Reviews

As with its predecessors, the real reason to watch a Jurassic Park movie is for the dinosaurs, in this case, Pterodactyls, a giant prehistoric whale/alligator thing, Raptors and the mega-menacing hybrid protagonist. My reoccurring question throughout this film was who told Chris Pratt he could act?? It's literally one of the most lazy, dreary performances I have yet to see in a Summer blockbuster. Bryce Dallas Howard, on the contrary, can act but she is fed dialogue from an uneven script with many awkward attempts at...well... humor?... I'm guessing? The one refreshing role in this film is the one played by Irrfan Khan, yet here again he suffers from a lame script and a one-trick pony of a running joke about him not flying a helicopter well. Despite watching these one-dimensional characters through 3-D glasses, "Jurassic World" is still a semi-fun flick to kick off the Summer. Hopefully it's far from the best of the 2015 Summer blockbusters, however.

I am all for spoof movies but this is one of those that is totally unwatchable - I am embarrassed for the cast, especially those with a smidgen of talent such as Diedrich Bader (get a new agent!) - I stopped watching when the angry bird appeared. I would imagine if this film even had aired in theaters even the seats would have walked out. "Starving Games" falls into the lowest category of spoof films, it's not funny, it's not occasionally funny, it's not so bad it's funny...just plain unfunny throughout. This is further proof that the duo of Seltzer and Friedburg are pretty much THE worst that Hollywood has to offer right now. Anyone even considering watching this film should be warned - it's a complete waste of time.

Cloud Atlas, much like a lucid dream, is a jumbled, confusing, puzzle that also makes sense in it's own mad way. One that you simply cannot take your eyes off of. Beautifully shot, directed and acted, it is an avant-Gard cinematic masterpiece that needs to be seen more than once. Special kudos to Doona Bae and Jim Sturgess, who almost steal the movie in their headliner roles. All of the actors do a wonderful job, however-Broadbent and Hanks are reliably excellent , and Weaving and Grant do a respectable job as villains throughout history. Halle Berry shines and showcases her immense talent. One flaw would be in the narration, where the point that we are all "interconnected" and that our actions impact what happen to us in future lives are drilled into the audience repeatedly. This karmic message throughout the film really goes without saying and the narration is a bit overkill. Cloud Atlas is a rare achievement - producing the same feeling as after one wakes from an epic, confusing, emotional, strange dream. One that makes you want to return.