Ed's Review Dot Com

Sony Pictures Television, Storyline Entertainment,

Emile Hirsch, Holliday Grainger, Holly Hunter, William Hurt, Sarah Hyland, Elizabeth Reaser, Lane Garrison, Austin Hébert, Dale Dickey, Jack Thompson

This TV Miniseries is inspired by the true story of the infamous bank robbers Bonnie Parker (Holliday Grainger) and Clyde Barrow (Emile Hirsch) who were rather incorrectly portrayed in the 1967 film featuring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. This is a longer (about 4 hours) much more historically accurate tale of how Clyde met Bonnie, swept her off her feet, and how they along with his brother and his wife, who set out on a crime spree filling the papers with juicy stories.

This TV miniseries is a much better telling of the tale of Bonnie and Clyde which is filled with intrigue and mystery and tries to show the true facts of what we know. William Hurt portrays Frank Hamer who came out of a semi-retirement to hunt down the couple like animals. It is hard to say who is the bad guy here, as obviously Bonnie and Clyde were criminals, but the feeling of a lot of people is that in America we do not play executor and slaughter people without even an attempt to apprehend them. His excuse is that they were dangerous, but a lot of people were not buying it. In the end, we may never really know the truth. But I can tell you that I was not a fan of this guy after watching the film. Technically it was very well done, and according to the research I was able to do, rather historically accurate. Having seen the incredible “Bonnie & Clyde death car” at a little casino in Stateline, Nevada it was an incredible sight to see. There were somewhere between 25 and 50 shots that hit each of them, and they didn’t stand a chance. They were killed without ever being able to exit the car. The car is a mass of bullet holes and is one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen. I was really interested in the story and the performances were outstanding. I thought the film was a very interesting story and I was glad to know the story a lot better. If you have any interest in the subject matter, this is a good way to learn the legend of Bonnie & Clyde, and i really enjoyed it. I’ve been waiting to have the time for this for a long time, and I’m glad I finally watched it. Very well done.

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Magnet Releasing, Marvista Entertainment, Circle of Confusion,

Sarah Hyland, Justin Chon, Steven Krueger, Clara Mamet, Anthony Carrigan, Sophie Dalah

Satanic is the story of four friends, Chloe (Sarah Hyland) and Elise (Clara Mamet) who are cousins and their boyfriends who are on their way to Coachella for the music festival, but decide to arrive 2 days early to visit the site of horrific murders and satanic rituals in Los Angeles.But when they meet a lost girl who appears to be all alone, they invite her to stay, which brings doom to the bunch of them.

People sure hated this film. I think that is a bad rap, because I found myself interested in it. I was able to follow what was going on, and if you’re totally lost, just watch the special features and you’ll learn a lot about the intentions. I have a soft spot for folks who love the movie business, and though they have little money and little pull in Hollywood, they set out with vigor to try to do the best they can with what they have. Having read William Shatner’s biography about the beginning of Star Trek and the troubles they had where they had to write changes to the script because there was no money for any special effects. (The transporter itself is an example of that. There was a shuttle craft in the script, but no money for it, so Roddenberry on the fly came up with the transporter where the actors stood on tiny circles and inside the camera they would make them disappear and reappear on the surface of the planet. This film reminds me of that.) This is a very low budget film with a very dedicated director who wanted to make this film very much. Most of the cast and crew only did it for their love of film and not for a big paycheck. Everyone turned in their best. Sarah Hyland is obviously the star of the film and is given the most to do due to her experience and training in TV and other films, but a number of the other characters really stood out and did a good performance. My favorite is a toss up between Steven Krueger and Sophie Dalah. Steven did an excellent job, but Sophie really seemed quite adept at her role as the lost soul who was the keystone of the whole adventure. I was sure I had seen her before, but looking her up in IMDB showed that she’s really new but extremely talented. She definitely reminds me of someone, although I’m not sure who. The movie starts out slowly allowing us to get used to the characters and the dynamics of the group, and sets up a few red herrings for us. As the actors get the situation ALL WRONG, we do as well. The ending is abrupt, and loses a lot of people, but it’s really obvious what it all means. I didn’t find it a bad ending at all, although I was disappointed at how it ended, I think it was very well done. I would have liked a different outcome, but I didn’t want the Titanic to sink either, you know. Also I did not want Davey Crockett to die in the Alamo either. But with very little budget and a great love of cinema, these guys made a decent horror film, and though it’s not mainstream Hollywood, I think they did an pretty good job and deserve praise, not complaints. I liked it, and if you’re a horror fan, as I am, give it a try. It’s not that bad, trust me.

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Tarnol Group Pictures,

Sarah Hyland, Steve Howey, Odeya Rush, Bret Harrison, Emma Bell, Jake McDorman, Beau Mirchoff, Michael Weston, Conor O’Farrell

The Burwood family is a mess. After her mother died, Johana Burwood (Sarah Hyland) left home and had no relationship with her brothers or father for four years. Now her brother has died under strange circumstances and Johana has returned home along with her boyfriend and her two brothers to pay their last respects to their brother. Things are tense and no one seems to care much about anyone else, and the family is in shambles. But when an old High School boyfriend shows up who is just not wiling to let go, Johana has to face some past issues and deceit in her life and the family tries to come together to give their brother a bigger sendoff than any of them imagined.

This is a fractured family tale like many others. In that genre people seem to sit around the kitchen table a lot and talk and talk and talk, with a few epic arguments thrown in. This one certainly has that, but the relationship between Johana and her beau, and the triangle with her ex that she’s obviously not completely done with yet makes it a bit more interesting. Then the brothers are very competitive, so they give us a lot to watch. But perhaps the biggest surprise was Sarah Hyland and the job she did carrying this movie. She’s turned into a pretty good little actress. Her performance was definitely a bright point in this film. All in all, this is not a bad little film. I enjoyed it, and despite the long talking scenes, it kept me interested. I can moderately recommend this film if the notion strikes you. You can do a lot worse.

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Angry Films, Kintop Pictures, Preger Entertainment,

Zoey Deutch, Lucy Fry, Danila Kozlovsky, Gabriel Byrne, Dominic Sherwood, Olga Kurylenko, Sarah Hyland, Cameron Monaghan, Sami Gayle, Ashley Charles, Claire Foy, Joely Richardson

Rose Hathaway (Zoey Deutch) is a student at St. Vladmir Academy for vampires. The vampires are divided into to groups, the Moroi who are peaceful and live with the human population and only feed on certain volunteer feeders. The bad guys are Strigoi who are violent and kill for food. Rose and her friends are Dhampir, half-human half-vampire who are being trained to be guardians of the Moroi and to kill any Strigoi who invade the academy. But Rose has to run away from the school to protect a best friend and princess Lyssa (Lucy Fry) who is in danger, but who is in line for the throne.

This film was so boring. I’ve seen several movies about vampires over the years that are really hard to sit through. This is as bad as any of them. I don’t really get the point of this, and I floundered through the whole thing. I really didn’t like it very much. I felt the story was confusing, and after a little while I just kind of gave up on it. If there was a point, I just didn’t get it. It was tough watching poor Sarah Hyland (from Modern Family) running around looking like a fool most of the time. It’s not her fault, it was a horrid role. She gave it a try, but had nothing to work with. In fact, I don’t blame any of the actors. It’s a bad script. For those familiar with the book, which I’m not, most of the people I’ve seen feel the books are much better than the movie. Maybe it would help to know some of the rules, but as an uninitiated person, it was very disjointed and all the jumping around just confused me. I didn’t find any connection to any of the characters, and it seemed a major waste of time. Skip it.

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Dude Productions, Laurence Mark Productions,

Nicholas Braun, Hunter Cope, Dakota Johnson, Zach Cregger, Nick Offerman, Gary Cole, Megan Mullally, Sarah Hyland, Brian Geraghty, Wendi McLendon-Covey

Michael (Nicholas Braun) and Matty (Hunter Cope) have been best friends for most of their lives. Now their in their Senior year in High School, and they make a pact to lose their virginity by the senior prom. But Michael develops a huge crush on Matty’s Ex, (Dakota Johnson) and suddenly Matty announces that he is gay. Other complications arise that threaten to break up their long term friendship arise, but the two try to figure out how to survive without killing each other.

This is a rather mediocre coming of age buddy film. The fact that one of the buds comes out as gay is not a crucial part of the story, and is not the centerpiece. The key is the friendship which is strained due to a series of events. If anything, the jokes are a bit stale, and the story has been done over and over again. For teens, there’s a new group coming along all the time, and there’s a market for older teens (to meet the R rating) for movies like this, so I suppose they’ll keep on making them. It’s smarter I guess, to recycle the stories than to write new ideas. This isn’t a bad movie, it’s just rehashed. If you’re in the mood for this kind of movie, then you can do worse, but for the mainstream, I’d recommend skipping this one.