Ed's Review Dot Com

Columbia Pictures, Pariah,

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jamie Chung, Michael Shannon, Dania Ramirez, Aasif Mandvi, Aaron Tveit

Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a bike messenger in Manhattan, a very important, but sometimes thankless job delivering envelopes and packages around Manhattan quickly by bicycle. They cycle along at breakneck speed and dodge traffic, pedestrians, and all manner of obstacles along the way. But when he is given a package that is desperately wanted by corrupt NYPD detective it becomes a life and death chase through the streets of New York City.

This is an unusual little film. It’s kind of like the Fast and Furious type stories, but with bicycles. I didn’t that that would work, but it did on a certain level. Certainly not the greatest crime adventure action movie, it still has a great deal of action surprisingly. A bike rider has certain advantages when outrunning a car, even more than a motorcycle due to the small size, and Wilee uses all his skills to avoid this guy who won’t give up, all the while trying to figure out why he wants that delivery so fast. We do eventually get to find out what the delivery is for, and that’s a bit of a letdown. It’s not as exciting as it could have been, but at least it’s original. Unless you’re a Joseph Gordon-Levitt fan, of which I know there are a lot, or missing Manhattan very much, there is just not enough here for me to highly recommend it. I found it somewhat boring, and hard to keep up my interest in the story. To be honest, I didn’t really care if he delivered that package or not, I just wanted the movie to stop. Not a great film, but it has a niche audience that will probably enjoy it. I struggle to give it 3 stars, but I guess it’s just barely worth that.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Movie Rentals Releasing Tuesday November 5, 2013

• As I Lay Dying
• Broken
• Clear History
• Computer Chess
• The Fitzgerald Family Christmas
• Girl Most Likely
• Grown-ups 2
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey [Click Here for Ed’s Review]
• Lovelace
• Under the Dome
• Whitehouse Down
• Parkland

Summit Entertainment, OddLot Entertainment, Chartoff Productions,

Harrison Ford, Abigail Breslin, Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis, Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, Moises Arias, Aramis Knight

Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield) is the most promising of a bunch of teen warriors who are being trained to fight using the latest in video game equipment. Sent off the planet to a training facility the commander Colonel Graff(Harrison Ford) is banking on Ender to develop the skills to defeat the alien race that the humans barely defeated before, but who seem to be planning another invasion by the Formics who seem much better prepared this time. Ender could be humanity’s last resort, and either he’ll be ready in time to fight, or it will probably be the end of earth.

I have been waiting for Ender’s Game for a long, long time. Some time ago my sons clued me in on Scott Card’s excellent series of novels which start with Ender’s Game. I read all the books in the series, and they were all very interesting and unique science fiction books. Ender’s Game is a true sci-fi film which follows the book fairly well. Naturally some of the richness of the books has to be left behind to fit the story in the time frame. Additionally I got to see this on a true IMAX screen, one of the old ones that is enormous. The clarity of the film in true IMAX is unbelievable. I was mesmerized by the beauty of this movie. It was not a great role for Harrison Ford. He actually played it very well, but his character is so wishy-washy. He waffles between a hard nosed heartless monster and a kindly grandfather type person. It is a hard line to follow because these are just kids, but the future of the human race depends on them. Yet you can’t push them too hard because of their youthfulness. The adventure is great in this film with some excellent battle scenes, some of the best I’ve seen since the quiddich matches in the early Harry Potter films, or those in Tron. The story develops fast, and if you haven’t read the book, then the twist ending catches your breath. I would recommend you catch this film right away before you hear the ending. Not only do I recommend this movie, but I even recommend the books as well. This is the best science fiction I’ve heard in a long time.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Cine Plus, Lüthje & Schneider Filmproduktion, Das Kleine Fernsehspiel (ZDF),

Ulrich Thomsen, Wotan Wilke Möhring, Katrin Sass, Sebastian Blomberg, Burghart Klaussner, Karoline Eichhorn, Roeland Wiesnekker, Jule Böwe, Oliver Stokowski

Pia (Helene Doppler) was 11 years old when she was captured by a predator while riding her bike on a country road. He raped and killed her, then threw her body in a lake. 23 years later, a young girl named Sinikka (Anna-Lena Klenke) was killed in the same way in the same spot. The townsfolk have to face the same horrible crime again, and it seems everyone has a stake in it, the police, the families of the victims, and the perpetrators themselves. How can the same evil strike nearly a quarter century later?

This is a German language film, with English subtitles. It’s a very dark and suspenseful film, but very, very well done. The characters and the actors who play them are very good. The suspense is very high, and the crimes are not gory or lewd, but graphic enough to shock and stun the audience. Interestingly in today’s news they have announced that the category Pedophile is now going to be treated as another sexual preference just like Gay and Straight are today. It is ironic that I viewed this film about this taboo subject today. As you may have noticed, there are hundreds of reviews out there of the latest blockbuster film, and though I will write those as I see them, I tend to search for out of the mainstream smaller, and more likely overlooked films to view and review. This is certainly out of the mainstream. But with it’s recent release on DVD in the U.S. you may be hearing more about this little film. Horrible as the crimes are, this is a truthful, straight in the eye, unflinching look at the perpetrators, and the families of those affected. Likewise, it’s a view into the police force that is not happy about having to deal with this, but forced to look at it in detail. With differing personalities, each person wants to deal with this in a different way. If you have the stomach to look at this time of crime, this is very nicely done. It’s not rated, as it’s a foreign film, but it certainly wouldn’t be less than an R rating in the U.S. market. Except for the total frontal nudity of an older heavyset man going swimming, there is no real nudity in the film. But the shock value is in the behavior and attitudes of the people in the film. I was touched by this story, and was glad I was able to see this movie, disturbing as it is.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

StudioCanal, Anton Capital Entertainment (ACE), Starcrossed Films,

Rose Byrne, Rafe Spall, Anna Faris, Simon Baker, Stephen Merchant, Minnie Driver, Jason Flemyng, Jane Asher, Terence Harvey, Nigel Planer

Nat (Rose Byrne) and Josh (Rafe Spall) are newlyweds. They have a true fairy tale wedding and start off with high hopes, but their marriage starts to crumble almost immediately. Both insist on making a go at it, but both are tempted by others. As the one year anniversary arrives, they decide to stay together, but it’s questionable as to whether they will make it or if one, or both of them will blow it as the grass is always greener on the other side.

This is a cleverly done romantic comedy about coincidence and definitely about star-crossed lovers, that’s for sure. Do we have the right to go after real happiness, or should we stick with what we have committed to, and make the best of our promises. That’s the whole subject here, and though it’s a serious premise, it’s done with a lot of humor and fun. There are so many other good actors in this film, and that adds a lot to the story as well. It’s actually a fairly clever film, and a good chick flick for sure. Here Anna Faris gives us one of her most serious performances to date. This is a far cry from the silly “Scary Movie”, “Yogi Bear”, and “House Bunny” roles. She’s very good. All in all, this is not a ground breaking blockbuster event, but it’s a nice little romantic comedy with enough cerebral matter to hold it together. The only problem I had is that the English accent is a bit hard to follow sometimes, even for an old Monty Python fan such as myself, but turn on the subtitles as they swallow a lot of their lines. Aside from that it’s not a bad job at all, actually, and if you’re in the mood for a decent romantic-comedy, you can do far worse than “I Give It a Year”.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog