The Edge of Heaven

An old Turkish reprobate, living in Germany. A Turkish prostitute frequented by the old man. The old man’s son. The prostitute’s estranged daughter, living in Turkey. A German lesbian student. The student’s mother. The lives of these six people intertwine in unexpected and, frankly, some rather unlikely ways. But since this is a story told in the style of Crash ... Read more »

The Edge of Seventeen

Hailee Steinfeld stars in a coming-of-age story about a young woman who is having a very tough time with adolescence. Well, didn’t we all? She narrates it, and is alternately funny and sad. There is good supporting work by Woody Harrelson and Kyra Sedgewick.

Steinfeld was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her part in True Grit, a totally ... Read more »

Edge of Tomorrow

The best part of this unexpectedly intelligent SF movie is right at the first. Tom Cruise is a public relations flak drafted into the army which is fighting a deadly alien invasion. No combat training, and not the slightest desire to have any. Suddenly a general decides Tom needs to write his copy from the front lines. He reminds me of James Garner in The ... Read more »

An Education

Nominated for Best Picture of 2009, and deservedly so. It is based on an autobiographical memoir by Lynn Barber, and details her relationship at age 16 with a man of 35. It is 1961, some years before feminism and the rockin’ 60s, and she is bored to death with school, home life, and practically everything else. You know it will end badly, but the great thing about this film is that it is ... Read more »

Edward Scissorhands

I’m so happy we have Johnny Depp. He could easily have been a romantic leading man, phoning in his roles. Instead, he consistently chooses oddball projects like this one.

Edward Scissorhands

Coming off the success of Beetlejuice and the blockbuster original Batman, Tim Burton apparently could convince studios to fund just about anything he wanted to make. Which explains how one of the weirder Hollywood movies got the green light. It is a fable with its roots in Frankenstein, with the exception that when Ed first comes down ... Read more »

The Egg and I

This was a very popular book written by Betty MacDonald, detailing her (apparently partly fictionalized) experiences as a city girl who follows her slightly demented husband into the chicken farming business. Comic situations abound. Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert are quite good.

The Eiger Sanction

It’s fun to read a book and then see the movie a day later. Even if you’ve done both before. But it’s been 30 years in this case, so it’s all new to me!

This was Clint Eastwood’s 4th directorial outing, and shows what he demonstrated in Mystic River, that he is very dedicated to the books he buys. Small changes were made, but only one seemed to make no sense. The book itself is ... Read more »

Eight Below

SPOILER WARNING. “Inspired” by a true story. Here’s what happens: Eight sled dogs are left behind when a research station is evacuated with an injured man ahead of bad weather. They fully intend to go back for the dogs. But the weather gets worse and stays impossible, until the long Antarctic winter sets in. No flights in or out. The late Paul Walker is almost insane with worry, and ... Read more »

Eight Legged Freaks

Here’s another entry, along with a movie called Tucker and Dale vs. Evil that we just saw, in the rather small and specialized genre known as horror comedies. That one satirized the college-students-terrorized-and-slaughtered-by-inbred-hillbilly-psychopath movies. The best example of a horror comedy that I can think of is Shaun of the ... Read more »