It’s hard to believe that the end of this week will have me finally seeing Rise of Skywalker! I’m excited, got my tickets for an early afternoon show for my daughter and I as we continue to share this journey. The holiday season of movies is coming up and I’m going to do my best, weather providing, to get down to several things as I can. But at the same time it feels like slim pickings…
The latest film in the Jumanji series with The Next Level is what you get with a lot of boardgame sequels. The familiar core, some fun new things, and an expansion that feels natural while retaining what makes it feel right. The cast is great, the set pieces are a whole lot of fun, the new areas of Jumanji we explore make up the bulk of the film and there’s little in the way of repetitiveness in that area or what the characters can do. It doesn’t just present us with a greatest hits list of the first film with a few new things. It’s a proper sequel with familiar but not quite the same characters in new settings, new dangers, and a quicker pace about it all since it doesn’t spend as much time as the first explaining how all of this works. The end result is a very busy two hours that again feels honest with its insecurities in its characters and a great humanity to help it stick the landing.
Check out our full review.
One film I was interested in after seeing a trailer earlier this year was Can you Keep a Secret? It had a very limited theatrical release and has ended up on things like Amazon Prime and HBO already, so it wasn’t something I could see in the theater. I’m a sucker for romantic comedies and when it has a cast I like I’m even more interested. I’ve really enjoyed watching Tyler Hoechlin’s career since Teen Wolf (his backstory on Wikipedia is pretty interesting too) and with him set for an ongoing Superman TV series next year, I’m enjoying seeing him in a number of things. In this film he’s paired with Alexandra Daddario who usually ends up in roles playing up her sexy side (Baywatch). Here, she’s not put to mousy mode but more of a kind of average mess with an awkwardness that feels natural. She ends up connecting with Hoechlin’s character during a plane trip gone bad only to discover the next day after spilling all of her secrets to him that he’s the boss of the large company she works for. Awkward romance ensues while keeping it a secret and as he keeps his own secrets. It’s a brisk film at just over 90 minutes and there are parts that just don’t work well, but I liked the charm that exists between the two and a pretty fun supporting cast all around.