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cinemaseeker · 2 years

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Let's Review: Jurassic World Dominion

*THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION and JURASSIC PARK (1993)*

Life always finds a way, especially if it's a long-running and long-beloved movie franchise. And both of those things always have to end eventually, despite our best efforts.

Jurassic World: Dominion takes the story started in Jurassic Park to its logical conclusion, crawling determinedly across the finish line and collecting a last place medal (Do they even give out medals for last place? Maybe a participation award would be more appropriate). But at least it finished, and that can be an accomplishment in its own right. And I can guarantee that there will still be plenty of people waiting in the stands, even after all this time, cheering it on.

This latest installment finally gives us a true Jurassic World. Not only are the dinosaurs out of the park, but now they're out in our world, living around us and unbalancing our entire delicate ecosystem. But it's not exactly a post-apocalyptic scenario. Civilization as we know it is still technically up and running, but the main question here is: for how much longer?

The movie shows how humanity has taken various approaches to adapting to this new world order. Some like Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) have taken up dinosaur rights activism and are working to free them from illegal breeding operations. Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) has taken up the cowboy approach, rounding up herds and helping them find safer pastures. Others have used dinosaurs to create a booming black market with the purpose of fulfilling a perverse demand to sell and own these valuable animals (Did this element make anyone else think of Tiger King?). And then there's Biosyn, a company that is working on creating a sanctuary for dinosaurs and promises to use genetic engineering in order to, not make hybrids, but to find cures for genetic diseases. But, big shock, it turns out that they don't exactly have the best of intentions (Just wait until you see what they get up to here; your reaction will most likely be the same as mine: NOPE). Biosyn is led by *SPOILER COMING UP* clever in-joke Lewis Dodgson. And yes, it's that Dodgson, the one from the first movie and the memes.

This time around, Dodgson (Campbell Scott) has gotten the complete 2020s tech villain makeover, which includes a calm Steve Jobs monotone, matching glasses, and casual business attire (with the sleeves rolled up, of course). He's a pretty basic, forgettable bad guy who gets his fitting comeuppance in the end.

This image says it all:

Speaking of bad guys, this movie may make you question who you're supposed to be rooting for: the dinosaurs or the humans. In the first movie it was pretty obvious but now it feels like those lines are getting more and more blurred. On the one hand, yes, dinosaurs are dangerous and should not be left unchecked in the wider world of human civilization, lest they go around eating people, wiping out livestock, and causing all kinds of general mayhem. But on the other hand, the movie does take some time to try and convince us that these are animals and they deserve to live and be protected in the same way that we work to protect endangered species such as tigers. In terms of thematic material, it's not a very deep puddle but it's still a puddle that can hold some water (it kinda evaporates by the third act, albeit not completely).

It's so fascinating to see how movie villains and our notions of who gets labeled as the villain change over time. In a similar vein to how Native Americans were the undisputed villains of cowboy movies (i.e. The Searchers) but have slowly started to become well-rounded protagonists in their own right (shout-out to Reservation Dogs), the velociraptors, who used to be the undisputed villains of Jurassic Park, are now less vilified here and, although not exactly the heroes, they get to be allied with the heroes while still being the wild animals that they are.

There's a fantastic scene early on when *SPOILER COMING UP* we see the velociraptor Blue and her offspring, later named Beta, running around in the snow. The way that they stalk prey reminded me of Bambi going out with his mom in the meadow (thankfully there's no dead mom in this scenario).

Now imagine being able to take the empathy that we traditionally reserve for cute animals like Bambi and his mom

and apply it to velociraptors

Reminder: we've already done it before (Remember that cute baby velociraptor hatching from its egg in Jurassic Park?)

Now it can be tricky to spend too much empathy on something that is actively trying to kill you (which always eventually happens in these movies), but by the end the movie figures out how we could potentially co-exist peacefully with dinosaurs.

Quick side bar: If anyone wants to go off on this movie for being too "woke" for trying to address issues such as climate change and animal rights, this is the part where I remind you that this franchise has been grappling with the moral and ethical repercussions of bringing back dinosaurs since the beginning, so please take your complaints elsewhere.

Now that I've gotten you to start thinking about Ian Malcolm, I feel like now's the best time to mention that this movie sees the triumphant return of the OG Jurassic Park trio of Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), and of course Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), who keeps it real and gets some of the best lines in the movie. He's the only character who can convincingly pull off a line like "You made a promise to a dinosaur." and make it work.

That's, THAT's the magic of Jeff Goldblum.

The veterans and newcomers work off each other very well here (Claire and Ellie trauma bonding is a particular highlight). But if I could give out an MVP award, I would easily give it to DeWanda Wise's badass pilot Kayla Watts.

Now I was already pretty excited to see that DeWanda Wise was going to be in this movie. I'm gonna pull out my hipster glasses for a second and mention that I liked DeWanda Wise before it was cool, namely from her work on the Netflix series She's Gotta Have It, the criminally underrated TV adaptation of Spike Lee's 1986 film. I did have some reservations, namely that she would only show up for one scene before getting swiftly killed off. Fortunately, not only does she get to live, but she actually gets to be a cool character (with an arc and everything) and play an important part in the plot. I almost wish that there was another sequel coming out, or even a spin-off, just so I can see more of her. Or maybe an Indiana Jones reboot.

I don't know, she's already got the look and the vibe down.

Let's make it happen, people!

This movie definitely steps up in terms of diverse, feminist representation. There are significantly more people of color in prominent roles as both heroes and villains and, as you can see from the poster, there are more women in the main cast. This movie easily passes the Bechdel test (wherein two, preferably named, female characters speak to each other about something other than a man) and is able to achieve gender parity to such an astonishing degree that at one point, I was shocked to see that the female characters actually outnumbered the male characters (this NEVER happens, especially in big sci-fi blockbusters). Plus, I'm happy to report that everyone, male and female, is wearing sensible clothes and appropriate footwear (no high heels here).

If you're interested in reading more about this, check out this article. It was a fun read.

Now with that said, there could always be more WOC and BIPOC characters on screen, and sadly there is still no discernible queer representation to be found here, even though there's one line uttered by Kayla Watts that comes so tantalizingly close, that got me so excited and quietly fist-pumping in my seat over the possibility of seeing a queer woman of color in a Jurassic Park movie:

"I like redheads, too."

This is a line that refers to Claire, who shares several scenes with Kayla and, if you squint, you can sense some potential chemistry going on there. But unfortunately, nothing comes to fruition here.

But come ON, guys! Why would you throw in a line like that if you didn't want me to obsess over it?!?

For anyone looking to read more about this issue, check out this awesome article:

Although I'm glad that no prominent characters get killed off, it does bring up a glaring error with this movie: there is an overabundance of plot armor going around. For those of you who may not be familiar with this term, plot armor is a narrative phenomenon in which main characters are able to survive dangerous situations that no one should be able to survive, specifically because they are main characters, in order to serve the plot. But part of the excitement of the original Jurassic Park was that everyone was in danger and it felt like anyone could get killed at any moment. But I sense that, in a ploy to keep a PG-13 rating, the onscreen violence and chomping is significantly downsized, probably to avoid complaints from parents (God, can you imagine what this movie would've looked like if it had gotten an R rating? I can).

Now with that said, there are some great moments of suspense to be found here. I'll even go under oath and say that they are some of the most nail-biting moments in the franchise since the raptor kitchen scene in Jurassic Park. And *SPOILER COMING UP* both of them involve water. One is when Claire is in the wilderness, crawling military-style through the muck in order to escape the Giganotosaurus and ends up underwater, holding her breath for dear life. The other one involves Owen and Kayla trying to fend off a Pyroraptor whilst navigating across literal thin ice.

If this image is enough to make you want to hold your breath, then clearly someone is doing something right.

Bottom line: This is definitely a popcorn movie that you'll probably enjoy while you're in the theater but you may most likely forget about in a day or two, the same amount of time it would take for your popcorn to pass through your digestive tract. But I'm willing to bet that you still enjoyed that popcorn and therefore have no regrets.

And THAT's chaos theory.

I would like to end this review with a word to the wise from our favorite chaotician Dr. Ian Malcolm:

Thanks for reading!

My Rating: 2.5/5 baby velociraptors

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hylialeia · 3 years

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Hi, I hope this doesn't come off as negative. I was curious about the R/ L thing as well and was about to send an ask about that, but I saw your answer to another person so I kinda get it, now. And, well, I've been following a lot of this "neutral" discourse because at first I thought it was hilarious and a bit immature. I am not aware of how the shippers started this "neutral derogatory" thing and their motivation behind it, but I am pretty sure that now the use is by fans who have felt as if certain takes within the fandom which can be easily proven false have been accepted by, well, neutrals within the fandom, over better interpretations. And any attempt to disprove older interpretations has been rather difficult because people are unwilling to analyze the text for themselves over reading simplified explanations from other people who have been in the fandom longer. I am really sorry if this is coming across as disingenuous, but it's just something I've observed personally and could very well be wrong.

No need to apologize, you're not being negative or rude at all.

Thing is, I think people tend to give too much credit to the idea that there are people "controlling" which theories are acceptable and which ones aren't. Sure, there are people who try to do that, and that's been something I've noticed regarding stan circles (that whole idea that you're a "fake stan" if you think the character isn't justified in everything they do, for example, and that you need to be "gatekept" from the community).

But at the end of the day, you're just reading a blog, and they're going to make an argument based off their own logic and the evidence from the text (hopefully). It's not all that different than reading different scholarly texts over literature (though clearly tumblr is a less professional platform) that may or may not agree with each other.

That said, the theories and interpretations that stick around or gain popularity on here usually do so because they're well argued and/or well evidenced (Jaime as the volonqar, for example). They don't just come out of nowhere or get notes because a blog has a lot of followers; they make sense and reference the source material. I don't think these are cases where old, crotchety meta blogs who are set in their ways just won't listen to new ideas; sometimes things stick because they're well-written theories and analysis, which is why they get notes in the first place.

There's certainly things on other platforms that gain traction by being divisive, but I'm struggling to think of a theory that's "easily proven false" that doesn't have a deal of people doing just that (i.e. Cat cheated on Ned with Littlefinger; thanks, Order of the Green Hand).

But back to "neutrals": sure, there are controversial theories, like King's Landing burning down, where people argue endlessly over the context ("Dany will burn KL in a mad rage" vs. "Dany's dragon will accidentally set off the wildfire" vs. "Jon Connington or Cersei will be the ones who set the flames off," vs. "Tyrion will advise Dany to rashly burn the city," etc, etc). These aren't "easily disproven" (except maybe the "Dany is mad" thing, ahem) because the only thing we really know for certain is that, based on Chekov's Wildfire, King's Landing is destined to go boom.

Finally, nothing anyone writes here, on Wordpress, in a video essay, or even in a published, academic novel, is going influence the story GRRM is writing. We have our theories and interpretations, but when it comes to finishing the narrative, GRRM will do what he always intended and write it the way he's always wanted. All we're doing is trying to figure out where he's going, and why.

#asoiaf #the 'neutrals' thing refers to people pretending to be unbiased I think?#with the implied meaning that these people are part of an asoiaf illuminati #who get to decide who gets popular #ask #anonymous

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lovemecharlie · 4 years

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When Erik Met King Jade

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be in a romantic relationship where both parties alternate between "driving the boat" so to speak? It requires a lot of communication. You need to be willing to listen and follow as well as assert yourself and lead. You have to care about your partner's needs and be aware of your own.

N'Jadaka and I like to believe that we have found the balance because we make an effort to learn about each other continuously, but the thing about balance is that it requires great effort to maintain. Our relationship always wants to tip one way or another, and we're not perfect enough to stop it when it does. The thing that rights us is when we check the issue instead of each other.

At the beginning of the relationship though.. I won't lie. We had issues. We power struggled in a way that was not fun for us. I'm sure you wanna hear that too and I might as well tell you since I've shared so much as it is.

Let's go back to before the baby.. before the marriage.. when N'Jadaka and I were somewhat new and I still lived on the east coast.

◇

Erik strolls close beside me through the Maryland art exhibit, hands in his plaid pants pockets while I hang onto his bicep, arm linked in his. I've pulled out my 22 inch wavy unit for this occasion.

It's our mid-week date but we've specifically come to this rather liberal museum to support a college friend of mine who has a section of the gallery dedicated to her sculpted works. Signing her guest book I put in a bid for sculpture titled Womb in Motion.

"It's the low-hanging fruit," he says. "She didn't work too hard for that message, don't you think it's generic?"

"Because movement suggests life and the womb is life.. I love it," I explain to Erik. He's not completely sold. I'm glad Alice, the artist is not there to hear his honest opinions.

"It's a good fertility representation," I shrug, silently agreeing. He's not wrong. "I have another colleague who does Lamaze."

"I guess.." He moves us smoothly to the next piece, a sculpture called Rapture where it looks like a man is having an insane orgasm by the expression chiseled into his face.

"Well..." I bite the inside of my lip and look slyly to Erik. "That's a familiar face if I've ever seen it." When he sighs, my cheeks lift.

"Charlie this is the ugliest statue I've seen in my life and I don't look a damn thing like that... I don't," he adds when my brows go up.

Smiling with closed lips I glance to my right and that's when I see it.. a blatant symbol of a conversation I've been purposely avoiding. Immediately my reaction is to stand in a way that blocks Erik's view.

Draping my arms around his neck, I tilt my head to capture his gaze. "Let's go look at some paintings, I want to get at this Llama picture I saw briefly before someone beats me to it." ...But it doesn't work. Logically we both know it only makes sense to see what's in each exhibit as we walk and appreciate each individual work. It's what we do.

I know he sees it when his eyes stare past me and he pauses leaving me to roll my eyes. He puts his arm on my waist to guide me to it, unaware that I've already seent it through the corner of my eye..

"This one's interesting," he allows. Of course this would be the one he somewhat approves of. He's into this one, I can tell because he tries to view it from other angles and he's really looking at it. I try to talk about it as far as technique and material, but the subject matter is too obvious to ignore.

"Perfect Submission," he reads. It shows a woman kneeling and holding onto a man's leg and the man projects heavy alpha energy. It's a loud piece, skillfully created.. but loud.

"Baby... How would you feel having me as your dom,” he asks innocently. "You ever have one?"

There it is, the question I've been trying so hard to avoid.

"Have one?... No." I let him put two and two together. Suddenly, he's staring at me and I can feel it. When I look up, he looks confused and I don't like this intensely focused silence. "...What?"

"So, you've been one?" Sculpture forgotten, I'm now the focus of this conversation.

"No, I wouldn't say that..," I squint, "But I am used to.. calling the shots if you will. That's just how it's always been." I can see in his confused stare that it's a foreign concept to him. He can't picture it. "...Is that it?"

"Are you interested in experiencing sex differently? Seeing what it's like to give away control?"

I tilt my head, "Are you?"

"Honestly?" Wild brows high, he smiles humorlessly and I already know his answer, but I still wait for him to say it. "...No."

"Same.. I'm not cut out for taking orders. I don't like being told what to do."

"Neither do my wives, but in the bedroom it's different.. They feel good knowing they always have a firm hand and a strong dick."

"Pftt," I nearly spit, but cover my snickering. "Boy bye. I'm not your wife." That comment he made was enough to make my sides hurt.

"I'm for real. There's something I haven't told you yet," he says gauging my expression and I try to compose myself. "...I am a dominant." His eyes are serious. After a beat, I know I have to be serious too. I take a deep sigh.

"I could've guessed that," I admit. He didn't have to tell me and I was hoping that he wouldn't.

"My wives are all my submissives. We are into kink. We do fuck in the open. We do have group sex. We also do things that normal people do in relationships because we love our family."

"It's the weirdest family I've ever heard of..," I mumble, thrown by the explosion of TMI.

"We believe in full disclosure."

“Well, I'm not a submissive so it would get awkward really fast if you tried to dom me.”

"Is that facts?"

When I smile so to say 'yes indeed it's facts' he smiles as if he's thinking 'wtf' and his brows shoot up again like I'm some foreign object he can't figure out. He looks like I've just told him I have six husbands and want him to be the seventh... and he's just staring.

“Is something wrong?”

"Eh..," he mutters and it's like he wants to say something but changes his mind. "Charlie." Grabbing my hand to briefly kiss my fingers, he moves in closer and holds my hand in close to him. “Close your eyes and picture this.. You and me making love in Cancun.. music playing.. I lay you down and tease your body until you need the real thing and then I give it all to you.. I hold you down and have you take all of me.. and all you have to do is say yes. I'll buy you white lingerie from Agent Provocateur.. lace teddies and heels.. and I'll let you model them for me, while I touch you with my eyes.. Then I'll tie you up and kiss you all over your body from head to toe till you beg me to fuck you some more.. Now open your eyes. You don't want that?”

“Not really. One, that's boring and I'd rather explore and party if I'm in Cancun. Two, I can buy my own lingerie and I don't like white. Three, I'm not about to beg you for anything.. You can beg me," I tease. "Honestly, I'd probably end up tying you up and doing what I wish with you.. edging you. Imagine you in all your glory, naked in an apron cooking me breakfast because I turned you out and tore that cherry out,” I grin loving the image.

"Hell nah," he blurts moving onto a different sculpture where the sculpted couple is entwined around a third party. Any excitement he had deteriorated when I mentioned my lil fantasy.

"Um.. you good?" I follow closely, noting the shift. He says he's good, but I know I burst his little bubble.. this is exactly why I avoided the topic. "Look," I grab onto his arm linking mine again "I understand that this is different for you. Being in a serious relationship is different for me. I'm not used to this.. this is new."

"I know that. I respect you for being real with me, I just didn't see this coming. I have to adjust.."

"I tell you what. I have a suggestion and you just tell me if you're with it.. Okay?" Following him to the next exhibit, we stand side by side before an abstract painting that looks like the night.

"Mhm?"

"Well," I sigh, "What if we tried taking turns, that way both of us could orchestrate our fantasies and bring'em to life. I think we should try a situation where I dom you and then we'll switch it and.. you'll dom me?"

"Reverse it, I want you first," he blurts. It's not a big deal. Shrugging, I agree and we take time to finish looking through the exhibits before heading out to my car. After grabbing milkshakes, I take him to his hotel and drop him at the front before heading home.

◇

Little did I know this would be the start of our complicated journey, but I'll tell you more.. after I put this baby down for her nap. By the way, I have more to tell you about that too.

#charlie #fics #erik killmonger #erik killmonger x oc

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hearteyes-for-killmonger · 4 years

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Chapter 9: Beautiful Nightmare

"You.. are smoking dicks, sir," is the strongest thought I have as he puffs at a cigar that seems to have materialized between his fingers. "Is this a dream? It has to be. I fell asleep in class."

"Don't you think I'd have kicked you out? Or at least woken you up? You're awake, Ms. Miller and you're in my world."

"Which is Hell?"

He nods.

"So who are you supposed to be? Are you the devil? Where are your horns?"

"I'm the King of Hell," he gestures to the space around us, "-and we made a deal."

"Am I dead? Damn, shouldn't have got in the car witta drunk bitch."

"No, Ms. Miller. You are not dead," he chuckles like it's a dumb question. It's a logical question. I can feel salty mist building in places on my body I don't currently wish to speak on.

"You think I'm bullshittin," he mumbles.

"Honestly, yes because it's bullshit."

I'm dreaming.

But my skin is hot to my own touch. The door is gone I don't understand logically how that happened. He blows his smoke into my face but it doesn't bother me, I roll my eyes crossing my arms.

Leaving the cigar hanging from his lips, he pulls up briefly on the waist of his slacks and snatches the cigar from his teeth, leaning down so his eyes are level with mine as I crane my neck back for him to back up.

"Look at this." His eyes turn jet black. Ew.

"Ah!"

"Look at this." He points to a seat in the room and it bursts into flames. He points to two more. Fire. Fire.

"STOP.. I get it."

His eyes return to normal.

He sticks the cigar back in his mouth and blows more smoke out in my face like it's gonna bother me.. so I take it from his lips and inhale blowing it back at him. His shoulders bounce as he smirks with silent laughter.

"See, Gem.. I don't think you understand what I'm trying to tell you."

"King of Hell," I wave to the seats still on fire and melting down. "I got it.. I don't know why you here teaching idiots at a PWI, but whatever, it's hot."

I can myself for a little relief.

"Make yourself useful and poof me some water and maybe I'll think about it being a lil sweeter for you."

He does a zipper motion across his lips and suddenly it's like my lips are melded together.

"Mmm!"

I can't open them, not even with my fingers. Panicked, I pick and pry at the melted skin but I don't want to hurt them. This shit better not scar or I will kill him, vanquish him, whatever I have to do.

"I asked only that you stick to the parameters of our contract. Now I'm adding a few more terms so that you understand how serious I am."

With a snap in the air, a scroll of paper appears in his hand and he drops it down, scanning it quickly.

"Shit, this is Ms. Zywicki's contract." He rolls it back up. Another snap produces a different scroll which he glances at with a nod before showing it to me. My name is on it along with everything we agreed on. I snatch it and suddenly small print begins to appear, that's when he snatches it back.

"What was that shit at the bottom? I ain't agree to all that." I couldn't even read it.

"In addition to the contract in existence, you'll fuck no one but me until this class is officially over. You'll appear whenever I call on you. Failure to adhere will end in more punishment."

Another snap sends the contract away.

I still haven't received the punishment for ignoring his calls. I've been waiting. I'm starting to think he's full of hot air, no pun intended.

"I'm very serious.. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. I've tried to be nice."

The hard way. Please. I adjust my posture to convey that I don't plan to comply. I just want what I'm owed.

I hear my name yelled.

"MS. MILLER."

WhaAaAattt...

My eyes slowly open and I'm sitting in my seat front and center in class. I blink and the students are staring at me in amusement. I wipe my mouth and look to Mr. Stevens who looks like he's over my shit.

"The hard way.. please," some guy whines letting me know that I talk in my sleep. I'm not ashamed, he wishes he were the target of my affections.

"Glad to have you back," Mr. Stevens says sarcastically. "Get out." He points to the door.

I don't even remember falling asleep, but it feels like I was sleeping good. I grab my water, my bag, and my laptop and leave.

xoxo.

Back in my dorm room, I decide to use the little bit of time I have to scan through the sex tape I made over the weekend with Letitia. I'd been thinking about it since I woke up that morning. I knew the sex was good but I was too drunk then to recall details.

Rolling the footage back on my phone, it looks so steamy, her body on mine. I'm feeling zesty. I have to strip down, light an amber aromatherapy candle, grab one of my vibrators, and get comfortable on the bed.

Judging by the way we were getting it in on video I'll have to have my sub come by sooner than I thought to have my bedding cleaned. Things got a little messy. He'll take care of it gladly. Anything to make me happy.

In the meantime, I slide the end of the black Womanizer duo vibrator inside of me for some much needed penetration.

When Chris comes into the video, I freeze with my vibrator. I don't remember that fully either. Watching the mini movie I obviously told him what to do and he still couldn't handle it. I know now not to waste my time with him.

I kicked him out of my room.

Good.

I continue gliding the vibrator inside of me as I watch Letitia and myself go at it long enough to see myself fall asleep once she and I are done.

Then she takes my lotion before leaving, that bitch. That pisses me off. I hadn't even noticed it was gone, I have a few.

My orgasm is weak, ruined.

Redressing, I head to her room. I bang on the door and bang again but she isn't in. I text her telling her to bring me my lotion and then I prepare for my daily jog.

xoxo.

It's sometime after I eat my dinner, baked chicken breast with asparagus and mashed potatoes courtesy one of my fans on campus. It's truly a small world. I see Professor Stevens' number flash on my phone.

Bzz. Bzz.

My mind goes back to that vivid dream I had in class... That was truly something.

Bzz. Bzz.

I'm tempted to ignore him just to what he'd really do. Dream Stevens had the threats.

Bzz. Bzz.

I'm staring at it.. getting wet again thinking of the possibilities. I wish he'd come find me and bring the punishment.

#original #erik killmonger #killmonger #erik stevens

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