Ed's Review Dot Com

Lionsgate, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, Lakeshore Entertainment,

Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, Alan Arkin, Julianna Margulies, Mark Margolis, Lucy Punch, Addison Timlin, Vanessa Ferlito, Katheryn Winnick, Bill Burr

Valentine (Al Pacino) has been released from prison, and old time pal Doc (Christopher Walken) is there to pick him, take him home, and let him stay with him. These guys are old, but had lots of adventures back in the day, and their lock picking and gun slinging skills are still fresh. They break into the nursing home to bust out their 3rd partner, Hirsch (Alan Arkin) and the gang is back together. They’re not looking for trouble, but trouble just seems to jump out of the shadows and kick them in the butt.

I have to say, I really enjoyed this film. Pacino and Walken carry most of it, but the little bit Arkin is in is really great too. These guys are funny, and especially Val (Pacino) who is out of control, completely. There’s a lot more going on than just a old geezer gangster pic, but at the surface that’s what it really is. Doc has a couple big conflicts going on with someone who needs to know the truth, and with a very unpleasant task that he has to do no matter how much he hates it. Val is a real friend, and like a huge kid who’s always in trouble, he’s got a good heart, and he really wants to help Doc through his problems. There are some other good roles and good actors. There’s many layers to this film, and I was really surprised at the depth of the story. Kudos to the screenwriters as well, as the script is certainly beefy enough for these guys to chew on. I was disappointed in some of the more recent Pacino films, and this one was something he could certainly bring his A game into and it was a very good outing for him. Basically, I really enjoyed watching this film, and if you’re interested for some senior citizen comedy and action, you’re sure to enjoy this too, I think.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Movie Rentals Releasing Tuesday May 21, 2013

• Beautiful Creatures
• The Last Stand
• Love Sick Love
• My Neighbor Totoro
• Parker
• Stand Up Guy

Leatherface Productions, Lionsgate, Mainline Pictures,

Alexandra Daddario, Tania Raymonde, Scott Eastwood, Dan Yeager, Trey Songz, Shaun Sipos, Keram Malicki-Sanchez, James MacDonald, Thom Barry, Paul Rae, Richard Riehle, Bill Moseley

In 1974 there was a massacre at the Sawyer property and a bunch of young people were murdered. The townsfolk suspected the Sawyer family was responsible, and the sheriff was out to get them to surrender, when a rowdy group of townspeople arrived and burned down the property and they thought they killed all the Sawyers. But a few survived, including mentally challenged Jedidiah Sawyer, aka Leatherface (Dan Yeager). Meanwhile, Heather Miller (Alexandra Daddario) receives a letter informing her that she has inherited a mansion in Texas from her Aunt who just passed away. Heather did not know she had been adopted, and when her parents refused to give her any information about her birth parents, she and her friends decide to take a side trip on their road trip to New Orleans and stop and check out her inheritance and to see what she can find out about her mysterious birth parents.

This is a sequel to the 1974 film Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It gives us the background story on the original massacre, along with a lot of follow-up information on what has happened to the original people. But most of all, it gives a really classy horror film. Yeah, Leatherface has been done to death, it seems, but of all the follow-up films, I’ve certainly enjoyed this one the best. It seems Lion’s Gate has done a master job of putting out some great horror films in recent years. This has all of it, dark spooky scenery, sudden jumps and surprises, tons of tension and suspense, and certainly a whole lot of gore. I haven’t seen a good slasher film like this in a long time. It is a very good film, and if you’re a horror fan, you should check this one out.

I didn’t get to see it in 3D, but that didn’t seem to take any of the terror out of the film for me. I didn’t see lots of those obvious 3D gimmicks, and I soon forgot it was even originally in 3D. But my wife and I did scream out loud a little several times. Enjoy it.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Paramount Pictures, Skydance Productions, Michaels-Goldwyn

Barbra Streisand, Seth Rogen, Adam Scott, Colin Hanks, Kathy Najimy, Nora Dunn, Ari Graynor, Casey Wilson

Andy Brewster (Seth Rogan) is an inventor, and has just come up with a great organic cleanser, but he’s struggling to get it recognized in the marketplace. He’s also saddled with a bit of a Mom (Barbra Streisand) who’s got a habit of going just a little too far most of the time. She loves her son, and is very proud of him, but gets them into some situations that would make Lucy Ricardo blush. You can always expect something inappropriate to pop out of her mouth at any time. Joyce is convinced her son is a genius and highly successful, but he’s struggling. Mom has a great idea for how to demonstrate the product, but Andy won’t listen. He starts off on a road trip, cross country, to try to convince large store chains to carry his product, but with an ulterior motive to have his Mom reunite with a lost love who could be the Dad he’s been looking for for all his life. So with Mom in tow, these two head off on a cross country journey reminiscent of “National Lampoon’s Family Vacation”. It’s one disaster after another for these two until they reach the West Coast to reveal his real reason for the journey.

This is a fairly decent film. I think Paramount missed the boat in the way they pushed it to the public though, and I believe this is the reason that it did not do nearly as well as it should have. That being said, It’s well worth catching this one on DVD for a simple evening at home. The film came off as a rip-roaring, outrageous, comedy with gag after gag, in a non-stop laugh fest. Though it has really funny sequences, the strength of the film is not in the “rolling in the aisle” humor, but much more with the depth and beauty of this Mother-Son relationship. When you’re dealing with the talent and experience of a Barbra Streisand, she does much more than just silly jokes! Fortunately, the writers and directors knew the depth of the family relationship and wrote it very, very well (unlike, for example in Meet the Fockers, where Barbra and Dustin were totally wasted in cartoon roles setting up underhand joke pitches for DeNiro and Ben Stiller), Barbra builds a character that we really like, and get very involved in. Likewise Seth is much better in this movie than in many of the roles I’ve seen him in. He too is a frustrated young man who misses not having a father, knows he developed a great product, but can’t get anyone to listen to him, and is struggling to get along with Mom who believes he is so great, that he can’t live up to it, but yet puts him in one embarrassing moment after another. I would hope that if they would have stressed the character relationship part of this film, rather than trying to pass it off as another Hangover movie, it would have gotten stronger legs. But I’m here to say, that since you missed it in the theater (everyone did), be sure to take the chance to see it on DVD now, and I bet you’ll enjoy both the strong comedy that this pair can perform along with a lot deeper feeling and caring for these characters that just makes the movie better. I feel that this is one that is worth watching.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Movie Rentals Releasing Tuesday May 14, 2012

• Back to 1942
• Beware of Mr. Baker
• Cloud Atlas
• Frankie Go Boom
• A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III
• Texas Chainsaw