Acetylcholine, Norepinephrine, Dopamine, Serotonin

Recognize the title? You may recognize a few, if not all, of those words; they act as neurotransmitters in the human brain and are specifically utilized for arousal. The 4 main components in fact for arousal in the human brain, and you can bet that I was producing these guys in droves after the last 2 movies; Jurassic Park and The Lost World. I mentioned the phrase F/X Porn in ending my last post, and these 2 movies are exactly that. This phrase was brought to us by none other than one of my current roommate and brother's favorite writers, the late David Foster Wallace. His essay is simply titled FX Porn. The Lost World is itself even given as an example in the opening of the essay, which I strongly encourage all and everyone to read. Mr Wallace argues that these movies are nothing more than porn when he writes 'What they really are is half a dozen or so isolated, spectacular scenes --scenes comprising maybe twenty or thirty minutes of riveting, sensuous payoff -- strung together via another sixty to ninety minutes of flat, dead, and often hilariously insipid narrative'. It's hard to argue with the man, and I don't plan on doing any such thing. Read the essay, but this post has to do with these amazing movies featuring some of the most spectacular dinosaur scenes in cinema. FX Porn? You bet your ass. Sweet, sweet, delicious, explosive, mind numbing, heart racing, grab you by the seat of your pants and don't let go til you convulse on the floor special effects porn. Enjoy.

Jurassic Park opens up with the raptor transportation scene; velociraptor to be exact. You know the movie is about dinosaurs going into it, so seeing dinosaurs does not necessarily excite you. The crunching of twigs, the breaking of branches high in the air; you expect to see something big and tall crashing through the forest with these guys just waiting to get slaughtered and THEN... No dinosaur; it's just a fork truck carrying a box. Spielberg plays you right off the bat. You prepare yourself to be shocked, and then it turns out just to be some guys unloading a crate. The music is still a little tense, but you've already started to settle down and that's when he strikes. Crash! Screeeeeeeech! Unhuman screams from a creature inside the crate; taser guns are going off wildly, you catch a glimpse of something inside but you can't quite tell what it is. One man lost. Fade out. Ugh! Your first quickie. My heart is pumping just relating the scene! But this is no 80s horror movie. We don't just see a piece of the monster here, and scratch mark left there, leaving our imagination to fill it out before the final reveal at the end. Don't get me wrong, I love those sorts of movie too, but these are not it.

With ILM on board this movie was to be one for the record books. A smattering of dinosaurs in our face moving in real time with crisp motion. Trampling and sliding in and out of shadows, reacting with the environment and other actors. Truly breathtaking. Spielberg still had many models and animatronics made as well; we can't throw away tried and true methods, and having something on set will many times be the best option. We have our regular group of characters that are written to not get along with each other, while we, the audience, know full well that they will be thrown into a plethora of situations that they, and hopefully we, can not imagine. Herd of Brachiosaurus? Check. Tyrannosaurus Rex chase scene? Check. Velociraptor kitchen game of cat and mouse? Oh yeah. Is it a great story? Absolutely. The script may not be riveting, but it has its moments and gets us to the next scene. 'Where's the goat?'. Not much room for actual dialogue but hey, I want to see my dinosaur carnage! And carnage you will get. Once this movie gets going, it literally does not stop. Everything is dangerous in this movie from the environment, to the weather, back stabbing employees, electric fences, and of course large carnosaurs that once ruled this great planet. Drink it in, it always goes down smooth.

Our favorite chaotician Ian Malcom, played by Jeff Goldblum, reprises his role in 'The Lost World' which picks up a few years later. We see even more dinosaurs and, get this, two T. Rexes. Yup, two. As with any decent sequel the body count is higher, the scenes are larger, and the explosives bigger. In this movie we find out there is another island of dinosaurs. Why have 1 when you can have 2 for twice the price. Apparently this island was used as a breeding ground. Didn't we see them breeding the dinosaurs in the first movie? Mr Hammond even has a line that he insists on being there for every hatching. Hmmmm. It's things like these that you just have to let go. There are going to be some disconnects in the story and things that you just have to accept when they are said. Unfortunately one trade off in porn is that there is literally no time for dialogue. He says he's here to repair your pipes, and you don't even have time to respond. Just let him in and take off your shirt. Why? We don't have time for why sometimes, just be happy her shirt is off. Why is there a second island? Because we need more dinosaurs goddamit, and that should be reason enough! No fences this time, but a lot more guns and vehicles to destroy. I've wanted one of those Mercedes SUVs since this movie exploded onto the silver sceen, and I still have it on my list. The Rexes are the star of this film with all the best scenes. Destroying vehicles, rundown through the forest, and then there's Cali. The T.Rex romping through California may be excessive to some, but watching that large 76 ball roll by the car just gets me primed for the chase to come. Did you notice the animal control vehicle accompanying the police cars rounding the corner? A nice chuckle added to the mix, and its little details like this that put a smile on my face. These may be non-stop action flicks made to tantalize and excite the brain in new and exciting ways, but that doesn't mean they just wash out the detail in everything. Watching the commentary on these films is so fun because they point out things you didn't notice before, and you're watching for it the next time you pop in the disc.

In the essay FX Porn, these types of movies are not shown in a positive light. The special effects are the star of the film, and not the actors, script, or even story line in some cases. But is that always negative? I don't think so. Sometimes I want a filet mignon with some local vegies and the seasonal starch, but other times I just want a burger. Mr. Wallace only likes to eat filet and there's nothing wrong with that, but I often opt for the 'lesser' of the culinary bovine world. Some burgers are made with choice chuck and grilled jalapenos, and McDonald's is playing at the other end of the spectrum. I see the JP movies as a grass fed beef burger with all the good fixins. Jurassic Park I give 6/7 Fox Tails, and the Lost World follows up nicely with 5/7. These movies are exactly what they are supposed to be, not much more, and I'm totally okay with that. I choose these movies for excitement and fun and not much thinking. I'll have to throw in some 'smart' movie soon just so you know they can make my list too. Indie films are generally able to do courageous things that the big studios won't allow so I try and keep up. But dino carnage and special effects rule this day.









I want to finish with a quick shout out to Hell's Kitchen in Minneapolis; my lady and I just had our most recent anniversary dinner there and it was delicious as to be expected. They have great service, live music, and sweet artwork from Ralph Steadman adorning the walls. They forgot jalapenos on my burger (delicious juicy lucy; movie connection? maybe I should start comparing movies to burgers and cuts of meat. hmmmmm, but I digress), but I wasn't charged and our server was still great and ever apologetic. I still put it down quite easily and washed it away with a couple of Bell's Hopslams. Very hoppy, good bite, a little sweet, and a heavenly aroma. IPAs and double IPAs like this are often well paired with spicy food, but it goes well with a good burger any day. Truthfully not my favorite double IPA, but this is a delicious beer with maybe just a bit too general of a flavor which puts it on my list of good to great but just not sought after beer. Keep 'er easy.