Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 115, No. 45, Ed. 1 Sunday, September 16, 2018 Page: 31 of 32
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Denton Record-Chronicle
Sunday, September 16, 2018
3D
REVIEWS
The way of
the dinosaurs
k
k
fm
i
Jurassic World 11 among year’s worst, while
repackaged classics deserve your shelf space
i
*
o
By Preston Barta
Film Critic
When I wrote my theatrical review for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, I didn’t even try to soften
my dislike for it. And now that the movie is hitting store shelves this week, I watched it again with an
open mind. But I’m sad to report that it’s still supremely dumb.
To be clear, Fallen Kingdom isn’t as stupid as the Transformers movies are. But the characters aren’t smart,
what they do or say doesn’t make much sense, and the bad guys just want to rule the world. Nothing is new.
Nothing is special. We deserve better. Even if you find it entertaining, we deserve so much better. _
In the movie, a volcano on Isla Nublar is going to erupt and destroy all the roaming dinos that inhabit the
island. The government decides not to save them, so some billionaire (James Cromwell) provides former dino
park showrunner Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) with the tools and funding she needs to extract several
different species and transport them to another island where they can be free again. \
Don’t go singing “Oh, Happy Day” just yet, because, of course, things go wrong and shady people are behind it all.
Oh, and Chris Pratt is in this. He does manly things like build houses when people are looking for his help and saves
the day when he can.
-S
\
A
There’s
a lot to
forgive if you
desperately want
to love “Jurassic
World: Fallen Kingdom,
starring Bryce Dallas Howard and
Chris Pratt, but the film never
cashes in on its potential to be in-
novative.
Universal Pictures
There’s a lot to forgive if you’re des-
perately wanting to enjoy this chapter.
It’s admittedly never boring and it does
look good. I’ll give it that much. But it
never cashes in on its potential to be
innovative, especially after its opening
scene. Instead, it makes little atoms of
our intelligence go extinct.
Extras: The extras are better than
the movie. They seemed to have a good
time making it. Too bad the product
doesn’t live up to what they say. The
release includes an on-set featurette,
several explorations of the visual effects
and action scenes, Jeff Goldblum’s re-
turn (Dude was only in it for 2 minutes.
Weak.) and more.
So own this one if you’re a completion-
Jurassic World:
Fallen Kingdom
Rated
R, 113 minutes.
ist.
: j
Phantasm IHis rated R, 92 minutes.
Phantasm IV is rated R, 90 minutes.
Extras: Phantasm III includes a
thorough behind-the-scenes featurette,
a deleted scene, a talents’ audio com-
mentary (quite good) and trailer. Phan-
tasm IV similarly includes a behind-
the-scenes featurette, a filmmaker and
talents’ audio commentary and a trailer.
★I/2
Rated PG-13,129 minutes.
Available Tuesday on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and
DVD, and available today on Digital HD.
Scream for Help (★★★ ]/i) Tommy
Wiseau directed one of the worst mov-
ies ever made called The Room. Per-
haps you’ve heard of it.
1984’s Scream for Help is cut from
the same cloth, in that it seems it was
made by people who are not from this
world and have no idea how to write or
direct a movie. It’s so overly dramatic
and absurd that it’s downright hilar-
ious, like watching a really bad soap
2016 franchise conclusion, the Phan-
tasm movies only got worse over time.
That said, Phantasm III (Lord of the
Dead) remains a hugely entertaining
addition to the series, while IV {Obliv-
ion) drops the ball.
Lord of the Dead is more of an ac-
tion film than a horror movie. Most of
the terror comes from knowing who
the Tall Man is from the previous two
films. The filmmakers take the charac-
ters we know (Reggie Bannister, A. Mi-
chael Baldwin and Bill Thornbury) to
interesting places, they throw in some
new awesome characters (Gloria Lynne
Henry and Kevin Connors), and take
some pointers from the Evil Dead mov-
ies to amp up the fun.
Oblivion puts the franchise back on
the horror track, but not necessarily
for the better. There are some cool mo-
ments here and there, and we get some
insight into the Tall Man’s background,
but too much is built up to only to be
abandoned. The scary bits don’t even
come close to reaching what made the
original film so terrifying and special.
You will undoubtedly walk away from
it with the biggest smile.
Rated R, 89 minutes.
Extras: Scream Factory’s release
(available through shoutfactory.com/
shop) includes a new audio commen-
tary from Hysteria lives!, new inter-
views with screenwriter Tom Holland
(not the Spider-Man actor, obviously)
and actor David Allen Brooks, and a
theatrical trailer.
Damsel (★★★★I/2) This stroke of
genius takes place in the Wild West,
circa 1870. It follows sparkly pioneer
Samuel Alabaster (a terrific Robert
Pattinson), who, with the help of Par-
son Henry (David Zellner, also co-writ-
er and co-director), travels across the
American frontier in search of the love
of his life, Penelope (Mia Wasikowska).
However, there’s a pretty good chance
we don’t know the whole story.
Damsel is a twisted force of nature
that keeps you on your toes. Few mov-
ies have the ability to pull the strings
of narrative in a way that leaves most
everyone surprised by the outcome, re-
gardless of our backgrounds. The Zell-
ner brothers completely abandon the
three-act structure in favor of some-
thing more unpredictable.
SeekDam.se/ out on DVD. It’s one of
the year’s very best.
opera.
Scream for Help is like The Stepfa-
ther but if it was told through the lens
of Little House on the Prairie (odd, I
know). It’s about a teenage girl (Ra-
chael Kelly) who suspects that her step-
father (David Allen Brooks) has a plot
to kill her mother (Marie Masters) and
take the family fortune.
Can the girl prove it? You shall see
— and you should see, because you will
be shocked by how the film filters dark
material through something that can
only be compared to a cartoon. (“Oh,
I just left the gas on from the furnace.
Oops! I wasn’t trying to kill you or any-
thing. La-di-da-da.”)
Be sure to thank Scream Factory
for resurfacing this forgotten silly gem.
Phantasm lll/IV (★★★/2) Most
horror fans know who Michael Myers,
Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger
are. But have you ever heard of the Tall
Man? He’s a frightening old mortician
(Angus Scrimm) who steals your brains
and puts them in flying chrome balls,
crushes your body to the size of a dwarf
and reanimates it to be his minion. (I’m
not making this up!)
He also has the ability to take the
shape of anybody he wants (mainly at-
tractive women). As absurd as it reads,
it makes for some wild, bloody and glo-
rious horror entertainment.
From its 1979 original film to its
Also available this week: Billion-
aire Boys Club, The Evil (1978) through
Scream Factory, Looker (1981), Madam
Secretary: Season 4, My Man Godfrey
(1936) through the Criterion Collec-
tion, Platoon (1986) — Shout Factory
Steelbook Edition, Supergirl: Season 3
and The ToyBox.
PRESTON BARTA is a member
oftheDallas-Fort Worth Film Critics
Association. Read his work on Fresh
Fiction.tv. Follow him on Twitter at
@PrestonBarta.
From Page 2D
Festivals
From Page 2D
Geter
and treats, a weenie dog race, live
music and entertainment, a kinder
zone and carnival rides. Sept. 28-30
in historic downtown McKinney.
mckinneytexas.org Free.
Western Days
Lewisville tips its hat to the Wild
West with gunfight re-enactments, a
cattle drive parade, live music, West-
ern-themed activities for all ages
and the World Tamale Eating Cham-
pionship. Sept. 28-29 at Wayne
Ferguson Plaza, 150 W. Church St.,
Lewisville, cityoflewisville.com. Free
until 7 p.m. each day.
State Fair of Texas
The daddy of all fall festivals returns
with Big Tex’s welcoming “Flowdy,
folks.” During the 24-day run, fair-
goers can celebrate all things Texas
with live music, college football
games, nightly parade and fireworks,
Midway games and rides, animals,
and indescribable fried food offer-
ings. Sept. 28-0ct. 21 at Fair Park,
11211st Ave., Dallas, bigtex.com.
Chalk Art Festival
Professional and amateur chalk art-
ists will transform the streets in Fort
Worth’s Crockett Row entertainment
district into works of art for the day.
Kids can get creative in the Kids
Chalk Art area. Sept. 29 at Crockett
Row at West 7th, Fort Worth, crock-
ettrow.com. Free.
Party on the Porch
The Amon Carter Museum’s annual
community arts and music fest
returns for a fourth year with live mu-
sic, arts activities, extended gallery
hours and food trucks. Charley
Crockett headlines the music lineup.
Sept. 29 at 3501 Camp Bowie
Blvd., Fort Worth, cartermuseum.
org. Free.
and there’s not a lot of detail,”
he said. “There is a lot of detail
in her face and eyes. And her
face, it’s framed in all that hair.
I thought it was beautiful, you
know? Almost like a lion.”
In other pieces, Geter depicts
hair that suggests a tree, or riv-
ers on a map, connecting coun-
try to village, town to street. It
isn’t just hair that reflects an
ongoing drama. Pieces from a
triptych titled Mother Nature’s
Last In-House Domestic Servant
speak to sexual harassment, and
another work, Backache, is med-
itation on the failure of men to
advocate for women.
“Backache is saying, ‘My back
was your back, and I guarded
it with my life. But you didn’t
guard mine,”’ Geter said. “I
think every woman in the world
can understand that experience.
I think every woman who has
ever worked in domestic ser-
vice — or in the service industry
— understands what this piece
[Mother Nature’s Last In-House
Domestic Servant] is saying.”
The exhibit includes paint-
ings Geter did decades ago
along with the new work. His
work in oils demonstrates his
ability to diffuse light and me-
diate shadows. His charcoal and
pastels show an artist who has
a keen eye for detail and a way
with stories.
“What do I want with my
work? I want to make you feel
something. And when I look
at Backache and the bull’s-eye
woman, I know you can’t walk
past these pieces and not feel
something.”
“I Come As One, But Stand
as 10,000” runs through Dec.
8. Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to
5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Fri-
day and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to
9 p.m. Thursday. The arts center
is located at 400 E. Hickory St.
Admission to the exhibit is free.
“I’ve been working this way
for a while,” Geter said. “I went
to West Africa in 1980. I’m the
kind of artist who believes tech-
nique is essential to the creative
pursuits. Also, I believe one
should know as many things as
possible — oils pastels, watercol-
or and charcoals. In West Africa,
I was looking for things to help
me create with speed. There
were so many things going on,
and I was trying to take it all in.”
When Geter returned to the
states seven years later, he had
met his wife, a Fulani woman
whose culture brought Geter
closer to Islamic art. He was
drawn to the intricacy of the art,
and the overlapping of forms.
He’d just returned to the States
and was working on a triptych.
He got frustrated.
“It was too dark,” he said. “I
was trying to erase it. Finally, I
reached up and tore it. My sub-
conscious was like, What are
we going to do? What’s going to
be done with that?’ I decided to
follow it. I’ve been doing it ever
since.”
fl
i
V
r
*
•
DRC file photo
Two coffin racers duel it out down East Hickory Street at Denton’s Day of the Dead Festival
in 2015 in Denton.
6 at The Shops at Willow Bend,
6121 W. Park Blvd., Plano. Advance
tickets are available online.
Christmas in Cowtown Holiday
Market
Get a jump on holiday shopping at
a festive market with unique holiday
gifts, decorations, jewelry, clothing,
children’s toys and more. A portion
of the proceeds benefits the work
of the Junior League of Fort Worth.
Oct. 11-14 at Will Rogers Memorial
Center, 3401 W. Lancaster Ave.,
Fort Worth, juniorleaguefw.org.
ArmeniaFest
Get a taste of Armenia at St. Sarkis’
23rd annual food festival. Sample
grilled kebabs, pressed sandwiches,
dolma and baklava. There will be
traditional singing and dancing, a
fun photo booth, and children’s arts
and crafts. Oct. 12-14 at St. Sarkis
Armenian Church, 1805 Random
Road, Carrollton, armeniafest.com.
Free.
Bonnie & Clyde Days
Pilot Point puts on an old-timey festi-
val to commemorate the day Warren
Beatty came to town to film a bank
robbery scene for his Bonnie and
Clyde movie in the 1960s. Besides
a classic car show, soap box racing,
live music and food vendors, locals
will re-enact the robbery scene on
the town square. Oct. 13 in Pilot
Point, bonnieandclydedays.org. Free.
Celina Oktoberfest
Activities include a Dachshund Derby
dog race, polka bands, German
food favorites, chicken dances
and costume contests. Youngsters
can have fun with bounce houses,
obstacle course, rock-climbing wall
and a petting zoo in the free Kids’
Zone. Oct. 13 in the town square, N.
Ohio and W. Walnut streets, Celina.
celinaoktoberfest.com.
Plano International Festival
The spotlight shines on cultures
from around the world that call
Plano home. Entertainment includes
multicultural music and dance
performances, a parade of flags,
international art and fashion show,
and bites from around the world.
Oct. 13 at Flaggard Park, 901 E.
15th St., Plano, planointernational-
festival.org. Free.
Fort Worth Alliance Air Show
The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and
the Canadian Forces Snowbirds
Air Demonstration Squadrons soar
through the North Texas skies at
this world-class air show. Kids can
have fun on a sky-high inflatable
slide and other aviation-themed
inflatables. Oct. 13-14 at Alliance
Airport, 2221 Alliance Blvd., Fort
Worth, allianceairshow.com. Free.
Steinfest
Raise your beer stein to Oktober-
fest in downtown Plano with polka
bands, wiener dog fashion show,
keg bowling and beer gardens. Oct.
19-20 at Flaggard Park, 901 E. 15th
St., Plano, steinfest.org. Free.
Dallas Fan Days
Experience pop culture nirvana with
celebrities and events from the
worlds of sci-fi, comics, horror, TV,
movies and more. Look for cosplay
contests, celebrity guests and pan-
els, autograph opportunities, themed
activity rooms and a Fan Days family
zone. Oct. 19-21 at Irving Convention
Center, 500 W. Las Colinas Blvd.,
Irving, dallasfandays.com.
Red Steagall Cowboy Gathering
and Western Swing Festival
Celebrate Western heritage with
nightly rodeo action and Western
Swing dances, kids activities, chuck
wagon cook-off, youth fiddle contest
and Cowboy Church on Sunday. Oct.
26-28 in the Fort Worth Stockyards,
130 E. Exchange Ave., Fort Worth.
redsteagallcowboygathering.com.
Cirque du Horror
Original Flalloween musical cele-
brates the season in a series of mu-
sical sketches and dance numbers.
Suitable for all ages, and costumes
are welcome. Two performances
are during Denton’s Day of the Dead
Festival — 2:30 and 9:15 p.m. Oct.
27. Final performance is 5 p.m.
Oct. 27. All shows are at Dan’s
Silverleaf, 103 Industrial St. $25 for
front seating, $20 for rear seating,
$15 standing room, $7 for ages 12
and under.
Denton’s Day of the Dead Festival
Family event celebrates the harvest,
Flalloween and Dia de Los Muertos.
Includes vendors, pumpkin patch,
haunted house, coffin races, music
and performances, twilight lantern
and costume parade, and costume
contest. 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Oct.
27 on Industrial and East Hickory
streets, www.dentondayofthedead-
festival.com. Free.
Texas Veggie Fair
Family- and dog-friendly food fest
celebrates plant-based lifestyle
options of all kinds. Vistiors can
sample vegan food and browse
eco-friendly products. In addition,
there will be chef demos, speakers,
live music, a beer garden, yoga and
kids’ activities. Oct. 27 in Reverchon
Park, 3505 Maple Ave., Dallas.
Geter said his treatment of
his subjects’ hair is partly root-
ed in raising his daughters in
Africa and the United States,
and the struggle black Amer-
icans have had with ideas of
respectability and hair. Black
women especially internalize
cultural messages about pro-
priety and hair.
“When I was in Africa, there
wasn’t that sense of shame about
who you are, what you look like.
You could wash your hair, go sit
on your porch or go to the store
and no one would say anything
about it,” Geter said. “We moved
here, and my wife washed my
daughter’s hair and let her go
out. Her hair was blowing in the
wind. She got harassed, and she
was harassed by another little
black kid.”
OCTOBER
Southlake Oktoberfest
Visit this fest for live music,
children’s entertainment, artisans,
food and beer, and adorable wiener
dogs competing in an Oktoberfest
costume contest and race. Oct. 5-7
at Southlake Town Square, south-
lakechamber.com. Free.
Frisco Arts Walk
Stroll Hall Park’s lakeside trails and
Texas Sculpture Garden. Bring a
picnic blanket and enjoy live music,
guided art tours, artist booths,
an interactive children’s area and
gourmet food trucks. Oct. 6 at Hall
Park, 6801 Gaylord Parkway, Frisco.
friscoarts.org. Free.
Plano Food & Wine Festival
Stroll through the Shops at Willow
Bend while sampling wine and bites
from participating restaurants and
food trucks. There will be live music
and performances by the Plano
Children’s Theatre, Grape Stomping
competitions and shopping. Oct.
Geter points to his piece Tar-
get #1, a portrait of a woman
with a faint bullseye over her
pelvis.
LUCINDA BREEDING can
be reached at 940-566-6877
and via Twitter at
@LBreedingDRC.
‘Her body is flattened out,
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McCrory, Sean. Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 115, No. 45, Ed. 1 Sunday, September 16, 2018, newspaper, September 16, 2018; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1138346/m1/31/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .