Ed's Review Dot Com

Universal

Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear

Green Zone is fiction.  It’s the story of how it could have happened, not how it happened.  If you take that into consideration, there is a little bit of drama and a little bit of action, but it’s really dumbed down and it uses every cliche in the book.  It’s kind of like,  your friend poked you in the eye with a pencil but he didn’t mean to poke you in the eye with a pencil.  He meant to poke you in the ear with a pencil.  What did they intend?

They intended to push the view of a few Hollywood people and a few liberal media hounds on everybody and make you think it was real.  But it’s not.

But if you put the politics aside, and look at the movie as it is, it’s still not very good.  The action is spotty and sketchy.   The acting is not very real.  What was Matt Damon doing?   I know, trying to convince you that the right thing to do is get P.O.’d at your superiors and go rogue and fight your own battles.  After all, those evil soldiers are killing our own people for their evil ends.

I just think the story was not well developed.  I know it’s anti-Bush, and anti-war, and anti-America, but at least make a good story about it.

It’s just weak.  And I have been looking for a chance to get this off my chest once and for all.  If the police were called to a bank robbery and a man in a mask with a long coat with his hand hidden under the coat kept screaming at the top of his lungs….”I’ve got a gun,  I’ve got a gun in here!  I’ve got a Magnum 357 under my coat and this hostage is going down if you come one step closer!!!”   And this guy with a gun happens to get shot when the cops storm the building, is it the cops fault he didn’t really have a gun?  He assured them 1000 times he had a gun!   I’m sorry Saddam, but if you say you have WMD over and over, not only to the UN and the free world, but to all your other Middle Eastern neighbors, if you insist on not allowing the UN to inspect, and if you drag it on and on and on saying,  “I’ve got a gun!  I’ve got a gun,” people are going to think perhaps you HAVE A GUN!

So the search for WMD was a bust, and nothing major was really found, but if he hadn’t blustered his way through threatening everyone, things wouldn’t have ended up like they did.  I’m glad he didn’t have them, but what if he did?

Anyway, I didn’t completely bust this movie because there are some redeeming qualities.  It does have Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear, and there are some pretty good moments.  Shot in Europe (mostly Spain) they did a pretty good job of making it look like Iraq.  They just were so caught up in the message that they didn’t pay attention to the quality of the movie.

Touchstone Pictures

Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel, Angelica Huston, Will Arnett

Not a bad movie.  Some parts were a little silly, kind of like a Mr. Bean episode, but all in all it was really cute.  Some of the smaller character are a little over the top (Bobby Moynahan over the top, say it isn’t so), but still the movie works, so that’s why I rated it as high as I did.

Let’s see,  a girl has a miserable brake up and has to attend her sister’s wedding in Rome.   Where have we heard THAT before?  But at the same time, this does a cute little twist.

Drunk, depressed, piqued, disgusted with men, this gal decides to take a dip in the famous Fountain of Love of  Three Coins in the Fountain fame, she decides to pick up five coins to take away their wishes.   Little does she know that when you remove a coin, the one who threw the coin will immediately fall in love with you!   Hilarity ensues, as a four crazy characters are madly in love with her.

But there is a twist.  She has to return the coins to break the spell, but the last coin belongs to a guy she really likes, but she can’t tell if he loves her, or if it’s just the magic of the fountain.

Ok, it’s predictable, but it is a fun romp, and very light.  I rated it in the middle because some of it is, as I said, silly, but all in all it’s a “light” watch.  Nothing deep here, but a decent distraction for a while.

Oh, and don’t confuse this with the Mary-Kate and Ashley disaster “When in Rome (2002)”.  It would be just like Netflix to send you the wrong one by mistake.  🙂

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Lionsgate

Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, Tobey Maguire, Mare Winningham

Brothers is an intense look into the lives of a disturbed family.   Two brothers are very close, but one is a screwup just out of prison, and the other a hero who does everything right.  Tobey’s character is the nice boy.  He’s married and on his way for his second tour to Afghanistan.  While he’s gone tragedy happens, and everyone is suspicious as the screw up brother steps up and tries to do the right thing for the right reasons.  Or does he?  After all, everyone thinks his brother is dead.

When her husband comes back, he’s changed, Or is he?

Jealous now, that something may not be exactly right about his brother’s relationship with his wife.  What is wrong?

There’s a lot to these characters and no one is who you may expect.  Do the brothers really care about each other?  Who’s side is Dad on?  What’s really going on?

This is a pretty decent movie.  It’s not real fast paced, but there is an awful lot going on and the end is rather suspenseful.

Mostly I think it’s rightly named, as the realationship of the “Brothers” is the crux of the story.    But by the time it’s over, you feel like you know them all, and it’s worth the effort.  This movie is often listed as anti-war.  I don’t think it takes a stand on the war.  But I think it’s a valid expression of how war changes people.   Whether you take that as anti-war or not, I’m not able to say.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

The Walt Disney Company, Pixar

Tom Hanks, Tim Allen

We waited and waited and waited and now it’s here!  What a wonderful movie.  An amazine feat of 2 sequels to a movie that each was greater than the one before.  It’s the strength of the characters.

I don’t want to spoil any of your enjoyment of this film (assuming there is anyone out there who hasn’t seen it yet), but this movie did bring some surprises.

First, you would suspect that this is a great family film for all ages. Well, it is that, but it’s a surpise how many grown, macho men, come out of the theater with their hat brims pulled down, staring at the ground, not wanting anyone to see the  tears rolling down their cheeks.  I don’t think men cry at movies, but in droves the do at this one.  That wasn’t expected I’m sure.   Why?  Because, especially in the last part of the movie, it really connects to a guy’s deepest feelings.  We’ve all put away our toys and gave up that wonderful part of our life because we grew up.  We didn’t want to, but we had to.  So facing what Andy is facing, strikes a chord that hits us.  We did that too.  Perhaps today’s world is too complicated.  Toys today are not a simple as Mr. Potato Head, a Slinky dog, a toy dinosaur, or a raggedy old pull string cowboy.  We used our imaginations.  Kids today have high technology toys, but they don’t build the connection to them like we did.  There are many moments like this.

But the kids are going to love it too.  There are lots of new characters, some scary, some trying to be scary, but they’re all trying to survive in their own way and determine their own worth.  The story is very strong, the old characters are there, and still load of fun, and the new ones are nice to get to know.

I can’t see any reason for anyone on earth not to love this movie.  It has to get the highest rating of any movie of the year so far!

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

20th Century Fox

Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colin Farrell

I really enjoyed this movie.  I have been anxious for it to arrive on DVD since I heard about it at the Oscar’s last year.  I wasn’t disappointed.  Jeff Bridges isn’t always on top of his game, but he did an amazing job in this movie.  Heartwarming,  it was very “A Star is Born“ish in a way, and all the way through Jeff reminds me of Kris Kristofferson in a lot of ways.  But the story is very complex.  I loved the way Colin Farrell played his character.  He should have been very stuck up, proud of what he was, and eager to step on poor Bad (Jeff Bridges) on the way up, but he wasn’t.  He appreciated, and he cared, and he was a genuine nice guy.  This makes you get angry with Bad, but watching him struggle, you turn from disliking him to pitying him, to rooting for him.

Jeff and Colin did the singing in the movie, with the help of a singing coach, and they did a way better than expected job of singing the music in the film.  It was quite believable and it was a nice touch that they did their own.  The music was good, especially if you have a hankering for horsey tunes in the first place.  It’s good country.  But my wife who is NOT a country fan, still loved the movie because of the strength of the story.

It’s a story that’s been done before, and done very well, but this one is a bit unique, and really gives a feel for how hard it is to give up you life to live on the road driving from town to town to simply sing your old songs with a pick up band of local kids.  It’s got to be a hard life that many musicians know.

I recommend this movie as one of the best rentals I’ve had in a while!