Spielberg. Dinosaurs. What more need be said? You get what you expect. Or in blurb-ese: "It delivers the goods." But it nowhere exceeds or confounds expectations. The premise, from the Michael Crichton novel, is essentially that of Crichton's Westworld with dinosaurs in lieu of robots: amusement park gone haywire. And …
Spielberg. Dinosaurs. What more need be said? You get what you expect. Or in blurb-ese: "It delivers the goods." But it nowhere exceeds or confounds expectations. The premise, from the Michael Crichton novel, is essentially that of Crichton's Westworld with dinosaurs in lieu of robots: amusement park gone haywire. And …
Elementary and elemental spectacle of ravening dinosaurs and edible humans. Beyond that, it pretty much eludes criticism or comment. A small objection might be raised at the way dinosaurs, for live-action purposes (which is to say live-action humans, but computer-generated dinosaurs), have become the monopoly of the Jurassic Park franchise. …
Director Colin Trevorrow dumps out his Steven Spielberg Family Thriller Kit and makes sure all the pieces are there: squabbling siblings (young and old!), divorce, kids in peril, endearing childlike wonder vs. the threat posed by self-serving grownups, moral musings on science and nature, and oh yes, dinosaurs. Lots and …
I’m old enough to recall a time when Dinah Shore ruled the earth. When Spielberg & Co. try to run with the big dogs (The Color Purple, Schindler’s List, Munich), I want a front row seat. Having never seen a film with the word “Jurassic” in its title, it’s best …
Golly, maybe life really will find a way, even in a franchise whose last installment played like a zombified version of the original entry from Steven Spielberg. Director J.A. Bayona’s most recent feature was titled A Monster Calls, and featured a child dealing with painful news about his mother. Bayona …
It certainly sounds like a John Grisham thriller (definite article, noun), though the original novel was in fact by a George Dawes Green. Yet it even looks a bit like a Grisham, a damsel-in-distress thing (or a Demi-in-distress, Moore exactly), set against the backdrop of a Mafia murder trial, with …
While serving as a juror in a high profile murder trial, family man Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult) finds himself struggling with a serious moral dilemma, one he could use to sway the jury verdict and potentially convict—or free—the accused killer. Clint Eastwood directs from a screenplay by Jonathan Abrams.
A case of miscasting. Pauly Shore on a jury, whereas he ought to be on trial. Initial charges: indecent exposure and fraud, for appearing in a padded G-string as an auditioning stripper. (Fraud, for that matter, for appearing as a movie star.) Subsequent to that, innumerable counts of shooting off …
An Iranian action film? With explosions and cops trying to bring down drug lords, just like in their big-budget American counterparts? Iranian filmmakers are known for turning a 90-minute car ride into visual ecstasy. This should be a snap! We open on a foot chase — no pounding music needed …
A change-partners sexual square dance in a ghastly pallid digital-video image. The image, or part of the image, is scribbled on, now and again, with crude animation; the time sequence is scrambled; and an alternative destiny is thrown in at the end. Affectation is everywhere. With Patrick Breen (who also …