Going to the Pictures (VII)

There’s nothing on at the moment - seriously, it’s all about the latest instalment of that space battle franchise. It is on my radar, but I’ll wait for all the kiddies and queue-jumpers to watch it first, and considering it’s distributed by the House of Mouse, it’ll be on for at least 3 months yet. In the meantime:

Battle of the Sexes (30th November 2017)

The good, informative and often amusing story of how Billie Jean King came to play Bobby Riggs in the 1973 tennis match that meant so much to so many. I wasn’t even born when they played, but I had heard of Billie Jean King and I had heard of the furore surrounding the original match in real life. This film was not afraid to show the stresses and pressures of all kinds of lives, and did recreate iconic moments from real events. While some of it must have been extrapolated or embellished for entertainment value, even someone like me who doesn’t care about tennis really really rooted for Billie Jean at the end. Knowing the outcome before you go into the movie did not detract from the enjoyment I got from this film.

Verdict: 8.5/10; good scenes, great acting, and a very, very satisfying ending. And keep watching during the credits for some real-life add-ins.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (10th December 2017)

We had a tonne of fun during this - a couple of nods to the original film, some great action pieces, some awesome funnies (Jack Black does it again, not to mention everyone else getting their turn at comedy too), and a solid plot that ties itself up at the end. What more can you ask from a light-hearted, good-natured, harmless disposable comedy? I laughed out loud a few times, and I know the audience of the screen we were in laughed too. Pure fun.

Verdict: 8.5/10; Dwayne Johnson continues to play characters with good humour and a fun touch; special shout-out to his smouldering skill. Also to Karen Gillon for her comedy work (so glad she's escaped Stephen Moffet's writing tripe) and Jack Black for being the alleged air-head selfie-taker without a phone.

And that’s it. Like I said - nothing else out. Damn you, Disney!