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| Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom |
The Wife (2017). Director: Bjorn Runge. Glenn Close and Jonathan Pryce co-star -- and are marvelous -- in this study of a long-term marriage when the couple travel to Stockholm where the husband is to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. But simmering tensions over the possible true authorship of his novels begin to boil over. Unlike a lot of modern-day movies, this film does not shy away from dramatic confrontations and is all the better for it. It's a good film all around, although one may come off with the nagging feeling that it could have been better, that some things don't quite jell. ***.
Dismissed (2017). Director: Benjamin Arfmann. High school English teacher Mr. Butler (Kent Osborne) comes into conflict with a bright and ambitious -- and unfortunately sociopathic -- student named Lucas Ward (Dylan Sprouse). Lucas takes serious exception when Butler gives his lengthy paper a B plus instead of an A, and Butler finds his life spiraling out of control. Dismissed is suspenseful and well-acted, and demonstrates how anti-social personalities can figuratively and literally destroy the lives of innocent people, but it can't exactly be considered a modern Bad Seed. **1/2.
Hereditary (2018). Written and directed by Ari Aster. A tragic and gruesome death in an already dysfunctional family causes a mother (Toni Collette) to seemingly go off the deep end, but are her problems really caused by the fact that her recently deceased mother was a Satanist? With its slow pace and off-putting style, Hereditary tries to disguise the fact that it's just another devil/possession movie masquerading as a family drama. When the spooky stuff starts late in the picture, it seems somewhat absurd and almost comical. Collette and some of the other actors give good performances, but stick with the less obtuse and more entertaining The Omen instead. **.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018). Director: J.A. Beyona. It turns out that the public zoo of Jurassic World was inexplicably built on an island with an active volcano, so the two leads of the last film decide to try to rescue the remaining dinosaurs. Unfortunately, some greedy people want to sell the monsters off to the highest bidder (would these savage beasts really make great weapons?) but it is no surprise that they wind up getting loose. JWFK is a pretty bad movie, with a terrible and stupid script hampered by dumb animal rights aspects and obnoxious characters, only one halfway memorable sequence, and moments that we have already seen over and over again. Chris Pratt seems so bored with the material -- and who can blame him? -- that he barely gives a performance. Terrible, despite some amazing and fluid FX work. *1/2.
Deadly Runway (aka Fatal Fashion/2018). Director: Doug Campbell. Jennifer (Linsey Godfrey), a disgraced fashion photographer now working in a high school, takes a shy, nerdy guy named David (Joshua Hoffman) to hand and manages to turn him into a top male model. But trouble begins when she gives the same treatment to Caitlyn (Ellen Michelle Monohan), and David becomes attracted to her. Meanwhile David's mom (Jamie Luner) worries about the relationship between Jennifer and David, as Jennifer goes full-out psycho. The cast in this is appealing and the film works as a decidedly minor thriller. **1/2.
Three Identical Strangers (2018). Director: Tim Wardle. This is the true story of three boys, triplets, separated at birth and who grow up in different households until they come across each other during their college years. They later learn that they were part of a study on twins and triplets that was done without their knowledge or consent. While the movie is nowhere near as "astonishing" as the hype would suggest, and I don't necessarily buy the thesis that being separated leads to depression and suicide (sadly, lots of people kill themselves without being separated in childhood), the documentary does have its interesting and poignant aspects. **1/2.
The Little Stranger (2018). Director: Lenny Abrahamson. In 1948 England a young doctor (Domhnall Gleeson) becomes involved with a once-prosperous family, including the mother (Charlotte Rampling), her disfigured veteran son (Will Poutler) and especially his sister, Caroline (Ruth Wilson). The film begins well, is well-produced and photographed with some good performances, but it abruptly turns into an unconvincing "ghost" story. With all of the elements the plot embodies, surely there could have been a stronger storyline to pin them to? Gleeson's performance plays a bit like a stunt. Based on a novel. **.
Replicas (2018). Director: Jeffrey Nachmanoff. After his entire family is killed in an automobile accident, a scientist (Keanu Reeves) and his colleague (Thomas Middleditch, the nerd in the Verizon commercials) clone them and use special technology to transfer memories and personalities into the new bodies. The movie could have gone in several interesting and thoughtful directions, but instead turns into a mere "action" film with the family running from the stereotypical evil corporate executives -- which we've all seen a thousand and one times before. Often very illogical and comparatively shallow, the film takes intriguing notions and doesn't do enough with them. Reeves and Middleditch are okay, but Mona Foster, playing the wife, doesn't even appear to be an actress. Like a long and mediocre episode of The Outer Limits. **1/4.
