Author: Mike Smith

• HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON (2025)
• Starring:  Mason Thames, Nico Parker and Gerard Butler
• Directed by:  Dean DeBlois
• Rated:  PG
• Running time:  2 hrs 5 mins
• Universal

Our score:  4 out of 5

In case you haven’t noticed, there has been, for the past few years, a trend in Hollywood.  Take a beloved animated film and do a live action remake.  It makes sense.  The studios already own the property so need to pay the screenwriter any more money.  And, if the animated film was a success, you already have a built-in audience.  When they work, like Disney’s latest “Lion King” films, they work beautifully.  When the don’t, well they don’t (and I’m looking at you “Snow White.”  I hope you’ve blinked since I last saw you.)  Another risk is that they spoil the affection fans of the original have.  I’m happy to say that that affection still runs deep in me after seeing “How to Train Your Dragon.”

Like the 2010 animated feature, the film tells the story of young Hiccup (Thames), a well-meaning lad who tries his best to impress his father, the head of the Viking village he lives in.  However, no matter what he tries, and how well intentioned his plans are, disaster usually follows.  Then one day he meets a very special dragon.  And his adventures begin.

Beautifully shot, with amazing visual effects, the film manages to capture the feel of its predecessor thanks to a strong cast.  As Hiccup, Thames is just quiet enough to hide his new-found skills and Ms. Parker is a strong asset to the group of youngsters hoping to become first-rate dragonslayers.  Butler, who also voiced tribe leader Stoick in the original animated film, is his usually blustery best.  Whether he’s fighting dragons or haunting Paris opera houses, Butler has never met a role he couldn’t yell through!

The visual effects are top notch though I will warn that some of the more intense scenes scared several of the little ones that attending the screening I was in.  However, children over the age of eight should enjoy the action.

On a scale of zero to five I give the live action version of ‘How to Train Your Dragon” ★★★★

• 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” ★★★

• 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 ★★★★★

• 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  

• SNOW WHITE  (2025)
• Starring:  Rachel Ziegler and Gal Gadot
• Directed by:  Marc Webb
• Rated:  PG
• Running time:  1 hr 49 mins
• Walt Disney

Our score: 2.5 out of 5

It’s finally here.  We’ve been beat over the head for the past year about the updated version of “Snow White” which was going to change everything you thought you knew about the story.  Of course there will be dwarves.  Oops, no, sorry, we’re going to have “magical creatures” of all sizes and genders.  Oops, sorry again.  The dwarves are back.

And it didn’t help that the actress playing Snow White told the press:

“I just mean that it’s no longer 1937, and we absolutely wrote a “Snow White” that’s not gonna be saved by the prince, and she’s not gonna be dreaming about true love. She’s dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be and the leader that her late father told her she could be if she was fearless, fair, brave, and true. And so, it’s just a really incredible story for young people everywhere to see themselves in.”

These comments, and the whole yes/no dwarves controversy, put this film in the same category of “Twilight Zone: the Movie, where the death of actor Vic Morrow and two children overshadowed the actual film when it was released.  Sometimes controversy pays off.  Sometimes, it doesn’t.

In a land far, far away, the king and his wife are traveling in a blizzard when the queen gives birth.  Since the child was born during a snow storm, she is given the name Snow White.  (sigh)  That’s like saying Batman took his name from the fact that he liked to play baseball.  The new family spend their days wandering the kingdom, meeting and helping out their subjects.  Sadly, the queen passes away and the king, lonely for female companionship, the king takes a new bride (Gadot in all of her epic wickedness), a woman whose vanity forces her to constantly question her magic mirror as to her status as the most beautiful, or fairest, of them all.  She gives young Snow White (Emilia Faucher) a really bad haircut and keeps her locked in the castle, forced to do menial chores.  While scrubbing the floor one day, a now adult Snow White (Ziegler) is surprised by Jonathan (Andrew Burnap), a sort of Robin Hood-like figure who came to rob the castle.  He is captured but Snow White, with her heart of gold, helps him escape.  This makes the queen angry.  Very angry!  She orders her huntsman to take Snow White into the forest and cut out her heart (this film is particularly dark for a PG rating).  He lets her go, she finds the dwarves, the end.  Not exactly, but that’s what it felt like.

Where to start?  This is pretty much “Snow White” the way we remember it, meaning someone at Disney must have realized that the recent trend of failing films needed to stop and persuaded the filmmakers to be as familiar as possible.  Ziegler was so good in Steven Spielberg’s updated “West Side Story,” but for whatever reason she doesn’t bring the slight vulnerability needed for the role she showed in “WSS” here.  Sadly she doesn’t make Snow White likable, so you don’t really care what happens to her.  Also, apparently Ziegler was directed to never blink and her constant, wide eyed stare is pretty unnerving at times.

It is good to see the familiar seven dwarves, even CGI ones, and the film picks up every time they are on screen.  The film turns the “magical beings” into Jonathan’s band of men, who spend a lot of time singing and dancing.  “You and Finch are such good dancers,” Snow White tells one of them.  He replies that they’re “just good friends.”  “If you say so.”  Ha-ha.

The songs are ok and the CGI clever, but unfortunately you go into this film looking for the worst and, even though it’s not a bad as it could have been, it may take you a couple of viewings before you find the story you were hoping for.  I’ll never know.  One time was plenty for me.

On a scale of zero to five I give “Snow White” ★★ ½.

• NOVOCAINE
• Starring:  Jack Quaid, Amber Midthunder and Ray Nicholson
• Directed by:  Dan Berk and Robert Olsen
• Rated:  R
• Running time:  1 hr 50 mins
• Paramount

Our score:  3.5 out of 5

One of the greatest bad ass characters in movie history was Mr. Joshua, played by Gary Busey in “Lethal Weapon.”  Willingly holding his arm over a direct flame and not flinching…it still makes me grimace.  Meet Nate Caine (Quaid).  He makes Mr. Joshua look like a wimp.

Packed with humor and over the top violence, “Novocaine” is an ultra violent, ultra funny film ostensibly about a man following his heart.  Nate is a quiet guy who earns his money as the assistant manager of a local bank.  While running a morning meeting he can’t help but notice a new teller named Sherry (Midhunder) as she comes in late.  Afterwards she apologizes and offers to take Nate to lunch.  He finally agrees but is surprised when Nate only orders a milkshake.  She offers him a bite of her pie but he refuses, explaining that he was born with a condition that prevents him from feeling any kind of physical pain.  He can’t eat solid foods because he could inadvertently bite his tongue and bleed to death.  Things are looking up for Nate.  Until they aren’t.

It’s hard to put a label on this film.  Yes, it’s violent.  Yes, it’s action packed.  Yes it’s funny.  But it’s neither a horror, action or comedy film.  It’s the rare combination of all three.  The story moves along quickly, carried on the shoulders of the film’s three leads, two of them (Quaid and Ray Nicholson) the sons of Hollywood’s most acclaimed actors Dennis Quaid and Jack Nicholson (their mothers aren’t too shabby either – Meg Ryan and Rebecca Broussard, respectively).  Both have a fine screen presence.  Quaid is quite likable.  Nate would be the perfect “every man” if not for his little issue.  As chief bad guy Simon, Nicholson sends chills down your spine with only a glance and a comment.  As Sherry, Ms. Midthunder is both sweet and sour, hiding a secret that gives the film its genuine tension.

The action scenes are top notch, if not a little over the top.  I mean, sure you can’t feel someone smash your head into a wall but you should at least stumble a little, right?

If you need to jump start your spirits this week then I recommend seeing “Novocaine.”  It’s Pure Adrenaline!

On a scale of zero to five, “Novocaine” receives ★★★ ½