The FilmJabber Movie Blog

The Aristocats arrived on DVD in February. I was supposed to review it in February. I didn’t. It’s now March, and I finally got to the film. As much as I could watch anyway.

I don’t believe that, even in my childhood, I ever saw The Aristocats, and as such, my childhood sentiment for the film isn’t there. The movie, about four cats who try to make it back home to Paris after they are abandoned in the countryside by an evil butler, is a Disney classic, but it’s certainly a film that shows its age.

The Aristocats is moderately funny at times and has some quality entertainment; a scene where the butler hides in a haystack and carefully tries to steal a bunch of stuff from a couple of dogs is pretty amusing, and there are other highlights as well. The animation is good given that the film originally hit theaters 38 years ago (yes, 1970 was 38 years ago); actually, I miss this style of animation a lot. All the cartoons these days look so glossy; the roughness of The Aristocats really works in its favor.

I expect little kids will still find this movie entertaining, but I’d be curious to see if that’s the truth. The style of humor is certainly different than that found in modern movies, and I wonder if children are still able to appreciate calmer, more laid back cartoons like this film. Unlike most cartoons, The Aristocats really doesn’t have a prominent villain, and the film takes its time moving from sequence to sequence without any sense of excitement or tension. This isn’t bad – it’s just different.

Nevertheless, I found The Aristocats a little boring. Had I grown up on the film, I’d probably think differently, but since I didn’t, I didn’t see anything very spectacular here.  Little kids may still enjoy it, but the film certainly feels dated.

The DVD offers several games and activities, deleted scenes and some behind-the-scenes featurettes, none of which I bothered to watch.

Here’s the movie trailer for The Fall:

I just watched the movie trailer for the upcoming Edward Norton action flick The Incredible Hulk, which looks to repair the damage done to the character in Ang Lee’s version a couple years back. Expectations are high for the film considering that Norton rarely does poor movies and is one of the best actors of the last ten years.

Here’s the movie trailer for The Incredible Hulk:

Unfortunately, the trailer leaves little to be desired for. The movie looks a bit grittier than the last one, which is good, and the dramatic scenes could have impact with Norton at the wheel, but there’s just something about this trailer that doesn’t work. The setup for the introduction to the Hulk seems a bit cluttered and is not as exciting or suspenseful as it should have been. Of course, what really hurts are the scenes with the Hulk – and that’s not good.

Standing still, I think the Hulk looks pretty cool. I love the veins. However, in motion, neither he nor the villain (Tim Roth) look very good at all. The sequence is just cheesy; the two “creatures” running at each other in slow motion looks like something out of a video game. Right now, I’m still holding out hope, but this one looks like another box office dud.

There’s good news and bad news about the upcoming finale to the Harry Potter franchise, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:

The good news is that the Los Angeles Times is reporting that the movie is being split into two movies, the first to be released in November 2010, the second in May 2011. I truly feel this is not simply to capitalize on an extra $400 million worldwide – the book was massive, and to remove much if any of it to fit into a two-and-a-half hour movie would be a travesty. Now with 4-6 hours to play with, Warner Brothers can create an epic two-part movie series… Of course, the first half of the movie is going to be immensely frustrating, just like Kill Bill: Vol. 1. That is going to be an agonizing six months, let me tell you.

The bad news is that David Yates is signed on to direct these films. Does Warner Brothers really think this guy can handle the epic finale to the Harry Potter franchise? He already did a piss poor job on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; why would Warner Brothers hire the crappiest director of all the Harry Potter movies to do the last four, and subsequently most important, films in the franchise?

If Yates ruins Harry Potter, I will be massively upset.

I was forwarded this article from The Huffington Post in hopes that I would use it to promote the Jason Staitham The Bank Job, which is now playing in theaters. That’s fine – I get requests to market movies all the time, and The Bank Job was the best reviewed film of last weekend.

But here’s the catch. This article, which is actually a blog post written by Logan Nakyanzi Pollard, is about Eliot Spitzer, the governor of New York who just resigned today following the accusations (which sound 100% true) that he repeatedly paid upwards of $5,000 at a time to have sex with call girls. The latest report is that Spitzer spent $80,000 over a period of time for these prostitutes, presumably paying that much to maintain confidentiality (why else would you spend $5,000 on a single prostitute?).

How does this relate to The Bank Job, a slick, fast-paced heist film? The plot of The Bank Job is about a group of robbers who break into a bank to steal photos of important people having sex with prostitutes – the intent being that they can blackmail these important people for more money. I haven’t seen the movie, so if that summary isn’t completely true than forgive me, but that’s the gist of the movie.

Now, the fact that those responsible for marketing The Bank Job is using this Huffington Post blog post to market their film is raising some eyebrows. There’s been some negative reaction to this marketing approach, but I have to say I’m rather impressed. As an Internet Marketing person myself, I think it’s only fair that they try to market this film anyway they can, especially if they can play off the biggest story of the week. Those who call this tactic “disgusting” should ask themselves: “Who does this hurt?”

• Does marketing The Bank Job in relations to Eliot Spitzer hurt the movie? How can it?
• Does it hurt Eliot Spitzer? I think he has bigger fish to fry.
• Will it help a movie that has received good reviews but not much audience attention get a few more box office dollars? Yes. I’ve already seen the movie mentioned in a non-marketing way in relation to the Spitzer story.

So, to me, it seems like this marketing tactic helps the movie and doesn’t hurt Spitzer. Is there an ethical element to it, regardless of whether it actually hurts anyone? Perhaps. But is it really unethical to try to capitalize on national headlines to market your product? In fact, I think it would be bad if a marketing person didn’t try to take advantage of headlines. Controversy rarely hurts the movie industry, and so the marketing team should always be looking at ways to get free press.

Whether the tie-in between The Bank Job and the Eliot Spitzer story takes off is any man’s guess, but I’ve started the discussion here; I’d like to see other marketing blogs and movie blogs take it up and provide their opinions.

Beautiful girls in little or no clothing get raped and murdered in Lake Dead, a B-grade crapfest version of The Hills Have Eyes meets The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. One of 2007′s Horrorfest films, Lake Dead has its moments, but most are uninentional.

Lake Dead follows three beautiful sisters who have just learned that they have inherited remote real estate from a grandfather they thought was long dead. Along with their friends, they travel to their hotel but for some random reason decide to camp at a nearby lake, which makes for easy pickings for the mutated, inbred hillbillies living nearby. As the friends are picked off one by one, two of the sisters realize that they are destined for something worse than death.

There are a few things about Lake Dead. The young women in the movie are hot. Sometimes they wear bikinis, on a rare occasion they get naked, and almost always are wearing something tight and skimpy. For this type of movie, that’s important. There are some good gory moments, even though the film is so low budget at times that the blood looks more like red paint. Best of all, the film has some great, albeit unintentional, one-liners. Here are two examples:

• A guy who is known for cheating takes off into the woods to collect firewood with the seductive slut of the group, and the two end up having sex. As they undress, the female says to the guy, “Let’s see if your wood can light my fire.” All women should use that line. That’s hot.
• Near the end of the film, after one of the main bad guys is killed, his protagonist brother who is responsible for the death says, “Now that’s fucking family.” Inbreeding. Screwing. Get it?

This is dialogue that you just can’t get these days in theaters, but thankfully the Horrorfest films are deemed as “too disturbing for theaters.” If The Hills Have Eyes can make it to theaters, then any film can make it to theaters, and the only reason Lake Dead and the rest of these Horrorfest films don’t get wider releases is that they’re too terrible for theaters. While I do enjoy these violent, B-grade horror films more than the PG-13 crap that usually find wide releases, I can’t say that they’re better movies as a result. The gore, violence and sex/nudity make up for a little of it, but Lake Dead offers some of the worst acting I have seen in a long while. The actors are quite cringe inducing at times, and you have to wonder how realistic their career aspirations are.

Basically, Lake Dead suffers from being a lot goofier than the filmmakers ever intended it to be. It is entertaining enough, but its similarities to other and better horror movies make it pale in comparison. The makeup and gore in the film is cartoonish at best; the inbred brothers aren’t even remotely intimidating. The bad, psychotic cop is borrowed directly out of Chainsaw Massacre, and the rest plays out like a titillating teaser to a better movie that doesn’t exist.

Those of you looking for a bad but enjoyable film should look no further than Lake Dead, but if you’re in the mood for real horror or suspense, keep searching.

According to WENN, Sir Ian McKellan is “desperate” to reclaim his role as Gandalf in the upcoming The Hobbit movie(s). This is no real surprise, as the guy got more acclaim and recognition for The Lord of the Rings than any other film he’s ever starred in, and, really, how could they replace him with a new Gandalf?

It’s good to hear actors clambering to return; Elijah Wood has also expressed interest, though I don’t remember Frodo Baggins playing a big part in The Hobbit, if any. New Line (now Warner Brothers) has to be focused on maintaining a consistent look, feel and quality to the new movies, even though Peter Jackson will not be directing. I’m still interested to see how front runner Guillermo del Toro will handle the movies; he’s a great choice, but how much of his unique style and imagination will make its way into the film?

… or that’s what should happen. I liked No Country for Old Men, which comes to DVD this Tuesday. At the time I saw it in theaters, I thought it was a strong contender for Best Picture. Despite a lackluster ending, the movie is dark, meaningful and well conceived, with all elements working together in synergy. Josh Brolin turns in the best performance of his career. Tommy Lee Jones is good even though his character serves no real purpose. Javier Bardem is amazing and delivers to the screen one of the most memorable and frightening villains of all time. No Country is one of the best Coen Brothers’ movies, if not the best.

These were the kinds of statements that carried the movie through the award season. It struck gold early on, and critics and voters for the various award shows showed reluctance to give other films a chance. With exception to the Golden Globes, a good chunk of “Best” awards went to No Country, despite strong competition from some other great films.

I have to say something I never thought I’d say: I agree with the Golden Globe voters.

No Country for Old Men is not the best movie of 2007, and as such it does not deserve the Oscar for Best Picture. It is, when it comes down to it, a great thriller with deeper meaning, but that’s what it is: a thriller. On top of that – let’s face it, folks – the ending sucks. No matter how you want to spin it, the ending is a dud, and do movies with bad endings deserve to win Best Picture?

(the answer is “No”)

Who should have won Best Picture? I don’t know. I thought both Atonement and There Will Be Blood were stronger candidates. Atonement was a great film on many levels; what it lacked, perhaps, were the super strong performances that No Country boasted. There Will Be Blood rode the coattails of Daniel Day Lewis’ incredible performance, but the movie is powerful, dark and simply incredible to watch. Both of these movies feature far superior endings. You can see my top ten movies of 2007 list for more details.

I’d even make arguments that Juno and Michael Clayton are more satisfying films, though it’d be pushing it to say they are better movies. Still, Juno was entertaining and had a nice, sweet ending; Michael Clayton was a bit slow but had an incredible last scene.

I was not surprised that No Country for Old Men won for Best Picture, but having watched many of the Oscar-nominated films in the last two weeks (generally for the second time), I realize that the movie just isn’t as good. Re-watch No Country, Atonement and There Will Be Blood and let me know if you still think No Country is a better film; it seems like everyone liked the movie so much because the marketing told us that everyone else liked it so much.

By the way, I have the No Country for Old Men DVD, and it’s not all too exciting. Of course, the movie itself is good, but the special features are few to be had. The movie comes to DVD March 11, 2008.

The Righteous Kill movie trailer is now online – watch it below. The movie unites Al Pacino and Robert De Niro as two police detectives who are investigating a serial killer who kills other bad guys. Is it Chuck? Righteous Kill is currently slated for 2009, though I could see this one moving up to the fall [CORRECTION: Now September 12, 2008].

Here is the Righteous Kill movie trailer:

This one looks like a winner. Here are the new movie posters for the upcoming movie Virgin Territory. The movie stars Hayden Christensen and Mischa Barton. The synopsis for the movie I currently have is simply: Young Florentines regale one another in the Italian countryside while the black plague decimates their city. Wow, sounds stunning.

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I like Jena Malone. I really don’t like Jena Malone. I don’t know what it is about her. She’s good looking, but she isn’t hot in the traditional sense. She doesn’t have the perfect body or perfect face, but, then again, maybe that’s a good thing. I think what I like most about her is that she is a pretty girl who chooses pretty good, edgy movies.

Unfortunately, her new movie The Ruins does not look all that great, but at least there’s a picture from the movie involving Jena Malone and a bikini…

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New pictures for the highly anticipated Watchmen movie are now online, in the form of five character posters. These Watchmen pictures and Watchmen character posters are pretty impressive, and should give any fan more than enough to tide them over for a few more months. I have never read Watchmen, but I am looking forward to the movie – Zach Snyder, the guy between the new Dawn of the Dead movie and 300, both excellent films among their genres, is directing the movie.

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Hi everyone. I just created an RSS feed for upcoming DVD release dates. This upcoming DVD release list does not include all those garbage direct-to-DVD releases, and not even all the new TV season DVD releases that you’ve never heard of. This RSS feed includes indie and mainstream DVD releases that are coming out over the next month or two, and of course updates automatically each and every week.

Subscribe now to my upcoming DVD release date RSS feed. Of course, you can also just visit my upcoming DVD release date page, which lists all upcoming releases currently known to me.

Other movie RSS feeds can be found here.

Check out the funny new movie poster for The Hammer, starring Adam Carolla.

The surprise of the weekend is that the Will Ferrell comedy Semi-Pro flopped in theaters this weekend. With a lack of competition, the basketball film still made it into the #1 spot, but will end up with $15-$20 million less than other comparable Will Ferrell movies.

Semi-Pro made only $5.4 million at the Friday box office, compared to the $12.3 million Blades of Glory earned last year. That means that, according to Box Office Prophets, Semi-Pro will end up with about $15 million for the weekend, compared to Blades of Glory‘s $33 million. Ouch.

Honestly, I’m pretty surprised. Semi-Pro looked pretty funny, and had great previews to draw people in. Reviews were surprisingly decent, too; at least more than good enough for a Will Ferrell movie. The Superbowl ads alone were worth the price of admission, so I’m amazed this one didn’t appeal to people more. Is Ferrell’s star power fading? People might be getting tired of the same old formula over and over again, but, then again, I wouldn’t rule the ex-SNL star out yet. This may just be one of those weird flukes.

The Other Boleyn Girl, starring Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman as two scheming sisters trying to produce a male heir for King Henry VIII, will earn approximately $8.1 million this weekend, not bad considering that the movie is a period piece and only opened on 1,166 theater. Penelope, about a pig-faced Christina Ricci, earned $1 million on weekend, which means it’s pretty much dead on arrival. Considering I have yet to see a preview for the film, I’m not surprised.

No Country for Old Men also earned a million dollars as it pushed back up to 2,000 screens, riding it’s post Best Picture Oscar win. I would have contributed to that amount had I not received it on DVD last night.