Theo Cinema: ATLANTIS - THE LOST EMPIRE (WOEFULLY Bad)

[AndyDursin]

Couple of interesting trailers that usually don't get shown often -- one of which has Percy Rodriguez narration and uses North's score, one of which doesn't.

[Paul MacLean]

The classical music doesn't "stick" to the trailer at all -- and yet, an original score in a more romantic style probably would have made the film more accessible.

Also, I wonder if the dour tone of these trailers (and Dragonslayer itself) just went against the mood of summer of 1981, when people were flocking to see Raiders, Superman II and Arthur.

[AndyDursin]

As another point of comparison, with unadjusted dollars, CLASH OF THE TITANS did $41 million domestic -- nearly 3X better than DRAGONSLAYER's $14 million -- in the same summer.

Agree Paul, I think both of those ads were ineffective, and a dour fantasy movie like this was a tough sell in the Summer of '81. Though I also think DRAGONSLAYER would've been a tough sell at any time. It's not a movie suitable for most kids, even though that was the market it was being sold to and produced for (Disney co-produced it -- somehow!). I think it's a terrific movie and I'd watch it again, but the lapses in tone/taste were an issue (specifically talking about the baby dragons gnawing on the princess' corpse and the way Galen's mentors are killed -- just comes off as needlessly grim. The nudity isn't an issue IMO because it's directly tied into the story and is only on-screen for a second or two).

If this was made a little while later, I can't imagine someone wouldn't have gone in and cleaned up some of that material in a rewrite. There was a way to make this a much more rousing, kid-friendly film even with the grittiness, but I don't think Barwood/Robbins were capable enough, on their own, to make the needed adjustments there (most of the other movies they directed, including CORVETTE SUMMER, WARNING SIGN, LEGEND OF BILLIE JEAN, BINGO and BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED, are all either mediocre/terrible IMO).

They seem to be a duo that was best working in collaboration with, say, Lucas or Spielberg (doing a lot of uncredited rewrites on CE3K for example) as opposed to fashioning their own project from the ground up.

[Paul MacLean]

Here's a really illuminating analysis of North's Dragonslayer score -- originally written as the liner notes for the soundtrack LP, but dropped from the album before it was released. It was subsequently published in CinemaScore Magazine...

https://cnmsarchive.wordpress.com/2013/ ... gonslayer/

[BobaMike]

If this was made a little while later, I can't imagine someone wouldn't have gone in and cleaned up some of that material in a rewrite. There was a way to make this a much more rousing, kid-friendly film even with the grittiness, but I don't think Barwood/Robbins were capable enough, on their own, to make the needed adjustments there (most of the other movies they directed, including CORVETTE SUMMER, WARNING SIGN, LEGEND OF BILLIE JEAN, BINGO and BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED, are all either mediocre/terrible IMO).

They seem to be a duo that was best working in collaboration with, say, Lucas or Spielberg (doing a lot of uncredited rewrites on CE3K for example) as opposed to fashioning their own project from the ground up.

Hal Barwood's best work turned out to be in video games- he worked at Lucasarts for a number of years, and created the best Indiana Jones game of all time: Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. It's looked at as the unofficial Indy 4 by many fans.

[AndyDursin]

I've read that. Never played that game, always wanted to, but didn't have a PC fast enough growing up!

[Monterey Jack]

I only know Fate Of Atlantis from the Dark Horse comics miniseries published in the early 90s.



DH did a number of good Indy comics back then (they went well with those Rob MacGregor Indy novels that were published around that time). I should dig them out and give them a read again one of these days.

[BobaMike]

Play the game- the comics are terrible in comparison..the plot is very different. in fact, the game has 3 different 'paths' you can take, making it almost 3 games in one. A wits path, a fighting path, and a teamwork path. It's really fun, with great 2D graphics and the midi score was great for the time.

I have almost all those Indy novels- some are fun, but avoid any of them by Martin Caiden, they suck.

[Monterey Jack]

I have almost all those Indy novels- some are fun, but avoid any of them by Martin Caiden, they suck.

Yeah, once Caiden took over from MacGregor, my interest level flatlined.

[mkaroly]

Here's a really illuminating analysis of North's Dragonslayer score -- originally written as the liner notes for the soundtrack LP, but dropped from the album before it was released. It was subsequently published in CinemaScore Magazine...

https://cnmsarchive.wordpress.com/2013/ ... gonslayer/

That write-up describes North's music in a nutshell - it is always several layers deep, polytonal...it is clear why people respected him so much in the industry. There was so much depth to his compositions. But the reasons why people in the industry loved him so much are probably partial reasons as to why his stuff is perhaps not as popular among "regular" folks and why his music can generally be hard to digest.

The only other composer who comes to mind who had as much compositional depth and density to his scores as North did is Erich Wolfgang Korngold...except that Korngpld wrote in a classical/opera style that was/is "accessible" whereas North used more contemporary 20th century techniques (jazz, atonality, etc) that makes his stiff harder to digest.

Maybe?? Just thinking aloud there. Maybe one could include Rozsa in that as well...

[AndyDursin]

JURASSIC PARK III

Theo's 4th grade cousin was visiting for the first time in a year, and I figured this would be ideal: it's 90 minutes, it doesn't have a ton of boring exposition, and I forgot it has the Spinosaurus as it's lead dino (one of Theo's favorites). Check, check, check lol

Like a 90 minute amusement park ride this movie always gets the job done. It is not overly memorable and some plot elements were clearly reworked in post (like why is Laura Dern's character even married when the rescued kid tells Grant "you have to tell her" how he feels about her ?!), but as a greatest hits remix the action scenes are all well executed by Joe Johnston and the leftover setpiece(s) from the first JP are nifty and exciting. (I also appreciated Don Davis' much more Williams like score here than Giacchino's JW efforts.)

If you have kids, this one may be one of the best entries in the series for the brisk running time alone. Either way it got two thumbs up from them, whenever they weren't hiding their eyes lol

[BobaMike]

My son liked JP3 the best because of the Spinosaurus as well (his favorite dinosaur too).

I always enjoyed the movie. It doesn't waste any time, it has a few good set pieces (the pteranadon/bird cage reveal has always stuck with me). It's just too bad about the ending, where the army just shows up. I think this movie was made during a writers strike? Or they were making it up as they went due to the locked in release date? I forget. Don Davis does a good job with the score too.

I agree too about Laura Dern's character. I was bummed that she and Sam Neil weren't together, as they were a good couple in Jurassic Park.

The FX are better in this than in Jurassic World, where the dinos seemed too cgi for my taste.

[AndyDursin]

Allegedly Spielberg and Johnston (who he gave full creative control over to) decided to have the script thrown out 5 weeks before shooting began, after everything was storyboarded and sets were being constructed. They apparently felt getting Grant to the island was too convoluted and contrived, so David Koepp (who didn't actually work on the movie but gave some suggestions) felt it should be pared down to a simple "rescue mission".

Johnston even admitted the process didn't work -- he called it a "living hell" to make and thought about quitting, in this interview at https://www.ign.com/articles/2001/07/17 ... e-johnston

With a sigh of obvious frustration, the director admits that it's not the way to make a movie. "Sometimes we were writing the things that we were going to be shooting that afternoon. It's stupid. The only good thing about it is that it gives you the freedom to decide what you're going to do as you go along."

That obviously explains a lot.

I've never read the script before, but this draft online is interesting -- the ending is a much more elaborate set-piece involving the raptors and Spinosaurus fighting at the end. The raptors end up taking out the Spinosaurus in the climax.

The Army then shows up just as it does in the movie after Grant calls Ellie on the "satellite phone", but there's a massive Pteranodon attack as the characters try and leave, with the dinos taking out some of the military choppers. This sounds like it could've been pretty cool had it been shot.

Almost wonder if they just ran out of time and money -- what's in the finished film feels like it was rushed, and certainly not how it was conceived. I agree, it could've used "more" -- albeit it's still a fun, brisk 90 minutes. And a massively more entertaining film than THE LOST WORLD.

https://imsdb.com/scripts/Jurassic-Park-III.html

[AndyDursin]

GODZILLA (1998)

I've written about this movie on my own recently, but this was Theo's first viewing and as a big fan of the Godzilla Animated series that directly followed this, he "LOVED it" -- though not quite as much as Godzilla Vs. Kong

The movie has its problems, cartoony characters and lack of tension -- but had they just re-worked the 3rd act, and instead of doing the baby Godzilla "Jurassic Park" rip-off, brought in another monster for Godzilla to battle, I think this movie still would've been a big hit. As it is, the end is a downer, and nobody gets to see Godzilla be the good guy and take on another creature. The Animated Series understood this and improved on the movie -- I also think a sequel to this (or the Jan Debont version that didn't get made) would've figured it out too.

Still, despite the thinness of the entire movie, there's lots to like (and it's not as if the characters in any of the recent Godzilla films have been any more appealing!) -- Patrick Tatopolous' creature design and FX work are stellar. The set-pieces are fun. David Arnold's score is superb, and the 4K UHD offers a tremendous sound design and outstanding transfer that's eye candy and fun to watch.

[Eric Paddon]

I've read that. Never played that game, always wanted to, but didn't have a PC fast enough growing up!

Sorry I missed this post about "Fate Of Atlantis". I played this game endlessly when I got my first computer back in 1993 because it came with it. I think as recently as five years ago I was still able to play it thanks to a software program that allowed it to run on my then-current computer but I don't think it can do so any longer. Despite the fact the graphics would be primitive by today's standards it *really* had a sense of genuinely eerie and spooky atmosphere.