Ed's Review Dot Com

Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Pictures,

Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Santino Fontana, Josh Gad, Alan Tudyk, Fred Tatasciore, Chris Williams, Ciarán Hinds, Stephen J. Anderson, Maia Wilson, Edie McClurg, Robert Pine, Maurice LaMarche, Livvy Stubenrauch, Eva Bella, Spencer Lacy Ganus, Jesse Corti, Jeff Marcus, Tucker Gilmore

Two daughters, Elsa (Idina Menzel) and Anna (Kristen Bell) are left alone in the castle when their parents are suddenly taken. Anna, the eldest has powers that can freeze anything at a touch, and has been hidden away to keep the subjects from knowing her secret because Elsa is set to become the queen now that her father and mother are gone. But Anna can’t understand why Elsa stays locked up and won’t associate with her. When her subjects find out a tragedy happens and Elsa runs away to the top of the mountain. It’s up to Anna and her new found friends to search for Elsa and let her know everything will be OK.

Wow, Disney Animation Studios have been killing it lately. This is an excellent film. Prior to the feature film, there is a Mickey Mouse cartoon. This cartoon has been made for 3D! There’s no doubt about it that this short film has to be seen in 3D. Additionally the beauty of Frozen is also very much enhanced by 3D. This film is probably the best 3D production I’ve seen, and I was blown away by the wonderful story, great music, and the 3D effects. So get yourself to a theater right away before it’s too late to catch this movie on the big screen in full 3D! This is one of the best animated films I have seen in a long time. I think this one is destined for tons of awards. The animation is excellent, and as I already stated, everything else is great as well. Some wonderful songs, and great new characters. Kids will love Olaf, the snowman who was created to sell toys. Olaf is a character, and a great addition to the film. If I could fault anything, and I really can’t, but if I could, it would be that Disney has now gone way overboard in response to the criticism of the old sexist ways. Princesses waiting for their Prince to rescue them, and the fact that basically none of the Princesses had a mother, and if they did, she was evil and a bad person. Well, now we have Princesses with “Girl Power” who won’t wait for anyone to rescue them. In fact, the guys now are idiots, incompetent at the least, and sometimes downright helpless, and the gals run right into the fray and fight their way through and rescue the poor princes who are quite helpless. It’s a new age, and I think we have to learn to live with that. I’m sure there are girls out there who still are into the Princess thing, but these are young beautiful girls with a kick like a mule. Anna doesn’t wait for any guy to rescue her! That being said, it’s a wonderful new age kind of movie, and I highly recommend this one in the theater with 3D glasses in place!

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Informant Media, MICA Entertainment,

Logan Lerman, Kristen Bell, Jennifer Connelly, Lily Collins, Rusty Joiner, Greg Kinnear, Liana Liberato, Spencer Breslin, Nat Wolff

The Borgan family is a clan of writers. Father William (Greg Kinnear) is an established writer and has been long divorced by his wife who has remarried. William is waiting for his wife to come back to him. His eldest daughter is very angry with Mom over the divorce, and her younger brother is a budding science fiction writer who is filled with optimism, the opposite of his sister. This is a very dysfunctional family that has to deal with their issues, as each of them has a lot to learn to mend the family.

Greg Kinnear is very good in this film. It’s one of those family dramas with some realistic depictions of a dysfunctional family. There are very complex relationships going on at all levels, and it’s a very good character study. It’s an indie film, but flowed very well for me. I found it an interesting film with enough going on to really develop the characters, but to keep it quite interesting throughout. There are some really funny moments, but I wouldn’t classify this as a comedy by any means. But the humor adds a lot to the story. Basically there are a lot of layers to this story, and it’s interesting to watch them unfold. I really enjoyed this movie, and as a romance/drama independent film, I found it very easy to watch. It was a surprise to me, as I had not heard of this film, but I can recommend this one.

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Relativity Media, Virgin Produced, GreeneStreet Films,

Kate Winslet, Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Naomi Watts, Jeremy Allen White, Anna Faris, Chris Pratt, Kieran Culkin, Emma Stone, Jason Sudeikis, Justin Long, Leslie Bibb, Uma Thurman, Kristen Bell, Bobby Cannavale, John Hodgman, Halle Berry, Seann William Scott, Elizabeth Banks, Stephen Merchant, Nicole Polizzi, Johnny Knoxville, Richard Gere, Jack McBrayer, Kate Bosworth, Gerard Butler, Terrence Howard, Chloë Grace Moretz, Josh Duhamel

Charlie Wessler (Dennis Quaid) is a washed up producer who is going nowhere. He weasels his way onto the studio lot to pitch his latest idea for a blockbuster Hollywood film to producer Griffin Schraeder (Greg Kinnear). Unfortunately it is a series of extremely inappropriate sketches. This movie is basically a really far out series of unrelated stores tied together with the efforts Charlie makes to get his idea turned into a movie at all costs, even at gunpoint with hostages if necessary in this hilarious star studded off-the-wall comedy.

Outrageous is an understatement for this film. The sketches are the most inappropriate stuff you have ever seen. This movie has it’s roots in the classic 1977 “Kentucky Fried Movie” but rather than just being short sketches, this one ties it all together with Dennis Quaid’s efforts to get this piece of crap made, even though Greg Kinnear is going to do everything possible to make sure that doesn’t happen. What happens is a series of extremely funny bits with a TON of major stars. I don’t know how they talked all these people into being in this crazy film, but it must have been a real blast making it. It gets so out of hand, and goes where no film has gone before. I really enjoyed the craziness of this film. It is really out there. You have to be able to deal with the gross subject matter as nothing is off limits, and it’s really nasty sometimes, but the outrageousness of it is what makes it really funny. If you remember Kentucky Fried Movie, and if you enjoyed that, then you’re sure to crack up over this one.

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Exclusive Media Group, Panay Films, Primate Pictures,

Dax Shepard, Kristen Bell, Bradley Cooper, Tom Arnold, Joy Bryant, Kristin Chenoweth, David Koechner, Michael Rosenbaum, Beau Bridges, Jess Rowland

Charles Bronson (Dax Shepard) is a getaway driver living in the witness protection program. He’s under police protection and not able to leave the area, but when his girlfriend, Annie (Kristen Bell) gets a job offer from Los Angeles, Charlie breaks out of witness protection to drive her across the country to L.A. Along the way they are chased by police officer Randy Anderson (Tom Arnold), and the gang led by Bradley Cooper that he turned in.

What follows is one of the best of the cross country chases since Smokey and the Bandit. This is actually a really funny film. This is an ensemble piece, and all the different actors bring their own flair to the comedy. Dax and Kristen make a really cute couple, and of course they have their problems, but we can see he has a good heart. Meanwhile Tom Arnold is very Barney Fifeish and this actually is a pretty decent role for him. He plays a bumbling sheriff as good as anyone. There are a few smaller roles that are also really good. Kristin Chenoweth, David Koechner, and Beau Bridges have smaller roles, but bring a lot to the party. All in all, it’s really fun. The time flies by and there are really a lot of laughs. I didn’t expect a lot from this film, but I was really pleasantly surprised. It was much better than I expected, and I was surprised at how much fun it really was. If you like chase comedies like Rat Race and It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, this is along those lines. Not a classic by any means, but a really good time. It’s great for a rental.

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Big Beach Films, Duplass Brothers Productions,

Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, Jake M. Johnson, Karan Soni, Jenica Bergere, Kristen Bell, Jeff Garlin, Mary Lynn Rajskub

Darius (Aubrey Plaza) is an intern at a magazine. One of the writers gets the assignment of investigating a strange ad requesting someone as a partner to “travel back in time, safety not guaranteed, bring you own weapon.” He brings Darius who is very anxious to go, and another reluctant intern and sets off on the journey. When they get there, the writer is much more interested in reconnecting with an old flame, while Darius spends time getting to know Kenneth (Mark Duplass) the strange man who has a wish to travel back in time to save the life of an ex-girlfriend he feels he let die.

This is one of those rather strange independent films. But this is actually an interesting film. It’s slow and plodding, but it seems everything has a purpose, and each of the characters is developed before our eyes. We can see the ulterior motives of everyone, and as things things go by we get to know them little by little.

This is one of those films where you never know exactly what’s going on, and as soon as you’re sure you do, things go off in a different direction. It’s unnerving as you try to figure out what’s exactly going on. Is this guy Kenneth dangerous, or just extremely crazy. He’s one paranoid freak, that’s for sure, thinking everyone is after him. Aubrey takes on her first lead role in a motion picture (You might remember her from Parks and Recreation on TV) and she does a wonderful job.

Then there is the ending. Truly, you’re never going to know what’s actually happening, and that’s exactly the way it should be. Often this type of film ends up being so artsy that it’s unwatchable. This one doesn’t. This is actually a very interesting, though strange, kind of story, and one that I really enjoyed. For something totally out of the ordinary, check this one out!

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