Ed's Review Dot Com

Hammer Film Productions

Hilary Swank, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Christopher Lee, Lee Pace, Michael Massee, Aunjanue Ellis, Penny Balfour, Kisha Sierra, Peggy Miley, Michael Showers

The Resident is Juliet Devereau (Hillary Swank) a doctor in New York City who is separated from a guy she is not totally over yet. She is looking for an apartment in Brooklyn and stumbles across one that is extremely low priced for the size and the view, but comes with it’s share of creepiness. There is an old man (Christopher Lee) who lives in the neighboring apartment that is certainly very strange, and there have to be weird things going on. Strange sounds and for some reason she is oversleeping very often and can’t figure out why. At least the landlord (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is a nice guy, perhaps too nice. It seems that she did not end up in this place by accident, and her landlord seems overly obsessed with her.

This is a creepy film! Talk about bad luck and being the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time. The music is eerie, the apartment is very dark and creepy, and the action is non stop as Juliet fights for her life. This is also very suspenseful, all the way through. At first we don’t know what’s wrong, but soon we know what the problem is, but there doesn’t seem any way out of it, and as an audience, all we can do is watch and gasp while she has to work her way out of this horrible mess. The message of this film is if the apartment is too sweet and the price is too low, there’s probably a good reason, so move along! This film could give you nightmares. Hillary Swank was not the first choice for this role, but she does an excellent job. This movie ends with one of the most unusual battles with a very unusual weapon or two. Very resourceful. So if you’re a fan of horror films with strong suspense, this is an excellent choice. It’s sure great to see Hammer Films is still around scaring the heck out of us. The best horror films in history have been Hammer Films. Great job guys.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Screen Gems, Vertigo Entertainment

Minka Kelly, Leighton Meester, Cam Gigandet, Alyson Michalka, Danneel Harris, Frances Fisher, Tomas Arana, Billy Zane, Nina Dobrev, Matt Lanter, Katerina Graham

College freshman Sara (Minka Kelly) has just moved into the dorm and begins to acclimate herself to campus life. Her roommate, Rebecca (Leighton Meester), arrives and is a very nice girl with a hard home life though her parents are very wealthy. But as time goes by, other girls on the floor start to feel like something is wrong with Sara’s roommate. They try to convince Sara that something is wrong. As she meets and falls for an upperclassman and Frat Boy Stephen (Cam Gigandet) she begins to realize that her new roommate is perhaps a little obsessed with her. When the unhinged Rebecca starts targeting Sara’s friends and loved ones, can she save them — and herself?

Having a my only daughter as a freshman in college and away from home for the first time, this is a creepy movie to endure. Leighton Meester is certainly good at playing the creepy roommate. After a trip to Rebecca’s Beverly Hills mansion for Thanksgiving, Sara gets to see first hand what happened in High School and why Rebecca is not doing something new. She is able to convince us that she’ll do anything to be best friends with Sara, even if it kills her. I’m sure there are really people out there like this, and I don’t necessarily think that serial killers with hockey masks that can’t die, and dead janitors who haunt your dreams when you sleep, or aliens and 40 foot tall mutant creatures are scary. What’s scary is people who look perfectly normal and are around us every day who suddenly go off and do horrible things. When they terrorize and kill people on a whim, the neighbors always say, “He was such a good boy, and excellent student, a swell son.” These are the really scary characters.

This is a creepy movie with a lot of suspense. Not so much blood and guts, but twisted mind kind of stuff. It was pretty decent as a fright flick, and I enjoyed watching it. But it made me worry about my kid and to call her to make sure she’s alright! 🙂 If you like high suspense movies, this one is not too bad.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Movie Rentals Releasing Tuesday May 24, 2011

• Gnomeo and Juliet
• I Am Number Four
• The Big Bang
• Bitter/Sweet (Japanese)
• Burning Palms

I have visitors here in Southern California from back on the East Coast. They arrived from a cruise to the Mexican Riviera yesterday early in the morning. I was going to spend the morning showing them some of the sights and sounds of SoCal while driving them up to Burbank. We saw some of the sites around the port, the Colosseum, USC, Downtown, Staples Center, and so on, and the plan was to drop them off quickly at the Kodak Theater (They are big American Idol Fans) and let them walk up a half a block to see the Chinese Theater and admire the hand prints and foot prints in the cement that every tourist wants to see. Imagine my dismay when Hollywood Blvd. was blocked off right before the Kodak. There was a bunch of stuff in the street and a lot of people standing around. Sunday morning around 11AM?

I pulled into the underground garage under the Kodak and we went up to see what was going on. First thing we saw was a giant suited panda rollicking on a red carpet and a lot of signs about Kung Fu Panda 2 which is coming out next weekend. Hmmm. The crowd was not too deep, so we crept closer and a line of limo’s pulled up one by one and dropped off their load at the end of the red carpet.

First out was Dustin Hoffman, and he was really friendly stopping for a long time to sign autographs, take pictures, and talk to the fans. Then we saw Jean Claude Van Damme who absolutely the most excited one of the group. He ran back and forth across the street meeting and greeting everybody. What a really nice guy. Lucy Liu came out and looked cute in a little white frilly dress, but she disappeared inside really fast.

Then the crowd roared when Brad and Angelina got out. Angelina looking absolutely regal in a long slinkly black gown, and Brad looking cool and comfortable in a brown outfit. They also stopped and signed a bunch of autographs of photos and posters the crowd had.

Seth Rogan and Danny McBride were also there and happy to meet as many fans as they could.

We worked our way across the street and saw the Disney Soda Fountain and the El Capitan, then realized that there was a stage and a line of reporters from Entertainment Tonight, Extra, Inside Edition, and others inteviewing the stars. We found that we arrived a little late to see Jack Black get out of his Limo, but he was there up on the stage being interviewed a few feet away and we got lots of pictures. I understand James Hong was also there, but somehow missed him.

I was really impressed how friendly everyone was, and how kind of them to stop and talk to fans, sign autographs, and take lots of pictures. I would never have the guts to sit outside 72 hours to find a spot in the stands to watch the academy awards, but this event was not that crowded, and there was room right up front to stand and visit with the stars. What a serendipitous event.

The total cost of parking was a mere $6.00 and it was an experience of a lifetime. Something us locals and those visiting from far away will never forget stumbling into quite by accident. Best wishes to the gang on the KFP Sequel and I hope it does well at the box office. But more than that, I want to thank the voice stars for coming out and spending the time to meet the fans and I’m sure it was much appreciated by ALL. It was a special experience.

Here is the Official Website for Kung Fu Panda 2!

Here is cool media coverage of the event

Lots more pictures from the LA Times

Below is some YouTube coverage of the event

Universal Pictures, Relativity Media, Apatow Productions

Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Chris O’Dowd, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Ellie Kemper, Jon Hamm, Jill Clayburgh, Kali Hawk

Bridesmaids is the story of Annie (Kristen Wiig) whose best friend from childhood is Lillian (Maya Rudolph). Lillian just got engaged and asked Annie to be her maid of honor. But Annie is at a low point in her life, trying not to go back home to live with Mom (Jill Clayburgh), and to keep her job and her sanity. Annie had a bakery called “Cake Baby” which went under financially which caused her to lose her fiance. Now she’s being used in a booty call relationship with Ted (Jon Hamm). But as things are turning from bad to worse for Annie, Lillian is on the top of the world and making new friends including Whitney (Jessica St. Clair) who seems to be perfect, sweet, educated, rich, and a good friend, but in truth, she wants to be new best friend and maid of honor and is set out to destroy Annie who doesn’t need much to fall apart.

This is a story of friendship, and fun, and a little devilishness. It was described to me, before I saw it, as “Hangover” for girls, but I’m not sure I get that. I can see the similarities, especially since they’re both about last flings before a wedding, and it is a lot of fun and giggles, especially for the girls, but I don’t think it’s near as funny as Hangover. Still, it’s got some great lines, and lots of groans, and it does have a good story about friendship, jealousy, loyalty, and more. Some of the humor is pretty crude, but these gals can handle it. The SNL gals are at the top of their game along with Ellie Kemper (Erin from the office) are able to carry the movie just fine. They play well off each other. This is a perfect girls night film, although the guys may enjoy the dirty humor and trying to understand the problems girls have when one friend seems to outgrow and pass up the other, I’m sure the gals will identify with the characters and get it perfectly. The theater where I watched this with my wife was mostly full of girls with a few couples, and the raucous laughter and hoots and hollers was mindful of a Chippendale’s show (not that I’ve ever actually been to one 🙂 ) The only creepy thing was the ones who brought kids to this movie (10-12 year old girls were not the intended audience for this! Shame!)

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog