Ed's Review Dot Com

Matador Pictures, Island Film Group, Trailblazer Films, Screen East

Q’Orianka Kilcher, Barry Pepper, Will Patton, Shaun Evans, Jimmy Yuill, Julian Glover, Tamzin Merchant, Catherine Steadman, Kainoa Kilcher

This is a true story, based on the last ruler of the nation of Hawaii.  The US stole the country back before the turn of the 20th century, and President Clinton send a formal apology during the 90’s.  Officially Hawaii was annexec, but since it was not an agreement between two nations, but all one sided, then it doesn’t really mean it was annexed. 

Princess Kaiulani was the child of a Hawaiian mother and a Scottish father.  Her mother was sister of the King.  This is the story of her youth, and according to the excellent documentary included on the DVD, is pretty much a true story.  Some of the facts, they said, were smushed together for convenience, but esentially this is what happened.   They have a rather intense love story in the film that may or may not have happened the way they described.  There is some evidence that some of it may have happened, but for the most part that is the weaker portion of the history, but makes a better story.

The Princess was schooled in the Brittish Isles and then returned as she began her 20’s to her land just in time to watch it being swallowed by the Americans.  She had a vigorous and exciting, but very, very short life.  It ends tragically, but this story is told of her beginnings and dwells on the wonderful parts more than the tough parts.  The scenery in Hawaii is absolutely breathtaking.   Honolulu had electric lights long before most of Europe, and the place was very advanced for the late 1800’s.   The level of literacy was much higher than most other places. 

I really enjoyed wathing this film.  Like I said the cinematography was exceptional, and it was a very beautiful story.   I know a lot of people thought it was dull and boring, but I didn’t find it that way.  I thought it was excellently done.  And as I mentioned before, if you watch the DVD, the documentary of the real Princess Kaiulani in the special features is also excellent.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

River Road Entertainment

Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, Michael Shannon, Stella Maeve, Riley Keough, Scout Taylor-Compton, Alia Shawkat, Johnny Lewis, Tatum O’Neal, Brett Cullen, Hannah Marks

This is a biopic of Cherie Curry, not Joan Jett.  It looks like it ought to be Joan’s movie, but though Kristen Stewart does a good job of playing her, she’s not the focus of the movie.   This means that Dakota Fanning (Cherie Curry) is the focus.  In the special features, Dakota talks about how much fun it was to play a real person.  She’s never done that before.  Well, she has now, and believe it or not, she actually carried it off.  If you don’t belive me, check out Cherie Curry on You Tube. 

There are also some special features with interviews with Cherie herself.  She wrote the autobiography and assisted Dakota through the making of the movie.  She has lived an interesting life.  The events of the film cover 2 years.   Cherie started with Joan and the Runaways at 15, but 18 it was over.   Cherie fell into a world of drugs and fell hard.  Finally, after nealy dying, she pulled out of it and went through rehab and spent time helping others avoid the pitfalls she fell into.  Believe it or not, she’s now know for chain saw wood carving!   Quite a long way from practicing in an old trailer and singing Cherry Bomb!

The characters are gritty, and the rock and roll is good.  The soundtrack is great if you’re  a fan of the genre.  I have never been a rock fan, soul music was my forte in the 70’s when this all happened, but it was an interesting story to hear how it all happened.  And according to those who lived it, it’s very accurately portrayed.  The music business is hard, and nobody wanted to see an all girl rock band in 1975, but Joan and Cherie and the rest certainly paved the way.

If you’re a fan of biopics or rock and roll, you’re bound to enjoy the history of this film.  If you are bored with the subject, then there’s not much else to the movie, it’s just a story of how they met, and the two years that turned them into Rock and Roll superstars.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Funny Business Productions, Home Box Office

Will Ferrell, Michael Delaney, Pia Glenn, Adam Mucci, Patrick Ferrell

“This is a one-man Broadway show about George W.  Bush”, to paraphrase Mr. Dickens,  “This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am about to relate.”   I have read many reviews of others and I found several reasons why they hated this.  First and foremost because they don’t know what a one man Broadway show is supposed to be.   They figured because it was Will Ferrell that he would be acting like a stand up comic and do jokes all night.   That’s not what this is.  A one man show is a caricature of the life and times of G.W. and not just a series of jokes.   Most that hated it would rather they played SNL clips all night.   The others who hated it fall into two major groups.  Those that love G.W. and wanted a love fest with the man, and those that hate him and wished that Michael Moore had made the film.  It’s neither.  It’s sometimes bawdy and rowdy, and sometimes loving and gentle, but it’s certain not all bashing or praising, nor is it a series of skits from a Late Night TV show.

This was filmed by HBO for broadcast (hence no rating) and contains nude photos and lots of harsh language and questionable subject matter.  But it’s also a look into the life of Ex-President Bush.   It was filmed at the first performance on the Inaguration Day of his successor.  So some of the material is a little dated here nearly two years away, but it’s recent history and most will be able to put it into the time frame of the last day of G.W.’s presidency.  It covers George’s early years, in school, in the National Guard, and as Governor of Texas.  It has material about the election, selecting a cabinet, and things that happened during the 8 years that we all remember.  Most is fiction, of course, but there are some truly humorous moments.  It’s not a series of jokes, so it’s not funny like “fall down on the floor laughing” funny, but it has some very funny moments.

This is not as spot on as the impressions in a 3 minute SNL skit.  You can’t keep that up for 90 minutes.  But Will stays in character through the show, and you always know who he’s trying to portray.  He tries to get into the essence of the man, and for the most part does it very well.

There are times when we understand G.W. for what he was trying to do, and sometimes realizing his faults and foibles, and sometimes we watch him mocking himself for what he wishes he could do over.   I think this helps the show a lot, as you don’t have a one sided slant of hate or love that ruins the show.  Nobody is black and white, we all have lots of grays.

So as far as rating the film version of the show,  I didn’t think it was fantastic, but I didn’t think it was bad either.  I enjoyed watching it, and seeing a portrait of George W Bush behind the scenes, even though fictional, it could have happened.

Abramorama, PBS, Rhino Entertainment Company

The Doors, Jim Morrison, Robbie Krieger, Johnny Depp (Narrator)

When You’re Strange is a documentary shown originally on PBS about the rock legends “The Doors“.  Starting with the news from Jim Ladd on KLOS, Los Angeles that Jim Morrison is gone…and through the early days of the forming of the group, through the fantastic, but far too short, career these guys had.  At 1 hour 25 minutes, this is thorough look at the history of  “The Doors“.   There is a lot of music here, and if you’re a Doors fan, you’ll love to hear some really classic early live recordings.   Especially creepy is “The End” a song Morrison wrote about a breakup with a high school sweetheart.   It’s got to be one of the creepiest songs ever written!

It’s all here.  The controversy that got them banned from the Ed Sullivan show, the early and constant drug use, the inability of people to believe the death was not a hoax and that people had seen sightings of Jim, to the refusal of the French to admit there was anything drug related to his death.

Johnny Depp as a narator?  That could give folks pause, but it turns out he did a really good job.  Plus the footage is authentic footage from 1966 – 1971.  It’s not recreations or actors playing parts.  These are the real Doors.

Jim almost immediately lost it.  The band did the best to keep it together.  Finally, an intervention….that lasted about a week.

This documentary puts the story of the Doors in the background of the troubled world of the late 60’s, and it does an excellent job.   I really enjoyed watching this, and listening to the great music of the time.   I highly recommend for anyone interested in the subject.

Sony Pictures

Helen Mirren, Christopher Plummer

This was a hard movie to watch.  It could have been a lot better. The story covers the last years of Tolstoy’s life, and as such doesn’t quite cut it as a biopic of Tolstoy’s life.  It’s more about Tolstoy’s death.

There are lots of minor stories going on here, and people who glom onto someone’s fame to try to be famous themselves by being near someone famous, but Tolstoy takes all of the devoted followers with a grain of salt.  If they’re trying to preach to us, that doesn’t quite work either.

Obviously this is finally about two people who really love each other who can’t seem to stand each other.  Tolstoy’s wife obviously sees him being used and taken advantage of by these devout followers, and is concerned that he is giving away everything for nothing.  He, on the other hand, doesn’t like to be told what to do and has a fierce independence in his own mind, but is trying to be stubborn enough to never give in.

Finally he’s had enough and decides to simply run away, which has the feel of a 10 year old slamming the door and walking down the street hoping and hoping that Mom or Dad will come running begging them to come back.

I can see why these roles were recognized by the Academy Awards as both Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer gave riveting performances.   This is the kind of film that makes me sigh when the credits roll and then fire up Wikipedia to look up Tolstoy to get more info on him.  This guy wrote War and Peace, but who WAS he REALLY?

Although it didn’t blow me away, and at times very slow,  I’m still glad I watched it.  It’s educational.  🙂