Director: Steven Spielberg
Writers: Micahel Crichton and David Koepp, based on the novel by Michael Crichton
Stars: Sam Neil, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, and Richard Attenborough

Synopsis: An eccentric entrepreneur discovers a way to bring dinosaurs back from extinction and opens a theme park to showcase them; it’s the perfect business venture until chaos takes over.

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Review

Time has a way of repainting our memories. What may have been a mediocre movie that had a few good scenes becomes built up in a child’s memory and as an adult proclaims the film to be the best movie ever, yet, upon revisit, the film is not nearly as good as in recall. However, this paradigm is not true for Jurassic Park. Even though it was released 20 years ago, Jurassic Park still holds up. The plot and acting is still fresh, while the concept, once farfetched, seems even more probable today.

Jurassic Park is a milestone in movies. I wonder if Steven Spielberg knew the lasting impact Jurassic Park would have while he was making it. Spielberg of course used Michael Crichton’s novel as source material but Spielberg brought what had once been contained to the realm of the imagination to realistic moving pictures on a screen. The film deftly blends horror, sci-fi, action, adventure, and drama without ever becoming overdone or unrealistic. Jurassic pulls in a wide demographic for its audience as it delights children with its magical realism and grips adults with base in science and drama.

Characters are often one of the most impressionistic aspects of a movie. We remember their eccentricities or bouts of heroism or their great one-liners. All the characters in Jurassic Park still reamin memorable two decade down the line. Jeff Glodblum’s witticisms are still funny, Sam Neil is still heroic, and Richard Attenborough dances between being mad and grandfatherly. All of the performances come together to create characters that feel fresh even when they’re clothes are now outdated.

3D can often cheapen a film, making it gimmicky or a little too much like a vide game, but Jurassic Park 3D does not fall of any of the standard 3D traps. The 3D version of Jurassic Park plays as if Spielberg had always meant for the film to be shown in 3D. Classics scenes like the climactic escape from the raptors to the initial T-Rex attack heightened with the third dimension. What was was riveting in 2 dimensions becomes immersive and terrifying on a new level since it’s hard to escape images coming right at you.

Overall, Jurassic Park 3D is worth the trip to the theatre and the extra $3.50 not only to revisit a childhood memory but to experience the film as it was actually meant to be experienced.

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Overall Grade: A

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writers: Scott Z. Burns
Stars: Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum, Jude Law, Catherine Zeta Jones

Synopsis: A young woman’s world unravels when a drug prescribed by her psychiatrist has unexpected side effects.

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DIRECTION
Steven Soderbergh has some great films and if this is his last movie as he claims it is, it’s a good one to go out on. The movie has a strong script behind it, but Soderbergh does a great job of capturing the essence of the story. The movie is set to be all about Rooney Mara’s character in the beginning, but then takes a sudden turn. And because of the turn in the script, the film almost feels like two movies in one film. Soderbergh does a great job though of taking the story and creating excitement and drama of the story and making it feel like it all fits and it’s appropriate. The biggest issue I have is the use of Channing Tatum’s character. He’s under-utilized and doesn’t add much to the story. It’s probably more of a casting issue, but having Tatum in the role doesn’t make sense. Overall though, he got great performances out of the actors, the score was great and all the sets were perfect. And because this is a story driven movie and Soderbergh nails it, it’s a high grade for me even if those other elements were great.

Grade: B+

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SCRIPT
With only 7 finished writing credits to his name, you almost aren’t sure how good Scott Z. Burns is as a writer. But with films like The Bourne Ultimatum, The Informant!, and Contagion on your resume, it’s hard to say he’s not a good writer. And you can add Side Effects to that list of good movies as well. This is really well written and is a strong script for Soderbergh. I love the plot twists and how he is able to essentially take the story, turn it around and make it all about something else while being appropriate. The dialogue is great, especially for Jude Law’s character and the ending is spot on. The material may not be 100% original, but it’s the way he takes the material and the story and builds the elements on top of each other.

Grade: A-

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PERFORMANCES
Mara and Law are terrific in this film. Mara does a great job of drawing you into the character and making you feel her pain, while at the same time, you’re trying to understand her and what is going on with the story. Tatum, who plays her husband, is good, but there is one problem. He has that G.I. Joe: Retaliation thing going where he’s great, but hardly in the film. He’s mostly a name they can use the market the film, but the character is so irrelevant to the story that Tatum’s performance is easily forgettable. Catherine Zeta Jones is also good in the film, but like Tatum is a side character that actually has value, but it’s limited as well. But since we’re talking about the performances, they are good and achieve what they needed to do. Law is the driving force of this movie though and he carries it well. The movie takes a sudden turn as I’ve mentioned, and Law now becomes a character fighting for something, where in the first half of the film he’s investigating. He’s remarkable in the role though and makes this movie for me.

Grade: A-

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SCORE
Thomas Newman’s score for this film is very appropriate and was good. It wasn’t an outstanding score and it was mostly in the background, which is why I liked it. This movie didn’t need a big, thematic score, but enough to add drama and be in the background for support. And that is exactly Newman does here. So while it may not be a score you go out and purchase, it’s good for what it’s doing and is very appropriate.

Grade: B

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Overall Grade: B+

Director: Harmony Korine
Writers: Harmony Korine
Stars: James Franco, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, Selena Gomez, Rachel Korine

Synopsis: Four college girls who land in jail after robbing a restaurant in order to fund their spring break vacation find themselves bailed out by a drug and arms dealer who wants them to do some dirty work.

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DIRECTION
Harmony Korine does wonders with the camera, using every angle, effect and transition imaginable in Spring Breakers. He uses colors excellently, letting the bright hues pop on screen. There’s lots of montages, lots of repetition and it’s all done well. And the highlight of the film, a robbery sequence, is shot in a very unique and almost third-person way. But while the look of the film is quite excellent, he does oversexualize and exploit the girls – moving the camera over their bodies as if he’s some kind of animal prowling them. This is how the film opens, with a 10-minute montage of just girls taking off their tops and doing stupid stuff, and it continues throughout the entire film (including a couple of fairly explicit sex scenes). Yes, it’s a film about spring break but it should’ve been toned down some.

Grade: B+

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SCRIPT
The script by Korine was pretty solid overall and is something we really haven’t seen a whole lot – four unassuming girls getting caught up in some pretty criminal activities. It was good; the only problem is it takes 30-40 minutes to really get to it. The first third of the film is just the girls talking about spring break, then going on spring break – with a couple of montages. Then, once James Franco’s character comes into play, things start to get really interesting, really dark and really fun. It’s here where Korine really focuses on Franco and the two really bad girls (Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Benson). There was another possible direction he could’ve went and that was with Selena Gomez’s character Faith, the good girl of the group who goes down to Florida to get away and find herself. This storyline could’ve really been expanded and maybe could’ve added a different element to the film.

Grade: B

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PERFORMANCES
The performances are solid all-around with Hudgens (shedding that sweet Disney image), Gomez, Benson and Rachel Korine doing a fine job as the four spring breakers. But while the four girls do good work, Franco steals the show as Alien, a rapper who is also a thief and a drug dealer. Franco plays him to perfection, adding human emotion and depth to what really could’ve been a cheesy, over-the-top character. His “Look at my sh–!” monologue is reason enough to watch this film.

Grade: A-

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SCORE
The score by Cliff Martinez fits perfectly with Spring Breakers. He scored Drive and this is in that same realm: Dreamy, trippy, soothing, hypnotic. And Skrillex lends his talents as well, incorporating some of his songs and beats into the film and it works wonderfully.

Grade: A

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Overall Grade: B+