scifi

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom



Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is an entertaining, emotional film.

Children in the theater were scared at some points. Adults and kids were tearing up at others (myself included). This movie was an excellent follow-up to Jurassic World and it leaves it open for sequels or side story movies as well.

After the events of Jurassic World, the island has been deserted and the dinosaurs left to live. But the volcano at the center of the island has recently become active and threatens to re-extinct the dinosaurs.

We see some congressional hearings on the rights of engineered animals. We see activist groups lobbying. Claire is actually running on such group. She gets a call form someone working for a Mr. Lockhart – a former partner of John Hammond.

They have a geographically isolated island ready to evacuate the dinosaurs to. They just need Claire’s help to get into the system at the park and Owen’s help to wrangle Blue.

Unfortunately, the operation is not as innocent as it seemed. Claire and Owen’s team get double-crossed and left on the island as the volcano pops its top. Turns out the dinosaurs are going to auction – not the Sanctuary island.

They just barely make it off the island and to the Lockhart estate in time to throw monkey wrenches in the auction.

There is a new engineered dino on the loose. Cloning ethics. Murder for money.

I’m not sure where the franchise goes from here, but I am looking forward to it. This was definitely the darker toned middle chapter of a trilogy – like Empire Strikes Back.

Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rafe Spall, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, James Cromwell, Toby Jones, Ted Levine, Isabella Sermon, BD Wong, Jeff Goldblum

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A Quiet Place

This was an intense movie.

Do not expect answers. We jump into this world 89 days after … whatever happened, happened.

We follow a family who has their routine down to avoid the monsters. From going barefoot to cut down on sounds – to talking in sign language. I do not want to give anything away – just go see this.

The premise of this movie and the implementation are amazing. No words from me will do this justice.

Starring: Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe, Cade Woodward

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Ready Player One



I think most of these stars come from nostalgia alone.

This basically follows the plot of the “Save the Rec Center” style 80s movies. With Big Business tm as the big bad.

I had a lot of fun watching this. The crowd in my theater laughed a good bit. Especially when Chucky shows up.

I have not read the novel, but may need to now.

Starring: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg, Mark Rylance, Philip Zhao, Win Morisaki

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Pacific Rim: Uprising



Pacific Rim: Uprising takes us to a world still recovering from the Kaiju attacks that ended 10 years ago.

We see the current state of the Jaeger program and how it is set to progress. We learn that even with the breach closed, the invaders are not done with us yet.

The trailer gives a lot of the action beats away. You see Jaeger fighting Jaeger. You see Kaijus voltroning themselves together.

Pacific Rim: Uprising is enjoyable enough. But it is missing that touch from the first one. Maybe its the lack of Ron Perlman…

Starring: John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Cailee Spaeny, Burn Gorman, Charlie Day, Tian Jing, Rinko Kikuchi

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Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is an ambitious movie. Perhaps too ambitious. It has a lot of world building to accomplish and that detracts from the narrative.

It did make me curious about the source material.

I honestly think this would work better as a series than as a movie.

Starring: Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne, Clive Owen, Rihanna, Ethan Hawke, Herbie Hancock, Kris Wu, Sam Spruell, Sasha Luss, Aymeline Valade, Elizabeth Debicki, Pauline Hoarau, Barbare Weber Scaff

IMDB Synopsis:
A dark force threatens Alpha, a vast metropolis and home to species from a thousand planets. Special operatives Valerian and Laureline must race to identify the marauding menace and safeguard not just Alpha, but the future of the universe.

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