Under Exposed! 50 Greatest Movies Never Made, fun to read, fascinating to think of

Given that Sam Raimi is riding the Doctor Strange wave, it’s worth reminding audiences of Burst. That was his 3-D film that he produced about spontaneous combustion. It’s got all the makings of a cult classic and was never made, but sounds ridiculously awesome. That’s just one of the films featured in Under Exposed! The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made. Justice League: Mortal, directed by Mad Max legend George Miller is another film that inspires the mind as to what it could’ve been.

Under Exposed! The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made is a fascinating look at cinematic projects that made sense, but didn’t see the light of day.
Ready when you are C. B.

Jurassic World Dominion, a satisfying movie to the series (that I didn’t see)

“I was four years old when the first one came out”, said the guy in front of me. The lady behind us said that she’d seen all of them and then went on comparing her favorite characters. As a family, we’ve seen Jurassic Park a handful of times, and I’m old enough to have driven myself to the cinema to see it when it came out. Our kids say that they’ve seen some of the other Jurassic films, but I know that the only other one I’ve seen the final half-hour of Jurassic Park III and Jurassic World. As the sixth film in the franchise, Jurassic World Dominion comes out, it serves as a mixed bag but is also a satisfying end to the series, let me explain.

Jurassic World Dominion is above average, a satisfying, fun end to the dino series that left a big footprint.
(from left) Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon) and Kayla Watts (DeWanda Wise) in Jurassic World Dominion, co-written and directed by Colin Trevorrow.
Just smile and enjoy the ride

Momocon, mark the 2023 family calendar for this all-encompassing event

“I’ve been taking my sons since here they were that age,” said the lady who checked us in when we arrived at Momocon. She went on to tell me that they now have a local hotel room so that they can enjoy Momocon to its fullest extent. I could relate to her on both levels. Our boys have been attending Momocon since the youngest was three and a hotel room to crash out for a bit would’ve been nice. On an entirely different level, it was great to attend a con again and to that end, Momocon 2022 did not disappoint.

Momocon 2022 proved that the cons are back-in particular, this all age example, focusing on animation, gaming, costumes and comics.
So much fun-and it is for the entire family, yes really.

Top Gun Maverick, a classic, feel-good great time at the movies

When’s the last time you saw a great movie? And by that I mean, a really great movie that pleased virtually everybody in the audience, regardless of their age, sex or background? Movies like this just don’t come around often. They’ve been replaced by franchise tent films that dependably come around every couple of years and deliver the same level of enjoyment. It was a better than average Marvel film, the last Pixar film was better or some other milquetoast compliment is more often than not how we’ve come to realistically describe movies. Two years delayed from its intended release comes Top Gun Maverick, the sequel to its namesake that was originally released in 1986. Low and behold, Top Gun Maverick is a master class in filmmaking that perfectly combines any element that one could request from a movie. It’s one of the best films I’ve seen and is the complete package in its telling a story that’s wrapped in action and, not to mention, 30+ years removed from the original.

This is the real deal. See it in theaters.
Continue reading Top Gun Maverick, a classic, feel-good great time at the movies

There Are Moms Way Worse Than You, funny prose with legs

The other day I saw a sticker on a car that said, “Baby up in this witch”, except it didn’t say witch. What an odd sticker, I thought. Would that parent be comfortable with their middle elementary-aged reading the sticker that’s on their car to other kids or adults? Thus, because I’m positing those thoughts one could quickly deduce that I was not a fan of using asterisks in the place of curse words. Mind you, I’m no puritan, I just want to have one conversation with my kids and not have to interpret, or hear them sound like a surly college student before they actually get there.

There Are Moms Way Worse Than You is funny, approachable and not what you’re probably expecting. It’s animal moms and how bad they are, presented in stanzas, will leave ages 12 and up in stitches.
This was such an unexpected treat-and will be for you too

Nana Loves You More, sub-par illustrated pre-k with great sales numbers

Was it not for the author’s name of Nana Loves You More, very few people outside of those who already have the first three books in the series, would be talking about it? Having said that, it merits the question, if Jimmy Fallon hadn’t written Your Baby’s First Word Will Be Dada, would the others in the series have ever been written? It’s a case of which came first the chicken or the egg? In this case one could also factor in if Nana Loves You More gets more children to read because of its prominent placement in stores across the country, does it really matter?

Nana Loves You More is the fourth in the Jimmy Fallon series that could easily be driven more out of obligation and sales than a yearning to tell a story.
This might not the nana book you’re looking for

The Secrets of Dumbledore, entertaining but mainly for Potterhead faithful

It was a dark, cool movie theater and I dozed off for just a second. However, it was during that second that my son’s friend poked me in the arm. “A muggle is someone who doesn’t have any magic, like a regular person”, he said. “Thank you, that much I knew about the series”, was my reply. He was just being kind because on the way to the movie theatre I told him that I’d only seen one Harry Potter film, hadn’t read any of the books, and had seen the first Fantastic Beasts film way back in 2016. This opened up a universe worth of ways for him to illustrate how great the books are and why each film in the cannon matters. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is the third film in the series of five and, based on his opinion, will build upon how much that audience reveres these characters.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is an entertaining movie, but will really please the Potterhead faithful.
C’mon in, the water’s fine Hogwartians

Tales of Ancient Worlds, fun history in an archeology wrapper

People of a certain age will credit or blame Indiana Jones for their interest in archeology. For me, I am somewhere in-between the two. Archeology is a subject that I toyed with in college, played with after graduation, and have it littered about in my house. It’s based on that background that I was incredibly surprised by how immersive and varied Tales of Ancient Worlds, Adventures in Archeology was. It’s an illustrated book that’s meant for mid-elementary students but has the breadth on some level to add content to papers or conversations for those much older.

Tales of Ancient Worlds is short, non-fiction blurbs that elementary kids need, in a package that they can handle and want to read.
History wonks unite, gateway for elementary-aged archeologists!
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