Ed's Review Dot Com

Allison Shearmur Productions, Keep Your Head, Lionsgate,

Emma Roberts, Dave Franco, Juliette Lewis, Emily Meade, Miles Heizer, Kimiko Glenn, Samira Wiley, Marc John Jefferies

Vee (Emma Roberts) is a high school senior, and a shy wallflower type of girl. Her best friend, Sydney (Emily Meade) is outgoing and very popular, although she is hiding her own problems. Sydney introduces Vee to a new underground app called Nerve which is like Truth or Dare without the truth option. When joining the app, you choose to be a watcher or a player. By embarrassing Vee, she dares her into becoming a player, but once you start you cannot quit, and things escalate quickly as the dares grow more and more insane. This is a high action thriller right out of the pages of today’s social media world.

This was a very refreshing story, very modernistic, and quite suspenseful. Eama Roberts and Dave Franco are awesome as a team and Emma is really turning into a daredevil here. (Watch the special features on the DVD to see her experiences filming this.) The rest of the cast is very good as well. The action scenes are very well done and the special effects are awesome. All in all, this is a really spectacular film, filled with really good characters doing really crazy and dangerous things for fame and money, just like real life! The script is excellent. I would love to find the book, it seems like a really good read. The director team did a splendid job as well, and all the performers are really good, so this this is a solid film, and one I can recommend. See it.

Treehouse Pictures, Anonymous Content,

Emma Roberts, John Cusack, Evan Peters, Armando Riesco, Cloris Leachman, John Cullum, Catherine Lloyd Burns, Shannon Woodward, Reed Birney

Amy (Emma Roberts) is a college graduate with a dream to be an honored poet. She submits poems constantly trying to win a prize and become published, but it costs a lot. She’s been spending Dad’s money, and he’s turning off the tap cause it’s just not working out. Amy sets out to find a job on her own, but jobs were hard to come by. She finally settles on a job at Adult World, and adult bookstore and forces a meeting with her hero, Rat Billings, and starts out by stalking him as she tries to figure out if she has what it takes or not.

This is a cute little independent film that was a bit of a surprise. Emma Roberts has really grown as a star and is very good in this role of a lost college grad who is mostly a dreamer. John Cusack plays a real dick, who has long passed his prime and wants to be left alone, but had this bright eyed kid chasing him down, much to his dismay. There are some other minor characters in the story as well that are very well played. This is not a perfect film by any means, but it was fresh and new, and as I started by saying, one that really caught me by surprise. I didn’t expect much from this, but was pleasantly surprised at the depth of the story. It was an interesting story, and there were a number of interesting sub plots going on that helped keep the story flowing. The interactions and character development were very well done also, making the movie a pleasure to watch. Not much action, not much excitement, this is a slow paced character study with a lot of dialog, and thoughts and feelings. But it’s an interesting story and I’d recommend it as something out of the ordinary.

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BenderSpink, New Line Cinema, Vincent Newman Entertainment

Jennifer Aniston, Jason Sudeikis, Will Poulter, Emma Roberts, Ed Helms, Nick Offerman, Kathryn Hahn, Molly C. Quinn, Tomer Sisley, Matthew Willig

David Clark (Jason Sudeikis) is a small time drug dealer who is happy being the guy he was in college. No ties, no responsibilities, he’s carefree and doing quite well for himself. He lives in an apartment with a bunch of quirky neighbors, but when he spots one of them in trouble, he has to step in, and he ends up losing both the drugs he’s supposed to sell, but also the money he’s saved up. So now he’s in big trouble with his supplier, Brad Gurdlinger (Ed Helms) and the only way to save himself is to make a run as a mule bringing a “smidgen and a half” of drugs into the US from Mexico. So he concocts a crazy plan to rent a mobile home, and pose as the Miller Family with Mom, stripper Rose (Jennifer Aniston) Daughter/Goth chick runaway, Casey (Emma Roberts) and not to swift son, Kenny (Will Poulter). Things start out easy, but soon they begin to realize it’s a bit more difficult than they expect, as Murphy’s Law takes over, and everything that can go wrong, does.

I didn’t expect a lot from this film, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was really funny. Now don’t get me wrong, it was quite vulgar a lot of the way through, and it certainly earned the R rating quite easily, but it was definitely funny. It brought much of the humor. Jennifer Anniston is really good, and this role was just perfect for her. She played it perfectly with a mixture of desperate child, worldly lady, and caring Mom in just the right mix. She is no doubt the shining star of the movie, and it’s no surprise she’s usually listed first. Ed Helms brings his best Andy from The Office character with him, and he’s a silly scoundrel who has a lot of karma owing. Jason Sudeikis is, likewise, much like many of his SNL characters, but very good too as the greedy single guy being forced to step up and take care of this family. The rest of the cast is very good too. Even the bad guy/assassins are really not that tough, but much more on the hysterical side. All in all it’s a hoot, and one of those simple comedies that is just a lot of fun. If you’re not offended by the vulgarity of the dialog, then this is a good comedy.

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24P Media Group, Emmett/Furla Films, Envision Entertainment Corporation,

Liam Hemsworth, Emma Roberts, Dwayne Johnson, Michael Angarano, Nikki Reed, Shenae Grimes, Jerry Ferrara, James Ransone, Chris Diamantopoulos, Gia Mantegna, Michael Rispoli

Chris Potamitis (Liam Hemsworth) wanted to be a policeman. But when he was kicked out of the NYPD academy due to a marijuana incident with his childhood best friend Eddie (Michael Angarano), so Chris takes a job with an armored car company. The main reason he said he had for taking the job was so he could get a pistol to carry around. But as he travels around learning the ropes, he finds that their security is really lax. Discussion the terrible security practices with Eddie leads him into getting roped into an extremely high payoff job robbing his own company. Chased by detective James Ransome (Dwayne Johnson) he tries to wiggle his way out of being caught, but the mob bosses are mad and trying to figure out who pulled off this job in their territory. This sends them off on a wild chase trying to escape from everyone who is after them. This is based on a true story.

This was a somewhat interesting film, but there was just no enough to hold your attention through the whole thing. Basically shortly into the thing, it turns pretty slow and boring and doesn’t recover a whole lot. The best thing this film has going for it is the interview on the “special features” with the real Chris Potamitis who is more interesting than anyone else in this movie. Unfortunately it’s just kind of jumbled up and hard to follow all the time, and just not enough going on to keep your interest. This film was released straight to video, which is always a bad sign. This is one you can skip, unless you’re familiar with the story and want to rent the video to see the special features on how it really happened. Otherwise, not worth the time to catch this one.

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Goldcrest Pictures, Gigi Productions, Mint Pictures,

Freddie Highmore, Emma Roberts, Michael Angarano, Elizabeth Reaser, Sam Robards, Rita Wilson, Alicia Silverstone, Blair Underwood, Sasha Spielberg

George Zinavoy(Freddy Highmore) is one of the teens that seems to have no focus. He’s just skating by doing the least possible to get by. He’s obviously got smarts, but doesn’t have the impetus to use them. He wears the ever present trench coat, and tries to blend into the background. Obviously his mother has her own issues. She’s in a relationship with a guy whose business is failing, and she’s losing everything trying to hold on to him and help him out. But when George gets a chance to be friends with Sally (Emma Roberts) he jumps into it with both feet. They find a connection over similar circumstances, but decide to remain platonic friends. George is in trouble in school again, and may not be able to graduate, so the principal introduces him (and Sally) to an artist alumni Dustin, (Michael Angarano) a successful painter, and he is a guide to George into finding out what is really important to him, but distractions cause George to once again resort to just getting by, and he may not be able to graduate after all.

This is an interesting film. George is like many teens today, who seem to have this fatalistic view of life where nothing is worth anything, and just getting by is truly an art. George gets a chance with Sally, but is afraid to pursue it. Then when he decides it’s worth it, the chance has passed. It’s the same with school. By the time he decides it’s worth it, the chance has passed, and he finds himself in a really tough bind. He loves art, but doesn’t know what to do with it, and if he tries, he may fail, so he lets that slide. That’s how many of us do with just doing the least we have to do to get by. This is a film of lost chances.

The acting is solid. It’s not outstanding, and the script is, like the theme of the movie, just getting by. It’s not a classic work of art, but for the film that it is, it’s just right. I enjoyed watching this film, and it was interesting as I went trhough it, but it’s not extremely memorable. I think it’s ironic that the theme is “just getting by” and the film seems to do the exact same thing. Either it’s lazy on the part of the filmmakers, or it’s a brilliant strategy in itself. I’m really not sure which. So I rate this film right down the middle, as it seems appropriate. Emma Roberts does a fine job. I know her dad, actor Eric Roberts is very proud of her, and she is one of the highlights of the film. Alicia Silverstone plays a teacher. She’s really wasted in this film. She only has a few scenes, and they are not significant. I think it’s an attempt to attach another known name to the project, but her effort is just one more example of “The Art of Getting By”.

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