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Dinosaur 13
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Wikipedia article
'Dinosaur 13' is a 2014 American documentary film directed and produced by Todd Douglas Miller. The film premiered in competition category of 'U.S. Documentary Competition program' at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 16, 2014.
After its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, CNN Films and Lionsgate acquired distribution rights of the film, leading to broadcast on CNN, theatrical release, and DVD packaging. In 2015 'Dinosaur 13' won the Emmy for Outstanding Science and Technology Programming at the 36th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards.
Plot
The film depicts events that began in 1990, when American paleontologist Sue Hendrickson working with Pete Larson and his Black Hills Institute of Geological Research team discovered the largest and most complete 'Tyrannosaurus rex' skeleton ever found (nicknamed "Sue") while digging in the badlands near Faith, South Dakota. The skeleton was seized from the institute by the federal government, followed by a 10-year-long battle with the FBI, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Maurice Williams, the landowner on whose property the bones were discovered. Pete Larson also spent 18 months in prison, on unrelated charges of international money laundering and trading fossils on the black market.
Reception
The film received positive response from critics. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 73% based on reviews from 49 critics, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The site's critics consensus states: "It's undeniably slanted and doesn't cover as much of the story as it should, but 'Dinosaur 13' makes for gripping documentary viewing, flaws and all". On Metacritic, the film has a score of 66 out of a 100 based on 27 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Dennis Harvey, in his review for 'Variety', called the documentary "engrossing". Duane Byrge of 'The Hollywood Reporter' gave the film positive review and said that it involves a "story of scientific discovery and petty politics". Eric Kohn from Indiewire in his review said that "A subset of the recent scientific-documentary-as-thriller tradition epitomized by 'The Cove' and 'Blackfish', Todd Douglas Miller's 'Dinosaur 13' is both awe-inspiring and tragic".
Donald Clarke of 'The Irish Times' had praised the ending of 'Dinosaur 13' calling it "bittersweet" and "genuinely unfair", adding plainly and simply "Do not miss [it]".
Tom Huddleston of 'Time Out' wrote "Using home-video footage and talking-head interviews, [the film] dramatically depicts the thrill of archaeological discovery".
According to Andrew O'Hehir of 'Salon.com' 'Dinosaur 13' has the "elements of legal thriller, political drama, academic throwdown and scientific geek-out [all-in-one].
Kim Newman of the 'Empire' also praised the film, saying that "[Similar to] 'The Cover' and 'Man on Wire', this doc[umentary] comes clad in the garb of a thriller. And a heck of a good one at that".
Even though the film was praised by critics, Rob Staeger of 'The Village Voice' was of a different opinion. His verdict was that "Unfortunately, 'Dinosaur 13' never manages to display the story's many complex parts in a way that enables viewers to grasp the whole beast".
After the film aired, The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, a society of professional paleontologists that depend largely on government grants for research, issued a statement of full support for legally protecting fossils on public land and criticized 'Dinosaur 13' for implying that government ownership of fossil specimens impedes paleontological science.
Following its release on Blu-ray, the film was reviewed by Brian Orndorf of 'Blu-ray.com', who said that "If 'The Cove' and 'Blackfish' taught us anything, it's that documentaries don't necessarily require facts and figures to support a subject matter".
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