Ed's Review Dot Com

Anchor Bay Films, Slasher Films, Movie Package Company (MPC),

Anne Heche, Clancy Brown, Jennifer Stone, Ethan Peck, James Tupper, Rebekah Brandes, J.D. Evermore, Wayne Pére

Pastor Dan (James Tupper) and his wife Wendy (Anne Heche) moved their family to a small town to take over the church for the retiring pastor. At first, things are very good, but as time passes, they begin to realize that the town holds a deadly secret and that the retiring pastor has some very sinister motives in this horror film from Michael Bay.

This is a little horror film, one that starts out very slowly before it gets going. The problem is that there is not enough meat to satisfy the audience. The movie does not really have a big enough payoff at the end to make it worth suffering though the beginning, although it is a lovely depiction of life in a very small town. The lack of mainstream actors shows itself very much. Anne Heche is a good actress, but her part is really small. Clancy Brown, who plays the retiring pastor is definitely the best thing going in this film. He’s actually pretty creepy! All in all, this is a decent attempt at a horror film, but it falls quite short of the mark. The story is a lot like a bunch of other “demon, gates of hell” movies, and isn’t really worth investing the time in it.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Anchor Bay Films, Code Entertainment, Dundee Entertainment

Ray Stevenson, Vincent D’Onofrio, Val Kilmer, Christopher Walken, Linda Cardellini, Tony Darrow, Robert Davi, Fionnula Flanagan, Laura Ramsey, Vinnie Jones, Paul Sorvino, Mike Starr

The 1970’s was a wild time in Cleveland, Ohio. Danny Greene (Ray Stevenson), an Irish mobster was fearless in taking on the Italian Mafia. This movie is his story from his rise in the criminal underworld to his eventual fall. Danny was fearless, and after numerous failed assassination attempts, Danny turned the mafia into a laughing stock, even granting TV interviews where he’d make fun of their attempts to kill him. He was fiercely proud of his Celtic heritage and opened a club with a huge Irish flag outside and used to sit out in the open under the flag daring someone to come after him. He started out in the Longshoremen’s Unions, then took over and formed the Garbage Collectors union. He was a known FBI informant, and played both sides. Many looked at him as the Robin Hood of Collinwood.

Co-starring Val Kilmer and Christopher Walken, this movie has some great performances. Paul Sorvino has a small role but adds a lot to the story. I was very impressed by the way they told this story. It was very well done. The story is exciting, and Stevenson’s portrayal of him is excellent. He’s fearless and menacing, but shows the soft loving and caring side as well. Danny was someone who donated money to help children, donated food to the food banks, and often paid off debts for friends and near strangers when someone was in need. As a very well done crime story, this is a good as any of the great mafia pictures. Click here for the Wikipedia biography of Danny Greene.

I enjoyed this film a lot, and recommend it to anyone fans of crime stories or biographies. It is based on a book by the same title. It’s a very well done little film.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Anchor Bay Films, A Bigger Boat

Emma Bell, Shawn Ashmore, Kevin Zegers, Rileah Vanderbilt, Ed Ackerman

This is just about the perfect little film.  Not a B film in the least.  There are no big stars in this movie, and Emma Bell is a new talent, but all of that was by design.  They started with a very small, but very plausible storyline.   But whoa, what power! 

Two guys have been best friends since first grade.  They love to ski and snowboard.  One has a new girlfriend, so he decides to bring her along on a Sunday visit to a ski resort.  Now the resort is only open Friday to Sunday.  Unfortunately Parker (Emma Bell) is not the world’s best snowboarder. In fact, the boys have to spend the whole day on the “bunny slope”.    Bribing the operator for one last run because the resort is going to close early, and 2/3 of the way up the hill the ski lift suddenly stops.

Now it’s Sunday night, and if somebody doesn’t realize they’re up there, what in the world are they going to do?  A storm is coming, and there won’t be anybody around until Friday!  That’s 5 days from now.

I think every skiier has had this dreadful thought.  Especially when you’re up there way too high to jump!  Would you just sit there and freeze to death?

This is a simple story, and could have been really cheesy.  But it’s not!  I think for two reasons.   First, it could have been shot in front of a green screen in downtown Hollywood!  But it wasn’t.  They managed to get all the equipment up to the top of the mountain and shot this in a real ski resort.  The view is unbelievable, and the realism is obvious.  They didn’t have to act frightened or cold.  They were scared half to death and it was cold as it looked, some days below zero.   Secondly,  there are no big name stars in this movie.  Quite on purpose as the characters are very real, and you really care about them.  And the cinematography is amazing.  You aren’t watching 3 kids on a ski lift.  You are up there with them.

The suspense is about as great as I have ever felt, and I really felt for the characters.  They are not what they think they are.  Those who think they’re tough are soft, and those that think they’re soft are tough.  Working together to try to survive this thing.

One final note.  There are a collection of Special Features on the DVD version.  These are long.  There is over 90 minutes of special features.  But they are the story of how this movie got made, and if you are in the least interested in how movies are made, this is the perfect story.  They explain how and why they did everything, and it was fascinating.  Watch them in the order they appear, and you’ll learn how they thought of the story, how it was sold, how it was cast, and how it was filmed.  It’s as interesting as the movie.

Also on the deleted items is a very gory bloody scene that was left out of the movie.  The special features explains why this was filmed (for the international audience) and why it was not part of the film.  And also why it does NOT belong in the movie.  The way it was filmed is far more frightening and horrifying (without watching what’s going on, but just hearing it and seeing the reaction of those at the scene is far worse than seeing the blood and gore).

Fun, suspenseful, and extremely exciting.  It’s never a dull moment, and you’ll really feel for these poor unfortunate souls!!!

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Anchor Bay Films, West of Midnight Productions, Whitewater Films

Hillary Duff,  Ellen Burstyn, Michael Murphy, Evan Ross

This is a direct to DVD film.  I can see why.  It’s not going to compete with the big guys.  When I was a kid, I used to collect 45 RPM records.  Trouble is, at $.66 each,  most were outside my 12 year old budget.  But at the Woolworth’s there was a discount bin with 10 records for $1.00 in a box.   The only one you could see was a little known song that you had heard of.  But once you opened the box and took out the other 9, you found that you never heard of any of the songs or the artists.  Ah, but this was 1963’s YouTube.   In those collections of unheard junk, were lots of little gems.  Songs that didn’t make it, or didn’t get the right promotion, but was a great song.  I built up my private collection of these unknown songs, and it was a secret that only I knew. This movie is like the discount bin.

Usually a “direct to video ” is a strong warning to stay away.  But this movie wasn’t bad.  Hillary Duff is the star, usually a sign to stay away, but she’s not that bad.   This film is available on NetFlix “Watch Instantly”.   It’s a little bit like an “After School Special”, but it’s clearly PG-13.

This is a teen angst movie, for sure.  Greta’s Dad is gone, and Mom is a bit of a flake.  Shipped off to Grandma and Grandpa for the summer so Mom can “work on her failing marriage”, Greta comes in with a really bad attitude and gets a lot worse.  She meets an ex-con, and the grandfolks are not happy, but maybe he’s just what she needs.

Greta is in a lot of pain and needs all the help she can get to pull through.  She’s decided not to live anymore, and someone needs to intervene or she’s going to do it.

Not a wonderful movie, but definitely way above the normal “direct to video” stuff, and definitely worth plopping in the “Instant” queue if you’re interested in the concept.

LLeju Productions, Anchor Bay Films

Christina Ricci, Liam Neeson, Justin Long

Creepy little movie.  Laying on a slab, unable to move, in a funeral parlor, and you can’t get out.  This movie goes to great lengths to keep you off kilter.  You can never relax.  In the end, you don’t know for sure what happened.  People have spent months arguing about the most basic aspects of the ending.  

This is a pretty good scary movie.  It keeps your attention all the way through.  From one twist to another, from one crisis to another, from one unexplained mystery to another, and it keeps you on edge.  I may be giving the writers too much credit here, but I think there’s way, way much more to the story that the literal story.  You’re supposed to think.  You’re supposed to wonder, and to feel.   It looks at life and death, but it is more.  It’s got a moral much deeper than the physical.  Why do we go through life by just making the motions.  Day after day, year after year, the same thing.  No real life.  So are we all really dead and don’t know it?

These are the things you ponder while watching this delightful film.  It’s a horror movie that’s a morality play.

Who in this movie is alive and who is dead?  You may never know for sure, but you’ll be thinking about it for a long time to come.  And I’m afraid I have more questions after it’s over than while watching it.  But it doesn’t really matter.  Choose a side and fight that you’re right.  I truly think anyone can take any side, and argue it you want to.
“You all say you’re scared of death.  But you’re more scared of life!”