JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM (Rated PG-13)

Three years ago the theme park and luxury resort that was “Jurassic World” on Isla Nublar was destroyed by dinosaurs out of containment.

“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” brings the main players back to the island that now resembles a post-apocalyptic vision.

The “Jurassic World” sequel explores the motivations of various players, some for good but others for shady reasons, who return to the abandoned island off the coast of Costa Rica when the dormant volcano threatens to blow everything to bits.

Only briefly, Jeff Goldblum returns as Dr. Malcolm, warning Congress that Mother Nature charts her own course and saving prehistoric beasts from extinction may not be wise. The thought of “I told you so” may come to mind later, probably even more so in an inevitable sequel.

Meanwhile, former park manager Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) travels to an isolated forested area where the reclusive raptor-whisperer Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) is building his own cabin overlooking a scenic vista.

Having evolved into an animal-rights activist fixed on the previously extinct variety, Claire is very much aware that the prehistoric creatures need to be relocated to a new sanctuary, for which the details seem to be a little hazy.

Once romantically-linked to the Indiana Jones-type explorer, Claire now appeals to Owen’s deep connection to the velociraptor named Blue that he had nurtured from a hatchling and trained to show empathy to match its innate intelligence.

The former partner of the now-deceased John Hammond, the eccentric dying tycoon Benedict Lockwood (James Cromwell), runs his empire out of a creepy, gothic mansion, which has a massive subterranean lab and holding cells being used by corrupt geneticist Dr. Henry Wu (BD Wong).

Lockwood’s precocious 10-year-old granddaughter Maisie (Isabella Sermon), lives at the estate under the care of her nanny, Iris (Geraldine Chaplin). She becomes a pivotal character in learning bad things are happening that her incapacitated grandfather would not approve.

The right-hand man in charge of Lockwood’s affairs, Eli Mills (Rafe Spall) recruits Claire and Owen to corral the dinosaurs and assorted beasts in an expedition to transport them to a private reserve. Like many others, Mills probably has a scheme up his sleeve.

The operation itself requires a lot of resources and manpower, which end up being overseen by ruthless mercenary Ken Wheatley (Ted Levine) using trigger-happy goons to fulfill his own secret agenda.

Besides Claire and Owen, the only decent folks on the rescue effort are offbeat veterinarian Dr. Zia Rodriguez (Daniella Pineda) and hacker Franklin Webb (Justice Smith), a tech nerd nervously uncomfortable with the multiple dangers lurking in the jungle.

Having been lead astray by the malignant desires of Lockwood’s people, the group of four plucky heroes take on the herculean task of trying to thwart the venal Wheatley’s greedy schemes to cash in on a huge payday.

There’s plenty of great action on the island, from Owen desperately rescuing Claire and Franklin from a gyroscope sinking into the ocean to dodging fast-moving lava to the perils of interactions with the dinosaurs. It’s the formula that has worked before.

Added twists come in the form of double-crosses and the revelations of sinister motivations that infect everybody except the intrepid heroes and the smart little girl fending mostly for herself at the Lockwood estate.

Working out of the cavernous basement of the Lockwood gothic mansion, Dr. Wu, the mad scientist, has gone rogue with his unholy tampering with dinosaur DNA to create the genetically monstrosity known as the Indoraptor.

This creature is deadly not only because of its size but also due intelligence, speed and ability to follow orders when properly inclined. Dr. Wu has created the perfect weapon and the Lockwood’s underground lair is turned into an auction house for nefarious buyers.

The astute moviegoer should know that in a movie like this the best laid plans of malevolent schemers could easily go awry when the gutsy band of heroes assisted by Maisie throw a wrench into the works.

Does this “Jurassic World” have a message? If it does, everyone would pay heed to Dr. Malcolm’s admonitions. The takeaway is that you don’t fool with nature, but even a grade-schooler would likely know that.

If not for those on a dangerous undertaking, the lava oozing all over Isla Nublar would have lead to the extinction of a species that died out millions of years ago for a reason. But then you’d have a short film with dinosaurs bursting into flames.

The guilty pleasure of “Jurassic World” is seeing a bunch of bad people getting the poetic, if not brutal and savage, justice of learning the hard way not to mess with altering vicious beasts for their own self-serving exploitation.

Despite it all, the draw of “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” is seeing the dynamic action of beasts rampaging through the island with lava at their backs, posing threats to humans and busting loose from cages in a vicious stampede. In that regard, this could be the payoff.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The next Lake County Fire Benefit will take place from 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday, July 8, at the Soper Reese Theatre, 275 S. Main St., Lakeport.

Headliner for the event is Johnny Rawls, an award-winning soul blues singer, songwriter and guitarist from Mississippi who tours year round.

His roots are solidly planted in soul and blues traditions built on his associations with Joe Tex, Little Johnny Taylor, O.V. Wright, Little Milton, Bobby Bland and B.B. King.

In recent years, Elvin Bishop, Kenny Neal, Marcia Ball, Wee Willie Walker and Nancy Wright have teamed up with Rawls at music festivals and the highly popular Blues Cruises.

Joining Rawls for the July 8 concert are three top-level blues musicians from Northern California: Matt Silva on guitar, Donny Mederos on bass and Rasheed on drums.

Proceeds will go to Hope City to purchase supplies to rebuild homes lost in Lake County fires. Hope City is the local project of the disaster relief agency Hope Crisis Response Network. More information is available at www.hcrn.info .

Locally made wine has been donated by Don Angel Cellars, Kaz Winery and Mt. Konocti Wines. Beer offerings include a pale ale donated by O'Meara Brothers or Coors Light. Soda, water and snacks will be available for purchase as well.

Bring your extra cash for the silent auction and raffle! Auction items include jewelry, a soap basket, picnic backpack, wine, gift certificates and a wine tasting.

The raffle prize is four table seats, with wine and treats, to the next Lake County Fire Benefit at the Soper Reese Theatre on Saturday, Sept. 15 with The Funky Godfather, a 10-piece band that plays James Brown hits. Proceeds from the raffle will go to the NCO Pawnee Fire Fund.

All seats are reserved and dancing is welcome.

Tickets cost $30 for table seats, $20 for center loge, $15 for the side loge. To purchase tickets online visit www.soperreesetheatre.com; in person from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at The Travel Center, 1265 S. Main St., Lakeport; or by phone at 707-263-3095.

Tickets will also be available at the Soper Reese Theatre box office starting at 2 p.m. before the concert on Sunday.

This is the 11th fire benefit concert produced by Spotlight On Productions in partnership with The Time Bank of Thrive Lake County. Event updates are on Facebook: Lake County Fire Recovery Benefits. For questions call 707-278-7126.

Evolutionary Blues... West Oakland's Music Legacy Trailer from KTOP TV-10 on Vimeo.

LOWER LAKE, Calif. – Join Lake County Community Radio for the only Lake County screening of the powerful film documentary, “Evolutionary Blues: West Oakland’s Music Legacy.”

The film will be shown only on Friday, July 13, at 5:30 p.m., in the Lower Lake Schoolhouse Museum, 16435 Main St.

The film is based on evidence revealed in the book, “The Warmth of Other Suns” by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Isabel Wilkerson.

The great migration of six million black Americans from the Jim Crow South to the urban centers of the West Coast, Midwest and East Coast oversaw disparate, yet similar musical trends that followed the inhabitants to their destinations.

This film traces the development of the West Coast Blues; specifically, the blues that evolved on postwar Seventh Street in Oakland.

The cast includes over 30 people including Bay Area musicians Alabama Mike, D’wayne Wiggins, The Dynamic Miss Faye Carol, Freddie Hughes, Fantastic Negrito, John Turk, Wylie Trass, Lenny Williams, Lady Bianca, Marvin Holmes, Ricky Vincent, Bob Geddins, Jr., Sugar Pie DeSanto and author Isabel Wilkerson.

The soundtrack includes music from Big Mama Thornton, Fantastic Negrito, Sugar Pie DeSanto, L.C. “Good Rockin’” Robinson, Lowell Fulson, Jimmy McCracklin, T-Bone Walker, Johnny Talbot & De Thangs, Omar Sharriff, Marvin Holmes, Sonny Rhodes and Jimmy Reed.

The film also sports stunning archival still and video footage from public and private sources.

Immediately following the screening will be a Q & A featuring the film’s Director, Cheryl Fabio, and writer, T. Watts. Refreshments will be served.

This event is a benefit for KPFZ, Lake County Community Radio. Tickets are $12.50 for KPFZ members and $15 for non-members. They can be purchased at Watershed Books, 305 N. Main Street in Lakeport, or the studios of KPFZ 149 N. Main Street in Lakeport.

For more information, call 707-365-5503 or 707-995-3565.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – If you’re a Francophile and even if you’re not (but you love parties), the Soper Reese Theatre invites you to a Bastille Fête on Sunday, July 15, at 3 p.m. to celebrate France’s national holiday, Bastille Day.

This afternoon of French-themed fun includes live music, dancing, surprise guests, food á la française, wine and song.

Wear your favorite French outfit, bring your worst French accent and get ready for a rousing sing-along of the French national anthem.

Lake County's own minstrel group, My Divas, will open the day's activities.

Headliner the French Oak Gypsy Band gives a fresh spin on French and American Swing Era classics with a repertoire from French Chanson, Gypsy Jazz, Dixieland Jazz.

North Bay vocalist Stella Heath and French/American guitar player Gabriel Pirard lead this group of gypsies in their undeniably fun performances. Reed player James Inciardi rounds out the group.

With their French-inspired sound, spotlighting Heath’s magnetic vocals and the band’s tight rhythms they'll transport you straight into the bygone era of swing.

Tickets are now on sale for $25, $20 and $15. All seats are reserved. The dance floor will be open and dancing is encouraged, mais oui!

Tickets can be purchased online at www.soperreesetheatre.com or at The Travel Center, 1265 S. Main St., Lakeport, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The theatre is located at 275 S. Main St., Lakeport, telephone 707-263-0577.

John Foy is a poet living in New York whose book, Night Vision, published by St. Augustine's Press, was the winner of The New Criterion Poetry Prize.

I especially like this leisurely, conversational account of a walk in the woods that just at the end lifts its eyes and looks into a deeper place beyond the particulars.

Woods

I took the dog and went to walk
in the auditorium of the woods,
but not to get away from things.
It was our habit, that was all,
a thing we did on summer days,
and much there was to listen to.
A slight wind came and went
in three birches by the pond.
A crow uphill was going on
about the black life it led,
and a brown creeper went creeping up
a brown trunk methodically
with no record of ever having
been understood by anyone.
A woodpecker was working out
a deep hole from the sound of it
in a stand of dead trees up there.
And then a jay, much put upon,
complained about some treachery
it may or may not have endured,
though most are liars anyway.
The farther in, the quieter,
till only the snapping of a stick
broke the silence we were in.
The dog stood still and looked at me,
the woods by then already dark.
Much later, on the porch at night,
I heard the owl, an eldritch thing.
The dog, still with me, heard it too,
a call that came from where we'd been,
and where we would not be again.


American Life in Poetry does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. It is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2016 by John Foy, "Woods," from Night Vision, (St. Augustine's Press, 2016). Poem reprinted by permission of John Foy and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2018 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.

INCREDIBLES 2 (Rated PG)

One must reach into the memory bank, as well as bring along a new whole generation of younger viewers, to appreciate the fresh appeal that still resides with Pixar’s gift to creative animation in the original “The Incredibles.”

Fourteen years have passed since writer-director Brad Bird delivered an animated film that was energetic and ingenious, with plenty of heart and good humor, and one must assume that he took great care and meticulous devotion to produce a worthy sequel with “Incredibles 2.”

Most of the primary voice actors have returned with Craig T. Nelson as the patriarch of the Incredible family, Bob or his alter-ego Mr. Incredible, and Holly Hunter as his wife, Helen aka Elastigirl, and Sarah Vowell as teen daughter Violet.

The modern world has banished all superheroes into retirement due to the collateral damage that often followed their heroics. The Incredibles chafe at these limits, feeling discarded from society, until a new villain, the Underminer (John Ratzenberger), surfaces.

Though Mr. Incredible, with the physique of a competitor for Mr. Universe, wants to be the center of attention in the superhero world, the sequel belongs to his spouse, Elastigirl, who is called upon to use her powers as she has a less destructive method.

The superheroes, referred to as Supers, have fallen into disfavor with the public. Tech wizard Winston Deavor (Bob Odenkirk) and his sister Evelyn (Catherine Keener) seek to restore the public image of the Supers and enlist the help of Elastigirl to serve as the ambassador.

The Incredible family and all other superheroes have been declared illegal and are eager to get back into action. Meanwhile, the Incredibles are living like fugitives in the low-rent Safari Court motel until Elastigirl proves their worth to society.

After dispatching the Underminer’s destructive plan to level Municiberg with a giant boring machine contraption, Elastigirl heroically uses her flexible powers to stop an insidious plot to derail a brand new high-speed monorail train filled with dignitaries.

The evil force behind a plot to cause panic and turn Municiberg into a dystopian urban wasteland is Screenslaver (Bill Wise), a high-tech super-villain who manages to hypnotize his victims to bend to his will, acting as pawns to thwart Elastigirl’s mission.

For now, the Incredible family goes about new routines while Elastigirl is engaged once again as a Super. Mr. Incredible becomes Mr. Mom, struggling to keep up with baby Jack-Jack who is showing signs of unbelievable superpowers usually manifested during tantrums.

Jack-Jack has abnormal powers for a toddler, including becoming a demon baby with the ability to burst into flames, turn invisible, break through walls and windows, and levitate. Best of all, his power includes shooting burning lasers from his eyes.

Violet, mastering the power of invisibility and creating force fields, is an introverted and bright 14-year-old who is socially awkward but sarcastic and has a crush on classmate Tony (Michael Bird) that is complicated by his inability to remember who she is.

The Incredible middle-son is Dash (Huck Milner), a mischievous sort modeled it would seem on Bart Simpson, who desperately wants to be part of the action. He has the remarkable power of super speed and is dismayed that he has to keep his ability a secret.

Screenslaver turns out to be an exceptional villain in his use of computer screens and special goggles, once affixed to a person’s face, that transform his victims into hypnotized pawns for his evil plans.

An old friend of the Incredibles is a fellow Super named Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson), who falls prey like all the others to Screenslaver’s master plan after being turned into his unwitting accomplice.

An epic battle takes place on a cruise ship where officials from around the world are gathered to formalize a treaty that would restore the Supers as guardians of the public order. Screenslaver will have none of that.

The climactic confrontation brings the entire Incredible family into a serious showdown on the ship, where they are called upon to save the day once again. Even the precocious Jack-Jack gets to use his powers along with his siblings.

As with most sequels, “Incredibles 2” creates a sense of déjà vu of what transpired the first time, mainly because it picks up where “The Incredibles” left off. The riveting action, including a daring helicopter rescue, makes for a good time for family entertainment.

Whatever might be said about this sequel, “Incredibles 2” is likely to be one of the summer’s big hits and for good reason.
Chinese Animated Short “Bao”

Viewers of “Incredibles 2” should be treated to the offbeat Chinese short animated film “Bao.” An aging Chinese mom suffering from empty nest syndrome gets another chance at motherhood when one of her dumplings springs to life as lively dumpling boy.

The dumpling grows up fast and becomes a teenager with the typical desires. It’s a weird short that a friend thought was the mother’s hallucination. That may be the best explanation for what unfolds, but it’s interesting nonetheless.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.