A Dog's Way Home (2019) - Movie Review

Remember what I was saying at the beginning of the year about how 2018 was the year of getting our shit together? Well, we’re barely into March and I’m already seeing signs that that progression isn’t lasting. I mean, nothing says "we’ve learnt nothing" more than taking one of the more misguided releases of 2017, A Dog’s Breakfast Purpose, and deciding that it needed not one but two follow-ups this year. Both adapted from the writer of the original source material at that, with the sequel to Purpose coming out later this year, and a separate adaptation in cinemas right now. Knowing my now-prominent axe to grind when it comes to talking animal movies, and my position that Purpose is awful in its own special way, I can’t say I’m expecting a lot out of this one. Thankfully, this film didn’t go below my expectations; if anything, this turned out better than it had any right to.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) - Movie Review

The plot: Three years after the destruction of the theme park Jurassic World, a now-active volcano on Isla Nublar poses a serious threat to the dinosaurs still on the island. Wanting to save as many of these animals as possible, wealthy benefactor Eli Mills (Rafe Spall) hires former raptor trainer Owen (Chris Pratt) and former JW manager and now dinosaur activist Claire (Byrce Dallas Howard) to take a team to the island. However, once they arrive, it seems that not only is their task going to be a difficult one, but the people who hired them have ulterior motives for what they plan to do with these dinosaurs. The Indominus Rex was just the beginning.

Gold (2017) - Movie Review

With how homogenised Hollywood releases can feel at times, it’s understandable if you get a feeling of Déjà vu from certain trailers. If you’ve seen one film about a young couple fighting to be together despite every reason why they shouldn’t be, you’ve seen them all. That kind of blanket statement is usually something even I turn my nose up at, but in some cases, those base assumptions are accurate. However, of all the reasons that I’ve seen in terms of feeling like you’re just watching the same trailers over and over again (aside from just flat-out seeing the same trailers over and over again), this is definitely a new one. In this case, it’s down to the use of music in the trailer.

Now, re-use of popular songs is nothing new but hearing Barns Courtney’s Glitter And Gold in the trailer for today’s film, after hearing it so often in the lead-up to the release of The Founder late last year, is rather off-putting. The fact that the two, even from the marketing, share a prominent trait concerning the American Dream doesn’t help that impression, but I’m getting a bit ahead of myself. Let’s dig right in… ugh… let’s get started with today’s film.

Pete's Dragon (2016) - Movie Review

It’s time to look at another remake, but considering this is yet another done by Disney whom have shown a decent track record so far in that regard, I’m at least willing to give it a chance. I mean, it’s not as if the 1977 original could never be improved upon. In fact, of all of the films slated to get live-action remakes over the next long while, Pete’s Dragon is probably the one that has aged the worst since its initial release.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not the worst film they’ve done or anything even remotely close to that: The acting is good, the animation is proper vintage quality and the music, while a bit grating, was fun, cheery and cleverly-written for the most part. However, it is very much a product of the era, containing the kind of sappiness and mock-grime that makes it undemanding in  more insulting sense of the term. So, have to admit, I’m quite receptive to the idea of remaking it and (potentially) improving upon it. Do we actually get that, is the question.

Jurassic World (2015) - Movie Review

Time for part two in our look into classic genre franchises from the 80’s-90's that are getting remakes lately… yes, this is enough of a specific trend for me to call this "a look into". Jurassic Park, the original at least, is the perfect example of the nostalgic classic: An old(er)-school sci-fi adventure that is unbelievably silly, and more than a little stupid, but it has held up far better than a lot of other films from the same era for most people and is considered still as good as it was when it came out. Watching it again, it’s kind of amazing how good it looks even today effects-wise, but that might just be the inner SF snob in me who has grown weary of the near-endless CGI. Then The Lost World came out, and aside from Pete Postlethwaite doing his best to salvage the thing, it was pretty god-awful. Then came the third film, which somehow managed to one-up the lack of effort from before and somehow made a film that’s worse. Between the sheer awe-inspiration of the first, the animal rights “we’re-making-28-Days-Later-look-restrained” idiocy of the second and the utter boredom of the third, this easily has the worst build-up of the three revamps I’ll be looking at: Say what you want about the Mad Max sequels, at least they have the benefit of being insanely influential in their own rights. Let’s see if this film can go above the low bar 2 and 3 set for it.