Ed's Review Dot Com

Sony Pictures [United States],

Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright, Chris Pratt, Stephen Bishop, Reed Diamond, Brent Jennings, Ken Medlock, Tammy Blanchard, Glenn Morshower, Kathryn Morris

This is the true story of Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) general manager of the Oakland A’s baseball team in 2002 when he was faced with the lowest pool of money in professional baseball, but expected to put together a team. He met young college grad Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) and immediately hired him when he was told his theory of how to put together a team on a budget. Facing harsh criticism, both from the insiders of baseball, and from the fans and media, they used a computer model to develop a team of under-rated players that they could afford, and in the process had a shot at securing the longest winning streak in baseball, after a lot of resistance, especially from manager Art Howe (Phillip Seymour Hoffman).

If you are a baseball fan, then you have to see this film! I have been waiting for quite a while to see it. This is a true story, and it’s a typical sports amazing achievement film, but it’s a really good look into baseball, and the problems of the “have-not” teams. Baseball has always had a serious problem, which I think is the cause of their great fall from grace as “America’s National Game”. Baseball never figured out how to even the field, with a couple teams from HUGE cities with a giant payroll competing with tiny teams that love the sport, but have a fraction of the money to spend. I spent my childhood as a Pirates fan, but got really tired of one of the greatest farm systems finding all the superstars and developing them for the Yankees, and a couple other big teams that always stole them. The few successful years they had was due to the great scouts and farm system finding excellent players for a year or two until someone with deep pockets would take them away.

This movie is the story of a system that reminded me a lot of horse racing. The very best horse handicapper is the public. The favorite wins way more than it loses. Sure bets at 6-5 and less go off every day. In order to be successful in the horse racing business, it’s finding the horses that are undervalued and underrated. You have to study hard, and find that one or two races a day where there is a horse with a decent chance to win that somehow people have overlooked. That’s the secret. Well, the same is true with baseball. Some of the players are undervalued and underrated, and this mathematical formula helped to take all the emotion out of it. (This guy has a funny swing, or the way he throws the ball looks off, or he looks like a doofus), and uses the stats and rates him based upon things the other teams never looked at. It also requires a carnival barkers skill at scamming the other teams to make them think you’re doing them a favor by taking their unwanted players.

Brad Pitt did an excellent job in this movie. This is a perfect role for him, and I think he pulled it off. I know Jonah Hill was also very proud of this role as well. He played a very serious dramatic role, and got to show off his new svelte physique. Not only did he pull off a serious role, (no Superbad nonsense here at all), but he did an excellent job. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is also very good as the manager who just can’t get what these dudes are thinking. It’s a small role for him, but as usual, he was spot on. Basically this is a very interesting movie, and the time passes very quickly and it’s over before you’d like it to be. It’s got a fair amount of baseball action, that is easy to watch, but also has some great dialog and dramatic scenes that are also very well done. I enjoyed this movie all around, and recommend it to anyone who is interested in the genre, or those who just love to look at Brad Pitt.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Middle Fork Productions, Pierce/Williams Entertainment, Zero Gravity Management,

Eion Bailey, Yvonne Strahovski, Will Patton, Andrea Marcellus, Wendy Worthington, Philip Salick

Two Newlyweds, Nick (Eion Bailey) and Lori (Yvonne Strahowski) decide to visit the Grand Canyon for their honeymoon. Nick’s dream was to take the mule train down to the bottom of the canyon, spend the night and come back up the next day, but all of the treks were full, and to get a back country permit, you have to apply very early. But when they bump into Henry (Will Patton) who claims he can get them a permit by greasing some wheels. So they head off into the canyon. Turns out Henry knows some really interesting, out of the way places, but after a horrible accident, Nick and Lori find themselves stranded alone in the canyon, with no food or water, no idea how to get out, and with the situation getting more desperate each passing moment. It’s a fight for survival that is beyond belief.

First and foremost, this is a beautiful film. The scenery of the Grand Canyon is unbelievably beautiful. There are times when it looks like a sound stage with a few fake bushes, but most of it is breathtakingly scenic. Then there’s the suspense. It’s suspenseful. There are lots of trials and tribulations going on and they do a great job of building the suspense as they go through the film. It will catch your interest and keep it going throughout the film. It is really exciting.

Now for the negative points. One, a lot of the stuff it totally b-movie nonsense. This script needs some touch up by real nature experts as the behavior of some of the animals in this film are sometimes incredibly absurd. Secondly, there is no way these two are newlyweds. Geez, there is no chemistry. From the beginning all the way through, they are like friends. There’s almost no relationship between them at all. Finally, on the negative side, is the simple ridiculous plot. There is a river at the bottom of the canyon, but they are trying to climb out. They lost all their supplies including their water. So for days, they wander in the extreme heat of the canyon with absolutely no water. Yet they’re doing just fine. Their lips crack, and the do add a bit of soot and dirt, but they are not burned, nor are they dehydrated. All of these things detract from the movie, and this is simply the fault of the writers, as the cast is strong and the cinematography is awesome. Although someone once told me it’s impossible to take a bad picture of the Grand Canyon, but still, this is “Disney Nature” beautiful.

All in all, I think it’s a worthwhile film to watch, but it would have been so much better with a little more tweaking of the details. Still, I enjoyed it, and was sure hoping for some good news at the end.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Movie Rentals Releasing Tuesday January 24, 2012

• Real Steel
• 50/50
• The Whistleblower
• Mozart’s Sister
• Beginning of the Great Revival

Realitism, Elle Driver, arte France Cinéma

Stephen Spinella, Jack Plotnick, Wings Hauser, Roxane Mesquida, Ethan Cohn, Charley Koontz, Daniel Quinn, Devin Brochu, Hayley Holmes

This movie opens with a shot of a desert dirt road with 2 rows of chairs up either side. A car winds and forth from side to side, knocking down every chair one by one. Then as it knocks the last chair down, the camera pans back to reveal Lieutenant Chad (Stephen Spinella) climbing out of the trunk. He turns to the camera and gives us a speech about the “most powerful element of style” of all the greatest motion pictures of all time, “No Reason”. All these things happen for no reason. He begins by telling us this is a film for no reason. Then we are represented by an audience of people of all sizes, shapes, and ages, standing in the desert watching the action with binoculars. The film begins, as Robert, a tire, suddenly finds itself mobile and able to use psychic powers. He finds a motel, and a girl the tire takes a fancy to. He also finds that humans debase and misuse tires, for which he goes on a rampage killing humans by blowing up their heads.

Why is the movie about a killer tire? No reason. Why is there a whole group of people watching with binoculars? No reason. None of this has any reason.

And that’s about it. I was somehow weirdly fascinated by this film about nothing, but it was a weird fascination, basically for no reason. This is one of the stupidest collections of scenes put on film with not one ounce of logic in it. There is absolutely no purpose for doing any of this. It makes no sense, has no ending, and just wanders through minute of minute of aimless silliness.

Truly, I expected a military chief to step out and stop the film saying, “Too silly, too silly,” or some guy to appear sitting behind a desk in the nude saying, “And now for something completely different”. And truly, no Monty Python’s Flying Circus skit ever went as weirdly as this film does. Not even the flying sheep or the ministry of silly walks can’t come close to the silliness of this movie.

This is like some experimental thing, film students making a tire move around itself for a project. But as I said when I started, I must admit that I was fascinated by the whole thing, and when it was over, I watched the first half hour again, just to see what I didn’t understand the first time through. I thought there had to be something I had missed that made sense, but there was not. It just was made for no reason.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Screen Gems, Lakeshore Entertainment, Saturn Films,

Kate Beckinsale, Stephen Rea, Michael Ealy, Theo James, India Eisley, Charles Dance

Now that humans have learned of the existence of both they Lycan and Vampire clans, they started a war of cleansing to wipe out both species. Both clans have moved into hiding and are struggling to survive. Selene (Kate Beckinsale), a vampire warrior has been frozen and kept hidden deep inside a lab for experimentation. She was captured 12 years ago, but someone has suddenly thawed her out and she escapes to the outside, and begins a war of survival against the Lycans who now have found a way to eliminate their main weakness to silver, and as a consequence have grown to 2 or 3 times the size and power. Selene finds out the the one who freed her was the other specimen who is a very, very special little girl.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you will probably know that I’m not much of a super-hero fan. I typically am not too interested in films of this genre. But for some reason, this franchise is really excellent. So I went to the theater opening weekend to give this one a shot. I was very pleasantly surprised. The action is intense, as always, but the story is very good. It has a lot of surprises, and it’s raw energy from start to finish. As Selene is figuring out what’s going on, so are we. It’s a very entertaining film, never boring, and a pleasant surprise. Underworld still has it. Kate Beckinsale is one of the best female superheroes. I really enjoyed it.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog