Jurassic Park (1993) - The ultimate theme park ride movie

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The spine-tingling title graphic and the sensational tagline effectively builds amazing anticipation on this poster for Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park

Wealthy businessman John Hammond invites his grandchildren, a mathematician and two eminent paleontologists to Isla Nublar, a private Costa Rican island where through cutting edge DNA technology, he has created the world's first dinosaur park...

 

Jurassic Park is written by David Koepp (Panic Room (2002)) and Michael Crichton (The Terminal Man (1972)), based on his same-titled 1990 novel, and directed by Ohioan master filmmaker Steven Spielberg (Firelight (1964)), whose 14th film it is.

As a kid of the 90s, I love this film like few others. It is the incarnation of Hollywood at its best, when the greatest, towering machinery there works, and magic results. Technically the film is out of this world extraordinary and a trailblazer for CG visual effects. But the story also continues to fascinate, a surprisingly good adventure story for all ages, with incredible high points of amazement, shocks and nerve-racking thrills.

Laura Dern (Mask (1985)) is lovely and cool, and Jeff Goldblum (Hotel Artemis (2018)) is fun as the chaos theorist. There's a great mix of characters; some cartoonish; the despicable, overweight fool Nedric (a terrific performance from Wayne Knight (Black Cloud (2004))) and Samuel L. Jackson's (Shaft (2000)) character; and a realistic anchor in Richard Attenborough's (Hamlet (1996)) Hammond, - along with Dern and Sam Neill's (Rams (2020)) dino expert heroes and a pair of terrific child stars: Joseph Mazzello (The Social Network (2010)) and Ariana Richards (Angus (1995)).

John Williams' (Jaws (1975)) music sets the wonderful pace and is an unmissable part of the thrilling ride status that few films achieve as perfectly as Spielberg's masterpiece. It is a wild classic.

 

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Steven Spielberg: The Fabelmans (2022) or, My Wonderful Upbringing

2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
The Post (2017) - Spielberg returns to mastery with a thrilling salute to the virtues of real, critical, brave journalism
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
Lincoln (2012) - Spielberg's inspiring presidential portrait stands tall 
War Horse (2011) - Spielberg visits WWI with problematic horse drama  
The Adventures of Tintin/The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011) - Affinities for Tintin, earlier Spielberg and film will decide your experience of this 3D mo-cap adventure
Super 8 (2011) - Abrams' nostalgic family crowdpleaser (producer)

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) - Lucas, Spielberg and Ford go grave-digging

The 2000s in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Munich (2005) - Spielberg wrings a brilliant spy thriller from fraught real-life massacre and its aftermath

Top 10: Best HBO titles 

2001 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 
Band of Brothers - TV mini-series (2001) - WWII-sacrifice and -comradeship portrayed with skill and integrity (producer) 

Top 10: Best future-set movies 
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) - A robot fairy tale with both heart and mind
Amistad (1997) or, Must... Free... Slaves! 

Hook (1991) - Arr, Spielbergian folly 

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) - The nostalgic last of the 'original' Indy movies 
Empire of the Sun (1987) - Spielberg's grand production of boy-in-China-during-WWII is a misfire

The Goonies (1985) - Sweet child performances drive Donner's beloved, uneven adventure (story)  

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) - The ultimate thrill ride for a child (and many adults too!)
Twilight Zone The Movie (1983) - Fear takes many forms in tragedy-struck anthology

Top 10: Best family movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) - Spielberg's greatest accomplishment

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) - Spielberg reasserts himself with tremendous boyish adventure 
1941 (1979) - Spielberg's bizarre 'comedy spectacular' sinks like a rock  
Top 10: Best car chases in movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Duel (1971) - Spielberg's truck terror is ideal afternoon fare

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 63 mil. $

Box office: 1,104.3 mil. $

= Blockbuster (returned 17.52 times the cost)

[Jurassic Park premiered 9 June (Washington DC) and runs 127 minutes. Spielberg and Universal Pictures bought the novel rights for 1.5 mil. $ and paid Crichton another 500k $ to write a first draft. A Universal CEO greenlit Spielberg's Holocaust epic Schindler's List on the condition that he make Jurassic Park first. Shooting took place from August - November 1992 in California, including Los Angeles, and in Hawaii. The film was completed under-budget and before schedule. Spielberg oversaw post production from Poland, where he was busy shooting Schindler's List. The film's marketing campaign cost 65 mil. $, based on partnerships with 100 companies that pushed 1,000 Jurassic Park-themed products. It opened #1 to a 47 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed #1 for another 2 weekends and spent another 8 in the top 5, grossing 357 mil. $ and 914 mil. $ worldwide in its original run. It was the highest-grossing film ever until Titanic (1997). The film has been re-released many times since, with the 2013 3D re-release being the most significant, adding 118 mil. $ to the film's total gross. Spielberg's ingenious profit participation deal means that he has made approximately 250 mil. $ from the film personally. It was nominated for and won 3 Oscars: Best Sound, Sound Effects and Visual Effects. It also won 2/3 BAFTA nominations and was nominated for a Grammy, among many other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 review, translating to 2 notches under this one. The film spun an explosive new interest in paleontology and a franchise with 2 direct sequels (The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) and Jurassic Park III (2001) by Spielberg) and a reboot film series (2015; 2018; 2022; 2025...). IMDb's users have rated the film in at #141 on the site's Top 250 list, sitting between All About Eve (1950) and There Will Be Blood (2007). Spielberg returned with Schindler's List (1993). Neill returned in The Simpsons (1994, TV-series) and theatrically in Sirens (1994); Dern in Fallen Angels (1993, TV-series) and theatrically in A Perfect World (1993). Jurassic Park is certified fresh at 83 % at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Jurassic Park?

Jungle Fever (1991) or, Black and White Difficulties in New York, USA

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A powerful image of the interlocked white and black hands of a black man and a white female evocatively used on the poster for Spike Lee's Jungle Fever

Explores the struggles of an interracial young couple, an African-American architect and an Italian-American secretary in New York, a crack addict and their more or less understanding surroundings.

 

Jungle Fever is written, produced and directed by Georgian master filmmaker Spike Lee (She's Gotta Have It (1986)), whose 5th feature it is. He also co-stars as Cyrus.

Jungle Fever is a very good 'local' film, - 'local' meaning that it is very much an American and a New-Yorker film, which may seem superfluous to audiences not Americans or New-Yorkers, or at least to those uninterested in America and New York. But as someone who falls into this third group, I find it absolutely wonderful. 

The film puts a spotlight on modern, American racism, which is a favorite theme of Lee's, and he certainly doesn't make it easy for the characters of Wesley Snipes (The Fan (1996)) and Annabella Sciorra (Luke Cage (2018, TV-series)), who venture on the extra-marital, interracial affair at the film's core. Besides these two blazing stars, the film enjoys strong turns from Samuel L. Jackson (The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)) (as the crack addict), John Turturro (The Jesus Rolls (2019)), Ossie Davis (Philly (2002, TV-series)) and Lee himself. There are fresh songs from Stevie Wonder to enjoy along with the film, and the dialog is great. SPOILER Only the somewhat disappointing "NOOOOO!" ending weighs down on this great piece of filmmaking.

 

Related posts:
 
Spike Lee: The day after the day after ... the 2019 Oscars

Top 10: Best heist movies 

Inside Man (2006) - Lee's delicious heist thriller 

She Hate Me (2004) or, Champion of the Lesbians 

2002 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 
Top 10: Best crime movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
25th Hour (2002) or, Taking a Second Chance 

1998 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess  

He Got Game (1998) - Lee's basketball classic

 

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: 14 mil. $

Box office: 43.8 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 3.12 times its cost)

[Jungle Fever premiered 16 May (Cannes Film Festival, main competition) and runs 132 minutes. Jackson had left crack rehab two weeks before filming and his ravaged look was reportedly caused by this. Shooting took place from August - December 1990 in New York. Universal Pictures made Lee scrap a prologue with his views on racism from the film. It opened #3, behind fellow new release City Slickers and holdover hit Backdraft, to a 5.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 5 (#4), grossing 32.4 mil. $ (74 % of the total gross). The film won a National Board of Review award and was nominated for a Grammy, among other honors. It lost the Palme d'Or to Barton Fink. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Lee returned with 9 music videos prior to his theatrical return with Malcolm X (1992). Snipes returned in The Waterdance (1992); Sciorra in The Hand that Rocks the Cradle (1992). Jungle Fever is certified fresh at 84 % at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Jungle Fever?

Jamaica Inn (1939) - Laughton leads playful criminal antics in underrated Hitchcock pic

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A nonchalant, pistol-toting star Charles Laughton dominates this drama-promising poster for Alfred Hitchcock's Jamaica Inn

On the South-English coast near Cornwall lies the Jamaica Inn, around where in 1820 arranged shipwrecks, ship-looting and corruption from a group around local squire and justice of the peace Pengallan spread havoc.

 

Jamaica Inn is written by Sidney Gilliat (Wee Geordie (1955)) and Joan Harrison (Nocturne (1946)), with J.B. Priestley (Snoggl (1993, TV movie)) contributing additional dialog, adapting the same-titled 1936 novel by Daphne du Maurier (The Scapegoat (1957)), and directed by English master filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock (The Pleasure Garden (1925)), whose 24th feature it was. It was Hitchcock's first of three Du Maurier adaptations he did (the others being Rebecca (1940) and The Birds (1963)) and his last film before heading to America, (although he returned to make films now and again in the UK since.)

Freed of the more or less foolish mix-up romances and tongue-in-cheek elements of his preceding English output, Hitch here spins a more hard-boiled theatrical drama with a colorful Charles Laughton (Salome (1953)), who also co-produced the film, in the overshadowing lead as the villainous, detestable Sir Humphrey Pengallan. The rascals at loose here may be small time crooks, but the portrayals are very good nonetheless. The story has many twists, and the ending, in traditional Hitchcock style, is grand (in more ways than one!) and spectacular.

 

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Dial M for Murder (1954) - Hitchcock's 3D thriller is hindered by theatrics

I Confess (1953) - Hitch's great drama of a Father caught by the confessional vow 
The 39 Steps (1935) or, Murder and High Jinx!  

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Reportedly 200k £

Box office: Unknown
= Uncertain

[Jamaica Inn premiered 12 May (London) and runs 108 minutes. Hitchcock tried to get out of making the film and later said it was among his most unhappy as a director. This was especially due to the difficulties of working with star/co-producer Laughton, and also because Hitchcock had an aversion to costume films, which he believed himself unable to do. Shooting took place in England, including at the actual Jamaica Inn. The film is said to have turned 'a small profit'. Du Maurier also publicly disliked the film due to its disloyalty to her novel. Hitchcock returned with Rebecca (1940). Laughton returned in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939). 12k+ IMDb users have given Jamaica Inn an average 6.3/10 rating.]

What do you think of Jamaica Inn?

In Treatment - season 3 (2010) - García's psychiatrist drama reaches towering peak

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Identity soul-searching and four fresh patient faces are teased on this dark poster for Rodrigo García's In Treatment - season 3

An Indian-American married couple bring the husband's Indian father Sunil to Brooklyn-based psychotherapist Paul Weston, because they are worried about his despondent behavior 6 months after the death of his wife in Calcutta. A combative former TV star actress with symbolic razor blade elbows is having trouble remembering her lines, and Weston suspects Parkinson's Disease. Jesse is a gay 16 year-old boy, who is acting out in a passive-aggressive manner, in an identity crisis around his biological parents, who gave him up for adoption. Paul himself is still unhappy, having trouble sleeping and also worried that he might have Parkinson's. His new therapist Adele sees through his curtains.

Sunil opens up about his cultural issues with his son's marriage and Western culture in general. Paul digs into his Indian past, and Sunil's increasingly alarming behavior towards his daughter-in-law, whom he is sure is cheating on his son. This culminates with his arrest and deportation, which Sunil himself provoked consciously, using Paul as an instrument.

Jesse has unrealistic plans about an art school education and continually provokes his surroundings for effect. He brings his mother to one session and provides spectacularly crude behavior in an attempt to learn of his biological roots. He shows up on Paul's doorstep one evening after a visit at his bio-parents, while Paul's son Max starts a minor fire in their kitchen. Jesse later decides that all the blame for his problems stem from his mother and decides to end therapy.

Frances' sessions revolve around her sister, their mother's favorite, in Frances' words, her own alienated daughter Izzy and her lacking sense of self-worth and extreme self-absorption. Paul urges her to see her sister, who is fatally ill.

Paul's sessions with Adele have his innate self-pity at the center, and his dissatisfaction with his former therapist and mentor Gina, which Adele cuts effectively through. He soon grows enamored with her, and her competent competence and clarity is sorely needed in Paul's dark world.

Paul ends up after the season's mostly unsatisfactory patient relations making the drastic decision, - a late midlife crisis? - to shut down his practice to start, instead, living in the 'real world'. Adele, professional to the very end, when he also ends his sessions with her, resists any direct reaction to his obvious attraction to her.

In Treatment - season 3 is created by Rodrigo García (Six Fee Under (2001-05)). While the two first seasons were close adaptations of the two seasons of Israeli TV-series Be Tipul (2005-08), the third is entirely original.

The complex adult drama peaks here in a thematically dense and highly rewarding third season, the last focusing on Gabriel Byrne's (Hereditary (2018)) Paul Weston character. Byrne is still fully on point as the beleaguered psychotherapist. The three patients are interesting, with Irrfan Khan's (Hindi Medium (2017)) riveting performance as Sunil the jewel of the three. Several of their sessions make for downright masterly television. Debra Winger (Legal Eagles (1986)) is outstanding in the moving portrait of Frances, an evocative portrayal of a woman caught in the particular hell of extreme self-absorption. And Dane DeHaan (The Kid (2019)) is good as the sometimes frightening Jesse, a struggling young man with sociopathic tendencies.

Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone (2007)) is exactly the unaffected, uninvolved remedy of clarity that Weston seems to be missing, and she, too, is terrific here. The show is photographed to reflect the intense psycho-dramatic shifts, both written, acted and directed without blemishes. A smash of a season.

Best episodes:

1: Sunil: Week One - Written by Adam Rapp (Vinyl (2016, TV-series)), Jhumpa Lahiri (The Namesake (2006)), García; directed by Paris Barclay (Monsters (2022-24))

Sunil is introduced to Western therapy by his son and daughter-in-law in the season's promising and intriguing opening episode.

4. Adele - Week One - Written by Anya Epstein (The Beat (2000, TV-series)), Dan Futterman (Foxcatcher (2014)), Garcìa; directed by Barclay

The arrogant veteran psychiatrist meets a critical younger expertise. Paul's first session with his new therapist Adele is phenomenal.

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Rodrigo García: 2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

Albert Nobbs (2011) - Glenn Close's triumphant, tender tranformation in García's great film

In Treatment - season 2 (2009) - Advanced character drama 

In Treatment - season 1 (2008) - Red-hot performances fuel heavy therapy drama 
Carnivàle - 1st season (2003, TV-series) - Grand but oft clotted-up period mystery show

 

Watch a trailer for the season here

Cost: Unknown

Box office: None - TV-series

= Uncertain

[In Treatment - season 3 debuted 25 October - 7 December (HBO) and runs 28 episodes of an average 25 minutes each, coming to approximately 700 minutes. Shooting took place in New York. The viewer ratings are regrettably not public information. The show was rebooted for a 4th and final season at HBO in 2021 with Uzu Aduba portraying the new therapist. García returned with Albert Nobbs (2011). Byrne returned in I, Anna (2012). In Treatment - season 3 is certified fresh at 85 % at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of In Treatment - season 3?

The Immigrant (2013) - Cotillard scintillates in Gray's classical New-York storytelling

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Three mysteriously looking stars veiled in seriousness adorn this poster for James Gray's The Immigrant

Ewa and her sister arrive to the US from Poland in 1921 but are split up on Ellis Island, and Ewa winds up with a dubious man, hidden from the watchful eye of the law.

 

The Immigrant is written by Ric Menello (Tougher Than Leather (1988)) and co-writer/co-producer/director James Gray (Little Odessa (1994)).

Gray again here shows his gift as a sublime storyteller with a classical film and a story that could have been told 80 years ago as well. The Immigrant has beautiful cinematography (by Darius Khondji (Okja (2017))), production design and costumes. Fine performances from Joaquin Phoenix (Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)) and Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker (2008)), - but it is Marion Cotillard (The Dark Knight Rises (2012)) who once again astounds the viewer with a fully authentic turn as the Polish Ewa, a cowed but not beaten woman, who fights for her sister and her own life.

The Immigrant may seem only distantly relevant to some. For me it was a pure pleasure.

 

Related posts:

 

James Gray: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

The Lost City of Z (2016) - Gray's grand, adventurous Amazonia epic 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 16 mil. $

Box office: 5.9 mil. $

= Mega-flop (returned 0.36 times its cost)

[The Immigrant premiered 24 May (Cannes Film Festival, main competition) and runs 117 minutes. Gray based the story mainly on recollections from his own grandparents. Shooting took place from January - March 2012 in New York. When the film's investors sold the distribution rights to The Weinstein Company, against Gray's wishes, and when Harvey Weinstein demanded a different ending, which Gray refused to give him, the distribution was left in shambles, with the film only getting a very small and unsupported release in North America. The film opened #47 to a 44k $ first weekend in 3 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #18 and in 150 theaters, grossing 2 mil. $ (33.9 % of the total gross). The biggest market for the film was France with 2.2 mil. $ (37.3 %), with North America 2nd biggest and Spain 3rd with 464k $ (7.9 %). The film lost the Palme d'Or to Blue Is the Warmest Color. It was also nominated for 2 Independent Spirit awards, among other honors. Gray returned with The Red Road (2014, TV-series) and a Chanel commercial prior to his theatrical return with The Lost City of Z (2016). Cotillard returned in Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013); Renner in American Hustle (2013); and Phoenix in Her (2013). The Immigrant is certified fresh at 86 % at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Immigrant?

The Internship (2013) or, Two Dopes at Google

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Two familiar comedy stars in jeans look lost in a Google-inspired blank page on this neat poster for Shawn Levy's The Internship

Two grown men, who work together for a company which now goes bankrupt, go searching for a new future for themselves through an internship at the search engine giant Google in Silicon Valley.

 

The Internship is written by co-writer/co-producer/co-star Vince Vaughn (The Break-Up (2006)) and Jared Stern (Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011)) and directed by co-producer/director Shawn Levy (Address Unknown (1997)).

Nothing much happen to the two men in their new situation, and none of them have anything in their lives of weight, interest or meaning to really pitch in with. This leaves the affair an empty experience, and as an attempt at office situation comedy, The Internship feels like the beginning of a very long TV-series, you absolutely would want to miss, more so than an actual movie. 

Vaughn and Owen Wilson (Marmaduke (2010)) play immature, mind-zapped, endlessly yapping idiots, and they are surrounded by caricature figures in Google land. You will be minimally amused by this stinker, which is also likely to make you tired of the likes of Rose Byrne (Annie (2014)), Max Minghella (Babylon (2022)) and Silicon Valley.

 

Related posts:

 

Shawn Levy: 2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Date Night (2010) - Carell and Fey bring out the big laugh guns 

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) or, Museum Night: Sequel Time 

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

The Pink Panther (2006) - Martin's Sellers imitation is a trial to sit through

Night at the Museum (2006) - Levy and Stiller bring the family fun 

 

  

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 58 mil. $

Box office: 93.4 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.61 times its cost)

[The Internship premiered 29 May (California) and runs 119 minutes. Vaughn got the idea for the film after seeing a 60 Minutes segment on working at Google. Shooting took place from July - September 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia and in California, including in San Francisco. The film opened #4, behind fellow new release The Purge and holdover hits Fast & Furious 6 and Now You See Me, to a 17.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 44.6 mil. $ (47.8 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Australia with 7.1 mil. $ (7.6 %) and the UK with 5.3 mil. $ (5.7 %). The film also made more than 13.3 mil. $ on the North-American home video market alone. Levy returned with This Is Where I Leave You (2014). Vaughn returned in Delivery Man (2013); Wilson in Drunk History (2013, TV-series) and theatrically in Are You Here (2013). The Internship is rotten at 25 % at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Internship?