Terminator: He's Back

It all started with one word: Skynet. It was a system that launched a full-scale war between humankind and technology. A corrupt and wicked error that turned “living” weapons against us, masquerading as friends, family, and neighbors. A system rightly dubbed, the Terminators.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I practically grew up on the Terminator series. It was the perfect combination of butt-kicking heroines, power-hungry robots, and explosive action that I could have ever hoped to watch as a small child. And seeing the trailer for the newest addition to the multi-million dollar franchise, Terminator Genisys, brought the tiny part of me still emotionally attached to this series colliding out.

Originally written by James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd, the original Terminator series is about a bunch of futuristic cyborgs being sent back in time to try and kill the leader of the Resistance (back in their own time): be it by killing his mom, his dad, or he himself. The name John Connor might be familiar. It’s a series that dabbles in everything science fiction, in one of the most comprehensive ways that we know. True, it puts its roots in a type of paradox theory that isn’t altogether logical, it is arguably the movie that propelled the idea into mainstream.

It looks like Terminator Genisys, now directed by Alan Taylor, is once again putting Sarah Connor in the spotlight as Kyle Reese is sent back to “protect” her from being killed (given that she’ll come to be the mother of humanity’s leader). It’s not something that’s not often seen in Terminator adaptions: protect Sarah, save John, win the war. But, the film takes an interesting twist as this Kyle is sent back into a different timeline, one where Sarah Connor seems to be able to handle herself quite well (as she always has) and is determined to prevent Judgement Day from happening. Again, not a big plot difference but this time she has a little help from an unexpected mentor.

In a not so surprising twist, Arnold Schwarzenegger returns to one of his most notorious roles as the Terminator. We can catch a glimpse of him, with his iconic deadpan, steel-eyed look, jumping into the fight of events as he is to do. But it also looks like this time, his Terminator self is leaning on the “living-tissue” spectrum of sci-fi elements, as we see his outside change into someone older.

Overall, the plot (while mildly recycled) looks interesting, Sarah Connor is flawless, and the Terminator is back.

Jurassic World: A Sneak Peek

By now, most of us have seen this. And while it has been met with a not so surprising mix of negative and positive reviews, I have to say one of the things I’m looking forward to is seeing how Colin Trevorrow, Frank Marshall and Derek Connolly (director and producers, respectively) handle the legacy that the original films have set up. It looks like Spielberg is once again taking up the role of executive producer (as he did in the third film) which isn't something that is unexpected. The downside to this though, is that we may be getting a more hollywood-version of the script: something we can already see if the trailer is anything to go off from. 
From the looks of this teaser trailer, the newest film (aptly named Jurassic World) takes place many years after the events of the third film when humans have finally managed to create a fully-functioning dinosaur theme park. If this sounds bad than you've been paying attention, as the first three films literally and repeatedly set up the plot that "dinosaurs plus theme park equals not happy fun times." And as the gritty look of the film takes on a darker approach, with a haunting version of the original theme song playing overtop, we see that this plot anything but new. Of course, you have the "genetically modified" hybrid but what's another dinosaur loose in the park?
It's a film that's been anticipated for over a decade and from the looks of it, it's just barely holding onto expectations. Personally, I can't say too much based on roughly three minutes of footage, but from what I've seen it looks like the thing we need to worry about is that it's going to try too hard to be "different." And the thing is, people aren't really expecting different. The reason Jurassic Park is as iconic as it is, is because it took the time to sculpt a universe and look that catered to the plot of the film. It wasn't too over the top, it wasn't too action-packed, it didn't rely on gritty color-grading and cheap crowd noises. It took the time to develop and let each character do their own thing, and it circled everything back to the main theme: dinosaurs.
Hopefully, once more trailers emerge we'll be able to grab a closer look at what the future of the Jurassic Park series entails. But for now we'll have to sit back and enjoy Chris Pratt on a motorcycle, cruising with his velociraptor buddies.

How the trailer convinced me NOT to watch the movie

The purpose of a movie trailer is to excite the audience and encourage them to go see the movie for when it actually comes out. However, there have been a few movie trailers that I've seen that did the exact opposite for me.


The Giver:
I first read the book "The Giver" in grade school when I was forced to write an essay on it. Unlike most assigned readings, I actually really enjoyed the book and really got into the story. I can remember a time in class when we actually talked about how it wouldn't make a good movie because of how the whole movie was based around a slow reveal and the main character's thoughts. Here's the trailer:

What?

Spaceships at the end? Did the creators even read the book? I was half expecting the trailer to end with "directed by Michael Bay." I talked to a friend who saw the movie (but didn't read the book) and he actually really enjoyed it. So maybe I'm just being a hater, or pictured the book in a different way than anyone else, but I never would have guessed that, that trailer would be for "The Giver."


Cabin in the Woods

I actually have seen "Cabin in the Woods," and I thought it was a really enjoyable movie. But the trailer wouldn't make it seem like that. The actual movie was a really unique take on a genre that is normally over-saturated with similar ideas and basic plots.

The thing that "Cabin in the Woods" is how unique it is. The trailer makes it seem like the movie carries the same plot lines as every other scary movie: The hot couple, the stoner, a cabin in the woods, a lake, a creepy old man, ect. They hinted at the unique portion of the plot, but not enough to actually know that the movie would be anything different.

Battleship

To be fair, I have not been a fan of this movie since the beginning; since I found out that they were making a movie based on a board game. I realize that people are struggling to come up with original ideas for movies; using a board game that I learned to play when I was 6 seems like a bit of a stretch.

It starts out seeming like it has an actual plot that seems vaguely based on a board game (basically just naval battles). However that quickly turns into something with aliens and giant metal robots coming from the sea and a bunch of other big explosion-y things that happened really quick that I didn't understand.