Ed's Review Dot Com

Universal Pictures, Dark Universe, Dentsu,

Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella, Annabelle Wallis, Russell Crowe, Jake Johnson, Courtney B. Vance, Marwan Kenzari, Stephen Thompson

Nick Morton (Tom Cruise) is a treasure hunter who stumbles upon an ancient tomb. He accidentally releases the spirit of Ahmanet, an ancient demon, and brings her back to conquer the earth. Though Nick is frightened for his life, he is the chosen one who is to sacrifice himself to make her rule the Earth again.

This was a bit of a dud for me. The Mummy movies with Brandan Fraser were surprisingly rather decent. There was lots of suspense, lots of action, and it was a roller coaster ride. I place the blame for this one directly on Mr. Cruise though. I guess he was trying to play some kind of character under the power of this evil woman, but the delivery was just awful. The beginning of the film where he’s trying to be a grave robber type guy who is looking for treasure buried under the sand, the dialog was simply awful. It seemed like a high school drama production or something. I mean it was really badly delivered. The rest of the movie, he just couldn’t pull off the character in the least. The action scenes weren’t too bad, but they were kind of choppy as well, and started and stopped pretty much at will. The whole thing was kind of hard to follow even though it seemed really simple. Annabelle Wallis and Russell Crowe weren’t bad. They were the only normal characters in the movie, since Tom Cruise was all over the place. One shining star in the movie which garners the most credit is Sofia Boutella who plays Ahmanet. She definitely put in an interesting performance, and she was able to best deal with Tom as he ran around from place to place. I found the whole experience to be underwhelming, and this is another of those movies that didn’t need a remake. I would suggest that you skip this one.

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Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment, Legendary Pictures,

Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D’Onofrio, Jake Johnson, B.D. Wong, Irrfan Khan, Omar Sy, Ty Simpkins, Judy Greer, Lauren Lapkus, Nick Robinson, Brian Tee

Twenty years ago Jurassic Park almost opened. Just before opening, however, things went horribly wrong and many people died, and the park was virtually destroyed. After 20 years of more careful genetic engineering, and with a lot of very effective marketing, The bigger and much better Jurassic World is now open. They, like Sea World, are doing a combination of educational, rescue, and ecological work. But they need a new bigger attraction to keep the gate turnstiles spinning, so a secret plan to genetically engineer a whole new breed of dinosaur is under way. Though there were very many precautions, this new dinosaur is a lot smarted and faster than her predecessors. Naturally things once again go very wrong, and though this new monster is not on display yet, but housed back near the ruins of the original park, when it gets free, thousands of guests and workers are in serious trouble. This sequel to the original (pretending the sequels do not exist) is tearing up the box office this summer of 2015.

This week Ed and his wife celebrated their 25th Wedding Anniversary. We took a very nice and relaxing trip to the sleepy town of Avalon on Catalina Island. While we were there we saw a large round building known as “Avalon Casino”. It’s a very iconic building and the emblem most associated with Catalina. Inside this beautiful building is a ballroom on the top floor and a movie theater on the main floor. This beautifully decorated movie theater is very old; It was the first theater in the US that was built for talking pictures, and has been in use since it’s construction. It is the only movie screen on Catalina, and they have one showing a day, at 7:15 PM, 7 days a week. The week were were there, Jurassic World was playing so we made our way out to the Casino (Casino is an Italian word that means “place of gathering”, so there is no, and has never been, gambling in this facility.) to see this film in this iconic theater. What a wonderful experience that was! The theater seats over 1100 people and is certainly beautiful.

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As to the movie, it was very, very good. The excitement level was off the charts, and the special effects and CGI was outstanding. The story is a really good sequel to the original, and when they revisited some of the original park sites which are now dilapidated and in ruins it was really nice to revisit the original. There are some family stories going on, a couple little boys, some worried parents, and an all business aunt who is supposed to be watching the visiting youngsters but passes them off to her assistant to care for, but the forefront story going on, though the major part of the story, is not near the best parts. When thing go wrong, they go really wrong, and between some greedy folks who want to profit from the situation and Chris Pratt who is an animal expert who is trying to protect and save the animals, the push and shove between these two is the real story. The action is spectacular and the suspense is thrilling. This is a real summer blockbuster, and perhaps it may end up the biggest film of all times. The original story was excellent, but this sequel is what every sequel should be, every bit as good if not better than its predecessor This is a MUST SEE film, and if you haven’t been there yet, what are you waiting for? Don’t wait for DVD for this film (unless of course you want to own it) Get out there and see it on the BIG screen with as many special effects you can get. This is the best film I’ve seen in several years, I swear.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Good Universe, Point Grey Pictures,

Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, Rose Byrne, Dave Franco, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Lisa Kudrow, Craig Roberts, Ike Barinholtz, Jake Johnson, Hannibal Buress, Carla Gallo, Halston Sage

Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly Radner (Rose Byrne) are a newlywed couple with a daughter. They live in a simple suburban home. The house next door is up for sale, and they take a lot of interest to see who the new neighbors will be, but when the guys from the fraternity move in and turn it into a frat house led by fraternity president Teddy Sanders (Zac Efron), things go from bad to worse to worst. They party all night, with loud music that keep everyone awake. At first Mac and Kelly try to be friendly with the boys and try to party with them to make friends and get their cooperation, but when that fails, they start escalating a war with the frat that spirals WAY out of control.

This is a hilarious comedy reminiscent of the old great comedies of long ago. It’s modern and fresh, and unique twist, but the gags run from slapstick to up to date technology gags that are right out of the pages of today’s college kids. To make it even more enjoyable, I have a bit of a story to tell.

We went up for Mother’s Day to UC Santa Barbara. My daughter had to work for a while, so my wife and I went to the theater closest to the school to watch a movie. The timing was wrong for everything else, but Neighbors was coming on at 8:15, so we chose it. We figured a Seth Rogen film would be a few laughs. The theater ended up packed, every seat full, all 20ish college kids. We were the only old people in the theater. Since I work in the IT field, I am up to date on new technology and so I got the jokes. But the frat jokes in particular, especially with the way things are today with the latest web sites and communication devices was especially funny to the young people because they obviously got all the jokes. I imagined watching this back at home in a theater full of adults with many of the jokes just going over their heads. Not this crowd. It was really interesting to see which gags cracked them up and compare to what it would be like seeing this without the theater filled with students. Anyway, needless to say, unlike the teens we often see at home, with the theater packed, the crowd was very respectful, quiet with no one texting or making phone calls and laughing at the right places. Though we were crowded, it was a really enjoyable experience.

Now back to the film. This is the kind of role that fits Seth Rogen perfectly. He plays the kid who’s grown up now and realizing that he needs to take some responsibility, but dropping back into his youth to party with the frat and play childish pranks trying to outdo each other. New parents have the problem of their close friends from the past living a wild and free single lifestyle when they have a child and a job and too much to do. The frat house next door, though a curse, also is a chance to step back into their younger days. The comedy is really good, the jokes are non-stop, and it’s a randy adult comedy that doesn’t let up. I really enjoyed this film and recommend it for comedy fans everywhere.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Burn Later Productions,

Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick, Ron Livingston, Ti West, Jason Sudeikis, Mike Brune, Frank V. Ross

Luke (Jake Johnson) and Kate (Olivia Wilde) are co-workers in a brewery. They spend their days drinking beer and flirting with one another Though sparks fly, both of them are in serious other relationships, but when the spend the weekend together with both significant others at a lakeside retreat, things really get out of hand in this romantic comedy.

This is an interesting concept for a film, but unfortunately it wasn’t an extremely clever script. As a result, it kind of falls flat. There is a good cast of really good actors, but they can only work with what they’re given. I have heard people defend this movie as “real life” and that may be exactly the problem. Sometimes real life is kind of boring. You need a little creative writing to make it sparkle. This film just doesn’t sparkle. It’s not that funny, not that engrossing, and though they do carry of the job of getting us to know a little about the characters, nothing really exciting happens and it just kind of sits there. I can’t help but think that with a better script they could have pulled of a much better film. But it is what it is. There are some who really enjoyed it, but I didn’t find it worth the effort.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog