The Film Community, Electric Entertainment,

Josh Charles, Julia Stiles, Avan Jogia, Tracie Thoms, Leo Fitzpatrick, Mike Houston, Jasper Newell

Tom Seymour (Josh Charles) is a psychologist, married to his wife Lauren (Julia Stiles), and the two are down by the sea when they notice a young man jumping off the pier. Despite his wife’s warnings, Tom climbs the fence and jumps in to save this young man from drowning himself. When he meets his new patient, Danny Miller (Avan Jogia) he learns that he is the same man that he saved from drowning, but also the man was the boy of 11 that his testimony sent away to prison decades before. How odd that the two are once again together, but Tom soon finds Danny inserting himself into his life in very strange ways. Was it all a coincidence, or is Danny really dangerous? This is an eerie mystery and a creeping insight into Tom’s secrets.

This seems like a movie based on a book that might be very, very good. But the movie lacks a lot. The characters are relatively well developed which is more than I can say about the story itself. The script never gets off the ground, and is a bit of an abortion. I’m not sure what the makers of this film were aiming for, but I’m disappointed that they seemed to miss the mark entirely. The film is very slow and dragging, and each moment you think that something is going to make sense, it doesn’t. All in all, the air above my head was filled with question marks throughout the whole film, and I never figured out what it could possibly mean. Who is Julia Stiles supposed to be, and what use is she to the film. Sadly, she has a mysterious role that we never get a clue of. I don’t know who this kid/man is/was, and by the end I really didn’t care. Is the doctor an evil bastard, an abused wimp, or a hero of some sort? Hell if I know. It ended, and the big surprise ending didn’t do anything to bring anything to a close either. After it was all over, I’m just completely confused as to what it was all about. This movie really looked like it had a superior idea for a story that just fizzled out after the initial rescue and never recovered. Now I’m left wondering if this actually based on a decent book that could give me some peace at understanding this tale, or if it’s just something I need to forget and move on to the next movie and forget this ever happened.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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Cinipix, Cosmic Toast Studios, Quincy Pictures,

Zoë Bell, Rachel Nichols, Tracie Thoms, Sherilyn Fenn, Doug Jones, Bruce Thomas, Bailey Anne Borders, Rebecca Marshall, Adrienne Wilkinson, Allene Quincy

Sabrina (Zoe Bell) is kidnapped by a secret society and finds herself in a deep dark dungeon along with dozens of other women. Each woman has been chosen along with a close loved one, and they are forced to fight to the death. Refuse to fight, and your daughter, husband, mother, etc. is killed. Lose and you die and they die as well. Only one winner will survive and survive to hopefully join the society. One by one the battles are televised in a sort of modern day gladiator battle to the death with bare knuckles.

I have been waiting for a long time to see this film. It’s been in my queue for a long time, and I finally caught it on Showtime. I was decidedly unimpressed. Fans of UFC and the Saw movies may enjoy this, but I found it extremely violent without much of a point. The battles take up the entire movie, and unlike the horrible 1970’s women in prison films, there is no point other than just women beating the crap out of each other with their fists. No clever twists and turns, not a single plot point, and the chatter between the ladies is drivel. The story is basically junk, and though the last 25 minutes are a bit more exciting and there is a bit of the ending, it’s not very well done and is a lot more of the same. There was no time spent on the plot, and no real excitement. It doesn’t really matter which of the girls wins, and there are no champions here. All in all I cannot recommend this unless you’re really a fan of girl on girl fist fights to the death or something, and I would not recommend this film to anyone as it has literally no redeeming qualities. What a waste of time!

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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DMG Entertainment, Endgame Entertainment, FilmDistrict,

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Piper Perabo, Paul Dano, Garret Dillahunt, Jeff Daniels, Tracie Thoms, Pierce Gagnon

Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a Looper. In the future, time travel was invented, but it was highly illegal. It was taken over by the mob, and when they needed to get rid of a body, there was no practical way, so they would send the prisoner back in time to a set time and place where the Looper would instantly kill him and dispose of the body. It seems someone VERY evil has taken over the mob and is getting rid of all the loopers, by sending the looper himself back from the future to be killed by his younger self. When Joe meets himself from the future (Bruce Willis) he manages to outsmart himself and escape. Now present Joe must find future Joe before future Joe finds the one who is responsible for all the problems in the first place. This is a sci-fi drama that will really make you think.

I was very impressed with this story. It is not a fast paced action thriller as you might expect (although there is a lot of run and chase in it) but it’s much more cerebral than that. There is a lot of levels of this story, and it could get confusing if you’re not paying attention, so it does take some concentration to keep it straight. But it was really well acted, and has a lot of character development which makes it very enjoyable to watch. Emily Blunt plays a young mother (and a very complex character as well) which is very well done. Bruce Willis doesn’t get as much screen time as he could have. I would like to have seen more develop between Young Joe and Old Joe, but we didn’t get a lot of that. But Bruce makes the very best of the screen time he does get, and he’s an interesting character as well. He is somewhere between ruthless and crass and a tender and loving old coot, and he’s actually both most of the time.

All in all, this was a very good film. I enjoyed the setting very much. It’s set in about 2024 or something like that, but it could really be any time. It’s kind of interesting to see a movie set in a future date with a further future date down the road. We get to learn a little about both times. It’s also interesting with the characters of young Joe and old Joe. You can see the difference between youth and character, and age and wisdom, but see the similarities in the two versions of the same character. I will be thinking about this film for quite a while, and I predict it will do pretty decently in the box office as it was a very good adventure.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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Kandoo Films, Forward Movement

Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Tracie Thoms, Omari Hardwick, Michole Briana White, Beverly Todd, Dijon Talton, Damone Roberts, Phalana Tiller, Royale Watkins, Owen Smith, Blair Underwood


Maye (Sally Richardson) is devastated after her beloved aunt, Amanda (Beverly Todd), dies of breast cancer. Maye (Salli Richardson-Whitfield) has moved out of her home and put her career on hold (She is a very successful make-up artist in Hollywood) and moved into her aunt’s house to spend her aunts last days and to take care of her, but now she must move everything out of the home they shared, move back into her own home, and resume her career while still coping with her grief. Maye’s life is touched by other mourners, giving her the strength to carry on. Yet Maye’s healing is complicated by the jealousy of Amanda’s estranged daughter, Fran (Michole White), who resents Maye’s close relationship with her very unusual mother.

This is an independent Black film, but race has very, very little to do with the story. It is a slow moving and thought provoking film that examines the relationships that Maye has with the people who either hate her or support her. She has a boyfriend who does not support her and cannot face death in the least. He was completely absent through the whole ordeal. The friction between Maye and Fran is very fascinating too. Neither is right, and neither is wrong. Fran wants what Maye has, but is completely unable to face it. She wants to be close to her mother without putting the effort because she can’t understand. She blames Maye for taking her place, and doesn’t hesitate to point that out, but yet everyone knows she couldn’t have done what Maye did anyway.

This is a very intellectual film, and there’s very little action or heavy drama, but it is a relationship film. Much like “Soul Food” this is a good look inside a Black family giving us a feel for some of the dynamics of the families involved. The characters are very well developed, and though the cast is not extremely well known, they are very good and do a great job bringing the look and feel to the film. This is not everyone’s cup of tea, but if you like good family relationship films, this is one of the best I have seen in a long time.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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