Ed's Review Dot Com

Animus Films, Eclectic Pictures, Millennium Films,

Amanda Seyfried, Peter Sarsgaard, Chris Noth, Hank Azaria, Bobby Cannavale, Sharon Stone, Robert Patrick, Adam Brody, Juno Temple, James Franco, Eric Roberts

Obviously based on the 1980 autobiography, Ordeal, this is the story of Linda Lovelace (Amanda Seyfried) and her life, mostly in her short lived porn career. Linda was married to Chuck Traynor (Peter Sarsgaard) who allegedly abused her, forced her into prostitution and a porn career. Linda grew up in a highly religious and very strict home, and once she got out she went a bit overboard. She later made lots of claims that this movie investigates. A dramatized documentary of her life is what we have here. It’s debatable whether it’s all true or not, but it is her side of the story. No doubt, she did live a difficult life, that’s for sure.

This is not a really great documentary. I suspect it went through a lot of difficulty before it got made, and though there’s some big names in it, I’m not sure it’s really all that accurate. It’s titillating for sure, and the Deep Throat phenomenon was a really big deal at the time when it came out. I know everyone was talking about it, and since I was just a youngster at the time, I knew about it, but didn’t really know what it was all about. I still have never seen the film, as it’s probably so dated now that everyone’s pretty much talking about it. Porn was really back room stuff in those days, and this was the first film that ever made it into mainstream culture. People from all levels of society were talking about this film, but though the porn moguls (mostly really slimy guys) thought that they were going to break into the mainstream, it never happened. The public quickly figured out that there was no worthwhile story involved, and the hard to watch stuff got really old really fast. Once they’ve seen it, there was nothing new. Though they tried to top themselves, they quickly got turned by quick profits and shoddy product. There wasn’t a market for explicit mainstream films, and if anything, American films have gotten tamer rather than racier in recent years. Filmmakers quickly learned that X, NC-17, and many times even R ratings will kill a movie’s profits. They cut and cut to get a PG-13 at all costs. This movie is not really about the movie, it’s about the weird relationship of Linda herself, and it left me feeling like I was watching that Dorothy Stratten movie and I expected Chuck to kill her in the end. But this doesn’t go to the end. It pretty much ends with Linda’s foray into feminist anti-porn. All in all I didn’t find this film very interesting, and I am pretty sure this will be a curiosity movie that ends up in the 99 cent store bargain bin. This is a bit of a train wreck, just like her life was, so we should have someone standing outside saying “Move along, move along, there’s nothing to see here, move along!”

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Green Hat Films, Legendary Pictures,

Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, Justin Bartha, Heather Graham, Jamie Chung

After Alan (Zach Galifianakis)’s dad dies, the family decides to pull an intervention as he’s off his meds and acting crazy. The Wolf Pack decides to drive him out to the facility, but are kidnapped by Marshall (John Goodman) who is after Chow (Ken Jeong) who ripped off Marshall. A nice drive to Palm Springs turns into another adventure in this third installment of the Wolf Pack.

The Hangover films are really funny. There’s no doubt that it’s running out of steam, and this one is not as good as the others. But it’s still pretty funny. The characters are really well developed by now, and so they can play their parts seamlessly. John Goodman was an interesting bad guy. He’s on one side, absolutely brutal, and at the next second, being kind and forgiving. Chow is off the chain now. He’s been getting crazier as each film goes on, and in this one, he’s nuts! Alan, on the other hand, gets a chance to grow up in this one, and calm himself down a little bit. These guys get in trouble quicker than any group I’ve seen, and there’s certainly lots of challenges here. This is much more of a cops and robbers film though, and until the ending, some of the familiar stuff is missing. This is not as great as the previous, but it’s still well worth watching, especially if you missed it in the theater and have a chance to catch it on DVD. If you’ve seen the other two, then you have to watch this one. You gotta know the rest of the story.

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Columbia Pictures, Happy Madison Productions, Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE),

Adam Sandler, Taylor Lautner, Steve Buscemi, Salma Hayek, Maria Bello, Milo Ventimiglia, Kevin James, Andy Samberg, Chris Rock, Maya Rudolph, David Spade

Lenny (Adam Sandler) moved to Hollywood and became a big talent agent, but he grew tired of the rat race and decided he wanted to bring his kids back home to grow up in the town where he grew up. But he also wanted to see his friends and their kids. They had a big weekend 3 years ago, and Lenny misses them. So he moves back and plans a little get-together for his buddies but naturally everything gets out of hand. Everything seems to go awry with this bunch every time they get together, and this one is no different in this sequel to the original Grown-Ups.

This movie is pretty funny. This is, of course, Adam Sandler’s version of Hangover where the good old boys who never grew up get together and lose their minds. It’s a similar plot, but this series is nice in a way, as there is also really good talent here, and it’s more down home and friendly compared to the rat race of Las Vegas. The guys are really friends, and stick up for each other, but they are just so incompetent that it’s funny to see how it all goes wrong. Whether it hits the mark or not depends on your own preference. Talk to different people and some will swear this is much funnier than the original and the funniest movie they’ve seen, where other don’t get the slapstick and crude humor and find it a bore. Personally I enjoyed it, but I like these guys. I can agree that it’s not quite as good as the first film, but there are some advantages. We know the characters now, and so they don’t have to spend so much time getting us into who they are. So they get to the humor quickly. Several people really stand out. Salma Hayek is hysterical playing Lenny’s wife, as she does the “foreign chick” so well (much like Sophia Vegara in Modern Family) and he rarely knows what she’s saying to him. Steve Buscemi is hysterical in his role as well. He plays the creepy maniac guy so much, that it was refreshing to see him having a blast playing a quirky (of course) guy who is amused by everything. He was really funny and stood out. Kevin James, Chris Rock, and David Spade all have great moments. Kevin James has to try to do Zach Galifianakis, which he just isn’t as good as, but he tries really hard and is really funny in this film. I enjoyed the humor, though obviously juvenile as any other Sandler movie, but the added depth of the guy’s families made it a lot of fun. Then, of course, there’s Taylor Lautner and his gang of loser college frat boys who think they’re tough, but just go to a small town college. All in all well worth the rental, and if you’re a fan of the first, you’ll no doubt enjoy it a lot.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Film Harvest,

Jess Weixler, Jesse Eisenberg, Jason Ritter, Halley Feiffer, Tippi Hedren, Keir O’Donnell, Jocelin Donahue, Whitney Able, Eben Kostbar, Jordan Davis

Jillian (Jess Weixler) is a lost soul. She dropped out of law school and moved to Los Angeles where she has nothing to do. She wants to try to be an artist, but never actually does anything. Her friend Nancy (Halley Feiffer) has a job handing out “Free Samples” from an ice cream truck, but she asks Jillian to help her out for just a couple hours while she runs an errand. Jillian reluctantly agrees, and the movie spends the day with her running the truck, meeting quirky people like a tired and lonely big screen star played by Tippi Hedren, and a young guy Tex (Jesse Eisenberg) who really seems interested in her and tries to help her sort out her issues. This is one of the simple little indy films that really works.

I have to say I was completely surprised by this film. It sounded horrible, but it really wasn’t. Jess Weixler really nailed this role, and it was so much more interesting than some other “lost in LA” films I have seen. Her angst came over really well, and her sudden friendship with the movie lady was touching. At the depth of her depression she goes to visit her, and that scene is the best in the film. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised. Remember, this whole film takes place in one single day inside a food truck. It should have been very boring, but it never was, cause the humor was so fresh and unexpected. I really enjoyed this, so if you like great character development and a fresh and rich story, this is a really good film. I would recommend this, as a really unique experience. I really enjoyed watching this film.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Voltage Pictures, Picture Perfect (I), Worldview Entertainment,

Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Juno Temple, Gina Gershon, Thomas Haden Church, Scott A. Martin, Gralen Bryant Banks, Carol Sutton, Danny Epper, Jeff Galpin

Chris Smith (Emile Hirsch) is a texas drug dealer who is in serious financial trouble. He is estranged from his Mom who left them, and lives with his Dad, Ansel (Thomas Haden Church) and his sister Dottie (Juno Temple) and Dad’s new sweetie/wife Sharla (Gina Gershon). Since no one is a fan of Mama, and because she has a large life insurance policy they come up with the idea of hiring a killer, Joe Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) who is also a police detective. What follows is a laughable but extremely graphic screw up, which just gets worse and worse and worse.

Look at the talent in this movie! Why did any of them sign on to this? Well, here goes. First of all, it’s supposed to be funny, like hysterically funny. But though it is ridiculous, it’s not all that funny. Then, to top it off, it’s gross. This is the NC-17 version of “Raising Hope” with the lowest denominator of humanity, like watching a “Too Hot for TV – Jerry Springer” DVD. The story is stupid, but with this stupid family, why not? Killer Joe is an imbecile too, although a little bit of power and control keeps him a step above everybody, but he a worthless human being like the rest of them. Then like a dirty Tarantino film, it’s got gore and some really graphic scenes that will definitely make you look away. It doesn’t really show anything really, but still it’s so graphic in it’s appearance that it’s really, really hard to watch. This is definitely a niche film that will have it’s fans who love goth horror sex done as crassly as possible, but for the mainstream movie audience, there’s just no reason to sit through this. It’s about the quality of a Machete film, but at least those have a story and are lots of fun. With Machete and Kill Bill as a comparison, this film is not even close to any of the real Tarantino films. Full of graphic scenes and horrible violence, this is definitely one for most of us to avoid like the plague. I can see why the actors could have done this as a diversion. It must have been fun to film, but it’s not much fun to watch.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

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