The Monkey Movie Review: Gory, Bloody Fun
The latest movie I took in was the newest Stephan King/Osgood Perkins/James Wan horror movie The Monkey. Once again, I’d seen the trailer many times before most of the movies I’d been to recently. I saw it Saturday with a packed theater of horror fans. The movie did well taking in just over $14M over the weekend.
The Monkey Trailer
The gist of the story, which you could pick up on just by watching the trailer, is that of twin brothers who find their father’s toy wind-up monkey. Of course, it’s possessed, and wherever it goes, death follows. They try everything to get rid of it. They finally thought they did and it was quiet for a couple of decades. But alas, the movie couldn’t end like that. It has emerged to come back to continue its killing spree. Now older, the brothers – who are estranged – must try to stop the killer toy. Let the brutality commence!
The Monkey Is Fun
I’d consider this more of a horror/comedy. A couple of the funnier scenes take place in a church after some untimely passings. There were gruesome death scenes you couldn’t help but chuckle at. Yes, morbid, creative deaths throughout this movie. Two deaths were fairly amusing. One included a female swimmer, the other a real estate agent…I’ll just leave it at that. Another humorous death involving a for sale sign.
I stayed through the credits to see the trailer for the next Osgood Perkins film. The trailer was very short in time and on substance about what the film was about. I did get the vibe that it’s nothing in the realm of The Monkey.
I liked the movie and was entertained. I’ll give The Monkey 3 3/4 out of 5 stars. Horror/slasher movie fans will probably enjoy this one.
Claws to Jaws: Ranking the 6 Jurassic Park Films
After announcing the 7th installment in the Jurassic Park franchise, “Jurassic World Rebirth,” I decided to rewatch the entire franchise. For diehard Jurassic Park fans, a lot of amazing things appeared in the teaser trailer for Rebirth. For one, we got a return of a beloved Dinosaur that hasn’t been seen since the 2001 film Jurassic Park 3.
The legendary Spinosaurus makes its long-awaited return in the franchise’s seventh film. It’s known amongst the books and Jurassic Park community that the Spinosaurus from JP3 was, in fact, a genetic hybrid. This is why the Spinosaurus was so easily able to defeat the Tyrannosaurus Rex early in the movie. This made for a great “shock and awe” moment in the film.
Jurassic Park and how “Realistic” it is
As paleontology is always evolving, we have now come to understand that, in 2025, a spinosaurus will look dramatically different from the 2001 movie. The new design makes it look much less formidable on land, which is supposedly more scientifically accurate. While this upset some fans at the initial trailer, it also is the right decision that the series has already shown it’s willing to make.
For example, in Jurassic World Dominion, the Quetzalcoatlus and the Pyroraptor were shown to have feathers all over their bodies. This is a complete flip of the script from the first five movies and an acknowledgment of the present-day understanding of Dinosaurs.
The Hybrid Formula
Another interesting thing about the new Jurassic World Rebirth movie is that they return to the hybrid formula. The Jurassic World films have already featured the Indominus Rex and Indoraptor. Now we are getting the “D-Rex.” The D-rex is perhaps the most bizarre and creative idea the franchise has come up with so far. While not yet confirmed by the creators, fans speculate that the new hybrid looks like a mix between a Rancor, Xenomorph, and Tyrannosaurus Rex.
As ridiculous as that may sound, the new creature does share some similarities to all three of those beings. All fans of the Jurassic Park franchise should be excited about the new film and hopeful. The release date is set for July 2nd, 2025. As we prepare for the latest release, let’s explore the entire franchise and rank the movies from worst to best!
6. Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom
Fallen Kingdom felt like there was too many weird things happening at once. Not to mention it felt more ridiculous than any film before or after it. While I’m perfectly aware that the concept of Dinosaurs coexisting with humans is ridiculous, this movie took it to another level and lost the Jurassic Park feel. Ingen bringing all the dinosaurs that it could from the island to a “secure” dungeon-like facility on the mainland felt more like an evil superhero plot than a Jurassic Park film. These movies are supposed to have misguided fools at the helm, not evil doo-ers who seek to rule the world…
![Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - Official Trailer [HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vn9mMeWcgoM/mqdefault.jpg)
5. Jurassic Park The Lost World
The Lost World was truly not that bad of a film. While the book is much darker than the movie implies, this is one of the most horror-like movies in the franchise. It loses some of its traction about halfway through the film as incredibly ridiculous things keep happening just to have us see 50 people get massacred by Raptors on the two adult T-Rexes on the island. The T-Rex being returned to San Diego and running amok through the city saves the movie for me, though!
4. Jurassic World Dominion
As a Jurassic Park superfan, I truly believe that there are 4 “great” films in the franchise. In my opinion, people love to hate Jurassic World Dominion, and their hate is either misguided or unrealistic. First, this film was supposed to be the finale of the franchise when it was released. For a final movie, this one gave us precisely what you would want in a last film. The return of the original characters meshing with the new cast to help them solve an existential crisis is a brilliant move by the producers. Plus, we finally see Dr. Sadler and Grant kiss on screen! The big bad news is that Dino is a formidable foe, and we see very original ways of defeating it. Tons of new dinosaurs are in this movie as well! We even get to see feathered dinosaurs!!! This is a massive thing in the Jurassic Park universe to acknowledge, as it references modern science for once. By far, the coolest thing about this movie for me is that this is the only time we see dinosaurs forming their own herds and living alongside modern-day wildlife, which is truly amazing to see.
![Jurassic World Dominion - Official Trailer [HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/fb5ELWi-ekk/mqdefault.jpg)
3. Jurassic Park 3
I don’t care what online critics say; Jurassic Park 3 is a great film. It’s surprisingly witty, original in terror, and gives us several new dinosaurs. The Spinosaurus in this film is menacing and is tasked with the most complex challenge in the series at that point… being more terrifying than the T-rex. The Spinosaurus not only delivers that but also survives the whole ordeal and proves to be one of Jurassic Park’s most potent creations. This film is in the top 3 because of its originality, yet the Master is returning to its roots better.
2. Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park is an absolute masterpiece, so it may be a shock to see it as number 2 on this list. This film has zero offense, number 2 on the list. Jurassic Park is a legendary movie that showcased how to wow viewers with the wonders of combining practical effects with CGI technology. In my opinion, this is the most successful book-turned-movie ever. The plot is perfect, yet it is filled with holes because, without the holes, there would be no plot. This is why it’s so amazing. None of the Dinosaurs would have escaped if Ned hadn’t been shady and had cut all the power on the night of the hurricane. You might think, “How would nobody stop him or question him harder?” if we thought that way, there would be no movie, and we wouldn’t have one of the most iconic movies ever made! Number 1 on the list is ranked as such because it did the unthinkable: it revived the franchise from the depths and recreated the original film while adding its twist!
1. Jurassic World
This may seem controversial, but I promise you it’s not. Jurassic World had big shoes to fill and a damn near impossible task when it went into production. This film needed to reel back in all of the fans of the original movies while at the same time captivating a whole new generation of fans. This movie crushed that challenge. This movie made over 1.6 million dollars worldwide on a $150 million budget. It’s not all about profit, but it helps paint the picture. While the 3rd Jurassic Park movie was a great movie, it did not perform nearly as well at the box office as its predecessors. There was then a 14-year gap without another film until Jurassic World was released. As someone who grew up in the original movies, this film brought me to tears when they opened the original T-rex paddock to go and help fight the Indominus Rex. The original recipe is used so incredibly well in this film. They reopened the park on a different island, ensuring safety is the top concern, while quietly and not so unrealistically, secretly developing a hybrid monster to keep guests entertained. In my opinion, Jurassic World and Jurassic Park are both perfect movies. I only give the nod to Jurassic World because it is a sequel essentially, and it’s tragically harder to knock a sequel out of the park. Yet that is precisely what this film did.
