GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 REVIEW

Set to the backdrop of Awesome Mixtape #2, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’ continues the team’s adventures as they unravel the mystery of Peter Quill’s true parentage.

Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Michael Rooker, and Kurt Russell

Directed by: James Gunn

Written by: James Gunn, Dan Abnett

  In the shadow of “The Avengers,” “Guardians of the Galaxy” was a pleasant surprise. They started off as strangers, and quickly became family. This time around the family appears to have gotten bigger. While Quill’s (Chris Pratt) mother is dead, his father, Ego (Kurt Russell), finally reunites with him. The two get a chance to catch up, and do some bonding. However that bonding is short lived, as The Guardians are forced to do what they do…save the galaxy.

  This time around saving the galaxy is filled with more humor than action. Even in the action there’s plenty of humor to be found. The movie opens with the Guardians fighting off a huge beast. While it appears they’re getting their butts kicked, Groot is busy playing DJ. Soon enough the action continues when they are forced to escape the planet because Rocket has stolen what they were protecting. The humor in this scene comes in the form of an argument between Rocket and Quill.

  After a crash landing, the group splits up leaving Rocket, Groot, and their prisoner on the planet, and the others going with Quill’s new found father. While lots of family bonding is happening on the planet, Rocket provides the best action scene until the final scene. He takes on Yondu’s (Michael Rooker) men in the forest in his own unique way. Unfortunately it doesn’t go well for Rocket, or Yondu, as his men turn on their leader. This sets up one of the funniest moments when Groot has to figure out out how to free them.

  During the bonding, Quill finds out about his parents’ relationship, and how special he is. While he’s doing this, Gamora (Zoe Saldana) is dealing with family issues of her own, and trying to figuring out what’s really going on. And Drax, well for being the big guy, he does a lot to laugh as hard as he can. He also forms an unusual friendship with Mantis (Pom Klementieff). Of course, everyone comes together in the end to save the galaxy in a fun ending action scene that even includes some surprise guest appearances.

  The Guardians are back proving that while they’re from different parts of the galaxy, they’ve truly become family. Basically, most of the action takes place in the opening and closing scenes, and is always accompanied by plenty of humor. While he’s now the small of the group, Groot is the cutest, and debatably the funniest. While it’s a good story the second time around, it just feels like there should have been more to it. With that, I give “The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” 3 stars.

  I Am HorrO!

*Stay all the way to the end of the credits for multiple extra credit scenes*

JURASSIC WORLD REVIEW

Twenty-two years after the events of Jurassic Park, Isla Nublar now features a fully functioning dinosaur theme park, Jurassic World, as originally envisioned by John Hammond. After 10 years of operation and visitor rates declining, in order to fulfill a corporate mandate, a new attraction is created to re-spark visitor's interest, which backfires horribly.

Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Ty Simpkins

Directed by: Colin Trevorrow

Written by: Rick Jaffa, and Amanda Silver

  Some people may not have liked the sequels to "Jurassic Park", but they didn't bother me. Of course, they weren't anything close to the original, which is usually the case with sequels. That brings us to "Jurassic World", and where it stands in the Jurassic Park franchise. Lets say it easily beats the previous sequels, and comes extremely close to surpassing the original!

First and foremost, the new Jurassic World theme park will blow audiences away. The Jurassic Park theme park had some good ideas, but all of the technology was used to create the dinosaurs while adding little to the park. The new park uses futuristic technology that greatly enhances the park goers experience with things like the Gyrosphere, and new stadium seating. If the audience thought they wanted to go to Jurassic Park, they will be drooling to go to something like Jurassic World.

Of course the added technology would be nothing without the dinosaurs. There's a good mix of new dinosaurs, and some of the franchise favorites. The star of the movie is the Indominus Rex, which is a genetically enhanced dinosaur that ends up being like a T-Rex on steroids and then some. It’s the top predator that escapes to wreck havoc on the park. Another awesome new dinosaur is the Mosasaurus, which looks almost like a giant swimming lizard. It's quite a sight watching it jump out of the water, and chomp down on a great white shark like it’s an appetizer.

Then there are the old favorites like the raptors. In the previous movies, they were responsible for plenty of human deaths. While they’re still dangerous this time around, the raptors get treated like trained dogs. Their intelligence is taking to a new level as they learn to take human commands. Of course there are plenty of the usually herbivores roaming the park. They’re still boring, and make a good meal for the predators. And yes, what would the park be without the most popular dinosaur in the franchise... the T-Rex!

Believe it or not there are humans in the movie! The story centers around Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), who runs Jurassic World, and her two nephews, Gary (Ty Simpkins) and Zach (Nick Robinson), who come to visit the park. Claire is too busy dealing with the park, so the boys venture around the park pretty much on their own. No good comes of this as the boys find themselves lost in an open area of the park when all hell breaks loose. That’s when Claire turns to Owen (Chris Pratt), who is the raptor trainer, for help in returning the boys to safety. They set off to save the boys, while the park is about to come under attack by the Indominus Rex.

  Claire and Owen have a great dynamic going on throughout the movie. They start almost like heart broken teens, and end up being brought together in the chaos. Chris Pratt continues his run of strong performances, and Bryce Dallas Howard will grow on the audience as her character develops. Ty and Nick do a good job as the new set of children put in harms way, but not as good as the original tandem of children in "Jurassic Park."

Another thing that's really great about this movie is how it pays much respect to the original movie, and theme park. There are plenty of references to the original park and there are a few scenes that bring the two parks together. It certainly should get some smiles from the audience. One of the characters is even wearing an original Jurassic Park t-shirt!

  While there’s plenty of originality in "Jurassic World," there are still plenty of story lines that are similar to the original and the other sequels. Those story lines include rescuing the children, and having a group of people looking to sabotage things for their own interests. Besides having a superior park with some better dinosaurs, what really stands out is the ending dinosaur fight. While the original had a great fight, this one is spectacular. There are plenty of twists and turns, and it finishes off with a bang!

  It's rare to say a sequel can be better than the original, but "Jurassic World" comes very close to surpassing "Jurassic Park." The park itself is a technological upgrade with an even fiercer top predator. The dinosaurs look as real as ever, and always are an amazing thing to witness on the big screen. The characters are very likable, and there's a great dynamic between Owen and Claire supported by some good acting. However, they still might not be better than Jeff Goldblum, and his performance as the unusual Dr. Malcolm. Just like the fantastic ending, “Jurassic World” is an awesome movie, but it’s still hard to beat the original so I give it 4 stars! 

HorrO