Archive for March, 2015

Movie Rentals Releasing Tuesday March 31, 2015

  • 3 Nights in the Desert
  • The Imitation Game
  • Interstellar
  • Island of Lemurs:Madagascar (IMAX)
  • Outcast
  • The Rewrite
  • Wild
  • Wild Card

Author: EdG

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Universal Pictures, Red Granite Pictures, New Line Cinema,

Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels, Laurie Holden, Angela Kerecz, Kathleen Turner, Rachel Melvin

Lloyd Christmas (Jim Carrey) has been devastated after the loss of Ms. Samsonite in the first movie and 20 years have passed with Harry (Jeff Daniels) hanging in there for him. But when Harry finds out he has a daughter that he never knew about, he has to head out to find her at all costs. She’s been adopted, but when he finds out where her adoptive family lives, he’s on another road trip to find her at all costs. Naturally, stupidity happens.

I think a lot of people were excited when they finally announced a sequel to Dumb and Dumber. It’s hard to imagine that it’s 20 years later, but the film takes that into account, and we get a quick summary of what’s been happening over the last 20 years. Then hilarity ensues. These guys are Three Stooges dumb, and they know their characters very well. I imagine it was fun for them to get back into the character after 20 years. The film didn’t do too well, and I suppose some of that is that it is 20 years since the first one. That’s a long time for a sequel. Furthermore, people have high expectations for Jim Carrey, and I think many folks have forgotten how stupid these characters really are. So it ends up being a lot of puns, a lot of slapstick, and a lot of a just plain silliness. It’s very, very low brow humor, so you aren’t going to get any satisfaction in the plot or the cleverness of the script. But it’s exactly what you should expect, and I did find it very funny. Certainly it’s not as great as the original 1995 movie, but it’s still really funny in the same kind of way. Filled with extra characters that bring a lot of value to the movie as well. Harry’s daughter Penny (Rachel Melvin) is a chip off the old block. So don’t be so snooty and dismiss this movie, or listen to the critics that hated it because they didn’t watch enough Three Stooges as a kid. Guys have got to love this kind of off-beat humor, and if you don’t go in looking for a masterpiece, this is a bunch of chuckles. I must say, I enjoyed it.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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CNN Films, Film Rites, Kartemquin Films,

Roger Ebert, Chaz Ebert, Gene Siskel, Martin Scorsese, Werner Herzog, Marlene Siskel

This documentary was requested by Robert Ebert himself prior to his death in 2013. This film chronicles his life from a young man and early work for a Chicago paper as a sportswriter, and then as one of the early movie critics. He came into his own with Gene Siskel and became on of the most well known movie critics of all times. Then Cancer came calling and we have seen the shell of the man with a quick mind and all of his wit and wisdom who worked till the last. We learn a lot about Mr Ebert, his attitude, self confidence, and self esteem. Yet he was loved and feared at the same time. With a quick slash of his pen he could devastate a directory or an actor, and wipe out a movie, yet he viewed movie criticism as conversation, where it’s is fun to disagree and yet you can never be persuaded or change your mind once you’ve chosen a side. His battles with Gene Siskel, a personal competitor since he became the critic for a competing newspaper, and what came from pure hatred turned into mutual respect, yet they still took pot shots at each other throughout.

This is a very well done movie documentary, and I learned a great deal about both Siskel and Ebert, and how their careers and legacies were created, but also a lot of personal stuff about the life of this man I thought I knew that was intensely satisfying considering I knew none of that. Roger wanted his story told, and when his wife Chaz objected, he would wait until a day when she was not around and go ahead and do it his way without her having to see it. Right until the end, which is very vividly portrayed, they followed Roger’s demand that if you’re going to tell the story, you tell ALL of it and hide nothing. Based on his memoir, this film is right to the point and quick to the punch, and after it’s over, you’ll feel like you’ve been punched in the gut, but with a greater respect and admiration for one of America’s greatest writers. If you enjoy biographies and documentaries, then this is an excellent one.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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Walt Disney Pictures, 21 Laps Entertainment, The Jim Henson Company,

Jennifer Garner, Steve Carell, Bella Thorne, Jennifer Coolidge, Megan Mullally

Alexander Cooper’s (Ed Oxenbould) day is starting out really awful. His birthday is coming, and everything is going wrong. When he gets the chance to make his birthday wish, he simply wishes the rest of the family could understand what a terrible day is like. It appears he has cursed his whole family on a very important day as his wish comes true. See, Alexander’s family doesn’t understand how hard it is to be a young boy today. His Dad, Ben (Steve Carell) is the ultimate optimist. Mom (Jennifer Garner) isn’t much better with her gung ho attitude. But today is an important day for everyone, and it’s going very, very, very badly for all of them. The family needs to pull together to get through this and life through till tomorrow.

This is a family film, and so it follows the line of dozens and dozens of other Disney live action films that go back to the 50’s and 60’s. Likewise, it’s based on a book, like a number of the other films of this genre. But that’s exactly how Walt did it too. He’d find a book that his daughters loved and made it into a film. With this film, you get exactly what you would expect which burns up a lot of people. There are many haters out there. This is not “American Pie” or “Superbad” and it never tries to be. It’s been a good while since we’ve had a good family film like this, and with the appearance of Steve Carell as the Disney family Dad, he’s not bad at all at it. He does his best to be a cool guy, but the bumbling Michael Scott character comes out when he’s trying his best, but everything is literally burning down around him. I thought it was really funny, in a PG sort of way that is appropriate for youngsters, especially boys. There are lots of good pre-teen girl movies out there, but the boys typically get either cartoon superheroes or sports movies, which are good in their own right, but it’s nice to see a family togetherness movie aimed at boys. So if your kids haven’t seen it, it’s out on DVD now, so be sure to spend an evening and watch it with them. It’s not spectacular cinema and special effect explosions, but it’s got a lot of childish humor and it really is a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day!

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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Movie Rentals Releasing Tuesday March 24, 2015


Author: EdG

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