Ed's Review Dot Com

Alliance Films, Alliance Films, Da Vinci Media Ventures, Hammer Films,

Phoebe Fox, Jeremy Irvine, Helen McCrory, Oaklee Pendergast

Forty Years have passed since Arthur made his trip up to Eels Marsh Manor to investigate the financial matters of a deceased widow and the house has been standing empty. The town is all boarded up and everyone’s gone. Now World War II has broken out and the nightly bombing had everyone terrified. The citizens of London send their children off to live in the country where they were safer to protect them. But the orphans who were left still suffered, and there were no families left to take them in. A pair of teachers, stately and very strict Jean Hogg (Helen McCrory) and young and inspired Eve Parkins (Phoebe Fox) have taken their students to a far away country home to be safe from the Nazis. But the only place open to them is abandoned Eel Marsh Manor and it’s not a very friendly place for them. Run down and dilapidated and left alone with only an occasional visitor, pilot Harry Burnstow (Jeremy Irvine) who is mostly interested in Eve, they soon find the place is still very actively haunted by the same Woman in Black who terrorized Arthur years ago. Anxious to get out, but with nowhere to go, Eve tries to protect the children and search for the cause of the haunting to make it stop before children start to die or disappear.

Three years ago in 2012 I raved about the original “Woman in Black” which featured Daniel Radcliffe. I also raved about Hammer Films and the top notch old fashioned creepy horror that they have delivered all my life. I was worried about this sequel because there were no huge box office draw stars like Harry Potter in this one, but I should not have worried. I swear, this film was better than the original! One word of warning though. If you’re not really familiar with the original, see this one first. Many reviewers have dissed this movie because they missed the rich background from the original story that filled this up to the brim with creepy thrills. This is not only the same house, but has pretty much the same furnishings that belong to the previous residents and were left there when Arthur took off at the end of the first one. It’s the same swamp, the same graveyard, and the same, although much worse off, town that was left over from the first. Some things occurred that when you understand and remember, add to the chills in this one. If you know the story of Alice and Jennette, you’ll understand why Jennette is interested in the children.

Now on to the comments about the technical aspects of this horror story. Like the original, the house is truly a character of itself. It’s marked by real goosebumps and feelings of dread, but utilizes the sudden start kind of jumps that keep you constantly on the edge of your seat. The children are done excellently and I could totally buy off on these kids being displaced children from London in 1942. The sets, lighting, props, and everything else are perfectly done. The creepy children’s toys that were left that scared me to death in the first film are all back, and Jennette isn’t done with them yet. The soundtrack is excellent, but unobtrusive as you hear it and it adds to the horror, but doesn’t make you stop and listen to it. The story is fairly simple, but a good horror story doesn’t need a very complex story, and the back story of the history of the manor is plenty to keep us interested. Basically everything hit for me, and I really enjoyed this film, though I must admit I am a fan of classic horror. There are many fans of the new blood and guts films that try to out create each other in unique ways to kill a person. This is not really like that, it’s much slower paced, the deaths are much further apart, and the story is the king. But it builds suspense from start to end. It’s also just a tiny bit over 90 minutes, so it’s not overly long some some films are which is somewhat refreshing. Nothing’s really left out, and it gets to the point rather quickly and starts building the suspense right away. Nothing worse that an movie that drags on too long and doesn’t get to the point. For me, as a fan of old fashioned Hammer style horror, this was nearly perfect. I really liked it and highly recommend it to horror fans.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Movie Rentals Releasing Tuesday January 6, 2015

• Boyhood
• Get on Up
• The Guest
• Horns
• The Houses October Built
• Left Behind
• The Longest Week
• No Good Deed
• Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon
• Two Night Stand

Chernin Entertainment, Ingenious Media, TSG Entertainment,

Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Toby Kebbell, Judy Greer, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Enrique Murciano, Kirk Acevedo, Karin Konoval

In 2011’s “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”, we learned that humans had developed a virus that could cure Alzheimer’s but it turned out that though it made the test apes amazingly smarter, it was deadly to humans. Now some years have passed and what’s left of the humans are huddled in San Francisco trying to survive. Meanwhile, Caesar (Andy Serkis) has risen to be a mighty leader of the ape colony living in the forest outside the Bay area. Ape has not seen man for a couple years and they assume the humans are gone, but when a small group turn up tension builds quickly as both sides prepare for an all out war. But Malcolm (Jason Clarke) sees intelligence in the eyes of the apes, and they need a big favor from them, so he takes a few people and set off to the ape’s home as they try to form a mutual but fragile peace. But with many people and apes who feel differently, peace is difficult and a great battle will result for the future of the planet if they can’t pull it off.

I was greatly impressed by the original Planet of the Apes series that they ran into the ground by releasing sequel after sequel, each one getting a little cheaper and cornier. The original was a stunning film for 1968. But when they decided to do a reboot with “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” in 2011 I thought to myself, “Oh, not, this is another classic film that doesn’t need to be remade!” They thought, however, that the technology was so advanced that it was time to do it. I was really impressed with the first reboot [Click Here for Ed’s Review of Rise of Planet of the Apes] I gave this film a solid 5 stars and was very impressed. This is now the second of a trilogy of Planet of the Apes films, and this one is far better than the first. I need to break out a sixth star for this one! I wish I had gotten to see this on the big screen, but seeing it on DVD was awesome. Though the scenery, filmography, and sets (including a devastated San Francisco) are spectacular, the character definition of both the Human characters and the Apes is excellently done. If it were not for the spectacular battle scenes that are amazing, just the development of the Ape culture itself would be enough to give this film 5 stars. The acting is fantastic, but the screen writing and directing is wonderful as well. Basically this is the best adventure movie I’ve seen this year bar none. I highly recommend this movie, and though there is a lot of war and fighting that might be frightening for younger children, certainly anyone over the advertised age of 13 should have no trouble with it. This is a wonderfully done film.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, FilmDistrict, Lakeshore Entertainment,

Elizabeth Banks, James Marsden, Gillian Jacobs, Sarah Wright

Meghan (Elizabeth Banks) is a reporter in L.A., but is sure she’s getting a job with the network as an anchor. But when the job goes to someone else, her friends talk her into a night of partying at a club. Meghan ends up having way too much to drink and ends up somewhere in the scary area of L.A. in a guys apartment with a voice mail letting her know the network changed their mind, but need to see here this morning. She heads out in a journey of enormous adventure through the ghetto on foot trying to get back to the station in time.

I didn’t expect a lot out of this little comedy, but I was impressed. Elizabeth Banks actually really nailed this. It’s a really funny film. The jokes start out right away, and never drop off. The situations she finds herself in are quite amusing. I thought it might be a bit silly, but it really wasn’t. As an LA resident, many of the things hit close to home. It’s not very deep and it is very predictable, but it was really surprisingly interesting. There are some additional characters that are really funny, but I don’t want to give that away, but the friends she makes along the way are awesome. Everyone pitches in to help her out and by the time she finally gets out of the streets, she’s learned a lot about herself and who her real friends are. This is an adult comedy, but it’s a lot of fun and worthy of wasting an hour and a half of time if you really want something amusing.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Escape Artists, LStar Capital, Media Rights Capital,

Cameron Diaz, Jason Segel, Rob Corddry, Ellie Kemper, Rob Lowe, Jack Black, Randall Park

Annie (Cameron Diaz) and Jay (Jason Segel) were a hot pair in their early days, but 10 years and 2 kids later things have gone stale. They still love each other, but are just too tired for much alone time. They just want to get the spark back, but their secret rendezvous goes wrong a bunch of different ways and they’re about to give up. But then Annie has an idea. Let’s make a home-made sex tape featuring all the positions in the joy of sex in a three hour marathon. But naturally Jay is hesitant to delete it, and his backup software sync’s it along with his music collection, to all their friends. So now they’re on a mission to figure out how to recapture it before anyone sees it.

This is a raunchy romantic comedy featuring two guys who aren’t afraid to let it all hang out. It’s not real naughty, but there’s lots of skin, and some really adult topics, so it’s really worthwhile to respect the R rating this film earned. But for all of us who have seen the years chip away the love life we once knew, we’ll identify with their problem. They are both very comfortable actors, so they fit into the role seamlessly and it seems natural to them. Rob Lowe has a supporting role as a possible future boss to Annie, and he’s mastered the quirky off the wall guy from Parks and Recreation that allows him to really play this unexpected and unpredictable part. You never know what he’s going to come out with next. All in all, it a typical race to stop someone from getting something they shouldn’t that is always pretty much the same. But they really have a lot of fun with this film, it’s obvious, and it’s funnier than most, even if it is a bit racy from time to time. I still enjoyed it, and if you’re comfortable with the R content, I recommend this for a loose and light comedy.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog