Ed's Review Dot Com

Sony Pictures Classics, RatPac Entertainment, Echo Lake Entertainment,

Cate Blanchett, Robert Redford, Topher Grace, Elisabeth Moss, Dennis Quaid, Bruce Greenwood, Stacy Keach

Cate Blanchett stars as Mary Mapes, head of the CBS News Department and Robert Redford (Robert Redford?????) as Dan Rather, seasoned reporter for CBS in this docudrama version of the story of how the pair decided to air on 60 Minutes, just before the 2004 Presidential election, a story about how George Bush avoided serving in Viet Nam using his father’s political clout, and even worse, how he went AWOL and never showed at the camp where he supposedly was trained as a National Guard pilot. Though they were convinced their source was valid, it was not very well corroborated and came under fire right away as a hoax, ending up with both Mary and Dan losing their jobs over the rush to get it on the air before the election without proof.

I was very anxious for this film to come out, as I followed the story very closely when it happened and wasn’t really sure what the whole story was. I happily tore into the envelope when this one arrived in my mailbox, and I was sorely disappointed. This is a one sided propaganda piece that set out to bring people to tears at what happened to the poor victims of this vicious attack when they were pure and innocent as drifted snow. I guess had I known that Sir Robert of Redford was going to play Dan Rather, I would probably have been forewarned and skipped it. Certainly he was much more like the Sundance Kid than Dan Rather, though I give him some credit for at least trying to mimic the way Rather talks. I can understand a little how Rather was a victim of sorts in this, and it was a shame that he threw away his career in order to try to overcome the “Swift Boat Scandal” and help get George W Bush defeated. For those who don’t remember, the members of the crew went public with a story condemning what John Kerry has claimed as his war hero record claiming he wasn’t there and it was all a fantasy. Kerry was in trouble in the election and the media was desperate to find any sort of slime to sling at Bush to slow him down. Of course this backfired in a big way, and George W. breezed into a second term. But that’s not the point. There are two big problems I have with CBS, Dan, and Mary. First, it’s a shame that newscasting has resorted to news readers. News programs that used to be part of the public service to the networks, and a big loss to their revenue stream suddenly because very profitable, and the Sixty Minutes was one of the things that first proved that Entertainment News could make huge profits. But the loss is like reality TV, that “reality” is too boring by itself, so you need to spice it up a bit by choosing a story, and then setting out to prove it at all costs. Dan Rather was around when reporters went out in the field and found out first hand what the story is. Today it’s mostly check TMZ.com and report on whatever they say. Many news stories today come straight from TMZ. And when the networks are wrong, TMZ is actually usually right. But instant news on the internet and in your hand on your smart phone has forced them to try to bring something “BIG” to you first for ratings, hence profits. There is a duty to report on a story fairly and factually, but unfortunately entertainment news has made that disappear. The second big problem is the infamous agenda that the networks have today. Whether it’s conservative or liberal, FOX or MSNBC, they set out with a premise and make it happen. Nothing Obama says will be accepted as right by Fox, and even as early as 2003, CBS and especially Mary Mapes wanted ANYTHING they could get against Bush and would have run just about anything if they had anyway at all to justify it. That’s just not right, but that seems to be what we want. So I don’t think this movie is very accurate, and like the news they presented, they started out with one side of the story and then set out to prove it. But even that’s not so bad as the horrible ending on this thing where they build up to this sad tearjerking climax, and the end it with a 10 minute “funeral” for these two. I felt like I was watching the ending of Old Yeller or Marley and Me when the dog dies (oops spoiler). This was not a terrible tragedy. This was the consequence of poor choices and bad judgement and though perhaps sad, certainly not worthy of the somber treatment they gave this at the end. I would have kept a little bit of respect if it wasn’t for that ridiculous ending that really ruins it. I blame that on the agenda of the filmmakers probably more than the editor, but if the film editor screwed up, perhaps he ought to go out to pasture with Mary and Dan. I was very angry at the end of this one.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Warner Bros., Iron Horse Entertainment (II),

Adam Rodriguez, Gabriel Iglesias, Amber Heard, Jada Pinkett Smith, Kevin Nash, Elizabeth Banks, Michael Strahan, Channing Tatum, Donald Glover, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, Andie MacDowell

Mike (Channing Tatum) has broken ties to the strip club where he worked and started his furniture business and is following his dream of the first movie in this sequel. But the business is failing and he has only one employee and he’s not able to pay for health care for him, and his having trouble paying him at all. So when he gets a call telling him that Dallas is gone, he heads off to pay his respects when he finds out that the old gang, minus Dallas are headed up north for the convention and competition. Mike has the itch to get back in the game, but once again as a short timer only in if for the bucks, and the kicks. So this road picture is the road trip to the convention and the hi-jinks of the gang of misfits on the way.

Of the first Magic Mike, I said “It is not a very good film”. Well if that was said of the first one, this sequel without McConnaughy is 10 times worse. This could definitely win an award, but that would be the award for the “Most Pointless Movie Ever Made”. It was truly awful and really did have no point at all. I think this was a blatant rip-off for the gals in love with Tatum and their desire to watch him running around without his shirt, as there is nothing else worth seeing here. It certainly misses McConnaghy’s Dallas character. Without him, the movie just seems to flounder. There is no plot going on here, and it’s about a bad as if it were a parody version on Magic Mike that just isn’t funny and doesn’t seem to be in on the joke. I really disliked this film, and I think the box office staying power of this movie lasted about 8 hours. There was a good reason why nobody saw this that wasn’t trying to do a “girls night out” to a theater that serves alcohol. In the words of Mad TV’s “Men on Film”……..”Hated It.”

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Marcy Media, Olive Bridge Entertainment, Overbrook Entertainment,

Cameron Diaz, Rose Byrne, Jamie Foxx, Bobby Cannavale, Quvenzhané Wallis

This musical remake of Annie is a nod to the original movie musical, but modernized and brought into today. The story is a bit similar of a kid, Annie (Quvenzhane Wallis) who’s been from Foster Home to Foster Home who is cared for by a rich businessman, Will Stacks (Jamie Fox) who is trying to improve his image, while his accountant is planning to make a deal with Ms Hannigan (Cameron Diaz) to have fake parents claim Annie to rip off Mr. Stacks.

There are movies that should never have been made. This is one of them. There was absolutely no cause to destroy this story. They have completely changed the story, and changed a lot of the songs around so that they are not recognizable. Many are lost completely, and the whole charm of the original comic strip was lost. First of all, Annie was an orphan, and it’s not Little Foster Child Annie. Jamie Fox is a good actor, but he was completely wrong for this film. Ms. Hannigan was also badly damaged, being more of a nice lady who is in an unfortunate situation. Cameron’s not about to play a nasty old lady who hires her brother to pretend to be Annie’s father to get Stacks’ stack of cash for a reward. But the updating of the music and changing the songs, and blowing away most of the story to where it doesn’t resemble the original musical is unforgivable. It would be like taking The Sound of Music and updating it to Rio in 2015 and filling it with salsa music. This would have been a good idea were they to do this as a TV special, change and update the cast, but keep the story and the music the same. But when I found out they were going to update the story and the music and make this into a movie, I knew that even releasing it in December couldn’t save it. I was sure this would be a disaster, and I was right. This was one that I wish I had not watched and I recommend you run far away from this one!

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

CG Cinéma, Pallas Film, CAB Productions,

Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart, Chloë Grace Moretz, Lars Eidinger, Johnny Flynn, Brady Corbet, Hanns Zischler, Angela Winkler, Nora von Waldstätten

Maria Enders (Juliette Binoche) is at the peak of her career. She’s a famous actress who’s been asked to act in the revival of the play she starred in twenty years before. Then she was the young assistant whose allure eventually drove the star to suicide. Now Maria is playing the role of her mentor and has to look at things from the other side. Her former role is now being played by the upcoming young star Jo-Ann (Chloe Grace Moretz) who seems very uninterested in what the older woman learned from playing the role 20 years ago. She wants to do it her own way. Meanwhile, Maria’s personal assistant is Valentine (Kristen Stewart) who is always challenging her and art and life seem to mimic each other.

This is an artsy film. I have to admit that I really hated this movie. Now I am sure that there must be some people out there who must think this is fantastic art, and like abstract paintings of splotches on a canvas, or statues made out of trash with no meaningful shape is great art to a few, the masses don’t get it at all. This was supposed to have some deep meaning and I felt like I was expected to come out of it with some fantastic epiphany, but actually I thought it was an awful waste of time. It was not only boring as hell, but served no purpose that I can see. Kristen Stewart was simply horrid, spouting lines and pretending to act, but not saying anything. I could find no value in this movie, and I’m afraid this may be the worst piece of film I’ve ever watched. Unless you are fond of being bored to tears, stay far away from this one. Seriously, it was BAD.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

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.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog