Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

 Movies
Jun 122020
 

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

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PLOTIn 1996 Brantford, New Hampshire, teenager Alex Vreeke receives a board game called Jumanji from his father. Uninterested, Alex sets it aside, only to find it transformed into a video game cartridge after being entranced by the game's drum beats later that night. Opting to play the game, he is suddenly sucked inside upon choosing a character. His disappearance results in his family's house becoming known as the 'Freak house' fall into disrepair.

20 years later, four Brantford High School students – rebellious Martha Kaply, shallow Bethany Walker, awkward Spencer Gilpin, and athlete Anthony "Fridge" Johnson – are sent to clean up the school's basement for detention. While searching it, Fridge discovers Alex's discarded video game system, which he and Spencer decide to play and encourage the girls to join them. While picking their characters, they are unable to select the first one, so they choose the remaining four. Upon starting the game, each is sucked into Jumanji, landing in a jungle as their chosen characters – Spencer as muscular explorer and archaeologist Dr. Smolder Bravestone; Fridge as diminutive zoologist Franklin "Mouse" Finbar; Martha as commando and martial arts expert Ruby Roundhouse; and Bethany as male cartographer and paleontologist Professor Shelly Oberon.

While coming to terms with their situation, the group find three marks on their arms denoting lives. Spencer theorizes that if they lose all three, they will die in real life. The group encounter non-player character Nigel Billingsley, the game's guide, who provides them with the game's narrative and their characters' backstories. The group learn that their goal is to end a curse on Jumanji, brought about by corrupt archaeologist Professor Van Pelt after he stole a magic jewel called the "Jaguar's Eye" from its shrine and gained control of all the jungle's animals. Nigel hands Spencer the jewel, having stolen it from Van Pelt, and instructs the group to return it to a statue at the shrine and call out "Jumanji" in order to "lift the curse" and leave the game before driving off.

Coping with their avatars, their "weaknesses", Van Pelt's men, and Spencer and Fridge's animosity towards one another, the group encounter Alex operating the fifth avatar – pilot Jefferson "Seaplane" McDonough – who takes them to a jungle house built by Alan Parrish, the game's previous player. Upon realizing his identity, the group is collectively shocked upon learning how long he has been trapped in the game after Alex says he was trapped for months. Now with a common goal, the group vow to help Alex return home with them. Dealing with further problems while heading for the shrine, the group coordinate to overcome them, eventually reaching the shrine, where Van Pelt corners them. Working together, Fridge, Bethany, and Alex distract Van Pelt while Spencer and Martha outmaneuver him with the game's mechanics, returning the jewel to the statue. Upon calling out Jumanji together, the group destroy Van Pelt and return home.

Returning to the school basement, the group find Alex is not with them. After leaving school, they unexpectedly find the Vreeke home restored and decorated for a Christmas family gathering. The group is greeted by Alex, now an adult, who explains he returned to 1996, which allowed him to lead a married life with children; with his eldest daughter named after Bethany, who revived him with one of her lives in the game.

The four students become friends after their experiences in the game, with Bethany becoming a better person and Spencer starting a relationship with Martha. When the group hear Jumanji's drumbeats coming from the game cartridge, Fridge crushes it to prevent anyone else from playing it.		 2017Personal Rating60Rotten Tomatoes Avg82MetaCritic Avg63IMDb Rating69Combined Rating66.6

Movies IMDb Madison Iseman

Shazam!

 Movies
Jun 072020
 

Shazam!

Trailer


PLOTIn 1974, young Thaddeus Sivana is riding in a car with his father and brother when he is suddenly transported to the Rock of Eternity, a magical temple in another dimension. There, the ancient wizard Shazam has spent centuries searching for someone pure of heart on whom to bestow his power and name as champion, after the previous champion released the Seven Deadly Sins which killed the rest of the Council of Wizards. Thaddeus is tempted by the Eye of Sin, through which he hears the voices of the Sins, trapped in stone statues, promising him power if he will free them. The wizard deems Thaddeus unworthy and magically returns him to the car, where he makes a scene that leads to a car accident, crippling his father. The Sins send Thaddeus a message telling him to find them.

In present-day Philadelphia, 14-year-old foster child Billy Batson continually runs away from foster homes to search for his birth mother, from whom he became separated while at a carnival ten years prior. He is placed in a group home run by Victor and Rosa Vasquez, with five other foster children: Mary Bromfield, Pedro Peña, Eugene Choi, Darla Dudley, and superhero enthusiast Freddy Freeman. Meanwhile, the embittered Sivana succeeds in his lifelong quest to find a way back to the Rock of Eternity. He steals the Eye of Sin, becoming the Sins' vessel, bests the wizard, and uses his newfound power to kill his father, brother, and Sivana Industries' board of directors.

At school, Billy defends Freddy from bullies and is chased into a subway, where he is transported to the Rock of Eternity. The wizard chooses Billy to be his new champion: By saying the name "Shazam", Billy is transformed into an adult superhero. The wizard turns to dust, leaving his magical staff behind. At home, Freddy is taken into Billy's confidence and helps him explore his newfound powers, which include super strength, speed, near-invulnerability, and electricity manipulation. By saying "Shazam" again, he can transform back into his normal body. Freddy posts viral videos of the new superhero, and Billy starts skipping school to use his powers to busk for money and fame, straining his friendship with Freddy. When Billy accidentally endangers and then saves a bus full of people, Sivana confronts him, demanding that he surrender his powers. Billy discovers that he can fly, and manages to escape. His foster siblings deduce that he is the superhero, and complete his search for his mother, who lives nearby. Billy rushes to see her, but is disheartened to learn that she abandoned him, having felt inadequate to raise him as a single teenage mother.

Sivana deduces Billy's identity and takes his foster siblings hostage. Billy agrees to transfer his powers to Sivana in exchange for their safety. They go to the Rock of Eternity to use the wizard's staff to effect the transfer, but the children follow and attack Sivana. Billy observes that Sivana becomes vulnerable when all seven Sins leave his body. Sivana pursues them to a winter carnival and unleashes the Sins upon the crowd. Remembering the wizard's words, Billy uses the staff to share his powers with his siblings, transforming them into adult superheroes like him. He then breaks the staff, and his siblings battle the Sins while Billy faces down Sivana. By luring out the final Sin, Envy, Billy makes Sivana vulnerable and yanks the Eye of Sin out of his head, recapturing all the Sins.

Billy and his siblings are hailed as heroes, return the Eye and the Sins to their prison, and realize they can use the Rock of Eternity as their superhero lair. Billy finally accepts his foster parents and siblings as his "real" family. In his superhero form, he has lunch with his siblings at school, revealing to Freddy's surprise that he has also invited Superman. In a mid-credits scene, the imprisoned Sivana is approached by a talking caterpillar, who proposes an alliance.		 2019Personal Rating50Rotten Critics90Rotten Audience82IMDb Rating71Combined Rating73.3

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