Claire's blog

[IMDB link]

RATINGS:
Claire: Netflix: 4.4/5 stars. IMDB: 8.4/10.
Carolyn: Netflix: 4.4/5 stars. IMDB: 8.4/10.
Wolf/Callan: ?
The native public rating for this movie is: Netflix: 4.0/5 stars, IMDB: 7.1/10.

CAROLYN’S THOUGHTS: This was pretty good. It had been years since I saw the first movie, and I never saw the second or third movies. Neither had anyone else in our group. But it didn’t matter, it didn’t seem like we were missing anything by not seeing all of them. The 3-D effects could have been more, but it was fun none-the-less.

CLAIRE’S THOUGHTS: I was totally surprised at how good this was, especially with the other sequels that nobody watched. But everyone seemed to talk about this as if it completely fixed the franchise. I didn’t even know the other Jurassic Park movies existed. I’d only seen the original. But I think it’s pretty safe to say, from a vantage point of total ignorance, that this one (#4) blows away #3 and #2. It was GOOD. Surprisingly good. Surprisingly interesting. Bigger. Bolder. More well-polished. Less-annoying characters. No over-reliance on 3-D gimmickery despite being filmed in 3-D. Waaaayyy more dinosaurs. More interesting dinosaur interaction. Dinosaur-on-dinosaur action. It just had more than what the previous movie(s) offered.

PEOPLE:

Directed by Colin Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed).
Written by Rick Jaffa (Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes movies), Amanda Silver (Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes movies, The Hand That Rocks The Cradle), Colin Trevorrow & Derek Connolly (Safety Not Guaranteed).

Chris Pratt (Her, Take Me Home Tonight, Guardians Of The Galaxy, Movie 43, The Five-Year Engagement, What’s Your Number?, The Lego Movie, 10 Years, Jennifer’s Body) as Owen.
Bryce Dallas Howard (Gwen Stacy from Spider-Man 3, Lady In The Water, The Village, The Twilight Saga 3, Terminator 4, 1 ep of Family Guy) as Claire.
Irrfan Khan (Life Of Pi, The Amazing Spider-Man) as Masrani, the CEO.
Vincent D’Onofrio (Full Metal Jacket, Strange Days, Men In Black, The Salton Sea, JFK, Ass Backwards, 3 eps of Men In Black: The Series, 2 eps of Xavier: Renegade Angel) as Hoskins.
Ty Simpkins (Iron Man 3, Extracted, 47 eps of The Guiding Light) as Gray. the younger kid.
Nick Robinson as Zach, the older kid.
Jake Johnson (Bad Neighbours, The Lego Movie, Drinking Buddies, Get Him To The Greek, Let’s Be Cops, Safety Not Guaranteed, A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, High School USA, 6 eps of Allen Gregory, 2 eps of Drunk History, 1 ep of Bojack Horseman, 1 ep of NTSF:SD:SUV) as Lowery, control-room worker.
Omar Sy (Bishop in X-Men: Days Of Future Past, Micmacs, Mood Indigo) as Barry.
BD Wong (Oz, Jurassic Park 1, Joe’s Apartment, Mystery Date, The Salton Sea, 1 ep of Jackie Chan Adventures) as Dr. Henry Wu, the scientist.
Judy Greer (Cheryl Tunt in Archer, Kitty Sanchez in Arrested Development, Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, Adaptation, The Village, Jawbreaker, 3 eps of Family Guy, 1 ep of Bojack Horseman, 1 ep of Warren The Ape, 1 ep of Robot Chicken) as Karen, the kids’ mom.
Lauren Lapkus (The To Do List, Are You Here, 1 ep of The Life & Times Of Tim) as Vivian, control-room worker.
Andy Buckley (David Wallace in The Office, Horrible Bosses 2, 1 ep of Silicon Valley, 1 ep of Arrested Development, 1 ep of The Single Guy, 1 ep of Caroline In The City) as Scott, the kids’ dad. (more…)

[IMDB link]

RATINGS:
Claire: Netflix: 3/5 stars. IMDB: 7/10.
Carolyn: Netflix: 3.2/5 stars. IMDB: 7/10.
The native public rating for this movie is: Netflix: 3.2/5 stars, IMDB: 6.5/10.

CAROLYN’S THOUGHTS: I was hoping this would be funnier since it had Nathon Fillon and Elizabeth Banks and Michael Rooker [and James Gunn], but it was disappointing on the comedic side.

CLAIRE’S THOUGHTS: This was a fun but formulaic romp about aliens taking over human bodies, with Elizabeth Banks & Michael Rooker from The Walking Dead. We were a bit disappointed that it was billed as a comedy-horror, but was really just a standard horror movie a very small amount of comedy. I think they threw “comedy” into the description just to make people take it less seriously, which is an offensive manipulation, because I don’t consider horror movies to be documentaries anyway. They generally aren’t *supposed* to be taken seriously, or they wouldn’t be horror movies; They’d be the 6-O’Clock-News super-serious dramatic thrillers. But anyway…. The was pretty generic & derivative — but it was still more entertaining than your average horror movie.

PEOPLE:

Written & directed by James Gunn (director of Guardians Of The Galaxy, Super, 1st ep of Troma‘s Edge TV, Dawn Of The Dead, Movie 43, writer of Guardians Of The Galaxy, Super, Movie 43).

Starring:
Don Thompson (Watchmen, 2 eps of Smallville) as Wally.
Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Guardians Of The Galaxy, Dracula 2000, Super, Green Lantern, Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, Saving Private Ryan, 5 eps of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, 4 eps of Robot Chicken, 2 eps of Gravity Falls, 2 eps of American Dad) as Bill Pardy.
Gregg Henry (Super, 4 eps of 24, 1 ep of Firefly) as Jack MacReady, the mayor.
Xantha Radley (The Wicker Man) as Uptight Mom.
Elizabeth Banks (The Hunger Games movies, Miri In Zack And Miri Make A Porno, Fred Claus, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Betty Brant in the Spider-Man movies, Wet Hot American Summer, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day Of Camp, The Details, Movie 43, Pitch Perfect movies) as Starla Grant.
Tania Saulnier (Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, The Wicker Man, 1 ep of Smallville) as Kylie Strutemyer, the teenage girl.
Dustin Milligan (Final Destination 3, 1 ep of Silicon Valley) as Drawing Boy.
Michael Rooker (Merle in The Walking Dead, Guardians Of The Galaxy, Super, Repo! The Genetic Opera, Mallrats, The 6th Day) as Grant Grant.
Haig Sutherland (1 ep of Smallville) as Trevor.
Jennifer Copping (4 eps of The L Word) as Margaret.
Kathryn Kirkpatrick (Brother’s Keeper, Stan Helsing, 2 eps of The L Word) as Karaoke Woman.
Lorena Gale as Janene.
Bart Anderson as Butcher.
Jenna Fischer (Pam from The Office, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, The Brothers Solomon, Blades Of Glory, The Giant Mechanical Man, Are You Here?, Melvin Goes To Dinner, 2 eps of Six Feet Under, 2 eps of Undeclared) as Shelby, the secretary.
Rob Zombie as Dr. Karl.
Lloyd Kaufman as Sad Drunk!!!!! (more…)

[IMDB link]

RATINGS:
Claire: Netflix: 3/5 stars. IMDB: 7/10.
Carolyn: Netflix: 3/5 stars. IMDB: 7/10.
The native public rating for this movie is: Netflix: 3.6/5 stars, IMDB: 7.1/10.

CAROLYN’S THOUGHTS: This was kind of a generic high school movie. It was one of those movies where things built up awkwardly and painfully, but then resolved in a rushed way where everything just happened to get wrapped up in a nice little bow with little repercussions. It was not that realistic overall, but it was good for some laughs. It was fun seeing Jeffrey Tambor so young.

CLAIRE’S THOUGHTS: Exactly what it said it would be. 80’s style.

PEOPLE:

Directed by Phil Joanou (2 eps of Amazing Stories).
Written by Richard Christian Matheson (8 eps of The A-Team, 2 eps of Amazing Stories) & Thomas E. Szollosi (8 eps of The A-Team, 2 eps of Star Trek: Voyager, 1 ep of Rugrats, 1 ep of Knight Rider, 1 ep of Amazing Stories).

Starring:
Casey Siemaszko (Stand By Me, Back The Future 1-2, Young Guns, 2 eps of Oz, 1 ep of The Facts Of Life, 1 ep of Amazing Stories) as Jerry Mitchell.
Annie Ryan (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) as Franny Perrins.
Richard Tyson (Kindergarten Cop, Kingpin, There’s Something About Mary, Me, Myself & Irene) as Buddy Revell.
Stacey Glick as Brei Mitchell.
Jonathan Wise as Vincent Costello.
Jeffrey Tambor (George Bluth Sr. in Arrested Development, Hank Kingsley in The Larry Sanders Show, Hangover movies, Hellboy, Superhero Movie, EuroTrip, Professor Cakes in China IL, The D Train, A Merry Friggin’ Christmas, 4 eps of Archer, 2 eps of 3-South) as Mr. Rice.
Philip Baker (Bruce Almighty, The Truman Show, Ghostbusters 2, Magnolia, The Amityville Horror, Bad Words, 2 eps of Seinfeld, 2 eps of Curb Your Enthusiasm, 2 eps of Baby Blues, 1 ep of The Life And Times Of Tim, 1 ep of Warren The Ape, 1 ep of Children’s Hospital, 1 ep of 3rd Rock From The Sun, 1 ep of Cheers, 1 ep of M*A*S*H) as Detective Mulvahill.
John P. Ryan (Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm, Bound) as Mr. O’Rourke
Liza Morrow (10 eps of Dynasty) as Karen Clarke
Guy Massey (Fred Claus) as Scott Cranston. (more…)