Lightyear - Film Review

Hi Folks

At the weekend went to see the new film by Pixar. Now Disney Pixar.  Since they started I have loved the Pixar films including the Toy Story franchise.

It's been a while since they have released anything but they have gone back to Toy Story and made a film with the popular character of Buzz Lightyear.

Do Disney Pixar mess up the characters? No. This is meant to be the film which inspired Andy to buy the Buzz Lightyear toy and is a great introduction to him.

Now voiced by Chris Evans instead of Tim Allen, which you can't tell the difference between and is meant to be a different variation of the character.

The story starts in deep space where a colony ship finds a planet which is inhabitable so wakes Buzz up to investigate. In doing so he crashes the ship so the colony have to make home there whilst they create enough fuel to make a hyperspace jump.  Buzz is the one that tests it.  Each time he does he comes back and four years have gone by.

Eventually his friends have died off so he tests it one more time and it works.  He ends up in the far future helping the grandkids of his friends fight a robot menace led by Zurg.

Overall - a great film with stunning visuals. I would say it's Pixar's best film to date.  It has good humour, plenty of action and quite sad at times.  The robot cat Sox is fun and could have been annoying and the voice cast do an excellent job especially Evans.

There is the female on female kiss which has sparked debate but you hardly notice as it's just a peck and part of the characters.

Go see it.

Bels Score  -  10/10

My Score  -  10/10

 

Jurassic World - Dominion - Film Review

 Hi Adventurers

Well here we are, it's been a long ride but the Jurassic era is now over (supposedly).

Starting with 1993's Jurassic Park and it's two sequels, then continuing with the Jurassic World trilogy, the franchise is finally over.

When Jurassic Park first came out, it was glorious to see at the cinema with then state of the art CGI, which holds up better than most films today.  It will always remain a classic.

The sequels as expected, couldn't hold up to it.  Mainly because the initial magic of seeing a dinosaur on screen for the first time had gone.  They weren't stinkers though.  Both Jurassic Park 2 and 3 had their moments. 

Yet the franchise seemed over.

Fourteen years later in 2015 a bigger sequel series came out with Jurassic World, which showed that a park was eventually opened.  That is my favourite of the franchise as it had improved graphics and action sequences.  Plus an even bigger, badder dinosaur.  It was a refreshing take on the original with a solid cast.

Then Jurassic World - Fallen Kingdom came out, which I think was a misstep. Especially as it destroys the island and most of the dinosaurs.  What is left end up on mainland America and out into the wild.

Now this is what annoys me about Jurassic World Dominion. At the end of Fallen Kingdom the dinosaurs escape to the wild, yet there doesn't seem to be many of them.  Maybe a couple of hundred at most.

Dominion opens up and now there's loads of them all over the world!  Only 4 years has past so they couldn't reproduce that quick?

Anyway the film focuses on genetic locusts which are huge, eating all the corn and food supply.  They are created using dinosaur DNA by the bad guy of the film Dr Lewis Dodgson, who is a wet lettuce and in charge of Biosyn Genetics.  The company is also using dinosaurs and their DNA to look at cures for diseases.  The locusts don't eat any Biosyn crops though.

The film has an over convoluted plot and the first hour is set up of the world and bringing the characters of World and the original Park into play.  

It is good seeing Dr Ellie (Laura Dern), Dr Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) and Dr Grant (Sam Neill) back on screen and they have aged well.  It is also good seeing them interact with new cast Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Byrce Dallas Howard), who are trying to protect the clone girl from Fallen Kingdom. 

Sadly the old and new cast don't interact soon enough and only together for the final third of the movie. Similar to the recent Spiderman - No Way Home film.

Overall - a good film with great effects and cast, let down by an over convoluted plot which sees locusts more terrifying than dinosaurs like the T-Rex.  They didn't need that plot and could have simplified it so they had more screen time together.  The newer characters introduced didn't need to be in it much either.  

With some good action sequences and some horror jump scares it is a decent watch and entry to the franchise.  Yet I don't see it as a definite final film as dinosaurs still roam the world and character arcs aren't completed.  It may be me just being fussy.  I think if it makes big profit we'll see a new entry or trilogy down the road.  Maybe Jurassic Galaxy or Planet where they are wiping humanity out and it's an apocalyptic setting.

A nod to the original Jurassic Park film was good. The cream cannister the bad guy used in the film to steal embryos in, which is why the film happens, is in this film. The film bad guy Dr Dodgson has it.  Which begs the question why hasn't he made new dinosaurs before?

Anyway not the best of the franchise and not the worse.  Probably in the middle.

Bels Score  -   8/10

My Score   -   7.5/10

Blog soon folks.

Neil

June 2022 Update

 

Hi Peeps

Hope you're all well and been busy reading and writing.  Apologies for the slightly late update this month.  I'm still bringing myself out of certain slumps.

So  -  reading - finally out of my reading slump thanks to the last 200 pages of John Gwynne's fantastic debut Malice.

I have immediately picked up the sequel Valour! Enjoying it immensely already.

Writing - I've still to write something, but it has been on my mind the last few days.  I've been thinking of The Cubby Hole a lot and decided on some changes.  Either later today or tomorrow I will be dusting down my laptop and will start tapping away!

I will update you on any writing progress.

Other - I'm trying to lose weight and get fitter by eating better and doing more exercise.  Mainly walking for now but hope to join a gym again soon.

I also start a new job later this month - fingers crossed that goes well and may update you all later.

Well enjoy the rest of June and will post soon.

Neil x

Book Review - Malice by John Gwynne

 

Books Read in 2022  - No. 2

Hi fellow Readers

Over three months it has taken me to read Malice by John Gwynne.  Three whole months.

That is not the fault of the book, or John Gwynne's writing.  Both are solid.  The story, world building and characters are well thought out, with great twists and turns.  There is also plenty of action.

John Gwynne's writing is fantastic for a debut author and the novel even won the David Gemmell Morningstar award for best debut fantasy novel in 2012.

The problem has been me.  I've been in a reading slump all year.  I should have realised when it took me two months to read a 350 page Doctor Who book.

I've even took Malice to Portugal and back, yet still never finished it.  The last 200 pages brought me out of my slump as I'd got used to the characters and there were lots of twists, betrayal and action.  Not all the characters we follow survive!

Basically the old God's are coming back to the Banished Lands, the fate of their battle decided between two champions, the Black Sun and the Bright Star.  But who are these chosen ones?

I've spoken to John Gwynne on Facebook and know that one of his author idols is my favourite writer, David Gemmell.

Malice is very similar to a Gemmell book, even more so than Joe Abercrombies First Law books.  

Malice also has a feel of a George RR Martin's Game of Thrones book, as each chapter name is named after the character the chapter is following.  With so many characters it makes it easier to understand which character POV we are following.

Overall - For a debut novel, this is a great start into a fully realised world.  With many countries and Kings to follow, as well as characters it can be daunting at first, but the pace is quick, with plenty of action, giants and monsters.

When I saw reviews of Malice on Booktubes some said it was slow and not much happens! They must have been reading something else, even in the first 150 pages, there are some fights, giants attack wagons, there's betrayal and an angel or a demon.

Now I can't wait for the sequel Valour.

Score  -   9/10  (slightly lower as I took so long to read it.)