Ed's Review Dot Com

Columbia Pictures, Marvel Studios, Pascal Pictures,

Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Robert Downey Jr., Marisa Tomei, Jon Favreau, Gwyneth Paltrow, Zendaya, Donald Glover, Jacob Batalon, Laura Harrier, Tony Revolori, Bokeem Woodbine, Tyne Daly, Martin Starr, Hannibal Buress, Abraham Attah, Kenneth Choi, Selenis Leyva, Angourie Rice, Garcelle Beauvais, Michael Chernus, Michael Mando, Logan Marshall-Green, Jennifer Connelly, Martha Kelly

After all his exciting adventures with the Avengers in the last film, Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man (Tom Holland) is back home in high school trying to get along. He’s not the most popular kid in the class, and he’s always sneaking out on Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) who is his legal guardian but has no knowledge of his secret identity. But Peter notices something strange going on when he spots some out of this world weapons keep showing up and a spooky flying monster named Vulture (Michael Keaton) is behind it all. Peter keeps digging even though not only will Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.) not believe him, but he tries to stop him from fooling around on his own, so Peter has to try to solve the mystery on his own, although he may not survive the week.

To tell the truth, I am getting really weary of all the Superhero movies this summer. It’s been one after another after another, and I think I’m not the only one who’s getting tired of them from the box office numbers this summer. I didn’t expect much from this film, and I was really expecting to wait until it came out on DVD, but my wife and her sister really wanted to see it, so they took me along. It wasn’t as bad as I expected, and I was somewhat surprised at how interesting it was. I wasn’t blown away, and there are some weaknesses in the story, and Tom Holland just isn’t strong enough to carry the film. Cameos by a few of the Avengers and their backup crew don’t do much to help either. The story is kind of weak, and the acting is kind of weak, and so that takes away from the overall enjoyment. If you’re a real Spidey fan, then you probably like the older films a lot better. If you love the mix-up of Avenger characters in each other’s movies, then you might dig that, but all in all this is just a mediocre movie, and I’ve seen it all before. I would have been happy to wait for DVD for this one.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Columbia Pictures, Skydance Media, Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE),

Jake Gyllenhaal, Ryan Reynolds, Rebecca Ferguson, Olga Dykhovichnaya, Hiroyuki Sanada, Ariyon Bakare

A crew of astronauts are in a space lab and come across a single celled creature that appears it could have been alive. Through their investigation they are able to determine that it was in a deep form of hibernation on Mars since a time in the past when Mars had more oxygen. But once they wake it up, they find that it grows very fast, and is not particularly friendly Trapped in space with this creature with no chance of ever bringing it to Earth to study, it is protected by three levels of firewalls to make sure it cannot escape. But it is very smart and figures out a way to attack the crew anyway, and unless a plan can be found to stop it, it is going to kill the entire crew.

This film is not Alien. It’s good that it’s not because Alien is copyrighted and you can’t steal someone’s move. This is a terror filled suspenseful space monster film that holds it’s own, although it fought an uphill battle against critics and the public alike which I think is a shame. I was anxious to see this while in the theater, but never had time for it, yet now that it’s out on DVD, I am really happy I got a chance to see it. It’s a well done feature, and the suspense and horror aspect is really terrifying. Granted there are a few scientific blunders in here, and a couple plot holes that you could drive a truck through, but remember that this is science-FICTION and so it has to stretch reality a little bit for the sake of the story. Actually the cast did a good enough job. They were all pretty good. The effects are also pretty impressive, and it’s a good well told little story that kept me on the edge of my seat. Give this film a chance if you like Sci-Fi as much as I do, and I think you’ll find it good enough to be worth your time. I liked it and found it very frightening.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Columbia Pictures, Imagine Entertainment, LStar Capital, Mid Atlantic Films

Tom Hanks, Felicity Jones, Omar Sy, Irrfan Khan, Ben Foster, Sidse Babett Knudsen

Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) is back for the third installment of the Dan Brown novel in the “Da Vinci Code” and “Angels & Demons” series. This time he wakes up in a hospital in Italy with virtually no memory of what happened to him. His nurse, Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones) tries to help him with his recovery and with his memory, but someone is out to get him, and so the end up chasing all over Europe trying to solve the mystery of a evil plot to release the plague virus on the world. This time it’s based on a picture of the levels of hell in Dante’s “Inferno” and trying to decode the message and save the world is a very challenging task in this high energy spy like thriller.

What is it they call Robert? It’s like symbologist or something like that, if that’s a word. Is there such a thing? Anyway, this film is directed by Ron Howard, so it’s a high tech action thriller and all that. I wasn’t completely sold on the whole thing. There wasn’t anything wrong with Tom Hanks or Felicity Jones’ performance that put me off, and there was lots of explosions, tension, chases, suspense, and all that, but I find these stories a little bit confusing and hard to follow. Yes, eventually they figure it all out and they get it, but the focus on how he decodes these ancient messages from common works of art is sometimes just more than I care to know. Ian Fleming’s 007 has been saving the world from evil madmen for years and years, and it never gets old because the villain always takes to time to tell his plot to take over the world and manages to keep it simple stupid. (KISS). In these series of films the effort is in trying to make me understand how he uses symbols, solves clues, and gets secret decoder ring messages in a way that totally loses my interest and goes over my head. This is a prime reason why I have not really liked any of these three films. It’s just a bit off putting for me, and though Hanks and Jones and their friends and enemies put in a really good effort with wonderful acting and though it is exciting and looks great, one cylinder was missing and I was just bombarded by the hidden meaning of rearranging Dante’s levels of hell that I found, let’s face it, basically tedious and boring. That’s why I think a lot of these types of films are better done than the Da Vinci Code series, and why I’ve never had a desire to read the books, either. I wouldn’t say that it’s not worth it to watch it, especially on DVD or streaming, but just don’t expect to be blown away with the wonderful plot. Goldfinger’s plan to set off a nuclear bomb in Fort Knox to turn all the gold toxic was a lot easier for me to follow. 🙂 Ron Howard did a good job and it looks great, but the novel was a bit hard to turn into a movie that popped.

Columbia Pictures, LStar Capital, Village Roadshow Pictures,

Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Michael Sheen, Laurence Fishburne, Andy Garcia

Jim Preston (Chris Pratt) is a passenger aboard a commercial ship with 5000 passengers and several hundred crew all sound asleep in a sort of hibernation. The trip takes 120 years. The 5000 volunteers agreed to the journey leaving their friends and relatives behind for a new start in a new world. But a strange malfunction takes place on the self contained, self repairing ship and Jim and Aurora Lane (Jennifer Lawrence) are the only ones awakened 90 years too soon who have nothing to look forward to but growing old and dying on the ship all alone.

This was a movie that I really longed to see. This is 100% my type of movie, and I got a chance tonight to watch it on the big screen with ATMOS sound and I was in awe. The characters, there are really only 4 of them, are extremely well developed, and this is an amazingly deep story. It really makes you think, and addresses very significant moral struggles. But the suspense is “edge of your seat” spectacular and the view is stunningly beautiful. There are some shots that are some of the greatest I have ever seen. This is a stunning performance from both Chris and Jennifer, but also great performances from Michael Sheen who portrays an android bartender with great wit and wisdom, and Laurence Fishburne with his usual gusto in his role attempting to save the day. All in all, this is a wonderful people story with great characters and deep thoughts, but matched with a very exciting disaster science fiction adventure that is very, very exciting. This is the best film I have seen in 2016 and I waited to see this on December 31st. If can catch this one in the theater, this is well worth the price of the ticket. Don’t miss this the way it needs to be seen. Don’t wait for rental on this movie.

Rovio Entertainment, Columbia Pictures, LStar Capital,

Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Kate McKinnon, Sean Penn, Tony Hale, Keegan-Michael Key, Bill Hader, Peter Dinklage

The Green Pigs have found their way to Bird Island where Red (Jason Sudekis) is in Anger Management because the birds don’t believe in anger. But though the pigs promise to bring gifts to the birds, Red is concerned that they may have ulterior motives. When they steal all the eggs, Red is called upon to channel his anger to getting back the children, and in the process we learn the real reason why birds and pigs just don’t get along.

Based on the popular video game, this animated feature is really cute. With excellent voice characters, there is a lot of talent here, and it is very well done. There’s a lot of sort of off color jokes, which surprised me a bit, and is probably the reason behind the PG rating. The kids are probably going to miss it, and it may make it more enjoyable for grown ups, but I’m just not used to the naughty jokes in what looks like a kids film. However, lots and lots of big people (I hesitate to say grown-ups) loved the game however, and maybe the target audience isn’t the little ones. All in all though, it’s a humorous story and by showing us the back story of the war between the angry birds and the green pigs, it is enjoyable. Now we know why the birds are so angry. I really had a good time with this movie, and it’s not half bad if you have an interest in the war of the birds and pigs.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog