Ed's Review Dot Com

Toy Fight Productions, Brightlight Pictures, Sayaka Producciones Audiovisuales,

Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis, Dan Stevens, Austin Stowell, Tim Blake Nelson

Gloria (Anne Hathaway) is a young woman with a serious drinking problem. She lives with her boyfriend Tim (Dan Stevens) who is fed up with her constant partying and drunkenness and finally kicks her out of the apartment. Gloria has nowhere to go except to her old home town where she settles in. She quickly runs into Oscar (Jason Sudekis) who is an old friend from elementary school who owns a bar and kind of takes Gloria under his wing, giving her a job. She’s trying hard to clean up her life, but still finds herself blacking out, and drinking after work until dawn. Meanwhile, a couple huge monsters are attacking Seoul Korea, a giant monster and a giant robot. But gradually as Gloria keeps reflecting on her past and the events in Seoul, she gradually comes to the understanding that someway she’s connected to the happenings across the world and is having trouble dealing with it, and the sinister secrets Oscar is hiding.

This is an ODD movie. There is very little here that makes sense, and it does require a complete suspension of belief as there is no logical connection to what is going on here. This is sort of like a cross between a fairy tale, and perhaps an allegory or message movie of some sort. Hathaway is very good in this most unusual performance I’ve seen her pull off, although you may recognize a couple of her past characters in the mix. Jason Sudekis is hard to rate, as he does fine in portraying his character, but his character is so very disturbing and unlikable so it’s hard to put your finger on his performance. This movie is advertised as a comedy, but I can’t see it. It’s dark, and disturbing, and certainly not a comedy at all in my opinion. But I found it a very entertaining movie with lots of good things to sink your teeth into. I found it very compelling, even though I still don’t understand it, that actually works for this movie. There is a wrap up in the end, but you’re still left with a “What the Heck” kind of feeling when it’s over. There’s certainly not a very happy ending for Gloria, but it’s certainly understandable. All in all, I found this a good movie and I really enjoyed watching it, although if you go into it looking for a light comedy like Ella Enchanted, you’re going to be seriously disappointed. Likewise, you could try to pin it as a horror or monster movie which it isn’t either. The creatures only take up a few percent of the screen time, and they are rather unimportant to the mood and message of the film. Don’t go in looking for either of these, but look for a very unusual independent film, not much like anything you’ve seen before, and if you can suspend belief and stop looking at the scientific truths of the movie, you’ll see an entertaining film.

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Blackbird, Cold Iron Pictures, Movie Plus productions,

Richard Gere, Lior Ashkenazi, Hank Azaria, Steve Buscemi, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Michael Sheen, Dan Stevens, Josh Charles

Norman (Richard Gere) is a fixer. Head of the Oppenheimer Agency, Normal sets up meetings. He talks really, really big, has no fear of annoying everyone, and basically talks a big game! He befriends an starting out Israeli politician. Lo and Behold, in a few years he becomes the Prime Minister of Israel and he needs his buddy Norman to help him putting Norman on the precipice of destruction and on top of the world at the same time.

This is a very quirky and off-beat movie that features Richard Gere in a very cerebral and thoughtfully put together movie. I would think a lot of folks are going to get into this. It’s a character study, and Norman Oppeenheimer is truly a remarkable character. He lies without missing a bit, and not much that he says is not filled with hyperbole and exaggeration. He’s a nice guy inside, but is really crass on the outside. I once worked for a guy who used to always tell customers “I am not honest because of any moral reason, but I am honest because it’s simply good business>” Trouble is there wasn’t an honest bone in his body. Guys like Norman can be patting you on the back and heaping praises left and right while he’s picking your pocket. So what can I say about this movie? Well, I have mixed reactions to it. There’s no doubt that Richard Gere’s performance is really very expertly done. He does an amazing job of bringing this guy, we’ve all known at one time or another, to life. But the movie isn’t filled with much excitement. It’s mostly like a one man show. It’s slow paced, and I never did figure out how all the other characters fit in to this story as it lost me a bit, so if you tackle it, pay a lot of attention. However, if you like slow character development and enjoy a masterful performance like Gere turns in, you’re going to be a fan of this film. But it is really hard to classify this film, as it’s not that funny and not that serious, and there’s not that much going on here. For that reason, I hesitate to praise it too much.

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Mandeville Films, Walt Disney Pictures,

Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Kevin Kline, Josh Gad, Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci, Audra McDonald, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ian McKellen, Emma Thompson

This live action version of the classic Disney feature Beauty and the Beast stars Emma Watson as Belle, the beautiful daughter of Maurice (Kevin Kline) who is captured and imprisoned in the cursed enchanted castle of The Beast (Dan Stevens). In order to break the curse, the Beast must learn to love, but also be loved in return. Naturally we all are cheering with the hope that love once again conquers all.

This is a film that could have come out completely different. Disney wanted to NOT make this film a musical, and tell a story without the songs. But the songs are far too amazing to be left behind, and it would have been a huge disaster. As it is, there is a lot of time, a lot of additional backstory, and the correction of a few error that makes this as familiar as ever, but with much more richness and beauty to add and make it a must see. The story is handled with loving care, and the things that are added to it only made it better. Emma Watson is beautiful as Belle, and a lot of her personal strength and attitude went into it as she added few changes to the role that fixed the story. It is stunningly beautiful, from the ugly castle, to the snowy forest filled with wolves, to the ballroom scene. This version of the mandatory Be Our Guest song is wonderfully done. SO many things could have gone wrong to ruin this movie, but it is perfect. This certainly came together well and will ensure Disney has enough money to shoot themselves in the foot again in the future, but this time they came through unscathed. And from the audience reaction to the trailer for the next “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie, it seems that one is a lock too. I completely loved this film and will definitely add this to my list of memories I will never lose. This was a very good movie, and one I encourage everyone to get out to see while you can! It’s definitely worth it.

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1984 Private Defense Contractors, Cross Creek Pictures, Da Vinci Media Ventures,

Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens, David Harbour, Boyd Holbrook

Matt Scudder (Liam Neeson) is a former NYPD cop and a recovering alcoholic. One of his AA buddies asks him to help out a friend who is in the middle of a kidnapping and not anxious to call the police. Scudder finds out he’s a high powered drug lord and he refuses to help but when the guy shows up to tell him the “rest of the story” it seems he paid the ransom, and did everything right, but they murdered her anyway in an extremely horrible way. Scudder figures they’ve done this before, so he sets out to find out who is behind these kidnappings and murders and decides to try to rescue their latest victim before they have a chance to kill her.

Typical Liam Neeson high suspense, gory, high adventure film. He’s the Liam Neeson action hero that he’s played lately in all the Takens. This is another one, but the thing I liked most about this film is that it’s a straight forward action crime story without all the subtle nuances, back stories, complicated characters and all over the world settings. It’s a simple straight forward ex-cop drama. As I mentioned a while ago in my Taken 3 review, I am really getting to like the action hero Liam Neeson as much, if not more than all his other types of characters. He’s really good in this one, and his cast is also very good. It’s truly a one man show, but he has some great adversaries that bring a lot to the story. Although there’s a bit of nudity, and some very gory fight scenes, this in not a good choice for the younger folks, but for the adult viewer, it’s a really good crime drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

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Snoot Entertainment,

Dan Stevens, Maika Monroe, Brendan Meyer, Sheila Kelley, Leland Orser, Lance Reddick

The Peterson Family is having some problems, but they’re trying to get by. The recently lost their soldier son in the Middle East and everyone is still trying to get over the loss. Suddenly the doorbell rings and a gentle man is at the door claiming to be a close friend of their son. He claims to have been with him when he died, and has a message of love for the whole family. But daughter Anna (Maika Monroe) is not convinced and tries to do some checking on him. But the family really likes David (Dan Stevens) and he really seems to be a talented guy striving to help each member of the family.

I was rather surprised at how much fun this movie was. I didn’t expect much when I started into it, but I was pleasantly surprised. This was like a classic suspense thriller from back in the day, but updated with modern topics. It turned away from where it was headed and caught me by surprise. It’s obvious this guy is more than he seems to be, but where it went was a surprise to me. Dan Stevens did a really great job and he was really a badass for sure. There are lots of fight scenes, everything from car crashes to bar fights. The soundtrack was fresh and added a lot. The action was really brutal at times, and the chase and suspense scenes were really realistic. The family dynamics were really well played, so I would have to say the actors did a really good job. It’s lots of rough and tumble action, loads of suspense, and a fast moving story. This is a really decent action story, and I recommend this movie to action fans who aren’t afraid of a little blood along the way.

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