Ed's Review Dot Com

Black Bear Pictures, Bristol Automotive,

Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Rory Kinnear, Allen Leech , Matthew Beard, Charles Dance, Mark Strong, James Northcote, Tom Goodman-Hill

The true story of Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) who is as much responsible for today’s computers as anyone else, but who was never credited for his discoveries because of the top secret world he lived in. When we heard of James Bond, we learned that he worked for MI6, a top secret level of British security forces. Well there were only MI1 through MI5 that was known, but there was an MI6 that Ian Flemming wrote his novels about. Alan Turing was part of that. He was a mathematical genius, only in his 20’s yet a professor and a very strange fellow. Chosen for his ability to solve puzzles, he was recruited into MI6 to find a solution to the infamous German Enigma code machine. The British had recovered a machine, but it was worthless to them as the Germans changed the key code every day, and there were thousands of millions of possible combinations. Alan and his team worked on trying to crack the code using a smart machine. But far more than that, we follow Alan’s life as a young man, though his efforts to crack the code, and through a third time in his life when he was arrested for what you can hardly believe and punished for not doing anything at all. This is a thrilling adventure through the real life events based upon his autobiography.

Wow, this was a good week for DVD releases. This is another great film. It’s I guess what you would call a docu-drama since it’s acted by some excellent people, but this is truly Benedict Cumberbatch’s movie. I don’t know that anyone else could have pulled this off, and he did an excellent job (even if you ask Alan’s family), and I learned a great deal about WWII from this film. I also took the time to listen to the director and writer commentary after watching the film through, and I enjoyed the extra time learning more about the efforts they went through to make this film realistic. There were so many things I never knew that I picked up from this film. Historical dramas can be boring and tedious to sit through, but this is such a good mystery, and we, as an audience, get to participate in Alan’s team to try to solve the puzzle. And after they built this amazing machine, you won’t believe how they used it, and what happened to this miraculous discovery at the end of the war. This is well worth watching, and I highly recommend this movie since it is now available on DVD. It’s likely one you missed, but with the attention throughout the awards season this year, this is one you need to see.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Nostromo Pictures, Antena 3 Films, Telefónica Producciones,

Elijah Wood, John Cusack, Kerry Bishé, Tamsin Egerton, Allen Leech , Don McManus, Alex Winter

Tom Selznick (Elijah Wood) is one of the worlds most talented concert pianists. He has not performed in five years because of a disastrous melt down in a performance of an reported unplayable piece that is so hard that only one or two people have ever been able to play it. He was going to try it again in this performance, but decided it best to set it aside. His wife, Emma (Kerry Bische) is a famous actress and is in the prime box seat of the theater to make her appearance and to watch her husband’s performance. But as he is about to take the stage, he finds a note on his sheet music stating that he must play this piece, and he must play it perfectly. If he plays one wrong note, a sniper in the shadows will shoot his wife before his eyes, and then shoot him. This sniper makes himself known, and Tom knows he is telling the truth, but he is petrified of trying to play this piece perfectly.

This film is a real tough one to analyze. On one hand, the script is laughable and there are holes big enough to drive a convoy of trucks through. You really have to set your wits aside to sit through this silly premise. John Cusack plays the desperate villain in this movie, and he’s hardly on screen, but we get to hear him. The problem is that in the end of the film, he has to talk us through the story and all the motives and reasons for what he has done. That’s the part that gets really silly. But on the other hand, this film is really, really nicely made. I can’t imagine if there was a decent story how wonderful this film would have been. The suspense and the tension build and build. The cinematography, mood, lighting, and camera shots are worthy of Hitchcock himself. The technical details of the film are so good, that it almost makes up for the lack of a good script.

We are able to watch wizards fly on brooms and ride from an invisible platform hidden inside the train station. We’re able to watch vampires and werewolves fight and the undead sparkle in the sunlight. If we can put aside our belief for these kind of fantasy stories, then we ought to be able to do it for a film like this. If you can pull that off, I can promise you’ll really enjoy watching this. For some reason, we insist that if the subject is something serious, that it must be perfectly accurate. Well this isn’t. If you can’t put aside belief, you’re going to rip this to shreds and hate it. So that’s the choice you must make here. If you can suspend reality and just enjoy the ambiance and the excellent technique, give this a try and you might enjoy it as I did.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog