Alleged Details About Ezra Miller’s Choking Incident Are Revealed As More Allegations Come Out About The Flash Actor
Of Course Kevin Bacon Got Into Viral Footloose Trend, And He And Wife Kyra Sedgwick Crushed It
Godzilla vs. Kong's Sequel Has Taken Another Titan-Sized Step Forward
Megan Fox Reveals How She’s Supported Machine Gun Kelly Since His Suicide Attempt
Tom Holland And Other Celebrities Are All Gaga Over Zendaya's Amazing New Magazine Cover
Tim Allen Breaks Silence On Lightyear And Shares What He Really Thinks About The Toy Story Spinoff
The Real Winner Of The Amber Heard And Johnny Depp Defamation Trial? His Lawyer Camille Vasquez
Laura Dern Had To Remind Jeff Goldblum Why He Was So Shirtless And Sweaty In Iconic Jurassic Park Scene
After Locking Lips With Tom Cruise In Top Gun: Maverick, Jennifer Connelly Lands Next Big Screen Role
Han Just Got Reunited With His Tokyo Drift Car While Fast X Films, And It’s Like No Time Has Passed At All
Winona Ryder Opens Up About Johnny Depp Break-Up And Her Subsequent Spiral In Hollywood
The Rock Continues Run Of Sweet Gestures After Getting Invited To Special Needs School’s Luau Dance
It's Official: Disney CEO Bob Chapek Isn't Leaving The Mouse House Anytime Soon
Wicked's Songwriter Explains Why Jon M. Chu's Adaptation Had To Be Two Movies, And He May Have Given Away Where Part 1 Ends
The Terminal List Review: Chris Pratt Embraces His Values in Exciting Action Thriller
The Terminal List, a new eight-episode series from Prime Video, has been getting surprisingly negative reviews. Slash Film calls it "offensively bad," and Yahoo! and TV Line labeled it "terminally bad." While the series hardly breaks any new ground or perfects its genre, it's a consistently exciting, dark, and twisty action series that isn't any worse than the average revenge thriller, and is sometimes better. Art is obviously subjective, and there are definitely weak spots and problematic issues in The Terminal List, but it almost seems as if the hostility against the Amazon series is politically motivated.
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In Today’s Bombshell Hollywood Chris News: Chris Pratt Reveals He Doesn’t Actually Go By Chris
Dakota Johnson Reacts To Being Roped Into The Johnny Depp And Amber Heard Brouhaha
Stephen King Says He's Only Walked Out Of One Movie As An Adult, And It's A Major Blockbuster
Kristen Stewart Is Making An A24 Movie Next, And It’s Putting Together A Talented Cast
Cryo Review: 5 Strangers, One Murderer, Not Enough Time
Whether it is the Alien series or a Korean drama like The Silent Sea, science fiction loves to put scientists in space and then have them face off against an unknown enemy. When the tensions are high, the group begins to argue, then a classic scenario where everyone begins to doubt each other ensues. This formulaic approach leads to predictable moments, one's audience may gobble up in eager anticipation or groan at the prospects of yet another villain potentially being among the original group. Perhaps the latter has come more into popularity, as the trope keeps appearing again and again without the world completely getting tired of it. That gives us movies like Cryo.
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Zoë Kravitz Has Kicked Off Her New Movie With Channing Tatum, And Yes It’s Still Called Pussy Island
Billie Eilish Is Not Happy The World Keeps Paying Attention To Johnny Depp And Amber Heard Drama In The Face Of The Roe V. Wade Decision
Former Jackass Star Bam Margera Reported Missing Again, Less Than Two Weeks After Last Incident
That Time Tom Felton Was Sick And His Mom Bought Him The Nicest Harry Potter Surprise
How Chadwick Boseman's Estate Has Been Settled Following The Actor's Death
Paul McCartney Brought Johnny Depp Footage Into His Glastonbury Set, But Fans Were Really Excited About One Touching John Lennon Moment
As Sandra Bullock Prepares To Take A Break From Acting, The Star Talks About Feeling ‘So Burnt Out’ From Her Career
One Silver Lining Of All The Brouhaha Surrounding The Oscars Slap Incident, According To Jada Pinkett Smith
Courteney Cox Confirms Scream 6 Role With Funny Joke About Gale
How Mortal Kombat 2 Is Trying To Deliver For Hardcore Fans, According To The Writer
Upcoming Horror Movies: All The Scary Movies Coming Out In 2022 And Beyond
Westworld Season 4 Review: Prophecy, Fate, and New Thrills Fuel HBO's Futuristic Drama
Delores is dead. So is The Man in Black. Charlotte can’t be trusted. Maeve still kicks ass. Caleb gets an eye-opener about “life” and goes along for a surreal wild ride. And Bernard… well, how nice to see the guy finally allowing himself to embrace his own choices and still be able to wax existential along the way. Yes. That’s how it all came to pass — more or less — at the end of Season 3 of Westworld, certainly one of the most mind-bending if not maddening series to emerge out of annals of television. Don’t remember any of that? Fret not Stream Machine: it’s okay to feel as if your memory was erased. Here in the real world, humanity has braved a pandemic and then some since the last season of the drama bowed back in 2020. And while we could spend pages recapping the show — and how Michael Crichton's hit 1973 Western sci-fi thriller film and subsequent book embedded its way into the pop culture collective for that matter — here’s the burning question before Season 4 premieres on June 26 on HBO Max: Is it worth the investment?
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Adam Sandler Is A Dad Himself, But Paid Sweet Tribute To His Own Dad This Week
Unwoke ‘Beavis and Butt-head’s Universe’ Shreds White Privilege
Bringing “Beavis & Butt-head” back sounded like a terrible, no good idea.
The ’90s numbskulls are a terrible fit for our all woke, no joke age. Their incessant sex talk alone is problematic.
“Beavis and Butt-head Do the Universe” doesn’t change the boys a bit. It’s as crude and sexually obsessed as ever, and the film features a glorious attack on so-called White Privilege.
Best of all? Absence did make the heart go fonder for dimwits who make Harry Dunne and Lloyd Christmas look like rocket scientists.
Our “heroes” stumble their way to space camp after destroying their school’s science fair exhibit. The lads’ penchant for sexual metaphors lands them a gig on a real space shuttle, and that’s where the time-traveling plot kicks in.
The boys sabotage the mission and enter a black hole. The snafu catapults them from the ’90s to 2022, but their space commandeer (Andrea Savage) is hot on their trail. She’s now a governor with political ambition to burn, and the boys’ survival threatens her ascent. (The news reported they died on the space shuttle)
Except the boys think she just wants to score with them. Of course.
That plot sets a series of farcical bits in motion, and they’re shrewdly calculated to move a show known for brevity to the 90-minute mark.
It works.
Beavis falls in love with Siri, the iPhone voice assistant. Cornholio returns in a way that’s both daffy and clever. And, at every turn, the boys’ raging stupidity works to their advantage.
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“Universe” laps “Beavis & Butt-head Do America,” the 1996 theatrical extension of the MTV series. The jokes land better and the story rarely lags. The screenplay, credited to show creator Mike Judge and Lewis Morton, does more than milk a few recurring bits for real laughs.
They upend woke expectations on several fronts.
A dated reference to “Touched by an Angel” lets the story savage “soft on crime” policies. A throwaway line compares Antifa to MS-13, something few other comedies would bring up.
The boys also stumble into a Gender Studies class where they learn all about White Privilege.
We can do anything we want because we’re white? Cool.
Except their very existence shatters the White Privilege lie. These boys are like many teens out there in the ’90s and now. They’re white, lower middle class and possess little cultural clout. And it took a character named Butt-head for pop culture to expose it.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Judge resisted woke’s siren song. He previously created “The Goode Family,” a short-lived sitcom mocking social justice types before we began using that phrase.
His long-running “King of the Hill” sitcom mocked Texas culture without the mean-spirited edge others might have brought to the gig.
The animation here is perfunctory, of course. The animated shorts of yore were always below the industry norm. “Universe” isn’t as hard to watch as those classic “B&B” episodes, which makes it less of a distraction.
The biggest miracle of all? Judge’s singular voice work as both Beavis and Butt-head feels as fresh as ever. Their incessant laughter and ability to find sexual references in every third sentence remains a hoot.
“Beavis and Butt-head Do the Universe” proves some Hollywood nostalgia acts can surprise us.
HiT or Miss: “Beavis and Butt-head Do the Universe” has no interest in removing the characters’ problematic tics, and that’s reason enough to savor their return.
The post Unwoke ‘Beavis and Butt-head’s Universe’ Shreds White Privilege appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.
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Loot Review: A Comedy For the Times
The public seemingly has collectively sighed and given up the notion that there is an ongoing pandemic, a common dissenting opinion is that a lot of people do not want to physically go to work. As reported in The New York Times, Zoom saw an increase of 290 million daily users in April 2020 when compared to the statistics compiled in December 2019. Remote work might be here to stay permanently, allowing those privileged enough to have these kinds of job opportunities to work from wherever they want in the world, effectively avoiding the classic workplace politics and drama that organically thrives in competitive or toxic environments. Some have thrived in the new environments covering the new, digitized world that the pandemic thrust upon most people, but if there is one winner out of the switch to technology, it is streaming platforms.
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Why Johnny Depp And Amber Heard’s Lawyers Are Meeting Again In Court
‘Elvis’ Brings the Spectacle, Music and More (So where’s Mr. Presley?)
Elvis may have left the building, but in Baz Luhrmann’s hands he never leaves a mark.
“Elvis,” the umpteenth take on the late rock icon, is different than every past presentation. That’s healthy and welcome, and no one can astonish us like the auteur behind “Moulin Rouge” and “The Great Gatsby.”
Except Lurhmann forgot to insert people into his atypical biopic. No one registers, not the King of Rock nor the huckster who steered his career up until Presley’s death in 1977.
You’ll walk out of “Elvis” knowing less about the singer, not more.
On paper, “Elvis” tracks the rise of one of music’s biggest stars, brought to remarkable life by Austin Butler. We see Presley’s early days, working blue-collar jobs while trying to impress record label types. Once he gets on stage, and those hips start gyrating, the real Elvis Presley emerges.
Teen girls do more than swoon in their seats. They squirm, eyes glistening with palpable heat. It’s comically framed by Team Lurhmann, but the point lands as intended. We hadn’t seen anyone like Presley before.
(The film’s release, just days after Christian Aguilera donned a rubber phallus on stage, speaks volumes about societal change.)
Presley famously put a white face on R&B music, and “Elvis” doesn’t sugarcoat the singer’s inspiration. In fact, those sequences are the film’s most potent, as an assembly of black actors recreate both Presley’s formative influences and the musicians who inspired his songcraft.
It’s a shame that Kelvin Harrison, Jr., an actor one meaty role away from superstardom, gets so little to do as a young B.B. King. Then again, no one emerges as a flesh and blood soul here, not Butler’s Presley nor Tom Hanks as Col. Tom Parker.
Parker’s role is the biggest change to the Elvis screen canon. Hanks narrates the story and embodies the man dictating Presley’s career. He’s a con artist, and admittedly so, and yet despite the gargantuan running time we don’t really know much about him, either, and even less about his bond with Presley.
That’s a problem.
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So is the inpenetrable cloak around the title character. Who is Elvis Presley? Was he a musical prodigy, or a handsome bloke who used his voice to bring R&B to the masses? Was he too dumb to realize what Col. Parker was up to, or was he sweetly naive to the core?
The film never uncovers the layers that made Presley an icon, and that lack of psychological depth is its undoing. We’ll put up with Luhrmann upending the traditional biopic format. Not caring about the soul behind the legend … that’s a narrative bridge too far.
“Elvis” treats everything with that surface-level approach, from historical tragedies like Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination to Presley’s 1968 comeback TV special. The latter hinges not on the artist’s creative rebirth but whether he’ll don a loud Christmas sweater and sing about Ol’ Saint Nick.
Priorities … this film handles them poorly.
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Yet this is a Luhrmann extravaganza, so there’s always enough to gawk at to keep our attention. And Butler’s recreation of Presley’s stage act is ferocious and worth enduring the film’s myriad flaws.
He’ll likely miss out on the Oscar conversation, though. This “Elvis” doesn’t linger long in our memories, unlike the icon who inspired this bedazzled misfire.
Hit or Miss: “Elvis” brings all the cinematic chutzpah director Baz Luhrmann can summon, but we never truly “meet” the King of Rock.
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Chris Pratt Speaks Out About Playing Mario, Sounds Like Has Has Big Plans For The Nintendo Character’s Voice
Scream 6 Has Added A Mission: Impossible Star
Avatar 2: The Way Of Water Cast List: All The Confirmed Heroes And Villains
‘Black Phone’ Delivers First-Rate Chills with a Retro ’70s Vibe
“The Black Phone” blends two horrifying themes without flinching.
The thriller follows a serial killer who targets kids exclusively. And those lucky enough to avoid his clutches must deal with local bullies who pummel as they please.
And these thugs draw blood.
The relentlessly grim “Black Phone” isn’t for everyone, but it’s as expertly crafted as the best horror movies with only a few eye rolls getting in the way.
Young Finney (Mason Thames) has enough to worry about before a wave of missing children hits his town. Finney’s father alternately drinks and beats his children, and the school’s bullies want to turn Finney’s face into one, big bruise.
Now, his fellow students are disappearing, and the only person with a clue about the case is his sister (Madeleine McGraw) and her oddly prescient dreams. When Finney comes face to face with the man called the Grabber (Ethan Hawke), wearing the creepiest mask since Michael Myers went trick or treating, he’ll need help to escape his clutches.
The black phone in Finney’s makeshift prison, an old school model reflecting the ’70s setting, offers a glimmer of hope. The voices of the Grabber’s past victims guide Finney’s escape plans. But will they be too late to stop the killing spree?
Hawke makes the Grabber much more than a ghoulish, unforgettable mask. He’s alternately caring and cruel, a monster who plays by his own grotesque rules. The actor isn’t physically imposing, so he manufactures fear from his pulpy line readings.
‘The Black Phone’ Director Scott Derrickson on How Horror Movies Offer a Sense of ‘Justice’ Real Life Can’t https://t.co/aT8ApgHN3s pic.twitter.com/rXSH9WRf4E
— IndieWire (@IndieWire) June 22, 2022
Thames anchors “The Black Phone,” aided by a smart screenplay that recalls what it’s like to grow up in ’70s America. Yes, the period flourishes are all here, from Finney watching “Emergency!” to pitch-perfect fashions and hairstyles.
They never seem geared to trigger our nostalgia circuits. They flow effortlessly from the Carter-era setting, as does nearly every other element of the film. The high school sequences ring true, while the smaller touches lending the story its human element.
Consider how Finney flinches while watching a hokey horror film on TV.
A modern teen would yawn at the sequence. Finney’s father forbids him from watching R-rated fare like “Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” though, so even third-rate shocks scare him.
RELATED: Five Actors You Didn’t Know Moonlight as Writers
McGraw’s character adds another rewarding layer to the thriller. She prays before bed each night, but when her brother disappears she decries Jesus for letting it happen. Her subplot, allowing her to question God without giving in to Hollywood cynicism, is both rare and welcome.
The rest is up to Thames and Hawke, and director Scott Derrickson (“Doctor Strange,” “Sinister”) ensures their dynamic is as realistic as the genre allows.
Let’s not forget the lad’s besotted dad (Jeremy Davies), a potential caricature given surprising depth.
FAST FACT: “The Black Phone” started as a 2004 short story by Joe Hill, son of horror maestro Stephen King. The tale is included in Hill’s anthology “20th Century Ghosts.”
“The Black Phone” hinges on a gimmick, the voices trying to prevent the Grabber from killing again. It’s a neat conceit and one ripe for a screenwriter’s overreach. Derrickson’s screenplay, co-written by C. Robert Cargill, restrains itself, dabbling in some supernatural flourishes without compromising the tale’s integrity.
Best of all?
“The Black Phone” takes its time setting the story in motion, but it never feels like a “slow burn” horror template. The story grabs us from the very first moments, adding just enough commercial nods to make it a potential sleeper.
No matter its box office success, “The Black Phone” is another winner in a very strong year for horror.
HiT or Miss: “The Black Phone” is smart, sophisticated and able to blend artistic and commercial impulses for maximum chills.
The post ‘Black Phone’ Delivers First-Rate Chills with a Retro ’70s Vibe appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.
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Anne Hathaway Reveals Which Celebs She Thinks Have BDE
Disney Fans Are Just Finding Out A Jurassic Park Star Was In Mulan, And The Comments Are Delightful
The Hunger Games Prequel Just Landed A Euphoria Star In An A+ Role
Minions: The Rise Of Gru Reviews Are In, Here's What Critics Have To Say About The Long-Awaited Sequel
Brad Pitt Opens Up About Dealing With Depression, Reveals How He’s Finding ‘Joy’ In His Life Today
Top Gun Maverick’s Director Has A Funny Story About How He And Tom Cruise Concocted Some Of The Insane Fighter Pilot Footage In The Film
Johnny Depp’s Lawyer Camille Vasquez Reveals Which Actress She’d Like To See Play Her On Screen
Michael B. Jordan Just Took A Note From His Ex Lori Harvey When It Comes To Social Media Protocols After Breakup
Harry Potter’s Tom Felton Recalls Avoiding Spoilers In The Midst Of Filming As Draco
An Insider Opens Up About How Johnny Depp's Been Since The Defamation Trial Verdict Dropped
Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick Has Crossed A Huge Box Office Milestone For The Pandemic Era
Sylvester Stallone Reacts To Creed III’s Story
Could Frozen 3 Happen? Here’s What Kristen Bell Says
Steve-O Gets Real About Why Bam Margera Was Dropped From Jackass Forever, But Explains Why He Hopes Bam Took It As A Sign Of Love
Bruce Willis’ Wife Shared A Sweet Father’s Day Post With A Family Photo
One Thing Will Likely Be Very Different About Johnny Depp's Next Lawsuit Over Alleged Assault On Set
Michael J. Fox Opens Up About The Acting Difficulties He's Facing These Days After Long Fight With Parkinson's
Top Gun: Maverick's Glen Powell Recalls Chowing Down After Finally Filming The Shirtless Beach Scene, And The Bad News They Got Immediately After
Turbo Cola Review: More than a Clerks Heist Film
A smitten convenience store clerk and his stoner best friend conspire to rob the Quality Mart's ATM on the eve of Y2K. Turbo Cola is an indie coming-of-age dramedy about wanting to escape the confines of a small town. Based on the play "New Year's Eve at the Stop-N-Go" by Samantha Oty, the listless characters face high school graduation with different expectations. Their hopes and dreams cross paths with reality as the plan does not go smoothly. Turbo Cola dips with a few lulls but regains its footing for an interesting climax. The film has an honest outcome that reflects life's awkward truths.
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Patricia Heaton Responds (Again) After Director Explains Why Tim Allen's Not In Lightyear
After Amber Heard Claimed Evidence Was Suppressed In Trial, Johnny Depp's And Her Spokesperson Exchange Words
Tom Hanks Addresses His Role In Philadelphia And Whether He'd Play A Gay Lead Character Today
Mike Tyson Weighs In On Will Smith Slapping Chris Rock At The Oscars
Christina Ricci Explains Why She Stayed Naked On The Set Of Black Snake Moan, And How It Empowered Her
Chris Pratt's Wife Katherine Schwarzenegger Shares Sweet Photos Of Their Second Baby And Continues A Tradition She Started With Her First Kid
Amber Heard Claims A Piece Of Evidence That Was Suppressed In Johnny Depp Defamation Trial Could Have Changed The Outcome
The Black Phone Reviews Are In, See What Critics Are Saying About Ethan Hawke's New Horror Flick
After Buying His Mom A House, The Rock Purchased One For His Cousin, And There’s Heartwarming Footage
After Introducing The World To Her Girlfriend, Rebel Wilson Is Sharing Sweet Vacation Pics
While We Wait For The Next Planet Of The Apes Movie, The Sci-Fi Franchise Is Returning In A Cool Way
Is Chris Hemsworth Still Interested In Doing A Star Trek Sequel With Chris Pine? Here’s What He Says
Top Gun: Maverick’s Miles Teller Reacts To His Shirtless Dance Going Viral
After First Look At Ryan Gosling As Ken In The Barbie Movie Drops, His Wife Eva Mendes Created The Perfect Hashtag
Welp, Following Johnny Depp And Amber Heard's Defamation Trial, One Organization Says The Pirates Star Owes A Whole Lot Of Moolah In Legal Fees
Indiana Jones 5’s Antonio Banderas Reveals His Reaction To Seeing Harrison Ford On Set
Sounds Like Zac Efron's New Movie Gig Will Require Him To Stay Super Ripped
Val Kilmer Shares Sweet Top Gun: Maverick Throwback About Tom Cruise
Responses To Ryan Gosling's Chiseled Ab Ken In Barbie Are Here, And I've Already Got The Popcorn Out
Ryan Grantham Plead Guilty To Killing His Mother, While Also Revealing His Plans To Kill Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
‘Lightyear’ – To Mediocrity … and Beyond!
Pixar isn’t a run-of-the-mill animation studio.
The Disney-owned company’s work is routinely sublime, if not sensational. And it’s more than Pixar’s jaw-dropping animation that sets it apart. The studio delivers fully-realized tales that entrance young and old with equal fervor.
And then there’s “Lightyear.”
The film, an attempt to extend the “Toy Story” franchise, is Pixar in visuals only. The story is shockingly weak, the “wacky” characters won’t be remembered for long. Only a digitized cat makes an impression, and it’s still one of the lesser sidekick figures from Pixar lore.
Tim Allen, overlooked in favor of a younger, more progressive Buzz Lightyear voice, dodged a bullet.
Chris Evans is now the voice of Buzz Lightyear, the toy that co-anchored four wonderful “Toy Story” films. Except he’s not a toy but a Space Ranger exploring strange new worlds.
“Lightyear,” we’re told, is the movie that inspired the Buzz toy in the first place.
Buzz and fellow Space Ranger Hawthorne Alisha Hawthorne (Uzo Aduba) land on a dangerous planet teeming with snake-like critters. Their escape from said planet damages their turnip-shaped space craft (yes, that’s one of many bland recurring gags) and they’re stuck far away from home.
To escape, Buzz attempts a risky maneuver that, unbeknownst to him, takes four years to complete even though only a few hours pass for him. So when he tries, and fails, everyone back on the planet has aged four long years upon his return.
So he tries the same stunt again, and again, and suddenly his peers have grown old and passed on.
What a tortured way to start a movie.
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Buzz eventually teams with three space rookies, including Hawthorne’s granddaughter (Keke Palmer) and a crusty ex-con (Dale Soules) to find a new way to go back home.
Remember, the film’s entire plot involves our hero attempting to leave a strange planet. That’s it.
It doesn’t help that this Buzz isn’t as funny or charismatic as Allen’s version. Evans’ Buzz is hyper-driven by the task at hand, slightly arrogant but amenable to change.
In short, he’s a bore. The film isn’t much better, with a narrative that’s both bland and too complicated for the young viewers best suited to this material.
More shocking? The comic relief can’t bring the funny as expected. The most disappointing? Taika Waititi as a dimwitted soul always a few thoughts behind his peers.
Waititi can steal a scene in his sleep, but his lukewarm material betrays him.
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Voice acting isn’t as easy as it looks. What Tom Hanks and Allen brought to the “Toy Story” franchise is something special, a partnership that proved the essential glue for that Pixar franchise. Evans can’t compete, but the screenplay is mostly to blame.
The best part of “Lightyear” is Sox, a robotic cat voiced by Peter Sohn. Sox becomes not just Buzz’s steady companion but the screenwriters’ trick for getting our heroes out of tight jams atop.
R2-D2 was never this versatile.
Yes, “Lightyear” trots out generic life lessons, the kind that landed better in previous Pixar stories. Here, the Big Picture moments (lean on your friends!) are underscored and highlighted, plus the screenplay repeats them enough that even a snoozing parent can’t miss them.
The film arrives with plenty of pre-release buzz thanks to its same-sex buss. Suffice to say the moment isn’t necessary and the romance attached to it is the only romantic coupling in the film. The subplot, to be blunt, feels inorganic.
Same-sex couples deserve representation in a more natural fashion.
It’s no spoiler to say “Lightyear” looks stupendous, and director Angus MacLane (“Finding Dory”) squeezes every last pixel from the movie’s lush landscapes. It’s still a generic space romp unworthy of what many consider the most impressive film studio around.
HiT or Miss: “Lightyear” is a paint-by-numbers extension of the “Toy Story” brand, watchable but nothing more.
The post ‘Lightyear’ – To Mediocrity … and Beyond! appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.
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Good Luck to You, Leo Grande Review: A Refreshing Change of Intimate Perspective
A prudish retired schoolteacher hires a male escort after a lifetime of failed intimacy. Good Luck to You, Leo Grande is a body-positive charmer from a delightfully fresh perspective. Cinema rarely explores the wants and needs of older women. The protagonist's goal for physical satisfaction cannot be achieved without crossing personal boundaries of guilt and shame. Conversely, a prostitute's services are momentary fantasies. The desire for something more shatters the agreed-upon illusion. The characters are in a transactional relationship. The film embraces honest sexuality from an all-encompassing viewpoint.
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The Equalizer 3 Is Reuniting Denzel Washington With A Famous Co-Star After Nearly Two Decades
Rachel Zegler's Hunger Games Prequel Is Reuniting The Actress With A West Side Story Costar
Stephen King Reveals Early Criticism He Got That’s Always Stuck With Him
God’s Favorite Idiot Review: A Deeply Flawed Apocalyptic Workplace Comedy
The movie and television world is no stranger to the prospects of the apocalypse and the downfall of society as it currently functions. Whether it is a beloved teenage series like Divergent, The Maze Runner, or The Hunger Games, a world overrun by zombies, or a black comedy like This Is the End, this has become its genre reaching across decades and finding light and humanity even in the darkest moments. But what happens when a disgruntled tech worker has to be that source of light? No computer or monitor can save the Earth except this one man. That is the story of Netflix’s newest comedy series God’s Favorite Idiot.
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Amber Heard Shares Feelings About ‘Love’ She Says She Still Has For Johnny Depp After All That Happened In Court Over The Last Several Years
Johnny Depp’s Lawyer Explains That Viral Fist Bump After Amber Heard Mentioned Kate Moss During The Defamation Trial
Ahead Of Chris Evans' Lightyear Hitting Theaters, Patricia Heaton Shares Brutally Honest Thoughts On Tim Allen Being Replaced
Gwyneth Paltrow And Brad Pitt Admit They Still Love Each Other While Reminiscing About Famous Romance
‘Terror on the Prairie’ Brings the Old-School Western Roaring Back to Life
The American Dream circa 2022 is a white picket fence, a steady paycheck and enough leisure time to enjoy the fruits of one’s labor.
For Gina Carano’s character in “Terror on the Prairie,” it’s living off the cold, barren land to keep the family fed. It’s not easy, and that’s before a band of outlaws arrives on her doorstep.
That setup gives way to a throwback western echoing themes that make the genre timeless.
- Hard work
- Sacrifice
- Humility
- Patience
And, for Carano’s character, a willingness to do whatever it takes to protect your brood.
Carano stars as Hattie McAllister, a St. Louis native now living on an isolated ranch with her husband, Jeb (MMA star Cowboy Cerrone). She’s miserable and longs to reunite with her family on friendlier terrain, but Jeb insists they stick to the plan.
It’s their land, their home, and she’s got the grit to make it all work, he assures her. Only Hattie isn’t convinced. They have two young children and she spends her days swaddled in layers to beat back the chill.
Hattie puts those worries aside when four men arrive on her property, eager for water and hospitality. Their real intentions are far more sinister, forcing Hattie to defend her family, and home, against them.
The film opens with a riveting look at the film’s baddies, led by a never-better Nick Searcy. From there we see how the McAllisters live day-to-day, a bracing portrait of frontier life.
It ain’t pretty.
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Y C A R A N O (@ginajcarano)
“Terror on the Prairie” is a Daily Wire original produced by veteran filmmaker Dallas Sonnier. Like the platform’s previous films there’s little overtly political on screen. A closer look reveals themes that resonate with western fans and right-leaning Americans alike.
The film celebrates maternal strength and masculinity … with no disclaimers like “toxic” thrown into the mix. It’s about defending one’s land and family, and that spirit extends to the film’s spectacular villain.
Kudos to screenwriter Josiah Nelson for fleshing out Captain Miller’s nuanced backstory.
None of these themes would feel out of place two decades ago, or even one. Now, given Hollywood’s woke makeover, these qualities leap off the screen.
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Director Michael Polish (“Twin Falls Idaho,” 2020’s “Force of Nature”) luxuriates in classic western visuals without copy-and-pasting the film’s aesthetic. The natural Montana climes do some of the heavy lifting, but Nelson’s script enhances that authentic veneer. It’s some of the best western dialogue since “Bone Tomahawk,” also produced by Sonnier.
The film isn’t as aggressively bloody as that 2015 shocker, but it has its moments.
Searcy’s Captain Miller gets the juiciest dialogue, a deft blend of chivalry and threats that amplify his cruelty.
How The Daily Wire Uncanceled Gina Carano, Star Of ‘Terror On The Prairie’ https://t.co/3jCJnLt0wz pic.twitter.com/Ul9fdaa5lb
— DW Entertainment (@DailyWireEnt) June 14, 2022
This isn’t a gaggle of movie stars with pearly white teeth going through the motions. This is frontier living at its most elemental, and it adds gravitas to the unfolding events.
Searcy often plays authority figures, but his Captain Miller is both cunning and tragic. The “Gosnell” alum wisely avoids any scenery-chewing moments. His menace flows from quoting Bible verses before punishing his victims. He lets his threatening body language do the rest.
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Tyler Fischer, Captain Miller’s right-hand goon, isn’t allowed to exploit his signature humor enough, and that’s a mistake. Good thing his character’s cackle and manic energy make him pop even when he’s in the background.
“Terror on the Prairie” lags a bit in the middle thanks to a protracted stand-off. Perhaps a bigger budget would let the production insert flashbacks or other scenes to enhance the story. Otherwise, the film charges forward, letting us marvel at how Hattie improvises on her children’s behalf.
One unexpected element? The characters shoot, and shoot, and rarely hit their targets. It’s a more realistic version of Wild West gunplay that offers another layer of realism.
“Terror on the Prairie” fails the Bechdel Test, and miserably so. Who cares? Carano is the main attraction, and she refuses to let Hattie become yet another Mary Sue superstar. Hattie struggles to deal with a snake threat early in the film, but events force her to become more resourceful, and cunning.
Carano isn’t interested in girl power theatrics or showing us that women can do precisely what men can. Hattie is a mother first and foremost, and she’ll feed her toddler breast milk while planning the next salvo against Captain Miller’s crew.
That’s real empowerment, beyond how Carano stood up to woke Hollywood and only became a bigger star. And it’s one of many reasons why “Terror on the Prairie” is a first-rate western.
HiT or Miss: “Terror on the Prairie” has it all, from a hissable villain to a heroine who doesn’t turn into Jane Bourne by the third act.
EDITOR’s NOTE: This critic is a contributor to The Daily Wire
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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Mid-Season Review: A Stellar Sci-Fi Adventure
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has achieved a remarkable feat. Fandom is united in fawning praise at the mid-season mark. That's unheard of for such a disparate audience. Akin to a bunch of Klingons sharing the last goblet of Bloodwine or containing troublesome Tribbles in a box. The show successfully hearkens back to the original's theme of episodic exploration without sacrificing character depth. Creators Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman, and Jenny Lumet have learned to stoke a fire without overheating. We've had perfect slices of action, humor, and genuine camaraderie from a nascent crew destined for greatness.
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Spiderhead Review: A Mostly Successful Netflix Mind-Trip
Top Gun: Maverick aces, director Joseph Kosinksi and star Miles Teller, fly high again in a twisted psychotropic thriller. Based on The New Yorker short story by George Saunders, Spiderhead has a conniving scientist testing mind-altering drugs in a remote prison facility. There are no cells or locked doors. The convicts are free to roam and interact. The catch is that they are volunteers for clinical trials. Subject to lust, laughter, and aggression at the tap of a button. Spiderhead saps the capacity for self-control and free will. It's a disturbing and somewhat comical head trip set to a rocking eighties soundtrack.
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Was Timothy Dalton the Best, Most Accurate James Bond?
Has enough time gone by that we can finally give Timothy Dalton his due at playing James Bond?
While the Ian Fleming-created franchise, one of the longest running in cinema, is currently in a hibernation period, and the search for The Next 007 is currently ongoing, I’d like fans to take another look at the fourth actor to play James Bond.
(Well, the fifth, if you count Barry Nelson in the 1954 “Casino Royale” TV movie).
John Glen’s “The Living Daylights” (1987) was Dalton’s first vehicle as Bond, after Roger Moore stepped away from the unliked but wildly popular “A View to a Kill” (1985) and series icon Sean Connery had embarked on the enormously successful third act of his long film career.
Dalton was a respected but unknown film and theater actor (his appearance in the 1980 cult classic “Flash Gordon” was arguably his most well-known turn prior to 007).
Once Dalton exited the role in ’89 and the Pierce Brosnan era kicked in, it gave fans a chance to grouse about the “dark, moody” quality that Dalton brought. The actor always shows up on lists of the least liked in the franchise to have played Bond.
For longtime fans of Fleming and anyone who truly appreciated Dalton’s two 007 vehicles, it’s time to consider that Dalton belongs in the company of the Best of Bond…if not the very top spot. Before you let that get you all shaken and stirred, it might be time to revisit Dalton’s excellent turn in “The Living Daylights.”
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In the great pre-title opener, Dalton’s Bond is a participant in a NATO training exercise that is infiltrated by Russians. Not for the first time during the sequence, Bond falls from above and enters the frame like a clipped Icaurus, landing atop a fancy yacht, where a woman is declaring into an early cell phone,
“It’s all so boring here in Morocco…nothing but playboys and tennis pros…if only I could find a real man.”
Yet, when Bond turns up, he appears amused instead of aroused by sex (unlike his predecessor Roger Moore, who played the character like an insatiable horn dog).
It begins in Czechoslovakia, as this USSR-era Bond is assigned to rescuing General Koskov, played by Jeroen Krabbe. Bond then encounters Olivia D’Abo’s Kara, a KGB assassin and cellist. Bond poses as Koskov’s friend, in order to obtain information from Kara about him.
It brings to mind the moment I saw this in the theater with my parents and I turned to my mom and asked, “Why is James Bond kissing the Bad Guy?” My Mom’s reply – “We don’t know, we’re trying to figure that out.” There’s also a fake defector. The plot is really confusing.
FAST FACT: “The Living Daylights” earned $51 million at the U.S. box office. Its predecessor, Roger Moore’s “A View to a Kill,” generated $50 million.
The villains are silly, with Krabbe (who has shined far more before and since) as Koskov and joined by Necros, a Simon de Bond lookalike who often strangles opponents to death with a Walkman head phones, played by character actor Andreas Wisniewski.
John Rhys Davies has a great fake death scene and D’Abo plays Kara as the damsel in distress that so many “Bond girls” of that era were, as the strong female characters in the series wouldn’t arrive until the 1990s. D’Abo’s’s last line and the film’s closer is Kara exclaiming, “Oh, James!”
This is a transitional Bond film, as veteran director Glen, franchise composer John Barry and character actor MVP’s Bernard Lee (as M) and Desmond Llewelyn (as Q) are still on hand. We meet the new Moneypenny, played by Caroline Bliss (replacing Lois Maxwell), who fails to seduce Bond with her Barry Manilow collection (I’m not kidding).
We briefly run in with Felix Leiter, played by one and done John Terry.
The stunts are doubly impressive for being CGI-free and so visibly dangerous. Yes, that’s real fire in one sequence, something you never see in movies anymore. Interestingly, both Dalton and Pierce Brosnan’s introductory moments have them dropping down to the Earth from high, like gods falling to Earth, symbolizing the actor’s career ascensions.
Barry’s drum-machine-enhanced orchestral score works and so does the cool title track from A-Ha (though it doesn’t live up to the MTV-injected heights of Duran Duran’s “A View to a Kill”). Maurice Binder’s cool title sequence, an overlapping of striking imagery, is devoid of the miasma of CGI that has dominated these portions lately.
Dalton is intense, dark, suave and mean. This is the Fleming character, minus the crackling charisma of Sean Connery, the what-am-I-doing-here affability of George Lazenby and the detached demeanor of a game show host that plagued the later installments of Roger Moore.
Dalton’s approach has a great deal in common with Daniel Craig’s, though even more so, as Dalton aims to make the character as plausible as possible. Even the signature “Shaken, not stirred” signature line sounds like a real drink order coming from him.
“The Living Daylights” is brisk and takes off immediately. The title comes from Bond’s observation about Kara, an incorrect assumption after grazing her from afar with a bullet: “Whoever she was, it must have scared the living daylights out of her.”
The main villain turns out to be an arms dealer played by Joe Don Baker, having a peculiar summer – he also played the head of secret agency that assigns Bill Cosby in the mega-turkey “Leonard Part 6,” which opened five months later. Baker’s cheerful nut is shown having a gallery of life-sized dummies of the likes of Hitler and Napoleon, except they all look like him.
Of the action sequences, there’s a great kitchen fight scene that doesn’t even involve Bond. My favorite is the car chase in 007’s extraordinary, gadget-stacked vehicle, which becomes a low-tech sled down a hill atop a musical instrument.
A villain’s fake passport name for Bond, their prisoner: Jerzy Bondon. Oh, the indignity.
At another point, Bond stabs a bag, tastes the knife and declares, “Opium.” I’m no narcotics expert and I realize it’s an old movie cliché to do this, but shouldn’t Bond be tripping out over a taste of opium?
There’s a lovely scene in Vienna and, because Bond only has eyes for Kara during the film (minus the yacht babe from the prelude), many have deemed this the “romantic” Bond entry. That’s not the case at all and I suspect anyone who states that hasn’t seen “The Living Daylights” since the 1980s.
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Yes, we see James Bond on a date (this is likely the first time 007 has exuded courtship since “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”) and there’s a sweetness that Dalton portrays, but it’s just the character doing his job and playing the part. the way Bond comes onto Kara in the Ferris Wheel is aggressive by today’s standards but, all political correctness aside, felt uncomfortable in 1987.
There’s also the brutal moment much late on, when Bond tears the clothes off a woman (in front of her husband, no less) and orders her to stand nude and still, as a distraction, while he kills disarmed assailants.
It’s truly ugly business, akin to Sean Connery’s Bond strangling a woman with her bikini in “Diamonds Are Forever” (1971). I mention these moments not to condemn “The Living Daylights” but to affirm why Dalton is the best 007 and why this is one of the best in the series: for lack of a better word, James Bond is a real bastard.
Most of these films counter this with glamour, showmanship and sex appeal. However, 007 is an awful human being and neither Dalton nor “The Living Daylights” romanticizes him.
Yes, there’s something enticing about playing a man in control of every situation, able to speak every language, physically and mentally capable of coming out on top (pun intended) of every scenario. Yet, Bond is also ruthless, cruel and alone.
Sure, he looks great in a tux, has a one-liner ready and plays a mean game of Baccarat but he’s abhorrent, with a License to Kill to boot. Dalton gives us the clearest glimpse of what Bond is really like.
Whereas other actors have interpreted him, this is James Bond.
FAST FACT: Ian Fleming is best known for penning 12 James Bond novels. He also wrote the children’s book “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” which became the beloved 1968 film starring Dick Van Dyke, Sally Ann Howes and Benny Hill.
While “The Living Daylights” may sport the perfect Bond, it’s not the perfect 007 thriller. A big reason is the third act, which begins with 007 and Kara as prisoners in a Russian airbase in Afghanistan. This portion goes on too long, padding the 130-minute running time and losing focus, though that’s far from the worst thing about it.
Bond befriends Kamran Shah, a prisoner/desert warrior played by Art Malick (who later played the villain in “True Lies”). It turns out that Shah is the leader of the Afghan Mujahideen, who, history tells us, would later become the Taliban.
This sequence ends with Bond dropping a bomb on a Russian tank, while the Mujahideen on horseback praise him as he flies off. The angle of Bond assisting future terrorists is, oddly enough, the same regrettable plot twist that would be incorporated into “Rambo III” a year later.
Once 007 is airborne, the movie also regains its footing and hits us with an extraordinary stunt sequence, where Dalton’s stunt double has a fist fight with a henchman inside and outside of a military plane losing altitude.
Dalton returned to the role only once, in the ahead-of-its-time “License to Kill” (1989), which was heavy and violent enough to be the first 007 film to merit a PG-13 rating.
The poor box office of that film and contract negotiations falling through with Dalton led to the 007 films going on hiatus, until Brosnan stepped in and the films themselves became critic hits and box office blockbusters.
While the Brosnan films are as exciting and enjoyable, they are cheeky in the way the Moore films were and became campier with each entry. By the time we arrive on Brosnan’s 007 swan song, “Die Another Day” (2002), we get an ice castle and Bond driving an invisible car.
When Daniel Craig took over the role in 2006, many noted that the series was taking a welcome turn into tougher, grittier material…but the truth is that Dalton got there first, decades earlier.
It’s time to revisit “The Living Daylights,” dust off Dalton’s license to kill and consider that his ahead-of-its-time interpretation may not have lasted past the 1980s but has an edge that works even better today.
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The Janes Review: Fighting for Abortion Rights Before Roe v. Wade
Once, in the United States, it was fairly easy for women to get abortions. Some may say it was a common occurrence in colonial America for those who could access it, but by the mid-1800s, it became illegal in almost every state. What ensued in the decades after the criminalization of abortion would be a long, arduous fight between those who thought it was their right to have an abortion and those who saw it as a threat to their religious beliefs. Protestors in the 1960s began a domino effect, and, in 1973, the monumental Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade declared that states could not completely ban access to abortions.
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“Breakdown’ – A Surprise Sleeper in ’97, a Masterpiece Today
Jonathan Mostow’s “Breakdown” (1997) stars Kurt Russell and Kathleen Quinlan as Jeff and Amy Taylor, a Massachusetts couple on a road trip and moving to San Diego.
The opening credits set the tone properly, as composer Basil Poledouris’ percussive score, perfectly matched by the lines of a road map, taking us into dry, unforgiving desert vistas and barren roads. The first scene shows Amy, while Jeff takes his eyes off the road for just a second and nearly hits a truck.
The tension begins at a gas station and never ceases for the remainder of the film.
A tense, seemingly random encounter with Earl (M.C. Gainey), a truck driver at a gas station, is the first thing to go wrong for the Taylors. Then the Taylors’ Grand Jeep Cherokee has a breakdown on the side of the road, leading them to putting faith in a total stranger named “Red” (J.T. Walsh) and trusting that everything will turn out fine, as it usually does for this couple.
The Taylors are driving a nice, expensive vehicle but aren’t familiar with cars and are used to comfort. They’re about to have the worst 24 hours of their lives.
Echoes of “Duel” (1971), “The Vanishing” (1988), “The Hitcher” (1986) and, much later, “Joy Ride” (2001) and “Red Lights”(2004) come to mind. Mostow, who authored the story and co-wrote the screenplay with Sam Montgomery, threw out any line or moment that could have come across as padded or unnecessary.
There’s simply no filler here, as every scene has a purpose.
The seemingly needless, tossed off detail of a $90,000.00 jackpot on the side of a donut wrapper becomes a key plot thread in the second act. Mostow is telling us to watch closely and embrace the desperate, wide-eyed perspective of Russell’s character.
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Russell is an ideal Everyman. He has kind eyes that convey vulnerability, but he’s tough enough to be believable when Jeff finds the will to fight back. Like the comparably lean and exhilarating “The Fugitive” (1993), it never leaves the perspective of its tortured protagonist, and, for a brief spell, we question Jeff the same way we’re initially not 100 percent sure about Dr. Richard Kimball.
Here, Jeff doesn’t have the equivalent of a Lt. Sam Gerard to promise that justice will eventually prevail. Jeff is on his own. The bank scene is an exercise in Hitchcockian visual paranoia: note the camera angles that seem to be judging Jeff.
A very long time passes before our hero gets the upper hand and, even then, never has much of an advantage. Jeff is up against the most loathsome villains since the crew that shot up Officer Alex J. Murphy in “RoboCop” (1987).
A disturbing touch that stands out – once Jeff enters the villain’s lair, such as it is, it’s not out of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (1974) or resembling a war room or the den of a serial killer. Nope, its plain, ordinary and homey.
The “bad guys” of “Breakdown” are especially unsettling because they’re recognizable, out in the open and carefree about what they do.
Walsh, the late, magnificent character actor, is terrifying, cold, imposing and mysterious as Red; in other words, the perfect villain. Because Walsh isn’t playing the talking killer, we lean in every time he utters a word.
Watch him closely during the third act scenes set in a barn – even without dialog, Walsh is conveying so much. Walsh died at the age of 54 in 1998. “Breakdown” was one of his last great performances. As actors go, he was one of our best. Also noteworthy is Gainey, perfectly scary and every bit as essential to pulling us in as Walsh.
“Breakdown” was one of the best films produced by Martha and Dino DeLaurentis during this period. The last name tends to bring up memories of big budget flops/cult classics like “King Kong” (1976), “Flash Gordon” (1980) and “Dune” (1984). However, this was a good era for them, as other worthy works included “Army of Darkness” and “Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story” (both 1993).
“Breakdown” opened early in the summer of 1997, and emerged a sleeper hit with legs that stuck around via great word of mouth.
FAST FACT: “Breakdown” earned a solid $50 million at the US box office in 1997. That year’s biggest hit? “Men in Black” with $250 million.
The film was acclaimed in ’97 but feels today like a tight-as-a-drum masterpiece. Nevertheless, I’ve only watched it a few times, as it has always succeeded in putting me in a total state of anxiety.
Here’s a crazy thing to admit: whenever I watch this, it has to be from start to finish, as I can’t bear to leave it at the midpoint and not see Jeff’s journey through to the end, both because of how good the film is and because I don’t want to abandon Russell.
Mostow’s film creates a feeling of dread that is almost unbearable and unrelenting. Aside from the antiquated cell phone and use of a phone book, nothing here feels dated.
An early scene where Jeff goers to Belle’s Diner and can’t find his wife concludes with a crane shot that indicates the total isolation Jeff is feeling. Everything the 1994 American remake of “The Vanishing” did wrong, “Breakdown” does right.
Mostow’s film has editing, sound design, cinematography and pacing that are as superb as the performances.
Here is a terrific collection of character actors, all ideally and wisely assigned: Rex Linn as the trying-to-be-helpful Sheriff and Jack McGee as the nice-until-pushed diner owner are especially vivid.
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The first act set-up grabs us because nothing feels inevitable – we know the villain is Walsh’s Red and we’ve seen him drive away with Jeff’s wife but…did Jeff somehow get the wrong guy?
Unlike in “The Vanishing,” the villain isn’t established right away, and we’re stuck with Russell’s sympathetic but kind of annoying protagonist – we’re getting to know him in the midst of a crisis and can’t always trust his choices or the mild arrogance in which he presents himself to the locals.
We’re initially unsure if Amy’s disappearance is a big conspiracy (as we, like Jeff, begin to distrust all the good ole’ boy figures in the plot) or if a crime has only been committed by just a couple of characters. For a film with familiar plot elements (the “Duel” comparison is especially deserving), the audience won’t get ahead of the story any more than Russell’s Jeff will outthink his opponents.
As blood thirsty and crowd pleasing as the final moment is, the film, earns it. There’s a final detail that bugs me about the last scene: is it really over for the antagonist and will the cops believe his side of the story?
After all, considering where Mostow concludes the narrative, doesn’t the evidence in view present more questions than answers? It seems “Breakdown,’ even once it ends, never loosens its agonizing hold on us.
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‘Jurassic World Dominion’ – Bloated Blockbuster Wraps Trilogy on Weak Note
Remember the water-ripple scene from “Jurassic Park?”
That image of a shuddering cup – stark and terrifying – captured the awe of seeing dinosaurs in a way no previous film could deliver.
Gone are the days when CGI raptors can fill us with awe. Still, 2015’s “Jurassic World” brought dinosaurs back as a sizable menace. The reboot has aged remarkably well, even if the immediate sequel, “Fallen Kingdom,” squandered that goodwill.
“Jurassic World Dominion,” the third film in the second trilogy, thinks “more is better” in almost every way.
- More heroes!
- More cool dinosaurs!
- More subplots!
It leaves us woozy and eager for the saga to take a knee. Even the return of the three heroes from the 1993 original can’t make “Dominion” anything more than a busy franchise extension.
Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are back as Owen and Claire, the mismatched heroes from “World” now settled in as a happy couple.
Except now the dinosaurs who brought them together in “Jurassic World” are … everywhere. They’ve transcended oceans and country borders like a certain virus, and you can see a prehistoric beast in your neighborhood if the timing is just right.
That’s assuming you live through the encounter.
It’s a fascinating setup that might be better served by a serialized format. Instead, “Dominion” drills down on a single, meandering menace. Oversized locusts are ravaging farms across the globe, and a massive food shortage is inevitable.
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Enter Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), the heroine from “Jurassic Park” whose background as a soil expert overlaps with the locust threat. She corrals her old beau and research partner Alan Grant (Sam Neill, who looks puzzled to be here from start to finish) to learn more about the invasion.
That leads them back to Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), the third member of their dino troupe. He’s part of a Big Pharma company called Biosyn with possible ties to the food crisis. Campbell Scott, channeling Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates, is the visionary behind the group, and we’re told in near-record time he can’t be trusted.
Why bother with a mystery when we’re here for raptors, right?
This critic is exhausted just setting the plot in motion, and that isn’t everything we need to know from the jump.
Owen and Claire are the surrogate parents to a sullen teen (Isabella Sermon) from “Fallen Kingdom” whose DNA holds its own secrets.
All the various plot threads do intertwine, but only in ways that give director/co-writer Colin Trevorrow (who helmed the excellent “Jurassic World”) a chance to show off his CGI treasures.
“Dominion” doesn’t go five minutes without a dinosaur scampering across the screen. More often than not, they’re chasing one of our collection of heroes, a group including newcomer DeWanda Wise as a Han Solo clone.
There’s an undeniable nostalgia boost seeing Dern, Neill and Goldblum again, and each has aged as gracefully as Mother Nature allows. It’s still filled with, “oh, aren’t you the famous so-and-so” dialogue and other meta moments that stop the story cold.
Grab a reunion brew off screen, team.
The script, credited to Trevorrow and Emily Carmichael, teeters between pedestrian and pure cringe. The challenging themes riffed on in past “Jurassic” films get name checked here, but don’t expect anything fresh or revelatory. This is Sequel 101, and dang if they don’t stick closely to that formula.
Dern is the liveliest of the bunch, while Goldblum isn’t given enough weighty riffs to merit his screen time.
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Trevorrow keeps the pace at breakneck speed, which reaps one bravura sequence mid-movie that’s almost worth the price of admission. Our heroes are on the run, again, but the exhilarating pace and sharp edits give the sequence a jolt.
It’s why we pay good money for summer blockbusters.
That intensity never lets up, even if the ingenuity flags. The novelty of seeing humans outrun dinosaurs again, and again, lets us know the dramatic stakes are minimal, at best.
By the time the third act, arrives, exhaustion has set in. Let’s wrap it up, folks. You’ll struggle to remember why the heroes are running hither and yon, and that’s never a good sign. This story can’t sustain that bloated running time modern blockbusters require.
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The film opens with promise, showcasing a thrilling water attack and, later, Owen roping dinos like so many restless Mustangs. That sense of adventure slowly seeps from the film as the various plots emerge.
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The film’s creative team attempted to paint “Dominion” as another woke affair in the press. The results are mixed on screen, although the progressive content doesn’t drag down the adventure.
It’s clear, though, that the stars’ hunger to send a message outweighed telling a story for the ages.
Wise’s wisecracking pilot meanders into Mary Sue territory, and the script rushes her story arc in a way that does her a disservice. Still, she’s not lecturing her fellow heroes and Wise packs enough screen presents to make her addition a net plus.
Sadly, the franchise’s signature humor is in short supply, as is the notion that female characters don’t have to be as uniformly brave as the fellas. One sequence finds Dern and Howard recoiling at a locust swarm.
Icky!
They quickly shrug it off to go back to Commando Mode.
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Howard and Pratt, the stars of the “World” trilogy, get much less screen time in “Dominion.” They still manage a few heartfelt moments together, making the reunion gimmick briefly feel like a mistake.
It’s odd to see the couple who spent three movies fleeing dinosaurs try so hard to save every last one. And can we retire Blue, the raptor who Owen trained in the first film? It’s a dinosaur, for crying out loud, not a scene-stealing puppy.
Owen’s training shtick is similarly tired. Every time he holds out his hand to control a raptor it gets sillier. Just don’t try his maneuver with your neighbor’s dog. It may not end well.
We’re at the point in the “Jurassic World” franchise where the snickers outweigh the intentional laughs.
HiT or Miss: “Jurassic World Dominion” is paint-by-numbers entertainment, and that’s a shame given the saga’s significant legacy.
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Ms. Marvel Premiere Review: The MCU Seen through a Snapchat Filter
The Marvel Cinematic Universe hits a Gen Z bullseye with a superhero tailor-made for teenage social media stardom. Ms. Marvel can best be described as the MCU through a Snapchat filter. Our sixteen-year-old, Pakistani-American heroine daydreams about cosplay conventions and cute boys; while dealing with restrictive parents and adhering to her Islamic faith. Ms. Marvel breaks new ground with its culturally diverse and practical depiction of female adolescence. We've certainly never seen a superhero praying in a mosque or talking about her period. The problem is that the first two episodes feel lifeless despite the barrage of bells and whistles. The textbook narrative could have been written by a bot with a checklist.
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