Tuesday New Releases For Home Viewing! Jurassic World And Paper Towns!

Only two releases to note his week, one was a huuuuuuge success. The other a slight disappointment.

JURASSIC WORLD
Directed by Colin Trevorrow
Screenplay by Rick Jaffa; Amanda Silver; Colin Trevorrow; and Derek Connolly
Starring: Chris Pratt;and Bryce Dallas Howard



Twenty-two years after the events of Jurassic Park, the island now features a fully functioning dinosaur theme park, Jurassic World, as originally envisioned by John Hammond. After 10 years visitor rates are starting to decline, in order to fulfill a corporate mandate, a new attraction is created to re-spark visitor's interest, which backfires horribly.

This film was a very exciting summer film. Right when you hear the great score you buckle on in for edge of your seat excitement!! It flies by, with a good script and the special effects are incredible.
However it comes down to script and casting. Four people tackled the script and they did wonderful. Now,without a good cast being able to look as scared as what we are in the theatre this film can not work:
BRYCE HOWARD, is fantastic as the operator/manager of the park always nervous and seems a bit over her head.
CHRIS PRATT, (Boy is he on a roll) he plays kind of a dinosaur whisperer. He is believable as the everyman, throwing in his fantastic comic timing.
VINCENT D ONOFRIO, is our bad guy and played well. I really do not know if his storyline (Military) was really needed. I think it could have been cut out and the film would have been just fine with the angle of corporate greed and do not mess with science/nature!
JAKE JOHNSON(from New Girl), is our computer guy, funny and clever.
IRRFAN KAHN, How did they get him???!!! From India and one of the finest actors on the planet. I just wish he was on the screen more.
OMAR SY, fantastic as Pratt's right hand man.
LAUREN LAPKUS...I am in love with her. I cannot figure out why she is not a bigger star. Here she plays another IT person.
and then....
TY SIMPKINS, he plays Gray the little boy in peril part. A weak link for sure. I hate to be mean but he can not act. Ugh!!! All these great actors around him and ugh!!And it is such an important role. Kiernan Shipka from Mad Men??!! Kaitlyn Dever from The Spectacular Now??!! Chloe Moretz ...Hit Girl??!! Joey King from the Dark Knight??!! Joel Courtney from Super 8??!! Or my favorite young actress Elle Fanning??!! One of these youngsters had to be available!!!! It is such an important role, how could they miss so bad on this role??!!

Well off my pedestal I go. A fantastic, exciting film. 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.I hope it transfers the excitement well from big screen to the small screen. Also after watching this film, Chris Pratt gets my vote as the new Indiana Jones for sure.

Now this is really important if you have children so important I am going all caps:
THIS FILM IS SHOCKINGLY VIOLENT!!!! STUNNINGLY SO. PEOPLE ARE GETTING RIPPED APART, AND WE ARE SEEING ANIMALS ALSO GETTING TORN APART. THIS FILM REALLY PUSHED THE PG13 LINE.  I LOOKED AWAY OFTEN IN THE THEATRE!!! I REALLY DO THINK 13 MAY BE THE LINE. I SEE NIGHTMARES IN THE FUTURE FOR KIDS 12 OR MAYBE 11 AND UNDER. IF THEY LIKE DINOSAURS MAYBE WAIT UNTIL PIXARS DINOSAUR FILM COMES OUT IN DECEMBER.

PAPER TOWNS
Directed by Jake Schreier
Screenplay and book by John Green
Starring Nat Wolff and Cara Delevingne



Adapted from the bestselling novel by author John Green, Paper Towns is a teenage story centering on Quentin (Wolff) and his beautiful/offbeat neighbor Margo (Delevingne), who loved mysteries so much she became one. After taking him on an all-night adventure through their hometown, Margo suddenly disappears - leaving behind cryptic clues for Quentin to decipher. The search leads Quentin and his friends on an adventure that is a little bit funny and also moving.

I did not read the book, so I went into the screening with out much knowledge of the plot.
The good:
Casting Delevingne and Wolff as the leads were perfect, with great chemistry. The friends on the road trip all with different personalities. Halston Sage (My favorite) as Lacey the understanding and kind friend of Margo. Justice Smith as Radar as the friend who has a girlfriend but is a bit embarrassed of his friends so he tries to keep the two worlds separate. And Austin Abrams as Ben the friend who wants to push the limits, however he is kind of clueless.
 The film also had some small funny bits, that worked and some did not.
Well that is all the good, sadly, just casting and chemistry, and some humor.

Margo is the most interesting person in this movie and she is not on the screen that often. In fact the character development here is really lacking. I have to wonder if there was more to these characters in the book. The movie was about 109 minutes, why not  make the film over 2 hours and give us some character development?  I found Quentin boring, I did not really care about him and he was the lead! Margo, who I still cannot put my finger on whether she is mean and selfish (for leaving without a notice to anyone) or brave (for deciding to live a different life then others expect of her), is an interesting character but not in the movie very much. When she is not in the film, it dies. I could have had the movie twist around and just follow her travels. The film is billed as a road trip of high school friends, I did not see much of a road trip, maybe 15 minutes of the movie was the road trip . Was the road trip longer in the book? I don't know. The film was also booked as a coming of age story, I did not see that at all. Just an oh well, crap happens story. In fact I think The Duff from earlier in the year was a better coming of age film.
Damn!!! I wanted to really like this. It is just a paper town, with paper houses and paper streets and paper people. I would give it a little better than average maybe 3 1/2 out 5 stars. I understand the film is not for me but for teens, still, I did not read the book, and the book was popular and well received, so I imagine too much was left out. It is funny after that tough review I was thinking I would love to have the two leads meet up again in a future movie like 7 years later, ala the Before Sunset Series, and see what became of them (In hope Quentin became more interesting). There is a Margot story that can be told here.


Well as always from the shadows thanks for your time.