Shmee.Me

April 14, 2013

Is Jurassic Park Still Good After 20 Years?

Jurassic Park was a landmark film in 1993. It showed how far special effects had come, and brought people in to a world where dinosaurs once again roamed the Earth, but after 20 years and countless special effects laden films does the movie still hold its own? Yes it does.

The plot is fairly basic, a group of people are getting a preview of a new theme park that contains cloned dinosaurs. When a man turns off the power to steel dinosaur embryos and sell them to a rival company, and then of coarse everything falls apart endangering everyone at the park. However, when your movie is about recreating and showing dinosaurs a simple plot is for the best, and it works wonderfully.

It is amazing how well the special effects still hold up, and I think the reason for that is that they blended animatronics with computer generated imagery (CGI) to make these amazing creatures come to life. Now all movies use is the CGI making everything loose the weight and solid feel of the creatures they make, but have something real makes it all the more believable.

Another reason this movie holds up so well is that lesser directors and story tellers would have just made this a monster movie, and there is nothing wrong with a good monster movie, but instead Steven Spielberg makes this more like a safari gone wrong, and treats the dinosaurs just like animals that are doing what animals would do. This allows the T-Rex to be a hero and a villain all at the same time, and it makes the world he creates believable, and despite the danger someplace I still want to visit.

I never got to see this movie in theaters because I was not 13 yet and Mom wouldn’t let me, and after seeing it in theaters now I have to say that this is the format this movie was made to be seen in. This movie is big and demands to be seen on a screen equally as big, from the amazing sounds to the incredible sites. The one major drawback is the new inflated price, it is $17 a person to see it in IMAX 3D, and the 3D does not add a whole lot to the film, but it is better then most post produced 3D treatments, and the new high resolution looks great.

If you have the money, or you are like me and have never seen this movie in theaters, then do yourself a favor and re-watch this classic film by one of our greatest filmmakers.

April 12, 2013

MST3K Explores The Violent Years

The Violent Years is a movie from 1956, and it was written by the infamous Ed Wood, and like all things Ed Wood the crew of Mystery Science Theater 3000 is here to make fun of it.

The plot is pretty simple, four well to do girls have parents that don’t spend time with them, so they get bored and start committing crimes like theft, rape, murder, and high school class room destruction on the behest of the communists. Because as we all know communists hate high school.

MST3K had a hay day with this film. The acting is wooden, they use the same footage over and over, and Ed Wood’s script escalates the violence these girls are willing commit amazingly fast. This fact contributes to my belief that Ed Wood was really a genius, he knew that he could not be one of the greats, so why not be remembered as the worst. It is one of the those special bad movies where the jokes pretty much write themselves, but like pretty much any MST3K movie, your enjoyment factor depends a lot on your mood or your company

This movie like a lot of the MST3K films is streaming on Amazon Prime, so if you are looking for a funny way to kill an hour and half, then this is a great option, and it is always fun to take a moment and remember just how bad Ed Wood really was.

April 11, 2013April 11, 2013

Can’t get a Better Neighbor then Totoro

My Neighbor Totoro is film directed by the legendary Hayao Miyazaki. It came out in 1988 in its native Japan, but did not make its way to the US until 2004, and then it was rereleased by Disney in 2006 with a new voice over.

The story follows two young girls (Elle and Dakota Fanning) and their father (Tim Daly) as they move in to a new house in the country so they can be close to their sick mother (Lea Salonga). The girls soon meet some new friends that just happen to be forest spirits. The largest being Totoro.

Hayao Miyazaki once again proves that he is a master of his craft. The only negative thing I can say about this movie is that the plot is amazingly simple, and since the girls are mostly just reacting to the world around them it would be hard to call them protagonists, but it is so cute, and lovingly made that those are just minor gripes, and what kids really control what happens to them anyway.

I love pretty much every movie Hayao Miyazaki has ever done, and even then this is one of his better films. If you want to watch something incredibly cute then this movie is for you.

April 10, 2013April 10, 2013

Almost Star Trek’s Final Frontier

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier was made in 1989, 20 years after the end of the TV show. It was so bad that it almost ended the Star Trek franchise. This movie was directed by Captain Kirk himself William Shatner. Shatner got a chance to redeem himself by directing the next movie.

The movie starts off on Nimbus III (think Tatooine). A giant dirt hole that is supposed to be the planet of peace where The Klingons, The Federation, and The Romulans are supposed to work together to build the world, but of course they don’t and everyone just fights a lot. A man named Sybok kidnaps the ambassadors from the three governments, and unless a ship is sent he will kill them. Of course they send the Enterprise to help them. Then Sybok steals the Enterprise and is off to the great barrier at the center of the galaxy to find God.

This movie has all sorts of problems: The plot is bad, the special effects are bad, the acting is bad, and the directing isn’t great. They really just should have scrapped this one and called it a day

I am glad that in this movie they decided to go out and explore something, but it is so anticlimactic when they get there. They build up the great barrier as some sort of impenetrable wall that nothing can get through, and then they just fly through it without any problem, and it is not just because the Enterprise is awesome because a Klingon Bird of Pray does the same thing like two minutes later. Oh yeah there are Klingons in this movie for some reason, don’t worry they are pointless so you can forget about them.

This movie was the low point for the series for awhile, but sadly it gets worse in a few films. If you haven’t guessed it by now, you should skip this movie. Luckily the next movie isn’t that bad, so there is hope.

April 9, 2013April 9, 2013

Investigate the ParaNorman

ParaNorman is one of three major stop motion animated films from 2012. Made by Laika Animation Studio it was nominated for best animated film, and my buddy Daniel thought it should have won. I think he was right.

Norman is a boy who can see ghosts, and unlike most people this doesn’t freak him out, but it does cause him to get bullied quite a bit, and makes him a loaner. Things get worse for Norman as he starts having strange premonitions about zombies, and a crazy uncle that tells him he is the only one that can stop a witches curse. This causes him to get bullied even more. Thankfully a boy name Neil befriends him, and helps him with his troubles. It is not often a movie about zombies is so moving, but considering all the trouble our culture has with bullies, you really feel bad for the way Norman gets treated, and you are very happy for him when he comes in to his own and saves the day.

The stop motion is great, and Laika has improved since their last stop motion movie Coraline. There are so few stop motion studio’s left it is good to see a new one doing so well.

If you are looking for a quirky film, with more charm and heart then most movies could dream of, then you should give ParaNorman a try. I am sure you will be glad you did.