Comedies

From Nacho Vigalondo, the director of Timecrimes, comes Extraterrestrial, a comedic thriller that looks at the evolution of four people’s behaviors after they learn that a giant spaceship has arrived over Madrid and that much of the population has fled, or disappeared. Unlike Timecrimes, unfortunately, Extraterrestrial doesn’t leave much of an impression.

Read FilmJabber’s full Extraterrestrial movie review.

As studios scramble to appeal to the digital download fans while still clinging to the lucrative-but-quickly-fading home video model, we get awkward releases such as the Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Blu-ray combo pack, which comes with a Blu-ray disc (of course), a DVD and something called Ultraviolet (“your movies in the cloud!”).

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Robert Downey Jr. reprises his role as the world’s most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, and Jude Law returns as his friend and colleague, Dr. Watson, in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Sherlock Holmes has always been the smartest man in the room…until now. There is a new criminal mastermind at large – Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris) – and not only is he Holmes’ intellectual equal, but his capacity for evil, coupled with a complete lack of conscience, may give him an advantage over the renowned detective.

The movie is now on Blu-ray Combo Pack or Digital Download – enter to win a free Blu-ray copy.

I think it’s universally accepted that if you had the ability to time travel, you would.   But would you be willing to answer a random classified ad calling for you to “bring your own weapons”?

Set in beautiful Washington, Safety Not Guaranteed shows us what happens when you throw together a group of people who don’t quite fit in, and are okay with that.

Read the full Safety Not Guaranteed movie review.

Last time we saw Agent J and K, it was ten years ago and had something to do with a sexy, tentacled bad guy and a clueless Rosario Dawson walking around aimlessly for a couple of hours. No one was asking for another Men in Black, but director Barry Sonnenfeld is back again with Men in Black III, which has Will Smith traveling back in time in search of a funny concept. He doesn’t find one.

Read FilmJabber’s full Men in Black 3 movie review.

After a four year hiatus, Will Smith returns to theaters with Men in Black III, which reunites the star with co-star Tommy Lee Jones (and Josh Brolin, playing a younger version of Agent M). While the buzz for the sequel isn’t nearly as strong as some other movies debuting this summer, Will Smith’s box office potential should not be underestimated: his movies have raked in well over a billion dollars and multiple Oscar nominations.

Now seems like the perfect time to look at the best Will Smith movies, dating back nearly 20 years (now doesn’t that make you feel old?).

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Matthew Lillard makes his directorial debut with Fat Kid Rules the World, about a fat kid who takes over the world. Or about a fat kid who is befriended by a junky and finally realizes his place in the world. A comedy-drama without much comedy, Fat Kid Rules the World is like so many directorial debuts from recognizable actors: mildly engaging but insignificant.

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Shrek may have run his course years ago, but his furry Antonio Banderas-sounding friend Puss in Boots gets another life in… Puss in Boots, an animated comedy adventure that is thankfully nothing like Shrek. Funny, witty and original, Puss in Boots is a surprisingly entertaining and fun flick kids, parents and everyone in between will enjoy.

Read FilmJabber’s full Puss in Boots movie review.

The 2012 Seattle International Film Festival kicks off this week with a great lineup of classy and edgy films that should satisfy most moviegoers’ appetites. With so many good films to choose from, I naturally selected the instantly forgettable vampire comedy My Sucky Teen Romance as my SIFF appetizer.

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Stephanie Plum, the starring character in Janet Evanovich’s long-running book series, gets the big screen treatment for the first time in One for the Money, an adaptation of the first book. Based on the critical and financial reception of the film, it will also stand as the last time Stephanie Plum will be seen on the big screen. Despite being far from great, One for the Money does boast a casualness that works more often than not.

Read FilmJabber’s full One for the Money movie review.

Six years after he blew audiences away with Borat and three years after destroying all goodwill he previously earned with the horrendous Bruno, Sacha Baron Cohen is back with The Dictator, a very quotable movie about a racist, sexist, anti-Semitic Middle Eastern dictator who travels to New York City to talk about his plans for obtaining nuclear power before the United Nations.

Read FilmJabber’s full The Dictator movie review.

Tim Burton. Johnny Depp. Together again. Woopty-fucking-doo.

Dark Shadows is a big screen adaptation of a television show that apparently was popular decades before I was born, and is about a rich young man named Barnabas Collins who is cursed by his evil witch mistress Angelique to forever being a vampire. She then locks him in a coffin for 200 years. He is released in the 1970′s, where he discovers that his family’s estate is in ruins, his odd family is odd and that Angelique is still alive and kicking, and also the business competition.

Read our full Dark Shadows movie review.