Jurassic Park Dominion

 

Jurassic Park Dominion

Jurassic Park movies are like a slice of cherry pie, you had it before but it still tastes good. This is the AARP version of the franchise. All the veteran actors were in the cast: Sam Neil, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, BD Wong, Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard. I must admit the film was better than what I expected. Instead of  dinosaurs just stomping around there is an interesting story line. There were still some ludicrous pseudo-scientific theories but they worked into the plot. One aspect of the movie was a head scratcher. They had a dinosaur sanctuary in the Italian Dolomites. What I remember from Bio101 dinosaurs were cold blooded so the ice capped mountains would not be a natural habitat .

As with the other Jurassic Park movies there was a lot of running around and near death escapes. Big dinosaurs ate by bigger dinosaurs. They even gave a nod to evolution featuring a feathered dinosaur (Pyroraptor).  There were new characters. Mamoudou Athie as Ramsey Cole who helps the good guys escape and DeWanda Wise a “Bond” like woman who is beautiful, smart and tough. She is a cargo pilot with fluid allegiances. There is also an evil Steve Jobs type character who runs Biosyn which launches a nefarious  bio scheme.

Rotten Tomato gave the film a 30 rating. Sometimes movie critics cannot get out of their own way. This is not a drama; this is not an Academy nominated film. This is just a fun movie, even with its silliness. The production budget is $185m, the worldwide box office is $625m. As they say money talks and….But the real cool thing about this movie  part of it was filmed in Valletta the capital of Malta.

 

Independence Day-Resurgence

Independence Day-Resurgence

In 1996, the day before leaving for Switzerland, I went to the midnight show of Independence Day. It was a highly anticipated film. The special effects were impressive (who can forget the Empire State building exploding). The story was transparent and the film had humor.  It was also very lucrative.

This movie is a mess. It uses five writers. The more writers used the more chaotic the film becomes. With all the destruction, this film resembles a demolition derby rather than a movie. Destruction is pervasive; it is the hallmark of the film. No landmark on any continent is spared. The original film also used destruction but the director had a purpose, to use it as the catalyst to fight the aliens

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The actors were mere props. Some of the acting was stilted and others uninspired. There were actors from the original film: Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Judd Hirsh, Vivica A. Fox (the striper mom).  They did not energize the film. Pictures of Will Smith were plastered on the walls of the White House so he must be dead (Actually he was filming Suicide Squad). His grown son was his stand in. Liam Hemsworth (Thor’s brother) is one of the leads. No one’s acting was memorable, including Harmsworth’s, but good looks forgive many sins.

The essence of the plot is “let’s get them before they get us”. Same as the other flick but here bedlam highjacks the film. The movie wallowed in excessive and expensive CG. This is a weakness of the poor writing and feckless directing.  The production cost is $165m (plus advertising= $330m). I hope the Chinese (their market rivals ours) have a large appetite for schlock.  

p.s.-To kill time I snuck into the movie “The Shallows” with Blake Lively. I was more curious than interested. I caught the last third of the film. From what I saw It was very good; tension was palatable with Blake trying to outwit a shark. The setup is she is stuck on an out crop of rocks and only a few yards from shore and high tide is rising. The shark waits. The shark made human sashimi of some errant surfers. Jaws is the holy grail for this genera. This film is a worthy candidate for shark movies.