Monster Media 1993 #2

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Wrap

Text File | 1993-06-15 | 14KB | 309 lines

Through The Magic Lantern Copyright (c) 1993, Diamond & Shipp All rights reserved -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ╓─╥─┐ ╖ ╖ ╓─╥─┐ ╖ ║ ╟╖ ╓╖ ╓╖ ╖╖ ╓╖ ╟╖ ║ ╟╖ ╓╖ ╨ ╙╙ ╙ ╙╜ ╙╜ ╙╢ ╙╙ ╨ ╙╙ ╙─ ╙╜ ╓─╥─┐ ■ ╥─ ║ ║ │ ┌╖ ╓╖ ╖ ╓─ ║ ┌╖ ╓╖ ╫─ ╓╖ ╓╖ ╓╖ ╨ ╨ ┴ └╨ ╙╢ ╙ ╙─ ╨──┘ └╨ ╙╙ ╙╜ ╙─ ╙ ╙╙ ╙╜ WITH BRUCE DIAMOND AND RANDY SHIPP -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ JURASSIC PARK: Steven Spielberg, director. Michael │ │ Crichton and David Koepp, screenplay. Based on the │ │ novel by Michael Crichton. Stars Sam Neill, Laura Dern, │ │ Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Bob Peck, Martin │ │ Ferrero, B.D. Wong, Joseph Mazzello, Ariana Richards, │ │ Samuel L. Jackson and Wayne Knight. Universal Pictures. │ │ Rated PG-13. │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ BRUCE DIAMOND: Welcome to the first installment of THROUGH THE MAGIC LANTERN, with Diamond and Shipp. I'm Diamond. RANDY SHIPP: And I'm Shipp. DIAMOND: For this first installment, we'll be discussing Steven Spielberg's new epic, JURASSIC PARK, taken from Michael Crichton's best-selling novel. Billionaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) creates a theme park on an island off the coast of Costa Rica. His investors are nervous about the park, so he invites two scientists, paleontologist Allan Grant (Sam Neill) and paleobotanist Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) to give the park their "stamp of approval." As added insurance, the investors' lawyer, Donald Gennaro (Martin Ferrero) brings along a brilliant mathematician, Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), whose Choas-based theories foretell the inevitable collapse of the park. SHIPP: The visitors are astounded when they reach the park to find that Hammond's team of geneticists have cloned dinosaurs from DNA millions of years old. The group quickly decides that perhaps Hammond's scientists have acted too quickly, but are convinced by the jubilant Hammond to withhold final judgement until after they have had the grand tour of the park. But a tropical storm, and the actions of a spy on Hammond's staff combine to make for a less-than-pleasant tour. When Hammond's dinosaurs are set free to roam the island, the visitors are forced to survive against long-extinct predators. DIAMOND: Well, Randy, I think you may have understated the case when you say "less-than-pleasant tour." SHIPP: You're right. I think that's one of the things that most people, especially parents, may be interested in hearing. JURASSIC PARK isn't exactly a kiddie movie. Steven Spielberg's movie isn't gory, but it is suspenseful, maybe too much for some younger kids. DIAMOND: Suspenseful is, again, an understatement. JURASSIC is a tense, scary movie, perhaps the best-made monster movie ever. It will scare you. Bar none. SHIPP: Maybe the fact that these monsters were once real makes it even more scary. DIAMOND: That's a good point. There's something primal about dinosaurs -- practically every kid feels it at one point or another. Maybe it's a racial memory that keeps bringing us back to dinosaurs, even though science tells us that humans and dinosaurs never co-existed. Look at the popularity of Godzilla, for example. SHIPP: Right. There's been a real rush on dinosaur things lately, and I think it's because they're the only monsters we're allowed to believe in. Spielberg has taken what may have been fascinating creatures for kids and made them very believable and very scary. Of course, it's worth noting that not all the dinos in JURASSIC are killers. DIAMOND: Too true. The brachiosaurs are one example of the peaceful dinos in this film. The scene where Neill and Dern first see a live brachiosaur is incredible. I *felt* the awe they were feeling, and the computer graphics are impeccable. SHIPP: Yeah, in my opinion, I think the shots of peaceful animals were more awesome than the dark, violent shots of T. Rex. DIAMOND: A friend who accompanied me to the preview said he was pulled in by the shot of the brachiosaurs in the lake, mixed with smaller dinosaurs and birds. It was so REAL. SHIPP: Or the scene where the herd of small dinos flocked like birds across a field. That's where JURASSIC PARK's special effects people really succeeded: they managed to really let you forget you weren't looking at models or computer graphics. The effects, including the incredible sound, convinced you for a while that all that was possible. DIAMOND: You know, I've already heard one critic complain that the full-size animatronic puppets and the computer graphics didn't blend together at all for him. He even mentioned stop-motion animation, but the fact is that while Industrial Light and Magic's "Go-Motion" team (the same team responsible for the Landwalkers in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and other such movies) worked on the dinosaur's movements, absolutely NO stop-motion animation was used in the movie. SHIPP: I think it's a tribute to ILM that I couldn't tell how the effects were done. And I'm a person who usually pays close attention to special effects. I think it's great that the effects in this movie didn't vie for your attention quite like TERMINATOR 2. DIAMOND: T2 seemed more of an effects-for-effects'-sake movie, whereas in JURASSIC PARK, the thrill-ride terror is more of the focus. That may be the major distinction between James Cameron and Steven Spielberg as directors. Cameron's great with action flicks, but NOBODY can do atmosphere and white-knuckle scenes like Spielberg. SHIPP: And they abound in JURASSIC PARK. I'll tell you, I'm tempted to declare this movie Spielberg's best for that very reason. At no point did the tension stop building in this movie until the very end, when it climaxed and then dropped off very suddenly. I thought that perhaps there might have been a bit more denouement or epilogue to the story, but then the ending was a weakness in Crichton's book, which may have been difficult to remedy in the screen adaptation. DIAMOND: Yes, but there was more of a sense of closure to the novel. The film, unfortunately, just leaves you hanging. Perhaps deliberately for a sequel, which Spielberg has dropped hints about lately. Spielberg changed several things from the book, some for the better, some for the worse. I'm not sure I agree with his softening of EVERY character. Hammond, for example, is not nearly as obsessed as he is in the book. Crichton's Ian Malcolm was much more acerbic, and his kids were quite annoying. SHIPP: You're right. I worried that the kids would come out badly in the film, and in fact they did quite well. DIAMOND: I agree. The girl (Ariana Richards) plays absolute terror so *well* that I was afraid for her! SHIPP: As for a sequel, I think they might have used the minimal epilogue of the novel to set us up for a JURASSIC PARK 2, but instead, Spielberg chose not even to give us a hint that there could be more action. I think part of that comes from the fact that he was forced to edit the story heavily. A time and money constraint certainly must have led him to cut back some scenes in the book, some of which suggested in no uncertain terms the possibility of a sequel. But I think that with the incredible box office success this movie is likely to see, a sequel may be so financially sound an investment as to be inevitable. DIAMOND: A time and money constraint? I don't know. Considering Spielberg spent somewhere between 50 and 70 million dollars and spent two months filming in Hawaii, it may have been more of a *dramatic* purpose to cut back some scenes from the book. The whole business of dinosaurs (velociraptors, actually) escaping to the mainland was dropped entirely, and I think it makes for a stronger film. SHIPP: A little more focused, maybe. DIAMOND: Which, frankly, film needs to be. The medium dictates it. SHIPP: It's hard to fault Spielberg for not making a four hour movie, which JURASSIC PARK surely would've been had every scene been recreated...but it would've been fun to see two more hours of incredible dinosaur effects and to hear more of John Williams' outstanding score. DIAMOND: Williams has outdone himself here. It's not often I can still hear the score in my head after I leave a movie. Right now, the theme from JURASSIC PARK is playing over and over in my mind. While it may not be his absolute best work (and I might have to say that for Spielberg, as well), it's certainly better than some of his more recent efforts. SHIPP: Yep. This soundtrack will join STAR WARS in my CD collection. I found myself several times thinking, "This is just like STAR WARS. Williams has actually WATCHED this movie." His music will bring back the story when you listen to it later. DIAMOND: Do you maintain that this is Spielberg's best movie, even in the light of JAWS, E.T., and THE COLOR PURPLE? While it's an excellent job, and easily the most exciting movie so far this year, I'm a little hesitant to call it his best. SHIPP: It's tough to decide which of those medalists should get the gold, isn't it? I just feel that maybe Spielberg has found a style which he might even refine more. The suspense was so taut in JURASSIC, you'd think it was the only style Spielberg had ever worked in. Perhaps I was hasty to suggest it was his best, but then I hope that we haven't seen Steven Spielberg's best movie. DIAMOND: I hope we haven't, either. God knows, it'll take a lot to surpass JURASSIC PARK. I've been maintaining for the last two weeks that this is Spielberg's medium. He works best with topics that at least have some grounding in reality. When he takes off on a flight of fantasy (viz. HOOK), he loses his footing, despite the youth-based themes that he resonates so well with. SHIPP: I think that may be why, surprisingly to some people, JAWS sticks out among the list of movies you mentioned earlier. It had the same sort of building fear that JURASSIC PARK has, and it also deals with real-life monsters. In JAWS, though, he had a much easier time building suspense, since the menace was hidden and struck without warning. In JURASSIC, I think Spielberg had to work harder to be scary, so maybe I'm a little more impressed. DIAMOND: Well, in the end, all the arguments and little flaws in the movie can be swept away by just two words: "WHO CARES?" JURASSIC PARK is one mother of an amusement ride, and everything else can just fall by the wayside. On a scale of 1-10, I'd have to give JURASSIC PARK a 10! SHIPP: I'm with you, Bruce. This movie sparkled the way only a high-budget, high-quality film can, and is the first movie in a while which left me breathless even during the ride home. JURASSIC PARK was a perfect 10! DIAMOND: That's it for this month's installment of THROUGH THE MAGIC LANTERN, with Diamond and Shipp. Be with us next month when we discuss another summer blockbuster. SHIPP: I'm Diamond and he's Shipp...nononono...He's Diamond and I'm Shipp...and we'll meet YOU at the matinee. See you next time.