Jurassic World Dominion

“Now eventually you do plan to have dinosaurs in your dinosaur movie, right?”

As the (alleged) finale of its franchise, Jurassic World Dominion clearly wants to be a bigger, better movie than its two predecessors.  It expands its scope by letting the dinosaurs run rampant across the globe, and what’s at stake is that reliable old chestnut, the survival of mankind.  But these attempts at escalation backfire, cheapening the dinosaurs as well as the plot.  By making the dinosaurs a part of everyday life, the movie robs them of their mystique; and by threatening us with an ending far too bleak for such a corporate piece of filmmaking, it renders the stakes non-existent. 

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Star Wars: The Last Jedi

last jedi

Welcome back, readers!  I hope you all had a happy holiday, and consider this a moderate spoiler warning.

Let me start by saying this: I didn’t like The Force Awakens.  I found it to be a shameless rip-off of A New Hope, as well as the embodiment of the most cynical accusations ever leveled against the series, helmed by none other than marketing genius and professional franchise-milker J.J. Abrams.  Thankfully, The Last Jedi is an improvement over that clunker in every respect. Continue reading