shakercoola

An American horror; A story about a priest experienced in exorcisms chosen by his superiors to investigate the death of a priest who died during the exorcism of a young girl years before. Finding the now older girl under psychiatric care he discovers from her the demon was the same as one he witnessed in Africa and searches there for answers. This is a convoluted, overwrought thriller and Burton was stagy. As an aside, it is a film more than probably any other damned by direct comparison to an antecedent, like The Godfather III was to the original installments - creditable, albeit flawed in ways one needn't go into. Exorcist II: The Heretic is not creditable but it dared to do something different with some of its telepathic sequences which were lyrical, and it had a hallucinogenic, apocalyptic quality like a strange overly exotic fairytale.

An American fantasy film; A story about a paramedic who realises she has the power to see the future. Forced to confront revelations about her past, she forges a relationship with three young women bound for powerful destinies, but before long they face a deadly present from a villain with other powers. While the Tom Holland series of Spider-Man films offers high production values and kinetic thrills, Madame Web is arguably more endearing and holds more personal struggle in its lead, and the sense of vulnerability is more palpable because of Dakota Johnson's strong performance. This spin-off maintained a consistent main tone that didn't undercut some of the serious moments in the aforementioned series. The action sequences come naturally, so the stunts are impressive, and tension builds well in the final third.

An American sci-fi thriller; A story about dinosaurs, cloned from ancient DNA, now inhabiting a restricted equatorial region. A pharmaceutical company secretly recruits a team to reach three species that hold the key to life-saving benefits for humankind. This standalone sequel is arguably one of the better-looking installments since Spielberg was at the helm. Exotic locales are photographed well and sound effects are impressive too. Action set pieces are slick and there are some good stunts. There are no new ideas here, though. The premise of a "world" becoming indifferent to dinosaurs draws attention to the fact moviegoers no longer hold the same wonder for the way these creatures are rendered. Live-action CGI effects have never been groundbreaking photorealism since the original. There are some suspenseful moments and dashes of innovation in the tropes but not enough was done to elicit a genuine sense of anticipation, awe or terror for when the dinosaurs appear, so it struggles to keep the stakes high, especially with dinosaur genera we've seen many times before. Each new film, then, is a search for new themes to make the action gel and to contrive a reason to get characters to a remote island. Familiar ideas - the sinister corporation, the defunct theme park, and genetic manipulation gone wrong are well worn. Dinosaurs being used for human research, the only new sub-theme, is barely explored. The main characters have good chemistry, offering a modicum of interest before the inevitable peril and chases that must prevail in a formula film.