Good lord but I need to escape from reality right now.
As the pandemic grinds on and on, and people are either blithely pretending it’s BAU (it’s not – pre-2020 has gone forever, sorry), or carefully stepping out into the “new normal” or choosing to soft lockdown and hide from the world until things settle down – when will that be exactly? – it’s a relief to know we can escape into some great cinematic storytelling.
These two offerings – Jurassic World: Dominion and The Adam Project – are two quite different propositions, one telling a tale of dinosaurs run amok on a modern Earth and the other a touching, funny and breathtakingly original sci-fi tale, but both capture that sense of glorious escapism that makes the day-to-day slog of life feel not so burdensome.
Quite whether going to the cinema will feel safe enough when Dominion hits the screens is debatable – Australia will be in the depths of winter, with a resurgent flu and COVID-19 virus both vying for hosts – but at least there will be the chance with these, and many other films, to step into someone else’s world and see what the world looks like through a wholly different and giddily imaginative lens.
SNAPSHOT
… experience the epic conclusion to the Jurassic era as two generations unite for the first time. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are joined by Oscar®-winner Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, and Sam Neill in Jurassic World Dominion, a bold, timely, and breathtaking new adventure that spans the globe.From Jurassic World architect and director Colin Trevorrow, Dominion takes place four years after Isla Nublar has been destroyed. Dinosaurs now live—and hunt—alongside humans all over the world. This fragile balance will reshape the future and determine, once and for all, whether human beings are to remain the apex predators on a planet they now share with history’s most fearsome creatures.
The film features new cast members DeWanda Wise (She’s Gotta Have It), Emmy nominee Mamoudou Athie (Archive 81), Dichen Lachman (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Scott Haze (Minari), and Campbell Scott (The Amazing Spider-Man 2). The film’s returning cast includes BD Wong as Dr. Henry Wu, Justice Smith as Franklin Webb, Daniella Pineda as Dr. Zia Rodriguez, and Omar Sy as Barry Sembenè. (synopsis courtesy Flickering Myth)
Jurassic World: Dominion opens 9 June 2022 in Australia and 10 June in US and UK.
SNAPSHOT
“Past, meet future.” A time-traveling pilot named Adam (Ryan Reynolds) teams up with his younger self and his late father to come to terms with his past while saving the future. The Adam Project is directed by American producer / filmmaker Shawn Levy, director of many movies including Just in Time, Big Fat Liar, Just Married, Cheaper by the Dozen, The Pink Panther, Night at the Museum 1-3, Date Night, Real Steel, The Internship, This Is Where I Leave You, and Free Guy previously. The screenplay is written by Jonathan Tropper, T.S. Nowlin, Jennifer Flackett, and Mark Levin. It’s produced by David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, Shawn Levy, Ryan Reynolds. (synopsis courtesy First Showing)
The Adam Project premieres on Netflix and in cinemas on 11 March.