Ed's Review Dot Com

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Chernin Entertainment, Scope Pictures,

Eva Green, Asa Butterfield, Samuel L. Jackson, Allison Janney, Rupert Everett, Judi Dench, Chris O’Dowd, Ella Purnell, Terence Stamp, Kim Dickens, Milo Parker

Essentially a fantastic story about a young man, Jake (Asa Butterfield) who is very close to his elderly grandfather, but can’t seem to connect with this own father. When grandfather Abe (Terence Stamp) is killed under mysterious circumstances, Jake and his father head over to Wales to find the orphanage where Grandpa Abe stayed as a child, and Miss Peregrine, the odd mistress of the home about which Abe has told stories to Jake since he was a little child that would certainly make Mary Poppins jealous. Miss Peregrine and the children who live in the home have many secrets, mostly very dark, about those who want to destroy them, monsters and all sorts of misfits all around. Jake needs to find out that he’s someone special after all, just like Grandpa promised.

This is a live action adventure by Tim Burton. Yeah, when you see Tim Burton’s name producing a film, you know it’s going to be quite strange, and this is certainly not an exception by any means. This is one really weird story, and fans of Burton will surely love the weirdness more than anything else. But it’s a damn good story too, and though it is quite unrealistic most of the way, it does have a certain charm to it, plus a cameo by Dame Judy Dench too. All kinds of supernatural things abound, and nothing is ever as it seems to be. But underneath it all, it’s a familiar story of a young boy who feels out of it like he’s not anybody special, who needs to come to grips with the hero in him. Now I was an avid reader in my youthful days, and though I have lost that due to a huge lack of time to read anymore, I still respect those whose passion is the printed page. This, as I understand, is a wonderful book, and the movie does not follow the story very closely and departs across many of the characters. I can’t comment on that because I have not read the book, so my review of this is only of the film, and I really liked it. I splurged the extra three bucks for a pair of 3D glasses and the 3D was pleasurable. I really enjoy that technology and rarely am I disappointed in the 3D effects. After a few minutes, you get into the story and begin to forget that it’s actually 3D which is I think a good thing, but I have to admit that I was very enthralled with this film and enjoyed it very much. Certainly a can’t miss for Tim Burton fans, but anyone who is a fan of quirky adventure stories that are certainly out of the ordinary would, I think, enjoy this movie as well. This is a well received film by the public, and I am very happy to give my full recommendation to this one. It is PG-13 and there are some creatures that would be scary for little kids, but for Teens to Seniors, this is a good little movie.

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Amblin Entertainment, DreamWorks SKG, Marc Platt Productions,

Emily Blunt, Haley Bennett, Rebecca Ferguson, Justin Theroux, Luke Evans, Édgar Ramírez , Laura Prepon, Allison Janney, Darren Goldstein, Lisa Kudrow

This new thriller is the story of three women and a man named Tom (Justin Theroux). Rachel (Emily Blunt) is a very sad alcoholic woman who has not been able to function since her husband left her for their neighbor, Anna (Rebecca Ferguson). Every day on the train to the city, Rachel sits on the same side of the train to look and see what is going on in the perfect house with the perfect woman who has the perfect life that Rachel misses dearly. She is obsessed with the woman who lives in her house filled with all the things she used to own. Even worse is the new baby that Anna has that Rachel wanted so bad. Anna has a nanny who lives with them named Megan (Haley Bennett) who takes care of the baby so that Anna can do the charity work that she longs to do to fill the empty life she thinks she has. Megan is a tramp who is deeply disturbed and seeing a shrink to try to find some meaning to her life. When suddenly Megan disappears, things get very confusing as their lives are about to come crashing together as everyone is a suspect. Problem is, that Rachel can’t remember what happened the night Megan went missing.

This is a very slow paced, but highly thrilling “who done it” mystery and suspense film. All three women in the lead roles are very good, and though each is different in many ways, they all are portrayed excellently. Actually everyone in this film is very good and the script is very suspenseful. It’s well scripted, for sure, and the dreary rainy suburban NYC setting is very appropriate and adds a lot to the mood. It’s based on the novel, naturally, and a good one it must be. I haven’t read it, so the movie was a new story for me. My only complaint is the male bashing typical all men are pigs theme that always shows up in this kind of film. For this reason, it’s not a great thriller for the guys to watch. It’s much more of a chick flick in that respect. Even the wise old police chief trying to solve the crime is female played by Allison Janey who is pretty good, but who seems to be the only one who isn’t out to blame everything on the men in the story. It is fairly slow developing, but the purposefully way they build the characters. One other notable thing is that the beginning of the movie is a bit confusing as it does go through each of the three ladies to introduce them to us, but they do it in a disjointed…… “Six months ago” “Two Weeks Ago” “Last Night” “Last Month” kind of way that was very hard for me to follow until I got the gist of who these people were. Emily Blunt was easy to follow, but I was constantly confused as to why she was watching Megan instead of Anna and since they were both blondes, until I got the whole story I was constantly confusing which was which as they jumped around from time to time. Once the story got going it was a lot better. I did enjoy it, and found it interesting, and I can recommend this as a decent mystery story, especially for the ladies.

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Sony Pictures Television, Storyline Entertainment,

Emile Hirsch, Holliday Grainger, Holly Hunter, William Hurt, Sarah Hyland, Elizabeth Reaser, Lane Garrison, Austin Hébert, Dale Dickey, Jack Thompson

This TV Miniseries is inspired by the true story of the infamous bank robbers Bonnie Parker (Holliday Grainger) and Clyde Barrow (Emile Hirsch) who were rather incorrectly portrayed in the 1967 film featuring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. This is a longer (about 4 hours) much more historically accurate tale of how Clyde met Bonnie, swept her off her feet, and how they along with his brother and his wife, who set out on a crime spree filling the papers with juicy stories.

This TV miniseries is a much better telling of the tale of Bonnie and Clyde which is filled with intrigue and mystery and tries to show the true facts of what we know. William Hurt portrays Frank Hamer who came out of a semi-retirement to hunt down the couple like animals. It is hard to say who is the bad guy here, as obviously Bonnie and Clyde were criminals, but the feeling of a lot of people is that in America we do not play executor and slaughter people without even an attempt to apprehend them. His excuse is that they were dangerous, but a lot of people were not buying it. In the end, we may never really know the truth. But I can tell you that I was not a fan of this guy after watching the film. Technically it was very well done, and according to the research I was able to do, rather historically accurate. Having seen the incredible “Bonnie & Clyde death car” at a little casino in Stateline, Nevada it was an incredible sight to see. There were somewhere between 25 and 50 shots that hit each of them, and they didn’t stand a chance. They were killed without ever being able to exit the car. The car is a mass of bullet holes and is one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen. I was really interested in the story and the performances were outstanding. I thought the film was a very interesting story and I was glad to know the story a lot better. If you have any interest in the subject matter, this is a good way to learn the legend of Bonnie & Clyde, and i really enjoyed it. I’ve been waiting to have the time for this for a long time, and I’m glad I finally watched it. Very well done.

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Andrea Leone Films, Busted Shark Productions, Fear of God Films,

Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, Kylie Rogers, Aaron Paul, Diane Kruger, Quvenzhané Wallis, Bruce Greenwood, Jane Fonda, Octavia Spencer, Janet McTeer

Fathers and Daughters is a very touching heart felt film about a single father Jake Davis (Russell Crowe) who is also a well known author who is struggling with the accidental death of his wife while trying to raise his little girl and the light of his life, Katie (adult played by Amanda Seyfried, Young Katie played by Kylie Rogers). Told in intertwining stories of Young Katie supporting her Father who went through a stay in the mental hospital after the death of his wife, leaving her with an Aunt and Uncle who don’t feel inclined to let her go back to her dad, and the grown up Katie, now working as a child welfare worker, but suffering badly from the effects of everyone she loves leaving her alone. It is a very touching tale and an excellent relationship drama.

The three main characters in this story, Jake, and his daughters, Young Katie, the child, and adult Katie the screwed up woman trying to learn how to live her life with the strong desire to help others, but no idea how to help herself makes a very touching and tragic story. But it’s also very heartwarming. All three of these actors are superb, and all need to be congratulated very much for their wonderful performances. No surprise from Russell Crowe, although he pulls out a stellar performance of a man at his wits end doing everything in his power to keep fighting against all odds. But this is the best I have seen Amanda Seyfried, although she has done some very good performances in the past, she is absolutely excellent in this very troubled and difficult role. Great job! But Kylie was absolutely stunning in her role as Young Katie. This little girl pulled off one of the best child acting performances I have ever seen. The rest of the cast is outstanding as well. Though this is a tragic story, it is crafted extremely well, and kudos to the screenwriters and director as well for a stunning film. This is one movie I was really glad to see, and it touched my heart deeply. This is an adult story, some of the choices Katie makes are very bad, and though shown very tastefully, are not meant for little ones. The R rating is much more about what you feel than what you see. But adults and older teens ought to watch this film. It is like a work of art and a real masterpiece. I highly recommend this movie for mature audiences.

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Summit Entertainment, Participant Media, Di Bonaventura Pictures,

Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Gina Rodriguez, Dylan O’Brien, Kate Hudson

Deepwater Horizon is a fact based docudrama covering the 2010 explosion and oil spill on the floating rig Deepwater Horizon leased by BP. The crew from Transocean dug the initial well, and stabilize it with cement then cap it off and leave before the drilling crew from BP come aboard and finish the well. As they were over a month late, and over budget, BP was pressuring them to finish up and get on with it. Due to some likely shortcuts and unwise savings, the well suddenly erupted starting a huge fire which killed 11 men, and caused the rig to sink to the bottom of the ocean starting the largest oil spill in US history. This film is the story of the events leading up to and to the evacuation and rescue of the survivors after the fire. Led by Jimmy Harrell (Kurt Russell) and his technical right hand man Mike Williams (Mark Walberg), and their interactions with BP executive Vidrine (John Malkovich) this exciting tale feels like a simple action movie but is based on the real events of 2010.

Produced by Wahlberg and Directed by Peter Berg, this is an excellent film. The excitement and action is first rate, special effects are mind boggling, and the movie still develops the characters and their motivations, and the human interest side of the story is developed very well too. Kurt Russell is amazing, as always, and Mark Wahlberg did a fantastic job as well. It is nice to Kurt and his daughter Kate Hudson who played Mark Wahlberg’s wife together as well. The beginning of the story was a bit slow, as it takes a great deal of time to give us all the background information of who the characters are, and why they are doing what they are doing. If this were fiction, that could have been shortened a little bit, but because to the need to be truthful to the facts, it is important to give us all this information about how it could happen. As soon as I got out of the theater, I looked it up in Wikipedia to see how accurate it was, and after having seen the film, I was surprised to learn how much I knew about the facts of what happened just based on those first 40 minutes or so while the story was introduced. But one trouble starts, thing get really moving real fast. It was an awful disaster, and I feel like I was there. One point though, although 11 men died in the explosion and fire, a great deal of damage happened long after the event (and is still happening). Though the film gives us the welcome pictures of the real people portrayed, and the words on screen telling us who quit the oil business after, and what essentially happened to the people, it does not spend any time talking about the consequences of the aftermath. For that reason, I would highly recommend that after you see this exciting film, that you do a tiny bit of research on your own to try to get the full picture of the whole story. This is a very good movie, and I highly recommend it for you.

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