Movie Review: The End of Oak Street

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A fairly entertaining film that is essentially “Jurassic Park” in the suburbs in the 80’s, but with a sci-fi twist. Everything from the score to the suburban setting to some of the directing choices is very much in line with Spielberg films from the 1980’s like “E.T.” However, this film has some unique directing choices by writer/director David Robert Mitchell, with his favorite technique having an extreme closeup of a character in the foreground while keeping the background character in focus as well. While this works most of the time, other times it just feels like a gimmick. The pacing is solid for the most part, but going into the final act it stumbles a bit. The story itself initially feels original, but later portions struggle to avoid feeling like another “Jurassic” film. The film also pushes the PG-13 boundary as far as it can, which helps sell the danger of streets filled with hungry dinosaurs. Surprisingly, the movie takes a bit of a dark twist in the third act that shifts the tone and makes things feel more unpredictable. (This point in the film helps add some depth to some of the characters that felt somewhat one-dimensional up to this point.) While the effects look solid, it’s clear that all the dinosaurs are CG. And even though CG dinosaur scales were pretty much mastered back in the 90’s, the more accurate feathered dinosaurs featured here still need some extra work to look more realistic.

**1/2 out of *****

Movie Review: Spider-Man: Brand New Day

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Despite some pacing issues, a few too many plot points to juggle, and a somewhat forgettable story, the latest Spider-Man film is still an entertaining watch thanks to strong performances and great character work. The story has a lot going on and yet somehow it feels kind of empty. While the major story threads are interesting on their own, the pacing causes them to repeatedly lose momentum. Not to mention the payoff is fairly weak for all of them. The film’s greatest strength is its characters. All the leads are compelling in their own ways and are brought to life by some great actors. Returning characters Spider-Man and MJ get the bulk of the screen time, while the newcomers also get their chance to shine. Unfortunately, Sadie Sinks character gets shockingly limited screen time, and the reveal doesn’t quite earn all the secrecy that was put into the marketing. Thankfully, The Punisher still feels like the same character from the television shows and is only slightly watered-down for this PG-13 film. There are some pretty cool action sequences, but most of them feel more like obstacles holding Spidey back as opposed to the actual main conflict. The film also does a great job of nailing showing Spider-Man in his prime and how cool that is, especially the first act of the film. There is a post-credit scene but it’s not worth sticking around for.

*** out of *****