Jurassic Park (in 3D) movie review.

Movie studios are a wonder today. Ever since James Cameron’s game changing use of 3D in Avatar, companies have been cashing in on the dreaded 3D craze. They usually serve no other purpose than to gain more income from an inflated ticket price, and most of the time, it doesn’t make ANY difference to the presentation. The studios stand on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as they can, and before they even know what they have, they’ve already packaged it, patented it, slapped it on the front of a plastic lunchbox, and now… they’re selling it! They want to sell it!

It doesn’t stop with new movies, either. Studios have even gone so far as to convert older movies to 3D, specifically in the case of Titanic and The Lion King. Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park is the latest to receive this treatment. Most cynics of 3D will be forgiven for not giving it the time of day, but it provides many an excuse to give this film the big screen treatment it deserves. Indeed, the 3D is not the most enticing feature. I, like many other Jurassic Park fanboys, could not pass up the opportunity to watch a movie we had originally fell in love with on VHS on the big screen for the first time. As I often consider Jurassic Park my favorite movie of all time, this was a deal too juicy to ignore.

To the Wonder movie review.

There are few directors in Hollywood who refuse to be boxed in, and refuse to compromise their unique visions to cater to general audiences. Terrence Malick is one of those people.  Despite a career that spans over forty years, he’s only ever directed six films. He’s a perfectionist, a visual poet who could shoot an entire movie in two months, but could take three years editing that one feature. That dedication is what has brought us great films such as The Thin Red Line (one of my favorite movies of all time), and 2011’s divisive The Tree of Life. It’s something of a wonder that his follow up to The Tree of Life came only two years afterwards. This is To the Wonder, which once again sees the director taking a meditative approach to life and love’s philosophical nature, but does so in one of the most experimental fashions in his career.

The Host movie review.

Last year finally marked the end of Stephanie Meyer’s undying Twilight saga. However, the mainstream wouldn’t be safe from her grip for too long, because another book of hers, The Host, was gearing up for a release. Though the book was not warmly received, it only made sense to adapt it. Initially, things seemed to be stepping in the right direction. The film was directed by Andrew Niccol, and even though he hadn’t directed a good movie in a long time, there were those who were hopeful. What really got ME hyped to see the movie was Saoirse Ronan, one of the greatest young actors currently working, cast in the lead role. I couldn’t wait to see this, and... I should not have gotten my hopes too high. While it certainly isn’t a horrific movie, it manages to do the impossible. It’s even worse than Twilight.

My top ten most anticipated movies of 2013!

Since 2013’s been going really slow for me (I still haven’t seen anything this year), and seeing as how my Bond retrospective has finally reached its end, I thought I’d take this time to look ahead, and talk about my top ten most anticipated movies of the year. There are plenty being released that have caught my eye, and plenty that look quite exceptional and entertaining. On the whole, 2012 was a very good year, but 2013 has the potential to be even better, with a lot of juicy projects, highly anticipated sequels, and plenty of talent pre-existing, and yet to be discovered. We don’t even know if many of the movies we’re looking forward to will be any good (For instance, I was excited to see The Host, and now I’m thinking twice about that), but whether they’re disappointing, or whether they exceed expectations, I still can’t wait to see them.

So, here are my top ten most anticipated movies of the year. If there are any you’re looking forward to that aren’t on here, it means I either don’t know they exist, that I’m excited for them, but not enough to put them on here, or that they don’t interest me at all (I’m tempted to include The Counselor in the latter category).