MARIAH's THOUGHTS on Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)

Genre:

Action/Adventure/Science Fiction/Thriller

Release Date:

June 22, 2018

Run Time:

2 hrs 8 mins

Rating:

PG-13

Directed by:

J.A. Bayona

Screenplay by:

Derek Connolly & Colin Trevorrow

Based on Character Created by:

Michael Crichton

Production Co.:

Universal Pictures, Nvizible, Amblin Entertainment

Distribution Co.:

Universal Pictures

Social Media:

     

Universal Pictures

Cast:

Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, BD Wong, Toby Jones, Ted Levine, Rafe Spall, and Jeff Goldblum

See Full Cast List on IMDB

Plot Summary:

It’s been three years since theme park and luxury resort Jurassic World was destroyed by dinosaurs out of containment. Isla Nublar now sits abandoned by humans while the surviving dinosaurs fend for themselves in the jungles.

When the island’s dormant volcano begins roaring to life, Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) mount a campaign to rescue the remaining dinosaurs from this extinction-level event. Owen is driven to find Blue, his lead raptor who’s still missing in the wild, and Claire has grown a respect for these creatures she now makes her mission. Arriving on the unstable island as lava begins raining down, their expedition uncovers a conspiracy that could return our entire planet to a perilous order not seen since prehistoric times.

With all of the wonder, adventure and thrills synonymous with one of the most popular and successful series in cinema history, this all-new motion-picture event sees the return of favorite characters and dinosaurs—along with new breeds more awe-inspiring and terrifying than ever before. Welcome to Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

Stars Pratt and Howard return alongside executive producers Steven Spielberg and Colin Trevorrow for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. They are joined by co-stars James Cromwell, Ted Levine, Justice Smith, Geraldine Chaplin, Daniella Pineda, Toby Jones, Rafe Spall and Isabella Sermon, while BD Wong and Jeff Goldblum reprise their roles.

Directed by J.A. Bayona (The Impossible), the epic action-adventure is written by Jurassic World’s director, Trevorrow, and its co-writer, Derek Connolly. Producers Frank Marshall and Pat Crowley once again partner with Spielberg and Trevorrow in leading the filmmakers for this stunning installment. Belén Atienza joins the team as a producer.

source

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*My Thoughts*

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom has a nice balance of humor, action, and sentiment. Characters Owen Grady and Franklin Webb add sarcastic humor and a nervous wreck to the movie but also in Fallen Kingdom the audience of the movie will see unavoidable deaths of humans and dinosaurs alike, dinosaur-rights activist, brutal dino-battles, and the notion that all life is precious. Some of the more memorable scenes include the volcano erupting at Isle Nublar, a brachiosaurus being left behind on Isla Nublar to die, every moment in the movie with the velociraptor Blue. Each of the aforementioned scenes were intense and captivating. The use of CGI and animatronics gives the actors and viewer a real experience to become attached to the dinosaurs or be afraid of them. Although Fallen Kingdom is guilty of the tiring jump scare, J.A. Bayona successfully added suspense to this movie. A particular scene that exemplifies this is when mercenary Ken Wheatly enters the cage of the tranquilized Indoraptor only to find out that it was feinting the whole time, so it could him and escape its cage. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom starts light-hearted but makes its way into a more serious tone later in the movie.

The movie starts six months after the events of Jurassic World where a team of mercenaries tries to collect bone fragments from the Indominus Rex. It is a successful feat that will help Dr. Henry Wu later in the movie but inevitably put every other character in danger. Three years after the events of Jurassic World a volcano on the fictional Isla Nublar is set to erupt and is subsequently a death sentence to all the dinosaurs on the island but charitable old man Benjamin Lockwood, John Hammond's former partner in the development of clone dinosaurs, asks for Claire Dearing and Owen Grady’s help to relocate the dinosaurs to an island sanctuary. I thought this movie started with a very peaceful and endearing lesson. The dinosaurs should be left alone in isolation and roam freely, but it gets tricky. The mercenaries hired by Eli Mills, assistant to the ailing Lockwood, plans to use the dinosaurs predominantly the more ravenous ones as auction material on the black market. The movie follows Claire, Owen, and interns, Franklin and Zia, as they uncover the reality of Eli’s plans. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is a nice good action film for a weekend.

What dropped Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom from five stars to four is the half-baked ending. While the dinosaurs are alive, I would’ve believed the ending if they had been allowed to roam an island sanctuary, where they were originally planned to be transported to. But in the end, the dinosaurs saved from Isla Nublar are set free in America across 49 states (assuming Hawaii is unreachable for the dinosaurs), Canada, and Southern America, but how will they survive? Blue is the last of her kind, so it’s not possible for her to reproduce and it’s possible anyone can shoot the dinosaurs if it meant self-defense. We’re told to believe the world will become a “Neo-Jurassic world” from a couple dozen resurrected dinosaurs. But wait, it looks like Dr. Henry Wu the former head geneticist of both Jurassic World and the original Jurassic Park escaped the events of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom with briefcases of his research to possibly continue cloning. It’s a scientific miracle to clone and reproduce these formerly extinct creatures and an astonishing sight to behold, but should humans and dinosaurs roam the Earth at the same time? Fallen Kingdom focuses its last minutes on the morality of cloning and life. While it leaves the movie available for a sequel, I feel like that ending tried too hard to say, “let the dinosaurs live.”

My Rating:

EXCERPT REVEAL: Sloe Screw by Nazarea Andrews

Today, we have a sneak peek into this upcoming contemporary romance with this Excerpt Reveal  for Slow Screw, book 3 in the River Street Bar series, Nazarea Andrews!!! So... Check it out!!!

Genre:

Adult

Contemporary Romance

Series:

River Street Bar, #3

Publish Date:

July 12, 2018

Publisher:

A&A Literary

Synopsis:
Vivian Fitzpatrick is a big dreams girl stuck in a small town.
She likes her job, and she adores her friends, but there’s a tiny part of her that still wants adventure. Wants all the unfulfilled dreams to come true. She still wants to base jump and skydive and do everything her ex-boyfriend said she was too chicken-shit to do.

Which is probably how she ends up moonlighting for a phone sex line.

Matteo Soto is just trying to figure out how to live again.
A bomb in Iraq left half his unit dead, and Matteo broken. He puts on a good act--the rookie at RCPD, taking care of his dead best friend’s family. But it feels too much like going through the motions, too much like marking time.

He needs a reason to get up in the morning.
She needs to feel alive.



✦Excerpt✦

Taite is snarling when she stalks in with my lunch a few hours later, and I eye her warily. No one has gotten shot or run into a  burning building, so— “Gomez pissing you off?”

She bares her teeth at me, and I smile.

“I know your daddy taught you to play nice with others,” I tease.

“Dad hated getting new partners,” she scoffs.

I laugh, a throaty thing. “It’s only for the day, Tay. You can handle one day away from Miguel.”

She gives me a skeptical look. “Last time he was away for a day, he ended up a hostage in that bank robbery on Fifth, remember?”

I wince. She’s not wrong.

“That was a complete misunderstanding,” Miguel whines, coming over to loop an arm around Taite’s shoulders. She relaxes a little, leaning into him briefly before she elbows him in the gut. “And Crispin was a very nice bank robber.”

“We need to have another talk about befriending perps,” Taite mutters.

I laugh and look up—

And freeze. In the doorway stands a man, tall with dark hair and piercing green eyes. His half smile looks a little confused as he watched Miguel and Taite.

“Oh! Vivi, this is our new officer, Matteo Soto. Matteo, this is Vivian Fitzpatrick, our dispatcher and all around goddess. If there’s anything you need to know, she’s the best person to ask,” Miguel says, beaming at me.

“She’s also brilliant—so don’t play cards with her—and fun as hell, so definitely drink with her,” Taite adds with a smirk.

I point a red fingertip at her and narrow my eyes. “You behave. Don’t scare away fresh meat.”

Matteo laughs, and it’s husky and warm, stroking down my spine and making me want to purr.

“I like calculated risks,” he says, grinning at me.

✧✧✧✧✧

Catch up on the River Street Bar series!!!

 

(cover links to Goodreads)

      

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**About the Author**

Nazarea Andrews (N to almost everyone) is an avid reader and tends to write the stories she wants to read. Which means she writes everything from zombies and dystopia to contemporary love stories. When not writing, she can most often be found driving her kids to practice and burning dinner while she reads, or binging watching TV shows on Netflix. N loves chocolate, wine, and coffee almost as much as she loves books, but not quite as much as she loves her kids. She lives in south Georgia with her husband, daughters, spoiled cat and overgrown dog. She is the author of The World Without End series, Neverland Found, Edge of the Falls, and The University of Branton series. Stop by her social media and tell her what fantastic book she should read next.

Stay connected with Nazarea Andrews

    

 

Excerpt Reveal Organized by

COVER REVEAL: Burn In Your Blood by Lili St. Germain

Today, we have a Cover Reveal for Burn In Your Blood, book 2 in the Califronia Blood series, by Lili St. Germain! Check it out and pre-order your copy now!!!

Genre:

New Adult

Dark Romance/Suspense Thriller

Series:

California Blood, #2
Publish Date:

July 26, 2018

Synopsis:
Sometimes, we lose ourselves in the devastation of love.

But sometimes, we find ourselves there, too.

ROME

Avery Capulet. The forbidden fruit. The apple of her Daddy’s eye. The newly-minted Queen of California’s criminal underworld. And now, the missing girl nobody can find.

I know where she is, though. Kneeling before me with her mouth on the end of my cock, tears spilling from her eyes as the last bit of her dignity bleeds from her. I don’t want the pound of flesh that the girl who betrayed me delivers, but I don’t have a choice.

Avery Capulet. Moaning underneath me, as pain merges with pleasure, skin to skin as we do what we can to survive. In the dark, in the wild, we’re like animals. I try not to love her. I try so damn hard. But the war waged inside my heart was won a long time ago, by a girl who should have known better than to trust a man like me.

AVERY

Rome Montague. The boy from my past. The man in my nightmares. The dark, secret lover who makes me feel things I never knew I could feel.

Love and pain can both drive you insane. I fight, and I fight, until all I can do is surrender. Be pulled under. Submit, until I barely recognise myself.

Rome Montague. When he looks at me, I forget the lies that destroyed our past. When he makes me come apart underneath his touch, I forget where we are, and that a faceless enemy pulls our strings like marionettes.

The outside world beckons bright, teasing us with mirages of safety and respite.

But the light of day is a cruel lie.

Because once we find a way out of the dark, we both realize that our nightmare has only just begun.

     

Sequel to:

(cover links to Goodreads)

     

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**About the Author**

Lili St. Germain writes books about vengeful girls and villainous men. Her USA Today bestselling Gypsy Brothers series focuses on a morally bankrupt biker gang and the girl who seeks her vengeance upon them. The Cartel series is a prequel trilogy of fell-length novels that explores the beginnings of the club, to be released worldwide in print and ebook in 2015 by HarperCollins.

Lili quit corporate life to focus on writing and so far is loving every minute of it. Her other loves in life include her gorgeous husband and beautiful daughter, good coffee, Tarantino movies and spending hours on Pinterest.

She loves to read almost as much as she loves to write.

Stay connected with Lili St. Germain

     

Cover Reveal Organized by