Author: Rosalynn Try-Hane

Jurassic World Dominion is supposed to be the epic finale for the Jurassic film franchise. Sadly, there’s a lot of roar without any bite. This convoluted final instalment is without peril or, indeed thrilling entertainment. It is too long, bloated and at times feels as prehistoric, aka past its prime, as the dinosaurs on the screen.

Jurassic World Dominion begins with dinosaurs living side by side with humans. However, this is a fragile peace. It is a question of them versus us and who will come out on top. If one human has anything to do with it, the meanie Dr Lewis Dodgson (Campbell Scott) then it will be humans and namely him via his company. Dr Lewis is clearly based on Steve Jobs but it’s hard to take a very dull meanie seriously. As with the rest of the film, his character lacked any real depth and he’s not a terrifying villain.

The main issue with the film is that there is absolutely no peril. All the scenes were exactly the same; a dinosaur appears, a bit of tension, possibly a fight or flight follows and the next scene begins. At 2 hours 40 mins it is a very long time to keep repeating the same scene. Also, the film appeared fuzzy and out of focus in parts. With the sort of budget this film has and given it is bringing the entire franchise to an end, it should have been flawless.

Jurassic World Dominion does have a few saviours in the form of Jeff Goldblum with his immaculate comic timing and delivery. Laura Dern and Sam Neill recapture the magic from the very first film. Dewanda Wise as Kayla the pilot is excellent and hopefully, we’ll see more of her on screen. However, Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard have zero chemistry on screen and their characters feel flat. Despite the saviours, it is not enough to save a film that tries to tie up all the loose ends from the previous six films, preach a little about saving the planet and relies too heavily on CGI. It felt predictable, bloated and boring most of the time.

Jurassic World Dominion is released in UK cinemas on Friday 10 June.

“Life is a short party that will soon be forgotten.” This is the film’s tagline. Noe forgot the fun, party element. This is an intense look at what it means to be older when memories get confused or even lost and then you die.

Vortex is a hard hard slog. It’s a film about waiting for death. I kept hoping it would crank up a notch or something other than the claustrophobic setting of a big Parisian apartment. He uses the split screen to great effect to show this aged couple (Francoise Lebrun), the male actor (Dario Argento) turned 80 last year as they navigate their daily lives.

The wife has advanced dementia and the husband is trapped in his own mind not willing to believe she’s that bad or indeed that he’s as old as he is. In using the split screen, it allows for a very sparse script and for the actors to just act. The only “relief” is when the son and grandson appear. Even then, the relief is very brief because we too feel the son’s (Alex Lutz) helplessness at his father’s refusal to see just how critical his mother’s advanced dementia is.

Vortex is a film about love, ageing and memory because in the end, all we have are our memories. Who are we when those memories leave us? It is profound but a difficult watch.

VORTEX will be released in cinemas on 13th May.

The Northman is a relentless Viking revenge fantasy that hits all the right notes provided you’re in the mood for it that is.

The Northman (Alexander Skarsgard) father, the king, is murdered and he swears to avenge him and save his mother. That’s the story. The beauty of this film isn’t the story but the visual feast for the eyes, the direction, cinematography, editing and the world created by the co-writer and director, Robert Eggers.

Even though this is testosterone filled movie, the female characters are complex and fully formed!! Björk as the witch is inspired casting and she savours every moment of screen time given. However, Nicole Kidman as the queen and mother takes as into the gates of hell. It is an award worthy performance for sure. All I will say is that there’s a scene between her and her son that actually took my breath away. She owns every single frame she appears in.

The Northman is released in cinemas from Friday 15 April.

Prince Amleth is on the verge of becoming a man when his father is brutally murdered by his uncle, who kidnaps the boy’s mother. Two decades later, Amleth is now a Viking who raids Slavic villages. He soon meets a seeress who reminds him of his vow — save his mother, kill his uncle, avenge his father.

After his father, the King (Ethan Hawke), is murdered by his brother (Claes Bang), a Viking prince named Amleth escapes his kingdom, vowing to return and take revenge. Years later, the now hulking Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård) discovers his murderous uncle lost his kingdom and is now a feudal lord. Amleth poses as a slave to take his revenge but must decide what to do about his mother (Nicole Kidman) and young half-brother.

Navalny is a staggering and utterly compelling documentary. The man himself says I want it to be told as a movie. He’s right that this story does feel like a movie, except that it is very real and the stakes are incredibly high, death.

It’s not like any documentary you’ve seen before. Ok, that’s not quite true but it is a mixture of thriller and suspense that are at times comical. However, the subject matter of this documentary Alexi Navalny is deadly serious in his mission to expose the treacherous and murderous nature of one, Vladimir Putin by going up against him as a presidential candidate. Navalny should know he was poisoned on the alleged orders of Putin using his signature poison, novichok. The scene where he talks to the men who failed to murder him is both comical and chilling.

What’s really good about this documentary is that it doesn’t sugarcoat who Navalny is and his past, including excerpts of him talking at far right rallies. I thought that a bold choice. Throughout the entire documentary, I kept changing my mind as to what I thought about the man, Navalny. Could this smooth talking and very charismatic man be too good to be true. In the age of social media, and the way in which he has used it to harness all the millions of supporters, could I trust my eyes? The answer came in the final 10 minutes, as he and his wife are flying back to Moscow after recuperating from the poison assassination attempt, anyone flying back to a possible fate worse than death, decades in prison, has to be believed. That’s why it is so important that people see this documentary. 

NAVALNY will screen in Curzon cinemas on 12^th April for a special one-day event and will be available on-demand followed by a UK wide release on 15^th April.

Four years later and the main message of this third instalment of Fantastic Beasts is that love conquers all. Yes indeed it does, just ensure that you’ve watched the previous instalment so you can hit the ground running in this action packed and visually stunning film.

The Secrets of Dumbledore starts off with the magizoologist, Newt Scamander Eddie Redmayne) attending the birth of a very important fantastic beast that is a king maker, for whomever it kneels before is the rightful leader. Guess who wants the beast? Oh yes, Grindelwald (played by the wonderful Mads Mikkelson who does creeping menace so very well) as he’s after world domination. And there’s more, it wasn’t just one beast born that night but twins.

What ensues is a convoluted, at times enjoyable race to stop Grindewald from seizing power. There are now two teams. Team Dumbledore now has Newt’s brother, Theseus, on hand, as well as Professor Hicks, Jacob Kowalski still in love with Queenie, Bunty Broadacre (hopelessly in love with Newt) and wizard Yusuf Kama. On Team Grindelwald, well Queenie who went to the dark side and got a whole new wardrobe and hairstyle as well as Credence who just found out in the previous film that he’s a Dumbledore.

Whilst entertaining, there never seems to be very much peril and after a while the various pastiches of the Third Reich, Indiana Jones and even echoes of the Golden Child, well we do go to Bhutan, start to feel like tired tropes.

Let’s talk about love, so Queenie and Jacob’s love story bubbles along in this one. Jacob never loses his hope and neither should we. However, the central love story is between Dumbledore and Grindelwald and it’s set out at the very beginning: “It’s because I was in love with you.” Then nothing, Dumbledore puts his heart on the table, Grindelwald sniffs at it and walks away. That is what the film feels like, flirts with this idea but then returns to the usual action and wizard stuff. It almost feels as if that scene as well as the final scene was tacked on. I am not sure about the final scene. What is it telling us – that Dumbledore is unloveable?

As with the other films in this franchise, it packs in a lot. Too much even and, this film feels long in the final third. It’s almost as if the studio is hedging their bets to see if the magic still works and the audience wants a fourth film, but, if not no problem because they’ve tied up most of the loose ends in this one.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is released in cinemas on Friday 8 April.