The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)

The Lost World: Jurassic Park - 1997

Our next film is the second installment in the Jurassic Park series.  1997's "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" finds us on a second island filled with dinosaurs that exhibit behaviors no one thought they were capable of.

The film's cast includes Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Pete Postlethwaite, Richard Attenborough, Vince Vaughn, Arliss Howard, Vanessa Lee Chester, Peter Storemare, Richard Schiff, Joseph Mazzello, and Ariana Richards.

Dr. Ian Malcolm is summoned to the home of John Hammond, creator of the dinosaurs that wrecked havoc on him in the first film.  He's unsure of why he's been asked to the Hammond residence.

It soon becomes clear to Dr. Malcolm.  There is a second island used to create dinosaurs in Costa Rica.  Hammond wants Ian to go there and lead a team that will document these creatures and allow them to stay in a biological preserve setting.  Ian is dead set against it.  When Hammond tells him that his girlfriend Sarah is already there, Ian agrees to go so he can extract Sarah from a potentially deadly situation.

As Ian prepares to leave, his daughter stows away on board some of the field equipment they will be using.

When they get to the island, Ian's crew can't help but feel overwhelmed when they see dinosaurs for the first time.  A herd of stegosaurus walks right by them.  Ian says, "Oh, yeah, ooh...ahh...that's how it always starts.  Then later there's running and screaming."

They succeed in locating Ian's girlfriend Sarah, who is busy documenting the stegosaurus herd and their habits.  Ian tells her that coming to the island was not a smart thing to do.  "I'll be back in five or six days," Sarah tells him.  "No, you'll be back in five or six pieces," Ian responds.

She ignores him and goes back to taking pictures of a baby stegosaurus.  While she's taking pictures, she inadvertently causes a stegosaurus stampede that they all barely escape from.

When Ian discovers his daughter on the island, he wants to get her off of it.  He tries to flag down some passing helicopters.  They aren't stopping, and members of the team notice a familiar logo on them.

It seems that Hammond's nephew is interested in more than a biological preserve.  He wants to capture dinosaurs and send them back to a sort of zoo in San Diego.

Sarah, Ian and the team free the captured dinosaurs and bring an injured baby T-Rex back to their camp to treat a broken leg.  Things go all right until Mommy T-Rex is knocking on the door and wants her baby back.

After she gets her baby back, the mother T-Rex destroys the camp and eats one of the team members.  Ian, Sarah, and the rest of their team join up with the other people on the island in an effort to find a way to get off of it alive.  In the process, the mother T-Rex and her baby are captured and put on a ship bound for San Diego.

All hell breaks loose once the ship docks in San Diego.  It turns out that the adult T-Rex ate the crew, which sends the ship careening into the dockside.  Then, she escapes and runs freely on the streets of the unsuspecting city.

She terrorizes one family and eats their pet dog.  No one seems to have any ideas on how to capture her.

Sarah and Ian decide to get the baby T-Rex and use it to lure the mother back to the ship.  The plan seems to work, and they have to move fast to outrun the angry mommy dinosaur.

Once they are safely aboard, Sarah uses a dart gun to tranquilize the mother.  Then the armor plated doors are sealed and the boat can return to Isla Sorna.

After everything is over, Hammond comes on TV and tells how these creatures need our absence not our help.  The T-Rex family is shown reunited on the island along with other species of dinosaurs.

Cast rundown:

   Jeff Goldblum.................................Dr. Ian Malcolm

   Julianne Moore...............................Dr. Sarah Harding

   Pete Postlethwaite...........................Roland Tembo

   Richard Attenborough......................Dr. John Hammond

   Vince Vaughn..................................Nick Van Owen

   Arliss Howard..................................Peter Ludlow

   Vanessa Lee Chester........................Kelly Curtis Malcolm

   Peter Storemare..............................Dieter Stark

   Richard Schiff..................................Eddie Carr

   Joseph Mazzello...............................Tim Murphy

   Ariana Richards...............................Lex Murphy

And that's all for The Lost World: Jurassic Park.  It's a bit darker in subject matter than its predecessor.  A dinosaur that was featured heavily in the film was the stegosaurus.  Steven Spielberg made sure to put it in as it was a "popular demand" inclusion.  The baby stegosaurus was eight feet long and weighed 400 pounds.

As always, if you wish to make a comment, please remember our posting rules.

Last Chance Harvey (2008)

Last Chance Harvey - 2008

Coming up next is 2008's "Last Chance Harvey", a film about a man who flies to London to attend his daughter's wedding.  Ostracized by his ex-wife and made to feel totally unwelcome, he finds a friend in the most unlikely of places, which helps him to face his present set of circumstances.

The film's excellent cast includes Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, Eileen Atkins, Kathy Baker, James Brolin, Liane Balaban, Richard Schiff, Michael Landes, and Gaia Wise.

Musician Harvey Shine is on his way to London to attend his daughter's wedding.  He doesn't have the best relationship with her because of his divorce, and he's also on shaky ground with his job (writing catchy tunes for television commercials).

Kate Walker works at London's Heathrow Airport.  She gives people surveys as they come off of planes.  Needless to say, it's not a job which gets a lot of happy responses.  Kate lives with her mother and has a hard time with relationships.

Harvey and Kate bump into each other as he gets off his flight.  She asks him for a few moments of his time, and he brushes her off very rudely.

When he gets to his hotel, Harvey finds he is the only guest from the wedding party staying there.  His ex-wife has rented a house for all the other guests.

Feeling unwelcome, Harvey gets even more uncomfortable when his ex-wife fears he will make a spectacle of himself.  She also tells him that their daughter Susan has asked her stepfather to give her away.

Worse still, Harvey is relegated to the back row at his daughter's wedding.  He tells his ex-wife that he will not be attending the reception, much to her relief.

When he tries to catch a flight home, he doesn't make it in time, which causes him to lose his job.  While waiting for another flight, he meets Kate who is having a drink.  He apologizes for his earlier rude behavior and the two begin chatting.  They start to enjoy each other's company.

After a lovely time together, the two part ways.  Kate goes off in the direction of the Heathrow Express, and Harvey goes to find a hotel nearby.

Kate smiles as she walks towards her train, delighting in the unexpected good time she had.

Not knowing where to go in the city, Harvey catches up with Kate on her train.  She's pleasantly surprised to see him again.

They continue hitting it off, and, after checking his luggage into a hotel, Harvey volunteers to walk Kate to a writing class she is taking.  The two continue to connect as they walk the streets of London.

After the class, Kate asks Harvey what happened between him and his daughter.  She advises him attend his daughter's wedding reception so he doesn't come to regret it.  He agrees on the condition that she comes with him.

He also agrees to buy her a dress for the reception.  After a bunch of misses, Kate settles on the perfect one.

Harvey's daughter is delighted her dad could attend the reception, and she's thrilled to meet Kate.  Unfortunately, the only place available for them to sit is at the children's table.

During the evening, Harvey makes a speech which heals the rift between him and his daughter.  The speech also brings tears to Kate's eyes.  When Harvey joins his daughter on the dance floor, Kate slips away unnoticed.

Harvey finds her and after playing a little something for her on the piano, he tells her "I'm gonna dance your socks off!"

After the reception, Harvey and Kate spend the rest of the night walking the streets of London.  When dawn breaks, they agree to meet again at noon that day.

Sadly, Harvey has a heart condition that flares up and he is unable to keep the date, which bothers him more than the heart condition.

Kate, who was waiting for Harvey at the specific time, has a very hard time emotionally when he doesn't show up.  She seems to close herself off to relationships even more.  When Harvey calls her at work to try and explain, she declines his phone calls.

And so he goes to her writing class and waits until she is finished with it.  He tells her that he wants to stay and explore a relationship with her.  She expresses misgivings about getting emotionally involved.  "So, how's this going to work, Mr. Shine?" she asks.  He smiles at her and says, "I have absolutely no idea.  But it will.  I promise you that."

They link arms and begin walking together.  After a few steps, Kate takes off her shoes.  Harvey smiles and says, "I think you're my kinda girl."  As they walk down the sidewalk, Harvey asks Kate to give him the questionnaire that she wanted to ask when they first encountered each other at the airport.

Cast rundown:

   Dustin Hoffman.....................................Harvey Shine

   Emma Thompson...................................Kate Walker

   Eileen Atkins.........................................Maggie Walker

   Kathy Baker..........................................Jean

   James Brolin.........................................Brian

   Liane Balaban........................................Susan Shine

   Richard Schiff........................................Marvin

   Michael Landes......................................Peter Turner

   Gaia Wise.............................................Girl #1 At Wedding 

And that's it for Last Chance Harvey.  This project came to fruition after Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson worked together on the film "Stranger Than Fiction".  They enjoyed the experience so much that they wanted another project to work on together.

A particularly amusing character in this film is Kate's mother Maggie.  She is very suspicious of a Polish neighbor who is constantly acting "strangely" around a smokehouse.  She thinks he's a mass murderer.  Kate's explanation is much more simple, "Maybe Polish people like to barbecue a lot."  (As the son of a guy that is 100% Polish, I can tell you that in my experience that is a very accurate statement.)  It turns out that Kate was right.  The neighbor gifts Maggie with a smoked ham, much to her surprise.

As always, if you wish to leave a comment, please remember our posting rules.