Ed's Review Dot Com

Lucasfilm, Allison Shearmur Productions, Black Hangar Studios,

Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Wen Jiang, Forest Whitaker

Jyn (Felicity Jones) lives with her parents, farming and mostly hiding out. But Jyn’s Father is a scientist and is recruited by force by the Empire to work on a new project of Lord Vader (James Earl Jones), a death star with the power to destroy a planet. When her father is abducted and her mother is killed, Jyn hides out until she is rescued by rebel fighter Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker). As time passes, the death star nears completion, but a plan is hatched to steal the plans and get them to the rebel alliance so that they will know how to destroy the death star. This is the story that fits in between Chapters Three and Chapter Four and tells the background information of what happened before the first Star Wars movie back in 1977.

This Star Wars movie was made for the fans. Perhaps this film wouldn’t be as powerful to someone who did not know the characters. There are no long lasting characters, and it is a fill in film, not part of the main story, but it does fill in some very useful information that makes things a lot easier to understand, and reveals some of the mysteries that are missing between these two films. This was very entertaining film and it was quite a lot of fun. It’s a long movie, but went by so fast. There is a lot of really good action scenes, lots of suspense, and lots of throwbacks to the main films. Felicity Jones isn’t the strongest lead in a Star Wars movie, but in my opinion she was good enough. I think she played her role that she was given. Much like Luke Skywalker she did not ask to be a hero. She was a simple girl who was put into this situation because of who her father was. She has some supporters who have interesting stories too. This is not intended to be as great as the other films, and my personal opinion is that it was better than the “horrible three” Chapters one, two, and three. You just have to set your expectations a little bit lower as it’s not a part of the main series, as I’ve said before, but it’s a wonderful addition to the wealth of the story. This is not one to miss.

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Allison Shearmur Productions, Keep Your Head, Lionsgate,

Emma Roberts, Dave Franco, Juliette Lewis, Emily Meade, Miles Heizer, Kimiko Glenn, Samira Wiley, Marc John Jefferies

Vee (Emma Roberts) is a high school senior, and a shy wallflower type of girl. Her best friend, Sydney (Emily Meade) is outgoing and very popular, although she is hiding her own problems. Sydney introduces Vee to a new underground app called Nerve which is like Truth or Dare without the truth option. When joining the app, you choose to be a watcher or a player. By embarrassing Vee, she dares her into becoming a player, but once you start you cannot quit, and things escalate quickly as the dares grow more and more insane. This is a high action thriller right out of the pages of today’s social media world.

This was a very refreshing story, very modernistic, and quite suspenseful. Eama Roberts and Dave Franco are awesome as a team and Emma is really turning into a daredevil here. (Watch the special features on the DVD to see her experiences filming this.) The rest of the cast is very good as well. The action scenes are very well done and the special effects are awesome. All in all, this is a really spectacular film, filled with really good characters doing really crazy and dangerous things for fame and money, just like real life! The script is excellent. I would love to find the book, it seems like a really good read. The director team did a splendid job as well, and all the performers are really good, so this this is a solid film, and one I can recommend. See it.

Allison Shearmur Productions, Beagle Pug Films, Genre Films,

Lily James, Cate Blanchett, Holliday Grainger, Sophie McShera, Richard Madden, Helena Bonham Carter, Stellan Skarsgård, Derek Jacobi, Nonso Anozie

This big budget film is the live action retelling of Disney’s version of Cinderella, the animated feature from the 50’s. Poor Ella (Lily James) loses her mother, and her father remarries and brings home a new stepmother (Cate Blanchett) for her. But when her father falls ill and dies, things get harder for the family and the servants are let go, and Ella is required to be a servant, doing all the work maintaining the house while her stepmother and her two daughters take great pride in torturing her.

What an enjoyable film. I have heard lots of rumblings of how bad this film is and how it was a huge bomb at the box office, although the figures seem to contradict that. However, it probably wasn’t the huge bonanza that most of the studio execs suspected, and I’ve hear rumors of the death of big budget remakes. Another complaint I have heard is that it’s the same as the cartoon story and there was no point to remaking the film. I disagree with both assessments. First of all, the actual Cinderella story “Ashenputtel” by the famous Grimm Brothers is a horrid and gory little tale, although one of their more famous story. Disney really cleaned it up tremendously for younger folks not to give them nightmares. Rogers and Hammerstein gave it the Broadway Musical treatment and that is the other well known version of the story. But I suspect that the Disney version is the one we fondly remember from our childhood. This updated version which is very true to the original with a little bit added is a valuable story with many life lessons that is a film with real family values. Lily James was wonderful as Cinderella, perhaps the best I have ever seen with the naivete and charm and downright goodness that she portrays. She gets hurt and suffers and even gets angry, but has a pure heart that is very well played. Cate Blanchett actually did a really good job as the stepmother as well. She plays it as a bad, greedy, selfish person only concerned for her own daughters, but mostly herself, but is not as “wicked” as some have played it. She did an excellent job. Helena Bonham Carter was an unusual choice as the fairy godmother, and plays it a lot like her role as the Queen of Hearts in the live remake of Alice in Wonderland. But I enjoyed the novelty of a live action version of this story. It is a different experience, and though the mice help Cinderella with her dress are real mice and Lucifer the cat is really a cat. The animals do not talk, unlike the cartoon. In fact, there’s a short on the rental version of the DVD of a feature about all the many animal actors and how they got them working together. The other feature on the rental version is a new Frozen cartoon “Frozen Fever” where Elsa is trying to throw a birthday bash for Anna, but she is coming down with a cold, and and ice queen with a cold is not something very nice. It was, I assume, the cartoon that proceeded the film in the theater. It was well worth watching as well as long as the “Cold doesn’t bother you anyway”. All in all, I really enjoyed this film and I thought it was beautifully done. Cinderella’s ball gown is truly spectacular, and the extra bits that were added in filled in the story. (I have always wondered why the slipper would not fit hundreds of maidens in the kingdom since shoes sizes don’t vary that much, but it is a “magic” shoe after all, and this film explains that. I thought it was very well done and a movie young people are going to like for the exciting story, and the older folks are going to have a great time watching and walking down memory lane. I highly recommend this movie, especially for Disney fans.

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