In Retrospect: Jurassic Park Fallen Kingdom

Alright we gotta set the cards on the table, no matter what you see and no matter what you hear, past, present, future, there is exactly one good Jurassic Park movie. Everything else is in freefall.

Even I was shocked I never wrote an in retrospect of Fallen Kingdom cause honestly it had enough stuff to talk about twice. Now I know I dropped a huge spoil bomb in my original review, and even ranked it just below Jurassic Park but in a series like this the majority is flux. I wouldn't say it's good watching it again, I can imagine how many people and critics used the title Fallen Kingdom to get a sucker punch in on the series at that time. I liked two things both of which were seen sparingly in the film, James Cromwell and Daniella Pineda. Everything else was average at best. Daniella Pineda was rad man, full of energy and sass, intelligent, supremely easy on the eyes, her performance was just right for this movie and she did it flawlessly. James Cromwell, I'm never gonna stop praising this man. Though he is in a grand total of maybe 3 scenes, I saw that twinkle in the eye, magic dust, extraordinary effect that Sir Richard Attenborough had in the first two films. No horseshit Jack. I mean the rest of the cast is fine, there's no real bad performances albeit Justice Smith is too geeky and annoying for his own good, but the script needed a few more months to fully gestate. Now as a brainless, summer action movie, that shouldn't be held on any kind of pedestal because it's a Jurassic Park movie, is okay. It keeps up the pace, tension, and action beats rather well honestly but even when the movie tries to have a quiet slow moment it kinda fumbles and I feel the reason is it wasn't that kind of movie to begin with. It's shot competently and has some nice visual moments from time to time, but maaaan does this f***ing director love some dinosaur reveal shots. It could be a drinking game, everytime there is a flash of light or any kind of illumination that shows off a dinosaur for a moment take a swig of alcohol, but I wouldn't want anything to adversely affect your health. I can somewhat appreciate what it does for the characters but it does come off as window dressing nine times out of ten, the dinosaurs are still cool of course and look good yet strangely don't have a strong impact on the film ironically considering it's all about ensuring their survival with some moments thrown here and there. I will say however, I'm not sure if I ever wrote this down in any review since this movie came out but I was severely reminded of the Indoraptor or as I call it the Pedoraptor, like this science project gone horror show has a real fascination with getting this little girl man. It's just weird, first time you see it it runs it's claws through her hair and I'm just like, "That's a f***ing bad touch bro, hands of the no-no zone you creepy bastard." this isn't ha ha funny funny, like it was messing with me guys seriously. And don't get me started on the implications of this girl, my point was clearly made in the review and I think perfectly encapsulates just how off this series got from the tracks. If I had to give it a score, in my original first viewing I would have given it a 7 maybe even 7.5/10 but on rewatch it's dropping. 2 stars, 6/10, Dominion is coming up next so sorry about the short week of reviews, I should scrounge up some stuff for Lightyear so no worries there. I will goddamn well have words if they kill off people in Dominion that's all I'm saying.

I, Robot

All things considered, this has aged well for me.

I watched I, Robot a long time ago, around the better part of a decade since I last watched it and for a movie that entertained and intrigued 10 year old me as well as 25 year old me, I'm impressed. Based off of Isaac Asimov's short stories, this film takes place in the far off future of 2035 where robots have been manufactured and populated to help human beings in any way possible, with the first model of robots being released in 2020 and to be honest I wouldn't be surprised if it came to pass, where we meet Detective Spoony I mean Spooner played by Will Smith who is called in to investigate the death of the mind behind the company who crafts the robots in every facet. Spooner suspects foul play with the electronic beings but as a safeguard all robots are built around three laws, 1. A robot cannot harm a human being under any circumstances, 2. A robot must obey all orders given, 3. A robot must protect itself without conflicting on the first and second laws. Which is what makes this such a fascinating mystery, it creates a logic puzzle for the audience to decipher as we follow our main character who is trying to figure out who killed this man and more importantly why. Now I'll confess I have not read Asimov's stories, though they are on my list with other classic sci-fi stories like Frank Herbert's Dune, and Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. And the movie has really good pacing and plot threads that keep your interest and keep you entertained. You'd expect this to be a sort of Blade Runner-esque world but truthfully it doesn't look super futuristic, hell the only major technological advances are the cars and robots so I'd almost say this is a great introduction to sci-fi movies for people who aren't big fans of the genre. The production is quite good, the cast takes it seriously and puts out good material, there's great shots now and then, the effects are executed well and because the robots aren't supposed to look realistic but more synthetic the CG hasn't aged poorly. I know some people gave a lot of good grief over the action scenes and how they wouldn't belong in a techno mystery, but this was essentially a summer movie and in recent years people have given the film more credit. From the brief research I did apparently the script had a huge rewrite, originally the film was going to be way more cerebral focusing on the detective's paranoia and more intricate complexities of the robot revolution, it honestly sounds so much like Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep the basis for Blade Runner, which is an excellent book by the way you should check that out, but not like in a derogative way but how the stroy progresses and more importantly what it focuses on. And it kinda breaks my heart because it sounds like an underrated sci-fi classic and could have been so much more than what we got, but again I do not hate this movie at all, it's just that the original script sounds so friggin' good. I think this is a totally fine movie, it gives us the mystery solving with a few action beats here and there, Will Smith and Alan Tudyk are the best performances in an already really good cast, the pacing is good, the effects are done well, and the story stays true to Asimov while still doing it's own thing. I give it 3 stars, 7.5/10, and easily my favorite scene is James Cromwell's brief monologue about the ghost in the machine which is a fascinating concept in and of itself and who knows how long that idea has been floating around for, but man do I love this man to the moon and back!

Babe Pig In The City

That was a great sequel.

Yeah...not many people know about the sequel to Babe. The first was a succesful film, not a blockbuster but a succesful film, went on to win an Academy Award for best effects but then, that was it. No one asked for a sequel, and yet somehow I have no fathomable idea how, it got a sequel that went straight to video 3 years after the first! And it's a really good movie, I could even argue it's better than the first but that still needs some thought. So the movie picks up right after the first with Babe winning the competition for sheep herding, but all is not well on the farm afterwards. Arthur gets in a bad accident while fixing his well, leaving him bedridden from his injuries, the bank is ready to take the farm, so Esme and Babe have to visit a world fair to gain money to save the farm, but even that doesn't go well. They miss their flight and are stuck in a massive city, where they seek shelter in a hotel where they keep an abundance of animals of all kinds, even apes. Through too many events to recount and explain, some very heavy and emotional, and one I'd have to warn you could be very traumatizing to your child which involves almost an attack on the hotel where all the animals are captured and put into a facility. Pretty much the most heavy scenes are that scene and the one before, I won't spoil it but it does make you go "Jesus movie, what the heck?" but afterwards when Babe rescues the animals and has one of the most creative and imaginative climaxes to a movie you will ever see, it does have a very happy ending. The characters from the first return full swing from all the animals to Arthur and Esme Hoggett, with famed voice actress E.G. Daily who you might remember as Dottie from Pee-Wee's Big Adventure or Tommy from Rugrats, voices Babe in this movie, but we also get some new characters. The apes are great, with an orangutan who might be my favorite character in the whole movie, and the landlady of the hotel who is without a doubt my favorite character in the movie played by Mary Stein is...incredible. I love her performance. It is unreal how good she is, and I swear I'm the only one who truly loves her in this movie. I'm probably going to lose all credibility as any form of critic when I say this might be my favorite performance of all time. I am so not even kidding. She is that great in my eyes, just the way she carries herself, how fastpaced she talks, and how much she gives to a relatively small character in the grand scheme of things must truly be commended. I think that's why this might be my favorite performance because she takes a role barely bigger than a cameo and brings so much energy and appeal and surprisingly good character development to it, that she really does stick in my mind. I love her in this movie! Hardly anyone has seen this movie and it is highly underrated in my eyes, I could see why someone might like this movie better than the first or they like the first one better. They didn't have to make this. No one was asking for a sequel to the movie Babe. But they made it, they didn't treat it like a cash grab or didn't put a lot of effort into the movie, because they did! They wanted to make a good, entertaining, and wonderful sequel to a great movie. And they highly succeeded. I still have my tape of this movie, still watch it, still love it, still held high in my memories. Give this movie a shot, and please don't tell me I'm crazy about Mary Stein because she deserves so much credit for this.

Babe

How does one describe this movie?

I was thinking a while ago, what movie sort of personifies springtime to me, and I thought about some movies and for some reason this movie came to mind. Green meadows with flowers in bloom, spring rain, animals, almost a celebration of life kind of. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. Babe was one of my favorite movies to watch when I was a little, little kid. I mean when I barely knew how to walk kind of little and it was just one of those movies that stuck with me throughout my life, I do have fond memories of watching it but sadly one day I lost the tape and have never watched it since. So whenever I noticed it was on Netflix I knew I had to see it again, and upon watching with a more I guess developed mind I didn't fully understand all the surprisingly mature and kind of dark subtext. Now this is a family movie but at one point I literally asked out loud with no one in the room but me, "This movie was made for kids right?" because what it deals with, and how it deals with it, and even the more sort of implied moments really made me think. I mean the story is basic, a little pig named Babe is brough to live on a farm by Arthur Hoggett and his wife Esme, and it follows his life there and in a strike of originality genius, the pig learns how to herd sheep, and it leads to this big contest at the end, but by no means is the contest the whole goal of the movie. This movie moves at a very relaxed, very quiet, very slow pace. It takes it's time with these characters and these situations, to where you really get emotionally invested very, very quickly. It deals with emotion, life, death, family, where one belongs, and the idea of choice vs. fate. It's incredibly well acted, with the real shining stars being James Cromwell who really is a terrific man and an actor who sorely needs more work because of how darn good he is, and Christine Cavanaugh as Babe who brings such a kind, sweet, and loving persona to an animal and you want nothing but the best for Babe throughout the entire movie. But when I say every actor does an outstanding job, by God I mean it. Plus, I just love the narrator's voice, Roscoe Lee Browne who sadly passed away has the perfect voice for a movie like this. But seriously though, this movie has some really heavy moments, with not one but two scenes where just thinking about it makes me want to bawl my eyes out, I mean this movie not only tugs at the heartstrings, it plays it like a harp. It's just such a wonderful, humble, just plain nice and pleasant movie to watch although it does make me an emotional mess through the whole movie. It's not a movie that can truly be described but felt. Needless to say I will be buying this movie again, because of how truly great it is. Babe always has a place in my heart, and hopefully it does in yours too.