Double Feature: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) & Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018)

Welcome to the next double feature! This time we are doing a double rental feature. Both of these were films that I rented in the last little while and its one that we’ve been wanting to see and both are sequels.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)

Director: Jake Kasdan

Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan, Rhys Darby, Bobby Cannavale, Nick Jonas

Four teenagers are sucked into a magical video game, and the only way they can escape is to work together to finish the game. – IMDB

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is a sequel to the 1995 Jumanji film. With anything like that, it takes a lot of care. For one, it needs to keep in mind that it is its sequel and keep the heart of it but also give it the modernized world standard. At the same time, still giving respect to the success of the first one. Luckily, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle makes it slight changes to make it not a remake but a sequel that happens years after the original. It acknowledges the original board game format and then gives the reasons of how it turns into a video game format. The whole player and video game world is one that works really well also plus they add in the four players and role-playing game style.

With that said, the heart of the film really is the cast themselves and how they interpret each of their roles. Dwayne Johnson always aims to please with his humor. It becomes hilarious to just watch these characters take on the opposite of who they are in reality, for better or for worse. In the case of his character, Spencer who is a nerdy scrawny nobody in school, this transformation aims to have a few laughs as he gets fascinated at being somebody. While on the other hand, we have the jock character who turns into Kevin Hart. After Central Intelligence (review), we are already familiar with how great Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson work as a comedic duo. They bring in a lot of laughs. However, Jack Black is the star of the show as he embodies a self-absorbed high school girl. I can’t imagine anyone else excelling at that role as he did. Pure entertainment!

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is a sequel that honestly didn’t really need to happen. Being a huge fan of the original, it was one that I wasn’t sure how it would turn out. Luckily, as unnecessary as it was, it was a ton of fun and that was all it needed to be.

Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018)

Director: Stefano Sollimo

Cast: Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin, Isabela Moner, Jeffrey Donovan, Catherine Keener, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Matthew Modine

The drug war on the U.S.-Mexico border has escalated as the cartels have begun trafficking terrorists across the US border. To fight the war, federal agent Matt Graver re-teams with the mercurial Alejandro. – IMDB

You can check out the review of Sicario HERE.

In a nutshell, I was pretty enthralled with Sicario. Probably not so much that I went running to watch its sequel for a few specific reasons, the main one being that the ending of the first one was pretty gloomy and I wasn’t really down for anything like that. In many ways, Sicario: Day of the Soldado takes a different approach. It still has its twists and turns and it still maintains a pretty decent atmosphere and locks in those ethics and morals and the right and wrong of the situation. In that sense, the characters and the situation at hand all work out pretty decently. Plus, it takes the whole wondering how messed up a situation is when the government okays their people to make up a situation controlled by them to push the tension on other situations. It also looks at the extents of what is the greater evil and the means to meet the ends of a situation. Sicario has always been about making those big choices that feel wrong and its the heart of these stories especially when fighting cartels.

As great as watching Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin was in this film. Their roles are pretty great. Their characters do get quite a bit of change. However, if anything what it feels like here is that after Sicario, we already know to expect that things aren’t going to go as planned and that something is going to happen as a twist and there’s going to be something deeper to the story that is at hand. Because of that, it doesn’t quite hit as poignantly as the first one. I’m going to be honest that in my mind, I didn’t think that Sicario needed a sequel. The first movie shone because of Emily Blunt (for me) and taking her out of the equation now (because there was no way she was coming back), didn’t seem like it would work. Good news is that the movie still works, just not as effectively as the first one. Its still pretty good though.

That’s it for this double feature!
Have you seen either of these films?

Halloween 2018: Goosebumps (2015)

Goosebumps (2015)

Director: Rob Letterman

Cast: Jack Black, Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush, Ryan Lee, Amy Ryan, Jillian Bell, Halston Sage

A teenager teams up with the daughter of young adult horror author R. L. Stine after the writer’s imaginary demons are set free on the town of Madison, Delaware. – IMDB

I’ve read a few Goosebumps books back in my elementary school days. It was always a fun time in my memory although I never found it to be scary. However, a series like this one getting a form of adaptation is always one to take notice and with Jack Black, one of my favorite comedic actors in the current day and age attached to the project, it was one that went straight to my to watch pile. Movies like this can border on dumb and silly but Goosebumps turned out to be a little over the top and a tad silly but it was a lot of fun.
This one lands in the same way that Monster Trucks (review) worked for me, maybe with slightly less appealing characters. I’m not exactly a Dylan Minnette fan and don’t quite care for his character here. It was the typical teenage romance thing with the girl next door. His humor along with his best friend are fairly common arcs for family friendly adventure films. A little fluff to add to the equation. Jack Black had an over the top accent that honestly, if it wasn’t him, I probably wouldn’t buy into but at the end, I got used to it so it didn’t feel as odd.

What defines Goosebumps has always been R.L. Stine’s monsters and its nice to see that they pull out all the cards here in one shot. It makes for the fun as they run around town trying to stop catastrophe and encounter a few of them face to face which always turns into a funny and hectic moment. The heart of the movie is in these moments as chaos shapes these characters a little.

Goosebumps is not masterpiece but its a family adventure film that delivers on being entertaining and fun. It shows off the creativity of R.L. Stine for a new generation to respark the childhood horror adventures that many kids went through. There’s really not a whole lot of depth  here to talk more about it. Its a fun time and great for some family fun even if some elements fall a little short.

Genre Grandeur – The Holiday (2006) – Tranquil Dreams

Check out this month’s Genre Grandeur for Holiday movies. My pick went to The Holiday. The movie title pretty much says it all but its my go-to feel good movie set during the holidays making it perfect for the holidays.
Remember to check out the other Genre Grandeur entries for holiday movies! 🙂

MovieRob

For the next entry in this month’s Genre Grandeur – Holiday movies, here’s a review by Kim of Tranquil Dreams of The Holiday (2006)

Next month’s genre has been chosen by my good friend Emma of emmakwall (explains it all) and she has chosen the genre of British Thrillers, so send me your reviews of your favorite British Thriller(s) by Jan 25th and I’ll post it.  It’s real simple, just send me an email to britthrills@movierob.net and I’ll post it.

Take it away Kim!

Holiday movies don’t get anymore holiday than The Holiday – also one of my favorite movies.  I watch it during the Christmas holidays every year AND I watch it anytime during the year.  Its kind of my go-to feel good movie.

Director: Nancy Meyers

Cast: Kate Winslet, Jack Black, Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, Eli Wallach, Rufus Sewell

Simple commitments columnist Iris (Kate Winslet) and big shot…

View original post 473 more words

CK’s Not So Secret Santa Review Swap: The Holiday (2006)

Earlier this year in July, I participated in Cinematic Katzenjammer’s Not So Secret Santa Review Swap Blogathon and my secret Santa gave me a fantastic movie, Dark Harbor.  Obviously, since the first time was so much fun, I decided to join for this December edition of it as well.  This time around, I didn’t get an unknown movie but one that I absolutely adore and just as I was wondering how to work it into my Christmas marathon this year since I already reviewed it last year, I received notice that my Secret Santa gave me THE HOLIDAY 🙂

Whoever you are, Secret Santa, YOU ARE AWESOME! Can I say I love you? Is that awkward? Because if not for that, I would never have thought of doing THIS to lead up to this very post.

The last movie to make it a perfect top 10 in my must-see Christmas flicks is The Holiday.  I’m not going to review it again since I read through last year’s and its probably everything I was going to say and you can check it out HERE! 🙂

The Holiday is one of my absolute favorite movies EVER! I always watch it for Christmas, sometimes even more than once, and I usually sneak it in mid year once or twice.  Its not only a great holiday watch but its also one of the best feel good romantic comedies I’ve ever seen.  I literally have a huge smile on my face throughout the whole thing, even if I know whats going to happen and what they say and all that.

So, I figured I’d take a different path and show you my top moments that made me smile 🙂

6) IRIS IN LA

Being revealed to the unknown of a completely different lifestyle from the one you are used to is always amazing and I think Kate Winslet does a fantastic job in showing that.  Its a feel good scene and it emphasizes the lovable character of Iris as the down to earth modern day simple girl. Trust me, if I saw that, I’d react pretty much the same way 😉

5) VIDEO STORE GAME

This scene is simply good fun.  The charisma between Jack Black and Kate Winslet is awesome and with a cameo of Dustin Hoffman, its makes it even funnier.

4) TENT

Wouldn’t you want that tent? I’m seriously impressed. Plus, the little girls are adorable.  Its like a fantasy world at home and thats pretty incredible.

3) LEADING LADY VS. BEST FRIEND

The character of Arthur Abbott is one of my faves because even though he isn’t a main character, he helps Iris to grow and also put in perspective what this movie is all about.  You can’t help but agree with him, right?

2) KISSING A STRANGER

The whole scene is great but the part I’m referring to starts at 5m 10s of the video.  Funny, passionate and pretty awesome in my book. This was when I fell in love with Jude Law! And goodness, aren’t you thinking that she should shut up and enjoy the moment? 😉 The romantic in me is speaking, of course.

1) IRIS/ARTHUR’S THEME

This scene is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE! Its romantic and cute! I think thats where I fell in love in Jack Black, something that I did not think would ever be possible.

I didn’t intend for this to be a countdown and I love the WHOLE ENTIRE movie so this was mega difficult to put together. Plus, there were some scenes that were fantastic. I did love Jude Law in so many other scenes.  Although, if given who was not so great, it would have to be Cameron Diaz.  I’m just not a huge fan of hers in general but she does a decent job :).

Not only that but her and Kate Winslet are fabulous together for example with their expressions.

That scene was seriously funny! I think I’ve admitted that I have a girl crush on Kate Winslet and think she is possibly one of the best actresses with elegance and charm.

Before I start spilling the whole movie because I would love to convince a few of you to actually give it a shot.  I think The Holiday is one of the most underrated movies ever!

Overall, great cast, hilarious, heartwarming and clever romantic comedy set during the holidays, The Holiday is a great watch! Thanks again to my Secret Santa because you allowed me to watch this three times in two days to be inspired as to how to approach this post.  AND, I was feeling really not in the holiday mood and I think this just made it all come back.  Also, HUGE THANKS to Nick for putting this together because once again, it was mega fun! 🙂

Have you seen The Holiday? What are your thoughts on the four leads here?

Remember to check out the other reviews for the blogathon either by clicking HERE or its linked to the blogathon banner on the top 🙂

CHRISTMAS Movie Marathon begins with The Holiday (2006)

Welcome to 2012 Christmas Movie Marathon featured here! I have a lot of Christmas movies like 20+ DVD/Blurays and some multiple short animated features.  Usually, I stack them up in certain preferences and just watch them. This year, I decided to go random.  I just going to pick out the movie of the night randomly from a pile of folded paper in a little bag.  We’ll see how that goes.  I think it’ll at least give us a bit of spontaneity and mix it up…should be fun!  And different from the Halloween marathon, I’ll be reviewing all the movies individually (no Top Ten lists).

Lets get it started!

Movie: THE HOLIDAY (2006)

Director & Writer: Nancy Meyers (Something’s Gotta Give)

Cast: Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Jack Black

The Holiday is about two women, Iris from Surrey, UK (Kate Winslet) and Amanda from Los Angeles (Cameron Diaz) and both go through a bad break-up.  Amanda decides to take a vacation during the holidays to not be lonely and finds Iris on a home exchange site.  They decide to swap homes for 2 weeks. Iris ends up staying in Amanda’s mansion in LA and ends up making friends with her next door neighbor who is an elderly retired screenplay writer called Arthur Abbott and in the process, meets Miles (Jack Black) who is a film composer. While living in Iris’s cottage, she meets Iris’s older brother, Graham (Jude Law) and sparks fly.

I’m a huge fan of this movie. Ever since I’ve had it about three years ago, I always watch it on Christmas at least once.  During the year, sometimes I’ll give it a second or third run.  Its a fun, hilarious, witty, heartwarming romantic comedy.  What I loved THE absolute most is the chemistry between the characters.  Honestly, I never really preferred watching any of those actors.  This movie changed my view of things, especially Jack Black.  Kate Winslet is charming as always in her role as Iris.  Jude Law, as Graham drunk (and sober) just melts my heart (it didn’t before this movie).  I can see the charm.  As for Jack Black, I always felt that the roles he took on never really was to my taste, but this role made me feel that he can do this corny, witty type of actor.  He was really sweet and there were a lot of laugh out loud moments.  It was really awesome in that department and I think that is the one of the key elements of a good romantic comedy.

Another element that really worked for me was the dialogue.  The director, Nancy Meyers is also the writer and I guess that always adds something a little extra.  It connects better since its her own thoughts I suppose.  I’m not an expert on this, but I bought it. I thought it was witty.  If you asked my boyfriend, I’d say that he would probably say there was corny dialogue here and there.  Still, its a very likeable chick flick.

This is my feel good movie.  I never fails to put a smile on my face and some to roll over in laughter and other moments, to just get all warm and fuzzy from the cute and sweet moments.  The Holiday is a romantic comedy set during the Christmas and New Year’s holiday period so very fit to start this marathon! Especially since it comes with a happy ending and lots of smiles and laughs during the whole thing.  I highly recommend it.

Have you seen this? Did you enjoy it? If you didn’t like it, what didn’t you like?