Superbad opened in wide release last night and I caught a showing at a multiplex near me. The showing was packed with younger movie goers and the theater management made a pre-show announcement that boiled down to "Just because you are about to see a raucous teen-age comedy, doesn't mean that we will tolerate any raucous teenage bullshit" Any and all horseplay, non-sense or otherwise goofball like behavior would result in a quick trip to the parking lot with no refund. Admittedly there were no disruptions in a theatre where there often are(particularly on a busy friday), but regardless it's a strange way to treat your customers.

As for the movie itself, it's an entertaining film that will have accross the board appeal whether its with current teens or 30 somethings who remember sneaking in to see porky's, bachelor party and similar 80's teen sex romps. I am not a huge fan of this type of comedy, but Superbad is exceptional both in it's content(well written) and its execution. Cutting edge enough for the younger crowd and still smart enough to appeal to older fans.

Seth Rogan and Bill Hader play a pair of cops who run amuck(not always innocently) but without any irreparable consequences. Much of the film and most of its best moments feature them and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, whose McLovin character was being merchandised on the internet before the movie opened. They hook up in a liquor store where Mintz-Plasse(Fogell) is attempting to buy $120 worth of booze with a Hawaiaan fake Id that bears only the name McLovin.

Simultaneously, the two friends that that are the focus of the film, Seth and Evan, begin an epic search for liquor(It should probably be noted that the film was written years ago by Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg). This is an alternately raunchy and sweet trip that winds up paying with plenty of laughs. Go ahead and shell out the $10 bucks for this one. You will not get burned.

Labels: Judd Aptow, Seth Rogan, Superbad

Ok, here's how it works:
1)Take the names of at least two of your least favorite Samuel L Jackson movies(i.e. Snakes on a Plane, Unbreakable)
2)Use them to create the title of a potential sequel to either or both.

examples:

Snakes on an Unbreakable Plane
Unbreakable Deep Blue Sea Snake
187 Snakes on a Sea Plane
S nakes W ith A wful T empers

Honorable mention- This does not follow the rules of the game but

Der Snakes on Das Plane

So if this is the summer of the blockbuster with a new monster sequel opening every other week if not every week, movie fans should be up nights deciding which great flick to see next... Right?!

Unfortunatly box office results and fan reaction seem to indicate that after an initial rush to the screening by the hard core fan base, most movies are dropping off percipitously. So what alternatives do those not disposed to the II's and the III's that are dominating screent time this year have.. Not too much. Knocked up has been the suprise comdedy hit of the summer and is doing for Seth Rogan what Elf did for Wil Ferrel. Hairspray seems to have found a solid following and The Simpson's have cashed in on longtime fans but what about the smaller, quality films, where is there niche in amoung these giants. Hmmm, not too much room there. Here are a few films that you might miss in the theatres but you should be sure to check out on DVD:

1) Rescue Dawn: Wanna see Christian Bale play a hero, he and Steve Zahn star in the true story of a daring and grueling escape from a Viet Cong Prison camp by some US pilots during the Viet Nam War. It has pulled in about 4.2 million dollars despite showing on a total of about 500 screens.

2) Sunshine: Danny Boyle's Sci Fi thriller star Cillian Murphy, Michelle Yeoh and Chris Evans(FF's Johnny Strom). Boyle does interesting things with the genre, including putting a racially diverse team on an international space mission. This smart and crisp thriller is well worth the wait for DVD if you cant find it near you.

Labels: Christian Bale, Danny Boyle, Rescue Dawn, Sunshine

Out today several new friday releases including Rush Hour 3 with Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. This has been one of the most uniformly panned sequels of the summer. Brett Ratner does for his own trilogy what he did for the X-men(i.e. leave fans with a bad taste in their mouths).

Also opening wide, Stardust, with Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert De Niro, hopes to be the family movie that is magical enough for kids but with enough edge to keep adults interested. Neil Gaiman(author of the source material) possesses and utilizes enough dark wit to fill the bill in a plot the includes a band of fratricidal princes bent on acquiring power and ridding themselves of each other.

A crowded weekend also includes the debut weeks for Daddy Day Camp,the sequel to the Eddie Murphy hit Daddy Day care. This time round, we are minus most of the key players including Murphy(take a cue from thier defections). Also bowing this weekend another in an endless line of werewolf movies that never seem to do very well, Skinwalkers.

Labels: New releases, Rush Hour 3, Stardust

Let's start with what I got wrong before. Watchmen is currently set for release in March 2009 not 2008 as I had earlier reported. A quick review of the casting thus far completed:

Jackie Earle Haley -Walter Kovacs/Rorschach **
Jeffrey Dean Morgan- Edward Blake/The Comedian
Carla Gugino-- *Pictured* Sally Jupiter
Patrick Wilson -Dan Dreiberg/Nite-Owl
Matthew Goode -Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias **
Billy Crudup- Jon Osterman/Dr. Manhattan **
Malin Akerman- Laurie Juspeczyk/Silk Spectre

**- denotes major character

Alan Moore wrote this series and had intended to use established characters but switched to a combination of little known and newly created characters when the publisher balked at using known commodities given the frank and unflattering tone of his story.

Jackie Earle Haley was last seen in 2006 art house favorite Little Children as a pedophile living with his mother and passing his days as the object of scorn, digust and harrassment. You may also remember him as Kelly Leak from the Bad News Bears. Haley pulls a plum role here as a costumed detective/vigilante in the mold of DC's own Dark Knight, the Batman.


Billy Crudup- Played guitar hero Russel Hammond in Almost Famous and lately twice played spies in Mission Impossilbe III and The Good Shepard. Here he plays central character Dr. Manhattan,the only character with true superpowers, who because of this is growing increasingly detached from the rest of humanity.


Matthew Goode also lands the important role of Ozymandias, the golden boy of the superheroes who remains publicly active when the others are forced into retirement eventually retiring on his own terms which include diclose his identity to the public and trading on it to become wealthy and powerful.

300 came to DVD this week with much fanfare and ubiquitous pop-ups. The is much to recommend this film and the sensation it caused when it opened was no fluke. It is visually spectacular, liberally spiced with sex and nudity and shows innovative use of the same green screen that made Sin City such a phenomenon. Not suprising as Writer/producer Frank Miller was the author(source material) of both, got a director credit on Sin City and producer credit here. With a towering androgynous Persian King and a mishapen hunchbacked castoff as the big villans of the movie, you certainly can't accuse Miller or director Zack Snyder of being politically correct. Decent fun but not too much storywise.

300 follows a time honored method of story telling. Lots of blood and gore and some tantalizing flashes of nudity. Perfect combo to bring in the adult males 18 to 30 and it fuel very solid sales here. As always lots of bonus materials on the DVD including deleted scenes, director's commentary and making of. Reviews of the material and the film have been mostly positive, so if this is your cup of tea, drink deep.

Labels: 300, DVD Release, Frank Miller, Zack Synder

Megan Fox helped Transformers to take the biggest share of the overseas box office after several weeks off the perch. Transformers contiued its strong performance in Asia but was actually only the top grosser in only a few markets. This, however, was enough to make it the top grossing(INTL) film with a take of sligh under $30 Mill.

Labels: Box Office, Megan Fox, Transformers

Speaking of Neil Gaiman, and I was just a bit ago, he was also involved in the Robert Zemekis animated Beowulf adaption due out just before thanksgiving. Sure nothing says Box office hit like a 12th century old(or is it olde) English epic poem, but I hear this guy Zemekis has had a hit or two in the past(Back to the Future, Forrest Gump, Cast Away to name 3). Lots of talent involved here with Anthony Hopkins, Brendan Gleeson and the digitally smoking hot Angelina Jolie. Plus the trailer looks pretty cool. Could be a modest box office success.

Labels: Beowulf, Gleeson, Hopkins, Jolie, Zemeckis

Finally caught up with Homer, Marge, Bart and the rest and I have to agree that this is basically one long, big budget Simpsons episode with more illustrators. That said, Simpsons has been the funniest, most daring and most creative comedy on television for the 18 years so that not such a bad thing. If you are a fan, you will enjoy this. If you have somehow missed this phenomenon for the past two decades, you will be pleasantly suprised.

Labels: Homer, Marge, Simpsons

Stardust which had it's star studded LA premiere last week, opens wide around North America this Friday, Aug 10. Why is this good? Other than giving an alternative to Rush Hour 3, which I look forward exactly as much as my next teeth cleaning(if they still used nasty old metal hooks instead of a cool sonic device). Here's why, Nail Gaiman is another top notch writer of books, comics etc... who is beginning to not loathe Hollywood. Thats good for movies and for movie fans. Also, this seems to be a fairly decent film(see link below for review):

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/click/movie-1170430/reviews.php?critic=all&sortby=default&page=1&rid=1657352

also check out the official site here its pretty well done:

http://www.stardustmovie.com/site.htm

Labels: De Niro, O' Toole, Pfeiffer, Stardust Gaiman

Bourne ultimatum is well on its way to a 70 million dollar opening after socking away 24 million on Friday. Should be another solid weekend in a summer filled with hits that failed to produce a mega hit.

Labels: Bourne Ultimatum, Matt Damon, Opening weekend

So whats left to get excited about in 2007. Besides Superbad in August and 30 Days of Night in October , one movie to look forward to in 2007(November 2)is the Gangster biopic based on the life of Harlem Drug kingpin Frank Lucus. If Oscar winner leads Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington and writer Steven Zallian(schindler's List) don't do it for you, how about living legend Ridley Scott in the director's chair.

Besides having the cast with the most ever double letters in their names, Zodiac has much to recomend it. Downey is top notch, Gyllenhaal remains solid and Ruffalo has a long future ahead of him playing tough cops with a heart of gold. Anthony Edwards(GOOSE!!!) is excellent in a supporting role. All and All much better than similar films(Summer of Sam)in the past and a very watchable two and one half hours.

Not that this belongs in a movie blog but is it me or does Kirk Cameron look more than a little loopy lately.

Labels: Kirk Cameron

The third installment of the Bourne series bows this weekend with Matt Damon and a bushel of raves which include(maybe for the first time this summer) the word smart. Also debuting Bratz, Hot Dog and Underdog, about which no one is using the word smart.

I refuse to believe that at any point in the future, we will ever develop the technology necessary to build guns with flashlights on them.

Labels: Timecop, Van Damme

Don't get me wrong. I liked Shaun of the Dead. I like Simon Pegg. I liked a lot of the humor in this movie. But I don't care who you are, at some point during the climax your are going to look over at whoever your watching this with (dogs count) and say "How the F*U&) long is this movie anyway.

Labels: DVD, Hot Fuzz, Simon Pegg

Seth Rogan already has the biggest suprise hit of the year with Knocked Up and could score another with this coming of age, high school comedy that he also wrote and produced. Premieres August 17th.

Labels: Comedy, Coming soon, Seth Rogan, teens