Jumanji (2017)

#StokerScore 5/10

I was in my late twenties when the original Jumanji was released in 1995. It certainly wasn't the kind of movie I'd have gone to see at the cinema as I was much more interested in Seven, Goldeneye and, of course, Batman Forever. Robin Williams was certainly a hero of mine from his days on Mork and Mindy and his mindblowingly layered turn as Adrien Cronauer in Good Morning Vietnam. But Jumanji seemed to be just more of the man-child kind of role so it skipped me until I was bored enough to check it out of the local Blockbuster Video store. I remember it being exactly what I expected but with a shade, just enough of a shadow of darkness running through it to make you think that an eternity in the game was a distinct possibility for the new players of the board game. That came as a nice surprise.

I also admire Dwayne Johnson. He's hard to ignore and speaks passionately when it comes to being a role model for self confidence and dignity. But he's not Robin Williams funny so in this sequel/reboot they drafted in two other man-child comedians in the form of Kevin Hart and Jack Black. The movie moves at a reasonable pace, I liked the upgrade from board game to computer game and how it was done, but that was it. 

The movie is just a generic action blockbuster with some angles on male/female roles and the need for everyone to take each other on what lies beneath the superficiality of skin, gender and clique. I didn't dislike it, I just wasn't ever really engaged enough to care about the characters, especially after the computer game longevity angle was revealed. 

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

#StokerScore: 9/10

I really like Frances McDormand. She has been in so many great movies and they were made greater in part because of her acting ability. I remember her mainly for Fargo, an example of one of many roles she's played in Coen Brothers movies, but also for the deputy's put-upon wife in Mississippi Burning who shows us Gene Hackman's softer side. In this film from the writer and director of In Bruges, she's a divorced mother of two who's teenage daughter was raped and murdered a year before the events of the movie. She lives with her son, works in a local gift shop, and has a blunt, familiar relationship with the towns inhabitants that suggest she was born in Ebbing and has never left.

The three billboards of the title are used by Mildred to try to shame the town's police chief into solving the death of her daughter and, as things get more heated and assumptions are made, the town and its inhabitants are faced with their own personal reasons for how they view the impact of the billboards.

The supporting cast is excellent with Woody Harrelson as the police chief and Sam Rockwell standing out as a bigoted deputy. The only character who I felt was miscast was Caleb Landry Jones' town estate agent, who just seemed too young and immature for the job he was doing.

Suffice to say that this, like In Briuges, is a comedy with dramatic overtones to the point that you will be laughing at some of the actions only to then be shocked at the brutality of responses. 

Easily one of my favourite films of the year.

Nightworld

#StokerScore: 0.5/10

Too much time on my hands and a dearth of movies to watch meant I wasted ninety minutes on this complete load of codswallop.

The movies only redeeming features come from some interesting artwork that led me to believe this was going to be a Cthulhu-esque horror story that in reality turned out to be such a low-budget joke that I regret the time I gave over to it.

The acting was terrible with the singular exception of Robert Englund who was only mostly terrible and apart from a few exploding squibs there were no other special effects. 

The shame is that there was potential in the story and considering that most Lovecraft horror is imagined I think they could still have gone that way and kept the budget low.

Who is this movie aimed at? Why and how did it get made? Your guess is as good as mine. Totally forgettable