Ed's Review Dot Com

Warner Bros. Pictures, Village Roadshow Pictures, DiNovi Pictures,

Zac Efron, Taylor Schilling, Blythe Danner, Sharon Morris, Jay R. Ferguson, Riley Thomas Stewart, Joe Chrest, Robert Hayes, Jillian Batherson, Adam LeFevre, Russ Comegys

A Marine Veteran Logan (Zac Efron) while involved in a horrible battle, found a photograph of a young lady. He considered the photo a lucky charm and claimed it was what kept him alive. After returning home, he began searching for the lady in the photo and found the woman living with her Mom, in North Carolina, and tried to explain about the photo, but things spiraled out of his control and he ended up working for her. Naturally Mom takes a liking to him, but the town cop, who is her ex-boyfriend does not, and lots of complications and trouble ensue in this romantic comedy/drama about chance, fate, and love.

I once rented a Christmas film from Netflix called “The Christmas Card” [Click here for Ed’s Review]. This 2006 film is nearly the exact same movie as this 2006 Christmas movie. (I don’t know if you’ve been reading long enough to know about Ed’s Christmas Movie on TV project every year, but it’s one of those Christmas films that now ends up on TV every year. The Christmas Card nailed this story. This film pales in comparison. Since Christmas is coming, (I even saw this film is coming on Hallmark already and it’s still October) I’d suggest catching The Christmas Card instead of this inferior copy. They took out all the snow and lights and Christmas music and traditions, and it left an all-seasons film. Zac does his best, and it’s good to see him tackling the adult roles now, and he’s left the High School Musical stuff behind, but he is just not as good by comparison. So if you’re a Zac Efron fan, and I’ll admit he is a good looking guy, and you are a chick who loves chick flicks, then this could do it. It’s not a bad story, and the love story part is pretty good. But after seeing the other film, there’s just no comparison, so I can’t get excited about this movie. It was such a rip off. So that’s where I am on this movie. If I had never seen the other film, then maybe I would be more gung ho about it, but I’m serious. At this time of the year, go check out the other one!

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

First Point Entertainment, Katonah Pictures, Perfect Weekend,

Brittany Snow, Evan Ross, Christian Serratos, Jonathan Michael Trautmann, David Oyelowo, Justin Martin, Sharon Morris, Anna Enger

Based on true events, this is the story of 4 young people, two boys and two girls, who made a series of choices in one evening that changed their lives. Through intercuts, the story of two boys, one a young black man who has chance to go to college and make something of himself, but keeps getting pulled back into the gang that runs the neighborhood especially by his friend, a young white male who wants nothing more than to be accepted in the gang. A carjacking gone wrong escalates as one bad choice after another follows until they are all involved so deep that they can never get out. This is a film that has a subtle message of what real respect means, and how we have to pay consequences for making stupid decisions sometimes.

This film is a thriller and a pretty good crime story with a kind of redemption and yet payback in the end, but a really fair ride along the way. The story is harsh, and pulls not punches. Each individual has his own agenda and makes their own decisions which often makes things escalate and get worse. It’s a mediocre film, since it’s not a big budget Hollywood production, but it’s a decent little film and well worth watching if you’re interested in a tale of life in the projects and a good strong boy who has his sights set high, but keeps getting pulled back into what he never ever wanted to be.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

ABC Family

Chad Michael Murray, Ashley Benson, Christina Milian, Ryan Sypek, Burgess Jenkins, Cara Mantella, Reagan Michelle, Christie Maher, Jackee Harry, Patrick Johnson, Sharon Morris, Justin Smith

Christina Milian is Sloane Spencer, beautiful, fashionable, public relations representative and her first big client is a challenge.  Ashley Benson is Caitlin Quinn, superstar bad girl who keeps getting into one jam after another which Sloane has to get her out of.  On Christmas Eve she takes off on a boat and, drunk as usual, falls over the side and dies.  But Sloane keeps seeing her.  She’s come back as her personal ghost of Christmas past, present, and future.  Sloane has to learn first hand the things she has to change to be truly happy.

I am typically a big fan of Christmas Carol stories, and I enjoy them all from Scott to Stewart to Grammer, to Murray, to the Muppets, to Mickey Mouse, to Mr. Magoo, and everywhere in between.  But this is so loosely based on the story that it doesn’t hardly resemble it at all.  This is about whether or not she dumped the wrong sweetheart, hence the title.  Christina Milian is cute and ambitious in this role, but the script is really weak.  Caitlin tries to play a Lindsey-Paris type superstar, which she’s not bad at, but when she’s a ghost, she has few redeeming qualities.  Everything is jokes and crack ups and teasing the poor living folks that can see them.  Plus the ghosts are not ghosts but alternate images of living people.  I never thought I’d ever find a Christmas Carol I didn’t like, but there’s a first time for everything.  She found true love and made up with her family and friends, but I don’t know that it matters much.  I hope she got what she wanted.  I’m going to switch over to “Barbie’s Christmas Carol” instead.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog