Ed's Review Dot Com

Alphaville Films, Di Bonaventura Pictures, Paramount Pictures,

Jason Clarke, Amy Seimetz, John Lithgow, Jeté Laurence, Hugo Lavoie, Lucas Lavoie, Obssa Ahmed, Alyssa Brooke Levine, Maria Herrera, Frank Schorpion, Linda E. Smith, Sonia Maria Chirila

Dr Louis Creed (Jason Clarke) and his wife, Rachel (Amy Seimetz) and the two children Ellie and Gage, relocate to a secluded house in Maine to get away from the rat race in Boston. Louis is the doctor at the local hospital and their new home is in the woods with a large lot away from everybody except their neighbor Jud (John Lithgow) who lives across the road. There is a plot of ground used as a pet cemetery by the local kids, but beyond is a long abandoned ancient place where rumor is that anything that is buried there could come back to life. As the Creed family tries to adjust to their new life, things get very creepy in a hurry, and they find that living next to the Pet Sematary is not necessarily a good choice. Bad things seem to happen on a regular basis. This remake of the horror novel by Stephen King is a remake of the 1989 version of the same story.

So it’s time to do a remake of Pet Sematary, hunh? Well, I’m not sure if this is one that needed to be remade, but being a lover of horror, I had to go see it. I must admit that this is a really creepy story, and the suspense, even though we know the story, is really intense. There are a couple changes to the story, and one big twist that is a surprise, and at first it ticked me off, but I did look up to see how Stephen King felt about it. Turn out the ran it by him and he totally agreed with their decision and though it was a good change to the story. The original scenes really had a huge impact on me 30 years ago! But I can understand the reasons for the change and I can see that it makes sense. Otherwise, there are emphasis on different parts of the story than from the original, but mostly it’s the same story, so it’s familiar. However, there a lots of folks out there who have never seen the original movie 30 years ago, so as a brand new story for them, I think it would have as strong of an impact as it did on me back then. The new very is very graphic and with much better special effects now than back then, it is powerful, but after all, a strong story is a strong story no matter what the format. I understand there were 3 different endings, and the test audiences picked the darkest one of the three. It was a good choice, as the ending of the original movie is not all that memorable. If you enjoy horror, this is a pretty good film.

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Walt Disney Pictures, Tim Burton Productions, Infinite Detective

Eva Green, Colin Farrell, Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Nico Parker, Finley Hobbins, Kamil Lemieszewski, Alan Arkin, Joseph Gatt, Sandy Martin, Sharon Rooney, Deobia Oparei, Roshan Seth, Jo Osmond, Jessie Vinning, Douglas Reith

Holt Farrier (Colin Farrell) was once a circus star, but an injury during his service in the war drastically changed him. The owner of the circus, Max Dedici (Danny DeVito) is struggling to survive, but when his new elephant has a baby elephant, he hires Holt to take care of them. But the newborn has enormous ears, and Max is really angry because the oversized ears make the elephant a joke and he is the laughing stock of the circus industry. But there is more to Dumbo than just his giant ears, and with the help of a partner and a high wire artist, Collette (Eva Green) Dumbo may be a star after all and save the circus. This is the Tim Burton live action version of the original Disney 1941 animated film, Dumbo.

Tim Burton really put his touch on this movie, changing, and adding a lot to the original movie. First there are rules. The primary one is that animals do NOT talk in real life, so so talking mice, talking crows, or talking elephants. But there is a lot of tribute and homage to the original film, and though the music is not a primary part of this movie, unlike the animated film, it is used wisely and adds a lot to the movie. I was not completely blown away, as some of it was rather odd (with Tim Burton at the helm, how could that not be true), but I still really enjoyed the experience, and I do like these live action versions of the classic cartoons. Colin Farrel was really good in his role, and this was one of the highlights of the movie. This is a new character, and the emphasis on the cast of sideshow freaks is a also something that was added, but with a full length film, a lot has to be added. The original cartoon was only one hour long which won’t cut it in the theater today. All in all, I really enjoyed the film, and I think it was a relaxing evening watching this film. I recommend this one for the whole family.

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Monkeypaw Productions,

Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Evan Alex, Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker, Cali Sheldon, Noelle Sheldon, Anna Diop, Kara Hayward, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Nathan Harrington, David M Sandoval Jr., Madison Curry, Duke Nicholson

The Wilson Family is on vacation up in Santa Cruz, Ca near the seashore. They need a break, and some time to unwind. But after a visit to the famous boardwalk, when they return to the cabin, four strangers are standing in their driveway. As they investigate further, they determine that the four characters look like each of the family members, and as time passes, they definitely intend harm to the Wilsons, their neighbors, and lots of other people. It’s going to be a long night.

I wanted to see this movie opening weekend. I’m glad I did, as I’m starting to see a lot of whines and complaints about this movie, most of which are not really justified. This is a really creepy story with lots of violent actions, and a great deal of suspense. However, it’s not you usual horror film with no real story, just lots of loud noises and sudden jumps. This is a deeply dark and suspenseful story that is quite complex with a lot to think about and figure out. So those who just want another straight forward horror fest are going to be disappointed. You need to be aware that the story is a lot more complex than it appears on the surface, and be prepared to invest some brain cycles to figure it all out. Secondly, this is the second film from Producer/Director Jordan Peele. This makes it normal that people would want to put the two films (The other one is Get Out) side by side and compare them This is a big mistake because these films are not at all alike. Now on the other hand, there are some problems with this movie. It might be because it’s only Jordon’s second film, or it could be simply some bad advise. It’s also hard to discuss this all without giving away too much, but speaking generically, they took great pains to try to explain how this all happened. Unfortunately, it’s not a very good explanation, and leaves us with some really strange plot problems. It seems like the tried to throw in a twist in the end, as it seems proper to do, but it doesn’t work at all with the entire rest of the movie, and was very ill advised. Sometimes we are better off not knowing the cause for the crisis, and it is better to leave a lot more up to the viewer to determine what it all means. Still, I did enjoy this film (although my companions in theater did not) and I think it was worth the trip to see it. I do like stories with thoughtful questions and deeper meanings, and every horror film does not need to be a shallow slasher with no plot. I just wish they had done a little more work on the script to fix some of the problems in the story. This film would have been a lot better with a little more thought into the plot holes and how to plug them up.

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Blumhouse Productions, Dentsu, Digital Riot Media,

Jessica Rothe, Ruby Modine, Israel Broussard, Suraj Sharma, Rachel Matthews, Charles Aitken, Steve Zissis, Caleb Spillyards, Sarah Yarkin, Laura Clifton, Wendy Miklovic, GiGi Erneta, Phi Vu, Tenea Intriago, Kaleb Naquin

In Happy Death Day (the original film) Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe) has finally stopped waking up every day in a strange guy’s dorm room, and reliving the same day over and over again, each time ending by getting killed by a guy in a baby mask. As this sequel takes off, another of the friends claims that it’s now happening to him and he’s getting killed every day by the same guy, and reliving it over and over. Tree and rest of the gang, mostly science nerds, set out to solve Ryan’s (Phi Vu) problem and get involved in the problem as they finally realize what caused the strange things that happened to Tree and are now happening to Ryan. There are many more consequences to what is happening and it’s extremely important for everyone that they find a solution, but that’s not going to be easy.

The second in what is supposed to be a trilogy, this movie answers a great many of the questions that we had in Happy Death Day. At the end of it, there were a lot of questions left open as to how the hell this was happening and why Tree was caught up in the middle of it. This film is probably even better that the firs tone which I also rated four starts. Now granted, i enjoy horror films, and always have, but this group is much better that they average slasher film. Blumhouse has been putting out some pretty good horror films of late, and they are doing a great job of turning out entertaining scary movies. Kudos guys. This is a thoughtful story, and not overly gory, but highly suspenseful and really worth the price of admission. Be sure to see the first one though before this one, as it really will be more enjoyable that way. If you can see them close together, that’s the best, as you will certainly have questions after the first one this the second installment will answer. If they do have a third segment, it will be interesting to see where they go from here, but all in all, this was a good horror film.

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The Weinstein Company, Screen Australia, See-Saw Films,

Dev Patel, Rooney Mara, Nicole Kidman, David Wenham, Pallavi Sharda, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Eamon Farren, Priyanka Bose, Benjamin Rigby, Menik Gooneratne, Anna Samson, Arka Das, Deepti Naval

The year was 1986. A 5 year old boy, Saroo (Sunny Pawar, Dev Patel) is off on an adventure with his big brother, but becomes lost and alone. He climbs aboard an empty train to sleep, but is unaware the train is decommissioned and is being driven to Calcutta, thousands of miles away. When he finally escapes the train, he is all alone in a a new city where he can’t speak the language and has nowhere to go. Saroo’s life greatly changes, but as he matures, he can’t help wondering who he was and where he came from and he feels the need to find out based on the little bit he can remember.

Another Hidden Gem of a film that I love to find and bring to you. This is a true story, based on the book “A Long Way Home” by the real Saroo Brierley. This movie will touch you. It is an Australian Independent film, and is probably one of the movies you have never heard of. I found it streaming on Netflix and with the insistence of my daughter, I decided to watch it. To say that it had an effect on me is an understatement. This is one of those movies that will stay with me forever. This is such an awesome story, and the time and effort put into getting the right people to play each of the roles really shows. IMDB claims that 4000 boys were looked at to play 5 year old Saroo. The one that they ended up with, Sunny Pawar, though not an actor at all, was perfect in the role and did an absolutely amazing job. The fact that this is a real story and actually happened, makes it all the more impactful and really touches your heart. The fact that Saroo isn’t alone, and that thousands of children go missing in India every every year makes it more touching. Everyone in this film gave their heart to it, and it shows. IF you don’t have a Netflix account, the price of it is well worth it just for this film. Seriously, this is a great movie. I’m sure that fact that Weinstein Company owns the film is a concern to many people, but this movie is far too valuable to let that bother you. This is a story that needs to be told. Make sure to stick with it to the end, because if you don’t read the text at end, you can easily spend the rest of your life wondering why this movie is titled “Lion”. It also has some great clips of the real people from the film and well of real footage of a really special meeting in India at the end. This is one of the best stories I’ve seen in a long time, and one that I highly recommend for everyone. It is an amazing journey.

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