Ed's Review Dot Com

Imagine Entertainment, Malpaso Productions, Wintergreen Productions,

Leonardo DiCaprio, Naomi Watts, Armie Hammer, Josh Lucas, Judi Dench, Dermot Mulroney, Lea Thompson, Miles Fisher, Ed Westwick, Jeffrey Donovan, Stephen Root

J Edgar Hoover (Leonardo DiCaprio) was certainly a very colorful and exuberant character for decades as head of the FBI. Rumors regarding him have followed him throughout his life. Was he a cross-dresser? Was he gay? This can be disputed forever and we’ll probably never know for sure, but this bio-pic doesn’t pay much attention to that aspect of John Edgar Hoover’s life. But it does delve into his beginnings as the primary fighter of the mafia and organized crime, and his team took down quite a few mobsters. It covers his dirty tricks in compiling files and doing downright illegal wire taps and questionable surveillance methods on ordinary citizens. He was a quirky character, and was known to fire long time agents because of what they wore or how they cut their hair. A tyrant in the office, and either a friend or antagonist to the person living in the white house at the time. This film covers the career of J. Edgar right up to his sudden death.

Leonardo DiCaprio started out as just a youngster in the acting game, and had very little depth or craft. Gradually through the years, he has learned the craft and become better and better. This must be his most ambitious project to date. True, few of know much about Mr. Hoover, but Leo shows us how much he has learned in this film. This must be the week for biographical films (I just finished The Iron Lady) but this is another good biography. A biography like this can get boring, but this film never did. We really get to look into the life of this secretive public figure, but it doesn’t give us all the answers either. But it is a great look at the life and times of a really mysterious leader, very powerful, but at the same time, insecure looking person. His whole life is a bit of a paradox. Very well filmed picture, fascinating to watch, and very interesting to watch. I enjoyed this film, and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in this unusual leader.

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Regency Enterprises, Summit Entertainment, Bazelevs Production,

Meryl Streep, Jim Broadbent, Alexandra Roach, Harry Lloyd, Olivia Colman, Iain Glen, Victoria Bewick, Nicholas Farrell, John Sessions, Anthony Head, David Westhead, Julian Wadham, Richard E. Grant, Angus Wright, Roger Allam, Michael Pennington, Susan Brown, Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Meryl Streep plays Margaret Thatcher in this biopic about the first woman Prime Minister of Britain. With Jim Broadbent as Denis Thatcher, this film shows us a modern day Margaret Thatcher, virtually a prisoner in her own house, sorting her deceased husband’s clothes to donate to charity, and reminiscing about the days of her illustrious career. The film looks back at her early life, and first entry into politics, the challenges she faced like the Falkland Islands war, and serious recession. It explores her retirement from politics. This is a great story of a great world leader in the twilight of her years, looking back at her glorious days.

Many people misunderstood this really special film. It is sad to see Meryl playing Margaret as someone racked by dementia, seeing things, and forgetting a lot of details, but the purpose of this film is not some Biography Channel special about the career of Margaret Thatcher. That’s not the purpose of this film. This is a look at Margaret today, and the reminiscences of a lady who’s career is over. She had some great battles and some great times, but it’s a much a look at what it’s like to have been someone so powerful who is finally challenged by Father Time himself. No one can beat that. I have always been saddened by the final days of Ronald Reagan who was not only a great friend to Margaret Thatcher, but also a great world leader. But likewise, time took it’s toll. Still the memories of what it was like must be glorious.

Meryl Streep deserves every bit of the praises heaped upon her for this role. She was fantastic in this film, and it was easy to forget it was her and get lost in the character which is perfect for a biographical picture. I have never been a big Streep fan, per se, but I truly have to give her props for the amazing talent she has. This is a very well made film, and very touching. I goes right to your heart, and is amazing how great a leader Margaret was. I would still like to see a pure biography about her, but in the meantime, this film was really good, and I highly recommend it.

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Weinstein Company, The, BBC Films, Lipsync Productions

Michelle Williams, Eddie Redmayne, Kenneth Branagh, Dominic Cooper, Julia Ormond, Emma Watson, Judi Dench, Zoë Wanamaker, Toby Jones, Derek Jacobi, Dougray Scott

Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne) is a British guy, dying to get into the movie business. He gets the chance to work as Sir Lawrence Olivier (Kenneth Branaugh)’s assistant for a movie he is making with Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams). Marilyn appears to be getting burned out on the whole Hollywood star thing, and decides to run off with Colin for a week of fun and frivolity. This movie is based on the book/diary kept by Colin of his adventures during his week with Marilyn.

This is neither a great film, nor is it a bad film. It’s relatively interesting, and it does try to give us some insight into the real Marilyn. Michelle Williams is not really Marilyn, and that’s ok. She brings to the screen the illusion of Marilyn, and that’s all that we should really expect. She does a good job of doing that. This is not really the story of Marilyn anyway. It is really Colin’s story in his words and from his point of view. Sometimes it’s rather slow, and it’s not a really exciting movie, but at the same time it is entertaining, and is a look back into the movie studio days of the past. It’s a film about movie-making, and about the people who made the movies. I don’t know if this film deserves all the accolades it was given, but it’s not too bad, and worth watching if you are interested in the subject.

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Sony Pictures [United States],

Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright, Chris Pratt, Stephen Bishop, Reed Diamond, Brent Jennings, Ken Medlock, Tammy Blanchard, Glenn Morshower, Kathryn Morris

This is the true story of Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) general manager of the Oakland A’s baseball team in 2002 when he was faced with the lowest pool of money in professional baseball, but expected to put together a team. He met young college grad Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) and immediately hired him when he was told his theory of how to put together a team on a budget. Facing harsh criticism, both from the insiders of baseball, and from the fans and media, they used a computer model to develop a team of under-rated players that they could afford, and in the process had a shot at securing the longest winning streak in baseball, after a lot of resistance, especially from manager Art Howe (Phillip Seymour Hoffman).

If you are a baseball fan, then you have to see this film! I have been waiting for quite a while to see it. This is a true story, and it’s a typical sports amazing achievement film, but it’s a really good look into baseball, and the problems of the “have-not” teams. Baseball has always had a serious problem, which I think is the cause of their great fall from grace as “America’s National Game”. Baseball never figured out how to even the field, with a couple teams from HUGE cities with a giant payroll competing with tiny teams that love the sport, but have a fraction of the money to spend. I spent my childhood as a Pirates fan, but got really tired of one of the greatest farm systems finding all the superstars and developing them for the Yankees, and a couple other big teams that always stole them. The few successful years they had was due to the great scouts and farm system finding excellent players for a year or two until someone with deep pockets would take them away.

This movie is the story of a system that reminded me a lot of horse racing. The very best horse handicapper is the public. The favorite wins way more than it loses. Sure bets at 6-5 and less go off every day. In order to be successful in the horse racing business, it’s finding the horses that are undervalued and underrated. You have to study hard, and find that one or two races a day where there is a horse with a decent chance to win that somehow people have overlooked. That’s the secret. Well, the same is true with baseball. Some of the players are undervalued and underrated, and this mathematical formula helped to take all the emotion out of it. (This guy has a funny swing, or the way he throws the ball looks off, or he looks like a doofus), and uses the stats and rates him based upon things the other teams never looked at. It also requires a carnival barkers skill at scamming the other teams to make them think you’re doing them a favor by taking their unwanted players.

Brad Pitt did an excellent job in this movie. This is a perfect role for him, and I think he pulled it off. I know Jonah Hill was also very proud of this role as well. He played a very serious dramatic role, and got to show off his new svelte physique. Not only did he pull off a serious role, (no Superbad nonsense here at all), but he did an excellent job. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is also very good as the manager who just can’t get what these dudes are thinking. It’s a small role for him, but as usual, he was spot on. Basically this is a very interesting movie, and the time passes very quickly and it’s over before you’d like it to be. It’s got a fair amount of baseball action, that is easy to watch, but also has some great dialog and dramatic scenes that are also very well done. I enjoyed this movie all around, and recommend it to anyone who is interested in the genre, or those who just love to look at Brad Pitt.

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Dreamworks SKG, Reliance Entertainment, Participant Media

Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard, Octavia Spencer, Jessica Chastain, Ahna O’Reilly, Allison Janney, Anna Camp, Cicely Tyson, Mike Vogel, Sissy Spacek

Skeeter Phelan (Emma Stone) is an aspiring writer in Jackson, Mississippi in 1963 in the middle of the civil rights movement. She is writing a column giving household hints, but she has an idea of writing a book based upon the recollections and stories of her maid, looking at the life of a black woman working for a white family. As time goes by, more and more of the maids risk their very lives by talking to her and telling their thoughts and feelings, and the extreme hardships they had to go through every day. The times were changing around them, yet they became caught up in the change, as the book showing the dark side of life in the south became a bit hit.

Based on a real book, this is a very touching film. I’m not sure I’ve seen anything from the opposite viewpoint, of what it was like to be on the other side of the fence. These ladies raised white children while their own were being kept by someone else. They could have been filled with hatred and despised their “employers” but due to deep religious beliefs taught the children as best they could and tried to teach the children values in spite of their parents. Then the children would grow up and become just like their parents. It must have been difficult to watch. It’s good to realize that not all people carried the racist views from the hurt of the Civil War through generation after generation. There are good and bad people of all classes and colors and races. But it is a shame that these people had to live through the kind of treatment they were often exposed to. I really enjoyed this film. It was thoughtfully filmed and very touching. It has a great story and is well worth watching. There is a good reason it did very well in the theaters because it is a stunning film. It’s definitely worth renting if you haven’t had the opportunity to see it yet. Emma Stone was wonderful in her role, as were all the other characters. Sissy Spacek was a really good addition to the film, even though she had a really unusual role. All in all, this is a really good film. It’s a little long at 146 minutes, but it flies by and this is a film that ought to be on everybody’s watch list. If you haven’t caught it, you should.

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