The Dish (2000)

When I heard the sad news on 25th August that Neil Armstrong had died, I immediately thought that I had to watch The Dish again.  Set in 1969, this is the very uplifting story of the largest radio telescope in the southern hemisphere, (which happens to be in the middle of sheep paddock in Parkes - a small town in Australia), and the people who are involved in bringing the live pictures of Neil and Buzz taking their first steps on the moon to the world.  I absolutely love this film, it is heart-warming, uplifting and cracks me up every time I see it.  The cast are all superb; Sam Neill is Cliff Buxton (the director of the dish), and it is down to him, his colleagues Mitch (Kevin Harrington) and Glenn (Tom Long), as well as NASA representative Al (Patrick Warburton) to make sure they stay in contact with Apollo 11.  The film works so well because of the Australian sense of humour, particularly from the Mayor of Parkes (Roy Billing) and the Prime Minister (Billie Brown) who are both wonderful; and the cultural differences between the Australians and the visiting Americans.  A truly wonderful film that always brings a smile to my face and a lump to my throat as we see some of the effort that went into bringing us pictures of the greatest moment in modern history, culminating in perhaps the most famous phrase of modern history.

That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind.

Neil Armstrong (1930-2012)

Jurassic Park (1993)

Hold on to your Butts!

Jurassic Park really doesn’t need any introduction. An absolutely fantastic adventure that blew me away when I saw it back in ‘93, and still looked amazing this year when it was re-released for a short time. I’d forgotten how amazing the initial T-Rex attack is! Every bit as breathtaking as the train crash in Super 8 or the train/robot shootout in Sucker Punch. The cast is completely superb, Spielberg really knows how to direct this kind of action, and John William’s score is so evocative (I still got goosebumps as the music swelled while the helicopter first lands on the island).

Of course an important part of the film are the dinosaurs; and ILM’s groundbreaking (in ‘93) CG blend seamlessly with Stan Winston’s incredible animatronic creatures. However, the amazing thing I noticed this time was actually there is not that much dinosaur action in the film! Sounds crazy huh? Well it just so happens that the excellent cast infer as many terrible lizards as we see. It has been said that 80% of acting is reacting (I just made that figure up, but you know what I mean), and Jurassic Park really demonstrates this. None more so than Dr Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern):

The Shiznit does it best: http://www.theshiznit.co.uk/feature/jurassic-park-week-the-many-faces-of-dr-ellie-sattler.php

Laura isn’t the only one to get her dino-reaction on though:

and the fabulous Nedry (Wayne Knight):

In fact, other than the dinosaurs I think Nedry might be my favourite thing; he’s just so brilliantly nervous, not really wanting to get into any kind of trouble, yet absolutely loving the espionage gizmos! Though actually Jeff Goldblum is typically brilliant; and Richard Attenborough is great; and John Williams’ score is amazing; and that T-Rex scene is truly outstanding! Dammit! It’s all fantastic. I want to see it again, now!

Event Horizon

Event Horizon is unlike any other Sci-Fi film I know. The premise is that a new kind of spaceship (the Event Horizon) which can travel massive distances in an instant (because of an experimental gravity drive), has been missing for years and then suddenly re-appears in the orbit of Neptune. A search and rescue ship is sent out to find out what happened to the Event Horizon. It turns out that it has been to another dimension (not a nice one), all the crew are dead, and now the crew of the rescue ship (the Lewis and Clark) are becoming victims of whatever life-force is now aboard the ship.

I say that it is unlike any other Sci-Fi film (except perhaps Sunshine?), as there is no alien or monster, just a very sinister presence on the ship that preys on the worst fears/nightmares of the crew; leading to some very tense moments. The horror is very psychological. I remember the first time I saw this at the cinema being terrified as Justin is trapped in the airlock without a suit; suddenly the evil leaves him, he becomes himself again and realises the imminent danger he is in. I thought the look of terror on his face and imagining what is about to happen was horrible, and an image that has really stuck with me over the years.

Added to this are lots of spikey ways to die in the engine room; some unusual deaths, a possessed Sam Neil (definitely NOT the lovely character he plays in Jurassic Park!); and some rapid, flashed up images of people ripping each other apart. It really is quite a horrific film, but a very good one.

WARNING! Only click this link if you don't mind seeing gross pictures! You have been warned.

The cast are very good. The two main leads are Captain Miller (Laurence Fishburne) and Dr Weir (Sam Neill). Both are very accomplished actors, and Fishburne in particular has a real presence on screen. He really seems to command the scenes that he is in, in the same way that he does in The Matrix. Jason Isaacs is very intense and plays the role of DJ, the medical officer, brilliantly. A little bit of comic relief is provided by the pilot Smith (Sean Pertwee), and Cooper (Richard T. Jones). The characters all work very well together and act like you imagine a crew on a ship would do.

Director Paul Anderson (of future AVP fame/infamy) does very well creating a claustrophobic atmosphere that really cranks up the tension. Along with cinematographer Adrian Biddle, Anderson creates some very dramatic shots. There’s a great shot near the beginning as the camera zooms out from Dr Weir to show how large the low-earth orbit space-station is. There is also a pan around the Lewis and Clark before closing in on Smith in the cockpit which is very slick (very reminiscent of Serenity, but not as good). There is also a nice homage to Alien as Kathleen Quinlan’s hand reaches up from the top of a ladder; very Ripley.

The only thing that isn’t so good are the CG at the beginning of the film as we move around the Event Horizon; as there is no gravity there are various objects floating round: a book, a watch, a bottle etc. These are all computer generated, but don’t look great. The thing is, none of this impacts on the story, and there are no other bad special effects throughout the film, so it really doesn’t matter too much.

Overall I think this is a great film, though very scary. The reason I re-visited it is because I had recently watched two episodes of Dr Who: The impossible Planet, and the Satan Pit. The tension and a lot of the ideas of The Impossible Planet are straight out of Event Horizon; though Event Horizon is far more horrible. Great cast, great production and a great idea that the worst evil is the evil inside us! Far better than having an unrealistic alien.