FilmJabber Movie Blog

One for the Money Movie Review

Erik Samdahl — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:00:22 +0000

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.

The Dictator Says You Should Watch His Movie

Erik Samdahl — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:30:23 +0000

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.

Date Night Alert! The Vow Movie Review

Erik Samdahl — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:00:25 +0000

Actually sort of based on a true story, The Vow stars Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams as Leo and Paige, a married couple who face a horrible reality: after getting in a car crash, she can’t remember the last several years of her life, including her husband or their marriage. Let’s just say Leo spends a lot of time sleeping on the couch. And that Paige can never get on his case if he ever forgets an anniversary.

Read FilmJabber’s full The Vow movie review.

Chronicle Flies onto DVD & Blu-ray

Erik Samdahl — Tue, 15 May 2012 16:00:03 +0000

Three Seattle teenagers develop super powers and do wonderful things with them, like scaring little girls and playing practical jokes on unsuspecting strangers, in the entertaining but far from great sci-fi action film Chronicle. Oh, and one gets corrupted by his newfound powers and takes it out on the Emerald City and all those who stand in his way.

Read our full Chronicle movie review.

Seattle Chronicles: Six Classic Seattle Movies

Erik Samdahl — Mon, 14 May 2012 16:00:49 +0000

As movie viewers, we are most accustomed to blockbuster movie settings like the sprawling landscapes of the Midwest or the bright city lights of New York and Los Angeles. In fact, the superhero genre has even gone a step further by giving birth to faux cities like Metropolis and Gotham City. But up in the Pacific Northwest lies beautiful but less-popular Seattle, a gem that has played host to many popular flicks.

Because of the lack of attention Seattle receives… for just about everything… Seattleites get incredibly giddy when Seattle shows up on the big screen, even if they know they’re actually seeing downtown Vancouver. The sci-fi action movie Chronicle, which debuts on DVD and Blu-ray tomorrow, wasn’t filmed in Seattle, but the filmmakers tried their hardest to make it look otherwise. I decided to take a look at just a few of the movies that take advantage of this great city:

Sleepless in Seattle

You can hardly mention the city of Seattle without mentioning this beloved movie starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Inspired by the equally iconic An Affair to Remember, the film also starred Emmy® winner David Hyde Pierce who would end up calling Seattle his home for some time; Frasier also took place there.

Fear

Fear is a 1996 thriller film starring then-newcomers Mark Wahlberg and Reese Witherspoon. Wahlberg portrays David, a troublemaker whose affection for Nicole eventually makes him violently dangerous. As their relationship unfolds, we get to take in some of the Emerald City’s best attractions like Mercer Island and Anchor Luna Park.

Singles

Many fans would tell you that no movie better portrays Seattle at its best than Cameron Crowe’s grunge-scene-centric romantic comedy, Singles, starring Bridget Fonda, Matt Dillon and Kyra Sedgwick among others. The film centers on the lives of a group of young people, living in an apartment block in Seattle, set against the backdrop of the early 1990s grunge movement that originated there.

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp are ‘Dark Shadows’

Erik Samdahl — Fri, 11 May 2012 17:09:45 +0000

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.

Movie Review: Girl In Progress, Not All the Way There

Erik Samdahl — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:27:18 +0000

Girl in Progress is a film that has a lot of positive elements, but that never hits its stride. It’s a film I wanted to like more than I did.

First the positives – Eva Mendes (Grace) looks beautiful as always. Girl in Progress also features a promising up-and-comer in Cierra Ramirez, who plays Grace’s angsty daughter Ansiedad. Quality supporting performances from Matthew Modine and Patricia Arquette help bring some maturity and gravitas to the story (a la Richard Jenkins in Friends With Benefits). And at its core, Girl in Progress most importantly has a good heart, or at the least good intentions.

Now some of the negatives… Read our full Girl in Progress movie review.

Now on Blu-ray: Underworld Awakening Movie Review

Erik Samdahl — Tue, 08 May 2012 16:00:09 +0000

The last time I saw Kate Beckinsale in skintight black leather was… in my dreams… but before that, it was in Underworld: Evolution, the second film in the stylized franchise about vampires, werewolves and soft core porn. After merely a cameo appearance in the third, nearly series-slaying Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, Beckinsale, having not been in a better movie since, is back as Selene, and everything else is back to the way they were.

Read FilmJabber’s full Underworld Awakening movie review.

The Avengers Shatters Box Office Records

Erik Samdahl — Sun, 06 May 2012 19:18:02 +0000

Thor’s hammer, Iron Man’s steel, the Hulk’s smash, Captain America’s patriotism and Black Widow’s cleavage combined for quite a wallop over the weekend as The Avengers opened to $200.3 million at the domestic box office over the weekend, according to BoxOffice.com. That blows past the $169.2 record held by last year’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, and sets a whole new benchmark for what defines a blockbuster.

A $200 million opening!

The excellent comic book adaptation, directed by Joss Whedon and riding hiding on stellar reviews (94% at Rotten Tomatoes) and amazing word of mouth (an A+ Cinemascore rating) earned $80.5 million on Friday, including $18.7 million in midnight shows, another $69.7 million on Saturday and an estimated $50.1 million on Friday. Could that extra few bucks be an exaggeration to get The Avengers past the $200 million box office weekend mark? Sure, but it doesn’t really matter. With $441 million already earned overseas from a week of distribution, The Avengers is setting pretty at $641.8 million worldwide, which is more than the lifetime totals for Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, Iron Man 2 and the two Hulk movies.

Incredible.

The numbers were helped by 3D viewings – 52% of tickets sold, according to a Yahoo! article, were for 3D showings.

So… what does this mean for The Dark Knight Rises? Will the Batman movie, a sequel to one of the most praised action movies of all and being promoted as the conclusion to the saga, be able to beat this staggering number?

The Avengers Movie Review

Erik Samdahl — Fri, 04 May 2012 06:00:01 +0000

The Avengers, the careful culmination of years of planning, multiple blockbusters, hundreds of millions of dollars and loads of patience is finally here, and it does not disappoint. The best comic book adaptation since 2008′s The Dark Knight and arguably the best Marvel Studios movie ever, The Avengers is exciting, funny, visually stimulating and thoroughly entertaining, the very definition of a good summer blockbuster.

Read FilmJabber’s full The Avengers movie review.

Haywire Is Only Sort of Haywire

Erik Samdahl — Fri, 04 May 2012 02:35:43 +0000

Stephen Soderbergh’s experimental action film Haywire packs punch and an exceptional cast, but there is a reason why action movies are done a certain way. While some of the director’s techniques work, others fall flat, resulting in an entertaining but far-from-groundbreaking film.

Read FilmJabber’s full Haywire movie review.

Win Madonna’s W.E. on DVD!

Erik Samdahl — Fri, 04 May 2012 02:29:02 +0000

Madonna’s W.E. is now available on DVD and Blu-ray, and we’re giving away three DVDs to our readers. The drama tells the story of two fragile but determined women – Wally Winthrop and Wallis Simpson – separated by more than six decades. In 1998, lonely New Yorker Wally Winthrop (Abbie Cornish) is obsessed with what she perceives as the ultimate love story: King Edward’s VIII’s abdication of the British throne for the woman he loved, American divorcée Wallis Simpson. But Wally’s research, including several visits to the Sotheby’s auction of the Windsor Estate, reveals that the couple’s life together was not as perfect as she thought. Weaving back and forth in time, "W.E." intertwines Wally’s journey of discovery in New York with the story of Wallis (Andrea Riseborough) and Edward (James D’Arcy), from the glamorous early days of their romance to the slow unraveling of their lives in the decades that followed.

Enter to win W.E. on DVD today!

The 23 Movies to Watch this Summer

Erik Samdahl — Wed, 02 May 2012 16:00:04 +0000

Can you believe that summer is already here? We can’t! We’ve compiled a list of the best movies coming out this summer, based on buzz, trailers, promotion and pure gut instinct. Just keep in mind, if you do end up seeing all 23 movies on this list, you’ll have spent upwards of $230 at at the box office. Yikes!

No. 23. Rock of Ages

June 15, 2012 | Romance, Musical

A small-town girl meets a city boy on Sunset strip and in some deranged fantasy act out their love for another through hits by Def Leppard, Joan Jett, Poison and more, while Tom Cruise grows a mullet and rocks out like only a mulletted Tom Cruise could.

Why see it?
Having never seen the Broadway play, it’s hard to get too enthusiastic for this movie, but everyone who has says it’s a worthy spectacle. And love him or hate him, Tom Cruise generally picks his projects well, even when he only has a supporting role.

No. 22. The Chernobyl Diaries

May 25, 2012 | Horror

A group of young things decide to travel to Chernobyl for some "adventure tourism", but end up stranded in the radioactive site overnight – with some creepy dead Russians waiting to kill them.

Why see it?
There’s nothing to suggest that The Chernobyl Diaries is anything but a typical horror movie, except that it’s co-written by Oren Peli, the guy behind the ultra-scary Paranormal Activity franchise.

No. 21. The Loved Ones

June 2012 | Horror

A psychotic girl enlists her psychotic father to throw a torture-filled prom for her and her date-by-force.

Why see it?
It probably will be just another entry in the fading torture porn sub-genre, but The Loved Ones looks deliciously fucked up.

Watch the New Dark Knight Rises Trailer

Erik Samdahl — Tue, 01 May 2012 15:30:04 +0000

Warner Bros. Pictures has released the new movie trailer for its upcoming action epic The Dark Knight Rises, and it is… epic. Everything about this movie – save for Bane’s voice, which still sounds goofy – indicates that it is going to be just as incredible as everyone expects it to be. But why are you still reading? Watch the new movie trailer for The Dark Knight Rises:

The Dark Knight Rises debuts on July 20, 2012.

The Five-Year Engagement Movie Review

Erik Samdahl — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 22:13:18 +0000

A man and a woman meet, fall in love, get engaged. The next step is obvious. Obvious, but not easy. Between career opportunities and unexpected family situations, the initiation process to their next stage in life – the wedding – keeps getting pushed back, a victim of life’s little ironies and twists. The Five-Year Engagement looks at the ups and downs of their relationship, capturing the funny moments along the way. Unfortunately, the movie also feels like it is five years long.

Read FilmJabber’s full The Five-Year Engagement movie review.