Tag Archives: films

Review of “Jurassic World: Rebirth” (2025)

rebirth

© James Pyles

In my last review, I mentioned getting two movies from the public library. The second was Jurassic World: Rebirth. I almost want to say “reboot” because we get a whole new cast of characters, most notably Scarlett Johansson playing the mercenary Zora Bennett.

The film takes place a few years after events in Jurassic World: Dominion (2022) starring another Marvel movie alum Chris Pratt as Owen Grady. Dinosaurs are now sharing the planet with all the other 21st century life forms including humans. However, due to changes in oxygen, temperature, and so on, most dinos are living in areas somewhere near the equator. That’s a convenient way to limit their exposure to people, but it was previously established that at least some dinosaurs can live in colder climates.

Well, this is entertainment.

Spoiler Alert! If you haven’t seen the film and want to be surprised, read no further. You have been warned.

The movie starts in 2008 in a dinosaur genetics lab on Île Saint-Hubert. In previous films, we’ve already seen that audiences got bored seeing the “same old dinosaurs,” so the big money people demanded that the scientists create ever more exciting (and more dangerous) hybrids. The lab has a stupid accident, dropping containment and all hell breaks loose.

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Retro Review of “Thor: Love and Thunder” (2022)

love and thunder

© James Pyles

Strolling around the DVD section of my local public library yesterday, I decided to finally check out the 2022 movie Thor: Love and Thunder. It had the benefit of me not having to pay to see the film.

I have now joined the vast legion of people (online anyway) who’ve gone on record as hating, detesting, and loathing this movie. I almost shut off the DVD at the 12 minute mark and then again at 15. However, I forced myself to watch it just so I could render some sort of opinion.

The only Marvel movie I did stop watching at about a third of the way through was Eternals (2021). I even managed to make it all the way through The Marvels (2023) before totally panning it.

Honestly, if this is the best Director Taika Waititi can do, he can stop making films right now (alas, he hasn’t).

The story starts on a barren planet where a man Gorr (Christian Bale) and his young daughter (played by Chris Hemsworth’s daughter India Rose Hemsworth) are dying. Gorr prays to his god for deliverance which does not arrive. Instead, his daughter dies.

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Review of “Deadpool and Wolverine” (2024)

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Movie poster for “Deadpool & Wolverine” (2024)

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Yesterday (as I write this) I went to see Deadpool and Wolverine (2024) in the theater with my teenage grandson. We had a blast.

Oh, if you haven’t seen the movie yet and want to be surprised, I do not promise a Spoiler free review.

The following is in a flashback while Wade is fighting

With his relationship with Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) on the rocks, Wade (Ryan Reynolds) attempts to join the Avengers around 2018 and interviews with “Happy” Hogan (Jon Favreau) not getting as far as “the big guy” (implying Tony Stark). Hogan turns him down because Wade is motivated by his own needs rather than the needs of others.

In the present day, we see him as a used car salesman alongside his endlessly optimistic “wingman” Peter (Rob Delaney). Wade sucks at that, too but it’s all he has. Wade still lives with Blind Al (Leslie Uggams) and taking his friend home, Peter lures Wade into his surprise birthday party (the guy’s a Merc and would be incredibly difficult to surprise).

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This is NOT a Review of “Poor Things” (2023), but…

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Photo: Yorgos Lanthimos. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures – Emma Stone as Bella. Yeah, that’s an infant brain transplanted into a woman’s body.

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I’m sure I’ve heard about the movie Poor Things (2023) before. I guess I just wasn’t paying attention to how vile the plot was. I hadn’t given it a thought at all until I read the Bounding Into Comics article OPINION: Hollywood’s War On Men Is A War On Their Audience.

Poor Things…

is a 2023 science fantasy black comedy film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and written by Tony McNamara. It is based on the 1992 novel by Alasdair Gray. The film stars Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbott, and Jerrod Carmichael.

According to Wikipedia (I know, I know), the plot goes…

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Review of “Top Gun: Maverick” (2022)

mav

© James Pyles

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So I finally got a chance to watch Top Gun: Maverick (2022) on Blu-Ray last night. Excellent film. It’s not the sort of movie I would normally review for a science fiction / fantasy blog, but it’s just so much fun.

I haven’t seen the original Top Gun (1986) since it was in VHS in the late 1980s (yeah, I know) and I remember almost nothing about it. I was worried that would cause me to have problems understanding the current film, but that wasn’t an issue.

After all, the movie had to appeal to young audiences who had probably never seen the original. There were enough cues to point back to the first film and make plain how those events were attached to what’s happening in the “present.”

Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is apparently living in a dilapidated aircraft hanger endlessly repairing a vintage P-51 Mustang. He’s also test piloting an experimental aircraft as a contractor for the Navy, a plane that’s supposed to be capable of flying Mach 10 (roughly 7672 mph/12348 kph).

He’s only supposed to test the craft at Mach 9 on that day but the project is about to be scrubbed by Admiral Cain (Ed Harris) who wants to divert funding to an unmanned experimental aircraft.

Maverick, out to save the project, launches and achieves Mach 10 over the Admiral’s orders, but then exceeds that speed and destroys the aircraft. Apparently, he’s able to bail out without dying (this movie frequently violates the laws of physics), and before Cain can ground Maverick, new orders come in for Mav to return to the Top Gun naval aviation school we saw in the first movie.

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Why Is It Hard To Make a “Superman” Movie?

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What happened to the Man of Tomorrow? (Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images)Getty Images

Just finished reading an interesting article at Forbes called DC Films Still Doesn’t Know What To Do With Superman. Apparently, the relatively recent successes of Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and now Joker haven’t rubbed off on the Man of Steel.

In fact, Dani Di Placido, who wrote the Forbes story said:

But the future of Superman is murky, the studio reportedly unsure how to make the character “relevant to modern audiences.”

Like my previous commentaries on Captain America and particularly my two on Superman, HERE and HERE, he appeals to audiences across time because his values are timeless. How does “timeless” ever become irrelevant?

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Haven’t Seen “Endgame” Yet and Other Updates

endgame

Promotional poster for “Avengers: Endgame” (2019)

No, I haven’t seen Avengers: Endgame yet, and unless I go with my sons and grandson, I probably won’t see it in the theater. Yes, I’ve heard it is THE film to see, blowing away all of the other Marvel superhero movies, so I’m certainly stoked. I know my ten-year-old grandson is stoked. Hopefully, if I see it while it’s in the theaters, I’ll find a way to sit through a three plus hour film without a potty break.

I’m not particularly interested in spoilers, but given various complaints about how last year’s Avengers: Infinity War ended, I did write a commentary with a few predictions, though of course, I wasn’t (very) seriously suggesting that my crystal ball was any better than all the others.

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