amount of imagination and passion that went into every frame. Just the other day I was thinking about posting it on this blog, but didn't get around to doing so. It would have been pretty strange if I had, because the very next post after it a few days later would have been this "RIP Ray Harryhausen" post. It seems fitting to post Evolution Of The World here now.
It's truly wonderful to see a man with a long, successful career of doing exactly what he seemed to be most passionate about. There's a lovely facebook post by Harryhausen's family that talks more about him, and has several quotes about him by a few of the filmmakers he influenced and inspired. You can also check out the "Creature List" on his official website to look at many of the creatures that he created for movies.
Jurassic Park 3D
I saw Jurassic Park in the theater several times when I was a kid, and I loved it. It's hard to believe that it's been 20 years. I am still amazed by how great most of the special effects look, especially the practical effects by Stan Winston. I love the characters of Dr. Alan Grant, Dr. Ellie Sattler, and Dr. Ian Malcolm (played by Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum). Robert Muldoon, the park's game warden (played by Bob Peck) is a really cool character as well. It's my second favorite Steven Spielberg movie. The first is Jaws. I was sad I didn't get to go see Jaws during its recent theatrical re-release, especially since I had never seen that one in the theater.
Jurassic Park was re-released in 3D today, and I've been trying to decide whether or not to see it. I'm leaning towards going though. I think getting to see the famous Tyrannosaurus rex escape scene on the big screen again would be a really nice experience, whether it's in 3D or not. Hearing the thunderous footsteps over the theater sound system as they create ripples in the cups of water. Seeing the reveal of that beautiful animatronic dinosaur model. Hearing the sound of its awesome roar tear through the theater. I think I could use that in my life. I think we all could.
Next time on Arrested Development...
In case you've been living under a rock (or Iraq)... After being cancelled at the end of its third season by Fox in 2006, Arrested Development is coming back this year with a fourth season. Just like the image below says, it's debuting on Netflix on May 26th.
It's one of my favorite shows, so I'm really looking forward to seeing more of it, and seeing what the Bluth family has been up to.
I think it's fascinating that all 15 episodes of season 4 will be released at the same time, so that you can watch them at your own pace. I have no idea if that has been done before, and it's a really interesting idea. It's great because when you're trying to get caught up on a show or re-watching previous seasons before a new season, you're most likely going at a pretty fast pace, possibly watching multiple episodes a day. Then you are forced to slow way down to one episode a week, and it can be quite frustrating to adapt to that.
Speaking of which, I guess I should dust off my DVD's of the first three seasons pretty soon. It's always a pleasure watching through the series again.
It's one of my favorite shows, so I'm really looking forward to seeing more of it, and seeing what the Bluth family has been up to.
I think it's fascinating that all 15 episodes of season 4 will be released at the same time, so that you can watch them at your own pace. I have no idea if that has been done before, and it's a really interesting idea. It's great because when you're trying to get caught up on a show or re-watching previous seasons before a new season, you're most likely going at a pretty fast pace, possibly watching multiple episodes a day. Then you are forced to slow way down to one episode a week, and it can be quite frustrating to adapt to that.
Speaking of which, I guess I should dust off my DVD's of the first three seasons pretty soon. It's always a pleasure watching through the series again.
What I thought about Dredd, and some thoughts about the Boba Fett movie.
Judge Joseph Dredd is a comic book character who first appeared in 1977 in the British science fiction comic 2000 AD. He's part of a group of law enforcement officers called Street Judges in the violent, crime-ridden, futuristic setting of Mega-City One. These officers are a combination of police, judge, jury, and executioner, giving them the power and authority to arrest, sentence, and even execute criminals on the spot if necessary.
In 1995, Sylvester Stallone portrayed the character in a movie adaptation called Judge Dredd, directed by Danny Cannon. This was back when comic book movies weren't really handled with the respect they should have been, and (please excuse the pun) it didn't really do the source material any justice.
17 years later, in our very own futuristic setting where comic book movies are often treated like art, everyone's favorite Street Judge was adapted for film again. This time Karl Urban starred as the frowny-faced title character in 2012's Dredd (also known as Dredd 3D), directed by Pete Travis.
I saw Dredd for the first time after it was released on home media. I really loved it. Karl Urban was great, and I loved that the character never took off the helmet after first putting it on at the beginning of the movie. He almost never does so in the comic, and when he does, the reader is unable to see his face. Stallone's Dredd had his helmet off for much of the 90's movie. Something I found really interesting about the character of Judge Dredd in this movie is that there was very little character development. It would be incorrect to say there wasn't any, because there was. There just wasn't that much. Whereas that's generally a negative when it comes to movies, for some reason it really worked for this one, and it actually felt kind of refreshing. The character of Judge Anderson, played by Olivia Thirlby, definitely had a lot more character development than Dredd did, and that kept the movie from feeling completely devoid of it. Seeing her so conflicted throughout the movie was great.
For some reason, the movie felt more like a fan-film to me than it did a Hollywood adaptation. But you know... actually good. The reasons for this feeling are probably the relatively small budget and the fact that the people making it probably respected the source material, as well as the way it was shot, the mostly self-contained setting, and the lack of Hollywood cliches usually forced into adaptations in an attempt to make the story appeal to a mass audience. I imagine that was intentional, because the 90's adaptation couldn't possibly be more Hollywood, and fans didn't like that much. In this day and age, I think the general movie-going public have begun to notice and get sick of those cliches.
The use of slow motion, not as a stylistic flourish as in most action films, but to actually portray the effects of the fictional drug Slo-Mo, was really interesting and quite beautiful. I also loved the use of stretched out elements in the film score during those parts. The Slo-Mo scenes made me wish I had seen the movie in the theater in 3D. Concerning the visual effects, the only thing I didn't like (and probably the only thing I didn't like about the entire movie) was the CGI blood splatter. I know it probably allowed the filmmakers more control with the 3D imagery, but it looked very fake to me. When it comes to blood splatter in movies, physical effects tend to look most realistic. Maybe they thought it wouldn't look realistic in slow motion.
I really hope they make a few sequels to Dredd, as it was one of my favorite movies of 2012. The few glimpses we got of other areas in Mega-City One at the beginning of the movie were nice to see, and I'd love to see more of it, even if it's just another relatively small area. And if they do make a sequel, I sure as hell plan on seeing it in the theater. As much as I enjoyed Looper, I wish I had gone to see Dredd 3D instead. Oh well.
When Disney makes that standalone Boba Fett movie, I think they should take some cues from Dredd, and have Fett not take off his helmet at all. One of the great things about Fett was always his mystique. Fans wondered what his face looked like under there, trying to picture something that went with his original voice (before it was changed to Temuera Morrison's for the Star Wars DVD release in 2004). Actually showing what he looks like at this point would ruin that, and Dredd proved that it's quite possible to have the main character of the movie never show his face. Fett could do without much character development as well, which would also help maintain the mystique. Rather than have young Boba Fett or something, it would be much better to just see him around the time of The Empire Strikes Back on one of his bounty hunting jobs, much like how Dredd seemed to be just a day in the life of Judge Dredd.
In 1995, Sylvester Stallone portrayed the character in a movie adaptation called Judge Dredd, directed by Danny Cannon. This was back when comic book movies weren't really handled with the respect they should have been, and (please excuse the pun) it didn't really do the source material any justice.
17 years later, in our very own futuristic setting where comic book movies are often treated like art, everyone's favorite Street Judge was adapted for film again. This time Karl Urban starred as the frowny-faced title character in 2012's Dredd (also known as Dredd 3D), directed by Pete Travis.
I saw Dredd for the first time after it was released on home media. I really loved it. Karl Urban was great, and I loved that the character never took off the helmet after first putting it on at the beginning of the movie. He almost never does so in the comic, and when he does, the reader is unable to see his face. Stallone's Dredd had his helmet off for much of the 90's movie. Something I found really interesting about the character of Judge Dredd in this movie is that there was very little character development. It would be incorrect to say there wasn't any, because there was. There just wasn't that much. Whereas that's generally a negative when it comes to movies, for some reason it really worked for this one, and it actually felt kind of refreshing. The character of Judge Anderson, played by Olivia Thirlby, definitely had a lot more character development than Dredd did, and that kept the movie from feeling completely devoid of it. Seeing her so conflicted throughout the movie was great.
For some reason, the movie felt more like a fan-film to me than it did a Hollywood adaptation. But you know... actually good. The reasons for this feeling are probably the relatively small budget and the fact that the people making it probably respected the source material, as well as the way it was shot, the mostly self-contained setting, and the lack of Hollywood cliches usually forced into adaptations in an attempt to make the story appeal to a mass audience. I imagine that was intentional, because the 90's adaptation couldn't possibly be more Hollywood, and fans didn't like that much. In this day and age, I think the general movie-going public have begun to notice and get sick of those cliches.
The use of slow motion, not as a stylistic flourish as in most action films, but to actually portray the effects of the fictional drug Slo-Mo, was really interesting and quite beautiful. I also loved the use of stretched out elements in the film score during those parts. The Slo-Mo scenes made me wish I had seen the movie in the theater in 3D. Concerning the visual effects, the only thing I didn't like (and probably the only thing I didn't like about the entire movie) was the CGI blood splatter. I know it probably allowed the filmmakers more control with the 3D imagery, but it looked very fake to me. When it comes to blood splatter in movies, physical effects tend to look most realistic. Maybe they thought it wouldn't look realistic in slow motion.
I really hope they make a few sequels to Dredd, as it was one of my favorite movies of 2012. The few glimpses we got of other areas in Mega-City One at the beginning of the movie were nice to see, and I'd love to see more of it, even if it's just another relatively small area. And if they do make a sequel, I sure as hell plan on seeing it in the theater. As much as I enjoyed Looper, I wish I had gone to see Dredd 3D instead. Oh well.
When Disney makes that standalone Boba Fett movie, I think they should take some cues from Dredd, and have Fett not take off his helmet at all. One of the great things about Fett was always his mystique. Fans wondered what his face looked like under there, trying to picture something that went with his original voice (before it was changed to Temuera Morrison's for the Star Wars DVD release in 2004). Actually showing what he looks like at this point would ruin that, and Dredd proved that it's quite possible to have the main character of the movie never show his face. Fett could do without much character development as well, which would also help maintain the mystique. Rather than have young Boba Fett or something, it would be much better to just see him around the time of The Empire Strikes Back on one of his bounty hunting jobs, much like how Dredd seemed to be just a day in the life of Judge Dredd.
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