Tag Archives: 1990’s

#15- Jurassic Park

Quick Recap: Is this really necessary? UGH. The movie is about a park full of dinosaurs that kill people and open doors dramatically. Also, Jeff Goldblum is in it and that makes everything ok in my eyes.

Hold on to your butts. This post will not be as funny as I imagined in my head.

Hold on to your butts. This post will not be as funny as I imagined in my head.

Fun(?) Fact: “T-Rex’s roar was a remix of sounds from a crocodile, a lion, a tiger and a baby elephant.” Sort of reminds me of a certain Smoke Monster from Lost.

 

I wish I could quit you

I wish I could quit you

My thoughts:  I saw this film when it first came out in 1993 and it scared me to death. I had vivid nightmares of dinosaurs coming back to life and controlling Earth once again. Dinosaurs were serious business in 1993. Watching it as an adult though, is a completely different experience.  There were several times throughout different scenes where I thought that maybe I hadn’t seen this movie after all as a kid and had imagined everything. One scene in particular that jumped out is when Dennis is spit on by the Dilophosaurus and then attacked. It’s a much funnier scene than what I remembered. The entire movie had a camp-y vibe to it. Jeff Goldblum’s character is a perfect example of that. Every line he spews is cringe-worthy as well as pure gold.

our national treasure

our national treasure

I wanted to laugh at 8 year old me for being so scared of a dinosaur movie, but there were still some scenes that made me jump. Walking out of the theater, I realized that this movie has had such a lasting effect because it is not meant to be taken seriously in any way. Spielberg himself readily admitted to changing factual details so that he could better tell the story. Yes, now we know that dinosaurs had feathers -but I think a colorful plumed T-Rex would have looked very silly in this movie. Spielberg wanted this to be enjoyable and if you take it at face value, it very much is.

Final Review: 4/5. In the words of my favorite small town newspaper, ‘A good time was had by all’.

Where I watched it: The Alamo Draft House. I especially loved all of the dinosaur shorts they showed before the movie started. I would like to think my score of this film might’ve been lower had I gone somewhere else. Excellent job, guys.

Up Next: The Red Shoes, probably.

 

 

Leave a comment

#10-Rushmore

Quick recap- This is the story of Max Fischer, an eccentric teenager, who falls in love with a first grade teacher at his prep school. Fischer is involved in practically every extra curricular activity at his school and that hasn’t helped him academically. Once he meets Rosemary Cross,  the teacher, he becomes obsessed. He is also befriended by Herman Blume, an industrialist, who tries to convince Max that Cross isn’t worth it, only later to fall in love with her himself. Fischer is eventually expelled from the school and finds out about Cross and Blume’s relationship. Things get quirky as Blume and Fischer fight each other, but in the end Max stays Max and everyone appreciates his quirkiness even more after watching a performance of a play he had written. All is well.

Fun (?) fact- Rushmore was filmed in Houston. I figured it out part way through the movie because I recognized the METRO busses.

My thoughts: Wes Anderson is one of my favorite directors, so I went into this with high expectations. The first film I saw from his career, The Royal Tenenbaums, is one of my all-time favorite movies. I’m not here to critique all of his work, but I will say that while watching Rushmore, his trademarks seemed even more glaring.

Image

It bothered me to suddenly become annoyed by these director traits that make me love Anderson in the first place. After the movie, I came to the conclusion that the issue is not Anderson, but myself. I have watched his films out of order. If anything, I should be annoyed by Moonrise Kingdom, not Rushmore. This film was at the very beginning of his career and it is wonderful, in its own way. I was simultaneously annoyed by/adored Max Fischer. He completely won me over by then end. The music also added to the general enjoyment of the movie.

Final review: 5/5. If you haven’t seen anything of Anderson’s yet, don’t start with Moonrise Kingdom. Start here or better yet, go start with Bottle Rocket because I hear it is even better. Watching Rushmore is watching a play of eccentric characters with heart and I love it.

Where I watched it: Netflix DVD

1 Comment