Ed's Review Dot Com

New Line Cinema, Contrafilm,

Dwayne Johnson, Michael Caine, Josh Hutcherson, Vanessa Hudgens, Luis Guzmán, Kristin Davis

Sean (Josh Hutcherson) receives a mysterious message which he assumes is from his grandfather. His step father Hank (Dwayne Johnson) helps him to decode it and they are convinced that his grandfather, Alexander (Michael Caine) has discovered the island described by Jules Verne in his novels. Thinking it a good opportunity to bond with his step son, they set off to find Alexander and in the process have an amazing adventure.

This film is really a film for kids. Perhaps I’m being too hard on it in my rating, but I was not overly impressed with the film. Dwayne Johnson is not really an actor, although he’s trying, but he tends to “Tooth Fairy” it up and it’s rather silly a lot of the time. Michael Caine is awesome, but not given a lot of script to work with in this outing. To get another name in the cast, they use a script device where they can’t find a way to where the island is supposed to be, so they hire Gabato (Luis Guzman) and his daughter Kailani (Vanessa Hudgens) to take them, crating some sort of love interest. Every adventure film for kids has to have a boy and a girl lead. In this case, they have nothing to do but stand around a look pretty. The CGI is good, the cinematography is good, and the story is very mediocre. We’ve seen this film a bunch of times in different versions. That being said, it’s a good film for kids, and is probably an adventure story that they will enjoy, assuming kids aren’t quite as picky about originality. They are more forgiving about such things. I won’t give away the plot any further, but trust me, it gets pretty silly about half way through the film. There was just not enough to the story to allow me to recommend this.

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BBC Films, UK Film Council, Kudos Film and Television,

Ewan McGregor, Emily Blunt, Amr Waked, Kristin Scott Thomas, Tom Mison, Catherine Steadman, Rachael Stirling, Tom Beard

A Sheik with a boatload of money and a hankering for fishing has a dream of building a dam, building the necessary streams and cages for salmon, and a desire to bring fishing to the desert despite everyone’s doubts and objections. He also dreams of bringing a peaceful pass time to a violent place, so he hires a British aide in Harriet (Emily Blunt) who approaches the British government for assistance. Timing is right because the Brits need some kind of good news out of the mideast, and so Dr. Alfred Jones (Ewan McGregor) is assigned to make it happen despite the odds. This is a story of trying to succeed against all odds.

This is one of those films that really has no chance at the box office. People want huge explosions, super powers, and the like. This is a slow story. But wow, is it beautiful! The cinematography is stunning in this film. The desert is really something to look at, and I can only imagine how wonderful it would have been to see in wide screen. But even on a small screen, it was beautiful. The story also is very good. Emily Blunt did a great job in her role, and Ewan McGregor was also very good. The two work together against all odds, and the chemistry between them is quite good as well. This is not a complex movie. In fact, it’s really simple. It’s a man’s dream to make his country better by bringing a peaceful pass time for people to learn. Unfortunately not everyone wants peace. Likewise, the government decides to exploit his dream, which is also not very pleasant. Angry at being forced into this farce, Dr. Jones soon learns that there is some magic left in life if you give it a chance.

This was very much a “feel good” film, very nice to watch, and highly recommended for a family night film. If you want to enjoy a fun evening, pop this one in, make some popcorn, and sit back and enjoy it! It’s one of those hidden gems that everyone missed at the box office that is well worth tracking down on video!

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Movie Rentals Releasing Tuesday September 11, 2012

• Snow White and the Huntsman[For Ed’s Review Click Here]
• What to Expect When You’re Expecting[For Ed’s Review Click Here]
• For Greater Glory
• October Baby
• Girl in Progress
• Where Do We Go Now?
• We Have a Pope
• Lola Versus

Lawrence Bender Productions, Trigger Street Productions, IM Global,

Jason Statham, Catherine Chan, Robert John Burke, Chris Sarandon, Anson Mount, James Hong, Reggie Lee, Sandor Tecsy, Joseph Sikora, Danny Hoch, Matt O’Toole, Oksana Lada, Jennifer Butler, Jay Giannone, James Colby, Jack Gwaltney, Igor Jijikine, Danni Lang

A former cage fighter, Luke Wright (Jason Statham) comes to the rescue of a 12 year old Chinese girl who has a secret code in her memory. The Russian Mafia wants her, as well as a bunch of corrupt New York officials. Luke is a former elite agent, but his life was destroyed by the ones chasing this little girl, and he’s out not only to protect her but to get revenge on the ones who destroyed him.

This is an action film that seems to have been made just to give Statham another bad ass chase and escape film. They could have skipped this one. The idea of a little girl being a “Safe”, keeping the code inside her head, is unique, but that’s about the only thing in the whole film that is unique. Other than that, it’s all rehashed good guy hunted by the bad guys and barely escaping time after time movie. We’ve seen this same story over and over again, and it’s running out of steam. There just wasn’t anything here to latch on to, to grab your interest. I tried to get into this, but just couldn’t find any interest in any of it. Violence and chases for the sake of filling the time, and I just didn’t find it worth my time, and don’t really recommend this one.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Parallel Media, Flipzide Studios, HS Film,

Adrien Brody, Sean Marquette, Matt Bush, Colin Hanks, Adhir Kalyan, Mykelti Williamson, Michael Chiklis, Curtis Armstrong, Cody Longo, Luis Chávez, Max Van Ville, Mary Birdsong, Julia Ling, Camille Mana, Brett Kelly, George Back, Joseph Julian Soria, Kevin Yon

Henry Burke (Matt Bush) has it! He’s the school valedictorian by just a few hundredths of a point, but he’s got it. But a random drug test at the same time as Henry takes his very first hit of pot risks his scholarship and his future. The school pothead Travis (Sean Marquette) feels guilty for getting him into this, so he helps him devise a scheme to spike the brownies at the bake sale so the entire school will fail and eliminate the problem. Of course everything goes wrong and things get worse and worse as one lie piles up upon another until it’s all about to come crashing down by the principal who suspects and the police who are anxious to bust the case.

I hated this movie. Adrian Brody showed up looking shaggy and unkempt as the big time drug dealer, mostly to have a “big name” on the marquee. He truly could have (and maybe did) mail in his part as there was nothing for him to do here but mumble and try to look menacing. The school principal is the biggest a**hole principal since “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, but he’s not funny in the least. There’s just not much going on here. They twist the story around to offer some gratuitous nudity that does nothing to offer anything to the story, and I have to say that girl with the tattoos scares the hell out of me! They try to pull off some kind of Cheech and Chong thing, or maybe more like Jay and Silent Bob, but it just doesn’t work. The whole thing is just really stupid and there’s no action, suspense, comedy, or real story. Even Sebastian (Adhir Kalyan), who is pretty funny as Timmy in Rules of Engagement, is dull here as the rival for Valedictorian who is trying to bust these guys, but just can’t seem to pull it off. The whole thing is a mess and I don’t recommend it. I wanted to enjoy it, but the further it dragged on, the worse it got.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog