Ed's Review Dot Com

Mockingbird Pictures, Dominion Pictures,

Bryan Cranston, Jennifer Garner, Jason O’Mara, Beverly D’Angelo, Ian Anthony Dale, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Isaac Leyva, Victoria Bruno, Ellery Sprayberry, Tracey Walter

Howard Wakefield (Bryan Cranston) has a good job, a loving wife in Diana (Jennifer Garner) and two little girls. He lives in the suburbs and it appears like his life is in order, but internally he’s falling apart. One night he follows a racoon up into the little storage room above the garage, and he just snaps. He watches the family from the little window above the garage and just can’t get the gumption to go inside. Finally he falls asleep, and when he wakes in the morning, he decides that going inside now will cause lots of problems explaining where he was all night, so he hangs out. Days turn into weeks and weeks into months as Howard hides out watching to see what will happen to his grieving family. As time passes, the danger of being discovered grows and it gets harder and harder to determine what in the world to do, but his fantasies bloom as he imagines what would happen if he were to return.

This is a dream I imagine most men have had many times. We all daydream about how to disappear off the face of the earth without a trace just to be able to start over again. But it would also be tempting to hide out and simply watch how your family and friends deal with it. Just like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn hiding out in the balcony and watching their own funeral, I think we’ve all dreamed about that. This is a very unusual movie. Very few characters, and most of the time is dealt inside Howard’s head as he works through his failure in life and what in the world to do get out of the mess he’s made, or if he even wants to get away. Cranston gives this his very best, and he does a great job. Jennifer Garner also pulls all the heart strings as she waits for him long suffering though the whole ordeal. The suspense builds as we know there is no way to get out of this, although I must admit the ending was a bit of a disappointment. But this is a film about the experience, damn the consequences, and not finding out what happens makes the ending more poignant. It makes you think about what would happen if you were discovered, or returned, or simply never went back. It gives us all a lot to think about. There are a few other minor characters that offer a lot to the story, but this is basically a story of Howard and Diana, and it doesn’t stray far from the main story. This was an interesting film, and certainly one I have never heard of before, but found quite entertaining and thought provoking. Another hidden gem of a film. I feel for this guy!

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Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Red Hour Films, 21 Laps Entertainment,

Bryan Cranston, James Franco, Zoey Deutch, Megan Mullally, Griffin Gluck, Keegan-Michael Key, Zack Pearlman, Casey Wilson, Andrew Rannells

The Fleming family, Ned Fleming (Bryan Cranston), kind Dad whose old school print business is struggling, but is trying hard to succeed. Barb Fleming (Megan Mullally) Mom who has no clue that her husband’s business is in trouble, Scotty Fleming (Griffin Gluck) young teen son who is trying to be cool, but doesn’t understand, and Stephanie Fleming (Zoey Deutch) who is attending Stanford University and about to graduate, are all looking forward to the holidays. But Stephanie has a plan. She’s been dating a secret boyfriend, Laird Mayhew (James Franco) and wants to surprise the family to spend Christmas in California and meet her new boyfriend. But what she doesn’t know is that Laird is planning to ask her to marry him and being a nice guy wants to ask Ned for his blessing first. But Laird is a REALLY unusual guy and Ned is a bit over-protective, so just about everything that can go wrong, does go wrong until it looks like the whole family is about to go back to Michigan and come completely apart before the big Christmas Day.

This is a raucous comedy full of very over the top raunchy comedy that is off the chain! This is a very funny movie, but written by Jonah Hill and Produced by Ben Stiller, this is certainly a mature comedy. The comedy, though, fires on all cylinders and is very laugh out loud funny throughout. I really enjoyed Cranston as the uptight over-protective father, and Franco is hysterically funny in this role. This kind of role really suits him, and though I’ve seen some sketchy performances from him in the past when he’s out of his element, this is the role he was born to play. Everyone else is loads of fun too, and everyone gets punch lines throughout, so everybody is really having a great time. Some of this is so ludicrous, but still so darn funny. Very well put together by people who really get comedy, this was a very funny film, and if you don’t mind the strong “Borat-like” R rating, give it a shot. It was really a crack up.

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Warner Bros., Legendary Pictures, Disruption Entertainment,

Bryan Cranston, Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Juliette Binoche, Sally Hawkins, Ken Watanabe, David Strathairn, Victor Rasuk, CJ Adams, Patrick Sabongui

Godzilla has been hanging out at the bottom of the ocean since the last battle with humans in 1954 didn’t work out so well. But when people wake up a couple alien monsters, things don’t look good for humanity. But Godzilla is back, working for the humans to take on these horrible aliens that feed on radiation and have their heart set on destroying San Francisco on their way to conquering the planet. This is a brand new 3D tribute remake to the original Godzilla.

As soon as this movie came out, in fact, even a little before, there was lots of hate. Then it turned into everybody I saw loving it. I figured I had to go out and buy a ticket to find out for myself. I think I figured this one out.

First, the CGI segments are spectacular. We have all been waiting for 60 years waiting for the technology to catch up so that we can really see Godzilla. The time has come. Secondly, this story is not about Godzilla. It’s not about aliens wanting to destroy the earth. It’s a statement (in respect to the original) on science gone too far, and the price we have to pay. And though we treated Gozilla badly, he is still willing to help us out. Here’s the rub for some people. There is only a little Godzilla vs. the aliens footage. Many people came to the theater hoping to see two hours of CGI monster battles. But there is a story, perhaps not the strongest story. There are lots of holes and places where you have to suspend belief. But there are real characters here. So those who came to see the epic monster battles go away hating it, but those who can enjoy the spectacle and the spectacular special effects will find it well worth the time. It’s a beautifully filmed movie. I think the same thing has happened before. Those that hated Peal Harbor were looking for a movie with nothing but battle scenes and Kamikaze pilots. They were put off by the love story that they got instead. Basically it’s the same thing here. Those who went looking for dinosaur battles are coming away disappointed. But if you’re looking for more, I think you’ll enjoy this movie. I really enjoyed it, and after the Matthew Broderick disaster in 1998, this movie is a thousand times better.

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Walt Disney Pictures,

Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton, Willem Dafoe, Thomas Haden Church, Mark Strong, Ciarán Hinds, Dominic West, James Purefoy, Bryan Cranston, Polly Walker, Daryl Sabara

John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) is a Civil War soldier. While trapped in a cave, he wakes up on Mars, an earth-like planet covered with sand and rocks and in the middle of civil war. John Carter meets a Princess who is need of his help. Though his only thought is to go home, he finds he can’t resist staying to help fight to free the planet and save the princess from a fate worse than death.

Occasionally there is a movie that we just fight with. John Carter is one of these. I never made it to the theater when it was out. It came and went pretty fast. Originally ordered for delivery from NetFlix, I got the old “Very Long Wait” thing, and it WAS a very long wait. Finally when it was shipped, I found the envelopes in my front yard, ripped to shreds and the DVD’s long gone, stolen. I notified NetFlix, and figured I’d pick this up from the Redbox rather than trying to get another one shipped out to me. But I didn’t get around to it. Finally after all this time, I got the movie and got to watch it. I have to admit, I had great fears about this film. After all, it was one of the biggest box office bombs in Disney history. I am not sure why it did so very poorly. Perhaps the story didn’t resonate with people, or perhaps it was the lack of very big stars in it. I’m not sure. Perhaps people just don’t like pictures about Mars, who knows.

Edgar Rice Burroughs must have had his own concerns as he wrote this under a pseudo-name. But the stories were pretty popular, sparking a series of stories. This was originally titled John Carter of Mars, but later changed to John Carter, possibly because Disney had an aversion to movies with Mars in the title (Mars Needs Moms!), but perhaps more likely because they thought it would hit pay dirt and start a whole series of movies. Unfortunately that’s not likely to happen.

This is an adventure story, with lots of interesting CGI characters, and battles. There are special effects galore, and an interesting storyline. I didn’t think this movie is nearly as bad as the box office showed. But it’s certainly not a great movie. Disney’s been looking for a big hit series like the did with Pirates of the Caribbean, but this isn’t it. The actors do a well enough job, but some of the story is just confusing. I don’t think we develop enough of a connection to any of the characters to really care about them, and it just is not hitting on enough cylinders to keep the thing running. It’s worth catching on cable or for a quick rental, but its sad that this film just didn’t live up to the hype. I did enjoy watching it, but it just isn’t that memorable to stick with you for the long haul. I wouldn’t want to sit through it again.

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Warner Bros. Pictures, GK Films, Smoke House,

Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Victor Garber, Tate Donovan, Clea DuVall, Scoot McNairy, Rory Cochrane, Christopher Denham, Kerry Bishé, Kyle Chandler, Chris Messina, Zeljko Ivanek, Titus Welliver, Keith Szarabajka, Bob Gunton, Richard Kind, Taylor Schilling, Adrienne Barbeau

Back in 1979, relations with Iran were really bad. The Ayatollah had taken power, and they were furious that the US was harboring the deposed Shah. They wanted him returned and hung. A crowd of terrorists overran the US Embassy and took everyone hostage. Six people managed to slip away and escaped to the Canadian embassy and remained as hidden guests of the Canadian ambassador. The CIA set out to rescue them before the Iranians found out about them. They concocted a plan to pretend to make a movie while all the while helping these people to escape Iran. Argo was selected by the Academy as Best Picture for 2012.

I remember when these events happened. We were encouraged to send a letter to the Canadian government thanking them for the rescue of our hostages. All of the credit went to the Canadians for their work. This was mentioned in the movie as the CIA who actually hatched this plan, could not take any credit for it. Until now. This movie is really the Ben Affleck show. Is it the best film of 2012? I don’t think so. I really think Lincoln was robbed. But it is an exiting story. Perhaps Affleck is guilty of taking on too much all at once, although he must be really proud of the awards that this film garnered. But it was a teensy bit of a disappointment for me. It seems that the best moments of the movie are all in the clips that we have already seen. Also, since this is a real event, it’s hard to generate a lot of suspense because we already know the outcome. All they can tell us is some of the details in the middle. However, it’s a film that you should watch, just for the historical value. John Goodman and Alan Arkin did a good job, and added to the atmosphere of the film. They have one great scene near the end that is really cool. Victor Garber is the Canadian ambassador, and he always is good in this kind of role. All in all it’s a good story and it’s well worth taking the time to watch it. Just don’t go in with expectations too high, as you might, like me, feel a bit let down.

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