Dead Man Walking (1995)

One of the points of doing a challenge or a blog like this is to watch films that have some critical acclaim to them or made an impact when they came out. I definitely remember the film that I chose for today made an impact when it was nominated for four Oscars and took one home and that film is 1995's Dead Man Walking which was written and directed by Tim Robbins (Mystic River). The film stars Susan Sarandon (Thelma & Louise) as Sister Helen Prejean, a nun who works in the slums section of New Orleans. One day she receives a letter from an inmate named Matthew Poncelet (Sean Penn) who is sitting on Death Row and is hoping that Helen can help him try to get off death row before his number is called. The film also stars Robert Prosky (Mrs. Doubtfire) as Hilton Barber,  Raymond J. Barry (Nothing But Trouble) as Earl Delacroix, R. Lee Ermey (Full Metal Jacket) as Earl Percy, Celia Weston (Observe and Report) as Mary Beth Percy, Lois Smith (The Nice Guys) as Helen's Mother, Scott Wilson (The Walking Dead) as Chaplain Farley, Roberta Maxwell (Brokeback Mountain) as Lucille Poncelet, Jack Black (Jumanji: The Next Level) as Craig Poncelet, Jon Abrahams (Meet The Parents) as Sonny Poncelet. and Peter Sarsgaard (Shattered Glass) as Walter Delacroix.

I know that Sean Penn is a method actor so I would love to know what he did to research the role and I wonder if he stayed in a cell to stay in character. Those are definitely some of the questions that burn through my mind while I spend time in this isolation. One thing is for sure and that is while I did like his performance in the film a lot, I thought the true MVP of the film was definitely the Oscar Winner Susan Sarandon who deservedly won the award for her role as the real life Sister Helen. She conveyed every emotion exactly the way a director would have wanted her to. You could feel that she was scared at first and by the end of the film you knew all she wanted to do was good by everyone including Matthew Poncelet who she grew very close to. The whole film, all she wants to do is get him to take full responsibility for what he had done because it would mean with the little time that he had left, she made an impact on his life. She would have gotten him to admit responsibility and in turn he grew up and finally became a man. FYI, I did not choose this movie because it's Easter weekend, if that was the case I would be watching some Bible film right now. I had always wanted to see this film and never had the chance to, but thanks to Kanopy (all you need is a library card) I took full advantage of them having it. It's beautifully shot and well acted by everyone involved in the film so I definitely suggest getting this. The end is a little hard to watch because it's very emotional and surreal, but I am going to give the film an A 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.