You'll Have It His Way...Or Else! "The Founder"

The Founder (2016)

Rated PG-13

Starring Michael Keaton, Nick Offerman, John Carroll Lynch, Laura Dern, Linda Cardellini,

Directed by John Lee Hancock

The Story:

Ray Kroc (Keaton) was a salesman on the road trying to make a fortune. When a restaurant out in California ordered multiple milkshake makers, Kroc assumes it's a mistake and heads west. When he meets the McDonald brothers (Offerman & Lynch) he is struck by how efficient, and delicious, their restaurant is. He wants to franchise their restaurant. The boys are reluctant at first, but eventually relent.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Keaton is on fire with his acting career over the last few years. The Founder is no exception. He plays Kroc with a drive and ambition to get his franchises off the ground and turn them into a household name.

Stymied at nearly every turn by the McDonald brothers, he can't seem to figure out how to turn a profit on the restaurants.

Then, as Lucy Van Pelt once lamented that all she wanted was real estate...

Kroc is told to buy the land, and rent the property to the new franchises.

Not only does this turn the tables for Kroc, it also establishes McDonalds as one of the largest property owners on the planet.

Highly recommended.

Final Grade: B+

So Nice, We Went There Thrice! "The Jurassic Park Trilogy"

Jurassic Park (1993)

Rated PG-13

Starring Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Joseph Mazello, Ariana Richards, Samuel L. Jackson, BD Wong, Wayne Knight

Directed by Steven Spielberg

The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)

Rated PG-13

Starring Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Pete Postelthwaite, Arliss Howard, Vanessa Lee Chester, Vince Vaughn, Richard Schiff, Richard Attenborough, Joseph Mazello, Ariana Richards

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Jurassic Park III (2001)

Rated PG-13

Starring Sam Neill, William H. Macy, Tea Leoni, Alessandro Nivola, Trevor Morgan, Michael Jeter, Laura Dern

Directed by Joe Johnston

The Story:

Part 1:

Billionaire John Hammond (Attenborough) has created a theme park, Jurassic Park, where he's recreated dinosaurs using questionable scientific methods. He needs some validation by scientific experts that the park is safe and sound and ready for tourists. So he enlists paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant (Neill), paleobotanist, Dr. Ellie Sattler (Dern) and mathematician Dr. Ian Malcolm (Goldblum) come to the park. However, when corporate sabotage and a hurricane collide at the same time, things don't go so well, and it's a fight to avoid extinction!

Part 2:

Dr. Malcolm (Goldblum) returns to travel to Isla Sorna, the 2nd island that Hammond (Attenborough) had created his dinosaurs at. He had no intentions of going, except that Hammond enlisted his girlfriend (Moore) and she was already at the island. The team goes to the island and winds up capturing a Tyrannosaurus Rex and taking it back to San Diego to headline the abandoned Jurassic Park that had begun development there. Bad idea.

Part 3:

The return to Isla Sorna, and this time Dr. Grant (Neill) returns by being tricked into coming so that his dig would continue to receive funding. This time it's the Kirby's (Macy & Leoni) whose son (Morgan) had vanished weeks earlier. In the chance he's managed to survive the wilds of Jurassic Park for this long, they want to bring him home alive. However, there are some new dinosaurs waiting to join the party, in addition to the threats we've already seen in the previous two installments.

So, I don't think that anyone hasn't seen at least the first part of this trilogy, and if you stop there, that's fine.

It is head and shoulders above the others in terms of story, characterization and just sheer awesomeness of seeing those dinosaurs for the first time.

I actually saw this in theaters when it came out, and the scene where Alan and Ellie see the dinosaurs for the first time... well, it gave me goosebumps then.

20 years later, I still get goosebumps with that scene.

The elements of the actors, the great special effects on the dinosaurs themselves, and John Williams score create the perfect moment where you soak in the fact that you're seeing dinosaurs, and it's very cool.

There are similar scenes in each of the sequels, but it never quite matches the very first time you see Jurassic Park.

The cast is great, especially the cynical Dr. Malcolm, effortlessly deadpanning his way as the snarky voice of reason.

He's fun in the second installment as well, but when he has to be snarky and the hero at the same time, it just doesn't have the same oomph as the character was able to enjoy in the first film.

Which leaves the third film, which isn't nearly as bad as everyone probably remembers it to be. While not as good as the first, most film trilogies or series all suffer through that. The blame also shouldn't be foisted upon poor Joe Johnston, who gets saddled following Spielberg yet still directs a perfectly fine thriller.

All three have been added to Netflix as of last month, so feel free to revisit, or if you've never seen one (or all) of them, get ready for a pretty wild ride.

Final Grades:

Jurassic Park: A
The Lost World: B
Jurassic Park III: B-

It's Not Whether You Win Or Lose..."When The Game Stands Tall"

When The Game Stands Tall (2014)

PG

Starring Jim Caviezel, Michael Chiklis, Laura Dern, Matthew Daddario,

Directed by Thomas Carter

The Story:

The De La Salle Spartans went from an obscure high school football team to a juggernaut of mythical proportions as they racked up an insanely gaudy 151-0 record under coach Bob Ladouceur (Caviezel). With assistant coach Eidson (Chiklis) helping on defense, the Spartans have scared off the rival schools and so they line up out of state powerhouses to square off against. However, when an off-season tragedy befalls the graduating class, and the coach has a helath setback, next year's class doesn't quite step up to the plate and the Spartans fall on opening day.

The Streak dies, however from the ashes, Ladouceur becomes a better coach, but more importantly, a better father to his son (Daddario).

Naturally, inspired by a true story should be an obvious understatement.

:)

Of course, once the team starts winning again, people begin clamoring for The NEW Streak, which causes the coach to bristle. It's not about the streak, it's about the team.

Thankfully, the players he coaches learn the same lesson along the way.

While good, and even inspiring, the narrative of the story is a little disjointed at times.

The senseless tragedy from the first act is built up and then forgotten until the finale.

It really had no bearing on the new season, except for the passing of the torch to the Junior class who would fumble the ball, figuratively, and while tragic, kind of takes awhile for the movie to get any real momentum.

Again, it was a good movie, but the slow beginning could have used some kind of tweaking.

So enjoy, because it's a long way to go until football season.

Final Grade: Solid B

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I could see watching this one again down the road, but no huge hurry, lots of other stuff to see!