Pages

Saturday, December 7, 2019

The Russo Brothers Address Avengers: Endgame Spoilers After Someone Recorded A Movie Screen With Their Phone And Now We All Have To Stay Off The Internet

The Russo Brothers Address Avengers: Endgame Spoilers After Someone Recorded A Movie Screen With Their Phone And Now We All Have To Stay Off The Internet
Iron Man officially back in Avengers: Endgame

So, I was on Twitter this morning, minding my own business and hanging out with the people I choose to follow, when suddenly I was blindsided by Avengers: Endgame spoilers. Didn’t see it coming, just showed up on my screen like a surprise middle finger from Thanos. I, of course, bailed once I realized what the hell was happening. Not to make excuses, but it was early and my brain was not fully cognizant enough to play effective defense on the quick. I digress.


That’s on me. I should know the Internet by now. It’s a dark place full of terrors, and the second you start absent-mindedly scrolling through random tweets, you open yourself up to all manners of deranged thought and filth. Deep down I'm aware of that, but normally if you screw up it's just infuriating conspiracy theories or gross thoughts that shouldn’t have ever been typed. An Endgame spoiler is so much worse, and I just didn’t see it coming, not after how hard Disney worked to keep everything quiet on this.


The Mouse House has spent the past year guarding Avengers: Endgame spoilers with a level of care and zealous dedication I’ve never seen before. Journalists who attended the junket only screened 20 minutes of the film. The trailers have avoided the blow-by-blow rehash of the plot so common in today’s give-everything-away-to-sell-tickets approach. It’s all been very organized and careful. And then someone casually took a shitty video of the screen with his phone (or her phone in case it's a woman out there who's the worst), and now other people on social media are having their mornings ruined too because trolls, in typical troll fashion, are just passing all of those spoilers along.




We’re not going to run the spoilers. We’re not going to tell you what’s in the spoilers. We’re not going to point you in the right direction of the spoilers. Hard stop. People spent years of their lives and insane amounts of money... I can’t even imagine how many soccer games were missed and family dinners had to be pushed back in order to try and end this thing properly. It was a monumental effort, and whether it ultimately lives up to my expectations or not, I want to learn all the secrets as they were intended to be revealed. I think most of you probably feel the same way. The Russo Brothers definitely do.


In fact, following this news this morning, Joe and Anthony Russo came out of the woodwork and pulled a similar stunt to the one they pulled ahead of Avengers: Endgame last year: They asked anyone to keep anything they know and anything they learn quiet until the movie is out and they have someone else who has seen the movie to share it with. But don't take it from me:


As for the jerkoff who took the video… I’m not a big lecture person, but how did this seem like a good idea? Disney gave you an advanced screening of Avengers: Endgame. You should have acted like a normal human being and just used all that knowledge to tease your friends about having all the answers. That’s the play here. There was an easy way to get validation without resorting to this. Now I’m sure an army of smart people at Disney are on your trail, and this won’t end well.




So, to sum up, there are spoilers out there. Someone took crappy cell phone videos. People are sharing the videos because trolls gonna troll, and maybe we should just all avoid using the Internet for like 10 days. We could read books or do crossword puzzles or become people that knit. I’ve heard good things about knitting.


Regardless, everyone has a choice here, all you have to do is keep your wits about yourself. Maybe mute all your friends that suck for a few weeks. Buy a bomb shelter and move down there. If you have a job that requires working on the Internet, maybe just quit. Do whatever you need to do. I ended up on the wrong side of this, and it’s a lot less fun over here.

7 Weird Things That Happen In Fast And Furious Films We Just Accept

7 Weird Things That Happen In Fast And Furious Films We Just Accept
The Fast and The Furious Crew

The Fast and Furious franchise is one of the most popular franchises in Hollywood, and it doesn't take long into one movie to understand why. Big budgets are blown on fast cars, heart-pounding action and exotic locales, and each installment seems to be even bigger than the last. We're even at a point where spinoffs are happening, as Hobbs and Shaw is set to premiere later this summer.


When a franchise is so successful and as loved as the Fast and Furious, fans look past or forget some of the weird things that happen in these films. I'm not saying they're bad, stupid or even problematic, but it's safe to say there's a lot that happens regularly in this cinematic universe audiences tend to accept even though that's not how things fly in real life. There are plenty of examples, but here are some big ones that stand out.


Fast And Furious Characters Regularly Exhibit Insane Feats Of Strength


It's kind of funny that Hobbs and Shaw will introduce strength-enhancing suits to the Fast and Furious franchise, as the movies have already established one doesn't need one to exhibit superhuman strength. Like, remember that time when Dom lifted a car in Furious 7 so Brian could get underneath it? What about when Hobbs obliterated an interrogation room throwing a criminal through walls and the ceiling?




Hobbs actual exhibits superhuman strength a lot, as Fast and Furious has gone to some pretty extreme lengths to show he's strong. Flexing his broken arm out of a cast was pretty damn impressive, but what about when he used his concrete cell wall as a punching bag while he was in prison in The Fate of the Furious? He did absolutely no damage to his hands, and even managed to run through a horde of prison guards shortly after.


The Characters Converse In Separate Cars And Shouldn't Be Able To Hear Each Other


This weirdness is primarily seen in the early Fast and Furious franchise, and seemed to stop around Fast & Furious 6 when someone thought to give the characters walkie talkies. Before that, however, one will regularly notice characters taunting each other and engaging in dialogue during a race, despite the fact that there's no established way either one can hear each other.


Now, one may say "well they used Bluetooth," and that's something I tried to justify until I found out Bluetooth wasn't a standardized feature in cars until 2010. Now, no doubt Dom and crew had the wits and know-how to get a hold of the tech and get it installed, but then we have to assume each mission/race started with everyone getting together for some massive three-way call situation just to talk shit. Again, it's not unbelievable, but not realistic.




A Chunk Of International Incidents Can Be Solved With Expensive Cars


The Fast and Furious universe has seen its fair share of disasters that Dom and his crew weren't up to the task for, I'm sure, but to think that they've been needed for so many jobs these past two decades is just insane. At what point does a villain just dedicate their time to creating a fortress that can't be accessed by vehicles?


Granted, that's a pretty tough task considering the franchise has had its heroes drive across skyscrapers, over ice and through forests. Hell, they've even air-dropped into locations, so unless the villain is hanging out on some densely forested remote island, Dom and his crew has a good shot at being tasked with taking them down. Cars are a big part of this franchise, of course, but is there ever going to be a situation where they can't use them?


The Casualties In Fast And Furious Films Are Numerous


One thing The Fast and Furious films often skirt around is that as successful as Dominic Toretto and his crew often are, they tend to leave quite the body count in their wake. Bad guys are a given, and while we don't know much about the faceless minions that hang out with dastardly villains like Owen Shaw, we can assume they deserve it.




But like, what about the scores of police officers and special agents that have their cars destroyed in the early films? Are we to assume they walked away like Dom and Jason Statham's Shaw did when they rammed each head on going top speed during a game of chicken? For as many bad guys as these characters have killed, a close eye may notice they've inadvertently killed quite a few innocent bystanders as well with little acknowledgement after the fact.


Jumping Into Moving Cars Apparently Always Works


By this point in the franchise, nearly every character in the Fast and Furious movies has had to jump from one moving object into a car. It's typically a vital situation of life or death, and to the credit of the characters, there's little reason not to considering they all have a 100% success rate in performing the action.


In case it needs to be said, jumping into a car is an incredibly dangerous feat, and probably shouldn't be the go-to option for anyone needing to escape a vehicle/locomotive/giant plane. In fact, there's a couple times in the movies where a simple tuck and roll to the ground may have been the better call. It certainly would've been when O'Conner dove from that train into Dom's car, which then drove off a cliff into the river below.




People Constantly Joke About Roman's Big Head, Which Is Pretty Average


Tyrese Gibson's Roman is often the butt of the joke throughout a lot of The Fast And Furious movies, and is frequently insulted by other members of the crew. Around Fast Five, Tej made fun of him for having a big head, and that's an insult that's interchangeably been brought up between jokes about his stupidity or cowardice.


Here's the thing though, Roman's head is very clearly the same size as many of the other characters in the Fast and Furious world. So either everyone else has a big head that everyone else chooses to ignore, or everyone has a normal sized head and the whole big-headed insults are lame disses that don't even make sense. Audiences can decide for themselves which is true, but let's maybe ease up on calling Roman big head in future movies.


Characters Are Frequently Experts At Whatever They Need To Be For A Situation


Remember when Tej used to organize street races in Miami, and now he's a tech expert/safe cracker/martial artist? Hey, respect to him for being so diverse in his skill set, but he's a classic example of how characters in Dom's crew all have one specific skill, until a scene comes up where the expert is occupied and whoever is there has to do it.




Everyone is a capable fighter, marksman, driver and perhaps with the exception of hacking, everything else that any other character is known for. They're all essentially miniature Dominic Torettos, with Dom of course being the ultimate Dominic Toretto. It's handy considering it means most every member is capable of having their own spinoff, and remarkably convenient considering these seemingly normal people are all so damn talented.


Fast And Furious 9: What We Know So Far


Are there any other weird things about The Fast and Furious franchise that need to be called out? Mention it in the comments below and continue to stick with CinemaBlend for all the latest news in movies and television.



Universal Studios Is Getting A Secret Life Of Pets Attraction

Universal Studios Is Getting A Secret Life Of Pets Attraction
Secret Life Of Pets

Theme parks are never finished and there's always going to be something new on the horizon. While it used to be that theme park attractions came long after movie properties had shown long term viability, that's frequently not the case anymore. The Secret Life Of Pets has become the newest example of that, as the title will be getting its own attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood, an announcement that comes two months before the movie sequel is set to debut.


The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash will open at Universal's Southern California theme park sometime in 2020. While only a few details about the ride were revealed, one very interesting one is that it will actually be an attraction that actually uses ride vehicles on a track. With so many new attractions at multiple theme parks being focused on 3D glasses and screens, its nice to see the occasional traditional dark ride still show up now and then.


However, it sounds like the plan for The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash is to make more than simply a traditional dark ride, it's being called an immersive experience, which is an oft used phrase with theme parks these days, that will see guests in the role of stray puppies, that will join Secret Life of Pets characters, Max, Snowball, and more, as everybody tries to find a permanent home.




There's no question that The Secret Life of Pets was a very successful movie. It grossed over $875 million at the box office in 2016 and spawned the sequel that will be out in June. It's far from shocking Universal Studios jumped on this one. The Secret Life of Pets did better at the box office than the first Despicable Me movie, and that franchise also spawned a Universal Studios attraction before it spawned two successful sequels and an even more successful spinoff.


And speaking of Despicable Me Minion Mayhem, the new Secret Life of Pets attraction will make its home right next door to its fellow Illumination property, between it and the Minion themed Super Silly Fun Land play area. That area currently contains a few Despicable Me themed food and merchandise locations. I reached out to Universal Studios Hollywood and have confirmed that the new attraction won't require the closure of any of the existing locations, even temporarily.


Even though the park may not have all the space in the world, it's doing a great job dedicating a nice little corner of the park to Illumination. One wonders if an attraction dedicated to Sing, a movie that also made more than a half billion dollars, and has a sequel on the way, might be getting its own theme park show before long.




I would expect to see The Secret Life Of Pets: Off The Leash in about 12 months time, give or take as it will likely arrive before the summer vacation rush hits Universal Studios Hollywood.

Friday, December 6, 2019

Why Harry Potter Fans Are Now Mocking J.K. Rowling With X-Rated Tweets

Why Harry Potter Fans Are Now Mocking J.K. Rowling With X-Rated Tweets
Jude Law as Albus Dumbledore and Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes

The Harry Potter fandom has turned on Fantastic Beasts writer J.K. Rowling, however temporarily, after her latest comments on the sexual relationship between Dumbledore and Grindelwald. It doesn't seem to be a torches-and-pitchforks kind of backlash, more of an eyeroll "here she goes again" kind of frustration from fans tired of the author adding extra details on characters outside of the books and movies. Show don't tell, Jo!


Some of the fan tweets tried to make serious points on sexuality and inclusion, and actually practicing what you preach. Like this one:


But most of the tweets tried to make the same points about oversharing and pseudo-representation through jokes, often using the same format -- no one asking anything, followed by J.K. Rowling revealing something pornographic about a Harry Potter character. Like this:





J.K. Rowling was trending over the weekend as fans tried to outdo each other with sex-related jokes, mocking Rowling's habit of revealing new information about characters outside of the books and movies. Her latest comments mentioned a "sexual dimension" to the relationship between Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald when they were younger.


Some fans weren't happy because they want to keep sexuality out of the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts stories. But many more fans weren't happy on the opposite side -- because they see it as cheap for J.K. Rowling to keep adding details like this in interviews while never actually putting any real representation in the books or movies. If Dumbledore and Grindelwald had a sexual relationship, why keep talking about it now instead of adding it to the books or making it more clear in the current movie series?


So we get tweets like this:





And this:


It keeps going:


Some fans took the sexuality out of it and just mocked J.K. Rowling's continued changes to canon after finishing the Harry Potter book series:





Some fans did have J.K. Rowling's back, appreciating her latest comments on the sexual relationship between Grindelwald and Dumbledore:


It's too late for J.K. Rowling to write Dumbledore's sexuality into the Harry Potter books, but we are not even halfway through the Fantastic Beasts film series. There are meant to be five films in total, leading up to the duel between Dumbledore and Grindelwald. Johnny Depp and Jude Law didn't actually share any scenes together in the second movie, but Dumbledore saw Grindelwald's reflection in the Mirror of Erised, showing his greatest desire. Their relationship is still at the heart of the series, and we know they'll have to face off by the end of the franchise.


Fantastic Beasts 3 just delayed production because it's said to be bigger than the previous two films combined. Here's what we know about the movie so far. Keep track of everything headed to theaters this year with our 2019 movie schedule.




This Rotten Week: Predicting Shazam!, Pet Sematary, And The Best Of Enemies Reviews

This Rotten Week: Predicting Shazam!, Pet Sematary, And The Best Of Enemies Reviews
Freddy and Shazam together in Shazam!

As we make our way into the fourth month of the year, we have a wide variety of features going into wide release. This week we have another big superhero blockbuster, terrifying burial ground, and a civil rights story. Get ready for Shazam!, Pet Sematary, and The Best Of Enemies.


Just remember, I'm not reviewing these movies, but rather predicting where they'll end up on the Tomatometer. Let's take a look at This Rotten Week has to offer.


Most superhero stories are geared toward a young man’s fantasy. Get super powers, overcome obstacles, save the world. It’s a pretty standard formula. And then sometimes you get a story in which the hero IS a kid who can transform into an adult with the super powers. That’s the fantasy cranked up another notch. Such is the case with Shazam! in which young Billy Batson must merely yell out the titular word and become a Superman-like hero. How he explores these new powers (with all of their ups and downs) is the theme of this latest addition to the DC Universe. It looks pretty great.




After stumbling out of the gate, the DC Universe is making something of a comeback. Three of their last four movies - Wonder Woman (93%), Aquaman (65%) and now Shazam! - have scored well with critics. Only the absolute mess of Justice League (40%) sandwiched in there was a stumbling block. Critics are really taking to this latest offering, appreciating the candid nature of the story and the fun-loving tone.


Don’t let the comical misspelling of “Cemetery” fool you. There’s nothing funny about Stephen King’s story of an ancient burial ground that can revive the dead and turn the reanimated bodies into all-encompassing evil. Such is the case with Pet Sematary, in which the Creed family makes the bad mistake of buying a new house that just happens to have serious evil in the backyard.


Stephen King’s classics still hold up as horror fare, evidenced by the remake of IT (85%) two years ago. His storytelling and high concept plots translate well to the big screen and this latest fits the bill as well. Early sentiments are overwhelmingly positive with the Tomatometer sitting at 85% through more than 40 reviews. I don't think it drops all that much over the course of the week but it will just a bit. Pet Sematary looks creepy as hell and critics seem to enjoy the ride.




Based on a true story, Best of Enemies centers around the desegregation movement and the relationship between a Ku Klux Klan leader and an African-American civil rights activist - clashing over a local school system in the early 1970s. From an historical perspective, this flick looks like it hits all of the right notes without ever getting into the nitty-gritty. My fear with this kind of film is, in an effort to make it mass appeal to a large audience, the tone becomes more comedic/melodramatic rather than what was found in reality.


I don't think it looks bad, but rather a movie that doesn't really want to offend anyone. And I think the critics see it for that and the score doesn't quite get to "Fresh" status.


The Rotten Watch went one for two last week with The Beach Bum (Predicted: 47% Actual: 52%) falling within my range of succes. Harmony Korine’s story of Matthew McConaughey doing something like a career-achievement role as a stoner author living through a psychedelic background didn't land with the whole crowd. Moondog and his exploits weren't for everyone, and critics were basically split it right down the middle.




Coming in with some rather high expectations, Dumbo (Predicted: 67% Actual: 50%) ended up being a disappointment for Tim Burton and company. Despite the hype around the live action remake, critics weren't over the moon with the result, mostly agreeing it was a big time missed opportunity considering the source material. It finished right down the middle with both the positive and negative reviews carrying mostly the same theme. Most say it was underwhelming across the board.


Next time around we’ve got After, Hellboy, Little and Missing Link. It’s gonna be a Rotten Week!

Is The DC Universe Officially Dead?

Is The DC Universe Officially Dead?
batman v superman batman superman face off in the rain

While we stand on the eve of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s big history making finale that will bring together more than 10 years and more than 20 movies, a lot of questions still remain about the franchise that has come to be known as the DC Extended Universe. The initial trilogy of Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League were originally meant to set the stage for a larger interconnected film universe, but as DC superhero movies continue to be produced, we’re seeing less and less focus on them as being part of a whole and more focus given to the idea that each movie is a standalone story. Which has led to one final question. Is the DC Universe already dead?


This question became all the more relevant just in the last few days as people attached to the production of both Wonder Woman 1984 and The Suicide Squad, both followups to existing, and hugely successful, DC movies, tried to separate themselves from the idea that they were, in any way, “sequels.”


The Suicide Squad is being called a “total reboot” by one producer and Wonder Woman 1984 is being called the “next iteration,” whatever that means, by another.





Now, let’s be serious, both of these films are sequels. They are stories that will be about (mostly) the same characters that will follow from events that took place in a previous film. Call them what you want, but they are sequels.


However, the fact that Warner Bros. seems nervous about using the word, even for parts of the franchise that have been successful, is telling to say the least. They want the audience to view them as separate films as much as possible.


This is also clear in the rest of the DC slate that we know is on the way. In addition to The Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman 1984, we have Shazam!, a standalone film which, as far as we know, only makes passing references to the fact that other DC heroes exist, Birds of Prey, a film that will include one popular character that we’ve seen before, but will also introduce several new ones, a Batman movie that won’t include Ben Affleck, and thus could very easily not be part of the existing universe at all, a Joker movie that we know for certain is not connected to the version of the character played by Jared Leto in Suicide Squad, and a sequel to Aquaman, a movie that itself made only a brief reference to the fact that it starred the same character who was in Justice League. One wonders if an Aquaman producer will come out of the woodwork to tell us Aquaman 2 is not a sequel.





Other movies that we think might show up eventually, like the Flash movie, have also seemingly moved away from any focus on the connected universe. While it had previously been announced that we were going to get a Flashpoint movie, and that would almost certainly be a film that would include other DC universe characters, the more recent word is that the Flashpoint idea has been scrapped.


If the DC film universe didn’t exist at all, and there was just a Suicide Squad movie franchise and a Wonder Woman movie franchise that were separate from each other, then, of course, we’d be calling these movies sequels. It would be insane not to do so. I can’t help but wonder if part of the reason Warner Bros. is trying to draw a line between the previous films and the next ones is because both Wonder Woman and Suicide Squad were made when the DC Extended Universe was very much part of the future of the franchise, but as these sequels are being made, it’s not.


Justice League gave us a post-credits sequence that teased the formation of the Legion of Doom, yet, as of now, we don’t have any idea when such a movie might happen. There’s been no official announcement of a Justice League sequel or any sort of a clear road map that would indicate that any of the first three existing movies (and the plotlines they teased) are going, well, anywhere.





To that end, we also know that there are apparently no talks about making another Superman movie at this point. That might be the clearest indication of all that drastic changes have been made. The single most popular comic book character in the history of time and space has no project in the works at a time when comic book movies have never been more popular. Add to that the fact that there’s no guarantee the character will have the same actor if and when a movie does happen, and it seems that the character who was the linchpin of the DC universe to this point might be officially gone.


The DC film universe took something of a gamble when it was first rolling out. Rather than take Marvel’s route and give each major Justice League hero their own film first, they went right for the team up, introducing the entire main squad in only the franchise’s second film, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and following that one up in short order with Justice League. Warner Bros. and DC were all about the continuity before, so the fact that they’re not now shows a major change in plans.


With the success that films like Wonder Woman and Aquaman have seen, it’s far from surprising if the plan is to put the breaks on the entire connected universe thing. While both films are technically part of said universe, they’re still largely standalone stories. Even if you haven’t seen any of the other DC films, you can enjoy them, and people did.





Certainly, we don’t need major crossover events for the larger universe to remain persistent, we don’t even need cameos. At the same time, it’s part of what we’ve come to expect from the cinematic universe. It’s also part of what makes the films so successful. We did’t need to see The Incredible Hulk in the most recent Thor movie, but doing that sells tickets, so you’d think DC and Warner Bros. would be seeding the movies with similar things in order to keep fans excited about the universe.


Instead, it just feels like the plan is to take the few parts of the universe that have been strong hits with fans, Batman, Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn, etc, and continue these franchises on their own. Maybe they technically exist in the same universe, but it doesn’t feel like that fact is ever going to be important again.


At this point, DC has films on the release schedule clear through the end of 2022, and none of them, not even the rumored ones, so much as hint at the film universe being part of the story. So, we have to ask, if these characters are supposed to be part of the same world, but we never see what that means, does it even count?




Thursday, December 5, 2019

5 Dinosaur Movies That Are Better Than The Movie Dinosaur (And 5 That Are Worse)

5 Dinosaur Movies That Are Better Than The Movie Dinosaur (And 5 That Are Worse)
Jurassic Park

There are few things in life that you don’t grow out of; things that retain the same level of unassailable awesomeness no matter how old you are. Dinosaurs are one of those things, and over the years Hollywood has tried to capitalize on the universal appeal of our prehistoric predecessors with all kinds of movies. The results have varied wildly in quality from iconic pieces of film to movies so bad that they make B-movies look like cinematic masterpieces.


A good barometer with which to evaluate the quality of a dinosaur movie is how it relates to the movie that is actually called Dinosaur. Disney’s 2000 animated feature film is an admirable and ambitious entry in the storied studio’s canon, conveying a sense of grandeur and boasting stunning visuals that were ahead of their time while having darker elements than you sometimes see in a Disney movie. However, Dinosaur’s plot and characters are extremely thin and beyond just being pretty to look at, the film can become tedious and very boring. There’s a reason that Dinosaur is something of a forgotten Disney movie.


So Dinosaur is basically fine. Not amazing, but a long way off from terrible. If a dinosaur movie is better than Dinosaur you’ll probably be solidly entertained by it, and if it’s worse (and trust me, there are a lot of bad dinosaur movies), then it could range from somewhat enjoyable to something that demands an asteroid wipe it from existence. With that in mind, here are 5 movies that are better than the movie Dinosaur and 5 that are worse. Let's kick off with the group that shines.





Better-Jurassic Park


Duh and/or hello. Steven Spielberg’s 1993 masterpiece is the best dinosaur movie ever made and probably will remain so when humans join dinosaurs in the dirt. While Dinosaur is populated by one-dimensional characters, Jurassic Park is full of incredible characters, ground-breaking special effects and John Williams’ iconic score. Adapted from Michael Crichton’s novel, Jurassic Park is the tale of a theme park where dinosaurs have been brought back from extinction and the deadly results of scientific and technological advancement in the absence of ethical introspection. This film remains unsurpassed and just as full of wonder and terror a quarter-century after its release.


Better-The Land Before Time


Jurassic Park may be the most successful dinosaur movie franchise, but The Land Before Time is the most prolific, with 14 films to date, the most recent entry coming in 2016. It all started with 1988’s The Land Before Time from executive producer Steven Spielberg and legendary animation director Don Bluth. The story of of young dino friends Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Spike and Petrie and their quest to find the Great Valley and reunite with their families has Bluth’s stunning animation, cute and fun characters and deeper, complex themes of loss and separation and prejudice. The nostalgia for this movie is well justified.


Better-The Good Dinosaur


Here’s the thing about Pixar: even one of its less lauded films still manages to be better than a lot of other movies, and The Good Dinosaur is definitely better than Dinosaur. Boasting jaw-dropping animation, The Good Dinosaur tells the story of a world where dinosaurs did not go extinct and they live side by side with early humans. In this case, an Apatosaurus named Arlo who forms an unlikely friendship with a young boy he names Spot. Like Dinosaur, The Good Dinosaur is more style and visual pizazz than narrative substance, but the entertainment value is stronger in the Pixar film, giving it the edge.





Better-Jurassic World


Jurassic World is no Jurassic Park, not by a long shot, but it is a highly entertaining, patently absurd popcorn spectacle. If the sole metric a dinosaur movie was judged on was how awesome its dinosaurs look, Jurassic World would win hands down (despite the film’s dinosaur depictions being more fantasy than paleontology). Jurassic World showed what happened when John Hammond’s dream was finally realized and how a desire for profit and disrespect of nature would cause history to repeat itself. Packed with raptor-training, high-heeled dino escapes and genetic hybrids, Jurassic World is a wild ride befitting the theme park itself.


Better-Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs


When it comes to prehistoric franchises, few have been more successful than Ice Age, and in the third film in the franchise, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, the furry mammals are joined by their bigger and more scaly predecessors. This film is borderline in relation to Dinosaur given the stale story, but what separates it and what gave the franchise such success are its humor and its characters. Unlike the forgettable lemurs in Dinosaur who weren’t particularly funny, Manny, Sid, Diego, Crash, Scrat and Ellie are all a delight and the dinosaurs are a great addition to the story.


Now that we've gone over the good dinosaur movies, let's look at the ones that fail to make a decent impression.





Worse-Prehysteria!


Dinosaurs were extremely hot in 1993, and perhaps the most '90s example of this is the family adventure film Prehysteria! This film tells the story of a museum curator named Rico who steals five dinosaur eggs and then loses those them in a mix up with a farmer named Frank. The farmer’s two kids Monica and Jerry discover the eggs, which naturally hatch. They name the five miniature dinosaurs Elvis, Paula, Jagger, Hammer and Madonna after music stars and have to keep them from the nasty Rico. While it no doubt has some nostalgic and B-movie appeal, the craft and quality is nowhere near Dinosaur.


Worse-Walking With Dinosaurs


You know how Dinosaur’s stunning visuals make up for a lackluster script? Well Walking with Dinosaurs’ technological artistry cannot overcome a genuinely bad script with cringe-worthy dialogue and juvenile jokes. Based on the BBC series, Walking with Dinosaurs follows an underdog Pachyrhinosaurus who rises up to become a hero. The film may boast some of the most accurate dinosaur depictions ever put to film and it is a technical achievement that is over a decade beyond what was done in Dinosaur, but what you’re hearing negatively impacts the experience of the amazing images you’re seeing.


Worse-We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story


Produced by Steven Spielberg and starring the voice talents of John Goodman, Jay Leno, Walter Cronkite, Julia Child and Martin Short, We’re Back! Is about Captain New Eyes, who travels back in time to feed dinosaurs cereal that makes them smarter and then convinces them to come to our time to entertain children. But in the future, the dinos and the kids must contend with the Captain’s crazy brother, Professor Screw Eyes. We’re Back! definitely carries some nostalgic sentiment for some, but the animation isn’t as impressive as The Land Before Time or Dinosaur and the story isn’t as strong.





Worse-Carnosaur


The B-movie king, independent film pioneer and Pope of Pop Cinema Roger Corman produced this 1993 attempt to cash in on proximity to Jurassic Park. Carnosaur tells the story of a mad scientist who is using infected chicken eggs to unleash an airborne virus that impregnates women with dinosaur embryos in order to eliminate humanity and allow dinosaurs to repopulate the Earth. Only a security guard and an environmentalist can stop her. With Corman’s trademark B-movie charm, you may find something to like here if that’s your thing, but I mean come on, it’s obviously worse than Dinosaur.


Worse-Tammy and the T-Rex


Long before she was a Bond girl and he was drinking Corona with Vin Diesel, Denise Richards and Paul Walker starred in this 1994 sci-fi comedy, the existence of which beggars belief. Tammy and the T-Rex finds Tammy and her boyfriend Michael in a happy relationship until Tammy’s ex-boyfriend attacks Michael and he winds up in a comatose state. He is declared dead and his brain is used to control a robotic T-Rex. T-Rex Michael seeks vengeance against his attackers and to rekindle his relationship with Tammy, all the while having to escape the evil doctor. Horrible acting, terrible production value, nonsense story: not better than Dinosaur.


As you can undoubtedly see, movies that are better than Dinosaur fit into the upper echelon of dino movies and they are few and far between. There have been countless bad dinosaur movies, many of which have been forgotten to history, just waiting for brave movie fans to dig them up and see how truly strange they were. Dinosaurs always felt like an underutilized movie concept to me outside of the Jurassic franchise, maybe the future will see more big movies get creative with bringing the fascinating creatures back to life on the big screen.





Check out our 2019 release schedule to keep track of all this year's biggest movies and stay tuned to CinemaBlend for all your movie news.

 

Blogger news

Blogroll

About