Jonathan Bailey Archives | Deep Focus Review

Jurassic World Rebirth

Brian Eggert — Tue, 01 Jul 2025 23:28:48 +0000

Listen to the audio version of this review. Jurassic World Rebirth further proves that Steven Spielberg invented the visual language of modern blockbusters, and other filmmakers merely speak in it. Rather than create something new, director Gareth Edwards spends 134 minutes paying homage to Spielberg and his 1993 original, Jurassic Park. But more than just the masterful first film based on Michael Crichton’s book, or even its now-six sequels, Edwards also nods to Spielberg’s Jaws (1975) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) in a recapitulation of iconic Hollywood imagery. No slouch himself, Edwards—the helmer of Monsters (2010), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), and The Creator (2023)—devises almost nothing new here. What seems new stems from recycled ideas that never really worked in the first place, such as genetically altered mutant dinosaurs. Rather than take the time to stretch his talent, Edwards falls back on the same reverence for Spielberg that directors Colin Trevorrow and J.A. Bayona displayed in Jurassic World (2015), Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018), and Jurassic World Dominion (2022). And yet, even though Edwards’ visual nods to Spielberg and Rebirth‘s story autocannibalize the Jurassic series, it manages to be more purely entertaining than the last […]

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Wicked

Brian Eggert — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 20:20:03 +0000

Wicked, the big-screen adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical by Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman, finds new relevance as a Hollywood production. The first of a two-part cinematic event, with the second half arriving late next year, director Jon M. Chu’s lovely and colorful movie supplies a commentary on this moment in the United States’ sociopolitical landscape. It’s a story about the tragic implications of judging someone for their differences; about suppressing knowledge to maintain power; about how control is achieved through popularity, not authenticity or a commitment to facts; and about duplicitous leaders who deceive their citizens to preserve their positions of authority. Watching Wicked, its uncanny parallels with today’s book bannings, xenophobic fearmongering, and authoritarianism felt urgent and vital. Doubtless, Chu and screenwriters Holzman and Dana Fox recognized how the material corresponds with this cultural moment, but they resist overemphasizing the association, allowing Wicked to be the glossy song-and-dance spectacular fans expect. Before we go any further, dear reader, I must confess something. I have never seen the musical Wicked, neither performed live nor prerecorded. Although I have heard the songs “Popular” and “Defying Gravity” in passing, and countless admirers have shared their love of the musical, I […]

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