Midweek Movie Free Talk

Jurassic World: Rebirth

AMC screen unseen, Regal Monday Mystery Movie, and whatever other equivalents had this as the showing. It was confirmed the Thursday before so I immediately got tickets for it. This makes it the biggest film to be part of one of these, the last one of these I did was Spirited back in 2022.

I liked this a lot. The Jurassic World films are a somewhat guilty pleasure of mine. The strongest of the three is Fallen Kingdom (the one not directed by Colin Trevorrow) since it actually looked like a real film instead of a Super Bowl commercial.

I’m glad they got a director known for his visuals on this one. They also brought back Koepp the screenwriter of the original Jurassic Park. Koepp’s been having a bit of a career renaissance thanks to his work with Soderbergh (Kimi, Presence, and Black Bag) and this continues his positive streak.

It’s very much an old school blockbuster. Edward’s is imitating Spielberg with the way he moves the camera and Koepp brings his signature corny writing into this (good corny writing to be sure). There are so many tense moments, the humor works without being self-aware fourth wall breaking (like most of the jokes in the previous Jurassic World’s were).

It’s also a shame that this is the one film in this franchise that will not be getting an IMAX release because it’s one that really deserved to be seen in the format.

I gotta say I’m shocked at the mixed response to this so far. It’s easily the second best of the franchise (better than Jurassic Park 2 imo). At the very least it’s better than the Trevorrow trilogy.

It’s also a shame that this will be the lowest grossing of the franchise again thanks to the damage Trevorrow did to the franchise.

Just got back from discount movie night with the wife. We saw a movie that I had been excited for since I saw the first preview a few months back - 28 Years Later. Don't worry for anyone wanting to see the movie, this will not contain major spoilers.

I loved 28 Days Later easily my favorite zombie flick. 28 Weeks Later was...fine. It left the franchise wide open for people to whatever they wanted, so no hate. My expectations, I would say, were fairly adjusted. Rarely do I ever hype movies up anymore since it usually leads to disappointment. My wife and I left the theater and felt...unfulfilled? Its hard to describe our feeling. Disjointed is another way we would describe it.

Let me start - the world building 9/10. The simple/quick retcon to "fix" the virus making its way to mainland Europe was a bit hand-wavy to me, but I looked past it. Right off the bat you could feel this world, like the others before it took itself seriously. Newly infected, no one is coming to rescue folks, you are alone. The threat is real.

The characters, from the start were really solid. Young coming of age boy and his dad striking out. The relationship seems respectful albeit a bit authoritative but that seems par the course given the state of the "world". Stakes are high and they do a great job of building the tension. The mom has an illness which adds some depth to everyone relationships, the villagers all seem to have enough background to make the story feel alive.

After the big "outing" this is where things kind of take a turn and unravel for me. New characters get introduced/dropped in and don't contribute to the plot in any meaningful way. Some are kind of clunky-ily pulled in and out of the story. The anxiety is gone, so is the danger. The tensions seemed to have evaporated. I felt like there was a lot of forced cinematography that felt a bit like it was trying to be avant-garde, but not in a way like 28 Days Later. The pacing is kind of all over the place as is the timing of travel. The actions of some of the characters runs completely counterintuitive to anyone who has lived in or was raised in this kind of world. Felt very forced. My last gripe was the ending. There had been hints throughout the entire film, but those were about as subtle as a hammer to the knee. Oh yeah and there is a lot of dick. Like un-godly amounts of hanging hogs and they are not shy about showing it. So, uh, be prepared.

So, I really enjoyed the first half of the film and then it kind of fell apart in the back-half and I found myself being bored with what was happening and frustrated with how characters were acting. I kind of wanted more, but I'm not really sure what could have been done since it feels like most of the world had been explored in the first two films. Oh yeah and there is a lot of dick. Like un-godly amounts of hanging hogs.

Anyways, did anyone else see it? What did you think?!

The Criterion Collection is rumored begin it's summer half-off sale this Friday. Is anyone else excited?

Been inactive in these threads for a long time so here's some quickfire reviews of stuff I've watched recently:

Ballerina - 7/10

Very deserving Wick spin-off, Ana de Armas does a great job and is despite her stature very believable as a hitman and assassin. Movie was 20 minutes too long but did the franchise justice, being better than John Wick 4, maybe even 3 too.

Black Bag 6/10

Entertaining, Michael Fassbender was really good, but it also somewhat meandered through its runtime which at 1h30m was appreciated as that's rare nowadays.

Anna - 3/10

Very bad. The main role is a horrible actress, looking like a stick, a 50 kg model - the complete opposite to movies like Ballerina, Atomic Blonde, Red Sparrow, etc. Just an incompetent film.

The F Word - 7/10

Beautiful relatable heartfelt movie albeit a little too satisfying towards the end.

True Romance - 5/10

Didn't live up to its hype at all. Maybe just aged poorly.

Malcolm X - 5/10

I'm happy I watched it since I barely knew anything about him. Don't know how true it is to history or him as a person, but it should not have had the runtime of 2 movies. Just found myself getting so bored - it should have been at least an hour shorter.

Mistress America - 7/10

Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig are some of my favourite people in Hollywood (Gerwig less so now that she's moved onto giant blockbusters), their style being so good in these coming-of-age movies of theirs from the 2010's - Frances Ha and Lady Bird being favourites. This one had a couple of things missing but still a nice and cozy watch.

The Brutalist - 6/10

The first half was a 9/10, and then after the intermission it just went completely off the rails, second half being maybe 3-4/10. I have no idea what they were thinking.

The Accountant 2 - 5/10

First one was a 8/10 for me but this did not do it justice in almost any way. Didn't feel like a sequel, not even like a spinoff, not even like a sequel in spirit. Didn't have great interactions like those that the first one had between Ben Affleck and Anna Kendrick. Cheesy moments too - (spoilers! Stop reading!) - saving a schoolbus full of children? Are you serious!?

The Amateur - 7/10

Now this was good! Felt like a spiritual successor to The Bourne Identity but of course no movies can really live up to that standard (a very rare 10/10 for me). Good spy thriller, a couple of shortcutted contrivances, bad guy Stormtrooper aim moments, but definitely recommend.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead - 5/10

I easily could see what's supposed to be good about it, and why people would like it, but it just didn't land for me, just kind of boring, but still passable.

I did this last time I got out of a theatre so I'm gonna do it again, I just got home from a showing of Cabaret at the August Wilson Theatre in NYC with my SO, it was absolutely incredible and thought provoking and beautiful and sad. I went in knowing a bit of the show, watched some of the Alan Cumming version on Youtube, but even knowing a bit of it I was hit SO hard. Orville Peck as the Emcee was intense, present, and intimidating, and his performance was insane. Eva Noblezada walked right past us in the opening number! (if you read my last post about my discovering of Hadestown, you'll know this was a big deal for me) Her performance was incredible as well, incredibly tragic and moving and thought evoking. My SO went in blind, it was a surprise for her birthday, and she was also incredibly moved.

I can't stop thinking about how important this piece of media is in general, especially nowadays. The scenes immediately after the intermission made my heart stop, and it really made me stop and think about life right now. To some, life is beautiful (if you're not paying attention).

this is a rant... not a lot of actual meat here...

I thought about going to the theatre to watch the F1 movie tomorrow. Between IMAX, DBOX and all of the other stupid add-ons, the cheapest ticket is $25! Absolute madness. Also, the last thing I want is for a movie theatre to spray their grey water at me in the name of 'experience.'

Mind you, I don't enjoy the theatre anyway. The sound is never right, one theatre near me often has the wrong framerate somehow, so its interpolated... how this is possible is beyond me. The new fancy seats aren't great for my long-ass legs, either. I watched Top Gun: Maverick (terrible film) standing in the hallway going into the theatre.

Anyway, $25 is nuts. The only way I'd pay $25 for a movie is if it was The Deer Hunter and Cimino himself was resurrected and sitting with me... and I got a piece of wedding cake.