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Jurassic World Dominion (2022)
How did this film get made?
Hi there! I'm a corporate media behemoth - and I'm here to tell you how a film as spectacularly bad as Jurassic World Dominion gets made.
You might be wondering how a film like this can be so unbelievably shoddy, when the original was such an incredible cinematic feat. Well you see, A Corporate media behemoth, like me, is the foundation for building such a terrible thing. It starts with an endless pursuit of more money and a desire to exploit people's desperate desire for nostalgic reminders of simpler times before everything in the world became too much, often satisfied by the feeling they found in old cinematic masterpieces. And sometimes, films that came out many years ago, sometimes about dinosaurs, left their copyright for us to exploit. We just had to know where to look! Around about 30 years ago, there were film companies, just like today. And just like today, they fed on the attention of animals,. Even humans! Sometimes, after spewin' out a movie, the media company would land on something that audiences enjoyed - something that had well rounded characters, with clear rationale desires, real emotions and relationships, and concepts that catapulted audiences imaginations and transported them to new worlds - Even ones with dinosaurs. The media company would make the successful film, make tonnes of money, but then, like a prehistoric mosquito, they'd get stuck in the sap of success. After a long time, media executives at the company realise that they are sitting on this old fossil that made them lots of money and think, by cloning it, they could make just as much money as the first time if they just made the film again. They know they'll never capture the true form of the original, the magic that audiences felt; but they think that, by taking the same actors, the same basic ideas (eg "dinosaurs are back!") and throw it together on screen under a similar title to the original, people will pay money to see it, out of some desperation to re experience the excitement of the first film. Media behemoth executives use something we call "money" to persuade original cast members to sign up to remake this movie, and base the direction of the movie on what focus groups and "data" tell them what audiences supposedly want. This will inevitably be contradictory and miss the real elements that made the original so good; but they will ignore important cinematic principles like good scriptwriting, dramatic tension, good character arks or sensible direction or acting, and... bingo! You have a money making, but truly terrible, soulless clone - or "sequel" - that misses everything that gave the original merit; something that is soulless and ultimately tarnishes the Magic of the original.
Iceland Is Best (2020)
A great film - proof that Iceland **is** best
The gorgeous, breath-taking landscape of Iceland is the ultimate source of energy that feeds the soul of Max Newsom's Iceland is Best. Against the incredible vistas of black-sand beaches, snow-filled valleys and jagged mountain ranges, the stirring majesty of the island both contrasts and complements the film's subtle meditation on love and relationships; on youthful existentialism; on innocence and experience.
Of course, the real lead role is held for Iceland itself. There is something ethereal and transcendental about this small volcanic outcrop of rock. This land of fire and ice famously inspired J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle Earth; and before him, Jules Verne chose Iceland as the gateway for his Journey to the centre of the earth (itself inspired by Icelandic sagas), as Verne's protagonists begin their journey via Iceland's Snæfellsjökull glacier. And while Newsom can't resist a sly reference to this final point of trivia - as one character reveals the fate of another - it's ultimately further proof of the love that the director has for this island. It's a love that is evident in every shot, the light of the ice and sun brilliantly captured on stunning 35mm. It combines to provide a meditative quality to the cinematography that perfectly matches the setting, and perhaps ultimately provides the evidence to support the film's central hypothesis: Iceland is best.