Ed's Review Dot Com

Marvel Studios

Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Peña, Walton Goggins, Hannah John-Kamen, Michelle Pfeiffer, Laurence Fishburne, Michael Douglas, Bobby Cannavale, Judy Greer, T.I., David Dastmalchian, Abby Ryder Fortson, Randall Park

Ant-Man, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is a dad most of all. His efforts have been focused on trying to take care of the family duties, but a major critical mission comes up and pulls him back into the superhero business. Along with the Wasp, Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lily), and Dr. Pym (Michael Douglas) he heads off into the adventure once again to rescue Dr. Pym’s wife who’s trapped in another dimension all the while being chased by the Feds and the bad guys who want the technology Dr. Pym has invented.

The original Ant-Man was a very humorous movie, and this sequel has a lot of the lunacy and downright laugh-out-loud moments like the first one did. Paul Rudd is actually really good in this role. As I’ve said thousands of times, I’ve never been a big fan of superhero movies, but every now and then a really good one captures my attention and takes me along with the ride. This one did. I actually enjoyed this one. The cast is superb and the humor was spot on, so this was a pleasure to watch. I really had a good time, and I can recommend this movie.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Marvel Studios,

Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña, Judy Greer, T.I., David Dastmalchian, Wood Harris, Michael Douglas

Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is just getting out of prison, and he misses his daughter. He’s determined to go straight, but he shortly finds that his ex-wife Maggie (Judy Greer) and her new guy, cop Paxton (Bobby Cannavale) and those who might give him a regular job, don’t get along very well with ex-cons. So out of desperation, Scott is convinced to try one last heist. But he’s been tricked into crossing paths with scientist Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) who needs his help to fight the guy who ran Dr. Pym from the company he founded and has tried to steal his technology that could turn a human into a tiny creature, the size of an ant. With inside help from his daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly) he’s able to convince Scott to redeem himself by turning himself into Ant-Man and trying to save the world.

Marvel has surely been on a roll. There is no doubt they are hitting home run after home run. Ant-Man is certainly a risk for them, but one that paid off highly. First of all, what about the history? Dr. Pym was Ant-man along with his wife who was The Wasp. But now Pym is on the sidelines. How can they cover that up? Furthermore, with all the other highly successful characters in this franchise, bring the Ant-Man is a risk, and then assigning it to Paul Rudd to carry is ludicrous. Well, I don’t know if the magic of Stan Lee or if these Disney/Marvel guys are just that brilliant, but they certainly pulled it off. Now this is not really the best of all the new Marvel movies, but it’s a damn good one just the same. Paul Rudd has the right degree of nice guy mixed with screw-up, laced with a little bit of bad ass to handle this, and this is perhaps the best performance of his career. He did an excellent job. The story is really fresh and brand new. Now, granted, evil genius who takes over the corporation and tries to sell the weapons of world domination to the highest bidder isn’t new, but the battles and encounters between the good guys and the bad guys is really well done. Scott has a bumbling group of buddies who create a lot of comedy as well, led by Michael Peña who was simply fabulous in this film. The time flies as we have so much fun, and everyone is so well cast. The action is extremely well done, and the CGI is blended in so well that you can hardly recognize that it’s not really happening in front of your eyes. I was blessed to see this in Digital Extreme size (not quite Imax, but a good challenger), in 3-D. The 3-D was smooth and also seamless so that you could hardly notice it, but it really added to the enjoyment of the movie. All in all, this is a must see for the summer. It’s the best I have seen so far, although there is some stiff competition yet to come.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Furthur Films,

Michael Douglas, Jeremy Irvine, Hanna Mangan Lawrence, Ronny Cox

Ben (Jeremy Irvine) is a nice young man. He’s recently graduated from High School and is wondering what to do with his life. He lives in a remote area of the Mojave Desert, and he makes a few extra bucks guiding big game hunters around the desert for their adventures. But Ben’s girlfriend is off for college and Ben is not sure how to deal with the separation. He has no money for school and no idea what will become of him other than a life of poverty like his childhood has been. When a very wealthy CEO, Madec (Michael Douglas) arrives and asks for Ben to guide him into the desert to find and kill a big horn sheep for his collection, Ben reluctantly agrees. But when Madec accidentally kills an old local prospector, his first thought is to offer Ben a solution to all his problems. But then, a change of hearts sets them out on a cat and mouse game across the desert that will be life or death for Ben. How good is he really at survival in the desert?

This film hit me as a real surprise. I had never heard anything about it, and yet it was a very interesting story. Michael Douglas was an excellent choice as the arrogant rich bastard who is so used to getting everything his way at any cost, you really learn to hate this guy. Jeremy Irvine, on the other hand, as Ben, is a really good guy, but you wish he wasn’t so wishy washy and easy to control. He doesn’t like conflict, and though he’s a good guy, he lets this rich guy walk all over him. This is basically a two person story. Of course the desert itself is a character of it’s own, and I can’t imagine being stuck out there with no supplies and no way to make it back. The intensity of this story is amazing, and the interaction between these two is very well shown. The points of view and the desert scenery is really fantastic. This is a survival film, first and foremost, and as such, it’s quite suspenseful. Hitchcock like in it’s plot, things pile up against Ben one after another until you can’t help but wonder if it’s possible for him to pull out of this. The story is quick paced, very exciting, and extremely well filmed. This is definitely a hidden gem of a movie that caught me very much off guard. I enjoyed it, and if you in the mood for a thriller, I would recommend you seek this one out.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

CBS Films, Gidden Media, Good Universe,

Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Michael Douglas, Kevin Kline, Mary Steenburgen, Jerry Ferrara, Roger Bart, Weronika Rosati, Romany Malco, Jena Sims, Autumn Dial, Bre Blair

Billy (Michael Douglas), Paddy (Robert De Niro), Archie (Morgan Freeman) and Sam (Kevin Kline) have been best friends since childhood. Billy has been a bachelor all his life, but now is about to marry a woman half his age, so he puts the group back together to head to Las Vegas for the wedding. But while they’re there, they figured it was only right to throw Billy an epic bachelor party. But the guys are older now, and even with the infatuation with a lounge singer (Mary Steenburgen) trying to settle them down, they do their best to rip up the town. But old hurts, and Billy’s secret that he’s been holding all these years are about to do in the whole gang.

This is a really funny buddy movie. This is the senior citizen version of The Hangover, much to my delight. These guys are really funny, and the script is so rich with back stories and side tracks that it’s always interesting and really funny. These guys do their best to have a good time, and watching them try so hard is really funny. This also reminds me a bit of National Lampoons Vegas Vacation because there’s some really funny misunderstandings and side treks on the journey to the wedding day. All in all the brilliant comedic actors each play their part to bring it all together for one of my favorite ensemble casts of all times. This is a really funny trip to Vegas for the silver haired gang, and one you ought not miss now that it’s available on DVD.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

HBO Films,

Michael Douglas, Matt Damon, Rob Lowe, Debbie Reynolds, Dan Aykroyd, Scott Bakula, Paul Reiser, Nicky Katt, Tom Papa, Deborah Lacey

Scott Thorson (Matt Damon) is a young bi-sexual man, who once introduced to the “fabulous” Liberace (Michael Douglas) starts hanging out with him to enjoy the lavish lifestyle. But quickly he goes from assistant to romantic interest, and the two find themselves in a tight bond. Scott eventually finds being hid behind the scenes and not being allowed to go out anywhere (Liberace knew he would lose everything if anyone actually found out he was gay, even though it was so obvious), and he struggles to find some space, but when Liberace finds a new boy toy, and kicks Scott out, Scott files a lawsuit to try to get back what he thinks he deserves in this TV (HBO) documentary.

I remember watching Liberace as a small kid, on the little black and white TV in our living room. I grew up with his master piano performances which were outshone by his outlandish overboard flamboyancy. The trouble with this film is that Liberace is not Liberace, but Michael Douglas trying to act like Liberace. Though he really did a good job of impersonating him, this particular character is so far over the top, that I don’t think anybody on earth could make me believe he was Liberace. He is so unique, that the entire way through the film, it really bothered me. But even more, even though I do not know Scott Thorson (although I was familiar with the story as it was all over the news), I do know Matt Damon, and I never lost the fact that I was looking at Matt Damon and Michael Douglas playing gay lovers, and I couldn’t ever suspend belief and follow the story. It would almost have been a better documentary if they used old footage and told the story with a narrator. Ok, I probably don’t mean that, but it’s really hard to play someone so unique and outrageous and make it believable. The story is not that riveting, that it pulls you in, so the film suffers due to this. It’s an interesting character for sure, but Scott is another matter. This is his story, and he’s not very likeable. I just didn’t get into the portrayal of Scott, and I feel like I don’t really know the story,even after watching this. I’m sure the real guy is much different than Matt Damon.

In any event, it was a fair docu-drama, and the extravagance of Lee’s lifestyle is well displayed. Also, Lee’s mother was a huge influence in his life, and she wasn’t given a great part in this movie, probably because she was not near as important to Scott as to Liberace himself. But Debbie Reynolds play his mom, and she was so good at it, that she was dead and buried before I realized it was actually Debbie Reynolds in great makeup with a good fake accent. Her part, though small, shined in the film. This is a “take it or leave it” film. I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone, and I doubt it will be a huge hit in the DVD rental market, but on the other hand, if you’re interested in the story, or if it’s replayed on TV, you could do much worse than this dramatized documentary of the life of one of the boy lovers of one of the greatest showmen and pianists ever.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog