FILM REVIEW: BRIDGET JONES'S BABY

Universal Pictures

Bridget Jones is back! That is, the Bridget from the first film, 2001's Bridget Jones's Diary, and not the seemingly brain-damaged Bridget from the 2004 sequel Edge of Reason.

A little older (aren't we all) if not much wiser, Bridget (Renee Zellweger) is once again single; her relationship with Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) having ended in the interim with the human rights lawyer now married to someone else.

And what of Hugh Grant's pervy publisher Daniel Cleaver? He's out of the picture -- literally. (Grant opting to make a film with Meryl Streep rather than return to this franchise.)

But Bridget, now with a successful career behind the scenes of television news, still finds herself preoccupied with the competing attentions of two men: Darcy, and online romance guru Jack Quant (Patrick Dempsey), one of whom is the father of Bridget's unexpected and wholly unplanned for baby.

Mildly amusing, Bridget Jones's Baby succeeds mostly on the audience's prior relationship with, and good will towards Bridget. You can't help but root for the hopelessly romantic singleton who is often her own worst enemy. And Zellweger, who hasn't been seen on screen lately, easily slips back into the role; once again nailing the accent and making us care about a woman who, now in her 40s, refuses to give up on the idea of Prince Charming (Bechdel Test be damned!).

MINI-FILM REVIEW: DON'T BREATHE

Sony Pictures

A home invasion thriller which soon sees the invaders turned victims, Don't Breathe will have you on the edge of your seat, and occasionally reaching for an inhaler (though there's a chuckle or two among the gasps).

When the occupier of said home -- a blind Gulf War veteran (played by Stephen Lang) mourning his daughter who died in a vehicular manslaughter accident -- fights back, it's game on. Not that our empathy with the trio of burglars -- Rocky (Jane Levy), Alex (Dylan Minnette), and Money (Daniel Zovatto) -- is at a premium to begin with; they're not a particularly likable brood, and when they decide to target a mourning blind man because of a presumed large cash compensation stashed somewhere in his home, we're automatically rooting for the Vet. But then . . .

The less you know about writer-director Fede Alvarez's Don't Breathe going in the better. There's dark twists and even darker reveals which make the already bloody proceedings inky black and guiltily good. It's a cat-and-mouse (and rottweiler) thriller that will have your expectations and allegiances shifting as constantly as you'll shift in your seat.