Ed's Review Dot Com

Movie Rentals Releasing Tuesday September 25, 2012

• The Avengers [Click here for Ed’s Review]
• Damsels in Distress

Relativity Media, FilmNation Entertainment, A Bigger Boat,

Jennifer Lawrence, Elisabeth Shue, Max Thieriot, Gil Bellows, Nolan Gerard Funk, Krista Bridges, Jon McLaren, Jonathan Malen, Joy Tanner, Allie MacDonald

Elissa (Jennifer Lawrence) and Sarah (Elisabeth Shue) just moved into a rural Pennsylvania house next to a wilderness state park. But they notice an empty house just across the yard in the back. Then late at night they notice a light in the window. It turns out this is “the murder house” where a small girl killed her parents and then ran away and disappeared. It seems the big brother who was away at the time of the murders has returned to the house and is fixing it up so he can sell it. Sarah is worried because Elissa has inherited the trait her mother has, of picking up needy guys and trying to save them, and Elissa has just made friends with Ryan (Max Thieriot). This suspenseful horror film starts gentle and builds and builds and builds to a surprising climax.

Well, it’s hard to say where to go with this film. It arrives just in time for the fall scream season, and it does definitely scare you a few times. But the scares are more of the “loud noise when you least expect it” times. Certainly Jennifer Lawrence and Elisabeth Shue make a really nice mom and daughter team. There’s a nice guy, local cop, and some nasty townsfolk. The story isn’t exactly new. This story has been done a number of times. But the problem here is that there are so many huge holes in the story that you just can’t overlook them. There is a rule in film making that it is not a great idea to have characters lie to the audience to mislead them (it’s really lazy writing) but the film cannot lie to the audience itself. This one does. When a character does something that is completely unrealistic that no one would ever do, just to mislead the audience that’s a foul. Well this film does this repeatedly. There are so many things wrong with the story that is told here that you just can’t get over. There are several plot twists, including one in the very last seconds, that will probably make you walk away thinking, “Why did they …… ?”

The theater was full of teens, who laughed and screamed, put their feet up on the seat, and for the most part, put down the phones for a while and watched the film, so I have to give it that, but the holes are just so BIG. If you do try to watch this, please suspend belief and don’t try to understand what’s going on. Just enjoy the scenery, and jump when the loud sounds startle you. It’s not a horrible film, but for the sake of the effort the cast put into it, I’m glad I went to see it, but I don’t think this film is going to find legs in the theater. I have a feeling it’s going to fade away until something with a little better story comes along.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Marlboro Road Gang Productions,

Max Baker, Kerry Bishé, Edward Burns, Matt Bush, Brian Delate, Marsha Dietlein

Johnny Rizzo (Matt Bush) is a young man, engaged to be married. He’s working his dream job, a radio announcer with a sports talk show, but not making any money. But his fiancee is very used to living the good life, being spoiled by her father who is supporting the two of them. They decided Johnny must take a new job, a boring cardboard box factory job, but one that will pay him three times his wages. Hating to see Johnny throwing his life away, his Uncle Terry (Edward Burns) invites him out to the Hamptons for a weekend to try to save him from an awful mistake. After he meets a charming young lady there, he has to look deep into his soul to determine the right thing to do. While he tried to be good, everyone tries to turn him bad.

This is a decent film, actually. I found myself unable to pull myself away from the film. Matt, as Johnny does his best Ralph Macchio, Karate Kid impression, but he does nail the character. Maybe he’s a little too good, but he’s one of us miserable nice guys who gets walked over by everyone else. Terry is a little too bad, on the other hand, although I’ve known guys almost this bad. He’s pulling an Eddie Haskell impression out of his repertoire. But bring it all together and it’s believable. This is a Watch Instantly film on Netflix and perhaps can be found on cable from time to time, but it’s a fairly decent waste of an hour and a half, and a bit of a surprise to me. I didn’t expect it to be nearly as good as it was, and though I was expecting to bash it from the start, before I knew it I was pulled in and actually cared how Johnny worked this thing out. If you have some time to kill, you could do a lot worse than this one.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Hopeful Monster, Chaos Productions, String And A Can Productions,

Sarah Livingston Evans, Jared Edwards, Anna-Marie Wayne, Nancy P. Corbo, Edward Gusts

Start with four young people driving through the country, when something goes wrong, they are stranded and suddenly being attacked by a vicious monster. You might expect this to be the ordinary horror film, but suddenly things change, and we find ourselves in the middle of one of the strangest love stories since “Phantom of the Opera” or “Beauty and the Beast”. In fact, this is a retelling of the Beast saga in a different time and place.

This is in some ways a romantic love story told in the midst of blood and guts. As such, it’s completely unique, but it just doesn’t quite work. It’s like mixing spaghetti and pudding together in a bowl and chowing down. It just doesn’t seem to work together. Some people may enjoy the blood and gore, but will be bored silly with the strange love story. Meanwhile, some folks will enjoy the love story, but will be turned off by the ugly blood and guts part. It just doesn’t seem to go together. I once read a novel about 3 worlds. There was a place in modern times where a gateway opened with a path to an ancient world without electricity or modern inventions where a war was going on with another world that was a futuristic outer space world with all kinds of technical advances. The story took place in all 3 worlds. It was a fascinating way of blending 3 stories and settings into one, but it ended up not being a very big hit. This was because it was really a jumble of logic and rules. I was able to find book one of this trilogy in the bargain bin. Then I was able to find the 2nd book, but alas the 3rd book of the trilogy was out of print. I was finally able to locate it in a “rare books” location and payed a huge price to complete the story. I was even able to email the author and discuss it with him. I think the way to enjoy a movie like this is similar to what I did. Don’t go into this looking for a horror film or a love story, but look at it as a work of art. This is a mash-up of the two forms, all fitting into the “Beauty and the Beast” mold in a new way. If you enjoy it for the art it presents, then you’ll probably find it an interesting piece of film making. But if you go into it as a “normal” film, you’ll probably be deeply disappointed.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

New in theaters this weekend Friday September 21, 2012

• House at the End of the Street
• End of Watch
• Dredd 3D
• Trouble with the Curve
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower

“House at the End of the Street” is a first class horror film, perfect for the season, about a mother (Elisabeth Shue) and her daughter (Jennifer Lawrence) who find the perfect house for them in an upscale rural town, but after they move in they find out that a horrible murder took place in the house next door, and immediately, strange things start to happen. “End of Watch” is a police drama about a couple of young officers (Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena) patrolling the gang ridden streets of South Central L.A. “Dredd” is a 3D science fiction film about the future when the US is a wasteland. The whole east coast is one giant metropolis where criminals rule the streets and the only law and order is the judge, jury, and executioner known as Judge Dredd. “Trouble with the Curve” is Clint Eastwood’s latest, where he plays an aging scout who is reaching the end stages of his career when the Braves want to put him out to pasture. On one last trip, he asks his daughter Mickey (Amy Adams) to join him, something he would never have normally done. Emma Watson stars in a touching coming of age story that shows the highs and lows of growing up.

Last Weeks top Box Office:

1 – Resident Evil: Retribution
2 – Finding Nemo 3D
3 – The Possession
4 – Lawless
5 – ParaNorman