You probably won't agree with me that the Stegosaurus is the best dinosaur but it is. Their tails are so rocking. My friends did not agree: one vote for the Brontosaurus, one for T-Rex, and one "abstain" --some people are so difficult. Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park totally shafted the Stegosaurus (and the second best, the Triceratops) in favor of those made up Velociraptors and that jaw-dropping first shot of the brachiosaurus. Unfortunately Laura Dern took the "jaw dropping" part literally.
I know she was looking at a green screen or whatever they looked at at the time (blue screen?) but work with what you got Laura. That first reaction shot always made me uncomfortable in the 'can we do another take?' way. Spielberg didn't do another take, damn him. She's way better when she stares at personal demons and makes faces for David Lynch.
Right before we left for an early evening in Central Park we watched this short film on the history of the mammal which was narrated by none other than Meryl Streep. Afterwards we all agreed that she totally phoned that voice over in. When she was talking about what happened 65 million years ago, for example, there was no past tense in her voice. It wasn't lived-in. Definitely one of her least-committed performances.
Dinosaurs are awesome and so are actresses but for whatever reason, they don't mix. Naomi Watts' terror in King Kong excepted.
