When they label this Jumanji: The Next Level, they speak the truth

When a studio goes back for another bucket from the well, movie-watchers will wonder if what comes up this Time will quench their need, cue the gag reflex, or maybe even make them thirst for more. Director and co-writer Jake Kasdan has come up with a refreshing tale in Jumanji: The Next Level. With screenplay…

It’s a wild ride in Jumanji’s jungle

Transformation is the name of the game in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. Four high schoolers of extremely different social strata are tossed into a detention session closet and told to remove staples from a magazine project or something a ludicrous. If they don’t finish, they’ll have to return on Saturday. I don’t believe it.…

The Rock shows Hart and smarts in Central Intelligence

The main guys in Central Intelligence sure were different 20 years ago, we see in the flashback that sets up the action comedy starring Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart. The Rock as Robbie Weirdicht was the picked-upon high school doughboy dancing in the locker room shower until the Mean Boys pulled him out and slid…

Ice Cube, Kevin Hart do more than Ride Along in 2

Ice Cube and Kevin Hart bring out the best in each other, for sure this time. And that makes Ride Along 2 better than its predecessor, which was a pretty good buddy movie in the first place. We find Hart’s Ben Barber and Cube’s James Peyton a week away from officially becoming brothers-in-law in this…

Offensive can have other messages

There are things happening up on the screen in “Get Hard” that, taken at face value, are offensive. Yet I wasn’t ruffled nearly enough to stand up, do an about face and march out of there as I sat through the Friday matinee at the Regal Cinemas theater in Syracuse mega shopping, dining and entertainment…