Netflix Retrospective - Dragons: Race to the Edge Season 2 Episodes 1-3

Right, we’re back with Dragons: Race to the Edge with season 2 or as I prefer to call it season 1 part 2, because this clearly was a 26-episode season cut into 2 when it was pitched to Netflix. Season 1 delivered on some creative world-building and had an interesting main antagonist, who continues into this season. How does season 2 stack up? Let’s take a look

Jurassic Parkathon - Jurassic Park III

Welcome to the Jurassic Parkathon

So… Jurassic Park III came out in 2001, and was the first Jurassic Park film not to have the direction of Steven Spielberg, and didn’t have a book to base it on (even one that’s ignored) You can see the warning flags already

Joe Johnston is directing this film and he’s not untalented, having directed Honey I Shrunk the Kids and Jumanji and later heading into Marvel to direct Captain America: The First Avenger. He also did Pagemaster, but you can’t get everything right.

But there were some issues in production. The original script was rejected for being ‘too complicated’ 5 weeks before filming was due to begin. You might not surprised then that the eventual script was unfinished when shooting began and the ending had to be done during reshoots as it wasn’t finished during the original filming.

The movie was successful, making over $350m on its $93m budget but with a budget inflated and diminishing returns, it was clear the franchise had reached the end of its road, for the time being. Here are some thoughts

Netflix Retrospective - Jessica Jones Season 2 Episodes 10-13

Jurassic Parkathon - The Lost World: Jurassic Park

We’re past the first one, it’s only downhill from here… Welcome to the Jurassic Parkathon

With the first Jurassic Park film being a major success, a sequel was inevitable, right? Apparently not. See, the original book never had a sequel and any development on a film sequel ended up being dependant on a book sequel being written. And it eventually was, and the film largely went its own route anyway.

Spielberg is back in the directing chair for this one, which would be his last Jurassic Park film, and the movie was at least financially successful, making over $600m on its $73m budget.

Netflix Retrospective - Jessica Jones Season 2 Episodes 9-10

Jurassic Parkathon - Jurassic Park

Welcome to the Jurassic Parkathon

Jurassic Park is an icon in popular culture. Based on a book by Michael Chrichton and brought to life by the directing talents of Steven Spielberg, the movie created the zeitgeist for dinosaur related media that still exists to this day.

Jurassic Park was released in 1993, being one of the few films from that era to break a $1bn haul at the box office. It had a great run at the awards, winning 3 Oscars and in 2018 was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. But does it still hold up?

Netflix Retrospective - Jessica Jones Season 2 Episodes 7-8

OK, we finally have some payoff of the build-up from the previous 6 episodes, we know the killer is Jessica’s mother and that opens a can of worms that will likely last the rest of the season. Will it be good? Well let’s take a look.

RageLite review: Black Panther

Black Panther, in some form or another was in development in Marvel since the early 1990s, with Wesley Snipes originally set to play the title character. Unfortunately, a myriad of bad scripts, financial issues, and the fact that Snipes eventually played Blade instead lead to this project being on hold for a number of years.

Things changed when the MCU began, with Black Panther on the list of 10 films Paramount was to distribute. It ultimately ended up on the shelf until the casting of Chadwick Boseman as the titular character was announced in 2014. The film was passed by various directors, until it landed with Ryan Coogler, who had recently written and directed Creed.

Coogler also co-wrote the script with Joe Robert Cole, who had previously pitched stories for a War Machine and Inhumans which weren’t picked up for various reasons. He’d recently written and produced The People vs O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story

Made on a $200m budget, the movie surpassed all expectations delivering a $1.35bn box office, over $700m from the US. It’s also one of the best rated Marvel movies with a 97% rating with an average score of 8.26/10, though audiences were slightly harsher with a 79% although with a similar average score of 4.1/5

Black Panther won many accolades, being nominated for 7 academy awards, including best picture, and ended up winning for its original soundtrack, costumes and production design. It probably would’ve been a better win than Green Book.

Netflix Retrospective - Jessica Jones Season 2 Episodes 5-6

Once more we’re with Jessica Jones