Jurassic World

I was very excited to see this movie!  I still remember watching the first Jurassic Park movie when it was released back in 1993 – 22 years ago!  Wow, has it really been that long?!  While this one doesn’t compare with the original – not even close, it was at least entertaining – and better than the other sequels for sure!  And even though I liked all of the original actors in the series, it was fun to have Chris Pratt being the “hero” in this one.  The story has a new theme park being built on the site of the original Jurassic Park – with new attractions and even a newly “created” dinosaur – the Indominus Rex.  Don’t they know you shouldn’t do things like that?  Maybe they don’t know what else to do with the series, but it felt like they were trying to recreate the original movie a little bit with newer, improved computers and technology – and thinking they’d learned their lesson from the first time around, but, of course they hadn’t and aren’t as bright as the original creators of the park.  It did feel a little bit “dumbed down,” like many movies these days, but I still enjoyed it and liked being transported back in time – even if it was only 22 years back…

Jurassic World


As I watched this movie it had a familiar feel to it like I had seen it before – oh that’s right – I had seen it in the Jurassic Park movie!  It’s been over 20 years since Jurassic Park but this movie was like a throwback to it.  I’m sure in some respect, it was giving props to the original movie; which in itself was great.  There was nothing like it at the time.  Jurassic World on the other hand just seemed like a second rate movie compared to the first.  Everything felt familiar to me even the storylines. They created bigger, meaner dinosaur’s, they escape, kids are lost in the park, the dinosaurs come and wreak havoc everywhere and we know in the end the guy is going to get the girl.  Not to say this was a bad movie – it was decent.  But I guess nothing still compares to the first and most of the time, the best of the movies.

Everest


Wow!  This movie was INTENSE!  It’s about the true-life story of a group on an expedition to the top of Mount Everest.  The struggles for these people range everywhere from just trying to climb to the peak all the way to actually surviving the trip.  And if that wasn’t enough, they have a huge storm to deal with that hits just as some of them are beginning their descent.  Watching the movie, it seems almost insane to think of a person wanting to put themselves through this kind of torture and abuse just to say they hiked Everest!  I thought the producers did an amazing job of capturing just how hard this journey was – from the photography and camera angles to the climbers and their families and everything in between.  After watching this film, I have a whole new appreciation for the people who have made this climb, along with those who have never made it back.  This is another one that hasn’t been released on DVD yet, but was such a good movie, I just needed to tell the story.

The Martian

I know this one is still in theatres, but just felt like posting about it with all the hype it’s been getting.  First off, I did like this movie.  A lot.  I thought Matt Damon did a great job as an astronaut left stranded alone on Mars.  Besides just needing to figure out how to survive, he had to try to find a way to make contact with NASA and possibly be rescued.  In doing all of this, he was incredibly resourceful!  Especially for being the only one on the planet for a very, very long period of time.  I guess I’d say my only “issue” with all of it is that I was thinking I would feel a little more “despair” or times of hopelessness through the movie – maybe like the film Castaway, only on Mars.  It seemed more upbeat than I thought it would be, which isn’t a bad thing, just not quite what I was expecting.  I’m sure he had his down moments, but maybe that wouldn’t have been as fun to watch as him trying to grow potatoes and listening to disco music that was left behind.  There was a good balance, but just felt like it could have been a little more intense overall.  I really did like it – just more in a “fun” disaster-movie kind of way…