Has no one learned anything from the events of the first Jurassic Park movie?
In Jurassic World, yet another dinosaur-themed park has been made. Only this time it's a full-blown resort; complete with hotels, a museum, the whole nine yards. InGen, the company behind it all, has decided to genetically create a monster theropod called Indominus Rex, for the sake of simply having something awesome. Naturally this experiment goes completely haywire and Indominus begins to run amok and kill people. And now it's up to a beefy macho guy named Owen Gradey and a hot-but-air-headed scientist named Claire to put an end to the monster's rampage.
I'm not going to lie; I personally thought this to be the most hilariously stupid film ever put to screen. Everyone except for Owen had the common sense of a bag of potato chips. InGen went out of their way to create a killing-machine just because the public wanted something more awesome than Tyrannosaurus Rex (I don't care that there were bigger predatory dinosaurs; nothing is going to dethrone T-Rex). After the business with Utahraptor, T-Rex,
and several other dinosaurs breaking out and causing havoc years earlier, the wise thing to do would have been not to create a genetically-enhanced theropod hybrid killing machine.
That's not to say that the movie was entirely bad. The acting was actually fairly decent. You both love and hate Claire and her child prodigy nephews. They make some of the stupidest mistakes throughout the film, but the actors did a very good job with their roles. Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt (who portrayed Claire and Owen respectively), have such great chemistry together. Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins as the two boys Zach and Grey are fantastic in their roles. Simply put, these were great actors with little to work with.
I don't know why I like this film. It's completely ridiculous, and all the characters seem to be airheads except for Owen. At the same time, however, that thing managed to keep me at the edge of my seat. So maybe it's the thrills that get me interested even if the whole thing plays like a repeat of Film One. I won't spoil the good part at the climax.
Well if this wasn't the most curious production of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado or The Town of Titipu I've ever seen! The Madison Savoyards gave the classic operetta an Anime-style spin, complete with colorful and spiky hair and schoolgirls who look like they stepped out of Sailor Moon.
I cannot give a detailed synopsis given the farcical plot-line, but I can do this: Nanki-Poo, the disguised son of the Mikado of Japan, is in love with the schoolgirl Yum-Yum. She however, is engaged to her guardian Ko-Ko, a tailor and ex-convict who is now Lord High Executioner of the city of Titipu. And Nanki-Poo is pursued by the much older woman Katisha, who mistook his politeness for affection. On top of that, Ko-Ko is in a fix because he can't execute anyone until he's cut off his own head. And to make matters worse, the Mikado himeself is coming and, since no executions have taken place in Titipu for a year, will demote Titipu to the status of a village if a beheading does not take place within a month (your head may now explode). Suffice it to say hilarity ensues, loves wins out in the end, and Ko-Ko gets stuck with a cougar.
I can go on about all the singers in all the various roles, but I think no one stood out more than Ko-Ko. The baritone who portrayed him (who also did Major General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance three years ago), made him look so much younger than usual. Ko-Ko was originally conceived as a middle-aged fellow who wants to marry a young wife. Here, he's a highly attractive twenty-something jock-type, complete with an outfit reminiscent of Goku in Dragon Ball Z, and an almost constant pout on his face. This made his wooing of the elderly Katisha in Act 2 all the more hilarious.
Heck, I can't even talk about the characters; the costumes totally stole the show for me. The women's chorus with colorful hair and miniskirts, the Mikado wearing a robe and headdress modeled off of a squid, Pooh-Bah's ridiculously long epaulettes that the schoolgirls play limbo under, and Yum-Yum and Nanki-Poo carrying backpacks with Anime logos on them as they leave for their honeymoon. Oh, and I can't forget Katisha's kimono that was a patched-together concoction of ridiculousness. Oh boy, I could go on forever about it.
The singing was great, but once again there was serious shortage of men of the chorus. What's up with that? The Mikado is such a well-known opera; why only a sextet of men? That's three years in a row this has happened!
This opera is a must-see.
So about a couple of weeks ago, I found out that Dmitri Hvorostovsky was diagnosed with a brain tumor ans so canceled all scheduled performances for the next two months. Oh sure, he says hoping to get better soon and is optimistic about everything. But this is a brain tumor we're talking about. This is a cancer lodged right in the body's control center. Brain disorders are harder to deal with as the organ is super delicate. Simply put, I'm not sure Dima will be able to sing alongside Yonghoon Lee this coming October.
