Ed's Review Dot Com

Apaches Entertainment, Telecinco Cinema, Mediaset España,

Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor, Tom Holland, Samuel Joslin, Oaklee Pendergast, Marta Etura, Sonke Mohring

This is the story of a regular family, Maria (Naomi Watts) and Henry (Ewan McGregor) and their three sons, who are on a vacation to Thailand at Christmas of 2004. They were happy to get upgraded to a beachfront villa at the Orchid when the huge tsunami hits. The family is by the pool, and they all are swept away. Maria and her oldest son, Lucas (Tom Holland) survive by holding on to a log floating by, but Maria is seriously injured and there is no sign of Dad or the other two boys. Trying to survive, and to find the rest of the family is the main goal of Lucas as he does his best to help others while watching out for his Mom. This is an exciting true story of the 2004 tsunami and the horrible damage it caused, while showing the best of humanity in trying to help each other survive.

This is a very realistic movie, and a real tear jerker. The events are really impressive considering there was not a big budget for this Spanish film. The producers purposely chose to use real effects instead of CGI, which is a great choice, in my opinion. As stated by the actors on the special features, at times they were totally beaten around, hurt, and scared half to death, as the effects were done with tons of water being dumped on them! This adds a lot to the realism of the film. I can’t attest to the accuracy of all the events, but they swear it’s a true story. What transcends the family, though is all the chaos and mayhem around them. This is the story of all the survivors. Additionally, a brilliant idea from the producers was to use real survivors as most of the extras in the film. They lived through it, so knew exactly how it happened. For example, there is a little boy named “Daniel” in the film who is reunited with his father. Supposedly the father in the film is the real little boy’s father (although the boy was named Johan) and he is reacting to what happened to him in real life when he was reunited with his own son. The emotions are certainly played with, and this is a really sad and tragic story, but it’s well done, and very realistic considering what they had to work with. The real star of the film is Lucas, and there have been a wide range of reviews of his performance, all the way from wooden and stiff to academy award level. I feel he did a pretty good job. Actor Tom Holland is certainly older than the role he was portraying, as if often the case (Ralph Macchio anyone?), but he realistically plays a young man in a horrible situation. Yes, he’s not real animated, but at the same time, he’s playing someone who’s been through a horrible ordeal and he’s watching the carnage all around him. He would be in shock himself, and I can’t imagine how the real young man would react in that situation. So for the role he’s playing, I think he did a really good job. This is really his story.

This is a stunning film, and one that will truly touch you, so I think it really deserving of a lot of attention. The worldwide audience was pretty decent for this film, and it seems like only in the US, did this pretty much get ignored. I really hope it has a resurgence in Video form, and that the word will get out that this is an excellent film and one that ought to be seen. I highly recommend it, but don’t put the little kids through this. The realism will be too much for them. The PG-13 rating is pretty accurate as younger children will probably be frightened at the realistic portrayal of the tsunami.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Apatow Productions, Forty Productions,

Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Megan Fox, Albert Brooks, Jason Segel, John Lithgow, Robert Smigel, Maude Apatow, Iris Apatow, Annie Mumolo, Charlyne Yi, Tatum O’Neal

Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann) are turning 40, and Debbie is especially against the idea so she resorts to lying about her age. The two are growing apart, and are having all kinds of challenges with each other, while trying to deal with two teenage daughters and a father who wants to be close to borrow money all the time, and a father who is estranged and now finally trying to come back into life. Financial problem, in-law problems, child problems, and relationship problems abound in this funny “coming of old-age” film by Judd Apatow, as a “sort of” sequel to Knocked Up.

This is a film that may bore the crap out of young people who never plan on becoming old someday, but will strike fear into those who are approaching 40 and bring back fond memories of those who have long passed the half century mark. This is a funny film with gag after gag, and although Paul Rudd can be really annoying sometimes, it works for this film. You can see why Debbie is going nuts trying to deal with him, but she’s far from perfect either. A comedy romance, heavy on the comedy, and light on the romance, we know these two really love each other, but have just forgotten how to with all the day to day strife and problems. This rings so many bells for me, that I can see myself in this thing over and over again. It’s like a biography of all married couples. The humor is somewhat raunchy, but it’s adult fare. It’s not disgusting or gross at all, but it is about turning 40 after all, so the kids probably won’t be interested anyway. But for those of us old people, it was a really funny film, and a great rental for a nice relaxing evening at home. With the other cast members like Megan Fox, Jason Segal, Albert Brooks, Melissa McCarthy, Annie Mumolo, John Ligthgow, and more, the laughs really pile up. This is a good comedy.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Movie Rentals Releasing Tuesday April 23, 2013

• Any Day Now
• The Central Park Five
• Deep Dark Canyon
• Gangster Squad
• A Haunted House
• The Impossible
• It’s in the Blood

New Line Cinema, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), WingNut Films,

Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Andy Serkis

Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) is old, and speaking with Frodo. Bilbo explains that everything he told Frodo was the truth, but that there were some things that he did not tell him. Then he begins to tell the story of how it all began. It began with a meeting with Gandalf and a mismatched group of unlikely heroes that appeared at Bilbo’s home to discus and upcoming adventure, one that Bilbo is very opposed to even undertaking. The Hobbit, the story of Bilbo and the prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy was written long after the other books, but is a fitting prequel to the tales of middle earth. In this first installment, the team gets started on their journey, and Bilbo gets separated, and in the process meets Gollum and begins a battle of wits with him, nearly becoming his lunch. The Hobbit has been broken into pieces and this is the first of a proposed trilogy of a story that is surely rich and deep enough to have plenty of adventures to come.

This is a beautiful film! The Lord of the Rings was an epic trilogy, but I have always loved “The Hobbit” much more than the other books. That comes out in this story which is much easier to follow (in my humble opinion) than the LOTR series. The original actors are back, and the origins and secrets of Gollum is worth watching this film by itself. Bilbo’s experience with him under the lonely mountain is epic. There are some truly epic battles, and the technology is superior. But it’s all about the story, and this story is one of the greatest ever written. It looks and sound stunning, but the story sucks you in right from the start. It was great to see the scenes come to life that came from the pages of a book. This was a definite 5 star film and should not be missed.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Universal Pictures, Chernin Entertainment, Ironhead Studios,

Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau , Melissa Leo, Zoe Bell, Andrea Riseborough, James Rawlings

Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) is a repairman taking care of the drones that defend the power stations that support life after the apocalypse. It’s the future and the wars have devastated the Earth. All the survivors were taken to Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, and the only one with a dense atmosphere. It’s 2077 and Jack and his partner Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) are finishing up there term as the mop up crew, keeping the machines running. But there is some kind of survivor creatures running around trying to sabotage the entire operation and Jack is having dreams and memories of places he doesn’t know and people he can’t remember. Jack is driven to find the truth in this latest blockbuster Tom Cruise Sci-Fi film.

First of all, I broke the bank and went to see this baby on the day after payday at the ETX theater. This means HUGE wall to wall, extremely high def digital projection, and 360 degree surround sound with speakers all over the ceiling from front to back. The picture was beautiful, and the sound was pretty awesome. The soundtrack music is a bit strange and the constant tones over our heads and echoing around the sides was a tiny bit annoying, but the explosions and dialog was fantastic. There are several locations in the film that are stunningly beautiful and the deserts and wastelands are extremely dreary and barren. The cinematography is excellent, and even Tom Cruise does a good job in his role. This is one of the best Cruise films in a long time. The story is a mish-mash of tributes a dozen other sci films. There isn’t much new anymore, so they take bits and pieces of great sci-fi films from 2001 A Space Odyssey, all the way to Wall-E and lots more in between. But at the same time, the action is non-stop and the story has enough twist and surprises to keep it fresh. Nobody’s put all the pieces together this way before. Though a tribute to the greatest sci-fi work, it’s somehow an original story. This was an exciting evening, and a pretty decent film. I suspect it will do very well. It was well worth the extra fee for the ETX showing.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog