Ed's Review Dot Com

SBS Productions, Constantin Film Produktion, SPI Film Studio,

Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly, Christoph Waltz, Elvis Polanski, Eliot Berger

While walking home from school in Brooklyn Bridge Park, Ethan Longstreet is struck in the face by classmate Zachary Cowan in a scuffle. Ethan has damage to two teeth and will likely lose at least one of them. Mr. and Mrs Longstreet (John C Reilly and Jodie Foster) invite Zachary’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Cowan (Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz) to their home to discuss the situation. The night escalates as each of the four seem to have remarkably different personalities and certainly their own problems. As things start out very civil, they soon turn into shouting and sometimes it’s Longstreets versus Cowans, but just as often it seems to be turning men against the women.

This was originally a play,and that is the feel of the entire film. It takes place in the Longstreet’s apartment and except fora short opening scene and a just as short closing scene featuring the boys at quite a distance from the camera, the whole movie is shot inside one room (and briefly the bathroo) of the Longstreet home. As in all stage plays, there isn’t much action, but it’s long on words and discussion. There are long monologues, and very static camera placement and not much moving about. But the character development is awesome, and each of these characters are very unique and bring a lot to the story. In the end you don’t really identify with any of these characters, but you have a good understanding of where they are coming from and why they are flawed like they are, no matter how silly they seem.

I did enjoy this film. It is a serious subject, but humorous throughout, if only through the zany characters in the story. Why the Cowans wouldn’t leave, I don’t know. Perhaps they knew they needed to look into their own problems.All in all, if you would like a slow developing story with lots of character development, this is a very good film of that kind. It is slow, but that helps to set us up to learn about the characters a little at a time. With a cast of these four actors, it is flawless.

Finally, this film is directed by Roman Polanski. For that reason alone, I didn’t want to put this in my queue, as I don’t want to support a cowardly criminal who would run away and hide instead of facing the courts for what he did, but I finally relented for the sake of the actors who put their efforts into this work. I’m glad I did, and although I still don’t want to support Polanski, I thought it was a really good play.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Alcove Entertainment, Pimienta, The Salt Company International,

Rachelle Lefevre, Stephen Moyer, Luis Guzmán, Ed Quinn, Lorna Raver, Gladys Rodríguez, Alfredo De Quesada, Brian Tester, Grace Connelly

Mary Kee (Rachel Lefevre) has just gotten out of an abusive relationship. She moves into an apartment all alone. When the phone rings, a strange lady claims that she saw her husband in the apartment and wanted to speak to him. This lady, who we learn is named Rose (Lorna Raver) lived in the house back in the 70’s and wants to talk to future Mary and become friends. When Mary gets sick of her and asks her to leave her alone, Rose gets very angry and finds some real creepy ways to punish her in this twisted supernatural cross time thriller.

Many people hated this movie because they found it hard to follow. I personally didn’t find it difficult to understand. Granted, it is very extraordinary. But like a 90 minute twilight zone episode, this is a thoughtful and very creepy movie. Imagine is someone has access to you in the past, when you were a little child, and the people around you who you care for and understand. What if she could hurt you in the present by hurting you in the past, instantly changing the present. Rose has a huge advantage, and in order for Mary to survive, it’s going to take all the wits she has to try to defeat her.

I thoroughly enjoyed this little old fashioned sci-fi thriller flick. It was very interesting from start to finish. It really reminded me of other films of this genre, like “Frequency”. It was suspenseful throughout, and kept me guessing what Rose was going to pull next. Very enjoyable hour and a half. But I have to say one thing. There were three deleted scenes on the DVD. One of these was appropriate to cut, but I have no idea why the other two would be cut, as they were critical to understanding the movie. I would love to hear why these two scenes were cut out. One explains why she has an old rotary dial phone which is key to the story, and the other has to do with a visit to a mental institution which is referenced later in the movie, but without this scene we don’t know what happened when she was there. I would say be sure to watch these deleted scenes, and say “AHA” like I did. If you like thrillers like this, I would recommend this one as one that is very out of the ordinary. It’s quite unique.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Relativity Media, Virgin Produced, Mark Canton Productions,

Henry Cavill, Mickey Rourke, Stephen Dorff, Freida Pinto, Luke Evans, John Hurt, Joseph Morgan, Anne Day-Jones, Isabel Lucas, Kellan Lutz, Robert Maillet, Stephen McHattie

Theseus (Henry Cavill) is a mortal man, but Zeus (Luke Evans) chooses him to lead that fight against King Hyperion who is ravaging Greece to find a weapon which can destroy mankind once and for all. It can free the Titans, and destroy the humans. Zeus cannot interfere directly, so Theseus is selected to head up the fight.

There seem to be a number of epic movies about Greek mythology as of late. This is not even close to the best. In fact, it’s probably the worst of the bunch. It’s not because they didn’t try, but the story is weak, it is choppy and very thin in content. Then there’s the cinematography itself. The film is very dark and hard to see. The acting is weak, and the violence is there, just for the sake of showing the violence. It doesn’t really lead anywhere. Although I loved Clash of the Titans, and really enjoyed 300, and though I haven’t seen “Wrath of the Titans”, I have heard it was excellent, this one left me feeling really disappointed. I don’t recommend this one, I think it’s weaker than the other options.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Movie Rentals Releasing Tuesday April 17, 2012

• Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol [Click HERE for EdsReview]
• Born to be Wild IMAX
• Shame

DreamWorks SKG, Reliance Entertainment, Amblin Entertainment,

Emily Watson, David Thewlis, Peter Mullan, Niels Arestrup, Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irvine, Benedict Cumberbatch, Toby Kebbell, David Kross, Eddie Marsan, Nicolas Bro, Rainer Bock, Patrick Kennedy, Leonhard Carow, Celine Buckens

This is a spectacular, epic film of World War I, and a boy named Albert Naracott (Jeremy Irvine) who’s drunken father bought a horse that was tall and fast and beautiful, but was not a work horse. The family owed a large mortgage on their farm, and Albert took on training and care for the horse whom he taught to pull a plow. The horse was purchased for the army, and the soldier who bought him knew that the price he could pay was much less than this horse was worth, so he promised if he could he would return the horse after the war. But the war was ugly for horses, and even uglier for the soldier mired down in it. This is story of a young man and his horse and the longing to be together if the only both can survive the horrors of war.

This was an interesting Christmas Day film! It’s a horrible war, and Mr. Spielberg certainly put a lot of work into making this one EPIC picture. It fills the screen with the horrors and suffering of war, and provides us with a few very noble and courageous moments. However it did not make me think of Christmas, that’s for sure. But the holidays may have been the proper time to bring out a film of this magnitude.

But the basis of the story, no matter how grand and big it is on screen, is the simple story of the love of a boy for his horse and the troubles the have to face to survive with little money and then a horrible war. I enjoyed the film very much. I did not rate it 5 stars, as it was not so awe inspiring that it knocked me off my chair, but it was certainly a blockbuster film. This is an amazing story, and one that should appeal to most everyone. The acting was superb, and the action just fills up the screen. Be sure to see it if you haven’t had a chance!

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog