u/Feeling-Influence691

Points I liked

- the film not holding back as to what would happen if a neighbourhood got swapped out into the Jurassic period. The carnage and brutal dinosaur on human violence and the sight of human and animal bodies including cats was surprising to see considering it is a PG-13 or a 12a. This film got away with a lot and didn’t pull any punches.

- some decent dinosaur animation and behaviour. I wish the film or the promos actually named the species for us Dino autists out there so we can name and identify the dinosaurs and reptiles.

- bravo to the film for actually showing what would happen if a human with a sledgehammer tried to throw hands with a motivated theropod dinosaur. - and yes, I did make a meme about the allosaurus easily being able to catch up to humans running full speed, but it was injured in the leg and conveniently was blocked by trees and distracted by Ewan and Anne Hathaway before it could actually catch the kids.

- good convincing acting. I mean all the cast had to do was act terrified when running for their lives so they got that part down pat.

Points I did not like.

- the CG could have looked better. Some prosthetics would not have hurt for the close ups shots. I miss the Stan Winston days where people actually cared for prosthetics and animatronics in monster films instead of relying all on cgi.

- the film does try to be sentimental and wholesome but that is undercut by the brutality and grimmer aspects, like the boy nearly getting killed by the neighbourhood bully who was venting misplaced hatred because he and his little brother had lost their mother. A lighter toned film would have maybe had the kid being cornered by the bully and his goons only for the brother to show up and de-escalate the tension by reminding them there are bigger things at stake. The boy would have then apologised to the broken armed kid and his brother. He and his friends and the older kids could have formed a loser esque gang with bikes to serve as a kind of scouting group, and that would have given a kind of ET element to the film with a group of kids armed with nothing but bikes and luck in a neighbourhood filled with dinosaurs.

- the plot quickly shatters any illusion of this being a fun sort of adventure and instead shifts into the grimmer more darker tropes survival horror, which might work if this was for older audiences like Quiet Place which got a 15 rating but feels too dark for a pg-13/12a film. Hearing screams and random gunshots as dinosaurs attack the family’s neighbours is a pretty dark world building element there.

- that shock death with the dad. I liked this but I also thought something would come along to distract the allosaurus Anax just as Ewan got his leg fucked up. But nope, just got graphically and very audibly eaten right in front of the whole family. Anyone else who isn’t the main character is not spared or given plot armour. If this was more family oriented, I would have the old lady who is killed at the start perhaps live and be helped by Anne Hathaway, so as to not traumatise younger viewers with grandparents.

- I will parrot what other critics have said in that there was a lack of community in the film and the family should have sought and joined up with their neighbours. Humans survived anything nature or the world threw at them by banding together, and they should have taken a note out of post apocalyptic films and joined together to make a community hub and entered a large building to fortify against the dinosaurs.

Sure, the family get more screen time and focus but they also feel very isolated and left to deal with the dinosaur threat on their own. I guess this is what the spielbergian family oriented element other reviewers have noticed with the parents battling their own desire to separate and be reminded why they are a family for the kids and the kids going out to rescue each other or their dog or the private school girl.

-one goof I noticed- the asshole neighbour who gets eaten alive by the pterosaurs is practically erased from the rooftop he was standing on. No corpse, no bloodstains on the roof which we did see splatter when he gets slashed by the pterosaur- just gone. Filmmakers forgot that and I doubt the pterosaurs could eat bone or lick up all the blood.

- I’d be remiss as a dino enthusiast if I did not call out the presence of the decently animated spinosaurus when the majority of the dinosaurs appear to be from the late Jurassic America - Spinosaurus was early to mid Cretaceous in Africa. The film could have maybe explained that maybe the Sagan wormhole thingymajig also popped up in other time periods which explains the presence of the Cretaceous theropod.

- the pterosaurs pretty much have a classic pterodactyl shape with the big heads and the long arrow tails. I’m no full expert but I do know most of the smaller to medium sized pterosaurs had those tails and the larger ones did not. Again, if the film or the promo content actually told us what the animals were, - Tropeognathus maybe but with a tail(?)

- the ending could have been better explained as to how Anne ended up saving all her neighbours and warning them to get out of Oak Street before the time swap event happens. Like a Groundhog Day Scenario where the family repeat the events again and again until they get everyone out.

A lot more negative points than good but I say and maintain that this is the film that Dominion should have been, not Trevorrow’s lie with locusts. It could have done with a rewrite to be more family friendly and leans a bit too hard on the more adult and darker elements for it to be enjoyable for family audiences. If it was marketed at and aimed for adult and teens then all the better, but as it wasn’t, its tone is inconsistent between bleak scenario and family adventure.

Overall 7.5/10 for being an original dinosaur adventure that didn’t pull its punches. I feel the mixed tone and baggage might make this rating lower, but I hope at least this encourages other big studios to take risks and give us more dinosaur horror stories - provided they are enjoyable to watch and are not too grim or bleak like certain stories like Rift or Primitive War.

And with those last words, the car designer ended up live-streaming his own death, much to the horror of his family, his trophy wife, and the delight of meme posters desperate for new material.

I don’t mind if the MC is weak or if he can hold his own. Just going through Gladiatrix and the slave by Pierce Scott now- have heard of the Everlasting and the bookkeeper of Brisfen, and of course his orc charioteer bride and his secret illuminations.

Species does not matter- am open to any genre so long as it is well written. sword and sorcery or high fantasy. Just something where I could enjoy as a cosy read and get immersed in the world.

I like the John Carter and Red Sonja comics available on kindle unlimited if that helps as well. Bonus if the worlds involve dragons and or dinosaurs.

I’m very tempted to get the game as it is for £19.99 in the UK as I really enjoyed switching off and just cleaning things when I had game pass. I’ve seen it dip in price before but didn’t have the budget to grab it at the time. - I own an Xbox One.

Does anyone know when any seasonal sale events across Steam or Xbox like a publisher sale? It’s done by Square Enix I see based on the description.

Hi all, I recently wrote a Stone Age fantasy short story which fell flat on its face as the plot and the character were underdeveloped compared to the world building.

I doubt I will return to it to fix it as ironically the character lacking a driving goal resonated with where I am in life. (I’m going to therapy for this, don’t worry)

It was basically Primal with no teeth with a flintstone superman instead of a flawed vulnerable human character with a deep fear, a major flaw and a driving goal, if that quick google was anything to go by. The setting of an anachronistic island filled with varying human tribes and prehistoric and modern predators was more of a cool background feature than something that features in every decision a caveman should make in his life.

So if I was to return to it or write something else in a similar vein, it would probably be in the theme of survival horror, something a bit more grounded and realistic. It wouldn’t be grimdark because I don’t do bleak. It would be a more intense story set in a wondrous but terrifying jungle paradise where survival would be the priority.

I’ve read the Conan stories by Robert E Howard and the Tarzan and land that time forgot stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs as well as the newer works set in the respective author’s universes. I’ve watched Primal as well and played Far Cry Primal. So I like my stories with elements of horror, maybe gritty ness but no amoral assholes. I want characters I can root for as heroes.

I’ve tried but couldn’t get into works like the Inheritors (William Golding was an abusive a-hole and his Lord of the flies take on humanity was actually disproved by an actual real life story where similar events happened and the stranded boys didn’t kill each other but became close friends) and Savage Eden by K M Ashman- which to me had so-so prose.

I’ve also heard unsavoury things about the Clan of the Cave Bear series so please no recommendations from that series.

Other stories I have saved to my wishlist are The Forbidden by Lori Holmes - although I have heard unideal reviews like women being treated like pregnancy machines and a woman falling in love with her captor. There’s also West of West by Angus Watson which I keep taking out a book from the series from my local library but never get around to reading.

I have a feeling I know how to fix my own writing but it would be good to have successful examples to draw on for inspiration as well as reading enjoyment, thanks to Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal.

Sorry, huge take, but just wanted some input on what makes a good enjoyable Stone Age fantasy, including anachronistic ones with mixed time periods.

Stories where the animals are just as important or dangerous as the human factions would also be good and not get shunted to the background while all the human drama takes centre stage as well.

Thank you!

Hi-

I wrote a short story initially intended for a sword and sorcery magazine but was told it would take months before it would even be reviewed so I decided to just post it on Archive of Our Own.

I’m not getting any bites except for one nice commenter in a group I posted it in as I figured it was a relevant place.

It’s a paleo fantasy themed story which was inspired by Frank Frazetta’s lost world painting and Primal. I did share it in the relevant groups and my initial post - asking if I could share it - got a tonne of views and upvotes. I go ahead and upload it, share it and nothing, other than one guy who commented that I mentioned.

I only do this as a hobby and just want feedback and any kind of input or let’s face it, praise, as I wrote it for the love of the craft rather than to be published. Can anyone tell me what else I need to do to get it the feedback it deserves?

Edit- just to be completely transparent, I am looking for validation for this as a happy bonus. Feedback improves my work, positive feedback makes me happy. Never said I was a serious writer, just someone who writes for the fun of it.

And with those last words, the car designer ended up live-streaming his own death, much to the horror of his family, his trophy wife, and the delight of meme posters desperate for new material.

There is a better narrative flow to the audio drama as opposed to the books in my opinion.

Also Sea of Sorrows is so bleak compared to the audio drama. Decker does not get the last laugh and outwit Rollins by using his psychic powers to prompt Petey and Perkins destroy the hive, thereby denying WY a chance to capture more specimens by letting the hive expand to the nearby colony. Instead Petey and Perkins blow themselves up to end their suffering and the hive gets destroyed by an orbital strike. Also, Perkins accidentally blew a hole the size of a dinner plate in Petey while he was getting his face eaten by a xenomorph- how the hell is he alive and intact enough to be cocooned?

Plus there is bad blood between Decker and the mercenaries due to them feeling betrayed and having lost their squad going after the xenomorphs. Decker doesn’t get his big damn hero moment with the plasma gun and the alien queen and almost always gets his ass beaten by Manning. Decker’s slate gets wiped clean but Rollins isn’t exposed as an android and Decker doesn’t outwit her and earn Manning’s respect. Manning is also less of a thug and more of a protective ex marine type in the audio drama.
Cho also kills Silas who blows up the cave because of his paranoia, not because he was facehugged and therefore has a more justified reason to stop everyone escaping in case they are all infected. Pritchett the cocky pilot also nearly kills Decker after Decker turns his gun on him by mistake and is then killed by a xenomorph. I quite liked his cocky personality.

Otherwise, the narrative felt a bit disjointed in Out of the Shadows. River of Pain was more or less the same as the audio drama with Ripley’s stories getting squeezed into the start and end of the book instead of dotted throughout the storyline as the colony falls apart.

I fully admit to being biased to the audio dramas but I definitely prefer their versions as opposed to the original stories. Now granted I did skim them since I realised I more or less knew the stories and had to look up the plots on the fandom wiki to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Never a fan of bleak stories even if this is the Alien universe we are dealing with here.

I listen to and enjoy the full cast audio dramas very much, and hope that more get adapted and made in the future, especially predator or avp stories.

Hope this is ok to post here- if not then I will link it in the comments of my previous post!