TLW Baby T. Rex Custom Project Part 3: Finishing Touches

     Good evening, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the third and final blog entry in Coffee With The Cynic's Custom Baby T. Rex project based on The Lost World: Jurassic Park.  It's been awhile since I did one of these and I've covered a LOT of ground behind the scenes so let's get to it.

     First thing's first, once the clay has been removed from the oven and cooled, it needs to be fitted back onto the dog bowl and primed.  To fit it back on, I just used a lot of super glue on the underside of the clay and the top of the dog bowl.  Nothing terribly fancy here.  Once the primer had cured, I sprayed it with a Krylon clear coat so that the primer wouldn't feel so tacky when handling the item.

     Okay, so after applying a coat of Tan paint (mixing 1 drop of water per drop of paint or 1:1 as it'll be displayed for the rest of the blog), I noticed that the underside of the bowl had some gaps between the plastic and the clay.  I had some Milliput 2 part epoxy handy so I focused on filling in those gaps.

     Much better.  I let the Milliput cure for 24 hours and then once that was finished, I added another coat of 1:1 Tan paint.  The Tan didn't seem like enough though so I mixed 1:1 Cinnamon Brown and Raw Umber, then mixed that with a 1:5 paint/water ratio and applied it all over the Tan.
 

     Better.  Now, onto the bones!

     The lighting is different in this picture because I had to bring up the nest from my work station downstairs so that I could use the previous pictures I had taken of the nest on the computer to make sure I put the bones in the right spot.  I think I got most of them right.  I just used super glue to hold these guys in place.  Again, nothing super fancy.

     So now that we have the bones down where they need to be, we're going to add some dirt on top of the mud.  I had a bowl of dirt that I scooped up from a construction site in town a couple years back hiding away so I grabbed our cullender and sifted through what I had... 

    ...and voila.  Nice fine dirt to sprinkle onto the nest.

     So now we have to get the nest ready for the dirt.  What I did was grab an old plastic bristle brush as well as some glue.  This is the kind of glue that you have to let it get sticky first before you can do anything with it so I just ran some onto the nest...

     ...and then brushed the stuff around before it got too tacky and gummed up the bristles.  After letting it sit for a few minutes, I sprinkled the dirt all around...

     ...and now we have dirt on our nest.

     While walking with my kids the other day and talking about this project, we noticed a lot of dry vegetation laying about from all the snow finally melting away.  My son suggested that I put twigs and leaves and whatnot onto the nest for further decoration.  Honestly, pretty solid idea so I brushed on some more of that tacky glue, sprinkled on leaves and twigs...

     ...and this was the end result.  Some of the bigger pieces I used regular super glue to fasten them in place but most of the vegetation is sticking on because of the tacky stuff.  The color of the mud and dirt didn't look quite right to me so I mixed 1:1:1:1 of Caramel Candy, Raw Umber, Burnt Umber and Cinnamon Brown, mixed that 1:4 with water and dabbed it over the exposed soil area.

     Honestly, it doesn't look like much of a difference in the pictures but in hand, it did add a bit more personality to the piece.  I did end up having to add a drop of Black paint to the mix just to darken it up enough but here we are.  Although speaking of personality, those bones are looking a little too plain, don't you think?

 

     If this is a Tyrannosaurus Rex nest, those bones laying about should be bloody.  Not super crimson, fresh bloody.  No, I wanted to give the bones a more dried blood look, like the bones have been in this nest for quite some time.  So I mixed 1:1:2 Cinnamon Brown, Burnt Umber and Deep Red, then mixed that 1:4 with water...

 

     ...and dabbed it onto the bones.  Now, onto the Baby Rex!

     Okay, I know that in Part 2, I said that I was going to go over how to paint the Baby Rex but I got caught up doing another figure with the same color scheme for the Etsy store that I did this one at the same time.  Sorry about that, guys.  However, if you want to see a speed run video of how to do this color scheme, I've included Ted Brother's video on how he did his Juvenile Tyrannosaurus Rex figure from The Lost World.  I tried to follow this video as closely as I possibly could and I've learned so much from watching his stuff.

     If the video goes a little too fast for you, I will be repeating this color scheme on my Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Super Colossal Tyrannosaurus Rex figure for an upcoming convention and I will be doing a step by step walkthrough on how I do it (so excited to work on that one).

     And there is the finished project (with a couple of works in progress in the background).  I did not glue the Baby Rex down as I figured that any potential buyers may want to take out and hold the dinosaur for closer inspection.  I'm pretty happy overall with how this project turned out and if you are interested in maybe purchasing this item, it is now for sale here.

     So the Baby Rex nest project is finally complete.  Let me know down in the comments what you think of this or if there are any other repaint schemes you'd like to see me document and tackle as I will be working on more figures for the Etsy store.  As always folks, thank you so much for reading and if you like what you see on this blog, you be sure to nudge that "Follow" button and stay cynical!

     -The Cynic

Jurassic World review

     You knew this was coming.  After 14 years since the last Jurassic Park film and 18 years since the last good Jurassic Park film, the franchise finally was able to return to the theatres with original content in the Steven Spielberg produced and Colin Trevorrow directed Jurassic World.  My son and I caught a 3D showing last night, seeing as how we weren't going to be able to make it to the theatre in time for the 2D showing.  I know I said I wanted to watch the movie twice before giving a verdict but outside circumstances have axed those plans so one viewing will have to do.  Now that I've slept on it, let's answer the question: was it worth the wait?

     Taking place 22 years after the original groundbreaking film, Jurassic World sees John Hammond's dream come true.  Tourists from all over the world can come to Isla Nublar and visit Jurassic World, the fully functional theme park where the past comes alive for the wonder and amusement of the people.  Except there's just one little thing: the people aren't in wonder from these animals anymore.  Or at least the park's focus groups say so, despite there's a total of 22,216 people in attendance in the film.  Taking into consideration that less interest equals less profit, the park's team of geneticists take it upon themselves to create a new badass dinosaur from scratch.  Naturally, since this is a Jurassic Park film, it doesn't quite pan out the way they want it to.

"'Create a new dinosaur,' they said.  'Up the wow factor,' they said.  'We got this,' they said."

     I'm going to come right out and say it: Jurassic World is not what I would consider a terrible movie.  However, as a whole, there are things that prevent it from being a great movie like Jurassic Park or even a really good movie like The Lost World: Jurassic Park (haters be damned).  In case you were wondering, yes, this one is better than Jurassic Park III, even if that's not a terribly difficult claim to make.

     Let's discuss the positive bits first.  At a run time of approximately 124 minutes, Jurassic World does take some time to show off the now open park a bit and allows us to spend some time with the characters so that we at the very least give a little bit of a shit about them before throwing them into the fray.  Maybe not enough but more on that later.

     One thing that kind of surprised me was that there was a nice injection of humor into the film, I think even more so than any previous Jurassic entry.  A lot of this comes from Irrfan Kahn as new owner of the park Simon Masrani and Jake Johnson (alumni of Trevorrow's previous effort Safety Not Guaranteed) as cynical control room operator Lowery.  Not to say that the rest of the cast doesn't get a moment or two to add some levity but I found that Masrani and Lowery did provide the majority of it.

     I made it no secret that I was not entirely sold on the idea of a genetically modified dinosaur.  I understand why they went this route though because if they just brought in a different dinosaur from the fossil record with a selling point of "bigger than a T-Rex," it'd just be Jurassic Park III with an operational resort and uh, yeah, no.  Thankfully, the Indominus Rex not only looks great in motion but works as a character in her own right and I was able to set my skepticism aside and have fun with her, particularly the scene where she hands the Asset Containment Unit team's (basically Animal Control) asses to them.

 Honestly, I think this guy got off pretty easy.

     Now, we all know there's two sides to every coin so let's head on over to the more negative side of things.  First off, the 3D isn't overwhelming by any means but it doesn't really add anything to the movie either.  When a dinosaur charges, it's not projecting enough that it feels like it is charging at you.  I know the movie was shot for 3D but it honestly just feels like its there to add an extra $3 per ticket to up its box office numbers.

    For the record, I like the cast of this movie.  I do not feel that Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D'Onofrio or anyone else phoned it in.  After sleeping on it, I do however think that some of the dialogue and story structure needed work.  Not that Jurassic World rushes into things but we only get just enough time with the main characters to know basically whether to root for them or not.  The film could've used more time developing why Claire (Howard) is so obsessed with work and profits that she can't remember how old her nephews are or why Vic Hoskins (D'Onofrio, who while may not be playing the most original character is having so much fun) is so gun-ho in his own agendas (I won't spoil it here unlike other reviews) instead of just, "'MURICA," or why Dr. Wu seems so much more mad-scientist than before just as a few immediate examples.  The problem isn't the actors but rather what they had to work with.

     If anyone is hoping for mass park casualties amongst the patrons, you might want to calm your expectations.  If you ever looked at the Jurassic World website, you can see the various rides and attractions as well as what animals are in the park so you can start spinning your imagination as to what kind of mishaps could ensue with these creatures in these sections.  Sadly, what you see in the trailers is more or less what you get: the Pteranodons and Dimorphodons swooping down on a packed Main Street.  For example, wanna see a Suchomimus flip a kayak in the Cretaceous Cruise?  Too bad, as that creature is not in the movie (people would've probably just thought it was the Spinosaurus anyway) and that ride is only featured in the film in the same shot that was in the trailer.  Just seems like a bit of a wasted opportunity in this department.

     Earlier I had spoke highly of the Indominus Rex but there was something that happened with her about 100 minutes in that was just dumb.  Like, really dumb.  For pretty much the whole film up until this point, I had a smile on my face like it was June 1993 again and would've made this movie as good as The Lost World but then this little twist comes up and almost ruined the movie for me.  I know that it sounds silly to write off an entire film on one little scene (just as silly as giving a movie a pass based on one little scene) but this particular bit really nose-dived the quality of the film for me.  Thankfully, what came a few minutes afterwards mostly made up for it but the scars were still there.

My sentiments exactly at that moment.

      Okay, it wouldn't be a Jurassic Park movie review if we didn't talk about the special effects.  After all, that's the key element of Jurassic's legacy.  I had said in my post from last year that I wanted to see more animatronics and less CGI.  Well, that's not the case here.  I don't have a problem with CGI or even a lot of CGI (the recent Planet Of The Apes films immediately spring to mind) but if there's going to be this much CGI, it all has to be the same level of quality.  To be fair, a lot of shots in Jurassic World feature full-body in-motion dinosaurs, something that animatronics have not been able to fully replicate.  Sure, the suits from the Walking With Dinosaurs Live Arena Spectacular are good but they aren't good enough for Jurassic Park.  That being said, there are some shots here (not just with dinosaurs) that could have been very easily done with practical effects instead of adding in the creatures in post-production.  I counted a grand total of three, seriously, fucking three animatronic shots.  Maybe.  I'm sorry, I know that's just how movies are made now because the studios want them made as quickly and as cheaply as possible but this franchise has built its reputation on being able to balance in-camera puppeteering with mostly high-quality CGI, which upon reflection this film is seriously lacking in parts, particularly in the end scene.  You know, the scene where it probably counts the most.  Even though the theatre and I were still going "OOOHHH," I couldn't help but think, "God, that CG better be refined for the Blu-Ray."  This is probably the one and only thing that Jurassic Park III has over Jurassic World (yeah, I said it).

This scene is the only one I can say with complete certainty that used animatronics.  Regardless of how well it turned out, that still feels criminal when talking about a Jurassic Park movie.

     Alright, time to wrap this up.  Was it worth the 14 year wait?  Eh, kinda?  Not really?  Hard to say.  I can't tell you that I'm 100% satisfied with the end result but I did clap with the rest of the audience once the credits rolled because Jurassic World does have an element of fun to it and while I don't really know if I like the fact that this one completely ignores the events of the previous sequels, I did feel it washed the putrid Jurassic Park III out of my mouth.  However, with how long this movie was in developmental Hell and the fact it has a $150 million price tag on it, you'd think something truly pants-shittingly awesome would be in theatres right now instead of, well, this.  It will be interesting to see how well (or not well) the film holds up upon repeat viewings but time will tell.  I will say that if Universal Studios was smart, they would know that the seeds planted here for future installments should be cast aside and end the series here on as close to a high note as they can.  It's a pipe dream, I know.  Given the franchise driven state of Hollywood, the generally positive feedback that the film has received and that ticket sale projections are putting this film's opening weekend intake somewhere near the $155 million mark, we can expect Jurassic 5 (no, not the hip-hop group) in theatres somewhere between 2019 and 2029.  Yay.

     -The Cynic

Cynical Musings: Suggestions For Jurassic World (SPOILERS)

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING BLOG POST CONTAINS POTENTIALLY MASSIVE SPOILERS TO THE FILM JURASSIC WORLD.  IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO HAVE THIS FILM SPOILED FOR YOU, TURN AWAY NOW.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

 

     Am I jumping the gun on this one?  Yeah, but when has that stopped me before?  This has been bugging me and I need to get it off my chest so, please, hear me out.

     It's been over a year and a half since Jurassic Park 4 was first announced via Twitter feed.  I gave some reasons why I wasn't excited at that time and haven't really mentioned the project since on the blog, largely in part because some other lesser known feature was in my sights.  Well, a lot has changed since the project was announced and I've been reading every single article about it (spoilers be damned) to see if something can ignite genuine excitement within me.  Alas, I'm still not excited for this film and I cannot decide whether any info I've heard hasn't given me much to work with or if out of fear of getting horribly disappointed again that I have some sort of mental block that is not allowing me to get excited.  That's not to say that I haven't been able to make some progress.  I've made peace with the fact that they've changed the name to not have Jurassic Park in the title and that they're returning to the first island for this one.  I'm incredibly happy for a couple of my friends and fellow Dan's JP3 Page alumni that were able to be extras for the film because how cool is it to say that you were able to be part of a Jurassic Park film?
     I've also let my mind wander about the subject long enough that I've been able to analyze the speculation and confirmed details from the articles and I've come up with some suggestions for the film so that even though I'm not excited for Jurassic World, these tips and pointers could save the film from being a potential disaster.  So, in a similar vein of Screen Junkies' "How To Fix" series, here's my not expectations but suggestions for Jurassic World.  Just in case the text at the start didn't drive the point home enough, Fucking Spoiler Alert!

     1.  Give The Movie A Minimum Two Hour Runtime
     If we're going to go back to Isla Nublar for this one, I wanna get a damn good look at how much the island has changed in the last 22 years.  I also wanna take in as much of this new park before we start shoving the paying customers into the sharp teeth and claws of the eighteen species on the island, sixteen of which listed here.  This was one of the reasons why I hated the third film because they figured all people care about are dinosaurs killing people so they just jumped straight into that, when in reality that's just one part of the series.  Let us get to know the characters the story focuses on, show us some "Oooos" and "Aaahhhs" or even some "Aw, cools," maybe tease us with some peril that just turn out to be false alarms at first.  Just don't rush it, especially if you're going to include THAT many different animals in the movie.

     2.  More Animatronics, Less CGI
     I'm not saying that CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) is a bad thing because it really isn't...when it's done right and done sparingly.  Obviously, there's going to be some parts that will require CGI like a full body dinosaur running or when the Diabolus Rex uses its cuttlefish-like camouflage (more on him later), but I see a lot of movies out there where a shot comes up that uses CGI when it could've easily been done with practical onscreen effects.  Also, CGI is so rampant nowadays that it would be a nice change of pace to see a movie where there isn't a lot of things added visually in post production.  I'm thinking with the involvement of Legacy Effects Studios (which was started by former members of Stan Winston Studios), not to mention this Velociraptor photo that was posted, this is probably one of my lesser...worries, for lack of better term, but I would hate to see a Jurassic Park film going primarily digital just for the sake of doing so when the original(s) did such a good job of balancing practical and visual effects.

     3.  Do Something Interesting With The Human Villain
     So a little while back it was announced that Edgar himself, Vincent D'Onofrio, was cast as the role of the CFO of the Patel Corporation (the company that owns the new park) that, as The Wrap puts it, "projects the image of a normal family man to mask a hidden edge."  So far, any human villains in the series have been influenced by money, so do something different this time around.  Make D'Onofrio a villain that we can relate to, maybe even feel sorry or root for.  Hell, take a page from Batman: The Animated Series' book and give his character a distraught back story so that his actions aren't necessarily greedy or evil but perhaps just...misguided so that despite any wrong doings on his part, we want to see him succeed and then feel genuine pity for him when he doesn't.  I just don't want to see a retread of Arliss Howard's Peter Ludlow from The Lost World: Jurassic Park where he twiddles his proverbial mustache and starts humming Shane McMahon's entrance theme whenever he sees the dinosaurs.

     4.  Make Diabolus Rex A Carnotaurus
     In May, a spoiler-ific article was posted on JoBlo.com that explained that one of the new attractions and the main baddie in the film would be a new genetically spliced super predator that can terrorize like the T-Rex, is as smart as the Velociraptors, can unhinge its jaw to swallow larger prey like a snake and use camouflage like a cuttlefish.  At first when I heard this, my mind immediately jumped to the old John Sayles JP4 script that had Raptor/Human/Dog hybrids (no joke).  However, director Colin Trevorrow stated that it may sound crazy but the genetic splicing of species isn't anything that wasn't suggested in the original novels.  Okay, so when you say "terrorize like the T-Rex," I'm picturing a theropod larger than a human that runs fairly fast, like the Carnotaurus, only the size would have to be exaggerated if they want a Carnotaurus/T-Rex fight.  It can unhinge its jaw like a snake?  That sounds similar to paleontological evidence of the Carnotaurus' jaws.  Cuttlefish-like camouflage?  Well, guess what had that ability in Michael Crichton's novel of The Lost World?  Stop pissing around the bush and just make the D-Rex a fucking Carnotaurus already!  You'll be serving up a warm, hefty bowl of fan service if you do.

     5.  Keep The Dinosaurs On The Island
     When the title of Jurassic World was announced, there was a lot of speculation as to why it was called such.  Why World?  Is there going to be a planet full of dinosaurs?  Is the movie going to be about the dinosaurs taking over the Earth?  If there's going to be a movie about dinosaurs munching on the human race on a global scale, it'd better be called Dinosaurs Attack! and have absolutely nothing to do with Jurassic Park.  One of the key elements in the Jurassic movies is isolation: having to fend for yourself, being cut off from immediate help, not being able to just pick up the phone and call someone with a big gun to come save you.  There's already a franchise that has an unlikely species taking dominance over the planet, let the apes have it!  Frankly, the whole "dinosaurs-getting-off-the-island" thing has been done before: once in film and four times in comics.  Out of those five instances, only one of them felt successful.

Costa Rican biker gangs vs Dilophosaurs?  Hell yeah!

     Hell, if you REALLY wanna have a story/film about a dinosaurmageddon, either make a Dinosaurs Attack film or make an offer on my script "Earth2" once I tweak it.  Just keep the Jurassic franchise on the islands, where it works best.  PLEASE.

     And my final and largest suggestion for Jurassic World is...

     6.  MAKE THIS THE LAST ONE.

     Alright, I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I'm one of those people who is sick of movie franchises.  I've mostly had a blast with the Marvel films thus far and can't wait for more.  Hell, after Godzilla had a very successful opening, a sequel was greenlit that weekend and I'm already on board for it.  So why am I calling for the curtains on Jurassic?  The thing is that Jurassic Park was never meant to be a franchise, simply a one shot deal.  However, like how many other franchises get their start, it was so bloody successful (becoming the highest grossing film of all time until Titanic came out) that there was a popular demand for a sequel, both for the book and the film.  However, the last 13 years, perhaps more, have NOT been kind to this series.  The last film sucked, the toys have become lazy repaints and what few new sculpts are released look terrible and I've made it no secret that ventures into the park through other media were, for the most part, less than impressive.  I have said it for years that the only reason why we should have a fourth installment is to bring the series to a solid conclusion.  However, in an interview with Empire, Colin Trevorrow said that Universal has plans for further Jurassic films and that he'd like to partake in them if they'll have him.

 My reaction to the Empire interview.

     Rather than dragging it out further and risk having the series take a monumental dip in quality (again), I really would rather that Jurassic World try to recapture the magic of the first film and have the series go out on a high note.  Perhaps instead of this movie being called Jurassic World, it should be called Jurassic Park: Sorry About Part Three So Here's One To Wash The Taste Out And Cap Off The Series.  See You In Five Years With The Remake.  Just rolls off the tongue, don't you think?  Like I said in my last Jurassic post, there really is nothing worse in fandom than watching your favorite film blossom into a franchise that consists mostly of mediocrity or garbage rather than the true greatness that started it in the first place, so please end it!  End it here!

     Now before anyone starts jumping down my back calling me a Negative Neddy or anything of that sort, lemme clarify a few things:

     1.  This blog is called Coffee With The Cynic, not Coffee With The Cheery Chubby Canadian.  My skepticism/pessimism should really come as no surprise at this point.

     2.  I take Jurassic Park very seriously and dearly to my heart.  I'm only being honest in my views.

     3.  If you are excited for or were involved with Jurassic World, this blog is not a personal attack on you.  Do not take it as such.  I do not wish ill fate upon you.

     4.  I want to be excited for this movie.  I want this movie to be GOOD!  I really do!  I want to have Godzilla levels of excitement and optimism for this one, but...sorry.  This one is on my viewing list not for excitement sake but for obligatory reasons.

     5.  The odds of any suggestions listed here actually being in the film are almost non-existent.  I know this.  Doesn't mean I can't still suggest them.

     6.  Something may come along to negate these suggestions and finally ignite that spark of excitement for this movie.  I'm not ruling it out, but at the time of this blog's production, it has not happened nor am I really holding my breath for it to do so.

     There.  I've said my piece.  We'll see how things turn out next summer when Jurassic World reopens the gates on June 12, 2015.

     -The Cynic