Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom:

Sequels often lose their steam and their effect as time passes and every shred of story and credibility is wrung out of them like a chamois through a car wash wringer ... definitely not the case here.  I found this iteration of the franchise perhaps the best of the lot, although it's still difficult to top the first one, which offered the most believable dinosaurs ever put on film to that point.  Fallen Kingdom has few flaws and a lot of substance.  Instead of just trading on what has come before and reorganizing those plots, it strikes out in a new direction.  The island has an active volcano that threatens to blow and destroy everything, every palm frond, every brontosaurus, every T-Rex, and every raptor.  There is an ethical debate as to whether or not it is the role of government to step in and save these creatures from becoming extinct - again!  Remember, they were genetically engineered in Jurassic Park (1993) when DNA was extracted from a specimen preserved in amber - and now, with a proliferation of dinos, they are once again endangered.  Of course, there are always diabolical villains waiting to capitalize on the opportunity to make money, and they see saving the saurians and training and engineering them for everything from warfare to farm labour would be an amazing way to make a lot of cash.  They recruit Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) and they leave it to her to bring onboard Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), the "dinosaur whisperer from the previous film - they need her to get inside the park and help with the logistics, and they need him because of his rapport with the raptors.  Claire and Owen think this is a humanitarian mission to save as many species as possible, and find out too late that they are simply being used.   A couple of interesting and subtle subplots are at work here too, and we get character development, particularly from Howard and Pratt's roles, that we didn't see in the previous film.  In good order, most everyone gets what he or she deserves as the beasts run amok, and the ending, which I won't spoil here, leaves us wanting to know what comes next.  Good film, fine action, and a great payoff.  Rated 14A.

Billionaire Boys Club:

A remake of the 1987 movie, the story here sticks pretty close to that of the original, featuring a group of guys from wealthy families, who decide to set up their own “get rich quick” scheme, which turns out to have deadly results.  Good performances here from Ansel Elgort (Baby Driver), Emma Roberts, and Kevin Spacy. The movie was a bomb at the box office, and had very limited theatrical release as a result. Some felt that Kevin Spacy’s role should have been recast, as it was for “All the Money in the World,” when Christopher Plummer took over.  Judd Nelson, who starred in the original, comes back playing his former character’s father. A passable and mildly entertaining film that just seems to be missing a few ingredients – like a script that allows the chemistry between the actors to flourish. Rated 14A.

Beast:

Based on a true story, but embellished dramatically, this story, which took place in New Jersey, is moved to the UK with an all-British cast to spin out the story of a woman living with her family in an isolated village, who struggles with two choices.  She can maintain the status quo and stumble along with her somewhat strange family, or she can take up with an exotic stranger who seems to have all the allure that she has been missing in her grey, dowdy life. She doesn’t know that murder is afoot, and that it won’t be just one, but rather a series of events that changes everything.  Okay for what it is. Rated 14A.

Black Panther (2018):

This Marvel film could have been just another big-budget smash-em-up action thriller, but it is far more than that, taking influences from the James Bond and Bourne movies along with plot and character development that transcend the genre.  For sure you'll get your share of stuff blowing up, but you will also look into the character and the thinking of T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) who returns to his African nation home of Wakenda to take the throne as part of a normal succession plan. Visually stunning with a remarkable story that touches on race, gender, walls around nations, and what we could all become if we allowed ourselves the honour, this movie is virtually flawless and is one for which the sequel will be thirsted after like a dehydrated desert traveller seeks water.  Rated 14A.  

The Adjustment Bureau (2011):

An often overlooked sci-fi thriller, this Matt Damon vehicle also stars Emily Blunt and offers a most interesting premise:  nothing is accidental, nothing falls to chance and everything happens for pre-planned reason. Damon’s character is a politician whose life is being managed just like everyone else’s but a mistake is made that allows him to meet Blunt’s character, a dancer and a free spirit.  In trying to right this wrong and get the politician back on the right track, the secret behind “The Bureau” is revealed, but further manipulation will hide that revelation from his conscious mind. The story is that of characters trying to follow their own hearts and minds but of course … that’s no allowed.  Excellent movie!  Rated 14A.