Ed's Review Dot Com

Blue Yonder Films, GRF Productions, Jon Shestack Productions,

Brendan Fraser, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jessica Alba, Jane Lynch, Craig Robinson, William Shatner, Sofía Vergara, Rob Corddry, Ricky Gervais, Jonathan Morgan Heit, Chris Parnell, George Lopez, Steve Zahn

Far away in outer space is Planet Baab, where a population of blue aliens crave excitement and adventure. Their hero is Scorch Supernova (Brendan Fraser) who heads out into danger time after time, and is rescued by his nerdy brother Gary (Rob Corddry). But when Scorch decides to head out to the “dark planet” Planet Earth, Gary wants nothing to do with it. Earth has a history of ships that have gone in to explore and never returning, and no one has ever escaped the planet. Scorch insists to the brothers break up their team, and Scorch heads out on his only into a giant trap. Now Gary will have to head out to try to save Scorch or die trying.

This animated space adventure is a lot like many other of the same genre with either earthlings going into outer space to be captured by aliens or aliens coming to earth and getting trapped here. In fact, this is not far off a feature length “Marvin the Martian” cartoon from vintage Warner Bros. But it’s charming and funny, and does a few twists and turns that keep it interesting. In that respect, it’s a little like Men In Black where there is a whole world going on around us of which we normal humans are not even aware. It’s not highly cerebral, of course, but kids will love it, and this may be a pretty decent animated film that families can enjoy together. I didn’t pay to watch this film in the theater, as I was very willing to wait till it was out on DVD, but now that it is, I am glad I watched it. Though not the greatest animated film ever made, it’s certainly cute and funny enough to pass some time with the kids and enjoy the humor. I enjoyed this film.

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Marvel Studios, Paramount Pictures,

Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Ben Kingsley, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, James Badge Dale, Jon Favreau

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is back from the epic battle in New York with all the other Avengers. He seems to have grown a lot, and has changed. More introspective, he’s been busy building a whole bunch of new suits, and has probably become obsessed with keeping busy to ward off the increasing panic attacks he’s suffering from. But when an ultra villain “The Mandarin” (Ben Kingsley) takes over the worlds airways to teach the world leaders a lesson, he proves himself to be not only cunning and clever, but extremely tough too . It will take Iron Man, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) Colonel James Rhodes (Don Cheadle), and all of their best stuff just to survive this massive battle.

I had the pleasure of dropping $45.00 for my wife and I to see this film in Imax 3D and D-Box. The Imax screen was awesome, the 3D effects were spectacular, and the D-Box (motion seats)…..eh..not so much. I’ve been anxious to try these out, and I can see one good thing about them. When the movie starts, nothing happens. The are still and silent and don’t move a speck. Then the first time there’s a loud noise on the screen they vibrate and by that time you’ve forgotten about them and they startle the hell out of you. But I’ve seen 3D magic motion movies in Vegas, Universal Studios, and Dave and Busters, and they show runaway train cars, roller coasters, and stuff like that that are really a thrill, but these chairs, though comfortable, are no big add to the action on the screen. They don’t move enough to give you any real sense of being in the film, and aside from a fairly decent back massage, they really aren’t that much. I would rather just turn them on, and let them vibrate continuously through the 2 hour film, and perhaps I’d come out without this aching back I’ve had all week. But enough about the chairs: On to the movie.

Robert Downey Jr. has Iron Man down pat now. Throughout the film I was pondering, is Iron Man the man, or is Iron Man the suit. Not in a literal way, but figuratively. There is an expression that “clothes make the man”. I wonder if that’s true in Stark’s case. But he’s tired, kind of like Bond has been in the last few films (especially Skyfall), and it shows how all the “world saving” has worn him out. He really has settled in pretty well. He really cares for Pepper, and he’s given up a lot of the shenanigans he was noted for. But when he’s needed, he’s ready to give all to save the world. And this time it really takes it out of him. The acting is excellent. Each of these characters knows who he is now, and they’re comfortable in their suit. Even Jarvis, the voice of the suit, is kind of like Kitt from Night Rider with his gentle voice and desire to help in whatever is needed. Perhaps he’s a little C3PO too without the yellow streak. I enjoyed this story very much. In fact, I think it’s safe to say that each Iron Film has gotten better and better, and this one has to be my favorite of the three. I can’t compete with The Avengers, of course, but of all the Tony Stark/Iron Man films, this has to be the best story, best explosions, best fight scenes, and the most fun to watch. Of course seeing it on an IMAX screen with 3D glasses helps a lot. But this is one exciting adventure film that does not disappoint. This is a must see on the big screen while you can.

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

Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Andy Serkis

Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) is old, and speaking with Frodo. Bilbo explains that everything he told Frodo was the truth, but that there were some things that he did not tell him. Then he begins to tell the story of how it all began. It began with a meeting with Gandalf and a mismatched group of unlikely heroes that appeared at Bilbo’s home to discus and upcoming adventure, one that Bilbo is very opposed to even undertaking. The Hobbit, the story of Bilbo and the prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy was written long after the other books, but is a fitting prequel to the tales of middle earth. In this first installment, the team gets started on their journey, and Bilbo gets separated, and in the process meets Gollum and begins a battle of wits with him, nearly becoming his lunch. The Hobbit has been broken into pieces and this is the first of a proposed trilogy of a story that is surely rich and deep enough to have plenty of adventures to come.

This is a beautiful film! The Lord of the Rings was an epic trilogy, but I have always loved “The Hobbit” much more than the other books. That comes out in this story which is much easier to follow (in my humble opinion) than the LOTR series. The original actors are back, and the origins and secrets of Gollum is worth watching this film by itself. Bilbo’s experience with him under the lonely mountain is epic. There are some truly epic battles, and the technology is superior. But it’s all about the story, and this story is one of the greatest ever written. It looks and sound stunning, but the story sucks you in right from the start. It was great to see the scenes come to life that came from the pages of a book. This was a definite 5 star film and should not be missed.

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Universal Pictures, Chernin Entertainment, Ironhead Studios,

Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau , Melissa Leo, Zoe Bell, Andrea Riseborough, James Rawlings

Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) is a repairman taking care of the drones that defend the power stations that support life after the apocalypse. It’s the future and the wars have devastated the Earth. All the survivors were taken to Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, and the only one with a dense atmosphere. It’s 2077 and Jack and his partner Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) are finishing up there term as the mop up crew, keeping the machines running. But there is some kind of survivor creatures running around trying to sabotage the entire operation and Jack is having dreams and memories of places he doesn’t know and people he can’t remember. Jack is driven to find the truth in this latest blockbuster Tom Cruise Sci-Fi film.

First of all, I broke the bank and went to see this baby on the day after payday at the ETX theater. This means HUGE wall to wall, extremely high def digital projection, and 360 degree surround sound with speakers all over the ceiling from front to back. The picture was beautiful, and the sound was pretty awesome. The soundtrack music is a bit strange and the constant tones over our heads and echoing around the sides was a tiny bit annoying, but the explosions and dialog was fantastic. There are several locations in the film that are stunningly beautiful and the deserts and wastelands are extremely dreary and barren. The cinematography is excellent, and even Tom Cruise does a good job in his role. This is one of the best Cruise films in a long time. The story is a mish-mash of tributes a dozen other sci films. There isn’t much new anymore, so they take bits and pieces of great sci-fi films from 2001 A Space Odyssey, all the way to Wall-E and lots more in between. But at the same time, the action is non-stop and the story has enough twist and surprises to keep it fresh. Nobody’s put all the pieces together this way before. Though a tribute to the greatest sci-fi work, it’s somehow an original story. This was an exciting evening, and a pretty decent film. I suspect it will do very well. It was well worth the extra fee for the ETX showing.

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DNA Films, IM Global, Peach Trees,

Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Lena Headey, Wood Harris, Langley Kirkwood, Junior Singo, Luke Tyler, Jason Cope, Domhnall Gleeson, Warrick Grier

In the future, the world has become a virtual wasteland, and the survivors are huddled into a few massive mega-cities. The usual problems of drugs and crime are fought by the Judges, police soldiers who hunt, catch, and execute criminals. The greatest of these is Judge Dredd (Karl Urban) who is a ultimate warrior. But when he comes up against Ma-Ma (Lena Headey) leader of the most hardened of criminal gangs in a battle to the death for him, he’s saddled with a rookie cop Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) whom he must train and evaluate. What follows is a roller-coaster battle of epic proportions in a non-stop action film based on the comic book hero.

This is an interesting film. As you probably know, Stallone did a version of this film almost 20 years ago. Many folks did not like it very much. This movie should please those who are not fans of the Stallone version. This film is one long fight sequence that starts quickly and runs through till the end. Reminiscent of the Die Hard movies in a lot of ways, a pair of cops, one a rookie, are up against insurmountable odds. But good must fight evil no matter what the odds. The action is gory and bloody, so stay away if you don’t like that. This is not one of those PG teenage boy action films, this one is very realistic with all the violence and gore. But the action is non-stop, and though we’re in a futuristic society with advanced technology, the battles are believable. It’s certainly exciting and action packed, and for those who love this kind of non-stop action, it’s a really well done film. There’s not much to criticize here, and most of the people who don’t like it say it’s because of the intense violence. Well, please skip it if you’re not ready to accept that. Like the comic books, this is a violent movie, but action really well done. For the right audience, it’s sure to be liked, and it’s odd that it did so poorly in the theaters. I think perhaps that could by Sly Stallone’s fault, as many people probably skipped it because of the bad taste in their mouth from the 1995 film. That’s a shame, and so if you’re a fan of fast paced action adventures, watch this one on DVD> It’s really pretty decent.

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