Jurassic World (6/10): Leave it to Chris Pratt to rescue a franchise along with his raptor buddies.

“You just went and made a new dinosaur? Probably not a good idea.”

This review of Jurassic World is brought to you by Mercedes Benz and classy high-heel running shoes. After the success with his sci-fi indie film, Safety Not Guaranteed, Colin Trevorrow was given the reigns to direct the fourth installment of the Jurassic Park franchise. With the help of his collaborator, Derek Connolly, he co-wrote the script based on Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver’s story. It was a pretty risky move considering Trevorrow hadn’t worked on a big budget film before, but with all the product placement included here you can tell he was probably very restricted and controlled by the executives. But I’m not going to complain about that because if you think about it Jurassic Park also had tons of product placement and that is one of my favorite blockbuster action films of all time. Jurassic World tries to pay homage to the first film ignoring most everything that happened in the sequels and once the dinosaurs are set lose it succeeds in doing so. The set-up was probably unnecessary and by far the weakest part of the movie as most of the characters here were uninteresting and we could’ve done without the introduction of so many of them. Fortunately Chris Pratt shows up soon enough with his domesticated raptors and saves the movie from derailing entirely from its rather stupid plot. He’s the new Indiana Jones and he can make the dumbest screenplay seem cool and entertaining. He delivers the perfect amount of comedic relief and has some great actions scenes to carry the movie. The dinosaurs are spectacular as always and there were a couple of thrilling scenes, although Michael Giacchino’s score never matches the brilliance of the original (there is a cool piano cover of the original Jurassic Park theme however that delivers plenty of nostalgia to fans). Jurassic World doesn’t live up to the high standards set by the original which was a masterpiece, but it’s as slightly satisfying a sequel as the rest of the films in the franchise. I wouldn’t go as far as saying it is better, but Chris Pratt does make it a lot easier to enjoy.

So Jurassic World is set some 20 years after the events of the original film. John Hammond’s vision of a dinosaur theme resort has been functioning for over a decade now in Isla Nublar. Unfortunately the attendance rates in recent years has been dropping as the enthusiasm and novelty of seeing these live beasts has died down a bit. The owner of the resort, Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan), has ordered his scientists to genetically engineer a bigger and meaner dinosaur knowing that this will spark more interest. Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) is in charge of organizing and managing the park and one of her responsibilities is making sure this new dinosaur remains contained. Simon asks her to talk to Owen (Chris Pratt), one of the on-site staff members who’s in charge of conducting behavioral research on Velociraptors, and ask him to give his opinion on the safety of the creature’s new home. Owen had no prior knowledge of what these scientists had been doing and is not happy about the management’s decision, but before he has time to do anything the creature escapes and now they must alert the thousands of people who are at the park that a dangerous dinosaur is on the lose. Claire’s nephews, Gray (Ty Simpkins) and Zach (Nick Robinson), happen to be visiting the park and of course they don’t pay attention to the warning and are left stranded near the danger zone. Claire asks Owen to help her find them and thus the thrills begin. 

There are several other characters in this film that aren’t given much depth. It’s a shame because a talented cast including Vincent D’Onofrio, Jake Johnson, Omar Sy, BD Wong, and Judy Greer are entirely wasted. Johnson has some fine scenes and it’s cool he got to wear a Jurassic Park vintage t-shirt, but his character didn’t have much to do really. The entire plot revolving around D’Onofrio’s character felt recycled from the first sequel and was quite silly. Omar Sy, I love him, but he wasn’t given anything remotely interesting to do. The two kids in this film are as exciting as watching two brothers who don’t get along. I’ve already said that Chris Pratt is the saving grace of the film along with the dinosaurs, but he also has some great scenes with Bryce Dallas Howard as well. She’s perhaps the only other redeeming character in the film although at times it felt like she was trying too hard to be Jessica Chastain. It’s kind of hard to feel that same level of suspense we all got from the first film when there aren’t many characters to root for here. Fortunately the film doesn’t take itself too seriously and it ends up being a lot of fun and the less you sit down to think about it the more fun you will have watching the dinosaurs hunt down the visitors. I think that Trevorrow knew the premise was silly and used the genetically engineered dinosaur story as an allegory as to what the audience wants from a sequel: They’ve already seen the dinosaurs and are getting tired of them, so why not give them a more threatening one, and so he did.      

My Review: Insidious (5/10)

"You may be a superhero, buddy, but you're not invincible."

Insidious began with a lot of promise and several scares, but midway through the film it began to lose its appeal and it went downhill from there. James Wan's The Conjuring was one of the best horror films I've seen this decade and I can see how certain elements from this movie (especially the first half involving the haunted house elements) were perfected and used with greater effect there. Wan knows how to scare audiences creating an eerie atmosphere and uses the camera effectively. Despite the interesting premise, I did have some issues with the characters which wasn't a problem for me in The Conjuring. Patrick Wilson was great in that film, but here I felt he had very little chemistry with Rose Byrne. There is one scene where the alarm goes off and he finds the door from the main entrance wide open. He closes the door and sets the alarm on again only to hear it go off a few seconds later and find the door open again. Despite everything that is going on in the house he still doesn't believe his wife and thinks she's overreacting. Even if he didn't believe the ghost story then at least he should've called the police because someone is forcing the door open and sounding off the alarm. I just found it hard to believe he would go back to sleep after that. The characters weren't developed very well, but the scares still worked during the first half of the film. Unfortunately the second half doesn't live up to the standards set during the first half. The final act instead of being scary ends up being laughable, and it is a problem I find with most horror movies nowadays which don't know how to connect the gran finale with the suspense and the tension they've been building.

Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai Lambert (Rose Byrne) have recently moved in to their new home along with their two boys Dalton (Ty Simpkins) and Foster (Andrew Astor), and their baby daughter. Strange things begin to occur in the house, and one afternoon Dalton suffers an accident in the attic. He seems to be fine, but when Josh goes to wake him up the next morning he doesn't awake. The doctors can't explain why, but somehow he seems to be in a coma. They decide to bring Dalton back home as he remains in coma and strange things continue to happen. Renai begins hearing voices through the baby monitor and finding blood stains in Dalton's sheets. She begins seeing strange presences and her son Foster claims to be hearing Dalton walking through the hallway at night. Convinced the house is haunted, Renai asks Josh to move again and so they do. At their new home strange things continue to happen, so Josh's mom, Lorraine (Barbara Hershey) decides to intervene. She had a similar experience with her son Josh when he was younger and gets a group of paranormal investigators led by Elise Rainer (Lin Shaye) to come intervene. That is when things begin to get a little freakier. 

One of the major problems with this film is that screenwriter Leigh Whannell (who worked previously with Wan in Saw and Dead Silence) by trying to stay away from the cliches of the genre takes us to unexpected places during the second half of the film. For instance, he thought it would be great if the family left the haunted house instead of staying there like in other horror films.This should've been a good thing, but Wan was creating such an eerie atmosphere with the classic haunted house formula that somehow it backfired here. The creepy moments that were beginning to scare me completely abandoned me when we got to the new home and the paranormal investigative team began their astral projection talk. This really took me out of the movie and truly disappointed me. The scares were gone and everything became sort of laughable. I think the reason why I really loved The Conjuring is because Wan went back to the classic formula and stuck to the haunted house elements which were working so well for him during the first half of Insidious. I don't think this is a terrible film, but the ending was so disappointing I don't really feel like watching the second film. 

My Review: Iron Man 3 (8/10)

¨Ladies, children, sheep... Some people call me a terrorist. I consider myself a teacher. Lesson number one: Heroes, there is no such thing.¨

Iron Man 3 is the first film following the events of The Avengers, and if you wondered if the movie was going to lose entertainment value considering it shifts the focus back to only one superhero, you were wrong. Despite not having all those great characters together, Robert Downey Jr. manages to capture the audience’s attention once again with his vibrant portrayal of Tony Stark. He has been the main reason why I´ve enjoyed these films so much because they are just a perfect fit. New director, Shane Black (Lethal Weapon), who worked with Downey in Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, knows that the secret to the success of this franchise is letting Downey be himself and focus on his character. In this third film Starks is stripped down of his toys and questions whether or not he is worth anything without the suit. The Nolan effect which has been a key element in superhero movies is present at the beginning of the movie. We see a much more vulnerable Tony Stark, who is suffering from panic attacks due to the events in The Avengers, and who makes mistakes like putting his beloved Potts in danger due to his big mouth. This first part of the movie didn’t work very well because it felt like a different kind of hero, but the effect wears off real quickly and Starks is once again back to his normal self once he realizes he is what makes the suit and not vice versa. Having his character stripped of his toys and having to manage to depend on simple things once again to defeat his foes is what made this film so entertaining. It was like if Stark had to go back to the basics and rediscover himself, although he never loses his goofiness. The villains in this film were also a huge improvement from its predecessor. This might not be as great as the original Iron Man, but it is an improvement from the first sequel. Black did a decent job following Jon Favreau´s work and he manages to keep the franchise afloat.   

Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) has to face a new set of villains in this third film which takes place after the events of The Avengers. A terrorist who calls himself The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) is terrorizing the world through several explosions across the globe. Meanwhile Tony has found himself absorbed trying to perfect his suits and may have crossed the line trying to overprotect his love interest, Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). The reason behind his obsession is that he can´t afford to lose what he loves most. When Stark threatens The Mandarin, his army destroys his home leaving him for dead. Stark has to hide out while he figures out more information about this terrorist. He discovers some information about an AIM program run by Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) which seems to be involved with the well known terrorist. Without being able to use all his equipment and technology, Stark is forced to use his intellect and capabilities to defeat his new enemies, while at the same time trying to protect Potts. Along his quest he makes some new friends, like the young boy named Harley (Ty Simpkins) who helps gather some materials for him to work with, and counts with his always reliable friend, Rhodes/War Machine (Don Cheadle). Rebecca Hall also has a small role in this film as Killian´s assistant, and Paul Bettany lends his voice once again to Jarvis.    

As you would expect, the visuals in this film are great and the action sequences are also very entertaining. The two hours go by in a flash thanks to some decent pacing. The franchise doesn’t bring anything new to the table, but it still offers some great summer popcorn fun entertainment. Iron Man 3 is the perfect way to start off the 2013 summer and we can only hope the rest of the films keep this streak going. I loved the little twists and turns the film takes here by making you think it is going to be so much darker than the rest of The Avengers, but then all of a sudden it returns to its playful self. The Marvel universe is one that doesn’t have to be taken so seriously because we have fun with the lightness of the characters and situations. The entire spin with The Mandarin was incredible. I wasn’t too pleased with the opening minutes of the film considering Stark was much more vulnerable and not as fun as his usual self, but once he got his confidence back everything seemed to play out really well. Black is a master at mixing some great action scenes with tons of comedy (Lethal Weapon and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang are proof of that) and we see it once again with Iron Man 3. Downey Jr. continues to deliver with his clever lines and charismatic self. He is the only reason we need to want to go see this movie.

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