Terminator: Genisys [SPOILERS]

Photo credit: ScreenRant

I went to see Terminator: Genisys on July 5th in theatres. 

I own Terminator 1 and Terminator 2: Judgement Day and know them quite well. I saw Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines around the time it came out in 2003 (Mind you, I was an adolescent at the time, and don't remember much about the film excluding the lady terminator). I never saw Terminator: Salvation or the television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. 

At the beginning of the film, I questioned if Genisys would be a remake of the first Terminator since that is when Kyle and Sarah meet, fall in love, and kill the first T-800. I was excited to see the spin they took with the space time continuum. 

There were some continuity issues in the script, as with most time travel movies. It is said at the beginning of the film that only living flesh covered things can travel through the machine without being ripped to shreds. Saying that, how could the T-1000 or Cyborg John Connor pass through time travel? The T-1000 is all liquid metal that merely mimics humans. John Connor was replaced at the cellular level with little machines and even meets his demise in an incomplete time travel.

Since this was such a serious, action movie, I was distracted by the scene where Sarah, Kyle, and 'Pops' getting arrested and the very out of place "Bad Boys" sequence. There were some jokes that were fun, such as 'Pops' smile (A homage to Terminator 2: Judgement Day), but that seen took me out of the intensity. 

The effects were very well done, especially with young Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Genisys facility. That said, I thought it was strange that they kept the same awful effect for arriving in a new time with the lightning strikes. It was almost comical how different it was. 

I don't think anyone will win any awards on the acting field. I was still into it, but I wasn't sold by the actors performances. 

There is a fun tidbit for those Game of Thrones fans. Seeing the trailer for the first time, I said to boyfriend Nik, "Oh isn't that the girl who plays Daenerys in Game of Thrones?" and he said, "I don't think so, I thought they used the same lady from the Sarah Connor Chronicles." So I looked it up and it turns out that yes it is Emilia Clarke who plays Sarah in Genisys, and Lena Headley (Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones) plays Sarah in the Sarah Connor Chronicles! 

I wasn't sure how they were going to fit Arnold Schwarzenegger into this film since he is getting significantly older. They made a fair argument for his flesh deterioration. I didn't think it was necessary to constantly reaffirm him as "Old, not obsolete." 

As the credits scrolled, the group I was with found that there was Emilia Clarke (Sarah Connor) and Jason Clarke (John Connor) and thought there was a relation. My research shows that there doesn't seem to be a correlation between the two. 

I thought Matt Smith did particularly well as Skynet. I have never seen Doctor Who, but I quickly recognized him from that show. Still, this was a good villainous role for him. 

I will probably buy this movie when it comes out and add to my Terminator collection. I think I will also go back and watch Rise of the Machines and Salvation and hope that gives some more light to the questions I had with the film. 

I would give this a 7/10 just because it has a space in my heart for the franchise. 

Have a great week! 

Valleyfair!

Photo credit: http://www.valleyfair.com/ 

To kick off Fourth of July Weekend, my friend Casey and I went to Valleyfair! It was a hot, overcast day which is perfect for a theme park with a water park! 

Obligatory selfie. Casey is so much taller than me, so she always has to lean to make it into photos with me comfortably! 

Casey and I had gone to see Jurassic World [See my review here!]. We had to do the famous Chris Pratt stance with the velociraptor! We couldn't find an animatronic that was exactly a velociraptor, so we chose this one to pose with. There were a lot of other people around us that probably thought we were crazy. 

There were many dinosaur animatronics outside of the "Dinosaurs Alive!" exhibit, and they were very well made! 

The rides were fun. My favorite roller coaster was probably the Wild Thing or the Corkscrew. 

We went to a great little place called the Lion's Tap in Eden Prairie for lunch. They only serve burgers, fries, and beverages. They are simple burger experts! Their prices are comparable, for two burgers, one order of fries, and a soda, we paid $12.88 with Casey's loyalty card. 

Coming back to the park, we headed for the water park where we lounged in the lazy river and climbed up several flights of stairs to ride in a giant tube down a water slide. It was terrifying because it feels like there's always a risk of the tube falling on top of you when going up the sides of the water slides. Still fun though! 

To end our day, we stuffed our faces with classic funnel cake. We specifically ordered the banana and nutella funnel cake and it was delicious!

 To make the day even better, a butterfly landed on my finger! It startled me, but it stayed for almost 30 seconds, so I was really excited!

Have a great week!

Date Day!

Hello!

The other day, boyfriend Nik and I went to a little mall called Northtown in Coon Rapids, MN. 

I decided it would be nice to actually dress up a little bit, since it is rare that the both of us have full days off together. 

We were most excited to see that the new Hobby Lobby is now open! Nik bought a Star Wars Empire Strikes Back lunch box for his father. I bought a rocket for my father. They have so many cool craft things, I just wanted to buy the whole store!

We met up with our friend, Ivan, and we shopped around Best Buy and the pet store. It was fun, but the animals in that store are SO EXPENSIVE! I saw a cute kitten for $700, it was insane! In the words of adoptapet.com, Adopt, don't shop! And it's even worth it when you look at those prices! 

Tried to take a selfie as Nik looked into the skylight and sneezed. Romantic, really. 

We ended our trip with some Auntie Anne's pretzels. I wanted to get a regular salted with cheese, but they didn't have any ready at that point, so I settled for cinnamon sugar with icing. 

I hope to do more travel related blogs like this in the future! 

We'll see how it goes!

Have a great week!

July 3rd Fireworks

Hello!

On July 3rd, Anoka High School released their 4th of July fireworks! 

Here are a few pictures taken on my phone of parts of the show! 

Minnesota has regulations against personal use of these kinds of fireworks. It doesn't seem to stop anyone from going over to Wisconsin to purchase these kinds of fireworks, however. During the show, a few houses in the surrounding area shot off some of their own fireworks to contribute to the show. It was funny to view them as a competition to the full Anoka show.

Hope you had a great holiday weekend!

Have a great week!

Jurassic World Review [SPOILERS]

On June 12, I went to see Jurassic World with a few friends. I wasn't planning on seeing the movie on the release date, so I did not prepare myself by watching any of the older films. I admit I am writing this a few weeks after the fact, so I may miss some important points, but hopefully this still works! 

As someone who went into the film rather blindly, I enjoyed it as an action/adventure film. The effects were absolutely phenomenal, and the way they paid homage to the older Jurassic Park films was almost endearing. 

Chris Pratt was a good fit for the character Owen. I would have been interested to hear more of his back story. How does an ex-military man get involved with an expensive theme park? 

I was not fond of Bryce Dallas Howard's character, Claire. For being someone so powerful within the company, she completely falls into the "damsel in distress" trope and is portrayed as weak, irresponsible, and hard headed. 

Saying that,

I found this movie to be incredibly predictable and it really seemed to be trying too hard to be a great "comeback" film. This film showed that even if someone doesn't have to have a meaningful death to die. Thousands of background characters were killed off in fatal swoops of dinosaur infiltration. 

The character Masrani, had the stupidest death I have seen for an important character in a long time. He could have easily avoided his death by not trying to fly the helicopter [it was already shown earlier that he is not a competent pilot. Of course he loses control and dies. Even though it was a stupid death, it wasn't given much emotional power.  

In the film, the whole situation that gets Zach and Gray into a potential deadly situation could have been easily avoided by technology that could have easily been available considering the world offered even more extensive technology. This technology would be an override for the gyroscope ride that the boys were enjoying when the "return" screen showed up. Everyone knows that customers want to get the most out of their money and without an override that takes control of the ride to bring the ride back to station, they would stay out as long as physically possible which simply does not work in a capitalist society like a theme park. 

I did not understand the importance of keeping the genetic makeup of the Indominus Rex a secret. It really shouldn't be, especially if a problem like the one that happened happens.The fiasco with the velociraptors that turn on Owen and company. 

The one thing I must talk about is the T-Rex/Indominus Rex standoff. Obviously, this climatic scene was extreme fan-service. Kids everywhere want to see dinosaurs fight to the death. It is extraordinarily impractical to release ANOTHER deadly dinosaur to fight the dinosaur that everyone is already fearing. 

Do I think that this film lived up to the hype that was advertised? 

     Yes, I do think it lived up to the hype. Yes, it was predictable, but it was an exciting film. That is all I can ask for for a film that is technically a sequel to the original trilogy that last came out in 2001. It was good for nostalgia purposes. It was a good movie theatre experience since the effects and excitement was over the top. 

I don't think I would purchase or rewatch this film in the future, but I am glad that I viewed it. 

Overall, I would give it a 6/10 for there were many things that seemed unnecessary.