Coming Attractions- Jurassic World Rebirth

 

Director- Gareth Edwards

Release Date- July 2, 2025

The Jurassic World era is strange. Jurassic World 2015 is still the best in the World series, and nothing really comes close. Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt shared excellent chemistry together, Vincent D’ Onofrio  played an entertaining jerk, and the Indominus Rex was a great antagonist. Fallen Kingdom had a more emotional story. Still, it’s a weak follow up sequel overall, and the reveal for the  Indoraptor and everything that followed it was kind of disappointing. Dominion? Good nostalgia boosts from Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum, but it’s too tamed and kind of dull for a film that features the premise of dinosaurs freely roaming around in the modern world. 

High hopes for Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali’s roles in the cast. Rogue One is still Gareth Edwards’ best film, but he’s also proven himself as a guy, who knows what he’s doing for big monster movies with Godzilla (2014). And I know suspension of disbelief is a thing, but after seven films, maybe you have to accept the fact that dinosaurs are just too dangerous to play around with at some point?

Coming Attractions- Fly Me To The Moon (2024)

 

Director- Greg Berlanti

Cast- Channing Tatum, Scarlett Johansson, Woddy Harrelson, Joe Chrest, Ray Romano, Will Jacobs, Jim Rash, Noah Robbins, Colin Woodell, Anna Garcia, Nick Dillenburg, Eva Pilar, Ashley Kings, Chad Crowe, Donald Elise Watkins, Art Newkirk, Jonathan Orea Lopez, Melissa Litow, Christian Zuber, Lauren Revard

Release Date- July 12, 2024

I’m usually not a big fan of romantic comedies. The vast majority of mainstream romantic comedies follow a predictable pattern, and no matter what happens, it’s not hard to predict there’s a good chance Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johansson will end up together. Woody Harrelson is always capable of delivering a show stealing performance, but there’s also no denying that Scarlett Johansson looks great here, a perfect fit for her character. 

Fly Me To The Moon has high stakes. Pulling off a successful moon landing is a big deal, and the1960’s setting feels genuinely nostalgic. 

2013 End Of The Year Awards- Best Film- Her

"Sometimes I think I have felt everything I'm ever gonna feel. And from here on out, I'm not gonna feel anything new. Just lesser versions of what I've already felt."

It's a tough call, but I'm going with writer/director Spike Jonze's masterpiece for Best Film. Her offers a unique and thought-provoking form of social commentary with a futuristic twist. Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) is a socially awkward and lonely man, who's searching for a companion, so he trusts and falls in love with an operating system with artificial intelligence.

Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson) is Theodore's girlfriend, and Theodore forms a deep bond with the new love of his life. Through Theodore's eyes, Jonze provides an inside look for the modern world's troubling dependance on technology.

Remember the scene towards the end, where Theodore panics after Samantha disappears? Theodore pours everything into Samantha to feed his obsession, and Theodore fights the need for human contact and social interactions, so Theodore can't handle the thought of being alone in the world, if Samantha leaves. After all, Theodore had a few dates with Samantha, and Theodore agreed to Samantha's suggestion for a surrogate to fix intimacy problems in their relationship. 

Her features a sweet, moving, and sentimental love story, and Her is loaded with underlying messages. Jonze's quirky sense of humor is good for a few laughs, the cast is top notch (my only complaint is we don't see enough of Rooney Mara here), and you can make an argument for Joaquin Phoenix deserving a spot in the Best Actor category for the Academy Awards.

Well, that's it for 2013 End Of The Year Awards. It's my first year with the awards, so there's a good chance I'll add some new categories for the 2014 awards. As always, I hope everyone enjoyed this new post series, and I'll do my best to start on movie reviews again in the coming weeks!

Hitchcock (2012)

Facing intense pressure from his superiors, Alfred Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins) prepares to make another film. Hitchcock tries to balance a rocky relationship with his neglected wife, Alma (Helen Mirren), while pursuing a risky project. Hitchcock decides to adapt the suspense novel Psycho, but Paramount is scared off by the controversy, so they refuse to provide funding for the film. Hitchcock is determined to bring Psycho to the big screen, so he makes a deal with Paramount: Hitchcock will personally finance Psycho, and Paramount will distribute the film.

Paramount agrees, but Hitchcock runs into a series of problems during filming. In the cast, some uncomfortable feelings with Vera Miles (Jessica Biel) resurface, and Hitchcock pushes Janet Leigh (Scarlett Johansson) to her limits. Hitchcock will have to fight censorship, health problems, work through problems in his failing marriage, and uphold his reputation as The Master Of Suspense.

Anthony Hopkins provides the perfect Alfred Hitchcock impersonation, and as expected, Helen Mirren delivers a strong performance. Besides having the “spitting image look” for Vera Miles and Janet Leigh, Jessica Biel and Scarlett Johansson really didn’t bring anything special to their characters on the acting side of things. Well, I guess Johansson deserves some credit for mimicking Leigh’s hysterical screaming during the famous shower scene.

Hitchcock isn’t a biopic. This film just focuses on the ups and downs during the making of Psycho. But you know what, I didn’t have a problem with this approach. He’s known for making many great films, but when you think about or mention Hitchcock, 99.9% of the time, Psycho is the first film that comes to mind. Think about it, unless you’re a real die hard fan, would you watch a James Cameron docudrama, that revolved around True Lies? A Spielberg docudrama about the War Of The Worlds remake? Psycho is often credited as the one film that created and validated modern horror, so it only makes sense for Psycho to be the one Hitchcock film, that receives so much attention.

I enjoyed Hitchcock, but the tonal shifts between horror and drama are kind of annoying. Throughout the film, Hitchcock has nightmares about Norman Bates committing and planing murders. The nightmare sequences about Bates feel spooky and eerie, but when the story returns to the struggles in Alfred’s marriage, and his troubles with Psycho, Hitchcock shifts back into drama mode.

Director Sacha Gervasi style isn’t something to brag about, but he deserves some praise for paying homage to Alfred Hitchcock by imitating the intro and outro for Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Helen Mirren might receive on Oscar nomination, because…..well, she’s Helen Mirren. Although, I would be surprised to see an Oscar nomination for Hopkins. He’s spot on as Hitchcock, but Hitch’s comical side in this film might hurt Hopkins’ chances for a nomination.

Final Rating: 7/10