My Friend Dahmer (2017)

America has always had a fascination with serial killers and it's been ingrained in Hollywood for a long time now especially with horror films. One of the strangest cases in America has always been that of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer who was convicted in 1991 of 17 murders I believe that he did some strange things to. Not a lot was known about his early life until his former best friend released the book My Friend Dahmer which was turned into a film and that is my choice for today. The film stars Ross Lynch (The Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina) as Jeffrey Dahmer, but Jeffrey is in high school and he is struggling to make friends while also dealing with his messed up family situation. From advice from his father to make friends, Jeffrey acts out during his senior year and this is the account of his decent into madness. The film also stars Vincent Kartheiser (Alpha Dog) as Dr. Matthews, Alex Wolff (Jumanji: The Next Level) as Derf, Anne Heche (Donnie Brasco) as Mrs. Dahmer, Dallas Roberts (Mayhem) as Lionel Dahmer, Tommy Nelson (The Good Sheppard) as Neil,  Harrison Holzer (Better Living Through Chemistry) as Mike, Cameron McKendry (I'm Not Ashamed) as Moose, Liam Koeth as Dave Dahmer, and the film was written, directed, and produced by Marc Meyers (We Summon The Darkness).

You hate to make excuses for serial killers because at the end of the day, they did the deed and no matter what they have to face the consequences, but this film was very telling. You could almost tell right from the start that there was something wrong with him especially before he joined up with those kids. He just always seemed a little off and his family definitely did not help him either as all he felt was pain and he journeyed into drinking and such to mask the pain. I don't hold his friends accountable for what he became, but I don't think the situation was right because they may have had the best intentions, but Jeffrey was off and it didn't help at all his journeyed down the downward spiral. I thought Ross Lynch did a fantastic job playing Dahmer to the point that he was really creeping me out. He was the focal point of the film to me because the film was all about him after all and the tones just matched the mood of the film which was dark and gray. I definitely think that if you want to see what psycholgists are always talking about when it comes to serial killers then this film is a great case study for sure. Anne Heche was great as his bat shit crazy mom who has lost grip severely on reality to the point that she takes off on Jefferey during his most vulnerable time in his life. I definitely think this is a film worth checking out for the performance so if you want you can find the film on Kanopy and on Tubi for free right now. I am going to give the film an B+/A- (somewhere in there) for a final grade.

Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)

Whenever a sleeper film or a film that studios are not sure how will be received does very well at the box office then you can bet your bottom dollar that a sequel will be in the works. That was definitely the case with 2017's Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle which made their money back almost ten fold. So now we fast forward to 2019 and everyone is back for the sequel in Juamnji: The Next Level. For Spencer (Alex Wolff) he thought that things were going to be different for him after what happened in the game in the first film, but that isn't the case he struggles with life in New York City. Home of the winter break, Spencer returns home and things don't seem right especially now that his grandfather (Danny DeVito)is living with him. The only problem is that Spencer has gone back into the game and now it's up to Fridge (Ser'Darius Blain), Martha (Morgan Turner), Bethany (Madison Iseman), Alex (Colin Hanks), his grandfather, and his friend Milo (Danny Glover) to save the day. The film also stars Dwayne Johnson (Central Intelligence) as Bravestone, Kevin Hart (Night School) as Mouse, Jack Black (Orange County) as Oberon, Karen Gillan (Guardians Of The Galaxy) as Ruby,  Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians) as Ming, Nick Jonas (Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle) as Seaplane, and the film was directed by Jake Kasdan.

I went into this wondering if they could pull off the sequel because the first film was magic and I have to honestly say that I enjoyed it a lot. I don't believe that the film was better than the first, but I really liked what they did when they added new levels and characters to the game because it made it interesting. The other dynamic that made the film work is that not everyone had the same avatar which made it hilarious especially when you have Kevin Hart and The Rock acting like Danny Glover and Danny DeVito. That also made the pairing of The Rock and Hart even better as both of these guys obviously work well together with all that chemistry. The action sequences in the film are just as cool as the first film, but one of the craziest scenes ever has to be the one with the Mandrills and the bridge. That was such an awesome and chaotic action sequence that it kept me glued to my seat. Other than that, there were a lot of decent moments in the film that gave you a lot of laughs especially when Kevin Hart was portraying Danny Glover, but it didn't wow me completely like the first film. One thing they did was at the end of the film, there is an extra scene that leaves the film up for a third film to make it a trilogy, but to be honest I am not quite sure if I would be down with a third film. By the looks of it, they have almost totaled the box office of the first film so I would not be surprised if they did. I am going to give the film an B for a final grade.