Ed's Review Dot Com

Movie Rentals Releasing Tuesday October 6, 2015

• Magic Mike XXL
• Insidious Chapter 3
• Manglehorn
• Me, and Earl, and the Dying Girl
• When Marnie Was There
• Tio Papi
• Ten Thousand Saints

Kennedy Miller Productions, Village Roadshow Pictures, Village Roadshow,

Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Riley Keough, Zoë Kravitz, Abbey Lee, Courtney Eaton

The Road Warrior, Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) is back in this 4th movie in the series and the burned out world is still full of rival motorcycle gangs eager to get one step ahead of each other, very willing to kill and steal to get ahead. This time Max runs in to a group of refugees lead by female warrior Furiosa (Charlize Theron) and he joins up with them to help them and to help Furiosa outwit a tyrannical leader and lead the group.

I must start out by saying I was not a fan of Mad Max in the first place. I am not sure why I didn’t really care for the stories, but the had no appeal for me. Rival motor bikers fighting each other for ruin of the world domination left me bored, and I really didn’t care for the ones I have seen very much. I did see the original and one or both of the sequels but was not impressed with either one of them. However, I do have to admit that this film is far better than any of the original series, probably because of the newer technology and CGI that can make this movie a bit more interesting. It also has Charlize Theron who is one hell of a good actress. She is a great asset to this movie and it would be bleak without her efforts. Still, I was not blown away by it and found myself bored much of the time. Perhaps if I had seen this on the big screen with excellent sound and all I might have rated it a lot higher and enjoyed it a lot more. But as it is, I watched this on DVD on a small screen and I found myself back in the “not caring” mode pretty quickly. I got through the film, and it does have it’s moments. But all in all, I just didn’t really care for it. Some fans are screaming Oscar for this film, and I suppose they have a case for how well it was put together, and not every film is everyone’s cup of tea, and this one is just not mine. There are many other better action adventure flicks around than to waste more time on Max. Take away the desert and set it on the ocean and you have Waterworld II, except you don’t get Dennis Hopper. I feel it misses the mark, not on technical effects, but on story.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Subzero Film Entertainment, Altitude Film Entertainment, Egoli Tossell Film,

Risto Salmi, Samuel L. Jackson, Ray Stevenson, Felicity Huffman, Mehmet Kurtulus, Victor Garber, Onni Tommila, Jorma Tommila, Jim Broadbent, Ted Levine

Young Finnish Boy Oskari (Onni Tommila) is turning 13 tomorrow, and per the custom in his village, he is being sent out alone into the forest to hunt a deer or other large animal as a ritual of his pending manhood and ability to provide food for his family. He’s small and his father, a great hunter, has some doubts as to whether he is ready, but he’s on his mission. But instead he comes upon an escape pod with the President of the United States (Samuel L Jackson) inside. Air Force One has been targeted by terrorist and shot down and the President is all alone and dependent upon Oskari who is familiar with the terrain to help him get back home. But the terrorists, once they realize he has escaped are hot on their trail, and someone close to the President must have been on the inside to help the terrorist pull this off.

This is certainly a B movie that is PG-13 for a reason. It’s almost aimed at teenage boys who won’t see the huge plot holes and the impossibility of some of the scenarios. It’s a German/Finnish/UK film that seems to mostly have been shot in German. But Samuel L Jackson, Victor Garber, and James Broadbent? This director has some substantial chops to work with here. As it is, it’s typical B movie camp, and I’m sure lots of people are going to HATE this in a “Santa Claus vs. the Martians” kind of way. But I don’t think it should be dismissed so easily as rubbish. Granted, a lot of stuff in this film is ridiculously impossible, but I don’t think a Prince searching all over the kingdom looking for a girl who’s foot fits into a glass slipper is highly likely either. But we accept the impossible in this type of movie giving a sort of poetic license for grandeur like we do in Ironman or James Bond or a number of other action movies. Gee, I think Vin Diesel and Nick Cage should have been pulverized a thousand times by some of the silly stunts they pull off successfully that are literally impossible. This is a camp movie, and for the right audience, I say what the heck. You can’t pull a scientific textbook out and look at every event with a critical eye. Instead, you should sit back and enjoy the action, watch all the cliche’s for this genre of which there is essentially every single one, and realize it’s not to be analyzed, but to be enjoyed by young folk who can suspend belief and enjoy the show. This is a typical Saturday Afternoon Matinee blast from the past with modern day terrorism and technology right out of today. Samuel Jackson, naturally, does his best camp performance of the angry, betrayed President as only Samuel L Jackson can do, and the young kid does a pretty decent job as well. An in all it’s a light-hearted, takes itself a bit too seriously perhaps, movie to just sit back and enjoy. Not everyone will like this obviously, but for the right mindset, darn it, it was pretty enjoyable.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

A+E Studios, ChickFlick Productions, JuVee Productions,

Viola Davis, Jennifer Lopez, Shea Whigham, Andre Royo, Chris Chalk, Julius Tennon, Aml Ameen

Lila (Viola Davis) is a bright hardworking single Mom living in the inner city where she’s working hard to raise her children to do right and have good moral values. Her oldest son is shot and killed in a drive by shooting that sends Lila into a tailspin causing her to go into a very deep dark place. She worked for the city, but is on an extended leave due to the tragedy. She’s attending a support group of Mothers who have lost children, and meeting an interesting but bitter woman Eve (Jennifer Lopez) who has lost a child as well. The two form a friendship to try to determine who is responsible for the death of their children since the police are not making any headway. The form a tight bond and become partners in search and retribution.

This is actually a “small” movie that stirred my interest when it went into the theaters but wasn’t a big enough splash to make me run out to see it first run. Now that it’s on DVD I was anxious to see this film and see what it is all about. For the Eve character, Jennifer plays a very angry woman who is goading Lila to take action due to the lack of response from the authorities, whereas Lila, who cannot bring herself to tell the group that she really wants revenge for the death of her son, is much more grounded and unwilling to go too far other than to find out what happened. This brings a great conflict between the two characters who are very close, but like the little devil on one shoulder and the little angel on the other shoulder depicted in our childhood cartoons, Eve takes the devil’s side and Lila takes the angel side. It’s a struggle to see who will win out. That portion of it is quite interesting, thought provoking, as well as entertaining to watch. With Jennifer Lopez who does a really great job here, and Viola Davis who is another very good actress, we have all the talent we need for the emotional roller-coaster here. The story is very well written, and there is a surprise twist near the end to what really happened and how different characters were involved that I did not see coming and caught me blindsided, but in retrospect I should have seen it coming. It was a well filmed, well acted, well written, and well edited film that is still a small detective piece with a lot of really good quality at a meager budget. If you are fan of action/suspense thrillers, then I recommend this film as one that you probably, like me, passed over in theaters, and I suggest you watch this one for a good evening of intense suspense.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Alchemy, The Film Arcade,

Gail Bean, Elizabeth McGovern, Anders Holm, Cobie Smulders

Samantha (Cobie Smulders) is a science teacher in a mid-city school that is about to be closed down for lack of funds. Still she’s trying to make a difference in the lives of her students. One who has really impressed her is Jasmine (Gail Bean) who has an honor student an obviously college bound. Samantha suddenly becomes pregnant “unexpectedly” and as she and her boyfriend (and her mother (Elizabeth McGovern) try to work it out, she forms a bond with Jasmine who finds herself in the same boat. They form a closer bond as Samantha tries to guide Jasmine while not really knowing what she wants for herself.

I am a fan of Cobie Smulders since I came to know her as Robin in How I Met Your Mother on TV for all those years. This is probably the best role I’ve seen her get, though she’s been appearing in a lot of films since Mother ended its run. But the sad thing is that though this film is sincere and nice and feel good, it’s probably a bit simplistic. It comes off like an After School TV Special rather than a feature film. It’s got a lot of fluff tucked in there and it never really has any bite or strength. It feels a bit wishy-washy on a number of topics from feminism to racial equality to abortion, etc., but doesn’t really come down with any opinions on any of the topics. The pregnancies may be “Unexpected” but the wide eyed innocence of both characters about “How did this happen” is a bit silly. Meanwhile, there isn’t a lot of drama. On the other hand, if it WERE an After School Special, it would be an exceptionally good one. Both of the primary actors are good and they do their very best with this milquetoast of a script. It is is simple and non-stressing, so it’s an easy way to kill 90 minutes, but there’s not a lot of meat here, so it’s up to you if you want to bother with this one or not. Seems unless you are a young teenage girl you might be a bit disappointed. I’m sure it’ll be around on cable and TV soon as it’s got a really decent cast.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog