Ed's Review Dot Com

Working Title Films, Artémis Productions, Kvinde Films,

Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander, Ben Whishaw, Sebastian Koch, Amber Heard, Matthias Schoenaerts

Gerda Wegener (Alicia Vikander) is a Danish painter. She paints her husband, Einar (Eddie Redmayne) in woman’s clothing, and is beginning to gain attention as a popular artist. But Einar is finding himself more and more comfortable as Lili, his female character that he developed, and he finds he is losing himself and becoming more and more Lili. Since childhood, Einar has felt different and as if he was really a woman trapped in a man’s body. Seeking help, all the professionals declare him insane and try to cure him by driving the desire to be female out of his head. But through the love of his wife, Gerda, he is able to find a German doctor who is anxious to try doing a two surgery process to change Einar into Lili permanently. At this point in time, it’s heresy and is unacceptable to society, and especially the religious community.

This is a startling love story that is really sweet and well done. Based on the diary that Lili kept, and published after her death, this story really shows the great amount of love between these two. It’s sad as Gerta is losing her husband, but she’s willing to do anything to make him/her happy. Eddie Redmayne was nominated as Best Actor for his role in this film, but it was his co-star who rightfully won the Best Supporting Actress award for her role as Gerda. She really was able to pull off this role and was spectacular and certainly deserved it. But I think she was probably the best part of this movie. She really nailed it, and her range of emotional scenes from love, to despair, to worry, to desperation, she covered them all. This was a really well written script, and filmed in a way to leave the touching moments alone while still showing the terrifying parts. This is an unusual tale, and like one of the filmmakers stated in the extra features, it’s amazing that it has remained hidden this long as it is a really powerful story. Despite the R rating, this is a good film, and I can recommend it for mature audiences.

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Working Title Films,

Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Charlie Cox, Emily Watson, Simon McBurney, David Thewlis, Maxine Peake, Harry Lloyd, Christian McKay

Stephen Hawkin (Eddie Redmayne) is well known as one of the worlds most brilliant scientists and theoreticians. This is his story, from his time as a youth attending school, through his diagnosis of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), and through many of the accolades and awards and discoveries he has made. This is a docu-drama, and basically a one man show about the life and times of Stephen Hawking so far, and the trials and tribulations he has had to face from this awful disease.

I was riding with my wife the other day and while we were waiting at a red light, a car turned left in front of us. The window was open, and I said to my wife, “I hate that guy!” She was surprised and asked if I knew him. My response was not at all, but I can just tell by looking at him that he’s a pompous ass. Was it was how he carried himself? Was it the way he was dressed? Was it the look on his face? Or did he remind me of someone else I don’t like. I don’t think so, but I could just tell. She thought it was funny and said if I got to know the guy, we might be best friends. Have you ever had that experience where you dislike someone instantly without knowing anything about them at all? It’s a weird thing. Now, I have to say that this is the way I felt about Eddie Redmayne. I don’t know him, I haven’t seen him in person, but when he showed up in Les Miserables, I took an instant disliking to him without even knowing him. When I saw him at the Oscars and making the rounds of the talk shows and other awards shows I felt even more instant dislike for the poor guy. I’m sorry Eddie, but I can’t help it. That overwhelming feeling actually affects my feeling about this film. I have nothing against Stephen Hawking personally. I am not completely in awe of him. I realize he’s a genius and probably much smarter than I’ll ever be, but I also realize he could be quite wrong on a lot of his opinions. He’s probably not, but he could be. When I was 19, they convinced me that Paul McCartney was dead. I was totally convinced because there was a LOT of evidence. I felt that, at least, if he wasn’t, that the Beatles went through a lot of trouble to convince us that he was. As you grow older you realize that prognosticating after the fact is fairly easy to prove anything, and people want to make sense out of the randomness of this world, and if you tie a bunch of theories together, you can pretty much convince yourself that you’re right. Sometimes you are, and the more evidence the better, but sometimes you’re just blowing smoke. I am not saying Stephen Hawking is just blowing smoke, but he could be wrong. But there is no doubt that his life has been extremely challenging and his story is quite astonishing. The facts of his life experiences make a good story. So why did I just not like this one so much? I can’t really put my finger on it, I just was not blown away by this story. I feel like they missed the mark. My instinctual dislike for poor Eddie aside, I felt a little like the whole thing was a bit pompous and sort of stuck up. The feeling I got through the whole thing was like someone was trying to tell me they’re better than me, smarter than me, and superior to me, and if I didn’t accept that I was just stupid. This is probably all in my own mind, but I couldn’t get past it. I wasn’t comfortable through the whole film. I know it got a lot of praise and a lot of awards, but for me, I just didn’t feel like I enjoyed it very much. I have to give it three stars because in my mind I realize it’s not a bad film, and I did go to wikipedia after the film and read up on the real Stephen Hawking and to find out how much of the story was true. It turns out that they did a pretty decent job on telling the true story. But I would not be interested in watching it again.

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Timnick Films, StudioCanal, Working Title Films,

Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst, Oscar Isaac, Yigit Özsener, Daisy Bevan, Prometheus Aleifer, David Warshofsky

Chester (Viggo Mortensen) and Colette MacFarland (Kirsten Dunst) are a wealthy American couple in Athens. They’ve been traveling all over the world, but it turns out Chester has some unfinished business. The couple meet an American born, part time con-artist, tour guide Rydal (Oscar Isaac) who befriends them an forms a bond with them. But when the situation turns extremely dangerous, they are forced together to try to disappear into the small towns of Greece, their lives depend upon each other, though nobody can trust anyone.

This film is very beautifully set in the Greek countryside, and so visually it’s very nice to look at. There is a fair amount of twists and turns along the way, but I felt the entire story was a bit lacking. The story really isn’t fleshed out enough, and some of the suspense points feel really contrived and essentially a bit silly. I have seen far better films with similar stories that were done much better. Basically there’s not really anybody in this film to like or to care about, and whatever happens to these guys really doesn’t matter much. I just couldn’t get invested in the story, and the whole loser Americans trapped and lost in an exotic foreign location has been run into the ground for the most part. I’m a fan of Kirsten Dunst, but though she is probably the best character in this story, it’s not enough to save it. Oscar Isaac was probably the best character in the story, but we don’t find out enough about him to really know what his real purpose is, and when he tells us his motivation, I didn’t have a clue of whether he was sincere or just being a smart ass. All in all, I would suggest you skip this film. It’s not enough to keep you interested, and there’s really not much suspense here at all. Everything sort of just happens around you, but it all doesn’t mean much. Most of my rating points are for the scenery, not the plot.

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Translux, Working Title Films,

Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy, Lydia Wilson, Lindsay Duncan, Richard Cordery, Josh McGuire, Tom Hollander, Margot Robbie, Vanessa Kirby

When Tim (Domhnall Gleeson) turns 21, his Dad pulls him aside and informs him that the men in their family have always had the ability to time travel to the past. When he finds this unbelievable, He gives it a try and find out it is true. As he proceeds through his life he meets a young woman played by Rachel McAdams. He’s immediately smitten by her, so travels back in time many times to try to win her heart. But he finds there are some events which you cannot go back before without changing things too much. There are limitations in this very quirky little time travel film.

First of all, I must say that I am a sucker for time travel films. I’ve always been fascinated with the paradoxes of time travel and typically enjoy these kinds of films. This one is unlike any I’ve ever seen. There is deference given to the method in which they travel back, nor is there any mention of the quandaries of traveling in time. We just accept it as a fact. This is, after all, mostly a love story. But I think it’s more of a love story between Tim and his father, even more than his love for his wife and children. It is certainly a quirky film, but it was very powerful to me. I was deeply moved by this story and enjoyed it way more than I thought it would. This movie has a feel to it much more like Somewhere in Time or Tuck Everlasting, or even Lake House. The character that Rachel McAdams plays is kind of unlike her other roles. She’s much less the centerpiece of this film than she usually is, but she gives a splendid performance. She’s one of the newer actresses who doesn’t disappoint with her ability to really sink her teeth into whatever role you give her. She adds a lot to the film. The only complaints I might have is that a lot of the wonder of how he can go back in time is wasted when they just kind of throw it aside. There’s not much purpose in his repeated jumps back and forth. But if you stick through the movie, it really gets to the meat of the story and the things that are very important to him. He finds the things that he really needs and the movie turns very touching. It’s deep and it’s soul searching, and not near as novelty driven as most time travel adventures. This movie just slipped in out of left field and shocked me with it’s impact. I was impressed and it has definitely been a quirky week.

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Universal Pictures, Focus Features, Working Title Films,

Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Matthew Macfadyen, Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander, Kelly Macdonald, Ruth Wilson, Olivia Williams, Emily Watson

In 1874 Imperial Russia, Aristocratic socialite Anna Karenina (Keira KNightley) falls in love with a young cavalry officer Count Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) though she is married to cold and stoic Count Alexei Karenin (Jude Law) and she has a son. He is very set on not allowing her to embarrass herself and the family and keeping her away from her lover, but she is so brazen in taking chances that the whole court is talking. This classic Tolstoy novel gets a fresh look in this remake of many former copies of this film.

Call me a grouch, but I’ve never been a fan of these old time costume dramas, and this one is no exception. That being said, I think they did a pretty good job on this film. The costumes are good, the scenery is good, and all in all it’s a pretty showy piece. I’ve also never been a huge Keira Knightley fan either, but I have to give her props for this performance. She did a really good job of playing the wide range of emotions in this film. From the awful shame she felt, to the intense passion she has for her new love, to the pity for her poor husband, to the pity for her son, she is wracked through all kinds of emotional issues. But she pulls it off pretty well. She’s really good in this kind of story.

So, suffice it to say, that this is not the kind of film that I get really interested in, but if you a fan of the period pieces and classic novels, this is one of the better ones.

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