Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

I won't own this film on DVD like I do the originals, but I will own that I enjoyed every second.
Life finds a way to bring back Jurassic Park movies every few years, even though we are all familiar with the two sentence plot: What could go wrong if we bring back dinosaurs? — run!
I'm an unabashed fan of 2015's Jurassic World revival with Chris Pratt, who delivered that Bruce Willis/Harrison Ford movie magic combo of wit and action hero believability. It was my favorite movie that summer, hitting all the right notes of wonder and thrills.
 
This year's sequel roars into the theater with the same challenge that the 90's sequels had: Dinosaurs breaking free from the park is a thrilling story, but what do we do now? Similar to the 90's, the new film tackles consequences and animal rights — in addition to all the running.
However, the film cleverly brings something new to the series  that was a fun surprise — a haunted house genre twist in the final act that works well.

The writing team, same as for the previous film, and a new director J.A. Bayona, give Bryce Dallas Howard and the supporting cast more one-liners this time around, at the expense of utilizing Pratt more. He is the only one with star power, so there is some spark missing this time around.
 
Compared to the 2015 film (and the 1993 original), the good guys never seem to be in believable danger as the story plays towards more absurd. While it won't be a classic, it was classic summer fun.

In a nutshell: Dino-mite for escapist fun.

A solid number three in the series of five.

Award potential: Best Special FX contender on Oscars night.

The ten buck review: Worth ten bucks.

Ocean's 8

Someone stole my ten bucks.

In a year of super hero and Star Wars burnout, it couldn’t be more timely to bring back a fast-paced heist movie — and it couldn’t be more timely to reshape everyone’s favorite heist franchise with an all-actress cast. 

That’s right, Ocean’s 11 is now Ocean’s 8 — although it’s really kind of a six that never really goes to eleven.

The film's ensemble cast includes Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Rihanna, Mindy Kaling, Awkwafina and Elliot Gould, who resumes his franchise role. It’s a delight to see all of these on screen, and for a few minutes it’s fun to see Bullock swipe some luxury products in a realistic way. However, the big hustle is a huge, unrealistic one, which leads to a pretty dumb hour and a half to follow.

Director Gary Ross (Hunger Games, Sea Biscuit, Pleasantville, Big) replaced the swagger and cocktail energy of the Soderbergh's Vegasy films with the pleasant world of NYC fashion and art, perhaps intended as a Sex & The City take on the franchise. Some of the fashion onscreen is a feast for the eyes, but much of it is forced. There’s literally of montage of uninspired jewelry photos. Yes, still photos.

There's never much at stake in this plot. While it is fun enough to watch the on-screen talent go through the motions for a Friday night at the movies, you can’t help but wonder if each of them could have spent time on something that you wouldn’t forget the second you walk out of the theater.

Sort of seems like a crime, right?

In a nutshell: A female-cast sequel to the boozy Ocean’s films should have served up bubbly champagne, but it delivers an OK glass of wine.

Award potential: None.
 
The ten buck review: Not worth ten bucks.