Ed's Review Dot Com

Regency Enterprises, Summit Entertainment, Bazelevs Production,

Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Max Minghella, Rachael Taylor, Joel Kinnaman, Veronika Ozerova, Dato Bakhtadze, Yuriy Kutsenko, Artur Smolyaninov, Pyotr Fyodorov

Sean (Emile Hirsch) and Ben (Max Minghella) are young software designers who have traveled to Russia to close a big deal, only to find out that their Swedish partner Skyler (Joel Kinnaman) has stolen their whole design and double crossed them. They head out to a bar to commiserate and meet two American girls Natalie (Olivia Thirlby) and Anne (Rachael Taylor). Suddenly beautiful lights appear in the sky, and the five of them go out into the street when suddenly the lights split apart, and become alien beings surrounded in energy, looking to kill everything alive in their path. This sends the party out to escape, team up with some Russian survivors, and try to figure out how to save the planet.

This is a very unique sci-fi thriller. It has some serious holes and some very unusual things going for it which caused a lot of people to really hate on it. I didn’t find it that awful. The “aliens” were quite different and had some awesome powers. But the characters do some crazy things that will make you wonder why, and it is set in Russia, so the Russians are the good guys, which is kind of unusual for American audiences, although there is nothing wrong with that. We’re faced with two American girls who for some odd reason keep lapsing back into British accents for no reason. Some of the actions just don’t make sense.

But it has suspense, and will keep you on the edge of your seat, kind of like “Battle of Los Angeles” in a way. The characters are decently portrayed, and the acting isn’t bad at all. Special effects are fairly awesome. All in all, it’s a little bit flawed sci-fi thriller with enough good things to make it worth watching if you love sci-fi and have the time to give it. Not for everyone, but for sci-fi thriller fans, it’s not as bad as most reviewers would have you believe.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Movie Rentals Releasing Tuesday April 24, 2012

• Contraband
• Pariah
• Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos
• Albatross
• 11/11/11

Blueprint Films, Elevation Filmworks, Initial Entertainment Group (IEG),

Elisabeth Shue, Steven Mackintosh, Kathleen Chalfant, Khandi Alexander, Anne Wolf, Blair Brown

Laura (Elisabeth Shue) and her husband Steven (Steven Mackintosh) are a young couple living in the city where Laura is a dancer and has a dream of dancing on the stage furthering her career. But when Laura finds herself pregnant, Steven decides it’s best for them to move out to the country. Laura finds herself alone while her husband travels back and forth to the city every day. When the baby comes, Laura is very overwhelmed. Her Mom won’t come to help because she doesn’t want to make the trip, but when Steven hires a nanny to help her, Laura is even more suspicious. There is a doll that keeps making it’s appearance, and the house has some history after Laura found a diary hidden in a secret place. The more she finds out about things, and the more she learns about satanic rituals from her reading the more she’s terrified until it all comes to a final conclusion.

This is an interesting film. It’s not pure horror, nor is it focused on the Satanic rituals as the write-ups would have you believe. But it’s a psychological thriller. The unique thing about this movie is that the entire film is done from Laura’s point of view and her understanding. This means that unless the other characters tell he something, we’re not going to know either. This means that a lot of questions don’t get answered because Laura doesn’t get them answered. The movie is rather slow at times, and there are a lot of different paths we wander down that don’t amount to much, but this “Lifetime” style movie does have a creepy and scary look at how difficult it is to try to take care of a newborn, pretty much all alone out in the country by yourself, and especially with the postpartum depression that goes along with it. She just doesn’t get any help from anywhere.

Elisabeth Shue is really good in this role and she was a good casting choice. This is real life, and as such, it’s not over the top CGI special effects, but real life terror and suspense that we see. Not a bad film at all.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Imagine Entertainment, Malpaso Productions, Wintergreen Productions,

Leonardo DiCaprio, Naomi Watts, Armie Hammer, Josh Lucas, Judi Dench, Dermot Mulroney, Lea Thompson, Miles Fisher, Ed Westwick, Jeffrey Donovan, Stephen Root

J Edgar Hoover (Leonardo DiCaprio) was certainly a very colorful and exuberant character for decades as head of the FBI. Rumors regarding him have followed him throughout his life. Was he a cross-dresser? Was he gay? This can be disputed forever and we’ll probably never know for sure, but this bio-pic doesn’t pay much attention to that aspect of John Edgar Hoover’s life. But it does delve into his beginnings as the primary fighter of the mafia and organized crime, and his team took down quite a few mobsters. It covers his dirty tricks in compiling files and doing downright illegal wire taps and questionable surveillance methods on ordinary citizens. He was a quirky character, and was known to fire long time agents because of what they wore or how they cut their hair. A tyrant in the office, and either a friend or antagonist to the person living in the white house at the time. This film covers the career of J. Edgar right up to his sudden death.

Leonardo DiCaprio started out as just a youngster in the acting game, and had very little depth or craft. Gradually through the years, he has learned the craft and become better and better. This must be his most ambitious project to date. True, few of know much about Mr. Hoover, but Leo shows us how much he has learned in this film. This must be the week for biographical films (I just finished The Iron Lady) but this is another good biography. A biography like this can get boring, but this film never did. We really get to look into the life of this secretive public figure, but it doesn’t give us all the answers either. But it is a great look at the life and times of a really mysterious leader, very powerful, but at the same time, insecure looking person. His whole life is a bit of a paradox. Very well filmed picture, fascinating to watch, and very interesting to watch. I enjoyed this film, and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in this unusual leader.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Regency Enterprises, Summit Entertainment, Bazelevs Production,

Meryl Streep, Jim Broadbent, Alexandra Roach, Harry Lloyd, Olivia Colman, Iain Glen, Victoria Bewick, Nicholas Farrell, John Sessions, Anthony Head, David Westhead, Julian Wadham, Richard E. Grant, Angus Wright, Roger Allam, Michael Pennington, Susan Brown, Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Meryl Streep plays Margaret Thatcher in this biopic about the first woman Prime Minister of Britain. With Jim Broadbent as Denis Thatcher, this film shows us a modern day Margaret Thatcher, virtually a prisoner in her own house, sorting her deceased husband’s clothes to donate to charity, and reminiscing about the days of her illustrious career. The film looks back at her early life, and first entry into politics, the challenges she faced like the Falkland Islands war, and serious recession. It explores her retirement from politics. This is a great story of a great world leader in the twilight of her years, looking back at her glorious days.

Many people misunderstood this really special film. It is sad to see Meryl playing Margaret as someone racked by dementia, seeing things, and forgetting a lot of details, but the purpose of this film is not some Biography Channel special about the career of Margaret Thatcher. That’s not the purpose of this film. This is a look at Margaret today, and the reminiscences of a lady who’s career is over. She had some great battles and some great times, but it’s a much a look at what it’s like to have been someone so powerful who is finally challenged by Father Time himself. No one can beat that. I have always been saddened by the final days of Ronald Reagan who was not only a great friend to Margaret Thatcher, but also a great world leader. But likewise, time took it’s toll. Still the memories of what it was like must be glorious.

Meryl Streep deserves every bit of the praises heaped upon her for this role. She was fantastic in this film, and it was easy to forget it was her and get lost in the character which is perfect for a biographical picture. I have never been a big Streep fan, per se, but I truly have to give her props for the amazing talent she has. This is a very well made film, and very touching. I goes right to your heart, and is amazing how great a leader Margaret was. I would still like to see a pure biography about her, but in the meantime, this film was really good, and I highly recommend it.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog