Ed's Review Dot Com

Gulfstream Pictures, Pupcake Productions,

Gabriel Iglesias, Jacqueline Obradors, Eddie Sotelo, Jeremy Ray Valdez, Ron White, Ray William Johnson, Tommy Chong, Julio César Chávez, Martin Moreno

Gabriel Iglesias, Hispanic comic sensation who often is mistaken for a Pacific Islander because of his size and the shirts he chooses to wear is doing his stand up show, filmed over two days in San Jose, California. Fluffy tells us stories that are really sincere, and then hits us with belly laugh after belly laugh as he performs his show to an adoring audience.

Gabriel has shown up in cameo and bit parts in a number of comedies lately, but mostly he’s well knows as a former West Coast, but now World Wide standup comedian. But he’s not by any means a joke teller, he’s a story teller. He has a funny look at life, and what must be much dismay to his family, he tells it like it is. With long bits about his weight, and recent weight loss, an update on his step son who is a child of technology and can’t seem to communicate with his Dad so well, to his troubles with the law and with his friends who inspire him to get into trouble, Fluffy tells us story after story that never gets tiring. I really enjoy this guy, and I think he’s one of the funniest guys out there. Certainly with his different point of view and experience, he’s not a blue comic and his shows are very PG-13, perhaps a little much for tiny tykes, but certainly age appropriate for anyone over the recommended 13, Gabriel is a clean comic who knows how to tell deeply personal stories without turning vulgar. This is a great introduction to Gabriel Iglesias, and whether you’ve seen him before or not, this is one standup movie you should watch.

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Single Spark Pictures,

Bettie Page, Hugh Hefner, Paula Klaw, Bunny Yeager, Dita Von Teese,

This documentary features Bettie Page herself reminiscing of her long and illustrious career of one of America’s first and most famous pin-up girls and risque film star. Bettie was blessed with a beautiful face and figure and she was very photogenic. She talks of the early days of camera clubs where she would pose for rich clientele who paid for the privilege of taking photos of her. She became known for bondage photos in the very early days, and for some of the early stag films. Yet she remained naive and innocent through it all. She explains how she never thought she was doing wrong, even with all the things that happened to her during her career.

This is an interesting documentary. I had never heard of Bettie Page, although I remember having seen the WWII posters that she was famous for, as much as the Farrah posters and Pamela Anderson posters of later years. I didn’t realize how famous this lady was, and how much her popularity lasted throughout all her life. She was a gorgeous girl, and could light up any room. With interviews from many of the leaders of the burlesque and adult entertainment figures throughout the years, we learn how much she did to pave the way for the others who followed her path. This movie does contain a lot of classic film and photographs, so has a great deal of nudity, but nothing nasty or dirty such as that which came along later. In her times she viewed what she did as natural and normal, although it surely was out of the mainstream for middle America in those days. If you are at all interested in the life and career of this lady, then this is a very well made history and documentary of her times.

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Image Now Films, Fantastic Films, Passion Pictures,

Christine Barnes, Hoselito Bite, Marco Confortola, Pat Falvey, Niall Foley, Stefan Grossniklaus, Pasang Lama, Tshering Lama, J.J. McDonnell

This dramatized documentary tells the story of the deadliest day in mountaineering history when 11 people were killed on K2, arguably the most dangerous mountain in the world. It uses a combination of photographs and archival footage mixed with re-enactments to give users the sense of being there as it happened.

This is a good documentary about the dangers of mountain climbing. It also explains some of the written and unwritten codes of climbing. It’s a very strange and hostile environment up there, and things have to work a lot differently up in the high altitudes. It’s easy for a healthy person to die in a few minutes up there. This is an interesting documentary, and I really enjoyed it. However it’s definitely not the best mountain disaster film that I’ve ever seen. Jon Krakauer’s book “Into Thin Air” was a book that thrilled me to the core. The movie version of the book, Into Thin Air: Death on Everest is a made for TV movie that is really excellent. Though not as good as the book, the movie is more enthralling than this one, although this was a much costlier day on the mountain. Into Thin Air: Death on Everest is available on NetFlix streaming. I would recommend that one as well if you are interested in the subject. But I’m talking about this movie, and it is very well done. The mix of re-enactments and archival footage gives you a real feel into the day on K2 and what really happened. Suspenseful and edge of your seat excitement, and a true story. I really enjoyed this story, and if you have any interest in the subject of high altitude mountain climbing, both of these are good films.

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Animus Films, Eclectic Pictures, Millennium Films,

Amanda Seyfried, Peter Sarsgaard, Chris Noth, Hank Azaria, Bobby Cannavale, Sharon Stone, Robert Patrick, Adam Brody, Juno Temple, James Franco, Eric Roberts

Obviously based on the 1980 autobiography, Ordeal, this is the story of Linda Lovelace (Amanda Seyfried) and her life, mostly in her short lived porn career. Linda was married to Chuck Traynor (Peter Sarsgaard) who allegedly abused her, forced her into prostitution and a porn career. Linda grew up in a highly religious and very strict home, and once she got out she went a bit overboard. She later made lots of claims that this movie investigates. A dramatized documentary of her life is what we have here. It’s debatable whether it’s all true or not, but it is her side of the story. No doubt, she did live a difficult life, that’s for sure.

This is not a really great documentary. I suspect it went through a lot of difficulty before it got made, and though there’s some big names in it, I’m not sure it’s really all that accurate. It’s titillating for sure, and the Deep Throat phenomenon was a really big deal at the time when it came out. I know everyone was talking about it, and since I was just a youngster at the time, I knew about it, but didn’t really know what it was all about. I still have never seen the film, as it’s probably so dated now that everyone’s pretty much talking about it. Porn was really back room stuff in those days, and this was the first film that ever made it into mainstream culture. People from all levels of society were talking about this film, but though the porn moguls (mostly really slimy guys) thought that they were going to break into the mainstream, it never happened. The public quickly figured out that there was no worthwhile story involved, and the hard to watch stuff got really old really fast. Once they’ve seen it, there was nothing new. Though they tried to top themselves, they quickly got turned by quick profits and shoddy product. There wasn’t a market for explicit mainstream films, and if anything, American films have gotten tamer rather than racier in recent years. Filmmakers quickly learned that X, NC-17, and many times even R ratings will kill a movie’s profits. They cut and cut to get a PG-13 at all costs. This movie is not really about the movie, it’s about the weird relationship of Linda herself, and it left me feeling like I was watching that Dorothy Stratten movie and I expected Chuck to kill her in the end. But this doesn’t go to the end. It pretty much ends with Linda’s foray into feminist anti-porn. All in all I didn’t find this film very interesting, and I am pretty sure this will be a curiosity movie that ends up in the 99 cent store bargain bin. This is a bit of a train wreck, just like her life was, so we should have someone standing outside saying “Move along, move along, there’s nothing to see here, move along!”

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Steel Mill Pictures, Coolmore Productions, Egoli Tossell Film,

Terence Stamp, Gemma Arterton, Christopher Eccleston, Vanessa Redgrave, Anne Reid, Ram John Holder, Bill Thomas, Orla Hill

Arthur (Terence Stamp) is a grumpy old guy taking care of his wife who is very ill. His wife, Marion (Vanessa Regrave) is ill, but very determined to enjoy what’s left of her life. She loves to sing, and is a member of the choir at her church. She wants to sing her solo and insists on going out to practice despite her husbands disdain for the choir and her risking herself. Arthur hides outside and listens to the choir and later begins to mend the relationship with his estranged son and to find some joy in his life once again through music.

This is a touching story, but lacking in the charm of other films. Dolly Parton did it much better in Joyful Noise. This story is a lot like On Golden Pond but without the great acting and without the charming story. Terence’s Arthur is a miserable old cuss, but he’s not funny, and when he has his epiphany and Scrooge-like redemption, is still not likeable at all. Vanessa Redgrave is a great actress, but has nothing to work with here, as the script is very dry. The son is so dreadful, I didn’t even look up to see who he is. All in all, the film was pretty dull, and not really worth the time watching it. I can’t really recommend this one.

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