Ed's Review Dot Com

Warner Bros., Intrepid Pictures, Vertigo Entertainment,

Ewan McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson, Kyliegh Curran, Cliff Curtis, Zahn McClarnon, Emily Alyn Lind, Selena Anduze, Robert Longstreet, Carel Struycken, Catherine Parker, James Flanagan, Met Clark, Zackary Momoh, Jocelin Donahue, Dakota Hickman

Dan Torrance (Ewan McGregor) is the little boy from the Shining. Dan still has the power of telepathy although he does all he can to suppress it, but a little girl is reaching out to him for help. Turns out there is a cult, called the “True Knot” who depend on those who “shine” to provide their sustenance. Like a vampire drains the blood from their victims, the True Knot kill their victims and inhale the “steam” that comes out when the victim dies. This gives them strength and pseudo eternal life as long as there are victims to harvest for their powers. Trouble is these are becoming extremely rare, and they are having a very hard time finding victims. But this child is very strong, and Dan just has to try to protect her by taking her back to the place where his troubles all started.

This is a sequel to the Shining, particularly the Jack Nicholson/Shelley Duvall version, and is set a few dozen years in the future. In fact, they go to the trouble to get look alike actors for Jack and Shelley to play the flashbacks. Of course the hotel is good, just like it was in the original. However, though I looked forward to this film since I really enjoyed the different versions of the original story, I was very disappointed in this farce of a film. It’s quite long, but mostly pretty useless. Actually, the cult addition to the story was very derivative of all the vampire stories that you’ve seen, and the group themselves were rather pitiful and not a very talented bunch. Turns out they were not very strong, nor were they dangerous, and really pretty weak. The whole thing was really annoying. Ewan McGregor was actually pretty good, and did his very best with the rather weak story he was given to work with. He was definitely the best thing in the film though. I was really let down by this film, and felt like it was not worth the investment to see it. There are other good films out there, and I definitely wish I had chosen something else. I am a horror fan, and that had a lot to do with why I chose to see this, when i don’t get to see many films anymore, but I wasn’t pleased with this one. I would definitely say to skip this one for now, and catch it for the scenic hotel scenes and Ewan’s performance later down the road when it’s free!

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August Heart Entertainment,

Taryn Manning, Lin Shaye, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Eric Roberts, Shiri Appleby, Beverly D’Angelo, Spencer Locke, Emily Alyn Lind

Cindy (Taryn Manning) is a single Mom with 3 kids from 3 different Dads. She’s trying to get by having fun, sleeping around, and isn’t doing very well for herself. Three ghosts come by to visit to try to make her realize the errors of her ways, and work toward a better future in this “white trash” version of A Christmas Carol.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am hooked on Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol”. I have watched every version and every knockoff of this film that I have ever been able to find. I have always thought of this as the most absolutely perfect story ever written. I didn’t think it was possible to do a bad version of this story. I’ve been through the silent films, and watched everyone from the Jetsons, to the Flintstones, to Mr. Magoo, to the Muppets, to Mickey Mouse, and dozens more. Even Sam Kinison pulled it off on a Christmas episode of Married With Children. This is, I believe, the story that has been made into film more than anything else. I had my doubts about this version however. It was rather pathetic, in it’s own way. These people are such stereotypical white trailer trash cutouts that it had to be horrible. Well, it turned out not to be a awful as I thought going into it. After the first fifteen minutes or so I was debating on turning it off, but I kept up with it, and it somewhat redeemed itself as it went on. There are some good actors in this movie, and though the story is a bit thin, with this kind of talent, it worked out much better than I expected. I had to get into what they were really trying to do, and I realized that it was supposed to be lampooning the story. Once I caught on that they were not trying to make a serious film, but it was all tongue in cheek (No one can be that bad), I was able to get into it a little bit. If you’re a fan of the TV show “Raising Hope” (which isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, trust me) you’ll probably get this movie as well, as the feel was very similar to that show. It a caricature of people living that kind of life style in the same way. Though I thought this film was more or less a waste of time, I guess it’s just like pizza. There’s no such thing as a bad Scrooge.

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Gold Circle Films,

Abigail Spencer, Chad Michael Murray, Katee Sackhoff, Emily Alyn Lind, Cicely Tyson, Andrea Frankle, Brad James, Lance E. Nichols

This story, based on the real life Wyrick family, is about a little girl who was born with a veil, allowing her to have psychic powers. Like her mother and grandmother, the women in the family are very sensitive to spirits. Shortly after moving into their historic old house, young Heidi begins to see an old man she calls Mr. Gordy, who warns her that something bad is coming. It turns out that the house has a history, and that history is coming back to bite them in a bad way.

This is a highly fictional story based on a real life family of psychics. There is a special feature on the DVD with an interview with the family and they tell the real story. But this movie is a horror ride into hell, literally. It’s got great sound, good scares, and real terror. It follows the typical story of the child who knows the truth, but nobody will believe her, but she turns it around and it’s a really funny scene. Abigail Spencer, as Heidi, does a really great job in this film. She carries the film and is a heck of an actress. Another special feature on the CD is a few outtakes from the film, and one of these with Abigail shows how really professional this kid is. She is the true star. But the rest of the cast is pretty decent too. Cicely Tyson has one small scene, but she’s really a great add to the story. If you’re a fan of horror, this is a pretty decent rental film, and well worth watching.

There are a few rather big plot holes that I can’t quite figure out, but I haven’t watched the deleted scenes yet, so it may be that some of them are answered in the scenes that were cut. For one thing, Dad brings Heidi home a dog to protect the family, and he’s really good at letting us know when someone bad is about to appear. But Heidi ends up missing, and the whole family are out searching for her. Where’s the dog? Nowhere to be seen. Now he could probably locate her in a few seconds, but Chief is nowhere to be found. Then suddenly in the end, he’s back again, just when he’s needed for another plot point. That’s kind of silly not to use the dog, but I guess we can overlook that. But in the end, it’s a creepy story with plenty of ghosts and demons and moments that will make you jump for sure. Not worth a lot of money to see in the theater, but well worth a rental on DVD.

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Walden Media, Gran Via Productions,

Maggie Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Holly Hunter, Oscar Isaac, Rosie Perez, Ving Rhames, Lance Reddick, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Bill Nunn, Emily Alyn Lind

Jamie Fitzpatrick (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is a single Mom struggling with two jobs to make a better life for her 3rd grade daughter. But their inner city school is failing. Though there are some good teachers, Jamie has tried for months to get her daughter transferred to a different room since the teacher is really mean, and she can’t read. Meanwhile, Nona Alberts (Viola Davis) is a really good teacher, but worries about her own son who is not progressing properly. Jamie tries to enter her daughter in the lottery to go to the school she wants for her daughter, but they have 40 spots and over 400 applicants. So Jamie and Nona band together to fight the parents, the teachers, the administration, the union, and the school board to petition the board to allow them to take over the school and to allow the parents to run it. All in all it’s a long uphill battle, but the parents want what is best for their kids no matter how hard the fight.

This film is really an anti-union/anti-establishment film, but it’s trying to show some of the problems with the school district we have today. Unions appear more worried about keeping up their enrollment to get enough money in the pot to buy the government off to protect them, and the teachers who are awful, are protected by tenure. Tenure was a good thing back in the days where the teachers could be mass fired due to a change in the political environment in a town, but it’s gotten so bad, that unless you can convict a teacher of a serious crime, they can never be fired no matter how bad they perform. And when a whole school fails, year after year, what are parents to do? They don’t have the money to send their kids to private schools, and the public schools that are better are so overcrowded that it’s impossible to get in.

But back to the movie. It’s a definitely one sided view, so the good teachers and good parents are all good, and the union members, bad teachers, school board and union leaders are pure evil. I’m sure it’s not like this in real life, but it’s drama. So expect to see a one sided story, much like many similar films like The China Syndrome, The Help, Erin Brockovich, and numerous others where it’s the little man against the evil establishment, but what else would you expect. This is a drama, and not a documentary, and though it’s based on some factual stuff, most of the movie is fiction. So it’s a drama, well acted, and not to badly written. It’s an interesting film, and not too bad to watch, but it’s not going to get a glowing review because it just doesn’t take that additional giant step to greatness. It’s just a good film, and definitely worth watching, but with lowered expectations for content.

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Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions

November Christmas is a wonderful Hallmark “Christmas” story even though the holiday is celebrated in November. The characters are charming, and the story is very touching. It gets a bit weepy and overly sappy in the end, but most holiday stories do that. This one is a great touching story that will make you realize the blessings you have, and the importance of those you love in your life. This movie premiered on Hallmark last year, and though not available on DVD yet, probably will be in the near future. But if you get a chance to see it on TV this season, go out of your way to watch it. It’s a wonderful film.

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