Ed's Review Dot Com

Anonymous Content, First Look Media, Participant Media,

Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, Stanley Tucci, John Slattery

Based on a true story, Spotlight is a special team of of investigative journalists working at the Boston Globe. They take on stories that take extra time and effort, sometime up to a year to seek out all the facts and prepare a special story or series of stories. Led by Robby Robinson (Michael Keaton) the Globe get a new manager from Miami who wants to improve sales. One his ideas is for Spotlight to investigate the policy of the Catholic Church to reassign priests who are known pedophiles, molesting young boys and girls. As the dig into the story, the find much more than they ever expected. This is true story of how they managed to go against all the odds to bring this story to light in one of the most groundbreaking stories of all times.

This movie won Best Picture at the Academy Awards in 2016. Surprisingly, this is the second film in a row starring Michael Keaton to win Best Picture. This is a very well done Docudrama and won an award for being most accurate portrayal of a real story, and the actors certainly put a LOT of effort into making the depictions of the real characters very lifelike. In fact, many of the reporters hung around the set and were amazed at how accurate the settings and depictions were done. Best film of 2015? I doubt that, but it is a good film. Hollywood types have a strange way of jumping on the bandwagon to to vote for a cause instead of a film, but this is not the worst Best Picture I have seen them choose. But it is popular to bash the Catholics these days. Most of the reporters who investigated the real story were, in fact, Roman Catholics, and they went to great lengths to show the hard choice of telling the story, even if it harms the church that has done a lot of good for the city. This is a conundrum, for sure. The agony in the faces of the folks is very well portrayed. From what I read, the actors did so well in portraying the people, that many of them remarked that it was like looking in a mirror. Robbie Robinson said that if Michael Keaton robbed a bank, the Boston Cops would be standing by ready to put the cuffs on Mr. Robinson in a blink of an eye. It was a nice compliment to the performance Michael pulled off. Basically, the subject matter is hard to take, and they may have been able to spend a little more effort on the victims, instead of all about the reporters, but that is how they chose to show it. All in all, this is a very well done movie and well worth watching. It’s a very serious topic, but very well done.

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Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Pictures,

Raymond Ochoa, Jeffrey Wright, Frances McDormand, Steve Zahn, Anna Paquin, Sam Elliott, A.J. Buckley, Marcus Scribner, Jack Bright

Many Pixar films start out with a concept. The concept here is simply “What if the meteor that killed the dinosaur’s missed?”. This film is the view of what Earth might be like if the dinosaurs never left and mankind was not allowed to grow to the top of the food chain. The story centers around a young family of dinosaurs, a Father and Mother, and three children who are farmers and grow crops to survive the winter. The youngest of the three kids though is Arlo and he’s a bit of a shrimp. Scared of the chickens and afraid of his shadow, Dad wants to make him grow up and make his mark on the world. Instead, he gets lost in a raging river and has to fight to survive and find his way back home in this animated Pixar film that is as cute and funny as all the rest of their gems.

Not only does Pixar start with a concept, but they also recognize that it’s all in the story, and this is a very, very well told story. The characters are extremely well voiced (and drawn) and this is a darling little film. The only problem that keeps this, in my mind, from being one of the best Pixar films is the fact that the story is rather derived from both Land Before Time and An American Tale. Granted the idea of a small one, lost and fighting to survive on his own is not all that original. Now that I think of it, isn’t that what Finding Nemo was about too? There are certainly similarities in the story, but I think most of it is fresh enough, and with enough tweaks and adjustments to make it very enjoyable. Like all Pixar films, I suspect folks of any age from 2 to 102 are going to really enjoy the story. It’s adult enough in it’s humor that grown ups will get a kick out of some of the characters, but it’s sweet and charming enough that the little ones will like it too. Note that this is PG, and though PG films are really mild nowadays, there is some violence and scary parts in this movie that might scare the little ones. Personally I think my younger grandchildren would be able to handle much worse than this without being afraid, but be alert if they are getting frightened to help them through a couple scary scenes. For example, when Arlo gets washed away in the river, it’s very intense, and there are a couple of vulture like pterodactyl like creatures that give Arlo a rough time. But there are many learning moments as well that stress things like helping, caring, needing to ask for help, and such that are very valuable gems. This is a really sweet movie, a very exciting adventure, and another Home Run for Pixar.

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Number 9 Films, Film4, Killer Films,

Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Sarah Paulson, Jake Lacy, Kyle Chandler

Based on the novel “The Price of Salt” by Patricia Highsmith, this story takes place in 1950, a time that where women were not treated with much respect and were expected to marry and raise a family. Carol (Cate Blanchett) is very unhappily married in an unjustified sexless relationship with a small child Rindy. While shopping, Carol spies a shop girl in a department store and is instantly attracted to her. They two strike up a friendship that soon turns romantic. In a time where same sex relationships were not tolerated, things get bad for Carol as her whole world starts crashing down around her.

This film deservedly got a lot of attention over the awards season, probably most due to Cate Blanchett’s moving performance as Carol. She shows all the sides of this character, and we get to see a lot of emotions, from disgust and anger, to embarrassment, to love and tenderness. It truly is a mind blowing performance, and she certainly deserves all the praise she rightly received. But Rooney Mara as Therese, the shop girl, should also be praised for her role. She had a lot to do with the stunning performances here, and she is a wonderful actress. Her wide-eyed “Audrey Hepburn” look innocence at the beginning, growing into a strong and powerful woman by the end, gives us a chance to see all of her skills as a performer which are many. The story is a bit slow, and it replicates the 1950’s pretty well. It is also stark and very realistic which may chase away some people. This is not everyone’s cup of tea, as it’s is really a woman’s movie, heavy on the romantic relationship, and yet the fierce independence of strong women characters that will please the ladies. I can see why this movie got all the praise that it did, and I can also see a lot of people who will be unimpressed. So if you like romantic period pieces done like the romantic novels of old, this is certainly worth watching. If you like explosions and car chases, this is not the movie for you.

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20th Century, Anonymous Content, Appian Way, Monarchy Enterprises S.a.r.l.,

Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson, Will Poulter, Lukas Haas

Set in the 1820’s this is a story of some fur trappers guided by Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) who were attacked by the Indians who wanted to steal the pelts. Scouting ahead, Glass is attacked by a grizzly bear and when he is found, he is nearly dead and not expected to make it. Three men were left behind to take of Glass and bury him properly when he died, but they took off to collect the reward and left him for dead. But he didn’t die, and against all odds, sets out to find the man who left him behind.

This is an epic film, two and a half hours long and very moving. Nominated for Best Picture for 2016 it did not win it, but perhaps it should have. But it was good enough to get the best actor nod for Leo. He deserved that as well. This is a tale of extreme cold and misery with a little starvation thrown in, not to mention the horrible wounds his body suffered at this graphic attack by the bear. This was extremely well done, and today’s technology is a far cry from a guy in a bear suit. If you don’t totally believe Leo was mauled for real, I don’t believe you. The location is the 2nd biggest star of this film, and it was so realistic looking that it blew me away. This is definitely a BIG SCREEN movie so hurry to watch it before it goes away. Usually the Academy Awards lift will give it extra legs. Leo’s performance was unbelievable, and he really put his whole heart and soul into this movie. There were other really great performances as well including Tom Hardy as “Fitzpatrick” the real villain in the story, and Captain Andrew Henry (Domhall Gleeson) who add a great deal, but this is truly Leo’s movie. The effort that went into producing this blockbuster must have been epic as well. It’s quite long, but hardly long enough, and the action and adventure is over the top. This is definitely one of the best films in a number of years, and is one you really don’t want to miss. This is an exciting movie. Don’t miss it.

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Depth of Field, 1821 Pictures,

Lily Tomlin, Judy Greer, Julia Garner, Carlos Miranda, John Cho, Nat Wolff, Laverne Cox, Aaron Bilyeu, Elizabeth Peña, Colleen Camp, Sam Elliott, Mo Aboul-Zelof, Marcia Gay Harden, Missy Doty,
Don McManus

Elle (Lily Tomlin) has just broken up with her new girlfriend Olivia (Judy Greer) when her granddaughter Sage (Julia Garner) shows up unexpectedly at her door asking for $600.00 cash. Grandma Elle is busted, but she agrees to help raise the funds. Neither grandmother or granddaughter has a relationship with Sage’s over ambitious and very critical mother, so Elle calls on all kinds of old friends who could fund her granddaughter’s problems. But the more they dig into the past, the more uncomfortable old skeletons, hard feelings, and disappointments get awakened on this amazing journey.

I was genuinely surprised by this film. Ms. Garner does a really good job as the granddaughter who thinks she’s hip, but finds she’s a lot more naive than she thought, but this is really Lily Tomlin’s movie. From Geraldine the phone company operator from her stand up days and Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In way back in the 60’s, we have seen her from time to time in films, mostly comedies, but this is really an awesome showcase for her. She was very, very good, and I think played the role stunningly. Now I can understand how young folks might not connect to the grandmother character, but Julia Garner is good enough to allow them to identify things from her point of view, so a 20 year old and a 60 year old may see different films, I believe both would like it. This is not the kind of movie that pulls in a huge box office, but like “On Golden Pond” for example, this is a touching and warm film about the relationships between different generations of the family, and was very enjoyable. This has a LOT of humor and is classified as a comedy, but it’s also a very touching and poignant film that is rather touching. I really enjoyed this movie and can recommend it highly.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog