Roman Polanski is no longer “wanted and desired,” as he’s been arrested by the Swiss police for having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977, according to an article by the Associated Press. He could now face extradition to the United States for the crime that caused him to flee from France.

Polanski, who is now 76 years old, was on his way to the Zurich Film Festival to receive an honorary award when he was stopped by police. The U.S. will now have to file an extradition claim to have him deported to Los Angeles. (more…)

If you have an iPhone, you can now visit the FilmJabber Movie Blog with native iPhone support. No more zooming or scrolling about the screen – just visit the URL http://blog.filmjabber.com/ and you’ll have access to all of our amazingly awesome and unbeatable articles in an easy-to-read, easy-to-comment-on format. Check it out now and make sure to add us to your bookmarks!

Patrick Swayze has unfortunately passed away at the age of 57. He died after battling pancreatic cancer, a particularly deadly form of the disease. He passed away peacefully with his family at his side.

Despite his diagnosis becoming front-page news in early 2008 (including reports that he had days to live), he continued to work, primarily on the recently canceled A&E series “The Beast,” in which he played a rogue cop. Swayze is best known for his roles in Dirty Dancing and Ghost. Though he was rarely seen in any major releases since the early-to-mid nineties (following his turn as an adrenaline-loving bad guy in Point Break), Swayze was a worldwide star, whose credits also included Red Dawn (one of my favorites) and Donnie Darko.

Here’s something random: Rupert Grint, who plays Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter movies, has swine flu. His publicist reported that the young man is on his death bed… or, at least, he has the sniffles.

“It has just been confirmed that Rupert Grint has taken a few days out of filming due to a mild bout of swine flu,” the publicist’s statement said, according to this article by the AFP. (more…)

I went to go see The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 at the Regal Meridian in downtown Seattle tonight with my buddy Tom. Tom, a college roommate and one of my best friends, is one who you should go to the movies with not at all, depending on your movie watching preferences. There’s nothing wrong with Tom, you see, but Tom has the strange ability to attract the crazies to the movie theater – so if you need peace and quite while watching a movie, he is not the guy to go see a movie with. (more…)

The last couple of years have been full of story’s about IMAX’s success. Ever since the theater chain, which was originally dedicated to documentaries filmed with clunky cameras, started showing “real” movies, its revenues have skyrocketed, and for good reason. People pay – and they do pay – a premium of up to $5 (more if you buy online) to go see the latest blockbuster on a massive screen with excellent sound and near-vertical seating.

But Aziz Ansari, one of the stars in the NBC comedy “Parks and Recreation,” has unleashed a firestorm against the company for diluting the IMAX brand and robbing him of dollars that were unnecessarily spent. And I have to agree with him… (more…)

According to The Associated Press, the Batman villain The Joker was shot and killed by police in Shenandoah National Park. Reported just a few hours ago, an FBI affidavit explains that a soldier “dressed and wearing face-paint like… The Joker” was killed when he pointed a loaded shotgun at police following a chase.

Army Spc. Christopher Lanum was a suspect in the stabbing Spc. Mitchell Stone at Fort Eustis. Stone says that Lanum, who idolized the character of The Joker, stabbed him and used a taser gun on him before fleeing. (more…)

Stefanie over at Endless Simmer sent me a link to a blog post on her site about the top 10 movie food moments of all time. It’s a clever way to take advantage of the upcoming Oscars show by a site that generally has nothing to do with movies.

I don’t necessarily agree with all the scenes mentioned in the list, but it’s fun to look at anyway.

Alternatively, I would have recommended the orgasm scene from When Harry Met Sally and the puking scene in Stand By Me. However, I absolutely agree with their inclusion of the scene from Ratatouille.

Check out the top 10 movie food moments.

I watched Twilight when it came to theaters. It was surprisingly pretty good, even though it was focused more on the hormones of a teenage girl than on anything more macro such as good versus evil or protagonist versus antagonist (though one would argue that the complexities of a woman cannot be topped).

Following that, I went on to read all four of the Twilight books by Stephenie Meyer. I had heard they were good, so I was willing to give them a chance. The first book was good and quite entertaining, as Bella attempted to discover what the mystery was behind Edward. The second book, however, was just OK.

New Moon, which is hastily being made into a movie this year, is not going to make much of a movie at all. The first half of the book is pretty good, as Bella starts up a quasi-relationship with Jacob, her soon-to-be-werewolf best friend. In reality, the book is just a retread of the first one, only with a werewolf in place of a vampire. Bella sure knows how to pick them, doesn’t she? It’s entertaining, but when it devolves into a race to save Edward from the Volturi, it takes a turn for the worse. Meyer ends the book with absolutely no action, and in fact there is only one suspenseful moment in the entire novel. How will this become a good movie? It’s hard to imagine.

Thankfully, Eclipse is a much-better book. Victoria, who has been lurking in the shadows since the first novel, amasses a vampire army to take down the Cullens and kill Bella. The result? A vampire vs. vampire vs. werewolf battle, which, if done right, should be amazing on the silver screen. Eclipse is exciting, smart and entertaining, and will make a perfect finish to the trilogy.

Except… the series doesn’t end as a trilogy. It ends with Breaking Dawn, a shockingly disappointing finish that takes the characters in unwanted directions. Bella finally gets to screw Edward, but not until he’s convinced her to marry at a young age (is this meant to teach young girls a moral lesson? It’s not “don’t have sex until you’re married.” It’s “if you want to have sex, get married so you can have sex.”). Then she gets knocked up, and spends much of the rest of the book lying around on her death bed, so much so that Meyer has to shift the narrative to Jacob to progress the story. Ouch. Eventually, Bella becomes a vampire, and this is the best thing that happens to her: however, how can you top being immortal and wanting to eat other humans?  Of course, Bella doesn’t get to suffer any of the consequences, as her father shrugs off her conversion with minimal conflict (that’s convenient) and she doesn’t have any of the urges a newborn vampire should have.

To cap it all off, Meyer sets up a gigantic battle between the Cullens and the Volturi, and then decides not to have a satisfying finale at all. Harry Potter, the Twilight series is not.

Essentially, the Twilight series is an entertaining series that doesn’t have a plot or much else. Unlike Harry Potter, which carefully and intelligently progresses its stories along to a massive, satisfying climax, Meyer seems more concerned about fitting her frustratingly annoying lead character into a childhood dream of immortality and endless love. The books aren’t bad, but they are overrated, and it’s sad that any young girl may idolize Bella. Bella is annoying, and her attempts to be selfless generally results in her being as selfish as possible. Driven by hormones and a silly, youthful love, she is willing to give up everything, including her family and friends, for her lover. That’s just pathetic.

The only reason I’m dwelling on the moral aspects of the story is because I’m disappointed by the general story arc of the books. They’re written by a woman for girls – and I am neither a woman nor a girl – so I understand that I’m not in the target audience. But when you write a story about vampires and werewolves and don’t follow through with such things… well, it’s embarrassing that this series is compared to Harry Potter.

Guys, I know what you’re thinking. You take your girl to a romantic comedy, she is happy, you suffer only a little bit, and it pays off later in the evening. That’s all fine and good. But if you’re serious about the girl – or ladies, if you’re serious about the man (I suppose this would apply to same-sex couples as well) – it’s best to avoid romantic comedies at all costs!

Why?

Because they will spoil your love life.

And no, I’m not kidding. I meant to post this article a couple weeks ago, but I got distracted by other things… like booze, football, food, movies and so on and so forth.

The good folk over at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh say that, based on a recent study, romantic comedies set unrealistic expectations about love and sex, causing them to “fail to communicate with their partner.” You can read more over at BuzzSugar.com, but these findings do make sense. Things don’t always end up happily ever after, and even if they do, they might not be that happy. And have you ever tried chasing after an ex who has just driven to the airport, managed to sneak through security and not get tackled within 20 feet? I’ve tried three times and it still hasn’t succeeded.

Damn you, romantic comedies! Damn you.