Snap Judgment: "Jurassic World Rebirth"

Hey everyone,

This year, I've been feeling particularly nostalgic for the summer blockbusters that helped stoke my love of movies when I was younger, especially "Twister" (1996), "Independence Day" (1996), and of course, "Jurassic Park" (1993).  So theoretically at least, it's terribly convenient that a new entry into the aforementioned dinosaur movie franchise came out this year.

Let's revisit our old Snap Judgment format for another round of dinos, this time with "Jurassic World Rebirth" (2025)!

Snap judgment: my alternate title for this post was: "Jurassic World Rebirth": Equal Parts Dumb and Fun.  And I genuinely stand by that assessment.  

Does this newest chapter in the franchise get anywhere near the majesty of the first movie?  Absolutely tf not.  But after burning my hand multiple times on the hot stoves/steaming piles of the previous few Jurassic Worlds (each of which inspired their own Snap Judgments), I've finally learned to slip on an oven mitt.  And by "slip on an over mitt", I mean lower my expectations and prepare to schadenfreude-ly enjoy the stupidity.  With that mindset, "Jurassic World Rebirth" is honestly not that bad!

So let's get to it!

• This movie has completely miscalibrated the survivability of its world.

We continue the franchise-honored tradition of dinosaurs chompin on kids in vehicles--this time an inflatable raft.  And not only does the kid survive, but so does the inflatable raft.

This is the same franchise that demonstrated a T. rex's power by showing what it could do to a Jeep thusly:

But an inflatable raft... is fine.  I cannot stress this enough: An inflatable raft.  You know, basically a glorified balloon?  Miraculously/improbably withstands T-rex bites.  And also the kid is fine.

Also Mahershala Ali survives the mutant T. rex by ........... ????????

Genuinely, the sequence is as follows:

Mahershala Ali: (heroically luring mutant T. rex away to save his friends)

Mutant T. rex: (is lured)

Mahershala Ali: (having successfully lured mutant T. rex, faces his foe, laughing maniacally in the face of death)

Mahershala Ali's friends, seeing Mahershala Ali's flare go out: (escaping but sad, because obviously)

(.....Unclear events transpire.....)

Mahershala Ali: Jk I'm fine lol.  Also I have extra flares.  Come get me this island sucks.

Look, I'm genuinely glad this movie at least didn't lapse into the trope of killing off all its Black characters, as the first movie did with Samuel L. Jackson.

RIP Mr. Arnold :'(

But also, all it takes to blow up what is surely a billion-dollar scientific endeavor is... a Snickers wrapper?

• This science is.... hilarious.

So the premise of this movie is that our ragtag group of pals must journey to the island where only the most janky of the dinosaurs exist because samples from those dinosaurs could be the missing link in revolutionary medication for heart disease.  

The logic is as follows: You need samples from the three biggest dinosaurs because (gestures randomly) their hearts are the biggest (jazz hands!!).  And also they have to be alive when you get the samples (chef's kiss).

• The heroic plot twist is.... nonsensical.

For unclear reasons, responsibility for deciding whether to dramatically enrich one evil pharmaceutical company or ensuring the samples lives have been lost collecting are used to benefit all humankind is left not to the paleontologist who might at least have a sense of the science behind how these samples might be helpful, but instead to the mercenary-for-hire.  

Her response? "Give it to everyone."

And that's great, and unsurprising given the general moral compass of this franchise.  But also, literally what does that mean??  Like... what?  Like give what, exactly?  Like, everyone gets a lil drop of dinosaur blood/egg sac contents?  You know this isn't code you can make open source, right??

• The same tired- and lazy-ass character development.

In "Jurassic World Rebirth", we get to witness a repeat of the Bryce Dallas Howard cold-blooded (lol) money-hungry business lady turned totally unconvincing environmentalist character arc, but this time instead she's Scarlett Johansson's cold-blooded mercenary lady who does illegal stuff for bad corporations turned totally unconvincing humanitarian.

Again:

At least Scarlett Johansson is dressed semi-appropriately for the task.

And then we have the Delgado family, which includes a father who has taken his two daughters on a trans-oceanic voyage on a sailboat he built.  And also his daughter's boyfriend.  

I have a message for Mr. Delgado: 

I'm so sorry.  You're in the middle of the *ocean*, presently in the middle of the most isolated part of the planet for a human being, and you're only just now hammering out the shifts for steering your boat and your youngest child is just now learning how to tie knots?  And you've done this kind of trip before?  Sir.  Sir.  What in God's name are you doing.

• Stop trying to tell me people don't know dinosaurs are cool.

I will never get past the compulsive premise in these past few Jurassic Worlds (Jurassics World?) that dinosaurs have become boring.  Anyone who has ever been to the Museum of Natural History can attest that the dinosaur section isn't exactly under-attended--and that's just to see their *bones*.  

The idea that people don't care about dinosaurs is both so unacceptably stupid and unbelievable on its face, and it also undermines the magic and awe that made the first film so unforgettable.  "Jurassic Park" gave us all a chance to imagine the overwhelming thrill of actually getting to see real, live dinosaurs--animals that have fascinated human beings for centuries.  It is simply inconceivable that people could get to a point where they tire of seeing the real, breathing thing.

Relatedly: I don't need a mutant T. rex (and I refuse to call it a D. rex).  No one needs that.  I will die on the hill that regular degular Tyrannosaurus Rexes and intelligent raptors are more than scary enough.

All this said, I am honestly happy I saw this movie in theaters.  It was so ridiculous and poorly conceived, but it was still a fun little adventure with ultimately kind of low stakes because you know these movies kind of pull their punches and in any event the characters barely exist as embodied, believable people.  If you're having some of that dinostalgia that I do, I think this one is worth seeing.  I gave it a 3.

{Heart}

Still Terrified of Zombies Almost "28 Years Later"

Hey team,

Younger-me is thrilled to share that I got to see "28 Years Later", the much-awaited next chapter in the "28 Days Later" (2002) universe, in theaters this month.  Younger-me is even more thrilled to share that the movie was SO GOOD.

Let's talk about it!

Given that "28 Days Later" is one of my favorite movies, I've rewatched it and thought about it so much that I unfortunately forgot how genuinely scary the movie was the first time I saw it... until I was in the theater watching "28 Years Later". 

Basically, this was me like 14 minutes into the movie:

...But like, the best kind of huge mistake?

It's particularly humbling to be a) fully an adult and b) a specialist in treating anxiety disorders and actually experience the physiological sensations that accompany intense anxiety because of a movie about the undead, but there I was in that theater, being humbled in precisely that manner.

All that to say, true to its originating story, "28 Years Later" is STRESSFUL.  But in a manner that felt perfectly titrated to its audience's wishful nostalgia for the adrenaline of the first movie, while also imagining the continuation of the original story almost 3 decades into the future.

My personal psychology has always LOVED a dystopian story.  Something deep in my brain takes an odd kind of comfort in playing through end-of-society-as-we-know it scenarios, trying to imagine not only how to survival, but also what kinds of new world could be realized, perhaps worlds where humanity and interconnectedness are possible.  At their best, these narratives affirm that humanity and interconnectedness can endure even under the direst of circumstances.  So in that strange and unnerving yet beautiful way, they're comforting.

"28 Years Later" does a great job of imagining a believable dystopian future, and of portraying how people might still be able to co-create a sense of adapted normalcy in the midst of incomprehensible horrors.  There are moments, like when we see a handwritten sign imploring people not to be wasteful of critical supplies whose quantities are dwindling, that prods at still-triggering memories of the pandemic, making the film's morbid fantasy all the more nevertheless believable.

The performances are excellent, successfully getting the audience emotionally invested in the characters despite the intense precarity of their lives.  The soundtrack also harkens back to "28 Days Later" in that it is extremely well-suited to amping up the emotion and tension of the movie by at turns complementing and unsettlingly contrasting with the action.  The effects are not excessively gory, while still being a zombie movie--so let's be real, it's definitely quite gory.  But given that there were only one or two scenes during which I preemptively covered my eyes, it's honestly probably somewhat tame as this particular subgenre goes.

All that to say, I absolutely loved "28 Years Later", and I highly recommend it to anyone who loved the original movies or loves this genre of film.  I gave it a 5.

{Heart}

Join Us in the "Street Gang"

Hi friends,

I'm tired and I have a sore throat and my house is messy, but I have some spare time today and I want to write SOMEthing at least.

Last month we went on a family trip to the beach, trying to fit in some ocean time before vacation high season ramps up.  We've been staying in the same rented apartment the past several times we've gone, and it's become very much a home-away-from-home.  It's such an unexpected joy to create that kind of comfort for myself and my family--to genuinely look forward simply to being in that space, let alone all the other nice things we get to do while we're in it--and such a gift to hear my oldest child become old enough to not only remember the place and the things we've done there on past visits, but also to talk fondly about our most recent trip for weeks afterward.

One of the many little treats we get to enjoy while we're on this kind of vacation is that Husband and I can watch more movies together once the kids go to bed than we would during a normal week.  One of the movies we watched on this last trip was the absolutely lovely and inspiring documentary "Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street" (2021), which tells the history of the development and early days of Sesame Street.

We were especially well-positioned to appreciate this movie because we've been watching the original Sesame Street episodes with our children for the past several months.  The combination of the lofi '70s muted palette film quality, the era-consistent outfits and styling, the shoestring budget non-flashy animation and effects, and the child-friendly portrayal of a sweet, gentle, and silly New York City neighborhood lends these early-days episodes a very cosy, pleasant, and safe feeling, and thankfully our kids have been enjoying them along with us.

"Street Gang" tells the story of the surprisingly ambitious and purposefully revolutionary founding ideas of Sesame Street, whose goal from its inception was to empower children by providing them free, racially inclusive, accessible televised education to children.  It also profiles several of the major contributors to the project of Sesame Street, including visionary producer Joan Ganz Cooney, dedicated director Jon Stone, beloved on-screen actors Sonia Manzano, Emilio Delgado, Roscoe Orman, Will Lee, and Bob McGrath, and behind-the-scenes geniuses like songwriter Joe Raposo and, of course, Jim Henson.

This is such an engaging, informative, and at times perhaps surprisingly poignant film.  I highly recommend it!  I gave it a 5.

{Heart}

TYSG: Resolution Compliance Edition

Hey darlings,

It's been almost exactly 5 years since I last wrote a Terrible Year Survival Guide post.  While in my personal world I wouldn't count this year as a Terrible Year, it certainly and unarguably is catastrophically terrible on a national and international governance level.  Yet so far, to a greater extent than I would have guessed, I've been doing okay--and oftentimes, better than okay.  And I think that's in large part to my high degree of compliance with my resolutions for 2025.

So in case it's somehow helpful to either borrow some ideas directly from me or for jump-starting your own process of identifying what would help you bolster yourself during this horrendous time, please allow me to share the things I've been doing, including some small but impactful changes I've made, to do sustainable, consistent, values-congruent things with my free time and thereby keep myself feeling whole, well, and happy.

Photography stuff: I've finally been working to translate my years-old backlog of vacation photos into printed photo books.  Making any degree of forward motion in this area is so satisfying.  That progress has been made easy by both past-me sorting through the hundreds/thousands of photos I took on each trip to winnow them down to like 300-400 that I can cram them all into a photo book, and also by the pretty-streamlined-once-you-get-the-hang-of-it photo book builder I use on Snapfish. Not only is it gratifying to at long last have a physical photo album of the trip Husband and I took Iceland almost 10 years ago, but it's also a joy to revisit those memories.

Making local friends + Reading: A bunch of parents in my neighborhood and I started a book club last summer, and it's been meeting about monthly ever since.  We alternate between parenting books and fiction, and spend the vast majority of our meet-ups chatting before we eventually talk at least a tiny bit about the book.  I felt particularly edified by my suggestion to read Casey McQuiston's Red, White, and Royal Blue, because it led to a great conversation about our communal ambivalence yet enjoyment of light fiction written primarily for women.  Book club also introduced me to Kaveh Akbar's Martyr!, which is one of the best books I've read in the past few years.  It's been so pleasant to look forward to our meetings, to have an additional nudge to read, and to finally be making friends who live nearby and are at a similar stage of life.

Taking care of plants and animals: I planted flower bulbs and potatoes in the past month or so and am so excited to see them growing.  I've also been so grateful for my now years-long daily habit of filling my backyard bird feeder and putting out food scraps for backyard birds and foxes.  It's such an extra little jolt of joy to see so much wildlife in our back yard.  I've also finally figured out how not to kill succulents (the metaphor of my history of killing them via overwatering does not escape me), and my growing succulent collection is on a shelf in my kitchen so I can enjoy it all the time.  They're so cute!  And then I of course also love caring for the abundance of inside animals in my house. <3

Staying connected to long-distance friends: Husband and I have gotten into a weekly routine of getting carry-out from the only decent Mexican food place I've identified in our area, and the drive is just long enough that it creates a perfect opportunity for catching up with friends and family.  Plus I get a burrito out of it.  And speaking of Mexican food, a month ago my best friend and I took a long weekend trip in Mexico together to celebrate both of us having milestone birthdays, which is the first time we've traveled just the two of us since 2009.  While that delay between trips is completely atrocious, the trip itself was amazing!  We swam with sea turtles!!!

Recovery: I've recently made some major breakthroughs in my recovery work, and I feel ever more aware of the cumulative benefits of sustained recovery work in my life.  If there's any one thing I can give credit for my overall sense of well-being, it's this.  Plus the pandemic (not entirely) ending really helps.

Activism: I've been consistently engaged in activism with two major causes that matter to me as well as regular direct mutual aid.  It is so meaningful, powerful, and grounding to be involved in collaborative efforts in support of causes that deeply matter to me.  The only way that's been possible is because of the willingness of the groups I'm involved in to meet by Zoom or in a hybrid format and to schedule most of their recurring meetings in the evenings (and also the availability of shifts to do mutual aid that fit into my work schedule).  The fact that I can join meetings while finishing up kid bedtime if needed is such a game-changer that allows me to still participate and feel engaged.  I'm so grateful this work has been accessible and feasible for me, because I genuinely think I would be losing my mind if it wasn't.

Shame Games: This is my lovingly pejorative moniker for the completely silly and low-skill games I've been playing on my phone instead of doing ANYTHING on social media.  I cringe a little bit extra playing them because, while the first game was an excellent suggestion from a friend for how to cope with the terror of the new administration, all subsequent games are a direct consequence of me succumbing to the ads embedded in that first game.  But here's the thing: we all need some amount of tune-out time to self-regulate, and spending mine playing my adorable little cat game or my Tetris knock-off game or my pretend tidying-up game is actually pleasurable and gives me a little bit of an albeit misplaced sense of efficacy, which Facebook and Instagram absolutely literally never did.  My life is genuinely better with social media fully out of it and my dumb little shame games in it.

Enjoying my home: I've had little breaks between sessions recently when I've just like... sat in my living room, or on my house's deck, or in our sunroom, and it is so calming and fulfilling.  I am so grateful for our house--we chose the perfect home for us, and it's so nice to be able to really soak that in.

Watching movies: In no small part because of the weekend childcare we've had for the past several months, I'm not only very much on track for my 30 movies a year goal, but I've also seen several in actual real live movie theaters.  What a dream!  It truly feels like the height of luxury to see a movie alone on a weekend afternoon, let alone to eat nachos while I do it.  

A notch even above that--and this is where the profound psychological gift of weekend childcare really kicks in--is the indulgence of seeing a movie that might not be perfectly suited to my taste--something that might be great but not for me, or simply fine.  After all, you know we love a fine movie here, and we honor that they very much have their place.

Don't get me wrong--a lot of the movies I've seen in theaters have been so good!  But seriously, to be able let go of the perfectionistic, scarcity-mindset-based enjoyment maximalizing pressure that is a consequence of inconsistent or nonexistent not-only-covering-working-hours childcare is that I can just see a movie because seeing movies is fun, knowing that if this one sucks I can just see a different one next week and the week after that if I choose to.  It's such a gift.

And with that: I hope you're well and happy and whole.  If you're not, I hope these ideas are helpful to you, or that they help you to find your own ways of restoring yourself to greater wellbeing.  You deserve it, and you need it, especially during such a dark time.  After all, as we know:

Thanks for reading, friends.

{Heart}

2024 Movie Round-Up!!

Hihi,

Given that it's the last day of the month and I don't have a ton of time to write, we'll see how much of last year's round-up I'm able to get to.  I'm hesitant to resort to last year's three-part approach, but that may just be necessary to write at least one thing this month.

Without additional ado, behold the movies I watched in 2024!

The PsychoCinematic Year in Movies

2024 Edition

1. Dumb Money (5)

2. The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (4)***

3. Good Grief (3)

4. Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood (3)

5. Anyone But You (2)****

6. The Italian Job (2)

7. The Donut King (5)

8. A Haunting in Venice (3.5)

9. Dune: Part 2 (3)

10. Ricky Stanicky (3.5)

11. Turning Red (2)***/****

11. Bridget Jones’s Diary (1)***

12. Serendipity (3)

13. Babes (3.5)

14. Ottolenghi and the Cakes of Versailles (2)

15. Brats (1)

16. American Fiction (5)

17. Twisters (4)*

18. Jackpot! (4)

19. The Pez Outlaw (4)

20. Red, White and Royal Blue (3)

21. Sing Sing (5)*

22. Bottoms (5)

23. Wicked Little Letters (5)

24. Unfrosted (2)

25. Inside Out 2 (2.5)

26. Go West (4)

27. Conclave (5)

28. Single All the Way (4)***

29. A Real Pain (4)

30. Hot Frosty (2)

As a reminder, the occasional extra notations indicate the following:

* = got nauseated

** = fell asleep

*** = rewatch

**** = didn't finish

As you can see, I just barely accomplished last year's adjusted annual movie-watching goal of watching 30 movies.  But at least I did it!  

I'm glad to reflect on the multiple very good movies I saw in 2024, which is evidence that I wasn't exhausted the entire time last year.  They are also the result of having more consistent childcare coverage on weekends by the last quarter of the year, so I was able to actually go see movies sometimes.  Which was SO GOOD.

That said, given the average amounts of energy and free time I had last year, it honestly makes sense that it was a reach to meet even this reduced target.  My overall general exhaustion throughout much of 2024 is evident in several of the lower-rated entries--sometimes I just wanted to watch something and I affirmatively wanted that something to be at best fine.  Also, there was some real bad shit going on last year, so despite whatever the circumstances of my life were, we were all entitled to a little tune-out time and grace.

And on that note, let's talk about the absolute worst movies I saw in 2024.  In the interest of time, instead of my usual more inclusive list with both 1- and 2-rated movies, I'll just single out the 1-rated movies from last year.  They were:

For being a beloved classic in my memory but upon revisitation being all-around quite awful:

Bridget Jones’s Diary (2016)***

For being boring and exhaustingly self-obsessed:

Brats (2024)

Between these two, my least favorite movie from last year was:

This movie includes so many crappy, problematic, harmful, and fully unnecessary ingredients that the whole exploit is spoiled for me.  It really is a shame, because I remember finding the movie kind of fun and fresh at the time--but that makes it seem all the worse now given all of the bigotry it sugar-coats.

And now, rushing onward to: the BEST movies from 2024!

They were:

Dumb Money (2023)

The Donut King (2020)

American Fiction (2023)

Sing Sing (2023)*

Bottoms (2023)

Wicked Little Letters (2023)

Conclave (2024)

Aw man, these movies are all so good and they're so different!  They span different time periods, genres, and tones, yet each feels really special.  

"Dumb Money" was a fun fictionalization of the GameStop stock market shenanigans in early 2021.  

"The Donut King" is an inspiring and twisty documentary about the man who jump-started the niche industry of Cambodian-owned donut shops in California.  

"American Fiction" feels like "Stranger Than Fiction" (2006) mixed with "Sorry to Bother You" (2018) and doesn't pull its emotional punches.  

"Sing Sing" tells the true story of a prison-based theater troupe.  

"Bottoms" is a bizarre romp through teenaged friendships and high school hierarchies.  

"Wicked Little Letters" pursues a mystery born of sexism.  

"Conclave" is a stunning feature-length bottle episode reminiscent of "Twelve Angry Men" (1957) or "12" (2007), but lushly costume- and set-designed.

Reflecting on each of these films, they all hold a warm and unique place in my heart.

But there's a standout.  It tells a beautifully-acted, raw, heartbreaking, humble yet triumphant, fragile yet enduring story about people working together to make something precious, fleeting, vulnerable, healing, brave, and greater than the sum of its parts, made even better by the fact that it's based on things that actually happened.  And it's really saying something to claim this one as my favorite movie of last year given that it (thankfully briefly) made me motion sick.

My favorite movie watched in 2024 was:

We did it, all in one fell swoop!

I'm excited to tell you about the movies I've watched so far this year.  Onward!

{Heart}