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Why are there no good dinosaur films?

briannazigler.substack.com

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Re: Why are there no good dinosaur films?

#321

Post by marcosdumay »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #229
ggambetta wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Likewise, the highway chase in the first non-existent sequel is pretty epic.

Whether or not you enjoy the stories, the action scenes and visuals in the sequels were groundbreaking use of CGI in action films. Around the same time the LotR trilogy came out which did something similar. I rewatched the first one the other day and for the most part the visuals and CGI have held up over time, barely any "oh man this is bad CGI lmao" moments. Which somehow got worse with later films, e.g. the Hobbit…

> the action scenes and visuals in the sequels were groundbreaking use of CGI in action films

Well, the innovative scenes vary from the incredibly good highway chase to the boring and ridiculous fight between Neo and Agent Smith. Those movies were groundbreaking in "bad uses of CGI" too.

Re: Why are there no good dinosaur films?

#322

Post by aredox »

triceratops wrote: post #313
aredox wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except that there is something called "Intellectual Property" and "copyright" that makes any attempt to use fan fiction a libility and open to endless litigation. J. Michael Straczynski (of _Babylon V_ fame, and many others) immediately blocks anyone who tries to ptch him ideas, and he's not the only one: https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/j-michael-straczynski-would-l...

Why can't you buy the idea from whatever forum poster?

Because you have to find and pay everyone who had the same idea.

The alternatve is to do "cleanroom writing": you don't interact, therefore if you write something similar, you can argue you independently invented it.

I had the same problem in a scientific research lab where collaboration with another lab runs the risk of not being able to patent an idea, because if the other team had the same idea or anything close enough to it, we couldn't claim to be the inventors.

Re: Why are there no good dinosaur films?

#323

Post by IAmBroom »

Rodeoclash wrote: post #170
echelon wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This embodies show don't tell and it works amazingly. That's not "show, don't tell". That's "you need the companion book". A masterclass in "Show, don't tell" is the intro to Pixar's "Up". If you haven't seen it, you absolutely must. "Show, don't tell" isn't stuff that is lost on the uninitiated. It's stuff that is masterfully communicated without the need for corny expository dialogue. Villeneuve's mentats are lik…

> It's stuff that is masterfully communicated without the need for corny expository dialogue This is the scene I'm thinking of: https://youtu.be/70FLqFWJMNk?si=0faCWRS9aNpVTil4&t=68 You don't need to know that the character is a mentat. The story works perfectly well without that knowledge. But if you do then it adds a second layer to the scene. Much like watching something like the early Simpson's is even better if…

I'd say the entire expository section about the protagonist's romantic life prior to the film is apt.

Barely any words spoken, even. Conveys everything.

Re: Why are there no good dinosaur films?

#325

Post by muixoozie »

csours wrote: post #152
0cf8612b2e1e wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Matrix where they explain that we are all batteries. Gives the great visuals of the towers of bodies plus the baby in the pod as it is filling with nutrients. Provides basically all of the backstory plus some technobabble behind the human slavery.

I'll have to rewatch that one, thanks

Just to throw one on the pile, Inception's lesson in shared dreaming scene is good.

Re: Why are there no good dinosaur films?

#326

Post by IAmBroom »

bruce511 wrote: post #54

In the book I found the character of Ian Malcolm fascinating. He was the math guy, grounded in "chaos theory" which basically posited that things don't work out the way you plan. Jeff Goldblum's portrayal was pretty spot on for me - sure that it would all end in tears, and yet unwilling to leave simply because the opportunity to see his math play out in real life was irresistible. And his line in movie 2 (or 3?) Abou…

Also, he really wanted to bone the female paleontologist.

I mean, that WAS a motivation.

Re: Why are there no good dinosaur films?

#327

Post by IAmBroom »

nicce wrote: post #68
conductr wrote: post #22

My son is a dinosaur enthusiast to say the least. At some point, well into his accumulation of Dino facts we read an old book I had as a kid (mid 80s) and the book says all kinds of weird stuff I forget but abruptly ends with “they went extinct and we may never know how” and my son (age 4 at the time) is at a loss for words, “it was a asteroid dad, what dummy wrote this book?” For weeks he’d randomly look at me, “hey…

I thought that it still isn’t really known? Is is one common theory, but we have just probabilities to play with.

Much like gravity, it is only a theory.

Re: Why are there no good dinosaur films?

#328

Post by robertlagrant »

ggambetta wrote: post #203
wishfish wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me, the sequels were worthwhile just for one solitary scene. In the third movie, Trinity is piloting the ship and has to gain higher than usual altitude for some reason that I've now forgotten. This takes her above the black clouds permanently enveloping the Earth. Sunlight pours into the cockpit. For the first and only time in her life, she sees the real sun with her own physical eyes. She's overwhelmed. It's jus…

Likewise, the highway chase in the first non-existent sequel is pretty epic.

The moment when he picks them up off the mid-explosion truck gives me chills every time. The build-up is so good.

Re: Why are there no good dinosaur films?

#329

Post by IAmBroom »

pests wrote: post #45
conductr wrote: post #22

My son is a dinosaur enthusiast to say the least. At some point, well into his accumulation of Dino facts we read an old book I had as a kid (mid 80s) and the book says all kinds of weird stuff I forget but abruptly ends with “they went extinct and we may never know how” and my son (age 4 at the time) is at a loss for words, “it was a asteroid dad, what dummy wrote this book?” For weeks he’d randomly look at me, “hey…

Fantasia gets this wrong, depicting the dinosaurs dying from lack of water.

But there were blonde centaurs, right?

Right?

Re: Why are there no good dinosaur films?

#330

Post by IAmBroom »

vel0city wrote: post #38
conductr wrote: post #22

My son is a dinosaur enthusiast to say the least. At some point, well into his accumulation of Dino facts we read an old book I had as a kid (mid 80s) and the book says all kinds of weird stuff I forget but abruptly ends with “they went extinct and we may never know how” and my son (age 4 at the time) is at a loss for words, “it was a asteroid dad, what dummy wrote this book?” For weeks he’d randomly look at me, “hey…

It might be more complicated than that. While the Chicxulub impact probably played a big role in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, there are potentially other sources of why it was as bad as it was. The eruption of the Deccan Traps may have also played an important part in the mass extinction event. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deccan_Traps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous%E2%80%93Paleogene_e...

Sure, but if a cancer patient gets shot, "he was already sick" isn't a legal defense.
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