Ed's Review Dot Com

Open Road Films (II), Rice Films, Gulfstream Pictures,

Jennifer Aniston, Jason Sudeikis, Julia Roberts, Jon Lovitz, Kate Hudson, Timothy Olyphant, Britt Robertson, Aasif Mandvi, Sarah Chalke, Grayson Russell, Shay Mitchell, Margo Martindale, Loni Love, Ella Anderson, Cameron Esposito, Jack Whitehall, Lucy Walsh

Mother’s Day is an ensemble film, telling four different stories that all tie together in the end. There are many different kinds of mothers, and many different situations, but we all stop on Mother’s Day to remember and honor those special women in our lives. As this story unfolds, we meet different families and different situations, but all are touched in the end in different ways.

Directed by Garry Marshall, this is the same team that brought us Valentine’s Day and New Years Eve. It is a great cast, and it’s a very touching story. Each situation is unique, yet they manage to tie it all together in the end. It’s got funny moments, and of course, the cheesy romantic ones. It’s a very clever put together tale and was fun to watch. If you have seen these hinds of stories, there have been dozens, where a number of different stories come together in the end. This is a very good one. Julia Roberts does a very great job as a childless, driven TV host, as does Jason Sudekis as a single widower dad trying to raise his two daughters. Jennifer Anderson is really good as a divorced mom of two boys who is trying to deal with her situation. It’s a very well developed story line that comes together beautifully. This is a touching movie, and one I can highly recommend for anyone who is a mother, who has had a mother, or knows a mother. If you don’t fit into any of those categories, you’re out of luck. This film is a tribute to mothers. This is a really good film, and I recommend this, especially now that it’s on DVD.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Spring Pictures, Mad Dog Pictures, Mountaintop Productions,

Juliette Lewis, Cybill Shephard, Margaret Colin, Lusia Strus

Kelly (Juliette Lewis) is a young mother, former rocker, now struggling with a baby that doesn’t want to sleep, and estranged from her too busy husband, Josh (Josh Hopkins). When she accidentally bumps into a crippled teen who lives nearby, named Cal (Jonny Weston), they strike up a friendship that feels right to her. But as things go a bit too far, Kel has to start thinking about the consequences.

Is it post partum depression, neglect, the feeling that life has passed her by, or just plain and simple loneliness. I’m not sure, but Juliette plays it just right. This is a thought provoking little film that takes us into a place that feels all too familiar. This film gives us moods and feelings, with plenty of angst and emotion, but not any of the real answers. In that respect, it does pull it off very well. The acting is good. Each of the characters is well developed. No one here has any bad intentions, and there is no real right or wrong. Everybody seems to do the wrong things, but it’s only with good intentions. There is a somber feeling like no matter what happens, it can only end up in a bad place. It all feels hopeless. As the story progresses, everything expands and we suddenly get introduced to more characters that add more complexities. This is not a comfortable film, but it is really well done. It’s a very complex story, but very well played. I enjoyed it.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), New Line Cinema,

Emilia Clarke, Sam Claflin, Janet McTeer, Charles Dance, Brendan Coyle

Will Traynor (Sam Clafin) is a very lucky man. He’s from a wealthy British family that owns a castle, and he’s grown into a very handsome young man with a beautiful girlfriend, a high visibility job, and an active lifestyle filled with skiing, surfing, climbing, and all sorts of activities. But in a split second it’s all taken away when a single moment rips away all but the money. Two years later, bubbly and happy Luisa Clark (Emilia Clarke) loses her job as a waitress when the cafe closes. With her father out of work for a long time, the family depended on her waitress salary to stay afloat, so she needs a job. She applies and gets a job as a caretaker for Will, but it’s only for six months. Will is deeply depressed and very disturbed, and Lou sets out to make him smile a little and try to bring some meaning to his life. Little did she know how determined he was to be sad and grumpy at what he has lost.

Based on a novel, this film is a true romance story, but with lots of heartache and sadness, and some terrific highs. My wife and I went to see this film on a Tuesday (aka discount night) date night and I wish I could blame this “chick flick” on her choice and my graciousness of bending to her will, but the truth is that I have been wanting to see this film. As a youngster I had no doubt that I was an unusual kid. I loved sharing music with my grandmother and became a fan of old music, and I loved books and movies. I’ve never been a big one for fast cars, and can’t tell a Dodge from a Toyota, and never really got into playing sports. I had a much bigger enjoyment of the arts and nature and travel and things of that nature. As a teen, name a song, and I could tell you who it was by, what label it was on, how long it was, and what was on the other side, and I amassed a treasure trove of 45’s and LP’s and my record player my Dad rescued from someone’s trash and built into a really nice stand for me for Christmas was probably one of my most treasured Christmas presents. So I am a sucker for “relationship” movies and a lot of what people call movies for girls. Now my favorite genre is horror, and I love comedy. Favorite films would have to include Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, all the Star Trek movies, and so on. But I do like really good people stories too. This is certainly a touching (can I say tear-jerking) film, but dang it was a really good story as well. With a British setting and with British actors, the accent was there throughout, but unlike some films that I have a really hard time understanding, this was really easy to follow. There are a lot of twists and turns, although the truth is that it is completely logical step by step. I don’t know any of the actors in this movie which really made it a lot more believable to me as well, and I must admit I was totally invested in this story. It is a bit intense for very young kids, and even though it’s a PG-13 film, I would hesitate to bring children under 13 as it would be tough for them to understand, but for older kids and adults, this is a really touchingly bittersweet story but one that I’m very glad I watched. If you have a heart, I highly recommend this story. Get out and see it while you can!

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

A+E Studios, Big Indie Pictures, Killer Films,

Kevin Kline, Dakota Fanning, Susan Sarandon, Max Casella, Jane McNeill, Bryan Batt, Matt Kane, Patrick St. Esprit, Jason Davis, Ric Reitz

As the film opens, Errol Flynn (Kevin Kline) has been reported to have died in the arms of his 4th wife, a young girl named Beverly Aadland (Dakota Fanning). Beverly’s mother, Florence (Susan Sarandon) is at the airport to meet her daughter when they are confronted by a host of reporters trying to get a glimpse of the girl who was with the famous actor when he died. The premise of the story is Florence’s attempt at fame herself, and perhaps the Hollywood mother a bit too push trying to get her daughter’s career going, has met a writer who wants to interview her about her daughter Beverly and the last days of Errol Flynn. The book is done without Beverly’s knowledge or consent, but via flashback, we get to see the entire story from the very beginning up until the time the book is released.

This is a biographical story. It seems that’s all I’ve been seeing lately, which is a bit odd, but that’s what it is. This is a bit sordid, but I must admit Susan Sarandon did an amazing job as Florence the Hollywood mom, who though she didn’t push her daughter into engagement with a movie star knows to have a thing for very young girls, she certainly enabled it when she had a chance to stop it. Kevin Kline is perhaps not the perfect choice for Errol Flynn, although he did a decent job of the role and kept it interesting. This is not his story anyway. Dakota Fanning, on the other hand, always seems to get into these roles. She’s playing a girl of 15 who has a fake birth certificate and is actually in the chorus line at Warner Brothers as a pretend 18 year old when Errol picks her out of the chorus and makes his predatory advance toward her. It is a bit creepy of a role, and I was never quite comfortable watching it, although I suppose since it’s really her mother’s view of the story, we have no way to know what’s true and what is the mother’s fantasy of the whole thing. All in all, it’s a bit slow, and painful to watch, and is not superbly done, but for an independent film, and a biography of the glory days of Hollywood after all, it’s not all bad. After watching the film, I researched some of the facts, and it seems like it was rather devastating time for Beverly, and despite her pleas to her mother, Florence just had to go through with the book for the fame and notoriety. It is a tragedy and a love story, and I don’t think any of the people in the story can be totally blamed for what happened, even the old lecher Errol Flynn himself who really seemed smitten by the girl, and certainly had the means to make it happen. This is a look at the seedy side of the old Hollywood studio days when movies were king.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Working Title Films, Artémis Productions, Kvinde Films,

Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander, Ben Whishaw, Sebastian Koch, Amber Heard, Matthias Schoenaerts

Gerda Wegener (Alicia Vikander) is a Danish painter. She paints her husband, Einar (Eddie Redmayne) in woman’s clothing, and is beginning to gain attention as a popular artist. But Einar is finding himself more and more comfortable as Lili, his female character that he developed, and he finds he is losing himself and becoming more and more Lili. Since childhood, Einar has felt different and as if he was really a woman trapped in a man’s body. Seeking help, all the professionals declare him insane and try to cure him by driving the desire to be female out of his head. But through the love of his wife, Gerda, he is able to find a German doctor who is anxious to try doing a two surgery process to change Einar into Lili permanently. At this point in time, it’s heresy and is unacceptable to society, and especially the religious community.

This is a startling love story that is really sweet and well done. Based on the diary that Lili kept, and published after her death, this story really shows the great amount of love between these two. It’s sad as Gerta is losing her husband, but she’s willing to do anything to make him/her happy. Eddie Redmayne was nominated as Best Actor for his role in this film, but it was his co-star who rightfully won the Best Supporting Actress award for her role as Gerda. She really was able to pull off this role and was spectacular and certainly deserved it. But I think she was probably the best part of this movie. She really nailed it, and her range of emotional scenes from love, to despair, to worry, to desperation, she covered them all. This was a really well written script, and filmed in a way to leave the touching moments alone while still showing the terrifying parts. This is an unusual tale, and like one of the filmmakers stated in the extra features, it’s amazing that it has remained hidden this long as it is a really powerful story. Despite the R rating, this is a good film, and I can recommend it for mature audiences.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog