Archive for August, 2016

Ghost House Pictures, Good Universe, Screen Gems

Jane Levy, Dylan Minnette, Daniel Zovatto, Stephen Lang, Emma Bercovici, Franciska Torocsik, Christian Zagia, Katia Bokor, Sergej Onopko

The Blind Man (Stephen Lang) lives all alone in a house on a street in metro Detroit and he is the only person on the block that is left. This is a perfect setup for Rocky (Jane Levy) and her boyfriend Money (Daniel Zovatto) and her “friend zoned” would be suitor Alex (Dylan Minnette). Rocky takes care of her little sister as her dysfunctional mother won’t, and her dream is to take her sister and get out of Detroit and move to California. They pull off petty jobs, but The Blind Man got a huge settlement when his little girl was killed by a drunk driver, and since he never goes anywhere, the money must be in the house. With a score this big, the trio can take off an move to the west coast. But The Blind Man is an ex soldier who, though he’s blind, is not a push over, and the trio run in to a LOT of really big problems on what was supposed to be an easy job. As they discover more secrets, it appears there isn’t any way out at this point, and The Blind Man has a keen sense of hearing and smell, and is clever as a fox.

This film has been tearing up the box office, and it was a must see when I saw the trailers for it. I wasn’t sure Jane Levy was ready for a part this big, since I have only seen her as Tessa on Suburgatory, but she was awesome. By far the biggest role, but she carried it very professionally. Excellent job. When it comes down to it, this is a movie for Jane and Stephen Lang, and the others are just there to fill in the spaces. The two of these fight an epic battle down to the bitter end. This is an extremely horror inducing movie and is scary as hell. The Blind Man is not really alone as he has one nasty Cujo worthy dog beside him which helps a lot. The jumps and scares are one after another, and I shouted out loud more than once which is rare for me. But the suspense level is awesome. The director and cinematographers did an excellent of putting us in the scene, and the shots and setups were unbelievable. Whether down in the dark basement in the dark, or stuck in a closet, or crawling through a creep air duct, we are there with them. This is the first real horror film of the season, and timed perfectly, given the big numbers at the box office. Sure not a huge budget, but a well thought out horror film inside a heist film. The characters are well developed, and the script is crisp and smart. All in all, very scary, very suspenseful, and very well done. Good work guys. This is a good one!

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rate this movie:
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Author: EdG

There are currently No Comments »on this post.

Movie Rentals Releasing Tuesday August 30, 2016


Author: EdG

There are currently No Comments »on this post.

Resolute Films and Entertainment, The Harold Greenberg Fund, Telefilm,

Gillian Anderson, Haley Joel Osment, Rufus Sewell, Victor Garber

Gabriel (Rufus Sewell) was a brilliant scientist who left on a business trip and just disappeared. His son, Erol (Haley Joel Osment) and his grandfather (Victor Garber) work together to figure out what happened to Gabe. What they found was that he had found a way to cross into another time line, and wanted to talk to Albert Einstein, planning to return immediately, but something happened to him so for the last 12 years life has gone on without him. It’s up to Erol to figure out if there is a way to recreate his father’s work and find out the truth of what happened.

I am a sucker for time travel stories. It’s one of the most fascinating concepts to me, and as a result, I loved the intense detail they put into the story and the process by which things happened. The paradox of time travel, (What happens when you change something) has always been a favorite concept for me to think about, ever since I was a child. Haley Joel Osment is excellent in his role as the troubled genius that has the smarts to figure it out, but must deal with the consequences if it doesn’t turn out as expected. Life will certainly be different if he succeeds, and what will the costs be? The story unfolds and as always happens in a time travel movie, you have to think through the consequences of messing with time. It’s not heavy, and the story is told quickly, but is very deep emotionally, and doesn’t judge. Too many sci-fi stories, especially time travel stories have too much moral lessons and not enough fun. I guess Rod Serling and Gene Roddenberry taught us that good sci-fi must have a moral to teach us. Other than the “There’s No Place Like Home” theme, this is a movie with a very interesting story, a really great cast, excellent music (The theme is awsome), and is very solidly put together. I really enjoyed this one, and I must recommend this movie as one that is really a hidden gem! I don’t know where this film has been since 2014, but I’m glad it finally made it to the top of my queue. Great job, guys!

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rate this movie:
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Author: EdG

There are currently No Comments »on this post.

Audax Films, Big Shoes Media, Celerity Pictures,

Richard Gere, Dakota Fanning, Theo James, Clarke Peters

Franny (Richard Gere) was close friends with a young couple, but a tragic accident killed both the husband and wife. Franny has done very well for himself and is very wealthy, but plagued with guilt for what he thinks is his fault, so he injects himself in the life of the family’s daughter, Olivia (Dakota Fanning) and her new husband Luke (Theo James). By trying to help them in every way he finds it doesn’t remove the guilt and simply makes things worse and worse.

This is another flawed movie, sorry to say. Richard Gere gives a really good performance, but it appears the whole movie was written about him. There is incessant narration instead of dialog, and the other characters are really shorted in the rest of the movie. They should have a lot to add, but they are not given a chance to perform. It’s a shame, as with a little tweaking of the script, this could have been a much better film. It’s funny, in a way, that Richard Gere here played a Al Pacino role. He was so Al Pacinoish that when I remember it back, I see Al Pacino rather than Richard Gere in my mind. Not this Richard did not do a good job, he really did, but this role was built for Pacino. Anyway, the film ends up being kind of slow and low energy and a bit over the top. I didn’t particularly enjoy it as it is, and as I have said, it’s a shame, as with a bit of additional work on the script, they could have made a good movie. The story has potential, but the opportunity was wasted. Not really recommended unless you are a huge Richard Gere fan. Not enough to make up for the flaws.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rate this movie:
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Author: EdG

There are currently No Comments »on this post.

Maybach Film Productions, RT Features, Film Science,

Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning, Peter Sarsgaard, Alia Shawkat, Logan Miller, Kai Lennox, Katherine Waterston, James Le Gros

John (Jesse Eisenberg) and Dena (Dakota Fanning) are young environmental activists. They want to make a huge statement and pull off a master protest, blowing up a dam. They enlist an ex-military explosives expert, Harmon (Peter Sarsgaard) to show them how, and to assist in making the explosives.

I thought maybe this would be an entertaining film, but I was somewhat disappointed. With really strong actors, the story itself just seems to go nowhere. There are some twists and turns, and some regrets and misgivings, but this movie just plodded along at such a slow pace, that it seemed to drag and drag and drag. The good part of the movie is the unexpected consequences of the choices they make. Things are not as they expected they would be and the results were not what they wanted. That part of the story is halfway decent. But the flaws in the story make it difficult for me to recommend, as Jesse spends half the movie just staring moodily out into space. No emotions, no dialog, just staring. The pace is so slow, that I wanted to scream. I just didn’t get the point, although I could follow the story, this could have been done so much better. I am sorry but I just don’t recommend that you subject yourself to this. It’s very depressing.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 


 

VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rate this movie:
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Author: EdG

There are currently No Comments »on this post.