Ed's Review Dot Com

Matt Tolmach Productions, Radar Pictures, Seven Bucks Productions,

Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, Nick Jonas, Bobby Cannavale, Alex Wolff, Ser’Darius Blain, Madison Iseman, Morgan Turner, Missi Pyle, Rhys Darby, Tim Matheson, Maribeth Monroe, Marc Evan Jackson

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is a sequel to the original Jumanji of over 20 years ago. Technology has changed since the original board game that was played by the kids in the original bringing Alan Parrish back from the jungle. In those days it was a board game, but apparently it had been updated at some point over the last 20 years to a video game console. A group of high school kids decided to give the game a try, and all four of them are pulled into the jungle where Alan lived during the time that he was trapped in the game. When they are sucked into the game, hence into the jungle itself, they become their characters that they chose in the original game. Here they are trapped unless they are able to complete the challenge and end the game.

This review was started over a year ago, and never completed. I wanted to say some things about this film, and now that it’s been out for a year or two, I still feel my observations might be of some value, so I decided to finish it. First of all, many folks did not like this film, for one reason or another, but I found it rather interesting for a number of reasons. First of all, the humor was here 100%. It was really funny from time to time. Secondly, some of the action seemed corny or contrived, but this is supposed to be a video game and as such is filled with different levels and scenarios. I felt this was appropriate for the situation. There are also some fun references to the original movie. Many people do not remember, but in the original movie, though Alan was stuck in the jungle for years until someone rolled a “six” or “eight” to free him, we never saw anything of what the jungle was like. The animals and characters from the jungle crossed over to our world, but we never went the other way. This time we get to see the jungle world, and even the place where Alan lived while he was stuck here. During the time Alan lived there he made friends and became somewhat of a hero over there. All in all, I found this to be really fun, and at this late date, if you haven’t seen these movies, I would suggest watching both of them back to back so that you can remember the important parts of the original. If you have seen the first one, but not this one, then I still recommend going back and watching the original again, so it’s all fresh when you watch this sequel. I think both movies are classics and ought to be enjoyed.

Columbia Pictures Corporation, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Regency Enterprises,

Claire Foy, Sverrir Gudnason, Lakeith Lee Stanfield, Sylvia Hoeks, Stephen Merchant, Claes Bang, Cameron Britton, Vicky Krieps, Synnøve Macody Lund

Lisbeth Salander (Claire Foy) is a hacker who is hired by a computer programmer to retrieve a program called Firefall, a program which is capable of accessing all the world’s nuclear codes. Frans Balder (Stephen Merchant), the programmer, wrote the program, but now feels it is too dangerous to have out there. Lisbeth is able to retrieve the program, but they are unable to unlock it. Once the program is stolen by Jan Holtser (Claes Bang) a mercenary steals the program and then the chase is on to recover it, providing they don’t die in the process in this high adventure chase story.

If there ever was a movie who’s trailer has nothing to do with the actual movie, this is it. I saw the trailer in the theater a number of times and it looked like a good story, but when I actually got to watch this DVD, I found myself totally lost in this movie. I didn’t ever really catch up and found it really confusing. There a lot of major problems in the story, and the technology of how the program has be retrieved really doesn’t make any sense. The whole premise is real strange. I just really did not get into this movie, and I just didn’t really enjoy it. I don’t recommend this movie. It just had nothing interesting in it to make it worth the time. I suggest you skip this one.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Mas Films, Paradox Films, StudioCanal,

Liam Neeson, Micheal Richarson, Tom Bateman, Tom Jackson, Emmy Rossum, Domenick Lombardozzi, Julia Jones, John Doman, Laura Dern, William Forsythe, Aleks Paunovic, Ben Hollingsworth, Nathaniel Arcand, Glen Gould, Bradley Stryker, Elizabeth Thai

Nels (Liam Neeson) is a simple hardworking snow plow driver who keeps the road open to a popular resort destination in Colorado. Its a small town, but has really gotten very popular after a fancy ski resort opened. When his son, Kyle (Micheal Richarson) turns up dead from a heroin overdose, Nels doesn’t believe it was an accident. He starts to investigate on his own, and finds a connection so some very shady drug racketeers from Denver he stars seeking vengeance on them This leads to one final showdown that is really something to see!

This is a typical Liam Neeson movie of revenge hunting to the max. This is a bit darker than most of the others, but has a lot of similarities. The best part of the film is the beautiful scenery in the Rockies in the wintertime. It is truly breathtaking. The suspense is really intense, and it’s easy to follow. It took a while to get everything straight as the beginning jumped around a bit and made it kind of hard for me to follow for a while, but after I got every straightened out in my head, it was really easy to follow. Laura Dern is a great actress and was kind of wasted in this movie, and I’m not sure why. She didn’t have much to do, and her character was very superficial. I wish she had been given more to do. In some respects it is a bit over simplified. It is extremely violent, though, with lots of blood and guys all the way through, so it earns it’s R rating for the extreme violence, but it is a very exciting roller coaster of a movie. It was very intense, and well worth the time.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Marvel Studios

Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Peña, Walton Goggins, Hannah John-Kamen, Michelle Pfeiffer, Laurence Fishburne, Michael Douglas, Bobby Cannavale, Judy Greer, T.I., David Dastmalchian, Abby Ryder Fortson, Randall Park

Ant-Man, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is a dad most of all. His efforts have been focused on trying to take care of the family duties, but a major critical mission comes up and pulls him back into the superhero business. Along with the Wasp, Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lily), and Dr. Pym (Michael Douglas) he heads off into the adventure once again to rescue Dr. Pym’s wife who’s trapped in another dimension all the while being chased by the Feds and the bad guys who want the technology Dr. Pym has invented.

The original Ant-Man was a very humorous movie, and this sequel has a lot of the lunacy and downright laugh-out-loud moments like the first one did. Paul Rudd is actually really good in this role. As I’ve said thousands of times, I’ve never been a big fan of superhero movies, but every now and then a really good one captures my attention and takes me along with the ride. This one did. I actually enjoyed this one. The cast is superb and the humor was spot on, so this was a pleasure to watch. I really had a good time, and I can recommend this movie.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Goddard Textiles, TSG Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox,

Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Dakota Johnson, Jon Hamm, Cailee Spaeny, Lewis Pullman, Chris Hemsworth, Nick Offerman, Russell Crowe, Alvina August, Mark O’Brien

The El Royale is a run down hotel on the border between Nevada and California near Lake Tahoe. Half of the rooms are in one state and the other half are in the other, decorated especially for each state, but there is a red line running down the middle of the main lounge that divides the room in half. The hotel used to be a hot destination, but is dying since they lost their gambling license and all the slot machines are out of order. Now no one stays here. A tired old priest (Jeff Bridges) shows up at the same time as a lounge singer (Cynthia Erivo) who is staying at the El Royale because it is very cheap. When they enter the lobby the find the hotel empty except for a traveling salesman who is also looking for an attendant. Over time, a few more people show up, but nobody is what they appear, all are hiding deep secrets, and things are going to go bad due to a whole bunch of bad choices as well as a great number of misunderstandings, and it truly is Bad Times at the El Royale for everyone.

I was intrigued by the trailer and really wanted to get to see it in the theater, but for some reason I never made it. I was excited when this was released on DVD, and was anxious to see it. It was well worth the wait, and I’m glad I finally got to see this. In fact, it was so much fun, I watched it twice. This is a mystery from start to finish, and it was really fun trying to figure out who the people really were. As you go along, as soon as you figure it out, you find out you’re completely wrong. As the pieces are revealed bit by bit, the puzzle comes together, and it was a really exciting movie. This reminded me a lot of “The Hateful Eight” in the way that nobody actually was who they claimed to be. This was a very insightful film, very dark, but yet somehow really beautiful. The way they built the set completely from scratch, and built the entire lobby building as a single set, allowing them to do long and complex shots in a single take without a cut. It was very well crafted and I enjoyed the movie twice from start to end, and really enjoyed the extra features that were were included on the DVD with info about how and why the film was made the way it was. The actors were superb. Jeff Bridges and Jon Hamm were outstanding. Cynthia Erivo did all the singing herself, and she was exceptional. Though this movie is pretty dark, there are enough puzzles and loose ends to keep us very interested in what’s going to happen. I am glad they didn’t tell us who was in the film at the end. I’m sure I know, but I’m only guessing. I really enjoyed this film.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog