Ed's Review Dot Com

Alcon Entertainment

Denzel Washington, Mila Kunis, Gary Oldman, Jennifer Beals

The best way to describe this film is a “post-apolcalyptic western”.   I was a bit surprised by this film.  I had heard nothing but good things, but I didn’t expect anything too great.  Well, it was pretty good, considering.  It’s pretty much like Mad Max with religious overtones.  The bad guys ala WaterWorld’s “Smokers”.   Eli has a book.  The book is pretty important, and he’s been protecting it forever, since the big war tore a hole in the sky!

Well, it’s not what you’re expect, and there is a surprise or two.  Mostly the martial arts (Denzel studied martial arts with Dan Inosanto who was trained by Bruce Lee) is really good.  Denzel did his own stunts.  There is a lot of action, killing, betrayal, ambushes, etc., and it keeps the movie moving right along.  Then when you get to the end, you’ve got a few more surprises coming.

I enjoyed watching this.  It was much better than I expected it to be.  Most action, shoot ’em up, end of the world type movies leave me cold, but this movie had a lot of stuff to keep it interesting.  I enjoyed it a lot.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Illumination Entertainment,  Universal Studios

Steve Carell, Jason segal, Russel Brand, Julie Andrews, Wil Arnett, Kristin Wiig

Ok, so sue me.  I’m a sucker for cartoons, and this one hit on all cylinders.  It’s funny, sad, heartwarming, and did I say funny?   All the misadventures of a Spy vs. Spy episode, some great laughs for the adults in the audience, but plenty for the kids.

I saw this in 3D and it really worked for this movie (especially the fun in the closing credits). I saw it in a full theater with a mix of little kids and their parents.  It’s funny to hear the adults laugh by themselves and then to hear the kids laugh all by themselved, but the best is when everybody laughs at  the same time.

The voice actors were pretty good, although the weakest thing is the fake accent Steve Carell tries to pull off which doesn’t quite cut it.  I couldn’t help thinking of Michael Scott of the Dunder-Mifflin Paper Company trying to act a fool, instead of believing it was Gru, but if you can get over this.  But you are definitely going to enjoy yourself.  I was glad I paid the extra for the 3D glasses.  It was well worth it.

The movie reminds me a lot of Up! but of course it’s not quite in that league, but it has similarities.   (sweet kids, crotchety old man) .   All in all Depicable Me made for a fine HOT Saturday Afternoon in the air conditioning of the theater.  Great movie!

Columbia Pictures

Gerard Butler, Jennifer Aniston, Gio Perez, Joel Garland, Jason Sudekis

This is a movie that should have been a lot better.  I tried to figure out why it wasn’t better, and the only thing I can come up with is that the chemistry between these two is just not there.  Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant in  “Did You Hear About the Morgans” worked, so it was a cute movie, but this one did not.  Nobody would ever believe these two were ever together or would ever be again.  It just doesn’t work.

Jennifer is so whiney and pouty she needs a good swift kick in the butt.  And Gerard is such a wise ass that he needs the same thing!   So you don’t really care about either of them.

That is the problem with the movie.  But there are lots of good things too.  The comedy works and there are some really funny moments.  There are some real decent laughs here and there, and some action and adventure as the team gets into one mess after another.   Jason Sudekis has a small part, but he’s really funny.

So this is a typical romantic comedy with a couple that can’t stand each other that get back together but mess it up, and so on, but the situations they get in are pretty humorous and we enjoyed the DVD.  Glad I didn’t go plunk down $13.00 for a ticket though!

The locations are cool too.  Atlantic City, Monmoth Park, New York City.  All this adds to the fun, but the final effort just wasn’t enough to be a really great movie.  Worth a rental, but should have been a lot more.

Nickelodeon Films, Paramount Studios, Blinding Edge Pictures

Noah Ringer, Dev Patel, Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone, Shaun Toub

The Last Airbender, long awaited as M. Night Shyamalan’s latest blockbuster? Well we’ll see.   Meanwhile, I must say up front that I had never heard of the Nickelodeon Series, Avatar, The Last Airbender as my youngest child is now 18 and way past the Nickelodeon stage (unless you want to count “Degrassi” which is her last hold on her childhood).  So I was not familiar with the story, and was dragged to the theater by a wife who heard how great it was.

It’s Night Shyamalan, so I never have an idea what to expect when I walk into a Shyamalan picture.  I have a habit of catching his movies opening weekend so that I don’t have any pre-conceived notions of the story, and let him surprise the heck out of me.

Sixth Sense,  Ok, I had no idea of the twist in the end, and felt like a fool that I missed it completely.  What fun!  The Village, That one blew me away, too.  I was convinced of a bunch of 17^th century pilgrims dealing with imaginary monsters (those things couldn’t be real!) but what if they were?  When Ron Howard’s kid walked out of the compound and into the future my jaw dropped.  What a surprise!

But this time, it’s a whole ‘nother ball of wax.  This time it’s more like an anime, or kung fu movie or whatever.  That being said, the actors did a pretty good job.  I feel for Aang, “The Last Airbender” though, as he sounded like they were giving him lines just before he had to say them. I thought he was not a great actor, but he handled the emotions and physical activity just fine.   No big stars is a plus for this story.  Of course one movie covers one year of the series, so we’re obviously in for more of these if this one makes a few bucks.

I must admit that I did watch the series (which is out as instant view on Netflix), and I must admin I really enjoyed the movie more.  The 20 episodes (10 hours) of cartoons had a lot more depth, but the movie covered all the highlights and the cinematograpy and special effects were spectacular.

Ok, so this is no Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter or Twilight, but again, it’s not that bad.  It was a really nice evening at the movies with some popcorn and nachos, and was a great escape.  The scenery is breathtaking and the effects are awesome.  3D was a nice effect, but didn’t add a great deal to the movie, and after a few minutes you get into the story and forget it’s even 3D.  Nice escape, but not an epic picture, but when the sequel comes out, I’ll be buying a ticket.  🙂

Universal Studios

Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt

I guess it’s pretty widely known that Universal Studios holds the rights to many of the classic horror movies.   They’ve been sitting back in the vault for years, to be pulled out once a year for a special  “Midnight Halloween Horror Fest” at the neighborhood discount cinema or to fill up AMC’s schedule for October.  They provide interesting side notes on the tram tour at Universal Studios.   “This is the courtyard where Boris Karloff carried the little girl into the town…….”    But what if Universal tried to redo some of these?  Universal could dust them off, update them with today’s technology and what would they have?

Well, lovers of classic cinema will scream foul, and lovers of Jigsaw in Saw or Leatherface in Texas Chainsaw Massacre will say its old fashioned and corny, but guess what?  I enjoyed it.

The old movies are hard to sit through.  Parts are really slow and boring, and the sound is scratch and rough.  But they had a certain flair for scaring your socks off without showing you much.  Everything was in your head which was much scarier than the blood and gore of today.
This remake is in between.   It has all the mood and creepiness of the original, but with modern technology and beautiful eerie scenery, it really cuts it.  It’s got plenty of gore and violence, but there are moments when things happen so fast, you can’t see it, but you know something awful happened by the parts left behind.   There are some really scary parts.

Anthony Hopkins is a real master of creepy roles, and as a really bad guy, he’s spot on.  Emily Blunt doesn’t have a large part, but she’s very important to the storyline, and provides some real beauty in a world of dark, damp, misty, despair.

Benicio Del Toro is a fine actor, but not so well known and over exposed that it takes away from the believability.  All in all, it was a fine homage to the original, and a great rental.  I’m a fan of Horror films, and I was glad to see this one redone with a great deal of respect to the original work (both book and movie).