Jurassic World (2015)

The good news is that it's definitely the best Jurassic Park sequel. It's also, unfortunately, a recycled version of the original. How can you surpass the original Jurassic Park though? You can only hope to copy it well enough.

Jurassic World felt like more of a logical sequel to the vision of the original. There's a lot of direct references to the original, some very clever, in fact. It's basically fast forward 20 years, and despite their previous disasters, they went ahead and built a dinosaur resort on the original island anyway. I loved the design of the new park, too. Let's be honest, if they somehow did create a real Jurassic Park, I'd be saving every penny for my vacation there.

The effects were pretty good as you'd expect. A few times it had that too much CG look, especially on some of the night scenes. I was happy to see some of the new additions, but I was kind of hoping the look would be updated to account for the more current research and theories. This is kind of explained away with a few lines of dialog though, so that didn't bother me too much.

I enjoyed the cast. I was worried that Chris Pratt might have been miscast (I thought the role need a more serious, action type), but I thought he was okay in the role and I thought he had good chemistry with Bryce Dallas Howard. It's more of an issue with the character(s) being really poorly written. It's not just the main characters either, like there's the older brother character that mopes around, not caring at all that he's on an island full of dinosaurs, ran by her aunt, at that. I couldn't buy that as realistic at all.

I think the biggest problem for me was that I wasn't invested in anything that was going on. I never was scared for any of the characters or concerned for their well being. You see enough of these types of movies and know that none of main characters are going to bite it, so that eliminates a lot of the tension. A few things bugged me here and there, like Bryce Dallas Howard running from a T-Rex in heels. Those must of been some super sturdy shoes in the first place considering they never broke despite all the running and falling around. There's a character death that's both unnecessarily brutal and unearned under normal movie rules. When I hear that Colin Trevorrow wanted to rewrite the script, you can really tell. It's very sloppy, and it's either due to scenes being cut out of the film or the script simply not developing things enough. Finally, there's a part at the end that really bugged me, but I can't really say why without spoiling it. Let's just say there's a huge safety concern considering the proximity of something that seems massively overlooked.

I have to say I was a little disappointed, but my expectations were super high. It's entertaining enough though, and I'd say it's still worth seeing in the theater.

3 (out of 5) Death Stars

Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013)

People used to say that Darth Sidious was really short for insidious (and Vader was short for invader).  Then, Insidious comes out and there's that Darth Maul looking dude in it (but not short for mauler, or imaul, or whatever), and I was like, "Hey, what's up with that?"

I have to give credit to James Wan and Leigh Whannell Insidious: Chapter 2 is a genuine sequel to Insidious, and doesn't feel like a cheap sequel made to cash in.  Chapter 2 absolutely requires that you've seen the first.  In fact, I wouldn't even recommend seeing it unless you have it fresh in your mind.  Chapter 2 does a good job of expanding on the story, and it loops back on events of the first in pretty clever ways that I enjoyed.

Unfortunately, Chapter 2 misses the mark as far as actual scares.  The first was a lesson in effective use of sound and atmosphere, while the second relies a bit too much on loud noises and cheap jump scares.  Even when they displayed the title they did it with an ear splitting noise that was actually a little painful to listen to.

It's kind of odd to me in that I liked Chapter 2 for the opposite reasons I liked the first.  When watching Insidious, I was really into the film until it switched gears and they went to the astral-plane where Darth Maul's brother hung out.  With Chapter 2, I enjoyed the film more in the second half when they went back to the astral-plane, and you got the expansion of the story and callbacks to the first.

So what's it about anyway?  After a brief prologue where we learn that Josh was able to astral project as a child and was hypnotized to forget this, Chapter 2 picks up immediately after the events of the first.  Despite recovering their son from the astral plane, Renai (Rose Byrne) is still hearing and witnessing strange events around the house.  Josh (Patrick Wilson), who's already under suspicion for the death of Elise (Lin Shaye), is exhibiting bizarre behavior of his own.  It becomes clear that Josh is no longer himself and something came back with him from the astral plane.  Josh's mother, Lorraine (Barbara Hershey), contacts Elise's old team, as well as the man that hypnotized Josh as a kid, to investigate.  As they discover more, Josh's behavior becomes more erratic and things escalate.

As I eluded to earlier, part of my disappointment in the film is that there was a too much reliance on generic, horror/thriller cliches.  At one point an abandoned hospital is searched...at night.  Why can't they search this during the day when there's more ambient light?  Why do they never bring more flashlights?  I was also disappointed in the lack of an effective villain or imagery.  While I thought the Darth Maul guy from the first was a little silly by the end of the film, at least he was scary looking.  Chapter 2 has a bunch of people in sheets and a totally not-scary woman dressed in white.  This woman in white turned out to be an overbearing mother that was forcing her son to dress as a girl.  Why?  I have no idea!  Why are these two the focus?  Who is Josh possessed by and why?  I don't feel like we got good answers to any of these questions.  Instead of being scary, it just came off as weird.

Since there's no tension due to lack of scares, I felt the pace of the film really dragged, as well.  An hour and 45 minutes seems long considering how underdeveloped the story was.

I didn't hate the film though.  I do appreciate that they are making these films on a tiny budget and not relying on CG or excessive gore.  They even managed to get a few laughs this time around, although some of them may have been unintentional.  The performances were also above average for the genre.  However, I thought the normally rock-solid Patrick Wilson was a little too over-the-top at times.

Insidious: Chapter 2 does a good job of expanding on the story set up by the first, but it unfortunately doesn't have the scares to match.  If you were a fan of Insidious, then I think Chapter 2 is still worth a watch to see how they built on the story, but overall it's a bit of a step down.  I'd recommend saving it for rental and watching Chapter 1 and 2 back-to-back.

2 (out of 5) Death Stars

Iron Man 3 (2013)

Given the choice, I would definitely rather be Tony Stark than Bruce Wayne...

So, it's finally here.  The conclusion to the first Iron Man trilogy, and the beginning of Marvel: Phase 2.  Right off, I can tell you that Iron Man 3 is definitely a step up from Iron Man 2, so if you're like me and was disappointed in IM2 (and thought it suffered from sequelitis), then you're going to enjoy IM3 a whole lot more.

Iron Man 3 is loosely based on the "Extremis" story arc from the Iron Man comics.  I can't claim I'm super well versed in the Iron Man comics, so I can't comment on how faithful it is to them.  I am a little more familiar with the Mandarin though, so I was initially a little concerned about his choice as the main villain for IM3 and casting Sir Ben Kingsley to play him.  I'm a huge fan of Kingsley, so it's not an issue of ability, but in the comics, the Mandarin was of Chinese descent, where Kingsley isn't to my knowledge.  I just didn't think the character was going to translate particularly well on screen.  Comic book purists may be a little upset with how his arc plays out, but I think that that not only did Kingsley do a great job, they actually did a pretty clever twist the character that made it work.  This is one instance where I don't mind that the movie took some liberty with a known comic character.

In the film, the Mandarin is a terrorist that has the world on edge with a series of bombings and menacing threats.  Little is known about him, or where he even is.  Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), on the other hand, isn't too concerned with this yet.  He's been dealing with severe anxiety issues since the events of The Avengers, and can barely sleep.  The only way he can deal with everything is to constantly tinker and build more Iron Man suits.  He's still with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), who's continuing to run Stark Industries.  Some old associates, Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) and Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall), approach Stark Industries about working with them on their Extremis project, an experimental treatment that has a variety of uses.  Meanwhile, Rhodey (Don Cheadle) has been rebranded as Iron Patriot (complete with new paint job) and is tasked with finding the Mandarin.  However, when the Mandarin finally hits Stark close to home, Stark threatens revenge on the Mandarin.

There are issues I had here and there, but in the interest of keeping things spoiler-free, I'll hold back on any specific criticism.  A friend and I were discussing IM3 right after seeing it, and we both felt that many of our complaints were nitpicks.  I think you'll understand what I'm talking about when you see the film.  I'll just say this, if I can accept the premise that a super-genius is flying around in a self-made, robotic suit, with a glowing power source implanted in his chest, then I can accept some of the things that bothered me a little in IM3.  They even made a joke about this in the film saying something along the lines of 'everything changed once the big guy with the hammer landed.'  So yeah, in a universe that has Hulk and Thor, I can look past some stuff.  It's the whole Flying Snowman thing.

The one complaint I can talk about is the ending.  Don't get me wrong, it's action packed and a blast to watch for sure, but there's such an orgy of Iron Man suits that at times you really can't tell who is fighting whom.  There's just a little too much going on, but this is just the kind of stuff that will likely get multiple viewings out of fans, and people breaking down these scenes in slow motion in order to catch everything.  I'll admit that I'm going to be one of these people.  Do you see what I'm saying about the complaint being a bit of a nitpick?  I'm complaining that that super entertaining and explosive conclusion had too much going on.

There are several entertaining action scenes in the film, and despite being over two hours, the film is briskly paced and there's never a dull moment.

As you'd hope, the effects are great!  I love these small, independent films that do what they can with a modest budget.  I saw this on IMAX 3D, and maybe I sat too close to the screen, but I could barely even tell the film was in 3D.  It's still worth seeing in a premium format for the overall look of the film and the sound, but I didn't anything out of the 3D.

Besides the action sequences, another strength is the humor.  As I hoped with bringing in Shane Black, his pairing with RDJ would net us some great, Lethal Weapon-like dialog, and that's exactly what we got.  It's a little mean-spirited at times, but that's part of Tony Stark's character.  It's definitely a contrast from Iron Man 2, where I felt everyone was just smarmy and snarky.  This time it's pretty much contained to Stark, and the overall level of the dialog in an improvement across the board.  Shane Black, along with co-writer Drew Pearce, really know how to write snappy, witty dialog, and Black knows how to get the best out of everyone.  There honestly isn't a weak link in the entire cast, and the chemistry is great with everyone.

Robert Downey Jr. was great as Tony Stark again.  Back when originally cast for Iron Man, I thought it was a perfect casting based on his life experiences.  It's a little interesting to note that he worked with Black on Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which many feel was the movie that really got RDJ back on the path to superstardom (check KKBB out if you haven't seen it).  RDJs contract is up with IM3, so I don't know if this is the last for him and Iron Man, but I really hope it's not.  I've heard RDJ is willing to extend his contract and said he has a few more in him, so hopefully they can keep this going for at least another Avengers and IM flick.  If something doesn't happen though, then at least he's going out on a high note.

Iron Man 3 is a great addition to the Iron Man franchise and picks up from the high note left off by The Avengers.  There are lots of great action scenes, and funny dialog, so whether you're a fan of Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr., or just Summer blockbusters, then you're sure to be entertained.  Don't miss this one, true believers!

4 (out of 5) Death Stars