• JURASSIC WORLD:  REBIRTH
• Starring:  Scarlett Johannson, Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailey
• Directed by:  Gareth Edwards
• Rated:  PG 13
• Running time:  2 hrs 13 mins
• Universal

Our score:  3 out of 5

I love dinosaurs.  My favorite is the triceratops, a love I developed as a child from reading the book “The Enormous Egg.”  Apparently, a lot of people love dinosaurs as the EIGTH film in the Jurassic Park series comes to theatres.

Set five years after 2022’s Jurassic World: Dominion, the film tells the tale of a group of people, led by Zora (Johansson) and Duncan (Ali) to escort a scientist (Bailey) back to Isla Nublar, the island that contained the original Jurassic Park on a mission to retrieve DNA from three very large, and very nasty, species of dinosaurs who were left behind on the island because they were too terrifying.  Apparently the nicer members of the species are now free to wander the world aimlessly, including the brontosaurus who blocks traffic in Brooklyn!  I can hear those car horns now.

While entertaining, the film lacks what made 1993’s original “Jurassic Park” such a great film.  Emotion.  Not just yelling and screaming, but a true emotional connection with the characters.  The most recent films in the series have pretty much just thrown characters you’re not emotionally invested in amongst a series of bigger and more terrifying monsters.  Like a great roller coaster ride you’re caught up in the excitement of the moment but on the ride home from the amusement park you’re talking more about the giant corn dog you ate instead of the ride.  That being said, the monsters are scary and you do get those brief moments of excitement.  You just may not remember them on the ride home.

On a scale of zero to five I give “Jurassic World: Rebirth” ★★★

• BALLERINA
• Starring:  Ana de Armas, Keanu Reeves and Ian McShane
• Directed by:  Len Wiseman
• Rated:  R
• Running time:  2 hrs 4 mins
• Lionsgate

Our score:  3 out of 5

When I interviewed ballerina Moira Shearer who starred in “The Red Shoes,” she happily informed me, “Dancers and boxers lace their boots the same way.”

As the analogy indicates, deadly force can come in seemingly dainty packages.

That may explain why “From the World of John Wick: Ballerina” usually works. Ana de Armas proved she had what it took to be an action hero in “No Time to Die.” In her brief turn, her awkward demeanor belied formidable speed and agility. Her precision dagger was a nice complement of James Bond’s blunt instrumentation.

This time around she plays Eve, a young woman struggling to deal with being orphaned after trained killers murdered her dad. Winston (Ian McShane), who acts like a referee in the universe that Eve and John Wick (Keanu Reeves) inhabit, puts her in the care of the Director (Anjelica Huston).

Eve now has a unique regimen. Most of us don’t have to train for the rigors of both ballet, which can decimate a dancer’s feet, and for martial arts and target practice. Because she’s as sturdy as she is agile, it’s no surprise she spends less time on stage than she does guarding clients or selectively ending lives.

After a few successful missions, she discovers that the people who killed her father are still around. The Director has had a long truce with the rival troupe of killers and their leader The Chancellor (an appropriately chilly Gabriel Byrne).

Eve couldn’t care less about those arrangements. She wants revenge and is willing to charge into a village populated entirely with seasoned assassins.

If anyone could survive such a seeming act of folly, she would be the one. Her bravado is accompanied by the sort of creativity that comes from an education in the arts. This enables her to neutralize larger, stronger opponents.

Watching de Armas leap, kick and shoot is expectedly exhilarating. Screenwriter Shay Hatten, who wrote the last two John Wick films, comes up with a delightfully goofy solutions when Eve runs out of ammo.

Director Len Wiseman (“Underworld”) stages the mayhem with appropriate finesse, but he deviates little from the template that Chad Stahelsski established in the first two movies. “Ballerina” might have been more fun if it gave Eve a stamp of her own. The pneumatic tubes that send death warrants across the oceans in seconds are here, but it the idea of blending classical dance and combat is only partially realized.

Reeves, who produced, returns as Wick. He seems committed, but the script incorporates Wick as an afterthought. Reeves and de Armas share little screen time and don’t get a chance to play off each other much. It would have been more fun if their contrasting styles could have been clearly delineated.

De Armas at least shows that her lean shoulders can carry a shoot-em-up with confidence. Here’s hoping her next turn behind a gun is as nimble as she is.

On a scale of zero to five, “Ballerina” receives ★★★

Starring: Katie Douglas, Aaron Abrams and Carson MacCormac
Directed by: Eli Craig
Rated: R
Running Time: 96 minutes
Shudder

Our Score: 3.5 out of 5 Stars

“Clown in a Cornfield” finds itself in a peculiar spot. It stands in the long shadow of director Eli Craig’s debut, “Tucker and Dale vs. Evil,” even though that film came out 15 years ago. Expectations are immediately high for subversive laughs, heartfelt slaughter, and buckets of gore. While it doesn’t fully step out from behind that legacy, Craig channels the energy of his title character, Frendo, slicing through a brisk 96-minute runtime to deliver a clear message: Boomers would rather kill us than admit they’re wrong.

Quinn (Katie Douglas) is pulled from her East Coast life to the rural town of Kettle Springs, Missouri, a place that romanticizes the past with its annual Founders Day Festival. Locals still pine for the glory days of Baypen Corn Syrup, which once provided the town with jobs, prosperity, and purpose. For Midwesterners like me, the imagery is all too familiar. The background and town are littered with empty factory remnants, a dying downtown square, judgmental stares, and teens getting drunk in cornfields. It’s not long before Quinn learns about Frendo the Clown, Baypen’s old mascot. And soon after, meets him face to face.

Based on the 2020 young adult novel, the film embraces its source material’s corny tone. It never takes itself too seriously, never fully leans into scares, and doesn’t do much to subvert the slasher genre. In many ways, “Clown in a Cornfield” functions as a slasher intro course for younger or less horror-inclined audiences, while still offering enough blood and bite to entertain veterans like me who’ve seen one too many murderous clowns, horny teens, and small-town massacres.

The teen cast doesn’t get much depth to work with. Their scenes often serve the plot more than character development, especially compared to the more grounded and textured adult roles. Performances from Kevin Durand (as the town’s mayor), Will Sasso (the sheriff), and Aaron Abrams (Quinn’s dad) bring a lived-in feel that the younger cast can’t quite match. Still, Katie Douglas injects enough heart and grit into Quinn to make her easy to root for.

Because the film feels like it’s aimed at a younger or more casual horror audience, I found myself wishing it pushed harder in terms of kills and commentary. Frendo doesn’t have the screen presence of Pennywise, Art the Clown, or even the gonzo weirdness of “Killer Klowns from Outer Space.” But that’s not really the point. “Clown in a Cornfield” isn’t trying to redefine horror, it’s trying to say something about how clinging to the past can curdle into something violent and unrecognizable. And on that front, it mostly succeeds.

Starring: Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson and Danny Huston
Directed by: Akiva Schaffer
Running Time: 85 minutes
Rated: PG-13
Paramount Pictures

Our Score: 4 out of 5 Stars

The “Naked Gun” is back as a legacy sequel, reboot, and remake rolled into one. And it has some absurdly big clown shoes to fill. The original 1988 film helped define an entire era of spoof comedies, arguably doing more for the genre than even “Airplane!” It remains a cult favorite, beloved for its relentless gags, offbeat charm, and layers of absurdity that reward every rewatch. While the original’s director has publicly said he won’t see this new version, he probably should because it’s a worthy and laugh-filled new chapter in the police squad files.

Liam Neeson plays Frank Drebin Jr., son of the iconic original character, now leading a modern-day police squad. When a dead man turns up in a submerged vehicle and a high-tech gadget with world-ending potential is uncovered, Drebin springs into action. But let’s be honest: the plot is barely the point. Supporting him is Paul Walter Hauser as his loyal partner, and Danny Huston delivers a hilariously unflinching performance as the villain. The real surprise, though, is Pamela Anderson. As the film’s love interest, she plays her role completely straight despite the absurdity of the role.

What makes this revival shine is its commitment to the classic Naked Gun formula: Deadpan delivery, slapstick chaos, sight gags, layered wordplay, and absurd satire. It’s all here, and it all lands. The cast handles the material with just the right mix of sincerity and silliness. But the credit doesn’t stop there. Writers Dan Gregor and Doug Mand, alongside director Akiva Schaffer, deserve major praise for crafting a comedy that not only honors the ZAZ legacy but also stands tall on its own. This is their second winning collaboration following 2022’s unexpectedly delightful “Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers.”

Their script is razor-sharp, balancing clever and juvenile humor with an ease rarely seen in modern comedies. “The Naked Gun” isn’t just funny, it’s consistently funny, and possibly the most laugh-out-loud movie of the year. With gags layered in nearly every frame, it demands a second viewing just like the originals.

Our score: 3.5 out of 5 stars

In the past few years whenever I see a collaboration from Jagged Edge Productions and ITN Studios I am immediately all in. From the makers of Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood and Honey 1 & 2, comes their latest film in the Twisted Childhood Universe aka “Poohiverse”, Bambi: The Reckoning. Directed by Dan Allen and written by Rhys Warrington, this film is quite possibly the best of the bunch! Having seen all the films in the proposed universe, I was blown away by this films gore and fantastic use of digital effects.

The official synopsis reads: After a mother and son get in a car wreck, they soon become hunted by Bambi, a mutated grief-stricken deer on a deadly rampage seeking revenge for the death of his mother. Bambi: The Reckoning features Roxanne McKee (TV’s “Game of Thrones”), Nicola Wright (Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2), Russell Geoffrey Banks (Who’s Watching Oliver), Tom Mulheron (TV’s “Slow Horses”), and Samira Mighty (TV’s “Love Island”).

If you hare a fan of Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood and Honey 1 & 2, you can tell that this company is getting better and better with each new film. For a low budget film, Bambi: The Reckoning has some solid CGI created our title character. If I am not mistaken, I noticed a bit of practical effects as well. This film stfarted out like the previous films with a simple yet effective animated sequence giving us some story background and then its all balls to the wall terror. I found myself cheering at the screen each time Bambi got his revenge on the baddies.

Next up in the Twisted Childhood Universe, we have “Pinocchio: Unstrung” later this year and then next year is the massive culmination feature that brings everything together “Poohiverse: Monsters Assemble”, which pokes fun ala The Avengers of this horror franchise. I can’t say that I am excited about these two films, I am rather ecstatic. I saw bring it on, I can’t get enough.

Starring: Madelyn Cline, Chase Sui Wonders and Jennifer Love Hewitt
Directed by: Jennifer Kaytin Robinson
Rated: R
Running Time: 111 minutes
Sony Pictures

Our Score: 3 out of 5 Stars

There’s not a deep well of nostalgia for “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” even though I fall squarely in its target demographic. While the 1997 film probably played at countless slumber parties, I was more interested in ‘80s slashers like “Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.” That’s not to say I skipped the original and its 1998 sequel. I just never went deeper with the 2006 direct-to-video sequel or the short-lived Amazon series. That said, nostalgia is a powerful thing, and I may have enjoyed this 2025 reboot/sequel more than it probably deserves.

The formula remains unchanged: a group of teens does something terrible and tries to cover it up, only to be stalked by a killer in a fisherman’s raincoat. This time, the inciting incident involves a group of five young adults causing a car to veer off a cliff and into the ocean, thanks to one of them goofing around in the street while high. It’s a shaky start, not just because the setup feels contrived, but because it raises questions about whether they’d even be charged with murder under existing law. It might’ve been cleaner, and way more relevant, to have them hit someone while distracted by TikTok or shopping on Etsy.

The first 30 minutes are a slog, nearly nap-worthy, but things pick up once the hook-wielding fisherman shows up and makes a mess with a harpoon. From there, the film taps into its nostalgia engine. Freddie Prinze Jr. returns with a seaman’s beard, weathered charm, and the same heartthrob energy that made him famous. Jennifer Love Hewitt, now playing a psychology professor, also makes a welcomed return. With a dead serious face, she gives the teens predictably awful advice that works perfectly in this kind of film. At this point, I was fully on board this sinking ship, content to go down with it. Because while this isn’t a good movie, it is pretty damn fun.

That fun comes in spite of a script littered with pointless side characters, wandering subplots, and character decisions so illogical they’d make a puzzle book combust. The tone swings wildly from serious to silly, and the attempts at humor mostly fall flat. Even the film’s biggest “wink” moment lands with the laughter and joy of a tax audit. A tighter runtime might’ve helped, but instead the film drags longer than necessary, testing your patience between the kills.

Like the 1997 original, this 2025 edition still lives in the shadow of “Scream,” chasing that meta-slasher magic nearly 30 years later. And while it never matches “Scream’s” cleverness, there is a sense of fun that seeps through, especially during the kill sequences. The deaths are satisfyingly brutal, and the film actually does a better job crafting a believable killer than the original.

It’s not a genre-defining entry like “In a Violent Nature,” nor is it as viciously funny as “The Monkey,” but it comfortably lands in the middle of the 2025 horror pack. There are better horror films out this year, but there are far worse, too.

• JAWS@50: THE DEFINITIVE INSIDE STORY
• Documentary
• Featuring:  Steven Spielberg, Cameron Crowe and Jordan Peele
• Directed by:  Laurent Bouzereau
• Not Rated
• Running time:  1 hr 28 mins
• National Geographic

Our score:  5 out of 5

I bought my first laser disc in 1995.  It was a special edition collection to celebrate the 20^th Anniversary of the greatest film ever made, Jaws.  I bought it for one reason.  The amazing documentary put together by filmmaker Laurent Bouzereau.  I should note here that at the time I did not own a laser disc player.

As someone that prides himself on his knowledge of the film Jaws (my most recent book, “FINATICS: 50 Years of Jaws” was just released) I usually the various documentaries on the film with a grain of salt because I usually don’t learn anything new.  That being said, I knew when I watched Jaws@50 that that would not be the case.  And I was not disappointed!

A skilled documentarian, Mr. Bouzereau has also done outstanding “making of” films about such classic movies as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. and Jurassic Park, as well as last year’s amazing Music by John Williams.  He has a style that allows him to share the story of a familiar film in a way you never expected, making the familiar seem new.  And Jaws@50 is no exception.

Through an amazing treasure trove of archival footage, and current interviews with Steven Spielberg, as well as conversations with some of the greatest filmmakers working today, the film manages to weave a tale I’ve never known.  Each film clip, or comment by Mr. Spielberg, opens  new windows into the film and the behind-the-scenes troubles that nearly kept it from being made.  To someone that has seen the film literally hundreds of times, Jaws@50 made it seem like I was watching Jaws for the first time, learning more and more about something I have loved for five decades.

The film premiers on the National Geographic channel next Thursday, July 10^th, and can also be found on the new 50^th Anniversary 4K Steelbook.  Even if you don’t own  4k player, buy it.  I don’t and I did!

On a scale of zero to five I give Jaws@50:  The Definitive Inside Story ★★★★★

Starring: Scarlett Johannson, Mahersha Ali and Jonathan Bailey
Directed by: Gareth Edwards
Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 133 minutes
Universal Pictures

Our Score: 1 out of 5 Stars

We had a 14-year break between “Jurassic Park III” and “Jurassic World.” Time away from the constantly calamitous dinosaur park made us appreciate it again when the doors swung back open. I’m not saying we need another 14-year dry spell, but after watching “Jurassic World Rebirth,” I’m beginning to think the creative team and writers need one.

17 years after a candy bar wrapper (not making this up) left a trail of devastation and chaos at a secret island lab, Earth’s environment is now too hostile for most of the dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures once resurrected. In a hail mary pharma-fueled effort to save humanity, a shady biotech firm assembles a ragtag crew to return to the long-abandoned, off-limits island of Ile Saint-Hubert. Led by Scarlett Johannson (don’t remember the names, or else you’ll get attached when they become dino snacks) and extract genetic material from the world’s last prehistoric specimens.

I’m not saying the premise is dumb. It’s a dinosaur movie. The narrative and ideas it posits gets in the way of perfectly fine escapism. The opening sequence makes sure to hammer in two asinine facts: No one cares dinosaurs are escaping zoos and dying in downtown Manhattan and dinosaurs aren’t cool anymore. As someone who has worked in news, if any animal escapes from the zoo, even a capybara, it makes national news. And what the hell do you mean dinosaurs aren’t cool? They hammer the latter point more by recruiting a paleontologist, played by Jonathan Bailey, from a natural history museum that’s shuttering. He bemoans several times about how no one cares to see dinosaurs anymore. Have any of these writers visited a zoo lately?

The obnoxiousness doesn’t end there as characters spit out dialogue that sounds like it was written by ChatGPT after a few drinks. “A car bomb killed my dad. It came out of nowhere.” Car bombs don’t come out of nowhere. They’re planted. Also, for a film about dinosaurs wreaking havoc, we expect some fantastic kills, but they’re so quick and off-screen that they make death boring. Not even the T-Rex gets a kill. So, maybe give the people what they want next time, if you catch my drift.

Worst of all, it’s boring. The action sequences are flat and lifeless. Once it’s clear who lives (almost everyone) and who dies (mostly nobodies), the chase scenes lose all tension. At the very least, you gotta kill one secondary character that’s had more than two lines of dialogue. Then, there’s too much downtime with characters you’d rather see eaten, and even the callbacks to prior films feel forced and hollow. There’s no awe, no wonder, no…anything. Just another joyless cash grab from a franchise that forgot why people showed up in the first place.

I didn’t walk in expecting to hate it. Quite the opposite. The trailer gave me hope that it might tap into that silly joy of watching dumb humans try to outwit dumber, bigger, toothier animals. I was wrong. The audience at my screening seemed to enjoy it, but it was the end of June with nothing going. Also, maybe I’m just bitter. But if you’re picking “Jurassic World Rebirth” over fireworks this weekend, prepare to be disappointed.

Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris and Kerry Condon
Directed by: Joseph Kosinski
Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 156 minutes
Warner Bros. Pictures

Our Score: 2.5 out of 5 Stars

One of the key reasons “Top Gun: Maverick” resonated with audiences was its use of practical effects. You could feel every jolt, every turn, every pulse-pounding second in the cockpit. “F1 The Movie” offers a similar thrill, dropping viewers into the high-stakes world of Formula 1 racing with visceral, immersive action sequences. If you’ve ever found racing dull on TV, F1 may be the antidote. Although you may still find watching racing at home dull once you leave the theater, but I digress. On the track, “F1” is a perfect symphony of tension and speed. Everything off the track is where things falter.

The comparisons to Maverick are hard to avoid as “F1” clearly follows the same blueprint: stunning set pieces surrounding a story about aging, redemption, growth, and legacy. Brad Pitt plays Sonny Hayes, a retired F1 driver forced out of the sport after a near-fatal crash. Years later, he’s pulled back into the game by former teammate Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), who needs Sonny to help steer his struggling team, APXGP, through the season alongside rookie driver Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris).

But while Maverick benefited from emotional investment and nostalgia, “F1” has to stand on its own—and it doesn’t quite get there. Pitt is reliably cool and watchable, but his laid-back charm lacks the sharp emotional edge Tom Cruise brought to his return as “Maverick.” And despite strong performances across the board, the film struggles to make any of its characters, aside from three, feel essential. It’s overcrowded, with too many subplots and too few payoffs, drowning out the film’s emotional core.

The racing scenes are breathtaking—seriously some of the best you’ll see all year—but the pacing of the story sputters. At times, it feels like a condensed TV series, or a script that lost track of itself. Fortunately, Kerry Condon adds some much-needed depth as Pitt’s love interest and team engineer. She brings a steely, scientific sensibility that grounds the film, and her chemistry with Pitt works. Bardem also elevates every scene he’s in, but unfortunately, there aren’t enough of them. Too much time is spent on side characters who don’t need speaking roles; just background presence, and the film loses momentum every time it wanders away from its main players.

I walked into “F1” with little interest and found myself wanting it to be great. It has the makings of a classic summer blockbuster: high energy, big stakes, and enough sensory overload to make you forget the real world for a while. And in that sense, it succeeds. But when the engines quiet down and you’re left with the people behind the wheel, there just isn’t enough there to hold on to. “F1” may offer the thrill of the race, but it never fully wins you over.

Starring: Alfie Williams, Jodie Comer and Aaron Taylor-Johnson
Directed by: Danny Boyle
Rated: R
Running Time: 115 minutes
Sony Pictures

Our Score: 3.5 out of 5 Stars

It’s only fitting that “28 Years Later” arrives in the midst of global political chaos and years after a real-world pandemic (thankfully, not one involving zombies). “28 Days Later” was released in the shadow of 9/11. “28 Weeks Later” came during the era of American military overreach in a war-torn country. So naturally, the question for longtime fans becomes: how soul-crushing does it get nearly three decades into this franchise’s apocalyptic future?

Humanity—at least in the UK—still lives in fear of the Rage virus, which first escaped a chimp research facility 28 years ago. The survivors we follow now live in a fortified community on Holy Island, guarding a tidal causeway and venturing to the mainland only for essential resources. Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is preparing his son, Spike (Alfie Williams), to become a scavenger.

Scavenging means using a bow and arrow, navigating the desolate mainland, and being capable of taking down a pack of infected in seconds. The Rage virus has evolved, and we see its grotesque aftermath throughout the film. But don’t worry—plenty of them can still sprint like Usain Bolt. While Jamie looks to instill a sense of community through violence in Spike, his son is preoccupied. Spike can’t take his mind off his ailing mother, Isla (Jodie Comer), as she writhes and moans in pain back at home.

“28 Years Later” doesn’t unfold as expected. It’s bold—not just for waiting 18 years to return to the franchise, but for rewriting elements of its core DNA. Thematically, it’s overloaded: pandemics, war, military hubris, societal collapse, parental rifts, rebirth, survivalism, even a coming-of-age arc.

This genre stew is dense; sometimes too dense. The film juxtaposes serene countryside vistas with thunderous jump scares and blood-splattered chaos. It’s like machine-gun fire in a conservatory: beautiful, jarring, relentless. And yet, somehow, it finds poetry in the mayhem. There’s an odd elegance to its grotesque vision, like discovering a basket of blood-covered puppies while fleeing through the woods. That said, audiences expecting a standard summer blockbuster (“Lilo & Stitch” or “F1”), might find it alienating. Even for someone like me, who thrives on this kind of film, I occasionally found myself questioning the more stylistic choices, especially a final teaser that feels like it’s mocking everything that came before it.

My rating may seem lower than expected, but that’s only because “28 Weeks Later” feels incomplete. The film’s legacy now hinges on how “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” closes the franchise. A weak sequel can retroactively cheapen what came before, much like the “Matrix” sequels.

Still, while some fans may have hoped for a more expansive or catastrophic finale, “28 Years Later” goes big in a different way. Instead of going global, as “28 Weeks Later” teased, it scales down to something more intimate. The heart. It looks at devastation, death, and despair, and responds with something more meditative. Almost peaceful. Albeit with nude, flesh-hungry creatures roaming the British countryside like rabid wolves.

Starring: Benicio Del Toro, Mia Threapleton and Michael Cera
Directed by: Wes Anderson
Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 105 minutes
Focus Features

Our Score: 3.5 out of 5 Stars

Since “The Grand Budapest Hotel” in 2014, Wes Anderson fans have been chasing that perfectly symmetrical high—the kind of quirky, charming brilliance that only Anderson seems capable of. But we may have to admit: that was the peak. It’s been a decade, and while he’s delivered solid work since, nothing has quite reached the heights of “Budapest.” That said, “The Phoenician Scheme” is still a strong entry in his catalog. It hits all the Anderson notes, even if it doesn’t sing quite as sweetly.

Imagine if “The Royal Tenenbaums” had a baby with “Beirut,” and you’d get something close to The Phoenician Scheme. It plays like a living political cartoon—satirizing war-driven infrastructure plans, economic collapse, and family dysfunction with pastel flair. Zsa-Zsa Korda (Benicio Del Toro) is an aging industrialist trying to glue together the financing for his overreaching global project, while grooming his daughter, Sister Liesl (Mia Threapleton), to inherit the chaos. Along for the ride are assassination attempts, underworld syndicates, failed rail lines, a basketball game with geopolitical stakes, and Bjørn (Michael Cera), a bewildered, yet suspicious entomologist turned assistant.

For die-hard Anderson fans, this might sound like a dream. But it’s worth tempering expectations. While I enjoyed “The Phoenician Scheme” quite a bit, it never quite rises to the level of Anderson’s best. It flirts with emotional depth but can’t seem to commit. Zsa-Zsa feels more like a mustachioed “Three Stooges” character than the kind of tragic antihero Anderson has pulled off in the past.

As a pure comedy, though, the film is a delight. It’s a whirlwind of dry wit, elaborate sets, and eccentric characters firing on all cylinders. Just don’t expect the emotional gut punch of “Budapest” or “Tenenbaums.” “The Phoenician Scheme” is Anderson comfort food—odd, satisfying, and occasionally unforgettable. Maybe that’s enough.

• MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING
• Starring:  Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell and Simon Pegg
• Directed by:  Christopher McQuarrie
• Rated:  PG 13
• Running time:  2 hrs 49 mins
• Paramount

Our score:  3 out of 5

It’s probably good that “Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning” acknowledges its predecessors. Co-writer and director Christopher McQuarrie loads the latest and reportedly final installment of the series with links to the previous films.

Nonetheless, it’s a lot to ask viewers to spend three hours following Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and the Impossible Mission Force team resting on their laurels.

There are still some jaw dropping stunts, but the follow-up to “Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One” has action scenes that play like outtakes or rough drafts of the scenes that worked in the previous movies. There are only so many times Cruise can hang from plane or other fast-moving vehicle.

Despite all the death defying moments in “Dead Reckoning,” a seemingly all-powerful artificial intelligence known as The Entity is still threatening humanity despite Ethan Hunt and company surviving time bombs and dangling train compartments. The Entity is worming its way into the nuclear arsenals of countries all over the world and doesn’t have qualms about destroying its flesh and blood creators.

It has even rejected its most fanatical disciple, Gabriel (Esai Morales), who now wants to use his insider knowledge to possibly control it. If he eventually takes over The Entity, the situation could potentially be worse than a nuclear wasteland.

The task is obviously bigger than Ethan himself can handle, so Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), Paris (Pom Klementieff), Grace (Hayley Atwell) and Luther Stickwell (Ving Rhames) have to scramble behind the scenes while Ethan dashes, leaps, swims and hangs for dear life to prevent either enemy from gaining the upper hand.

With “Dead Reckoning,” McQuarrie was probably correct when he concluded that audiences would prefer watching Tom Cruise push his body (and his stunt doubles) to the limit than to figuring out the intricacies of artificial intelligence. He created just enough fresh obstacles for the IMF team to tackle to prevent viewers from wondering how conquering physical catastrophes can stop one that lives only online.

It took a lot of effort to fill three hours with stunts and Cruise’s trademark sprinting (in his early 60s, the actor might want to try out for the Olympics). One might feel inclined McQuarrie if he and co-writer Erik Jendresen have run out fresh ways to endanger their leading man.

In McQuarrie’s world, there seems to be a proliferation of time bombs, and the tension of seeing yet another countdown diminishes when Ethan and company discover yet another explosive with a digital fuse.

In a couple of sequences, McQuarrie cleverly switches between Ethan muscling his way past yet another impediment while Benji and company struggle to ensure that their teammate’s heroics won’t be for naught. This gives the new installment momentum it could have used when McQuarrie seems a little too content to follow the series template.

At times it seems as if McQuarrie was too eager to find ways to tie this chapter to its predecessors. The call backs are occasionally fun, but more thought seems to have gone into them than in the current tale.

Perhaps “The Final Reckoning” might have been more fun if McQuarrie and company had explored the logic behind The Entity and figured out how the IMF could potentially outsmart it. With two hackers on the squad and a thoughtful U.S. President (Angela Bassett) and the hair trigger General Sidney (Nick Offerman), one would think they’d create enough real ideas to combat their artificial foe.

McQuarrie won an Oscar for his head-twisting script for “The Usual Suspects,” so he could have taken a more cerebral approach and made a movie that still delivered thrills. Since “Jack Reacher,” he has shown a formidable eye for action scenes to go with his talent for word play. The exchanges between Bassett and Offerman demonstrate he hasn’t lost his dramatic chops, but it would have been nice if he had used them more frequently.

Watching Tom Cruise, who also produced the “M:I” series, dashing toward or from danger is usually fun, but with “The Final Reckoning,” he’s not dealing with a crisis worthy of his speed. Instead he seems be taking an unwarranted victory lap.

Overall, on a scale of zero to five, “Mission: Impossible – The FInal Reckoning” receives ★★★

• KARATE KID: LEGENDS
• Starring:  Jackie Chan, Ben Wang and Ralph Macchio
• Directed by:  Jonathan Entwistle
• Rated:  PG 13
• Running time:  1 hr 34 mins
• SONY/Columbia Pictures

Our score:  3 out of 5

A young boy becomes a fish out of water when he and his mother move to a new city.  There he is bullied and only being trained in martial arts can help him.  Sound familiar?  That’s the plot of the original “Karate Kid,” released in 1884.  It’s also the plot of the new “Karate Kid: Legends,” which plays like a cross between the familiar “Karate Kid” themed films mixed with a little “Best of the Best.”  The film is entertaining, but it’s very formulaic.

The film opens with a scene from “Karate Kid Part II,” with the wise Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) explain the secrets of his family’s karate to his student, Daniel Larusso (Macchio).  The scene is expanded to inform the audience that Miyagi-go karate is also based in kung-fu.

China.  Enter Mr. Han (Chan), the featured teacher in the 2010 version of “The Karate Kid” starring Jaden Smith.  These days Mr. Han runs a kung-fu academy and his prize student is Li (Wang).  Li’s mother, (Ming-Na Wen) is not happy that Li is doing, having lost a son in a fight years ago.  When Li and his mother move to New York City, mom believes LI’s fighting days are over.  As Sam Kinison used to ask, “Is she RIGHT?”

Familiar, with lots of foreshadowing, “Karate Kid: Legends” obviously hopes to ride the tails of the recently ended Netflix series “Cobra Kai.”  And while the story is easy to figure out, I can’t deny that the film is entertaining.  Li meets Mia (Sadie Stanley), a local girl who works in her father’s pizzeria.  He immediately pisses off Mia’s ex-boyfriend, who just happens to be the karate champion of the city.  And so on and so on.

What makes the film enjoyable is the cast.  Wang is both a skilled fighter and endearing young man.  When he’s referred to as the “Chinese Peter Parker,” you can imagine him in the part, bringing the same youthful feel to the role that Tom Holland has.  The supporting cast is strong as well.  Ms. Stanley plays Mia as tough but tender and Joshua Jackson, who plays Mia’s father, has certainly come a long way from “The Mighty Ducks.”  As the television commercials inform you, Ralph Macchio returns as Daniel Larusso though his role is just a little larger then a cameo.

The martial arts scenes are spectacularly done, with some amazing choreography.  Chan is 71 – Macchio is 63 – but they both move like they are in their prime.

Overall, the nostalgia of the previous films is a big drawing point for the film and it’s with those fond memories in the back of your head that “Karate Kid: Legends” excels.  Another plus, you don’t have to be familiar with the “Cobra Kai series to enjoy this film but if you are you’ll be rewarded for having done so.

While my 8-year-old grandson, Hudson, told me to write it’s “the greatest movie ever made,” on a scale of zero to five I’m giving “Karate Kid: Legends”  ★★★

• MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING
• Starring:  Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell and Simon Pegg
• Directed by:  Christopher McQuarrie
• Rated:  PG 13
• Running time:  2 hrs 49 mins
• Paramount

 Our score:  4.5 out of 5

I wonder how many of you remember the great stuntman Dar Robinson?  Robinson, along with Yakima Canut, Jean Coulter and the great Buster Keaton, who basically invented the concept, would make up the Mount Rushmore of stunt-workers, would do things no one else would even dare try.  If you’re seen the film “Sharky’s Machine,” you may remember the scene where a character doubled by Robinson went BACKWARDS out of a window of the Atlanta Hyatt Regency Hotel and, without a harness, fell 220 feet to the ground.  The year before, Robinson had jumped off the top of the CNN tower in Toronto.  I mention Mr. Robinson not only because of how he lived but sadly how he died.  While riding his motorcycle he accidentally hit the bike’s accelerator instead of the break and went off of a cliff.

Some well-known actors started their careers as stuntpeople, including Burt Reynolds, Jackie Chan and recent Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh.  Reversing that trend is Tom Cruise who, over the past four decades, has undertaken some of the most dangerous and jaw-dropping stunts ever captured on film, many of them while filming the “Mission: Impossible” film series.  And he tops them all in the latest chapter, “Final Reckoning.”

It’s been two years since we last met Ethan Hunt (Cruise) in “M:I – Dead Reckoning Part One.”  But in “film-time,” it’s only been a month.  Hunt is still on the trail of the mysterious Gabriel (Esai Morales), who has stolen a key needed to stop an A.I. type entity called, well, the Entity, from destroying the world as we know it by taking control of the nuclear arsenals of the world’s biggest superpowers.  Don’t believe me?  You could make a drinking game out of how many times “the fate of the world” is mentioned in this film.

Hunt attempts to assemble his usual team – Grace (Atwell), Benji (Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames) who, despite their best intentions, continue to run into lies, deceit and double-crosses.  Will Ethan and his team succeed?  After all, “the fate of the world” hangs in the balance.

Jam-packed with action, “M:I – The Final Reckoning” actually opens with a montage of Ethan Hunts greatest hits, showcasing some of the amazing adventures from the previous films in the series.  Cruise, who in my opinion may be the last great movie star, once again commands the screen and his dedication to his work, both on-screen and behind it, shows.  In this age of loud movies full of action and explosions just for the sake of being loud and having explosions, Cruise and his co-stars stand out.  There is actually an emotional element in this film that many action films lack.

The various set-pieces are skillfully directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who has not only co-written and directed the last four films in this series but has worked with Cruise on many other projects, including “Jaeck Reacher” and “Top Gun: Maverick”  He also wrote the brilliant Oscar winning script for “The Usual Suspects.”  He fills the screen with action and makes sure that the audience senses every punch, every gunshot, ever drop of adrenaline.

If the film has one drawback it may be the length.  Like “Dead Reckoning – Part One,” this film is nearly three hours long.  Many of the action scenes are extended and I don’t think the film would have suffered with a little more trimming.

That being said, this film is ana amazing way to kick the summer off with a bang!  I definitely recommend that you accept this mission.

On a scale of zero to five, “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” receives ★★★★ ½  

• WARFARE
• Starring:  Will Poulter and Cosmo Jarvis
• Directed by: Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza
• Rated: R
• Running time:  1 hr 35 mins
• A24

Director Samuel Fuller helmed “The Big Red One” and “The Steel Helmet” and also served in World War II. In the press book for the former movie, he observed that “To make a real war movie would be to fire at the audience from behind the screen.”

Without putting a viewer in actual danger, Alex Garland (“Ex Machina”) and Iraq War veteran Ray Mendoza capture what a tense and frightening 95 minutes in Mendoza’s life was like.

Except for a brief moment where the troops ogle young women in a rather vigorous workout tape, “Warfare” follows them as they take over a building for surveillance. They see lots of potential attackers, but a lot of they people they’re watching are simply trying to get on with their days. As false alarms keep ringing, it’s still a shock when a real grenade explodes in their midst.

They have taken casualties, but getting back to base is challenging now that the enemy have decided to stop waiting patiently. Hostile fire is coming from unexpected directions. Getting the team out of the lethal quagmire borders on being a suicide mission.

Shot and edited in what amounts to real time, “Warfare” drops a viewer into urban combat and the horror it entails. Every shot or explosion reverberates around the auditorium. The dialogue is loaded with military jargon, and when vehicles are six minutes from the scene, you could potentially set your watch accordingly.

During these moments, “Warfare” brims with tension, but Garland and Mendoza don’t do much to orient the audience into 2004 Iraq or explain the banter. The characters and their relationships are also sketchy. We don’t know who is in charge of whom or why occupying a building that seems to be an obvious target would be such a smart move.

The cast, which includes solid performers like Will Poulter (“Detroit”), but we barely learn anything about Poulter’s Eric or his life outside the war zone. D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai plays a character clearly based on Mendoza himself, but we barely get to know him or how he and his unit interact.

If we knew more about they guys in the unit, it would be easier to get involved with their struggles and to care if they survive. The situation is inherently compelling, but “Warfare” misses some of its potential because it loses its energy whenever the lethal fireworks stop.

The Iraqi family inside the building are a little better drawn than in earlier films on the War on Terror and its era. Unlike, say “Blackhawk Down,” Garland and Mendoza express concern over what happens to the residents once the occupying armies are gone. “Warfare” features a coda where one of Mendoza’s former comrades in arms visits the set. It’s one of the rare moments in the movie where emotions other than fear come into play. “Warfare” succeeds at immersing viewers in Mendoza’s tour of duty, but it might have had more impact if he and Garland had come up for air more often.