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DreamWorks Dragons: Race to Dragon’s Edge Enters a New Frontier, A Review

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Hiccup and his gang of Dragon Riders are back in DreamWorks’ Dragons: Race to the Edge. Thirteen episodes of a 26 episode season run are now out and there will be 52 in total that Netflix has ordered. What’s presented is filling in the space left from the last season leading up to the second film. Some favourites from the past two seasons even return and I was firmly engrossed by episode five to keep on watching them all in one sitting.

Dagur the Deranged (David Faustino) gets more importance in the series after escaping from his prison. He swears that he will get his revenge on Hiccup (Jay Baruchel). The war with the Outcasts and Berserkers is over, and while peace seems to reign, more trouble is brewing. When the young stewards of Berk locate a boat containing treasures from foreign lands and find a mysterious Dragons Eye (a slide projector with kaleidoscope capabilities to cast and merge images out of a tube when properly illuminated), only adventure beckons the leader of the group. Hiccup wants to discover what secrets this cylinder has in its encoded messages. Some of it suggests answers to the origins of dragons and others unveils a bigger world for him to explore.

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There’s a Traveling Wilbury in PIXAR’s Inside Out, A Movie Review & Analysis

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

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When I have a buddy whose first impression of what PIXAR’s Inside Out is about is that of copying the comedy from Herman’s Head, I had the desire to knock some sense into his brain. The analogies are completely different and how can one not love any movie made by this studio? Did he not know that this story was directed by Pete Docter, the same person who created the much-loved Up!? When considering I did not think highly of Monsters University or Cars 2, there might be a reason to not enjoy this film since this studio’s track record has not always surpassed previous products. In between these two films, I found more to love about Brave with its Celtic supernatural themes.

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The Mind Games Behind Jurassic World, A Movie Review

Jurassic World Movie Poster Jurassic World shows that nobody has learned from the mistakes made 22 years ago. After the “initial incident” of dinosaurs gone wild, the species known as Homo sapiens still think of themselves as homo superior. And in this sequel’s case, courting the prehistoric world and continuing to engage genetic engineering are a bad idea. Although John Hammond has long since passed, the people who have taken over (namely Simon Masrani) have finally managed to convert the island of Isla Nublar into a resort that resembles Disney World.

InGen is the corporation who is in charge and their ingenious idea to hybridise dinosaurs in order to create new species is not without scrutiny. Owen (Chris Pratt), a dinosaur wrangler, knows that can lead to trouble. When he has problems of his own in dictating the rules of who is the king, not even the handful of raptors he’s managed to train are above rebelling.

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Insidious 3 Attempts to Connect to Teen & Pop Culture

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

Insidious_–_Chapter_3_poster The mythology that’s created for the Insidious movies is one that’s rich with evil intent. With departed souls looking for a second chance at life, just what writer Leigh Whannell has crafted for Insidious 3 may well have Aleister Crowley giving his seal of approval. With one witchy woman and a spawn of Darth Maul populating the Further, just how this other side works is much more effective than anything the Poltergeist remake can conjecture.

Instead of a gothic realm populated by corpses, this mirror realm is simply devoid of light and life. In the afterlife according to Whannell, the freaks of purgatory exist because of their own devices. Whether by family neglect or desire by an entity to take a soul for its own, just what’s next for this series of movies requires figuring out who is the star of the show: is it Lin Shaye who is doing her best to give life to an otherwise droll plot or someone else?

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San Andreas Loves to Shake It Up! A Movie Review

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

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Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is ready to shake, rattle and roll in San Andreas. His charm is what carries this film and for fans of his works, this movie is no different from watching, for example, Race to Witch Mountain, which reunites him with Carla Cugino.

This disaster movie is going to change the California coast line and Roland Emmerich cannot be any more prouder. In a plot that’s fairly cut and dry, just what can anyone expect out of this movie that will most likely not get seismophobics out to see? Maybe the story: as with most films in this genre, the tale has to focus on uniting a family who’ve been separated by some domestic squabble. In Ray’s (Johnson) case, it’s with what he could not do to rescue one of his two daughters when he decided to take her on an wilderness outing. As a pilot for Los Angeles Search & Rescue (L.A.F.D.) team, he should realize that he can’t rescue everyone. Since that incident, he’s been wrestling with his demons, and that caused a riff between his wife, Emma (Cugino). The two share a good on-screen chemistry so that may be why they are working together again. Their surviving daughter, Blake (Alexandra Daddario), has forgiven daddy, but that has not helped this family stay together.

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How to Scare Up a Poltergeist, a Movie Review

Poltergeist2 By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

Even poltergeists have trouble vying for attention these days. We’re not talking about how the ‘remake’ compares to the original Steven Speilberg produced and Tobe Hooper directed film but instead, the Enfield haunting (the basis for the next The Conjuring film) suggests that targeting paranormal enthusiasts to earn box office coin is a good way to manifest dollars. Next year’s ghostly themed product has the potential to do far better than this rehash of a familiar tale.

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