Ed's Review Dot Com

Mulmur Feed Co. Production, Mulmur Feed Company,

James Cromwell, Geneviève Bujold, Campbell Scott, Julie Stewart, Rick Roberts, George R. Robertson, Barbara Gordon, Jonathan Potts, Zachary Bennett

Craig Morrison (James Cromwell) and his wife Irene (Genevieve Bujold) have lived decades in a small seacoast town in New Brunswick, Canada. He loves baseball, fishing, farming, and lumbering, not to mention that he was taught building by his father from the time he was a child. Irene is starting to show signs of dementia and the onset of Alzheimer’s. She’s getting really forgetful, and the things she does is getting dangerous to herself and others. When she falls down the stairs of their two story farm house, Craig has had enough, and decides to make some lumber in his mill, and build a brand new small one story house on their property. With only a vision in mind, and a lifetime of building experience he sets out to build a new home for them, but he is convinced that he needs a permit, which needs plans in advance to be checked by the town building committee. Craig’s children want them to go after more standard care for the elderly in an assisted living situation, but Craig is set on his plan to live at home. Though he can build a house far superior to the requirements, Craig is pushed to the limit by this over zealous building inspector until the government is ready to bulldoze his home and he finds himself in court.

I was deeply touched by this movie. It was such a stunning performance by all the actors in this little story. First of all, it is based on real life events. The real Craig Morrison recently passed away in New Brunswick. [Click here for his obituary.] James Cromwell will never be honored with an academy award for a small Canadian film, but he certainly deserves that recognition. The battle here is against government regulations to protect the stupid against a man’s right to do what he wants on his own property. Obviously the government bureaucracy is in it to protect their positions, so things like this can happen, but this is a wonderful love story, family story, and personal rights story. The entire thing was excellently made, and this is the kind of hidden gem that I constantly look for when watching movies. This is definitely one of those that you have probably never heard of, and I must encourage you to give this one a chance. This was such a remarkable story with such excellent characters that it really left me thinking about it for a long time afterward. I have been a fan of Genevieve Bujold since the 70’s but haven’t seen her in years. It was like a reunion seeing her again. She did an excellent job in this role and deserves accolades for her performance as well. This is one of those films that deserves our patronage, as it’s the kind of film we need much more of in this age of remakes, sequels, and brainless action films. I really loved this one.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Movie Rentals Releasing Tuesday June 24, 2014

• 300: Rise of an Empire
• Blood Ties
• Enemy
• Redwood Highway
• Repentance
• Rob the Mob
• Some Velvet Morning
• Two Lives
• Winter’s Tale
• Wolf Creek 2

Warner Bros. Digital Distribution, Spondoolie Productions, Rob Thomas Productions,

Kristen Bell, Jason Dohring, Enrico Colantoni, Chris Lowell, Percy Daggs III, Tina Majorino

Years have passed and Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) has given up, at her Father’s insistence, the role of junior detective. She’s returned home for her high school reunion when her ex, Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring) is arrested for a crime by the local police. Veronica knows she has to help him, and the cops seem to think it’s an open and shut case, so she jumps back into her familiar “private eye” mode and sets out to prove he’s innocent, whatever the cost.

Apparently Veronica Mars was a short lived TV series that built up a large collection of cult followers. This movie is obviously made for them, and I think they appreciate it very much. As for me, I’ve seen lots of the kid detective movies and TV shows from Pamela Sue Martin as Nancy Drew through the newer versions and all the way through the Spy Kids movies which are fun for kids but hard for grown ups to swallow. This is a rather ho-hum story. There’s not much going on, and what does if pretty bland. Kristen Bell, though a pretty actress, didn’t give me any sense of urgency or danger here. I can appreciate her efforts to right the wrong and free her ex boyfriend, but so what? There’s lots of people in trouble out there, and it’s natural to believe in and want to help people who you know and are friends. I assume that much too much effort went in to paying homage to the original TV show, which I admittedly have never seen, and there wasn’t enough left for story and plot. I would say, if you’re a big Veronica fan, for heaven’s sake, go out and watch this. Why haven’t you seen it yet? However if you’re looking for a private eye mystery story with a lot of meat, this isn’t it. I didn’t feel like it was really worth the effort if you’re not into the characters.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

LD Entertainment, Exclusive Media Group, Pioneer Pictures,

Elizabeth Olsen, Oscar Isaac, Tom Felton, Jessica Lange, Shirley Henderson, Matt Lucas, Mackenzie Crook, John Kavanagh

Therese (Elizabeth Olsen) is in a loveless arranged marriage with her cousin Camille (Tom Felton). Camille is sickly and has no affection to show for Terese. But when his old friend Laurent (Oscar Issac) comes to visit Terese quickly falls in love with him as he’s got all the things she wished for in a lover. But Camille’s mother (Jessica Lange) is watching her like a hawk, and when tragedy strikes, things go from bad to worse.

This is a period drama created from the novel by Emile Zola, and has a great cast. The story is like many of the other novels of the era, but in some ways is a more interesting story. We really can hardly blame any of the characters in this story. It’s one of those things that was bound to happen. The old saying “Be careful what you wish for as you just might get it” really applies to this story. Lust and passion lead to tragedy and regret as it often does. Once we obtain what we think we wanted, we often find that we don’t want it quite that much. Jessica Lange is really excellent in this story as she plays the overbearing mother that has turned Camille into a real mama’s boy. But Elizabeth Olsen also nails her part as a flitty and light minded girl, not quite grown up who’s forced to grow up in a hurry. There is a lot of tragedy, but it’s a good romance story and the period costumes are really well done. All in all it’s a decent movie with a relatively unknown (at least lesser known) story that makes it fun to watch. I usually do not like movies like this, but I have to admin it was happy to sit through this one. I had my reservations about a Gothic novel, but I was happy that I did. I got myself a little bit of culture at the same time!

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Crime Scene Pictures, ArtPhyl, FilmNation Entertainment,

Colin Firth, Cameron Diaz, Alan Rickman, Stanley Tucci, Cloris Leachman, Tom Courtenay, Anna Skellern, Senem Temiz, Togo Igawa, Sarah Goldberg

Harry Deane (Colin Firth) is the underappreciated, overworked, and mistreated art curator in London who would love to get back at his boss. He is an expert in art, and knows the best forger in the business. He sets out on a plan to sell a fake Monet to a rich businessman, and hires an assistant, sassy and sexy rodeo queen PJ Puznowski (Cameron Diaz) to help him pull off the perfect crime. But she is not turning out to be very trustworthy and step by step Harry’s plan goes further and further off the rails in this funny crime drama remake of the 1966 film with Michael Caine and Shirley Maclain.

This is a very “Sting” like film with double cross after triple cross after quadruple cross. The art aspect of the story reminds me a lot of the latest Mr. Bean comedies but Harry as not nearly an inept as Mr. Bean. In fact, Harry’s pretty clever, but the people he chooses to trust seem to let him down time after time. This film is pretty clever, and has a number of twists to keep you guessing how it’s going to end up. It’s clever and witty, and the mix of cultured Brit Harry matching wits with crass Texan PJ is really funny. There are a few other smaller characters in the film too that add a lot to it. It’s fast paced, and has a lot going for it. It’s not boring. However, this movie doesn’t have what it takes to make it big in the mainstream. Perhaps it’s a little too uppity for everyman, or it’s not got tons of exciting and suspenseful chases. It’s much more cerebral. But it’s a good story, and it’s been so long since the original that it’s hard to compare the two. This will not be a must see, but there’s certainly nothing wrong with killing a little time with this film. I did enjoy the pace of the story and the clever script, and I think both Colin and Cameron brought a lot to their parts and played well together. I really did enjoy this movie.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog