Ed's Review Dot Com

Ghost Robot, Ambush Entertainment

Joseph Fiennes, Justin Kirk, Elizabeth Reaser, Mary Tyler Moore, Michelle Trachtenberg, Pell James, Martin Shakar

Paul Thompson (Joseph Fiennes) is a financial writer who still mourns the death of his wife 5 years before. To honor the 5 year anniversary of her death, Paul decides to swim the entire length of the lower Hudson River (150 Miles) to New York with the help of two close friends, Jeff (Justin Kirk) and Liz (Elizabeth Reaser) who have problems of their own. During the journey following him in a little boat, the friends learn about the meaning of loss and the power of friendship.

This is a deep and dark character study. It’s a sad story, and it’s very slow to develop, but the characters find out more about each at each turn. It’s a typical indie film, and was featured at the Sundance Film festival, so the usual folks who hate this kind of movie ought to stay away. But for those who love movies with real emotions and character development, this is indeed a touching film. The ending is a surprise, and leaves you unfulfilled as you won’t know what happened, but this is as it should be. I love the way it makes you think about what happened, and decide for yourself how this should end. Mary Tyler Moore has an interesting cameo role in this film. She’s only in there for a few minutes, but it’s a very interesting part. I hope you enjoy this film as I did.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

I live in Southern California, but I imagine this scenario has played out pretty much the same in every city. It is a fierce business to separate you from your dollars by getting you to come to the theater. They try many things to make it a good experience. Back in the days of my youth, drive-in theaters were great fun for families. Put the kids in their pajamas and pay a dollar a carload to watch two current first run movies. But we had a choice of about 7 drive-in theaters in the area. One of them put it a park near the refreshment building with swings and slides. One theater topped them all by purchasing a kiddie roller coaster from a carnival company and we could go early, while it was still sunny and ride that little roller coaster again and again and again for free. Guess which one we went for.

I remember the grand old theater palaces that were beautifully decorated inside and out. One had stars in the sky. One even had a fountain that played music and colored lights in front of the screen in between shows. There used to be raffles and prize nights. I’ve seen movie stars show up for personal appearances in the middle of the movie, making the rounds to make theater going a major event.

Then out came TV and it became easier to stay home and watch the shows on the “idiot box” than to dress up and make the trek out to the movie house. Many thought this would be the end of the theater business as we could watch our movies on small screens in black and white.

Gone were the days of $0.35 movie tickets and all the special events. The days of $12.50 movie tickets and $12.00 buckets of popcorn are here.

Flash forward to today. How do the theaters get you to show up now that we have Blu-Ray and home theater systems? Well there is some advantage to the community event of watching a movie in the crowd as a group experience. It’s not the same sitting at home alone. But that’s not enough. When you do decide to go out, you have many choices. Some years ago a theater chain called AMC came out with a “Movie Watcher” program. You got a little black card, and every time you bought a ticket you swiped your card and got 2 points. As the points grew, so did the rewards. When your ticket came out, there might be an extra reward of a free drink or free popcorn. Perhaps a $.50 box of Starburst, or once in a while a Free movie ticket. Then at a certain level you would “win” a free night at the movies with a free movie ticket and popcorn and drink, all for the price of $0.00. Suddenly I found myself going to AMC theaters almost all the time so I could swipe my card.

Well, the other theaters wouldn’t stand for AMC doing this, so they started their own rewards programs. Regal Crown Club came out next with one major twist on the AMC Movie Watchers. Royal gave you credit on the amount you spent, and included refreshment purchases. Regal was not only Regal Cinemas, but United Artists and Edwards Theaters too. You could now go to an IMAX film and get points toward free stuff. So now I alternated between AMC and Regal and split the points and got rewards from both theaters. But the local mall, just a few blocks from home opened a huge Krikorian Theater which was very convenient, not so crowded, and a great choice. But going there would delay rewards from another theater and that was a bad choice.

Soon Krikorian came out with “the premiere club” and I could earn points there too. Now I carried 3 rewards cards in my wallet and split my points between 3 chains. How would anyone up the stakes now?

I didn’t have long to wait. Suddenly a few months ago signs started appearing at the AMC’s about a new program called AMC Stubs. Why are they canning my Movie Watcher and changing the program? As time passed the details came out.

AMC Stubs, unlike the the other cards are cash based. The new plan costs you $12.00 a year, but for every $100.00 you spend, you get a $10.00 reward. This $10.00 can be used for anything you like, any time you like. Also, unlike the previous plan, there is no limit. Before we could only get credit for 2 tickets at a time. This means that if me, my wife, my daughter, and a friend went to the theater, we would only get credit for 2 tickets. My wife could have her own card, and we could scan both cards, but then her credits would grow independently. With AMC Stubs my whole family can use the same account. This means that any of us can use the same number and grow our rewards quicker. The points are based upon dollars spent for tickets and refreshments, and grow quickly. Additionally, with the old program we occasionally got $0.50 off on a popcorn or a drink. With AMC Stubs you get the next size upgrade every time you buy a popcorn or a drink or both. Everybody in you party can buy a large for the price of a medium, or a medium for the price of a small. This is a bonus every day, all the time. Sometimes special offers show up in the mail too. So guess now where I am going when I want to see a movie? Would I still want to get rewards from the other places when I can get 10% on every purchase every time at AMC? The first year, for Movie Watcher members was waived, so it’s free for the first year. Will I be willing to pay $12.00 to renew next year? We’ll see, but my feeling is that it’s a pretty good deal.

What do you think? Is it worth carrying membership cards for the theaters you visit to get occasional upgrades, or do you not go to the movies enough to bother?

Would you be willing to shell out $12.00 a year to get $10.00 back for every $100.00, plus the free upsizes? Is it worth it? What do you think? Let me know.

[Click here for AMC Stubs info]

[Click here for Regal Crown Reward info]

[Click here for Krikorian “the premier club” info]

Columbia Pictures Corporation, Gracie Films, Road Rebel

Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson, Jack Nicholson, Kathryn Hahn, Mark Linn-Baker, Shelley Conn, Lenny Venito, Molly Price, John Tormey, Teyonah Parris, Tony Shalhoub, Dean Norris

All-Star player on Team USA softball, Lisa (Reese Witherspoon) is getting older and has just been cut from the team by her coach. This makes her feel pretty bad about herself and wonder about her life and her boy friend Matty who is a playboy pro baseball pitcher who’s idea of life is at about a 14 year old level. Meanwhile, corporate executive George (Paul Rudd) is served with a subpoena. It seems the Feds are after him about something he knows nothing about. Everything falls apart quickly and he’s faced with a difficult problem. Tell the truth and send his dad (Jack Nicholson) to jail for the rest of his life, or take the fall and put in an easy 3 years or so. But George meets Lisa and sets them both down a path of making difficult decisions together.

This is a pretty fair romantic comedy, although there’s not a great many huge laughs, it is light and easy while at the same time dealing with very tough problems. Naturally it follows the formula, but it a lot of ways is pretty unique in the way it deals with them. I am torn in how to recommend this movie. I enjoyed it a lot, but at the same time, I think a lot of people may not. It’s very subtle in the way the story develops and it’s possible to completely miss the point. The last 10 seconds of the final shot wraps up the story perfectly, but I suspect many people will be left with a final “Hunh?”

Both Paul and Reese are charming in this film with just the right mix of neurosis and charm to be lovable while they’re falling apart. At the same time, this movie is driven by wonderful supporting characters. Owen Wilson is really good as a playboy pro baseball pitcher who has the idea that life is a long line of beautiful girls. He really likes Lisa, but he can’t seem to get it right. Jack Nicholson is not in a big role, but every moment he’s on screen is really great. He’s a lovable jerk. You can’t help but love him and hate him at the same time. Paul’s pregnant assistant Annie (Kathryn Hahn) is also very good in a small role. She wants to support George and really cares about him, but has been warned not to disclose anything that’s going on. She fills a very important role in the film too. I enjoyed watching this a lot, and enjoyed the sport background but it’s not really a sports film. But the fact they are both athletes adds another level to the story. If you’re a fan of the Romantic Comedy genre, this one isn’t bad at all!

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

HW Two, Kanbar Entertainment, The Weinstein Company

Hayden Panettiere, Brad Garrett, Patrick Warburton, Joan Cusack, Bill Hader, Amy Poehler, Glenn Close, Danny Pudi, Martin Short, Cheech Marin, David Ogden Stiers, Tommy Chong

The continuation of the 2005 story of Red Riding Hood (was Anne Hathaway, but this time around it’s Hayden Pannettiere) and her Granny (Glenn Close). The Big Bad Wolf (Patrick Warburton) is back too as a cheeky partner who no longer seems interested in eating the poor girl. In this go round, Red is off learning Kung Fu at the mysterious monastery of the Sister Hood where she’s about to learn the skills needed to make the super truffle that only a true sister can make because she will know the last secret ingredient that has never been written down. Someone has stolen the recipe and if they find the last ingredient, it’s all over. Meanwhile, two little children Hansel and Gretel have been kidnapped by a wicked witch who, though threatening the children, is really just trapping granny to find out the last ingredient. Red has to come back to fight the wicked witch and save the poor little kids.

This is probably a sequel that should never have been made. There are some good things. The characters are all played by famous voice actors, so they are able to use their own character in defining the cartoon characters. And it’s quite a cast! The other good thing about it is that the humor is very adult, much like Rocky and Bullwinkle back in the days of Jay Ward when kids could watch it but only grown ups understood the political and sophisticated jokes. This is similar. Being an adult helps to understand most of the humor as it’s fairly witty in sarcastic humor. But the kids that I saw in the theater were not amused. The fact that it was in 3D added nothing to the film, and it was pretty boring for the kids. I’m sure they did not understand the story and it must have been hard for the little ones to sit through. But for grown ups, it’s not that exciting either. There have been so many wonderful animated films out lately, that I am pretty sure this one will fade away into obscurity very quickly.

I can’t recommend it for kids, and I also can’t recommend it for the grown ups either, so my best recommendation is to leave this one alone. It’s a shame, with all the great voices that they didn’t have a cute story to go with it, but it mostly it just got annoying is a big hurry. I was pretty disappointed in it. I expected a bit more.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Movie Rentals Releasing Tuesday May 3, 2011

• The Green Hornet
• The Dilemma [Click to see Ed’s Review]
• From Prada to Nada
• Casino Jack (Netflix)