Ed's Review Dot Com

EMI Film Distributors, G.W. Films Limited,

Kenneth Branagh, Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, Josh Gad, Leslie Odom Jr., Michelle Pfeiffer, Daisy Ridley, Derek Jacobi, Tom Bateman, Marwan Kenzari, Olivia Colman, Lucy Boynton, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Sergei Polunin, Miranda Raison

This remake of the 1974 classic film is based upon the Agatha Christie novel of the same name, a well known series of books about the notable investigator Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Barnagh). A number of passengers aboard the glorious Orient Express a train that crosses eastern Europe are stranded when an avalanche knocks the engine off the track and forces a team from the next station to send workers back to dig the train out. But during the night a passenger named Edward Ratchett (Johnny Depp) is murdered in his cabin, and Inspector Poirot is put to work to solve the case before the train is freed to move along it’s way. Set in the 1930’s this is a classic mystery tale of murder and suspense.

This is a really well done film, and the style and feeling of the movie really takes us back to the great mystery films of old, but with the newer technology making it look old, but sharp and spotlessly clear. The scenery and the train itself are dazzling, and the list of stars is mind boggling, just as the 1974 version was. The only problem I have with this remake is that I already knew the ending, so the who-done-it that makes the story so exciting is gone for me. But since it’s been since 1974, there are new generations that probably have never heard of this story or who Agatha Christie even was. For those folks this is perfect film with an opportunity to see a classic mystery story of old from a whole new perspective. However, the problem is that these kinds of stories are not big on action and adventure, but a close look at how the mind of Hercule actually works and a strong tendency to try to solve the murder as he does. But as someone who has seen the 1974 version and remembers the story, it was a different experience to watch the formulation of the movie and to see the baby steps along the way to presenting the mystery and rolling out the clues. And of course the final solution of the murder and the collection of suspects where Poirot unveils the killer is really classic cinema. This is an excellent film, and whether or not you’re familiar with the story or not, you should give this film a try to enjoy the entire experience.

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Walt Disney Pictures, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Infinitum Nihil,

Johnny Depp, Javier Bardem, Geoffrey Rush, Brenton Thwaites, Kaya Scodelario, Kevin McNally, Orlando Bloom, Stephen Graham, Martin Klebba, Golshifteh Farahani, David Wenham, Paul McCartney

Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is back in the 5th installment of the most successful franchise based on a Disneyland Attraction of the lot. Captain Jack has been marooned on the land, and is taking up time drinking, fooling around, and the occasional theft, like this one where he’s robbing a bank. Jack seems very unhappy, but those that are looking for him have not given up hope. Rumor is that he’s dead, but not only the English Navy is looking to capture him, but the Ghost Ship full of dead pirates lead by Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem) is out to put an end Jack and his crew and to break the curse on them. And of course Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) would like to kill Jack as well. But there is a new twist. Henry Turner (Brenton Thwaites) son of Will Turner (Orlando Bloom)and his wife (from the very first movie) is out to fulfill his Dad’s dream by capturing a hidden object that can break ALL the curses. Of course only Jack Sparrow is able to find it, but he and a young lady named Carina (Kaya Scodelario), who has a rather famous parent herself, are leading the pack to find Jack to find the object if none (or all) of the others don’t find him first.

It is amazing that a fifth movie in the franchise movie has just been released. Time has flown by so fast since we set out on this journey. This movie relates back to the original film, and as such, it is a lot better, in my opinion, than some of the other sequels. The story is really simple, but the effects are getting better and better as each film develops. Technology is pretty advanced today, and they have learned to bring the CGI in, but it a way that is not obtrusive, without ruining the effort. It’s hardly noticeable most of the time, until you realize you are looking at a ghost shark that is nothing but a skeleton, or a sunken ship that somehow rises and floats along without much structure at all, mostly holes. The action is exciting and practically non-stop, but the story is solid enough to keep our interest in what is going on. I was very impressed with this movie, and I was glad I saw it on opening day on a BIG screen in a reclining chair with a huge bucket of popcorn with my Diet Coke. The sound was awesome, and the 2+ hours flew by so fast I forgot to get bored. I highly recommend this film as probably the biggest film of the summer and a great way to spend the holiday weekend. Be sure to see this film in the theater. It’s worth every penny!

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Lucamar Productions, Marc Platt Productions, Walt Disney Pictures,

Anna Kendrick, Johnny Depp, Chris Pine, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, James Corden, Lilla Crawford

A Baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt) live next door to a wicked witch (Meryl Streep) who informs them that their house is cursed because of something his father did years ago, and they can never have a child unless they retrieve four items from the woods before midnight on the third day. This happens to be a fantasy forest where all of the major fairy tale characters live, such as Cinderella (Anna Kendrick), Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford), Jack (Daniel Huttlestone) and his mother (Tracy Ullman) and many more. The poor baker and his wife set out into the woods to meet up with all these other characters to try to locate the items in time while lots of perils and troubles plague everyone. This film is a musical based upon the Broadway musical by Stephen Sondheim of the same name.

I have been waiting for a long time for this film. I suspect it will get mixed reviews. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion of what art is, and one man’s pile of junk is another man’s brilliant sculpture. I went to the theater positive this would garner a 5 star review. I was sorely disappointed. The look of this film is tremendous. The sets and locations are stunning. The effects are dazzling, but the music did not impress me much. They tried to throw all the characters together, which is a lot to bite off, but they cut what they didn’t want, modified the stories to fit the plan, and then drew out parts that seemed like they would never end. Oh, and the music. I wasn’t sure if i heard different songs, or one long song that changed it up once in a while. I won’t remember any of the music tomorrow. It seems like they said a word or two, made a point or shared a value judgement, then everyone stopped to sing about the same thing over and over for quite some time. The songs did not drive the story forward, they seemed more like a timeout every few minutes. Some of the characters were good. Meryl Streep was amazing, of course, and this was a great role for her. If you can’t imagine her as a wicked witch, that’s the idea, cause she pulled it off. Chris Pine has a nice singing voice, and he’s actually a pretty decent guy, really, but this role had nothing for him to do. I have no idea what happened to him towards the end, as he just went insane and faded out of the picture????? In fact, when the story comes to a nice smooth ending, where Cinderella and the Prince get married and the baker and his wife have their baby, everything is swelling up to a fine fairy tale finish and credits, and then this film takes a bizarre turn into a land where no one ought to go. Bodies are piling up, everything turns really, really dark, and no one is unscathed. We plod on and on and on and on, with no end in sight, and it seems like the whole theater turned really restless. Things got pointless, as I said, extremely dark, and not much made sense after that.

This is a PG rated film, that is very violent and extremely dark for kids. You really need to use Parental Guidance on this one. But even more I would hate to unleash this long dragged out musical on the kids who would probably enjoy a 45 minute version of this without any of the music. I’m not sure where the new musical thing came in where there is really no dialog ,but everything is sung. Les Miserables was like that. I would have liked the story much better if they would have talked more and sung much less. Granted there are great songs in Les Mis, but all the singing in between the songs is what drove me nuts. This is even worse as they sing and sing and sing the same stuff over and over making the same points again and again, and it’s really chaotic. I am speaking heresy here, and the Sondheim fans are going to crucify me, but my reviews are my opinions, and I really felt cheated here. I had such high hopes.

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Walt Disney Pictures, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Blind Wink Productions,

Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer, William Fichtner, Tom Wilkinson, Ruth Wilson, Helena Bonham Carter, James Badge Dale, Bryant Prince, Barry Pepper

In the 1930’s a little boy wearing a mask and carrying a toy gun visits the wild west museum at a traveling carnival. As he pauses in front of the display showing the Native American in his natural habitat, the very old Indian brave is suddenly startled to see the masked man in front of him. He comes to life and begins to tell the fascinated little boy his name is Tonto (Johnny Depp) and of his adventures in the olden days riding with John Reid (Armie Hammer) a Texas Ranger, and John’s brother, Dan Reid (James Badge Dale) also a Ranger. The were chasing the notorious outlaw Butch Cavendish (William Fichtner) as he did the bidding of one Latham Cole (Tom Wilkinson) who was overseer of the Transcontinental Railroad, but more interested in stealing, and certainly not afraid to do anything to get what they want.

This Princess Bride type story follows the tales of an aged Tonto as he describes (and maybe embellishes a bit) the story of the beginning of the lifelong friendship between The Lone Ranger and Tonto. I have been waiting to see this movie for over a year now. Somehow when it came out on NetFlix, I didn’t get it, and I fell into the “Very Long Wait” pit for a long, long time, until it got buried further and further down in my queue to never have a chance to get back to the top. I had planned to pick it up at Redbox, but never managed to do that. Out of sight, out of mind. Then along came the release of the new season opener of “Outlander” the series on Starz, and they offered everyone a free premier weekend to try to hook us all on the series. But I happened to notice “The Lone Ranger” and I set the DVR and now finally got to see this. It’s a long movie, well over 2, almost 2 1/2 hours. It got horrible reviews, and I heard nothing but bad things about it when it was out. I suppose that kind of suppressed my desire to see this film, as I didn’t want to mourn another Disney failure.

What I found was a very interesting and well done little adventure. This is a lot like what Wild Wild West could have been, but wasn’t, and it was actually a very good well thought out script. I have decided that the primary complaint most people have with the film is thinly disguised backlash against the two lead actors. I know that a lot of people have an instant dislike to anything Johnny Depp has anything to do with. That automatically brings criticism, and of course hiring Johnny Depp (who also helped produce the film) as a Native American when there are so many real authentic Native Americans who could play the roll is a bit of a backhand to them. Likewise, Johnny Depp brings his usual smart-ass slapstick off kilter humor into it as well. For example, he wears a dead bird on his head which he keeps feeding throughout the film. He does his usual Johnny Depp shenanigans which I’m sure turned a lot of people off. Remember that despite the huge success of the Pirates of the Caribbean films, Disney never wanted Johnny’s portrayal of Jack Sparrow to be the giddy childish fool of a pirate that he played, but he insisted and really couldn’t pull off anything else. But Tonto is a funny character, and he does bring a lot of humor to the situation. The Lone Ranger was made up of 20 minute episodes that fly by in a moment. It would get very tedious if they tried to keep up that level of seriousness for an entire feature film. Armie Hammer, likewise, is not a highly liked actor either. Many thought he was sorely miscast, although I don’t blame them for that choice either, as he has to be a foil for Tonto’s antics, and he’s supposed to be a big city tenderfoot who’s trying to play cowboy without the skills. Finally, I suspect there is the group that is a big fan of the original TV series, and doesn’t like the fact that they made a bit of a mockery out of it. All of these reasons, I think, rolled up together to sink this ship before it left the port. But I must say, I really enjoyed the movie, was quite interested in the entire story, and really, really liked it. I think it got a very bad rap and was not nearly as bad as people made out. Obviously it was visually stunning, the scenery in and around the West, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona is beautiful, and I thought the story was very well done. I would say if you shunned this film, to give it a chance now that it’s out on TV and DVD, and see if maybe they weren’t a little too harsh on this film.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Alcon Entertainment, DMG Entertainment, Straight Up Films,

Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Morgan Freeman, Paul Bettany, Cillian Murphy, Kate Mara, Cole Hauser, Clifton Collins Jr.

Dr. Will Caster (Johnny Depp) is the premier scientist in the field of neural networks. Along with his wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) and a few close partners, he has studied artificial intelligence, but also made himself a target of a group of rebels who fear that the new technology will ruin humanity.

This is a very thought provoking film. I found myself enthralled with the science and technology presented but at the same time, this film was very human. I have seen this story before, where the dangers of computers becoming smarter than humans and then trying to take over and subjugate the frail humans, but this is a whole different take on it. Born out of desperation, Caster wants to help people, but is it really still Caster, or has he lost what makes him human? Are the rebels right, or are they just paranoid? None of these answers are obvious, and like life, everything is a little bit grey, with no clear black and white. The look of the film is beautiful. The soundtrack doesn’t interfere, but blends perfectly with the film. And actually Johnny Depp was an excellent choice for this film. He brings his childish innocence that he can do so well, but is able to convince us that he really is the uber-intelligent scientist that he portrays. Morgan Freeman’s role is not huge, but it’s absolutely essential that Dr. Caster has someone to depend on, besides his wife of course, and Freeman really lights up ever scene he is in.

There’s a lot for everyone in this movie. It’s certainly an excellent science fiction film for the geek in us. It’s got a strong ethical element that is very thought provoking, and it’s a pretty darn good love story too. As a bonus, the battle scenes are not bad either. All in all, this is a good all around movie. I would think that even Johnny Depp haters (you know you’re out there) would appreciate his performance in this film. I really found it excellent, and well worth the price of admission. I’ve seen some really good films lately, but this was really one of the best I’ve seen in a long time. I really enjoyed everything about this movie, and I highly recommend it.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog