FILM: Jumanji - Welcome To the Jungle (dir: Jake Kasdan, 2017)

"Board games?  Who plays board games?"

Very much leaning on the original, this belated and semi-updated sequel has the fabled game adapting itself to a 1990s console game that is then unearthed by four modern-day stereotyped teenagers (i.e. geek, princess, jock, loner) in detention and sucks them into the game world just like Tron.  For a run-time of nearly two hours, the actual story is surprisingly thin, relying mostly on the enjoyable banter between four established stars (Johnson, Hart, Gillan, Black - all fine here) who play the teens' oppositional-character avatars in the game world. Location scenery looks great, the messages and resolution are simple but effective, and overall this take on Jumanji is innocuous and mildly entertaining.

FILM: Pitch Perfect 3 (dir: Trish Sie, 2017)

"Sir!  Step away from the Bella!"

Like the Twilight series, the purpose and content of the Pitch Perfect franchise makes little sense to anyone except teenage girls, and this third entry exists only owing to the previous film's alarming profitability and the less-than-artistic reason that the cast have such a great time making these movies.  This third episode again pretty much retreads previous ground - here, entertaining the troops is the excuse for a mini-tour of glamorous European cities - but it is slightly better than Pitch Perfect 2 as it has a frantic pace, a few funny lines and some self-mocking humour.  However, these elements serve to minimise the meagre individual character stories, instead relying on a barrage of scenes that play almost like sketches and a number of studio-smooth renditions of familiar pop hits to perk up proceedings.  The hapless commentators again steal the show, John Lithgow provides a truly bizarre Australian accent (via London's East End and South Africa), and Anna Kendrick reminds us why she is so adorably watchable. Plenty of behind-the-scenes and rehearsal footage peppers the end credits, and ultimately this third entry appears to be an adequate closer to this pop-phenomenon trilogy.

FILM: Star Wars Episode VIII The Last Jedi IMAX 3D (dir: Rian Johnson, 2017)

"Happy beeps!"

A film of this length that has so much going on requires far more unpacking than this one-paragraph review, but suffice to say The Last Jedi starts with an absolute bang and is absolutely rollicking entertainment, and as expected the trailer played with expectations by means of clever editing and in the movie things certainly 'are not going to go the way you think'.  Rian Johnson - an edgier director with whom Lucasfilm stuck but who understands Star Wars yet is brave enough to make some very distinct choices here - gives the series some new visual ideas, some delightful throwaway humour, some unexpected character development that feels freshly ambivalent and a series of bold set pieces that absolutely deliver.  It is certainly darker (relatively) than Episode VII, but it is story-driven and puts the characters in situations where choices have consequences.  Adam Driver and Oscar Isaac deliver the strongest performances here, and Carrie Fisher is majestic in her final bitter-sweet appearance.  No doubt the diehards who complained that The Force Awakens stayed too close to A New Hope will now say this film is too modern and not light-fantasy enough, but these are precisely the two main reasons that make The Last Jedi not only interesting but also a franchise progression.  It would be nitpicking to say that one plot strand gets a bit familiarly Battlestar Galactica at points, and there is a bit of a mid-point lull, but overall The Last Jedi is genuinely entertaining, and whether or not Abrams continues in this new vein or reverts to safer ground for the trilogy-closer, the next film is left with real potential to explore this 'new' Star Wars universe.

VOD: Beach Rats (dir: Eliza Hittman, 2017)

"What year is this?"

Another of 2017's festival mainstays has many strengths but it is a fairly  unadventurous coming-of-age movie.  Writer/director Eliza Hittman scores well in both departments, with some strong use of framing to create relationships and  deliberate male objectification giving a grounded, credible feel to the movie as a whole.  Brit Harris Dickinson provides an intelligent performance as the conflicted and aimless teen at the heart of the movie, and Madeline Weinstein works well on screen as his budding girlfriend.  The central metaphor used to represent the passion and beautiful rage of teenhood leads to a bleakly blunt but affecting ending, and even if the movie hardly covers original territory, this one of the more considered and thoughtful indie efforts in this sub-genre.

FILM: The Man Who Invented Christmas (dir: Bharat Nalluri, 2017)

"I am the Ghost of Christmas Past!  Follow!"
"Not bloody likely...."

This enjoyable piece of whimsy manages to concoct a reasonable fiction of the creation of A Christmas Carol, presenting the  Dickens phenomenon as the 1840s equivalent of J.K. Rowling's modern-day Potter success (which of course the author was).  Desperate for a hit and for money to support his lavish new lifestyle and ever-expanding family, this film takes an interesting  Pirandello-style approach to the creative process and newly-emerging characters coming to life and challenging their writer as Dickens also comes to terms with his own past and looks to the future.  There are three main threads that are almost integrated effectively: Dickens the man and writer, his relationship with his father and of course the writing of one of his most-loved titles.  Dan Stevens proves yet again to be a wonderfully versatile and precise actor in the lead role, Christopher Plummer is cast magnificently as Scrooge (who challenges and hectors his creator in true character manner), Morfydd Clark does some lovely work as the author's patient wife, and a load of recognisable Brit character actors thesp away hammily.  Fans of Dickens, period films and, well, Christmas will enjoy this pleasant and well-made piece of light seasonal fayre.