Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

LANDON ***
This one surprised me.  From a distance, it appears to be a cheap-knockoff of the original film, but upon viewing, it turns out that's a pretty fun film.  Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, and Jack Black all work really well off of each other, convincingly portraying teenagers stuck inside a video game.  It's funny, exciting, and, again, fun.  I give this one a solid recommendation.

LOGAN **1/2
To keep this one brief, I was only mildly entertained.  It was a better film than I originally anticipated, and it is well-casted, but I simply didn't find the movie that funny, and upon working it out in my head, I think they could've easily done this movie without the title "Jumanji."  I didn't like it as much as Landon did, but it is still a good movie when you look past the absurd concept.

BANGERANG SCORE: **1/2

The Greatest Showman

LANDON **
I imagine my reaction to this film is pretty similar to the reaction most people had with P.T. Barnum's own circus show.  I was a bit mixed.  It's certainly a pretty interesting spectacle.  Barnum's life is glamorized in a light-hearted musical.  It's actually an idea I somewhat appreciate, but it doesn't work very well.  On the one hand, the music and songs are all great.  They're written by the same writers of the "La La Land" soundtrack, so you know you have something good here.  It's a pretty remarkable soundtrack.  Everyone does a good job acting here as well, especially the always infectious Hugh Jackman.  The story on the other hand, brings the film down a few notches.  There's a couple of splitting narratives that are all clumped together into one form of entertainment.  The best word I can think of to describe it is "messy."  And while there's a good message by the end of it, it drags a lot of clutter to get to that point.  Plus, it's really historically inaccurate, which normally wouldn't bother me if there were a few things that weren't accurate, but there's a lot of inaccuracies.  Want my diagnosis?  Skip the movie and buy the soundtrack.  Great soundtrack, not a great movie.

LOGAN **1/2

BANGERANG SCORE: **

Darkest Hour

LOGAN ***1/2
The new Joe Wright movie focuses on the first month of Winston Churchill's prime ministry, and man, what a movie it is.  The clear star of this film is Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill, who gives quite possibly the best performance this year.  Not only is the makeup impressive on him, but his raw, emotional performance grabs you by your collar and demands attention.  The other actors do good as well, the music is captivating, it is shot incredibly well and for the most part, it is paced very well, despite a couple of slow parts. It's interesting, it's technically well-made, it's one of my favorite movies this year.

BRYCE ***
CHASE ***
LANDON ***

BANGERANG SCORE: ***

The Man Who Invented Christmas

CHASE ***
This is one of the more interesting Christmas movies out there.  As much as we have seen many "A Christmas Carol" stories been told and retold, we never get to see the story behind the story.  Hence comes "The Man Who Invented Christmas," which follows Charles Dickens and how he wrote the famous "A Christmas Carol."  Everything that's done in the movie is done extremely well.  Everyone is well acted (especially Dan Stevens as Charles Dickens), the production is well-designed and the screenwriting is pretty solid.  It also helps that finding out the story behind the classic is inherently interesting, and it's fun to see the characters from the book who interact with Charles Dickens during his writing process.  The movie is done in such a way where we get to see how Charles' life had influenced his story.  My only criticism is that while everything is done well, there's not really anything that felt outstanding to me.  But overall, I enjoy "The Man Who Invented Christmas" and for those who love "A Christmas Carol" should definitely give this one a go.

LANDON **1/2
I agree with Chase on just about everything.  This film does a lot of good things, but not a lot of great things.  Dan Stevens is great and it's a pretty interesting narrative.  The reason why I teetered down to my current star rating is its ending, where everything just seems rather piled together in a similar fashion to Dickens' acclaimed  novel.  Instead of resonating, it comes off as pretty sappy.  Nevertheless, this is a very decent film and one I think audiences everywhere would like.

BRYCE ***
LOGAN ***

BANGERANG SCORE: ***

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

CHASE ***1/2
The wait is finally over as we have the eigth episode of the "Star Wars" saga with "The Last Jedi."  The million dollar question is: is it any good?  The answer is a total yes.  Taking place directly after "The Force Awakens" we see the Resistance trying to escape from the First Order while Rey is trying to get Luke to join the fight.  The strongest points in the movie, by far, are any scenes that have to do with (coincidently enough) the Force users: Rey, Kylo Ren, and Luke.  Mark Hamill is excellent reprising his role as the aged Luke Skywalker and his performance feel raws and authentic and I think his character has a great arc.  The stuff with Rey and Kylo Ren is just great as we learn more about both of those characters and what their connection is.  It left me wanting to see what happens to both of them in the next one.  I love how they expand the universe of "Star Wars" in ways that feel surprising, yet right at the same time.  The space battles were exciting, and I like how Poe's character has his own arc in the story.  While I think there is a lot to love about it, it unfortunately doesn't live up to "The Force Awakens."  The first problem is the pacing which felt a little bit wonky.  This movie is probably a lot longer than it needs to be and it could benefit from shaving off a few minutes.  There are some moments that feel a little bit silly for me, even by "Star Wars" standards.  Especially in the Canto Bite part of the movie, where some parts are pretty enjoyable while others felt a little weird.  Lastly, I felt like that Finn and Rose's arcs didn't feel as satisfying as they should be.  Despite these complaints, however, the strong points are just too strong for me and I love a lot of it.  This is definitely one that is worth checking out.

BRYCE **1/2
LANDON ***1/2
LOGAN ***

BANGERANG SCORE: ***

Goodbye Christopher Robin

LOGAN **1/2
"Goodbye Christopher Robin" can be summed up in two words: It's nice.  That's basically all I can say about it.  The story focuses on the creation of the beloved children's story "Winnie-the-Pooh," and does so in a charming, innocent way.  The actors do a very good job portraying their roles both emotionally, and even in comical moments.  The film's editing, on the other hand, can sometimes come out of left field, especially with Domhnall Gleeson's character experiencing PTSD throughout the film.  It can suck you out of the experience pretty fast. Other than that, nothing really stood out to me very much.  It's your average run-of-the-mill biopic, but a nice one at that.  If that's your type of movie, you'll definitely enjoy this one.  It's nice.

CHASE ***

BANGERANG SCORE: **1/2