Ed's Review Dot Com

Marvel Studios,

Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chadwick Boseman, Brie Larson, Tom Holland, Karen Gillan, Zoe Saldana, Evangeline Lilly

In the last film, Avengers:Infinity war (2018) the universe was devastated. Half of the avengers were killed. The remaining allies have banded together with the remaining Avengers to try to reverse Thanos’ actions and once again put things back the way they were before the destruction took place. This means traveling back in time to steal all the jewels and bring them all back together again. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.

People who know me, know I’m not a huge comic book or superhero fan. For the most part, superhero films leave me with an empty feeling. I felt that I did have to watch the Avengers films though as they were so powerfully hyped up. In the end of Infinity War, I found myself wondering what the hell I had just watched. Feeling there must be more, I couldn’t believe the ending. It was quite a bummer, believe me. So I headed out to see this one to see if it could fix up the horror of the last movie’s ending. I wasn’t disappointed, as the obvious has to happen, but the way it did was awesome. The intensity and the quality of this movie made it well worth watching, and although this is no way my favorite film of any genre, it was awfully well done. It nice to see everyone brought together, and the suspense of no one can fail or the whole plan fails helped to make it as intense and could be. All in all, it’s a very well made film with really memorable characters and well worth the price of admission. It’s a must see, especially if you saw the last one’s devastation and destruction. This is a very well done film and a must see just the same.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Annapurna Pictures, Likely Story, Media Rights Capital,

Channing Tatum, Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Michael Hall, Sienna Miller, Vanessa Redgrave

In 1999 the news screamed out the story of the richest man in history to be convicted of murder, when John DuPont (Steve Carell) heir to the DuPont chemical fortune was sent to prison for murdering David Schultz (Mark Ruffalo) in the driveway of DuPont’s guest house where he and his wife and children were living. The Schultz bothers, older brother David, and younger brother Mark (Channing Tatum) were a couple of the best gold medal winning wrestling champions in US History. This film is Mark’s story of how we met John DuPont and John’s efforts to buy his way into Olympic wrestling in a effort to maintain a level of importance. He opened the Foxcatcher facility and trained many US Olympic wrestlers there with the help of the Schultz brothers. This is the story of what happened and though we may never know why it happened, at least it is an interesting tale of the events of that day that shocked the country when the new came out.

This is an interesting biographical film. Like most Hollywood versions of true story, it is based upon the events that happened, but not absolutely true to all the facts. What we have though is a very strong cast acting their way through a fascinating story. Steve Carell was even nominated as best actor for his performance, a very somber role for the usually funny Mr. carell, but certenly within his wheelhouse for sure. Channing Tatum gave a really strong performance as did Mark Ruffalo. Even Vanessa Redgrave gave a charming performance as John DuPont’s mother, even though it’s very short. It is still a great performance. Critics of the film call it slow. It does certainly plod along, and at 2 hours and 15 minutes, it probably could have been shorter, but I didn’t find it boring at any point. The time was well used to develop the characteristics of each of these characters, and with the star cast, it takes time to fully develop that. In the end, even at over 2 hours running time, it feels like we’ve missed some of the facts, and it was off to Wikipedia to learn more about the story. I give credit to the writers, directors, and producers for presenting a great feature film on the subject, and am really impressed with the level of acting that went into it. I found it an interesting story, and recommend this film to those who enjoy biographical historical tales that are stranger than fiction.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Anonymous Content, First Look Media, Participant Media,

Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, Stanley Tucci, John Slattery

Based on a true story, Spotlight is a special team of of investigative journalists working at the Boston Globe. They take on stories that take extra time and effort, sometime up to a year to seek out all the facts and prepare a special story or series of stories. Led by Robby Robinson (Michael Keaton) the Globe get a new manager from Miami who wants to improve sales. One his ideas is for Spotlight to investigate the policy of the Catholic Church to reassign priests who are known pedophiles, molesting young boys and girls. As the dig into the story, the find much more than they ever expected. This is true story of how they managed to go against all the odds to bring this story to light in one of the most groundbreaking stories of all times.

This movie won Best Picture at the Academy Awards in 2016. Surprisingly, this is the second film in a row starring Michael Keaton to win Best Picture. This is a very well done Docudrama and won an award for being most accurate portrayal of a real story, and the actors certainly put a LOT of effort into making the depictions of the real characters very lifelike. In fact, many of the reporters hung around the set and were amazed at how accurate the settings and depictions were done. Best film of 2015? I doubt that, but it is a good film. Hollywood types have a strange way of jumping on the bandwagon to to vote for a cause instead of a film, but this is not the worst Best Picture I have seen them choose. But it is popular to bash the Catholics these days. Most of the reporters who investigated the real story were, in fact, Roman Catholics, and they went to great lengths to show the hard choice of telling the story, even if it harms the church that has done a lot of good for the city. This is a conundrum, for sure. The agony in the faces of the folks is very well portrayed. From what I read, the actors did so well in portraying the people, that many of them remarked that it was like looking in a mirror. Robbie Robinson said that if Michael Keaton robbed a bank, the Boston Cops would be standing by ready to put the cuffs on Mr. Robinson in a blink of an eye. It was a nice compliment to the performance Michael pulled off. Basically, the subject matter is hard to take, and they may have been able to spend a little more effort on the victims, instead of all about the reporters, but that is how they chose to show it. All in all, this is a very well done movie and well worth watching. It’s a very serious topic, but very well done.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Class 5 Films, Olympus Pictures,

Mark Ruffalo, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim Robbins, Josh Gad, Joely Richardson, Patrick Fugit, Carol Kane, Pink

Adam (Mark Ruffalo) is battling his way through a 12 step program to overcome sex addiction when he meets Phoebe (Gwyneth Paltrow) who has, based on past experience, cast off all recovering addicts. So Adam has to lie to her, by swearing he’s not an “alcoholic” but leaving out the rest. As he battles through problems with his group, and with his sponsor (Tim Robbins) he finds himself really falling for Phoebe, but as in all romantic comedies, sooner or later the lies are going to catch up with him.

This is a fairly complicated romantic comedy, and is about the addiction as much as the romance, but it’s just not as good a film as it could have been. I just didn’t feel the chemistry between Gwyneth and Mark, and I just can’t see them really liking each other. Furthermore, Mark Ruffalo’s Adam is really rough. I never really got to care much for this guy. One bright spot was surprisingly Pink/Alicia Moore as Dede, a really funny member of the group. I am not sure I’ve seen her act before, and though her part was not really big, she was really good. Surprisingly the background characters in this film are much more interesting than the lead. This is not a really horrible movie, but I’m not sure where the target market is for this, as I don’t think the usual market for romantic comedies will enjoy the whole background sex addiction plot, and I doubt that 12 step addicts are big movie buffs for the most part. So it’s all rather ho-hum, and giving it three stars is probably even a little generous.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Summit Entertainment, K/O Paper Products, SOIXAN7E QUIN5E,

Morgan Freeman, Isla Fisher, Mark Ruffalo, Dave Franco, Woody Harrelson, Michael Caine, Jesse Eisenberg, Mélanie Laurent, Common, Elias Koteas, David Warshofsky, J. LaRose, Caitriona Balfe

Four mediocre break out magicians, J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), Merrit McKinney (Woody Harrelson), Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher) and Jack Wilder (Dave Franco) {thought he looked a bit familiar–he’s the baby brother of James Franco) are suddenly give an invitation to a mysterious meeting. When they arrive, they find out they are all going to work together to become the worlds greatest magic act, The Four Horsemen. A year later, in Las Vegas, they successfully pull off a robbery of a bank in Paris using a random guys selected from the audience, and give the money to the folks in the audience. FBI Agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) is partnered with Alma Day (Melanie Laurent), an Interpol Agent, to try to figure out how they did it, and how they can be charged with the crime. They call on Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman) a famous magician who learned he could make even more money debunking the fraud magicians rather than performing magic himself, who helps them figure out and explain the performances. But as time goes by the action gets more intense, and the more they think they know, the more they find out that they don’t know anything. This turns in to a masterful cat and mouse chase as things escalate to an amazing finale.

This was a really exciting movie. I enjoyed this one very much. The tricks they did were masterfully pulled off, and there are so many twists and turns and red herrings, that you really are not even sure what’s real and what isn’t. I kept thinking I had it all figured out in time to find out I knew nothing either. This is a fast paced film, that leaves you breathless as they barely escape time after time. Nothing is what it seems, and as in any good magic show, we, the audience, are fooled time and time again. The performances are really well done. With this magnificent cast, how could it be any less than wonderful? A great story, with a lot of action and speed, as well as some really well thought out diversions. I highly recommend this movie! I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog