Welcome to 5 Favorites. Each week, I will put together a list of my 5 favorites (films, performances, whatever strikes my fancy) along with commentary on a given topic each week, usually in relation to a specific film releasing that week.

With a cast like this, you have to look at what they’ve done and think there’s some terrific work out there. This week, in celebration of the cast of Jumanji: The Next Level, I want to look at my favorite outings by the cast with Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Nick Jonas, Danny DeVito, Danny Glover, Awkwafina, Colin Hanks, and Alex Wolff.

While these may not be the all-time best films or everyone’s agreement on the best, these five are among my favorites. Here they are in order of release.

Terms of Endearment (1983)

Danny DeVito is one of those actors who has run the gamut between terrific and downright awful with no understanding of how to pick a good vehicle for him. With One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest he found success and his work on the TV series Taxi was terrific, but after 1983’s Terms of Endearment, the film I’m selecting to represent him, his work largely went downhill starring in ludicrous comedies like Throw Momma from the Train and Twins, both of which are enjoyable, but hardly high in quality.

He did terrific work as the Penguin in Batman Returns, but the only place he’s done well since is in the long-running TV comedy It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which is an incredibly funny show, but he’s not among the reasons I enjoy it. Like Cuckoo before it, Terms of Endearment was a once-in-a-lifetime film that DeVito doesn’t have a major role in, but it’s the best film on his resume, so it gets the nod.

Kung Fu Panda (2008)

There’s a strangely large number of comedians whose film work doesn’t exactly excite me thanks to their obnoxious comedy styles. Two such entertainers are on this list and both of whom are recognized for their vocal work, which severely limits the physical schticks that are most grating.

Jack Black is one of those comedians I can take or leave. He’s erratic and crazed, but that kind of chaotic humor just doesn’t thrill me. Yet, in Kung Fu Panda, his lovable loser persona fit the performance so perfectly that in spite of his attempts to keep his live-action persona going, the film tamped it down just enough to make it work and the end result is one of the best animated features of the last two decades.

Doctor Who (Series 5-7) (2010-2012)

Karen Gillan has to be the single most successful actor to come out of the Doctor Who universe. With starring roles in films like Jumanji and Guardians of the Galaxy and her appearances in several other films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), it’s her work in the fifth, sixth, and seventh series of the modern reboot of Doctor Who that I remember most fondly.

That isn’t to say she hasn’t been terrific in her other outings. Her performance in Jumanji was brilliant and her work in the MCU has been satisfying, but as Amy Pond, who alongside her boyfriend Rory were the longest-running companions of the current incarnation, she has demonstrated an affable familiarity that carries through in her myriad other works.

The Secret Life of Pets (2016)

The other comic in Jumanji: The Next Level that I’ve never been impressed with is Kevin Hart. I’ve seen a couple of his comedies and they just lack something special. His vocal work, however, was strong in The Secret Life of Pets.

One of a handful of main characters, Hart plays an egotistical bunny who reacts poorly whenever things don’t go his way. It is a great role into which Hart can channel his comic style and not make it feel like an over-the-top performance. The Secret Life of Pets was adorable and entertaining, thus securing Hart’s place on this list over his performance in Night School, which was his next most interesting film.

The Farewell (2019)

She’s barely been on the acting scene, but Awkwafina has made a stellar debut with her performance in Crazy Rich Asians leading her towards her starring role in one of 2019’s best films so far, The Farewell. The film, about an Asian family whose tradition of not telling the elderly they are dying leads a Chinese-American woman (Awkwafina) having to hide the diagnosis from her grandmother.

While it’s billed as a comedy, this dramedy requires Awkwafina to embrace depression and resignation while putting on a brave face. It’s a down-to-earth performance in a wonderfully expressive film. Awkwafina may have started as a rap musician, but her career as an actress should be solid for years to come.