Baldywood: Is "Jurassic World: Rebirth" a total waste of time or just a normal waste of time? // "What Should I Stream Tonight?" // "Reddit? Did It!" // Actor Redundancy of the Week // Reader feedback

"Remember, his taste sucks..."

Jul 04, 2025

Hello! Happy 4th of July! And welcome to the Baldywood Newsletter. “F1” easily topped last weekend’s box office with a $140 million domestic take, but “Jurassic World: Rebirth” is expected to match that over the 5-day July 4th holiday weekend, Relative quality of the films aside, it’s good to see people going to theaters!

On to this week’s newsletter…

In this edition:

A review of “Jurassic World: Rebirth”
“What should I stream tonight?”
“Reddit? Did it!”
Actor Redundancy of the Week
Reader feedback

Let’s get started!

“Jurassic World: Rebirth”

“Jurassic World: Rebirth” is not a great movie; its score on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes is just 53%, meaning that just 53% of professional movie critics gave it a positive review. That said, it delivers exactly what it promises: Giant CGI dinosaurs attacking and eating people, albeit in a flawed film.

Scarlett Johansson leads the cast as they illegally venture into a restricted area to try to extract some dino DNA, blah blah blah. Honestly, who cares about the plot? Certainly not the filmmakers! (hi-yo!)

It’s all setup for dinos vs humans, and on that level, it delivers. It’s painfully long (2 hours and 15 minutes) but my 8 year old daughter - who is admittedly a fan of the series - was able to sit and enjoy the whole thing. I, on the other hand, found myself with plenty of time to ponder things like: “Man, Jurassic Park must be a nightmare for OSHA.”

“What should I stream tonight?”

I’m glad you asked!

I want a crazy, darkly hilarious foreign film: “Wild Tales”

Every year, I try to see every movie that’s nominated for an Oscar. Some years are harder than others, but I generally see 90%+ of the nominated movies. My favorite parts are the Documentary and Foreign Film categories, since I’ve often seen (or even heard of) none of the nominees. Occasionally, the category yields a really great, memorable film, and in the case of “Wild Tales,” a film that became one of my all-time favorites.

“Wild Tales” is a 2014 Argentinian film that, yes, was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at that year’s Academy Awards. In one of the all-time great Oscar injustices, it lost to “Ida,” a fine film, but nowhere near the sublime masterpiece that is “Wild Tales.” It’s an anthology film, told in six short stories that are billed as “Six tales of revenge.” The stories are, at various points, dark, absurd, violent, twisted, and hilarious.

Look, I understand that “Wild Tales” may seem like an uphill battle: It’s a long (2 hours) Spanish-language film with no stars you’ve likely ever heard of. But please, please give it a chance; nobody I’ve ever recommended “Wild Tales” to has disliked it.

“Wild Tales” is available to rent on Amazon Prime.

I want a delightful take on an age-old premise: “Hunt for the Wilderpeople”

“The troubled kid and the cranky old timer” is a tried-and-true premise; “Gran Torino,” “The Bad News Bears” and “On Golden Pond” are great examples. In “Hunt for the Wilderpeople,” Sam Neill (“Jurassic Park”) is the cranky old timer, and Julian Dennison (“Deadpool 2”) is the troubled kid. The unlikely pair is forced to team up after inadvertently becoming the subjects of a manhunt in the New Zealand bush.

Directed by Taika Waititi (“Thor: Ragnarok" and “Jojo Rabbit”), “Hunt for the Wilderpeople” is fun, playful and jaunty romp. The movie lives and dies on the chemistry of the two leads, and it finds a great balance between contempt and affection.

“Hunt for the Wilderpeople” is rated PG-13, but mostly for some cheeky New Zealand-style language. I would have no problem showing it to my own 8-year old daughter, for reference. It’s not a “kids movie,” per se, but rather the perfect kind of movie that can be enjoyed by kids and adults alike.

“Hunt for the Wilderpeople” is available to rent on Amazon Prime.

I want a documentary about filmmaking that feels like a cautionary tale: “Overnight”

“Overnight” is about the spectacular rise (and fall) of Troy Duffy, a bartender who was plucked out of obscurity by Harvey Weinstein, the then-head of Miramax Films. Miramax made headlines by buying a screenplay from Duffy - a total unknown out of Boston - titled “The Boondock Saints.” To top off the deal, Miramax bought Duffy’s bar and hired his band to record the soundtrack. It sounded too good to be true.

Of course, it kind of was. Duffy turned out to be an insufferable lout, and burned bridges as quickly as they were built. What appeared obvious to everyone seemed to escape Duffy: This was a total PR move, a deal designed to grab headlines and get discussed on morning shows. His boorish behavior and general unpleasantness eventually wore thin, and the deal was slowly dismantled.

“Overnight” is morbidly fascinating; It’s like watching a child unknowingly tear apart the toy he just got for Christmas. A lot can be learned from this story of Troy Duffy, similar to how a lot can be learned from getting hit by a car after not looking both ways when crossing the street. It’s riveting, funny, awkward and hard to forget.

“Overnight” is available to rent on Amazon Prime.

“Reddit? Did it!”

I love to browse movie forums on Reddit. Recently, a topic was posted to r/MovieCritic that asked, “What’s the best sacrifice in a movie?” Great topic! So great, in fact, that we did it twice (sort of) on my podcast The Film Vault in 2017, in two episodes titled “Top 5 Selfless Heroic Acts of Sacrifice” and “Top 5 Sacrifices.” My lists:

Top 5 Sacrifices (of others):

1. The Mist (2007)

2. Fight Club (1999)

3. Interview with the Vampire (1994)

4. Major League (1989)

5. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

Top 5 Selfless Heroic Acts of (Self) Sacrifice:

1. Inside Out - Bing Bong (2015)

2. The Hunger Games (2012)

3. I Am Legend (2007)

4. The Iron Giant (1999)

5. Terminator 2 - Miles Dyson & T-800 (1992)

What’s YOUR favorite movie sacrifice?

Actor Redundancy of the Week:

Actor redundancies were first brought to my attention by my former co-worker and all-around swell fella Dave Dameshek, who delighted whenever an actor does the same oddly-specific thing in two separate, non-related movies. Such as…

Steve Buscemi is choked from behind by a stranger with a foreign object in two movies: “Fargo” (a belt) and “Ghost World” (nun chucks)

Reader feedback

Did you know that “feedback” is the only (normal) word in the English language that contains the first six letters of the alphabet (a, b, c, d, e and f)? Now that you know, let’s see what the readers have to say!

Reader Mike M. commented on last week’s list of Top 5 Dance Scenes in Non-Musicals:

“Come on, man!! Pulp Fiction has to be number 1 on this list!”

Good call, Mike! “Pulp Fiction” is one of my all-time favorite movies, and while it may nit have made my top 5, it certainly should have at least been an also-ran. Good catch!

Hooray for Baldywood!

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