Movies

As the New Year fast approaches and the first week of January 2008 beckons, there are a slew of new pictures out at theaters, some of them good and some of them not-so-good. I’ve seen a lot of movies over the last couple of weeks, and while I haven’t posted reviews for all of these films, I wanted to share what I’ve seen and make recommendations. Keep in mind that this time of year I am most interested in seeing dark and depressing pictures (Atonement) rather than mindless entertainment (National Treasure), and that I will generally avoid chick flicks (P.S. I Love You).

Here are the movies you should see:

• Atonement
  The best movie of 2007 so far, though I’m still holding out hope for There Will Be Blood…
• Juno
  Funny and oddly powerful, this will have females going “awwwww…” (seriously, there were several) and guys cracking up. Also has a potential Oscar winner starlet in the form of Ellen Page.
• No Country for Old Men
  Still one of the front runners for Best Picture of the Year. An awesome thriller, even if the ending stumbles a bit…
• I Am Legend
  If you want mindless entertainment, go see this one. Some people haven’t liked it, but it’s a tense thriller, at least until the final act. Will Smith is also great in it.
• American Gangster
  This one is still playing in many theaters, and while it doesn’t blow one away, it’s still quite good.
• Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
  Impress people by seeing movie slightly off the beaten path. Luckily, it’s still a pretty slick crime drama.
• The Golden Compass
  It is a bit rushed and could have benefited from a better director, but if you don’t mind anti-Christian themes, The Golden Compass is a lot better than what critics give it credit for.
• National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets
  I can’t believe I’m putting this one on my list, but despite the fact that it sometimes doesn’t make much sense or isn’t even slightly plausible, going in with low expectations meant that I actually found this one pleasingly entertaining.

Movies I haven’t seen but plan to shortly (because I hear they’re good)

• Charlie Wilson’s War
• The Great Debaters
• The Kite Runner
• The Savages
• Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Movies to avoid at all cost

• Sweeney Todd
  Yeah, this one just sucked. I like musicals, but no one told me that Sweeney Todd was going to be a boring movie with some of the worst music I’ve ever heard in my life.
• Fred Claus
  I didn’t see this movie, but it just looked bad.

Hi everyone,

Sorry about the broken links over the last day and a half. The problem is resolved and we don’t see any major issues forthcoming. Thanks for your patience!

Erik

As you may or may not know, the FilmJabber Blog is a part of the bigger movie website Movie-Source.com, a massive database of nearly every mainstream movie from 1995 and up. You may have noticed that there have been less blog posts and movie updates over the last week or so, and that’s not entirely due to the holidays…

We’re in the process of developing and finalizing several exciting new features or improvements that will help bring these brands together and provide a much more cohesive experience. Keep checking back, as these big changes are coming soon…

Now that Sopranos, Deadwood, Carnivale and several other classics are retired for good, I have been considering canceling my HBO subscription to save a few bucks. However, each time I consider that move, I think of The Wire, the absolutely sensational cop drama the station has flown under the radar for several years. And, guess what? On January 6th, The Wire returns for its final season…

The Wire Trailer

The Wire Behind-the-Scenes Footage

Jackass 2.5: Unrated is coming to DVD on December 26th, and would be a perfect late stocking stuffer for your parents. Unfortunately, there’s a reason why the movie is going straight to DVD, and that’s that it just isn’t that funny.

Clearly a release made to cash in and nothing else, Jackass 2.5 has all the same cast members from the previous films, but the footage consists entirely of deleted scenes from Jackass 2 and some interviews with the cast. So, basically, the DVD consists of a bunch of gags and painful moments that weren’t funny enough to make the cut, and weren’t even funny enough to make the deleted scenes of the original DVD.

Jackass 2.5 is barely an hour long, which is more than enough time to show all of the remaining footage and then some. To fill the movie out, there are quite a few interviews with the cast members, who remark on their favorite moments and so on and so forth. While not all that funny, these interviews are at least somewhat insightful and allow us to see the cast acknowledging that what they do is pretty stupid. My favorite part is where they show some of the crew members discussing how they can never let their guard down on the set, because the cast is always up to something gross. As one might imagine, the crew members grow quite annoyed at times.

Nevertheless, there really isn’t a memorable sequence in the entire movie, unless you count a slightly funny one that has Preston Lacy dressed up as King Kong on top of a port-o-potty while the rest of the cast fly remote control airplanes at him.

I loved the last two Jackass movies, but Jackass 2.5 just isn’t very good. It’s not terrible (unless you think Jackass is complete trash that should never be made), but Jackass fans would be better off watching the first two movies.

It’s been a few days since I last posted on the blog (holiday stuff!), so here’s a movie review for you: American Pie Presents: Beta House. This latest installment of the American Pie franchise has Erik Stifler (John White) heading off to his first year of college (remember, in The Naked Mile he simply was visiting his cousin at the dorms) for sex, nudity and freshman girls. It arrives just in time for Christmas (December 23, 2007).

And nudity, American Pie Presents: Beta House definitely has. The film is loaded with it, and that’s not a bad thing. While hardly representative of a real college (and in some ways getting away from what made American Pie so good in the first place: the decision to set normal guys in normal situations but with ridiculous results), the movie is shock full of scantily clad or downright naked “college” girls, who could all compete for prettiest girl on campus. The nudity alone made Beta House enjoyable enough.

There’s also some decent sex, for those of you who are interested.

Unfortunately, the rest of the movie is pretty lame. Take away the nudity and the sex and you really have very little here, other than a pretty typical frat movie. There’s nothing wrong with typical frat movies, except typical frat movies that aren’t funny. Beta House has tons of nudity, but it’s not funny, and there’s something really wrong with it. The creators of the movie became so obsessed with showing tits that they forgot that they were doing an American Pie movie, which means there should be at least a few laughs in it. Hell, the movie even lacks awkwardly gross sequences, other than a rather disturbing Russian roulette scene involving horse semen.

For the most part, Beta House doesn’t have much going for it. The screenplay is bland and fails to capitalize on its storyline. Strangely, the first half of the plot is about the freshman trying to complete 100 tasks by the end of the semester so that they can join the fraternity, but the second half of the movie departs from this entirely and decides to focus on the typical rival frats squaring off in a competition. While it is sort of funny that the underdogs are the jocks and the asshole jerk frat is made up of nerds (after all, in the 21st century, nerds are where the money is), why Beta House decided to detour from a storyline with so much potential to an utterly cliche one is beyond me. Had the whole movie focused on the 100 tasks, Beta House could have been something, but director Andrew Waller literally skims through them all.

I liked American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile well enough, but Beta House is nowhere as good. This is one direct-to-DVD comedy you can skip, unless nudity is enough to please you. Hmmm…

A new DVD edition of Braveheart comes to stores this Tuesday, December 18th, and with it comes some supposedly new special features that fans of the film might be interested in. From what I could find on Amazon.com, at least some of the special features haven’t been done before, though I can’t say for sure. Even with some new featurettes, it is clear that this DVD release is here just to make a few extra bucks around the holidays, but oh well – if you don’t own the movie, now’s your time to get it.

Braveheart is one of my favorite movies; even though it takes great historical license, it is funny, dramatic, entertaining, bloody and romantic all at the same time, and is easily one of Mel Gibson’s best movie, if not the best movie. But I don’t need to go on and on about how good Braveheart is, as everyone and their mother has probably seen it – or at least know it won Best Picture in 1995.

This new 2-disc, Special Collector’s Edition offers audio commentary by Mel Gibson (presumably the same commentary found on other versions), but the features I’m going to talk about are these:

• A Writer’s Journey
  This is an interesting look at the creative process that brought Braveheart to light, based on an interview with the writer, Randall Wallace. Interestingly enough, Wallace first learned about the hero of his movie, William Wallace, when he traveled to Scotland to learn about his heritage. From there, he wrote the screenplay, but claims he doesn’t research his work until after he writes his movies. This interview definitely shows the passion Randall Wallace had for the film.
• Alba gu Brath! The Making of Braveheart
  I think this is just a remixing of the making-of featurette found on the original Braveheart DVD, but it shows how Gibson approached the creation of the movie. Most interesting is that we get to see a lot of behind-the-scenes looks at the editing process as Gibson and his editor discuss how to make scenes work much better.
• Tales of William Wallace
  This one explores the rather vague historical facts revolving around William Wallace. Not bad, but not particularly useful, either.
• Archival Interviews
  There are some interviews with the cast. Nothing spectacular here, as it’s a bunch of actors saying what actors say about their “powerful” characters.

All in all, it’s a good DVD, but those of you who already own Braveheart should have no need to purchase this new edition, which only adds a couple rather meaningless special features.

Just in time for the sequel, National Treasure is returning to the new DVD shelf with National Treasure: 2-Disc Collector’s Edition, which comes with a fair amount of special features – though probably not enough to warrant two discs.

First off, loyal readers of mine know that I was never a big fan of the original National Treasure movie; the film seemed bloated and never all that exciting, despite being a non-stop adventure story. Having watched the movie just this last weekend for a second time, I’ll admit I enjoyed it a bit more than before – things seemed a little more fast paced and a lot less boring than I remember. Still, National Treasure isn’t deserving of a sequel. Nicholas Cage is rather bland as the hero, and the whole plot is still a bit too ludicrous to fathom (how does a treasure hunter manage to steal the Declaration of Independence?). For a family adventure film it’s okay, but none of the adventures or clues really manage to exude much mystery, suspense or excitement. The ending is also rather disappointing, just as I remember it. You can read my original National Treasure movie review here.

As for the National Treasure DVD, the 2-Disc Collector’s Edition offers a mix of old and new features. Returning features are an array of deleted and extended scenes (including an alternate ending and opening sequence), none of which are particularly great, and a few featurettes that include “On Location”, “The Knights Templar”, “Treasure Hunters Revealed” and “Riley’s Decode This!”.

New features include a few more deleted scenes (interestingly, the deleted scenes are split among the two discs), which again aren’t very spectacular, and some new featurettes:

• Ciphers, Codes & Codebreakers
  This one examines the use of codes in the movie and the history of code, including ancient codes from Roman times to World War II Enigmas and eventually to modern-day, computer-encrypted codes. Sort of interesting, though nothing particularly in depth.
• On the Set of American History
  This one talks about how National Treasure was so special because it got to film a bunch of scenes at real locations. While I guess it’s sort of impressive that they were able to make a movie in certain spots, I wouldn’t say there’s anything too groundbreaking here. Having just watched The Bourne Ultimatum DVD, which shows the filmmakers shooting amongst crowds at real train stations, this one pales in comparison.
• To Steal a National Treasure
  This featurette looks at how the filmmakers decided to hire someone who would have the expertise to recommend how they would actually steal the Declaration of Independence. Not nearly as interesting as one would imagine.
• Exploding Charlotte
  This one is about blowing up the ship at the beginning of the movie. Too bad most of this footage is found in another featurette, and that there really isn’t much insight into the pyrotechnics, etc.

This 2-Disc DVD set isn’t all that bad at all, but National Treasure isn’t anything spectacular, and there isn’t enough here to warrant fans of the movie to buy another version of the DVD. Still, if you’ve been meaning to purchase National Treasure ahead of its sequel, National Treasure: Book of Secrets (which looks terrible, by the way), now’s the time to buy.

Back in August I gave Balls of Fury a C- rating, a rather cruel grade for a movie I actually found quite entertaining and funny. The critic got the best of me and I scorned it for being exactly what it was intended to be: a stupid, stupid, stupid, goofy comedy. I try not to let the “critic” inside me take advantage of my simpler pleasures, but at the same time I have a reputation to attend to, and giving Balls of Fury a fair rating is a hard thing to do.

That being said, the ping-pong comedy is quite funny, and if you like silly, wacky adventures with mindless comedy, then Balls of Fury is one of the better films of recent years. I won’t go as far and say it’s a good movie, but it is funny. And for all of you who like Reno: 911 but watched that Miami movie and wanted to shoot yourselves, the main character in that plays one of the villains here. You can read the full Balls of Fury movie review here.

The movie arrives on DVD this Tuesday, and with it some special features that include deleted scenes, an alternate ending, a making-of featurette and a look at the “ball wrangler” hired for the film.

There’s really not much to say about the Balls of Fury DVD. The deleted scenes are okay, but you can see why they were deleted. There are a few scenes where the main guy sees the ghost of his dead father, but they aren’t funny. None of the other deleted scenes are funny, really. Why aren’t there any bloopers?

The alternate ending is one of those endings where you get to see a slightly different final minute of the film, and for a movie like this, who really cares? Honestly.

The making-of featurette is somewhat entertaining, as it does talk about how the cast and crew basically took a kung fu premise and replaced it with ping-pong. That being said, it is also quite promotional, though in this case, that actually works in the movie’s favor. Some of the actors joke about how ridiculous and meaningless the movie is, and that’s pretty funny.

Now, to the ball wrangler featurette. What do I say? The movie is about some poor actress who has to run around in what is essentially a Hooters outfit and make “ball” jokes to the cast and crew. What a degrading job, and the end result isn’t nearly as funny as the DVD people were hoping it would be. I saw the “blue balls” gag coming a mile away, and I’ve seen it done much, much better.

Anyway, the very few fans of the movie will probably rush out to buy this DVD; the rest of you will resort to rentals at most. Whether this film ever gains any level of cult status remains to be seen, but somehow I doubt it.

Freestyle Releasing must have read my blog post! With three Uwe Boll movies slated to be released in a month-long period at the beginning of 2008, Freestyle – the company that is foolishly releasing all three – must have realized that is one Uwe Boll movie to many (I would counter that three is three too many). Fearing that the world would internally combust, Freestyle has dropped the video game adaptation Postal from the release schedule. It may still see the light of day, but the movie Postal won’t be seen anytime soon.

Fans of Postal are actually rejoicing right now.

Rob Zombie’s remake of Halloween comes to DVD this Tuesday, including Halloween: Unrated Director’s Cut, a two-disc special edition DVD.

Those of you who have read my full Halloween movie review know that I actually thought this new version was great, and a second viewing cemented my opinion that this movie kicks ass. I was horrified when I heard that the John Carpenter classic was being remade, but as it turns out, Zombie has made a riveting horror film that actually builds on the original. I’m not saying one way or another that this version is better or worse than the original, but the best part of the movie is the first half hour where we see Michael as a child. Some were concerned that giving Michael too much of a human side would detract from the nature of the character, but Zombie figured out a way to develop the serial killer and make him scarier in the process.

But beyond that, this Unrated Director’s Cut adds about ten minutes to the film. The new scenes don’t really add much to the film, but it’s nice to see what was cut, et cetera. More interesting are the special features, which provide some good insight into the creation of the movie. There’s nothing incredible here, but you can view an alternate ending (which, as Zombie points out in his commentary, leaves Laurie Strode with very little to do) and some deleted scenes. Again, interesting to see what was removed, but none of the scenes are especially impactful.

For such a serious movie, it’s nice to see some bloopers included.

On top of those standard features, there’s a feature commentary with Rob Zombie (I didn’t listen to it) and several featurettes, including:

• The Many Masks of Michael Myers
  A look at the creation of the different masks used in the film. I found the psychological element to the masks – which wasn’t present in the original – to be one of the best additions to the story.
• Re-Imagining Halloween
  Rob Zombie talks about how he decided to tackle the remake, including his decisions to add more to the story, to not remake the movie scene by scene (I think directors have learned after the Psycho remake) and so on and so forth. There’s nothing too surprising here, but it’s good to see Zombie talking about this thought processes.
• Meet the Cast
  One of the better featurettes on the DVD, this is a compilation of interviews with the different actors in the film.
• Casting Sessions
  If you like seeing actors off-camera, this one offers audition tapes of most of the main characters. Sort of fun to watch.
• Laurie Strode Screen Test
  I think this one speaks for itself.

All in all, fans of Zombie’s Halloween should certainly pick up this DVD. Those of you who were hesitant about watching the remake should also consider buying this one without renting first – if you’re serious about horror movies, Halloween is one of the best to come along in a long time – and certainly one of the best slashers in a while.

After a disastrous weekend a week ago with The Golden Compass falling hard and fast, the box office has been revitalized by I Am Legend. The Will Smith-starring sci-fi flick opened to a huge $29.7 million on Friday alone, which means that the movie is destined to make between $70 and $80 million over the three day weekend.

This is the injection the box office so desperately needed, and once again cements Will Smith’s place at the top of box office leaders. With exception to a few stumbles (mostly dramas), Smith can open movies big, and I Am Legend is his biggest yet. Not only does I Am Legend‘s opening beat the $62 million summer opening of Smith’s I, Robot, but it will likely surpass the number one December opening previously held by The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King‘s $72 million. Amazing!

I Am Legend opened on 3,606 theaters. In comparison, The Golden Compass – in its second weekend – earned only $2.6 million on Friday from almost as many theaters.

This movie may end up being mindless entertainment, but I must admit that Jumper looks pretty fun. Coming in 2008, it’s about a few individuals who can teleport to anywhere they think about in a split second. The special effects look pretty good, and the concept is neat. Here’s a new poster:

Check out the sweet new international poster for The Dark Knight:

Remember that horror movie survey we ran way back in October? Here’s some of the results:

A survey conducted by Bellevue, Wash.-based movie website Movie-Source.com found that among seven recent and upcoming horror movies to be released in the fall or winter of 2007, Aliens vs. Predator Requiem, a sequel to the 2004 box office hit Alien vs. Predator, did not rank highly among must-see horror films.

The survey, conducted in October 2007 and based on 1,543 responses, compared Aliens vs. Predator Requiem to anticipated films such as 30 Days of Night, Saw IV and Stephen King’s The Mist, as well as Rogue and The Signal, two films that were later pushed back to 2008. The Mist received a whopping 37% of first picks when asked which horror movie respondents would like to see most, and 30 Days of Night followed up with 27%. Saw IV was third with 20%.

Of the top movies selected, only Saw IV was a box office success; both 30 Days of Night and The Mist failed to meet expectations. Saw is already a proven franchise, yet one that has fans sharply divided, which would account for less people voting for it but more going to see it.

So what does this all mean for Aliens vs. Predator Requiem? With only 8% of people anticipating this film most and some of the more highly anticipated horror movies failing to deliver in box office revenues, it will most likely operate like Saw IV on a lesser degree. The Alien and Predator franchises have built-in audiences that will go see the movie no matter what, and, like the Saw franchise, fans are bitterly divided. Of those surveyed, 47% consider the original Alien vs. Predator either a “Spectacular piece of filmmaking” or “a fun ride”, while 53% consider the movie “not so good” or worse.

The survey was conducted on InstantSurvey (http://www.instantsurvey.com).