Jurassic World Review

     

       Jurassic World is the 4th installment in the Jurassic Park franchise and basically ignores the events of Jurassic Park 2 & 3, as it should because those movies are terrible. 

       The events of Jurassic World take place 22 years after the original movie and Isla Nubar now features a fully functioning dinosaur theme park (named Jurassic World) as it was originally envisioned by John Hammond. After 10 years of successful operation, visitor rates have started to decline so now the park has to create a new attraction in order to re-spark interest. As you may have guessed, the new attraction backfires horribly. 

       This is a good movie. It's not great. It's good. I didn't like it as much as I wanted to, but I still had a great time watching it. 

       The director of the film is Colin Trevorrow. Trevorrow has never directed a big budget block buster before so I was worried about if he could handle something on this big of a level, but he pulled it off.  He understood what made Jurassic Park magical and he brought those specific elements into Jurassic World. No one will ever come close to touching the magic that the first one did but Trevorrow did the best that he could. 

       Bryce Dallas Howard bugged me for the first part of this movie. She was getting on my nerves. She was overacting and had terrible line delivery. However, as the movie went one she grew on me and I ended up loving her in the end. 

       The 2 kid stars in this movie are Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins (Insidious and Iron Man 3.) Just like Bryce Dallas Howard they annoyed me at first and unfortunately they never grew on me. They played the stereotypical older brother and younger brother relationship that we have seen over, and over again. The older brother picks on the younger brother, the older brother convinces the younger brother that they don't have to do something and because of that they get in trouble, and at the end they are a big happy family. No that is not a spoiler because everyone knew it was coming. Simpkins acts like a 6 year old when in reality he needs to act his age. From the very first shot of the movie I thought to my self "Please, let him get eaten by a dinosaur." There was this part that almost made me yell "COME ON!" in the theatre. That part was they just ran away from a dinosaur and they found these cars. The cars that were used to take tours around Jurassic Park in the first movie. These cars were broken down, big time, and it would be almost impossible to fix them with out any tools. But guess what, some how the kids figure out a way to fix the cars. Who do they think they are, MacGiver? I didn't believe it for one second. 

       I'm just glad there was one person who made good first impressions. That person was Chris Pratt. Chris Pratt (like always) stole the show. He was by far the best part about Jurassic World. In Guardians of the Galaxy and Parks & Rec, his role was very comedic. So coming into the movie I was worried that they were going to make him a comedic role. I don't want heavy comedy in a dinosaur movie. I'm glad I was wrong. Yes they had a little humor with his character (you can't have Chris Pratt and have no humor) but they also had dramatic parts which I was really excited to see him do. I know some people were worried about his part as a raptor trainer in the movie but,  let me tell you, you have nothing to worry about. It was handled very well and I think you will like where the raptor story line will go. 

       The side characters were meh. They were fine. They weren't bad enough to the point where I wish they were dead (like the 2 boys) but they could have been handled better. Along with the side characters, the sub-plots were sub-par. I found them useless. I found them boring. Especially the sub-plot/back story to the 2 boys. It was poorly done. 

       The script had problems. Some of the dialogue was cringe worthy. I wanted to cuddle myself into a ball and cry, it was that bad. 50% of the jokes fell flat. They weren't funny and it just made the scene awkward. The scripts's major problems only lasted until the part were we got our first action scene. Everything else before that just felt like filler scenes. In the first Jurassic Park the first hour of the movie didn't have any action scenes and it didn't bother me because it propelled the movie forward. Yes, in Jurassic World they needed the back story in order to explain why they were doing the things they were, I just felt like they could have done it better. There were some "plot twists" if you even want to call them that. I saw the twists coming from a mile away. It has some minor inconsistencies that could have been fixed with a better script. There were some pretty lame cop-out moments that made me mad.  

       The question most people were asking was are there any original cast members returning? There are 3. The DNA strand from the video from the first Jurassic Park, a scientist. and the T-Rex. Holy crap I love the T-Rex in this movie! It was used in the way I was hoping they would use it. That's all I will say about that. 

       I was really disappointed by the score. I mean how can you compare to the John Williams's score? You just can't. At least this score could have been a little more memorable. I was scared that they wouldn't have the original score, BUT THEY DID. I smiled (and maybe shed a tear) when I heard the famous Jurassic Park score. It's my favorite of all time and I'm so glad they included it. 

       The new threat in this movie was a dinosaur called the Indominus Rex. It's a hybrid dinosaur made up of other dinosaurs and some modern day animals. I loved they way the revealed him. They showed us the dinosaur little by little so by the time we saw the full thing I was amazed. I do wish at some points they would have focused on the Indominus a little more instead of a quick glimpse from the camera. The visuals were great. I didn't feel that they were overusing CGI at all. 

       Just one more thing that I really liked from this film are the references to the first movie. There is a part (which I won't spoil for you) where the 2 kids are wondering then they came across something from the first movie. I turned to the person I went to the movie with and had a freak out session by saying "Do you know what that is! Holy crap! Holy crap!" But beware this reference i'm referring to is very brief. You have to keep your eyes open and have to be paying attention. 

      Overall Jurassic World is a good movie. It's not great. I didn't like it as much as I wanted to, but I still had a great time watching it. It is a very fun summer blockbuster. It has some issues but the positive heavily outweigh the bad. I give Jurassic World a 6.5/10

     

Grave of the Fireflies (1988) Review

This movie is from a studio called Studio Ghibli which is a Japanese animated studio that's a part of Disney.  If you ever do decide to watch this movie make sure you get an american dubbed version. 

This movie about a Japanese brother and sister trying to survive during WWII will punch you in the face. I highly recommend this movie, but this is a movie you have to be emotionally ready to watch before you actually do. This is definitely a film not to watch with children.

Not only is this one of the best animated films of all time, it's also one of the best war films. This film tells the story of WWII from the Japanese side which I'm not used to and it's nice to get a fresh take on a story we have all heard plenty of times. The one thing that makes this movie unique is it's told from the perspective of kids. From a boy about the age of 16 and his sister about the age of 5 or 6.  I have a younger sister so when I was watching this movie it made it that more of an emotional watch. This movie is really well written. It's very important that a movie of this type hits certain beats that not only make the movie flow better, but add emotional impact and character development. This movie doesn't work if you are not connected to the characters. I guarantee that you will get connected to them because it's that well written. Along with the screenplay, it's one of the best original stories I have ever seen.   

For a film that's done in the 80s, the animation is incredible. It's very unusual to praise an animated film for cinematography, but it's impossible not to notice how beautiful this is. Every shot, every second, you could tell they put all their effort into making this film look like one of the best I have ever seen (and that includes recent years.)

You can also complement this film on it's score, the pacing, and just everything. Take my word for it, this is a film you must see before you die. 

When you watch this movie you will cry. You will be amazed at it's beauty. You will never forget how awesome this movie is. It's my favorite animated film of all time and the only animated movie that's in my top 30 of all time. 

I loves movies that the title actually has meaning behind it. Grave of the Fireflies is one of the most meaningful titles to a movie ever. 

You probably already guessed it, but I give this movie a (5/5)

Just remember when you watch this movie you will experience drama like you have never experienced before. Like I said you will be punched in the face. 

I couldn't recommend this movie more.

Home Review

This is going to be a short review because I know you won't want to read a 4 page review about how bad this movie is.
I have a very strong love/hate relationship with DREAMWORKS. They are responsible for How to Train Your Dragon, Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, and even their most underrated film Flushed Away. But they also made some pretty bad films such as Shrek 3&4, Madagascar, Penguins of Madagascar, Mega Mind, Turbo, and I could keep going on, and on, and on. So, you could say I hate their movies more than I like. I had mixed anticipation levels for this movie. I was excited to see what Jim Parsons could bring to a animated character, and that was about it. I was hoping that DREAMWORKS could bring back the magic of Shrek and Kung Fu Panda.

HOME is stupid. It sucks. It's terrible. It's a complete waste of time. All it is, is product placement for Rihanna. Every single time a new song came one (I believe I counted 3-5) it was a Rihanna song and I already hate Rihanna so much.
This movie had a somewhat cool concept, they just executed it terribly. The voice acting was sub par. And all the "funny parts" you saw in the trailer those were the only "funny parts" if you even want to call them that.  Every other joke either sucked or fell flatter than a pancake.
The story was incredibly stupid.
The characters were idiotic.
Everything about this movie made me regret seeing it. It is one of the worst movies I have ever seen.
This movie makes me wish I never left my HOME.
If you're thinking about seeing this movie a better option would be.......well, anything.

This movie deserves a (.4/5)

It sucked. So, bad. Just so bad.

My Love of Movies

Movies are my life. I live and breath movies. They are the thing that I care most about in my life (maybe 2nd next to my family.) They matter so much to me. They are ways to escape from reality and go on a journey with hobbits, Jedi, and wizards. They are ways to learn about the real life of Abraham Lincoln, Solomon Northrop, Jackie Robinson, Mark Zuckerburg, and so many others. Movies are such a great way to relax, take a break from the real world and experience the magic. 

Ever since the beginning of time, mankind have been telling stories to entertain and to pass time. It has been as simple as paintings on a cave wall or a bunch of friends sitting around a fire making up stories that soon will influence the way other people tell stories and even the entire world. Story telling is just such an important part of mankind. We would go crazy if we couldn't experience others life and adventures. 

I have a couple of movie memories. One of the first being when I was age 4. I was at my grandma's house and I got in trouble. She put me in a room and put on the original Star Wars unaltered version on VHS. I was glued to the screen. Seeing lightsabers for the first time was one of the coolest things ever. I envy people who haven't seen Star Wars because I want to go back in time and experience the magic for the first time.

When I was little I had a little 14inch VHS player. I basically watched 5 movies on repeat. The first 2 are Toy Story 1 and 2. I watched the first one so much I had to go through multiple VHS tapes. When I was 10 I went to the Toy Story double header before Toy Story 3 came out and before the movie started they had a trivia game. I didn't miss one question. Toy Story was basically the Godfather movies to my child hood. I also watched probably one of the saddest movies ever Disney's Fox & The Hound. I really don't know why I loved that movie so much. I still love it to this day. In my top 5 animated films along with Toy Story 2. I also watched Disney's Robin Hood. Robin Hood (besides Luke Skywalker) was my role model growing up. I loved him so much. I wanted to be exactly like him. The last movie I watched on repeat was Monster's Inc. That is my favorite animated film of all time. I can quote that movie from beginning to end. My childhood basically consisted of watching Toy Story 1 and 2, Fox & The Hound, Robin Hood, and Monster's Inc. I guess I just have loved movies from such an early age. They played such a big part in my life when I was young. When I was age 8 my mom started showing me movies like Rear Window, Vertigo and North by Northwest. When I was 12 I went to go see Jurassic Park back on the big screen. That was the real moment when I decided I was really into film.  I was exposed to perfect film making at an age most people usually aren't. I just love movies so much. 

You can sit around a table with people you don't even know and you can bring up Lord of the Rings, The Avengers, Harry Potter etc... and you can have a hour conversation with people you don't even know. That's the purpose of movies. Movies are meant to entertain. Movies are meant to bring people together. To unite people that wouldn't usually talk to with each other. Movies are meant to please us. Movies are there to make me, you, and everyone else experience things that we wouldn't normally experience. 

Jupiter Ascending (Review)

When I first saw the trailer for this movie and I thought it was going to be one of the biggest piles of crap this year. It looked terrible. The dialogue in the trailer was extremely cheesy and hard to listen to, but like every movie I went into it with an opened mind and put all my thoughts about it behind me. I'm kind of glad I did. I enjoyed this movie. A lot actually. There was really nothing to hate in Jupiter Ascending. The things you hated, you really, really hated. One of those things was Eddie Redmayne. Yes he just won the Oscar for The Theory of Everything, but he was freaking awful in this movie. Every time he speaks it sounds like he was lying on his death bed. He was trying to get his lines out with every last breath he had and at random points he yelled only one word. Yes, during his lines he only yelled one word and went back to saying them like he was dying. The other thing to hate was the dialogue. It was terrible. At times during the movie I laughed out loud and got some pretty strange looks in the theater. I tried to contain my laughter and just couldn't. It was just so freaking terrible, but so worth it just because of how entertaining it was. Other than those things everything else I loved.
The acting wasn't terrible. It was actually quite good.
The story was really intriguing. This is a nice, new, original story that we haven't seen before. It also got me really invested in the characters. Go see this movie if you are one of those people who complain about having no original films anymore. 
I can't forget to mention the score. It was so powerful and it had such a presence that it acted like a character. 
The best part about this movie were the visual effects. Holy crap they were absolutely outstanding and breath taking! It was so beautiful. Along with the visual effects, the cinematography made this movie one of the most beautiful movies I have seen in a while. 
The action scenes were really well done. You could actually tell what was going on and there was no shaky camera to get you sea sick. 
This movie really surprised me. I really enjoyed it. This movie deserves a 4.3/5

McFarland USA (Review)

With a movie like this you want it to give you the same thing, but different. A movie that did that, that is similar to McFarland USA is Disney's last live action sports movie Million Dollar Arm. It's a story we have seen so many times, but it was done in such a way that it feels like we haven't. Watching McFarland I was bored out of my mind. I felt like I've seen this so many times before. I almost fell asleep during this movie because it never got me intrigued. There wasn't that element that's supposed to be there during movies that makes you invested, interested in the film. For a sports movie this went by way too slow. During a sports movie the movie must hit certain story points with certain beats in order to keep it interesting to watch. In this movie the certain scenes that needed to have those certain beats didn't have it. Like most movies this one did have a redeeming quality. Kevin Costner. Costner is one of my favorite actors. The scenes which he was in (which is basically all of them) you can tell he was trying to add that beat to the scene in order to make it a watchable scene. By doing that the movie felt unfinished which made this movie hard to watch. The length for this movie was a problem. It clocks in at around 2 hours which shouldn't be a problem, but with the problems I have stated earlier, it felt like a nearly 3 hour movie.

Overall this movie dragged on forever. It moved way to slow for a sports movies. It had a really inspiring story that was poorly executed. If you are a sports movie fan (which I am) a cross country fan, etc... this is a movie you should expect to be disappointed with. 

This movie deserves a 2.1/5.

The Marvelous Spider-man--Spiderman back with the Avnegers?

Ever since this whole MARVEL cinematic universe has started (Iron Man, Captain America, Thor,etc...) people have wondered where the heck is our neighborhood friendly Spider-man? The answer to that was the rights to Spider-man belonged to Sony Studios because a long time ago MARVEL (before they were bought by Disney) was going bankrupt so they had to sell the rights to some of their characters.
Today, people don't have to hope or wish for Spidey to be in the MCU (MARVEL cinematic universe) anymore. MARVEL Studios has come to an agreement with Sony Studios to include Spider-man in their movies. 
The deal that they have made is Spider-man will appear in an upcoming MCU film. All the creative control, all the money, etc.. will go to MARVEL/Disney with this crossover movie. After Spider-man appears in the MCU film, he will be in a stand alone Spider-man film produced by Sony. Anything financial that comes from the stand alone movie will go to Sony. Also with the stand alone film it says that Sony will have complete creative control. 
I call big BS Sony having complete creative control. 
With Spider-man being in the MCU that means his movies are going to have to coincide with what's happening. MARVEL has recently stated that they have plans for the next 10 years. There is no way that MARVEL would let Sony do what ever the heck they want. MARVEL will definitely give them guidelines and story points they have to hit then Sony will be able to cast who ever they want. 
Of course I'm thrilled about this news. It's freaking awesome. However the thing I'm most furious about is that they are recasting Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-man. Garfield is the perfect choice for this role. He is such a talented actor (If you disagree go watch Social Network) and he nails the roles of the both sides he needs to play. I din't like The Amazing Spider-man 2, but Garfield was clearly not the problem with it. Who would I want as Peter Parker? One name I would like to see is Logan Lerman. He is a really good actor and he is the age that MARVEL would want. Another name I'll throw out there is Ansel Elgort from Fault in Our Stars and Divergent fame. Those would be my top 2 names. More actors I could see playing the character is Dylan O'brien from The Maze Runner, and go ahead and call me crazy for this name, but Zac Efron. I think he could pull it off. People seem to forget how good of an actor Efron is. 
Another question this raises is what MCU film will Spider-man appear in? I think the most likely option is we will first see him in an after credit scene in Avengers: Age of Ultron for about 3 seconds. The first full length film we will see him in is probably Captain America:Civil War. In the Civil War comic book story line, Spider-man plays a really important part. For you that don't know the Civil War story line it is about a big conflict between Iron Man and Captain America about if they should reveal their secret identity. Spider-man does reveal that he is Peter Parker at one point and it causes a big conflict. 
MARVEL really scored on this deal. They got the better end of it. They got Spider-man for basically free. If they want to test if characters to see if audiences will react positively to him they can throw that character into the Spider-man universe.
I'm really excited about this news other than the fact the Garfield will be leaving. I've always wanted to see Spider-man fight along side the Avengers in a live action movie.