Ed's Review Dot Com

Origin Pictures, BBC Films, FilmNation Entertainment,

Jim Broadbent, Harriet Walter, Michelle Dockery, Emily Mortimer, Billy Howle, Joe Alwyn, Freya Mavor, Matthew Goode, Charlotte Rampling

Tony Webster (Jim Broadbent) is an elderly retired man, living alone since separated. Tony finds out that the mother of a girl he dated in college has passed away and left him a gift. But the attorney does not have it, but was able to find out that it was a diary. But it turns out that his ex-girlfriend has her mother’s diary and refuses to give it to him. This starts Tony into a long series of reflections on his youth and the choices he made. He starts making excuses to meet with his ex girlfriend who he left on very unpleasant terms and has not seen or spoken about in years. We see the events of his youth in a series of flashbacks, as Tony reminisces on the things that happened and how it has affected his life ever since.

I have long been a fan of Jim Broadbent, one of the seemingly nicest British actors I’ve ever seen. This is the Jim Broadbent show, as this film is right in his wheelhouse and he is really good. Many may not like it as it’s very slow moving, and very carefully thought out and performed. We get little bits of the story that Tony has been hiding all these years, and we find out some shocking events, both to his character, and to us, the audience. This is a very well crafted true to life story that develops a bit at a time, but never reveals too much at once. You have to be patient in getting to the bottom of the whole mystery, but it’s so well made that it’s very much worthwhile to spend the time to watch. If you enjoy great character study movies and are willing to invest the time to get to know Tony Webster, you’ll find this a very worthwhile film.

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Regency Enterprises, New Regency Productions, Blind Wink Productions,

Dane DeHaan, Jason Isaacs, Mia Goth, Celia Imrie, Adrian Schiller, Annette Lober, Susanne Wuest

Lockhart (Dane deHaan) is a young executive on the rise at his firm, but he’s caught with some financial missteps at the time of a big merger. The board sends him to the Alps in Switzerland to a hide-away SPA/Retreat/Mental Facility in Switzerland to bring back the former head of the company who has gone to this place to rest and recover, but who is needed to be the fall guy for some of the crimes he has committed. Lockhart’s plan is to go in, and bring him out and back to New York on the same day, but as soon as he arrives at the clinic, it becomes clear that there is something much deeper going on. Being kept from seeing the man he’s looking for, Pembroke (Harry Groener) but he soon finds out bits and piece of the history of this place that is indeed sinister. Mostly old people around, but one unusual young lady named Hannah (Mia Goth) is intriguing to him, and appears to be in the center of the mystery surrounding this place, but as the driver tells him, lots of people come, but very few ever leave in this dark, classic, suspenseful horror film.

This is a very unusual film. Directed by Gore Verbinski, it’s a very long movie, about 2 1/2 hours, and it’s a very cerebral type of story that is no so much blood and guts, but really a head spinning maze of twists and turns until we finally get to the end of the film. This movie really reminded me of the look and feel of Shutter Island, and I kept being reminded of that over and over again, as I watched it, and if you are not aware of the actual finale of the film, you’ll be surprised and amazed at what is really going on here. It’s not a perfect film, but I really enjoyed it a lot. Many folks looking for the new style of horror with mass murderers running havoc through a summer camp were disappointed. This is a thinker, and takes a lot of work to follow and figure out what it really happening. All the pieces are not just thrown at the screen, but if you like good old fashioned suspenseful stories that get you pulled into the moment, this movie does that very well. As we got tot he latter part of the story, I found myself glued to the screen not to miss a bit of what was happening. The actors did a really good job. It was well cast, and the setting at the clinic was certainly very well chosen as well, and the cast and location add a great deal of the suspense part of the story. This is a nightmare for sure, and a movie that will move you if you give it a chance. If you are too impatient for the story to slowly unfold like a flower, not like a skyrocket, then you might as well skip this one as it starts out slow and plodding, but by bit, turn by turn, but if you like that, like I do, then you won’t want it to go too fast, and you will appreciate each bit by bit, morsel by morsel and you won’t want it to end too soon. I liked this film.

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Scion Films, Czech Anglo Productions, LD Entertainment,

Jessica Chastain, Daniel Brühl, Johan Heldenbergh, Michael McElhatton

Jan (Johan Heldenbergh) and his wife Antonina Zabinski (Jessica Chastain) and their son Ryszard (Val Maloku) are a happy family running the Warsaw Zoo, a popular attraction in the capitol of Poland. But when the Nazi’s came in, the zoo was nearly destroyed by the attack and the Jewish Poles are being rounded up and sent to the Warsaw slums until the Nazi’s can figure out what to do with them. Meanwhile, since the zoo is gone, the Zabinski’s develop a plan to turn the old zoo into a pig farm to provide food for the army, but only as a cover to the real plan of storing as many Jewish refugees, especially children, in the basement of their home. This is a true story of how the Zabinski Family was able to save over 300 Jewish people from certain death in the prison camps.

This is a touching and unique holocaust story, since it is centered in Poland where much of the hate and carnage took place throughout most of the war. It is a gray and dreary look at the place, and the beautiful party in the beginning is a stark contrast to the horrible conditions at the end. The sets are spectacularly done, and the horrors of the time is always in our faces as we can feel the real fear and terror in the faces of these kids who had to struggle to be alive. Everyone did a good job here, and I felt it was very well made and told the true story very well. In the first part of the film, there is a wide variety of animals in the zoo, and when the attack came and the destruction came to the zoo, many of the wild animals got away. Every animal in the movie is real. There was no CGI used at all. The director said that the original film was 3 1/2 hours long, and since they needed to cut it down to two hours, an hour and a half had to be cut. All in all, they put together a really good story, based on the diary that has never been published, it is a touching story that will help you understand how a single person can really make a difference.

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American Zoetrope, FR Productions,

Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning, Oona Laurence, Angourie Rice, Addison Riecke, Emma Howard, Wayne Pére

Corporal John McBurney is a Union soldier in the last stages of the Civil War who was injured, but lay dying in a forest from his wounds. He’s found by a little girl who brings him to where she lives, an all girl school run by Miss Martha (Nicole Kidman) and the teacher, Edwina (Kirsten Dunst). Miss Martha does her best to patch him up, but as he begins to make a recovery, whether to turn him over to the Confederates as a prisoner or to allow him to recover in the Virginia Mansion becomes a hard question, especially when he’s the only man in a house filled with females. Trouble is sure to follow.

I got to see an early screening of this film on July 4th, and my wife has been very anxious to see it after seeing the previews. I had no knowledge of the 1971 Clint Eastwood version of this film, and it looked like a really decent period romantic drama set in a southern plantation during the war. But as the movie started and the name Sofia Coppola, Director scroll across the screen as feeling of dread struck me in the gut. I turned to my wife (There were only about 5 of us all together in the theater) and whispered, “Oh no!” Dear Sofia has ruined a great many good stories, and this was wasn’t any different. What a terrible disappointment. With such an amazing cast, Colin Farrell, Nichole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning, there is tons of talent. The concept of a Union soldier recuperating in a southern mansion filled with women and girls is a great concept, but nothing much develops. I don’t know if there’s nothing in the script, or if it’s just really, really bad editing that makes this such a boring film, but it’s a major bore. The Confederate soldiers show up a couple times with a bunch of kids and a Union deserter hiding out and NOTHING happens. Then the end is extremely unsatisfying with a big dramatic setup for the finish that fizzles out like a dud. There is some hope that something major is going to occur in the ending, but it’s such a soft pedal that it’s completely unworthy of the story. This is a really sad missed opportunity and a real mess of a movie. I have a feeling that this movie, when it finally is released, is going to fizzle just like the ending of the film. all in all, from now on I’m going to stay far away from anything directed by this person. I was really disappointed. I’m going to try to find the 1971 film, to see what was done with the story on that attempt, and if I can find it, I will let you know if it suffers with the same problems that the remake has, but I can hardly think it could be any worse. . I recommend that you skip this one!

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Movie Rentals Releasing Tuesday July 4, 2017

• Awakening the Zodiac
• Drone
• Song to Song
• The Zookeeper’s