Ed's Review Dot Com

1984 Private Defense Contractors, Mandalay Vision, Studio Babelsberg,

Ryan Reynolds, Gemma Arterton, Anna Kendrick, Jacki Weaver

Jerry (Ryan Reynolds) works in a factory and is supposed to be taking his medicine to keep him under control. But the talking dog and cat in his apartment tell him not to take them. He meets the new girl Fiona (Gemma Arterton) in the office, and he’s madly attracted to her, but when he accidentally kills her, he’s not sure what to do. Luckily the cat and dog can help him plan his next move.

This is a very weird movie. Jerry is clearly unstable, but we’re supposed to recognize that and go through this film anyway. There is no way to know what is real and what is Jerry off his rocker. Personally, I didn’t really care. Since dogs and cats (and deer) don’t really talk, then I assume that is Jerry’s deranged mind, but beyond that, who knows. The script for this very, very dark comedy (that’s not really very funny) is pretty weak. I just didn’t find it humorous, and I just didn’t get it. There are some people who really got a kick out of this movie, but for me, it didn’t work at all. I don’t think this is worth the effort, and I would definitely say skip it. What a waste of time.

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Demarest Films, Lipsync Productions, Number 9 Films,

Gemma Arterton, Saoirse Ronan, Sam Riley, Jonny Lee Miller, Daniel Mays, Caleb Landry Jones, Kate Ashfield, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Uri Gavriel, Thure Lindhardt

Two sisters, Elenor (Saoirse Ronan) and Clara (Gemma Arterton) are on the run after committing a gruesome crime and settle on a little seaside hamlet to hide out in. Immediately Clara meets Noel (Daniel Mays) who allows he to stay in his lonely guest house, Byzantium, while Elenor meets Frank (Caleb Landry Jones) and makes a friendship with him where she reveals the truth, that she and Clara are 2000 years old and survive on human blood in this Gothic horror tale.

This movie might suit a certain brand of people who are huge Gothic story fans. It is dark and dreary, slow moving, and filled with the stuff that Gothic tales of horror generally provide. But I really got bored right away with this film and even though I stuck with it, it never improved, nor did it catch my interest. I never really got into either story. This is really two films at once, set in the same town with the same characters. Hastings was once a tiny fishing hamlet, and today it’s a seaside resort town. Performances are decent, it’s just that story lagged too much for me to really get into it. Take a look at the preview and see if it might be for you, but for me, it was a big disappointment. It just didn’t work.

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20th Century Fox [United States] | Official Facebook [Brazil],

Ben Affleck, Gemma Arterton, Justin Timberlake, Anthony Mackie, Sam Palladio, David Costabile, Ben Schwartz, Oliver Cooper, Louis Lombardi

Richie Furst (Justin Timberlake) is a Princeton student with no money to pay his tuition, so he figures a plan to win in on-line poker. But when he figures out that the off shore team that runs the site is cheating, he sets out to find the owner, hot shot Ivan Block (Ben Affleck) in Costa Rica. But when Ivan offers him a job Richie has to think about the desire for an enormous amount of money and contrast that with Ivan and whether or not he can be trusted. This is a high energy crime drama.

I was somewhat disappointed in this movie. I have seen both Ben and Justin in some really exciting movies. This one just couldn’t grab my attention. It has exotic locations, and ought to be a decent film, but it fell short in a lot of ways. Some of it is just not that believable, and a couple of characters really didn’t cut it including a (fake?) FBI guy Agent Shavers (Anthony Mackie) that I just thought was awful. The whole thing just dragged out, and though the end was fairly decent, it just took so long to get there that I didn’t really care which way Richie played it. I just wanted it to end. I just didn’t feel there was enough going on here to keep my interest, and I don’t recommend this one very highly. After seeing the film, I can see why it did not catch on in the theaters, as this was just not good enough for the lead characters that were in it. Skip this one.

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Steel Mill Pictures, Coolmore Productions, Egoli Tossell Film,

Terence Stamp, Gemma Arterton, Christopher Eccleston, Vanessa Redgrave, Anne Reid, Ram John Holder, Bill Thomas, Orla Hill

Arthur (Terence Stamp) is a grumpy old guy taking care of his wife who is very ill. His wife, Marion (Vanessa Regrave) is ill, but very determined to enjoy what’s left of her life. She loves to sing, and is a member of the choir at her church. She wants to sing her solo and insists on going out to practice despite her husbands disdain for the choir and her risking herself. Arthur hides outside and listens to the choir and later begins to mend the relationship with his estranged son and to find some joy in his life once again through music.

This is a touching story, but lacking in the charm of other films. Dolly Parton did it much better in Joyful Noise. This story is a lot like On Golden Pond but without the great acting and without the charming story. Terence’s Arthur is a miserable old cuss, but he’s not funny, and when he has his epiphany and Scrooge-like redemption, is still not likeable at all. Vanessa Redgrave is a great actress, but has nothing to work with here, as the script is very dry. The son is so dreadful, I didn’t even look up to see who he is. All in all, the film was pretty dull, and not really worth the time watching it. I can’t really recommend this one.

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Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Gary Sanchez Productions,

Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton, Famke Janssen, Peter Stormare, Zoe Bell, Thomas Mann, Derek Mears

Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton) were taken out in the woods when they were little children by their father. He left them alone, lost and alone, where they wandered around trying to find their way home. Instead they came upon a cottage made of candy where they were captured by a witch who wanted to eat them. But they burned her up in an oven, and learned the ways to deal with witches. Well, many years have passed and they’ve become pretty good witch hunters. It’s a lucrative career, as the number of witches has continued to grow and they have a lot of business. But in one little town the number of missing children has skyrocketed, and it seems the town needs a lot of help.

This was a surprising film. It has been out a few weeks, and it was late Saturday night, so I expected the theater to be empty. Instead, it was at least 90% full. We all had a good time. This film had an amazing amount of action and adventure, and as an “R” rated film for violence, gore, and language, it was also very, very funny. It was a perfect mix of huge belly laughs, YUCK moments, and exciting battles and chases. This brother and sister duo has a wide range of spectacular weapons, and boy, do they know how to use them. Jeremy Renner is pretty funny as the big brother protecting his sister, while Gemma is perhaps the tougher of the two and rarely needs protecting. I must say I really enjoyed this movie.

If you haven’t had a chance to see this one yet, hurry up, before it’s gone . It’s a great comedy action film to see on the big screen. If you have to wait for it on DVD, be sure to invite lots of friends, make some popcorn, as the more, the merrier in this film will be. I really liked it, and I highly recommend this one. Warning though, it is very gross and extremely violent (in fun mostly), so leave the kids alone. Also Gretel has had a hard life, so she does have a bit of a foul mouth. 🙂 Enjoy this fun film. It was a real surprise to me, as I thought it would suck, but it surely didn’t!

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