My Own Little World

I don’t usually care for throwaway entertainment, especially in film. I see movies as a way to tell a story or make a point and not just a medium of entertainment. That’s why I was not very excited to see Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle . I didn’t really have much nostalgia for the original, and the trailers for this film depicted it as a big, bombastic action movie with lots of quippy dialogue. And…that’s exactly what I got. Jumanji is exactly what you’d think it is, except that it is one of the best examples of popcorn entertainment I’ve seen in the past few years. It’s not particularly inventive with the way it tells its story, but it does a good job of being disposable while leaving a very pleasant aftertaste. The best part of the film is, quite surprisingly, the performances. Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, and Jack Black all play against type, and they do such a good job. If you’ve ever wondered what those three would act like if they were nerdy, mildly unattractive teenag...

I was practically raised on Disney animated films. I watched ones like Aladdin , The Lion King , and Beauty and the Beast growing up, and recently I've rediscovered how magical they can actually be thanks to my girlfriend and I watching them all the time. Their (mostly) timeless scores get stuck in my head so easily, and the stories, despite their target audience of children, seem to have a transcendent nature and punch way above their age bracket. However, as of late Disney has had a little trouble finding its animated musical mojo.  Yes, recent films like Tangled and Frozen have begun to turn this trend around, but forgettable films like Brother Bear and Home on the Range  still are a large blemish in the Disney catalog. To some extent, the name "Disney" in front of a film lost some of its magnitude and power. Meanwhile, studios like Pixar and DreamWorks have come alongside (and in some cases, jumped ahead of) Disney in the race for kids' attention spans....