52 Movies Like Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) (Page 3)

When the country rises in rebellion against your dictatorial rule, we imagine that could be quite difficult. After a series of failures and atrocities committed to keep power, no one in the world would empathize with the dictator in question. Doing exactly this, however, made for a striking movie in The President. Never naming an actual country, but based generally on real world revolutions, the film plucks a dictator and his grandson into the poverty that his regime has inflicted upon its people. It’s quite cathartic to see the two reap the karmic consequences of what the dictator has done, but it’s also thought-provoking, as the film straightforwardly demonstrates the way revolution eventually takes cyclical form, especially for the movements that allowed the very atrocities they sought to end. It’s not a film with an easy-to-match metaphor, though, given the production country and the director Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s home country, one could guess certain influences, but The President nonetheless is a striking portrait of a city violently changing hands.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Dachi Orvelashvili, Ia Sukhitashvili, Lasha Ramishvili, Misha Gomiashvili, Zura Begalishvili

Director: Mohsen Makhmalbaf

Hassan Fazili and Nargis Fazili are two filmmakers who, faced with death threats, escape their home in Afghanistan and start a journey to Europe that millions of others have taken over the past few years. But unlike most others, the Fazilis filmed everything on their way.

The result is not only a portrayal of the dangers they go through but it's also about less obvious and possibly more common aspects of the refugee experience. It's about the wait in refugee centers (that can last many years), the anticipation and also what it means to do all of this with children. Because watch out for the little Fazilis, who travel with their parents, for they will steal your heart.

Genre: Documentary

Director: Hassan Fazili

Rating: Not Rated

There are some people that would do everything for love, they would do everything just to make their lovers happy. But finding their favorite singer of all time to convince them to perform at your nightclub isn’t something these hopeless romantics would, or even could, do, and that’s what makes Hear My Song such a unique romantic comedy. As club owner Micky O'Neill does all he can to make this happen, director Peter Chelsom and co-writer Adrian Dunbar takes reportedly real life events and weaves them into a charming memory of the tight-knit community formed within their hometown’s pub, and the earnest hope of making up with them through something real.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Adrian Dunbar, Agnes Bernelle, Anna Manahan, Brian McGrath, Britta Smith, David McCallum, Frank Kelly, Gina Moxley, Harold Berens, James Nesbitt, Jimmy Keogh, John Dair, Laurie Morton, Liam O'Callaghan, Mary MacLeod, Ned Beatty, Norman Vaughan, Pat Laffan, Rúaidhrí Conroy, Shirley Anne Field, Stephen Marcus, Tara Fitzgerald, William Hootkins

Director: Peter Chelsom

Rating: R

With elaborate sets, musical numbers, and an ensemble cast, Aachar and Co doesn’t feel like a regular budget-bound debut feature. In fact, director Sindhu Sreenivasa Murthy, who also stars as Suma, pulls off this family drama with a whimsical yet period-accurate, Wes Anderson-esque style. This style keeps the film’s nostalgic and lighthearted tone, even as the siblings’ journeys, most especially that of Suma, go into darker times. As the family cycles through each of their weddings and funerals, Aachar and Co comments on the societal changes that shifted the lives of Indian women in the 1960s. The resulting film is just as bittersweet and nostalgic as the mango preserves the family makes.

Genre: Comedy, Family, Music

Actor: Anirudh Acharya, Harshil Koushik, Mandara Battalahalli, Sindhu Sreenivasa Murthy, Sudha Belawadi

Director: Sindhu Sreenivasa Murthy

The Weight of Gold is an extremely impactful insight into what goes through the mind of the highest performing athletes in the world, and focuses how their governing body (the US Olympic Committee) disregards care about their mental health. While it could benefit from going even deeper at times, it does benefit from having some narrative surprises in store—rarely seen in a documentary of this nature. When you least expect it, that gut-punch of a reveal at the end will truly shock and sadden viewers, and will leave one thinking about the film for ages to come.

Genre: Documentary

Actor: Apolo Ohno, Bode Miller, Lolo Jones, Michael Phelps, Sasha Cohen, Shaun White

Director: Brett Rapkin

Rating: TV-MA

There are two ways to sum up this documentary. One will make you decide against watching it. Here’s that pitch: This is the story of a homeless woman who was found dead.

Here’s the better pitch: That woman was highly educated and generally lived a happy life. But she also left behind a detailed journal that recounts her final days in one of the coldest winters on record. She lived on apples and rainwater and fought off insanity.

Her heartbreaking story is one of disappointment and betrayal by society at a time when she was most vulnerable. A haunting and compelling documentary that is sure to stay with you for a long time and, in a way, might help you take on adversity.

Genre: Documentary, Drama, History, Mystery

Actor: Doug Bixby, Joan Bishop, Kevin Carbone, Lori Singer, Michael Maggiani, Paul Appelbaum

Director: Jedd Wider, Todd Wider

Rating: N/A

Anthology films are interesting because it’s not just one film on screen– it’s multiple stories, one after the other, that might have different plots, but share similar themes, ideas, and styles that the filmmaker(/s) would like to display. Involuntary does have five separate short films, but rather than play one by one, writer-director Ruben Östlund chops them up and alternates between them, starting with small instances where the group pushes someone into a behavior, then eventually escalating and accelerating into much more difficult consequences. This makes for a very slow start to the one and a half hour film, but it also allows Östlund some scope, with this simple group dynamic directly affecting larger ideas such as public morality, masculinity, and high-risk behavior in teens amongst others.

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Actor: Cecilia Milocco, Henrik Vikman, Leif Edlund, Leif Ericson, Linnea Cart-Lamy, Lola Ewerlund, Maria Lundqvist, Olle Liljas, Sara Eriksson, Simeon Nordius, Vera Vitali, Villmar Björkman

Director: Ruben Östlund

To call Going to Mars a somewhat shapeless documentary isn't a criticism. If anything, its flexibility of structure feels entirely appropriate for the woman at its center, who doesn't necessarily defy categorization so much as she remains on the pulse of history as it continues to shift in unexpected ways. Nikki Giovanni is a person who knows who she is and knows that she stands for the essential dignity of Black people, and it's inspiring to see how she not only remains hopeful and articulate through every critical moment, but that she insists on being ambitious for what Black people deserve to achieve in the future. As her son tells her at a speaking engagement, Giovanni doesn't just dream of going to space; she feels that it is her people's imperative to be there.

Directors Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson tell her (still ongoing) life story in a strikingly impressionistic way—cleverly playing with archival footage, but more importantly having Giovanni's candid words blending seamlessly into her poetry. This is a credit to how connected to the milieu Giovanni's work actually is, of course, but the film does a very good job defining her as someone who can bring beauty and grace out of every experience.

Genre: Documentary

Actor: Kai Giovanni, Nikki Giovanni, Novella Nelson, Taraji P. Henson, Thomas Giovanni, Touré Neblett, Virginia Fowler

Director: Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson

Elton John’s latest concert film follows the same structure as most current music documentaries: it splices present-day footage of the musician doing his latest (and final tour) with flashbacks of his past. In either rare archival footage or lovely animation, we see snippets of his troubled childhood, his serendipitous meet-up with writing partner Bernie Taupin, his rise to fame as an unlikely rock star, and his rocky relationships with different men. If you’re an avid fan of the singer, you likely won’t see anything new here, save for excerpts from his final tour. But whether you’re familiar with John’s music or not, this documentary is sure to be a pleaser, especially aurally.

Genre: Documentary, Music

Actor: Bernie Taupin, Dua Lipa, Elton John, John Lennon

Director: David Furnish, R.J. Cutler

Rating: PG-13

Widely considered as the dawn of Chinese animation, Big Fish & Begonia frankly isn’t as outstanding as Japan’s Spirited Away, but it does share some of its charms. The awe-inspiring natural spirit world looks something akin to the worlds of Studio Ghibli, as well as the cute creatures, this time in dolphin-fish form. Even those unfamiliar with Chinese mythology can recognize the folklorish elements in the story, particularly the magic that feels reminiscent of Little Mermaid, and as each of the teen protagonists makes a sacrifice, it still tugs at the heartstrings. It’s not perfect, and the third act does get a tad convoluted, but Big Fish & Begonia still works emotionally as an homage to Chinese folklore.

Genre: Adventure, Animation, Fantasy

Actor: Ajie, Ji Guanlin, Jie Zhang, King Shih-Chieh, Pan Shulan, Su Shangqing, Timmy Xu, Xue Lifang

Director: Liang Xuan, Zhang Chun

Rating: PG-13

There are certain things in a family that are kept secret from kids, especially when it paints the parents in a negative light. One such secret is that a parent betrayed the other, leading to the existence of another family. A Family Thing takes that secret in Arkansas, in a story of two brothers divided by race, that is more common than acknowledged in America. While the film could have delved deeper into the divide, Robert Duvall and James Earl Jones deliver great performances, crafting brotherhood slowly bridged by curiosity, despite its difficult beginnings. A Family Thing is an underrated family drama that could've gone wrong, but it works because of the writing and the performances.

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Actor: David Keith, Grace Zabriskie, Irma P. Hall, Jacqueline Williams, James Earl Jones, Mary Jackson, Meg Thalken, Michael Beach, Paula Marshall, Phillip Edward Van Lear, Reggie Hayes, Regina Taylor, Richard Lexsee, Robert Duvall, Rufus Thomas, Xander Berkeley

Director: Richard Pearce

Rating: PG-13

How much do you know about what’s inside the skincare and cosmetic products you use? This is one of the main questions Toxic Beauty addresses. The award-winning documentary features a series of powerful and insightful voices, including Deane Berg, the woman who took the American multinational corporation Johnson & Johnson to court to claim its body powder was a factor in her contracting ovarian cancer. As the film progresses, it becomes more and more apparent that the beauty industry is as unhealthy as the products it creates and promotes.

Genre: Documentary, Drama

Actor: Deane Berg, Mymy Nguyen

Director: Phyllis Ellis