The 25 Baubles of Pop Culture! Advent 2022 Day 11

Though dinosaurs pre-dated Christ, that doesn't mean that they don't enjoy the holidays either. Here's a look at some Christmas ornaments inspired by the 1993 Steven Spielberg classic and the film franchise it spawned.

To start, we go with the king of the thunder lizards- the T-Rex. This 2019 magic ornament from Hallmark recreates the closing battle of the first film. Just when the heroes of that movie thought that they were going to become raptor food, the T-Rex swooped in and saved the day. As the dinosaur claimed victory, a banner fluttered down proclaiming 'When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth.' With this ornament, one only has to press a button playing the beautiful John Williams theme.

Next one I want to share is this 2021 Hallmark ornament. Thanks to the nostalgia of VHS tapes, Hallmark has been releasing a number of trinkets based on the cassettes. Since watching the film at home on my VCR was how I first experienced the movie, I wanted to share my memories of the classic with this decoration that could be bought at any local Wal-
Mart or Target store. 

From the DIY department, those of you wanting to make your own Jurassic Park ornament, all you need is a tiny Christmas tree, some hot glue, a ribbon or hook and a matchbox car. See, what you do is take one of the many different types of vehicles based on the film series (in this case, a Jeep), hot glue a tiny tree, found at any craft store, to the top or back of the car and it looks like the staff on Isla Nublar are getting ready for the holidays!

Want to personalize your Jurassic Park ornaments? Try this colorful ceramic ornament found on Etsy. There's a lot of great handmade baubles on Etsy but I think this one is my favorite. With that recognizable font and sleek design of a T-Rex skull surrounded by a brightly light wreath, I felt that if Jurassic Park was a real place, these would be the ornaments that they'd sell in the gift shop. I can just see a spinner rack full of names from A-Z selling these. 

Before I close this look at Jurassic Park, I want to help those of you who are fans of Jeff Goldblum. If you can't get enough of Dr. Ian Malcolm, have I found an ornament for you!!! It's a framed needlepoint ornament of Goldblum in his semi-shirtless pose that has become a meme until itself along with one of the character's most famous quotes- 'Life finds a way.'

Independence Day: Resurgence

It took 20 years for Roland Emmerich to make a sequel to Independence Day. I'm wondering if he should have waited about 20 more.

   Independence Day: Resurgence takes place 20 years to the day that the 1996 sci-fi thriller covered when it first hit theatres. In the present day, the world has had unmitigated peace and jumped light years ahead technologically speaking. Almost all of the damage done by the giant invader ships has been rebuilt and earth has colonized outposts on the moon and Saturn in anticipation of another wave of attacks.

   But all is not well after the earthling victory in the battle of 1996. Those who were captured by the aliens and subjected to their mind probes suffer from PTSD. These attacks are getting worse as a mysterious probe suddenly appears via a wormhole over the moon base. Is this a signal of new aggression from the invaders or has a new more deadlier player arrived on the scene?

 Resurgence takes the idea of alien encounters giving humanity a technological boost and then assumes the audience is pretty dumb. I refuse to believe that humanity could jump so far ahead considering the considerable damage caused in the first film. It took over 13 years for the Freedom Tower to be built atop Ground Zero and that was just one building.There is no way on earth that all of Washington DC could be replaced in less than 2 decades time!

  Speaking of 9/11, it subtly plays a role in this film. Remember when President Obama informed the world that Bin Laden had been killed? Thousands of millennials celebrated the death of an enemy that had been on everyone's minds for so long. Well, the children who survived the first Independence Day attacks have grown up to become soldiers and political players, so when they meet with Jeff Goldblum’s character David Levinson, there's quite a bit of hero worship.

   Yet those born after 1996 kinda think that the alien invasion might have been a hoax or not such a big deal. In other words, the theme of this film is about passing the torch and not forgetting the lessons we learned from history's mistakes. Of course, earth makes the same mistakes as in the first film when a bigger alien ship arrives seeking to drain our planet's core in order to fuel their ships.

    Thankfully I didn't feel like I had seen all of this movie before. But recently director Roland Emmerich has been complaining that the DC films Man of Steel and Batman V. Superman stole many of his 1996 film’s idea. I found this kinda funny as much of the disaster scenes in Resurgence seemed taken from last year's San Andreas, especially the tidal wave scene.

  Lots of destruction occurs in this film. Honestly I think that with this bigger ship actually landing on earth, it would be too heavy for our planet and alter earth's orbit. So be ready to throw your suspension of disbelief aside for about 2 hours.

   The best parts of this film involves those few of the original cast to return. The second generation newcomers of Liam Helmsworth as fighter pilot Jake and his cronies just didn't interest me at all. Plus much of their fates were telegraphed early in the film, so I really didn't care if they lived or died- I knew within the first half hour! It also doesn't help much that Yahoo! put an article up Thursday about who is coming back for part 3!

  Yes, the film ends with a promise of more extraterrestrial mayhem. But with Resurgence being declared a flop, that might not happen now. When the first film came out, I was 18 and I was clamoring for a sequel. I had read over the years what the sequel would be like and Resurgence stayed true to that vision. But I think as I got older my imagination became a reality with the horrors of 9/11, jading me of how much of a utopia humanity has created in this sequel.

  It's not a bad movie but for an alien invasion picture, it's just way too unrealistic.

  Worth Consuming.

 Rating:7 out of 10 stars.