Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

First Hit: For something as overly done and complicated as this, it was a drag to watch.

This is another example of a franchise pushing it too far and getting minimal results.

The first opening scenes, when two guys are underwater sawing off a bone of a dead dinosaur and a guy on land, guiding them, was cartoonish although it wanted to be something else. They are sawing off this bone so that the DNA can be used to create more dinosaurs.

The island where the dinosaurs are currently living, Jurassic Park, has been over run (see last episode) by these very same dinosaurs. No people live on the island and it is no longer an amusement park. However, all of the dinosaurs are in danger of dying because a volcano on the island is starting to erupt.

Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell) has come up with a plan to transport several of the current species from this erupting island and put them on another island he owns. They identify something like 13 dinosaurs to move. I couldn’t help but notice that they only wanted 1 of each, so my mind went to; how are they going to propagate on this new island without a mate?

Unbeknownst to Lockwood, his company manager, Eli Mills (Rafe Spall), has other ideas. Mills is planning to use Lockwood's money to move the dinosaurs but to a place where he can sell them to the highest bidder. He’s also working with Dr. Wu (BD Wong) to genetically engineer some new species from the DNA of the captured dinosaurs and the bone that was captured in the first scene.

Under the belief that they are supporting Lockwood’s plan, Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) help Mills capture the dinosaurs. The were recruited because they know the Jurassic Park Island and Owen raised "Blue" (a Velociraptor) and may be the only one to get the raptor into a cage for capture.

To add some comic relief and younger actors, Franklin Webb (Justice Smith) and Zia Rodriguez (Daniella Pineda) are brought on the expedition because Webb is an IT wiz and Rodriguez is an accomplished physician for dinosaurs. Webb’s fear of everything resulted in lots of screaming by him which got old after his second scream.

Meanwhile, the original director of Jurassic Park, Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), spends his time arguing in front of Senate committees. He doesn't want to save the dinosaurs and is in favor of letting them die from the volcanic eruption. He suspects that there will be trouble if they are saved.

This is enough of the story line setup to say that things go bad for everyone’s plan and that is where the action takes over. Unfortunately, the only thing good about the action is that CG dinosaurs look awfully cool. The detail in their skin and movement is outstanding. However, some of the actions, like a dinosaur tapping its long-clawed toe on the bedroom floor, is too human of a movement and came off as silly.

Pratt does action, quirkiness and smart-alecky remarks very well. He’s well controlled in his body and always has enough wherewithal to make his character believable. Even in a boring dumb film such as this, he makes his character work. Howard is mediocre at best. She never looks the part of scientist or activist and she doesn’t come off as intelligent. Spall was OK as the guy who was out to make money for himself. Cromwell had a very subdued role and his performance reflected this. Goldblum plays the wiseacre know it all and although it is his signature type of performance, it would be nice to see him really act sometime. Pineda was strong as the young woman whose intent was to save the dinosaurs. Smith’s role was silly, and it made him look silly. Isabella Sermon did an excellent job playing Lockwood’s granddaughter Maisie, however there is something behind the curtain. Ted Levine played Ken Wheatly the tough guy carrying out Mills’ orders and always wanting to be paid. It is actually a good thing that he got his just deserts. Derek Connolly and Colin Trevorrow wrote this overly complicated moving into boredom script. J.A. Bayona did what he was told, action at all costs, and also throw in some tongue in cheek funny moments and quips.

Overall: This film is a disgrace to the franchise and isn’t worth the money spent on it or the price of admission.

Hotel Artemis

First Hit: Who says Hollywood cannot create a unique and well-acted film.

It’s the future, 2028, and L.A. is caught in a huge riot. However, inside the Hotel Artemis, on the top floor, there is a place of chaotic serenity – a place held together by rules – a place run by The Nurse (Jodie Foster).

Rule 1, you must have a valid membership to enter The Nurse’s establishment. The establishment is a few rooms in the Penthouse at the top of the Hotel Artemis where she fixes up members, mainly criminals, who have been injured.

Helping her is an orderly; Everest (Dave Bautista). I was entranced in his character the moment he points out that as a health professional he has the right to do certain things.

Together they manage the calls that come in for a room or medical assistance. When someone calls, she checks to see if she has a room and if she does, they can be admitted if their membership is valid by scanning their arm next to a scanner in the barred off lobby of the Penthouse floor. If the wound is serious, Everest may be called to help escort the patient to the Penthouse floor.

Each person who’s admitted is called by the name of the room they occupy. In Waikiki is actor Sterling K. Brown who is there because his brother in room Honolulu (Brian Tyree Henry) was shot, bleeding badly, and also happens to have a heroin addiction. Staying in the room Nice, pronounced like the city in France, is an assassin (Sofia Boutella). In Acapulco (Charlie Day) is a healing local thug who thinks he’s above everyone.

The story begins with Waikiki and Honolulu being admitted to Hotel Artemis because Honolulu has been badly wounded. Their running mate Buke was not admitted because his membership has lapsed and the scene where Everest escorts him out of the hotel is excellent.

We watch with fascination as The Nurse goes to work as she fastidiously works her healing magic on patients using a fine marriage of skill and technology. Also we see the intense interactions between Nice, Acapulco and Waikiki in the bar that also set up part of the plot.

We learn that “The Wolf” (Jeff Goldblum) runs L.A. and is the one who set The Nurse up at the top of this hotel for this purpose and to be there when he needs her.

As the story unfolds and The Nurse learns that The Wolf is on his way, all the players have their part in this story of revenge, redemption and freedom.

Foster is sublime in this role. She’s perfect as the fastidious nurse who wants to play by the rules, has a past sadness, and is afraid to go outside of the hotel. Bautista is profoundly excellent as The Nurse’s bodyguard, fixit man, and orderly. I loved his character. Brown is excellent as the guy who’s upended his life for his brother and continues to support him, no matter what. Henry is good as the shot junkie brother. Boutella is outstanding as the assassin. Her intensity and clarity of movement during her scenes were wonderful. Day was great as the kind of person you don’t want to like. His ability to portray arrogance and racist leanings were perfect for his role. Goldblum was wonderful as The Wolf. His supreme attitude towards his stature in L.A. worked perfectly. Drew Pearce wrote and directed this unique story. Kudos for trying something different when all Hollywood can seem to do this throw up retreads of past stories.

Overall: I fully enjoyed this unique story and the excellent acting by all the actors.

Isle of Dogs

First Hit: I liked the premise and animation a lot, however, there were scenes that were not needed which made this film longer than needed.

Director Wes Anderson creates quirky and interesting films. Here, Wes uses stop-motion animation to create a world that, at times, reflects current events. The film references earthquakes and a power plant failure that spread radiation. All events that happened in Japan.

The general plot is that Mayor Kobayashi (voice by Kunichi Nomura), mayor of Megasaki, is a cat person as are his immediate family and his ancestors. However, dog lovers have been ruling Megasaki and therefore dogs reign supreme in Megasaki. Coming into power Megasaki sends all the dogs to “Trash Island,” a place where trash is piled up.

The reason he states is because the dogs have a disease that cannot be cured and eventually it will affect humans.

Atari Kobayashi (voice by Koyu Rankin) is a young twelve-year-old boy who wants his dog Spots back. He commandeers a small plane and crashes it on Trash Island. He runs into a pack of dogs Chief (voice by Bryan Cranston), Rex (voice by Edward Norton), King (voice by Bob Balaban), Boss (voice by Bill Murray), and Duke (voice by Jeff Goldblum, who decide to help him find Spots.

Many of the scenes were fun to watch and extremely well developed. However, scenes like when the dogs in the overhead lift going through a destruction and crushing building were not needed. It added little to the overall suspense and only created a unneeded scene and added to making the film longer.

The personalities of the dogs were great and a wonderful combination of animal and human points of view. This held up well. The focus of a boy’s love of his dog works. And when it comes forth that all dogs love twelve-year-old boys was perfect.

Rankin, Balaban, Norton, Cranston, Murray, Goldblum, and Nomura were wonderful in their voice characterizations. Anderson and Roman Coppola wrote a wonderful script although there were scenes that could have been cut to make the film crisper. Anderson’s direction was excellent although some scenes were unnecessary.

Overall: A strong and entertaining film in a format we don’t see very often.

Thor: Ragnarok

First Hit: Found this film and story to be silly and having a mediocre plot.

I know I’m not the target audience for superhero adventures. What I find is that the more films are made about these superheroes the less plausible they become. The fantasy kingdoms have no basis in anything relatable and with the stupidity and/or lack of depth of most of the characters, I check-out while watching them.

Here we have Thor (Chris Hemsworth) who is being imprisoned by a fire demon named Surtur (why, how and so what), learns that his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) is no longer in his home world of Asgard (why, how and so what) and that everything is going to be succumbed by the prophecy of Ragnarok. This prophecy tells of the death of the gods including Thor because he’s the God of Thunder. This might be a good thing as these characters are getting long in tooth and stretched far beyond their original purpose. More importantly, they aren't interesting any longer.

Breaking free, he discovers that his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) has been posing as their father Odin in Asgard. Together they endeavor to find their father Odin. In comes the older sister Hela (Cate Blanchett) who is the goddess of death and tells Loki and Thor that she’s taking over the kingdom of Asgard.

From here it just gets bad, we have flights of fancy to a planet called Sakaar where Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum) holds court. He pits Thor against Hulk/Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) in a fight to the finish. Then they meet a drunk Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) who relinquishes her drunken lost ways and decides to fight the good fight to kill Hela.

Was there anything I liked? The tongue-in-cheek stuff was OK, but this film is all over the map in time, space, and story.

I didn’t care about any of the characters. I thought that many of the sets were fun to look at. Didn’t think the story was compelling or interesting. I wondered by Blanchett and Hopkins would do these parts. The constant battles are the same everywhere and there’s nothing new under the sun here.

I was left thinking; why can’t someone get creative?

Hemsworth did what he was told. There’s no real acting here, just a modern man playing a god and losing his hair along the way. Wondering if he gets his hammer back in the next movie. Ruffalo was OK, nothing interesting in this role for him. Thompson was adequate to the role. Goldblum was his over the top Goldblum – when will he actually act as something other than a smart-alecky buffoon. Blanchett was good, but I couldn’t help but wonder why she took this on. Hopkins, obviously, does things for money in some cases and this is one of them. Hiddleston was OK as the evil brother. Eric Pearson and Craig Kyle wrote a very mediocre, lackluster script. Taika Waititi threw everything at the audience and the outcome was how much shit actually stuck on the wall? Very little.

Overall: I’ve got to quit going to Marvel films because it is too hard to make the story work with what I see on the screen.

Independence Day: Resurgence 3D

First Hit:  Could not buy into the story let alone the characters.

Leaving well enough alone is appropriate more often than not. The first film was far more interesting and entertaining.

Here we have a rehash of the same old story embellished with stale lines of bravery being spit out left and right. Jeff Goldblum (as David Levinson) is a key character and has become the headmaster of tongue in cheek dialogue. then there is the rebellious hero, Liam Hemsworth (as a risk taking reckless pilot named Jake Morrison), who makes good on his bad-boy image.

We also have the previous film's hero, Dylan Hiller (Jessie T. Usher) who has to figure out how to forgive Jake so they can work together again. The basic story is that the alien invaders, who were defeated by earthlings years ago, didn’t like it so they came back to suck earth’s molten core thereby destroying it.

Because their weapons are far superior to ours we stand no chance. However, our willingness to fight and will to survive, gives us a way to figure out how to defend our planet. This is an old boring story and, as I said earlier, the producers needed to leave well enough alone and not destroy and create distaste about the brand.

I will not comment on individual performances – it isn’t worth the time. Nicolas Wright and James A. Woods wrote a very tired, uninteresting, and a retread of a story. Roland Emmerich directed this the best he could – it just was more about creating big scenes of bravery and little about people.

Overall:  This film was clearly done to capitalize on the first film and the Fourth of July date the USA celebrates their independence.