Top Gun and Jurassic World Dominion

"Top Gun" was the box office champ in 1986 and has an enduring place in the pop culture firmament, so HCC film professors Marie Westhaver and Mike Giuliano naturally wondered what to expect from its much-belated sequel, "Top Gun: Maverick." In this podcast episode, they concur that Tom Cruise, who turns 60 this summer, still looks great as he demonstrates what it means to be the star of a summer movie. Elements of the first movie are skillfully woven into this update. Less entertaining is "Jurassic World Dominion," the sixth movie in a franchise dating back to 1993. Although Marie and Mike agree that it is always fun watching dinosaurs roam the modern earth and occasionally munch on its human inhabitants, "Jurassic World Dominion" suffers from franchise fatigue. It's so busy that the 146-minute running time may leave you exhausted and even bored. Mike notes that it is kind of nice to have original stars Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill and Laura Dern interact with the stars of more recent installments in the series, but it's not enough to invigorate this overly familiar material.