Crisp Criticism - "Ant-Man and the Wasp", "Set it Up", "Skyscraper", "You Were Never Really Here"

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Julien Faddoul

Ant-Man and the Wasp *

As Scott Lang balances being both a Superhero and a father, Hope van Dyne and Dr. Hank Pym present an urgent new mission that finds the Ant-Man fighting alongside The Wasp to uncover secrets from their past.

Another inconsequential piece of comic-book filmmaking with low stakes, sarcastic jokes, the occasional high-energy set-piece and the predictable Marvel cadence. However, it does boast, along with Doctor Strange (2016), the best visual effects the studio has produced.

d – Peyton Reed

w – Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Paul Rudd, Andrew Barrer, Gabriel Ferrari

ph – Dante Spinotti

pd – Shepherd Frankel

m – Christophe Beck

ed – Dan Lebental, Craig Wood

cos – Louise Frogley

p – Stephen Broussard, Kevin Feige

Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Hannah John-Kamen, Michael Douglas, Michael Peña, Walton Goggins, Laurence Fishburne, Bobby Cannavale, Judy Greer

Crisp Criticism - "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom", "Tag", "Lean on Pete", "Sicario: Day of the Soldado"

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Julien Faddoul

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

When the island's dormant volcano begins roaring to life, a campaign is mounted to rescue the remaining dinosaurs from this extinction-level event.

You think the people in these movies would realise how ill-advised the concept of cloning dinosaurs would be by now. Then again, you'd think modern-day audiences would realise how boring it is to watch CGI animals chase around awkwardly reactive actors, but the box-office receipts say different. The trajectory of this franchise has become ridiculous to the point of paralysis: the characters' behaviour is senseless, the plot twists are laughable, the attempts at serious science are embarrassing and for no discernible reason a great deal of the action takes place indoors. A very stupid movie.

wd – JA Bayona

w – Derek Connolly, Colin Trevorrow   (Based on the Characters Created by Michael Crichton)

ph – Oscar Faura

pd – Andy Nicholson

m – Michael Giacchino

ed – Bernat Vilaplana

cos – Sammy Sheldon Differ

p – Patrick Crowley, Belén Atienza, Frank Marshall

Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Isabella Sermon, Rafe Spall, James Cromwell, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, Geraldine Chaplin, Ted Levine, Toby Jones, BD Wong, Jeff Goldblum, Michael Papajohn, Robert Emms