42 and Jurassic Park 3D... Just a few quick notes about the two aforementioned films (which I watched at the theater yesterday): It was good seeing Jurassic Park on the big screen again. Steven Spielberg's 1993 ultra-hit movie was nicely converted to 3-D, and John Williams' memorable score for this dinoflick sounded even more awesome on IMAX (which I viewed the film in). As for 42, the Jackie Robinson biopic was a very inspirational movie. It was a smart move casting Harrison Ford as the Brooklyn Dodgers' chief executive Branch Rickey; Ford has been playing fictional heroes such as Han Solo, Indiana Jones and Jack Ryan for much of his career...it was fitting for him to finally portray a real-life hero (second only to Robinson, of course), not just to baseball but to post-World War II America itself. Chadwick Boseman was commendable as Robinson, with Nicole Beharie giving a heartfelt performance as Jackie's wife, Rachel. The most memorable person in this flick, however, was the most unpopular one in 42: Philadelphia Phillies manager Ben Chapman. Only a versatile actor like Alan Tudyk (of films like Dodgeball, 3:10 to Yuma and Transformers: Dark of the Moon) can get away with portraying the segregationist whose intense racial slurs would unwittingly contribute to Jackie Robinson being embraced by (to quote Rickey) "white baseball." It's funny when reviled people get their comeuppance.
One more note about 42: Is it depressing that 99 cents was apparently enough to fill a bus with a full tank of gas almost 70 years ago? Anyways.
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