Couch Theater – January 21, 2021

#Middlebury #DVD #Video #Movie

Many jokes have been made at the year 2020’s expense. We could all have done without the fear and anxiety of a global pandemic that’s still all too real today, but being homebound has had some benefits. Maybe you learned to bake bread or tend a potted garden, mastered homeschooling or finally fixed that leaky toilet. It wasn’t all bad. Here are five films that were released for home viewing in 2020 that prove my point.

“Jumanji: The Next Level” (Columbia Pictures photo)

“Jumanji: The Next Level” (PG-13) – Spencer Gilpin, home on a college break, jumps right back into Jumanji – forcing his gang (Bethany, Fridge and Martha) to follow suit. For good measure, Spencer’s grandpa Eddie (Danny DeVito) and Eddie’s estranged business partner Milo (Danny Glover) are sucked into the game, too. With mixed-up avatars and some fun new additions (Awkwafina joins as a new avatar, Ming Fleetfoot), this fantasy comedy delivers a racing pace, some rollicking good laughs and a surprisingly sweet ending.

“Jojo Rabbit” (PG-13) – Young Jojo is a Hitler Youth believer. He believes so hard that Adolf Hitler is his imaginary friend (played hilariously by Taika Waititi, who also writes and directs), the one who gives him a bucking up when the boys at camp come down on him. He has a perennially positive and optimistic single mother (Scarlett Johansson) with a secret. Its discovery leads Jojo to reflect on his own nationalistic beliefs and racism while the makeshift family confronts the final days of World War II.

“Parasite” (R) – South Korea’s sleeper hit is a black comedy that effortlessly tackles social aspirations and class conflict. The Kim family lives in a squalid basement of a basement, with no prospects and no resources. Son Ki-woo fakes some credentials and takes a job as a tutor to the daughter of the filthy rich Park family, living the good life by association. Getting there was only part of the battle, though. The ends inevitably begin to unravel, with macabre consequences. Written and directed by acclaimed director Bong Joon Ho.

“Just Mercy” (PG-13) – Michael B. Jordan plays a young, morally ambitious Harvard law graduate who goes to Alabama to seek justice on behalf of poverty- and racism-stricken death row inmates. He starts with Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx), wrongfully convicted of murder and overcome by hopelessness. It’s uplifting and tugs at your heartstrings, plus it’s filled with top-notch actors and is based on a true story.

“1917” (R) – A riveting first-person war story by celebrated director Sam Mendes, “1917” centers around two British lance corporals, Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) and Schofield (George MacKay), who are sent across enemy territory to stop a division of British soldiers from advancing into a deadly German ambush. In the thick of war, through the dead of night and with almost no time in which to complete this impossible feat, the two soldiers set out with singular, unwavering focus.

© 2021 King Features Synd., Inc.