Latest / The Front / The joy of blockbusters: Jurassic World Rebirth, F1, 28 Years Later

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The joy of blockbusters: Jurassic World Rebirth, F1, 28 Years Later · The Front

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  Speaker 1: From the Australian. This is the weekend edition of The Front.
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  Speaker 1: I'm Claire Harvey, Dinosaurs, zombies, Brad Pitt with his shirt off,
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  Speaker 1: Hollywood's giving the people what they want and cinema ticket
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  Speaker 1: sales are up. I'm joined today by the Australians film
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  Speaker 1: critic Stephen Rome to talk about the blockbusters taking over
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  Speaker 1: a cinema near you. First up, Jurassic World Rebirth. These
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  Speaker 1: dinosaurs me we're too dangerous for the original park.
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  Speaker 2: Jurassic World Rebirth is the seventh installment in the franchise
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  Speaker 2: that started when Michael Crichton wrote the novel Jurassic Park
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  Speaker 2: in nineteen ninety. But you don't need to have seen
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  Speaker 2: any of the other films to get this one. Here's
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  Speaker 2: the simple setup. Big farmer wants to get blood from
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  Speaker 2: three massive dinosaurs because they think with that blood they'll
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  Speaker 2: be able to form a heart drug that will help
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  Speaker 2: humans live for a lot longer and make them trillions
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  Speaker 2: of dollars.
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  Speaker 3: We need DNA from the three biggest dinosaurs. Do we
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  Speaker 3: have to get a sample from an egg?
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  Speaker 1: Suppose we could try and get it from the parent,
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  Speaker 1: But they're a flying carnival, says of an f sixteen.
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  Speaker 2: So they hire a group of mercenaries led by the
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  Speaker 2: well known mercenary Scarlet Johansson, doctor Henry Wilmers.
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  Speaker 1: This is Zora Bennett.
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  Speaker 3: Our missions versionists.
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  Speaker 2: To go to equatorial waters where these dinosaurs are and
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  Speaker 2: get the blood. I'll read you a little bit of
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  Speaker 2: my review that explains the significance of science in this film.
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  Speaker 2: If you've got a kid who wants to be a scientist,
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  Speaker 2: listen to these two bits. First, a quote keep running.
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  Speaker 2: They're amphibious. That is when a scientist comes in handy.
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  Speaker 2: That's doctor Henry Loomis, played by the English actor Jonathan Bailey,
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  Speaker 2: who is the scientist who goes on the expedition with
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  Speaker 2: the mercenaries. He's talking about spinosauruses, which can go in
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  Speaker 2: water and on land. Here's where a scientist doesn't coming
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  Speaker 2: too useful. They choose the three dinosaurs ferocious dinosaurs to
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  Speaker 2: get the blood from because of their longevity. They live
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  Speaker 2: for one hundred years. Well, as doctor Loomis should know,
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  Speaker 2: so do glapagus tortoises. But where's the Hollywood film in
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  Speaker 2: scull at your hansom going and getting blood from a
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  Speaker 2: glapagus tortoise?
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  Speaker 3: Not there? So they go and get it from dinosaurs.
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  Speaker 1: And so presumably the arc of the Jurassic movies, even
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  Speaker 1: though we don't need to have seen the first two
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  Speaker 1: to enjoy this one, is that in the first one,
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  Speaker 1: dinosaurs were the baddies. Now humans are the baddies, and
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  Speaker 1: specifically humans who want to live a long life.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, well, the of the series has reached the point
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  Speaker 2: where in the past couple of films, dinosaurs and humans
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  Speaker 2: are living together. In this most recent film, it's three
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  Speaker 2: decades since dinosaurs came back.
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  Speaker 3: The problem is they're boring now.
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  Speaker 2: The ticket buying public just doesn't care about dinosaurs their
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  Speaker 2: old hat and therefore most of them have gone back
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  Speaker 2: to being extinct and only a few of them now
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  Speaker 2: live in equatorial regions where it's warmer and more like
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  Speaker 2: the period of their prehistoric existence. So the badies and
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  Speaker 2: the goodies. It kind of mixes them up all the time.
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  Speaker 2: There's always bad humans, good humans, bad dinosaurs, good dinosaurs.
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  Speaker 2: There's a moment in this film where one of the
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  Speaker 2: dinosaurs there after, which isn't carnivorous titanosaurus like a broadosaurus,
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  Speaker 2: you know, huge. It's kind of almost a love scene
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  Speaker 2: between two titanosauruses and look, I'll just say that.
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  Speaker 3: It kind of I had to look away.
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  Speaker 1: You like the teenage boy with the blanket over his
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  Speaker 1: head and can't handle the kissing scene.
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  Speaker 2: Just about You know, if I needed to go, I
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  Speaker 2: would have taken a toilet break.
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  Speaker 1: So I'm guessing you didn't love this film. You haven't
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  Speaker 1: given it five stars.
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  Speaker 2: No, I've given it three stars. I mean it is
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  Speaker 2: a visually spectacular film. Some of the scenes between the
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  Speaker 2: dinosaurs and the humans, particularly the mossosauruses, which are seaborn
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  Speaker 2: kind of like just imagine a massive, massive, massive shark,
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  Speaker 2: are spectacular to look at. And it's kind of humorous.
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  Speaker 2: There's nice jokes. It's also as an adult viere, just
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  Speaker 2: funny seeing Scarlet Johanson as a mercenary. So I would
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  Speaker 2: describe it as a three star light entertainment. It does
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  Speaker 2: have an EM rating, though, so if you've got kids
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  Speaker 2: under the age of say ten, they might find it
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  Speaker 2: a bit scary. I would say kids in their mid
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  Speaker 2: teens and beyond would find it funny.
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  Speaker 1: Two movies that you've also quite enjoyed a big and
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  Speaker 1: are at the box office now are F one and
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  Speaker 1: twenty eight years later, I feel like we're in a
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  Speaker 1: bit of a teenage boy moment. We've got zombies, dinosaurs,
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  Speaker 1: racing cars. Let's talk about F one See Lake.
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  Speaker 3: Straight Straights and Arrow, No Sugar. Why did you like that?
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  Speaker 1: There's another big movie starring that.
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  Speaker 2: One, Brad Pitt, who is an old fashioned movie star.
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  Speaker 2: People go to the cinema to look at him. Now,
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  Speaker 2: I didn't know this about Formula one drivers, but you
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  Speaker 2: have to be quite fit, which means as a filmmaker,
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  Speaker 2: you can get Brad Pitt to take his shirt off
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  Speaker 2: quite a lot, which he does.
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  Speaker 3: And there's a lot of humor in that.
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  Speaker 2: Some of the other characters, particularly the mother of his
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  Speaker 2: young teammate, when she sees Brad Pitt, she raises her eyebrows.
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  Speaker 1: That's the other driver, you say, he was all he
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  Speaker 1: not that.
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  Speaker 3: That's a handsome man right there.
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  Speaker 2: You're right about the teenage boys and teenage girls. Of course,
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  Speaker 2: Brad Pitt. They might be the future of blockbuster cinema,
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  Speaker 2: because if you can get teenagers to get off their
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  Speaker 2: phones and into a cinema, then those kind of films
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  Speaker 2: that aim to be blockbusters that cost hundreds of millions
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  Speaker 2: of dollars to make should have a future, and there's
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  Speaker 2: a lot of ways that cinemas are helping to do that.
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  Speaker 2: One for example, there are some cinemas where you can
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  Speaker 2: go and you sit in the seats and they move
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  Speaker 2: like you're in an F one car sort of.
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  Speaker 3: And also the sound systems, etc.
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  Speaker 2: There are certain things you can get in the cinema
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  Speaker 2: that you cannot get on your iPhone, and that is
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  Speaker 2: what brings the young people in.
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  Speaker 3: But also they just go in to be.
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  Speaker 2: With their friends, to share the experience, to eat the popcorn, etc.
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  Speaker 3: Etc.
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  Speaker 2: So it's kind of a day out. It was when
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  Speaker 2: I was a teenager as well. I used to go
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  Speaker 2: to the cinema with my friends, and I think these big, exciting,
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  Speaker 2: action packed blockbusters are the main lure for that age group.
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  Speaker 1: It's a beautiful communal experience. It's like the modern church,
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  Speaker 1: isn't it. We all get to go and be together
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  Speaker 1: in the dark and enjoy something together, which is an
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  Speaker 1: onslaught on the sensors. That's the other thing about cinema.
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  Speaker 1: In the cinema, you could feel the sound as well
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  Speaker 1: as hearing it. You know, you are fully absorbed, even
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  Speaker 1: if you're not in those seats. That rock and spray
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  Speaker 1: water at you. Let's talk about twenty eight years later.
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  Speaker 1: So that's about zombies and it's the third installment in
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  Speaker 1: a series. Neither of those things are sounding good to
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  Speaker 1: me than what's going on to except self Kip Quake,
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  Speaker 1: Do not Move from the spot? Why did you like it?
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  Speaker 2: Twenty eight years Later is the third installment in the series.
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  Speaker 2: Added is extraordinary in the way it is so different
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  Speaker 2: from the previous too. The director Danny Boyle and the
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  Speaker 2: screenwriter Alex Garland, who's also a director. He made that
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  Speaker 2: recent excellent film Civil War very prescient given what's happened
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  Speaker 2: in America. Subsequently, they said that this third film would
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  Speaker 2: be different, and they do not lie. So Briefly, the
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  Speaker 2: United Kingdom is in complete quarantine and NATO forces patrolled
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  Speaker 2: the waters around it. That's where the infected people are
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  Speaker 2: in England, and small group of uninfected people are in
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  Speaker 2: a fortified camp, etc.
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  Speaker 3: Etc.
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  Speaker 2: The really fascinating thing with this film is that it
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  Speaker 2: asks the question a zombie and a non zombie meets
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  Speaker 2: in the woods. Who should die? Why does the non
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  Speaker 2: zombie have the right to life and the zombie doesn't?
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  Speaker 2: Is a zombie entitled to Self Defense. Now, this film
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  Speaker 2: was made before the current war in the Middle East,
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  Speaker 2: but it's got some relevance to what's been happening there.
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  Speaker 2: When I first saw the film, I thought this is weird.
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  Speaker 2: There are these black and white flashbacks to things like
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  Speaker 2: the Crusades. Wow, you know, Christians against Arabs or Muslims
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  Speaker 2: if you want to call them. Mate. So this is
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  Speaker 2: a film that completely flips the whole zombie genre to
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  Speaker 2: make it not about people running away from zombies and
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  Speaker 2: then putting spikes.
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  Speaker 3: In their heads or whatever they need to do to
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  Speaker 3: kill them.
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  Speaker 2: It actually asks the question of why shouldn't the zombies
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  Speaker 2: live too?
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  Speaker 1: Coming up? Why did people stop buying movie tickets in
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  Speaker 1: the first place. There is a commonly accepted wisdom that
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  Speaker 1: we're in the golden age of television and that the
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  Speaker 1: beauty of the products being created by streaming services for
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  Speaker 1: us to watch at home have killed cinema or would
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  Speaker 1: kill cinema. In fact, it was really COVID that saw
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  Speaker 1: ticket sales decline for the first time. Do you feel
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  Speaker 1: hopeful about the future of movies? You talked about encouraging
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  Speaker 1: young people to enjoy them. Do you think that that
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  Speaker 1: is going to actually happen.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I hope so.
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  Speaker 2: I hope cinemas survive in coming years. With the streaming services,
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  Speaker 2: they do make extraordinarily good programs, including films. Apple TV
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  Speaker 2: has made some terrific films, including the recent adaptation of
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: Macbeth with Denzil Washington and Francis McDormand, so they're making
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  Speaker 2: high quality product. There's noted about that. What I would
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  Speaker 2: like to see happen, and it is happening a little
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  Speaker 2: bit here and there is for those streaming services to
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  Speaker 2: PREMI air their films in a cinema, So you've got
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  Speaker 2: say a week or a fortnight to go and see
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  Speaker 2: it in a cinema.
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  Speaker 3: And then it'll come onto the streaming service.
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  Speaker 2: So that would give the consumer the choice they can
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  Speaker 2: go to the cinema see it there, or they can
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  Speaker 2: subscribe to the streaming service and wait for it to
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  Speaker 2: be there.
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  Speaker 3: I think that would be.
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  Speaker 2: A nice compromise that would help both the streaming services
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  Speaker 2: and the cinemas survive.
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  Speaker 3: But of course the streaming services like Netflix, etc.
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  Speaker 2: Aren't there to compromise it there for the money, but
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  Speaker 2: there might be financial reasons for them to do that
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  Speaker 2: to get it out there for all of the public
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  Speaker 2: that might end up getting the more subscribers.
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  Speaker 3: Who knows. I don't know.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not a businessman. But there are some films though,
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  Speaker 2: that I think still must be seen at the cinema. Now,
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  Speaker 2: whenever I suggest that in a review, I don't say mussed.
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  Speaker 2: I see I think it probably should be seen in
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  Speaker 2: the cinema. Someone always goes online to say, but I've
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: got a four thousand inch television the same, Well, good
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  Speaker 2: on you, but not everyone has a four thousand inch
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: television and the sound system, etc. There are some films
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  Speaker 2: I think Jurassic World Rebirth would be one. Personally, I
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  Speaker 2: think The Brutalist would be one. It did win Best
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  Speaker 2: Cinematography at the Oscars because his extraordinary to look at
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  Speaker 2: and looking at it on a big screen does make
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  Speaker 2: a difference. So it would be unfortunate for filmmakers if
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  Speaker 2: the cinema ceased to exist, because they make the films
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  Speaker 2: for that screen. I remember Scoresses saying a few years ago,
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  Speaker 2: now please don't watch it on your iPhone, go to
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: the cinema. But then, of course he did end up
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: making The Irishman for a streaming service, and that's three
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  Speaker 2: hours long and very good. I think it did have
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: a brief cinema run, though beforehand.
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  Speaker 1: You wrote in a recent review that you don't like
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: doing negative reviews, but when you really feel that something
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: hasn't lived up to your expectations, you will go there.
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  Speaker 1: You went there with Spit, a follow up to a
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: much loved Australian movie called Getting Square. Getting Square was
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: a beautiful movie, and it came out in the era
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: of Two Hands and Rabbit Proof Fence and Lantana, Australian
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: movies ranging from quirky and clever to thoughtful and powerful.
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  Speaker 1: I can't think of an Australian movie that's moved me
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  Speaker 1: like that in the past decade. What's gone wrong in
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  Speaker 1: Australian cinema, if you agree.
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  Speaker 2: It's an interesting question. I'm not sure if anything's gone wrong.
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  Speaker 2: I think the globalization of cinema has changed the landscape
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  Speaker 2: for Australian filmmakers, so you no longer have to make
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: an Australian film in Australia with Australian actors. You no
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  Speaker 2: longer have to make it all about Australia, as say
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  Speaker 2: Crocodile Dundee was in nineteen eighty six. Still Australia's most
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: commercially successful film because it introduced Australia to the wider world,
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  Speaker 2: the Australia of Bob Hawk, the Australia of World Series Cricket,
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: the Australia of winning the America's Cup. It was a
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: new thing. We're not a new thing anymore. The world
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  Speaker 2: has shrunk. So for Australian films to be noticed overseas,
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  Speaker 2: perhaps they need to be about more than Australia. One
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  Speaker 2: thing about Australia that people never tire of International people
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  Speaker 2: never tire of, and that's our dangerous animals.
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  Speaker 3: That you're going to say Chris Emsworth, Well.
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  Speaker 2: Who would tire of Chris Hemsworth. But there's a couple
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  Speaker 2: of recent Australian films that I really liked that have
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  Speaker 2: a focus on the dangerous animals, and one of them
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: is called Dangerous Animals starring Jy Courtney. And in this film,
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: the dangerous animals ostensibly are sharks, but I won't reveal
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: what happens, but let's just say there's one animal on
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  Speaker 2: this planet far more dangerous than sharks, and that animal.
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  Speaker 3: Might be Joy Courtney. Sorry.
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  Speaker 2: And recently Nick Cage starred in the which was filmed
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  Speaker 2: in Western Australia, and that film very humorously brings all
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: the dangerous animals into it. They're not central to the plot,
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: but they pop up now and again, usually to parallel
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  Speaker 2: the lows to which the Nick Cage character is going.
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  Speaker 2: When he's scavenging through a garbage bin, a wombat kind
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  Speaker 2: of toddles along. So that's a clever use of Australiana
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  Speaker 2: for an international audience. But look, I think Australia has
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  Speaker 2: great filmmakers, fantastic cinematographers, great writers, brilliant actors. I'm not
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  Speaker 2: sure whether you know we're in a lull or not,
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  Speaker 2: but I don't think there's great fear for the Australian
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  Speaker 2: film industry.
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  Speaker 3: I think we'll keep making good films.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: Stephen Romae is the Australian's film critic and a regular
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: contribute to Review, available every Saturday in The Australian and
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: anytime at the Australian dot com dot au. Today, Stevens
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: reviewed French thriller The Story of Sullermine. This episode of
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: the Front was hosted by me Claire Harvey and produced
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: by Jasper League, who edited the episode and also wrote
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: our theme. Thanks for joining us on the front this week.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: Our team also includes Kristin Amiot, Leat Sammaglue, Tiffany Dimac,
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: Josh Burton and Stephanie Comes.