MOVIE REVIEW: SOCIETY OF THE SNOW

In 1972, a Uruguayan flight crashes in the remote heart of the Andes, forcing survivors to become each other's best hope.

Director: J. A. Bayona

Cast: Enzo Vogrincic, Matías Recalt, Agustín Pardella, Tomas Wolf, Diego Vegezzi,  Esteban Kukuriczka, Francisco Romero, Rafael Federman, Felipe González Otaño 

Release Date: December 22, 2023

Genre: Adventure, Drama, History, Thriller

Rated R for violent/disturbing material and brief graphic nudity.

Runtime: 2h 24m

Review:

J. A. Bayona’s Society of the Snow is a harrowing retelling of the 1972 Uruguayan flight disaster which strips away the gloss of previous adaptations and replaces it with grim authenticity.  Bayona's film is a visceral experience on multiple levels as he places you in firmly in the life or death situation these people experienced.  He wastes very little time with quick introductions at the airport serving as the entryway into the film and moving on to jolting recreation of the crash.  Once on location, portions of the film were shot in the actual location, he uses the environment and elements to create a beautiful but unforgiving setting.  It’s a masterstroke that makes the mountains and elements an ethereal but ominous entity unto itself.  The ensemble cast each deliver strong committed performances throughout with each doing the most with their screen time.  Enzo Vogrincic's Numa Turcatti is the closest the film offers as a main character, with his voiceover giving the film a meditative approach to their struggle for survival and the legacy of those lost.  There's a tangible sense that Bayona intends to give the survivors and those that lost their life during the tragic events their due in respectful manner.  There's very little levity here as the story is focused on the most basic levels of survival, never shying away from the physical toll the experience took on the individuals with the cast going through a similar transformation.  It’s stark, impactful and makes the rescue land with an earn sense of veracity with the film's latter moments serving as a mournful rumination on the survivor's guilt.  Society of the Snow proves to be a raw, authentic examination of the survivor's will to live in the most impossible of situations.  

A

MOVIE REVIEW: JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM

Three years after the destruction of the Jurassic World theme park, Owen Grady and Claire Dearing return to the island of Isla Nublar to save the remaining dinosaurs from a volcano that's about to erupt. They soon encounter terrifying new breeds of gigantic dinosaurs, while uncovering a conspiracy that threatens the entire planet.

Director: J. A. Bayona

Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, B. D. Wong, Jeff Goldblum, Rafe Spall, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, James Cromwell, Toby Jones, Ted Levine, Isabella Sermon, Geraldine Chaplin

Release Date: June 22, 2018

 

Genres: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of science-fiction violence and peril

Runtime: 2h 8min

Review:

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is a fun if forgettable sequel in a franchise that seems to be losing anything new to say.  J. A. Boyona does a fine job directing the film, infusing it with some of his horror sensibilities.  The film is a collection of big set pieces, at times it feels like the film’s plot is merely an excuse to move from one set piece to another.  The story itself is rather silly and the more you think about it the dumber it is.  The new characters and villains are all about as paper thin and clichéd as they come.  Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard continue to share strong chemistry which is a strong point of the film.  They both have plenty to do this go around so they’re fully engaged even though it’s a bit of a shame that the movie wasn’t slightly better.  The supporting cast is made of strong name actors but the film doesn’t seem interested is using them for anything substantial.  Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is one of those sequels that is easily forgettable because it lacks anything memorable about itself which is a shame because there’s clearly talent on hand. 

C+

Cindy Prascik's Review of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Dearest Blog: Yesterday it was off to Marquee Cinemas for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

 

Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know from the trailers.

 

When a volcano threatens a (re)extinction-level event, dinosaurs remaining in the shuttered park must be rescued.

 

Dear reader(s), in the interest of full and fair disclosure, I'll admit I'm not exactly invested in the Jurassic series. I bet there's not a single movie--not even the one that's been popping up on cable for two and a half decades--that I've watched more than once. They're definitely the sort of action-packed pictures that appeal to me, but but for some reason they've never become favorites. That being said, a new Jurassic movie is what's out this weekend, so a new Jurassic movie is what I saw, and it was...okay.

 

First, the pluses: I love dinosaurs. These dinosaurs look amazing. When ol' T-Rex comes at ya from the screen, it's all you can do not to back away, and that's not even in 3D! There's not nearly enough Jeff Goldblum, but no movie was ever worse for having him, even in limited quantities. Bryce Dallas Howard quickly swaps stupid heels for a very sensible pair of boots. Well done, filmmakers, on correcting my biggest complaint from the last movie! Fallen Kingdom has some decent jump scares and one particularly well-choreographed action sequence. It's always a crap-shoot with kid actors, but we've got us a tolerable one here. The movie runs a hair over two hours, but doesn't really seem that long, and Michael Giacchino provides another of his epic scores.

 

Now, the minuses: Really, Fallen Kingdom just isn't all that interesting. It's a done-to-death story (not always with dinos, of course), and the one-trick pony that is Chris Pratt is wearing out its welcome, at least for me. The two main supporting characters are too cartoonish to add much, and Howard is bad, just bad. In fact, the camera wastes a great deal of time lingering on the expressions of people who just aren't that...expressive. It's silly to the point of hilarity. At one point a guy down the row from me stage-whispered, "This is stupid!" I giggled, wondering if he expected Star Lord vs. T-Rex to be an intellectual pursuit, but then I thought, you know what? This IS stupid. Its execution is stupid. It's still a decent bit of summer fun, but...it should have been so much better.

 

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom clocks in at 128 minutes and is rated PG13 for "intense sequences of sci-fi violence and peril."

 

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom will undoubtedly continue the franchise's streak of my not watching more than once. 

 

Of a possible nine Weasleys, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom gets five.

 

Until next time!