Jurassic World: Dominion (2022) | REVIEW

(L-R) Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt, Isabella Sermon, and DeWanda Wise in Jurassic World: Dominion — PHOTO: Universal Pictures (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Colin Trevorrow — Screenplay by Emily Carmichael and Colin Trevorrow.

Jurassic Park came out the year I was born. I grew up watching that masterpiece and Steven Spielberg’s sequel, The Lost World, over and over again. Heck, despite Joe Johnston’s Jurassic Park III not being particularly good, I still think about that movie all the time and have a lot of fun with it. So, why did this Jurassic Park fan not bother watching Jurassic World: Dominion when it was released theatrically or even review it until this point? Honestly, despite the fact that I liked 2015’s Jurassic World on first viewing and reviewed it favorably, I thought Fallen Kingdom was a low point for the film series and that it made decisions that took the franchise and turned it into something far less interesting than it should be. However, I was hopeful that said film’s ending would signal an interesting sequel, given it opened up dinosaurs to the entire world, but when I heard the negative word-of-mouth upon Jurassic World: Dominion‘s release, I felt incredibly deflated and had no desire to go and see it. That said, now that Gareth Edwards has released his attempt at a Jurassic Park sequel — with Jurassic World: Rebirth — I thought now was a good time to rip off the band-aid and finally review Dominion, which I, honestly, thought was a catastrophic attempt at a sequel.

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Deep Cover (2025) | REVIEW

Orlando Bloom as MARLON, Bryce Dallas Howard as KAT, Nick Mohammed as HUGH in DEEP COVER. Credit: Peter Mountain / © 2025 COPERTURA PRODUCTIONS LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Directed by Tom Kingsley — Screenplay by Colin Trevorrow, Derek Connolly, Ben Ashenden, and Alexander Owen.

Tom Kingsley’s Deep Cover is a crime comedy film about a group of improvisational comedy performers who are hired to use their talents to go undercover in London’s criminal underworld. The film follows Kat Boyles (played by Bryce Dallas Howard), an improv teacher, Marlon (played by Orlando Bloom), a struggling method actor, and Hugh (played by Nick Mohammed), a socially awkward IT worker, who has joined Kat’s comedy group to improve his communication skills and make friends. Their involvement with law enforcement begins when Kat is approached by Detective Sergeant Graham Billings (played by Sean Bean) following one of her comedy shows. Although their first attempt at improvising undercover has some rough edges, they soon find that they’re so convincing that it may get them into trouble.

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28 Years Later (2025) | REVIEW

A mysterious bone temple in Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later — PHOTO: Sony Pictures Releasing (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Danny Boyle (Yesterday) — Screenplay by Alex Garland (Annihilation).

Nowadays, we’re inundated with zombie, or zombie-adjacent, entertainment, which, once upon a time, was popularized by George A. Romero. But before The Last of Us and before The Walking Dead, there was an early 2000s zombie movie revival — e.g., the Resident Evil film adaptation, Shaun of the Dead, and 28 Days Later — the effects, influence, and iconography of which are still being felt to this day. Two of the primary voices in this revival — though I doubt they thought of themselves as such — were Danny Boyle and Alex Garland, the director and writer, respectively, of 28 Days Later. Here was a film, which was filmed in the UK at the time of the 9/11 attacks in the US, about civilization breaking down, about how quickly we can be turned into people blinded by rage, and about how important it is to hold on to our humanity. Now, 23 years later, following both Brexit and the COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown, Garland and Boyle have re-teamed to continue the story of the rage-virus that shook their world and humanity’s varied response to it with 28 Years Later. It’s one of the most anticipated genre films of the year, but does it live up to all the buildup? Well, I really like this film, but, due to certain elements that are sure-to-be divisive, I think it’s only fair to say that the answer must be a tentative ‘yes and no.’ Let’s dive in.

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Dangerous Animals (2025) | REVIEW

Jai Courtney in Sean Byrne’s DANGEROUS ANIMALS — PHOTO: IFC FILMS (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Sean Byrne — Screenplay by Nick Lepard.

Dangerous Animals is a survival horror shark film from Aussie director Sean Byrne that follows a female American drifter surfer named Zephyr (played by Hassie Harrison), who, after a romantic encounter with a young Aussie real estate agent (Moses, played by Josh Heuston), has cold feet and skedaddles away to to a beach to surf, without saying goodbye. However, before she can catch the waves late at night, she runs into Tucker (played by Jai Courtney), an eccentric Aussie boat captain who makes money taking tourists out to swim with sharks in cage dives. However, Tucker is not a friendly stranger, as he actually abducts Zephyr and traps her on his boat. It turns out that Tucker is a sadistic murderer who gets off on videotaping people getting eaten alive by sharks. While Zephyr tries to escape the boat, Moses partakes in an official search for the woman whom he was smitten by.

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Predator: Killer of Killers (2025) | REVIEW

A hulking Predator in PREDATOR: KILLER OF KILLERS — PHOTO: DISNEY.

Directed by Dan Trachtenberg — Screenplay by Micho Robert Rutare.

With 2022’s Prey, 10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg proved himself capable of shepherding the Predator franchise and steering it in a new and exciting direction. Now, in 2025, Trachtenberg’s next moves with the iconic sci-fi horror action film series are coming our way. This November, his second live-action Predator-film, Predator: Badlands, is set to premiere theatrically, but if you’re jonesing for more Trachtenberg-Predator goodness right now, then you’ll be happy to know that Disney+/Hulu just released a brand new Predator from Trachtenberg that is unlike anything you’ve ever seen from this franchise, given the fact that it is actually a fully animated film. That may not sound like the ideal way to tell these stories, but, in actuality, Trachtenberg has, with Predator: Killer of Killers, used the medium to pull off some genuine wish-fulfillment Predator movie moments that are exactly as out there and as gory as you could possibly like.

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From the World of John Wick: Ballerina (2025) | REVIEW

Ana de Armas as Eve in Ballerina. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Lionsgate

Directed by Len Wiseman — Screenplay by Shay Hatten.

Only a select few action films of the last ten to fifteen years have become the household name and critical success story that John Wick is. Multiple effective sequels later (as well as an apparently only so-so spin-off miniseries titled The Continental), and now we have the first spin-off film in the franchise. With the clumsily titled From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, the shepherds of the franchise hope to build another film series within the same universe without having to always rely on the presence of the assassin played by Keanu Reeves. At the same time, the film’s title and marketing, which have emphasized the fact that Reeves makes an appearance, still use Wick as a crutch. Admittedly, it does seem slightly desperate, but, in 2025, at a point in time when even Disney can’t rely on a Captain America movie without Chris Evans to make money, a built-in audience is key when launching something quasi-new on the big screen. Those willing to take a chance on Ballerina will be treated to a film that has some of the thrills of the Wick films, but which, however, also struggles in notable areas.

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Mountainhead (2025) | REVIEW

Cory Michael Smith, Steve Carell, Ramy Youssef, and Jason Schwartzman in MOUNTAINHEAD — PHOTO: HBO / Macall Polay.

Directed by Jesse Armstrong — Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong.

How do you follow up the wild success of audience and critic-favorite Succession, which earned its creator, Jesse Armstrong, four Emmys (one for each season) for writing? Jesse Armstrong opted for an HBO film, Mountainhead, that, although not explicitly connected to the universe of Succession, feels somewhat related to the corporate, capitalist, and inheritance satire that put him on the map globally. However, though it occasionally does capture the right feeling of that show, Mountainhead doesn’t quite manage to say anything new.

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Fountain of Youth (2025) | REVIEW

John Krasinski, Domhnall Gleeson, and Natalie Portman in “Fountain of Youth,” now streaming on Apple TV+.

Directed by Guy Ritchie — Screenplay by James Vanderbilt.

Guy Ritchie’s Fountain of Youth follows siblings Luke (played by John Krasinski) and Charlotte Purdue (played by Natalie Portman) as they eventually team up to go on an adventure to find — yep, you guessed it — the fountain of youth. While Charlotte works as a museum curator in London, Luke steals paintings to complete a job for Owen Carver (played by Domhnall Gleeson), a billionaire who is searching for the fountain of youth to prevent his own death from a terminal illness. Luke and Charlotte’s paths cross when he steals a painting from the museum where she works, resulting in her losing her job. When one thing leads to another, she reluctantly joins their mission, while Interpol, as well as a secret society dedicated to protecting the fountain, is chasing them.

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Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (2025) | REVIEW

Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt hanging on to an airborne upside-down yellow biplane in MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING — PHOTO: Paramount Pictures (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie — Screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen.

When Mission: Impossible first took the leap from being a 1960s and 1970s TV series to being a cinematic franchise capable of rivalling both the most iconic spy thriller films and action extravaganzas in 1996, it was Tom Cruise’s first film as a producer. Now, 29 years later, Cruise has become Hollywood’s biggest movie star, and the film series is supposedly (if the marketing and promotion are to be believed) about to conclude with the aptly titled Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, the eighth film in the series. The film features both some of the best sequences in the entire film series, but also one of the messiest opening acts of any of the films.

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The Last of Us – “Convergence” | REVIEW

Bella Ramsey in THE LAST OF US: CONVERGENCE — PHOTO: Liane Hentscher / HBO.

This is a recap and review of the seventh and final episode of the second season of HBO’s The Last of Us. Expect spoilers for season 1 and game 1 (and the episode itself, of course), but also some references to and comments about the second game (though without spoilers).

In the seventh and final episode of the second season — titled Convergencee — Ellie (played by Bella Ramsey) and Jesse (played by Young Mazino) search the streets of Seattle for Tommy (played by Gabriel Luna. However, when Ellie sees something in the distance, she parts ways with her friend. Convergence was written by Neil Druckmann, Halley Gross, and Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) and directed by Nina Lopez-Corrado (Supernatural; Mayor of Kingstown).

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