Tag Archives: Chris Pratt

The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part (2019) Review

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EVERYTHING IS (STILL) AWESOME

 

Back in 2014, Warner. Bros. Pictures (under the name of Warner Bros. Animation Group) produced a surprising smash with The LEGO Movie. Directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the duo behind 21 Jump Street (and its 22 Jump Street sequel), The LEGO Movie dropped viewers into an imaginary cinematic constructed world of LEGOs, telling a creative tale that was full of humor, talented voice-actors, dazzling animation, and some heartwarming drama. Surprisingly, The LEGO Movie was met with overwhelming positive reviews from fans and critics, garnishing nearly $470 million at the box office against its $60 million production budget. The success of The LEGO Movie fueled Warner Bros. with the idea that a cinematic universe could be formed around the property idea of the popular toy brand. However, in a somewhat unorthodox way, the studio, instead of developing a sequel to The LEGO Movie, decided to create two spin-off feature LEGO films in 2017, with The LEGO Batman Movie and The LEGO Ninjago Movie. While The LEGO Batman Movie, which was directed by Chris McKay and continued the cinematic LEGO representation as well as introducing new elements such as rifting / playing on the lore of Gotham’s “cape crusader”, was met with critical / positive success from its viewers (and critics), The LEGO Ninjago Movie, which was directed by Charlie Bean, Paul Fisher, and Bob Logan, was met with mixed reviews; citing that the movie (though fun playing with their Ninjago property as well as the voice talents) was just sub-par and, mediocre, and that the franchise movie formula had lost its edge. Now, two years after the two spin-off LEGO Movies of 2017, Warner Bros. Studios (under Warner Bros. Animation Group) and director Mike Mitchell finally return for the much-anticipated sequel to the original 2014 film with the movie The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part. Does this long-awaited sequel succeed or does it fail to “reconnect” with its moviegoing audience? Read more

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) Review

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A BRAVE “DINOSAUR” NEW WORLD

 

In 2015, Jurassic World, the fourth installment in the Jurassic Park franchise, was released, bringing with it all the pomp, thrills, chills, and dinosaur adventure back to the big screen since 2001. Directed by Colin Trevorrow, the film, which started Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard and others, saw the return to Isla Nublar and the now fully realized dinosaur amusement theme park that has flourished and become a thriving business. However, when a genetically engineered hybrid dinosaur escapes from its captivity, it sends the island into a frenzy, causing mayhem to both humans and dinosaurs alike as main characters Owen Grady and Claire Dearing must hatch a plan to stop this menacing dinosaur. While some moviegoers and critics had a few issues with the film, Jurassic World received a lot of positive praise and was better received that the previous two sequel installment in the Jurassic franchise. Furthermore, the film went onto become a huge success during the summer of 2015, generating over $1.6 billion (worldwide) at the box office. The film now stands as second highest grossing of 2015, the highest grossing movie of the Jurassic franchise, and sits (currently) as the fifth highest grossing film of all time. Now, three years later, the story of Jurassic World continues as Universal Pictures and director J.A. Bayona release the film Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Does the fifth installment in the franchise continue on the up and up after its 2015 predecessor or does this dinosaur sequel squander its success for a bloated and haphazard cinematic adventure? Read more

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 (2017) Review

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THE GUARDIANS ARE BACK!!!

 

Back in 2014, Marvel Studios released two films underneath its MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) banner. While the first (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) was met with high praise for its more grittier action and grounded narrative from its predecessor, Marvel’s second 2014 film (Guardians of the Galaxy) was literally amazing and “out of this world”. With relatively unknown cast of comic book characters and with only some minor connection to the rest of the already established MCU, Guardians of the Galaxy followed the adventure of Peter Quill (aka Star-Lord) and his ragtag team of cosmic outlaw misfits (Gamora, Drax, Rocket, and Groot) as they must band together and save the galaxy from the villainous deeds of Ronan the Accuser. Filled with humor, sci-fi action, and a lot of 70s and 80s pop culture songs, the film went on to become a rousing success, collecting roughly $770 million at the box office (worldwide) and gained almost universal praise from critics, fans, and moviegoers. The success of Guardians of the Galaxy was also a big victory for Marvel, proving to them that their audience viewers were ready to expand beyond their already established characters in the cinematic universe; an action that prompted the studio to move forward with other less-known superheroes (I.e. Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel) to the big screen. Now, after the success of last year’s Captain America: Civil War and Doctor Strange, Marvel Studios and director James Gunn are now ready to present the third installment in their MCU Phase III saga, with the highly-anticipated sequel film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. With so much inherit hype and excitement from its fans, does Marvel’s cosmic band of misfits succeed in their sophomore film or Is it a far-cry from what made the first one so memorable? Read more

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