Ed's Review Dot Com

NWave Pictures, Serengeti Entertainment, Atlantic Productions,

Tim Allen

Rex (Tim Allen) the penguin has been off at sea for three years learning how to catch fish and avoid predators. Now it’s time for him to return to Penguin City and find a mate and settle down. But according to the laws of nature, when the egg is lain, the male must stand over and keep the egg warm all winter while the female heads out to sea to gorge herself with fish. This is the story of a year in the life of the penguins (particularly Rex) watching his egg and raising his child.

This film has some of the best nature footage I have seen. It’s certainly very high quality and very instructing and very entertaining. Seeing this in IMAX 3-D would have been wonderful. But there is a problem. Well, perhaps it’s a problem, but the narration is by Tim Allen who is a really great guy and a good actor, but it’s a voice over of everything from Rex’s point of view. The problem is that they fall into the trap of making up a story that probably has nothing in the world to do with real king penguins. It is really cutesy, with lots of made up thoughts that is really very childish. On the other hand, this might be really good for young children who could learn a lot about the species while hearing an entertaining story along with it. It’s a bit like on one hand there is DisneyNature Bears, and on the other hand there is “Charlie the Lonesome Cougar”. For those of you who are not familiar, Disney sent out photographers into the wild to capture wildlife footage by the mile. With what they brought back (and truthfully I’m certain a lot of it was staged), they turned it into two types of features. On one hand they had Disney’s True-Life Adventures (the childhood version of the new DisneyNature films) which were very educational and really tried to show nature in natural terms, and Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar on the other hand was a childhood adventure made for the kids, and shown on the Disney Sunday night TV show in 2 parts. Both served a different purpose. This version of the film is the childish one, and it loses a bit, in my opinion, due to the silly dialog made up strictly for entertainment. But there is a lot of information here. Now, one final point. There is a European version of this film narrated by David Attenborough. I have included both previews below. His version “sounds” like the serious version I was looking for, but unfortunately that soundtrack was not available to me. It would be wonderful for them to provide both tracks to allow you to choose both. Perhaps that will happen in a release at some point. All in all, this was a good movie, and really a lot of fun to watch. I recommend it.

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Columbia Pictures, Ombra Films, Weimaraner Republic Pictures,

Blake Lively, Oscar Jaenada

Nancy (Blake Lively) misses her mother who recently died from cancer. She is looking for some alone time, and she just quit medical school and fled to Mexico searching for a hidden “secret” beach that her mother loved. But things go wrong when she runs into a very angry and persistent shark who would like more than anything to have her for lunch!

This is a solo shot for Blake Lively who really throws herself at it will all her abilities. It’s a very hard role. Stranded at a remote beach with little hope of survival. This is a highly suspenseful film, with beautiful scenery and a very ornery shark. It’s a tough role to play, with lots of activity and a whole range of emotions. This is hardly classified as horror, yet it’s not a mystery, though it is very suspenseful. All in all it’s a roller-coaster ride of epic proportions. The packed audience was completely silent for long periods when there was little sound on the screen, and it was kind of eerie. Suddenly the shark would appear, and everyone was screaming again. All in all, this is a pretty good film. I really enjoyed the suspense and found a lot of times, I was holding my breath without knowing it I was so into the story. That is rare for me, and and an interesting experience. It’s not very often I get sucked into a film so completely, but this is an immersive movie, in more ways than one. I really liked it and I would like to recommend this one.

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Route One Films, Wildwood Enterprises,

Robert Redford, Nick Nolte, Emma Thompson, Kristen Schaal, Nick Offerman, Mary Steenburgen

Bill Bryson (Robert Redford) is a writer who has spent the last 20 years living in England. Now that he’s back in America, after a sudden unexpected death, he decides that the way to reconnect with his homeland is to walk the entire Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. His wife, Catherine (Emma Thompson) is appalled at the idea, and figures he will die out there, if not eaten by a bear, then by falling off the trail, or some other disaster. She decides to let him do it, if he must, but certainly not alone. Bill starts calling everyone he knows, but everyone seems to agree with his wife, that it’s too much, and they’re too old. When he gets a call from a long estranged friend from his youth, Stephen Katz (Nick Nolte) who really wants to do it with him, he decides that though Stephen can be really a pain some of the time, that it’s his only option. so the two gear up and set off on an amazing journey.

This was a very exciting film. I must admit, I’ve not been a Robert Redford fan as of late, and I’ve been bored silly by some of his stuff lately. This, on the other hand, was a really good movie. Not only is the scenery along the Appalachian Trail completely breathtaking, the story ain’t half bad either. Nick Nolte brings in a lot of humor to the mix, and they end up sort of an Abbott and Costello sort of team, or perhaps Martin and Lewis. Nolte is a crack-up here and really adds a lot to the story. There are some ridiculous scenes that are really a joy to watch. When the guys slide down off the cliff and get stranded on a ledge, they think it’s about over until Nolte’s character comes up with an idea to use their pants as a way to pull themselves up the cliff. Of course that fails, and the two are stranded sans pants on the ledge until morning. It’s almost slapstick, but done with such good-nature and fun that it’s really likely to make you laugh. All in all this is a worthwhile film with lots to leave you thinking about. Not only is a good look at nature and what we miss when we live our life in a cubicle every day, but it also shows us how reconnecting with the land is a good thing. There’s a lot going on here, and a lot to enjoy. Please give this one a chance.

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20th Century, Anonymous Content, Appian Way, Monarchy Enterprises S.a.r.l.,

Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson, Will Poulter, Lukas Haas

Set in the 1820’s this is a story of some fur trappers guided by Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) who were attacked by the Indians who wanted to steal the pelts. Scouting ahead, Glass is attacked by a grizzly bear and when he is found, he is nearly dead and not expected to make it. Three men were left behind to take of Glass and bury him properly when he died, but they took off to collect the reward and left him for dead. But he didn’t die, and against all odds, sets out to find the man who left him behind.

This is an epic film, two and a half hours long and very moving. Nominated for Best Picture for 2016 it did not win it, but perhaps it should have. But it was good enough to get the best actor nod for Leo. He deserved that as well. This is a tale of extreme cold and misery with a little starvation thrown in, not to mention the horrible wounds his body suffered at this graphic attack by the bear. This was extremely well done, and today’s technology is a far cry from a guy in a bear suit. If you don’t totally believe Leo was mauled for real, I don’t believe you. The location is the 2nd biggest star of this film, and it was so realistic looking that it blew me away. This is definitely a BIG SCREEN movie so hurry to watch it before it goes away. Usually the Academy Awards lift will give it extra legs. Leo’s performance was unbelievable, and he really put his whole heart and soul into this movie. There were other really great performances as well including Tom Hardy as “Fitzpatrick” the real villain in the story, and Captain Andrew Henry (Domhall Gleeson) who add a great deal, but this is truly Leo’s movie. The effort that went into producing this blockbuster must have been epic as well. It’s quite long, but hardly long enough, and the action and adventure is over the top. This is definitely one of the best films in a number of years, and is one you really don’t want to miss. This is an exciting movie. Don’t miss it.

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Village Roadshow Pictures, Cott Productions, Enelmar Productions, A.I.E.,

Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker, Cillian Murphy, Tom Holland, Brendan Gleeson, Ben Whishaw, Jordi Mollà

Author Herman Melville (Ben Whishaw) travels far to the home of Tom Nickerson (Ben Whishaw) who is a recluse, a drunkard, and a man who despises talking about things, but mostly not a word about The Essex. Melville is planning his new novel, Moby Dick, and is trying to find out the true story of a legend of The Essex, one of New England’s most famous whaling ships that was destroyed and the crew in lifeboats spending nearly 3 months trying to get back to the coast of South America. The official story was that it ran aground, but the legend persisted. Tom Nickerson was a young teenager on his first voyage and was the last living survivor of the Essex. The Nickersons are in deep financial trouble and Melville offers everything he has for the story. Tom begins the true story of what happened to the Essex and a confrontation with the monstrous white whale that destroyed the ship and caused a very horrible ordeal of shipwreck. Told in flashback we learn about unprepared Captain George Pollard (Benjamin Wlaker) who was on his first voyage due to his long lineage in the whaling families. Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth) was born the son of a farmer, and has spent his life as a sailor who was promised the Captain position but was forced by the families to take the first mate role instead. It’s Owen’s experience and wisdom of the sea that saves the few survivors after a horrendous ordeal that only was survived by a handful of sailors including Tom Nickerson.

I do not know the factual story of Herman Melville’s visit to Tom Nickerson, but I have read “In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick which was published 15 years ago. This was a spectacular book. Basically, based on as much truth as possible, this book tells the true story of an amazing whale that took down one of the best fitted whaling ships of the time. The fact that Herman Melville used the true story of this disaster as the basis for his fantastic novel Moby Dick is true. This is an amazing story, and the trouble endured by the sailor set adrift in the middle of the Pacific where there are often no winds, 3000 miles from the coast of South America, is truly horrible. The sailors had to make some hard decisions to manage to survive at all, and this, back in the 19th Century (the Essex sunk in 1820) certainly was troubling to the religious tone of the day and caused a great deal of concern. Ron Howard and his usual gang produced this epic film, and though it had a smaller than expected week in the box office, everyone waiting for Star Wars next week certainly had an effect on the gross. I really hope the traffic will pick up as soon as the Star Wars circus is over, as this is a very, very well done film. This film is showing in 3-D and IMAX, but I watched it on a regular screen and it was very stunning. The cinematography was excellent, and it is an amazingly true story that is, in this case, better than fiction. I have always had the yearning for the life of a sailor as it looks very romantic, but after seeing the realism of what life was like on a whaling ship in 1820 I did not think this through. There are a number of scenes like the infamous Nantucket sleigh ride when the rowboats take off when a whale is harpooned and takes the men for quite a ride, the work of cutting up and boiling down a captured whale, and the horror on the little lifeboats that will haunt you for quite a while. These are stunning and extremely well filmed and full of detail. Chris Hemsworth does a spectacular job as Owen Chase, and all in all the script is fabulous, the actors are great, the presentation is about perfect, and it a whale of a tale. Do yourself a favor and see this one in the theater. This is a spectacular movie!

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