The FilmJabber Movie Blog

It’s been a couple weeks since Sex and the City made its way to theaters, raking in a whole ton of money. I got invited to see the movie opening night, but opted not to stay up to 3am with a bunch of weeping, screaming women. Part of the reason, I’ll admit, is that I didn’t want to be ridiculed by my guy friends for going to see a midnight showing of Sex and the City. Another reason: I am not that huge of a fan to sacrifice my beauty sleep for a picture like this.

Nevertheless, I finally made my way to see the Sex and the City movie, and it was pretty good. In fact, I thought it stayed extremely loyal to the TV show (it probably helps that the writer/director/executive producer of the show is also the writer and director of the movie) and managed to be just as funny as any individual episode.

And, to be blunt, I am straight and single. I didn’t go see Sex and the City because my girlfriend dragged me to it, and I didn’t see it because of my sexual orientation. Yes, I was one of the few single straight guys in the audience – perhaps the only one.

Read my full Sex and the City movie review.

I’ll provide my opinions on this one and the several other movie trailers that have been released in recent days later this week, but here’s the third, all-new movie trailer for the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight returns:

The movie trailer really doesn’t show much new footage, but things are presented in a different way. They are taking great care to slowly tune each marketing piece that comes to audiences, as this movie trailer is even better than the last. The music fades out in a couple weird spots, and I wish they would end the trailer with more of a money shot, but that’s just being picky.

It’s no surprise that on the eve of the release of The Incredible Hulk, audiences get treated to the teaser trailer for the upcoming movie sequel Punisher: War Zone. Watch the teaser trailer below and let me know what you think:

No, I’m not talking about overall numbers. However, I was saddened to see that three of the five top-selling DVDs this past week are downright not-so-good. With exception to National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets, which is no Oscar-winner in its own right, the top four selling DVDs of last week were:

1. Semi-Pro
   An insanely awful and boring Will Ferrell movie. And that’s coming from someone who generally likes Will Ferrell movies.
2. National Treasure 2
   A surprisingly entertaining movie, though maybe that’s because I went in with such low expectations.
3. Number 3? I don’t know… The original article doesn’t say. (
   
4. The Eye
   I can understand why this one is selling well. It stars Jessica Alba and looks sort of freaky. But it’s the same old Asian remake trash.
5. Meet the Spartans
   How do people still pay money to see these films? After Date Movie and Epic Movie, you would think even the dumbest of audiences would have caught on that these films just… aren’t… funny.

I’ve posted a movie review for the 2008 remake Funny Games, starring Naomi Watts, Tim Roth and Michael Pitt. The movie is directed by Michael Haneke, who also directed the original Austrian version ten years earlier. Anyone know why he decided to remake his own movie? I don’t know. Even worse, the movie is a shot-by-shot remake, meaning if you’ve seen one you’ve seen the other, save some subtitles (assuming the original is indeed subtitled).

I haven’t seen the original Funny Games, so thankfully I was able to enjoy this one a lot. It is depraved, disturbing and shocking – read my Funny Games movie review here.

James Bond really is 007 after yet another accident on the Quantum of Solace cost Daniel Craig, who plays James Bond, three of his fingers. Details of how he lost his trigger finger and two others is still unclear, but at least now he won’t be able to make any un-gentleman-like gestures.

OK, in reality, Daniel Craig only sliced off the tip of one of his fingers, according to Daily Mail, but it is the second injury inflicted to the Bond star while filming Quantum of Solace. The production is beginning (if it hasn’t already) to look like a cursed one, as there have been several accidents, injuries and crazy mayors that have disrupted shooting.

An exterior set was heavily damaged after a fire broke out at the studio; a stuntman drove an Aston Martin into a lake; another stuntman suffered head injuries after slamming head first into another vehicle; and Craig had to get eight stitches to the face a few weeks ago.

Is this the wrath of Amy Winehouse?

Check out the new movie trailer for the upcoming limited-release film Kabluey, which stars Lisa Kudrow, Teri Garr, Christine Taylor, Conchata Ferrell, Chris Parnell and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

The official Kabluey synopsis is as follows:

Inept Salman (Scott Prendergast) comes to help his sister-in-law (Lisa Kudrow) tend to her homicidal toddlers while Salman’s brother is off fighting in Iraq. Salman must take a humiliating job as a giant blue corporate mascot to help make ends meet and hold the family together. Packed with a parade of delightful comedy character actors, “Kabluey” is a hilarious, unique and heartfelt comedy.

Here’s the movie trailer for Vin Diesel’s upcoming sci-fi action movie Babylon A.D.:

Paramount Pictures has just released the movie trailer for the upcoming movie Hotel for Dogs, which debuts January 16, 2009. You can watch the Hotel for Dogs movie trailer below:

Here is the official synopsis for Hotel for Dogs:Hotel for Dogs, stars Emma Roberts, Jake T. Austin, Lisa Kudrow, Kevin Dillon and Don Cheadle in a smart, funny comedy adventure that shows how far love and imagination can take you. When their new guardians forbid 16-year old Andi (Roberts) and her younger brother, Bruce (Austin) to have a pet, Andi has to use her quick wit to help find a new home for their dog, Friday. The resourceful kids stumble upon an abandoned hotel and using Bruce’s talents as a mechanical genius, transform it into a magical dog-paradise for Friday – and eventually for all Friday’s friends. When barking dogs make the neighbors suspicious, Andi and Bruce use every invention they have to avoid anyone discovering “who let the dogs in.”

Amidst hangovers, bad weather and way too much television, I’ve caught up on some of the contest and giveaway maintenance for FilmJabber, which, I will admit, is the least exciting part of running a successful movie website. While I am happy to give out DVDs and other prizes to so many people, packaging, stamping and sending sixty or more prizes at a time gets rather tiresome.

Nonetheless, I’m set to send out a massive wave of DVDs this week, assuming I don’t get busy with other things. I’ll keep you posted.

In the meantime, I do have two movie contest updates:

• The Golden Compass DVD giveaway
  I received five additional DVDs for giveaway, so that means a whopping eight people won a DVD. Some will receive the standard one-disc version, while a few others will receive the two-disc special edition. Click on the link above to see if you were added to the original winner list.
• 2008 Summer Movie Survey
  Congratulations to Ralph Siegel of Plainview, NY for winning a copy of Eastern Promises upon completing FilmJabber’s 2008 summer movie survey. I’ll be doing a new survey soon, and am hoping for even more responses than this one.

With not a lot of movies out in theaters right now (there are some good ones, but with only one to two big release coming out a weekend, it’s pretty easy to keep on top of the films), it’s a good time to get caught up on some recently released DVDs. But what to see? Here are some suggestions, based on DVD releases since the beginning of May:

1. I’m Not There
   Cate Blanchett should have earned an Oscar for her performance in this absolutely strange but brilliantly conceived drama about Bob Dylan.
2. Rambo
   My roommate doesn’t think so, but the new Rambo movie kicks ass. Gritty, bloody and thankfully not very cheesy, this is a must-see for action fans.
3. Funny Games
   I haven’t seen this one, and I can imagine that the 1998 original (a foreign film, French, I think) is better, but this one just looks f**ked up. The movie stars Naomi Watts and Tim Roth as parents who find themselves victims to a pair of crazed psychopaths. No, it’s not a horror movie.
4. The Red Violin
   This movie was originally released in 1999, but Lionsgate just released a new version of the DVD. There’s nothing special about that, but if you haven’t seen this film, it is one of the better movies of the last decade. It’s about the life a violin over the course of several centuries.
5. National Treasure: Book of Secrets
   I wasn’t expecting much from this sequel, but if you go in with an open mind, you’ll find a pretty entertaining and exciting adventure story. Nicolas Cage goes searching for the Lost City of Gold to prove his ancestor’s innocence in the President Lincoln assassination, and ends up kidnapping the President in the process. No one said the plot made much sense.
6. Teeth
   This movie is about a girl who realizes that her vagina has teeth that bite of men’s junk when she gets angry. No joke. The concept alone makes this one worth seeing, but it’s actually a pretty well conceived picture.
7. The Great Debaters
   Denzel Washington’s follow-up directorial piece is a surprisingly good and uplifting film about the first black debate team to take on a white team in the 1930′s. The movie covers racism and a range of other topics.
8. The Bucket List
   This comedy, which stars Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, may not win any awards, but the pairing of the two is brilliant. The movie, about two dying old men who decide to do everything they ever wanted to do before they die, is funny and entertaining.
9. Youth Without Youth
   This one isn’t for everyone, but it is the first movie by Francis Ford Coppola (director of The Godfather trilogy) in a long time. The movie is philosophical and Kafka-esque, as it’s about an old man, who, after being struck by lightning, becomes much younger.
10. Be Kind Rewind
    This picture received mixed reviews, but still looked pretty good. The movie stars Jack Black as a video store guy who accidentally erases all of his store’s tapes, forcing him and his colleague to make their own versions of popular movies.
11. Jumper
    This Hayden Christensen sci-fi action film isn’t particularly great, but if you want mindless action and cool special effects, Jumper has more than enough to keep you satisfied. If only the film had a smarter plot, it really could have been something.
12. Control
    This black-and-white film examines the rise and fall of the lead singer of the 1970′s band Joy Division in a very non biopic kind of way, which is rather refreshing considering all of these biographies about musicians tend to end up looking about the same.

View more recent DVD releases.

Yesterday, box office predictions had Kung Fu Panda expected to make in the low-to-mid fifties and You Don’t Mess With the Zohan making around $32 million. Those weekend box office predictions were way off.

The Jack Black family film Kung Fu Panda, the first big animated movie of the year, earned $20.3 million on Friday according to Box Office Prophets, which means that the DreamWorks picture is expected to make approximately $65 million over the course of the weekend. Aside from the Shrek movies, this is DreamWork’s biggest animated opening ever.

As for Adam Sandler, who didn’t suffer either. Most analysts had his movie pegged at making $15-20 million less than the more family-friendly fare opening this weekend, and they were right. However, You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, where Sandler plays a former Israeli counter terrorist who moves to New York to fulfill his dream of cutting hair only to be pursued by his former enemies, earned $15.2 million on Friday, which should lead to a $41 million opening. Those who were questioning whether Sandler’s time was fading after the disappointing Chuck and Larry were… wrong.

From the numbers I pulled yesterday, Entertainment Weekly was closest to estimating Panda‘s numbers, as it had predicted $60 million in box office receipts. They were the second worst at predicting Zohan‘s numbers, however. Box Office Report came closest to predicting Zohan‘s numbers with a $38 million box office estimate.

As a Seattle Seahawks fan, I am by nature a Lofa Tatupu fan. The young, under-sized linebacker has given a boost to the defense and has gone to the Pro Bowl all three years of his short career. In the offseason, Tatupu signed a new $42 million contract with the Seahawks.

So, I was saddened to see that Tatupu had been arrested for a DUI. This is old news by now, as this happened quite some time ago, but how utterly disappointing! What a stupid, stupid way to risk your career. Will the Seahawks can him? I can’t see them doing that, but Seattle has taken action in the past. Either way, I’m disappointed in the guy for not putting a tiny fraction of his salary to a pay for a driver.

Read more about Tatupu’s DUI here.

By the way, if you like to know about celebrities who mess up their own lives, you should head on over to this celebrity DUI website. The website has much more content than that, but for my audience, I figure that’s what will be most appealing.

Two big films open this weekend, both looking at diametrically different audiences. In one corner, we have You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, the Adam Sandler comedy almost guaranteed to capture a good chunk of the lucrative teenage fan base, and in the other, Kung Fu Panda, the first major animated film of the year. It’s Sandler versus Jack Black, gross-out vs. PG, old versus new.

Neither film looks particularly good. Kung Fu Panda seems like a lot of special effects without much substance, as the previews fail to suggest that there’s much of a story or comedy to be found. Seriously, the previews aren’t funny at all, and if I want to watch Kung Fu, I’ll watch Bruce Lee. As for Zohan, I always hold out hope that Adam Sandler can deliver something entertaining – and there are some funny moments in the previews – but after I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry turned out to be pretty terrible, I am hesitant.

Needless to say, neither film inspires much love from me, and unless I want to see Sex and the City this weekend, this may be a good couple of days to relax and enjoy the warm weather. Unfortunately, I live in Seattle, where it’s in the 50′s and raining.

On to the weekend box office predictions for the movie. I’m no box office expert, so I’ll leave the analysis to all the so-called box office experts floating around on the Internet. May was a tough month for box office analysts, though you can hardly blame them. Who would have thought Iron Man would open to $100 million? That Prince Caspian would so under-deliver? That Sex and the City would dominate so mightily? That The Strangers would actually do well? Anyway, here are the weekend box office predictions for the June 6 – 8 weekend:

• Blog Critics Magazine estimates $48 million for Panda and $34 million for Zohan.
• Digressions with Mark the Movie Guy estimates $55 million for Panda and $30-32 million for Zohan
• Box Office Prophets estimates $57 million for Panda and $30 million for Zohan
• Box Office Report shows $52 million for Panda and $38 million for Zohan
• Box Office Psychics has Panda at $45 million and Zohan at $37 million
• Rotten Tomatoes says Panda will earn $52 million versus Zohan‘s $35 million
• EW.com has Panda making a whopping $60 million against Zohan‘s $32 million
• Box Office Guru puts Panda at $52 million and Zohan at $35 million

So, it looks like Adam Sandler really doesn’t stand a chance, which is not really too surprising. Kung Fu Panda appeals to the masses; You Don’t Mess with the Zohan will appeal to Sandler fans. It’ll be interesting to see how Panda actually does, though, as there are bound to be some more box office disappointments over the course of the summer.

View more new releases this weekend…

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull may have been a bit cheesy, but the movie is based on a real legend. John Trybus from Archaeology Magazine notified me a few weeks ago about a new section on their website devoted to Indiana Jones, and there’s an interesting article about the “real” crystal skulls.

There’s no point writing more than that – check out the article and see for yourself. Needless to say, the “real” skull doesn’t look as alien as the one in the movie.