Ed's Review Dot Com

GK Films,

Zana Marjanovic, Goran Kostic, Rade Serbedzija, Branko Djuric, Nikola Djuricko, Dolya Gavanski

In this story about the Bosnian War, Danijel (Goran Kostic) has a relationship with Ajla (Zana Marjanovic), a Bosnian who’s now a prisoner in a camp he oversees. Their relationship started at a dance club, but a bomb attack suddenly changed everything. Danijel uses his position in the camp to protect Ajla by giving her a special task of drawing portraits of the camp leaders. But as Ajla gains strength, and Danijel’s position is compromised, things get very complicated and it’s very difficult to carry on a relationship when they are on different sides in this horrible war.

This story was directed by Angelina Jolie in her first attempt at directing. She took on a very powerful story for her attempt, and she was, I’m pretty sure, trying to put a human face on the terrible atrocities that took place over there in the 90’s. Well, in many ways she succeeds, but in some ways the film falls short. In many ways the story is hard to believe, and it’s difficult to follow sometimes. It’s hard to accept that it’s really an accurate depiction of the situation, but some reviewers who lived through it swear that it was just like it was shown. It just seems a bit too set up to be historical fiction, and it’s more like taking a historical event and putting a fictitious story behind it to make your point.

The realistic thing about this is that the actors are really from this area. The down side of that is that it made them hard for me to understand. I tried to put the subtitles on and follow it closely, but if you miss reading a line or two, it’s hard to follow along with what’s going on.

All that being said, I didn’t hate the movie in the least. But I did not come out of it all fired up and ready to march against the war either. It just left me a bit too ambivalent. If you’re interested in the historical facts, and want to know more about the holocaust that happened here, then by all means rent the film. But if you’re looking for a strong romantic drama, this will probably leave you wishing for a better story. I came down in the middle, not sorry that I watched it, but not very excited about it either.

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Weinstein Company, The, BBC Films, Lipsync Productions

Michelle Williams, Eddie Redmayne, Kenneth Branagh, Dominic Cooper, Julia Ormond, Emma Watson, Judi Dench, Zoë Wanamaker, Toby Jones, Derek Jacobi, Dougray Scott

Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne) is a British guy, dying to get into the movie business. He gets the chance to work as Sir Lawrence Olivier (Kenneth Branaugh)’s assistant for a movie he is making with Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams). Marilyn appears to be getting burned out on the whole Hollywood star thing, and decides to run off with Colin for a week of fun and frivolity. This movie is based on the book/diary kept by Colin of his adventures during his week with Marilyn.

This is neither a great film, nor is it a bad film. It’s relatively interesting, and it does try to give us some insight into the real Marilyn. Michelle Williams is not really Marilyn, and that’s ok. She brings to the screen the illusion of Marilyn, and that’s all that we should really expect. She does a good job of doing that. This is not really the story of Marilyn anyway. It is really Colin’s story in his words and from his point of view. Sometimes it’s rather slow, and it’s not a really exciting movie, but at the same time it is entertaining, and is a look back into the movie studio days of the past. It’s a film about movie-making, and about the people who made the movies. I don’t know if this film deserves all the accolades it was given, but it’s not too bad, and worth watching if you are interested in the subject.

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Columbia Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Amblin Entertainment,

Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig, Nick Frost, Simon Pegg, Toby Jones, Mackenzie Crook, Daniel Mays, Gad Elmaleh, Joe Starr, Kim Stengel, Sonja Fortag, Tony Curran, Jamie Bell

Tintin (Jamie Bell) is a reporter who along with Snowy purchases a replica of the ship “The Unicorn” at a market stall, but is surprised that Mr. Sakharine (Daniel Craig) wants to buy it really bad. Tintin knows that there’s a mystery there somehow. It turns out there were three ships made by Sr Francis Haddock (Andy Serkis) for his 3 sons, and they hold the key to treasure beyond measure. Tintin sets out with Captain Haddock to find the 3rd ship while protecting the 2nd, to try to solve the mystery of the hidden treasure.

This all CGI film uses the same motion capture technology used in “Disney’s A Christmas Carol”, and others like “The Polar Express”. As a result, it gives you the creepy feeling that something is a bit too real to be unreal. I find it just a bit disconcerting seeing that. Video games are getting like that too, now, where it’s a little too accurate in it’s depiction of cartoon people. But this is a joyful little adventure. The story is decent, and reminds me of some of the classic cartoons of my childhood. There is a decent mystery at the root of it, and Tintin and his annoying little dog Snowy will get to the bottom of it. But Tintin is an everyman kind of guy, and not the absurd genius who can look at a smudge and tell you the history of the world from it. He works out the problems just like we do. I am sorry that this film did not pick up so much traction in the U.S. market, as it is a really good film, but it did quite well internationally where the people are more familiar with the comic version of the story. I think they must have done a good job of capturing the spirit of the comic in this tale.

I found myself interested in the story, which is good. Sometimes in this kind of kids tale, you lose interest after a while, but that did not happen here. It’s a good enough story for grown-ups too to enjoy. I found myself entertained throughout the film. All in all they did a very good job, and with the work they put into it (with Spielberg at the helm) I gather it will get them back a decent return on their investment. I suspectd this to be a pretty decent DVD market film as well, and it should be on your watch list if you haven’t seen it. I enjoyed it, and am happy to recommend this to lovers of animated adventure.

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NALA Films, Polymorphic Pictures,

Michael Angarano, Uma Thurman, Reece Thompson, Lee Pace, Rebecca Mader, Jake M. Johnson, Brooke Bloom, Harper Dill

Two friends, Marshall (Reece Thompson) and Sam (Michael Angarano) are off on a weekend outing to a town by the seashore. Marshall thinks it’s to renew their friendship and enjoy some brotherhood time catching up on their friendship, but Sam has an ulterior motive. Sam is out to crash the wedding of his ex, Zoe (Uma Thurman) who he’s still in love with and who is about to marry a boorish documentary filmmaker.

This is one of those “off the beaten path” films that come along once in a while. It’s an independent film, and not very high budget. It has a lot of dialog and not a whole lot of action. But as is common with a lot of this type of indie film, it has great character development and a decent story. As usual, Uma Thurman does a pretty good job. Marshall feels a lot of betrayal of being sucked into coming along an a brotherhood weekend only to find that he’s being used by Sam to get his lost girl back. The range of emotions he goes through is similar to any situation where you thought someone was doing something nice with you, only to find out you’re being used. Russell is either a saint or a whining crybaby, and it’s hard to figure out which way he’s going.

It’s a quirky romantic comedy/drama that isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but as an indie rom/com, this one isn’t half bad and has a lot of redeeming qualities. It’s often found on cable, or is available for streaming from most systems, including NetFlix Watch Instantly. It’s worth catching if you’re a fan of the genre.

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Reprisal Films, Element Pictures, Crescendo Productions,

Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Liam Cunningham, David Wilmot, Rory Keenan, Mark Strong, Fionnula Flanagan, Dominique McElligott, Sarah Greene

Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) is an FBI agent, and just a little high strung! He’s been sent to an Irish village to investigate some international drug dealers. He’s up against local cop Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson) who seems set on driving Wendell insane. Gerry is not really up for the level of this case, and is really happy with the humdrum normal life. He also zings Wendell at every turn which drives Wendell nuts. But when it comes down to it, he’s a fitting partner in crime fighting.

This movie was really funny. Some of the quips in this movie stayed with me a long time after the movie was finished. It actually really cracked me up from time to time. The characters are spot on. Don Cheadle was absolutely born for this role. But Brendan Gleeson brings it all together. I really thought the film was very funny, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Granted the bad guys are really cardboard cutouts and very caricatured, but the movie is not about them anyway, so that didn’t bother me. It was the battle between Wendell and Gerry is classic.

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