Welcome to ZEJ

Movie reviews and ratings by two married people (Z)ach and (E)llen and their third wheel (J)ordan. Scroll for the latest reviews or check out our ratings table to find our favorites.

Zach Rhodes 2/26/26 Zach Rhodes 2/26/26

The Lost Bus

Wow. Jord’s point’s about Jurassic World: Rebirth is even more poignant with the Lost Bus. The Academy will just nominate anything in the Best Visual Effects category, won’t they? The Lost Bus feels like a made for TV movie, and features some of the worst acting I’ve seen for an Oscar nominated movie since… Jurassic World: Rebirth, in a movie that includes Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey and Oscar nominated America Ferrera. Whomever greenlit this film needs to rethink their choices in life, as it was truly a disaster. And yet, the true story aspect of it somehow gives the critical reviews for it somehow just below average (64 Metacritic currently). And call me a hater, but the visual effects weren’t worthy of being in the same category as Avatar, not by a long shot.
-Z
Oof. This was just so bad. The writing was truly terrible in many parts. The plot became so overly dramatic it was comical instead of the tense thriller this movie thinks it is. I do not understand how this was turned into a movie and how on earth Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera signed on. I can only imagine that the positive reviews are coming from people who lived through this wildfire (or one like it) and are appreciating seeing the representation on the screen. A tough one to get through. How did enough people watch this for it to get an Oscar nomination?
-E

Z 5.5
E 4.0
J n/a

~ZEJ 4.75

Zach Rhodes 2/25/26 Zach Rhodes 2/25/26

Avatar: Fire and Ash

Ugh. On the one hand, Avatar: Fire and Ash is a better movie than the second Avatar. On the other hand, it’s a complete rehash of the second. The same characters, the same conflict. Like what?! What are you doing to us, James Cameron? The only human protagonist in the last two movies is Spider, whose acting is often just one-note and wrong, and James Cameron has decided to make him the focal point of the entire conflict. I left this movie torn, as I love the Avatar universe, the visuals are still insanely impressive, and this movie had better dialogue and script than the prior, but it’s so repetitive and long that you also want to pull your hair out.
-Z
Z and I put this off as long as possible, but it became clear we needed to venture to the theater 2 months after its release to see it in time for the Oscars. And it was just as disappointing as I figured it would be. This feels more like a cash-grab follow-up than what we are meant to believe is a carefully planned part of a 5-movie series. The plot is far too similar to Avatar 2, it could have easily been an hour shorter, and there were some pretty cringey writing moments. The visuals are still great though, and watching in 3D did save the score a bit. I just have a hard time imagining this series will turn things around in the next two movies.
-E

Z 7.75
E 7.25
J n/a

~ZEJ 7.5

Zach Rhodes 2/23/26 Zach Rhodes 2/23/26

Kokuho

E and I weren’t really sure what to expect from Kokuho, a 3-hour Japanese film that had 4 total critical reviews upon it’s release in the United States, but it’s Makeup and Hairstyling nomination spurred us to take advantage of it coming to theaters, and so glad it did, as it was awesome! Telling the story of a modern kabuki actor, which is an ancient form of Japanese theater, it both is educational of the beauty and skill of kabuki as well as an epic story of the journey of this actor’s life. The only sticking point is the length, as this could have certainly been cut down 30-45 minutes, and had it been, I think it would have been a lock for an international nomination. If subtitles don’t scare you, Kokuho is a must watch!
-Z
A surprisingly captivating story despite the length (which is my biggest complaint). I didn't know much about the Kabuki theater tradition and found that this did a great job getting everyone up to speed without too much over explanation. The acting was very very solid. Would have loved to see this get an international picture nomination, but I'm glad the makeup & hairstyling nomination led Z & I to the theater for this one!
-E

Z 8.5
E 8.5
J n/a

~ZEJ 8.5

Zach Rhodes 2/19/26 Zach Rhodes 2/19/26

Little Amélie or the Character of Rain

While the animated nominations are a weaker group this year, I think Little Amélie or the Character of Rain is the strongest. It’s hard to root against K-Pop Demon Hunters for how fun that is, but Little Amélie is a better movie, with much stronger writing, and a beautiful story. The characters are thoughtfully crafted, and Amélie’s attitude and spunk is infectious. I particularly loved the grandmother as well. The animation is very good and yet another celebration of French animation! Worth a watch, no doubt.
-Z
What a delightful animated movie! Beautiful design. The story is funny but also touching without being too cheesy. I rarely say this, but with such a short run time, this could have been expanded a bit to explore more of the characters and the world here. Kind of surprisingly, this gets my vote for best animated film of the year!
-E

Z 8.5
E 8.25
J n/a

~ZEJ 8.38

Zach Rhodes 2/17/26 Zach Rhodes 2/17/26

Song Sung Blue

Musical biopics have become ZEJ’s most dreaded to watch genre, and while Song Sung Blue isn’t a traditional superstar musician biopic, we still lumped it in that category, and put off this watch for a long time. And to E and I’s surprise, we enjoyed Song Sung Blue quite a bit. The lesson? Never doubt Hugh Jackman. While it’s not a perfect movie, and has some pacing and storytelling issues, it has a lot of heart, good dialogue, and the way the love story between Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson’s characters unfolds is so adorable that you can’t help but get swept up in it. Always love when a movie surpasses your expectations. I can also confirm Kate Hudson is completely deserving of her nomination in this, she’s amazing in it.
-Z
The previews for this mostly left me rolling my eyes, so I did not have much hope when we learned we had to watch this for Kate Hudson's acting nomination. But despite the feel-good energy that comes with a Christmas Day release, this was a solid story that wasn't as over the top as I feared. The plot is a little too convenient and coincidental at times for this to rise above an 8 for me, but I do have to admit that I'm glad I had a reason to watch it!
-E

Z 8.0
E 7.75
J n/a

~ZEJ 7.88

Zach Rhodes 2/16/26 Zach Rhodes 2/16/26

Jurassic World: Rebirth

E and I’s dino journey is finally over. And it couldn’t come fast enough. While we finally got rid of the tired Chris Pratt and company cast, and get to see some fresh faces, they’re given just as questionable a script as the last two movies, and while they do their best with it, many scenes feel phoned in. This is certainly the worst movie I’ve ever seen Mahershala Ali in, as up until now, he’s had a fairly impeccable track record for picking high quality movies. While Rebirth gets some things right, namely narrowing the prevalence of dinosaurs to a small geographical region, the things it gets wrong are an absolute abyss. The film has this premise that people are getting tired of dinosaurs, and with that in mind leads us to this island where there are hybridized and deformed dinos, and oh wow, aren’t these abominations much cooler to see in action than real dinosaurs?! No, they aren’t. You’ve turned this from Jurassic Park to Alien. What are you doing? Who is making these decisions? And yet, despite the poor reviews, this movie made nearly a billion dollars, so there will be no accountability in the near future I’m afraid.
-Z
At last, we come to the movie that gave Z & I a reason to rewatch this series. And while the visual effects were…fine, I don’t think they were really enough to earn an Oscar nomination. The plot feels like a “rebirth” in terms of bringing in new characters with a storyline that does feel new, but it has a myriad of issues that do not make me hopeful for the inevitable new trilogy of films this might be starting. So many of the characters just do and say the most confusing and unnecessary things. The dinosaurs also become true monsters here, and I’m not sure how I feel about that progression.
-E

I don't know, Academy. I don’t see how this deserves a nomination. All in all I know it is a visual award and the dinosaurs were looking as good as ever, but doesn’t there have to be standards on the movie itself? I mean, Z and E will have to confirm but all they are trying to do is take iconic parts from the original and throw it in this film. I know its 2026 and original concepts are out the door, but I was frustrated with that and the ‘Netflix Action Movie’ aspects that this film is filled with. I don’t think this needs to be watched and dread the trailer for the newest one that will probably come out in a few years.
-J

Z 6.25
E 6.0
J 6.5

ZEJ 6.25

Zach Rhodes 2/13/26 Zach Rhodes 2/13/26

Jurassic World: Dominion

And it gets worse. The only thing holding Dominion up from being a sub-5 rating is the fact that they somehow convinced Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Sam Neill to join this hot pile of garbage, and for all of their too little screentime, they were fantastic. But the plot and logic of this film is an absolute mess. They introduce some cool new dinos but it’s by this film that you realize the excessive hyper aggressiveness of every single dino they encounter gets grating. Never more so is this obvious than when they run into therizinosaurus, which is a herbivore, but you’d never know that from the film, as it acts like any other carnivore. But logic left this franchise a few movies back I’m afraid. One more to go…
-Z
This feels like rock bottom for the Jurassic franchise. While the reappearance of the original Jurassic trio definitely adds something here (and helps my rating a bit), this movie felt very unsatisfying and confusing. The Mission: Impossible-esque rescue mission feels a bit cheap. There are a lot of pieces to the plot and none of them are really answering the question that the movie feels like it is trying to answer - how can dinosaurs and humans coexist? And at this point, really, after 6 movies, we should know the answer: they cannot.
-E

Z 6.0
E 5.75
J n/a

~ZEJ 5.88

Zach Rhodes 2/12/26 Zach Rhodes 2/12/26

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Despite my love for Jurassic Park, I intentionally skipped this movie after seeing its reviews upon release, and therefore are entering uncharted territory. Seeing the first half of this movie, I kind of worried I had made a mistake, as it’s about as good and fun as Jurassic World, but the second half is so bad that it’s not even laughable. It’s just sad. 2018 was before the advent of large language models, but the plot and dialogue feel like that’s how it was written. Up until this point, we’ve had fun with this franchise watch, but with two movies to go, have we hit rock bottom or can it get worse?
-Z
In the first new-to-us Jurassic movie, we definitely take a step back in terms of logic and writing. Parts of this movie felt downright bad. The villainous characters are so cartoon-like, I’m not sure if we are meant to take them seriously or not. I will say, the first half of the movie is much stronger than the second, and the movie overall was still a fun watching experience, but it is sad to see the franchise start to really take a turn for the worse here.
-E

Z 6.0
E 6.25
J n/a

~ZEJ 6.13

Zach Rhodes 2/11/26 Zach Rhodes 2/11/26

Jurassic World

E and I’s JP marathon continues and alas we arrive at the first of the new trilogy - Jurassic World. Unfortunately, it has aged poorly. The dialogue and story are much weaker than my memory of watching it in theaters. While the new dinosaur designs are cool, and a fully realized version of the Jurassic Park dream is cool to see in its full glory, the movie is just barely teetering on the line of being plain bad. This is the last movie we watched in the franchise, and while the reviews get worse from here on out, I fear for what’s to come.
-Z
I remembered this movie being much more funny and clever than it was upon our rewatch. While it is exciting to see how this movie continues the legacy of the original trio, not nearly enough explanation is given for why no one has learned their lesson about humans and dinosaurs existing in the same space. While there are definitely some eye roll moments (namely, almost all aspects of Bryce Dallas Howard’s character), the story overall is pretty strong and compelling, and I have to admit I’m continuing to enjoy our rewatch marathon more than I thought I would!
-E

Z 6.5
E 7.0
J n/a

~ZEJ 6.75

Zach Rhodes 2/10/26 Zach Rhodes 2/10/26

Jurassic Park III

With Jurassic World Rebirth being nominated for an Oscar, E and I decided we’re going to continue our Jurassic Park watch all the way through to #7, and next up, #3. While the dinosaur animation is a bit jankier than the first two, particularly the Spinosaurus and T-Rex fight, and there’s a few roll your eyes moments, there’s also a lot of good in the finale of the original trilogy, and a lot they got right. Sam Neill was always my favorite part of the original and maybe that makes me unfairly biased towards JP3, but I think he’s as fantastic as ever in this. It’s been a while since I had revisited the JP trilogy, and I’m so glad I did, because I think it’s aged fairly well. Jurassic World movies on the other hand… yikes.
-Z
This iteration of the original Jurassic trilogy feels more like a horror movie than an adventure story, which I actually really liked. There are definitely still a few plot holes and awkward dialogue, but this was a much better story compared to The Lost World. And we finally got a child actor who didn’t drive me nuts! While this series is ultimately just not quite my cup of tea, this movie makes me look forward to completing it - the movies are just undeniably fun.
-E