Wednesday, April 11, 2012

J




Jacob’s Ladder
A Jacob’s Ladder, in the biblical sense, is a ladder to heaven that was perceived in a dream. In the 1990 film Jacob’s Ladder, we are told the story of a man, Jacob, played by accomplished actor Tim Robbins. A soldier in Vietnam, Jacob’s unit is attacked and Jacob is injured. Back home, strange occurrences begin to happen. Jacob finds out that the military was using an experimental drug on the soldiers without their permission, named “The Ladder”. Jacob experiences disturbing visions, and the other surviving members of his unit begin succumbing to horrific deaths. The film supplies a surprise, twist ending. Director Adrian Lyne offered up stunning visuals by way of utilizing various filming techniques, including the body horror technique where an actor waves his head back and forth at a low frame rate that results in an unsettling blurry, shaking motion in real time. A subsequent special edition DVD was released in 1998 that showed the audience three deleted scenes and supplied a short documentary.



Jaws
A trip to the ocean would never be the same after 1975’s shocking, industry changing film, Jaws. One great white shark and one small New England beach brought audiences in astounding numbers. Directed by Steven Spielberg, in what is now considered his career-changing pivotal movie, the production was filled with problems from the start. Due to issues with the mechanical sharks, the scenes shot involving the shark were mostly cut from the film, or reduced to merely fins or the presence of the hauntingly familiar soundtrack. This turned out to be in the film’s favor, cranking up tension, suspense and fear for the audience. Jaws had large marketing and promotion before its release, and went on to hold the title of the highest-grossing film until Star Wars bested it two years later. The film won multiple awards and was inducted into the National Film Registry in 2001.



Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park, another creation from director Steven Spielberg, based on the novel from Michael Crichton, the film is known for the amazing special effects and computer generated imagery that was cutting edge for the time it was released, 1993. A billionaire decides to invest his money in a project that would involve recombinant DNA research allowing the cloning of dinosaurs in order to open a theme park on a beautiful, tropical island. Spielberg brought the dinosaurs to life on the screen in a believable way with a combination of animatronics, go motion and computer animation. Jurassic Park earned an overall $914 million worldwide, passing up E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and eventually being surpassed by Titanic. The movie earned 3 Academy Awards, along with several others.

6 comments:

  1. All excellent movies!

    I am trying to read all the A to Z blogs, but coming back to the ones I really like.
    Looking forward to seeing what you do all month!

    Tim
    The Other Side
    The Freedom of Nonbelief

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  2. Hello Timothy!

    Thanks! I'm glad you've enjoyed my ode to horror and science fiction movies. :) Thanks for stopping by and come back anytime. You never know what will pop up on the lists!

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  3. Jacob's Ladder was such a mindtrip.
    Jurassic Park is still one of the best movies ever made. So is Jaws, although after seeing it in the theater, I though sharks would appear in my toilet or bathtub.

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  4. Hey Alex!

    I really loved Jacob's Ladder. Even more so when I revisited recently. And Jurassic Park made me want to be an archeologist so bad!!! I watched it 3 times in the theatre. :) To this day the sound of the T-Rex gives me chills. As for Jaws, well, holy crap it made an impression on me as a kid. I watched it at the drive-in when I was very little. We always had summer beach trips for our vacation. For about 3 years after I refused to go in the ocean. At all! I swore there were fish in the bathtub, and at local swimming lessons, I stood on the edge of the diving board and cried because I knew the shark was down there at the grate, waiting for me. So yeah, I feel ya. ;)

    Thanks so much for dropping by! It's always a pleasure to see you here. :)

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  5. Hi, Amber, I am hopping from blog to blog, but reading each one as I go. Yours was really good. I think, though, that Jacob in the Bible, actually fought the angel, it was not a dream. The angel touched Jacob's thigh and caused an injury to it. I saw the movie Jaws and was thrilled along with millions of other people. It is a classic and everyone recognizes that "thrum, thrum, thrum, thrum" music as the shark. Never saw Jurassic Park or read the book "Jacob's Ladder". Great post. Best regards to you. Ruby

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  6. Hello Ruby!

    I really appreciate you stopping by! I'm no theologian, but what I was referring to was the Jacob's Ladder from the Book of Genesis. The dream Jacob had about a ladder that went to heaven. For the movie it was a play on words, but there was symbolism in the film as well. Especially at the end. :) Again, I profess to know little to nothing about the subject. I only read a small bit about it. That's interesting, what you refer to, an angel causing Jacob an injury. That might actually play into the movie, too. You've got my gears turning. :)

    Oh yes! Jaws has such a recognizable tune. I remember making the noise in the pools during the summer while attempting to form a fin over my head while I swam. Not one of my better moments...

    I highly recommend Jurassic Park, if you do not scare too easily. It has some shocks and the sound effects can be loud at times. But it's a wonderful movie!

    I wish you the best during April's challenge! :)

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