shakercoola

An American sci-fi thriller; A story about dinosaurs created from prehistoric DNA that now exist in a restricted equatorial region. A pharmaceutical company secretly recruits a team to try to reach three species that hold the key to life-saving benefits for humankind. This film is arguably the best-looking and best-sounding installment since Spielberg was at the helm. There are no new ideas here - in fact, not only is there no longer the wonder of the pioneering Jurassic Park, but these "World" films reveal too much if we are not to learn anything other than their appearance - better to keep them off screen and build more suspense before they are revealed. Each new film, then, is a search for new themes to make the action gel and to contrive a reason to get characters to a remote island. The new sub-theme that dinosaurs are being used for human research, is barely explored; but there is a return to ideas like sinister corporations, defunct theme parks, and genetic mutation, which are all too familiar. The film is predictably plotted while it struggles to keep the stakes high, especially with dinosaur genera we've seen before, though there is the odd dash of innovation in the tropes. Backstories of the characters work moderately well early on until a feeling that the chases and peril must prevail, which does recapture some of the suspense of the original film. Exotic locales are photographed well. Stunts are impressive, and action set pieces are slick. The live-action visual effects, while not groundbreaking enough to be notable, have a slightly improved photorealism to suspend disbelief.

An American crime drama; A story about the life of a Black American marine, his teenage years in late 1960s Bronx, New York, his experiences during the Vietnam War, and his struggles afterwards to support his family amidst a personal crisis. Based on the life of Haywood T. Kirkland (aka Ari S. Merretazon), whose true story was detailed in 'Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans' by Wallace Terry, this is an arresting drama. Sadly, the message and good intention about how the Vietnam War and American society affected the marine are lost amidst the poor script and an early narrative dead end. Violence and gore was gratuitous and character profanities made the dialogue drag. Some scenes seem derivative of Oliver Stone's Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July. The third act's brevity and the climactic caper scene is welcome, but by the end, one may wonder what it all meant. The performances are muscular, but it is a straightforward chronicle of a man's plight.

A British-Polish drama; A story about Rudolf and Hedwig Höss, building an idyllic façade of home life at the outside edge of the effect of genocidal German government policy in which they are complicit. The film title refers to Interessengebiet, a term used by occupying Nazi forces for the restricted zone around Auschwitz concentration camp that was reserved for the Schutzstaffel (SS). Adapting Martin Amis's novel, the director used archival evidence and personal testimonies to accurately document the domesticity of the couple's life beyond the walls. Formalist elements such as staging and cinematography are used to show the stark contrast that existed between a bucolic setting, including garden parties and pool days, and what was happening nearby; it exercised the mind's eye about what remained unseen. A glimmer of hope was hinted at in some scenes featuring inverted colours, but otherwise the unassailable situation of the camp prisoners is left to the viewer's imagination and effective use of audio. By ignoring factual biographical information about Rudolf Höss and limiting the story to an unsettling sensory experience about dehumanisation, it needed a resolution soon after the short second act. A coda sequence, while not sentimental, was cathartic and absolved the filmmakers of flippancy. All in all, the visual tone is compelling, and the performances were played with conviction. The soundscape of diegetic echoes is first-rate.