Whatever Happened To Spielbergian Aliens? "The 5th Wave"

The 5th Wave (2016)

Rated PG-13

Starring Chloe Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson, Zackary Arthur, Liev Schreiber, Maria Bello, Ron Livingston, Alex Roe,

Directed by J Blakeson

The Story:

The aliens have made contact, and after 4 waves (Darkness, Destruction, Disease and Invasion) it's time to unleash...The 5th Wave!
But after so much destruction, what could possibly come next?

Cassie (Moretz) is desperate to find her brother (Arthur) who she lost when the Army came to round up survivors and take them to a training facility. There, Colonel Vosch (Schreiber) plans on training the young kids to be the soldiers of the future that can find and destroy the enemy. They shall be...

The 5th Wave!

So, now we know what the 5th Wave is.

How is it as a movie?

Meh, not bad.

It takes the trappings of the dystopian future and places a young female lead into the center of the conflict.

Her quest to reunite and rescue her little brother are the driving force behind the movie, and whether she helps save the world or not is only secondary.

Filled with an ensemble of fine characters to supplement that story, it's nothing earth-shattering and reinventing the sci-fi / action / dystopian future genre...

But entertaining nonetheless.

Probably nothing you haven't seen in one shape or form already, but it's done with enough gusto this go round, you won't feel like you wasted your time.

Final Grade:  C+

A Coming Of Age Gem..."The Kings Of Summer"

The Kings of Summer (2013)

Rated R

Starring Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, Moises Arias, Nick Offerman, Megan Mulally, Mark Evan Jackson,

Directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts

The Story:

Joe (Robinson) and Patrick (Basso) are two friends who are fed up with their respective parents. So Joe comes up with a great plan: they move to the woods and build their own house. So they do. Joining them on their adventure is Biaggio (Arias) and the three have a great time at first. But the lives of teenagers are like weather patterns, and are due to change at any minute...

Usually in these films, it's the preteens that run away on an adventure, but in this case, the kids are high schoolers who have clearly had enough.

Both have parents that simply grate on the kid's nerves, but the parents also have the best dialogue in the movie.

The boys carry most of the movie with camaraderie and a bond that carries through onscreen.

When the bond is severed, you feel bad for all involved because nobody was truly at fault for how it happens.

Again, nothing earth-shattering happens, but I have to leave films like this vague in my descriptions because it's easy to ruin the whole thing with just a few sentences.

It's an evolution of the characters, and Basso and Robinson do a great job of holding our interest and making the most of every scene they have.

Currently streaming on Amazon Prime as of this writing.

Final Grade: B

You Must Be At Least This Tall To Be Eaten By This Ride... "Jurassic World"

Jurassic World (2015)

Rated PG-13

Starring Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, Jake Johnson, BD Wong,

Directed by Colin Trevorrow

The Story:

Built on the ashes of Jurassic Park, Jurassic World offers new thrills and chills for the dinosaur loving public. The only problem, people get bored with the same old same old dinosaurs. So the park has to get crafty and recreate new attractions. And if it can't breed them, they'll build them from scratch! Of course, when man creates dinosaurs, bad things are bound to happen.

Welcome to Jurassic World!

If you had said that the most successful movie of 2015 would be a near note for note remake/love letter to the movie that inspired it decades earlier...

Well no, you'd still be right.

Because before Star Wars: The Force Awakens shattered the box office records for weekend openings with a movie that seems awfully familiar...

Jurassic World did the same thing months earlier with a movie that feels a whole lot like deja vu.

But you know what?

They both did it to kind of wipe the taste of less than stellar sequels (or prequels) out of a movie-going public's collective mouth as a token of forgiveness and acceptance, all in one.

Audiences responded appropriately and made these popcorn flicks the must see films of the year.

These aren't movies: they are events.

That goosebumpy hair-raising that we got over 20 years ago when Spielberg first let his dinosaurs roam the planet, well that feeling was back in Colin Trevorrow's update.

The majority of the original cast is gone, save for the nefarious BD Wong, but it's filled with great new characters to give the next trilogy (I assume) some legs. Whether the franchise will continue to put 2 siblings in peril for the duration of the film remains to be seen, but so far the formula isn't broken, so why start fixing it now?

Naturally, you need a star who won't get overshadowed playing second fiddle to a bunch of dinosaurs, and Jurassic World Plus cemented Chris Pratt's name as box office leading man.

 However those of us who saw Guardians of the Galaxy, we already knew that.

If you liked Jurassic Park back in the day, you're going to love this one.

If you didn't like either...well, there's something messed up with your DNA.

:)

Final Grade: B+