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Jeff Goldblum

Monster Mondays – The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)

By Ben Dower

When?Jurassic Park?hit screens in 1993, the film not only wowed audiences with its realistic looking dinosaurs, but also made a fortune at the box office. Almost immediately it seemed that a second?Jurassic Park?film would be inevitable, but there was a big challenge facing the writers: what could possibly happen next?

Author Michael Crichton was initially not too keen on writing a sequel for Jurassic Park, but he eventually decided to write a follow-up, titled The Lost World after the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle book of the same name. Crichton?s The Lost World novel was loosely adapted to film by director Steven Spielberg and screenwriter David Koepp, and was released to movie theatres in May 1997 as The Lost World: Jurassic Park. The film was an instant hit upon its release, smashing several box office records.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park is a mixed bag. The core of the film?s story is that two rival teams ? the hunters and the gatherers ? have arrived on Isla Sorna. The hunters come from InGen and they want to trap some of the dinosaurs to take them to a new Jurassic Park facility in San Diego. This would allow InGen to recoup some of the money lost by the failure of Jurassic Park on Isla Nublar. The gatherers, meanwhile, were sent by John Hammond in an attempt to thwart the hunters and allow the dinosaurs to live free on Isla Sorna. The gatherer team is meant to be our heroes and consists of Dr. Ian Malcolm, Dr. Sarah Harding, Nick Van Owen, and Eddie Carr. Kelly Curtis, Ian?s young daughter, also joins the gatherers after she stows away on the ship to Isla Sorna to be with her dad.

Jeff Goldblum returns to the role of Dr. Ian Malcolm for a second time. The character was very well- liked by audiences in the first film, with his funny but insightful philosophical musings helping to carry the key messages of the film. Crichton wisely resurrected the character for his The Lost World novel, and Spielberg and Koepp had the good sense to follow Crichton?s lead and keep Malcolm as the protagonist of their film adaptation.

Another standout from the cast is Pete Postlethwaite who plays Roland Tembo, an experienced hunter who has been hired by InGen to run their expedition to the island. The reason Tembo took the job is because he wants the chance to hunt the ultimate predator: Tyrannosaurus rex. Postlethwaite is fantastic in the role, and the character of Roland Tembo has become a fan favourite, even getting a new toy in 2022 as part of Mattel?s Jurassic World Legacy Collection line.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park also manages to keep the dinosaurs on screen looking just as realistic as they did in Jurassic Park, even with more screentime and more reliance on CGI. The film is bolder than the first in how it pushes the envelop of CGI effects, with the scene where the InGen hunters trap several herbivorous dinosaurs on a game trail being a highlight. Several new dinosaur species appear in the film: Compsognathus, Stegosaurus, Mamenchisaurus, and Pachycephalosaurus, as well as the pterosaur Pteranodon.

There are a few little homages to earlier dinosaur-related media sprinkled throughout The Lost World: Jurassic Park. The ship used to transport the adult Tyrannosaurus rex to San Diego is named the S.S. Venture, a call-back to the ship in King Kong (1933). The T. rex rampage through San Diego is an homage to the film The Lost World (1925), which has a sequence where a Brontosaurus escapes captivity and rampages through London. There is also a little wink at the Godzilla films in that scene as well.

Unfortunately, The Lost World: Jurassic Park also makes quite a few misteps, particularly with its handling of its characters. Perhaps the most poorly handled character by the script is Dr. Sarah Harding, who is portrayed by Julianne Moore. Though Dr. Harding is supposed to be very knowledgeable about research methods and animal behaviour, she foolishly interacts with a baby Stegosaurus. Dr. Harding also brings an injured baby Tyrannosaurus back to base camp, leading its parents to attack the trailer and kill Eddie Carr. After surviving that attack, she walks through the jungle with the infant?s blood on her clothes, which results in the adult Tyrannosaurus pursuing her and killing several members of InGen?s team.

Also problematic is the script?s handling of Nick Van Owen, played by Vince Vaughn. Though he is supposed to be one of the ?good guys?, Nick Van Owen sabatoges InGen?s camp, allowing the dinosaurs they?ve captured to go free, and takes the injured young Tyrannosaurus rex to Dr. Harding. This ultimately leads to both groups being stranded on Isla Sorna with no way to contact rescue teams. Later in the film, he deliberately removes bullets from Roland Tembo?s gun so that he won?t be able to hunt a Tyrannosaurus. When the group is attacked by the two adult Tyrannosaurus, Tembo is forced to use a tranquilizer, which leads to the Tyrannosaurus being taken to San Diego and several lives lost on the U.S. mainland.

Then there is Kelly Curtis, Ian Malcolm?s daughter, played by Vanessa Lee Chester. As there really is no place for a child in this particular story, Kelly?s inclusion feels forced into the plot to provide a point of identification for younger viewers and to raise the stakes in a few scenes. Unlike Lex and Tim in the previous film, Kelly seems to get carried around by the plot as opposed to being an active participant in key plot points.

Lastly, there is the final act of the film, which features the adult male Tyrannosaurus loose in San Diego. Though a fun idea on paper, on screen it is a little silly and filled with ridiculous sight gags. It doesn?t really fit the darker tone of the island-set portion of the film.

In the end, The Lost World: Jurassic Park is a worthy attempt at a sequel to one of the greatest movies ever made. It was never going to be able to live up to its predecessor, but considering how self- contained and outright spectacular the previous film was, it?s a testament to Spielberg?s skill as a filmmaker that The Lost World: Jurassic Park turned out so well and managed to recapture some of the magic from Jurassic Park.

Jurassic World: Dominion – Sound and Fury

The age of the dinosaurs has come to an end. And there are many who are celebrating its demise.

Although the franchise has seen tremendous financial success over the past three decates, few of the entries have been a hit with critics. Other than the (still) brilliant original, many have felt (rightly) that the sequels have been somewhat of a mixed bag, either relying too heavily on nostalgia or just plain ridiculous. But its latest instalment,?Jurassic World: Dominion, has found itself utterly blasted by poor reviews across the board.

Spoiler alert: this won?t be one of them. (Well, not entirely.)

Directed by Colin Trevorrow,?Jurassic World: Dominion?takes place four years after the destruction of Isla Nublar. Since that fateful day, the once-secluded dinosaurs have spread across the globe, living and hunting alongside the human race. However, when a new species threatens the global food industry, Dr. Ellie Sadler (Laura Dern), Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) reunite to prevent global catastrophe. Meanwhile, Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) are also working hard to discover what mega-corporation BioSyn wants with their daughter Maisie (Isabella Sermon) as she may hold the key to solving the mystery herself.

Every longstanding franchise comes to a point where they have to change the formula in order to survive. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. Admittedly, the Jurassic world wrote itself into a corner with the ending of the previous installment,?Fallen Kingdom. By unleashing dinosaurs to rule the earth, the franchise opened a Pandora?s Box without any way to close it. All of a sudden, a series that found its greatest success telling stories about a group of people fighting for survival an enclosed environment completely reversed their formula.?

The series that began as a Lost World had transformed into Land of the Lost. 

Now, as the beasts of history were trampling wide-open spaces around the world, the franchise was forced to pivot. Given the impossible task of attempting to re-create the magic of a classic film, Dominion has had all of its rules changed. How do you attempt to wrap up an iconic franchise when the previous installment threw away the things that made it work? (In fact, one could argue that, like the characters in the film itself, the screenwriters are clearly trying to make the best of a bad situation.)

In a lot of ways, one has to respect the franchise for trying to make the old feel fresh. After all, they had been using similar formulas for the last 30 years with varying degrees of success. Ambitious and wild, Dominion is an attempt to bring an aging franchise into a whole new (Jurassic) world. As a result, the film is chaotic, silly and often non-sensical. 

But, dang it, I enjoyed myself.

Over the years, there?s been much debate as to whether certain films are ?cinema? or nothing more than ?theme park rides?, as though there is some definitive line between the two sides.?Dominion?may be the film that hits both targets. Broad in its scope, this film feels as though the viewer has paid their ticket, gotten into the boat and takes a trip through a world of wild and possibilities. Whereas early films in the franchise attempted to delve into the moral high ground of scientific achievement,?Dominion?has no such sensibilities. (I believe it Shakespeare would say that it’s fueled by ‘sound and fury, signifying nothing’.) Instead, it simply wants to play with the toys they?ve created and unleash them in their new environment. Gone is much of the social commentary that marked Spielberg?s original, now replaced by scene after scene of monster-mayhem.

But it?s having fun doing it.

As (supposedly) the last film in the franchise, a clear effort has been made to bring the past and present together. By reuniting original characters with legacy cast, Dominion is very interested in bringing generations together. Wisely, the older characters are far more than cameos. Similar to the returnees in Spider-Man: No Way Home, beloved characters like Ellie Sadler, Alan Grant and Ian Malcolm are allowed to affect the plot. Although the film is drenched in nostalgia, there remains a certain level of satisfaction in seeing them back together onscreen. 

As with previous entries, there is an admiration of the natural world that pervades the film as well. At every opportunity, Dominion wants you to know that the filmmakers still care about the dinosaurs, even if the beasts almost feel as though they are the background as opposed to in it. With nature now lording over the ?civilized? world, these monsters are simply looking for a way to make their home among us. No longer are they for our amusement, yet they still carry the Spielberg-ian sense of wonder. (For example, an Apatosaurus slowly wandering through a lumber site is only one moment of many where humanity pauses to admire their new dino-roommates.)

As such, there is a deeper level of humility for nature in this than any of the other films. Whereas previous entries were about attempting to gain control of the nature world, Dominion recognizes that humanity is no longer the top of the food chain. (?Humanity has no more right to be top of the food chain than any other species,? pines Ian Malcolm.) The damage has been done and we must accept the reality that we?ve created. The past cannot be changed? so what does it mean to live in the moment that is here? 

Right now, there are many who feel like Jurassic World: Dominion is an extinction-level event. But this reviewer simply doesn?t agree. Although there are moments that are laughable, Dominion?s insanity is wrapped in gleeful silliness. Is it the best of the franchise? Not at all. But, despite what some may say, it isn?t the worst either.

Admittedly, one needs to lower their expectations for Dominion if they believe it will achieve the heights of the original. But, if you?re willing to hop onboard for a journey into dino-chaos, there?s no reason that you won?t enjoy the ride.

Jurassic World: Dominion roars into theatres on Friday, June 10th, 2022.

The Mountain – Are We Sane?

?Where do they go? The people, when you change them??

It?s difficult to put The Mountain from writer director Rick Alverson into a familiar category. Drama doesn?t seem to say quite enough. It borders at times on surrealism, but there is also a strong sense of reality as it looks back to a time. Its dark and brooding mood carries us into a world in which reality and the portrayal of reality seem to blend.

Andy (Tye Sheridan) is leading a life without goal or meaning. His world is as cold and flat as the ice rink where he runs the Zamboni. His father is even colder. His mother has been institutionalized for many years. When his father dies, Andy is approached by Dr. Wallace Fiennes (Jeff Goldblum), to accompany him on a trip across the country to take photographs. Dr. Fiennes is a lobotomist who goes from hospital to hospital to perform the increasingly controversial procedure. Little by little, Andy begins to identify with the patients. Is it an emotional connection, or is he beginning to recognize his own mental illness? Or perhaps it is his guilt in being involved in this procedure. When he connects with a young woman patient (Hannah Gross), his life becomes increasingly fragile.

Set in the 1950s, this film is actually the opposite of nostalgic. Whereas that time is often seen as a golden age in American culture (well, at least since American Graffiti and Happy Days), this film reminds us that it was a period with a very dark side. We are meant to be uncomfortable with the way people are treated in that time. We are also meant to be wary of those who, like Dr. Fiennes, claim to be experts and saviors, but who leave a trial of broken lives in their wake.

Visually, the film offers some interesting cinematography that aids in the storytelling, helping us to feel the very depression and neuroses that are central to the film. Sometimes that is fairly subtle. For example, scenes in which Andy and Dr. Fiennes are in a small room talking to each other face to face, but then the viewer notices as the camera goes back and forth, that there are no doors in the room. Is this reality or dream?

It could be that this film serves not just as a reminder of the flaws in our ?good old days?, but also as a metaphor for understanding the world in which we find ourselves. In a ?post-truth? society, in which news is called false when it doesn?t agree with one?s version of reality, the question of sanity may not be about individuals, but the culture as a whole. There are so many versions of reality competing to be accepted, that we might well think our society is living with schizophrenia. And there are those who would like nothing more than to pacify those who have differing realities. In that sense, The Mountain seeks to be a cautionary tale concerning where we are headed?or may already have arrived.

Photos courtesy of Kino Lorber

4.21 Life Still Finds A Way in JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM

After 25 years (!) since the original film,?Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom showed that the Raptors still have box office pull but have poor reviews brought the future of the franchise in jeopardy? This week, dino-fan Ben Dower returns to talk with Steve about how the franchise has changed, science and awe, and whether or not life really finds a way.

Want to continue to conversation at home? ?Click the link below to download ?Fishing for More? ? some small group questions for you to bring to those in your area.

4.21 Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom

Thanks Ben for joining us!

Isle of Dogs – It’s Cute, but It Has a Bite

If you?re looking for a movie to go to for the fun of it, let me share what my wife?s comment was when we came out of Wes Anderson?s Isle of Dogs: ?It made me smile all the way through.? If you want a movie that allows us to consider some important issues in our world, Isle of Dogs fulfills that desire as well. This is one of the great examples of having a film that entertains well and at the same time goads our minds into active thought. It is very much like a cross-cultural extended parable.

(From L-R): Bryan Cranston as “Chief,” Bob Balaban as ?King,? Koyu Rankin as ?Atari Kobayashi,? Bill Murray as ?Boss,? Edward Norton as ?Rex? and Jeff Goldblum as ?Duke? in the film ISLE OF DOGS.

Set in the near future in the Japanese city of Megasaki, there is disease spreading among the dog population. Fearing that the disease could spread to humans, Mayor Kobayashi decrees that all dogs will be deported to Trash Island, starting with his own family dog, Spots. Six months later, a small plane crashes on the island. As a small pack of dogs check this out, they discover a 12 year old boy as the pilot. Atari Kobayashi, the mayor?s nephew and ward, has come to look find his dog. The group sets off across the island to seek Spots.

It turns out the Mayor?s family has a history of animosity towards dogs and may have engineered the entire ?crisis? as an excuse to finally eliminate all the dogs from Megasaki. As Atari and the dogs begin to discover the truth, it becomes a mission to bring down the government and restore the rights and lives of the doomed dogs.

The enjoyment of the film is very much like most of Anderson?s film. It is an inventive story that was developed by Anderson, Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman, and Kunichi Nomura. Part of the quirkiness of the film is that the dogs speak in English, but all the human characters speak in their native language (although the Japanese is nearly always translated to English). The voices are supplied by a long list of well-known actors including Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Jeff Goldbloom, Greta Gerwig, Scarlett Johansson, Liev Schreiber, F. Murray Abraham, Tilda Swinton, and Ken Watanabi.

But for all the canine enjoyment the film offers, it also has a bite. In a world filled with the politics of fear, Isle of Dogs reflects the reality of life in many places. Mayor Kobayashi uses dogs as a scapegoat, and in the process promotes his own power. This is not a new strategy?it is probably nearly as old as humanity itself. (We need to keep those Neanderthals away from our good people.) Watching not only the dogs and Atari, but the developing political situation in Megasaki makes it very clear that we are seeing the kind of things that go on around the world every day. Most importantly though, we should be reflecting on the ways these dynamics are taking place within our own society.

Every time the President speaks of the rapists and drug dealers that come from Mexico, he is attempting to stoke fear. The fears do not have to be legitimate?only believed. Islamophobia, homophobia, xenophobia, and racial prejudice are all attempts to create fear so that someone else can gain a bit more power. When we allow those fears to rule the day, it means we will likely cede more power to those who claim we need protection. But, as we also see in the film, the truth and determination can eventually defeat the lies that are spread.

Photos Courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures. ? 2018 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved

Podcast: Celebrating INDEPEDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE

 

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This week on the show, Chris Utley joins Steve to discuss INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE, the sequel to the 1996 classic alien film. Plus, the guys talk about the least and most successful reboots/sequels.

Want to continue to conversation at home? ?Click the link below to download ?Fishing for More? ? some small group questions for you to bring to those in your area.

2.19 Independence Day Resurgence

Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Repeat After Me, ‘There Is No Jurassic Park II’

lost worldAfter the explosively entertaining?Jurassic Park, audiences everywhere were salivating at the prospect of more velociraptors, more comedy, and more (dare I say it?) Jeff Goldblum. But whatever the entertainment and theological value that the first film based on Michael Crichton’s ‘amusement park-with-dinosaurs’ idea had, the second one is a laughable, awful mess.?The Lost World?was a rushed book, and a rushed film, and a story that Steven Spielberg himself said, “I beat myself up… growing more and more impatient with myself… It made me wistful about doing a talking picture, because sometimes I got the feeling I was just making this big silent-roar movie… I found myself saying, ‘Is that all there is? It’s not enough for me.'”

And yet, they made a?third film?

This third film finds Dr. Ian Malcolm (Goldblum) hellbent on ‘saving’ his girlfriend, paleontologist Dr. Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore,?Still Alice). The park’s creator, John?Hammond (Richard Attenborough), has sent her with a team of scientists and hunters to ‘Site B,’ the island where the dinosaurs. She’s thrilled to be interacting with animals she’s only studied in theory; Malcolm knows all too well about the real danger that the dinosaurs pose. And that has nothing to do with the dangerous agenda of Roland Tembo (Peter Postlethwaite,?The Usual Suspects,?The Town), a big game hunter.

lostworld2All of that is probably well and good. Until we?realize that the film’s main aim is to get the dinosaurs to the main land a la?Godzilla. Somehow, the incredible nature of the special effects that cause these dinosaurs to walk across the screen cannot save the lack of viable dialogue and plot points. But?someone?thought this film was good enough that millions of dollars piled up and the studio had to make another. Are?you?one of them?

Ultimately, you probably fall into two camps: you either think that Goldbum is a wonderful, sad sack of laughter or… he’s a terrible actor. Honestly, I usually fall into the first category, having devoured Independence Day?and his turn following Vincent D’Onofrio on?Law & Order: Criminal Intent. And the rest of the cast is reasonably awesome as well, past Moore and Postelthwaite: Richard Schiff (The West Wing) as an engineer, Vince Vaughn (in his follow-up to Swingers) as a cameraman, and Peter Stormare (everything…) So, if it’s not the cast, then it must be the story, the script, the creativity behind it, right?

Consider this selective filmography of screenwriter David Koepp. On one side, you have?Mission: Impossible,?Spider-Man?(the first Tobey Maguire one),?Angels & Demons, Men in Black 3,?and?Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. On the other side, you have?Zathura,?Premium Rush, Secret Window,??Mortdecai, and …?Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Now,?that’s?a mixed bag, but it shows the general unevenness of what a script can bring (or not bring) to a movie. Obviously, it’s not?all?on Koepp because it’s based on Crichton’s novel – one which he was originally disinterested in writing – but the story here just isn’t as earthshaking, and the idea isn’t as earth shattering as the original.

lostworld3Still, we can learn from?The Lost World. The overwhelming lesson revolves around hubris, around pride, around the belief that if it exists, that we, humanity, can control it. Better yet, it investigates the smug assurance, here by Hammond and Tembo, that not only can we control it but that we?should?control it. The whole idea reminds me of the Tower of Babel from Genesis 11, where people got the grand idea that they could build something that reaches heaven. And yet, they fail there in the terms that the early followers of the Bible understand, because God mixes things up for them so that they can’t complete their project. It’s not that they?can’t?accomplish it but rather that they?shouldn’t.

In this second story, the middle one for another few days, we see that we?should not?create dinosaurs even if we can. We see that there are reasons why boundaries and natural laws exist, to keep us safe and make us better. Thanks to Jurassic Park: The Last World, we can see that there are some things we should leave to God. Like dinosaurs.