JURASSIC WORLD - What's Behind Padlock 9? A Bad Movie

[AndyDursin]

True, but that "who cares" viewer really only applies to sustaining a movie through its opening weekend.

The longer they can hide whatever it is they want to hide (bad movie? spoilers? etc), there's always a method to the madness. It may be that the movie is OK, but if it's not "great," they run the risk of mixed reviews supporting the suspicions people have about this movie based on the trailers (which we all know were not well received).

Ultimately they don't want only fanboys showing up. The movie will open great no matter what -- but long-term staying power will be determined by how good it is. And if it's not good, then they do run the risk of having people go "the ads were lousy, I can wait to see that at home".

Horror movies are a perfect example of the fanboy phenomenon, because they DO open well -- then sink like a stone every time by 60% or more after their opening weekend like clockwork (doesn't matter if it's Evil Dead or crap like the Poltergeist remake). The most obvious exception to that was THE CONJURING -- but that had good reviews and word of mouth carrying it along, unlike most every genre release.

A lot of times studios will let critics see a film and reviews will trickle out weeks in advance, or because they open overseas first. Fox had tons of confidence in SPY, which is extremely well reviewed, and they wanted to get the word out. Apparently ANT-MAN is going to be shown weeks ahead of time -- Disney probably wants to overcome the ambivalence some have about the material, and the movie might be good, so they want to spread the word there also.

Compare those to how Universal is hiding JURASSIC WORLD, as if they have reason to be nervous.

[AndyDursin]

Reviews will be trickling out tonight/tomorrow. Maxim magazine broke the embargo with a 4 star review that also says the film isn't as good as DRAGON HEART (!) and says Bryce Dallas Howard delivers a lackluster performance....lol

[Monterey Jack]

Wow...who remembers Dragonheart?!

[AndyDursin]

Read two reviews already that have mentioned the music and called Giacchino's work "cheap" and "unremarkable". I guess he's now completed his hat trick of scoring STAR TREK, PLANET OF THE APES and JURASSIC WORLD and been unable to provide a decent score for any of them.

Reviews have a few positives but the bad ones are harsh.

[Eric W.]

I'm not surprised. I can't say I had much hope for this to begin with.

[Paul MacLean]

Wow...who remembers Dragonheart?!

I think Dragonheart is best-remembered for all the trailers that re-used Randy Edelman's score!

[AndyDursin]

AP trashed the film:

"The 3-D "Jurassic World" is also an ugly, over-saturated movie; CGI has run amok here as much as dinosaurs. After nods to John Williams' classic original, Michael Giacchino's unremarkable new score punctuates the action...The corporate commentary in the screenplay, by Trevorrow, Rick Jaff, Amanda Silver and Derek Connolly, comes across as heavy handed partly because it's not smoothed by humor. If the modern blockbuster could use anything, it's a rework by a few talented comedy writers. As a control room techie, Jake Johnson lands the only real laugh... lacking the deft sense of wonderment, wit and suspense that guided the original. "

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/ ... 0-09-00-15

[Eric W.]

AP trashed the film:

"The 3-D "Jurassic World" is also an ugly, over-saturated movie; CGI has run amok here as much as dinosaurs. After nods to John Williams' classic original, Michael Giacchino's unremarkable new score punctuates the action...The corporate commentary in the screenplay, by Trevorrow, Rick Jaff, Amanda Silver and Derek Connolly, comes across as heavy handed partly because it's not smoothed by humor. If the modern blockbuster could use anything, it's a rework by a few talented comedy writers. As a control room techie, Jake Johnson lands the only real laugh... lacking the deft sense of wonderment, wit and suspense that guided the original. "

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/ ... 0-09-00-15

All too typical of most of Hollywood's output in recent years.

[AndyDursin]

Reviews are perking up a bit, quite mixed but some good ones now appearing here and there. Good to see, I will check this out when I am back in RI!

[Monterey Jack]

As long as it's better than JPIII, I'd be satisfied (that won't be too hard ).

[AndyDursin]

I'll be happy if it's as good as JPIII. Funny I've noticed you've never quoted Leonard Maltin's review of it for some odd reason! OMG HE LIKED IT AND LIKED IT BETTER THAN THE LOST WORLD TOO!! I'M NOT CRAZY AFTER ALL!! lol

I'll also just try and pretend this movie has a good score, which it doesn't. Unsurprisingly.

[AndyDursin]

Wall St Journal hates it.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/jurassic-wo ... =yahoo_itp

Seems like everyone acknowledges the script is bad and also has elements from the discarded and much derided John Sayles draft about weaponizing the dinosaurs included. Funny how that always stayed a constant in this movies production process thru the years.

[Monterey Jack]

6.5/10

"Oh yes, 'Oooo, ahhh!' that's always how it starts, but later there's running and...screaming."

If all you want is stock characters running and screaming from teeth-gnashing dinosaurs, then Jurassic World is a perfectly decent summer time-waster. It's certainly "better" than the last two films in the series (not as pretentiously finger-wagging and draggy as The Lost World, not as all-around insipid as JP III), with a fairly exciting final showdown between the gnarly new "Indominous Rex" and a pair of unlikely foes doing a tag-team, but Jesus Christ, again with the annoying kids with divorcing parents? Chris Pratt is given little chance to add the comic accents that distinguished his performance in Guardians Of The Galaxy (I can't imagine him as Indiana Jones after this), Bryce Dallas Howard fills out a dirty tank top nicely but is otherwise wasted, and if I never hear the line "This is above your pay grade" in a movie again, I will be thrilled. Even the special effects are no longer tinged with wonder, and while the screenplay tries to fold the increasingly blasé reaction of the theme park audiences to visual wonders that are now commonplace into a cloddishly obvious satirical metaphor for Hollywood in general, it all falls pretty flat. It's all perfectly "okay", but unless you're a kid obsessed with dinos or else an aging geek looking to bliss out on nostalgia for the original, this is something that will play just as well at home.

[mkaroly]

^^I figured as much. I will be staying away from this one.

[AndyDursin]

In a hotel in Virginia. Sounds like I'm not missing much.