Jurassic World: Rebirth (2025) | REVIEW

Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Bailey in JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH — PHOTO: Universal Pictures (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Gareth Edwards (Godzilla; The Creator) — Screenplay by David Koepp (Jurassic Park; Black Bag).

Despite Jurassic World: Dominion being met with horrendous critical reception, the film still made $1 billion at the box office, as the franchise appears to be critic-proof. Therefore, even though Dominion was marketed as the ‘conclusion to the Jurassic era,’ Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment fast-tracked a sequel that is here only three years after the release of the previous film. To kick off a new chapter of the Jurassic era, so to speak, the producers turned to Scarlett Johansson to be the new face of the franchise and hired Godzilla and Rogue One‘s Gareth Edwards to take on the directing duties. Even if you felt burned out on the film series following Fallen Kingdom and Dominion, you have to admit that the hiring of Johansson and Edwards — the former a world-renowned thespian and the latter a director known for his understanding of scale and visual effects-heavy filmmaking — was to be seen as good news. Indeed, their film together, Jurassic World: Rebirth, is a definite step in the right direction, as there’s a lot to like about it. That said, given some of its issues, I’m still not sure if it is a big enough step for it to be particularly noteworthy or praiseworthy.

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The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More (2023/2024) | REVIEW

Benedict Cumberbatch and Dev Patel in ‘Poison’ from THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR AND THREE MORE — PHOTO: NETFLIX (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Wes Anderson — Screenplay by Wes Anderson.

In 2023, Wes Anderson teamed up with Netflix to release four short films, all of which were based on the works of Roald Dahl, in September of that year. Eventually, one of these features — The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar — was the effort that finally earned Wes Anderson his first Oscar, though in the short film category, which I don’t think many would’ve seen coming just a few years ago. Then, in 2024, following the Oscar win, Netflix released an anthology film consisting of Wes Anderson’s four short films. All four shorts feature heavy but quirky narration and the heavy stylization that we’ve come to know and love Wes Anderson for, though with slight tweaks from short to short. In this review, I’ll share my initial reaction to each of the four shorts, as well as give a final score out of ten for the repackaged anthology feature.

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Companion (2025) | REVIEW

A burning Iris (played by Sophie Thatcher) sitting across from Josh (played by Jack Quaid) in COMPANION — PHOTO: Warner Bros. Pictures (still image from trailers).

Directed by Drew Hancock — Screenplay by Drew Hancock.

In the marketing for this film (more on this later), trailers have highlighted the fact that this new genre-bendy flick is the product of the studio behind The Notebook, arguably the most well-known American romance film, and the creators of Barbarian, the hugely surprising horror film with multiple tricks up its sleeves from 2022. It’s a good marketing narrative that does communicate the film’s genre fluidity from one thing to another from certain scenes to certain scenes. But, in actuality, this is the brainchild of writer-director Drew Hancock, a Blue Mountain State writer, who, to be honest, has crafted something quite entertaining for his feature directorial debut. 

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REVIEW: Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022)

Ewan McGregor is back as the titular Jedi in Lucasfilm’s OBI-WAN KENOBI, exclusively on Disney+. © 2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™. All Rights Reserved.

All Six Episodes of the Limited Series Were Directed by Deborah Chow.

Set a decade, or so, after the events of George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, Obi-Wan Kenobi follows the character of the same name (played by Ewan McGregor, now returning to the role), as he has gone into hiding on Tatooine, where he is watching over young Luke Skywalker from afar. Sith Inquisitors are still hunting for Jedi throughout the galaxy, including Kenobi who Reva (played by Moses Ingram), the Third Sister, is especially interested in. However, Obi-Wan Kenobi is forced out of hiding after young Princess Leia Organa (played by Vivien Lyra Blair) is kidnapped by criminals. Kenobi is Leia’s only hope, and that is exactly what Reva, who orchestrated the kidnapping, had expected and hoped for. As Kenobi leaves Tatooine, he has to reconnect to the Force, but this also means that he risks being confronted by the Inquisitors or even Darth Vader.

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Double Feature: Jack O’Connell – Special Features #72

A couple of weekends ago, I noticed that two films that had been on my watchlist for a very long time had been released on HBO Nordic. What these two films had in common was their lead actor. Both films featured British actor Jack O’Connell prominently. O’Connell is a BAFTA Award-winning young actor who I had previously only seen in the British horror flick Eden Lake, so I didn’t know a lot about him. Therefore I spent the weekend checking out both films to familiarize myself with one of Britain’s finest actors of his generation. Continue reading “Double Feature: Jack O’Connell – Special Features #72”