Ed's Review Dot Com

Worldview Entertainment,

Colin Firth, Reese Witherspoon, Dane DeHaan, Mireille Enos, Bruce Greenwood, Elias Koteas, Stephen Moyer, Alessandro Nivola, Amy Ryan, Robert Baker

This crime story is based on a book of the same name covering the murder of three eight year old boys in the small town of West Memphis, Arkansas. Because it was a very brutal murder, everyone was anxious to find and prosecute the killers as quickly as possible. The teens became the focus because of their penchant for things like wearing black, listening to heavy metal music, and being interested in the occult. But did their rush to nail someone for the crime cause a horrible miscarriage of justice? This film, based on a true story tries to look at that possibility.

This is an interesting story that I had never heard anything about. Being a true story, it was all the more interesting. It’s very appropriate for the current time since there is the same kind of mass fear going around that is often very unfounded. In this time, in this town, there was a concern about the behaviors of the teens of the town that seemed to love heavy metal music, show an interest in the occult, and wear all black. The citizens were all fired up, just like the Salem witch trials of long ago, and is often the case, ready to convict whoever is handy, just to solve such a horrible crime. The moral question of a rush to judgement, and guilt unless proving innocence makes this an intriguing story. But at the same time, the story seems to have taken a side, and been told to uphold the side of the author, so I’m not sure they really pulled off an open minded story. Choosing facts to prove your point is a dangerous method of determining the truth. The performance of the primary actors in this movie is at a very high level. This is a bit of a different role for Reese Witherspoon, but it goes to show what a talented actress she’s become. Very good job. Colin Firth, on the other hand, seems to have been slighted in this film. It appears that he is going to have a major role, and it was really sidelined early on, and he mostly puts in an appearance. He usually has a much meatier role, and this is not one of his best by any means. All in all, though, it’s a good story and an interesting case, and as a fan of courtroom stories, this was an interesting film. I think it’s well worth watching.

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Miramax, Perfect World Pictures, StudioCanal,

Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth, Patrick Dempsey, Jim Broadbent, Gemma Jones, Celia Imrie, Sally Phillips, James Callis

This third in the Bridget Jones series finds Bridget (Rene Zellweger) pregnant at 43 due to the “age” of the condoms she’s been carrying for years and years, but the problem is that she has two fellows that could be the father, and she’s unable to figure out which of the two might be it. So in a very Bridget like way, she decides to let them both think they’re the father. What could go wrong here? Everything, and it does.

The first Bridget Jones movie was quite interesting and a fresh and unexpected film. The second was a rather big letdown. This film didn’t blow me away either. Colin Firth and Patrick Dempsey were good as the eligible baby daddies, but all in all it was pretty much the same thing as before. It isn’t fresh anymore. Bridget is kind of whiney and a bit annoying after all, and the story is rather predictable. So my recommendation here is that if you’re a Zellweger fan, or if you really enjoyed the other movies in the series, you might want to go see this one. But I suspect you have already seen it then. Otherwise, there’s not a lot of reasons to go out and borrow this one. I wasn’t majorly impressed with the story, and found it a bit tedious.

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Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Marv Films, Cloudy Productions,

Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Caine, Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, Sofia Boutella, Sophie Cookson

A young boy, Eggsy (Taron Egerton) loses his father while he was very young. He’s grown ihttp://www.edsreview.com/wp-admin/edit.phpnto a troubled kid, but underneath it all he seems to have a good heart. When he finds himself in serious trouble, he remembers a pendant his father gave him when he left the last time, with a message to call the number on the back side. He called the number, and Harry Hart (Colin Firth) appears and takes care of the problem and brings Eggsy to the headquarters of a top secret spy organization that is called upon when there’s a global crisis. Eggsy’s father was a spy, and Harry sees good in him and begins his training. But as an evil technology wizard sets in place a plan to take over the world, Eggsy finds himself in the middle of the struggle.

My first thought in watching this film is that it is really a rip off of James Bond. Secret rooms and equipment that is extremely technological, like umbrellas that are bullet shields and hand grenade lighters are some of the things they use. Then the second thought was that it was really kind of silly. Then after finishing the film, I found that I did kind of enjoy it a lot. Further reading and I found out that this is based on a comic book and it all fell into place. Not intended to be serious literary content, it’s a comic book. That makes perfect sense. Colin Firth was pretty good, even though over the top a bit, it suited his character, and he had some of the funniest action battles I have ever seen. Samuel L Jackson is a really unusual bad guy, and he too has some really funny parts. He can keep up with the best James Bond villains. He was really good. All in all, it’s a fun superhero type film that is not all that serious but was a lot of fun after all. If you enjoy the superhero or the super spy films, then his one is right up there with the others. I recommend it, but remember that you’re going in to a comic, not classic literature.

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Clarius Entertainment, Scott Free Productions, Millennium Films,

Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth, Mark Strong,

Christine (Nicole Kidman) wakes up one morning, terrified to be in bed next to a man she does not know. He explains his name is Ben (Colin Firth) and he is her husband. He explains to her that she was in an accident 10 years ago and has short term memory loss, a form of amnesia which makes her forget everything in her life after the accident. She is terrified, but as we learn by watching, this happens every morning, and he is forced to catch her up every day with the same questions and fear every day. She receives a call from a Dr. Nasch (Mark Strong) who tells her that he has been secretly seeing here for some time and is making some progress with her case. In a flashback, we see Dr. Nasch first treating her and giving her a camera to record what happens and what she learns every day, and to hide it in a special place where Ben will not find it. Sure enough, each morning she finds the camera, watches the recording that far, and adds when new things she learns each day. As time passes she begins to find out that Ben often lies to her, and when she confronts him, he explains that it’s just easier to skip some things since he has been doing this every day for 10 years. But as she progresses in keeping her video journal every day, she begins to learn new things and to distrust everyone in her life trying to find out what is really the truth of what happened to her and who among her limited number of friends and family are who they say they are.

This is a very creepy and sinister film with lots of mystery and suspense. Certainly the concept of short term amnesia (50 First Dates) is not unique and has been used a number of times (Memento). But this one is really a lot different and actually I really enjoyed it very much. I enjoyed Firth and Kidman in 2013’s “The Railway Man” [Click here for Ed’s Review] which I really enjoyed. In that film, Colin Firth was the crazy one, but here the roles are somewhat reversed. They worked so well together in that film, and I really enjoyed them here as well. However, the usual caveat, my Daughter is a recent college graduate who read the novel by the same name, and hated this film. Going into the film, she thought out loud, “How are they going to make a movie out of this book?” only to be crushed at all the many, many things that are different. Some not so big a deal, but some things (like the entire ending) are completely different. Note that in the beginning of the film, it says that it was inspired by the novel, and so it is quite a bit different. This offended her to no end, as she really loved the book and was off to reread the novel last I heard. Having NOT read the novel, it was a very refreshing film to me, and a quite unique story that was very well done. I was very impressed with the story and the extreme suspense through the entire film up to the stunning conclusion. Additionally, I found Nicole’s portrayal of the terror of waking up every day with no knowledge that you were 10 years older and had no memory of anything that happened in the last 10 years. Apparently a lot of people loved the book, or the public relations on this film was very poorly done, as this had a very, very short run in theaters and now is available on video. I highly recommend this Hidden Gem of a movie as one I’m sure you missed but will probably really enjoy.

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Archer Street Productions, Latitude Media, Lionsgate,

Nicole Kidman, Stellan Skarsgård, Colin Firth, Hiroyuki Sanada, Jeremy Irvine, Sam Reid, Marta Dusseldorp

We meet Eric Lomax (Colin Firth) riding on a train in Great Britain. Eric lives a lonely life and is fascinated with trains and is an expert on the equipment and the schedule and loves to spend his time on the train. On this day he meets a lovely lady, Patti (Nicole Kidman) and the sparks fly. Before long they are much in love and married, although Patti learns that Eric has some deep demons that torment him during awful nightmares and is ruining his life. After some digging she finds out the story of Eric’s military service in World War II and his time spent being tortured in a Japanese POW camp. Finally they find out that the tormentor is still alive and guiding tours of the very camp where Eric was tormented. Eric decides to seek him out, but must decide what to do when he confronts the person who ruined his whole life.

This is an excellent drama based on the book written by Eric Lomax himself. This is a very dramatic film, and though most of it is quiet and quite beautiful, that only makes the vivid scenes of torture that they were forced to undergo. The stark contrast is jarring and makes a strong impression on the viewer. The situation that Eric finds himself in, once he learns his captor is still living makes him really delve into his deepest parts of his soul to figure out how to handle it. He feels compelled to visit the man, but really is not sure what to do when he gets there, and if this will make any difference in the horrible days and nights he is spending. The acting is absolutely superb. I’m amazed at what a great actress Nicole Kidman has become, and this is absolutely the best character Colin Firth has played since the good King George himself. The story is so well portrayed that I was deeply touched by this story and the way it was portrayed. Most everything in the story is true, at least from Eric’s viewpoint (since it’s his book), and though some important events are left out, the parts that are covered are very well done. [This is an excellent summary of what is true and what is missing in the story] Although I would recommend you watch the movie first before reading this page, as it gives a way a lot of the story that will ruin the movie. I highly recommend this film, and I must say it’s one of the best films I have seen in a long, long time.

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