Ed's Review Dot Com

Maybach Film Productions, RT Features, Film Science,

Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning, Peter Sarsgaard, Alia Shawkat, Logan Miller, Kai Lennox, Katherine Waterston, James Le Gros

John (Jesse Eisenberg) and Dena (Dakota Fanning) are young environmental activists. They want to make a huge statement and pull off a master protest, blowing up a dam. They enlist an ex-military explosives expert, Harmon (Peter Sarsgaard) to show them how, and to assist in making the explosives.

I thought maybe this would be an entertaining film, but I was somewhat disappointed. With really strong actors, the story itself just seems to go nowhere. There are some twists and turns, and some regrets and misgivings, but this movie just plodded along at such a slow pace, that it seemed to drag and drag and drag. The good part of the movie is the unexpected consequences of the choices they make. Things are not as they expected they would be and the results were not what they wanted. That part of the story is halfway decent. But the flaws in the story make it difficult for me to recommend, as Jesse spends half the movie just staring moodily out into space. No emotions, no dialog, just staring. The pace is so slow, that I wanted to scream. I just didn’t get the point, although I could follow the story, this could have been done so much better. I am sorry but I just don’t recommend that you subject yourself to this. It’s very depressing.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Dreamfly Productions, Escape Pictures, Lavender Pictures,

Ben Kingsley, Kodi Smit-McPhee, James Le Gros, Alex Wolff, Katie Chang, Briana Marin, Stephen Kunken, Daniela Lavender, Ethan Cohn, Ira Hawkins, Adam Barrie, Andy Prosky, Michael Chen

David Portnoy (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is a teen who is hooked to the hobby of birding. His father Donald (James LeGros) is about to get remarried, which is really messing with David’s head when he suddenly sees a rare bird that is supposed to be extinct. After trying to verify the find, he and a bunch of friends head off on an epic road trip to find the bird again to prove his discovery on the eve of his father’s wedding, and he’s supposed to be the best man.

This is a rather interesting film about birding. It’s actually the second film I’ve watched on the subject recently, and that’s disturbing as birding is supposed to be a really boring hobby for nerds. Well, I guess David does pass as a nerd, but the movie really isn’t about birding. It’s a story about the pain a young man feels at the loss of his mother, and the added stress of seeing his Dad appear to forget her for his hot new young girlfriend. It’s about who his friends really are, and there’s a lot of self assessment in this film. Each of the characters has to look at themselves to see who they really are. Not a big blockbuster movie, this is a small independent type film, but not a bad one. It’s got a decent amount of heart, and the road trip really has it’s excitement as they chase this elusive goose. This was a relatively interesting film to watch and it’s not a bad story, and as a bonus, it’s got Ben Kingsley!

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog