Amph Jurassic World, Fallen Kingdom, Dominion & Camp Cretaceous

He died in the first one, don't ya remember [/quote]Who says he has to play the same character?

 

The Raptor in the electrical shed had to munch on something after Ellie escaped.

 

(reposting from WWTLMYS thread)

Jurassic Park, IMAX 3D- I was fortunate enough to see the film in theaters as a kid during it's original run, however it was after having read the book and a summer of begging my mom to take me to see it.

So it wasn't until the end of August of that year, near the tail end of it's run, so I don't have too many distinct memories about the actual filmgoing experience from then (however I have to assume it wasn't much in the way of audience experience given the timing). Mostly I just remember reading the book on vacation down the shore and drawing the title logo a lot, filling in what i could from the toys and Making Of book my next door neighbor had (prior to the trip).

It wasn't until The Lost World hit 4 years later that I got to have a real JP experience in theaters with a proper audience (ok, I suppose one could argue it was only 3 years if one counts the teaser trailer I saw playing with Daylight in '96 while on vacation in Florida...hmm, sensing a vacation theme here...). Ended up seeing that 4 times in theaters, and it's still the most rewatchable of the JP films thus far (which is different from being the best JP film), even if the book was decidedly better. But, then, the cliff sequence is probably one of the greatest sequences Spielberg has ever shot, so that alone gets it major points.

And, of course, JP3 hit 4 years after that. And though it was a big disappointment, being mostly a retread or poorer imitation of the first film (and lacking the charisma and smarmy humor of Ian Malcolm that helped keep TLW afloat), I did give ita chance with two theatrical viewings.

(To it's credit, it managed to still pull off a couple good sequences, but it was so obviously harmed by it's written-as-they-shot-the-movie nature and it's clear lack of a final sequence with such an abrupt, laughable, resolution.)

Even with the so-so third entry, I still thoroughly enjoyed the series. It's difficult to not view JP as a watershed moment in film history and the turning point towards the digital effects of today. What James Cameron began with The Abyss and T2, JP finished. It's rare when a film can so completely change the world of film and the filmgoing experience like that.

To this day, I still refuse to believe anyone has been born who was not aware of a world before Jurassic Park. Naturally, that means the human race is on it's way to extinction, which is pretty appropriate given the subject of the film.

With that in mind I very much was looking forward to this 3D rerelease. Initially, it was more the fact of getting to see it on the big screen properly that I was looking forward to moreso than the actual 3D conversion. That was until I caught Top Gun in IMAX 3D in February, which happened to have the JP 3D trailer playing before it, which proceeded to impress me mightily of the 3D conversion job. It ensured I'd fork out the extra cash and drive the extra distance to catch it in IMAX 3D instead of a regular 3D theater, even if it was just an IMAX-D "Lie-Max" screen.

Oddly enough, all but one of the previews weren't shown in 3D (even those for films that are in 3D and whose trailers have been playing in 3D elsewhere). But i digress- onto the feature presentation!

The film still looks good, though it does show some age in a few shots- some are very crisp, others are a tad more muted or grainy. he audio mix is as aggressive as ever (the Raptor screams and (God Damn!) T-Rex roars are as satisfyingly assaulting as ever).

But the 3D? Oh my god, the 3D! Extremely well done. It was ridiculous. Ri-dic-u-lous. The way Spielberg shot this film, with almost every shot having a lot of depth and angled foreground objects makes it unnaturally well-suited to the 3D conversion process. You'd be hard pressed to think the film wasn't actually shot with 3D in mind.

I mean, I was aware of some shots being filmed the way he did here, but until you see it in 3D, you just don't realize how pervasive it is throughout the entire film. He shot the film like how I would have (what do you mean, "That sentence should be reversed"? ).

I was about to yell at the jerk sitting in front of me whose big head was starting to block the screen when I realized it was Grant's head in the film during the Mr DNA sequence.

As for the film itself, it's just as effective as ever, The "Welcome to Jurassic Park" sequence is still emotionally overwhelming and the T-Rex attack is still brilliant- only now it was far more terrifying having a 3D, lifesize (or larger than lifesize) T-Rex screaming at me, or staring me down with those eyes (particularly when it snaps up and sees Grant, Ho-Lee-Crap!). And the kitchen scene remains expertly choreographed (and is all the more impressive now after having seen just how much of that was actually a guy in a suit).

Much like with Raiders of the Lost Ark in IMAX, there are some nice small details you don't pick up on a smaller screen (though none this time around were as subtle as the insect flying into Belloq's mouth or the Nazi-punching monkey). In this case, the cab driver's reaction to Dodgson stiffing him on his tip, heh.

All in all, a very satisfying experience and certainly a movie better suited to 3D conversion than some other rereleases we've had over the past couple years (even Titanic and, to a greater extent, The Phantom Menace just were not filmed with that much depth of field to produce much of a 3D effect).

 

It does have a great look that holds up well (ok, well, there'd probably be fewer pastel shirts if it was made today and not the early 90's ). Except for the "Unix system".

(And, even then in 93, I could tell the "video chat" between Nedry and the dockworker was a Quicktime file- you can see the playhead!)

 

It would be interesting approach but it's not going to happen for a very, very long time. Not so long as the film remains mostly undated and modern sequels are viable.

Plus, reboots being truer to the source material than their preceding film adaptations haven't had a very good record as of late (Total Recall, etc).

I think some films are ultimately untouchable for remakes/reboots for the foreseeable future. Not many, but they are there. Mostly Spielberg and Cameron stuff. Citizen Kane, etc.

I could, however, see an animated TV work or video game taking that approach.