Blu-ray thumbs

[Johann]

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (2008)



Enjoyable movie in the vein of The Goonies from Eric Brevig.
Starring Brendan Fraser, this is loosely based on the Jules Verne novel.
Fraser and a kid travel to Iceland, to follow in their relatives' past work at a volcano.
They meet an Icelandic woman who escorts them there when a storm hits and seals them in an old abandoned mineshaft.
From there, they free-fall to the Center of the earth, encountering luminous birds, venus flytraps, and dinosaurs.
Implausible but fun movie.

[Chris Knipp]

So now you must watch THE WHALE?!

[Johann]

I'll see it sometime.
It's Aronofsky, and he said he wanted to get back to working with actors more deeply.
It garnered gold for Brendan.

[Johann]

TOP GUN: MAVERICK (2022)



If you were a fan of the '86 movie you'll love this sequel.
Myself, I didn't find it all that great, despite superb aerial photography.
It was nice to see Val Kilmer back (as Iceman), and they gave him an onscreen funeral!!
The story is simple. Maverick is a hotshot test pilot, and they get him to teach a new batch of aviators. The opening credits were a throwback to the original film, making all the gen-X'ers happy...not to mention the shirtless game of offence/defence football we see in the surf later on.
Fast editing of the scenes in jets, thrilling for some, meh for me. It just seemed like a video game to me. Jennifer Connelly is good, and Tom Cruise is looking his age.

[Chris Knipp]

Again I completely agree. I didn't review it - not much to say - but did see it in a theater. Why it was mentioned so much at Oscars time I didn't quite see.

[Johann]

Nothing oscar-worthy about it.
It made over a billion at the box office. Mind-boggling.
Was covid keeping people from the theatres?
This film was hyped pretty large, and I don't see much to write home about.

[Johann]

JURASSIC WORLD DOMINION (2022)



Are people still thrilled by dinosaur attacks? They must be, cuz they keep making these movies.
This movie has no plot. Dinosaurs run amok everywhere. And these dinos are real keen on chases.
They can outrun motorcycles! They can jump between buildings!
Almost nothing can hold them back, and the silly chases here are almost non-stop.
There's too many characters in the movie too- you don't care about any of them!
Stalwarts Howard and Pratt are here, along with veterans Dern, Neill & Goldblum.
Kids may like this, adults may tune out.