Ed's Review Dot Com

Animus Films, Eclectic Pictures, Millennium Films,

Amanda Seyfried, Peter Sarsgaard, Chris Noth, Hank Azaria, Bobby Cannavale, Sharon Stone, Robert Patrick, Adam Brody, Juno Temple, James Franco, Eric Roberts

Obviously based on the 1980 autobiography, Ordeal, this is the story of Linda Lovelace (Amanda Seyfried) and her life, mostly in her short lived porn career. Linda was married to Chuck Traynor (Peter Sarsgaard) who allegedly abused her, forced her into prostitution and a porn career. Linda grew up in a highly religious and very strict home, and once she got out she went a bit overboard. She later made lots of claims that this movie investigates. A dramatized documentary of her life is what we have here. It’s debatable whether it’s all true or not, but it is her side of the story. No doubt, she did live a difficult life, that’s for sure.

This is not a really great documentary. I suspect it went through a lot of difficulty before it got made, and though there’s some big names in it, I’m not sure it’s really all that accurate. It’s titillating for sure, and the Deep Throat phenomenon was a really big deal at the time when it came out. I know everyone was talking about it, and since I was just a youngster at the time, I knew about it, but didn’t really know what it was all about. I still have never seen the film, as it’s probably so dated now that everyone’s pretty much talking about it. Porn was really back room stuff in those days, and this was the first film that ever made it into mainstream culture. People from all levels of society were talking about this film, but though the porn moguls (mostly really slimy guys) thought that they were going to break into the mainstream, it never happened. The public quickly figured out that there was no worthwhile story involved, and the hard to watch stuff got really old really fast. Once they’ve seen it, there was nothing new. Though they tried to top themselves, they quickly got turned by quick profits and shoddy product. There wasn’t a market for explicit mainstream films, and if anything, American films have gotten tamer rather than racier in recent years. Filmmakers quickly learned that X, NC-17, and many times even R ratings will kill a movie’s profits. They cut and cut to get a PG-13 at all costs. This movie is not really about the movie, it’s about the weird relationship of Linda herself, and it left me feeling like I was watching that Dorothy Stratten movie and I expected Chuck to kill her in the end. But this doesn’t go to the end. It pretty much ends with Linda’s foray into feminist anti-porn. All in all I didn’t find this film very interesting, and I am pretty sure this will be a curiosity movie that ends up in the 99 cent store bargain bin. This is a bit of a train wreck, just like her life was, so we should have someone standing outside saying “Move along, move along, there’s nothing to see here, move along!”

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Also Known As Pictures, Benaroya Pictures, Animus Films,

Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Irons, Dennis Quaid, Olivia Wilde, Zoe Saldana, Ben Barnes, J.K. Simmons, John Hannah, Nora Arnezeder, Michael McKean, Zeljko Ivanek, Ron Rifkin, Liz Stauber, Gianpaolo Venuta

Rory Jansen (Bradley Cooper) has always striven to be a writer. His writing was pretty good, but he just wasn’t able to make it, and was about to give up, when he accidentally finds a manuscript, neatly typed, in an old briefcase. Rory quickly types it into his laptop, claiming it was his work, and it is a great novel. He soars to the top of the charts and his star is rising fast in the literary world, but deep inside he knows he didn’t write it. When he meets and old man (Jeremy Irons) on a bench who has a copy of his book, he begins to tell a story to Rory that will change his life. The consequences to him of plagiarizing this book has far reaching effects to this basically honest, but torn up man.

The Words is a very touching story. When the old man starts telling the story, we get to visualize the story and the meaning of the work, and we find ourselves drawn in to exactly what Rory has done. But do we really? This is a very thought provoking film, and the ending is very unsatisfying, in a way, because it’s so open ended. You can ponder for weeks about what the ending means. It’s intentionally (I feel) left open ended to allow you to ponder about what’s fact and what’s fiction. Just one hint though, as I don’t want to give a way any spoilers, but the first few minutes is rather confusing unless you’re paying attention very closely. In the very beginning, Cory (Dennis Quaid) is reading his story about Rory (Bradley Cooper) who is the main character in the story. But Rory gets to hear a story from “the old man” which is a story in a story in a story. This film twists you and turns you and flops itself upside down several times, but this is a awesome movie.

It’s hard to classify, as many people file it under romance, which it really isn’t though there is a love story in it. Some put it under the thriller category, and although there is a bit of suspense, it’s certainly not mainly a suspense movie either. What it’s really about is ethics and the result of going against your conscience. Without really judging, it’s about the results of making a bad choice and having to live with it. There’s a lot going on here, and it’s a very cerebral story, but I did really enjoy it. I was touched by the beauty of this well crafted work. The story is the king here, and it’s a great story. The actors do a wonderful job telling the story, and the deeper we get pulled into the action, the more we like it.

If you are a fan of car chases and big crashes, or side splitting comedy, this isn’t for you, but if you like a well crafted character piece with lots to think about, and well developed characters, this is an excellent film. It feels a bit rushed, as it could have been a lot longer, but I think it was done this way to keep it at a reasonable length. That is the only complaint I could offer. But the story is so good, that I found myself fascinated by the entire movie. I liked this one!

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Animus Films, Paramount

Matt Long, Jessica Stroup, Mischa Barton

Anyone here read Misery?  If you read the book or saw the movie, then you’ve already seen this movie.  Honestly, it was almost 100% the same film, almost down to the dialog.   Someone in a review compared this to Fatal Attraction for teens.  Nope, this was Misery for teens.  I don’t want to give away the story, but every major scene was in there.

If it wasn’t such a blatant rip-off, I probably would have really liked it.  It was a well done movie, and the characters were pretty well acted.  Teenage football hero, now a College football star comes back home to his high school for Homecoming (hence the title) and for a ceremony to retire jersey number 7!   He brings his new girlfriend for the celebration.  Trouble is, his high school sweetheart doesn’t quite get that it’s over, and she isn’t happy that he has someone else.  Turns out she’s a pretty twisted soul.   There’s a whole back story about her and her recently deceased mother that isn’t really developed thoroughly.  Now both girls do some pretty dumb things, and the football hero/jock is pretty stupid as well.  Same for the callers to the farm house.  Everybody here is pretty stupid, but I guess that’s the point.

If you haven’t seen both movies, watch Misery with James Caan and Kathy Bates (It’s a Stephen King st0ry) as it’s must better, or if you’re so inclined, watch them both and learn what “derivative” means!

Not a bad movie, but there’s really no surprises either.   Except that this is another of those movies filmed in “The Burgh”.   Yep, Pittsburgh, Pa.