Archive for June, 2012

Summit Entertainment, Di Bonaventura Pictures,

Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks, Jamie Bell, Anthony Mackie, Ed Burns, Kyra Sedgwick, Ed Harris, Génesis Rodríguez, Pooja Kumar

Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) is an ex-cop now convicted of a federal offense and in prison, breaks out, checks into a hotel, and walks out on the ledge. He asks for Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks), a well known hostage negotiator who just had a bad experience when one of her “clients” dove to his death. But Nick is up there for a good reason, and he asked for Lydia for a good reason. He’s not crazy, but has a valid point to prove. Meanwhile, the cops try to get him at all costs, even if it means using the entire swat team to bring him in. He didn’t choose the hotel by accident either, as David Englander (Ed Harris) has his office right across the street, and Nick has a bone to pick with him as well. This suspenseful cop turned con action adventure has something in it for everyone.

This was a surprisingly good film that is out on DVD this month. Certainly an action flick with lots of extreme stunts, this film was shot high up on a real building using hidden wires and harnesses so that when the actors react to being up high, they are really scared to death because they are way up high. Filmed in an extremely scary position, you feel a bit of vertigo yourself watching this thing. But aside from the stunts and action, it’s also a pretty decent thriller. There are a lot of twists and turns, and although we must think this guy has to be innocent, we can’t really figure out his plan until it evolves. How can you prove you’re innocent when every shred of evidence proves you did it? That’s Nick’s dilemma here, and he has had plenty of time to figure it all out. There are enough surprises here to keep us all amazed.

I was really surprised at the depth of this story, and I enjoyed it a good deal. It’s not a Hollywood Blockbuster, but it’s a solid little B film with a decent enough story, good acting, and good old fasioned stunts to make it very much worth watching!

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 


 

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Lionsgate, Mimran Schur Pictures, Solaris,

Joel Edgerton, Tom Hardy, Nick Nolte, Jennifer Morrison, Frank Grillo, Kevin Dunn, Maximiliano Hernández, Bryan Callen, Sam Sheridan, Noah Emmerich, Kurt Angle, Erik Apple

A broken family finds a recovered alcoholic father Paddy Conlon (Nick Nolte), alone, his oldest son Brendan Conlon (Joel Edgerton) married with 2 kids, estranged from the rest of the family, and younger son Tommy Conlon (Tom Hardy) living with Mom, returned from the Marines. Mom has passed on and Tommy returns to his Father, but not willing to forgive him, but needing him to prepare him for a return to the Mixed Martial Arts ring. Meanwhile Brendan is in a hard place, holding several jobs, trying to keep his family together, he decides to return to the MMA tournament as well, unbeknownst to Dad and Tommy setting them up for a huge final match against each other.

I went into this film not expecting much. I am not a fan of people beating the crap out of each other for the benefit of gamblers and people who just love to watch blood sports. This kind of stuff where anything goes, and choking, kicking and breaking bones goes along with punching in an all out battle till one can no longer get up. I was rather surprised by this film after all. Though there’s a lot of battles, there is a pretty good story. Neither son wants to forgive Dad for how he destroyed everyone’s lives with his drinking, but now with 3 years of being sober he just wants to get back together. The pain Nick Nolte is able to bring out really tears at your heart.

Jennifer Morrison plays Tess Conlon, Brendon’s wife. She is a perfect choice and is really supportive and sweet even though it breaks her heart to see Brendon suffer. She’s great in this role. If you don’t recognize the name, she’s Emma, Snow White’s daughter in ABC’s Once Upon a Time. With this excellent cast, the feelings and emotions will set you up for a rollercoaster ride of emotions. Not really at the level of Rocky, but actually a pretty decent film when you get down to it.

I was impressed with it, and glad I made it through the bloody face scenes to get past them for the meat of this movie. It was an enjoyable experience.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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Brandywine Productions, Dune Entertainment, Scott Free Productions,

Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Logan Marshall-Green, Charlize Theron, Sean Harris, Rafe Spall

A team of scientists studying ancient cave writings notices a strange similarity in different cultures in a depiction of stars and planets, and are eventually put together with a team of astronauts on a journey to possibly discover the beginnings of life on earth. When they arrive, they find some startling discoveries that indicate there is life of a sort on the planet, and it was not welcoming as they expected. In fact, it was not at all like they expected, and as they began to struggle to save their lives, the soon realize that the struggle was to save all of mankind in this prequel to the Alien series.

This movie was a real enjoyable experience for me. I found it unlike the Alien series in a lot of way because this film is not just screeches and scares and bloody murder. The Alien movies were truly terrifying a great deal of the time. This movie is much more cerebral than the others, and it does give us a good look at what the heck was going on in the other movies. It looks a lot deeper into the theories of the beginning of mankind, as well as faith and belief. There is a lot more thoughtful parts in this film that I didn’t find in the horror films of the Alien series. So I enjoyed it a lot more. Still, the Alien series was very good in its genre, but I enjoyed the story line of this one a great deal.

The actors were pretty good. There are a few parts that were left open, and I sure wish they had gone more into some of the sub plots, but it was pretty long as it is. Perhaps this would have been good to split this into 2 films. So there are a few parts that I wish there was more about. We don’t really get to know enough about Charlize Theron’s character, Meredith Vickers. She is “kind of” in charge of this mission, and we find out who she is related to, but it doesn’t give us enough background to know what she’s about, and why she is like she is. But all in all it’s a suspenseful mystery with lots of action and adventure, and it’s scary enough at times for the horror fans, so I feel it was a job well done, and I enjoyed it very much. This is a good one to see on the big screen if possible.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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Movie Rentals Releasing Tuesday June 19, 2012

  • Project X
  • Big Miracle
  • Wanderlust
  • Jeff, Who Lives at Home
  • My Afternoons with Margueritte
  • Seeking Justice

Author: EdG

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Davis Entertainment, Adam Schroeder Productions, Film Afrika Worldwide,

Dane DeHaan, Michael B. Jordan, Michael Kelly, Alex Russell, Ashley Hinshaw, Anna Wood, Joe Vaz, Matthew Dylan Roberts

Three high school friends attend a party, but are startled by something that fell out of the sky. Andrew Detmer (Dane DeHaan) is the strange somewhat dark of the friends and is filming everything in his day to day life, so he brings the camera into the woods where they find a deep dark hole. After the guys climb down to investigate a strange light, the find that they are developing super powers and able to do things with their mind. As they learn more and more of how to use their powers, Andrew gets more disturbed. Will their powers unite them for good or destroy them all completely. The friends soon learn that power has it consequences.

This is a very strange film, but I have to admit it was much better to me than Clockstoppers was. On the other hand, I can see how it was a bit of a disappointment in the box office department. That’s because it is anything but mainstream. Mostly this is a fable, trying to look at the character and problems of the characters. The special effects are fine, the laws of physics are freely broken, and there is some relatively poor acting among the gems, but the moral of the story is good, and you can really get into the minds of the characters. How did the former lives of the three friends determine what would happen to them? How did their experiences in life foreshadow how they are able to handle ultimate power. What could have been done to prevent the sorrowful outcomes? These are all questions you will ask yourself as you go through the film. The ending is kind of epic, but we won’t give that away, but it will stand up to a lot of really big films. So I don’t have a bad feeling about this film. I really enjoyed it. The science fiction is fun, if not really sensible, and they don’t go out of the way to theorize on how it happened, or who did it, or why. They just let you know that it happened and we have to deal with it.

Essentially, there is a lot more to this film than either a super hero movie (it’s not), or a teen angst, coming of age film (It’s more this than that). I suggest you give it a try if you’re looking for a deeper look at what teenagers go through in growing up with real problems at home, trying to deal with it, and growing deeper and deeper in depression. The science fiction takes second place in the story, but it impressive. And beware of reviews and summaries that call this a “found footage” film. It is nothing of the sort. I think this film has enough going for it to make it a movie you don’t want to miss, especially now that it’s on DVD.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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