Blu-Ray Deal of the Week- 'Jurassic Park' Ultimate Trilogy for 63% Off

By now you've probably had a chance to check out the teaser footage from next year's Jurassic World, right? If not, what the heck are you waiting for? Look, the park is about to open its doors again real soon, and with Black Friday right around the corner this is the best time to get caught up on the original Jurassic Park trilogy! This week only you can get 63% off the Jurassic Park: Ultimate Trilogy. For only $29.99 you get all three digitally remastered movies, including the first two by Steven Spielberg, that show what happens when man thinks he can tinker with the dinosaurs of the past.

So hurry and order yours now right here before supplies run out! And remember to do ALL of your holiday shopping with us at Punch Drunk Critics. We appreciate the support you continue to show our sponsors. Punch Drunk Critics earns a small fee every time one of our readers buys from any of our links.

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Awesome Unseen 'Jurassic Park' and 'Batman' Posters by John Alvin

We complain about the terrible state of movie posters all the time here on this site because...well, they suck. Badly done photo-shopping, poor framing, and a general lack of imagination are the norm nowadays, which is why we try to honor those posters that break from the current mold. There was a time when movie posters, selling a movie through still imagery was a genuine art, and one of the men who was best at it was John Alvin.

Alvin designed some of the most memorable movie images in history, designing over 100 posters for movies such as Blazing Saddles, E.T., and The Lion King. Chances are the first image that popped in your mind when reading those titles was one Alvin created. He also had a number of great one-sheets that didn't get used, and to help promote the awesome new book, The Art of John Alvin, his unused Jurassic Park images have been released. Along with it comes his poster for Tim Burton's Batman, which is more comic-inspired rather than the simple insignia design the studio actually went with.

The Art of John Alvin goes on sale August 16th and you can pre-order it here. If you're in the DC/VA area I'd also suggest checking out ArtInsights Animation and Film Art Gallery in Reston, VA, the home of many original Alvin pieces. It's run by my good friend +Leslie Combemale , who is often a guest on my show Cinema Royale. There are tons of these for many other movies (like Star Trek VI and The Karate Kid), and if you want to see more check out IGN, THR, Flavorwire, and Movies.com.

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Blu-Ray Deal of the Week: 'Jurassic Park' Blu-Ray Trilogy for $32.99

Jurassic World is about to return us to the wondrous world of dinosaurs for the first time in more than a decade, but the originals are considered classics for a reason. You can relive the groundbreaking special effects of Jurassic Park and its sequels on crystal clear Blu-Ray with the Jurassic Park  Trilogy for only $32.99! That's 62% off the regular price, and will be perfect for the Steven Spielberg fan in your home, or someone who has an unhealthy interest in velociraptors. The set includes Jurassic Park 3D, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, and Jurassic Park III, along with hours upon hours of special features. Go here to get yours today!

We appreciate the support you continue to show our sponsors. Punch Drunk Critics earns a small fee every time one of our readers buys from any of our links.

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Review: 'Jurassic Park 3D'

The year of 1993 was pretty awesome in terms of years in pop culture. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers started, Mortal Kombat II was released into arcades and politicians nightmares, and A Tribe Called Quest released 'Midnight Marauders'. But in film it should be of note that Steven Spielberg changed the game of film once again with Jurassic Park that summer. It was one of the most built up movies at the time from the release of the trailer at that point no had seen CGI that real before on screen or on anything else.  This film was a phenom, it was released during the times when a film would be in the theater for months on end and it wasn’t on home video in 10 weeks.  Now in 2013 on the 20^th anniversary of its release they are bringing it back in 3D.

So for those that might be a bit foggy on this twenty year-old film, Jurassic Park is a theme park owned by John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) CEO of InGen. After a mishap where a park employee dies on the job the investors wants experts to visit the park to certify if it’s safe. Hammond goes and finds paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neil) and Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern). The investors are being represented by attorney Donald Gennaro who brings mathematician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) who is also a chaos theorist to be the investors’ expert. The park is unlike any other park since its main attraction is that it has real live dinosaurs. As Hammond shows the scientists around and explains how they were able to bring dinosaurs back to life, Hammond’s two grandchildren join them in touring the entire park.

So really what do you say about this film that is a cinematic classic? What is there to critique now? Clearly the film stands the test of time and is also one of the most influential films in terms of the
history of special effects. The one thing that is very open to critique is the addition of 3D to the film. To tell the truth the 3D really adds nothing since it’s never consistent throughout the entire runtime. A lot of things that they tried to add depth to is really unnoticeable , as it's mostly in the viewer’s peripheral vision.

Another thing that’s an issue is that there are long segments of the film with really no noticeable 3D going on the screen. It makes it feel that this decision was rushed to do this and that even though it’s a quick money grab you’d hope that the people doing the conversion would take a bit more care to actually make it impressive and awesome enough to compare with the many other 3D conversions coming out all the time.

One great thing about seeing this re-released in 3D is the chance to not only re-experience it in the cinema again, or the first time for some people, is the chance to see this landmark film in IMAX. No
matter your feelings on post-converted 3D films being shown in the format it’s still really cool to see this film with dinosaurs on a screen that large. It makes something already larger than life even grander. This is a film that still holds up well after 20 years and even though the 3D really isn’t worth the price of admission the film itself totally is.

The film score

3D score

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