Ed's Review Dot Com

LD Entertainment, Mark Gordon Productions,

Tobey Maguire, Elizabeth Banks, Laura Linney, Ray Liotta, Kerry Washington, Dennis Haysbert

Jeff Land (Tobey Maguire) is a doctor, living a boring but comfortable life in the suburbs with wife Nealy (Elizabeth Banks). But Jeff isn’t very happy. He has a child and his wife seems to have lost all interest in him. They’re never intimate anymore, even when the kid is asleep, so Jeff turns to internet porn to satisfy his needs. Furthermore, as pesky group have raccoons have decided to dig up Jeff’s yard, doing major damage reminiscent of Bill Murray’s character in “Caddyshack”. Like groundskeeper Carl, Jeff takes on a war with the raccoons that takes up his time. But he further strays into cheating with a couple different neighbors, and finds himself in deeper hot water due to his urges and the way he tries to satisfy them, in this dark comedy that hits home in a number of way to most of us.

This is basically a peep into the male psyche on two levels. The lengths we men will go to fight dragons and wage our own war once we get an idea in our heads. Jeff could probably solve the raccoon problem with one phone call, but instead he gets obsessed with fighting the war himself. The second is the length we will go to to satisfy our cravings when we’re missing the love and attention at home. Instead of battling the problem in his marriage and trying work things it’s, it’s easier to bury yourself in other dangerous endeavors.

This is an interesting departure for Tobey Maguire. He’s obviously known for his portrayal of Spiderman, which was pretty awesome, but outside of Seabiscuit, we haven’t been able to see a lot of stuff from Mr. Maguire. He plays this role pretty well, and does a fine job. My problem with the film is that it’s a bit slow, and though it has a few interesting parts, much of it is like watching paint dry. Laura Linney is good as the lonely neighbor who offers herself up as one of Jeff’s conquests, but aside from that, there’s not a whole lot going on here. All in all, it’s a fair film, and has some interesting character development, all in all, there’s just not enough going on to keep it from falling flat. If you’re interested in the subject, or a fan of Tobey Maguire, give it a shot, but for most of it, there’s better stuff out there. This is available on Watch Instantly on NetFlix now, so it’s easy to give it a try if you’re interested and see if it appeals. But for the most part, I shrug my shoulders, and say, “Oh, well.”

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The Weinstein Company, Columbia Pictures,

Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Walton Goggins, Dennis Christopher, James Remar, Michael Parks, Don Johnson

Django (Jamie Foxx) is an escaped slave who is in trouble. He’s chained and being taken back for sale when German dentist/ bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Christop Waltz) shows up looking for him and wanting to purchase his freedom. Django set out as a team to capture the bad guys and turn them in for cash, while Django’s ultimate goal is to find and rescue his wife who was sold to another slave owner and reek havoc all along the way.

This is a homage to the spaghetti westerns of the 70’s from the music and ambiance all the way down to the cheesy titles in the beginning. It truly succeeds at that. I fondly remember the days when these movies were really exciting. This film mixes that genre with the Kill Bill/Pulp Fiction style which is prevalent in other Quentin Tarantino films, and gives the film the unbelievable gun fights that make very little sense and the ultra slow motion views of bodies blowing apart and such. This is exactly what you’d expect from a Tarantino homage to the previously stated films. Jamie Foxx does a pretty decent job of playing the Clint Eastwood guy who’s supposed to be a hero, but that is one thing I think fails a little bit in this film. Clint Eastwood’s hero/good guy thing is perfect because he has a strong understanding of right and wrong, good and bad, and so on. Eastwood is a really hard guy, says little, and still you know and understand his sense of right and wrong. Django, on the other hand, is a little tougher to read. We understand that he’s had a horrible life, and has really been wronged. We also feel for him that he has a right to go after the guys that did him wrong, but somehow there’s just a little too much glee in the revenge angle. He had a bit too much fun killing these guys. Then again, it may be just a bit of resentment I bring to the movie after Jamie Foxx’s Saturday Night Live performance which was so over the line. The whole monologue bit about “I got to kill all the white people! How awesome is that?” bit kind of struck me as a bit over the line. I was a fan of Jamie’s since the In Living Color days which was one of my favorite comedy shows back in the day, but he’s gotten a lot more militant in his “I hate white people” rants in recent years. I’m sorry he hates me so much when I don’t even know him. So perhaps some of that has tainted my enjoyment of his glee in killing white people in this movie.

Christoph Waltz was really good in this film. He brought a lot of humor to the movie, and was a really good, yet quirky guy, that is perfect for the film. I think the homage to the westerns of old is very well pulled off. Certainly Jamie Foxx does a very good job of the hard edged, cool headed angel of death as well. The camera work was very well done, and the setting was very good. For Tarantino fans, this is every bit as good as his other top notch work, and I can see why it was up for so many awards. There is not a lot wrong with this movie, and it deserved all the nods that it got. Remember, however, that if you’re turned off by violence and gore, this, like any other Tarantino work is very graphic. But if you can look past it, this is very well worth watching.

I have not mentioned the original 1966 Django film starring Franco Nero. It’s a similar story, and one many attribute the entire spaghetti western genre. It is a totally different film though, and has no relation to this story at all (other than the general feel to it) so there is no reason to really compare the two. This is not a remake. However, Tarantino says he was researching the director of Django (Sergio Corbucci) and decided to make what he called a “southern” which is a “western” staged in the deep south. Franco Nero, who starred in the original Django actually had a cameo role in Django Unchained.

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DreamWorks SKG, Saturn Films, Varsity Pictures

Eddie Murphy, Kerry Washington, Cliff Curtis, Clark Duke, Ruby Dee, Allison Janney, Ariel Winter, Justina Machado, John Witherspoon, Jack McBrayer, Jordan-Claire Green

Jack McCall (Eddie Murphy) is a fast talker. He’s a literary agent, and wants to sign the new book of the latest Indian Guru at any cost. He strikes up a deal, makes some huge promises and promptly finds it all falling apart. When he arrives home, he finds a strange tree in his yard. The tree loses a single leaf for every single word he utters. Jack needs to learn the consequences of the things he says.

I went into this film not expecting much. Poor Eddie’s had a rough time lately, and I was afraid this would be horrible. It appears a lot of people agreed, because it came and went without any attention whatsoever. So when it arrived on DVD, I figured it was worth taking a chance on it. It’s a very small and understated film. I expected crazy, over the top humor. It wasn’t. It was very low key, with good jokes and humor that fit the story, but with a touching story that really gets to the point. It reminded me of Liar Liar in a way, but was still unique in the way Eddie played it. I expected that it was a curse set upon him by the guru, but it appears it was simply Karma teaching him a lesson. It was a hard lesson for poor Jack to learn, but in the end, he found out what is really valuable and what is trash. This is not the kind of movie you run out to spend $13.00 to see in the cinema, but it’s well worth watching on DVD. I recommend you take a quiet even and pop this one on and see what you missed. One of those hidden gems that we miss in the theater and DVD gives us a chance to enjoy. This is not Beverly Hills Cop or The Nutty Professor, but it’s definitely worth watching and enjoying.

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Everest Entertainment, Cha Cha Cha, Mockingbird Pictures

Alexandria Salling, Connor Kramme, Annette Bening, Eileen Ryan, Samuel L Jackson, Naomi Watts, Cherry Jones, Kerry Washington,  David Ramsey, Kay, D’Arcy, Bradford Alex, Jimmy Smits, Elipida Carrillo, Simone Lopez, Carla Gallo

Mother and Child is one of those trilogies in a single movie stories.  It’s basically about 3 women.  First is Karen (Annette Benning) who became pregnant when she was 14 and gave the baby up for adaption.  Now 35 years later, she’s always regretted what she has done and is a very bitter, actually mean, person.   The second is her daughter, Elizabeth (Naomi Watts) who has grown into a woman with hardly any heart.  She’s a tough cookie and doesn’t trust anyone, especially men, but not opposed in the least to use her attractiveness to gain whatever advantage she can.  She went to Mexico for a tubal ligation when she was 17 and was shocked when she suddenly turned up pregnant.   The third story is about an African American wife who wants a child but cannot have one.  She and her husband are given the opportunity to adopt, but later complications arise.  The mother decides to keep the baby and the husband decides something even worse.

This is a typical indie type film, very, very slow to develop.  In one way the story is very cut and dried and you’re certain where it’s going to end up.  But there are a number of surprises coming along, and not what you would expect.  The way the lives of the three women cross is really strange and amazing.  There are twists and turns galore.  Truly it’s very ironic and very sad, and I would say depressing in a lot of ways.   This is not a friend family feel good picture by any means.  It’s very dark and deep, and it develops very, very slowly.  If you stick with it to the end, you will see that it’s very well written and the actors are very good as well.  But my fear is that a lot of people are not going to want to stick through the whole thing to get the the twist ending where two people meet who you would never have expected to get together.  If you like deep sincere indie films, you’ll like this one I’m sure, but be warned that it is a very slow developing relationship picture and not an easy thing to watch.  If you’re looking just to be entertained, this isn’t it, but if you don’t mind working through an intense film, it’s good.

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