Ed's Review Dot Com

Walt Disney Pictures,

Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper, Rashida Jones, Alan Arkin, Zach Galifianakis, Sarah Silverman, Emily Blunt

Gary (Jason Segel) and his muppetlike brother Walter (PeterLinz, voice) are huge Muppet fans. Walter’s dream is to someday visit the Muppet Studio in Hollywood. Gary and his girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) are about to celebrate their 10 year anniversary of going together by taking a romantic trip to Los Angeles, and the surprise is that they are talking Walter along. First stop is the Muppet Studios but Walter discovers that the Muppets are all separated and the studio is in ruin. Not only that, but evil rich man Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) is planning to buy the property to tear it down and drill for oil on the property. Walter and Gary track down Kermit to try to put the band back together for one show to raise the money to save the studio.

So Jake is released from prison and picked up by his brother Elwood, and they head of on a quest from God to put the band back together and save the orphanage for the penguins. Oops. Wrong movie, but same story. But for those of us who have spent most of our lives with the lovable Muppets, it’s really nice to see them again. Really this is a pretty decent film. I’m not sure they needed Gary and Mary as full sized live people to interact with the muppet characters, but I guess it’s ok. They deal with lots of humans anyway, so it’s ok. The story of Mary wanting a quiet and romantic anniversary dinner alone without Walter is probably the only slow part of the story, but it does help to setup the Muppet style ending. The best part is how well developed the personalities of these cloth and wire characters are, and how we recognize their idiosyncrasies right away. There are some really funny scenes as well.

This is technically a sequel to The Muppet Movie from 1979. The Muppet Movie was by far the greatest of the series of full length Muppet films. That movie covered how Kermit the Frog left the swamp seeking fame and fortune in Hollywood and how he picked up the whole gang along the way on this adventure. This film covers what happens after the Muppet Show (weekly TV show) is cancelled, and the Muppets go into retirement. But a lot of the music and jokes, and especially references from the original movie are brought into this film. I don’t want to give too much away, but many of these references are really funny. There are some cool cameos too, just like in the original.

All in all, this is a great film for both children and adults. The Muppet humor has always been very clever, but the characters and songs keep the kids attention, while the adults catch the puns and jabs that go over the kids heads. (For example, I love how this guy keep calling Kermit “Mr. The Frog”.) I really enjoyed this, and I am really sad that I had to wait SO long to get this film out of Netflix! I was on vacation the week it finally arrived and I got caught in the “Very Long Wait” trap! I gotta start using my Redbox account in these cases! If you haven’t seen this yet (although I’m pretty sure you probably have), I recommend you pick this one up, and have a neat family movie night. This is one of the best family films in 2011.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Lakeshore Entertainment, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment,

Katherine Heigl, Jason O’Mara, Daniel Sunjata, John Leguizamo, Sherri Shepherd, Debbie Reynolds, Debra Monk, Nate Mooney, Patrick Fischler, Ana Reeder

Stephanie Plum (Katherine Heigl) has lost her job and is broke, so she approaches her cousin and insists he giver her a job as a bounty hunter. Her cousin is a bail bondsmen, and one of his crack trackers is out sick, and so reluctantly he lets her chase a few escapees. But the big score is ex-cop Joe Morelli (Jason O’Mara) who jumped bail, but is her ex. The two hate each other, and the set off on a chase where she thinks he’s capturing him, and he thinks he’s proving his innocence while trying to keep her off his back. In fact, they need each other, and it turns into an intense chase with a lot of humor thrown in.

This is a rather standard cops and robbers, bounty hunter, romantic comedy type film. It follows a lot of the plots of other similar films. I was a bit surprised by it, as I expected it to be a funny rom-com and it was much more serious than I expected. The truth is that most of the film was police/ex-police chasing the bad guys down against all odds and as an outlaw. That too has been done a lot of times. Not a terrible film, but just mediocre. There’s nothing wrong with picking this up at the RedBox for a quiet evening, but don’t go into it expecting too much. I didn’t hate it, but it also did not have much going for it either. Outside of Katherine Heigl, the rest of the cast was so-so. I guess this comes from a series of books, and perhaps they took too many shortcuts just trying to following the book without being too original on their own, but there are definitely some problems. But as I said, it was relaxing watching it, and I had a decent time watching it.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Movie Rentals Releasing Tuesday June 5, 2012

• Journey 2:The Mysterious Island
• Safe House
• Act of Valor
• John Carter
• Machine Gun Preacher
• Lost Woods

Accelerator Films, Great Southern Land Entertainment, RMB Productions,

Tabrett Bethell, Andy Whitfield, Freya Stafford, Clare Bowen, Sophie Lowe, Boris Brkic, Marshall Napier, Elizabeth Alexander, Marcel Bracks, Adrienne Pickering

Christmas Eve, 1971, and Cameron (Andy Whitfield) and his wife, Beth (Tabrett Bethell) are driving through backwoods Australia. A reckless driver runs them off the road and the car is damaged, so they decide to stay in a creepy old cheap motel. It’s late at night, and Beth is very pregnant and almost due for delivery. During the night Cameron gets hungry and there’s no food at the motel, so he heads off down the road looking for something to eat. The Sky Dragon, a Chinese restaurant in town is closed and there’s nothing else around, but on the way back Cameron runs out of gas. When he gets back to the motel, Beth is gone, so he reports it to the police. Beth has been abducted by a mysterious clinic run in an old run down closed factory building. Beth wakes up with a scar, the baby is missing, and she finds out four other women are in the same situation in this blood and guts horror slasher film.

This is an unusual story. The premise is rather unique, and there is a good bit of suspense. But the movie is so full of holes and the actors in the film are not really too good. It’s a bit scary, but the storyline is pretty weak and the acting is weak, and there’s not a whole lot going for this film. It’s a bit unique because it’s an Australian movie, so it does have that going for it. This is a late night cable film, or one that is readily available to watch on-demand, so it’s a decent late late show if your looking for something to watch when nothing else is on. But I can’t recommend renting this film, and taking up a spot in your queue for this is a waste. There is a lot better stuff around, trust me.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Chrysalis Films, Irish Film Board, Mockingbird Pictures,

Glenn Close, Mia Wasikowska, Aaron Johnson, Janet McTeer, Pauline Collins, Brenda Fricker, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Brendan Gleeson, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Mark Williams, Bronagh Gallagher, John Light

Albert Nobbs (Glenn Close) lives in 19th century Dublin Ireland, and works as a butler in Morrison’s Hotel run by Marge Baker (Pauline Collins) a very cheap Hotel matron. Albert is a woman who lived a very hard life and lives as a man, very simply, while trying to put all his money away to someday build a better life as a shop owner, but at the same time petrified that the secret will come out and she will be disgraced and spend the rest of her days in the poorhouse. Due to the fear of the secret coming out, she lives all alone in the world and refuses to get close to anyone. As a result, Albert is extremely lonely and longing for a taste of a normal life in any way possible.

This is a tragic story of a very difficult life. This is a very good, but sad story as we get to know Albert and the crazy characters working in the hotel with her. When Albert finds a way to possibly escape this life, a strange love triangle emerges that causes even more drama in Albert’s life. This is a very well done period piece, and Glenn Close does a wonderful job portraying a woman, living life as a man. She is very good in this role, and it is never unbelievable, nor do we ever get distracting thinking it’s Glen Close in there, but at the same time, due to the time period this is set in, it had to be done without much makeup as the people of that time did not wear makeup. This is a very Dickens-like story, and throughout it reminds me of many of the novels of Charles Dickens. The story evolves fairly slowly, but it is really interesting so it doesn’t feel slow. But we do really get to know the characters very well, and there are some really colorful people in this story. The entire cast does a very good job, and the story is very absorbing and it is a film that will keep you thinking long after the film is over.

I recommend this film. It is not an action-adventure or slapstick comedy. It’s a period drama that has a lot of value, and though I typically get really bored with this genre, this film was very interesting from start to finish. I enjoyed it a lot, and if you want a story with some substance, this is an excellent film of that type.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog