Review of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Today I've seen Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and it was awesome!

Until last week, I had only seen the three Jurassic Park films, now I have seen all five films.  My friend of mine told me that the film might be like the second Jurassic Park film.  Well there a similar idea, of taking dinosaurs off the island where they live and take them to the mainland (didn't they learn from the previous attempt?), only instead of attempting to reopen a previous version of Jurassic Park, it is now to save the dinosaurs.  At some points, of the story, (mostly where there's human baddie) I could sense what was to come next (even to the human villains who deserved what they ended up getting).  One character went round calling for his "bonus", but I'll let you find out what happened next.  And there was some good humour, even in the moments of tension of the story.

I've heard that the actress Bryce Dallas Howard, who played Claire Dearing, requested in the previous film that her character wears heels throughout most of the film, even in the jungle scenes.  In this film, she does have heels towards the start, but she does ditches them for proper shoes.

The mention of John Hammond does give a hint of how Jurassic Park began before the films began and the cameo of Ian Malcolm, talking about the dangers the dinosaurs and genetic engineering pose, helps link the previous films, while further expanding the role of Dr Henry Wu, showing his skills as a scientist in the geneticist.

Now I'm planning to see the other four films in my wait for Fallen Kingdom to come out.  I've heard the third film is in the works and is due for release in 2021, and I can't wait to see if it will just as good.  I hope so.

I hope that you will come, see and enjoy at Eden Court.

90th Blog Post - Review of Solo

Today I went to see Solo: A Star Wars Story, and I enjoyed it.

So far, I seen all the main films, all of the original and prequel trilogies and least of the sequel trilogy, I am up to date of the story lines.  It was interesting in seeing how Han Solo began his adventures across the galaxy, meet Chewbacca, and get the Falcon off Lando.  The film may have changed directors, but I think that Ron Howard has done another good job in bring an entertaining film with a few good laughs in it |9such as how Han got the Falcon, with a few good references how Han got into dealing with Jabba the Hutt, and the guard's disguise Lando would use in the Return of the Jedi.  I was surprised of how Darth Maul had an appearance, does this mean the Emperor might be behind crimes across the galaxy (playing both sides of an argument as he has done before?), and could he make another appearance like Vader did in Rogue One?

Well, I went to Eden Court to see the film, and I enjoyed every minute of it.  I look forward to getting it when it's released on DVD.

I hope that you will come, see and enjoy at Eden Court.

Review of Crimes Under The Sun

Last night I went to see the play Crimes Under The Sun, a spoof of Agatha Christie's crime novel Evil Under The Sun.  And I enjoyed the play very much.

Brought by the New Old Friends company, who marking its 10th anniversary, the play is its third instalment of "Crimes..." series with a fourth hoped for next year.  In the play they were balancing a homage to Christie's famous works (The ABC Murders being referred to as The XYZ Murders, with a mention of a library, but no body) with light-hearted humour and only two actors and two actresses performing.

Jill Myers played the female Belgian (not French) detective Artemis Arinae who is staying at an hotel on an island to write her memoirs, but crime isn't too far away.

Jonny McClean played Alcazar (the hotel manager), Redwood (who likes o refer himself as a "wild animal", is a coward when challenged) , Lucien (a small boy) and Inspector Aquafresh (and I'm making that name up, he said it was).

Heather Westwell performed Selina Bellman (a famous deep diver), Rose Wentworth (Redwood's fiancée), Maggie (a maid, who says "God rest/bless/dam his/her soul" when talking of the victim, and other people around her) and the three PCs (in reality she was dressed as one, but with glasses for the first, stooping low for the second, and with a moustache for the third, all of whom wasn't too bright as when the heard the victim's name, they thought that there was another victim).

Fears Woods Dunlop performed Nelson Cholmondeley (a traveller, who later becomes the second victim), Father Ginnell (who fears that he sees evil everywhere he goes) and Major Peavey (the first victim's husband and Lucien's father from a previous marriage, and who talks of a fight in a tavern).

The set was a simple set, that seemed able to double up for a balcony and the inside of a hotel, with bright lights for the beach, for when Arinae was thinking and when it was stormy.

How Westwell managed to play the three PCs I don't know, but she must have rehearsed for hours to get it right (and got a good applaud for it).  One funny scene, when Arinae was on the beach looking for clues, Alcazar would appear carrying a tray with sandcastles with clues hidden inside of them.  The first was small with a flag of England, the second flag was of the Union Jack for UK, and the third, on top f just a mound of sand had the flag of the EU.

At the side of the stage was a man and lady translating the speeches into sign language for the audience, but I was focusing on the play itself.

And I enjoyed the performance, and I hope for more like it this year at Eden Court.

I hope that you will come, see and enjoy at Eden Court.

Hairspray

This February, the hit musical Hairspray is coming to Eden Court.

Baltimore, 1962, and Tracy Turnblad, a girl with a big heart, is determined to follow her dream of dancing on the national TV.  When her audition goes well and makes her a local star, she uses her new-found fame to fight for equality with Link Larkin right behind her.

For more information...

I hope that you'll come, see and enjoy at Eden Court.

Review of Jumanjii: Welcome to the Jungle

Today I've seen Jumanjii: Welcome to the Jungle, and I enjoyed it.

I have heard of Jumanjii, but have only watched the original film with the fantastic Robin Williams just a couple of weeks ago, and I enjoyed that film and got to look forward to the sequel.

I think that modernising the Jumanjii board game into a video game was a good idea, for as a character asked, "Who plays game board anymore?".  I do, but games have "moved on" and people talk about the latest video games that are being released.

One piece of the original film they've kept was the beating drums.  In the first film, it's heard by kids near the board game, while the sequel it's heard when a level is about to start.  I liked the way the film referred to Alan Parrish (who was played by Adam Hann-Byrd as a kid and famously by Robin Williams as an adult in the previous film).

The development of the characters was very well done.  At the start Spencer and Anthony "Fridge" lose their friendship, while Bethany is somebody interested more in herself and gets in trouble for having her phone on in class and Martha is uninterested in PE class, and at the end of the film, the two boys reconcile, Bethany learns to look beyond herself thanks to Alex and Martha learns how to be more open about herself.

I liked the ending where the teenagers remember the original timeline and and meet Alex in the revised timeline where Bethany had an impact on Alex, similar to the previous film where Alan and Sarah remember the original timeline when they returned to starting point of the game, and meet Judy and Peter years later.  While Alan and Sarah tried to get rid of the game by throwing it into a river, the four teenagers smash the video game.

I liked the honour in the film, such as when Bethany in her male avatar Professor Oberon has to teach Martha in her avatar Ruby Roundhouse how to flirt to distract some guards in order to get into a shed with vehicles in.

Overall, I enjoyed the film and I hope to watch it again.

I hope that you will come, see and enjoy at Eden Court.

Review of Star Wars: The Last Jedi

I saw Star Wars: The Last Jedi before Christmas and I enjoyed it.

Many people have commented on the length of the film, but I didn't take much notice of it.

In this film we see how Luke Skywalker has become a changed man from the original trilogy, like Ben Kenobi at the start of the original trilogy, Luke is the one in exile now.  Seeing Yoda performed as a puppet like in the original trilogy, it was a delight that he looked more real than a CGI character and he could still teach Luke a lesson or two about the Force.

Rey and Kylo Ren's relationship was something that developed over the course of the film, and we see that, like Darth Vader, Kylo Ren isn't full villain, but he did have some similar plans Vader had when he turned to the Dark Side.  I look forward to seeing how their relationship will develop.

This film is the last to feature Carrie Fisher who died before the film was released and after she had filmed her scenes, and it brought a sense of sadness and hope that her scenes will have a meaning, such as the scenes when she see her with Luke before he confronts Kylo Ren.  One that struck a cord with me was when the Resistance is abandoning their ship and Leia is talking to Holdo (played by Lauren Dern) and she's about to say the infamous line "May the Force be with you", Leia allows Holdo to say it, commenting something like "I've it a lot of times already".  I now wonder how Leia will be explained in the next film, and hopefully we see a satisfying moment.

I enjoyed the film, and I look forward to seeing the next part of the sequel trilogy.

I hope that you'll come, see and enjoy at Eden Court.

85th Blog Post - Review of Murder on the Orient Express (2017)

I have seen the the Murder on the Orient Express, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

I must admit that I know Agatha Christie's famous story as I have see the 1974 film with Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot, and the 2010 TV episode with David Suchet as the detective.

The story is easy to understand, Poirot is taking the Orient Express from Istanbul, and one of the passengers, Mr Samuel Ratchett asks Poirot for protection by a threat, but Poirot refuses, and the next day, Ratchett is founded murdered, leaving Poirot to find out who the murderer is, and there's a train full of suspects to choose from.  Poirot then discovers that Ratchett was really a man called Cassetti, who kidnapped and murdered a young girl called Daisy Armstrong a few years before, an event that lead to many more deaths, and (in this film) Poirot reveals that he was asked by Daisy's father to investigate before killing himself before Poirot could reply, and during the investigation, Poirot discovers that many of the passengers have had a connection to the Armstrong case.

Some bits of the story were changed, such as conversation between characters and who they speak to.  Kenneth Branagh's appearance is very different from the previous actors.  While Finney's and Suchet's Poirot had a small moustaches, Branagh's was a very wide, which is a way helped ensure that we didn't a Branagh-looking Poirot, just Poirot.  In the film, Poirot is more active and quick than his literacy and previous film counterparts, such as chasing a suspect out of the train.  At the start, the film begins with one funny part of Poirot where he prefers having two eggs the exact same size, and complains of that the hens can't lay such eggs.  Another reference to another Poirot story was the mention of Pilar Estravados, who was in Hercule Poirot's Christmas, who didn't appear in this story.  At the end, there's a tongue-and-cheek reference another Poirot story, Death on the Nile.

I was quite impressed with Branagh's version of Poirot, and I must admit to myself that every version of one thing is always different, from both the original source and each other.

I have heard that there might be a sequel coming up with Branagh returning.  I hope so, and I'll look forward to it.

I hope that you've seen it and enjoyed it.

I hope that you will come, see and enjoy at Eden Court Theatre.