Movies from 2015 including Jurassic World, Fantastic Four (don't groan), Love and Mercy & Mission Impossible

12/26/15 Jurassic World, not yet nominated, 2015
I liked the original Jurassic Park but not enough to watch the sequels, but based on my experience Jurassic World is probably in line for a couple of nominations for effects, editing, maybe score, maybe set design, so better to be prepared. I also like Chris Pratt who plays Owen Grady a velociraptor trainer at Jurassic Park. The plot isn't that complicated, kind of a variation on the theme on the original. The park is more advanced and the dinosaurs have been made into hybrids and there is a bad guy (Vincent D'Onofrio) who wants to use the dinosaurs, specifically the velociraptors, as weapons of war. The hybrid Indominus Rex escapes its enclosure and demonstrates an intelligence the humans had not anticipated. There's also a storyline where the operations manager of Jurassic World, Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) is so focused on her job that she ignores her two nephews who come to visit (she hasn't seen them in eight years or something) (the children inserted into the story are reminiscent of the first movie as well). Pratt is good, but the fun is watching the raptors and the dinosaurs wreak havoc, the people are just a distraction.

12/26/15 Fantastic Four, not yet nominated, 2015

Well, the good news is that this wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be, certainly not worthy of the rating of the WORST FILM OF 2015. The bad news is that it really isn't great. And let's be clear on this point as well: it probably should not have been made in the first place. The two earlier Fantastic Four were not huge successes by superhero movie standards, so it didn't make sense to me to keep beating this thing to death. The variation on the theme is that the movie introduces us to a young Ben Grimm and Reed Richards as the two outsiders become friends and embark on scientific experiments. Grimm and Richards meet Franklin Storm and his two children, Johnny and Sue at a science fair and Richards joins a think tank overseen by Storm. So, let's back up a bit: in this telling, Sue has been adopted by Franklin, who is black, and Johnny is also black. There was a bit of whining from fans about this casting twist, but anyone who knows comics knows that almost anything is possible, super heroes die and get reinvented by someone else taking their powers; this was not an issue for me at all. My issue was actually making the characters so young; to me the characters are older, certainly not just out of their teens, and that I think there was some miscasting. I think Jamie Bell is a good actor, but there is no way I believed he was Ben Grimm/The Thing; Michael B. Jordan was Johnny/Human Torch, and I really like him, and I think he would have made a good version of Spider-Man. Miles Teller, who I enjoyed in Whiplash was not totally convincing as Reed; this is where I missed the maturity of the traditional Reed Richards. Kate Mara was Sue Storm/Invisible Girl and I think she was a ton better than Jessica Alba in the earlier films, but otherwise I was lukewarm. I have never heard of the actor who played Victor Von Doom, Toby Kebbell, and I thought he was so sulky; none of that smooth talking Doom from the other films. We only we get about twenty minutes of the heroes in battle, which is why we watch these movies. There could be some nominations for visual effects or sound effects. Overall the movie is very dark, not a lot of the humor (some, but not a lot of witty repartee), but also cinematography-wise, very dark, lots of shadows. I just do not think that moviegoers are as interested in the Fantastic Four as they are in the Avengers or X-Men or Spider-Man.

12/26/15 Love and Mercy, not yet nominated, 2015
 Paul Dano and John Cusack share the role of Brian Wilson, singer/songwriter and leader of the Beach Boys. Director Bill Pohlad goes back and forth between the 1960s (Paul Dano) and the 1980s (John Cusack), showing Brian finding his voice and the unique sounds and musical concepts that created Pet Sounds as well as the clashes between the other Beach Boys and his father. The 1980s find Brian cut off from his family under the plan of Dr. Eugene Landy who controlled Brian using drugs and 'therapy'. Elizabeth Banks plays Melinda Ledbetter, a Cadillac saleswoman who catches Brian's eye and heart. Melinda fights Dr. Landy to release Brian from the controlling and mind-numbing lifestyle he is living. I enjoyed the interaction between Banks and Cusack (Banks is so hysterical and cutting in the Pitch Perfect movies, but she tones that down and is really good in this dramatic role), but I was more interested in the studio sessions with Brian and the musicians known as The Wrecking Crew. Based on what I learned in The Wrecking Crew documentary and what I have read elsewhere, Brian really did these things, including bringing in dogs to the studio and having every kind of instrument on the record. I would not say I'm a Beach Boys fan or expert, but I don't think you have to be to enjoy this movie; the acting is very good (Paul Giamatti is scary as Eugene Landy) and the music is fun.


12/27/15 Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, not yet nominated, 2015
I have never troubled myself with the plot lines of the Mission Impossible movies, for me they are about the action, which super spy is betraying his country or trying to kill a world leader is not my worry. Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt, Simon Pegg as Benji, computer/technology specialist, Ving Rhames as Luther and Jeremy Renner is William Brandt, now the Director of IMF Field Operations make up Hunt's team. Alec Baldwin is CIA Director Alan Huntley who wants to shut down the IMF program. The IMF program does get shut down which leaves Ethan out on his own in Europe. Lucky for him he meets Ilsa Faust (a wonderful Rebecca Ferguson) who is an MI6 agent undercover in the Syndicate, which is to say, the bad guys. There are some fabulous fight scenes, improbable, but fabulous; and Cruise isn't the only one to get into the action, in fact, Ferguson is right with him: riding motorcycles, using martial arts and shoot outs. There is also an underwater scene that is super intense. If you're looking for an action movie over the upcoming long weekend or any cold weekend this winter, I would totally say to get this movie. It's out at Redbox. Oh, are you wondering about the plot? Yeah, I don't know, some spies leaving their home agencies to join the Syndicate in a plot to take over the world. Ta-da.