JURASSIC WORLD : DOMINION - Tuesday 14th June 2022.

I saw the M Rated 'JURASSIC WORLD : DOMINION' at my local multiplex this week and this American Sci-Fi action film is Directed and Co-Written for the screen and based on a story developed by Colin Tervorrow and based on characters created by Michael Chrichton. It is the sequel to 2018's 'Jurassic World : Fallen Kingdom', the sixth instalment in the 'Jurassic Park' franchise, the final film in the Jurassic World trilogy, and the conclusion to the storyline started in the original 'Jurassic Park' trilogy released in 1993, 1997 and 2001. This film saw its World Premier in Mexico City on 23rd May and went on worldwide release from last week. The film cost US$185M to produce, has so far grossed US$450M and has generated largely negative critical Reviews.

Set some four years after Isla Nublar had been destroyed and the events that subsequently unfolded at the Lockwood Estate, dinosaurs now live, and hunt, alongside humans the world over. Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), the former Operations Manager at Jurassic World, works for the Dinosaur Protection Group. She and Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) have been living in a remote cabin in the Sierra Nevada mountains where they are secretly raising and caring for the now fourteen year old Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon), Benjamin Lockwood's cloned granddaughter. Owen's previously trained Velociraptor, Blue, one day arrives at the cabin with an offspring that was reproduced asexually, and whom Maisie names Beta.

Meanwhile, Biosyn Genetics which have grown to be a globally domineering and highly profitable company conducts medical research on dinosaurs, seeking cures for all manner of human ailments. Unknown to Claire and Owen, Biosyn is very keen on studying Maisie's DNA and have been searching for her for the last four years. When Maisie, frustrated with living in seclusion with no other human interaction other than Claire and Owen, sneaks away to a nearby town, Biosyn operatives, led by Rainn Delacourt (Scott Haze) kidnap her and also Beta. Owen and Claire immediately give chase to rescue them. 

Elsewhere, swarms of formerly extinct giant locusts have inexplicably appeared across huge swathes of the southern United States laying waste to valuable crops and so threatening the world's food supply. Paleobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) upon examining a captured live specimen discovers they avoid eating crops grown with Biosyn seed, leading her to suspect that Biosyn created them. Believing the locust's DNA dates to the Cretaceous period, Ellie approaches former partner and paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), who is on a dig in Utah, and who agrees to help her infiltrate and investigate Biosyn.

With help from Franklin Webb (Justice Smith), a contact within the CIA and former dinosaur rights activist who has previously worked with Claire, Claire and Owen track Maisie and Beta to Malta where they visit a black market trading in live dinosaur specimens. When undercover agents raid the market led by Barry Sembene (Omar Sy) dinosaurs are unintentionally released, creating havoc with Delacourt subsequently eaten alive together with various others caught in the fracas. Soyona Santos (Dichen Lachman), a Biosyn employee and dinosaur smuggler, having been captured by Sembene, informs Claire and Owen that Maisie and Beta are being transported to Biosyn's headquarters and dinosaur valley in Italy's Dolomites mountain range. They meet Kayla Watts (DeWanda Wise), a sympathetic cargo pilot with access to the valley, who agrees to fly Owen and Claire there.

Chaos theorist Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), who now works for Biosyn as a contractor, invites Alan and Ellie to the headquarters to help him uncover Biosyn CEO Lewis Dodgson's (Campbell Scott) illegal activities. Ian's ally, Communications Director and apparent right hand man to Dodgson, Ramsay Cole (Mamoudou Athie) assists. As it turns out geneticist Dr. Henry Wu (B D Wong) genetically engineered the locusts to only consume rival companies' crops so that Biosyn will dominate the global agricultural market. The locust plague has subsequently spread worldwide. Wu meets Maisie and explains she is not a clone. Instead, her mother, Charlotte Lockwood (Elva Trill, seen through archive video footage only), Benjamin Lockwood's daughter and Wu's former colleague, used her own DNA to create Maisie asexually as her child. Charlotte died from a genetic disease shortly after Maisie was born, but she had altered Maisie's DNA so making her immune. Wu believes that Maisie's and Beta's DNA are the keys to creating a pathogen that can halt the escalating locust outbreak. 

Upon reaching Biosyn airspace, a group of giant pterosaurs attack Kayla's cargo plane, ripping a gaping hole in the body of the aircraft and taking out its two engines. Claire ejects while Owen and Kayla survive crash landing on a frozen water reservoir. Following their separate encounters with various dinosaurs, and not of the good kind, the three manage to regroup. Inside the Biosyn facility, Ian and Ramsey allow Ellie and Alan access to a restricted lab where the giant locusts are being bred. They steal a locust DNA sample and come across Maisie, who has escaped and released Beta in the process. After seeing them on security footage some twelve minutes later, Dodgson torches the locust laboratory to destroy all evidence but in the process swarms of burning locusts burst through a ventilation shaft and out into the surrounding woodland, inadvertently starting a forest fire. Dodgson also terminates Ian's employment for exposing his operation. 

Alan, Ellie, and Maisie escape with Ramsay's assistance through a defunct subterranean amber mine, but not before having various close encounters with several dinosaurs  of their own. After finding Ian, they meet up with Owen, Claire, and Kayla. Meanwhile, Dodgson attempts to leave with dinosaur embryos via a hyperloop underground train, but when the power fails, he becomes trapped and subsequently killed by a group of three Dilophosaurus. Electronic devices retrieve the dinosaurs to the Biosyn headquarters to protect them from the fire. Owen, assisted by Maisie and Alan, captures Beta. 

In the meantime Kayla has run off to a helicopter to get the group the hell outta Dodge when a Giganotosaurus terrorises the group until the Therizinosaurus and the Tyrannosaurus rex kill it. The group escapes with Kayla at the controls of the helicopter, taking Wu, who claims to be able to eradicate the locusts, with them. Ellie and Alan renew their romantic relationship prior to joining Ian and Ramsay in testifying against Biosyn. Sometime later Wu releases a locust carrying the pathogen he discovered while studying Maisie and Beta, ultimately destroying the locusts within one season. Owen, Claire, and Maisie return home to their cabin in the Sierra Nevada and reunite Beta with Blue. Around the world, dinosaurs adapt to co-exist with modern bird, sea and wildlife while the United Nations declares Biosyn Valley a dinosaur sanctuary. 

I went in to see 'Jurassic World : Dominion' with fairly low expectations and came out fairly surprised that the Critics had been so harsh on this final instalment of the second trilogy. Sure, it rehashes everything that has gone before including the ultimate destruction of every dino enclosure from Isla Nublar right through to the Lockwood Estate; and when it comes down to it the story has come full circle from harnessing dino DNA from mozzies through to creating dino sized crop busting locusts by manipulating their DNA. The action sequences and the spectacle of dinosaurs living amongst us is impressively handled, but this film is more about combating a plague of locusts than it is about marauding dinosaurs chomping and stomping up the scenery and any mere mortal who dare get in their way. Reuniting Neill, Dern and Goldblum from the original trilogy doesn't really add any weight to the storyline other than to connect the dots back to the 'Jurassic Park' series. And so in these respects 'Jurassic World : Dominion' is predictable and by the numbers, devoid of any emotion, and a storyline that for the most part we have seen before. It is entertaining enough, and at a run time of two and a half hours it moves along at a good enough pace, but I think it's time that this franchise goes the way of the dinosaurs, and is finally declared extinct!

'Jurassic World : Dominion' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

UNCORKED : Thursday 21st May 2020.

In these very trying and testing times for us all that has seen many cinema's, Odeon's, and movie theatres around the world close their doors for the foreseeable future because of the escalating threat of the COVID-19 Coronavirus taking an ever increasing hold on the world at large, many film and television productions halted in their tracks indefinitely, and new film releases pushed back to some future date when some sense of movie going normalcy is expected to resume, I have, needless to say, had to adapt to this new world order. And so with my usual Reviews of the latest cinematic releases being curtailed, instead I will post my Review of the latest release movies showing on Netflix until such time as the regular outing to my local multiplex or independent theatre can be reinstated.

In the last few weeks then, a number of new feature films have landed at Netflix - of which I review as below 'Uncorked' which went live on the streaming service on 27th March and which I saw from the comfort of my own home on Thursday 21st May.

'UNCORKED' is an American drama film Directed, Written and Co-Produced by Prentice Penny in his feature film directorial debut. Due to have its World Premier screening at South by Southwest in mid-March, but cancelled due to the grip of the coronavirus pandemic, this original Netflix film was released on the streaming service at the back end of March. The film has garnered largely positive Reviews.

The film opens up in a bottle shop in Memphis where works Elijah (Mamoudou Athie) who is painstakingly placing bottles of wine on the display shelves, attending to customers enquiries, taking sales and engrossing himself in a world he clearly loves. In walks two young girls looking to make a purchase but are completely clueless about wine. Elijah strikes up a conversation with one of the young women, Tanya (Sasha Compere) and begins to tell her the difference between Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio and Riesling. She walks out with a bottle of Riesling under her arm, and a few days later comes back and is persuaded to join the shops Wine Club for which she must hand over her all important phone number, e-mail address and home address. The pair have clearly hit it off and soon thereafter begin dating.

Elijah also works at his fathers barbecue restaurant alongside his father Louis (Courtney B. Vance) and his mother Sylvia (Niecy Nash). He works there somewhat reluctantly although Louis has his heart set on Elijah taking over the reins of the restaurant when he needs to retire, just as his father passed on the restaurant to him. It's a successful thriving business where patrons line the street outside waiting to get in, but despite this Elijah isn't interested but has not yet plucked up the courage to tell his dad outright.

One day while on a date, Elijah recounts to Tanya what first sparked his interest in wine, about five years ago and ever since then he has been hooked, reading up about the many different wines of the world, wine growing regions, grape varietals, specific vineyards and absorbing as much knowledge as he can about the subject. He goes on to tell her that he aspires to become a Master Sommelier, of which there are only 230 worldwide, but is fearful of the cost, the time and the dedication needed to learn his craft to be able to take the year long course and pass what is probably the hardest exam in the world. Tanya tells him to follow his dream. And so he takes the entrance exam, and passes earning him entry into a local Sommelier School. He announces his entry to the school over a family dinner, and after some hilarity because the family was unaware what a Sommelier is or does, everyone is congratulatory especially Sylvia and except for Louis who derides his son.

After a number of initial lessons, Elijah is approached by Harvard (Matt McGory) to join his study group. Hesitant at first, he sees the draw card of being in a study group and joins together with Richie (Gil Ozeri) and Leann (Meera Rohit Kumbhani). After a few months the study group of four is offered and exchange programme with their sister school in Paris, France. Elijah worries about the US$10K minimum cost of travel, accommodation and associated costs and says that he's unable to attend, and his parents couldn't afford to contribute either. So he sits on the sidelines until Harvard makes him an offer to help split their costs 50/50. Elijah advises his parents of the scheduled trip and Sylvia agrees to start a fund raiser to enable him to attend. At his leaving party Elijah is presented with US$3.5K in cash, plus the proceeds from the sale of his car, means that he can go secure in the knowledge that he has sufficient funds to cover his expenses.

Things go well in Paris for the study group mates, until Harvard announces that he has to leave because his father has set him up with a job back home. Harvard is none to pleased with this prospect but has little say in the matter and it also means that he is now backing out of his 50/50 arrangement with Elijah. While in Paris Elijah remains in periodical contact with his mother but his father for the most part remains distant, having alienated himself ever since his son announced he was not interested in taking on the family restaurant in the longer term. Elijah meanwhile has got himself a job in a kebab shop to try and earn a crust to support himself through the remainder of the exchange period.

In Paris, Elijah learns that his mothers cancer has returned and that she is now hospitalised. He speaks to his mother who is undergoing chemotherapy and is largely confined to bed, and tells him to remain in Paris and continue with his studies. She also wires him US$1.5K to help further fund his tuition and living expenses. Louis finds out about the money sent and chastises his wife. A short time later Sylvia dies.

Elijah returns home to attend the funeral. Recognising that his father is now struggling to run the restaurant, plus open a new more upmarket barbecue restaurant in a more well to do suburb, he increasingly supports his father so neglecting his Sommelier classes. Elijah is forced to withdraw from the programme.

Seeing his renewed commitment to him and the family business Louis relents and begins supporting Elijah with his studies, as does Tanya and the owner/manager of the bottle shop where he works, which in turn leads Elijah to sitting for the Master Sommelier exam. He takes the exam which involves a theory test, a service test and a blind tasting of three red wines and three whites which need to be identified in 25 minutes.

Ultimately Elijah failed the exam having missed out on the blind tasting with some elements of service and theory lacking as well. Elijah returns to his two jobs in the bottle shop and the family's now two restaurants, and some time later is seen in the classroom sampling and identifying a wine having enrolled once again in the Sommelier course.

Amongst the films centred around the wine industry 'Uncorked' is not going down in the history books as a great vintage, but having said that it is a charming medium bodied film that has been well researched, finely crafted and evenly balanced by Writer and Director Penny. The two central themes around which the film revolves - the Memphis barbecue restaurant(s) and the Sommelier programme are delivered in a completely convincing and believable manner and the performances by Athie, Vance and Nash are first rate as the latter two respond to the formers desire to pursue his dream from opposite sides of the same coin. The references to various wines and the worlds regions from which they originate are educational in themselves, and the unfolding dynamic between the often divided parents and their son adds further authenticity to the storyline. There are no car chases, guns, knives, explosions, fist fights, sex, drugs, thumping soundtrack or cussing in this film - instead we have a simple story, well told and deftly handled about a young man chasing his career goal through legitimate means - hard work, study and recognising the importance of family.

'Uncorked' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapboard, out of a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE FRONT RUNNER : Wednesday 6th February 2019.

'THE FRONT RUNNER' which I saw at my local independent movie theatre this week, is an American biographical drama film Directed, Co-Produced and Co-Written for the screen by Jason Reitman whose previous Directorial outings include 'Thank You for Smoking', 'Juno', 'Up In The Air', 'Young Adult', 'Labor Day' and 'Tully' more recently. Based on the 2014 Matt Bai book 'All the Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid', the film surrounds Gary Hart who is an American Politician, Diplomat, Lawyer and Author and was the 'front-runner' for the 1988 Democratic Presidential nomination, representing the State of Colorado in the US Senate from 1975 through until 1987. The film Premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in August last year, was released in the US in early November, has so far taken under US$3M at the Box Office and has received mixed Reviews.

The film kicks of in 1984 and here Hugh Jackman portrays Gary Hart, the former senator of Colorado, who loses out on the Vice-President nomination to Walter Mondale. Hart comes in second place but quite a way down the rankings. Not to be down trodden or brow beaten, Hart decides to run for the top job at the Whitehouse in the 1988 Presidential campaign. In the intervening years Hart has spent his time campaigning, raising his profile especially among the younger voting demographic whom he seems to share a connection with, and fine tuning his position on policies that matter to working class America and the future lifeblood of the nation.

With his 1988 campaign ramping up, and the press constantly on his tail, he is interviewed in a diner having cooked up burgers for everyone as a publicity stunt, by A.J. Parker (Mamoudou Athie) a Washington Post reporter. The conversation turns personal when A.J. starts enquiring about his married life and his marital beliefs - a subject that Hart was notoriously guarded about. The interview concludes with Hart abruptly excusing himself and inviting the media to follow him around at the weekends when he is not campaigning and enjoying some family time. This would give an insight into Hart, the family man, and his beliefs, albeit Hart qualifies this by stating that it will be a fairly boring exercise for anyone who chooses to do so. Needless to say Bill Dixon (J.K. Simmons) Hart's long term Campaign Manager is against the notion, but is over-ruled by the would-be President of the United States.

Hart had announced his candidacy to run for the Oval Office in mid-April 1987 and the story here unfolds over three troublesome weeks thereafter in which Hart would go from Hero to Zero. Hart's political challenges begin when he is invited one weekend to enjoy a party on a cruising motor boat down Florida way - perhaps appropriately named 'Monkey Business'. There Hart meets a woman, although their 'interaction' is never revealed to camera, and we never to get to view the mystery woman until later on in the film when allegations of an extra-marital affair emerge.

By late April, The Miami Herald claimed that an anonymous informant had telephoned the paper to say that Hart was having an affair with a friend, provided details about the affair, and told the reporter that Hart was going to meet this person at his Washington, D.C. townhouse that weekend. As a result, a team of Herald reporters followed Donna Rice (Sara Paxton) on a flight from Miami to Washington D.C., then staked out Hart's townhouse that evening from their vehicle parked across the street, and the next Saturday, and observed a young woman and Hart together. The Herald reporters confronted Hart on Saturday evening in an alley behind his townhouse about his relationship with Rice, which Hart vehemently denied.

The Herald publish the story a few days later in early May stating that Hart had spent Friday night and the majority of Saturday with a young woman at his townhouse. Later the following weekend  Hart's media campaigners denied any scandal and condemned the Herald's reporters for intrusive reporting.

By now Hart's aides had caught up with Donna Rice and were keeping her 'safe' from the prying eyes and the influence of the press, with her being 'babysat' by Irene Kelly (Molly Ephraim) one of Hart's campaign schedulers. However, the next day attempting to make a covert getaway at the airport to fly home to the safety of her parents, the young woman is identified by the media as Donna Rice. She later gave a press conference also denying any sexual relationship with Hart, and he insisted that his interest in Rice was limited to her working as a campaign aide.

Needless to say the scandal spread rapidly through all media channels during the course of that week. Hart faces facts with his wife Oletha 'Lee' Hart (Vera Farmiga) whom he had been married to since 1958, had two young adult children and had been separated from twice over the years but always managed to reconcile their differences. Lee vows to at least temporarily stand by her man, and goes to the media showing a united front.

However, the media coverage came to dominate Hart's campaign. Opinion Polls conducted in the direct aftermath of the media frenzy found that 55% of Democrats believed that Hart had been truthful, and 44% of them were unconcerned about the issue. The polling of voters was even more positive. Further polls had very similar results - of those polled, 67% disapproved of the media writing about a candidate's sex life, and 60% stated that Hart's relationship with Rice was irrelevant to the Presidency. This buoyed Hart somewhat but he was still caught off guard when at a press conference he was asked again by A.J. more pointed personal questions that ended with him being asked if he had ever committed adultery, to which in front of the gathered press, and his wife, he could not honestly answer.

A week after the story broke, Hart made the decision to suspended his campaign after the Washington Post, at the decision of the Editor Ben Bradlee (Alfred Molina), threatened to run a story about a woman Hart had dated while separated from his wife, and to which they had photographic evidence, much to the chagrin of A.J. This ultimately led to Lee and his daughter Andrea (Kaitlyn Dever) becoming similar targets of interest for the tabloid press for a short period of time. The film concludes with the Hart's relaxing on the deck of their home with the voiceover of Gary stating his decision to pull out of the race to the Whitehouse. Before the closing credits roll, we are told that Gary and Lee remain married to this day.

'The Front Runner' moves along at a reasonably swift pace, but there is little to maintain any real interest here. After all, whilst this was considered a scandal at the time (at least in the eyes of the media), the American population thought a lot less so, as did his wife ultimately, and compared to the antics of the current sitting President, Hart would almost be considered angelic, and the accusations brought against him a non-starter. But this was thirty years ago and time and opinion has moved on apace since then. Jackman plays the wannabe President with conviction and believability, but the remaining cast members are also rans, and the story is done & dusted before it really gets going, charting the three weeks leading up to him pulling out of the race, which in reality is less than two weeks, and the accusations were never really proven with Hart and Rice both denying any sexual relations. And furthermore, Hart's career, whilst not reaching the dizzying heights of the Oval Office, remained in the political, legal and writing arena right up until January 2017, so I guess its fair to say that all's well, that ends well Mr. Hart. It's a very brief snapshot in time of a 'scandal' (if it can really be called that) that really impacted just one man (to an extent) and his family rather than the establishment, that seems in many respects to have been over before it really got going and has since been banished to the history books. You can easily wait for this to watch it on BluRay from the comfort of your own lounge, on via your streaming network of choice.

'The Front Runner' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-