Ed's Review Dot Com

Lascaux Films, Latitude Productions, Revelations Entertainment,

Michael Cristofer, Diane Keaton, Morgan Freeman, Cynthia Nixon, Claire van der Boom, Korey Jackson, Carrie Preston, Sterling Jerins, Josh Pais, Miriam Shor, Alysia Reiner

Ruth (Diane Keaton) and Alex Carver (Morgan Freeman) have been married for over 40 years. Most of their married life they have lived in a walk-up apartment in Brooklyn, and the 5th floor, and without an Elevator. Alex is an artists, and loves his home, but Ruth is worried that they are getting older and sooner or later they won’t be able to climb five flights of stairs and need to find an apartment with an elevator. So with the aggressive help of Aunt Lily Portman (Cynthia Nixon) who is a realtor, the decide to put their apartment up for sale to see what they can get for it. That is Lily and Ruth put it up for sale, as Alex wants nothing to do with it. We’re blessed with Alex’s reminisces of their early life and how they met and fell in love in a series of flashbacks. But several unexpected events makes it as though fate is out to destroy everything. This is a touching “elders” film that is really well done and right on point.

This movie has the feel of a stage play in the way it tells the story. IT feels very unscripted, although it is based on a novel, but it’s the skill of the primary actors, Diane and Morgan and Cynthia Nixon are really talented actors, and they just work together in one of the most comfortable and believable stories I’ve seen in a long while. I would suspect anyone who like character driven films would love this movie and appreciate its charm, but it’s perfect for those of us around retirement age as we realize the problems and troubles they experience are very similar to our lives. Ruth was a free and easy flower child in her youth, and her decision to enter into an interracial marriage in those times was pure grit and stubbornness. It’s fascinating to see how it has morphed into today, when they’re both elderly and to see how it worked out and how much they care for each other, but still have issues today, even though much less that earlier days. There is a side story about their only child, their dog Dorothy who has grown old with them and has serious problems of her own. Facing her crisis and in turn facing their own mortality is a very pleasant and touching story in itself. This is a slow and steady character piece without a lot of action, and yet it’s very suspenseful at the same time and you can’t wait to find out how it’ll end up. This is a really wonderful story told in the charm of New York City, by terrific actors, and is well worth watching. What a nice experience it was to watch this story.

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Lightstream Pictures, Waypoint Entertainment, The Third Mind Pictures,

Woody Harrelson, Ned Beatty, Francis Capra, Ben Foster, Anne Heche, Ice Cube, Brie Larson, Audra McDonald, Cynthia Nixon, Sigourney Weaver, Robert Wisdom, Robin Wright, Steve Buscemi, Jon Bernthal, Jon Foster, Stella Schnabel

David Brown (Woody Harrelson) is a cop from the infamous Rampart Division of Los Angeles. David is a dirty cop. But he’s a different kind of dirty cop. Very frustrated with the way the law works, he’s not above taking the law into his own hands a little bit and delivering a little self appointed justice out on the street. He’s got some really big character flaws. He’s definitely a racist, and doesn’t try at all to hide it. He’s very egotistical, a serious womanizer, for sure, and has a cruel streak a mile wide. But David is caught on tape delivering a sadistic beating on the victim of an auto crash and finds himself dragged into internal affairs for a closer look.

This film obviously was made to address the problem of racist or sadistic bad guy cops of the LAPD. But it’s not overly preachy or judgemental. I belive it tries to show fairly how a cop can find himself caught in this trap and I belive Woody’s character is not really able to see what’s wrong with what he did.

There are two problems. One is that like many pedophiles or perverts are drawn into certain professions which offer them easy access to vulnerable children, I think many cops are frustrated guys who had no power who are drawn the the badge which gives them the right to get away with murder without any risk of prosecution. The band of brothers protect each other, and they can take it out on vulnerable citizens who are literally afraid of them, and some are drawn to that power I suspect. Additionally it must be extremely frustrating to do your very best day after day to try to clean up the streets and watch the courts turn them back out to do the same thing again because of technicalities and crowded jails. They must constantly be bombarded with idiots who laugh and mock them because they aren’t afraid of being arrested because they know they’ll be back on the street in no time. It must be very tempting to try to teach a lesson to these arrogant jerks. So there are causes and effects that bring things like this to the force.

This film takes a look at that, and David’s frustration at being picked on for doing a good job makes this a pretty interesting film. What he did was not right, but we can kind of understand why he did it.
Woody does a great job of playing the dirty cop who thinks he’s right, and though he’s the star, the rest of the cast does a fine job as well. All in all it’s a little film, not a widely seen one, but one that might be worth another look. It is out of the way, but available on DVD now, and if you like a realistic cop film, this is definitely worth checking out.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

New Line Cinema, Home Box Office (HBO), HBO Films

Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon, David Eigenberg, Willie Garson, Evan Handler, Mario Cantone, Liza Minnelli

Set two years after the last movie and after Carrie’s (Sarah Jessica Parker) wedding, things are not so good. Carrie’s a party girl and her husband is a guy who would much rather eat at home and watch old black and white movies on TV. Carrie misses the party girl days. Charlotte (Kristin Davis) has a husband and two kids and a new nanny who’s cute and Irish and has an aversion to wearing underwear. Charlotte is a bit worried her husband likes the nanny as much or more than the kids do. Samantha (Kim Cattrall) is the same, but swings a deal that will take all the girls to Abu Dhabi for a week, all expenses paid. Off and a private airline with individual suites to a desert paradise where most of the movie takes place. Ironically, half way round the world Carrie meets an old boyfriend, Aiden (John Corbett) which complicates things.

I’ve never been a fan of Sex and the City. My first exposure to it was one time years and years ago when Netflix sent me a DVD of the first season by mistake which I did not order. I decided to try to watch it before sending it back. I did not get into it, nor did I have HBO at the time. Then when it moved to regular TV in reruns I still never watched the show. So when I watched the first movie, I did not enjoy it very much. I just didn’t get into the characters. Perhaps because this is a girls series, and girls are the only ones who get it. This second movie was a lot better for me. The subject matter was a lot more interesting. Ironically, many of the fans of the show were disappointed with this movie. So perhaps what I enjoyed from this go round is what the fans of the show disliked. Anyway, the scenery in Abu Dhabi is very nice, and there is a lot of the culture there. That part is interesting as well. Things wrap up rather quickly and it’s a bit chaotic, but I suppose that’s how the show is as well. Each of the girls has their own problems and they are dealing with them in their own ways. If you’re a fan of the show, then you may be disappointed in how this one was done, but I feel like it must be nice to find out how the characters are doing and how things are progressing.

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Bakula Productions Inc, Columbia Broadcasting System, Marian Rees Associates

Scott Bakula, Cynthia Nixon, Eva Marie Saint, Lachlan Murdoch, Jenny-Lynn Hutcheson, Kimberley Warnat, Kirsten Bishop,  Brandon James Olson, Shane Meier, Pamela Johnson

Grins Jenkins is a Arkansas furniture maker with 5 kids.  Grins is a happy man, and enjoys playing the banjo, dancing, and mostly loving and caring for his family.  He’s the life of the party.  Suddenly Sharon (Cynthia Nixon) get very ill.  When it’s determined it’s tuberculosis, she is sent away to a hospital.  Grins builds a sun porch closed in glass for her, but she grows weaker and dies as does Grins joy in life.  He turns bitter and starts drinking and forbids the kids to celebrate Christmas in his house.  When Christmas arrives, his older boy refuses to let his little brother miss the Christmas dream and pushes against Grins wishes to have a Christmas of sorts after all.  Miracles happen, and the family is brought back together again.

This is a very sad but touching story of a backwoods family and their struggles to survive.  Then when this tragedy strikes, there is little hope of redemption.  This movie addresses some of the beliefs the Irish immigrants brought with them to the Ozarks when they arrived and how they kept these beliefs alive.  If you’ve heard of the tradition of a yule log, this movie will bring home why it’s important to some folks.  This is a film that will tug at the heartstrings and is a very well done film.  Both Scott and Cynthia bring a lot to their roles, and the rocky relationship between Cynthia’s character and Eva Marie Saint who is the grandmother to these kids is also very enlightening.  I highly recommend this film.