Ed's Review Dot Com

Relativity Media, Virgin Produced, GreeneStreet Films,

Kate Winslet, Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Naomi Watts, Jeremy Allen White, Anna Faris, Chris Pratt, Kieran Culkin, Emma Stone, Jason Sudeikis, Justin Long, Leslie Bibb, Uma Thurman, Kristen Bell, Bobby Cannavale, John Hodgman, Halle Berry, Seann William Scott, Elizabeth Banks, Stephen Merchant, Nicole Polizzi, Johnny Knoxville, Richard Gere, Jack McBrayer, Kate Bosworth, Gerard Butler, Terrence Howard, Chloë Grace Moretz, Josh Duhamel

Charlie Wessler (Dennis Quaid) is a washed up producer who is going nowhere. He weasels his way onto the studio lot to pitch his latest idea for a blockbuster Hollywood film to producer Griffin Schraeder (Greg Kinnear). Unfortunately it is a series of extremely inappropriate sketches. This movie is basically a really far out series of unrelated stores tied together with the efforts Charlie makes to get his idea turned into a movie at all costs, even at gunpoint with hostages if necessary in this hilarious star studded off-the-wall comedy.

Outrageous is an understatement for this film. The sketches are the most inappropriate stuff you have ever seen. This movie has it’s roots in the classic 1977 “Kentucky Fried Movie” but rather than just being short sketches, this one ties it all together with Dennis Quaid’s efforts to get this piece of crap made, even though Greg Kinnear is going to do everything possible to make sure that doesn’t happen. What happens is a series of extremely funny bits with a TON of major stars. I don’t know how they talked all these people into being in this crazy film, but it must have been a real blast making it. It gets so out of hand, and goes where no film has gone before. I really enjoyed the craziness of this film. It is really out there. You have to be able to deal with the gross subject matter as nothing is off limits, and it’s really nasty sometimes, but the outrageousness of it is what makes it really funny. If you remember Kentucky Fried Movie, and if you enjoyed that, then you’re sure to crack up over this one.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Herzog & Company, Scott Free Productions,

Tom Hanks, Regen Wilson, Billy Campbell, Jesse Johnson, Geraldine Hughes, Graham Beckel, Shawn Pyfrom, Greg Cooper, Andrew Collie, Jeremy Ambler, Joe Inscoe

This documentary, based on the book by Bill O’Reilly, tells the story of the conspiracy and the execution of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States. This movie narrated by Tom Hanks, mixes the most accurate information about the events, as well as a stunning recreation of them.

There are basically two ways of doing a documentary. One is by telling the story, showing the information, interviewing people, and presenting photographs and data. The other is to act out the story with actors and deliver the story by acting it out. This docudrama, as Bill calls it, absolutely mixes the best of both worlds. Too much talking and narration, even by someone as fantastic as Tom Hanks, can really bog down and make the most exciting story boring. Likewise, if you try to recreate everything, it’s very easy to mix fiction into the story. The way they did this story is really a fantastic mix of both styles. This made it a very interesting story. But also, there is one more thing that added a lot to this film. The book insisted on verifying every fact. There are so many stories and anecdotes that are very hard to prove (and some that are easy to disprove). There are other events that were claimed to be true, but there was no way to absolutely verify it, as there were no other witnesses. Everything like that was left out of this story. Everything that is here is absolutely accurate. There is a special feature interview that discusses the problems in verifying some of the facts that had to be left out. Tom Hanks narration is fantastic, and limited, and the recreations are especially well done. It was clear the book was crafted very carefully with attention to every detail, and the film followed the same mantra, and this is guaranteed to be the most accurate and factual account of the death of Abraham Lincoln that you will ever see. The timing is great with last years Lincoln blockbuster. Watch that one, then follow it up with this one for “the rest of the story”. I gained a greater respect for both Lincoln, as well as O’Reilly and Hanks. Great job, everyone. Best documentary I’ve seen in a long, long time.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Movie Rentals Releasing Tuesday September 17, 2013

• Behind the Candelabra
• The Bling Ring
• Disconnect
• The East
• Scenic Route
• Somebody Up There Likes Me
• World War Z

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, TSG Entertainment, Giant Pictures,

Bruce Willis, Jai Courtney, Sebastian Koch, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Cole Hauser, Amaury Nolasco, Yuliya Snigir, Radivoje Bukvic

John McClane (Bruce Willis) travels to Russia to rescue his son who seems to have lost his way and gotten into some serious trouble. But Jack (Jai Courtney) is actually a CIA deep undercover and doesn’t appreciate his Dad interfering. But when the two of them realize that the entire Russian mafia is after them, and what they’ve discovered, they soon find that though they are opposite in style, they may be only pair who can stop the underworld and end the war that seems to be coming.

This is another of those movies that just didn’t need to be made. It wasn’t horrible, but Bruce Willis is not the same guy he was back in 1988. He’s old now. The first Die Hard was an awesome film.
It was followed by sequels that were not as good, but not horrible. This one is definitely the weakest of all. The script is not very good. It’s rushed, and there is very little dialog and no character development. We don’t get any background on what has been going on in the last 25 years. Everything just seems to jump from action/battle to action/battle. If you’re a fan of pure action, with little story and little background, then this does have a tremendous amount of action alright, but the script seemed just too rushed. I am not sure if it’s the writer or the director, or both who are at fault here, but I just felt that they could have done much, much better with this. But much like the last Indiana Jones movie that didn’t do much for anyone, they killed this franchise for good with this one I’m afraid. This is the first time John has been out of the country, and the patriotism angle of the other films was a lot of the story. It was definitely us against them, and good old fashioned flag wagging counter terrorism by a bad ass American hero. But this time we’re on Russian soil, and though the danger of harm is great, they’re starting a war, for heavens sake, we don’t get the same emotion that we got from the earlier films in this series. I think Bruce needs to hang up the action hero stuff and act his age. He’s a decent actor and has been in some great films, but this was simply not necessary. I didn’t hate this. I just was not very excited about it at all. When it was over, at least it was quick, I felt really hollow and disappointed. Skip this one unless you’re a fan of non-stop meaningless action and violence.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Paramount Pictures, Skydance Productions, Bad Robot,

Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Benedict Cumberbatch, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Peter Weller, Alice Eve, Bruce Greenwood

Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) are back aboard the Enterprise. There is a threat facing all civilization. An army of superior beings has been cryogenic-ally stored upon the Enterprise with their knowledge, but the leader of this army has been awakened for the evil purposes of one man. This leader of the superior army is none other than Khan. But Kirk and Spock don’t know whether to trust him or not, until they confer with the future Spock who warns them that Khan is the most evil being in the universe. Khan will use all his tricks to try to destroy the Enterprise and everyone on it to get his army back. This is a sequel to the 2009 Star Trek and continues the story of the early days of the crew.

This is a high energy, high adventure story. From start to finish there is tension and non-stop action. Khan is one of the greatest of all villains ever, and he lives up to his early potential here. The photography is stunning, especially the battles in outer space, and it’s fun to see the crew as young people, but with the traits that we will know and love later. One advantage to a prequel/sequel is that we get to build off what happened in the first one, but still enjoy the knowledge of what will be coming in the future. This is a very well made story, and every fan of Star Trek ought to make sure to see this one. It wasn’t as huge in the theater as the first one was, but it’s very good, and if you happened to miss it, be sure to watch it now on DVD, now that it’s available. Great movie!

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog