R.I.P. Sam Neill

Sam Neill has passed away at the age of 78. I awoke to the news this morning and it really bummed me out. I don't know Sam Neill from much, but the things i know him from have had a tremendous impact on my life.

I first became aware of Neill in "Jurassic Park", as I assume most people my age did. He played Dr Alan Grant. This was a formative movie for me. Growing up I loved dinosaurs. So, the idea of a movie that brought dinos back was such a big deal for me. I believe my folks took me to see it on opening night, and it has stayed with me forever. My wife will tell most people that "Jurassic Park" is her favorite movie of all time. We rewatched it fairly recently, and as I have told many friends of mine, the movie is damn near perfect. And for me, Dr Grant is the best part of the entire movie. The dinos are cool, Laura Dern is amazing, Jeff Blodblum does some of his best work, this may be Wayne Knight's second best performance, behind Newman, but Neill is the best by leaps and bounds. From the start of the movie, where he is lecturing the punkass kid that tries him, to the end, where he is basically the 2 kids in the movie new father, Neill owns it. He is one of the first people to see the issues this park may have. He brings to light many of the problems. When he is there for the birth of the baby raptor, Neill plays all happy go lucky and terrified all within a five minute long scene. He owns every single second that he is in this movie. I took so many things away from this as a kid, and watching it as an adult, my biggest takeaway was how wonderful Sam Neill was in this role. He was an adult who never wanted kids, only wanted to study dinosaurs and have a loving relationship with Laura Dern. But he ends up being the one who helps the kids survive the night, shows that he can be a good role model for younger kids, and is ready to get off the mountain as soon as they are able. And although the sequels and remakes they made for "Jurassic Park" were all terrible, anytime Neill and Dern showed up, at least I knew there'd be a few good scenes in there.

The other movie that I adore that stars Sam Neill is "Hunt For The Wilderpeople". This movie kind of came out of nowhere for me, but after I saw it, I told everyone I could everything about it. The driving force for me at first behind this movie was Taika Waititi being the director. He is one of my favorite directors, especially when he is doing more indie style movies. Then I heard people talk about Julian Dennison and how good he is in the movie. He plays the lead role of Ricky Baker. He's a troublemaker who just needs the right people to watch over him. He gets adopted by a couple, played by Neill and Rima Te Wiata. Rima, the wife, really wants a kid and jumps at the opportunity to adopt. Neill wants to be left alone and left to go out and search the land they live on and near. But, spoiler alert, after the wife unexpectedly passes away, Neill and Dennison are forced to be together. The movie sings from there, and it is due to the performance of these two actors. Dennison is clearly a star, but Neill plays such a different role for him and he absolutely nailed it. He is a sweet curmudgeon. He doesn't want the kid there, but he needs a companion once his wife passes. He tries to ward off Dennison at every turn, but it is to no avail. And as he softens, the movie just gets better and better. I saw this movie a few months after my daughter was born, so I was a father to two. And Neill's performance really hit hard for me. This movie always makes me cry and it is because of the relationship that grows between Dennison and Neill. "Hunt For The Wilderpeople" is a movie that is somehow still slept on, and if you haven't seen it yet, remedy that and watch it in honor of Sam Neill.

I know he has done a ton of other stuff, but these two movies are the cream of the crop for me. I know I will go back and watch some of his other work that I have yet to see now. Movies like "Memoirs of an Invisible Man", "Possession" and "Jessica" are now on my list. My wife loved his turn on the series "The Tudors". And I just found a short called "Cinema Quarantine: Das Bad", that I may watch as soon as I am done writing this.

Sam Neill was a great actor, and it looked as if he was a nice, simple man who enjoyed a quiet, unassuming life. This is a true loss. I'm bummed by this. Sam Neill left an impact on me at two very different times in my life, and for that I will be forever indebted to him. Rest In Peace Sam Neill. You will be missed. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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The Original "Jurassic Park" is a Masterpiece

My wife and I have been going back and watching the entirety of the "Jurassic Park" series. She is a big fan and I adore the first few movies. She also really wants to see the new movie, me not so much, so this is her passion project before she sees it.

I have zero interest in the new "Jurassic Park " universe. I have seen the first two new movies and I did care for them. I do not think Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard have any chemistry, I find it nuts that they can "train" Velociraptors, there's far too much product placement and the movies are way, way too long. I remember seeing the first new one in the theaters with a big group of my wife's family, and my mother in law and I were the only ones that did not like it. At all. We were shocked that the other people we were with enjoyed it. It is not, in my opinion, a good movie. Then my wife and I saw the second one at home on a date night and I fell asleep. I usually never fall asleep at movies, but this one put me out. So I am not stoked to see the new movie. I am stoked to go back and watch the first three originals. I remember the second and third movies being not so good, but they were fun. We have recently watched the original and that is what I want to talk about today.

I had not seen this movie in about a decade. I went back a few times in the early 2010's, watched it tons when I was a kid and saw it on opening night in the theaters as a 10 year old. I did not know what to expect on this recent rewatch, but let me tell you, this movie holds the hell up. The original "Jurassic Park" is a true masterpiece for me. I felt like a kid again watching the movie. It transformed me back to that little kid seeing it in the theater for the first time. I got excited when I saw the brachiosaurus. Seeing the triceratops was amazing, even though it was sick. The baby raptors were cute, albeit they should have never been breeding them. The grown up raptors were as relentless and ruthless as I remembered. The dilophosaurus has the best kill in the whole movie. And that T-Rex, oh man did it look amazing. Think about it for a minute. The original movie came out in 1993 and the CGI looks really good. There are moments when you can see how elementary it is, but in all seriousness, this movie looks amazing given the date it came out.

To add to the greatness, the story is still incredible and prevalent. The stuff they talk about, how they address science, the talk about creating species, it all works. It is also prescient. It makes sense today.

Also the actors, man did they show the hell up. Sam Neill is a treasure. He is masterful. Laura Dern crushes. She is a beast and she deals with some crazy stuff. The kids are not too cloying or cliche. Jeff Goldblum is at his Jeff Goldbluminess, if that is a word. The guy who runs Jurassic Park, I cannot think of his name nor do I want to look it up, is incredible. Sam Jackson and Newman from "Seinfeld" are phenomenal. Even the little side characters, like the lawyer and worker at the park, play their parts perfectly. I am stunned at how much I loved this movie, but I should not have been. It was one of my favorites as a kid. But for some reason I was a little hesitant to rewatch. I think I did not want it to be ruined. But I liked it maybe more than when I was 10. I appreciate it more. I find the adults, namely Neill and Dern, to be the ones I side with now. Seeing the dinos on screen still gave me goosebumps. It still chilled and scared me when it was supposed to. Seeing the water rumble gave me wonderful memories.

"Jurassic Park" may be one of the few flawless movies ever made. I cannot find a problem with it at all. Go rewatch it, especially if you loved it as a kid like I did. My wife told me that it is her favorite movie of all time. She said that after we finished. This movie is incredible and totally holds up.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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"Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" is Why We Go to the Movies

I recently took my eight year old son to go see "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom". I should tell the readers up front that this is the first Jurassic Park/World movie I have seen in the theater since the original Steven Spielberg film way back in 1993. I did not care for that first film too much (not enough dino action), I watched the second one on video tape, yes it was a long time ago, and I skipped the third one (big mistake, "Jurassic Park 3" is awesome in it's terribleness and gore). The first "Jurassic World" seemed non essential, and movie critic extraordinaire Ty did not like it. However, I later watched "Jurassic World" on HBO Go, and that is why I took my eight year old son to see "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom".

I will not give a review, or plot breakdown, for "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" because it does not matter. If you want to see the movie you will, and tons of people want to see the movie. The critics, mostly old white men, have their takes, but the critics are becoming less relevant. Dare I say that film criticism is becoming extinct? The Jurassic Park/World movies follow a similar blueprint. They are movies about man creating dinosaurs, dinosaurs going crazy, and man being like 'why are the dinosaurs so crazy'. In the words of my eight year old, the movie is about hubris. There is no great shock and awe going into a Jurassic Park/World movie in 2018. You know what you are going to get.

Yet my eight year old did not know what he was going to get. He barely paid attention when his mother and I showed him the 1993 Spielberg film. He was not in awe of the brachiosaurus herd, the T-rex, or the velociraptors. He had seen more impressive effects on PBS. My son needed the dinosaurs to be cool, and dangerous. After the ridiculousness, and cartoony awesomeness of "Jurassic World", I decided that "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" might be right up his ally

"Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" made the dinosaurs cool, menacing, and essential viewing. My eight year old would sit up straight and commit a laser like focus to the screen when one of these behemoths would occupy the screen. He did not care about the majesty of their presence, he wanted to see these beast tear some stuff up. For a child born in the 21st century, Jurassic Park/World movies are the modern equivalent of monster movies from the past.

We fawn over movies like the original "King Kong", "Jaws" or the "Godzilla" films of the past. These movies are the standard we hold all monster movies to. The new Jurassic World movies will be the monster movie standard for the younger generation. My eight year old had a great time at the theater because he saw some realistic looking monsters tear up the screen for two hours. He fell in love with the big screen experience because of "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom". He will go back to the movie theater because of the awesome experience he had at "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom"

We go to the movies to be entertained. Some of us like drama. Some of us, a very small some of us, like depressing and dry drama. Most of us like action and adventure. The exciting movies is what makes us fall in love with the theater experience. "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" is the kind of movie we sit our butts in the movie theater to see. I remember the awe and excitement of seeing Indiana Jones out run the boulder in "Raiders of the Lost Ark". My eight year old son will remember the epic battle between the Indoraptor and the classic velociraptor in "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom". He will take that excitement into the next movie he sees. That is why we will continue to pay the idiotic prices to go to the movie theater. It is for the children.

RD

RD Kulik is the Head Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. His only complaint about the movie is it needed more Dr. Ian Malcolm. Jeff Goldblum needs to find a way. 

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