Ed's Review Dot Com

Columbia Pictures, Marvel Studios, Pascal Pictures,

Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Robert Downey Jr., Marisa Tomei, Jon Favreau, Gwyneth Paltrow, Zendaya, Donald Glover, Jacob Batalon, Laura Harrier, Tony Revolori, Bokeem Woodbine, Tyne Daly, Martin Starr, Hannibal Buress, Abraham Attah, Kenneth Choi, Selenis Leyva, Angourie Rice, Garcelle Beauvais, Michael Chernus, Michael Mando, Logan Marshall-Green, Jennifer Connelly, Martha Kelly

After all his exciting adventures with the Avengers in the last film, Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man (Tom Holland) is back home in high school trying to get along. He’s not the most popular kid in the class, and he’s always sneaking out on Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) who is his legal guardian but has no knowledge of his secret identity. But Peter notices something strange going on when he spots some out of this world weapons keep showing up and a spooky flying monster named Vulture (Michael Keaton) is behind it all. Peter keeps digging even though not only will Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.) not believe him, but he tries to stop him from fooling around on his own, so Peter has to try to solve the mystery on his own, although he may not survive the week.

To tell the truth, I am getting really weary of all the Superhero movies this summer. It’s been one after another after another, and I think I’m not the only one who’s getting tired of them from the box office numbers this summer. I didn’t expect much from this film, and I was really expecting to wait until it came out on DVD, but my wife and her sister really wanted to see it, so they took me along. It wasn’t as bad as I expected, and I was somewhat surprised at how interesting it was. I wasn’t blown away, and there are some weaknesses in the story, and Tom Holland just isn’t strong enough to carry the film. Cameos by a few of the Avengers and their backup crew don’t do much to help either. The story is kind of weak, and the acting is kind of weak, and so that takes away from the overall enjoyment. If you’re a real Spidey fan, then you probably like the older films a lot better. If you love the mix-up of Avenger characters in each other’s movies, then you might dig that, but all in all this is just a mediocre movie, and I’ve seen it all before. I would have been happy to wait for DVD for this one.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

American Zoetrope, FR Productions,

Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning, Oona Laurence, Angourie Rice, Addison Riecke, Emma Howard, Wayne Pére

Corporal John McBurney is a Union soldier in the last stages of the Civil War who was injured, but lay dying in a forest from his wounds. He’s found by a little girl who brings him to where she lives, an all girl school run by Miss Martha (Nicole Kidman) and the teacher, Edwina (Kirsten Dunst). Miss Martha does her best to patch him up, but as he begins to make a recovery, whether to turn him over to the Confederates as a prisoner or to allow him to recover in the Virginia Mansion becomes a hard question, especially when he’s the only man in a house filled with females. Trouble is sure to follow.

I got to see an early screening of this film on July 4th, and my wife has been very anxious to see it after seeing the previews. I had no knowledge of the 1971 Clint Eastwood version of this film, and it looked like a really decent period romantic drama set in a southern plantation during the war. But as the movie started and the name Sofia Coppola, Director scroll across the screen as feeling of dread struck me in the gut. I turned to my wife (There were only about 5 of us all together in the theater) and whispered, “Oh no!” Dear Sofia has ruined a great many good stories, and this was wasn’t any different. What a terrible disappointment. With such an amazing cast, Colin Farrell, Nichole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning, there is tons of talent. The concept of a Union soldier recuperating in a southern mansion filled with women and girls is a great concept, but nothing much develops. I don’t know if there’s nothing in the script, or if it’s just really, really bad editing that makes this such a boring film, but it’s a major bore. The Confederate soldiers show up a couple times with a bunch of kids and a Union deserter hiding out and NOTHING happens. Then the end is extremely unsatisfying with a big dramatic setup for the finish that fizzles out like a dud. There is some hope that something major is going to occur in the ending, but it’s such a soft pedal that it’s completely unworthy of the story. This is a really sad missed opportunity and a real mess of a movie. I have a feeling that this movie, when it finally is released, is going to fizzle just like the ending of the film. all in all, from now on I’m going to stay far away from anything directed by this person. I was really disappointed. I’m going to try to find the 1971 film, to see what was done with the story on that attempt, and if I can find it, I will let you know if it suffers with the same problems that the remake has, but I can hardly think it could be any worse. . I recommend that you skip this one!

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Animal Logic, BBC Earth, BBC Worldwide,

John Leguizamo, Justin Long, Tiya Sircar, Skyler Stone, Charlie Rowe, Angourie Rice, Michael Leone

In a troubled time when volcanoes separated the kids from their family, a little dinosaur takes the lead to help his friends to safety and to avoid disaster. This lifelike 3D film gives the viewer the privilege to see what life is like in the days when dinosaurs ruled the world.

I believe this film relied on the 3-D gimmick to give viewers a thrill as they watched “The Land Before Time” with Pixar like 3-D animation actually in 3-D. It is a really neat technique, but I’m watching on a small screen TV in 2-D. Without the 3-D effect perhaps I missed a lot of the story. I found it to be a blatant ripoff of Little Foot’s movies. To further disrupt my attention on the movie, the dialog and voices were really childish and didn’t seem to fit at all. The story lagged a lot, and wasn’t very exciting. There is one demographic though that will love this movie. That would be very young kids, boys especially. There is an age around 5 or 6 where boys seem to get enamored with dinosaurs and they can’t get enough. At this point, they’re going to love this movie. It was really made for the young boys, and that bunch is going to be very pleased with it. Rent it for them, and let them watch to their heart’s content. But you probably won’t want to sit through it together. I think they were hoping the 3D trick would bring older folks with their kids and grandkids out to the theater in droves. That didn’t happen, so go ahead and get it for the dino fans under 12, but they probably have never seen “The Land Before Time” so perhaps you’ll want to rent that for them instead.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog