Ed's Review Dot Com

Mediapro, Versátil Cinema, Gravier Productions

Gemma Jones, Pauline Collins, Anthony Hopkins, Rupert Frazer, Kelly Harrison, Naomi Watts, Josh Brolin, Freida Pinto, Lucy Punch, Eleanor Gecks, Antonio Banderas, Ewen Bremner, Anna Friel

This movie follows a pair of married couples, Alfie (Anthony Hopkins) and Helena (Gemma Jones), and older couple and their daughter Sally (Naomi Watts) and husband Roy (Josh Brolin), as their passions, ambitions, and anxieties lead them into trouble. Everyone is having a crisis. After Alfie leaves Helena to pursue his lost youth and meets a young beautiful call girl named Charmaine (Lucy Punch) and longs for the son he has wanted. Helena abandons rationality and surrenders her life to the loopy advice of a charlatan fortune teller (Pauline Collins) and a crush on a similar man who believes the supernatural like she does. Meanwhile, unhappy in her marriage, Sally develops a crush on her handsome art gallery owner boss, Greg (Antonio Banderas), while Roy, a novelist nervously awaiting the response to his latest manuscript, becomes moonstruck over Dia (Frieda Pinto), a mystery woman who catches his gaze through a nearby window while taking off her dress. Things speed along at an amazing pace. Sometimes once they egg shell is broken, you can’t put Humpty Dumpty together again.

This is a little bit humor and lot of character development. Each of the stories unfolds slowly and the players all work off each other toward a mess of climax. Nothing turns out they way they wanted and I guess everyone is a bit unhappy at the end, but at the same time, everyone seems to get what they deserve. It seems like basic human nature is to be unhappy with what we have and looking for something better, only to find out that they didn’t get what they wanted after all. This is not a snappy, funny movie. It is very cerebral. It has a bit of humor, but is not really a comedy at all. The story is begun with a narrator, and in the end closes it out for us. Basically he says we all believe what we want to believe and the illusion is often much better than the medicine. That about wraps up the story. It’s definitely a decent watch for an old fashioned period drama. A lot of people did not appreciate this film, but it’s directed by Woody Allen, and as such is typical Woody material. There is no point to the story, no eventual goal, it’s just an allenesque view into the lives of two couples and the situations they’ve put themselves in. If you’re not looking for a lot of message, but willing to watch a character study, you might find it enjoyable. I have say I did.

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Movie Rentals Releasing Tuesday Mar 15, 2011

• Hereafter
• The Switch
• The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest
• The Fighter

Columbia Pictures, Relativity Media, Original Film

Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, Taylor Handley, Cory Hardrict, Bridget Moynahan, Lucas Till, Ramon Rodriguez, Michael Peña, Jim Parrack, Ne-Yo

Battle: Los Angeles is the story of a flurry of objects that landed all over the world outside major cities. Turns out they were not simple meteors. SSgt. Michael Nantz (Aaron Eckhart) just came of a disastrous mission in the middle east and has done his 20 years. He’s applied to retire. But he’s at Camp Pendleton training a company of new marines and has agreed to finish their preparation. Suddenly the whole base is called into active service to figure out what is the deal with all these objects landing in the ocean off Santa Monica. When they arrive at the base, they find that LA has lost contact with San Diego and San Francisco and they may be the last force fighting a full fledged battle with an alien attack force. Nantz group is send behind enemy lines to a police station in Santa Monica where there are still some citizens holed up. They are to rescue the remaining people and head to the Santa Monica Airport, but they have only 3 hours before the air force is going to level everything along the coast.
So they’re off trying to make it through the enemy lines to rescue them. It’s harder than they thought.

I have seen the critics blasting this movie. I can’t seem to imagine why. It was really great fun to watch in a fully packed very large theater, and the action was non-stop. This has all the action and adventure of the greatest in the genre. It’s a lot like “Independence Day”, but crossed with something more like “Guns of Navaronne” or “The Battle of the Bulge“. This is ultimately a military film. It’s got lots of Marines acting like Marines. Don’t back down, don’t give up, and don’t leave any man behind. That is the main feel of the movie, and the way in which they fight aliens from outer space isn’t much different than how they fought battles in the past. But the special effects are mind blowing, and these aliens are really mean. It is interesting to watch how they learn about their enemy and how they adapt to try to save the earth.

I think this is absolutely one of those films that is very much worth the money to watch in the theater. The big screen is essential to getting into this kind of movie. It is fun filled, and most of the theater stood and applauded at the end of the film. I felt like joining them. It was fun to watch the Marines take on these guys and teach them a lesson or two. It is full of explosions and chases and lots of “edge of your seat” suspense and exciting action. I completely enjoyed this movie and am very glad I got to see it on opening weekend!

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Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit (CPTC), Canal+, Studio Canal

Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones, Aidan Quinn, Bruno Ganz, Frank Langella, Sebastian Koch, Olivier Schneider, Stipe Erceg

Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) and his wife (January Jones) have just arrived at a conference in Berlin where he is a guest speaker. Upon arriving at the hotel, he finds he left his briefcase in the airport and jumps into a cab to get to the airport to get it back. On the way he is in an accident and wakes up 4 days later in a hospital. Upon returning to the hotel he finds no one has ever heard of him, and his wife is attending the conference with a different guy and has never heard of him. Something sinister is going on as he knows who he is, but no one else in the world seems to know him. Fortunately he finds a few friends along the way who believe him, and someone is out to kill him so it sets off on a chase of trying to discover who he is and why everyone is after him.

This was a really exciting and hard to predict movie. The outcome was nothing like I expected it to be. It’s full of action, gun battles, car chases, and lots of fights. But it’s also a very complex situation he’s caught in and there’s a lot of suspense and excitement (and confusion in trying to figure it all out). Liam is excellent in this role, and it’s one of his best. Diane Kruger as the mysterious illegal Gina the cab driver who saves Dr. Harris but doesn’t want to be found later is also very good. January Jones and Aidan Quinn mostly mail in their roles, but they are put in a role that is very one dimensional so it’s not really their fault. But the action and adventure in this movie never stops and keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout. There are even a couple surprise moments in the film that made me drop my popcorn!

I really enjoyed this film, and if you a action, mystery, suspense kind of person, you will too. Very worthwhile to catch this one in the theater where the action is big and the sound is excellent. I highly recommend this film.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Downes Brothers Entertainment, Lucky Crow Films

Mira Sorvino, Barry Pepper, Cole Hauser, Kate Levering, Maxwell Perry Cotton, L. Scott Caldwell, Abby Brammell, Kirk B.R. Woller, Brett Rice, Brooke Bryan

Wendy Porter (Mira Sorvino) and Rip Porter (Barry Pepper) are quite a couple. Rip is an alcoholic and beat his wife severely, got arrested and went to prison. While there he sobered up and says he’s a new man. When he got home he found out that his wife was pregnant and adopted the baby out to a very upscale and well off family the Campbells (Cole Hauser, Kate Levering) who love and care for him. The Porters file a lawsuit to get their child back based upon fraudulent adoption papers that were forged by Rip’s Mom, a serious crime in itself. This sends both families in a great deal of turmoil as it appears the Porters just might win based upon previous case law. The film takes a poignant look at what it means to be a family and what it takes to be a parent. Both families make a few serious mistakes as anger and rage supersede logic and wisdom sometimes.

This is a touching film which has a lot of heart. Both families want the boy very badly and are willing to do just about anything to have him. Meanwhile the poor child is torn between two families. This film takes you into the hearts and lives of each of the characters and it is easy to understand how each and every one loves the child in different ways. Likewise we get a good look into the life of a social worker who has to enforce the judges rule whether it’s right or not. It must be heartbreaking to try to do this very important job in a way that you can still live with yourself. All in all, this is as uplifting as it is heartbreaking and a really good “lifetime” style movie with a decent budget and some great actors. Mira Sorvino as the tortured Mrs. Porter is wonderful. All in all, this is an excellent look into family life that exposes the good and the bad. They don’t try to take sides here. There is not a hero and a villain. There are just human beings trying to do the best they can with the roll of the dice. This is a very heart wrenching experience and very worth the time to watch. It’s pure drama. There are no jokes being told here.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog