Ed's Review Dot Com

20th Century, Anonymous Content, Appian Way, Monarchy Enterprises S.a.r.l.,

Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson, Will Poulter, Lukas Haas

Set in the 1820’s this is a story of some fur trappers guided by Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) who were attacked by the Indians who wanted to steal the pelts. Scouting ahead, Glass is attacked by a grizzly bear and when he is found, he is nearly dead and not expected to make it. Three men were left behind to take of Glass and bury him properly when he died, but they took off to collect the reward and left him for dead. But he didn’t die, and against all odds, sets out to find the man who left him behind.

This is an epic film, two and a half hours long and very moving. Nominated for Best Picture for 2016 it did not win it, but perhaps it should have. But it was good enough to get the best actor nod for Leo. He deserved that as well. This is a tale of extreme cold and misery with a little starvation thrown in, not to mention the horrible wounds his body suffered at this graphic attack by the bear. This was extremely well done, and today’s technology is a far cry from a guy in a bear suit. If you don’t totally believe Leo was mauled for real, I don’t believe you. The location is the 2nd biggest star of this film, and it was so realistic looking that it blew me away. This is definitely a BIG SCREEN movie so hurry to watch it before it goes away. Usually the Academy Awards lift will give it extra legs. Leo’s performance was unbelievable, and he really put his whole heart and soul into this movie. There were other really great performances as well including Tom Hardy as “Fitzpatrick” the real villain in the story, and Captain Andrew Henry (Domhall Gleeson) who add a great deal, but this is truly Leo’s movie. The effort that went into producing this blockbuster must have been epic as well. It’s quite long, but hardly long enough, and the action and adventure is over the top. This is definitely one of the best films in a number of years, and is one you really don’t want to miss. This is an exciting movie. Don’t miss it.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Universal Pictures, Relativity Media, Working Title Films,

Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster, Giovanni Ribisi, Caleb Landry Jones, Diego Luna, J.K. Simmons, Lukas Haas, Connor Hill, Bryce McDaniel

Chris Farraday (Mark Wahlberg) has gone straight. Formerly an infamous smuggler, and coming from a smuggling family (His father taught him the business) he’s now a legitimate businessman. But when his brother-in-law screws up and loses a drug shipment, Chris has to leave his family, sign up as a deck hand on a ship going from Panama to New Orleans to repay his brother-in-law’s debt, and to protect his family as well. But the Captain of the ship recognizes him and gives him the most difficult and disgusting tasks. But that’s just the least of the problems. The Captain has his eyes on him. The bad guys have kidnapped his family, and things change very fast as they try to stay one step ahead of disaster.

This is a rip roaring, action packed thriller, and one of Markie Mark’s best in many years! For a small film that got little interest, I was very impressed. There are twists and turns throughout, and we get faked out so many times. I was pretty impressed. The views of New Orleans and Panama are really good, but the action as this movie takes off is really impressive. And Kate Beckinsale is in the film!!!

Seriously, the action is intense, and the story, once it grabs you, doesn’t let good. So I was very surprised by this movie, as I had not heard of it before it came out on DVD. It was a pleasant surprise, and a hidden gem among a whole bunch of clinkers lately! And did I say, Kate Beckinsale was in the movie?

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Appian Way, Random Films, Warner Bros. Pictures

Amanda Seyfried, Gary Oldman, Shiloh Fernandez, Billy Burke, Lukas Haas, Michael Shanks, Julie Christie, Virginia Madsen, Michael Hogan

A little village in the woods has had a problem for many, many years. A fragile peace with a werewolf keeps them alive, but when there’s a full moon, no one goes out after dark. The best animal in the village is chained out as a sacrifice to the werewolf, and it’s been okay for many years. There is a family in town with a somewhat feeble minded father, so it seems, and a Mom with a dark secret. There are two daughters, The older is in love with Henry (Max Irons) but he’s in love with Valerie (Amanda Seyfried). Valerie on the other hand is in love with the woodcutter Peter (Shiloh Fernandez). Henry is wealthy, so Valerie has been betrothed to Henry against her will, so Peter and Valerie have determined to run away. Suddenly, however, the werewolf turns and kills Valerie’s older sister setting the town in a panic and dashing Valerie’s and Peter’s plan to run away. The village sets out to find and kill the werewolf, but fail, so they bring in Father Solomon (Gary Oldman) who has personal experience with fighting werewolves.

Amanda Seyfried is really cute in this role, and she plays it very well. I’ve been impressed with her in the last couple movies she’s starred in. This is a mysterious thriller, more than a horror film. It’s PG-13, so no real blood and guts. The werewolf is a fantastic wolf-like (more than human) CGI creature who is very convincing. But mostly there are flashes of what we can’t clearly see which scare the heck out of the audience. The sights and sounds are great. It’s a very suspenseful who-done-it, and fun to see it early on so you can try to figure out who the werewolf is. Of course it has to be someone who knows the village very well and they throw enough mis-clues at us to keep us guessing until the end. It was very fun to watch. But that is not to say it is perfect. Several flaws show themselves very clearly. There are some holes big enough to drive a tank through. But this is a fairy tale after all, so we’re going to have to suspend some of our critical thinking and just enjoy the film. Valerie’s mom is not very well played. It’s over acted to extreme, and her father is likewise both a dumb cluck and loser. Grandma is also a strange lady who lives out in the woods by herself, because since Valerie’s grandfather passed away, she has preferred to live all alone. That, of course, gives Red Valerie Riding Hood a chance to go on her way to Grandmother’s house through the woods. Grandmother is played very well by Julie Christie who is one of the strangest and brightest parts of the film.

All in all, it’s well directed and well played for the most part. I enjoyed it very much and it appeared most of the audience did as well. It was suspenseful, shocking at times, and very fun to watch. This was one film that was worth the money to watch on the big screen!

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Insight Film Studio

Kim Basinger, Lukas Haas, Craig Sheffer, Jamie Starr, Leonard Wu, Luis Chavez

While She Was Out (available on NetFlix Watch Instantly) is a thriller.  It’s a small movie, but it has it’s points.    This reminds me of  I Spit On Your Grave, although not near as graphic, yet it does have some interesting kills in it that would do Friday the 13th proud!   (If you want to be truly shocked by a movie, I Spit on Your Grave is the one to do that!  It’s hard to find, but how it managed to get released in the U.S. is amazing to me)

Della (Kim Basinger) is an abused wife with a loser jackass of a husband.  Christmas Eve she has to make a last minute trip to the mall.  No parking anywhere to be found, and some jerk in a piece of junk car is taking up two parkings spaces.   She’s got to set this right!   So she writes the driver a note and sticks it on the windshield.   Now, I’ve wanted to do that lots of times, but never quite had the guts to pull it off.  But she did it.  When she came back, she found the parking lot is almost empty, the mall is closed, and the “0wner” of the car knows who she is.

From this point we find out what a bad-ass she is, and it’s a cat and mouse game of tag, you’re it, that goes on for the rest of the movie.  Sometimes she’s meek and afraid and sometimes she’s a wildcat!

It’s not a wonderful movie, but it’s got it’s moments.  It’s not terrible either.  It’s just a middle of the road thriller with a few clever effects.   It’s filmed in British Columbia, but it’s not got spectacular scenery.  It’s rainy and muddy and pretty darn ugly really, but that’s to fit with the mood of the movie.  It’s a chase to the end, and Ms. Basinger is not a wimp by any means.

There is an ending that I thought was very obvious, but since it isn’t shown, many people were baffled by what happens at the very end.  Let’s just say,  “What did you buy me?” was probably not the right question.

I was amused throughout the movie, but never blown away, so if you want something great to watch, this isn’t great, but if you want something to kill some time with, and you’re a fan of slasher flicks, you could do much worse than this one!