FilmJabber Movie Blog

Man on a Ledge Pushes Me to the Edge

Erik Samdahl — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:00:26 +0000

I am 29 years old. I am single. It’s Thursday night as I write this, and I should be out at the bars hitting on beautiful women, or at least lusting after them from afar. Instead, I’m sitting at home writing a stupid review about a stupid movie, thinking about what could have been had I not chosen to go watch Man on the Ledge, a mildly entertaining but laughably dumb crime thriller starring Sam Worthington.

Read FilmJabber’s full Man on a Ledge movie review.

Liam Neeson Plays a Badass in The Grey

Erik Samdahl — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:00:45 +0000

I hate wolves. I’m going to make a movie about hating wolves. But I need a plot, so I’ll make Liam Neeson crash in Alaska and have to kill wolves to survive. Yeah. So appears to be the thought process that led to the new action-thriller The Grey, a “monster movie” thinly veiled as a dramatic and deep survival tale.

Read FilmJabber’s full The Grey movie review.

Win Big with One for the Money!

Erik Samdahl — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:25:46 +0000

Katherine Heigl brings Stephanie Plum – the popular heroine of Janet Evanovich’s worldwide best-selling eighteen-book mystery series – to vibrant life in Lionsgate and Lakeshore Entertainment’s One for the Money - in theaters today!

We’re giving away prize packs to two of our readers – enter to win today!

Apollo 18 is a Really Bad Movie

Erik Samdahl — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:00:44 +0000

Most people think Apollo 17 was the last manned mission to the moon. Most people are wrong. Like dead wrong. NASA, those scheming, secretive bastards, sent another spaceship to our orbiting little sister with the intent to explore a nearby crater and the unreported landing site of a Soviet craft. Apollo 18 gives a firsthand look at found footage from the mission.

Read FilmJabber’s full Apollo 18 movie review.

12 Reactions to the 2012 Oscar Nominations

Erik Samdahl — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:00:40 +0000

The nominations for the 84th Annual Academy Awards were announced yesterday. And they were… shall we say… uninspired. Several of the year’s best films were ignored outright, while the movies and performances that played to Oscar sentiments were rewarded with nominations, regardless of originality or creativity. Here are 12 observations, or reactions if you will, to the movies that will compete at this year’s Academy Awards.

Hugo gets 11 Oscar nominations.
I have rarely felt as out of touch with both critics and regular moviegoers as I do with Hugo, a movie that has earned heaps of praise for reasons I still can’t fathom. I’ve considered watching the Martin Scorsese movie again to see if I was just in a bad mood the first time around, but the thought of re-watching a film I found to be dreadfully boring and inconsistently written (the movie was also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, which boggles my mind) is not at all appealing. I know I’m in the minority, but I dread the very possible scenario that the movie wins Best Picture.
The Artist deserves, and may receive, the glory.
The Artist was not my top-ranked movie of 2011. However, it was #4 on my top ten movies of 2011 list, and is the highest-ranked movie on the list that received any kind of real recognition from the Academy. Accordingly, it deserves to take home the gold. I suspect time may look back on The Artist as a gimmick film, and it is a gimmick film, but it is also daring in many ways (a silent film? Really?). It is also a movie that Oscar voters love, a feel-good film that has comedy, drama and romance presented in a way that immediately stands apart from the rest.
The Best Picture category resorts to defaults and snubs some better movies. No surprise.
Some of the films chosen to compete for Best Picture are very deserving, but some are not, at least when considering what was left on the cutting room floor. I’m not surprised that my top three films – Drive, Shame and Martha Marcy May Marlene - were not nominated for Oscars, even though they are much more interesting and dynamic than most of the movies chosen. I’m not surprised that movies like War Horse, which is far from Spielberg’s best, and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, which has received mixed reviews at best, were nominated, because these were both films that were pretty much designed to jerk off Oscar voters. That doesn’t mean I should respect their choices, which are extremely safe and generally uninspiring.
Woody Allen doesn’t deserve Best Director. Steve McQueen does.
Did you see Midnight in Paris? Lots of people loved it. But did anyone walk away from that movie talking about how awesome the direction was? No! It looks like every other damned Woody Allen movie from the last eight decades. There’s nothing wrong with that, but nothing about Midnight in Paris should have compelled voters to give Allen a nomination for it. Sadly, the two best directors of the year, Steve McQueen (Shame) and Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive) were left out in the cold. Let’s also not forget David Fincher, who delivered the goods with the remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
The best actor of 2011 wasn’t nominated
Michael Fassbender (Shame) was better than any of the men nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role, but was denied recognition. For that matter, Michael Shannon (Take Shelter) was also excellent.
Rooney Mara gets a much-deserved nomination
She won’t win, but Mara was simply awesome as Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The rest of the choices were bread-and-butter Oscar choices.
Albert Brooks is no where to be found
Best Supporting Actor is the one category where Drive really had a shot at winning. That is, of course, until nominations were announced and Albert Brooks was absent from the list. Jonah Hill was very good, but better than Albert Brooks?
Four of the five actresses nominated for Best Supporting Actress were from lighthearted movies.
Just saying.
An interesting mix for Best Animated Feature, and no Pixar
Cars 2 was a critical and box office disappointment, a rarity for Disney-Pixar. I was worried the Academy would nominate the deficient movie anyway, as I figured any Pixar movie came pre-selected on the ballots. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. While it’s a shame that the entertaining Adventures of Tintin wasn’t nominated, it’s good to see a couple unknown quantities on the list. Of the five nominated films, I’ve only seen Rango, and it better win: it was one of the best animated movies I’ve seen in years.
What happened in the Best Original Song category?
Apparently the Academy’s revised algorithms for selecting nominations resulted in only two songs being selected. At least that cuts out about 15 minutes of the Oscar telecast. Then again, that also means there will be no breaks to save us from the awful jokes the inept Oscar writers will force upon host Billy Crystal.
The Academy nailed the Best Visual Effects category
Hugo aside, the other four movies nominated in this category had awesome special effects. I am going to predict Rise of the Planet of the Apes as a very indirect nod to Andy Serkis’ performance as Caesar the chimp, but this one is completely up in the air.
This is one of the sorriest groups of movies in a long time
The real groundbreaking movies were denied meaningful Oscar nominations, and there weren’t many of those to begin with. 2011 was just a bad year for movies, and the films nominated reflect that statement. Aside from the return of Billy Crystal, this could be one of the dullest Academy Awards in recent memory.

If Hugo wins Best Picture, though, I will go on a rampage. Or at least write something on Twitter.

The Academy Awards will be held at the Kodak Theater on Sunday, February 26, 2012 at 4pm Pacific, and will air on ABC. Billy Crystal will host and attempt to salvage the show as best he can. View the full list of Oscar nominations.

Win To Kill a Mockingbird: 50th Anniversary Edition!

Erik Samdahl — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:00:21 +0000

To Kill a Mockingboard, one of the screen’s most beloved and critically acclaimed films, celebrates its 50th anniversary with a commemorative Limited Edition Collector’s Series Blu-ray™ Combo Pack as well as on Blu-ray™ Combo Pack and DVD from Universal Studios Home Entertainment on January 31, 2012. The powerful and poignant adaptation of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel hits the half-century mark, digitally remastered and fully restored from high resolution 35MM original film elements, plus more than three-and-a-half hours of bonus features chronicling the making of the cinematic masterpiece.

Enter to win today!

Win an Autographed Daniel Radcliffe Poster!

Erik Samdahl — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:00:49 +0000

Harry Potter… er, we mean Daniel Radcliffe… has a new movie coming to theaters on February 3, and boy does it look scary!

The Woman in Black follows a young lawyer, Arthur Kipps (Radcliffe), who is ordered to travel to a remote village and sort out a recently deceased client’s papers. As he works alone in the client’s isolated house, Kipps begins to uncover tragic secrets, his unease growing when he glimpses a mysterious woman dressed only in black. Receiving only silence from the locals, Kipps is forced to uncover the true identity of the Woman in Black on his own, leading to a desperate race against time when he discovers her true intent.

We’re giving away a Woman in Black movie poster, signed by Daniel Radcliffe! Enter to win today!

I Don’t Know How She Does It Movie Review

Erik Samdahl — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:00:08 +0000

Just when you thought you’d had enough of Sex and the City, Sarah Jessica Parker is back – without the girls – playing a very similar role in a very bad movie. I Don’t Know How She Does It begs a more important question: who green-lighted this piece of crap?

Read FilmJabber’s full I Don’t Know How She Does It movie review.

Better Late Than Never: Contraband Movie Review

Erik Samdahl — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:00:09 +0000

If there’s one thing Marky Mark is good at these days, it’s being a badass. Whether playing an up-and-coming boxer or a military sniper, the former rapper knows how to throw a punch and look all-menacingly like. Even when his movies aren’t very good, you know you’re going to get an energetic, badass performance from the guy*. Takes Contraband, his latest movie. It’s routine and unremarkable, but Mark Wahlberg does what he does best: play a badass, and that’s enough.

Read FilmJabber’s full Contraband movie review.

See the First Jeff, Who Lives at Home Trailer & Poster!

Erik Samdahl — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 22:15:21 +0000

The first movie trailer and movie poster for the upcoming comedy-drama Jeff, Who Lives at Home is now online! Jason Segel and Ed Helms star in the project, alongside Judy Greer and Susan Sarandon.

Here’s the synopsis for Jeff, Who Lives at Home:

On his way to the store to buy wood glue, Jeff looks for signs from the universe to determine his path. However, a series of comedic and unexpected events leads him to cross paths with his family in the strangest of locations and circumstances. Jeff just may find the meaning of his life… and if he’s lucky, pick up the wood glue as well.

And here’s the Jeff, Who Lives at Home movie trailer:

Jeff, Who Lives at Home debuts on March 2, 2012 in limited theaters and opens wide on March 9, 2012.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close Movie Review

Erik Samdahl — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:00:05 +0000

Seemingly and somewhat surprisingly one of the most divisive movies of the year, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, the new tearjerker from the director of The Hours, Billy Elliot and The Reader, is an alluring, captivating movie that hits all the right notes. Sometimes a little too perfectly.

Read FilmJabber’s full Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close movie review.

Win a Haywire Prize Pack!

Erik Samdahl — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:00:34 +0000

This dynamic action-thriller Haywire, directed by Oscar® winner Steven Soderbergh (Contagion), opens in theaters everywhere Friday! The movie boasts a talented cast that includes Channing Tatum (GI Joe: Rise of the Cobra), Ewan McGregor (The Ghost Writer), Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class), Antonio Banderas (The Legend of Zorro), Bill Paxton (“Big Love”), Michael Douglas (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps), Michael Angarano (Almost Famous); and introduces mixed martial arts (MMA) superstar Gina Carano as Mallory Kane, in a demanding lead role that has her performing her own high-adrenaline stunts.

We’re giving away a Haywire prize pack - enter to win today!

Who Wants to Win a Dirty Girl?

Erik Samdahl — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:00:57 +0000

Dirty Girl, now available on DVD, is the story of Danielle (Juno Temple), the dirty girl of Norman High School in Norman, Oklahoma, circa 1987. Her reputation takes an unexpected hit when her misbehavior gets her banished to a remedial class, where she is paired on a parenting project with Clarke (Jeremy Dozier), an innocent closet-case with no friends.

We’re giving away both the movie Dirty Girl on DVD as well as the soundtrack – enter to win today!

Rampart Movie Review

Erik Samdahl — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:00:50 +0000

Corrupt cops should know better than to beat a suspect to a pulp in the YouTube age. From the director of the excellent drama The Messenger, Woody Harrelson stars as an LA police officer who gets caught red handed – you guessed it – beating a suspect to a pulp in Rampart, a movie with a lot going for it. Not so much to show for it.

Read FilmJabber’s full Rampart movie review.

Better Late Than Never: Midnight in Paris Movie Review

Erik Samdahl — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:00:48 +0000

In the very Woody Allen-esque comedy-drama Midnight in Paris, coincidentally written and directed by Woody Allen, Owen Wilson plays an awkward, curious man visiting, coincidentally, Paris, who would have been played by Woody Allen if the actor-director hadn’t finally figured out that audiences don’t want to see him flirting with young women anymore. Hailed as one of Allen’s finest movies in years, Midnight in Paris is a well done little movie. Nothing more, nothing less.

Read FilmJabber’s full Midnight in Paris movie review.