The FilmJabber Movie Blog

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.

Review by Robert Bell (A-)

Featuring clever and natural dialogue that is anchored by uniformly impressive performances from the young (mostly) Canadian cast, Young People F*cking is a refreshingly real sex comedy sure to be a cult favourite with many. What makes YPF stand out from the endless parade of soulless sex romps are the embarrassingly accurate observations and organically derived laughs. It struggles only in maintaining its tone as the slice of life insights are unable to carry to weight of an entire narrative.

The film follows the sexual pursuits of five separate pairings (and triplicate) as defined by non-diegetic on screen titles: the friends, the couple, the exes, the first date and the roommates. Each story is unraveled on its own without need to intermingle characters for purpose of connectivity; they are connected thematically, defining an overall dramatic arc and observation about modern relationships.

Best friends Matt and Kris (Aaron Abrams & Carly Pope) decide to take their platonic friendship to f*ckbuddy status. Kris is more comfortable with the arrangement, needing to urge on her friend with booze as he struggles to sexualize his longtime female companion. Amusement is derived from the friendly discussions that arise and honest revelations about how it feels to watch a buddy provide oral sex.

Abby (Kristin Booth) & Andrew (Josh Dean) play the couple, who find themselves in a sexual rut, going through the motions without any real desire. It’s a painfully relatable depiction of long term relationships and the discussion of fantasy screws while Andrew goes down on Abby is absolutely hilarious. Who knew that anything involving Ian Ziering could be laugh-out-loud funny?

The most complex and dramatic story comes from exes Mia & Eric (Sonja Bennett & Josh Cooke). The pair comes together for one last meeting and attempt to revisit a sexual encounter without strings and emotional entanglement. Unsurprisingly, it inspires memories, both fond and unhappy, which make the simple shag that much more complicated and difficult.

The first date segment is an amusing look at male/female manipulation and power struggles as Ken (Callum Blue) tries to get into Jamie’s (Diora Baird) pants by convincing her that he’s not interested in a one night stand. The mismatched dynamic and unique neuroses demonstrated give a needed sense of unfamiliarity to the overall text of the film.

Unsurprisingly, the most overtly comedic storyline involves a sexually liberal couple, Gord & Inez (Ennis Esmer & Natalie Lisinska), who invite Gord’s reserved roommate Dave (Peter Oldring) into the bedroom for a threesome. Dave is initially keen on the idea, until he notices that Gord intends only to observe and narrate the sex act while eating cookie dough. The needed chemistry and awkwardness between the three is what makes this sequence as bizarre and memorable as it proves to be.

If there is one indie comedy to see in the summer of 2008, it is Young People F*cking. Giving the genre a much-needed kick in the formulaic arse, it proves to be one of the most genuine and true comedies in some time. One would be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t find charm and amusement in this movie.

After complaining about the lack of a really good English-language movie trailer, the English-language version of the Russian X-Files: I Want to Believe movie trailer has popped online over at YouTube. Now that the trailer’s in English, we can actually get a few clues about the plot – but still, Carter and 20th Century Fox are keeping the plot well under wraps.

Here’s the new X-Files: I Want to Believe movie trailer (I expect a higher quality version to pop online sooner than later):

Check out my Control movie review, which I just posted online last night. The movie is about Ian Curtis, the lead singer of the 1970′s rock band Joy Division. The movie arrives on DVD today, June 3, 2008. Filmed in black and white (well, actually, color and then converted to B&W) – Control is pretty good, though ultimately unforgettable.

The new Rambo movie pretty much kicks ass. Released in early 2008, the movie will certainly be the goriest movie of the year, as Sylvestor Stallone, in an unlikely comeback, has directed the film that averages over two deaths a minute. Beyond the quantity of deaths, the quality is amazing – people are torn apart by rail guns, decapitated by sniper rifles and gutted by handmade knives. This movie is every man’s dreams and a cumulation of over a decade of desire for action movies of old.

You can read my full Rambo movie review here.

Rambo was released on DVD last week in a 2-disc special edition, which Lionsgate was so kind to send to me. The DVD includes an audio commentary with Stallone, a few deleted scenes as well as six featurettes that take a look at various aspects of the picture. Though not a massive quantity of bonus features, the featurettes provide some great and honest insight into the picture. Stallone is pretty straightforward and actually quite talkative about the making of the film, and throws in some good jokes aimed at other people on the crew.

The featurettes include:

• Legacy of Despair: The Struggles in Burma
• It’s a Long Road: Resurrection of an Icon
• A Score to Settle: The Music of Rambo
• The Art of War: Completing Rambo
• The Weaponry of Rambo
• A Hero’s Welcome: Release and Reaction

In addition, Rambo‘s second disc provides a digital copy of the movie to be used on your iPod or other portable device. All in all, the DVD package is surprisingly good; while nothing amazing, it’s a lot better than I expected to be. At the very least, it made me want to watch the film again.

The X-Files: I Want to Believe is coming to theaters on July 25, less than two months away. The movie is arguably the biggest movie on 20th Century Fox’s roster for 2008, and if not at least in the top three behind The Day the Earth Stood Still and The Happening.

The X-Files 2 has a huge built-in fan base and is an established franchise that Fox should be milking for all it’s worth. So, why oh why is the Internet not swarming with promotions?

There has been a teaser trailer. There’s been a full-length trailer. Neither of which have been very inspiring. As an X-Files fan, I’m excited, but the trailers haven’t blown me away – which means that non-fans, an audience Chris Carter and Fox is hoping to draw into theaters, are probably not very impressed either. To cap things off, the movie has been titled I Want to Believe, which, frankly, is almost as bad as 2 Fast 2 Furious.

The only thing really going for the movie is that Fox is doing a good job of keeping the plot under wraps. There have been plenty of false rumors and guesswork, but nothing that amounts to truly viral marketing. Why isn’t Fox doing what Paramount did for Cloverfield? Fake websites, Internet fanaticism and, perhaps, more promotion in theaters. I have yet to see The X-Files 2 marketed in theaters, which is pretty odd for a franchise film set to be released in the middle of the summer.

Lastly, take a look at the Russian X-Files movie trailer below. The trailer pretty much kicks ass; why don’t the American movie trailers take the same approach?

It had been almost ten years since I watched The Red Violin, a touching and engaging drama where the main character is… a violin. No, it’s not just any violin, but an extremely rare violin fashioned to perfection, painted red and a survivor of several centuries worth of owners.

The movie, directed and co-written by François Girard, is a sweeping, movie drama that spans the violin’s creation centuries ago to a modern day auction where the violin is expected to fetch millions of dollars. The violin survives burials, gunshots, affairs, gypsies, communist China and more and tells the stories of its various owners, from the woman who finds that her husband is more fascinated by the unique properties of the violin than by her to the blind nationalism in China that distrusts the West, including Western music.

Having watched the film for a second time – and having built the movie up in my head for nearly ten years – The Red Violin isn’t quite as captivating as I remember it, but it’s still a very good drama with an incredible score and great acting, highlighted by Samuel L. Jackson.

Lionsgate is re-releasing the film on DVD, this time as the first entry in The Meridian Collection. Along with another film, Diva, The Meridian Collection is set to showcase Lionsgate’s top films in their library. As one might expect, The Meridian Collection is just an excuse to resell DVDs with minimal effort – and to make money, nothing more.

The Red Violin DVD comes equipped with a couple of special features, including:

• An audio commentary with Girard and co-writer Don McKellar
• “The Oscar-Winning Chaconne” – This is an examination of how composer John Corigiliano went about scoring the film. Unlike most films, where the score is added at the end, the score had to built into the screenplay from the beginning as the film often shows complicated finger movements on screen. This is a pretty interesting feature.
• “The Auction Block,” which explains the fascination with Stradivarius violins and includes interviews with the woman who currently owns and plays the violin that the film is based upon.

And that’s it. The Meridian Collection doesn’t offer a lot of new bonus features – all it does is get a Lionsgate product back in front of audience’s eyes. Of course, when the film is something like The Red Violin, a quality picture that few people have seen, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Those of you who thought that perhaps – just perhaps – that the production of S. Darko (also known as Donnie Darko 2) was just some bad rumor will be troubled to hear that casting is indeed going forward. Whereas the first movie starred practically unknown Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal, the casting has gone the Showgirls route with the announcement that Elizabeth Berkley will be joining the cast.

Berkley will play a crazy Jesus freak who wants to rid the world of sin – but who also lusts after her dreamy pastor.

In addition, Briana Evigan (Step Up 2: The Streets) will also have a role in the movie as the best friend of star Daveigh Chase (reprising her role as the youngest daughter in the original Donnie Darko). Other cast members already announced include Ed Westwick and Justin Chatwin.

S. Darko, as a movie, really worries me.

Watch the funny new R-rated “teaser trailer” for Zack and Miri Make a Porno, the new Kevin Smith movie coming to theaters this October. The video isn’t as much an actual teaser trailer but a series of clips of Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks attempting to cast their porno. Warning: there are swear words, so if you are for some reason offended by such words, don’t watch.

The Red Band trailer for the upcoming Coen Brothers movie Burn After Reading went online today over at Apple.com. It is definitely not along the same vein as Joel and Ethan Coen’s last film, No Country for Old Men, but still looks pretty good. Here’s how the studio describes the movie, which is set to be released in September 12, 2008:

A dark spy-comedy from Academy Award winners Joel and Ethan Coen. An ousted CIA official’s (Academy Award nominee John Malkovich) memoir accidentally falls into the hands of two unwise gym employees intent on exploiting their find.

The trailer is pretty funny, in an offbeat way – what else would you expect from the Coens? Most noticeable is the fact that the movie has an absolutely killer cast, specifically George Clooney, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt and Tilda Swinton. You really can’t get much better than that unless you threw in a Meryl Streep.

Learn more about Burn After Reading, or watch the movie trailer.

Sex and the City comes to theaters this weekend, and I have to imagine that box office pundits are nervous about making predictions for this one. It’s a highly anticipated film – among women. In fact, it’s one of the rare female-targeted films that is opening to midnight screenings. A movie theater near me is selling $90 tickets for a three-course meal, Cosmos and a ticket. Sex and the City: The Movie is an event by any stretch of the imagination.

Then again, it’s still a movie aimed toward women. What does that mean for box office dollars? $30 million? $40 million? $60 million? Higher?

Here are some predictions:

• $45 million from Movie Reviews by Wes
• $35 million  from Fantasy Moguls (this is a great, in-depth analysis, by the way)
• ??? from The Cairns Blog
• $45 million from Beukey on Pop Culture
• $53 million from Box Office Report

In general, it sounds like $30-35 million is the average most “experts” are predicting, and if so, that will be a great feat for a film like Sex and the City, which stars a bunch of “older” women. That being said, don’t you think an event film like this will be considered just a slight disappointment if it comes in second to Indiana Jones? Indiana Jones will fall hard this weekend, but falling from $100 million still means a lot of money.

This bugs the hell out of me. With actors, radio hosts and newscasters forced to go off the air due to a single slip of the tongue, how come Fox commentator Michelle Malkin isn’t getting stripped of her job for fueling a ridiculous argument about a Muslim headscarf that isn’t even close to being an actual Muslim headscarf. And if it were a Muslim headscarf, who… the… fuck… cares? And even if she cares – even if you care – who… the… fuck… cares?

If you somehow haven’t heard about this, Malkin, a right-wing psycho (I can only assume), said that the scarf Rachael Ray wears in a recent Dunkin’ Donuts commercials looks like a kiffiyeh, a Middle Eastern garb that is “popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos.”

Um, seriously?

Listen, if she feels this way, fine, and normally I wouldn’t call for her dismissal or even a boycott. She’s practically declared that she is a bigot and an idiot. But, considering this day and age where every little misstatement results in the end of someone’s career, how is this not worse?

First, the scarf isn’t a Muslim scarf. It’s just a scarf.

Two, even if it is a Muslim scarf, how is that succumbing to terrorists? How does it even relate to Muslims? What is wrong with Muslims?

Three, why should Malkin reasonably assume that the scarf is intended by either Ray or Dunkin’ Donuts to be a symbol of terrorism? Look at the picture – it just doesn’t make sense.

Oh, and shame on Dunkin’ Donuts for actually pulling the ad. Corporations need to stand up to absurd accusations and fight back. I actually have less respect for them now that they’ve bowed to pressure – but how much pressure were they actually receiving? Preposterous.

The Lord of the Ring franchise is New Line Cinema’s greatest achievement and greatest curse. The movies, which mark the pinnacle of the now all-but-defunct company, have made billions of dollars in revenue – but have also brought along some hefty lawsuits to boot. With the Peter Jackson lawsuit now behind them, New Line is facing a new one that aims to halt the development and production of Guillermo Del Toro’s The Hobbit movies.

Time Online is reporting that Christopher Tolkien, son of J.R.R. Tolkin, has vowed “one last crusade.” Christopher Tolkien, already a bane to Lord of the Ring fans everywhere, is pressing on his long-running court battle to receive $80 million in back payments from a deal that was signed in 1969. Christopher, who is now 83, apparently was facing tax problems and had to sell the rights to his father’s work.

The lawsuit, which will be presented to a judge on June 6th, will lay claim to Christopher’s right to terminate film rights to The Hobbit and its sequel.

OK, having lived in Seattle most of my life, I know that the weather is hard to predict around here. Forecasters are safest when they predict a chance of rain and clouds; less so when they call for a completely sunny day or one full of showers. But this Memorial Day Weekend has me shaking my head…

Early last week, the call was for warm temperatures and sun. By middle of the week, we were looking at 50-degree temperatures and rain. Lots of it. By end of the week, that prognosis was the same. It was going to be one crappy Memorial Day Weekend.

Come Saturday, I wake up and what do I see but blue skies. Not just blue skies, but blue skies without a cloud in sight. OK, I think. It’s blue now, but a storm is going to rear its ugly head any minute, the temperature is going to plummet and the skies will open. Or, how about it pushes into the 80′s and stays blue and hot all day long?

A little after noon, I check the online weather forecast. It still says that there’s going to be a high of 73 and showers. No where, including the little icon, does it indicate sun.

Today, Sunday, I wake up. It’s a little gray, but nothing too bad. It’s now 6:30, and what kind of day did I get? Another day of sun and warmth, albeit not as nice as Saturday. Still, the forecast for today reads a high of 66 and showers – no sun icon. What the hell?

There’s no real point to this blog post other than to vent about how bad the weathermen are around here. It’s OK if the weather is unpredictable and you can’t see far into the future, but at least admit it. Don’t pretend like you’ll be accurate five days in advance, let alone one.

While I’m on the topic of rants, the Seattle Mariners blew an eighth-inning lead to be swept by the Yankees. How does my team suck so badly?

The Associated Press is reporting that an actor who played a minor role in the upcoming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has died after being stabbed to death. Eighteen-year-old Rob Knox was killed when he got involved in a fight outside a bar. Allegedly, a 21-year old suspect, who has been taken into custody, pulled a knife and stabbed Knox to death.

Knox played Ravenclaw student Marcus Belby in the new Harry Potter movie. The article does not indicate whether Belby already filmed his scene, though, with the movie set to release in less than six months, one would assume that he had.

Fourteen teenagers have been violently killed in London since the beginning of the year.