TRAVIS BYRAM'S MOVIE REVIEWS

On paper, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle  is a cash grab, and in actuality, it definitely still is a cash grab. But it's a keenly executed, smart, genuinely funny, well-acted cash grab. Sony is about as subtle as The Rock's muscles, or Kevin Hart's brand of comedy. They could've recast Robin Williams' role and made the already CGI animals in the original even MORE CGI except this time Kate McKinnon is a kooky babysitter or Melissa McCarthy is a pesky neighbor next door. But no one would've shown up. How do you continue a property like Jumanji without blatantly ripping off what made the 1995 version magical? Well, a lot like this. The original version was a board game, so the logical thing to do is make it a video game, but not like "Call of Duty." Instead it's a cartridge 90's game, looking depressingly like an artifact of ancient times. Introduce your four main tropes characters in a high school setting: the geek, the jock, the bimbo and th...

On this the week of the 12th anniversary of the worst day ever and America's possible involvement with yet another war, (along with the second week of school, but I'd put that low on the list) I figured we could all use a pick me up, so I put together a list of films that have affected me the most after I've watched them. Now, this is to not say that these are my five favorite movies. These are the films that when I left the theater or when the credits rolled on the DVD screen. These are the movies that left me feeling mystified, blown away, heartbroken and enchanted. I'm excluding movies I would see at day cares (AKA Disney childhood staples I've seen at least 30 times a pop like "Tarzan," "Lion King" and "Aladdin.) and was too young to fully experience them. You might disagree with a few, and feel free to take a moment to reminisce what movies hit you the hardest, made you laugh the loudest, and just feel wowed for a few days after see...