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Had the pleasure of viewing A Serial Killers Guide to Life and Grimmfest this year followed by a Q&A with its director and it's certainly been a film to make a lasting impression.

At first it was near impossible not to see A Serial Killers Guide as the cousin to Sightseers, although the director Staten Cousins-Roe states that Sightseers is not a direct influence. But there's no denying that the films share many similarities with Ben Wheatley's black comedy among them the over bearing mother who pushes our anti-hero to the extreme, the jet black humour even the locations are familiar (although the film was shot around Sussex as opposed to Yorkshire).

But the question is despite the similarities does A Serial Killers Guide stand on it's? And the answer is yes, this is largely down to an excellent cast, leads Katie Brayben as the ditsy and emotionally fragile Lou and Poppy Roe as the cold and unpredictable Val both have such a strong on screen chemistry that I never found the absurdity of the film a distraction but instead a benefit. Val Roe in particular stands out as she is given so much room to be a performer acting with her eyes, mouth, body language and she really seized her chance to show what she can do. The supporting cast are also spot on with reliable character actors such as Sian Clifford, Ben Lloyd Hughes, Tomiwa Edun and the always excellent Sinead Matthews all giving the assured performances we know they are more than capable of doing, even the extras in the laughing therapy scene all did great. This is in no doubt helped by writer and director Staten Cousins Roe being an actor himself.

A Serial Killers Guide to Life may not be anything new but it's a film which stands on it's own two feet and takes you on a bloody journey accompanied by the dysfunctional but always engrossing Lou and Val.

After spending over a decade stuck in development hell the long awaited Jurassic Park IV has finally made it to cinemas under the guidance of up and coming director Colin Trevorrow and re-boot specialists Legendary Pictures (The Dark Knight Trilogy, Godzilla) with the more suitable title Jurassic World. But is it worth the wait?

Well it was for Universal the film stomped into theatres and looks set to break into the prestigious billion-dollar club in box office gross. Benefiting the relentless marketing campaign which included a mock and very impressive Jurassic World website highlighting the impressive attention to detail put into the park. As for the quality of the film it may not be able to match the original, but it is certainly the superior of the three sequels. The main distinction between Jurassic World and its lesser counterparts The Lost World and Jurassic Park III is that Jurassic World poses the same the same theme which was the main driving force of both the first instalment and Michael Crichton's 1990 novel, a theme best explained by Dr. Ian Malcolm's memorable quote "You were too busy asking if you could, you never stopped to ask if you should". The park is run by Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan), an eccentric Richard Branson like billionaire and the only returning character Dr. Henry Wu (BD Wong) who serves as a modern day Victor Frankenstein. Both could have served as exciting representatives of the dangers of capitalism and science but instead they are pushed aside for the typical all American action hero. This could had been a problem if it wasn't taken over by the always lovable Chris Pratt who has further cemented himself as the hottest star in Hollywood.

As for the other characters they are rather one dimensional and undeveloped. Bryce Dallas Howard plays the conventional stubborn businesswoman, Claire, who predictably evolves into being humane, while her sister Karen (Judy Greer) spends the majority of her limited screen time back in the United States crying and worrying over her sons (this is even before the Dinosaurs start rampaging across the island) while her two children serve as the Tim and Lex stand in's. They are in the form of Zach (Nick Robinson) who is your typical hormonal teenager constantly using conveniently labelled electronic products and his dinosaur obsessed nerdy little brother Grey (Ty Simpkins). The biggest disappointment however is the clichéd human antagonist Vic Hoskins played by the wasted Vincent D'Onofrio who plays a bad guy whose bad for the sake of being bad. Hoskins is Ingen's head of security whose plan is to weaponise the raptors trained by Pratt's character Owen, at no point is his plan a secret as it's the first subject he talks about. The character of Hoskins is paper-thin and is a character more suited to a 90's family film, a certain Brian Blessed voiced hunter springs to mind.

The plot involving Hoskins is part of too many undeveloped subplots that only add to the run time as opposed to the story. The main culprit is when while on Jurassic World's monorail Grey begins to randomly cry over the likelihood of his and Zach's parents getting a divorce, this subject is never bought up again failing to capitalise on adding any depth to the brothers. These uneventful subplots are likely the consequence of too many scriptwriters working on the screenplay. Four screenwriters are credited, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, served as the original screenwriters while Trevorrow and his Safety Not Guaranteed partner Derek Connolly later stepped in for the final draft, four very talented screenwriters, but all likely to have clashed during pre-production.

But as any fan of the Jurassic Park franchise should know the real stars are the dinosaurs and boy they don't disappoint. The Indominus Rex is a breath of fresh air, which was lacking in the other sequels. She serves as not just a good threat to the park and its inhabitants but also a solid representation of the dangers of science. While the other "assets" in Jurassic World consist of the monstrous Jaws eating Mosasaurus and the previously underused Pterodactyl's, both of whom are most welcome and give the film a sense of individuality. While the 'old school' Raptors and T-Rex make more than just fan service cameos and even become integral to the main plot, even the biggest cynics will struggle to smile when the T-Rex and raptors are on screen. Trevorrow shows that he is capable of taking on such a high profile production, Jurassic World may be lacking the personality which made his indie-sci-fi-comedy debut Safety Not Guaranteed such a delight but this is a film which despite its flaws is made by people who are clearly passionate about this franchise and it will certainly appeal to fans of the original and introduce it to younger generations.