Watch Watched Watching: The Rambunctious Cinema of Terrence Malick

[Maithanet]

On 7/24/2021 at 2:54 PM, RumHam said:

The weird geography of the T-Rex paddock is nothing compared to how it sneaks up on them at the end, indoors. 

Edit: also Hammod's helicopter lands, they rush over to tell the pilot to shut the rotors off, and hammond is somehow already in their trailer going through their fridge. 

Hammond's helicopter arrives while Grant and Saddler are up a 30 foot hill.  By the time they run down to yell at him to shut off the rotors, the pilot motions that Hammond already got out and went in the trailer.  That isn't hard to believe. 

On 7/24/2021 at 3:26 PM, RhaenysBee said:

The T Rex park is one thing. And Tim surviving the car, the fence and the skeleton is another. But they have a raptor compound between the control room and the electricity panel dungeon… 

The raptor compound is not part of the main vehicle tour, because they wanted the raptors to be in an enclosed area with viewing only from above (presumably for safety reasons).  Given that it needed to be within walking distance of the main area, it isn't surprising that it is quite near both the emergency bunker and the electrical maintenance shed. 

On 7/24/2021 at 5:34 PM, RumHam said:

I can also remember trying to figure out exactly what went on with Arnold's arm, and concluded that a raptor must have killed him, heard Sadler coming and ripped the arm off thinking "oh this is gonna be hilarious."

It is a bit of a Hollywood moment, but presumably Arnold's arm got ripped off and thrown through the air, and landed at an odd angle.  Why the raptor would throw someone's arm is an open question, but these are dinosaurs that are both smart and cruel, so not everything they do makes sense. 

On 7/24/2021 at 5:42 PM, Tywin et al. said:

How did the dilophosaurus get into Newman's Jeep?

The door to the jeep was clearly open the entire time.  A second dilophosaurus wandered into the jeep while he was out playing fetch with the first one.  That isn't particularly hard to believe.

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How did a kid hack a super complex system by playing a simple mid-90's videogame style mainframe?

You see how the system works, it isn't terribly complicated.  Odd that the system isn't password protected, but the system was just rebooted and Nedry was screwing around with it, so the computer doing something odd isn't too farfetched.  Perhaps Nedry disabled the password protection everywhere just so he could get the system back online faster when he came back after dropping off the embryoes (as was his original plan). 

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How could Grant not shoot something five feet in front of him?

Does Grant strike you as an experienced gunman?  A novice, picking up a gun he's never fired and rushing his shot in a moment of panic seems very believable.  Not to mention that bullets often go weird angles on impact, and this was a shot through glass. 

Of all the nitpicks, the only one I'll agree with is the T-Rex-machina at the end is hard to buy.  We never get a full 360 view of the visitor's center, so maybe they have a really big window or something that she could have come through a while ago, and then been sniffing around when the people and raptors arrive right at her feet.  The problem is that we do get several angles of the action on the dinosaur skeleton, and it's hard to believe that there's a T-Rex there that just never showed up onscreen and went completely unnoticed by the characters.  For example, Elly sees the second raptor coming through the sheet plastic at the end, wouldn't she also see a T-Rex standing within biting range of her?  It seems like either the T-Rex came crashing into the room (which makes a lot of noise) or the T-Rex was standing right there and would have been seen. 

[Iskaral Pust]

We’ve started watching Get Shorty on Amazon, which is based on the same story as the John Travolta movie of the same name (an Elmore Leonard book originally) but this TV series version is better so far.  Chris O’Dowd is an odd choice for the main character, but it’s working so far.

[RumHam]

2 hours ago, Maithanet said:

Hammond's helicopter arrives while Grant and Saddler are up a 30 foot hill.  By the time they run down to yell at him to shut off the rotors, the pilot motions that Hammond already got out and went in the trailer.  That isn't hard to believe. 

I dunno, maybe the editing makes it seem werider. But I do find it hard to believe that an old man who walks with a cane made it to their trailer before the pilot shut the engines off. 

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

Masters of the Universe: Revelation.

I honestly had no interest in watching this.  Then a bunch of YouTube and Twitter misanthropes went apeshit because Kevin Smith ate their balls or something. Apparently it's an insult to "fans" that many of the early episodes (the first half of the first season) focus on supporting characters and those characters have "bewbs". This is problematic because "woke" or something. So I gave it a look.

The show is surprisingly good. The animation is up to the usual Netflix standard, the story is interesting, and the voice cast is impressive and delivers good performances. I made sure to give it a thumbs up. 

I'm looking forward to the remainder of the series. 

[Tywin et al.]

2 hours ago, Maithanet said:

The door to the jeep was clearly open the entire time.  A second dilophosaurus wandered into the jeep while he was out playing fetch with the first one.  That isn't particularly hard to believe.

Let me rephrase that. How could it get into the Jeep and reposition itself? It's too big, and that's before you consider the tail.

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You see how the system works, it isn't terribly complicated.  Odd that the system isn't password protected, but the system was just rebooted and Nedry was screwing around with it, so the computer doing something odd isn't too farfetched.  Perhaps Nedry disabled the password protection everywhere just so he could get the system back online faster when he came back after dropping off the embryoes (as was his original plan). 

I doubt Arnold could have cracked it that quickly. It's unrealistic that all the security measures vanished and Lex knew exactly what to do. 

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Does Grant strike you as an experienced gunman?  A novice, picking up a gun he's never fired and rushing his shot in a moment of panic seems very believable.  Not to mention that bullets often go weird angles on impact, and this was a shot through glass. 

No, but it's a shotgun at point blank range. To completely miss is pretty bad. It's why shotguns are the best home protection option, because even a novice should be able to use it so long as they know how to operate it.

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Of all the nitpicks, the only one I'll agree with is the T-Rex-machina at the end is hard to buy.  We never get a full 360 view of the visitor's center, so maybe they have a really big window or something that she could have come through a while ago, and then been sniffing around when the people and raptors arrive right at her feet.  The problem is that we do get several angles of the action on the dinosaur skeleton, and it's hard to believe that there's a T-Rex there that just never showed up onscreen and went completely unnoticed by the characters.  For example, Elly sees the second raptor coming through the sheet plastic at the end, wouldn't she also see a T-Rex standing within biting range of her?  It seems like either the T-Rex came crashing into the room (which makes a lot of noise) or the T-Rex was standing right there and would have been seen. 

There is a section which looks like a T-Rex may have been able to get into that area, but we have no idea how it physically got into the center. Also, like you said, the movie went out of its way to establish that you can here the Rex coming from a long ways away. There's no way it snuck up on them.

[RumHam]

17 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

I doubt Arnold could have cracked it that quickly. It's unrealistic that all the security measures vanished and Lex knew exactly what to do. 

It doesn't seem like there were any security measures, just what Nedry did, which they undid by rebooting the system. 

I forget, the movie doesn't do the bit where things seem to be getting under control but they forgot that the system reboots onto aux power and then the generators die, right? 

[Maithanet]

39 minutes ago, RumHam said:

It doesn't seem like there were any security measures, just what Nedry did, which they undid by rebooting the system. 

I forget, the movie doesn't do the bit where things seem to be getting under control but they forgot that the system reboots onto aux power and then the generators die, right? 

That is correct, they don't include any of those things in the movie version.  Instead, Nedry turned off all the fences (except raptor fences), phones and door locks and left.  When Arnold rebooted the system to get rid of what Nedry did, it also turned off the raptor fences, which is why things went to shit in the vistor's center only after the reboot. 

58 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Let me rephrase that. How could it get into the Jeep and reposition itself? It's too big, and that's before you consider the tail.

You keep talking about how big dilophosaurus is, but in the movie it's much smaller than the book or real life, more akin to a large dog.  That's why when Nedry sees one he says "I thought you were one of your big brothers.  You're not so bad."  While he could see the claws and fangs of the dilophosaurus, he was hoping that it wouldn't mess with a larger animal (namely, him). 

 

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No, but it's a shotgun at point blank range. To completely miss is pretty bad. It's why shotguns are the best home protection option, because even a novice should be able to use it so long as they know how to operate it.

We don't know if Grant has ever fired a gun before in his life, and given his screen depiction my guess would be no.  He could have shot from the hip for all we know.  Missing a rushed shot is very plausible, I don't know why you'd object to that. 

[Ghostlydragon]

1 minute ago, Maithanet said:

That is correct, they don't include any of those things in the movie version.  Instead, Nedry turned off all the fences (except raptor fences), phones and door locks and left.  When Arnold rebooted the system to get rid of what Nedry did, it also turned off the raptor fences, which is why things went to shit in the vistor's center only after the reboot. 

You keep talking about how big dilophosaurus is, but in the movie it's much smaller than the book or real life, more akin to a large dog.  That's why when Nedry sees one he says "I thought you were one of your big brothers.  You're not so bad."  While he could see the claws and fangs of the dilophosaurus, he was hoping that it wouldn't mess with a larger animal (namely, him). 

 

We don't know if Grant has ever fired a gun before in his life, and given his screen depiction my guess would be no.  He could have shot from the hip for all we know.  Missing a rushed shot is very plausible, I don't know why you'd object to that. 

Didn't Grant kill that raptor? I thought he did but the one we saw unlock the door it was locked behind, was the 3rd raptor that showed up with the other one to be killed by the t rex at the end.

[Nictarion]

1 hour ago, Tywin et al. said:

No, but it's a shotgun at point blank range. To completely miss is pretty bad. It's why shotguns are the best home protection option, because even a novice should be able to use it so long as they know how to operate it.

Idk if that shotgun was intended for use against the dinosaurs in the case of emergency, or was just for security purposes in general, but if it was the former that thing would not be loaded with bird or buck shot (the type of shells that have a spread pattern). If it had slugs in it (to take down something much bigger and more powerful) you could easily miss with it. Especially under duress. It’s just a single projectile. 

[Maithanet]

13 minutes ago, Ghostlydragon said:

Didn't Grant kill that raptor? I thought he did but the one we saw unlock the door it was locked behind, was the 3rd raptor that showed up with the other one to be killed by the t rex at the end.

I don't think so, there's no indication that Grant killed or injured one of the raptors.  The timing seems a little strange as there's one raptor after them trying to push on the door.  That raptor gets locked out.  Elly says "gonna come through the glass!" and then Grant raises the gun and it cuts to Hammond on the phone, where we hear three shots and then nothing.  Considering there is a raptor chasing them immediately after this scene, it seems like a leap to assume that one raptor was killed offscreen and then the other raptor arrived (although I suppose it is possible, since we never see more than 2 raptors beyond this point). 

4 minutes ago, Nictarion said:

Idk if that shotgun was intended for use against the dinosaurs in the case of emergency, or was just for security purposes in general, but if it was the former that thing would not be loaded with bird or buck shot (the type of shells that have a spread pattern). If it had slugs in it (to take down something much bigger and more powerful) you could easily miss with it. Especially under duress. It’s just a single projectile. 

We see the bullet holes in the glass and they are pretty small (ping pong ball sized), so there wasn't much spread. 

[Tywin et al.]

2 hours ago, RumHam said:

It doesn't seem like there were any security measures, just what Nedry did, which they undid by rebooting the system. 

I forget, the movie doesn't do the bit where things seem to be getting under control but they forgot that the system reboots onto aux power and then the generators die, right? 

I don't know much about early 90's tech, but wouldn't she have still had to login in the first place? There was literally no security whatsoever and Lex knew exactly where to look without much if any information before she cracks it in like under a minute. We can't forget that Lex and Tim have very little information as they've been in the park the entire time.

1 hour ago, Maithanet said:

You keep talking about how big dilophosaurus is, but in the movie it's much smaller than the book or real life, more akin to a large dog.  That's why when Nedry sees one he says "I thought you were one of your big brothers.  You're not so bad."  While he could see the claws and fangs of the dilophosaurus, he was hoping that it wouldn't mess with a larger animal (namely, him). 

A large dog is a bit much. I've found several different sizes listed for it in the movie and the smallest one still has it being over nine feet long snout to tail. Given that and the way it's legs look, I just think it's next to impossible for it to have the dexterity to get into the car and reposition itself in the passenger's seat so it would be facing Nedry. Cool scene, but not practical imo.

Also, Nedry's comment came when it was still laying low in the grass. You can see it stands up afterwards and gets a lot bigger.

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We don't know if Grant has ever fired a gun before in his life, and given his screen depiction my guess would be no.  He could have shot from the hip for all we know.  Missing a rushed shot is very plausible, I don't know why you'd object to that. 

We also can't assume he doesn't know how to. He wasn't holding the gun like he was completely unfamiliar with it, and I believe that was a pump action shotgun, so getting off three rounds would require a little knowledge I believe.

1 hour ago, Nictarion said:

Idk if that shotgun was intended for use against the dinosaurs in the case of emergency, or was just for security purposes in general, but if it was the former that thing would not be loaded with bird or buck shot (the type of shells that have a spread pattern). If it had slugs in it (to take down something much bigger and more powerful) you could easily miss with it. Especially under duress. It’s just a single projectile. 

I'm no firearms expert, but in the opening scene it looked like had much heavier artillery, though some of those weapons also looked like they had been designed to stun the animal, not kill it. In the end we just don't know. In the book Muldoon had access to some kind or rocket launcher.

 

1 hour ago, Maithanet said:

We see the bullet holes in the glass and they are pretty small (ping pong ball sized), so there wasn't much spread. 

We also see no other damage despite Elly saying it was coming through the glass, then it easily breaks in moments later. I've always found that part to be a bit odd. 

[RhaenysBee]

I’ve discovered that there’s more of this thing! I just watched Jurassic World. It was… interesting. Not terrible, but definitely interesting. 

There’s a conversation in the lab about capitalist consumerism asking for the bigger, scarier and cooler “assets” because the regular dinosaurs are boring now and the cost of that economic success is the disastrous abomination of the actual science. I’m only half convinced that the film realizes it’s talking about itself and its own industry. But if it does, then hats off that was certainly a nice and much needed bit of self-irony. It also made me gloat so much that ye old 90s Ellie was about fifty times the strong empowered female character Bryce Dallas Howard tried to be in the age of sTroNGfEmAlEcHaRacTeRs. The woman spent the film in high heels for crying out loud…

Anyway, I suppose I might as well keep the hype going and watch Jurassic Something 2018 that hasn’t yet made it onto Netflix. And there’s going to be a Jurassic Something Else in 2022! 

[polishgenius]

I can't believe we're sat here nitpicking Jurassic Park. Like yeah you can pick holes in the logic all day but it's not a mystery thriller, it's a spectacle film with almost no equal. Even the ninja-Rex at the end is worth it for the epic pose.  

[Slurktan]

3 hours ago, Deadlines? What Deadlines? said:

Masters of the Universe: Revelation.

I honestly had no interest in watching this.  Then a bunch of YouTube and Twitter misanthropes went apeshit because Kevin Smith ate their balls or something. Apparently it's an insult to "fans" that many of the early episodes (the first half of the first season) focus on supporting characters and those characters have "bewbs". This is problematic because "woke" or something. So I gave it a look.

The show is surprisingly good. The animation is up to the usual Netflix standard, the story is interesting, and the voice cast is impressive and delivers good performances. I made sure to give it a thumbs up. 

I'm looking forward to the remainder of the series. 

I mean, I didn't like it but feel free to stereotype people who don't like a piece of art as misanthropes.  I didn't like it because the protagonist is unlikeable in episode 2 (where her arc starts, it has nothing to do with being a her, it has to do with how the character acts after a tragedy.) and doesn't get any better.  I didn't like it because all men in the show have no agency and are wallpaper.  (I also don't like it in things when all female characters are treated like that, its bullshit for both sexes I guess that is fine for you though as it is apparently fine for you here?). 

[Rippounet]

I've reached the fourth season of Le bureau des légendes. I almost never watch French stuff, but this is supposed to be one of the best  shows ever. It focuses on the DGSE, i.e. the French secret service, with John-Le-Carré-style stories.
And... It's a letdown. It's very well made in every respect: good acting, good filming, decent plots and excellent atmosphere. There's even tension and a few plot twists. But you can feel that this is the wordview of the Defense Ministry (that works with the writers). Though to its credit it's not simplistic, and the "others" are not monolithic. For example at some point an agent ends up infiltrating Iran's golden youth ; one character explains (and perhaps even, embodies) the complexities of the Syrian conflict. But the patriotism prevents the show from ever rising to something truly interesting, and not all plots are equally entertaining.

[RumHam]

30 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

I can't believe we're sat here nitpicking Jurassic Park. Like yeah you can pick holes in the logic all day but it's not a mystery thriller, it's a spectacle film with almost no equal. Even the ninja-Rex at the end is worth it for the epic pose.  

I don't think any of us pointing these things out don't adore the movie. 

[Tywin et al.]

39 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

I can't believe we're sat here nitpicking Jurassic Park. Like yeah you can pick holes in the logic all day but it's not a mystery thriller, it's a spectacle film with almost no equal. Even the ninja-Rex at the end is worth it for the epic pose.  

 

8 minutes ago, RumHam said:

I don't think any of us pointing these things out don't adore the movie. 

If JP isn't my favorite movie, it's top three for me, and only it and Pulp Fiction get a pass into that group with the third one being really hard for me to pick. Jurassic Park is incredible, the story is great, the suspense is real and it's visuals holds up almost thirty years later. Shit, one of my favorite things on podcasts like Cinephobe and HDTGM are when they point out how long after JP the movie they're reviewing got made. It's that good.

We can both say on the one hand that JP is ground breaking and one of the best movies ever made while on the other also acknowledge that it has a number of plot and continuity errors, some of which seem intentional so as to create a better on camera shot.

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

43 minutes ago, Slurktan said:

I mean, I didn't like it but feel free to stereotype people who don't like a piece of art as misanthropes.  I didn't like it because the protagonist is unlikeable in episode 2 (where her arc starts, it has nothing to do with being a her, it has to do with how the character acts after a tragedy.) and doesn't get any better.  I didn't like it because all men in the show have no agency and are wallpaper.  (I also don't like it in things when all female characters are treated like that, its bullshit for both sexes I guess that is fine for you though as it is apparently fine for you here?). 

If you don't like it that's fine. I disagree with your assessment.

But don't confuse things. I'm not talking about you and I'm not stereotyping anything. I'm talking about specific individuals on social media who have a track record of this sort of "outrage" commentary. The sort that consistently make a crusade out of this sort of thing for clicks. I chose not to call them out by name because I didn't think it was appropriate for this thread.

[DMC]

1 hour ago, Tywin et al. said:

We can both say on the one hand that JP is ground breaking and one of the best movies ever made

While obviously it was insanely successful at what it was intended to be - a brainless popcorn flick - I would never describe Jurassic Park as even remotely close to one of the best movies ever made.

[Tywin et al.]

10 minutes ago, DMC said:

While obviously it was insanely successful at what it was intended to be - a brainless popcorn flick - I would never describe Jurassic Park as even remotely close to one of the best movies ever made.

That seems a bit reductive. The film became one of the gold standards for special effects and the story itself is very strong. Obviously it's completely subjective, but I'd be willing to bet that JP is on basically all credible top 100 movie lists and if that doesn't make it one of the best movies ever made, what does?