Colin Trevorrow’s “Jurassic World Dominion” is simultaneously the worst James Bond film, the worst Indiana Jones film, and the worst film of the entire “Jurassic Park/Jurassic World” series. So much of this film’s screenplay (written by Emily Carmichael and Trevorrow) is a pastiche of Bond film, Indiana Jones rip-offs, and call backs to Steven Spielberg’s original “Jurassic Park,” each scene ... more >
ARCHIVES
“JURASSIC WORLD DOMINION”; for all the promise it held the third film in the franchise failed to go off | REVIEW
Produced by Amblin Entertainment and Perfect World Pictures
Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard and Jeff Goldblum
Directed by Colin Trevorrow
MY DIRTY LITTLE SECRET: I LOVE WESTERNS (BUT “THE KID” MISSES THE MARK)
Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, and Vincent D'Onofrio all previously starred together in another western, "The Magnificent Seven"
Starring Jake Schur, Leila George and Chris Pratt
Directed by Vincent D'Onofrio
I must divulge two important facts. The first one is that the Western is my favorite film genre, and the second, my favorite Western (and third favorite film ever made) is Sam Peckinpah’s “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid,” starring James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson (1973). I am of the opinion that Peckinpah’s work on that film is profound and special, and impossible to match. To this, I admit that ... more >
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
More seven than magnificent
Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt and Vincent D'Onofrio
Directed by Antoine Fuqua
Less a modern Western than an inside look at Hollywood’s fragile psychology, the film “The Magnificent Seven” is a lesson in the way that the movies think at the moment. It’s an encouraging thing, and a more honest historical assessment, to re-create an Old West posse with minorities in major roles. It’s another thing to be so perfectly, comically and distractingly fancied up with diversity that a ... more >
Time-tested franchises are making a comeback
The seventies, eighties and nineties are back
The eighties, what an awesome decade. M.J. was the king of pop, "Egyptian lover" was rocking the airwaves and Bill Cosby was everyone’s favorite grand-daddy. What a difference thirty years makes. A wave of something is sweeping through the film industry and a glut of sequels inspired by the seventies’, eighties’ and nineties’ most famous franchises is looming large. Is it nostalgia or a lack ... more >
BOOM KAPOW | IT’S GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
Are C.G. asteroid sets under timeshare agreement?
Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana and Bradley Cooper
Directed by James Gunn
As a critic it’s important to remember that there have always been bad movies. While Godard was at his peak and Arthur Penn and Warren Beatty were making "Bonnie and Clyde," Hollywood was unrolling horrible Cold War spoofs and beach blanket movies. The bad fade. The good last. It gets really hard sometimes. I tried to keep that in mind while suffering through "Guardians of the Galaxy," the ... more >