Book vs. Movie: Jurassic Park Edition

When I saw Jurassic World a couple weeks again, I liked it but it made me just really want to re-watch Jurassic Park.  And, yet again, the AFI Silver has not let me down by having a 90s film festival which included Jurassic Park so I got to see it again on the big screen.  But seeing on big screen reminded me how much I enjoyed reading to book in high school so I thought that I would read/listen to the audiobook which I've been doing to the last week or so.  In general, I find that I prefer the book over the movie, but my opinion is the complete opposite in this case.  The movie is about 300 times better for quite a few reasons:

• Several dinosaur encounters are removed.  After awhile, the interactions are not tense, just boring.  And there are so many other run ins with the T-Rex that again are not super tense.
• The velociraptors are in the mix much earlier.  You don't really see them until about the last 1/3 of the book.  
• Lex is the younger child in the book but the older child in the movie.  And making her is older sister is much better because she becomes a more interesting (and less annoying character).  Also, it is nice to see a girl not being completely helpless (she is very proactive in the kitchen scene and in the control room).
• Ellie is not Alan's student in the movie, she is his contemporary which the makes them more like equals.  And she is much more prominent in the movie than the book.  She is was more badass (and interesting) in the movie.  

I seriously may never feel the need to read the book again, the movie is way better!

The Power of Belief

I was able to catch one my most favorite on the big screen this past weekend at the AFI Silver: Gaslight (the excellent 1944 version).  It stars Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, and my beloved Joseph Cotten.  And gave rise to the term "gaslighting" which means a person is made to this he or she is going crazy through the machinations of someone else.  It comes from the fact that when Charles Boyer turns on the gaslight in the unused attic, it cause the gaslight in Ingrid Bergman's bedroom (or whatever room she is in) to flicker and reduce in intensity.  And, Ingrid Bergman is the only to see it.  So this, in addition to Charles Boyer making her think that she is constantly losing or misplacing things (including pictures) and the belief that her mother was insane as well, makes Ingrid think she is crazy.  But (one) thing that saves her is the Joseph Cotten believes her.  He believes that she isn't losing or misplacing things, she isn't imagining the flicker of the gaslight.  And most importantly, he believes her before he witnesses the gaslight flicker personally.  This movie can really cement the idea that having someone else believe in is extremely powerful.