Ed's Review Dot Com

Summit Entertainment, Thunder Road Pictures, 87Eleven,

Keanu Reeves, Common, Laurence Fishburne, Riccardo Scamarcio, Ruby Rose, John Leguizamo, Ian McShane

John Wick worked in an organization of criminal masterminds, and is a skilled assassin, indeed. In the first installment, he got out of the organization only to be pulled back in. In the second session, he again wishes simply to be left alone, but he found he has a huge price on his head, and must run for his life for everyone is out to kill him. But he has one last job he must undertake to get out, but it’s obvious in this world that no one gets out alive. With everyone out for him, John has to use all his skills and call in a favor or two just to keep breathing. John is in for a hard night!

I am shocked that I cannot find any record of my having seen 2014’s original John Wick, but it seems I somehow missed it. Perhaps that was part of my trouble with this movie. In the early 70’s I went on a mission to the Philippines in the height of the Shaw Brothers great Kung Fu movies. It was the time when Bruce Lee was in Hong Kong making films, and others like Wang Yu were turning out top notch Kung Fu movies galore, and they were very popular over there. I developed a bit of a soft spot for Kung Fu Films, but I also knew they were very, very silly. One guy surrounded by 25 killers who wanted him dead armed with all kinds of weapons, and they would jump around in a circle while one at a time attacks and gets taken out by the hero one by one. 25 to 1 is not very good odds, but 25 to 1 to 1 to 1 to 1 to 1 ad nauseum seems a bit better. That is the feeling I got watching this movie, but I didn’t get a soft spot for this one, as I expect more out of a Hollywood film. The plot is so very wafer thin, and 99.9% of the movie is John Wick running and fighting and shooting with unbelievable odds, yet pulling out time and time again. Truthfully the realism of this movie is very very low. On the other hand though, there is an audience who will love this for all the non-stop action and unbelievable fight scenes. In that respect, it is very well done, which is why I gave the film a decent score. I personally was not caught up by the story, and didn’t really get into it very much, but I have great respect for the stunt choreography and the CGI effects, but especially the stunts. It is a showcase of non-stop fight sequences and they’re well done, just hard to accept, and certainly beyond belief. For that reason, I’m not going to say go out and see this film immediately, as I really didn’t care that much for the experience.

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Summit Entertainment, Participant Media, Di Bonaventura Pictures,

Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Gina Rodriguez, Dylan O’Brien, Kate Hudson

Deepwater Horizon is a fact based docudrama covering the 2010 explosion and oil spill on the floating rig Deepwater Horizon leased by BP. The crew from Transocean dug the initial well, and stabilize it with cement then cap it off and leave before the drilling crew from BP come aboard and finish the well. As they were over a month late, and over budget, BP was pressuring them to finish up and get on with it. Due to some likely shortcuts and unwise savings, the well suddenly erupted starting a huge fire which killed 11 men, and caused the rig to sink to the bottom of the ocean starting the largest oil spill in US history. This film is the story of the events leading up to and to the evacuation and rescue of the survivors after the fire. Led by Jimmy Harrell (Kurt Russell) and his technical right hand man Mike Williams (Mark Walberg), and their interactions with BP executive Vidrine (John Malkovich) this exciting tale feels like a simple action movie but is based on the real events of 2010.

Produced by Wahlberg and Directed by Peter Berg, this is an excellent film. The excitement and action is first rate, special effects are mind boggling, and the movie still develops the characters and their motivations, and the human interest side of the story is developed very well too. Kurt Russell is amazing, as always, and Mark Wahlberg did a fantastic job as well. It is nice to Kurt and his daughter Kate Hudson who played Mark Wahlberg’s wife together as well. The beginning of the story was a bit slow, as it takes a great deal of time to give us all the background information of who the characters are, and why they are doing what they are doing. If this were fiction, that could have been shortened a little bit, but because to the need to be truthful to the facts, it is important to give us all this information about how it could happen. As soon as I got out of the theater, I looked it up in Wikipedia to see how accurate it was, and after having seen the film, I was surprised to learn how much I knew about the facts of what happened just based on those first 40 minutes or so while the story was introduced. But one trouble starts, thing get really moving real fast. It was an awful disaster, and I feel like I was there. One point though, although 11 men died in the explosion and fire, a great deal of damage happened long after the event (and is still happening). Though the film gives us the welcome pictures of the real people portrayed, and the words on screen telling us who quit the oil business after, and what essentially happened to the people, it does not spend any time talking about the consequences of the aftermath. For that reason, I would highly recommend that after you see this exciting film, that you do a tiny bit of research on your own to try to get the full picture of the whole story. This is a very good movie, and I highly recommend it for you.

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Lionsgate, Red Wagon Entertainment, Summit Entertainment,

Maggie Q, Octavia Spencer, Shailene Woodley, Zoë Kravitz, Ansel Elgort, Bill Skarsgård, Jeff Daniels, Naomi Watts, Miles Teller, Ray Stevenson, Theo James

After the devastating events of the previous film, the four escape outside the wall to discover what’s out there. Tris and her three friends find a world outside that may hold the answers to how she came to be Divergent in the first place, but naturally trouble looms from all sides, and they have to make some hard choices as to where to put their allegiance in the future. This is the final film in the Divergent series, oops, surprise! This is part one of the last film in the series. The last one, word has it is coming out as a TV movie without a theatrical release.

I wasn’t impressed very much by this film. Hopefully the last one, if it does eventually come out, will be a little bit better. I guess the dump at the box office has destined this to be finshed as a TV movie. I guess my disappointment in this one was shared by the rest of the world. Perhaps there have been so many similar series and all the hype has jaded us a bit, or perhaps there’s just too much special effects and too little story. This was step by step predictable from the start to the end. There’s no real tension as it’s easy to tell what’s going to happen each step of the way, and very little suspense. The characters in this story is not nearly as likeable, and not as easy to care much about. I don’t know if it’s a weakness in the story, the screen play, the actors, or what. Perhaps, as I suggested earlier, it just was too much pizazz and not enough story, I don’t know. But in any case, this is by far the weakest of the films so far, and each one has dropped a star as we through them. I had higher hopes for this film, as I haven’t had the time to read the books, but I was kind of let down by this one. Glad I waited for the DVD instead of paying top dollar to see it in the theater. There’s lots of better films out there. This is probably okay to skip unless you’re really a big fan. Sorry.

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Red Wagon Entertainment, Mandeville Films, Summit Entertainment,

Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet, Ansel Elgort, Miles Teller, Naomi Watts, Octavia Spencer,

Things went bad for Tris Prior (Shailene Woodley) upon her initiation day in the first film “Divergent”. It ended up with her finding out she is divergent, or a member of all the factions. After the destruction of Earth, the survivors were broken up into factions and focused on one part of humankind to the exclusion of all else. There were those who value truth above all, those who nurture children, the group that cherish simpleness and non-violence to the extreme, and so on. A divergent had all of the qualities at once. Tris, by running away and joining another group of divergents suddenly found her whole world turned upside down. Those she loved were killed, because of her and their attempt to protect a valuable object at all costs. Tris is doubting herself as war seems eminent and there seems no other way than to attack and kill Jeanine (Kate Winslet) who as leader has started an all out search for the divergents to solve the puzzle and secure her rightful place as ruler of mankind.

This is the sequel to Divergent, and in this film, it picks up exactly as it left off. Tris has a valiant task to overcome and she’s ready for it, although she’s questioning herself and the cause of all the terrible things that happened. Does it sound like Hunger Games? Well that’s because there are many, many similarities between the two. This came along, definitely to ride the coattails of Hunger Games, which came along to follow Harry Potter, and so on, and so on. Does that make it worth not going after? No, not really. There are some definite twists along the way, and some of the details in these stories are quite interesting. I am impressed with Shailene Woodley, but she’s definitely not Jennifer Lawrence. Although in the very first Hunger Games Jennifer wasn’t all that polished either, but as the series went on, she got much stronger acting chops. Shailene still has a way to go, but she’s still the strong woman heroine who is required to step in and save the world. This is the theme these days. The men are either two faced, incompetent, or traitorous, and without the women to save the world, we’d be in trouble. This is what we’ve come to expect in 2015. So with that out of the way, Tris is a pretty decent heroine. With plenty of self doubt, she’s a bad ass and and kick butt and take names as well as anyone. I really enjoyed the look and feel of this movie, and was able to look past some of the cheesy acting of the bad guys who were about as hapless as the storm troopers in Star Wars Chapter V. The special effects are good, and the story is not all that bad. Don’t watch this expecting it to be exactly like the book, as it’s apparently not very closely followed, but as a stand alone film, it’s really good. I would definitely watch Divergent first to get the feel from the original and the background you will need for this film. Others found the story hard to follow, and especially the ending part about the relic and what it all meant. I didn’t find it that hard to follow, but perhaps if you miss a few critical pieces it might get that way. I thought it was an intelligent and very interesting action adventure film which gave me a lot of stuff to think about what is important in life and what is trivial. An interesting comparison is TinkerBell who being a pixie is only able to feel one emotion at a time. So when she’s filled with jealousy, it consumes her to wipe out all other feelings. The class system in Divergent is similar. Those who have only one trait miss a lot of life by not having the others. I recommend this film, but with the caveat that it’s not of the caliber of Harry Potter or Hunger Games, but it’s a nice little adventure film. I recommend it.

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Summit Entertainment, OddLot Entertainment, The Montecito Picture Company,

Kevin Costner, Jennifer Garner, Denis Leary, Frank Langella, Sam Elliott, Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, Terry Crews, Ellen Burstyn, Chadwick Boseman

Sonny Weaver, Jr (Kevin Costner) is now General Manager of The Cleveland Browns football team. He took over for his father who recently passed away and he has big shoes to fill. It’s the NFL Draft Day, and Sonny trades up to the Number One pick in order to get the hottest Quarterback on the market, but the cost is very high, and everyone else, from his girlfriend and fellow front office member Ali (Jennifer Garner) and his Mother, (Ellen Burstyn), as well as the whole front office think he’s blown it big time. But Sonny has to figure it out and see if he has what it takes to take over for his Father, whom everybody loved.

The high stakes poker style negotiating of the NFL Draft (and the NBA draft for that matter) is a roller-coaster ride of it’s own, but that’s even just as a spectator. Here we get to go into the back rooms and see how the wheeling and dealing goes on under extreme pressure for everyone involved. A simple mistake in negotiation could mean plus or minus millions of dollars as the season plays out. This film really takes you into the action, and it’s a very good movie. I found myself enjoying it a lot, even though I’m not the hugest NFL fan. I watch my Steelers when I can, but drafting a fantasy team, or following the draft on TV is not something I’ve really invested myself in. But I have to admit I was thoroughly entertained, and I think even a non-football fan could enjoy this film as well since there is so much other stuff going on. Though it reminded me of Moneyball a little bit, as the subject is similar, trying to find the right players at the right cost to make your team, I think it was even more enjoyable to me than Moneyball was. Kevin Costner was very good, and he carried the film really well. There’s such a feeling of realism, that you would swear that its’ a true story, and there are many real people who play themselves, even though this is a fictitious story, there is some similarity to a real event. There’s drama, suspense, humor, and good old fashioned drama going on here, and the movie never lets up. Very well presented, everyone deserves kudos from the script to the photography, to the casting and acting in this sports film. I really enjoyed this movie, and I would definitely recommend it, especially to anyone who is a football fan!

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