Ed's Review Dot Com

EuropaCorp, Ithaca, The Javelina Film Company,

Tommy Lee Jones, Hilary Swank, Meryl Streep, Miranda Otto, John Lithgow, James Spader

Mary Bee Cuddy (Hilary Swank) is a tough old single broad living out west in a small farming community. She’s definitely a lady, longing for a husband and children, but destined to a long lonely single life due to the fact that men say she’s too bossy and way to damn plain looking. Times are very hard in the little town, and three of the wives have suffered very horrible tragedies and have lost their minds. A danger to their husbands and families, the minister in the little church has made arrangements for them to be taken back across the plains and across the river where they will be cared for by a church there where they have some relatives. But who can make the 5 week or so journey across the dried up plains to accompany these women. Mary Bee talks the reverend into letting her take the journey as she has no family to support and can cook and take care of the women and she is just as tough of any of the men. She rounds up an goofy old outlaw, George Briggs (Tommy Lee Jones) whom she rescues from being hanged and coerces him into accompanying the 4 women on the journey. Needless to say it is a long hard journey filled with danger and hardships, and only their will to go on keeps them going.

This was a very surprising film to me. I was really blown away by it. I have not seen a western in a long time, and this was a really great story. The script is excellent, and it’s filled with top notch performers like James Spader, Meryl Streep, John Lithgow and others. The setting is dreary and dark and very realistic and you really feel the pain of the times they are going through. The performances of Hillary and Tommy Lee are simply outstanding, but it’s the humor set against that harsh reality of frontier life that is so impressive. This is an excellent film, and certainly a hidden gem. I don’t know how I never heard about this film and just stumbled across it by accident, but it was a serendipitous moment when I put this one on. There are some problems, mostly in the timing of the story as there are conflicting statements about what time of year this story is set, but it’s easy to overlook that, as it’s not that important. It’s sometimes hard to watch, as it’s so realistic, and it’s definitely stark, but I couldn’t turn away, and I was disappointed when it was over, as I wanted to know more. This is one film well worth tracking down, especially if you’re fond of really great Westerns.

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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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Weinstein Company, The, Jean Doumanian Productions, Smokehouse Pictures,

Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Chris Cooper, Ewan McGregor, Margo Martindale, Abigail Breslin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Juliette Lewis, Dermot Mulroney, Julianne Nicholson, Sam Shepard, Misty Upham

Violet Weston (Meryl Streep) has an addiction to drugs and booze, and now is suffering from Cancer. She’s tough to put up with, and her husband has finally had it and has walked out. Her daughters come back home to visit, and during the time together, all the family secrets come out and long built up resentments bubble out in a classic family battle. Each one is forced to look at herself and what they see is not all that pretty.

This is a story of a really, really dysfunctional family. Most people have no idea what it’s like to grow up like this, and the problems you have to face, but I can imagine it’s a lot more common than most of us might think. I was impressed with the acting put in by these excellent performers. What a stunning lineup of stars. But I wasn’t as impressed with the story line. I can’t put my finger on what I didn’t like, but the story is just uncomfortable. Now sometimes a story can be uncomfortable for a greater purpose. But in this one, I didn’t get that feeling at all. It was kind of like being on a double date with a friend and his girl when they suddenly get into a horrible fight. You’re trapped in the back seat with nothing to do or say to but just feel uncomfortable. That’s the kind of feeling I had here. I sat through it, but never really felt at ease. The relationships are badly broken. This is a very unusual character for Meryl Streep. You want to feel bad for her, but you just can’t, she’s not a nice character. It’s a very unusual film, and may be well liked by the right crowd, but as for me, I could have skipped this one. It’s ok, but just not that stellar.

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IMAX, MacGillivray Freeman Films, Warner Bros.,

Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep narrates this IMAX film taking us to the Arctic Circle to follow a mother polar bear and her two seven month old cubs and their struggle to survive in a horrific environment. They suffer dangers at every turn, and it will take all her wit and strength to survive. This was originally shown in IMAX 3D.

This film is short. It’s barely 40 minutes long, but the beauty and charm is very stunning. Looking at the glaciers and ice flows of Norway, this is a very nice nature film. Of course they have to waste a lot of the little time reminding us how horrible humans are, especially Americans as we strive to kill the polar bears as quickly as possible with our gasoline cars and nice homes and furnishings. They basically remind us that anyone who doesn’t believe in global warming is just plain stupid. Well, I believe in global warming, and I also believe in global cooling. It’s cyclic, just like most else of nature, and mother nature has a habit of balancing things herself. My poor son is married now, has a beautiful daughter, but I remember the horror he came home from school with about the imminent disaster of the hole in the ozone layer. By 2010 we will never again be able to go to the beach, and when we go outside, it will only be with umbrellas and heavy protective clothing because a mere 10 or 15 minutes in the sun would kill a person. This is not some far distant future, but merely 5 to 10 years down the road. He shook with fear when he talked about how life as we know it is going to end. Sad to do this to an elementary school child. But there were no apologies at all when they realized that it was a cycle, and the hole was closing. Now no one mentions the hole in the ozone. When Mount Pinatubo blew it’s top it put more pollution into the atmosphere in one week than all the humans on earth since the beginning of time. What really chaps me about the global warming argument is that humans can actually have any effect on the globe in such a huge manner. Do we think we’re so important that we can really make that much impact? How proud of ourselves we are. Will we, or the polar bears die because of global warming? Well, that’s up to nature, I guess, as many species aren’t here anymore without the humans harming them, and if it keeps getting warmer, that could happen. But to think that we can stop it is like thinking we can stop the earth from spinning. (If everyone starting running west to east at the same time, perhaps we could slow the earth down and get it spinning the other direction, eh?) Anyway, I will step down off my soap box and get back to the movie. Regardless of the obvious political leanings, I still enjoyed the beauty of this film, even though it was so short. I felt like it could go on and on, but it ended much too soon. But the film was beautiful and very interesting, and quite exciting at times. Very well done from the technical standpoint and the cinematography is awesome. I respect those who go through such hardships to allow us to see something as beautiful as us. Oh, and the polar bears are not from the arctic. They are black bears that migrated up there and gradually adapted to the environment, including changing their color to white to blend in. Just thought I’d mention that. 🙂

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Regency Enterprises, Summit Entertainment, Bazelevs Production,

Meryl Streep, Jim Broadbent, Alexandra Roach, Harry Lloyd, Olivia Colman, Iain Glen, Victoria Bewick, Nicholas Farrell, John Sessions, Anthony Head, David Westhead, Julian Wadham, Richard E. Grant, Angus Wright, Roger Allam, Michael Pennington, Susan Brown, Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Meryl Streep plays Margaret Thatcher in this biopic about the first woman Prime Minister of Britain. With Jim Broadbent as Denis Thatcher, this film shows us a modern day Margaret Thatcher, virtually a prisoner in her own house, sorting her deceased husband’s clothes to donate to charity, and reminiscing about the days of her illustrious career. The film looks back at her early life, and first entry into politics, the challenges she faced like the Falkland Islands war, and serious recession. It explores her retirement from politics. This is a great story of a great world leader in the twilight of her years, looking back at her glorious days.

Many people misunderstood this really special film. It is sad to see Meryl playing Margaret as someone racked by dementia, seeing things, and forgetting a lot of details, but the purpose of this film is not some Biography Channel special about the career of Margaret Thatcher. That’s not the purpose of this film. This is a look at Margaret today, and the reminiscences of a lady who’s career is over. She had some great battles and some great times, but it’s a much a look at what it’s like to have been someone so powerful who is finally challenged by Father Time himself. No one can beat that. I have always been saddened by the final days of Ronald Reagan who was not only a great friend to Margaret Thatcher, but also a great world leader. But likewise, time took it’s toll. Still the memories of what it was like must be glorious.

Meryl Streep deserves every bit of the praises heaped upon her for this role. She was fantastic in this film, and it was easy to forget it was her and get lost in the character which is perfect for a biographical picture. I have never been a big Streep fan, per se, but I truly have to give her props for the amazing talent she has. This is a very well made film, and very touching. I goes right to your heart, and is amazing how great a leader Margaret was. I would still like to see a pure biography about her, but in the meantime, this film was really good, and I highly recommend it.

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