Star Wars Artist Ralph McQuarrie Dies at 82

George Lucas did not do it alone.  Conceptual designer and illustrator Ralph McQuarrie has died.  He is best known for his work on the original Star Wars trilogy.  In 1975, George Lucas hired McQuarrie to illustrate scenes from his Star Wars script, and McQuarrie also designed many of the characters, including Darth Vader, R2-D2, and C-3PO.

McQuarrie did design and concept work for some of Steven Spielberg's films, including Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and Jurassic Park.  McQuarrie won an Oscar for best visual effects for his work on the film Cocoon.

McQuarrie was born on June 3, 1929 in Gary, Indiana, and passed away Saturday, March 3, 2012 at his home in Berkeley, California.  R.I.P. Mr. McQuarrie.  You work continues to inspire me.

Las Vegas Film Critics Support "The Artist"

The Las Vegas Film Critics Society is a non-profit organization that describes itself as “progressive” and “dedicated to the advancement and preservation of film.” The LVFCS membership is comprised of “select” print, television and internet film critics in the Las Vegas area. The LVFCS presents its "Sierra" awards each year for the best in film, including The William Holden Lifetime Achievement Award, which is named for the late Academy Award winning actor.

As are many other film critics groups in 2011, Las Vegas film critics are down with The Artist.

2011 Sierra Award winners:

Best Picture
“The Artist”

Best Actor
Jean Dujardin, “The Artist”

Best Actress
Michelle Williams, “My Week with Marilyn”

Best Supporting Actor
Albert Brooks, “Drive”

Best Supporting Actress
Melissa McCarthy, “Bridesmaids”

Best Director
Nicholas Winding Refn, “Drive”

Best Screenplay (Original or Adapted)
Aaron Sorkin & Steve Zaillian, “Moneyball”

Best Cinematography
Emmanuel Lubezski, “Tree of Life”

Best Film Editing
Thelma Schoonmaker, “Hugo”

Best Costume Design
Mark Bridges, “The Artist”

Best Art Direction
Gregory S. Hooper, “The Artist”

Best Visual Effects
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”

Best Documentary
“Project NIM”

Best Foreign Film
“13 Assassins”

Best Song
“Man or Muppet” - Written by Bret McKenzie

Best Score
Ludovic Bource, “The Artist”

Best Family Film
“Hugo”

Best Animated Film
“Rango”

Youth in Film
Asa Butterfield, “Hugo”

Best DVD (Packaging, Design, and Content)
“Jurassic Park Ultimate Trilogy (Blu-Ray)

William Holden Lifetime Achievement Award for 2010:
Albert Brooks


http://www.lvfcs.org/lvfcs/Home.html

Review: "Jurassic Park" is Always Worth the Trip

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 117 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Jurassic Park (1993)
Running time: 127 minutes (2 hours, 7 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense science fiction terror
DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg
WRITERS: Michael Crichton and David Koepp (from a novel by Michael Crichton)
PRODUCERS: Kathleen Kennedy and Gerald R. Molen
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dean Cundey
EDITOR: Michael Kahn
COMPOSER: John Williams
Academy Award winner

SCI-FI/ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLER

Starring: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Bob Peck, Martin Ferrero, Joseph Mazzello, Ariana Richards, Samuel L. Jackson, B.D. Wong, and Wayne Knight

Over a decade after I first saw it, I still get a thrill whenever I watch director Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park. The Academy Award-winning film (Best Effects – Sound Effects Editing, Best Effects – Visual Effects, and Best Sound) is, like Star Wars and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, a landmark film in the area of visual effects, in this instance, for its use of computer rendered characters or CGI, computer generated imagery. While the Terminator sequel introduced the moviegoers to the magic “morphing,” seamless changing a character into something or someone totally different, JP introduced a whole slew of characters that were not added to the film until principal photography was finished shooting. These were characters that only existed inside a computer and were digitally added onto the film.

In the movie, John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), a billionaire industrialist, convinces colleagues Drs. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) to travel to his newly created theme park that he calls Jurassic Park. His company’s scientist have miraculously cloned dinosaurs to populate the theme park, and Hammond needs Grant and Ms. Sattler, two paleontologists, to examine the park and give their seal of approval to the venture which in turn will appease Hammond’s worried investors. But as with any test run, things go badly. The park suffers a major security breakdown and releases the dinosaurs, including a hungry T-Rex and pack of velociraptors who enjoy hunting humans. The computer malfunction has Grant, Sattler, and the rest of the park’s inhabitants and visitors (including Hammond’s grandson and granddaughter) struggling to survive the onslaught on vicious dinosaurs as they try to escape from the island.

Although Spielberg has made his share of “serious” films to impress film critics and Oscar® voters, his best work remains his films that have a sense of magic and wonder, and Jurassic Park has both. However, the film is also a razor sharp suspense thriller and amazing adventure filled with frightening pitfalls, daring escapades, and last minute reprieves – the kind that end just before the other shoe drops.

Spielberg is at his best when he manipulates his audience, but honestly by weaving a thrill-a-minute film that has heart. It’s more than just the things that stop your heart, and JP has lots of that. It’s also about the moments that warm the heart, and a Spielberg favorite theme – that of the father who earns redemption or the man who learns to become a father or father figure, is very strong here. A lot of the credit has to go to a script (by Hollywood screenwriting heavyweight David Koepp and the author of the novel upon which this film is based, Michael Crichton) that is friendly to the elements and themes Spielberg favors for his films.

Still, the master filmmaker takes it and not only does he make it work, he makes it work on a level that turns what could have been a novelty film into an movie that is both unforgettable and influential. On a purely entertaining level, JP is a great and a film that is a treat to watch. As a work of art, Jurassic Park’s subject matter may seem like B-movie material, but the entire work is both a brilliant piece of pop entertainment and masterstroke of film craftsmanship.

10 of 10

NOTES:
1994 Academy Awards: 3 wins: “Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing” (Gary Rydstrom and Richard Hymns), “Best Effects, Visual Effects” (Dennis Muren, Stan Winston, Phil Tippett, and Michael Lantieri), and “Best Sound” (Gary Summers, Gary Rydstrom, Shawn Murphy, and Ron Judkins)

1994 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Best Special Effects” (Dennis Muren, Stan Winston, Phil Tippett, and Michael Lantieri); 1 nomination: “Best Sound” (Richard Hymns, Ron Judkins, Gary Summers, Gary Rydstrom, and Shawn Murphy)

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Director Says Jurassic Park IV Will Happen

According to the website, Comic Book Movie, director Joe Johnston told boxoffice.com:

"Well, there is going to be a Jurassic Park IV. And it's going to be unlike anything you've seen. It breaks away from the first three—it's essentially the beginning of the second Jurassic Park trilogy. It's going to be done in a completely different way. That's pretty much all I can tell you."

That would be great.  Ever since the fourth film didn't appear in 2005, I've been waiting... and waiting.  The reasons for the now 9-year wait since Jurassic Park III are many.  The main reason is apparently that boss Steven Spielberg found the scripts delivered for the fourth film lacking in one way or another - for instance, some scripts had too much science which slowed the story and some too much action and not enough science making the story shallow.

One of my favorite directors, John Sayles, who also works as a scriptwriter-for-hire and script doctor, reportedly wrote one of the scripts that was seriously being considered back around 2004-05.  I'd recently read somewhere that Sayles' script or parts of it may still be used.

Johnston's next film is the remake of The Wolfman, due in Feb. 2010.