[00:01] sleeve. In the case of The End of Oak Street, it's like the film is wearing a influences. Pants, too. It's an influences suit, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but can director David Robert Mitchell's film
[00:15] have the same bite as the films which inspired it? I'm Clint Gage, and this is inspired it? I'm Clint Gage, and this is my review of The End of Oak Street. >> GET INSIDE NOW! >> I JUST HEARD A GUNSHOT!
[00:28] >> [screaming] >> THE END OF OAK STREET FOLLOWS A FAMILY LED by Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor as their neighborhood mysteriously teleports from an early '80s suburban landscape into the swampy age of
[00:40] dinosaurs, leaving them to fight for survival against a crew of dinos that look a little more like what passes for scientifically accurate these days. They've got feathers and fur and everything. It's really a blank canvas
[00:52] of a science fiction conceit. As specific as it may sound, family must survive dinosaurs can go like a million different ways. It's an engaging premise no matter what direction the filmmakers choose, but it's also one that's very
[01:05] familiar. Now, the dangers lurking in the swamp of a family-forward dinosaur adventure are the impossible to avoid comparisons to Jurassic Park. That's the bar The End of Oak Street, intentionally or not, fair or otherwise, has set for
[01:19] or not, fair or otherwise, has set for itself. >> So, how does a dinosaur movie set itself apart from such obvious influences? The to be don't bother. Instead, lean into them.
[01:35] >> Gather supplies. Grab anything you can use as a weapon. >> First, I have to say this movie might have been created in a lab just for me. I'm an '80s kid, so the setting tugs on all the right heartstrings. I'm always
[01:47] here for a good warm-hearted adventure yarn, and energy the trailer for this film has piles of. On top of that, I love indie movies, and David Robert Mitchell, whose It Follows is a creepy experiment in creating eeriness, is
[01:59] making his first film in eight years and bringing dinosaurs along for as Spielbergian a ride as any you've seen in recent memory. These are all good things. And The End of Oak Street mostly delivers on all the expectations I had
[02:12] dinosaurs show up, the movie turns into a fun little creature feature pretty quite the way we're used to seeing them them in a way Dramatic Part never really has. They can be scary and campy in
[02:27] equal measure. There's a sequence that includes a memorably goofy photo op followed immediately by a harrowing escape. It's a combination that really works when this movie is in its stride. But, I say Oak Street mostly delivers
[02:41] because the film is walking a fine line where loving and effective homage is on the right side and I've just seen this before is on the left. It's those Robert Mitchell is wearing them on. He clearly loves the adventure films of the
[02:54] '80s and '90s. You can even hear it in the score from the production logos on. This film would have been right at home 40 years ago, but the audience isn't mysteriously teleported to 40 years ago. And there are moments in this film that
[03:06] left me trying to outrun some outdated cheese. sweet and earnest. There's an honest love for the setting, the '80s and
[03:21] suburbia, that's evident in every frame of this film's first act. But, that sweetness borders on saccharine at times, feeling like an affectation that's not totally earned. In parts, it feels like it's a script being read to
[03:33] there's still a stiffness to it nonetheless. Among all of that sticky sweetness, though, there are genuinely terrific moments, including one that I even found legitimately shocking. Were I a cooler person, I would describe my
[03:47] shook. But, the key to all of the moments that Mitchell made early clearly in the That no matter how many feathered dinosaurs appear on screen, this movie
[04:02] is about the family. Putting that family dynamic front and center [music] is a staple of all the Spielberg sci-fi Oak Street is borrowing from. Whether it's the harsh light and wind blowing through the curtains calling up Close Encounters
[04:15] of the Third Kind or all the dinosaurs and their poop giving Jurassic Park in sometimes very literal one-to-one ways, family dynamics are always the more important thing happening on screen. And so, while this is a movie about a
[04:29] wormhole blipping an entire neighborhood into dino times, it's really about and not only from the couple's perspective, but the children's as well. now you're telling the kids God's looking out for us. What about the
[04:43] >> That a wonky science fiction trope leading to what could have easily been a spec script for Jurassic Park [music] 8 that was rejected for being too weird is then turned into a capable metaphor for a crumbling marriage is no small task.
[04:56] prehistoric flowers for pulling that off, I do think the bulk of the credit goes to Anne Hathaway. She's having a pretty great year and The End of Oak hot streak. As the mother of the pack, she's strong and fiercely protective,
[05:10] but also frayed at the edges in all the right ways. She's barely holding it together as the brutally realistic yin to Ewan McGregor's relentlessly positive "It's just all going to be all right" yang. She's grounded in a way that's
[05:23] crucial to pulling off the metaphorasaurus that David Robert >> Our house Our house street has moved. >> Another thing that can't be overlooked is the runtime. It's about 90 minutes
[05:38] and I do love a tight 90-minute movie. And while this may be an unfair claim to make, [music] I bet there's a 105-minute version of this movie that just does not work as well. An obvious thing that's missing [music] from that runtime is an
[05:50] >> Aliens. >> Shut up, Dad. >> And that is great. How the neighborhood actually transports somewhere else remains a mystery that the film never even thinks about unraveling. There's
[06:02] some vague talk with some science-y words and a touch of exposition from a radio broadcast heard from off camera, but to incorporate more of an expertise definitive scientific explanation for the mysterious events would have [music]
[06:16] been a film-destroying mistake. Keeping the film to 90 minutes avoids that urge to explain stuff that does not need explaining or overcomplicating what is a detriment of what the movie is really about, which again Anne Hathaway
[06:32] weathering a rough patch in what to everybody else appears to be the picture >> [music] >> How the hell is that even possible?
[06:44] >> The other thing I really like about this movie is the visual setup and payoff. One way David Robert Mitchell pulls this off is something my film nerd side is excited to talk about, which is the use of a split diopter lens.
[06:57] >> [music] >> And to get technical for a moment, a split diopter is an arrangement of glass on the lens that allows for two focal subject in the very near foreground can be in focus
[07:09] >> while the background is in focus as well. But it's not like everything is just in focus. There's also a visible line in the frame separating [music] attention is drawn to both in a much more distinct way. [music] Anyway,
[07:24] I I love seeing split diopters because you don't accidentally use them, you know? They're representative of a clear choice being made. Sometimes there's need to get from one scene to the next, but when you can tell a bag of tricks is
[07:38] being opened, I I generally really appreciate the effort. So, >> where does a split diopter relate to the visual setups and payoffs in this movie? Uh to me, it seems the moments where the focus is split are when a character is
[07:51] hiding something. There are some uncomfortably framed split focus shots place during a tense and important moment for the family. They happen in a being discussed in the foreground isn't quite jiving with what's happening in
[08:05] the background. Also, pay attention to which moments are framed at a distance as well. Instead of just a standard two-shot, there are conversations we see through a window, or over a hedge, or in the reflection of a mirror. This is a
[08:17] movie that is undeniably thoughtful in its visuals. There's also some great eerie blocking at play that sets up the world our characters start in to juxtapose the world they find themselves in later. This is something that David
[08:29] Follows, and he excels at it again here in The End of Oak Street. The movie's admittedly a little slow. In spite of the brisk 90-minute runtime, there's a methodical pace to that stretch of film
[08:42] up on screen. But what's happening in those lingering shots of a tree line, the edits that feel a bit too slow after a character leaves frame, film, those tree lines that the film took great pains to establish as a safe
[08:57] part of '80s suburbia are no longer empty, but instead [music] are hiding something dangerous. Those edits that take an extra beat after the maybe we're waiting to see something else show up. Now, the high watermark
[09:10] middle of the movie. Family is running away from a T-Rex, and a chunk of this shot is seen in the trailer, and it starts with near misses and ends with, as Dr. Malcolm said in The Lost World, >> And later there's running and then
[09:24] >> It's a shot that's honestly reminiscent of the opening of It Follows, if you remember that. But it's a great little microcosm for what works about this movie. It's also admittedly a little hokey, making it a microcosm of the
[09:37] things that don't work about this movie as well. friend. There aren't a lot of surprises, but you still enjoy their company. Maybe
[09:50] or so, but there doesn't need to be any explanation when you get back together. You know their secrets, warts and all. So, maybe they don't impress you like to see them again anyway. In spite of being a little under the
[10:04] adventure, David Robert Mitchell and Anne Hathaway in particular add enough plumage to the familiar so that The End of Oak Street of Oak Street finds a way.
[10:22] 7. 7 means good here at IGN, and this is a good movie. It has some great moments, and I'm aware I used the word great six times in this review. But, on the balance, this is a good movie. David Robert Mitchell's first feature film in
[10:35] 8 years is a rose-tinted romp through Spielberg's '80s, complete with dinosaurs, an incredible Anne Hathaway performance, and a visual flair to elevate it beyond just impersonation. While the influences are worn proudly,
[10:47] they veer into shtick occasionally, not enough to ruin the good time. Street. Let me know if you're excited about it in the comments below. And for more movie reviews and more rambling 300
[10:59] word monologues about split diopter lenses, I'm always on the lookout for lenses, I'm always on the lookout for those. So, stay right here with IGN.