Ed's Review Dot Com

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

Two Ton Films, Millennium Films,

Robert De Niro, Katherine Heigl, Diane Keaton, Amanda Seyfried, Topher Grace, Ben Barnes, Susan Sarandon, Robin Williams

Don (Robert De Niro) and Ellie (Diane Keaton) have been divorced for a long time. They have two children and an adopted son from Columbia, Alejandro (Ben Barnes). Alejandro is getting married, and he informs his parents that he never told his mother, who is coming from Columbia to the wedding, that his parents are divorced. This is a big sin for a conservative religious woman. So he asks Don and Ellie to pretend they are married for the week. Of course this sets of the typical hijinks of a dysfunctional marriage in the comedy featuring a lot of stars!

This is a typical dysfunctional family comedy, but the vast array of superstars in this film make it a pleasure to watch. Susan Sarandon and Diane Keaton together is a real treat. Robin Williams has a small role as the priest, but he’s pretty funny too. All in all, it’s a well designed wedding disaster movie that matches many others of this genre. It’s not a blockbuster hit by any means, but it’s a really funny comedy that is perfect for DVD rentals. Everyone does their part to come together in a comedy of errors that makes this a lot of fun to watch. I really enjoyed it, and I felt like the cast must have had a blast filming this. It’s a party from start to finish and a very clever story that made me stay interested all the way through.

One bit of warning though. This is rated R because it is definitely a little raunchy in spots. For those of you in the PG crowd who don’t like the somewhat explicit humor, stay away. This is more Meet the Parents than Father of the Bride.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Fox 2000 Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Walden Media

Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, Ben Barnes, Will Poulter, Gary Sweet, Terry Norris, Bruce Spence, Bille Brown, Laura Brent, Tilda Swinton

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the 3rd in the Walden Media series from The Chronicles of Narnia.  As this opens, Susan and Peter have grown too old to make it back to Narnia, but as the younger siblings Lucy and Edmund are living with a very annoying cousin Eustace, the notice a picture of the ocean on the wall.  There is a little ship on the ocean that wasn’t there before.  Suddenly the picture starts to move and as Eustace pulls it down off the wall, the water pours out of the picture flooding the room.  The next thing they know, they are swimming in the ocean and Eustace is with them.  They are rescued by the ship which turns out to be the Dawn Treader and captained by none other than Prince Caspian who is now a king.   He is off on a quest to find out the 7 leaders of the council who have disappeared.  It turns out that a dreadful evil is taking over the land, and the only way to defeat it is to find the seven swords of the seven Lords and place them on Aslan’s table.   Battle after battle from evil from island to island until finally the last stand.

The third installment of the Chronicles of Narnia took a lot of heat for being the least true to the novel.  Many things are changed for different reasons and I don’t know that it’s fair to blame them for a lot of the changes which seem to be necessary.  Some things that work in the book would not play so well in a theater.  Going from island to island to island would get tedious after a while, so a lot of these things were combined and condensed for the film.  It’s been a long time since I read the novels, so I’m not going to try to analyze the differences because my memory isn’t that great anymore.  🙂  But even then, a lot of it seems smaller and less spectacular in this film.   than from the earlier films.  Though it was beautiful and exiting at some points, a lot of it was underwhelming.  I viewed the film in 3-D which also was kind of a disappointment.  After a few minutes you completely forget you are watching in 3D and there is very little added by the 3D technology.  I paid $16.00 per ticket for this film, and it hurts when you are underwhelmed by the whole experience.  As much as I wanted to enjoy the movie, there was a gnawing feeling deep inside that maybe I was being ripped off a little bit.  Technically it’s superior.  The sound is excellent, and the visual is stunning.  The failure and redemption of Eustace is funny as well.  He is so annoying through the first part of the film that when he gets his in the middle, everyone is relieved.  But he comes back strong and very repentant for his bad behavior, and of course it is his time for Narnia in the following stories and Lucy and Edmond have now become too old to come back again.  The religious ties are very “in your face” obvious, but this is no surprise for anyone who followed the books.  That message is the purpose for the books in the first place and is certainly obvious but not unexpected.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog