TV & Beyond on 2025-07-03 12:00:00

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-03 12:00:00

by | Jul 3, 2025 | TV & Beyond Articles

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-03 12:00:00

Now, as a big dinosaur nerd, I do have to ask you about the dinosaurs.

Yeah.

Whose idea was it to redesign the Spinosaurus into something more scientifically accurate, compared to the movie monster version we saw in “Jurassic Park III”?

I was worried that I’d steered it towards a movie monster version, and that it used to be really accurate. It’s like, imagine we are dinosaurs, the world is full of dinosaurs, we are dinosaurs, and they make a movie about some humans. And someone goes, “Hey, we’re going to have some Asian guy in this scene,” and you go, “But be more specific,” right? And they go, “Oh no, but it’s just an Asian.” It’s like, you can have a Spinosaurus, and then you can have a totally different-looking one. This idea that there’s only one type of dinosaur is crazy. 

Basically, I saw it as, “Okay, in the last movie, if that was Clint Eastwood, now we’re going to have Marlon Brando.” So it was more, “Okay, let’s just get that Spinosaurus and start to push and pull shapes and proportions and try to make more of a character out of it.” I don’t know, I can’t really explain, but I look at two images just like in nature, and you personally can go, “That’s more attractive” or “I find more interesting than that,” and sometimes you can’t articulate why, you just go, “That one. I prefer that one.” Then you take that one, that’s the new one, and you mess around with it and you make two children and you say, “That one.” And you take that one, you mess around with it, and it’s basically like nature. You’re trying to evolve an idea and it’s very much probably what happens in nature. So yeah, I did a bit of that with the dinosaurs as well, even though some of them have been established. Otherwise, you don’t really have your fingerprint on it. It felt like it’s one of the first things you do, is grab all the toys and you want to make them your own, kind of thing.

In “Jurassic Park” tradition, going back all the way to the original, it’s always been a mix of cutting-edge visual effects and practical effects. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it feels like “Rebirth” leans more towards the VFX side of things rather than puppets, animatronics, that sort of thing. What went into that decision for you?

Yeah, I mean, my background was computer graphics, visual effects. The thing you learn the hard way, I guess, on some of these movies, is you go to a lot of trouble doing something practical and sometimes you end up replacing it in the computer. And it can be really worth it, because it was a great reference. It gave the actor something to react to on set, and it can all be great. But we had a year and a quarter, and so it felt like we didn’t have time to do pre-viz, all that animation that people do of the stunt sequences and set pieces. It also felt like animatronics — like big, cool, crazy animatronics — were not going to happen in time. And it all would’ve been a lot of resources and time and we could probably not have got through this one with just puppets and stuff.

What we did do is, we ended up asking them to do what we called proxy puppets. Essentially, they create shapes and silhouettes that were full-scale, whatever the creature was, and then they could come into a room and puppeteers would come in and they play their animal, and that way we can compose the shot. They don’t look like dinosaurs, you know what I mean? But they’re enough to make the actors react to something, and they look scary. We had these Mutadon puppets and the whole scene cut together and worked perfectly with just the puppets in, because the guys who were operating them, like, I don’t know what makes you want to do that for a living [laughs], but they could tap into something pretty dark. Yeah, it was all mainly just proxy objects, stuff that could push doors open and things like that, but not actually — then it gets replaced with the real photoreal dinosaurs.

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-03 11:45:00

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-03 11:45:00

by | Jul 3, 2025 | TV & Beyond Articles

Ali Larter was cast as the free-spirited Angela Norris on “Landman,” she played Brooke Taylor-Windham in the comedy “Legally Blonde.” The character is a fitness instructor who gets accused of killing her elderly husband, but Reese Witherspoon’s Harvard law student, Elle Woods, believes that she’s innocent and decides to represent her in court. The truth comes out in the end, and Brooke avoids a stint in prison, meaning that she’s free to return in the long-gestating “Legally Blonde 3” or any other project set in this universe. What’s more, Larter is keen to reprise the role, as she told The Hollywood Reporter:

“I’ve always heard that [‘Legally Blonde 3’] was getting written, and that Mindy Kaling was doing it, so who knows. Now they’re doing the [‘Legally Blonde’] TV show, so that’s going to take the space of that for a while. But I think that what Reese [Witherspoon] has always said is if a great script comes and if they can really crack a reason to make it, then they will. And, of course, I’d love to play Brooke Windham again. I mean, come on! I need to get my high kicks back on!”

Larter revealed that “Legally Blonde” remains the project for which she’s most recognized, so it’s clear that plenty of people are familiar with her character. As such, it makes sense to bring her back into the fold in some capacity. That said, her version of Brooke might not be part of the aforementioned TV show, as the story will go back to the past.

Legally Blonde is getting a prequel series

Elle Woods on the phone in the titular series Elle

Amazon MGM Studios

The “Legally Blonde” TV series, “Elle,” follows the titular character (Lexi Minetree) during her high school years — back when she was obsessed with boys, clothes, and had no serious ambitions about attending Harvard to become a lawyer. The ’90s timeline also suggests that Brooke won’t be part of the series, as “Legally Blonde” reveals that she and Elle became friends during their college years.

As for Ali Larter, she is set to return to Taylor Sheridan’s television universe in “Landman” season 2. The oil-worker drama sees her play the wife of Billy Bob Thornton’s Tommy Norris, who now finds himself entangled in some potentially messy drama with the cartel. This means that Angela and the rest of their family could be set to deal with more problems, which should make for some exciting television.

Being part of a hit Sheridan series is no easy feat, and “Landman” should keep Larter busy for a while. Still, it’d be great to learn more about what her “Legally Blonde” character is up to these days, but for now, the planned third movie appears to be stuck in development hell.

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-03 03:00:00

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-03 03:00:00

by | Jul 3, 2025 | TV & Beyond Articles

“F1,” as a result, was a big hit for Apple at the box office out of the gate. Unfortunately, though, one cast member who originally had a bigger role in the movie wound up having her screen time chopped down to almost nothing.

Simone Ashley, who many people will know as Kate Sharma from “Bridgerton” season 2, was originally set to star alongside Pitt, Javier Bardem, and Damson Idris in the racing blockbuster. However, her role was essentially cut from the movie, though she does briefly appear in a scene with no lines. So, what happened? In an interview with People, Kosinski explained that it all came down to refining the footage in the editing room:

“It happens on every film, where you have to shoot more than you can use. There were two or three storylines that ultimately didn’t make [it] into the final cut. But Simone, she’s an incredible talent, incredible actress, incredible singer, and I would love to work with her again.”

“I have a very small part, but I’m grateful to be in that movie,” Ashley previously said while speaking to Elle. “I got to experience many Grands Prix. I don’t think I’ll ever do anything like that again.”

Simone Ashley seems to have no hard feelings about F1

Damson Idris as Joshua and Brad Pitt as Sonny staring at the track together in F1: The Movie

Apple Original Films

It’s not as though Kosinski is being heartless or that this is out of the ordinary. Actors are removed from movies all of the time during the editing process. In fact, several actors were cut from Marvel’s “Captain America: Brave New World” just earlier this year. There are countless other examples as well. It’s just the nature of the beast, particularly when it concerns big-budget, blockbuster filmmaking. Lower-budget movies tend to have less footage to work with so it’s less frequent, though it can still happen.

As it is, “F1” is two hours and 35 minutes long. Something had to give. In any event, Ashley doesn’t seem to have any hard feelings about the whole situation. She even attended the film’s premiere in London and had some very nice things to say about it. Taking to Instagram, Ashley expressed joy in reuniting with the cast and crew, all while encouraging people to go see the movie:

“It was a joy to reunite with the cast and crew, and to celebrate — I couldn’t have been prouder watching everyone shine on screen and on the carpet, all while wearing my couture Balmain gown that made me feel just as radiant. I’ve come away with friendships and memories I’ll treasure forever. Go see this movie! — it’s a must see ride and speed like you’ve never seen before!”

Ashley’s career still seems to be a very good place, disappointing as this may be. Earlier this year, her rom-com “Picture This” became a streaming hit on Prime Video. She’s also set to return to “Bridgerton” next year and has the psychological thriller “This Tempting Madness” in the can awaiting release.

“F1” is in theaters now.

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-02 22:00:00

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-02 22:00:00

by | Jul 2, 2025 | TV & Beyond Articles

In the first teaser trailer for “Jurassic World Rebirth,” Scarlett Johansson’s Zora Bennett explains that, “This island was the research facility for the original Jurassic Park.” While the movie itself doesn’t dive into the full history of the island, we do learn some key things about its history and how it factors into the larger “Jurassic” timeline. In short, it was a key location for both Hammond’s original park and Jurassic World.

The movie’s opening scene flashes back 17 years, showing us an incident that occurred on Ile Saint-Hubert while Jurassic World was up and running. The geneticists were working on various hybrid dinosaurs that could help keep the park more interesting, which eventually brought us the Indominus Rex. However, they first created the mutant Distortus Rex, aka the D-rex, which breaks containment thanks to, of all things, a Snickers wrapper. A scientist is eaten. Things go haywire.

From that point on, the facility was apparently abandoned, but many of the dinosaurs that were created there managed to live on, unbothered by humanity and left to fend for themselves. As the movie explains, many of the dinosaurs that had been roaming the planet since the end of “Dominion” were dying off, as the Earth isn’t hospitable to them. The ones who remain can only sustainably exist near the Equator.

Ile Saint-Hubert is an important location in Jurassic Park history

The D-rex getting ready to eat the scientist in the opening scene of Jurassic World Rebirth

Universal Pictures

Unlike Isla Nublar or Isla Sorna, aka Site B as featured in “The Lost World” and “Jurassic Park III,” which were located near Costa Rica, Ile Saint-Hubert is located in the Caribbean near Barbados. It is situated near the Equator, meaning that the dinosaurs there have been able to exist comfortably. Unlike the dinosaurs of Isla Nublar, who were either removed from the island or died on it during the volcanic eruption that wiped it off the map in “Fallen Kingdom,” this island has been left largely untouched for nearly two decades.

Again, the movie leaves a lot of the island’s history up in the air, but the implication is that this is the island where InGen cracked the code on recreating dinosaurs to make Hammond’s wild theme park a reality. After the events of “The Lost World,” Simon Masrani and Masrani Global purchased InGen in 1998 and began hatching plans to open Jurassic World. The park eventually opened in 2005. Masrani repurposed the island to conduct further experiments for the park. Most notably, hybrid dinosaurs.

Aside from the D-rex, the scientists on the island also crafted the Mutadons, which feature prominently in the third act of “Rebirth” and were created using a mix of Velociraptor and Pterosaur DNA. These animals never made it to the park because they were “too dangerous.” As were many of the other dinosaurs that Masrani and InGen left behind after the D-rex incident.

It’s important to point out that all of the dinosaurs we see in “Rebirth” are new in some way. This island has never been explored in any of the previous “Jurassic” movies, so even though we’d seen some of these same species of dinosaurs we’d seen previously, the specific ones we’re seeing on screen are new. We’ve seen T-rexes before, but even this is a different T-rex. Even the Spinosaurus we see is different from the one we met in “Jurassic Park III.” This is sort of like the island of misfit dinosaurs.

Could the franchise return to Ile Saint-Hubert in the future?

A left behind Mutadon in its chamber in the lab in Jurassic World Rebirth

Universal Pictures

The movie ends with the majority of the survivors getting off the island, save for Krebs (Rupert Friend). Unlike 2015’s “Jurassic World,” though, which clearly set up a potential trilogy, this was more of a standalone adventure with no major loose threads to tie up. It’s a close cousin to “Jurassic Park III” in that way.

That begs the question: could Ile Saint-Hubert return in the future? As it stands, Universal hasn’t announced any plans for another sequel, though “Rebirth” does seem poised to do pretty well at the box office. As is always the case in Hollywood, if something is successful, a sequel will probably follow. Whether or not that’s a more direct sequel to this movie or another adventure with more new characters remains to be seen. Edwards did leave things pretty open-ended and didn’t box the studio into any specific story that needs telling.

There’s also the matter of the animated shows like “Jurassic World: Chaos Theory” on Netflix. Who knows? Maybe those characters will make their way to Ile Saint-Hubert somehow. Maybe the next movie will finally bring us back to Site B after all these years, as that’s largely been unexplored since “JP3.” There are options for the future, but the mere existence of this new island suggests that there is more to explore, should Universal decide that’s the right thing to do. 

Even if the future of the franchise isn’t centered on Ile Saint-Hubert, its most significant contribution to the franchise was bringing something new to the table that could open the door for more down the line, be that a further explanation of this island or somewhere else entirely. 

“Jurassic World Rebirth” is in theaters now.

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-02 20:00:00

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-02 20:00:00

by | Jul 2, 2025 | TV & Beyond Articles

the excellent “Astroworld” documentary is a heartbreaking deep dive into how a fun, exciting moment can turn deadly in an instant. Suffice it to say, the Rob Ford doc is significantly more salacious.

Now, there’s a brand new “Trainwreck” on Netflix, and it’s definitely the grossest one yet. In fact, it might be one of the grossest documentaries available to stream in general. It all depends on how you deal with scatological stories, because this one’s got the scoop on a whole lot of poop (literally).

According to FlixPatrol, Netflix’s top 10 movies in the U.S. is currently home to “Trainwreck: Poop Cruise.” The doc tells the true story of the Carnival Triumph, a cruise ship that suffered an engine fire while in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, causing the vessel to stop completely dead in the water. It also caused major electrical and plumbing issues onboard, which led to the ship’s toilets overflowing into the hallways with raw sewage. (Hence, “poop cruise.”) Of course, as fun as it might be to say “poop cruise,” and as humorous as it is in theory and retrospect, the actual ordeal was a harrowing nightmare, and the Netflix doc has all of the gritty, gross details.

Trainwreck: Poop Cruise is as entertaining as it is disgusting

Abhi the chef in Trainwreck: Poop Cruise

Netflix

The thing that makes most of these “Trainwreck” documentaries so compelling are the interviews with various ordinary people who were involved in these extraordinary situations, and “Poop Cruise” is no different. While it’s one thing to see video of the sewage spilling into the halls, the firsthand accounts of events hit harder because it’s easy to empathize with people’s incredulity and shock. While it’s a far cry from the depressing horrors of something like “The Last Cruise” (the documentary about the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was quarantined at sea during the early days of the Covid pandemic), “Poop Cruise” still has enough nastiness to convince some audiences to never set foot on a cruise ship. (I, for one, will never board one unless the ship’s doctor is named Odyssey, thanks.) Both the vacationers and crew were nervous about being trapped at sea in increasingly uncomfortable conditions, trying to combat boredom as well as the ship becoming one big bathroom. When someone in charge decided that the solution was to start serving alcohol for free to try and calm the guests, things got even more out of hand, with some guests even flinging bags of poop overboard only to have them fly back to the ship and land on one of the lower decks.

Perhaps none of the interviewees in “Poop Cruise” stand out more than Abhi, a chef who describes everything very colorfully, his general tone more bemused than anything else. He seems like a really easy-going, friendly man, and when he describes seeing something he describes as a “poop lasagna,” it’s easily both the doc’s grossest and funniest moment. Is “Trainwreck: Poop Cruise” going to really teach you anything or change the world? Absolutely not, but it is an interesting way to spend an hour… as long as you have the stomach for it.

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-02 19:00:00

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-02 19:00:00

by | Jul 2, 2025 | TV & Beyond Articles

“Dominion,” which left dinosaurs running loose with humans all over the world. However, the planet’s ecology has proven largely inhospitable to dinosaurs, with many dying off. The remaining dinos mostly live in isolated environments near the equator, which have climates resembling the one they once lived in.

Writer David Koepp has said that he saw “Jurassic World Rebirth” as a chance to start over. Koepp, who also wrote the script for the original “Jurassic Park,” decided it would be easier to once again isolate the dinosaurs in places largely removed from humanity rather than try to contend with a world in which these species separated by tens of millions of years would have to find a way to co-exist.

The first act of “Rebirth” does deal with some of what the world looks like with dinosaurs in it, causing traffic jams and whatnot, but by and large, one of this movie’s biggest contributions to the franchise’s future is undoing what director Colin Trevorrow accomplished with “Dominion,” in some ways. Much changed in the five-year gap between these films.

Welcome to the Neo-Jurassic Era

The Titanosaurus in the fields in Jurassic World Rebirth

Universal Pictures

The previous “Jurassic World” trilogy, particularly “Fallen Kingdom” and “Dominion,” did a lot of work to get dinosaurs off of Isla Nublar and out into the real world, so much so that “Fallen Kingdom” literally blew up Isla Nublar and brought the dinosaurs elsewhere, teeing up the events of “Dominion.” But Edwards and Koepp opted to try and scale things back once again by isolating dinosaurs to islands where humans can conveniently avoid them.

Another big thing that this “Rebirth” does is actually explain, within the universe that these films exist in, how humans have defined this strange period of modern history when dinosaurs once again exist after going extinct roughly 65 million years ago, thanks to John Hammond and the geneticists at InGen. Early on in the film when Scarlett Johansson’s Zora Bennett goes to recruit Jonathan Bailey’s Dr. Henry Loomis, some animated documentary footage at his museum reveals that this era is known as the “Neo-Jurassic Era.” 

Basically, dating back to roughly the early ’90s when Hammond first brought dinosaurs back to life, historians and scientists had to come up with a way to describe this period, which represented a seismic shift. For a time, it was chaotic, from a T-rex rampaging through the streets of San Diego at the end of “The Lost World” to the deadly events that forced Jurassic World to close. But that chaos is being reined in quite a bit as this film’s events are unfolding.

Jurassic World Rebirth isolates humans and dinosaurs once again

The Mosasaurus popping out of the water near the boat in Jurassic World Rebirth

Universal Pictures

Most crucially, Edwards’ film once again establishes a situation where humans can, for the most part, avoid dealing with dinosaurs. There are no active dinosaur theme parks. The public has largely lost interest in dinosaurs, as they’ve been alive again for more than three decades. It’s old news. While the short film “Battle at Big Rock” offered a promising, cool vision of this franchise where we get a first-person view of the chaos that results from dinosaurs existing where humans live their day-to-day lives, that’s not something that Universal and/or the filmmakers were interested in exploring here, for better or worse.

Whatever one’s thoughts are on “Rebirth” as a whole, the decision to scale things back in this way does raise the question once again of what the whole point of “Jurassic World Dominion” was. Trevorrow went out of his way to help set up this “dinosaurs and humans coexisting” concept, which Universal supported (in no small part because the first “Jurassic World” was one of the biggest movies ever). It does feel a little odd for them to just walk that all back now. At the same time, “Dominion” focused largely on giant locusts as opposed to dinosaurs attacking cities. So if they weren’t ever going to fully commit to that idea, even in a movie where it ostensibly should have been a big part of the plot, maybe pulling things back makes some sense.

Whatever the case, this film largely exists as a standalone story. The future of the franchise is uncertain, as no direct sequel is set up. There are no post-credits scenes to speak of. If there is an eighth “Jurassic” movie — and there likely will be — barring a reboot, the next filmmaker will once again have to find a good reason for humans to head to a place where these dangerous animals live.

“Jurassic World Rebirth” is in theaters now.