Review: Jurassic World: Dominion

Despite this franchise beginning life with a film that was one of my most re-watched as a kid, it has recently made ones that I'd rather forget and ignore.

Like many, I will forever love Jurassic Park. As a kid, I loved it for the action and dinosaurs and now as an adult I massively appreciate the writing and character development. You can see how driven it is by its ideas.

I can probably speak for a lot of people that as a kid, our favourite scenes featured a T-Rex or a Velociraptor. But as we grow up, we now know the best scene is when our main characters are having lunch.

Nowadays, it's not really working. Jurassic World did start with some promise as it was a solid entertaining watch with enough nostalgia to still make me feel it can be its own thing. But what happened in its sequel Fallen Kingdom made me go into this with the lowest of expectations.

With the marketing throwing everything at it and it being billed as the franchise finale, I was hoping it would least give us a reminder as to what made this concept work.

As much as I was heading into the film with an open mind as always, it didn't take long for me to start having doubts. While there were nice some nostalgic moments. It wasn't enough to ignore the issues. Firstly for a dinosaur film, it amazed me how little the story was actually about the dinosaurs. They were used more for background noise and in the action sequences.

There was thankfully one decent sequence for me with genuine tension, and even in that portion it blatantly copies from Skyfall and The Bourne Ultimatum.

By the end, it ends up being pretty incoherent, trying to be too many things, has no drive to be entertaining and is very unremarkable as a whole.

While the cast is a pretty cool one, they didn't deliver much. Chris Pratt was like seeing a different person. His charisma was not there which surprised me the most. It was like those aliens in Space Jam took away his talent. While Bryce Dallas Howard was fine in this, I have honestly never invested much in her character in the entire trilogy. I do like her as an actor. But apart from a few moments in the first Jurassic World, I honestly didn't really care.

There were some nice moments with Sam Neill and Laura Dern's characters. I liked that as soon as Jeff Goldbum comes on screen, it's his show. The random jokes, his mannerisms at least try to give the film some comedic relief. But the ship had already sailed for me on my view of this final installment.

Campbell Scott was an absolute waste of space. He's the closest thing to an antagonist in this film and he is as weak as weak can be. In terms of some of the new talent involved, I felt Mamoudou Athie showed the most promise.

I'm not going to take it out too much on the cast, as the script was pretty bad. There is a lot of exposition and they never mask it over with some clever structure and some of the lines the actors have to react with made me constantly rolling my eyes at. With the writers being genuine professionals and having a solid back catalogue, I'm surprised that they came up with this and it got the pass by the studio.

With a lot of the cast having plenty of development in past films to make them likable or engaging, this film diminished all of that and you had no-one to root for

The special effects continue to add to my belief that they have got progressively worse since the 1993 original. That should not be the case at all. But it at least that shows how amazing the effects were almost 30 years ago and it puts Jurassic Park on an even higher pedestal.

Even Michael Giacchino's score had barely any pieces that got my attention. For a franchise that contains probably the greatest score of all-time, there is even very little utilisation of those iconic pieces.

All of these problems I had with the film made me come to the conclusion that I honestly thought it was badly made which is something I rarely say. The camerawork was inconsistent and had annoying shaky-cam moments in the action scenes, there were far too many cuts in the editing room and I'm blaming the director on the poor acting as I know this cast can and has done far better than this.

As for positives, along with that one action sequence, they do some cool modifications to some of the dinosaurs to relate with the recent real life discoveries. That is one small part of the Jurassic Park trilogy that I liked. They were never afraid to evolve the look of the dinosaurs to keep itself up to date with new discoveries of their appearances.

There are some cool imagery that we've not seen before. But given how Fallen Kingdom ended with a tease of where this next instalment would go, we were all expected more rather than the story diverting to something totally different.

To conclude, I didn't like it. While it wasn't completely trash. It just did a lot of things that shouldn't be doing with a beloved franchise with a great concept.

It's far too long, it over-plots and it felt like Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker where they just get both generations of cast together for no viable reason.

It was as if the people making it forgot why Jurassic Park become a huge box office success and all-time classic. One reason that relates to this review is that it was essentially a disaster movie driven by its unique concept and ideas. But the more sequels that were made, the concept gradually becomes the norm and therefore nowhere near as entertaining the first time. While I feel the Park sequels still made it fun by its sequences and characters, the World sequels tried too hard for very little reward.

So as this has been billed as the finale within this Jurassic franchise, I'll give a quick summary on my views on it. We have one all-time classic, two solid fun watches, a guilty pleasure and two unmemorable concoctions with too many ingredients. I'll leave you to decide which falls into which category.

I've definitely seen much worse films than this. But for a film series that played an important part in my childhood, you naturally expect something special even in the smallest of doses. This one sadly didn't do it for me. But much like Fallen Kingdom, this at least made me appreciate The Lost World and even Jurassic Park III a lot more.

Rating: 6/10

Review: Everything Everywhere All At Once

The amount of unprecedented buzz this new release was getting was even attracting the attention of the general cinema-goers. Achieving that is something quite rare, and is enough to convince people to at least experience this whether they end up liking it or not.

When I found that the directors were Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, I was expecting something pretty wacky. This is due to the fact that they made Swiss Army Man a.k.a. The Farting Corpse Movie. There was very little other information I was aware of going into seeing this. But I felt prepared for something we're not used to seeing.

It's honestly hard to know what to say about this film to have you properly prepared for what you are going to see. Even if I did spoil it, you would think I had gone mentally insane.

A lot of people are calling it 'The Matrix meets Sliding Doors'. While I do agree with that, there is so much more to it then that. I would also add comparisons to Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy in there as well. There are moments in its style that I would compare with Michel Gondry, it has absurdity of a Stephen Chow feature or a Monty Python sketch and the editing style is close to Edgar Wright.

But no matter how quirky, imaginative, ridiculous and ludicrous the film gets, it manages to explain it in a way that makes sense for the film it is in, stays in context and you somehow accept it and be on board with it. I was never confused and that alone makes this film an absolute triumph.

I love that while there is a multi-layered and mind-bending concept happening in front of us, the story remains grounded with real life themes being covered such as coming of age, family and acceptance of change.

It manages to stick with its core themes that the audience can relate to. That for me made it more impressive to still not be afraid to go back to what it is trying to say instead going overboard with its concept.

The cast do a great job of giving us some memorable characters to go with this ambitious story. Michelle Yeoh remains the powerhouse you all expect from her. She is a terrific lead and has plenty of charisma to make it easy for you to root for her.

Stephanie Hsu was a great stand out also. Playing multiple characters is never easy. But she made you believe her characters were completely different people. From being a frustrated teenager to a intimidating antagonist, Hsu did a wonderful job with both.

Jamie Lee Curtis is clearly having a blast with her character. It's something out of her comfort zone and I can see this performance pleasing a lot of people. It reminded me of Hugo Weaving in Cloud Atlas when he played the closest thing to Nurse Ratchet.

It was great seeing Ke Huy Quan get back into acting and you can tell he still loves doing this despite taking a long time out since his appearances in The Goonies and Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom. I hope this gets a second career out of him.

Another Asian acting legend is in this, in the form of James Hong. Despite being in over 100 films and now in his 90's, Hong has not lost a step and still pulled off another strong performance.

While it is certainly an impressive and highly imaginative piece of work, not everything stuck for me. Towards the end of the second act, there was a sequence that definitely over stayed its welcome. While most of it was high quality craziness, I was thinking we should be moving on by the end of it.

If I was being nit picky, I would also say the emotional part of the third act didn't quite get the impact out of me the film was going for. Don't get me wrong, I was impressed by that part. But I know it will work better with others.

But despite that moment of drag, this was a very memorable viewing experience that we all need to see for ourselves whether we end up liking or not. It is also one you will not forget anytime soon. Yes it is challenging, but it is worth the challenge. It reminded me of when I watched Cloud Atlas in cinemas as I felt I could not categorise it in one particular genre as it has so much. There is action, adventure, thrills, comedy, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, drama and even a bit of romance.

This is the film for all of those doubters that still believe that there are no original films being made these days. If you still feel that way, you are and always have been so so wrong. There is always some cool original stuff being made. You just need to know where to look, take a chance and discover it for yourself. This couldn't be anymore original if it tried.

There is so much to like and appreciate about the making of this. The concept sounds big. But the budget brings it down to a much more fun level without the need for vast amounts of CGI. It makes up for it in its action sequences, amazing editing and hilarious comedy. See it for yourself. There is nothing like it.

Rating: 8/10

Review: Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness

It's safe to say that phase four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is moving into some deep cuts within its source material. We are past almost all of the famous superheroes and are now delving into more niche characters as well as going down more of the fantasy route than the previous more grounded ones that added some realism to it.

So while this juggernaut may lose a certain demographic, there is still that urge for adventures from our favourite superheroes from the masses.

It certainly starts in a way where you are expected to be up to date with the majority of Marvel's films as well as TV series 'Wandavision'. If you are prepared, then it does head straight into the action and I was pleased that it carried on some plotlines from the first Doctor Strange film as it seems like a lot has happened since the first one came a few years ago.

With the story being fairly mind-bending, there are regular moments where the film manages to get away with not explaining the peculiar on-screen moments and you go with it because it is visually pleasing. However, there were still some bits that I don't think they quite got away with. But on the whole, there was little flaws in the execution of new elements to this film universe.

The rest of the film for me just felt like a combination of director Sam Raimi putting his style into the story as well as playing with the concept by teasing us with the possibilities of where this franchise could go. There are some juicy treats that will get big reactions. But it seemed aimed more towards the style.

The final act is where we see Raimi really go for it with moments that we have never seen in the MCU before and I was all for it.

Benedict Cumberbatch does another great job with his character. It still pleases me that this studio was able to acquire someone as highly acclaimed as him. You can tell he enjoys playing this character and it is fun seeing the development carry on.

I was pleased to see Elizabeth Olsen be given a lot to do and give her character the depth she deserves and that is probably thanks to what happened in 'Wandavision'.

I honestly wasn't that hot on Xochitl Gomez's performance. She looked out of place for me and I was getting bugged by the only facial expression she was expressing throughout the film, which was a worried one. However, I did like her chemistry with Cumberbatch.

It was nice to see Rachel McAdams again and be given a good amount of on-screen time. There are also some other performances that I would like to mention. But to avoid spoilers, I won't.

As mentioned earlier, it is directed by Sam Raimi. I was happy to hear this as he did a good job with the first Spider-Man film series which began 20 years ago. With his added love of horror, I was intrigued to see how much of the Raimi touch we would see on screen. Turns out, quite a fair bit.

There are many Raimi tropes that will please his fans. You can tell he is having fun with this and I am glad his style is all over this. It was a nice change of pace to see something different in the look outside of the 'copy and paste' Marvel style we're used to having. The horror elements were well utilised and made me think that this might not be suitable for the younger kids. So you have been warned.

As usual, there are a lot of visual effects to deal with. On the whole, they looked pretty good. The editing keeps the film moving along at a good pace for the most part and enhances the style choices made with some dramatic cuts.

With Raimi at the helm, there is no surprise that regular composer Danny Elfman is collaborating with him once again. His style is certainly well used in one particular sequence that could be many people's highlight.

Given the concept it was going for, I was probably expecting more. But what we got in the end remained very enjoyable. It is a bit unfair on the film to bring up theories and speculations and expect them to deliver on them. But with the ideas involved bringing up those possibilities, it is natural to expect a lot from this. While we do get some nice surprises and teases into where the MCU can go, it doesn't go all-out which I am absolutely fine with.

I liked it for its style, visuals and action. It doesn't have the emotional impact of like a lot of the Avengers films or 'Spider-Man: No Way Home'. But it has that cosmic vibe from Guardians Of The Galaxy as well as bringing in some horror which I think the closest we have got to in the MCU was the Mysterio fake reality sequence in 'Spider-Man: Far From Home'.

There is a lot of fun to be had and it experiments with certain aspects that we may get to see in future instalments.

There are the usual mid and post credits scenes. The mid scene adds another branch to this universe with intriguing possibilities. As for the post scene, while it is not important, it was a nice cherry on the cake for Raimi's contribution.

Rating: 8/10

Review: The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent

While I do love the type of fanbase Nicolas Cage has, I wouldn't call myself a fan of his.

He has definitely been part of some fun action flicks and given strong performances in a few critically acclaimed dramas. But his success rate is very low for someone who has been part of over 100 feature film projects.

However, I do like the type of legacy he has left with people. Which is probably why we have got this surreal self-aware feature that will please his devoted followers.

So while the trailers may perceive this film to be making fun of Cage. It seems to be more of playing around with that belief whilst also celebrating Cage.

I was liking the Lethal Weapon and Tango & Cash vibes it gives off. The buddy comedy genre is one that we don't see often these days or work well when we do see it. I must mention that there is a reference to a particular popular modern family film which surprised me. It ends up being a running gag in the film and this will please a lot of people when checking this out.

While it seems Cage isn't playing his exact self, he is certainly portraying a Nicolas Cage that we see him as whilst also showing us his current mood to his acting and life in general. You can tell he's having fun with this role and it will most likely resonate with its viewers as well. It certainly did with me by the end.

For the performance from our man of the hour, it was a pretty good one. You can appreciate his commitment to this strange cause and Cage is firmly locked in on the self-aware jokes and just embracing all the stuff that the fans love him for doing.

Pedro Pascal was a perfectly fine support for Cage and continues to show his range and proof that he can cope in film as well as TV. There wasn't much else standing out in regards to the performances. But the whole cast did a decent job in making Cage the star he deserves to be in this.

The writing worked pretty well overall. While not all of the gags hit, there was enough cleverness and wit that will please the fans in the subtlety of the references they put in.

The action scenes flowed nicely and kept the story moving. The pacing in general was nicely done and I never felt it dragged whatsoever.

While I'm not going nuts for it or instantly wanting to see this again, this remains a decent and fairly entertaining caper that will remind you that Cage can still do it. There's some cool meta moments for his fans and is still entertaining enough to keep general audiences entertained.

Rating: 7/10

Review: The Northman

With all of his directed films being critical hits, Robert Eggers has become one of the most interesting film-makers right now.

Debuting with the truly disturbing 'The Witch' followed by the beautifully weird and highly engrossing 'The Lighthouse', anything coming from Eggers I am instantly wanting to see.

No trailers are needed for me and I was excited to see where his next project was going.

There is an aggressive energy about this film both in the performances and the drum-beat heavy score. I was getting a perfect mix of Viking mythology with that vintage Eggers fantasy/dream sequences that give his films a great sense of surrealism.

If you like films like Gladiator, The Revenant, Braveheart, Apocalypto, 300 and are a sucker for a Hamlet/Lion King storyline, then you will eat this up. There are themes of legacy, family, fate and revenge that are explored well.

The violence is brutal in its imagery, yet made to look beautiful by the brilliant cinematography by Jarin Blaschke. The final act felt a bit much for me even by its own standards and the way it wrapped up felt pretty quickly. But there was still a lot of satisfaction in how it concluded its story archs.

Alexander Skarsgard impressed me in the leading role and easily gives a career best for me. You can see his dedication to the role with requires a lot of physical energy to it. Skarsgard looks the part and he does with such control that felt it never felt over-the-top for me.

There was solid support from everyone involved. The threat Claes Bang's character had was good and made him easy to suspect and eventually hate. Nicole Kidman shows she can still bring out the big guns and give us a surprisingly pivotal character and developed nicely within the story. Her screen presence was one of mystery.

Anya Taylor-Joy is back for more with Eggers after her breakthrough in 'The Witch' and did another good job, as did fellow returning collaborator Willem Defoe and Ethan Hawke. We also get a nice bit of added weirdness from Bjork in what was a small yet memorable role.

In terms of an ensemble, this was a strong cast. With there being many sequences involving a fairly large community for authenticity, every cast member played their part to make this an immersive experience.

For a project like this, the production design is naturally of the highest quality. The choice of shooting locations made you really feel the strong winds and unforgiving rain. As mentioned, the camerawork knows when you go wide to appreciate the battle sequences and when to be intimate during those psychological based scenes.

The same can be said for the editing. There was the right amount of hectic in between the moments that gives you time to linger and the beauty of the wide shots that give that perfect cinematic quality.

I had a really good time watching this. It is certainly one of those films whether you like it or not, you cannot take your eyes off it. There is a great sense of spectacle to it and makes it for a worthwhile visit to experience on the big screen. I rarely use this word, but I would happily call this epic in every aspect.

While it may seem outrageous and mad on the surface, there is great beauty in its story, savage violence and overall look. It is certainly Eggers' most accessible film to date and is probably a great ice-breaker in seeing what his style is all about. A lot of its department deserved some recognition and I hope it gains a lot of momentum for general audiences to give this a chance.

Rating: 8/10

Review: Operation Mincemeat

Having already been aware of the story through seeing the 1956 version 'The Man Who Never Was' as well as reading about it, I was intrigued to see what a new release would do with it.

With the marketing showing a high-calibre British cast, it certainly gives you a feeling of a guaranteed worthwhile viewing experience.

From the very beginning, you feel so comfortable. That instant wholesome British vibe is just so welcoming at a cinema screening.

Everything about it moves a long at a gentle pace and you have a top British cast doing what they do best.

There are some clear additions to the story to try and over dramatize it, which didn't feel necessary for me. But there was still enough interest in the task at hand to keep me invested despite it almost trying to take you away from the main plot which felt strange.

The ensemble cast do a good job in fleshing out these characters and making them engaging. Even though Colin Firth looks like he is putting in a performance we have seen many times, it remains to be one that still works well. Matthew Macfadyen's support and chemistry with Firth was great and the longer the film went, the more I was enjoying Macfadyen on screen and made me remember how good he was in 'Frost vs. Nixon'.

Kelly McDonald completes the trio with some nice back and forth and proof that she can compete with the elite of British acting.

Johnny Flynn made the most of his character that will interest a lot of people, Penelope Wilton was as good as always and there was a mini reunion from 'Death Of Stalin' with the additions of Jason Isaacs and Simon Russell Beale which was nice.

As expected, the general look is very good. That 1940's look to London was great to look at and the added soundtrack was the icing of the cake for a very strong production design.

There were a few issues I had with it sadly. The sub-plots that were added for dramatic effort felt unnecessary considering the actual story itself should have plenty of content to play with. It also felt a bit too casual for what the story consists of. It does play to target audience. But it does it in a way that I felt was even too light and soft.

So with other recent British war films raising the level of the genre such as Dunkirk, Testament Of Youth, Darkest Hour and The Imitation Game, it is a hard level to match. But to be brutally honest, films like that will have you not remembering this one for very long. 

Don't worry, It's a perfectly fine film that will get a decent rating from me. It moves along nicely with good performances and is thrilling and tense enough to keep you interested. But with its sub-plots trying to add some unnecessary additions to the already interesting story, it almost doesn't want to invest in the truth of the story as they feel audiences would be bored by it.

If my review has you feeling cautious, then I would check out 'The Man Who Never Was' instead, as I feel that remains the superior portrayal of this incredible war story.

Rating: 7/10

Review: The Lost City

When I heard of the reason Sandra Bullock was starring and producing this film, I was hopeful despite the trailer not appealing to me at all.

I'm always up for someone trying to recreate those mid budget adventure comedies from the 1980's like Romancing The Stone or Crocodile Dundee. So despite the marketing not looking that promising, the decent amount of buzz coming from America willed enough of myself to give this is a chance.

The set-up gave me a surprising amount of 'Nim's Island' vibes due to the personality of Bullock's character had. It was virtually identical to Jodie Foster's in that surprisingly fun family adventure.

For a lot of the viewing, I did feel I had been transported back to those films this one is paying homage to and I was back in the late 80's. That gave it a nice amount of refreshing value.

Despite all that, I still wasn't quite getting a complete package.

You can tell Bullock put a lot into this film both on and off the screen, which I do appreciate a lot. She put a solid leading performance and continues to show off her comedy to a satisfactory level. 

Channing Tatum was perfectly fine in his role. His comedic skills are still being well utilised in this and has solid and believable chemistry with Bullock throughout.

While it was nice seeing Daniel Radcliffe as the villain, I never felt his characters threat. Some aspects to his character worked. But it was hard for me to see him as the main antagonist in this story. I'm still up for more Radcliffe in roles that are out of his comfort zone though.

The big stand-out despite the little screen time they had was Brad Pitt. His powerful screen presence really helped this film give it the energy it needed and he just elevated every aspect of the film. From the moment he was introduced, it was like a ray of sunshine just entered the room.

Oscar Nunez gave a surprising amount of effective comic relief in his character, and Da'Vine Joy Randolph was a solid addition to the cast as well.

The overall look of the film was very pleasing. There were some nice use of exotic locations. That for me gave some practical weight to a lot of the action sequences. The addition of visual effects was fairly well used and never felt over digitalised or out of place.

Most of the issues I had with the film were that almost all of its aspects were never at an exceptional. You pretty much know how its going it to play out and there's very little if anything that makes this stand out above films within its genre. One reason I think it was just going through the motions, was the pacing. It's not quite as adrenaline fuelled for what is needed for a story like this. So that's probably why I and feel others will see this as rather pedestrian.

I could have gone harder with its weaknesses. But with the film being intended to be a bit of light fun, it would be harsh for me to feel that it wasn't worth my time.

It was ok overall. It was nice to see this type of film be in the cinemas again. The story is perfectly fine, the cast do a good job of giving it enough life to make it entertaining enough.

While not all of the comedy worked, there was a decent amount of laughs to make this worth it thanks to the witty dialogue.

I hope this isn't just a one-off and we get more of these mid-budget adventure/rom-com releases from major studios.

Rating: 6/10