Jurassic World

Colin Trevorrow, 2015

IMDB

3/5

Basically any boy who grew up in the early nineties saw Jurassic Park. It can easily be considered the millennial generation's Jaws. It's now been 22 years since the original film hit theaters. So Jurassic World is trying to do two things. It's trying to satisfy original generation who grew up with the original, because they are certainly going to the be the ones accompanying the easier-to-please younger generation of kids who already have dinosaur posters on their walls. And who knows, maybe some of these kids have caught the original on cable or figured out how to operate daddy's VHS player. Long shot. I know. Okay, well to be fair it's also on DVD.

One of the immediately pleasant things that you notice with Jurassic World is that it's very self-aware of it's own cultural existence. There are satirical elements at work; displayed by the corporate forces trying to get increased park attendance, clearly poking fun at the whole trying to get movie audiences back in seats to the franchise. It blankets the franchise with a very modern touch. Just like in our own real-life world, the corporate entities are everywhere you turn. There is now a Starbucks in the park. Guys in suits are looking for any possible surface to plaster a logo to create a new revenue stream. Also gone is any of the old school corporate etiquette. We notice quite quickly that the modern day Jurassic Park is a corporate environment where low-totem guys like Lowery (Jake Johnson) can mouth back to their superiors with no real punishment.

Jurassic World ultimately succeeds in what it sets out to accomplish. It revitalizes an old franchise and gets people in seats hoping for some new terrors in questionably secure confinement. There are some eyebrow-raising moments, like when two kids are able to quickly fix a 20 year old Jeep covered in vegetation and get it running in what seems like a few minutes. There are some worn-out themes, like Bryce Dallas Howard's character as the cold corporate woman that we have seen so often in cinema. Because of the attempts to sort of one-up itself in the story and in real-life by creating something new for audiences to see, it actually morphs into more of a monster movie and less of a dinosaur movie. That's okay, because the characters are developed enough that you have some moderate investment in them and you still get some of the classic Jurassic Park touches. If you go into Jurassic World with the right expectations, you will probably walk away from it satisfied enough. It doesn't try to reinvent the wheel, it goes down easy. Especially for someone who was raised on the originals and wants a dose of dino-nostalgia. 

Guardians of the Galaxy

James Gunn, 2014

Can I Stream it?

2/5

A group of space criminals team up to defeat Ronan the Accusor (Lee Pace) from destroying the galaxy with a small orb that he is in pursuit of.

Guardians provides some star-gazey visuals on a scale not really seen since Ridley Scott's Blade Runner. In fact, the movie itself has some of the workings of a modern day Star Wars (mostly due to the brisk battle scenes and diabolical antagonist), but because of the elementary dialogue - it ultimately becomes a not-as-funny version of Spaceballs starring the Blue Man Group. Much of the jokes fall flat, almost as if the closest punch-up writer was literally in another galaxy. To be fair it's a movie clearly written for 12 year old boys. Chris Pratt continues his 2014 campaign of being the Seth Rogen of 2010, or the Zach Galifianakis of 2012. His success is understandable, he has the sort of every-man charm that puts an audience behind it's hero. But on-screen charisma is not given the right amount of fuel to really take it far, like he did in 2014's great/much-more-compelling The Lego Movie. Instead, Guardians becomes mostly masturbation fodder for boys that have grown sick of seeing Zoe Saldana in Avatar blue and now warmly welcoming the idea to see her in green. But while the dialogue weighs the movie down, the cosmic scenery and incredible visuals are probably enough to justify a single viewing. There is a scene in which the ship is cruising through the remains of an old giant which has turned into a mining capital. David Bowie plays in the background as they glide through the glittering metropolis, and the scene is quite spectacular. The movie explores the tired trope of a bunch of characters in pursuit or defending a single item. We've seen it many times: in Men in Black, The Fifth Element, The Lord of the Rings. Guardians will probably expose a new generation of kids to songs that would be better heard while watching Reservoir Dogs, but they will discover that later on in life. But for the adults of the world who endured the two hour watch, it's disappointing that the massive $170M budget was spent on CGI and music licensing and not on better writing.

The Lego Movie

Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, 2014

Can I Stream It?

4/5

Emmet (Chris Pratt) is a very ordinary man. He is happily fulfilling his daily duties at the city construction site when he accidentally stumbles upon the "Piece of Resistance". He soon learns that it's an object designed to disengage a weapon called the Kragle, owned by Lord Business (Will Ferrell); a powerful leader of the city dead-set on solidifying strict order. Because he is the one who discovered the relic, Emmet is considered to be the fabled prophet that old mystic Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman) said would appear to save the Universe from Lord Business' destruction. He is brought to see some Master Builders, people who are capable of building anything without instructions. When they realize that Emmet himself has no creative abilities, they have immediate doubts about his capabilities to fulfill the prophecy.

It's always nice when a film is produced that not only can appeal to the innocent youth, but it can also cater to adults as well on some level. Like so many of the great Pixar films released over the years, The Lego Movie is fueled by solid writing, humor and detailed animation. It cleverly riffs on The Matrix while also maintaining a splashy visual aesthetic similar to 2012's Wreck-it Ralph. An ordinary man, reluctant to believe he may be the most important person in the world, takes on an insurmountable force. A fun take on the age-old David vs. Goliath premise. An underdog story. A collective desire to break free from the shackles of totalitarianism. And the humor hits it's target. The emo-singing Batman (hilariously voiced by Will Arnett). The constant call-backs to Emmet's double-decker couch idea. Green Lantern's (Jonah Hill) relentless pursuit of companionship with the much-resistant Superman (Channing Tatum), quite ironic seeing as the two are paired up in the Jump Street franchise. Many cultural references that never really get old. Not enough can be said about the visuals of the film. The entire Lego universe depicted in the film is so astonishingly elaborate. The colossal buildings. The waves of the ocean. The smoke emanating from the train as it moves down the tracks. Although all of the animation in the film is done with CGI, it skillfully maintains a stop-motion feel and really gives you the impression that the film was made using 3,000,000 Lego pieces that were animated bit by bit. The film hits it out of the park in the final act with a reveal that catches you by surprise. The Lego Movie is an exciting eye-candy-laced thrill-ride that will have you humming "Everything is Awesome" for hours after watching.