Ed's Review Dot Com

Bron Studios, Escape Artists, MACRO,

Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Russell Hornsby, Mykelti Williamson, Jovan Adepo, Saniyya Sidney, Christopher Mele

Troy Maxson (Denzel Washington) and his wife Rose (Viola Davis) struggle to survive in the Hill District in Pittsburgh in the 1950’s. Troy works as a trash man in the city, and brings his pay home to his wife to struggle through another week. Troy is a harsh man, having had a very rough childhood without a father, then spending a stint in prison for being stupid, and now trying to make a go of it for his family. But his older son is estranged and doesn’t come home, and his youngest son has a passion for football and has a planned scholarship for college as a football player. But everything blows up, as the problems mount faster than Troy can deal with them, as it all comes crashing down in a thunderous climax.

This film got a lot of honors during last season’s awards season, and this is probably the best film of 2016 in my book. This is a film that I really wanted to see in the theater, but was never able to pull it off. Then when it came out on DVD, I had it at the top of my queue on the day it was released. NetFlix has been playing games lately where they will send you one less than the number of free items in you queue and make you wait an extra day for the last one. Due to that, Fences ended up on the “Long Wait” game, so I decided rather than going out to RedBox or to rent this ON DEMAND, I would keep it at the top of the queue and see how well NetFlix could do at getting a movie I really wanted to see. Months have gone by and I finally got it this week. This was really worth the wait. One of the lines in the movie is something like: “Some people build fences to keep people out, but some people build them to keep people in.” This movie is called Fences for two reasons. One is the fence that Troy has always been promising to build, but it’s also a metaphor for Troy’s family and how he is losing them while he’s trying to hold him. This film reminded me a lot of the classic “Raising in the Sun” and is a very touching and well performed film about the trials and tribulations facing poor people back in the 50’s that will ring true today. It is very dramatic, and has a lot of dialog, but is very well portrayed. Growing up in Western Pa in the 1950’s myself, I was able to understand the feel of the movie. It’s very Pittsburgh. The entire cast is superb, and there is a lot of harsh reality, but a lot of tenderness underneath that is hard to show. This is an excellent film, and a wonderful story that is very much worth the praise heaped on it. This one should have swept the Oscars, and it was robbed when it didn’t. I recommend you watch this one!

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Columbia Pictures, Escape Artists, LStar Capital,

Denzel Washington, Chloë Grace Moretz, Melissa Leo, Bill Pullman, Haley Bennett

Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) lives a lonely and private life, an invisible everyman who follows his routine from day to day. Working in a hardware superstore, and every night visiting the same coffee shop to read. He gets to know a young prostitute Teri (Chloë Grace Moretz) who is interested in his stories. She is under the control of a violent pimp who treats her very badly, and after one extreme beating, Robert steps in to exact revenge to defend Teri, but accidentally pulls him back into his lost former life as an FBI special ops guy when things spiral out of control, in this action update of the 1980’s movie and TV show.

This was an extremely predictable film, nothing really new here, which was probably why I was not overly impressed with this film. Denzel was HARD. He is mostly silent, answers questions with the minimum number of words needed. And boy is he tough. The fight sequences are really incredible. Of course it’s Bruce Lee-like impossible odds fights, but that’s what it’s supposed to be. We’re supposed to believe he can take on a dozen guys at once and whoop them all. I felt that was little overdone as well which also sort of turned me off on the movie. When it gets unbelievable, I lose interest. The story was pretty well written, though as I mentioned rather predictable. I couldn’t say this was a bad movie by any means, but I just wasn’t really impressed that much. I was left with a middle of the road kind of feeling, like it wasn’t really worth all the extra to see this in IMAX. I could have happily waited for the DVD for this film and unless you’ve got a really good reason to go out and pay theater prices for this one, I’d recommend waiting for DVD too. Not a bad movie, but not that memorable, for sure.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

ImageMovers, Paramount Pictures, Parkes/MacDonald Productions,

Denzel Washington, John Goodman, Don Cheadle, Melissa Leo, Brian Geraghty, Bruce Greenwood, Kelly Reilly, Tamara Tunie, Garcelle Beauvais, James Badge Dale, Rhoda Griffis, Kwesi Boakye, Michael Beasley, Adam Tomei

Whip Whittaker (Denzel Washington) is an ace airline pilot. But he has a serious addiction problem, drugs and alcohol. On a flight from Orlando to Atlanta, something awful happens to the plane, and everyone on-board is doomed were it not for the unbelievable moves Whip makes to crash the plane but save the lives of hundreds of people. He is hailed as a hero, and hounded by the media, but his condition at the time of his heroic moves come into question as the NTSB investigates the crash.

This is a very serious film. Aside from a few moments when John Goodman is on-screen, there’s very few light moments in this film. Whip is on a dive for rock bottom more severe than the plane’s dive! He is in serious denial, and yet, as despicable as he is, we get to really like him. The first 20 minutes or so of the flight is extremely well done, and very well filmed. It’s white knuckle time for sure, and very good. But then we get introduced to a slew of new characters, all of which seem to have Whip’s well being in mind. The drama is just as suspenseful as the action part. Whip is really screwed up, and Denzel’s portrayal of this guy is spot on.

This movie is a trip. I was really caught off-guard by the turn this film took. I expected an airline disaster movie, which was really a sidebar to the real subject of the film. It’s a disaster movie alright, but a disaster of a life rocked by denial and lies upon lies. Very dramatic, and very realistic, and very dark and sad. It’s not an easy film to watch, but a very well done character study, and very much worth watching.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Universal Pictures, Relativity Media, Bluegrass Films,

Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Vera Farmiga, Brendan Gleeson, Sam Shepard, Rubén Blades, Joel Kinnaman, Nora Arnezeder, Robert Patrick, Liam Cunningham, Tanit Phoenix, Jake McLaughlin, Fares Fares

Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds) is a young CIA agent who runs a “safe house” where very important or dangerous “house guest” are hidden out of the way where no one can ever find them. Kept in total secrecy, the safe house is like the witness protection program on steroids. On a couple people know where it is, and in some cities they never see any action, and it’s a very good job to keep up on your reading list. In Cape Town, South Africa Matt suddenly gets a guest, Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington), who is a well know rogue agent who suddenly turns himself in. He’s holding a very important secret. But when the safe house is suddenly compromised by a bunch of thugs who want to kill Frost, Matt and Tobin barely survive, but living though the next couple days could be more than either could ask. Way over his head, the couple keep one step ahead from everyone who’s looking to wipe them out. This leads to a classic cat and mouse chase that will leave you breathless.

Really! Denzel is an amazing actor. He’s perfect for this role. But balance that with Ryan Reynolds who was born to play this young, gung ho agent, who wants to do what’s right regardless of the cost. We get to feeling sorry for him right away as we know Matt is way in over his head, but Tobin must like him because he takes the time to teach Matt the ropes along the way. What he’s done to bring everyone down on him must be really awful, and it really seems that they’re not going to live through this. This is a very well done film, and very worth watching. Breathtaking chases, narrow escapes worthy of Jackie Chan, and suspense that will keep you on the edge of your seat make this well worth watching for adventure film fans. This is a breathless run for life that will keep you glued to the screen from start to finish. I really enjoyed this film.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Alcon Entertainment

Denzel Washington, Mila Kunis, Gary Oldman, Jennifer Beals

The best way to describe this film is a “post-apolcalyptic western”.   I was a bit surprised by this film.  I had heard nothing but good things, but I didn’t expect anything too great.  Well, it was pretty good, considering.  It’s pretty much like Mad Max with religious overtones.  The bad guys ala WaterWorld’s “Smokers”.   Eli has a book.  The book is pretty important, and he’s been protecting it forever, since the big war tore a hole in the sky!

Well, it’s not what you’re expect, and there is a surprise or two.  Mostly the martial arts (Denzel studied martial arts with Dan Inosanto who was trained by Bruce Lee) is really good.  Denzel did his own stunts.  There is a lot of action, killing, betrayal, ambushes, etc., and it keeps the movie moving right along.  Then when you get to the end, you’ve got a few more surprises coming.

I enjoyed watching this.  It was much better than I expected it to be.  Most action, shoot ’em up, end of the world type movies leave me cold, but this movie had a lot of stuff to keep it interesting.  I enjoyed it a lot.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog