Archive for August, 2012

Tokio Films,

Florencia Colucci, Abel Tripaldi, Gustavo Alonso, Maria Salazar

This is the original 2010 film from Uruguay submitted for the academy award as best foreign language film for the 2012 Academy Awards. This is a horror film with a number of twists and turns and a huge gimmick. This film is shot to appear that it is done in a single take with a single camera. This means a single point of view, and a single location. The location is a remote house. A man and a young lady, his daughter, are brought to a remote cottage by her Uncle to clean it and prepare it for sale. The house has no light, and so this is a very dark film. Dark as in no light, as well as dark as in a really evil story!!! Laura (Florencia Colucci) hears a series of strange noises and heads out to find out (with a little help from her father) the cause of the sounds. But there a lots of secrets pressing on Laura’s mind, and a lot of side issues she’s dealing with. Supposedly based on a true story that happened in Uruguay, this is a thrilling, horrific story about murder, rape, incest, and all kinds of madness. A real trip into the macabre!

It is hard to compare the original film with it’s Hollywood counterpart. The original is more about the character of Laura and what she’s seeing and feeling. The Hollywood version jazzes up the location a bit, gives more effort into the house itself and the location. This film has a very creepy look to it, which the dark doesn’t hide very well. The story is changed a bit in the newer version, but not to any great benefit. I think I would give a little bit of an edge to the original, but not much. Truthfully both stories are not that great. The single camera shot bit is a scam. It’s not really done in one take, nor is it a big advantage to the film. As it turns out, it just robs us of a lot of things that could have been done to improve the story, and since it’s so dark, it provides us with a lot of black film with no light of any kind. I suppose sitting in a pitch dark theater with a bunch of strangers could be a bit creepy, but on video it mostly gets annoying. There is very little dialog in the whole film, so mostly we spend the 80 minutes watching Laura walk around with a lantern, looking for whatever is causing the creepy sounds. There’s a few jumps and bumps, but mostly it’s a character drama looking at Laura’s own issues. And since we never get close to her or any of the other characters, we don’t really care much.

Just an average scare fest, and whether you watch the original, or the remake, they’re about the same, and neither is that great. Just another horror flick.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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Elle Driver, Tazora Films,

Elizabeth Olsen, Adam Trese, Eric Sheffer Stevens, Julia Taylor Ross, Adam Barnett, Haley Murphy

Based on the foreign film from Uruaguay, 2010’s “La casa muda (The Silent House) this Hollywood remake follows the story fairly faithfully of a young woman, Sarah (Elizabeth Olsen) and her father and her uncle, who are out at a remote lake house cleaning it up and getting it ready for sale. The house has no light, so it’s very dark. A Sarah begins hearing strange sounds, she tries to find the location and cause of the sounds. It leads her further and further into the mystery of the house, and the awful things that happened to her, and how she’s dealing with them. This is a horrific film of many evils, including murder, rape, and incest that takes us deep into the evils of the family. Filmed, like it’s Uruguayan counterpart, to appear to be done in a single take, this provides us with the entire story in a single location, from a single point of view. There’s a lot of evil going on here!

It is hard to compare this Hollywood remake with the original film. This remake is really more about the character of Sarah and what she’s seeing and feeling inside herself. This version pretties up the location a bit and spends more fixing up the house itself and the location. Still, this film has a very creepy look to it, and it has a few frightening moments. The story is changed a bit in this newer version, but not to any great benefit and so it doesn’t matter much. I think I would give a little bit of an edge to the original, but not very much. This one is almost as good, and certainly Elizabeth Olsen is a lovely lady!! (Yes..yes…she is the little sister of Mary Kate and Ashley. Someone’s got to keep up with the show business business) Both films are just not that great. The single camera shot bit is a scam. They claim to use it here as well, but it’s more obvious here that it isn’t really done in one take. Therefore there is no real big advantage to the film to use it, as it really doesn’t serve a purpose other than as a gimmick. As it turns out, it just robs us of a lot of things that could have been done to improve the story, and since it’s so dark, it provides us with a lot of black film with no light of any kind, just like the original. I suppose sitting in a pitch dark theater with a bunch of strangers could be a bit creepy, but on video it mostly gets annoying. There is very little dialog in the whole film, so mostly we spend the 80 minutes watching Laura walk around with a lantern, looking for whatever is causing the creepy sounds. In this respect, it’s exactly like the original. There’s a few jumps and bumps, but mostly it’s a character drama looking at Laura’s own issues. This is perhaps a bit less graphic than the original, but though the subject is graphic, the visual is not all that bad. And since we never get close to her or any of the other characters, we don’t really care much what happens to her0.

As I said in the previous review of the 2010 original film, this is just an average scary movie. Whether you watch the original, or the remake, they’re about the same, and neither is all that special.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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New in theaters this weekend Friday August 24, 2012

  • Premium Rush
  • The Apparition
  • Hit and Run
  • Samsara
  • Sleepwalk with Me
  • Little White Lies
  • Thunderstruck
  • The Revenant
  • General Education

This looks like a fairly slow week for new releases. Maybe Labor Day weekend will be a bit more memorable. “The Apparition” is a PG-13 scary movie about the haunting of a University parapsychology experiment with Ashley Green, Sebastian Stan, Tom Gelton, etc. “General Education” is another college picture about Levi Collins, about to go to school on a tennis scholarship, but he finds love and screws up his senior year of high school, failing his science class. So he goes to summer school to try to make it up before his parents find out. “Hit and Run” is a road trip flick featuring Dax Shepard who breaks out of the witness protection program to drive his fiance (Kristen Bell) to Los Angeles to grab a once in a lifetime opportunity in this comedy. “Little White Lies” is a French film about a restaurant owner who invites friends and family to his beach house for their annual vacation, but an accident sets off a tragic chain of events that sorely tests everyone in the group. “Premium Rush” is a Joseph Gordon-Levitt film about bicycle messengers in New York City who take their lives into their hands every time the head out to street to get the message delivered across Manhattan. One particular delivery takes every bit of skill he’s got to get through and survive the day. “Samsara” is a documentary filmed over 4 years and 25 countries in 70mm to breathtaking imagery and explore man’s relationship to nature and to the world, and to each other. “Sleepwalk with Me” is the filmed version on a one man autobiographical show performed by playwright/filmmaker/stand-up comic’s look at life. The final two “Thunderstruck” is a story about a young basketball fan who suddenly switches his talents with Kevin Durant, the Oklahoma Thunder all-star basketball player and he suddenly becomes the star of his high school team, whereas “The Revenant” is another horror film about a solider in Iraq who after being killed, suddenly arises and finds himself a bloodthirsty zombie. See what I mean? Not much going on this week! Time to catch up on the items you missed from the RedBox!!!

Last Weeks top Box Office:

1 – The Expendables 2
2 – The Bourne Legacy
3 – ParaNorman
4 – The Campaign
5 – Sparkle


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Universal Pictures, Practical Pictures, Relativity Media,

Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Seann William Scott, Chris Klein, Mena Suvari, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Tara Reid, Natasha Lyonne, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Eugene Levy, Jennifer Coolidge, John Cho, Shannon Elizabeth, Chris Owen

The four buddies of East Great Falls High School are back in town for the High School Reunion, each trying to impress the others with how well they are doing.
Jim Levenstein (Jason Biggs) is back home with wife Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) and their son. It’s been 10 years and they’ve all changed, but they still, with the help of the Stiffmaeister, Stiffler (Seann William Scott) is ready to take on the town with party after party. But they have their issues. Some of them are very old and some are brand new problems, but as typical of the American Pie series, nothing ever goes smoothly. Jim’s Dad (Eugene Levy) and Stifler’s Mom (Jennifer Coolidge) are back and both very lonely. The date of the big reunion comes, along with a few punches thrown, a couple of arrests, some big time misunderstandings, and hook ups and breakups. A little potty humor can’t be far behind.

This film was made for the same reason the networks make Walton reunions, Gilligan’s Island reunions, and Brady Bunch reunions. People know and care about the characters and want to see what’s up with them. This is also the biggest weakness with the film, as well, just as with the previously mentioned reunion sequels. They didn’t do very much at all with the script. I’m thinking they just figured that a little catch up with the characters was good enough. To be honest, I enjoyed the first films in the series, but each one has gotten a little older and more stale as it goes along. This was fell flat for me. Though there were a few funny moments, most of it was just stuff that we’ve seen before, if not in this franchise, then in any of the number of copycat films. The kids acting stupid was a lot funnier when they were in high school. Now they mostly need to grow up. The funniest things is this movie are the ones that a really subtle that tie back to previous films. For example, this is the first American Pie film where Finch didn’t end up with Stifler’s Mom. There is a good reason which you’ll learn when you watch it. That was a funny bit. Otherwise, I really like Alyson Hannigan and Jason Biggs, but they don’t break any new ground here. They don’t carry the film (neither does Stifler who is sadly turning pathetic) and it’s too much like a “How I Met Your Mother” episode. They are good actors, but didn’t have very much script to work with. They should have gone back for another rewrite or two and get some meat on the bones of this script before they made it. As it is, it’s just not memorable enough to go out of your way to watch this. You already know what happens, as it’s all deja vu from here on.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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Bandito Brothers,

Roselyn Sanchez, Jason Cottle, Nestor Serrano, Ailsa Marshall, Gonzalo Menendez, Emilio Rivera, Dimiter Marinov, Thomas Rosales Jr., Alex Veadov, Marc Margulies

An elite team of Navy SEALs are assigned to rescue a kidnapped CIA agent from a lethal terrorist organization. The realism of the film is enhanced by the fact that the “actors” are actual active Navy SEALs. The rescue turns deadly when it becomes a full fledged terrorist attack on the US, and these valiant men are the only things that can keep us safe. We get a peek into the insides of an elite fighting force and get to witness with our own eyes, the heroism and danger these men face.

This was an interesting film that really was a hit with some people who are really into battles and military missions. For the peace lovers, not so much. For someone like me, I found myself right in the middle. Not really fascinated with the technology of killing, but still able to get into the tension and action, I found it moderately interesting. I was not blown away by it, but wasn’t terrible either. So I would recommend that if you are into military films, you probably will like this, and if you are not, go ahead an pass it by.

It was an interesting approach to use real active service men in the film. On the other hand, it could be argued that we are putting them in danger, and perhaps giving away too much information to our enemies about the technologies we use, and the techniques we undertake to protect ourselves. It’s a lot like giving the playbook to the other team before the game so they’ll know what to defend against. I’m not sure that’s a good idea.

All in all, the suspense was there, and that action, certainly, but the whole concept did not really catch me, and I found it forgettable. Shortly after watching it, I couldn’t tell you much about the story, as it didn’t make that big of an impression on me. This is my own bias though, and these kinds of stories don’t get me really excited. Like I said before, if you’re a military buff, then go for it, as you’ll probably find this one of the more accurate modern military films.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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