Ed's Review Dot Com

Burn Later Productions,

Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick, Ron Livingston, Ti West, Jason Sudeikis, Mike Brune, Frank V. Ross

Luke (Jake Johnson) and Kate (Olivia Wilde) are co-workers in a brewery. They spend their days drinking beer and flirting with one another Though sparks fly, both of them are in serious other relationships, but when the spend the weekend together with both significant others at a lakeside retreat, things really get out of hand in this romantic comedy.

This is an interesting concept for a film, but unfortunately it wasn’t an extremely clever script. As a result, it kind of falls flat. There is a good cast of really good actors, but they can only work with what they’re given. I have heard people defend this movie as “real life” and that may be exactly the problem. Sometimes real life is kind of boring. You need a little creative writing to make it sparkle. This film just doesn’t sparkle. It’s not that funny, not that engrossing, and though they do carry of the job of getting us to know a little about the characters, nothing really exciting happens and it just kind of sits there. I can’t help but think that with a better script they could have pulled of a much better film. But it is what it is. There are some who really enjoyed it, but I didn’t find it worth the effort.

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Image Now Films, Fantastic Films, Passion Pictures,

Christine Barnes, Hoselito Bite, Marco Confortola, Pat Falvey, Niall Foley, Stefan Grossniklaus, Pasang Lama, Tshering Lama, J.J. McDonnell

This dramatized documentary tells the story of the deadliest day in mountaineering history when 11 people were killed on K2, arguably the most dangerous mountain in the world. It uses a combination of photographs and archival footage mixed with re-enactments to give users the sense of being there as it happened.

This is a good documentary about the dangers of mountain climbing. It also explains some of the written and unwritten codes of climbing. It’s a very strange and hostile environment up there, and things have to work a lot differently up in the high altitudes. It’s easy for a healthy person to die in a few minutes up there. This is an interesting documentary, and I really enjoyed it. However it’s definitely not the best mountain disaster film that I’ve ever seen. Jon Krakauer’s book “Into Thin Air” was a book that thrilled me to the core. The movie version of the book, Into Thin Air: Death on Everest is a made for TV movie that is really excellent. Though not as good as the book, the movie is more enthralling than this one, although this was a much costlier day on the mountain. Into Thin Air: Death on Everest is available on NetFlix streaming. I would recommend that one as well if you are interested in the subject. But I’m talking about this movie, and it is very well done. The mix of re-enactments and archival footage gives you a real feel into the day on K2 and what really happened. Suspenseful and edge of your seat excitement, and a true story. I really enjoyed this story, and if you have any interest in the subject of high altitude mountain climbing, both of these are good films.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Infinity Media, Upload Films,

Dallas Roberts, Alison Eastwood, Anne Dudek, Mattie Liptak, Mariah Bonner, Christopher Berry, Jonathan Baron, Tony Schiena

Charlie Crowe (Dallas Roberts) is a failing late night radio talk show radio host who talks with a mysterious stranger telling him that he is seeing people who appear as shadows. When the young man turns up dead, everyone thinks Charlie is just looking to improve ratings. But as he goes forward in investigating this phenomenon, he finds a lot of evidence that the shadow people may just be for real.

This is not a very good horror film. It’s got some suspense and the thing is somewhat creepy. On the other hand, there’s no spectacular acting going on here, and the cinematography leaves something to be desired. There are times when dark settings add to the creepiness, but this film is so poorly lighted that it’s very hard to see what’s going on most of the time. Then there’s the fact that they keep throwing in what appears to be actual documentary footage. This confuses the heck out of you. Not extremely scary, with no real enemy, and it does resort to the “this is based on reality” ticket when we all know it’s completely made up. There’s no way this is in the least based on real events. It’s not got enough going for it to make me recommend it, so I’d say if you’re looking for horror, you better look somewhere else.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Movie Rentals Releasing Tuesday April 1, 2014

• 47 Ronin
• Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
• At Middleton
• The Bag Man
• Knights of Badassdom
• The Little Rascals Save the Day
• The Pirate Fairy
• Seal Team 8: Behind Enemy Lines