Ed's Review Dot Com

Abramorama, PBS, Rhino Entertainment Company

The Doors, Jim Morrison, Robbie Krieger, Johnny Depp (Narrator)

When You’re Strange is a documentary shown originally on PBS about the rock legends “The Doors“.  Starting with the news from Jim Ladd on KLOS, Los Angeles that Jim Morrison is gone…and through the early days of the forming of the group, through the fantastic, but far too short, career these guys had.  At 1 hour 25 minutes, this is thorough look at the history of  “The Doors“.   There is a lot of music here, and if you’re a Doors fan, you’ll love to hear some really classic early live recordings.   Especially creepy is “The End” a song Morrison wrote about a breakup with a high school sweetheart.   It’s got to be one of the creepiest songs ever written!

It’s all here.  The controversy that got them banned from the Ed Sullivan show, the early and constant drug use, the inability of people to believe the death was not a hoax and that people had seen sightings of Jim, to the refusal of the French to admit there was anything drug related to his death.

Johnny Depp as a narator?  That could give folks pause, but it turns out he did a really good job.  Plus the footage is authentic footage from 1966 – 1971.  It’s not recreations or actors playing parts.  These are the real Doors.

Jim almost immediately lost it.  The band did the best to keep it together.  Finally, an intervention….that lasted about a week.

This documentary puts the story of the Doors in the background of the troubled world of the late 60’s, and it does an excellent job.   I really enjoyed watching this, and listening to the great music of the time.   I highly recommend for anyone interested in the subject.

Studio Canal

Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson, Amanda Seyfried

Well, surprise!  Another dark movie for a month of dark movies!   This one also is full of flawed characters!   Liam Neeson is a college professor who really loves his wife, but they have grown apart and cannot seem to connect anymore, so he throws himself into his work.   The wife, due to a series of coincidences, has come to the conclusion that her husband must be cheating on her.  Amanda is a hooker, who the wife hires to try to seduce her husband, just to see what he’ll do.  How could this go wrong, hunh?

Well, it does.  Everyone has their issues.   This is a character study, and each character, when you peel back the layers like an onion, shows another person you didn’t expect underneath.  They all have issues.  It’s hard to figure out who is the most messed up.  A lot of suspense, a lot of treachery, and a lot of twists and turns.  Some people will see it coming, but you’ll be better off if you just watch each of the characters and try to get to know them before they mess with your mind. You’ll see a lot of similarities to other films, such as Fatal Attraction and Play Misty For Me among others, but truly this film is not really any of them. There are a lot of surprises along the ride, and it’s hard to tell what’s really going on until the end when it all wraps up nicely, but still giving us a lot to thing about.

This is a tense roller-coaster ride, and one I enjoyed.  The casting was really good, and it was quite an adventure.

Walt Disney Pictures

Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley

This was a video game?  I didn’t know that till after I watched it, so I cannot comment on how true or not true it is to the game.  But taking it just as a movie, it’s pretty awesome.  There is one gimmick, hence the subtitle “The Sands of Time” but I’m not putting it in this review as just in case you haven’t heard what it is.  I don’t want to spoil the moment when you try to figure out what the hell just happened.  Needless to say, this is a great Saturday afternoon matinee movie!  There’s a strong story, lots of treachery and surprises, and betrayal.  Lots of adventure and action.  I didn’t think ole Jake Gyllenhaal was going to be able to pull off the hero bit, but he was actually perfectly cast in this movie.

I really enjoyed every minute of it, and was impressed by the smooth way the story unfolded keeping you on the edge of your seat all the way.  It really reminded me of being a kid, watching a movie on Saturday afternoon.  I wish it was still in the days when you paid your coins and stayed in the theater all day long watching the movie 3 or 4 times! The adventure in the movie is really fun without anything offensive so it’s for the whole family. This provided plenty of action and suspense but didn’t go into the kind of stuff you wouldn’t want your kids to see.  It’s a Disney movie after all.

I highly recommend this movie.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Silver Nitrate

Bryan Callen, Noureen DeWulf, Mircea Monroe, Steve Glickman, Austin Michael Scott

Either you like these kind of movies, or you don’t.  If you do, this is just like the rest.  It takes on a lot of the latest movies, and the actors and impersonators are pretty much right on!   Exactly the same kind of jokes as all the rest, fart jokes, bathroom humor, even a tribute to the orginal American Pie!  Yoda’s here, Dr Phil, lots of others.

This one hits on a few of the cylinders, especially if you know all they movies they parody.  But it’s not as good as many of the others that have been out over the years.

I say,  “Eh”.  That’s about it.  If you’re a fan of these parody movies, then go for it.  If you’re easily offended, this is wall to wall offense!   Eh. Nah.

Millenium Films

Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes

This is a well told story about 3 cops.  Each has a different problem and is in a bad way.  Richard Gere’s character is a week from retirement and burned out and just tired.  Ethan Hawke is trying to be a good cop and support his family, but no matter what he does, he can’t seem to get ahead.  Don Cheadle has been undercover for so long that he’s not sure who he is anymore.  The three come together at the same place and the stories come together in a fairly predictable, but still very exciting way.   The nice thing about this movie is that it is a great character study.  You get to learn enough about the characters to understand the reason behind the choices they make.

I must say I’m a bigger fan of the character’s in this movie, than the actors themselves.  I haven’t seen such a good performance out of Richard Gere in a long time, and I’m a big fan of either Ethan or Don, but perhaps it’s a tribute to the writer and the director to get such good performances out of this bunch, because the characters are really well developed.  Not the greatest movie of all time, but I enjoyed watching it.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog