Jaws

Fifty years ago, Jaws made a huge splash in the cinematic landscape and its ripple effects are still felt to this day. Shortly after its original release in 1975, it thrashed box office records and became the highest-grossing film of all time until the release of the original Star Wars just two years later and even surfaced to a Best Picture nomination at the Academy Awards. Such a feat put Steven Spielberg, who had based the film off of the bestselling Peter Benchley novel of the same name, on the map and led to a lucrative career that made him a household name. Even now, Jaws is often regarded as one of the greatest films of all time, as well as perhaps the only good Shark movie ever made. It also can’t be understated how much of an impact it had on Hollywood filmmaking and society at large, for better or worse.

In honor of the fiftieth anniversary of such a monumental film, we did our due diligence and gave Jaws another watch (with a twenty-five-year-old DVD to boot). After all, films this old may not have held up as well as its reputation would suggest. However, not only has Jaws held up surprisingly well after a few decades, its reputation feels more than earned and it’s easy to see how it still serves as a continuous source of inspiration.

Ready Player One

When Ready Player One, directed by Steven Spielberg, was first announced, I didn’t know what to expect. When excerpts from the New York Times bestselling book floated around, I got the impression that it was basically wall-to-wall 80s pop culture references connected by a mediocre plot. This was one reason I didn’t see the movie when it came out initially, but after months of social pressure I finally caved in and actually watched it. To my surprise, it was better than I had expected, though still not that great of a movie.

In the year 2045, people escape to a VR universe known as OASIS, created by James Halliday (Mark Rylance) and Ogden Morrow (Simon Pegg) of Gregarious Games. After Halliday’s death, a pre-recorded message is sent out to world, revealing that whoever can find three hidden keys can unlock a hidden gate, behind which is an Easter Egg that will grant them complete ownership of OASIS, along with $500 Billion. Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), an orphan living in the “stacks” in Columbus Ohio, seeks the Egg so he can have a better life, along with his online friends Aech (Lena Waithe), Daito (Win Morisaki) and Sho (Philip Zhao). His biggest hurdle, however, is Nolan Sorento (Ben Mendelsohn), owner of Innovative Online Industries (IOI), who seeks to control OASIS for himself by using countless employees and indentured servants, called “Sixers”, to find and complete the challenges.

The story is not that hard to follow, a plus considering the setting, but the individual plot points can be pretty hit and miss, oftentimes relying on certain coincidences/contrivances to help advance the story. For example, without spoiling anything, it apparently took thousands of players four years to even consider looking for an invisible wall during one of the challenges to obtain a key. Another challenge requires taking creative liberties with Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980) to “actionize” it, with one character saved from death, aka “Zeroing Out”, entirely because the plot needed him to stay alive. On perhaps a lesser note, it’s noticeable that the police don’t get involved at any point in the story until the very end.

That isn’t to say that Ready Player One doesn’t have interesting ideas, like the setting and the technology, just that the execution is unrefined.

One of the more obvious references; Wade Watts as Parzival (Tye Sheridan)
about to race with a replica of the DeLorean from Back to the Future Part II.

Perhaps the most notable thing about Ready Player One, and presumably the reason a number of people saw this movie is the first place, is the numerous pop culture references. In-story, characters practically worship 1980s pop culture, as they believe that this period of time, which Halliday grew up with, could contain the necessary clues to finding the three hidden keys. From what little I saw in the novel, the references made as a result could result in unwieldy descriptions literally lasting at least a whole page.

In the movie, these references are comparatively far subtler, like a modern “Where’s Waldo?” where eagle-eyed viewers may spot some visual reference to their favorite icons if it’s not already pointed out. Some of these references, just from memory, include Minecraft, Overwatch, The Iron Giant, Gundam, Akira, Street Fighter, Back to the Future, Superman, The Atari 2600 (both the console and games), The Shining, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Battletoads, Looney Tunes, Sanrio properties, King Kong and Batman (1966). And that’s just merely scratching the surface. I personally liked this execution of the references, since the game VRChat allows a system where player avatars can resemble copyrighted characters, though it’s rather noticeable that all the characters that Warner Bros. didn’t need to license are all characters owned by them in some form. As a result, the usage of the Giant from The Iron Giant, while somewhat justified in-universe and from a production standpoint as a replacement for Ultraman, feels wrong considering the message of the movie it’s from. I’ll also mention here that not even the music is safe from references, since aside from the licensed music, the score itself references composer Alan Silvestri’s work on Back to the Future and music from The Shining.

There’s not much I can really say about the acting, as the actors can’t do much about the general lack of depth in the characters, but T.J. Miller, surprisingly enough, stood out in his role as i-R0k. i-R0k doesn’t really do very much, but he manages to be a good source of levity due to his casual nature despite also taking his job as an antagonist seriously.

Ready Player One is very much a Spielberg film, but ultimately one that’s just okay. It’s not a bad movie, since the story does have some interesting ideas and a better execution of pop culture references than the novel, but the general lack of depth and a host of small issues ultimately hold it back from being great. Give it a try if you’re a Spielberg fan or someone who just wants a chance to see a lot of their favorite things onscreen, but this is otherwise a game you don’t need to play.

Stubs – Jurassic Park

Stubs – Jurassic Park (1993) Starring Sam Neil, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Written by Michael Crichton, David Koepp. Based on the novel “Jurassic Park” by Michael Crichton. Produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Gerald R. Molen. U.S. Color, Science Fiction.

The summer blockbuster owes its roots to two men: George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Their films: Star Wars, Jaws, E.T., Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, etc. set the bar very high for Hollywood. $100 million of box-office became the standard of success and budgets grew exponentially as a result. Every summer, films had to be bigger and do better at the box-office. People expected spectacle and these two delivered. Both men got rich and powerful with their success and forever changed Hollywood; which is why their recent bemoaning of its state rings sort of hollow.

Michael Crichton was a writer who had seen his own success, starting with his novel The Andromeda Strain published in 1969, which had been made into a movie in 1971. He had apparently had the idea to do a story about dinosaurs since grad school. He was at the time working with Spielberg developing an idea that would be the hit TV show E.R. In 1990, prior to publishing the novel, Jurassic Park, Crichton demanded and received a non-negotiable fee of  $1.5 million for the films rights, which Universal bought for Spielberg and Crichton received another half million to write the screenplay.

Of course, this being Hollywood, once Crichton was done another writer was brought on board, David Koepp. Crichton’s screenplay, which only used about 20% of the book, would go through more excision at the hands of Koepp and Spielberg. The book is much more violent and bloody than the movie and there are characters who survive the movie, who do not survive the novel. Crichton wasn’t yet thinking sequel, though that would change after this film was released.

The film had a long pre-production, over two years, but finally got underway on August 24, 1992, with Hawaii standing in for Costa Rica. Filming also took place in this little town some people occasionally use for filming, Hollywood, using stages at both Universal and nearby Warner Bros.

Filming completed on November 30^th, but that’s when the post-production phase began. That would last until April, 1993. The final film would not be completed until May 28 and was released on June 10, 1993.

John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) is in the need of advice for his new business venture. At great expense, he’s developed a theme park featuring genetically altered dinosaurs. Problem is prior to the opening, one of his workers is killed by a Velociraptor. Hammond's nervous investors' interests are represented by attorney David Gennaro (Martin Ferrero), who accompanies them to the island. Gennaro has also brought with him Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), a mathematican and chaos-theory expert, to look at the set up.

John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), center, is flanked by attorrney David Gennaro (Martin Ferrero),
Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neil)
on a helicopter flight to the island.

Hammond invites palaeontologist Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neil) and paleobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) to his island to give him and it their seal of approval. Almost as soon as they arrive, Drs. Grant and Sattler are surprisd to see a herd of Parasaurolophus and a trio of Brachiosaurus.

Gennaro, Hammond, Macolm, Dr. Grant (Sam Neil) and Dr. Sattler look on in amazement at a herd of dinosaurs.

At the park’s visitor center, the group learns that the dinosaurs’ cloning was accomplished by carefully extracting the DNA of dinosaurs from mosquitoes preserved in amber. To prevent breeding, all the dinosaurs are cloned as females. Where the DNA strands were incomplete, scientists have used DNA from frogs to fill the gaps.

The gates to Jurassic Park.

Before they got out to tour the grounds, Hammond’s grandchildren, Alexis (Ariana Richards) and Tim Murphy (Joseph Mazzello), arrive and join them. But things do not go as planned. Not only don’t the dinosaurs appear, but one of them, a Triceratops, gets ill. With a tropical storm approaching, the tour is cut short. At night, most of the employees depart Isla Nublar for mainland Costa Rica, all except the group, the park’s game warden, Robert Muldoon (Bob Peck), chief engineer Ray Arnold (Samuel L. Jackson) and Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight), the architect of the park’s computer systems.

Samuel L. Jackson plays Ray Arnold, the chief engineer at the Park.

The group, minus Dr. Sattler, return to the tour, while she stays back with the park’s veterinarian Gerry Harding (Gerald R. Molen) to study the Triceratops before Harding departs the island.

During the storm that follows, Nedry, who is in cahoots with a rival corporation, plans to steal dinosaur embryos. To make his escape, he deactivates the park’s security system. When the power goes out, the automated Ford Explorers, used for the tour, stall and most of the park’s electric fences, designed to keep the dinosaurs away from the tourists, stop working. Without the fence to stop it, a Tyrannosaurus Rex escapes and attacks the tour.

Freed from her enclosure, a T-Rex attacks the tour of the park.

Grant and Alexis escape injury, but they are the only ones. Malcolm is injured, but Gennaro, who is hiding, is devoured and Tim, who is trapped in his vehicle, gets pushed over the embankment by the raging T-Rex.

Also trapped in the storm, Nedry gets lost and goes off the road, crashing his jeep. When he gets out to try and wrench his car free, he attracts the attention of a Dilophosaurus. For a guy who works at a dinosaur-themed amusement park, Nedry knows surprisingly little about them, treating the dino like a dog. Nedry appropriately dies like a dog, though the movie doesn’t really show us the attack. The embryos, stowed away in a fake-bottom shaving cream can, end up buried in a mudslide.

Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight) about to get his just rewards.

Hammond sends Muldoon to retrieve the tour group and Sattler goes with him. When they get to the Jeeps, they find Malcolm and what's left of Gennaro. Grant and the children appear to still be alive, but there is no time to search for them, since the Tyrannosaurus Rex returns. The three escape in their Jeep just ahead of the dino.

Grant and the children are on a survivalist/nature walk and come across broken shells of dinosaur eggs. Apparently, the dinosaurs have mutated from just being female. Apparently, the frog DNA they used to fill in the gaps, the West African bullfrogs, can change sexes in a single sex environment, a capability the dinos have inherited.

Dr. Grant with Hammond's grandchildren Alexis (Ariana Richards) and Tim Murphy
(Joseph Mazzello) go on a nature walk after surviving the T-Rex's attack.

Back in the control room, Arnold is unable to undo what Nedry had done, so he and Hammond decide to reboot the entire park’s system, not sure what will happen. The reboot works, but there is still the power which has to be turned back on manually, at a shed on the other side of the compound. While the others retreat to an emergency bunker, Arnold sets out for the maintenance shed.

When he doesn’t return, Muldoon and Sattler go out to look for him. On the way, Muldoon becomes aware that they are being stalked by Velociraptors, freed when the electricity went down. Muldoon stays to hold them off and Sattler runs to the shed. Once inside, she manages to turn the power back on.

Robert Muldoon (Bob Peck) goes out with Dr. Sattler to look for Arnold, but he won't return.

Meanwhile, Grant and the children have come to one of the 10,000 volt electric fences and have to climb over it, which is easy with the power off. Unbeknownst to them, however, is that the electricity is coming back on. Tim is afraid of heights and stalls his descent off the fence and Grant is too late to prevent the boy from being shocked and thrown from the fence. Grant manages to revive the boy without any lingering side-effects.

Back in the maintenance shed, Sattler is attacked by a raptor who has managed to get inside. Looking for a place to hide, she has a run in with what’s left of Arnold, his arm. She manages to escape, but Muldoon is not so lucky and meets the same fate as Arnold.

Grant, Alexis and Tim finally reach the Visitor’s Center, and Grant leaves them in a banquet room with food still laid out as he goes searching for the others. After gorging themselves on the days old food, the children realize they are not alone. A pair of Velociraptors have found their way into the center, which the children are forced to battle.

The kids are forced to battle a pair of Velociraptors at the Visitor's Center.

Reunited, Grant and Sattler head back to the visitor center and the four of them go to the control room. Alexis restores full power and they can finally call for help. Their escape route however is blocked by two raptors, but the group is saved when the Tyrannosaurus suddenly appears and kills both raptors. Hammond pulls up in a Jeep with Malcolm, and the entire group flees. Down at the helipad, Grant tells Hammond that he’s not going to endorse the park, an opinion Hammond seems to agree with.

Hammond takes one last look before fleeing the island.

On the flight back to the mainland, a flock of pelicans fly nearby, a reminder that the fearsome dinosaurs have evolved into birds.

Let’s start our criticism of the story with that last bit: Dinosaurs evolved into birds. Then why weren't the gaps in their DNA filled with bird DNA? You can blame the book for this, but this is a really nice device rather than anything close to scientific fact. And that’s the problem with the science in the movie and the book. Few of us are geneticists so there is a real tendency to BS us with a lot of scientific words that may or may not be truthful.

It’s sort of like listening to a politician of any party. If you have no other knowledge on the subject they’re speaking about a lot of what they say makes sense. But it’s when you do know something or see the results that you realize they don’t know what they’re talking about.

But in the summer of 1993, audiences weren’t interested in learning science, they wanted to be amazed and seeing CGI dinosaurs walk across the screen was more than enough to carry this film about the $900 million worldwide box-office number, making Jurassic Park the biggest film of all time, up to that time. But records are made to be broken and Jurassic Park's mark has since been eclipsed several times, including by its own sequel, Jurassic World (2015), which finished its theatrical run with $1.67 billion worldwide.

The special effects, which are what the movie was really all about, were state-of-the-art for their time and still seem to hold up pretty well today. It is the practical effects, when they interact with non-CGI dinosaurs, where things don’t stand up as well. By comparison with their computer cousins, these look more like a couple of guys in a dinosaur suit. But there is really very little of the practical special effects.

Considering that the human characters are of secondary importance, the acting is pretty good, but not great. All of the actors seem to have that amazed look down pat. For the most part, Neil, Dern, Jackson and Attenborough are well-known and respected actors and Jackson had not become the box-office juggernaut he is today.

"All-right everyone look amazed on three. 1...2...3."

I don’t mean to leave out Jeff Goldblum. He had a real knack for showing up in blockbusters, though rarely as the lead actor. He seems to play the same part over and over again in these films, the smarter-than-everyone else scientist with a little Woody Allen nebbish-ness thrown in for good measure. He plays that part here and once again, an important, but secondary role. In fact, the movie could probably be told without the Malcolm character at all.

For the most part, Jurassic Park is a nice film to put in a time capsule. Not the greatest film ever made, but certainly one that shows Spielberg at his zenith as a cinematic story-teller. While he would certainly direct more important films, he would never direct a bigger movie (though he would have his name on several that were). No one used special effects better than he did, though I’m sure Star Wars and possibly Star Trek fans might not agree. He is also much to blame for movies' over-reliance on the FX, as everyone tries to imitate his success with them.

Lincoln

Lincoln (2012) Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Fields, David Stratham, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader, Hal Holbrook, Tommy Lee Jones Directed by Steven Spielberg. Screenplay by Tony Kushner.  Based (in part) on the book: Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, by Doris Kearns Goodwin.  Produced by Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy. Music by John Williams. Run Time: 150 minutes. U.S. Color. History, Biography

Here is a film with important written all over it. How could it not be? The subject matter is Abraham Lincoln and the passage of the 13^th Amendment to the Constitution. It’s based on a book by a well-respected Presidential biographer. It stars Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln. It’s directed by Steven Spielberg and has music by John Williams. It’s so important that you really get the feeling the film knows it and takes itself extra seriously.

When I left the theater, I wasn’t sure exactly how I should feel, but I knew that some great important message had been sent, but maybe it was me that didn’t receive it. Do I think it will be up for several of the big Academy Awards? Yes. It has Academy Award nomination written all over it, almost as if it were made to receive such an accolade.

I am not able to talk specifically about the historical accuracies of the film, that is better left to historians. I understand Doris Kearns Goodwin is satisfied, but so was Lee Child (pen name for Jim Grant) with Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher, who is supposed to be 6’5” and 250 pounds. But Goodwin’s word is okay with me. She’d be the one losing sleep if it wasn’t.

Daniel Day-Lewis is very good as Abe Lincoln. While I’ve not kept a close eye on Day-Lewis’s career, this sort of praise is nothing new. It seems every role he takes is Academy Award worthy. Sally Field’s portrayal of Mary Todd Lincoln brings some humanity to a woman that is most often discussed as being crazy. She’s still crazy here, but she seems to be aware of it and there is some grounding given to her mental funk, the loss of Willie, the couple’s third son, who died during Lincoln’s first term. The couple had already lost Teddie, their second son in 1850, but that’s not mentioned in the movie, so I assumed she’d gotten over him by this time. And you do hear right, Abe does call her Molly, which is a pet name.

Watching the film, I was amazed at what a good job the hair, makeup and costumers had done, since seeing the cast is a little like seeing photos and drawings of that time come to life. Of course, not all of the characters in the film are necessarily well known to me and I would dare say to today’s audiences. Thaddeus Stevens (Tommy Lee Jones), may get a revival of interest, but until now his contributions and personal life had pretty much faded from popular lore, if he was ever in popular lore to begin with. But that’s one of the fascinating things about history: rediscovering people’s contributions to events that shaped the world. And the stories of William N. Bilbo (James Spader) and his fellow operatives and how they worked behind the scenes to help pass the amendment is one that is certainly not well known.

I will admit I didn’t know that Lincoln ever sat down with representatives from the Confederacy to discuss ending the war. For that matter, I didn’t know the name of the Vice-President of the Confederate States, Alexander H. Stephens (Jackie Earle Haley) until this movie.

One can see that politics have changed very little since the Civil War. While the 13^th Amendment was very important, Lincoln went out of his way to let the war continue (and people on both sides die) so that he could see it passed. He was willing to sign up operatives to make political promises to help get it passed and he was willing to grant himself rights that weren’t necessarily spelled out in the Constitution. Doesn’t this sound like the usual Standing Operating Procedures for our recent Presidents as well? Though none of our recent crop has been credited with passing such sweeping and important legislation.

There are a couple of historical issues I have with the film and not that I’m questioning their accuracy. I just don’t think the film does a good job of explaining things. Point in question is the support of Francis Preston Blair (Hal Holbrook). The father of a member of Lincoln’s cabinet, Blair had connections in the south as well as within the Republican Party. He was able to provide a block of Republicans who would vote for the amendment on one condition. Blair wanted to try to get peace talks going. With Lincoln’s consent, he went to Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy, and convinced President Jefferson Davis to send three commissioners to hold talks.

But Lincoln knew that bringing a swift end to the war might hurt the chances of passing the 13^th amendment, since the South would certainly demand that slavery be kept and the public might go for it. So he had the three commissioners put on ice, so to speak, and made their relatively short trip from Richmond to Washington D.C. take days, if not weeks, when it should have taken hours. Now Blair was aware of the commissioners and when, on the day of the vote, the evil Democrats (when’s the last time Democrats were projected in a bad light by a Hollywood movie?) brought up that the commissioners were either en route or already in Washington, D.C. Blair temporarily withdrew his support and the votes necessary to pass the legislation.

Congress hits the pause button, so to speak, until Lincoln responds to the issue if there are commissioners from the South suing for peace in Washington. Per the movie, Lincoln responds in typical political fashion with a cleverly worded response that to the best of his knowledge there were no representatives from the South in Washington, knowing full well he was keeping them at bay on board the River Queen near Hampton, Virginia. Even though Blair must know the President is not being truthful, he still gives back his support and the votes he controls and the amendment narrowly passes. But if Blair knows it was not the truth why did he give back his support?

The film depicts a meeting that would become known as the Hampton Road Conference and shows that it becomes clear to Stephens that even if the South were allowed back in to fight the 13^th Amendment, it would still pass. And while we know the Hampton Road Conference was not a success, we’re not shown why. Apparently, the conference fell apart because of the South’s insistence on independence, but that’s not really brought up in Lincoln. Rather, you’d think the South was on the verge of coming back, but just doesn’t.

The film also dodges some really big events. The surrender at Appomattox Court House is only shown after its conclusion, when General Lee gets on his horse and rides away. Nor are we shown the actual assassination of Lincoln. Rather, the film walks us up to it and then cuts away to another theater, this one with Tad Lincoln, the President’s youngest son attending what appears to be an opera. The stage manager rushes on stage to tell everyone that the President had been shot at Ford’s Theater. And we get to see Tad’s anguished reaction. While this really happened, it just feels like a contrivance made up for the film designed to elicit an emotional reaction from the audience.

There is also an impromptu parade that comes about because the House passed the 13^th amendment. This seems like a contrivance too. While there was a celebration, it happened the next night, not the day of passage. You might forgive a director for moving events around for dramatic effect, but the huge spontaneous celebration seemed overblown. The film talks about, but doesn’t deal with, the fact that once the House passed it, the amendment would still have to ratified by a majority of the state legislatures before it would become law.

Having watched Lincoln once, I’m not sure I would feel compelled to watch it again. Lincoln was a film I felt I had to see, because of all the buzz surrounding it. And while I learned some things about history of the Civil War, I also feel I was manipulated and misled by Spielberg. He wanted me to have a certain reaction and nothing, lest the facts, would get in the way.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a very well-made film. Everything on the screen screams quality, but that doesn’t mean it’s really all that involving. Part of that may come from the fact that it is telling a well-known story and one that we all know how it ends. Despite all the backroom politics shown, we know the 13^th Amendment passes, the Civil War is won by the North and that Lincoln is assassinated. All of this is important stuff and this film lets you know it knows it is.

Stubs – Raiders of the Lost Ark

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981) Starring: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, John-Rhys Davies, Denholm Elliott. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan, Story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. Music by John Williams. Produced by Frank Marshell, George Lucas and Howard Kazanjian. Run time: 115. Color. U.S. Action, Adventure, Romance.

I was recently invited to a screening of Raiders, which has been remastered and is currently enjoying a re-release in movie theaters and on Blu-ray this week. If you’re like me, you’ve already seen it once in a movie theater, but this version is supposed to be better than the original, without any of the objects digitally replaced (no cell phones for guns as was the case in ET, a few years back.)

This film was made back in the days when the top summer movie seemed to be traded back and forth between some film Spielberg directed and one that his best friend George Lucas produced. The summer was their bank and the two of them made millions in withdrawls. So it’s no surprise that the two of them who pair up to produce what would turn out to be the biggest film of 1981, Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Apparently, Lucas, who was awaiting the results from Star Wars at the time, told Spielberg his idea and Spielberg signed on immediately. At the screening, Spielberg made reference to the serials produced at Republic Pictures as the inspiration for the movie. However, earlier he had supposedly given some credit to Scrooge McDuck for inspiring the opening sequence of the film (See #4).

That said, the presentation was set up to praise Spielberg, so no one would question anything he said. For the most part, he was an engaged and witty guest, as was Harrison Ford, who showed up unannounced. I will admit Spielberg is a very successful director with a large following, but I don’t put him in the same list as say Alfred Hitchcock, as far as storytelling goes. Spielberg films are sometimes too cute for their own good (see the four Indy sequels if you need proof of that).

While Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was a failed attempt to pass on the explorer torch to Shia LaBeouf, of all people, the story is what made the movie almost laughable in the wrong places. But that is a review for another day. The purpose of this review is to discuss the first of the films, and definitely the best of the four, Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The movie opens in 1936 with Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), and that is apparently his real name, leading an expedition to an ancient temple in the jungles of South America. Armed with only his wit and bull whip, Indy enters the temple with the last member of his crew Satipo (Alfred Molina). While there are booby traps on the way in, things get even hairier after Indy switches out a golden idol for a bag of sand. The famous rolling boulder is unleashed and Indy is deserted by Satipo and left on his own to narrowly escape.

But Satipo isn’t so lucky and a booby trap gets him and Indy escapes with the idol in hand. But waiting for him is a rival archaeologist, Rene Bolloq (Paul Freeman). Bolloq has an army of Hovitos, the indigenous people of the jungle and Indy is forced to surrender his prize. But before Bolloq can have him killed, Indy flees into the jungle and toward the seaplane that will carry him to safety. One last thing we learn is that Indy hates snakes, since the pilot inexplicably keeps a snake as a pet on the plane.

Returning to his day job as a popular college archaeology professor, Indy is alerted by a friend, Dr. Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliott), that two government agents are waiting to see him. These men inform Indy that the Nazis are looking for his old mentor Abner Ravenwood, a leading expert in ancient Egypt and the city of Tanis in particular. The Nazis are on the hunt for occult items and Indy is convinced the Nazis are looking for the Ark of the Covenant, the biblical vessel built at instructions from God to hold the original stone tablets on which were written the Ten Commandments. With the Ark in their possession, the Nazi’s think their army would be unstoppable.

Per the movie, an Egyptian pharaoh’s army stole the Ark and took it to Tanis. However, the city was soon after wiped off the face of the earth by dust storms. (In reality, the Babylonians stole the Ark in 586 BC, but ancient Egypt makes for a better story and place.) According to Indy, the Ark was taken to the Well of Souls in the city of Tanis and the only way to find its exact location is with the headpiece from the staff of Ra. When the sun’s rays hit the map room in Tanis, the light passing through the headpiece will illuminate the location of the chamber. The army authorizes Indy to retrieve the Ark before the Nazis can.

First stop: Nepal. While that might seem like an odd way to go from the U.S. to Egypt, Indy is looking for Ravenwood, whom he knows has the headpiece. When he arrives at the bar Ravenwood’s daughter Marion (Karen Allen) runs, he find out Ravenwood is dead. Marion, who happens to be an embittered former lover of Indy’s, knows where the headpiece is (around her neck) and agrees to sell it to Indy for $3000.  However, she requires him to come back the next day. But as soon as he leaves, the bar is overrun by native thugs at the command of Major Arnold Toht (Ronald Lacey) who also wants the headpiece.

Indy, who apparently couldn’t find room at the Nepal Holiday Inn, returns to the bar and a firefight ensues, which leads to the tavern being burned to the ground. During the fighting, Toht sees the headpiece and makes a grab for it, but it is too hot to handle and sears the palm of his hand with one side of the image. But it is Marion and Indy who make it out with the actual headpiece. Marion informs Indy that she’s going with him until he can pay her for the headpiece.

Next stop: Cairo. There Indy and Marion are hosted by Sallah (John Rhys-Davies), whom Indy states is the best digger in Egypt. Sallah knows that the Nazis, with Belloq’s help, were trying to excavate Tanis and thought they had the headpiece based on the seared scar in Toht’s hand.

In a bazaar, Indy and Marion are beset by Nazis and their Egyptian allies chase the two through the streets. They are attempting to kidnap Marion. One of the more famous fight scenes in the movie takes place at this part of the film. When confronted by a sword wielding man, rather than fight him off with his whip, as he had done previously, he simply takes out his gun and rather nonchalantly shoots him. But despite his best efforts, Marion is kidnapped and apparently dies in a fiery explosion.

Marion’s death appears to hit Indy hard. (Notably, there are apparently no police in Cairo, since no one ever seems to investigate the noise of the explosion.) Indy is confronted by Balloq and as usual, a horde of thugs, but Sallah manages his escape by sending in children as a sort of protective shield and Indy once again escapes from the Nazis.

Sallah takes Indy to someone who can read the inscription on the headpiece. It turns out the Nazis only had one half of the puzzle and thus were using the wrong measurement for the staff. Armed with the right length of staff, Sallah smuggles Indy into the dig.

Using the light coming through the headpiece, Indy locates the Well of Souls. But the Nazis stumble across Sallah where he’s not supposed to be. But again, Indy escapes, coming across Marion in the process. She is tied up in a tent. Happy to see her alive, he starts to release her, but stops, not wanting to give himself away to the Nazis. Marion is not happy about being left behind.

Sallah, Indy and crew begin their own digging, even though they are surrounded by Nazis, no one notices. Even though they are digging on a hill, no one notices. Even though Indy puts on his iconic hat at sunset, no one notices.

Belloq comes in and tries to get Marion to talk ahead of her being left to Toht’s ways of getting her to talk. He has a fancy dress and wine. Marion tries to drink Belloq under the table, which we have seen her do to men before. But he seems to be more than a match for her. Marion is sober enough to try to escape, but she gets stopped when Toht and a couple of goons appear in the tent.

Sallah and Indy lower themselves down into the chamber which is beset with snakes which we know by now give Indy the willies. But with the help of gasoline, the two manage to make a path through the snakes and retrieve the Ark. By morning, they are pulling the Ark out and that’s when Belloq notices them. Before Indy can make it out, Belloq and the Nazis are at the top of the well. They have the Ark and are planning on taking it back to Berlin. Before sealing Indy in the well, they throw Marion down into the well. With their torches, they manage to keep the snakes at bay, but that’s only temporary. With their torches going out, Indy manages to figure a way out and the two manage to escape the well.

They make a beeline to the airplane, a flying wing, that is supposed to transport the Ark. Indy gets into a fight with a guard and subdues one, but then a giant Nazi mechanic gets involved. Marion gets onboard and subdues the pilot, but the plane starts to move in a circle. The trucks arrive with the Ark and Marion manages to fire on them, but she also manages to shot a fuel depot as well. Indy manages to maneuver the mechanic into the spinning blades of the plane and to get Marion off the plane before it inevitably explodes.

But the Nazis are anything if not adaptable and decide to truck the Ark out of the site instead. And Indy takes chase on horseback. As expected, Indy catches the convoy and takes control of the truck with the Ark. Not that it’s easy doings; Indy gets shot, gets thrown out of the truck and has to do his best Yakima Canutt impersonation, or rather the stuntman on Raiders imitates Canutt’s famous horse team stunt but with a transport truck. Indy drives the truck with Nazis in pursuit, to the next village down the road and straight into a welcoming garage. Before the Nazis pass by, villagers set up a bazaar in front of the garage door, so it looks as if Indy and the Ark have vanished into thin air. A little too convenient if you think about it too much.

Indy meets up with Sallah, who has arranged for transport of the Ark on a tramp steamer. In the captain’s quarters, Indy and Marion reconcile their feelings, but happiness is very short lived. A Nazi sub stops the steamer and relieves it of the Ark and Marion. Indy though manages to escape detection. The crew of the steamer is still looking for him, when he shows up on the outside of the sub.

Luckily for Indy, the sub does not submerge as it makes its way to a secret Nazi island. Instead of taking the Ark directly to Berlin, Belloq convinces his Nazi cohorts that they need to see what’s in the Ark and they take it to a special altar set up for the occasion. Indy tries to stop them, threatening to blow up the Ark with a grenade launcher. But Belloq calls his bluff, knowing Indy couldn’t destroy such a valuable artifact.

This leads to a set piece that reminded me of the alien meeting in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (all cuts). Indy ends up tied to a post with Marion, while Belloq performs a Jewish ritual to open the Ark. But what first appears to be nothing more than sand quickly turns into spirits which start to ravage the Nazis present. Aware of the danger of looking at the apparitions, Indy instructs Marion to close her eyes. And that simple action saves the two of them, while demonic creatures ravage the Nazis, exploding Belloq’s head and famously melting Toht’s face. With everyone dead, the Ark sends energy into the air before closing itself up.

With the Ark safely in U.S. possession, Indy and Brody want to examine it, but instead it is quietly crated up and put away in storage in the National Archives, surrounded by other like crates.

To begin any review, let’s talk about Steven Spielberg as director. I have always preferred Spielberg as a director over his BFF Lucas. Lucas is a sterile director by comparison. There is no sensuality in his movies, even slight. On the other hand when Karen Allen is standing in the wind in the dress Belloq picked out for her, you get the real feeling that she is naked underneath. It is a minor point, but you don’t get that feeling watching Princess Leia.

My complaint would be that the action is almost too paramount to the movie. We never get a real sense of the backstory between Indy and Marion; or Indy and Belloq. Stopping to give any backstory would just get in the way of the action. This is not a Republic Pictures serial, it is a major motion picture and expectations are set at a higher level.

Spielberg is also a director that uses special effects sometimes to excess. While there are special effects in this film, they are not overused. They add to the action of the movie. This is not his best effort, but it is definitely a sign that he is going to be, as he has been, a major director in Hollywood. Again, he may be the most successful ever dollar-wise. And he is someone who has made the most of his power in Hollywood. Any studio, even his own Dreamworks, would be happy to have a film directed by him.

The cast, especially the male and female leads, are very well cast. Harrison Ford, coming off his second film as Han Solo, is perfectly cast as the sexy, smart and quick thinking Indiana Jones. It is interesting to think that if Magnum P.I. hadn’t come up, Tom Selleck would have been Indiana Jones. Somehow, it would be a very different franchise if that bit of casting had held up. Ford brings a bit of swagger that Indy needs that I don’t know if Selleck possesses. Karen Allen is also a great choice for Marion. She is just the right mix of cute and tomboy for the role.

The writing is somewhat suspect. There are too many loopholes for me. Why don’t the Nazis see Indy’s crew digging? Where are the police in Cairo? How did Indy set up that garage and bazaar after stealing back the Ark? Why doesn’t the sub submerge? That’s a sign that things happen in the script because they need to happen in the script in order for the story to be told. Scripts should work within the world it sets up not manipulate it for the sake of the story. But this is not a story you’re supposed to really pay attention to. As the audience, you’re supposed to concentrate on the battle of good v. evil and be mesmerized by the action on the screen. Don’t look too closely or think too hard.

John Williams’ music is somewhat reminiscent of other John Williams scores. While the Indy theme is memorable, listening to just the music, as I had to do before the movie started, and you could imagine some of the music could fit easily into say The Empire Strikes Back. But he is part of the successful combination that Spielberg feels comfortable with, so the man is assured a job for life.

The real question of a review is would I recommend it. If you have never seen the movie before, the answer would be yes. It is a fun romp as long as you don’t think about it too much. If you have seen the movie before and loved it, then you should definitely see it again. This is one case that the movie has been remastered and has not been altered. Would I say buy it, and in some cases, again? That would depend on how much of a diehard fan you are. For me there are other films I’d rather spend my money on, since I already have the first three Indy films on disc.

The Adventures of Tintin - A Little Thinthin

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN (2011) Starring: Daniel Craig, Jaime Bell, Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis Directed by Steven Spielberg. Written by Steven Moffat and Edgar Wright & Joe Cornish. Produced by Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy and Peter Jackson. Based on comic book series by Hergé. Music by John Williams. Run Time: 107 minutes. Color. US/New Zealand, Animated, Action, Adventure, 3-D

Just to set the record straight, I’m reviewing this film without having ever really read Hergé’s comic book series, so I’m not coming at this as a fan boy. Nor am I necessarily overly enamored with Peter Jackson or Steven Spielberg. Both have been involved in as many bad movies as good over the duration of their careers, despite what their reputations might suggest. Since I’ve never read any Tintin, I won’t be commenting on how accurate the film portrays the characters or plots in the comic book. There are those more knowledgeable on that subject and I will leave it to them to discuss it on those merits.

I want this review to be about the movie itself, not how does it stand up as an adaptation but as a film.

One of the reasons I was interested in seeing this in the first place has to do with wanting to keep up. It’s a little like reading a book you’d rather not just because everyone is talking about it. Given the stature of Spielberg and Jackson, I’m guessing this is a film people will be talking about. It’s basically the same reason I went to see AVATAR (2009). Going in I’m hoping that TINTIN has more going for it than Cameron’s SMURFS meets DANCES WITH WOLVES film of two years ago. At least I’m not already familiar with the plot points of TINTIN, which is a plus and a chance for surprise.

My one concern before I saw a frame of film was the possibility that I would experience the uncanny valley, wherein the animation looks too human for its own good. I can honestly say that once the film started the uncanny valley wasn’t so much an issue as was why they shot this movie the way they did. Using motion capture, the actors played their parts, only to be animated over. This has been done many times before and while TINTIN is far superior to THE POLAR EXPRESS, as a viewer I wondered why they didn’t either animate it from the start or do a live action version of the story? What they ended up with is a hybrid that is sort of like watching cartoon characters walking about in the real world. I would have been happy if the entire film was animated in the same style as the opening credits. It wasn’t shot this way to save money, as it reportedly cost $200 million. It comes off as stunt filmmaking, as in we can do it this way, so why not, rather than is this the best way to tell the story. Except for a few prosthetic noses, it’s hard to know what about TINTIN couldn’t have been done as a live action film.

I won’t go in to the plot of TINTIN, since it has not yet been in theaters, but it’s somewhat convoluted plot has to do with lost treasure, cryptic clues and family feuds. And it is heavy on action, almost to the point of distraction. Spielberg doesn’t seem to be satisfied with being the most commercially successful director of all time; he must also want to be known as the director with the most action per minute of film. This film almost makes the Indiana Jones franchise look like a walk in the park. There is one action sequence that frankly goes on so long your mind can start to wander. This is not to say that TINTIN is all bad. Just that it could have been better.

There are things that the film does well. Spielberg obviously knows his craft. The choice of shots and the way the humor is set up are good. But as with some of his films, story takes a backseat to the visual. And like AVATAR, this is a very visual film. Sometimes, though, the film seems to be an extended cutscene from one of the UNCHARTED video games.

The film comes dangerously close to assuming you’re familiar with TINTIN and that it doesn’t need to set up the characters at all. Saved from the possibility of an exhaustive exposition sequence, the viewer is given no backstory for Tintin, save for a few visual clues. Again, having never read the comic, I don’t know if Hergé never bothered to explain his past or that the filmmakers decided the viewers who didn’t already know would want to research it on their own after seeing the movie. As an example, our only clue that Tintin is a boy is that everyone refers to him as such in the film. Otherwise, he could be a young-looking thirty for all we know.

And this brings up a point about the marketing for this film. As consumers of pop culture we have become accustomed to long build ups for films, TV shows and video games and so I am somewhat surprised that there was not more of a push to get TINTIN out into the public consciousness before releasing this very costly movie in America. Whether or not this will effect box office remains to be seen.

It is also really hard to figure out how they chose the cast for this film. Since no one had to necessarily look like their parts why, as an example, cast Daniel Craig at all, when the characters he plays don’t look like or even really sound like Daniel Craig? I have nothing against Craig as an actor, but it is hard to know what he brings to the role that others couldn’t, since he literally disappears on screen.

I’m not surprised that Andy Serkis is prominently used. After all Peter Jackson is involved, so Serkis can’t be far behind. It is a somewhat similar relationship as Tim Burton and Johnny Depp or Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter. If you see Jackson’s name as producer or director I look for Serkis in the billing block. I know that there has been a ground swell about what a great actor Serkis is ever since he was Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but what we’re really left with is him as a voice actor. While motion capture can follow movements, it’s hard to know where the actor ends and the CGI takes over. This is not to take away from Serkis’s talent, but it would be nice to see him act as an actor rather than a fancy prop.

Now TINTIN has already been a big success overseas, but it’s hard to know if that will transfer into big domestic box office as well. For moviegoers who would go to any Spielberg film, then this is your holiday as he has a second film, WAR HORSE, opening just four days after this one. Based on the ads I’ve seen for the latter, I would venture that TINTIN would be the bigger of the two releases. But it is rare to see a director be his own competition. Usually they try to avoid that situation.

After having seen TINTIN at a holiday screening at Paramount, I can honestly say that I would not put down good money to see it. But I’m sure I am in the minority of holiday filmgoers. THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN will be a big success. After all, they’ve already set up the sequel. Literally.

Super 8 - Not So Gr8

Within the last few years, J.J. Abrams has become a more prominent name in Hollywood, involved with projects like Star Trek and Cloverfield. His most recent directorial work, Super 8, is also a collaboration with major Hollywood producer Steven Spielberg. The ad campaign for this movie was similar to that of Cloverfield in that hardly anything was said, but I watched it anyway out of curiosity. For the most part, it wasn't a terrible movie, but it's pretty easy to see the influence of Spielberg throughout.

The plot seems to meld threads from Spielberg's E.T. the Extra Terrestrial and J.J. Abrams' Cloverfield, in that the events largely revolve around a group of children, only this time they are working to create an amateur zombie movie for a contest using a Super 8 camera. While filming, the group is in the middle of an explosion-filled train crash, caused by a truck driving onto the tracks that ends up releasing an unknown entity and dozens of white cubes. Terrified, the children agree with the driver of the truck, their biology teacher Mr. Woodward (Glynn Turman), to never speak of the incident again. What follows is a series of mysterious events within the town of Lillian, Ohio as the kids try to finish the movie.

While the story was able to maintain its suspense until the very end, it had Spielberg written all over it. The fact that a group of children have an adventure of sorts, if not intentional, is not unlike The Goonies, down to romantic tension between the more prominent male lead and the lone female character. In this case, that role is filled by the characters Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) and Alice Dainard (Elle Fanning), although the romance has a new wrinkle in that both of their fathers don't want them involved with each other. More of the E.T. influence can be seen from the fact that an alien is involved and the military gets mixed up in it, not to mention that they are still depicted as more heartless and evil compared to the children, who are depicted as more innocent. Abrams' Cloverfield also gets to contribute something by influencing the alien itself. Throughout the movie, it is mostly unseen and is shown to be virtually indestructible no matter what is thrown at it. This seemed a little annoying and just made it appear as if Abrams can't write a monster/alien very well.

Despite this, the movie was actually pretty humorous at times, mostly through the children's dialogue. The child actors were pretty impressive for unknowns and I have a feeling any one of them could have a future here. The relationships were depicted quite realistically, especially the amateur director Charles' (Riley Griffith) obsession with getting the movie done every time he comes up with an idea to make the movie more "mint". Even the group's acting for the zombie flick comes off as authentically bad to the point where I kept laughing at the performance.

The special effects in the movie were also good in motion, like during the train crash at the beginning of the movie or with the constant motion of one of the white cubes that Joe has from that same scene. Besides the explosions, a lot of the effects were used to bring the alien to life.

While it felt good to finally know what the alien looked like, I was a little disappointed with the final design. Still, I just went with it and ended up accepting it in the last leg of the film. As for the music, the action is coupled with a competent, but largely forgettable soundtrack. The other sounds in the movie though were perfect and made me feel as though it were happening right in front of me.

Overall, Super 8 wasn't too great of a film despite the hype. It is generally acceptable, as long as you can overlook the various plot holes in the story and the clichés of Spielberg movies. For those who want to see what the hype is about, I would recommend seeing this movie at least once. Otherwise, you're better off looking elsewhere for a good time.

Also, I apologize for the pun in the title. I felt that the "8" in the movie's name made it unavoidable.