Ed's Review Dot Com

21 Laps Entertainment, FilmNation Entertainment, Lava Bear Films,

Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg, Tzi Ma

Twelve mysterious flying objects from space arrive across the globe in a twelve different locations. One is in Montana in the U.S. Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker) is responsible to find out what it going on and has a team that is trying to determine if there is anyone or anything inside and if there is, what they want with us. One thing for sure is these devices are not from this planet. Colonel Weber chooses Louise Banks (Amy Adams) an expert linguist and Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) a top scientist, to head up the team that go into the ship and attempt to communicate with whatever they find in there. No one knows if they are coming to attack, or to make friends, or if there is some other motive, or if there is anything in there at all. This is a highly suspenseful sci-fi thriller.

This film arrived in the theaters in November of 2016, but with all the other big films coming out over the holidays, I missed this. While it’s still in the theaters, I wanted to make a trip to get to see it on a big screen. I’m glad I did. Though not quite as impressive as Passenger was, this is more of a scientific adventure. We get to witness the secret goings-on behind the scenes of this investigation and lots of things that would be held back from the public to avoid panic and chaos. It’s also not a mistake that they arrived in 12 different locations at the same time in all the top military countries. Discussions with the British, the Chinese, the Russians, and lots of other groups is critical to determine the proper response to the situation. This is a very well developed script, and played very well by the three top actors in this project. Amy Adams was really good as a scholarly and highly learned linguist and college professor. Jeremy on the other hands brings a scientific look to the problem, and the coordination between the two outlooks is portrayed very well and I found very believable. The suspense is very intense, and it was very well done. We only get bits and pieces of the story in the same manner as the characters. Each revelation is a surprise and very well portrayed. This is a excellent story to begin with which they turned into a really entertaining film. I was quite impressed with this film, and it was very though provoking. It made me think. I highly enjoyed this movie, and I do recommend it. The more you like science fiction and alien stories, the more you will likely enjoy this film, but I feel like it’s exciting enough for action-adventure as well.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Columbia Pictures, LStar Capital, Village Roadshow Pictures,

Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Michael Sheen, Laurence Fishburne, Andy Garcia

Jim Preston (Chris Pratt) is a passenger aboard a commercial ship with 5000 passengers and several hundred crew all sound asleep in a sort of hibernation. The trip takes 120 years. The 5000 volunteers agreed to the journey leaving their friends and relatives behind for a new start in a new world. But a strange malfunction takes place on the self contained, self repairing ship and Jim and Aurora Lane (Jennifer Lawrence) are the only ones awakened 90 years too soon who have nothing to look forward to but growing old and dying on the ship all alone.

This was a movie that I really longed to see. This is 100% my type of movie, and I got a chance tonight to watch it on the big screen with ATMOS sound and I was in awe. The characters, there are really only 4 of them, are extremely well developed, and this is an amazingly deep story. It really makes you think, and addresses very significant moral struggles. But the suspense is “edge of your seat” spectacular and the view is stunningly beautiful. There are some shots that are some of the greatest I have ever seen. This is a stunning performance from both Chris and Jennifer, but also great performances from Michael Sheen who portrays an android bartender with great wit and wisdom, and Laurence Fishburne with his usual gusto in his role attempting to save the day. All in all, this is a wonderful people story with great characters and deep thoughts, but matched with a very exciting disaster science fiction adventure that is very, very exciting. This is the best film I have seen in 2016 and I waited to see this on December 31st. If can catch this one in the theater, this is well worth the price of the ticket. Don’t miss this the way it needs to be seen. Don’t wait for rental on this movie.