Ed's Review Dot Com

Regency Enterprises, Summit Entertainment, Bazelevs Production,

Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Max Minghella, Rachael Taylor, Joel Kinnaman, Veronika Ozerova, Dato Bakhtadze, Yuriy Kutsenko, Artur Smolyaninov, Pyotr Fyodorov

Sean (Emile Hirsch) and Ben (Max Minghella) are young software designers who have traveled to Russia to close a big deal, only to find out that their Swedish partner Skyler (Joel Kinnaman) has stolen their whole design and double crossed them. They head out to a bar to commiserate and meet two American girls Natalie (Olivia Thirlby) and Anne (Rachael Taylor). Suddenly beautiful lights appear in the sky, and the five of them go out into the street when suddenly the lights split apart, and become alien beings surrounded in energy, looking to kill everything alive in their path. This sends the party out to escape, team up with some Russian survivors, and try to figure out how to save the planet.

This is a very unique sci-fi thriller. It has some serious holes and some very unusual things going for it which caused a lot of people to really hate on it. I didn’t find it that awful. The “aliens” were quite different and had some awesome powers. But the characters do some crazy things that will make you wonder why, and it is set in Russia, so the Russians are the good guys, which is kind of unusual for American audiences, although there is nothing wrong with that. We’re faced with two American girls who for some odd reason keep lapsing back into British accents for no reason. Some of the actions just don’t make sense.

But it has suspense, and will keep you on the edge of your seat, kind of like “Battle of Los Angeles” in a way. The characters are decently portrayed, and the acting isn’t bad at all. Special effects are fairly awesome. All in all, it’s a little bit flawed sci-fi thriller with enough good things to make it worth watching if you love sci-fi and have the time to give it. Not for everyone, but for sci-fi thriller fans, it’s not as bad as most reviewers would have you believe.

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Alcove Entertainment, Pimienta, The Salt Company International,

Rachelle Lefevre, Stephen Moyer, Luis Guzmán, Ed Quinn, Lorna Raver, Gladys Rodríguez, Alfredo De Quesada, Brian Tester, Grace Connelly

Mary Kee (Rachel Lefevre) has just gotten out of an abusive relationship. She moves into an apartment all alone. When the phone rings, a strange lady claims that she saw her husband in the apartment and wanted to speak to him. This lady, who we learn is named Rose (Lorna Raver) lived in the house back in the 70′s and wants to talk to future Mary and become friends. When Mary gets sick of her and asks her to leave her alone, Rose gets very angry and finds some real creepy ways to punish her in this twisted supernatural cross time thriller.

Many people hated this movie because they found it hard to follow. I personally didn’t find it difficult to understand. Granted, it is very extraordinary. But like a 90 minute twilight zone episode, this is a thoughtful and very creepy movie. Imagine is someone has access to you in the past, when you were a little child, and the people around you who you care for and understand. What if she could hurt you in the present by hurting you in the past, instantly changing the present. Rose has a huge advantage, and in order for Mary to survive, it’s going to take all the wits she has to try to defeat her.

I thoroughly enjoyed this little old fashioned sci-fi thriller flick. It was very interesting from start to finish. It really reminded me of other films of this genre, like “Frequency”. It was suspenseful throughout, and kept me guessing what Rose was going to pull next. Very enjoyable hour and a half. But I have to say one thing. There were three deleted scenes on the DVD. One of these was appropriate to cut, but I have no idea why the other two would be cut, as they were critical to understanding the movie. I would love to hear why these two scenes were cut out. One explains why she has an old rotary dial phone which is key to the story, and the other has to do with a visit to a mental institution which is referenced later in the movie, but without this scene we don’t know what happened when she was there. I would say be sure to watch these deleted scenes, and say “AHA” like I did. If you like thrillers like this, I would recommend this one as one that is very out of the ordinary. It’s quite unique.

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Touchstone Pictures, DreamWorks SKG, 21 Laps Entertainment

Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly, Kevin Durand, Anthony Mackie, Hope Davis, Dakota Goyo, James Rebhorn, Karl Yune, Olga Fonda, Marco Ruggeri

In the world of 2020 where real human boxers have been replaced by fighting robots, Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman) is a washed up boxer who tried to make the move to the robot boxing world, but hasn’t had much luck. Way over his head in debt, and in need of some quick bucks, he puts his only possession, his robot, up against a 2000 pound bull in a fight to the death. Unfortunately he brings his robot back in pieces. Then an 11 year old boy turns up who the courts claim is Charlie’s son Max (Dakota Goyo), and Charlie figures out a way to “sell” Charlie to get back into the robot game.

This is “Rocky” meets “Transformers”! This is an interesting concept for a film, fighting robots! The robots have a personality. When I was a kid we spent a lot of Saturdays on “Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots!

The star of this film is little Dakota Goyo. He is really a good actor. This kid has a ton of talent. Hugh Jackman is also very good playing the “Han Solo” type of character who’s lovable hero who’s always getting himself in trouble, mostly due to his own pride. There are some other good characters too. Evangeline Lilly plays Bailey Tallet, owner of her father’s gym where Charlie trains and repairs his robot. She’s a caring and faithful friend who’s running out of patience on Charlie’s shenanigans. The fighting sequences are AWESOME. Every bit as good as other great “human” boxing movies. There’s a whole lot of action and suspense the locations and seedy characters at the fighting arenas in the “lower class” unlicensed fighting locations remind me of the cockfighting pits in the Philippines, whereas the high glitz and glamour of the official WRF championship fight was better than a Mandalay Bay Las Vegas fight!

All in all it’s a long movie, a little over 2 hours, but it’s so interesting you hardly notice. This is really a great adventure movie with a great David and Goliath story that is fun for all ages. The relationship between Charlie and Max is really endearing. This is a very good film.

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Artists Public Domain,

Brit Marling, William Mapother, Kumar Pallana, Robin Lord Taylor, Jordan Baker, Flint Beverage, Matthew-Lee Erlbach

Rhoda Williams (Brit Marling) is an astrophysics student who has just been accepted to MIT. After partying it up, celebrating with some friends, she is driving home a little under the influence. She accidentally crashes into a car with a man, John Burroughs (William Mapother), his wife and son. John is in a coma, and the rest of the family is killed. Coincidentally this is the day a second earth is found in the sky, identical in all ways to earth, setting the science word on it’s ear trying to figure out what it’s about. Rhoda is sent to jail for the DUI, and gives up her hopes of going to MIT and becomes a janitor. Rocked with guilt, she decides to visit John, who’s now living alone with the pain, to tell him she was the one who killed his wife and kids, but she loses her nerve and instead volunteers to give him a “sample” cleaning as part of a marketing plan for her phoney employee. As she gets closer to John, they start a very inappropriate relationship. The mystery of the other Earth, and the guilt Rhoda feels, along with John’s pain brings the movie to a stunning conclusion.

This is a very strange film. It is an independent, Sundance Film Festival kind of film that is very cerebral. Though advertised as a science fiction film, there is much, more going on here than the science of the duplicate earth. It’s much more metaphoric and symbolic than a science fiction thriller. The big issues are with the pain John feels over the loss of his family, and even more about the guilt and redemption Rhoda is feeling and seeking. This is a very slow developing story, but is very though provoking. How would you feel if your entire family was yanked away from you and you’re left alone? And what if by a stupid mistake, you caused the pain and suffering to another person. How could you ever make up for that? And could you try? These are the kind of things that this movie really addresses.

Would I call it a science fiction film? Yes, I certainly would because this is a kind of science fiction story, certainly. No it’s not ET or Aliens, but it does offer us a fictional account of a very strange series of events.

So everyone is not going to love this movie. If you hate slow, cerebral films, you’re going to hate this. But, on the other hand, if you like to think your way through a movie, this is a very interesting premise, and well executed methodically and slowly, step by step.

This is one of those obscure films that I like to find from time to time. It’s certain an interesting concept and I enjoyed it

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Universal Pictures, DreamWorks SKG, Reliance Entertainment,

Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, Paul Dano, Noah Ringer, Keith Carradine, Adam Beach, Clancy Brown

The year is 1873, it’s in the desert in Arizona and Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig) wakes up with no idea who he is or where he came from. The only clue is a mysterious metal bracelet. Meanwhile, life goes on in the town, with some ruffians who think they own the town. Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford) and his sons and helpers give fits to every decent citizen in the town, but especially Sheriff John Taggart. But there are bigger problems as a race of aliens have crash landed in the desert with a plan to take over the earth. It seems that everyone is going to have to work together to fight the aliens, and as Jake gradually remembers who he is and what he’s there for a mysterious woman (Ella Swenson) seems to know some of the secrets.

This is a very unusual story based on a very unusual book. I have never heard of a story set in the old west that involved outer space killer aliens, but why not? Why are the modern people and the ancient Aztec’s the only ones who could see aliens. I was very excited for this film to come out, but I missed catching it in the theater. There were just too many other films at the time. So now it’s available on DVD.

I am really torn on this film. In one way there is a lot of action, terrible alien creatures that are nightmare inspiring. Harrison Ford is really good, and the western in this film isn’t half bad. But there is something fatally wrong with this film, and it’s really hard for me to put my finger on it. There just doesn’t seem to be any heart here. There is no depth to the story, no meaning, and no feeling. They are fighting alien creatures without purpose other than just to save their skin. If there’s nothing noble or meaningful, then it’s just fighting. Director Jon Favreau is known for his action scenes in films like Iron Man and Iron Man 2, but in this film, there just seems to be action and violence without much purpose.

I don’t mean that it’s a bad movie. I am glad I watched it on DVD, and if you’re a fan of westerns (these are very few and far between in these days), or huge action films with guns and explosions and lots of thing getting blown up, the for sure, catch this if you haven’t seen it. But if you’re look for a touching story, or a real intense drama, I’m afraid this didn’t quite cut it in that department. Acting is passing, storyline is a bit weak, and explosions are plenty. A good action film, and worth the rental, for sure.

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