Ed's Review Dot Com

Warner Bros., Village Roadshow Pictures, Mad Chance Productions,

Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Luke Grimes, Jake McDorman, Kevin Lacz, Cory Hardict, Navid Negahban

Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) was a young man who grew up with a religious father who was very strict with them. He grew up strong and straight and true with a real desire to do what’s right. He was about to become a professional cowboy, traveling the rodeo circuit with his younger brother when 9/11 changed everything. Outraged by the terrorist actions of this date, Chris put his life and his new family on hold to become a Navy Seal in Special Operations and head to Iraq. He was blessed with a sharp eye and became the most proficient sniper in history. His primary goal was to protect his Marines and see that they were able to get home safely. The multiple tours took a toll on him and his wife, and when it was over, he tried to find purpose in his life, and he spent the few years he had left trying to help other soldiers, and writing a memoir of his experience. This documentary produced by Clint Eastwood is based on his biography in his own words.

This was a decisive film. Clint Eastwood is loved by many and hated by the rest. His own life would make a wonderful movie, but he does know how to tell a story. His attention to detail in this film is amazing and we experience the horrors of war in first person. I am not sure if Bradley Cooper was the perfect casting choice, but he has the look of Chris Kyle, and I felt he did a good job in the role. He’s a good actor, and seemed to throw himself into the world. In some ways it’s nice to see an American hero like this along with his faults and weaknesses. They are not superheroes, but regular guys doing their best who are able to accomplish amazing feats, but who are not perfect. The controversy about this film seems to be based upon political lines. The pacifists don’t like the idea of making a hero of a killer, but the soldiers will be there doing their job regardless, and the enemy had snipers as well. We would have had many more casualties if there were not men like Chris who put their skills to test to protect our boys. This was a very noble thing to do. I was very, very impressed with the work done on this film and with the story that was told, and the fact that is is nearly a pure documentary. I think it’s good that a story like this can be told in a feature film so that more people are able to see it. If it were a true documentary and not a docu-drama, it would not have received the widespread audience that it did. The story is a tragedy, and I like the way Clint did not spend a lot of time on the tragedy at the end, but just stated the facts as the movie was closing. I would have appreciated a bit more about the occurrence however, and immediately went to Wikipedia to understand more of the events of that day. But since this work is based on Chris’ writings, obviously it wasn’t in the book. I understand why Clint cut it off as he did. I think this was a very well constructed film, and I truly felt like I had witnessed something awful, yet very important. Congratulations to all the people involved in this movie and I appreciate your outstanding efforts to bring this story to life. I highly recommend this film.

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Saban Films, Code Entertainment, Freedom Media,

John Travolta, Christopher Plummer, Tye Sheridan, Jennifer Ehle, Marcus Thomas, Anson Mount, Abigail Spencer, Travis Aaron Wade

Raymond Cutter (John Travolta) is the worlds best art forger, but he’s been in prison away from his father Joseph (Christopher Plummer) and his son Will (Tye Sheridan). But his son is not well and Ray would do anything to get back home to spend some time with him. So he makes an impossible deal with a big time gangster to paint of forgery of a Monet painting, then break into the museum and steal the original, and replace it with the forgery in return for buying his way out of prison.

This crime story jumped out of the screen and captured my attention. Truthfully I have never been a huge Travolta fan, and he has made some rather bad movies over the years, but he did a really good job in this one. He is an art forger, and a criminal, but still cares about his son and he pulls this off very well. The two have a tight bond by the end of the film. These three together is actually a pleasure to watch. Typical scam and heist films like this one have a lot of twists and turns, and this one is no different, and it was pretty interesting all the way through. I found the story fresh and fun to follow. The script was well done, and the actual heist was really suspenseful. All in all I found this a good film. and if you enjoy a good robbery, mixed with a story of three generations trying to find their common ground, give this one a try.

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Feigco Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox,

Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham, Rose Byrne, Jude Law, Miranda Hart, Bobby Cannavale, Allison Janney, 50 Cent

Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) is a CIA agent, but she works in a basement following super spy Bradley Fine (Jude Law) following him and advising him on his situation in the field. But when Bradley is killed and all the agents are made, and the sale of a portable nuclear bomb is about to go down Susan offers to go out into the field as an undercover spy on a search and report mission. But she gets so involved she gets pulled into the whole secret agent thing in this side splitting comedy.

This was a wonderful experience. We stopped by at one of our favorite Regal theaters on this day when the theater is packed wall to wall with Jurassic World and Inside Out, and we went to see Spy. The theater has been completely remodeled with huge soft leather reclining seats that have foot rests. Kicked off my shoes and enjoyed the air conditioning and a really funny movie. I know Melissa McCarthy isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but in my opinion she’s getting better and better each and every film. She was wonderfully cast in this film and she carried the movie as well as anyone I could think of. Rarely do I laugh out loud in a theater. I try to chuckle to myself, but I was caught off guard by some very, very funny lines, and I must admit that I don’t know if the writers of this film or if they thought these throw away lines up while they were filming, but the way they were delivered made snort Diet Coke a couple times. This was a damn funny movie. They lampooned James Bond and every other Secret Agent film of the last 50 years, but with the unbelievably incompetent large lady trying to be a bad ass, it was quite different. Not since Mr. Bean have I seen such a bumbler, but she pulls it off and has the stuff to take care of herself and everyone else at the same time. Even Mr. Cent was really funny. We got to travel all over the world, ala Bond, and the scenery was really good, but when you go to see a comedy, you want to really laugh, and this film did the trick for me. This was the best comedic performance I’ve seen in a long time. This is R rated for some violence and some bad language, but it was truly funny and I highly recommend this one as a change of pace from all the Action and Adventure stories out there. There’s plenty of action, but the comedy is the best. See it.

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Fox Searchlight Pictures, Pacific Standard,

Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Gaby Hoffmann, Brian Van Holt, W. Earl Brown, Thomas Sadoski, Kevin Rankin, Michiel Huisman, Mo McRae

Cheryl (Reese Witherspoon) has lost her mother and took it very badly. She turned her life inside out and shut out her husband and began sleeping around in mindless game of destruction. Her husband has pulled out of the marriage and she’s by herself. She sets out to hike the Pacific Crest Trail with no preparations, over 1000 extremely harsh and unforgiving miles trying to find some meaning in her life.

This was a surprisingly good movie. I had never heard of it, but I was very pleasantly surprised. Reese really did a great job. She had to carry a one woman show and was very much in command. The story was touching, and the suspense in the dangers of the trail were very accurately presented. I was really impressed with the script. The California scenery was stunningly filmed. Basically I found myself caught up in this film and really enjoyed it. No doubt about it, it’s pretty dark in a way. Cheryl is in a really bad place, and her life is really screwed up, and she makes some bad choices. Her journey is not enjoying the beauty of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, it’s more fighting herself every step of the way. I wanted to reach out and help her so many times, but you just have to suffer through it with her. She probably chose to walk the trail to have a lot of time alone to face the loss of everything and to cleanse her mind and soul. This movie is told in many small flashbacks so that you pick up why Cheryl is where she is. It’s not a story told chronologically, but the artistic way it shows her reminiscing on what has happened to bring her down lets us feel it bit by bit as she remembers it. This is intense for younger kids, and has an R rating for a good reason. Nothing is gratuitous, and the sexual scenes are short but a bit graphic, and definitely not for the under 16 crowd. Otherwise, this is a very well done film and I recommend it for adult viewers. Who knows, you may end up reevaluating your own life.

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Warner Bros., Village Roadshow Pictures, New Line Cinema,

Dwayne Johnson, Carla Gugino, Alexandra Daddario, Colton Haynes, Art Parkinson, Archie Panjabi, Ioan Gruffudd, Will Yun Lee, Kylie Minogue, Paul Giamatti

Ray (Dwayne Johnson) is a Rescue Chopper pilot, who risks his life to save people who need saving. But he needs to save himself. He has a soon to be ex-wife, Emma (Carla Gugino) and a daughter headed for college, Blake (Alexandra Daddario). The couple had another daughter who died which is what is causing the divide in the family. Meanwhile a CalTech Seismologist, Lawrence (Paul Giamatti) thinks he’s on to a system to predict earthquakes, when a massive earthquake hits along the San Andreas fault, causing major damage from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and everywhere in-between. Blake is in San Francisco, trapped somewhere, and Ray is flying the chopper across the state trying to reach her to save his remaining daughter.

This is a huge, blockbuster disaster film, and epic CGI filled roller-coaster ride of an adventure. It’s very reminiscent of the original Earthquake movie from the original 1974 Earthquake, Charleton Heston film, in “Sensurround” movie. I can still feel the cinder block in the old cineplex rumbling while waiting in a long, long line for that one. This film is certainly bigger and with more fantastic special effects than the old one, but it’s maybe not as impressive. Still, it’s a very well done movie and will certainly rock the box office. But it’s not absolutely perfect. It has a couple different romance stories in it, and lots of great explosions and destruction, and I guess there’s some suspense, but honestly, all the 2015 computer generated effects kind of make me jaded. We’ve seen everything, so it’s not very meaningful anymore. One of my favorite rants is the loss of wonder once the computers took over and allowed anything to be possible. But you have to use the technology to complete, so that’s why I’m giving this one a 4.5. The Rock is The Rock, and you get what he gives you. He’s not an overwhelmingly amazing actor, but he does well enough. Carla Gugino is pretty good, as usual, but even she goes over the top once in a while. I wasn’t really familiar with Alexandra Daddario, but she was really good as the daughter Blake. I didn’t recognize her, but I don’t think I can forget those blue eyes. I wonder if they used CGI on the close-ups. Stunning eyes! All in all, you gotta watch this movie as it’s too big a film to miss, and I have to recommend it. Whether you want to pay for the 3-D big screen experience, or wait for it on DVD or streaming doesn’t matter. Just make sure you get to see it. The summer is starting out pretty big this year, so I think I’ll be spending a lot of days in the theater this summer!

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog