Director M. Night Shyamalan has partnered with Jason Blum of Bloomhouse Productions in order to produce a self-financed, low budget project he had been keeping under wraps. The film, called The Visit, is intended as a return to his earlier work and to productions outside the ‘traditional’ studio system.

The Visit concerns a brother and sister visiting their grandparents’ isolated Pennsylvania farm. Eventually, the youngsters discover the seniors are keeping a dark secret and it quickly becomes apparent to the children they may not be going home.

The Visit was written, directed and self financed by Shyamalan and shot near the director’s Pennsylvania home. The partnership with Blumhouse Productions allowed for a first-look arrangement with Universal and the company specialized in low budget genre pictures. Blumhouse’s most recent successful production was Ouija.

M. Night Shyamalan produced the film with Blum and Marc Bienstock, with Steven Schneider and Ashwin Rajan executive producing.

Universal Pictures has set September 11, 2015 as the release date.

Get On Up does two things magnificently well, and they’re related: It conveys the batshit craziness of both James Brown and Little Richard, which is quite a feat and aided in no small part from Chadwick Boseman as Brown and Brandon Mychal Smith as Richard. The two give performances so captivating that it’s worth seeing the film simply to indulge in their fascinating performances.

That Get On Up would be well acted is probably no surprise, but it is a surprise that they can almost carry the entire 138-minute film. Almost. And that the music is phenomenal shouldn’t be a surprise either. I’m not sure if Boseman performed all the songs, but I’m fairly certain he did his own dancing, and both are wisely indulgent, wisely for this film, which at least does know how to put on a show.

Director Tate Taylor (The Help) and writers Jez and John-Henry Butterworth nail many of the character moments, but never quite get around to understanding their subject. The first thirty minutes or so jumps back and forth through so many different periods that if there’s a linear story buried in there, I missed it. Even more, if there’s something that “made” Brown the man he became, the film doesn’t seem very interested in it, which would be fine, but it does need some kind of connecting thread to tie the movie together.

Liam Neeson is Bill Marks, a U.S. Federal air marshal with the obligatory checkered past and a delightful host of vices. Midway through a trans-Atlantic flight he receives a text message from an untraceable number that claims in 20 minutes someone on the plane will die…unless a $150 million is deposited into a special account. And Bill, with the help of stewardess Nancy (Michelle Dockery) and plucky passenger Jen (Julianne Moore) must uncover the identity of the potential killer/hijacker.

That’s all you need; if you want to know how the rest of the movie plays out, just imagine everything you can do with that premise, as the passengers gradually become more and more aware of the situation and Marks’s control gradually diminishes – or, better yet, see the film.

Director Jaume Collet-Serra (Orphan, Unknown) maintains a consistent feel of paranoia by keeping his camera close and confined to the actors’ faces, barely giving the audience a chance to breathe and, early on, lingering on a handful of passengers to playfully suggest that any one or two or all of them could be the culprit. Even before the mystery begins you’re already suspicious, and while I was hoping for the villain to be revealed as the little girl’s teddy bear (Spoiler: It’s not), it wasn’t too much of stretch, given Collet-Serra’s insinuation that everyone on this damn plane must be hiding something.

Lone Survivor is a movie that does itself a few large disservices: Its title reveals too much; its trailer is much too long and plays like quick spot on an On Demand showcase; and it tugs and shoves and pulls in so many directions, that it ends up seeming unsure of both its strengths and its point.

There’s a decent and well-crafted movie in there, but the marketing, and a good deal of the film itself, tend to be dissuasive.

Survivor, if you haven’t seen the trailer, chronicles the story of SEAL Team 10’s somewhat disastrous Operation Red Wings, a 2005 mission with the objective of assassinating Taliban leader Ahmad Shah during the Afghanistan war.

Mark Wahlberg plays SO1 Marcus Luttrell, the titular Lone Survivor and author of the book on which the film is based, and his story is indeed an interesting, even uplifting one, and director Peter Berg shoots it with an apparent grittiness and shakiness that you would expect. Wahlberg plays haggard and weary well. Impassioned well. Sorrowful well.

Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster, and Eric Bana, as his team, convey the sense of golden brotherhood that makes films like these sustainable. The story, while short, is compelling, and the second act of Wahlberg’s survival is an interesting twist. It’s a decent film, and if you’re in the mood for a good war drama, this is safe bet.

But…

What’s the point? This doesn’t need to be a political film; it doesn’t need to justify its war or its mission or, on the opposite end, attack it. And it doesn’t. Nor does it need to go far beyond what it does well, which is action. It’s not spectacular or very original, it even seems too polished in its sterile dirt. However, the biggest flaw, which nearly becomes an insult, at least to me, is what I want to describe as the film’s lack of faith in itself, but which I should really, if I’m being honest, is its pandering.

That’s right. The franchise that just keeps coming back whether it is through sequels or 3D rereleases, Jurassic Park has been something we haven’t been able to get away from since we saw Martin Ferrero get eaten off of a toilet by a TRex. Twenty two years following the release of the original film (and a full quarter century since the original novel’s release), Jurassic Park will be coming back, this time as Jurassic World.

On June 12th, 2015, Jurassic World will kick off the summer blockbusters that follow the release of The Avengers: Age of Ultron. Formerly known only as Jurassic Park IV, Jurassic World’s script is being penned by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver who wrote 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes while it is directed by Colin Trevorrow who directed Safety Not Guaranteed. Though the writing of the team seems to support what Jurassic World is looking for, Trevorrow has some lofty shoes to fill from Spielberg’s original Jurassic Park even though the two sequels fell on less favorable reviews and adoration.