Archive for Crime Story

Element Pictures, No Trace Camping,

Sean Bridgers, Joan Allen, Brie Larson, William H. Macy, Jacob Tremblay

Ma (Brie Larson) was kidnapped by Old Nick (Sean Bridgers) and held hostage in a converted tool shed in the back yard of her captor. She has since had a small son, Jack (Jacob Tremblay) who has grown up in “room” which is his whole world. Only one small skylight in the ceiling is his view of the world, which he calls TV, because there are two things in his life, things in Room and unreal things everywhere else in TV. Eventually Jack is able to escape room, and his awe at a world he does not understand is incredible. This is based upon a popular novel, this is an amazing story that could have been pulled from the pages of the newspaper.

Room in an emotional roller-coaster. It has ups and downs throughout the story. I am not sure if life was harder for Jack and Ma inside the shed or out in the whole big world. There are many issues with each of the many relationships. Jack, being only 5 years old, is used to life in room, and certainly is not prepared for what’s outside. Things that he could never even imagine face him every day. But Ma has no easy time either. It’s hard for everyone to deal with all of the emotional scars in this story. Naturally all the attention at the Academy Awards was focused on Jacob Tremlay who is a very charming 7 year old who did an unbelievable job playing Jack. This is really his movie, and he was eating up every second of the attention. But this is Brie Larson’s movie as well, and her role was certainly not an easy one, and she carried it like a champ. For the largest portion of the film, it’s only Jack and Ma together in this little room. There is another role I want to mention. William H Macy plays Jack’s Grandfather and Ma’s Father. He has a very distasteful role to play as a father who doesn’t want to accept or face what has happened to his daughter, and though you will hate him for how he does it, William H Macy pulls it off very well. Though hard to understand his character, he plays it pretty well. The suspense is rather good, but the key to this film is the emotional ride we take with the characters and the way they are so well portrayed. This is an amazing film and unless you are not comfortable watching the dark and depressing situation they lived in for all those years, be sure to catch this one. Thought provoking, yet something we all have wondered about as we heard the stories of people who have been held hostage for a decade or more. Once they are freed, it’s not often we get to experience their story like we do in this fictional account of what it must be like. I recommend this one as certainly one of, if not the Best Picture of the year.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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Anonymous Content, First Look Media, Participant Media,

Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, Stanley Tucci, John Slattery

Based on a true story, Spotlight is a special team of of investigative journalists working at the Boston Globe. They take on stories that take extra time and effort, sometime up to a year to seek out all the facts and prepare a special story or series of stories. Led by Robby Robinson (Michael Keaton) the Globe get a new manager from Miami who wants to improve sales. One his ideas is for Spotlight to investigate the policy of the Catholic Church to reassign priests who are known pedophiles, molesting young boys and girls. As the dig into the story, the find much more than they ever expected. This is true story of how they managed to go against all the odds to bring this story to light in one of the most groundbreaking stories of all times.

This movie won Best Picture at the Academy Awards in 2016. Surprisingly, this is the second film in a row starring Michael Keaton to win Best Picture. This is a very well done Docudrama and won an award for being most accurate portrayal of a real story, and the actors certainly put a LOT of effort into making the depictions of the real characters very lifelike. In fact, many of the reporters hung around the set and were amazed at how accurate the settings and depictions were done. Best film of 2015? I doubt that, but it is a good film. Hollywood types have a strange way of jumping on the bandwagon to to vote for a cause instead of a film, but this is not the worst Best Picture I have seen them choose. But it is popular to bash the Catholics these days. Most of the reporters who investigated the real story were, in fact, Roman Catholics, and they went to great lengths to show the hard choice of telling the story, even if it harms the church that has done a lot of good for the city. This is a conundrum, for sure. The agony in the faces of the folks is very well portrayed. From what I read, the actors did so well in portraying the people, that many of them remarked that it was like looking in a mirror. Robbie Robinson said that if Michael Keaton robbed a bank, the Boston Cops would be standing by ready to put the cuffs on Mr. Robinson in a blink of an eye. It was a nice compliment to the performance Michael pulled off. Basically, the subject matter is hard to take, and they may have been able to spend a little more effort on the victims, instead of all about the reporters, but that is how they chose to show it. All in all, this is a very well done movie and well worth watching. It’s a very serious topic, but very well done.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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Grindstone Entertainment Group, Entertainment One, Paradox Entertainment,

Samuel L. Jackson, Dominic Cooper, Gloria Reuben, Ryan Robbins, Erin Karpluk, Dylan Taylor, Philippe Brenninkmeyer, Lane Styles

Mitch Brockton (Domenic Cooper) is rising star in the DA department. He never loses. But a bad choice one night finds him driving home after a party when he hit a pedestrian, calls 911 anonymously from a pay phone and heads home to avoid ruining his career. But much to his dismay, he is assigned to prosecute Clinton Davis (Samuel L Jackson) who has been charged with the crime. His conscience is in for a stormy week or two.

This is an interesting concept that has a lot of promise. Imagine being called on to prosecute a man for the crime you committed. But he is just beginning to scratch the surface of what happened that night. This could have been a much better film, however, than it was. It was pretty straight forward without much in the way of twists and turns. Everything that happened was pretty obvious. It wasn’t an awful film, and had some rather interesting parts, but for the most part it was a bit hum-drum and just predictable. There were no outstanding performances here, and even Samuel L Jackson was not near as good as he usually is. Basically I suspect they just did not have the best script and enough budget to completely pull this off. But it’s not a bad way to pass the time. It’s available for streaming, and if you like court dramas, this is a decent way to spend 90 minutes or so. Just be aware that it’s not outstanding in the genre.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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Glacier Films, NGN Productions,

Jordana Brewster, Hayden Christensen, Adrien Brody, Tory Kittles, Akon

James Kelly (Hayden Christensen) owes his life to his brother Frankie (Adrien Brody) for taking the rap for a crime they did together. James is trying to clean up his act and wants to start an auto repair shop, but once Frankie is out of jail, he unknowingly sucks James back into on last bank robbery that doesn’t bode well for anybody.

This is a violent, but touching story. As the title says, it’s about the heist, but really this is a brother’s picture. These two brothers are joined by a bond that is stretched to the breaking point, but their support for each other keeps them going. This is an interesting take on the story and the two brothers are played by a couple of very talented actors, and the two work very well together, even though they are very different from each other. The screenwriting is rather good, and the acting isn’t bad at all. This film earned the R rating with the extreme violence, and it is quite bloody. But the story is well worth it, and it’s a movie that will make a big impact. If you can get past the gore, it’s a decent film.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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Paco Cinematografica, Warner Bros., Business Location Sudtirol Alto Adige,

Geoffrey Rush, Jim Sturgess, Sylvia Hoeks, Donald Sutherland, Philip Jackson, Dermot Crowley, Liya Kebede

Virgil Oldman (Geoffrey Rush) is a very high end art auctioneer and connoisseur who handles very high end art sales. But when he is hired to handle the estate sale of a rich heiress Claire Ibbetson (Sylvia Hoeks) who is a very strange character. She refuses to be seen and never goes out in public, and when Virgil meets with her, she is hidden from sight at all times. It appears though that through the years Virgil has been involved in some very shady deals and it this lovely lady may be out for more than it appears.

The right viewer is probably going to love this film. It is excruciatingly slow developing and is done very “artsy”. My problem was that I could not get into the story. The ending was somewhat interesting, but it took a long, long time to get there. Geoffrey Rush was very good as usual, but the story was the problem for me. Now people who love this kind of film won’t be put off by it, but I found it hard to keep my attention. It’s a bit like an old mystery novel that unwraps and peels back layer after layer until you’re surprised to see what you’ve found underneath it all. Personally, I just didn’t really get into the story, and so I didn’t enjoy it very much. Your mileage may vary.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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