Ed's Review Dot Com

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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Awesomeness TV, Jon Shestack Productions,

Zoey Deutch, Halston Sage, Logan Miller, Kian Lawley, Elena Kampouris, Diego Boneta, Jennifer Beals

Samantha Kingston (Zoey Deutch) is a High School senior living the perfect life. She’s very popular, a great scholar, and a bit of a bitch, although we know deep inside she’s actually a good girl who’s forgotten how to be nice. Instead she yells at her mother and little sister and is mean to everyone who doesn’t fit in her society. But Samantha is soon trapped in a time loop where she must live the same day over and over until she manages to figure out the meaning of her life and where she should be headed.

This film is based on the book written for young ladies, no doubt about it, by the mood of the story. That should mean that an a senior citizen of the male persuasion, I should have hated it, but I didn’t. Granted, I was blown away by Groundhog Day and have watched it many times, and all the Christmas movies that relive the same day till you get it right theme. This follows that same sort of theme, but is somehow a lot darker and more meaningful than some of the others, and darn it, I really enjoyed it. Zoey Deutch was really perfection in the role, and though I don’t recognize her, except as the girl in “Why Him?” that came out last Christmas, she really nailed this part. The girls who played her clique also did a really good job, as each of them has their own personality so that they’re all different, but yet somehow all the same, and wrapped into the plot very tightly. The usual characters are there, as they always are in this type of film, but somehow I was really moved by the story. Things may not turn out all rosy and pink for Sam, as she really brought on the problems she had to stare in the face herself, and as all us Once Upon a Time fans know from Mr. Gold, “All magic has a price.” All of our choices don’t just fade away, some of them just hang around. I think this was a touching story, from a book that must be well written, and made into a very nice little film. I understand the criticism of those who didn’t enjoy it, but all I can say is that I was entertained and really did like the film.

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DC Entertainment, LEGO System A/S, Lin Pictures,

Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes, Mariah Carey

Batman (Will Arnett) is a loner, but we find he’s just really afraid of being a part of a family again after the terrible thing that happened to his family, but the Joker (Zach Galifianakis) is up to his usual tricks and is planning to break the entire city apart (literally) by joining up with all the other bad guys. Batman finds he can’t do it on his own, no matter how stubborn he is, and may have to accept a little help from a gaggle of friends willing to help out.

This darn movie really surprised me a lot. I really didn’t think it could be anything but cheesy, but dang, I think this is perfect fodder for the grown up little boy in me. Granted, my grandkids who love both Batman and LEGOs really loved it too, but I found the PG-13 in it gave us really funny over their heads zingers that made it really entertaining (and did I say funny) to me as well. This was really well done. With some really fine voice actors including The ‘Puter voice played by Siri herself. I mean there must be a dozen top stars and great talents in this movie along with a lot of other interesting characters that I couldn’t identify. It was a laugh fest from start to finish, and very well animated. I never had the patience for putting LEGO projects together, but I sure had a lot of fun watching the quirks and characteristics these plastic people gave me along with their plastic world. They play it so straight with tongue firmly in the cheek and I found myself laughing out loud many times. I’m sorry I missed seeing this with the grandkids in the theater, but it was sure enough fun watching the DVD at home. This is one of the nicest animated films I’ve seen in a while. Great job guys!

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Columbia Pictures, Skydance Media, Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE),

Jake Gyllenhaal, Ryan Reynolds, Rebecca Ferguson, Olga Dykhovichnaya, Hiroyuki Sanada, Ariyon Bakare

A crew of astronauts are in a space lab and come across a single celled creature that appears it could have been alive. Through their investigation they are able to determine that it was in a deep form of hibernation on Mars since a time in the past when Mars had more oxygen. But once they wake it up, they find that it grows very fast, and is not particularly friendly Trapped in space with this creature with no chance of ever bringing it to Earth to study, it is protected by three levels of firewalls to make sure it cannot escape. But it is very smart and figures out a way to attack the crew anyway, and unless a plan can be found to stop it, it is going to kill the entire crew.

This film is not Alien. It’s good that it’s not because Alien is copyrighted and you can’t steal someone’s move. This is a terror filled suspenseful space monster film that holds it’s own, although it fought an uphill battle against critics and the public alike which I think is a shame. I was anxious to see this while in the theater, but never had time for it, yet now that it’s out on DVD, I am really happy I got a chance to see it. It’s a well done feature, and the suspense and horror aspect is really terrifying. Granted there are a few scientific blunders in here, and a couple plot holes that you could drive a truck through, but remember that this is science-FICTION and so it has to stretch reality a little bit for the sake of the story. Actually the cast did a good enough job. They were all pretty good. The effects are also pretty impressive, and it’s a good well told little story that kept me on the edge of my seat. Give this film a chance if you like Sci-Fi as much as I do, and I think you’ll find it good enough to be worth your time. I liked it and found it very frightening.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog