Ed's Review Dot Com

StudioCanal, Anton Capital Entertainment (ACE), Starcrossed Films,

Rose Byrne, Rafe Spall, Anna Faris, Simon Baker, Stephen Merchant, Minnie Driver, Jason Flemyng, Jane Asher, Terence Harvey, Nigel Planer

Nat (Rose Byrne) and Josh (Rafe Spall) are newlyweds. They have a true fairy tale wedding and start off with high hopes, but their marriage starts to crumble almost immediately. Both insist on making a go at it, but both are tempted by others. As the one year anniversary arrives, they decide to stay together, but it’s questionable as to whether they will make it or if one, or both of them will blow it as the grass is always greener on the other side.

This is a cleverly done romantic comedy about coincidence and definitely about star-crossed lovers, that’s for sure. Do we have the right to go after real happiness, or should we stick with what we have committed to, and make the best of our promises. That’s the whole subject here, and though it’s a serious premise, it’s done with a lot of humor and fun. There are so many other good actors in this film, and that adds a lot to the story as well. It’s actually a fairly clever film, and a good chick flick for sure. Here Anna Faris gives us one of her most serious performances to date. This is a far cry from the silly “Scary Movie”, “Yogi Bear”, and “House Bunny” roles. She’s very good. All in all, this is not a ground breaking blockbuster event, but it’s a nice little romantic comedy with enough cerebral matter to hold it together. The only problem I had is that the English accent is a bit hard to follow sometimes, even for an old Monty Python fan such as myself, but turn on the subtitles as they swallow a lot of their lines. Aside from that it’s not a bad job at all, actually, and if you’re in the mood for a decent romantic-comedy, you can do far worse than “I Give It a Year”.

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Focus Features, Depth of Field,

Tina Fey, Paul Rudd, Michael Sheen, Wallace Shawn, Gloria Reuben, Lily Tomlin, Nat Wolff, Sonya Walger, Tina Benko, Brian d’Arcy James

Portia (Tina Fey) is an admissions officer at Princeton, and up against one of the other ladies for a promotion. Her frenzy to find new talent sends her to an unorthodox school run by John Pressman (Paul Rudd). John introduces her to a young man at the school who she thinks could be her son. He wants badly to go to Princeton, but his grades are awful, even though he is somewhat of a genius and self taught. Portia risks her future to pull any strings she can to get him into Princeton at whatever the cost while sparks begin to fly between Portia and John.

This is a relatively funny film. It’s typical Tina Fey material, not too over the top, not hysterically funny, but constantly clever. She plays her usual helpful self trying to do what’s right without ruffling too many feathers, but making what seem to be all the wrong choices. This is a warm film, pleasantly entertaining, and though not Ha-Ha funny from beginning to end, very cleverly done and quite interesting. Not a big film, but a nice little film, and well worth watching if you’re in the mood for a light comedy without the usual gross out stuff most modern comedies throw at us. I thought they did a nice job with an intelligent premise and turned it into a sweet little movie.

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Informant Media, MICA Entertainment,

Logan Lerman, Kristen Bell, Jennifer Connelly, Lily Collins, Rusty Joiner, Greg Kinnear, Liana Liberato, Spencer Breslin, Nat Wolff

The Borgan family is a clan of writers. Father William (Greg Kinnear) is an established writer and has been long divorced by his wife who has remarried. William is waiting for his wife to come back to him. His eldest daughter is very angry with Mom over the divorce, and her younger brother is a budding science fiction writer who is filled with optimism, the opposite of his sister. This is a very dysfunctional family that has to deal with their issues, as each of them has a lot to learn to mend the family.

Greg Kinnear is very good in this film. It’s one of those family dramas with some realistic depictions of a dysfunctional family. There are very complex relationships going on at all levels, and it’s a very good character study. It’s an indie film, but flowed very well for me. I found it an interesting film with enough going on to really develop the characters, but to keep it quite interesting throughout. There are some really funny moments, but I wouldn’t classify this as a comedy by any means. But the humor adds a lot to the story. Basically there are a lot of layers to this story, and it’s interesting to watch them unfold. I really enjoyed this movie, and as a romance/drama independent film, I found it very easy to watch. It was a surprise to me, as I had not heard of this film, but I can recommend this one.

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Warner Bros., Village Roadshow Pictures, A&E Television Networks,

Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher, Jason Clarke, Adelaide Clemens, Callan McAuliffe, Amitabh Bachchan, Elizabeth Debicki

The story of ex-military man, now writer Nick Caraway (Toby Maguire), who becomes obsessed with rich young playboy Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) who is himself obsessed with lost love Daisy (Carey Mulligan) who is married to wealthy businessman Tom Buchannan (Joel Edgerton). The movie is basically the story of Gatsby as told by Nick who not only hangs out with him acting as sort of a houseboy for Gatsby who is writing a novel about the story as he sees it. He learns a lot more about this mysterious Gatsby, and where he came from and how he got where he is today. Meanwhile, Gatsby is after married Daisy at all costs which is destroying the empire he built for her.

This novel from 1925 by F Scott Fitzgerald is the basis of the story, which is remake of the 1974 telling of the story featuring Robert Redford which was a remake of the 1949 version starring Alan Ladd. Who knows if there are any other versions out there. I saw the 1974 version and really hated it. I also found it really hard to follow. This version is a bit easier to understand (or maybe I’m a lot more mature than I was in 1974 and able to catch the story this time), but I didn’t really like this movie at all. It’s funny, sometimes, how I’ve seen so many movies, but sometimes a movie will remind me of another movie, and later I found out it was done by the same person. This one, first of all, reminded me of Moulin Rouge which I absolutely hated as well. An old story with Bee Gees and Beatles tunes didn’t sit at all. Well, I hated the soundtrack of this film too as the songs made no sense with a story from 1925. Well, guess what, there’s a reason! It’s the same guy from Moulin Rouge as well as Romeo and Juliet (the DiCaprio one) that I literally could not watch. There are very few movies that I cannot watch, but that one was certainly one that I turned off.

So what was good about the film? Well, DiCaprio did a pretty good job of playing rich playboy Jay Gatsby who is a fake and is really, really shallow. This is right up Leo’s alley. Carey Mulligan was also pretty decent as Daisy. She also is a young spoiled brat who is not very deep either. Toby Maguire’s Nick, on the other hand, was awful. He was such a little love struck puppy dog that followed Jay around doing stupid mundane tasks for him, and taking it. I really hated this character, and I don’t think it fits the kind of guy Nick should have been at all. It also seemed like Nick loved Daisy throughout, but we never found out a bit of it. He gives us the puppy dog looks and stares, but it’s never addressed at all. I am ambivalent on Joel’s Tom, Daisy’s husband. On one hand is supposed to be the old money, respectable and dignified, but he went off his rocker a little too much. Gatsby’s mansion is beautiful. The Long Island setting is beautiful. But the set decorations and car chases are really cartoonish. It didn’t seem to fit at all. Finally, this has the feel of a modern story told about the Jazz age and the 20’s. But it was written at that time, so it was a contemporary story. Some people rave about this as the greatest American novel ever written. It’s kind of Dickens-ish in the way it preaches about honesty, wealth, the crimes of the rich against the poor, and the contrast between the rich people and the poor people. I suppose Dickens could easily have written this book.

All in all though, it’s a romance story most of all, so the real romantics will probably like it. Basically, I think there are lots of love stories to be told, and there wasn’t a screaming need to remake this 1925 novel once again. On one hand, I can never get enough versions of The Christmas Carol, but on the flip side, I think this is probably too many Gatsbys. If you do decide to give this a try (maybe cause you’re Leo fan, or remember the book fondly from your school days), be patient with the first half hour. It’s really the worst part of the film, and it does improve a bit the further along you go. But this is a long movie, nearly 2 1/2 hours, and personally I felt like I would like the 2 1/2 hours back to see something a lot more interesting that this was. At least now I know the story, but I’m not sure what I’m going to do with that knowledge. My honest opinion is to skip this one.

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Zentropa Productions, Zentropa International Sweden, Zentropa International Köln,

Trine Dyrholm, Pierce Brosnan, Kim Bodnia, Paprika Steen, Sebastian Jessen, Christiane Schaumburg-Müller, Bodil Jørgensen

Ida (Trine Dyrholm) is a hairdresses who is just finishing up cancer treatments and about to head to Italy to attend her daughter’s wedding, walks in on her husband with the secretary of his work. She runs into Phillip (Pierce Brosnan) who is a mean boss, still suffering over the loss of his wife, who is also heading to Italy to attend the wedding of his son. When the two of them figure out they’re going to the same wedding, they form a kind of a bond, but once they arrive in Italy, everything that can go wrong seems to as things get worse and worse. This is charming romantic comedy.

I enjoyed this movie. The film is made in Denmark, and is done in a mix of languages with subtitles as needed. The comedy is reminiscent of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” in a way, but it pretty fresh. The engaged couple is really good, and the other side stories going on are really funny. Very similar to Mama Mia, but without the songs of ABBA, it’s a worthwhile film. The story is good, and the acting is really decent. It’s a decent script too, so all in all it’s an unusual movie. The locations in Italy are exquisite, and it’s actually pretty funny. I can recommend this movie if you’re a fan of romantic comedies. It’s well worth the price of a rental.

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