Day 59: The Hunt For Red October

Russians have made a fancy new submarine (Red October) that can go pretty much undetected in the water, which would be pretty devastating for any enemies they may have. Like America, let’s say. In order to make sure the submarine cannot be used to fight the Americans, Marko Ramius (Sean Connery), and some select crew members have decided to defect and take the submarine with them. The Russians are furious and attempt to find the Red October to stop any defection. And because the mission had to be kept completely secret, the Americans think the Red October is planning to attack them. It’s all close to potential war, but along comes Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin) to save the day. He convinces the powers that be that Captain Ramius intends to defect and that they should help him to safely reach America.

All of that sounds like trouble enough but then they discover they have a saboteur aboard, which leads to just the saddest death (Sam Neill, my baby). Despite it being totally obvious who the saboteur was immediately it was still pretty exciting. Being on board a submarine seems so hectic, not entirely sure how they manage to hear or understand each other when all the sirens are going and orders are being shouted from all sides. But it also seems just so much fun!

Again, I didn’t think I was going to like this film (two hours of politics and an all male crew? Aaah) but it turns out it was super exciting. Apparently I’m a big kid and submarines are awesome. Never seen a submarine explode before but it was brilliant! Wasn’t too heavy on the politics either, which was nice. And Alec Baldwin’s a babe so I guess that made up for the lack of women. And Dr. Grant is in it! What more could you want on a submarine but a dinosaur expert and all round badass?

Listening to Sean Connery makes me want to talk with more of a Scottish accent. I’ve typed this whole blog out in his voice and it amused me no end.

8/10

Day 41: Jurassic Park

You know how sometimes you just need to watch something with dinosaurs? And by ‘sometimes’ I mean, ‘all the time’? To the friend that picked this film, I thank you for giving me an excuse to watch this beauty.

Rich man who puts the least amount of thought into anything (unless it’s making sure he spares no expense!), John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), brings dinosaurs back from extinction and sets up a wee park for people to come along and see them. Who better to test the highly dangerous and completely unready park on but your own grandchildren? As is expected, it all goes from bad to worse for the people. For the dinosaurs they’re probably happier out of their cages. Swings and roundabouts, I guess?

Alan (Sam Neill) and Ellie (Laura Dern) are the cutest. We first see them as they are digging up a raptor skeleton and Alan puts the fear into a kid who dared to compare the raptor to a turkey. I like how she knows what he's like and that he was going to go off on a dramatic story and that he just doesn’t like children. That obviously doesn’t last though because he becomes a total hero throughout the film, constantly protecting and looking after Tim and Lex. He gets Lex to trust him despite her being terrified, he shields Tim when the car falls on them, and he looks after them while they’re sleeping in the tree. To quote my notes, “Alan, you’re my hero.” And you can see the effect it has on Ellie when they’re in the helicopter at the end and she’s looking at him with the kids. Children might be on the cards after all! Except it’s not because I’ve seen the sequels and it makes me sad. Ellie and Alan are for life in my heart. I mean, they way he looks at her when she says “Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.” is the best. He looks smitten, I just love that look.

While I love the idea of dinosaurs existing again, it would just be mental. Why breed carnivores? You’re just asking for trouble. If I was Hammond here I’d have just ended up with a park full of Triceratops (favourite dinosaur) and Brachiosaurus. How amazing would that be! I’ve always loved Triceratops the most after seeing this film. You only see one and she’s sick but god, I just loved her right away. They are brilliant. And they remind me of rhino, which are my favourite animals, so I guess I couldn’t help but love them. It would be totally safe to have an island of those, definitely.

Absolutely love the film.

9/10