Ed's Review Dot Com

Warner Bros., Intrepid Pictures, Vertigo Entertainment,

Ewan McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson, Kyliegh Curran, Cliff Curtis, Zahn McClarnon, Emily Alyn Lind, Selena Anduze, Robert Longstreet, Carel Struycken, Catherine Parker, James Flanagan, Met Clark, Zackary Momoh, Jocelin Donahue, Dakota Hickman

Dan Torrance (Ewan McGregor) is the little boy from the Shining. Dan still has the power of telepathy although he does all he can to suppress it, but a little girl is reaching out to him for help. Turns out there is a cult, called the “True Knot” who depend on those who “shine” to provide their sustenance. Like a vampire drains the blood from their victims, the True Knot kill their victims and inhale the “steam” that comes out when the victim dies. This gives them strength and pseudo eternal life as long as there are victims to harvest for their powers. Trouble is these are becoming extremely rare, and they are having a very hard time finding victims. But this child is very strong, and Dan just has to try to protect her by taking her back to the place where his troubles all started.

This is a sequel to the Shining, particularly the Jack Nicholson/Shelley Duvall version, and is set a few dozen years in the future. In fact, they go to the trouble to get look alike actors for Jack and Shelley to play the flashbacks. Of course the hotel is good, just like it was in the original. However, though I looked forward to this film since I really enjoyed the different versions of the original story, I was very disappointed in this farce of a film. It’s quite long, but mostly pretty useless. Actually, the cult addition to the story was very derivative of all the vampire stories that you’ve seen, and the group themselves were rather pitiful and not a very talented bunch. Turns out they were not very strong, nor were they dangerous, and really pretty weak. The whole thing was really annoying. Ewan McGregor was actually pretty good, and did his very best with the rather weak story he was given to work with. He was definitely the best thing in the film though. I was really let down by this film, and felt like it was not worth the investment to see it. There are other good films out there, and I definitely wish I had chosen something else. I am a horror fan, and that had a lot to do with why I chose to see this, when i don’t get to see many films anymore, but I wasn’t pleased with this one. I would definitely say to skip this one for now, and catch it for the scenic hotel scenes and Ewan’s performance later down the road when it’s free!

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Boies / Schiller Film Group, Wrigley Pictures,

Elizabeth Lail, Jordan Calloway, Talitha Eliana Bateman, Peter Facinelli, Dillon Lane, Tichina Arnold, Tom Segura, Lana McKissack, Anne Winters, Matt Letscher, P.J. Byrne, Valente Rodriguez, Louisa Abernathy, Charlie McDermott, Jonny Berryman

A Nurse, Quinn Harris (Elizabeth Lail}, downloads a popular new app that tells you exactly when you are going to die. The other nurses are having fun looking at the 70 years or so they have left, while Quinn’s shows she only has a few days. Thinking it’s just a harmless joke app, she suddenly starts seeing mysterious hidden figures following her, and she quickly learns that the clock is ticking and as she finds other folks with time running out, she realizes that she has to figure out how to beat this thing before the clock runs out.

This is a rather unique concept for a horror film, and it is mildly horrific and suspenseful, but it’s not all that overly scary, and isn’t all that original. Just the same, it is a decent horror film and it has it’s moments. Elizabeth Lail does a really good job in the lead role, and does a decent job carrying the film. The movie obviously owes a great debt of gratitude to the Final Destination series, as they truly stole a great deal of the format and ideas from that source! Final Destination was a ground-breaking film with the format of unusual deaths and the formula for breaking the chain and trying to beat the system, but quite a few original ideas have been added to make it more interesting in Countdown. All in all it was an enjoyable film, decently suspenseful, and fun to watch, but hardly worth your hard earned bucks on the big screen. I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to see this in the theaters, but if you have the chance to watch this sometime on video, give it a shot. It was an enjoyable time, and isn’t bad.

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KatzSmith Productions, Lin Pictures, New Line Cinema,

Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone, Andy Bean, Bill Skarsgård, Jaeden Martell, Wyatt Oleff, Jack Dylan Grazer, Finn Wolfhard, Sophia Lillis, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor

All of the “Loser’s Club” of Derry, Maine have grown up and moved away except for Mike Hanlon (Isaiah Mustafa) who has stayed in Derry. Mysteriously (at least to me) they have all forgotten about the things that happened, but Mike remembers and has been studying the weird happenings. But suddenly, on queue, 27 years later, young people are beginning to disappear again, and it appears Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard) has returned on schedule. Mike calls every one of the childhood friends and asks them to return to Derry to fight Pennywise once again. All but one return, and the terror of their childhood returns.

This is a sequel to the earlier IT movie from 2017 which was a remake of the original. This is a LONG, LONG movie, the longest horror movie to receive a regular release. In many ways it was interesting to watch, but it did seem to go on and on and on. The horror of the first film wasn’t really there this time, and it was more about the Loser’s Club members crying over how hard their lives have been and how much they want to go back home. Pennywise is hardly in the 3 hours of this film, and when he is, he’s not near as frightening as he once was. We have to sit though all the angst of the characters one by one as they self reflect and try to remember the past and how they screwed up both back then and today in their lives. It’s a psychological drama piece more than a horror film. And did it say it goes on and on and on? I was rather disappointed in this sequel and really feel like it wasn’t necessary to make this. It seems a lot self serving for the author and the producers to do this, and it seems like they pushed the cash cow a bit too far. I wasn’t really impressed with it and can’t really recommend it. I mean, if you watch a lot of movies, and have the time to spend on this thing then it’s probably worth it to see how the story progresses, but I don’t feel like it was really that good to invest the time into this. I would suggest you just skip it, unless you’re really interested, or really bored, either one.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

BRON Studios, Creative Wealth Media Finance, DC Comics,

Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Shea Whigham, Bill Camp, Glenn Fleshler, Leigh Gill, Josh Pais, Rocco Luna, Marc Maron, Sondra James, Murphy Guyer, Douglas Hodge

Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is a very poor man, living in a run down tenement in Gotham City with his aged mother Penny Fleck (Frances Conroy). He makes a few bucks any way he can, working as a clown trying to sell product or to entertain children. But Arthur’s dream is to be a standup comedian. His idol is Murray Franklin (Robert DeNiro) who is the late night talk show host on Gotham TV. But things are not easy for Arthur, and things keep going from bad to worse. His social worker (Arthur definitely has mental issues) is taken away during budget cuts, and when Arthur loses his job, there is not much left to live for. An odd turn of events makes Arthur take on his alternate ego of “Joker” and things looks very bleak for his future.

This is a stunning film. It is not at all pretty, and is very caustic and violent at every turn. It will turn your stomach as you realize the crap a poor man in Gotham has to go through just to survive, and this is the background story of the arch-enemy of Batman, The Joker. We see what made him turn into the deranged villain he was, and we also learn a lot of what we though was true was actually not what happened at all. This film was extremely coarse, but very, very well done. I was stunned at the performance Joaquin turned in here, and I think he’s looking at a great number of awards this season! This has to be nominated as the best performance by a lead actor. It’s really that good. The film is excellent, and has some excellent performances, but Joaquin steals the show and is extremely outstanding. I was deeply moved by this film, and I personally think it was an amazing experience to see this movie that is simply based on one character out of the batman series. This really helped me to understand Joker, and I will certainly not soon forget it. I didn’t expect much when I went to see this film, but I was really touched. I recommend this to anyone who can handle the extreme violence and the very sad things that happened to this poor fellow. I will never think of Jack Nicholson again when I think of Joker. Joaquin was THAT GOOD!

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Mythology Entertainment, Vinson Films,

Samara Weaving, Adam Brody, Mark O’Brien, Henry Czerny, Andie MacDowell, Melanie Scrofano, Kristian Bruun, Nicky Guadagni, Elyse Levesque, John Ralston, Liam MacDonald, Ethan Tavares, Hanneke Talbot, Celine Tsai, Daniela Barbosa

Grace (Samara Weaving) is a young bride who finds out on her wedding day that her ultra rich in-laws have a custom that anyone who joins the family must play a game on their wedding night due to an ancient curse from generations ago. Anyone who doesn’t play the game will die and the rest of the family will die as well. Unfortunately Grace picks the “Hide and Seek” game which turns into a deadly hunt to find and destroy her before dawn. What follows is an intense and suspenseful blood bath, literally!

This brand new film is rather unique, although similar in style so some older familiar movies, but this one has a ton of comedy mixed in with the horror that makes it a unique and an enjoyable experience. Samara Weaving steals the show and is excellent in this role, and the rest of the cast is a collection of misfits that make it a very strange family, indeed. You would never realize that Samara is actually Australian since she plays an American perfectly. I found the suspense to be not quite as intense as I would have liked, but I did really enjoy the funny parts quite a bit. All in all, it was very captivating, and it was really hard to predict what would happen next. There are some really nice touches in the film, including the quirky “Hide and Seek Song” that is played a couple times in the film. All in all, this is a really quirky film that was really fun to watch, so I do recommend it. It reminds me of the movie “Clue” in many ways due to the fun to be had in watching people get wiped out. Additionally, this is one where you want to see it as soon as possible as there are some surprises in this film that you don’t want to be tipped off in advance for sure. Have a fun time and go see it while it’s still in theaters!

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog