Ed's Review Dot Com

Fox Searchlight Pictures, LD Entertainment, Wild Bunch,

Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, Greta Gerwig, John Hurt, Billy Crudup, Richard E. Grant, John Carroll Lynch, Beth Grant, Max Casella, Caspar Phillipson

November 22, 1963, President John F Kennedy was shot in Dallas. Jackie (Natalie Portman) Kennedy brings us into her life right after the assassination to portray the confusion, sorrow, fear, and grief that she has to go through during the days and weeks after the event in this fact based docudrama of the days following Kennedy’s death. Without taking a huge chunk of her life, the screenwriter chose just one event. With the unique style, this film is a story told by Jackie to a writer about the events surrounding her husband’s death and burial told after some time passed, but it also mixes this with footage of the famous tour of the White House TV show that was made shortly after they arrived in the White House.

This is a rather interesting story of how it all happened. I was in gym class when the principal broke into the P.A. system and broadcasted the news directly over the speakers so we could hear. I remember the three or four days where nothing was on television other than the news of the shooting, the killing of Lee Harvey Oswald, and the funeral procession. I saw hours and hours of people filing past the casket day and night, and rehash of the events on every channel. There was nothing else to do, and it was a bit overwhelming, but a whole country was in mourning. We were also afraid. We didn’t know what would happen next. But Jackie and her two little children lived though it in a time that must have seemed surreal. We never knew what Jackie was doing behind the scenes other than when she would pop out in front of the cameras from time to time. But this movie covered the time in depth, and I found that quite fascinating. It’s heart tugging, and it’s difficult to imagine sometimes, but is is interesting. I couldn’t help but see and hear Natalie Portman though, and it certainly made me painfully aware that we were not watching Jackie. I think she did an excellent job, but it is very difficult to pull off portraying such a well known celebrity as she was. But I have seen other movies that covered Jackie’s life after the White House, but it was the first time I have ever seen someone attempt to pull off those few days where time stood still. And as a child of Camelot, I remember the assassination like it was just yesterday. Well done film, and well worth watching if you’re interested in what happened.

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1821 Pictures, Boies / Schiller Film Group, Handsomecharlie Films,

Natalie Portman, Joel Edgerton, Noah Emmerich, Ewan McGregor, Rodrigo Santoro, Boyd Holbrook

Jane Hammond (Natalie Portman) is a frontier woman trying her best to make a home for her husband, Billy (Noah Emmerich) and child. But Jane has a past. A gang of outlaws is chasing after them, and when her husband returns home badly injured by being shot, he tells her the gang is on the way to get them and to get away. But Jane does not back down, so she heads into town to find a former lover Dan Frost (Joel Edgerton) who is not very happy to see her, and she asks him for help to stand up to the gang.

Westerns are rare these days, and there’s nothing better than a good western. I was delighted to see this one come out. There have been a few lately (I’m thinking of The Hateful 8, for example) and I anxiously dug into this one. It is quite raw. The violence is real, and the story is the king in this film, as Natalie Portman pulls out an awesome performance. I was not expecting her to pull off a role like this that would appear out of her wheelhouse, but she played the wild west housewife who ain’t going to take crap from anybody very, very well. Joel Edgerton as Dan Frost is also a very good performance and brings all the different emotions and feelings out very well to. But this is also a very nice script. Just a simple story of danger and revenge and self defense, but it all comes together very chillingly. The violence is harsh, and we witness the cruelty of this battle, and like the great westerns of old, the suspense and the waiting keeps us on the edge of our seats. An excellent performance by all, and kudos for a tremendous screenplay that the director and the actors pulled off in a good show. If you love Westerns and don’t mind the R rating, this is a shocking thriller of a western that ought to be well worth seeing.

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Marvel Entertainment, Marvel Studios,

Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Christopher Eccleston, Jaimie Alexander, Zachary Levi, Ray Stevenson, Kat Dennings, Idris Elba, Stellan Skarsgård, Rene Russo, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

In a flashback we learn that thousands of years ago a race called the Dark Elves were defeated by the forces of Asgard when they tried to turn the Nine Realms dark using a weapon called Aether. Because Aether cannot be destroyed, they hid it far from the Dark Elves who were banished, but they’ve found it again and plan to use it at the line of the line up of all nine realms and turn the realms dark this time. Odin (Anthony Hopkins) and the forces of Asgard do not have the power to defeat them this time, so Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) must try to work together to try to turn the Dark Elves away and save all the realms. Meanwhile, Jane (Natalie Portman) has found an anomaly much like the one that originally brought Thor to Earth, and while investigating it, she disappears.

I really felt this was a great film. I thoroughly enjoyed the first Thor film, and I think I enjoyed this one just as much if not a bit more. We know the characters better this time, and we’ve seen Thor, Odin, and Loki in other films as well. So now that we know them, we find out about how the Nine Realms were saved originally, and we receive a very suspenseful battle between the Dark Elves and the forces for good. The cinematography is fantastic, and the sets are remarkable. But the action is intense, and it has great battle scenes that are very intense. I really enjoyed this second Thor film and I’m glad I got my lazy butt out to the theater to see this one on the big screen. The acting is good, and it was really a suspenseful roller-coaster ride all the way thorough. Obviously the action is intense in the last half, but the first half gives us so much background on what is happening without giving us all the secrets that it’s very intense and interesting to try to figure out what’s going on with the strange things that are happening. As many of you know, I’m typically not a big fan of comic book/superhero type movies, but this series really impressed me. I enjoyed it very much, and highly recommend it for action/adventure fans all over.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Incentive Filmed Entertainment, Handsomecharlie Films, Is or Isn’t Entertainment,

Natalie Portman, Lisa Kudrow, Lauren Ambrose, Anthony Rapp, Scott Cohen, Charlie Tahan, Daisy Tahan, Elizabeth Marvel, Debra Monk, Mary Joy, Maria Dizzia

Emily Greenleaf (Natalie Portman) has a crush on her boss, Jack(Scott Cohen) and she sets out to win him away from his wife Carolyn (Lisa Kudrow). But he comes with some baggage in the part of William, Jack’s son (Charlie Tahan) who has been badly poisoned against Emilia by his mother. As Emilia sets out to try to win him over she finds she herself carries some heavy baggage and help comes to her in a way she could never expect.

This romantic drama, heavy on the drama is a fairly dark story of love and loss, tragedy and forgiveness. Each of the characters is not exactly black and white, but different shades of gray, and it’s a realistic look at the foibles of real human beings. This is not a stunning film, and is not overly engrossing. You might find it a bit slow and boring were it not saved by the acting of Natalie Portman and Charlie Tahan (the young son) who bind together to attempt to save this film. As such, it’s a pretty decent dark independent romantic drama with a lot of redeeming qualities. You can find much worse than this, and it’s kind of a fresh look at real people and real problems. Infidelity is never easy, and when you come into it with such issues in tow, it makes it even harder. The original title of this work is “Love and Other Impossible Pursuits” which is a good stab at a proper title for this story. It is very difficult, but as I stated, help comes from where you would least expect it.

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Last Picture Company, The, CatchPlay, Corner Store Entertainment

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Natalie Portman, Devin Brochu, Rainn Wilson, Piper Laurie, John Carroll Lynch, Audrey Wasilewski, Frank Collison, Paul Bates

T.J. (Devin Brochu) is a young boy, living with his grandmother and his father who is devastated by the death of T.J.’s mom a few months before. The family is struggling when suddenly T.J. makes friends with Hesher (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who is a strange, strange person. Hesher is rudely crude, and has no sense of right and wrong and says the most inappropriate things all the time, but has a wise side. Often his stories are crude and lewd but pack a great message. T.J.’s relationship with Hesher is really strained as he looks up to him and needs help, but Hesher gets him in so much trouble, especially when T.J. develops a crush on grocery check out girl Nicole (Natalie Portman).

This film starts out as a crazy screwed up comedy, and you think it’s too silly to be worth anything, but as you stick with it, the thing really grows on you. Hesher is such an ass. He lived in his van, and loves to blow up stuff, and suddenly moved into T.J.’s house and annoyed everyone, but nobody threw him out or called the cops. But Hesher is much deeper than that, and has some redeeming qualities, and has a pretty good message if you can get past the vulgar antics and inappropriate outbursts. Rainn Wilson is T.J.’s dad, and plays the deeply depressed Dad pretty perfectly. Many days he never gets up, and he does nothing most of the time. Between the three of them, Hesher, T.j. and Nicole, they try to bring the family back together again, in some very strange ways.

It’s amazing the wisdom that comes out of Hesher’s mouth in the most disgusting ways! The humor is good, but there’s a great look into depression, loss, and pain that can’t be overlooked as it’s a main part of the story. It was a horrible thing that this family went through, and it’s going to take a lot to get them back together again, and certainly Hesher may not be the right man for the job. It’s a very bizarre film, but the sucker really grows on you, and if you don’t get disgusted and turn it off in the first 15 minutes, you will have a lot to take in and think about. Not a bad independent film.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog