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Flash Movie Review: Jurassic World Rebirth
THE WAY SHE SAID “HI” TO ME, told me she did not recognize me. Instead of saying my name, she said hers, as an introduction. I looked into her eyes and replied “hi” it is Jordan. Her face transformed from momentary confusion to shock to bubbling joy; she lunged and put her arms around me, saying over and over, she could not believe I was there.When she moved back from hugging me, I smiled and she said she now recognized me because of my dimples. We had not seen each other in close to forty years. However, in our early years when we were not even enrolled yet in elementary school, we lived and grew up in the same apartment building. We were related because my mother and her father were siblings. We spent so much time together, from holidays to weekends plus many times after school. I was over to their apartment for dinner just as much as they came over to our place. Our foundation was vast and strong, filled with so many memories, both happy and sad. We were at a celebration of life memorial, in a small banquet room that was off of the dining room of a well established restaurant. There were on the average thirty to forty people milling about at any given time. Despite the crowd, we managed to get a little history about each other including spouses and children. it was such a surreal experience for me. ALL THE WAY HOME AND THROUGH the rest of the week, I kept getting a variety of memories about her when we were children. Honestly, if she had not introduced herself, I would have had to take a second look at her before going up to her; the transformation from child to senior citizen was more dramatic since there were no reference points established through the decades between. It is funny what a child will remember. We were playing outside in front of our building when her grandmother from the other side of the family came out to give her some candy before she was going to go home. I was standing right next to her but the grandmother never offered me any which hurt my feelings. Over the following years, I made a point of never being anywhere near the woman, having grown a strong dislike of her. Truth be told, a hatred of her for not giving me any candy. Luckily, there were so few times I saw her that eventually she slipped into the recesses of my mind. Plus, the good memories I had growing up far outweighed the negative ones. These reactions were so similar to the ones I was having as I viewed this latest installment of the action, adventure franchise. A SMALL EXPEDITION MADE UP OF individuals from different backgrounds, agreed to navigate isolated waters to extract DNA from forgotten creatures, to be used in what would hopefully be a revolutionary medical breakthrough. The crew, however, each had their own reasons for agreeing to undertake such a dangerous mission. With Scarlett Johansson ((Fly Me to the Moon, Black Widow) as Zora Bennett, Mahershala Ali (Leave the World Behind, Green Book) as Duncan Kincaid, Jonathan Bailey (Wicked, Bridgerton-TV) as Dr. Henry Loomis, Rupert Friend (The Young Victoria, Pride & Prejudice) as Martin Krebs, and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (The Magnificent Seven, Widows) as Reuben Delgado; this science fiction film had excellent CGI effects working in its favor. The action scenes were exciting and thrilling, aided by a strong cast of actors. I enjoyed seeing the dinosaurs and felt the action scenes were well choreographed. On the negative side, the script was a letdown. Every character was transparent, making it easy to immediately know what the character would do in every scene. The dialog was basic, avoiding any kind of depth, both mentally and emotionally. Despite these flaws, I still had a good time watching this on the big screen.
2 3/4 stars
Flash Movie Review: Our Father
THROUGHOUT MY ELEMENTARY AND HIGH SCHOOL years, I only met two individuals who had been adopted. They happened to be half-sisters, who shared the same mother; a married couple agreed to adopt them both. When I was told about their adoption, I became curious about them. They had the same color hair and eyes; one was taller than the other. That was pretty much all they had in common as far as I could see. The taller one was studious and quiet, while her younger sister did poorly in school and was considered a wild party person. They were not part of my circle of friends for the most part; however, there were times we would be eating at the same lunch table. While eating, I would keep an eye on the two of them to see if they ate the same type of food items. I do not know why I focused on this; I guess I was simply intrigued about their story of being birthed by one woman and raised by a different one. As I said earlier, I had never met anyone who had been adopted. From my observations, I chalked up their differences were due to having different fathers. I have not thought about them for some time, but I wonder with the easy availability of DNA testing if they ever were curious to learn more about their genetic history. THE REASON I MENTIONED DNA TESTING, is because I had recently heard about a woman who, out of curiosity, decided to get tested because she was curious to find out what countries her ancestors originated from. When she received the results, she learned something more that she was not expecting; her DNA did not match with her dad. This news did not settle in immediately; but after studying her results again, it sunk in that the man she knew her entire life was not her father. Sadly, she could not ask either of her parents because they were both deceased. As far as she was concerned, her mother must have had an affair with another man; either her father knew and her parents decided to never say anything about it, or her mother kept it a secret her entire life. The woman was devastated by these results. I know it bothered her because she became angry that she could not confront her mother to find out the truth. Since this person is only an acquaintance, who I have had no contact with for some time, I now wonder if she delved deeper into her DNA results to see if she might have had any half siblings she could reach out to for any answers. It would be a shock if she experienced anything close to what happened in this startling documentary. AWARE SHE WAS ADOPTED, JACOBA BALLARD was curious to know if she might have any unknown relatives. A DNA test could help, and it did, but not the way she was expecting. Directed by first time director Lucie Jourdan, this film played out like a suspenseful crime story. The story is so incredible that I was in synch with what was unfolding for Jacoba. The use and mix of actual recordings with reenactments went seamlessly and made for a more powerful statement in my opinion. As the story progressed, I found myself going deeper into shock from what was happening. I will also add that I became angry while watching the outcome of an issue that was being worked on. To think before we had the ability to test our DNA, there could be many people living under a delusion/fantasy. Be prepared when watching this documentary; it might have a bigger effect on you than you expect.
3 stars
moviejoltz 