Ed's Review Dot Com

Summit Entertainment, Participant Media, Di Bonaventura Pictures,

Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Gina Rodriguez, Dylan O’Brien, Kate Hudson

Deepwater Horizon is a fact based docudrama covering the 2010 explosion and oil spill on the floating rig Deepwater Horizon leased by BP. The crew from Transocean dug the initial well, and stabilize it with cement then cap it off and leave before the drilling crew from BP come aboard and finish the well. As they were over a month late, and over budget, BP was pressuring them to finish up and get on with it. Due to some likely shortcuts and unwise savings, the well suddenly erupted starting a huge fire which killed 11 men, and caused the rig to sink to the bottom of the ocean starting the largest oil spill in US history. This film is the story of the events leading up to and to the evacuation and rescue of the survivors after the fire. Led by Jimmy Harrell (Kurt Russell) and his technical right hand man Mike Williams (Mark Walberg), and their interactions with BP executive Vidrine (John Malkovich) this exciting tale feels like a simple action movie but is based on the real events of 2010.

Produced by Wahlberg and Directed by Peter Berg, this is an excellent film. The excitement and action is first rate, special effects are mind boggling, and the movie still develops the characters and their motivations, and the human interest side of the story is developed very well too. Kurt Russell is amazing, as always, and Mark Wahlberg did a fantastic job as well. It is nice to Kurt and his daughter Kate Hudson who played Mark Wahlberg’s wife together as well. The beginning of the story was a bit slow, as it takes a great deal of time to give us all the background information of who the characters are, and why they are doing what they are doing. If this were fiction, that could have been shortened a little bit, but because to the need to be truthful to the facts, it is important to give us all this information about how it could happen. As soon as I got out of the theater, I looked it up in Wikipedia to see how accurate it was, and after having seen the film, I was surprised to learn how much I knew about the facts of what happened just based on those first 40 minutes or so while the story was introduced. But one trouble starts, thing get really moving real fast. It was an awful disaster, and I feel like I was there. One point though, although 11 men died in the explosion and fire, a great deal of damage happened long after the event (and is still happening). Though the film gives us the welcome pictures of the real people portrayed, and the words on screen telling us who quit the oil business after, and what essentially happened to the people, it does not spend any time talking about the consequences of the aftermath. For that reason, I would highly recommend that after you see this exciting film, that you do a tiny bit of research on your own to try to get the full picture of the whole story. This is a very good movie, and I highly recommend it for you.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Gotham Group, TSG Entertainment, Temple Hill Entertainment,

Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Will Poulter, Aidan Gillen, Rosa Salazar, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Barry Pepper, Lili Taylor

Part Two of “The Maze Runner” series is upon us. In the first film, young people woke up in a place with no idea how they got there and with their memory erased. They managed to figure out the key to the maze they were really in and how to work it and at the end, they were rescued from the maze from some nice gentlemen who promised them safety. This picks up right after when they arrive at the holding destination waiting for their opportunity to be transferred to the safe haven where they would be able to live safe and free. Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) was obviously someone really special and valuable to WCKD, a powerful scientific corporation who is trying to find the cure for the curse which changed most of the Earth into zombie like creatures infected with a highly contagious disease. Thomas is skeptical of who is holding them and about the safe and free idea, and he does some detective work which ends up with the team of Gladers from his maze and some others on a journey through The Scorch, the burned remains of what used to be Earth looking for answers. The journey is anything but safe and free.

This is an excellent sequel to the first Maze Runner movie. I haven’t had the time to read the books, but as you know there are many of these kind of similar adventures that all started with Harry Potter, and then through the Twilight series, then on to such as Hunger Games and Divergent, and I’m sure you can think of a couple others. This is similar, but unique in a big way. It’s extremely well written and very exciting to watch. Non-stop adventure and action sequences, big explosions, car chases, gun battles and everything you could wish for in an action adventure. The cast is really good, and all are well cast. We have a mix of ethnic and cultural representatives. To offset the white guy, there is an Asian guy, an Indian guy, a Black Guy, etc. Politically correctness — check. But the story is so well done, and the settings and CGI of the destroyed Earth is breath taking. But the key is the excellent story and stunning suspense. The cliff hanger ending is a perfect lead-in for the third film, and I can’t wait. This is a big screen kind of movie, and I was glad I saw this in the theater with excellent sound and a brilliant picture. It’s an epic film and one that should be seen. I really enjoyed this, as much as the other big franchises in this genre, and I highly recommend it for you to enjoy.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

20th Century Fox, Dayday Films, Gotham Group,

Patricia Clarkson, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Will Poulter, Kaya Scodelario, Aml Ameen, Dylan O’Brien, Ki Hong Lee, Jacob Latimore

Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) awakens in a sort of elevator in the middle of a lush meadow, completely lost and with no memories. He is terrified to be surrounded by a group of boys he doesn’t know. When Thomas settles down, he finds that the boys have been trapped here for several years, and every month a new boy arrives, but no one knows what is going on. The are surrounded by a giant maze that has a great door that opens during the day, but closes at sundown every night. Led by the first boy, Alby (Aml Ameen), Thomas learns that during the day the boys explore the maze, but anyone who does not get out before the door closes never returns. Despite their terror, Thomas is determined to understand what is happening to them, and why.

This is a very suspenseful and tense story. The closest thing I can think of it that gave me the same kind of willies was The Village, M. Night Shyamalan’s thriller about a group of people safe in a clearing, but surround by a wilderness full of monsters that will kill them if they venture out. This is a similar kind of story, although you’ll find similarities with Hunger Games as well, as they have to use their wits to survive. The suspense is intense, and will keep you on the edge of your seat. The story is very simple. Either get out through the maze, or stay safe forever in the glade, and each one has to find in their heart which to do. One thing for sure, when Thomas arrives, things will never be the same again. The acting is excellent, and this gang of misfits makes us care what happens to them. The mystery of why anyone would do this is also captivating right up until the last moments. The sound is very well done, and the sets, especially the maze itself is masterful. This will definitely keep you interested. Many complain that the end is rather abrupt, and with all the challenges they go through to get to the end, it probably is a bit short. They definitely set us up for a sequel though, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

I found this a really excellent thriller. The monsters may be a bit too intense for the under 14 crowd, and they may have nightmares from the awful things that happen, but for older kids and adults alike, if you enjoy a really good sci-fi thriller like the ones Tom Cruise and Will Smith have been trying to do and can’t pull off, not only does this movie pull it off, but in a splendid journey all the way. I highly recommend this film, probably my favorite of the summer, and I’m glad I chose to go see this in the theater. I was not disappointed at all, and I can recommend it. If you’ve seen it, feel free to comment and let me know if you agree. For me, this was very well done.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Regency Enterprises, Wild West Picture Show Productions,

Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Rose Byrne, Max Minghella, JoAnna Garcia Swisher, John Goodman, Will Ferrell, Jessica Szohr, Dylan O’Brien, Josh Gad

Billy McMahon (Vince Vaughn) and Nick Campbell (Owen Wilson) are salesmen suddenly put out of work when their company shuts down due to the competition from the internet. They find themselves out of work, and not really qualified for anything else. Billy finds a job for them as interns for Google, but this turns into a giant competition. The interns are divided up to teams and then sent out on a quest to gain the most points for their team in a serious of competitions, and only the winning team will be hired. But of course no one wants to team up with these two, since even though they try to hire their tech savvy ignorance at every step, it still is apparent that they can’t complete with the college geniuses they’re up against, so they end up assigned with the group of losers and misfits.

This turned into a new age version of “Revenge of the Nerds” in a way, but I found it much better than I ever expected. There was some real humor in this flick, along with some real heartfelt moments. Immediately everyone rules them out as useless, but the boys prove that experience is an advantage and pretty soon the team looks up to them. With Vince and Owen in the film, obviously the humor is good, and there are some really classic moments. All in all I found this an interesting film, and I had the chance to witness the lifestyle in this film first hand for a week when I was invited to the Microsoft Campus one week back in 1999. I was amazed at the amenities on campus and had the same kind of wide eyed wonderment that Nick and Billy felt when I saw what life is like in this world. The purpose is to keep these genius kids busy and to have them never leave the campus. It’s a great place to live, and basically anything thing you could want or need is available here. Though it’s unbelievable, that’s a lot like how it really is. This movie was much stronger than I expected, mostly due to the supporting cast which did an excellent job. Not to take away from Vince and Owen, they give us just what we expect from them, but the rest of the cast was unexpected. One other unique thing about this film. This is my very first ever experience renting a film from RedBox. I’ve been wanting to do that for years and years, but I’ve never really needed to make a DVD run like the old Wherehouse and BlockBuster days, but it was a good experience. This movie got caught up in the “Long Wait” problem at NetFlix as I didn’t get it on release day, and soon was buried down in the queue. I like to review new releases as soon as possible after release to give you a heads up on what I like and what I don’t, but this one slipped through the cracks. I think I will utilize the RedBox thing more often in the future. It was a nice experience.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog