Ed's Review Dot Com

Universal Pictures, Blumhouse Productions, IM Global,

Patrick Wilson, Ed Helms, Chris Pine, Jessica Alba, Ray Liotta, James Badge Dale, Brooklyn Decker, David Hasselhoff, Shaun Toub

Stretch (Patrick Wilson) is a limo driver with a gambling problem. He’s in real trouble if he doesn’t pay them back immediately. To assist him, he hijacks a really rich client who offers to pay off his bills if he can meet all the demands of this eccentric passenger. Meanwhile he’s been haunted by the ghost of his nemesis, perfect limo driver Karl who recently offed himself, but decided to hang around to torment Stretch.

This is an off the wall comedy that has its funny moments. Patrick Wilson is demented enough to play this troubled soul whose life is derailing around him and still try to pull it all together. There are some funny cameos here as celebrities, playing themselves, show up to make a little fun of their celebrity. The Hoff does a pretty good job of lampooning himself, in particular. All in all, though, the story is a bit on the silly side, and is a little bit over the top. The comedy is just not all together on target. Sometimes it is just a little bit over the top and a bit too frantic. As I said, it’s got its moments, and some of it is really good, so it wasn’t bad that I could catch this for free streaming, as the DVD is not even on Netflix yet, but I have a hard time recommending it as I know it could be a pretty big disappointment for many. It was a nice try, but just not enough for a recommendation.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Nickelodeon Films, Paramount Studios, Blinding Edge Pictures

Noah Ringer, Dev Patel, Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone, Shaun Toub

The Last Airbender, long awaited as M. Night Shyamalan’s latest blockbuster? Well we’ll see.   Meanwhile, I must say up front that I had never heard of the Nickelodeon Series, Avatar, The Last Airbender as my youngest child is now 18 and way past the Nickelodeon stage (unless you want to count “Degrassi” which is her last hold on her childhood).  So I was not familiar with the story, and was dragged to the theater by a wife who heard how great it was.

It’s Night Shyamalan, so I never have an idea what to expect when I walk into a Shyamalan picture.  I have a habit of catching his movies opening weekend so that I don’t have any pre-conceived notions of the story, and let him surprise the heck out of me.

Sixth Sense,  Ok, I had no idea of the twist in the end, and felt like a fool that I missed it completely.  What fun!  The Village, That one blew me away, too.  I was convinced of a bunch of 17^th century pilgrims dealing with imaginary monsters (those things couldn’t be real!) but what if they were?  When Ron Howard’s kid walked out of the compound and into the future my jaw dropped.  What a surprise!

But this time, it’s a whole ‘nother ball of wax.  This time it’s more like an anime, or kung fu movie or whatever.  That being said, the actors did a pretty good job.  I feel for Aang, “The Last Airbender” though, as he sounded like they were giving him lines just before he had to say them. I thought he was not a great actor, but he handled the emotions and physical activity just fine.   No big stars is a plus for this story.  Of course one movie covers one year of the series, so we’re obviously in for more of these if this one makes a few bucks.

I must admit that I did watch the series (which is out as instant view on Netflix), and I must admin I really enjoyed the movie more.  The 20 episodes (10 hours) of cartoons had a lot more depth, but the movie covered all the highlights and the cinematograpy and special effects were spectacular.

Ok, so this is no Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter or Twilight, but again, it’s not that bad.  It was a really nice evening at the movies with some popcorn and nachos, and was a great escape.  The scenery is breathtaking and the effects are awesome.  3D was a nice effect, but didn’t add a great deal to the movie, and after a few minutes you get into the story and forget it’s even 3D.  Nice escape, but not an epic picture, but when the sequel comes out, I’ll be buying a ticket.  🙂