Big Hero 6 I laughed so much. I want a Baymax sooo bad. :lol:

Happy Friday, meatie peeps ... AND HAPPY BIRFDAY TO MEEEE ... lol ... xo
 

That was next to last film I watched.. and wasn't it a good one ??!! ... lol ... So many laugh out loud moments !! ... I'm a big fan of visual silly/ funny and the film had many moments of that... Just watching Lobby Boy following his boss about... both walking so quickly ... and them going downhill on the ski slope... was wiping tears of laughter ...

Last film I watched was Gone Girl ... I'm not much the Ben Affleck fan ... I find him to be quite the mope... in films... and when he's anywhere at an awards show ... lol ... Anyroad... I had a feeling what had really happened... quite near the beginning of the film ... Can't say what was the giveaway for me... but my feeling was confirmed ... I did have to hang in
to see ... what would happen next... but came away unsatisfied with the ending... though on reflection... perhaps what was gotten... was deserved ... ;) ... lol ...

I saw Boyhood. It was an interesting concept- they filmed it over the course of twelve years with the same actors, so you get to see how they change over the years. Of course, the kids change more than the adults- they grow up over the course of (almost) three hours. Good movie.

How is that one? Is that the one with Melissa McCarthy?

yes St Vincent is the one with Melissa McCarthy. While she is definitely in the movie, Bill Murray and child who played her son carried the movie. I thought it was an excellent movie and Murray was very good in it. It is funny but a bit sad too. Anyway, I liked it.

Focus . Will Smith

We were going to rent this movie this past weekend and the time just got away from us. Maybe we will be able to see it this weekend. I love Bill Murray and am glad he has a big role in the film.

It Follows

One of the better horror movies I've seen lately. In fact, although completely different storywise, this one reminded me in so many ways on the original Halloween movie (my personal all time favorite horror picture) it was hard for me not to like it. Basically it reminded me of the horror movies I grew up with:twisted:

4 out of 5 stars :cool:

The Age of Adaline ( 2015)

I loved this being the romantic and love time travel type movies.

The Jersey boys (2014) Loved this, all those songs I recall by The Four Seasons .
I imagine there is a soundtrack, will get that. excellent and transported me straight back to the early 60's .

Jurassic World

People don't care about making good movies anymore. It's typical for this kind of film. Just throw in millions of dollars on special effects and nobody cares that the characters are 2 dimensional, bad acted and predictable. Unfortunately I care. How sad is it that the cast of this blockbuster movie are out-acted by cgi dino's?

In the end JW turned out to be your regular SyFy channel monster movie. Only with a huge budget on special effects.

my rating: 6 out of 10

These are my exact expectations of that film. You still gave it a decent rating. I had similar experiences with Age of Ultron. Only CGI and the rest didn't matter. Pisses me off cinema is that way now. I did really enjoy Mad Max. Together with Furious 7 best films of 2015 so far. Really hope Star Wars will offer something more because JJ Abrahms last effort pretty much destroyed everything that was ever fun and interesting about Star Trek with all his repetitive story line, the lack of "trekking" through space, all the stupid assed CGI and irritating never really in danger actors.

Talk about sweeping generalisations! There have been some superb films out at the cinemas over the last few years.

I do agree that well rounded characters with intelligent plot lines and solid acting help any film.

Having said that I don't think any of that will affect my enjoyment of this film. I'm expecting the big dumb corporation to make some stupid decisions that lead to Dino chaos. If it delivers that and is tons of fun that's 4 stars in my book. If it is surprisingly well scripted and acted that gets the full 5 :)

Okay so having seen it I agree with your rating and would give it a 3 out of 5. It's better than JP3 and was fun in a very dumb kind of way.

I think what disappointed me the most was the lack of intelligence applied to the script. Given that they've had 13 or so years since the last one I really thought they would have had the time to create something more intelligent. It was so much dumber than I allowed for.

And unfortunately as you say each character has such a disposable and generic back story and character arc that you don't really care about them.

I can't list my specific issues without spoiling it for people.

So just sit back, marvel at the amazing park and animals, and enjoy the ride and the carnage. Then watch the original to see how it should be done.

I saw Jurassic World yesterday and actually thought it was excellent. Sure I wasn't expecting a lot but id easily put it above the two other sequels. Almost as good as the first and I honestly think the best they could have done with what went on before and what people would expect. Decent story and finally some monster madness that made some sense. I'd rate it an 8 out of 10. The working theme park aspect was done in a very convincing way.

Just some quotes from your post and, Andrew, I have to ask... What was the excellent part that made you say 'almost as good as the first'?

Was it the great dialogue? The way the characters were written? The storyline?

the following CONTAINS SPOILERS:

Jurassic Park had suspense and good directing and editing to built that suspense. You can't hardly say JW had either of that There was no suspense as everything was predictable, because of the way it was directed.

Jurassic Park, although extremely fictional, made the dinosaurs credible. In this movie we have raptors being trained like puppies, even teaming up with a T-Rex. And of course the raptors betray the human alpha, only to back him up again some moment later.

The characters of Jurassic Park and JW can be put side to side. From the 2 kids (a clear nodd to the original) to the male/female leads, the owner and the bad guy. And if you compare these characters only the children were more or less equal to the original movie. All other characters didn't just fall flat, they were so poorly written and directed that you can hardly empathyse with them.

The only thing that JW had more than JP is dino CGI. And I can understand you and other people enjoyed the special effects action sequences. It's what blockbuster movies are made of today. And that JW did well. It would have been a good Marvel movie, in that matter :lol:

But put everything aside, I found the remarks about 'almost as good as the first one' a bit odd. And personally I would give movies only an 8 if it has more to it than just some pretty special effects and action. But again, it's typical for todays blockbuster movies. I just expected you to be someone who at least cared for a decent story and minimal character development. Or can you name at least one character in the movie that wasn't extremely 2 dimensional?

Sorry I sound so harsh but your reply really surprised me.

*****Spoilers******

There was much more than effects that interested me here. Seriously if it's ONLY effects I get bored. Age of Ultron is perfect example.

10 Things JW did right imo:

1. It didn't make women seem completely useless. Spielberg intentionally put a strong female character in JP after he made his own wife look completely useless in Temple of Doom. Bryce Dallas Howard helps towards the end (with a nice reference to Dr. Grant's actions in the first film) and isn't as useless as the woman protagonist in Godzilla for example who can't even answer a phone call.

2. Having to wait a little while to see a proper dino in the film, just like JP. Instead the JP theme is effectively used to show the initial areas of the park (just like JP did with the island shots) rather than the awesomeness of a dino.

3. The scale of the park is immense and much better thought out / explored than the first film. There is a hotel, areas where people can walk, merch areas, lines where people have to queue for rides. Ride operators who are a bit clueless because usually everything works perfectly, just like in a real park. It was very effective I thought.

4. The actors seemed to be in danger during the film. Especially the kids in the gyro-sphere. This was similar to the T Rex attack at night in the original film. Compare this to useless Age of Ultron where it seemed like a play with a bunch of super heroes showing up with their awesome life styles and not having anything really to worry about even when Ironman behaves like an imbicillic Dr. Frankenstein and just gets away with it. Mad Max is another great example of a recent movie where actors are in real danger and helps to make you feel more involved and not asleep like Age of Ultron did to me.

5. Several dino attack scenes effectively did not have any music. This worked well to create more suspense in the original T Rex attack in JP and was a great contrast when there is a lot of score used.

6. The music was excellent and original themes were used well. Compare this to piece of shit Man of Steel resurrection which does not contain John Williams' leidmotif and is just utter crap, considering it is Hans Zimmer, it's really bad. Just drums and 5 piano notes. Not to mention everything else wrong with that utter horrendous film.

7. Monster vs Monster fight. Kept to the point and nothing idiotic and long drawn out like in Godzilla (how did THAT director get a Star Wars gig?)

8. Superb references to first film when remains of original park were shown, merch, tools, cars even to the exact location where Grant, Sattler, Malcolm where first overwhelmed when seeing a brachiosaurus. This time the film leads seeing a dying one because of a real monster the lab cooked up. Nice reverse of plot element I thought.

9. Chris Pratt & Bryce Dallas Howard. Good leads and perfect for this film. They don't come with the baggage that some actors have. There was about as much background story to both them as there was to original leads in JP in my opinion. Only critique I have when Claire asks Owen what they should do at end of the film it would have been more fitting to have answered with "we evolve"

10. Final roar of T Rex on top of helipad before movie turns to black instantly. Great ending.

:D

I guess we won't come closer on our siagreement here :D

As I said, we disagree quite a bit and for me this was one of the worse blockbusters because of the very poor script, poor directing and lack of character development (not too mention the incredible aweful dialogue) :-P

I just saw Jurassic World, and I have to say, I tend to agree with Andrew- I enjoyed it very much. I also saw it in IMAX 3-D, so I'm sure that added to the Wow factor, but the special effects were stunning. At points, I felt as if I was right there with the characters, and I even jumped in my seat a number of times. :lol: It kind of reminded me of the original "Jaws" in a way. (The scene with the shark might be a nod to that flick also, it just occurred to me.) Granted, the characters' backstories were not too fleshed out, but I don't think that aspect is crucial to the storyline- I think we know enough (I also get the sense there may be room for a sequel or two down the road). I think there just wasn't enough time to give too much backstory, and to do so would have slowed the movie down. I also agree that all effects and no plot can be boring- I felt that way about the last Transformers movie (and I loved the first one).

I didn't find the training of the velociraptors to be that unbelievable, considering that they are supposed to be intelligent as dinosaurs go (and considering the fact we already believe there are living dinosaurs to begin with).

The strong female character isn't really new; consider Dr. Sattler in the first movie, as well as Lex, the young girl (in the original book, the kids were reversed and the boy was the older, computer-savvy one). Michael Crichton always had strong female characters in his books, but I digress. I've got to agree with Adje on the high heels, though. I found the fact she was still wearing those more unbelievable than the dinosaurs. :lol:

I loved the nods to the original story- I'm a big fan of the first movie, hated the second, and I thought the third was passable, though I thought a large aspect of Crichton's (much more cynical) viewpoint was changed. In that respect, I would put this movie ahead of both of the previous sequels. All in all, I think it's a perfect Summer thriller blockbuster, as I'm sure it will be. There was even a toy commercial mixed in amongst the previews (which included one for a movie called "The Walk", about Philippe Petit, the Frenchman who walked between the Twin Towers on a tightrope, which looked amazing in 3-D).

Yes I enjoyed it too, it was very entertaining, in a light and frothy pop corny type way. But I was hoping for more than that. They've had 14 years since the last one. 14!

** SPOILER ALERT **
I'll actually try and do it without spoilers but just in case...

So things I found disappointing:

* Very little showing of the park being built up into a success, Clare's struggle to make it work, previous successes and failures. This means I have no emotional investment in the park. I want it to fail so I can see the carnage, rather than wanting it to succeed and feeling guilty pleasure when it goes wrong. Also means I don't care about Clare, because while we are told she has devoted her life to the park at the expense of her own life, we don't see or feel it. She should have battled against the creation of something so deliberately violent and been forced to cave in under the onslaught of angry investors.

* No evidence of any human intelligence - not just on the day, but at any time since the original park failed. That IRex should NOT have escaped that easily. There should be AT LEAST double doors, draw bridges, guard towers with effective weapons and well trained guards, moats, bloody great fences etc etc etc. Once the dinosaur is out there should be a swift, skilled, well rehearsed, professionally executed take down plan. And finally, there should be a comprehensive evacuation / safepoint type plan for the visitors, again well drilled. NOT one that just gathers everyone up into one central feeding ground. OF COURSE all these things must fail in order to serve up the fun, BUT they should fail DESPITE careful planning, and the best intentions of intelligent people, NOT because everyone involved is ludicrously stupid.


* The kids were surprisingly well done at first... and then the young one just bursts into tears... about something major and significant that could have been something we could care about... but we have had no hint of previously. As if the writers suddenly realised he didn't have enough back story so lumped something in.


All of the above robbed it of any drama or tension for me - no emotional investment at all. Can't help wondering if there is a longer version with all the gaps above filled in that could be available on Blu Ray?!?

oh and the raptor training is surprisingly well handled at first... but by the end... stretched my suspension of disbelief beyond breaking point.


Stuff I enjoyed...

* Seeing the park up and running. Amazing to see Hammond's crazy dream realised, even if only for a short while!

* Clare's solution to the problem and her (admittedly very predictable) transformation into Lara Croft. I thought Bryce did a great job.

* The mososaur is every bit as awesome as in the trailer.

* Chris Pratt was very good... but he is no Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, or Harrison Ford :)

* The dino carnage was good. Loved the bit where the assistant gets eaten. Yeah it rips off Star Wars and lots of other films but it does it so well. Partly of course because they still get eaten :)

* Vincent D'Onofrio - as always - enjoyably bonkers with a mad gleam in his eye.

* Irrfan Khan - don't think I have seen him in anything before but he was an excellent modern Richard Hammond - sort of a cross between him and Richard Branson actually!


So in summary, very enjoyable, but almost entirely disposable. Better than JP3, no closer than 2/3 as good as the original or 80% as good as part 2.

As you pointed out, the park did have to fail, for various reasons, with the major one of course being that it's necessary in order for the fun to ensue. :-)

From a storyline point, though, remember that the whole theme of the series revolves around the idea that "life finds a way"; these are living, wild creatures, and the stupid humans forget that. Stupid humans also don't learn from previous mistakes, hence they weren't better prepared with security. Though, if we're to believe the premise that life finds a way, it ultimately wouldn't matter. Also, though, remember the dino didn't actually escape at first, she just made them think she escaped, which was actually a trick so that...;)

Remember also Ian Malcom's Chaos Theory- the system was bound to break down at some point.

Claire doesn't care about the animals, or about the humans that much, for that matter (at least at the beginning of the film); to her, it's all about the money, hence the pressure for more terrifying dinos.

Yeah, I don't think the film will win any Academy Awards, but it is a fun movie, IMO.

As I mentioned previously, I'm a huge fan of Crichton's work, and the tone of the original storyline is much darker than the movies have portrayed. Crichton's viewpoint seems to be that just because technology can bring dinosaurs back to life (for example), doesn't mean we should. The character of Ian Malcom kind of represents Crichton, IMO.

This is also why I disliked the second movie as much as I did. Crichton wrote the screenplay for the first, and aside from a few changes, the storyline followed the book pretty closely, though it left tons out (Crichton said he included about 10-20 percent of the book's content). Some parts of the first book and the second came out in the movie sequels, but they changed too much of it for my taste. If anyone is really interested in the whole story and backstory, I'd recommend reading the books ("Jurassic Park" and "The Lost World"). The humans are also much less stupid in the books. ;) One glaring omission I found is that they never really developed Dr. Henry Wu's character- he's a major character in the book. I also liked the character of Muldoon, the game warden; I think he was barely mentioned in the film, if at all.

Slightly off-topic, but I once attended a lecture given by paleontologist Jack Horner, who was the technical advisor for the film(s), and the inspiration for Dr. Alan Grant, and was able to meet him afterwards. Seemed like a cool guy.

I absolutely loved Jurassic World myself. I thought it was brilliant. It was at least better than Mad Max, but then that wasn't really difficult.

Well, I thought Avatar was a horrible movie. Obviously I found Jurassic World terrible... And look how they do at the box office. I guess it pays off to make movies I really dislike :D

I thought Mad Max was awesome. I'd both rate JW and Mad Max 8-9 along with Furious 7. All 3 well thought out movies which delivered imo. Biggest disappointments recently were Age of Ultron and quite a few meh films such as It Follows / Kingsman / Run All Night.

Don't get how you can actually dislike Avatar really unless you don't know what you are in for. It's quite obvious what it's going to be like. It was very typical James Cameron I thought. Aliens / The Abyss and pretty much delivered exactly that imo. It easily has had the best live action 3D we've ever seen in a cinema release I'd say. Imax version was immense. And there's going to be 3 more like it. James Cameron apparently gave thumbs up to Terminator Genisys and the second trailer looks good so that will be the next movie I'll see. First trailer with some random song looked weird. Glad they fixed it.

Adje do they still have stupid breaks at the cinema in the middle of films in The Netherlands? I couldn't stand that nonsense when I was growing up.

I've got to agree- Avatar was the first movie in many, many years that I went back to the theater to see (3 times total), because I knew it could never compare on a TV screen. I thought the story was good, even though predictable, but the visuals were outstanding. The flying scenes in IMAX were unbelievable.

I think it will be difficult for any sequels to live up to the first.