David Iacono 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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Fear Street: Prom Queen

Brian Eggert — Fri, 23 May 2025 03:44:12 +0000

In the summer of 2021, during the heart of the pandemic, Netflix dropped three interconnected movies inspired by R.L. Stine’s Fear Street series of horror-centric books for teens and young adults. The movies—1994, 1978, and 1666—ranged from slasher thrillers to folk horror paranoia and arrived on a one-per-week cadence. At the time, they provided a welcome escape from the world outside and something to look forward to over three weeks. They’ve since become favorites in my household, with my wife (a devoted fan of the books) and me revisiting them about once a year. They’re far from perfect and rely on pastiche perhaps too much, but they’re high-energy, populated by a talented young cast, and thoughtfully constructed as a trilogy. Above all, they’re enduringly fun to watch. Fortunately, Netflix continues its embrace of Stine’s books for streaming fodder with Prom Queen, another entertaining, bloody, fast-paced slasher in the Scream-brand whodunit mold. Although the 2021 trilogy borrowed ideas from several Stine books to craft something altogether new, screenwriters Matt Palmer and Donald McLeary adapt an actual book—the author’s 1992 release, The Prom Queen. While I cannot comment on the faithfulness of their adaptation, the movie recalls many others in this subgenre […]

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