Latest news with #Apatosaurus
The Hindu
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
‘Jurassic World Rebirth' movie review: Join Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, and Jonathan Bailey on a dino-stuffed thrill ride
The fourth film in the Jurassic World universe opens in 2010 on an island in the Atlantic Ocean, Ile Saint-Hubert, where dinosaur mutations are being developed to feed the public's demand for newer species. A six-limbed T-Rex mutant, Distortus rex, as mean-tempered as its name suggests, gets free and unleashes mayhem, causing the facility to be shut down. What causes the breach is a candy wrapper frying the electrics — littering is never a good habit. Years later, the dinosaurs are unable to adapt to the changed climate, surviving only near the equator where the air and temperature are what they were used to those many million years ago. Dinosaurs are not a novelty anymore and a dying Apatosaurus causing traffic to back up in the city is a major irritant and not a cause for joy or wonder. A sauropod on Silk Board Junction, on the other hand, would have been fun. Just saying. Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend), who works with a shadowy pharmaceutical company, is one of those irritated by the fallen Apatosaurus. Krebs meets with Zora (Scarlett Johansson), a scarily competent covert operative, and tells her he has a job for her. The job involves getting blood samples from three of the biggest dinosaurs — on land, in water, and air — to create a drug that will save the world and line his company's pockets till kingdom come. Offering Zora an obscene sum of money, the expedition is quickly kitted out. There is the palaeontologist offering technical expertise and a cool specimen-collection gun, Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey); the captain of the boat, Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali), and his crew, which includes Bobby (Ed Skrein), Leclerc (Bechir Sylvain) and Nina (Philippine Velge). Jurassic World Rebirth (English) Director: Gareth Edwards Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Ed Skrein Run-time: 133 minutes Storyline: A team of operatives land on an island to collect blood samples from dinosaurs to save the world and naturally everything that can go wrong does As the team heads out to the island to collect the first specimen from a Mosasaurus (yes!), a family, comprising Delgado (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), his daughters Teresa (Luna Blaise) and Isabella (Audrina Miranda), and Teresa's stoner boyfriend Xavier (David Iacono), is heading to Cape Town from Barbados. They are shipwrecked after the Mosasaurus turns their boat upside down. Zora's team rescues them, but instead of heading for safety, they chase the Mosasaurus for the sample. The thrills follow fast and furious with mean dinosaurs flashing their wicked teeth. The Mosasaurus is a bit of a show-off, going round and round snapping its gargantuan jaws. Gareth Edwards, who has helmed two of the most exciting sci-fi films in recent times — Rogue Oneand The Creator — has made a film that has enough of the original Steven Spielberg DNA to keep things moving spiffily along. There are moments of silly fun, especially with Xavier. The T-Rex rolling in its sleep like a cute Labrador puppy is most adorable. The thrills, while derivative, much the all-important sample tube rolling to the edge of the cliff, deliver the requisite adrenaline rush. The cast is competent and fully invested in their characters. Johansson's Zora is tough as nails, Ali is sturdy and kind, Friend is necessarily slimy, while Bailey brings in the shock and awe at these creatures that ruled the earth so many years ago. Bailey incidentally played the clarinet on the score. Jurassic World Rebirth sounds and looks wonderful, and though it does not offer anything brilliantly new, it is the kind of summer fast food that is filling and tasty and utterly forgettable. Jurassic World Rebirth is currently running in theatres
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Well-preserved dinosaur skull belongs to new sauropod species
Sauropods were some of the largest dinosaurs to ever stomp across the planet, and they did their stomping pretty much everywhere. But while paleontologists have discovered fossils from species like Apatosaurus and Brachiosaurus on almost every present-day continent, those found in China have been largely relegated to the nation's southern and western regions. Well-preserved remains of non-neosauropod eusauropods are even more rare. These relatives existed through the Middle Jurassic approximately 174 to 161 million years ago. According to a recent study published in Scientific Reports, a team led by researchers at the China University of Geosciences has discovered a new sauropod species they call Jinchuanloong niedu. And their specimen's skull is one of the most well-preserved ever excavated. Almost all giant, long-necked dinosaurs beyond their earliest evolutionary forms belong to the eusauropod clade. They eventually became the only sauropod line to survive past the Early Jurassic's global mass extinction event, with many species evolving to make up the neosauropoda later clade includes Brachiosaurus and Apatosaurus. While these newer neosauropods were the majority, some non-neosauropod continued to exist through the Middle Jurassic. But of those, paleontologists have recovered very few with well-preserved skulls, leaving large gaps in the overall fossil record. Jinchuanloong niedu, however, is helping to fill in those missing pieces. The remains discovered at the Xinhe Formation located in northwestern China encompass five articulated cervical vertebrae, 29 articulated caudal vertebrae, along with a nearly complete skull that includes its mandible. The fossil trove's location in the sedimentary layers indicate the dinosaur lived sometime around the Middle Jurassic's late Bathonion period–roughly 165 to 186 million years ago. After comparing their specimen with other East Asian sauropods, the university's announcement noted a mix of 'primitive and derived features' that pointed to a unique, previously undiscovered its preservation, the first known Jinchuanloong niedu specimen doesn't appear to be an adult. Physiological features including unfused neural arches in the caudal vertebrae imply that the dinosaur was a juvenile or subadult when it died. But given that it was already nearly 100 feet long, it's a near-certainty that Jinchuanloong niedu still grew to colossal proportions.
