Ed's Review Dot Com

Sony Pictures Television, Storyline Entertainment,

Emile Hirsch, Holliday Grainger, Holly Hunter, William Hurt, Sarah Hyland, Elizabeth Reaser, Lane Garrison, Austin Hébert, Dale Dickey, Jack Thompson

This TV Miniseries is inspired by the true story of the infamous bank robbers Bonnie Parker (Holliday Grainger) and Clyde Barrow (Emile Hirsch) who were rather incorrectly portrayed in the 1967 film featuring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. This is a longer (about 4 hours) much more historically accurate tale of how Clyde met Bonnie, swept her off her feet, and how they along with his brother and his wife, who set out on a crime spree filling the papers with juicy stories.

This TV miniseries is a much better telling of the tale of Bonnie and Clyde which is filled with intrigue and mystery and tries to show the true facts of what we know. William Hurt portrays Frank Hamer who came out of a semi-retirement to hunt down the couple like animals. It is hard to say who is the bad guy here, as obviously Bonnie and Clyde were criminals, but the feeling of a lot of people is that in America we do not play executor and slaughter people without even an attempt to apprehend them. His excuse is that they were dangerous, but a lot of people were not buying it. In the end, we may never really know the truth. But I can tell you that I was not a fan of this guy after watching the film. Technically it was very well done, and according to the research I was able to do, rather historically accurate. Having seen the incredible “Bonnie & Clyde death car” at a little casino in Stateline, Nevada it was an incredible sight to see. There were somewhere between 25 and 50 shots that hit each of them, and they didn’t stand a chance. They were killed without ever being able to exit the car. The car is a mass of bullet holes and is one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen. I was really interested in the story and the performances were outstanding. I thought the film was a very interesting story and I was glad to know the story a lot better. If you have any interest in the subject matter, this is a good way to learn the legend of Bonnie & Clyde, and i really enjoyed it. I’ve been waiting to have the time for this for a long time, and I’m glad I finally watched it. Very well done.

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Ghost House Pictures, Good Universe, Screen Gems

Jane Levy, Dylan Minnette, Daniel Zovatto, Stephen Lang, Emma Bercovici, Franciska Torocsik, Christian Zagia, Katia Bokor, Sergej Onopko

The Blind Man (Stephen Lang) lives all alone in a house on a street in metro Detroit and he is the only person on the block that is left. This is a perfect setup for Rocky (Jane Levy) and her boyfriend Money (Daniel Zovatto) and her “friend zoned” would be suitor Alex (Dylan Minnette). Rocky takes care of her little sister as her dysfunctional mother won’t, and her dream is to take her sister and get out of Detroit and move to California. They pull off petty jobs, but The Blind Man got a huge settlement when his little girl was killed by a drunk driver, and since he never goes anywhere, the money must be in the house. With a score this big, the trio can take off an move to the west coast. But The Blind Man is an ex soldier who, though he’s blind, is not a push over, and the trio run in to a LOT of really big problems on what was supposed to be an easy job. As they discover more secrets, it appears there isn’t any way out at this point, and The Blind Man has a keen sense of hearing and smell, and is clever as a fox.

This film has been tearing up the box office, and it was a must see when I saw the trailers for it. I wasn’t sure Jane Levy was ready for a part this big, since I have only seen her as Tessa on Suburgatory, but she was awesome. By far the biggest role, but she carried it very professionally. Excellent job. When it comes down to it, this is a movie for Jane and Stephen Lang, and the others are just there to fill in the spaces. The two of these fight an epic battle down to the bitter end. This is an extremely horror inducing movie and is scary as hell. The Blind Man is not really alone as he has one nasty Cujo worthy dog beside him which helps a lot. The jumps and scares are one after another, and I shouted out loud more than once which is rare for me. But the suspense level is awesome. The director and cinematographers did an excellent of putting us in the scene, and the shots and setups were unbelievable. Whether down in the dark basement in the dark, or stuck in a closet, or crawling through a creep air duct, we are there with them. This is the first real horror film of the season, and timed perfectly, given the big numbers at the box office. Sure not a huge budget, but a well thought out horror film inside a heist film. The characters are well developed, and the script is crisp and smart. All in all, very scary, very suspenseful, and very well done. Good work guys. This is a good one!

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Maybach Film Productions, RT Features, Film Science,

Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning, Peter Sarsgaard, Alia Shawkat, Logan Miller, Kai Lennox, Katherine Waterston, James Le Gros

John (Jesse Eisenberg) and Dena (Dakota Fanning) are young environmental activists. They want to make a huge statement and pull off a master protest, blowing up a dam. They enlist an ex-military explosives expert, Harmon (Peter Sarsgaard) to show them how, and to assist in making the explosives.

I thought maybe this would be an entertaining film, but I was somewhat disappointed. With really strong actors, the story itself just seems to go nowhere. There are some twists and turns, and some regrets and misgivings, but this movie just plodded along at such a slow pace, that it seemed to drag and drag and drag. The good part of the movie is the unexpected consequences of the choices they make. Things are not as they expected they would be and the results were not what they wanted. That part of the story is halfway decent. But the flaws in the story make it difficult for me to recommend, as Jesse spends half the movie just staring moodily out into space. No emotions, no dialog, just staring. The pace is so slow, that I wanted to scream. I just didn’t get the point, although I could follow the story, this could have been done so much better. I am sorry but I just don’t recommend that you subject yourself to this. It’s very depressing.

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Odyssey Media,

John Cusack, Thomas Jane, Damien Garvey, Zoe Ventoura, Christopher Morris

Peter Roberts (Thomas Jane) was a top notch race car driver. But his wife wanted him to quit as she was pulling in a decent salary and she was afraid he might get hurt. So he works part time as a driving instructor. One day he is requested to teach Simon Keller (John Cusack) and he sets out to teach him how to drive on the “other” side of the road since he is not familiar with driving on that side. But after a brief stop at the bank, Peter learns he is now the getaway driver of a massive bank heist, and they are running for their lives from both the good guys AND the bad guys in this exciting high speed adventure.

John Cusack is really good in this role that is just right for him. It was great casting. He’s perfect for those understated, overly calm, crazy people that is perfect for this role. Jane on the other hand, is very good at the broken down, self doubting husband, who is afraid that his wife doesn’t care for him anymore. He’s making choices to try to make her happy, but the more he tries, the more he fails, so even though he is appalled at being kidnapped and forced to drive on a trip that he probably won’t survive, on some level it’s the most excitement he’s had in a long time. This is an action packed adventure with some Fast and Furious style driving, gun fights, double crosses, and twists and turns all the way through. I saw this film on Netflix and I found it actually worth-while. It has been in my watch list for quite a while, and I’m glad that I finally got around to it/ I should have watched it sooner, as it was an exciting film.

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Highland Film Group (HFG), Hassell Free Production, Ingenious Media

Nicolas Cage, Elijah Wood, Sky Ferreira, Jerry Lewis

Stone (Nicholas Cage) and Waters (Elijah Wood) are two cops who work in the evidence room of the Las Vegas Police Department. When a huge bail payment comes in, and is locked in the safe, the two hatch a plan to take it. They kidnap a lady who lives next to the safe, and use her apartment to try to break through the safe, in this unusual heist movie.

First of all Nick Cage has his fans, and those who hate his guts. Few sit in between, but I really thought he did a good job in this film. I also would not expect him mesh well with Elijah Wood as his partner, but surprisingly they did work well together. I always think hobbit when I see Elijah Wood, but I was able to put it aside as he did a good job in a totally non-similar role here. The budget was pretty low, but they used it very well. The story is entertaining and somewhat stressful, and the the events twist and turn several times throughout the ending of the movie. I certainly would not have seen that ending coming. I think it was fairly well put together, and is certainly an unusual buddy cop movie. It’s probably unlike any other film of its genre. I enjoyed it, and though it is certainly not a great film, it’s certainly good enough to spend some time with, and I must say, I did enjoy it. I can recommend this film, mostly due to the really good acting from both leads. Plus, Jerry Lewis pops in for a cameo role, and how can you beat that?

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