Ed's Review Dot Com

Roth Films, Walt Disney Pictures,

Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Harris Dickinson, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sam Riley, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Ed Skrein, Robert Lindsay, David Gyasi, Jenn Murray, Juno Temple, Lesley Manville, Imelda Staunton, Judith Shekoni

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is the sequel to the 2014 film Maleficent. You can read my review of that film here:. Aurora (Elle Fanning) is now ready to be married to her true love, Prince Philip (Harris Dickinson) and the hope is that with the marriage of the Aurora who was raised by Maleficent (Angelina Jolie) and Philip who was raised by his mother, the Queen (Michelle Pfeiffer) that the two kingdoms can be united (The human world and the world of the faeries), and that there can finally be peace. But when the king is struck by another curse, it appears that the split between the worlds cannot be healed and all out war is the only option.

This is a very strong follow up to the original film, and it still follows the same story line of the first film which is somewhat different than the fairy tale we thought we knew. As in the first film, there is no pure good or pure evil and life is a lot more complicated that that. Again this story is Angelina’s film, and though both Michelle and Elle turn in fine performances, again Angelina is truly the star and it’s her movie! She is well prepared to carry the film and in this movie she really shines, even more than in the first. There are really great war scenes in this film, and yet there is a lot of laugh out loud humor and it’s bound to be spell binding for both young and old. This is truly and awesome performance and it is very well done. The imagery is spectacular, and the minor characters are outstanding (and very cute) and some tributes to the original film (both the animated and the first Maleficent film) are really good. The special effects and CGI are outstanding, and this is a film well worth watching on the big screen! I am including the extended trailer for your enjoyment:

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Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Pictures,

Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, Mads Mikkelsen, Tilda Swinton, Michael Stuhlbarg, Benjamin Bratt, Scott Adkins

Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a world famous neurosurgeon. But when he is in an auto accident, he finds he has lost the use of his hands for surgery, so he’s willing to go through anything to regain the use of his hands. Once he is introduced to The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) he learns that there is more to the universe than what he can see, and he becomes her student to take her place as leader of the spiritual universe.

This is another in the string of new Disney made Marvel Studios pictures. This one I did not care for in the least. Not only is the formula exactly the same as all the others, but I particularly did not like the Doctor Strange character. Dr. House plays a grumpy old M.D. on TV, but we all know he has a good heart underneath the gruff exterior. But Strange is so freaking obnoxious that I pretty much cheered against him throughout the whole film. The special effects are pretty, but it’s done way better in Inception. Basically Dr. Strange is annoying and an extreme narcissist. The Ancient One is a cocky little sucker, and the bad guys are not really bad, and who knows what all the point is to all this. Basically I found it very minimally enjoyable, and I wished I had skipped this one. They are running these stories into the ground, and this was one of the worst of the lot. Enough superheroes. Let’s find some good stories to tell like we used to have. TV is looking better all the time.

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Regency Enterprises, River Road Entertainment, Plan B Entertainment,

Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Lupita Nyong’o, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt, Alfre Woodard, Garret Dillahunt, Scoot McNairy, Adepero Oduye, Michael K. Williams, Chris Chalk, Taran Killam, Bill Camp

The true story of Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who was a free black man living in New York State. Solomon was an accomplished musician and was tricked into a job where he was captured and sold as a slave. He was subjected to both incredible kindness and extreme cruelty as were those around him before he meets a Canadian abolitionist, Bass (Brad Pitt) who changes his life forever.

The movie is based on the memoirs of Solomon Northup himself and is set in the pre-Civil War days. Events like that happened from time to time, and certainly no one can tolerate the depiction of the brutality of slavery. Not to make light of it, but since the slaves were valuable property, the extreme damage they did in this movie would surely depreciate the value of their property. I doubt that most slave owners would treat their “tools” like this. IF they did, they were really stupid. But at the same time, the times were horrible and treating human beings as property is disgusting. Still, I feel the filmmakers went out of their way to lay a guilt trip on us, and that is the most uncomfortable thing about watching this film. It’s hard not to feel pretty bad about yourself while watching this. It’s a mind numbing story, and there’s now way to come out of this unscathed. Regardless of whether or not it’s historically accurate in this case, It’s still a powerful message. I felt somewhat torn, all in all, and so I don’t really know how to rate this one. It’s really well done, and yet, I was torn as to whether I really was impressed that much. I chose 4 stars for the really good acting and for the screen play. It is a real depiction of life in the South pre-Civil War. But I was not completely blown away with the story. I can’t really put my finger on it. It just left me unsettled, which is what I guess it was supposed to do.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog