Critical Capsule: Jumanji - Welcome to the Jungle

I know a lot of people had very strong feelings about the prospect of a Jumanji remake. I was not one of them, sure I enjoyed the movie, but I cannot say I had any particular attachment to it. That said, I initially thought this new edition looked pretty bad. I was wrong. No, it is not a great movie by any stretch, but it is a lot of fun and I liked the use of the video game elements throughout. Beyond that, the cast had great chemistry and Jack Black, in particular was quite well cast and had a rather strong character arc. Likewise, I actually didn’t mind Kevin Hart here, I am not usually a fan of his. Then we have the Rock, who was great as usual. Finally what can be said about Karen Gillan? Overall, this was a fun addition to the Jumanji-verse, not sure I need anymore but this is an easy one to recommend for a little fun in the theater.

Movie Review: Oculus

Here is a movie that seems to have split the horror community (well, what movie doesn't, really?). I have seen posts saying just how good it is alongside requests to unfriend yourself if you like it. The latter I took as a personal challenge, although I would never go so far as to be ingenuous in my like or dislike of a given film (who would that benefit anyway?). As it stands, I have seen Oculus and I am happy to report that the movie is really quite good. I would not go so far as to call it a classic by any stretch, but it was entertaining, well constructed, and just a wee bit different.