Ed's Review Dot Com

Red Wagon Entertainment, Mandeville Films, Summit Entertainment,

Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet, Ansel Elgort, Miles Teller, Naomi Watts, Octavia Spencer,

Things went bad for Tris Prior (Shailene Woodley) upon her initiation day in the first film “Divergent”. It ended up with her finding out she is divergent, or a member of all the factions. After the destruction of Earth, the survivors were broken up into factions and focused on one part of humankind to the exclusion of all else. There were those who value truth above all, those who nurture children, the group that cherish simpleness and non-violence to the extreme, and so on. A divergent had all of the qualities at once. Tris, by running away and joining another group of divergents suddenly found her whole world turned upside down. Those she loved were killed, because of her and their attempt to protect a valuable object at all costs. Tris is doubting herself as war seems eminent and there seems no other way than to attack and kill Jeanine (Kate Winslet) who as leader has started an all out search for the divergents to solve the puzzle and secure her rightful place as ruler of mankind.

This is the sequel to Divergent, and in this film, it picks up exactly as it left off. Tris has a valiant task to overcome and she’s ready for it, although she’s questioning herself and the cause of all the terrible things that happened. Does it sound like Hunger Games? Well that’s because there are many, many similarities between the two. This came along, definitely to ride the coattails of Hunger Games, which came along to follow Harry Potter, and so on, and so on. Does that make it worth not going after? No, not really. There are some definite twists along the way, and some of the details in these stories are quite interesting. I am impressed with Shailene Woodley, but she’s definitely not Jennifer Lawrence. Although in the very first Hunger Games Jennifer wasn’t all that polished either, but as the series went on, she got much stronger acting chops. Shailene still has a way to go, but she’s still the strong woman heroine who is required to step in and save the world. This is the theme these days. The men are either two faced, incompetent, or traitorous, and without the women to save the world, we’d be in trouble. This is what we’ve come to expect in 2015. So with that out of the way, Tris is a pretty decent heroine. With plenty of self doubt, she’s a bad ass and and kick butt and take names as well as anyone. I really enjoyed the look and feel of this movie, and was able to look past some of the cheesy acting of the bad guys who were about as hapless as the storm troopers in Star Wars Chapter V. The special effects are good, and the story is not all that bad. Don’t watch this expecting it to be exactly like the book, as it’s apparently not very closely followed, but as a stand alone film, it’s really good. I would definitely watch Divergent first to get the feel from the original and the background you will need for this film. Others found the story hard to follow, and especially the ending part about the relic and what it all meant. I didn’t find it that hard to follow, but perhaps if you miss a few critical pieces it might get that way. I thought it was an intelligent and very interesting action adventure film which gave me a lot of stuff to think about what is important in life and what is trivial. An interesting comparison is TinkerBell who being a pixie is only able to feel one emotion at a time. So when she’s filled with jealousy, it consumes her to wipe out all other feelings. The class system in Divergent is similar. Those who have only one trait miss a lot of life by not having the others. I recommend this film, but with the caveat that it’s not of the caliber of Harry Potter or Hunger Games, but it’s a nice little adventure film. I recommend it.

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Bold Films,

Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Bill Paxton, Kevin Rahm, Riz Ahmed

Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a young man living on his own and trying anything to make ends meet. On one evening he runs across an accident, and watches the “Nightcrawlers” the loners who track police calls to compete for live action footage to sell to the TV stations. Louis is a fast learner and listens and catches on quickly to become the top guy in the business. But does Louis go a little too far over the line of what is appropriate? This is the dark side of TV news.

This movie did very well in the theaters. I was really not clear what it was even about. I thought it some kind of war film. So when the DVD arrived, I had no expectations going in. I was stunned by the depth of this film. It’s very, very dark, and extremely realistic. The accidents, tragedies, and crimes are very realistically depicted, and it is VERY intense and quite deserving of the R rating. But I think the thing that impressed me so much was the depth of the character that Jake plays. We really get to the bottom of this character, yet even at the end, we’re not sure if he’s the cleverest guy we’ve ever seen, or if he’s totally mad. Rene Russo has the role of a local TV News producer who feeds on the stuff Louis brings in even though it’s borderline illegal. Bill Paxton is the mentor that he naturally turns on, but steal from all the time. But the suspense is very intense, and the story is very well written. Jake really pulls it off, and the story is not a nice one, but it’s riveting from start to end. Not since “The Talented Mr. Ripley” has there been a character as sneaky as Louis Bloom. This is an awesome film and very well worth seeking out as it’s very nicely done.

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Angry Films, Kintop Pictures, Preger Entertainment,

Zoey Deutch, Lucy Fry, Danila Kozlovsky, Gabriel Byrne, Dominic Sherwood, Olga Kurylenko, Sarah Hyland, Cameron Monaghan, Sami Gayle, Ashley Charles, Claire Foy, Joely Richardson

Rose Hathaway (Zoey Deutch) is a student at St. Vladmir Academy for vampires. The vampires are divided into to groups, the Moroi who are peaceful and live with the human population and only feed on certain volunteer feeders. The bad guys are Strigoi who are violent and kill for food. Rose and her friends are Dhampir, half-human half-vampire who are being trained to be guardians of the Moroi and to kill any Strigoi who invade the academy. But Rose has to run away from the school to protect a best friend and princess Lyssa (Lucy Fry) who is in danger, but who is in line for the throne.

This film was so boring. I’ve seen several movies about vampires over the years that are really hard to sit through. This is as bad as any of them. I don’t really get the point of this, and I floundered through the whole thing. I really didn’t like it very much. I felt the story was confusing, and after a little while I just kind of gave up on it. If there was a point, I just didn’t get it. It was tough watching poor Sarah Hyland (from Modern Family) running around looking like a fool most of the time. It’s not her fault, it was a horrid role. She gave it a try, but had nothing to work with. In fact, I don’t blame any of the actors. It’s a bad script. For those familiar with the book, which I’m not, most of the people I’ve seen feel the books are much better than the movie. Maybe it would help to know some of the rules, but as an uninitiated person, it was very disjointed and all the jumping around just confused me. I didn’t find any connection to any of the characters, and it seemed a major waste of time. Skip it.

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Universal Pictures, Hasbro, Media Rights Capital,

Ana Coto, Bianca A. Santos, Vivis Colombetti, Olivia Cooke, Daren Kagasoff

A young girl dies after recording herself playing with a Ouija board she found in her parents attic. A group of her close friends led by Laine Morris (Olivia Cooke) and her sister Sarah (Ana Coto) decide they have not had a chance to say goodbye to her, and given the responsibility of watching over and taking care of their empty home by the parents of the dead girl who are going on an extended trip, they decided it’s a good idea to try to use the board to contact their friend. Naturally though, the spirit they pull through from the board is not a benevolent spirit and comes along with a great deal of danger to the friends as playing with these things rarely pays off.

This is a pretty decent little horror films like many others in the past. The critics were harsh on this one, and people stayed away from the theater in droves. But now that it’s out on DVD it’s probably well worth another look. As you know, I’m a sucker for horror films and have always been. I saw the previews for this one and was anxious to see it, but decided to wait for the DVD. Well, I was impressed. People hated this because it’s a formula horror flick. Demons from the supernatural coming across to terrorize the folks in the human world. But there is a lot to like about this movie. First and foremost is Olivia Cooke. I watch her on “Bates Motel” which is now in it’s third year I believe. But I’m starting to see her in a number of films lately and she is awesome. She’s a Brit with an astounding American accent that she can turn on in a second. I don’t know how they do that, but I’m impressed. But her acting skills are really great and she brings the fragile and vulnerable girl in a very horrible place to life in a way that’s very believable. She reminds me a lot of Emma Watson in a way and she is good in this film. The sets and locations are very dark and evil looking. I think choosing to set the seances in this spooky old house where the girl died is much better than having it in some suburban apartment kitchen. The script is not groundbreaking, and the story is predictable, but it has plenty of scary moments, lots of suspense and supernatural stuff, and is a pleasure to see it well crafted. Let’s face it, there isn’t than many new things to scare us, so we have to be satisfied with getting scared by some of the old bad guys. It’s like trying to write new songs. Many times they sound like something we’ve heard before. I enjoyed it, and I think you will too. Definite DVD.

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Haven Entertainment, Minerva Productions, Sandia Media,

Leighton Meester, Gillian Jacobs, Adam Brody, Mark Feuerstein, Gabourey Sidibe, Abby Elliott

Sasha (Leighton Meester) and Paige (Gillian Jacobs) are BFFs. They have always been close and are still best friends although one is gay and the other is straight. But when Paige meets Tim (Adam Brody) and is instantly attracted to him Sasha is afraid their friendship will not survive. Then again, Paige is obsessed with finding the perfect girl for Sasha too which is not sitting well either. Can an unusual friendship survive the challenges?

You know, I didn’t expect much from this movie. I was pleasantly surprised. It’s not a classic piece of cinema, but for the genre it’s in, they pulled it off pretty good. Certainly Leighton and Gillian pulled off the friendship as well as any pair I’ve seen for a long time. This is a girls film, no doubt, but the friendship comes of as genuine. When a straight girl and a gay girl are best friends, there are some challenges with that, but on the other hand, as is shown well here, the same problems would exist if they were either both straight or both gay. When a guy and a girl are best friends, but not in a relationship, there is generally the tension of one of the other (usually the guy) wanting more out of the relationship. Well, there is that same tension here as well, although nothing really becomes of it. But on the other hand, they are not going gaga over the same guy all the time, so that drama is not a problem with their friendship. All in all, it’s a charming little tale of friendship more than anything else. I enjoyed the story, and though I don’t feel moved or changed from having watched it, it was a solid performance and a good deal of entertainment. I don’t have anything bad to say about this film, and it’s a pretty decent little friendship tale for girls.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog