Ed's Review Dot Com

2DS Productions, Overture Films, State Street Pictures,

John Leguizamo, Alfred Molina, Freddy Rodriguez, Debra Messing, Elizabeth Peña, Luis Guzmán, Vanessa Ferlito, Melonie Diaz, Jay Hernandez

Alfred Molina is the patriarch of this Puerto Rican family from Chicago. For the first time in many years, the whole family is home for Christmas, but that doesn’t mean it will be easy. Everyone has their own drama, when Mama (Elizabeth Pena) announces she wants a divorce. On boy is home from Iraq where he witnessed the death of his close friend, another is in a crisis between having a career and family, and another is an actress who’s finding it a lot harder than anyone knows to survive in a cutthroat business like this. All in all, everyone has secrets and nobody wants to come clean.

This is a fairly interesting film for everyone, as most every family can relate to some of the crisis going on. But it’s rare to have a film with a Puerto Rican cast that deals directly with the holiday pressures facing this particular ethnic community. There are some great actors in this film, and it’s very well written. The only problem is there is so much drama and so many subplots going on, that all get wrapped up nicely in under 10 minutes. It’s like someone looked at the clock and said “Holy crap, we’re out of time, we gotta wrap this up!” THe pacing of the end was really rushed. But otherwise, it’s a charming Christmassy film that has been around for a number of years and is certainly very worth seeking. The tag line for this movie ought to be “Everybody’s human” as that is the real message of this film. We’re all flawed, and just trying to get by as best we can.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Overture Films, Exclusive Media Group, Hammer Film Productions

Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloe Moretz, Richard Jenkins, Cara Buono, Elias Koteas, Sasha Barrese, Dylan Kenin, Chris Browning, Jimmy ‘Jax’ Pinchak, Ritchie Coster

Twelve year-old Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is bullied at school on a daily basis. They are making his life a living hell. He meets a young girl who has moved in across the hall, Abby (Chloe Moretz), but though Owen thinks she’s the friend he’s always wanted, Abby says she cannot be his friend. As they grow closer, Abby gives him the courage he needs to fight back to the bullies, but as time passes Owen becomes convinced that Abby is hiding a terrible secret.

This is a nearly frame by frame remake of the Swedish film, “Let the Right One In“. It is a very well done Americanization of the original story. Both main actors play their part well. We feel the hurt every time something bad happens to Owen, and we feel the isolation Abby feels in her life. It’s creepy, but, although there are a few scares, mostly it’s ambiance and suspense that does the job. The mood is dark and eerie, and it suits the subject just perfectly.

This is one of those films that slipped through the cracks and comes through on video. If you’re a Gothic horror fan, this might be right up your alley. Not a great deal of action, but two hours of great character development and mystery and suspense rolled up into a Netflix “Watch Instantly” that is not too bad. If you’re a horror fan, this one is slow, but worth the effort if you stick it out. It’s a “Hammer” film, and Hammer knows how to put out the very best horror films of all time.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Overture Films

Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Joe Anderson, Danielle Panabaker, Christie Lynn Smith, Brett Rickaby

You’ve seen this movie.  You’ve seen this movie time after time after time.   It’s the same old thing.  There are NO surprises.

Why take a 1973, George Romero film that is not very good, and remake it into a brand new 2009 movie that’s not very good?  I can’t think why, as at least the original was set in Evans City, Pa, (outside Pittsburgh) and had that going for it.  Filmed right near Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” which was in Zelienople, Pa.  I think I’d prefer the original to this boring overused plotline.

Let’s see, is it suddenly aliens, mutant spiders, or radioactive undead zombies?   It doesn’t reallymatter.  It’s all be done.

Good guy local sheriff,  evil government/army,  misunderstood monsters, evil military commanders,  all the same characters are still here, and this could be a half way decent 1959 Twilight Zone episode in 30 minutes, but to try to stretch this out to a feature film is torture. There is no reason to rent this movie unless you’re a fan of really awful B movies.

Trouble is, they had somewhat of a budget, and it’s somewhat modern movie making, so it’s hard to make fun of it just for the sake of how bad it is, cause I don’t think it’s supposed to be bad.

Now some Netflix people loved it and rated it very high.  Why, I’m not sure.  Perhaps they haven’t seen a lot of movies, or maybe they were in a really good mood when they watched it, but for me it just didn’t even come close.