I have some predictions about SPECTRE.

SPLOILERS

Man of Steel

False advertising: not a Stalin biopic.

Independence Day not-so-liveblog

The nearly-20-year-old movie. The holiday can take care of itself.

Weekend Song, Independence Day Edition

Of course it's an American band this week.

Metallica - Don't Treat On Me

Jurassic World

The audience knows the truth. The world is simple, miserable, and solid all the way through. But if you can fool them, even for a second, then you can make them wonder. And you get to see something very special[...] the look on their faces.

-Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman), The Prestige

When Christopher Nolan wrote those words, he wasn't talking about just magic tricks. He was talking about moviemaking in general, but it especially applies to special effects - which are kind of like magic tricks.

The original Jurassic Park should be required viewing for anyone aspiring to direct action films (also on that list: Aliens and On Her Majesty's Secret Service. More to come as I think of them). Spielberg hit the sweet spot, showing off the dinosaurs as necessary to tell the story (and elicit the impressed oohs from 1993's movie-goers). That film could not have been made without CGI, and yet that was not a film about CGI. 

In Jurassic World, CGI dinosaurs have been a mainstay of movies theme parks for 20 years. The people running the show need more impressive effects dinosaurs to keep the money coming in. Eventually the CGI is substituted for an actual story with actual characters park breaks down again and a lot of people leave rather disappointed get eaten.