Amph Jurassic World, Fallen Kingdom, Dominion & Camp Cretaceous

In movies, just as in real life, kids ruin everything. That said, Simpkins was the least of IM3's problems IMO. He's a good young actor. Good for him.

 

You were kid once, too. The first movie had twice the amount of kids in it than the sequels have.

 

True, and I too ruined everything if the transcripts of my parents divorce proceedings are to be believed.

And I don't remember any of them being too annoying, though it's been a decade since I've watched II & III (or /// ). I get it, you've gotta stick a kid or *gulp* two in there for kids out there. Give them their own little hero moment. Simpkins is a good young actor and no doubt he's having the time of his life right now. I mean Iron Man and Jurassic Park? Those are memories he'll cherish for the rest of his life. Particularly ten years from now when he's serving 10-15 for armed robbery .

 

I think Simpkins is a talented kid. A good script and directing is all he needs to shine (well, pretty much every actor for that matter)..

 

Maybe all the kids will get eaten in this one for shock value?

 

That's one of the best comebacks I've ever seen.

 

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/jurassic-world-nabs-kings-summer-648229

Another actor cast.

http://variety.com/2013/film/news/k...inson-eyes-role-in-jurassic-world-1200727979/

Apparently, Robinson and Simpkins will be brothers in JW.

 

Any word on if Sam Neil might possibly come back?

 

I haven't heard anything yet. But I'd love to see Alan Grant in JW

 

I want to see Tim Murphy come back

 

I'm gonna be real, I will probably see this movie no matter what because I'm a sucker for Jurassic Park. But I will definitely see it and multiple times if Sam Neill's in it.

 

Sam Neill fanboy.

 

"We won't need to see dinosaurs where we're going."

 

Eh, we don't know the roles yet, it's just as possible they may be entirely unrelated.

In other news, Josh Brolin may be offered a role, while Idris Elba is rumored.

 

That would be really nice. Both are good actors.

 

Pfft. Humans.

I'm interested in the real stars. And whether they are at least somehow scientifically correct.

 

Seconded. Jeff Goldblum will also earn a free pass from me.

As long as it doesn't have a modern-Spielberg happy ending that feels forced like JP3's. Honestly, that's the only true gripe I have with JP3. It can be nitpicked sure, but I haven't been able to forgive it for going from an awesome, dramatic moment with the raptors and the eggs, then immediately "Oh look the army is here to rescue them out of nowhere! And Billy's alive somehow! YAY!"

 

Actually, Joe Johnston directed the third one after he was promised so from Spielberg. It had been prior to filming TLW that Johnston approached Spielberg to direct the second film, when Spielberg promised Johnston he could make Jurassic Park 3, should it ever be made. What happened when the movie DID get made, however, was Johnston didn't think the current script they had at the time (which was like a Lord of the Flies crossed with JP, only with less kids) was strong enough and the script was thrown away 5 weeks before filming was to begin. Universal heads were already too invested in the movie to back out, and, with pressure from Kathleen Kennedy, Johnston was forced to create a script while making the movie (sometimes script pages being given to actors hot off the press). The ending was further changed mid-filming when Billy's actor complained about his character dying, so the second climax featuring the Pteranodons was chopped up (some say by Kathleen Kennedy herself) so that Billy could live.

 

Hey, I spent years of elementary school pretending to be Dr. Grant at work on some archaeology stuff when I was bored in school, which was much of the time So yes, it runs deep.

 

And yet....it was still better than The Lost World.

I'm of the opinion that the best of the JP sequels was actually Telltale Games' Jurassic Park, since it actually maintains the tone set by the first movie (TLW was a mess, JP3 was too kid-friendly) and it follows up with the storyline of the stolen embryos (because we all know there was no way that a corporation like BioSyn would just forget about the guy who took a big suitcase full of $750k of their money and mysteriously disappeared).

 

My entire review of TLW VS JP///, if anyone is daring enough to read it:

First off, I'd like to point out how sick I am of the TLW VS JP/// stuff. It's getting as bad as the Spino/Rex arguments.

Personally I feel like JP/// was inadequate for a number of both inside and outside causes. Within the realm of the film, and what could have been helped by the film makers is the lack of an adequate and worthy script, They threw out the one they had 5 weeks prior to filming and this had a very big effect IMO. Next common complaint is the lack of emotion that is so accustomed with John Williams' music. With JP///, Davis merely sounds as if he is going through the motions to make the score rather than putting his heart and soul into it. And one personal irk I have is when Dr. Grant says his "You probably won't get off this island alive" line, there's a kind of 'DUN DUN DUN" floury to the music that sounds somewhat unprofessional IMO. In my opinion, JP/// had a chance to introduce some of the science that was present in the LW novel, such as discovering (and maybe even foreshadowing of- in case of future installments) diseases, malformations, and the same kind of production troubles as the line in the novel verse did, but failed monumentally at it. They didn't take advantage of the situation at hand and didn't use the JP/// Facility scenes to what they could have. Sure, we get some nice shots of rotted fetuses and stalled machines, but what do they really tell us. They just seem to leave the audience kinda wanting. Another thing to notice is the large abundance of dinosaur shots while lacking in extenuated "wowing" moments. The audience is dulled to seeing dinosaurs appear in the movie by the end. They're just everywhere. Now, I'm not complaining that there shouldn't be dinosaurs in the movie, Jurassic Park is a dinosaur franchise, but they don't need to appear nearly every ten minutes. It gets almost annoying and by the time the Ceratosaurus comes out of the trees to sniff the poo covered characters, the audience is leaning in their seats thinking, "Wow, another dinosaur... got anything new?"

In JP/// the score, while having a few new additions seemed either non-existent or a recycle of the first movie's. I mean, in TLW, you have something that is COMPLETELY different with major portions of the JP score coming in at appropriate times (for the most part). The JP theme comes up every time JP/JP: San Diego is mentioned, and the "Welcome to Jurassic Park" theme plays at the end during a beauty shot, appropriate for the scene. The only place it's not exactly appropriate is when the main theme plays at the end of Hammond's meeting with Malcolm scene. Then there's the whistle that is the leitmotif for the raptors. Fist heard as a reprisal form (no accompanying instruments) in the scene right after the trailer attack when Ludlow mentions the raptors and the in a more tribal form at the beginning of the Worker Village scene. Beyond that, John Williams barely reused the same type of instruments for TLW that he did for JP. It just didn't seem like it was distanced enough. I mean, there were a few new parts added here or there but beyond that the opening scene seemed like a mix between the score for the opening scene of JP along with some of "Sarah's Stegos" mixed in. The plane trip score was "Journey to the Island". The initial Spino attack is really the only area I can think off that has massive amounts of original scoring. The bar song really doesn't count as it's not at all an original nor orchestral composition written for anything JP. Entering the compound seemed to be taken straight from "The Raptors Appear" (the part in the village before the Raptors ACTUALLY appear), then goes into "Hatching Baby Raptor", then into a bit quieter version, of the same music that was used for the initial Spino attack. Speaking of attacking Spino's, the music of when the Spino wrecks the plane seems like a slightly more bombastic version of "The Compies Dine". The river I don't count due to its beauty-shot nature. The Spino attack seemed like Davis combined "The Compies Dine" with the same theme of his own theme he's been doing throughout the film. Then the ending was the main theme with a snare drum added in due to the presence of the soldiers. Then it ends off with "Welcome to Jurassic Park". Between those that I mentioned is some rather bland, unimaginative, and relatively unmemorable scoring.

My next complaint is a biggey for me. People that have talked JP/// with me always know I like to bring this one up. My biggest complaint isn't the scripting, the acting, the score, or even Spino v. T. rex. My complaint is against the setting. It doesn't take a genius to see that the foliage on Sorna has changed between TLW and JP///. Now the great minds behind the JPL Encyclopedia have proposed that this is due to difference in location on the island itself. Even with this, I must confess myself disappointed in the sets. A majority of what is supposed to be jungle scenes was actually filmed on sound stages with the trees and such moved around to make the jungle appear different. However, this shows blatantly to me. The jungle, unlike it's on location appearance in JP and TLW, seems built for ease of human travel. There's a significant lack of undergrowth that is very noticeable and in the previous films. Examples include Ellie's break for the Maintenance shed where she has to climb over branches and jump through puddles or in TLW where the trek back to the trailers after finding Sarah includes having to climb over fallen logs and such things as saplings. There's a significant lack of saplings to be seen in the JP/// jungle. Now maybe I sound picky, and maybe I am, but from a franchise where the smallest of details have made the biggest of difference between what looks realistic and what doesn't, I'd expect more. The jungle itself doesn't present itself as a threat to me. I don't know if it has to do with a lot of the film taking place in daylight in contrast to the previous, but in Jurassic Park, while the trees are indeed more sparse, and some of it lacks the very undergrowth I complain for, it has to be remembered that this is a Park setting. Therefore, it will look a bit nicer than the dirty, dingy, fern ridden, coniferous jungle we find in TLW. The jungle in TLW presents itself to me as literal to its name. It looks like a world lost to time. Something that screams that you, as a human, are not in control here and that the jungle and it's prehistoric inhabitants are letting you be here. This is even echoed in the Workers Village. The jungle has literally grown over the radio equipment. It's taking back what once belonged to it. JP/// doesn't have this feel. The jungle is there, but it doesn't present itself as a threat. You don't feel like another Dieter could happen where you take ten steps away from the group and suddenly you have no idea where you are.

I feel like what we don't see is just as important as what we do. The shadows, and the darkness that takes away finer details also adds a sense of mysteriousness into the mix and that mysteriousness is one of the things I love about the movie. How you don't know what may be trudging through that shadowy forest, or what horrors may be lurking in that derelict building. It extends the dangerous feel from more than the "local" fauna itself; it's that feeling that the very setting isn't your home. That you, as a human, are very out of place here. I think this is easily expressed from the moment that Hammond's team sets foot on the island. They're trudging along a shallow creek, so very far from civilization, and suddenly they here thundering footfalls, and groaning. They have no idea what it is, only that it's "something big". The audience is made to think that it could be a coming at them, but what a wonderful surprise it is for both audience and the characters to see a beautiful herd of gigantic Stegosaurus to pass before you. It tells you that not only is there deadly beauty here, there is also mysterious beauty as well. And when things do go to hell, you find that the forest, which has already set itself up to be dangerous, can become an antagonist itself with Dieter getting himself lost inside it.

TLW is darker, and edgier. It's easily my favorite film in the franchise, just because it just has so much depth. I mean, when critics say a movie has depth, I don't really get it, but with TLW I can practically feel it. There's just so much there and watching it you feel like what's there and what you feel the first time is barely any of it. There's just so much of the movie I could swim in it. It's got no clear cut antagonists, nor clear cut protagonists, the sets are amazing in that what you see on film feels like it's not even half of what's actually there. Watching the movie, it's the little things that make the biggest impact, and make you think "wow, they actually included that!" The locations are so mysterious and the whole Isla Sorna just kinda screams "You have left the Earth you know behind and have entered the world of dinosaurs". It reminds me of those old dinosaur documentaries I used to watch as a little kid, the ones that featured the old, mossy, coniferous, fern ridden world. A world that looks like it was standing in time. A lost world.

Next, the CGI. Yep, I'm gonna rant on the CGI. The thing is, it's too smooth. Too fluid. Too textured. In my opinion, the CGI in in JP/// suffers from the same fault that CGI has been suffering of through this entire century. It's too danged perfect. I feel like it's too clean and even often lacks the blurred effect that affects real life objects or having a blur effect when the real life object doesn't, causing inconsistency. In the first two films they're rendered as defined as they need to be to match their surroundings. In Jurassic Park ///, it's almost as if they were attempting to use the best CGI they could, however this action causes the CGI to become too clear and noticeable. With the first two, if you didn't know any better, you really wouldn't think twice in believing that you're looking at an image of an actual dinosaur. But with the way the CGI, not even just the dinosaurs, looks against their surroundings, it looks, well... fake.

TLW was also a lot better done from it's conception than JP///. Spielberg had been planning for a sequel to JP since he finished Schindler's List in 1993. He really just needed an ulterior excuse to make it, and so basically begged Crichton to write it. In the mean time, Spielberg had already begun his own schemeings into plot lines even as Crichton was writing the book. He eventually settled on a "hunters vs gatherers" plot base and went from there. JP///, on the other hand, went through at least 3 different chosen plot bases, almost got the ax, and then the finalized script was still thrown out 5 weeks before production was to begin. Then, the plot that was made into a script they came up with on the fly was only half followed in the production itself. JP/// was far less thoroughly planned than TLW.

The plot and story of JP/// is much weaker than TLW. TLW has a very intricate plot that will seem stupid unless it's actually given thought. In contrast, JP/// had a plot that was much simpler. It's basically the premise of the franchise drawn out to feature length format: get stranded on island, guns will be useless, there's a big theropod you have to watch out for, and the Raptors are dangerous. It's rather thin in comparison to TLW. In TLW you have a culmination of two opposing views that are forced to work together. They're stuck on the island, their guns are useless, but there's a lot more going on that a big scary theropod and threatening Raptors. The man vs. nature theme is very much prevalent in this film. Regardless of which side the debate you're on, there's also strong environmental themes and in turn, how sometimes people who think they're doing good, are actually doing great harm (Nick Van Owen and Sarah Harding unintentionally causing a lot of strife for both parties). This last theme was present in JP/// as well, but it's not as potent to the story line and therefore is not as strong of a message as it is in TLW. Both films have their plot holes: the SS Venture Attack for TLW and the Dino-Soar Boat Attack for JP///, which cancel each other out.

The character developing moments between the two were about equal, but in terms of characterization, TLW does it far better by shredding the lines between the antagonists and protagonists. Likewise, in JP///, you have no human antagonist moments which leaves the protagonist spot to be placed on the shoulders of the dinosaurs, which was a warping of Spielberg's intent with the films. A Jurassic Park film is supposed to use the dinosaurs as a way to exhibit a man vs nature theme. JP/// threw out this premise to create a good ol' fashioned monster movie. TLW used mise-en-scène to help tell the story, whereas JP/// completely ignored any aspect of this. In JP///, the lighting is inconsistent, the composition is lax, the spacing is over-exaggerated and makes the setting seem like it was filmed on a stage, and the film-stock was absent.

The costuming was cliche (flannels, Carhartt jacket, jeans, and brown felt hat for Dr. Grant -aka Mr. Montana, collared shirts for the suburbanite Mr. and Mrs. Kirby, half-buttoned shirt, greasy undershirt, and ragged ball cap for the sleazy Dino-Soar guide Enrique, and black/dark colors for the mercs Udesky, Cooper, and Nash). Heck, Cooper alone wouldn't be out of place in Terminator move:



In TLW, however, the lighting enhances the story and used much more appropriately, the composition is appropriately complex, the spacing of the scenes is a positive contribution to the film's tone, the setting was a majority of on-location, and even then the sets for TLW were far better created, the film-stock was contributory, and the costuming was heavily appropriate.

The make-up was actually negatively contributing in JP/// by using make-up to cover up bumps and bruises that the actors gained through the film, which also caused the disappearance of large gashes between scene to scene. They destroyed the realism by covering up the actor's scrapes and bruises. If the actors got it through doing a motion on screen, then their character should probably have it as well.

The acting, was decent between the two. Tea Leoni and Bill Macy both did very well portraying a suburbanite family. Sam Neill broke accent an annoyingly noticeable amount. Alessandro Nivola had a few slurred lines, but he's still young so I'll cut him some slack. The best performance in JP/// was from Michael Jeter. In the short amount of time we see Udesky, I found that Jeter was able to do the most with him than all the other actors. In TLW: Julianne Moore's earlier delivery were clunky, but she improved as the film went on. Jeff Goldblum was... Jeff Goldblum. Arliss Howard did well as Ludlow: made me hate his arrogance. Attenborrough was excellent with as little as we see him. Pete Postlethwaite WAS Roland, and easily the best performance in the film, Vince Vaughn was good, Richard Schiff was good, and Peter Stormare was meh.

JP/// had much choppier editing than in TLW. TLW had more comfortable transitions that lets the audience adjust to the scene transitions. The scenes don't close as abruptly, but let the audience take a breather after the action, or likewise use the editing to toy with the audience. The adrenaline inducing Waterfall chase/camp attack in TLW goes right into the Long Grass massacre. Just like the characters on screen, the audience isn't given time for a breather, which brings a connection between the viewer and what is on screen. The montage editing is spectacular with the musical accompaniment, particularly the Island Trek, which exemplifies the tone of the film by having the cast pass in front of a massive mountain:

Spoiler

In JP///, the scenes transition between each other far too quickly, The Lab scene is over before it even really begins, as with the flight over Isla Sorna and the beauty shot from the InGen barge. The Spinosaurus attack on the barge has deplorable editing. The intermediate cuts between the attack and Barney is meant to be comedic relief, but comes off as annoying and intrusive rather than funny. The end of the scene closes to quickly without the audience really getting a chance to feel for the situation. It's simply the Kirbies having a touching moment that is cut off by the transition to the next scene of the Kirbies reconnected. This is the point where the audience realizes they're a family again, but it still comes off as rather bland and all because of the editing. The delivery was there, the lighting was there, heck even the orchestration was there. The editing ruins the moment, however. And I won't even start on the mechanics between the T. rex VS Spino battle.

The dinosaurs are also portrayed differently between the two films. For one, herbivores in JP/// take a third row seat to become scenery fodder, whereas TLW used them to their full potential, displaying them as being as much a force to be reckoned with as the carnivores. JP/// over emphasized the Raptors intelligence to the point where people were thinking they were actually more intelligent than before rather than just being more vocally social. The Spinosaurus was abused in it's portrayal, shoved into the movie as the "new badass" without actually planning how they should approach the introduction of a new star dinosaur. The characters encounter the Spinosaurus so often that it can be misconstrued that the Spino is stalking the cast. When it shows up at the fence, it just stands there menacingly like a horror film slasher waiting for his victim to notice his presence. At least the Tyrannosaurus have logical reasons for their appearance: come to the trailer to get their infant, return to remove large and potentially threatening object from their territory, then return again after they heard all the ruckus that Eddie was making, and finally show up at the camp site after following the scent of their infant's blood on Sarah's shirt. The Ceratosaurus' cameo in the film was unneeded and could have been completely cut without negative affects of any kind.

My final reason as to why I don't think JP/// was as well made as the others comes from an outside effect. Kenner, who was known for taking on franchises of a darker nature (notably Aliens, Predator, and Terminator) was taken over by Hasbro, whose licences are from more family friendly franchises (Star Wars). The effect they had on the merchandise is noticeable. Their sculpts are far less accurate and lack the imaginative play-ability that was common among Kenner products. At the same time, no vehicles were released, and very few play-sets, unlike Kenner. All in all, I don't think the change in merchandiser can be ignored in it's effect it had on JP///.

 

Your review sums up very well my main gripe with JPIII. It's goddamned boring and uninteresting.

 

I have my own reason for hating TLW the movie: I loved TLW the novel.

Especially since Sarah Harding

Spoiler

is a badass who can hold her own in a fight and practically feeds Dodgson to the T-Rex.

In the movie, Sarah Harding is a real dip****. She goes on telling the Bob Bakker-inspired paleontologist guy how good a T-Rex's sense of smell is....and yet she wears her jacket covered with baby rex blood the entire movie, only thinking to get rid of it when the rexes are already in the middle of the damn camp.


Also, a number of scenes were filmed in northern California. I know Sorna and Nublar are supposed to be separate islands, but since when did redwoods native to the Pacific Northwest US grow on islands firmly in the tropics?


HA! Got another one! DAMN EWOKS!

 

Yeah, I can understand that. Compared to Sarah Harding's rough n tough characterization in the novel, her movie counterpart is like a gender bent Richard Levine.

The coniferous bit, you'd be surprised with however. The Kauai beach used to film the openning scene in TLW where Cathy Bowman is attacked by the Compies had some rather coniferous foliage in the background:



Then there's this location further inland also on Kauai:


And if you recall from the first novel, the higher elevations on the northern side of Isla Nublar was coniferous jungle. I don't usually like to canon cross, but that certainly goes to show that it's not outside the realms of possibilities.

 

TLW is awesomely terrible, especially when the T Rex lets loose during the climax.