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...

As weird as this sounds, Chris Rock has never really been in a classic comedy. He had a great show in "Everybody Hates Chris," of course his legendary stand-up routines, and, most recently, he's been the voice of Marty the Zebra in Madagascar . On his IMDb page, he's most known for, in this order, a stand-up special, the first Madagascar , Head of State (you know, where he...what is that movie even about?) and now this film. Let's hope more people catch on to Top Five , because as the director of his third film, he puts in a great comedic effort, becoming an effective triple threat of a writer, director and actor. Some critics are saying this Rock channeling Woody Allen, as it's a self-reflective piece in New York with a big ensemble and a love story. If so, keep doing what you're doing, Chris. The comedian plays Andre Allen, known for playing Hammy the Bear in a series of movies that smelled suspiciously like a Marty dig. Yes his three outings as the be...