The long-delayed Fanboys finally comes to theaters next Friday, and here are a few video clips recently provided by the studio. The first one features Kristin Bell taking her shirt off… sort of.

Take Your Shirt Off

OK, I’ll admit it: I’d never seen Mary Poppins. In fact, I didn’t even know what it was about. I knew that some lady named Julie Andrews was the star – and of course I know who Dick Van Dyke is – but other than that, I heard something about it being a cheesy combination of live-action musical and cartoons. It sounded pretty damn stupid, and when I actually watched this so-called classic Disney film, it confirmed my beliefs: completely – and I mean completely – overrated. I don’t get what people like about this film, and will never watch it again. When I will have children, I will ensure they never, ever see Mary Poppins.

OK, I’ll admit it: that first paragraph is a complete lie. Mary Poppins is one of the biggest family classics of all time, and it deserves to be. It stands the test of time incredibly well, thanks to the enjoyable songs and overall goofiness picture, combined with authentic performances from everyone involved – including the child actors.

To go on raving about Mary Poppins is rather wasteful, so I’ll shift my attention to the 45th Anniversary 2-Disc set that came to DVD earlier this week. The DVD contains a variety of bonus features, and I’ll admit it (for real this time): it’s a pretty good collection of items.

The quantity is good, and the quality is good, and both kids and adults should find something to enjoy here. The one that stands out the most to me is a “musical reunion with Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke and Richard Sherman.” While there’s nothing remarkable here, it’s nice to see Van Dyke and Andrews back together again, singing songs and talking about their experiences.

Speaking of Van Dyke and Andrews, it’s nice to see actors not completely consumed with themselves, even after all these years. These days, if an actor does a big film and is asked to do a reunion interview some years later, I would expect that 50% of the time they would turn it down. In this collection, both Van Dyke and Andrews show up in a variety of special features in their modern-day forms (still looking surprisingly good) – whether it be a new Mary Poppins short (yes, Julie Andrews is back as Mary Poppins!) or a making-of featurette.

Extending from my complaint about modern actors, it’s also impressive to see footage from the original premiere. The interviews seem like something straight out of a Disney movie, and yet they’re sincere. Van Dyke especially just seems happy to be there, and he waves at his baby girl like a goofball. Compare this to modern day premiere or red carpet events and… well, it’s hard to see the similarities.

Less interesting to me were the featurettes about the Broadway version. I didn’t find these all that stimulating, though people with more interest in theater should find something to enjoy. The Broadway elements are extensive – they just didn’t do it for me.

The Mary Poppins: 45th Anniversary DVD has a variety of other features, including the original theatrical trailer, makeup tests with Dick Van Dyke, some additional music numbers, among other things.  All in all, it’s an impressive set of bonus features – and while I have a pile of other movies sitting around waiting to be reviewed, I couldn’t help but stick this movie in. The music is great, the visuals stand up surprisingly well and it’s just an all-around entertaining movie.

To be honest, I just had a single glass of wine and for some reason it’s hitting me harder than I would expect… so I’m going to glaze over the rest of the features. In all fairness, big fans of the movie -

I’ve been on a reading tear. Since the beginning of the year, I’ve read at least five books, three of them from the hugely successful Stephenie Meyer Twilight franchise. Not having a huge respect for the Mormon religion, I was impressed with the relative depth of the first book. Having already seen the movie, it was well-written and entertaining – if not lacking just a bit in the suspense department.

The second book, New Moon, I did not like so much. It pretty much was a rehash of the first one, only with even less excitement. The development of Jacob’s character was good, but the book just fizzled in the end.

Much excitement has been made, however, for the casting of Jane in New Moon. Jane, who did not appear in the first book or movie, is a part of the royal vampire family in Italy. She is described as petite, blonde and angelic; she also tends to do the family’s dirty work and has a special power: inflicting torture. In Eclipse (which is excellent, by the way), Jane shows up at the end, and I’m guessing that she may play a bigger part in the finale, which I’m just beginning to read.

Director Chris Weitz has stated that Dakota Fanning is in the running for the role, and apparently offered her the part, no audition required. Fanning, a petite, blonde and angelic 14-year old, could certainly play the part. She has shied away from kiddie parts even as a little girl, and is known for acting older than her age – almost to a creepy degree. Thus, her general acting approach would work perfectly for the character of Jane.

As Fanning said herself, “It’s definitely possible. I really hope it works out. It would be a really fantastic experience I’m sure.”

I just watched The Mutant Chronicles movie trailer, and all I can say is wow. And by “wow,” I mean… meh.

The Thomas Jane/Ron Perlman sci-fi action flick looks a lot like the Vin Diesel film The Chronicles of Riddick, and we all know how that worked out. I wonder how many people are going to make the same comparison, given the similar plots and titles.

The Mutant Chronicles looks like it could be fun… if you can get past the B-grade visuals, acting and actors. Neither Jane nor Perlman scream great casting, and while John Malkovich is a great actor, he does have a tendency to show up in some pretty bad movies when playing characters like this. In other words, you can tell which movies he’s chosen simply to finance that fifth house.

As far as movie trailers go, the Red Band movie trailer leaves little to be desired. For one, I didn’t see anything “restricted” about this trailer – studios, having already abused the marketing pretenses of “unrated” DVDs, are now starting to take advantage of “Red Band” trailers, tricking people into thinking that they’re going to get to see something naughty or off-limits. Don’t expect a ton of gore or nudity. Beyond those issues, though, the movie trailer doesn’t try to make us want to see this film. The setup to the action is terrible, and it creates no sense of dread or suspense. I’m actually not quite sure what the movie is about or who the mutants are.

Let me know what you think – here’s the Mutant Chronicles movie trailer:

You can learn more about the movie by going to the Mutant Chronicles movie details page.

Fox and Warner Brothers have settled their dispute over Watchmen distribution rights, with Fox getting $10 million and a 5-8% revenue share for the highly anticipated Warner Brothers release. The studios released this joint statement today:

“Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox have resolved their dispute regarding the rights to the upcoming motion picture “Watchmen” in a confidential settlement. Warner Bros. acknowledges that Fox acted in good faith in bringing its claims, which were asserted prior to the start of principal photography.

Fox acknowledges that Warner Brothers acted in good faith in defending against those claims. Warner Bros. and Fox, like all “Watchmen” fans, look forward with great anticipation to this film’s March 6 release in theatres.”

Frankly, this isn’t a surprise at all. I know a lot of fans were worried about the prospects of Watchmen, with rumors swirling that it wouldn’t be released until next year – or not at all. There was certainly the possibility of the release date being pushed back, but even that was a little farfetched. Why? The Invisible Hand.

People who have taken an economic class know the Invisible Hand well, and the use of this term here may be loose as it generally applies to businesses, working in their own interest, to, as a by-product, serve greater society. The release of the movie hardly benefits greater society, but the concept is the same. To be more precise, here’s a bit from economist Adam Smith’s writings:

…every individual necessarily labours to render the annual revenue of the society as great as he can. He generally, indeed, neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. By preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign industry, he intends only his own security; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. Nor is it always the worse for the society that it was no part of it. By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good. 

The thing is, it didn’t make sense for Fox or Warner Brothers to delay Watchmen or take it off the calendar completely. Warner Brothers carefully selected the March release date for a variety of reasons: it was when 300, made by the same director, was released and made a boatload of money; it’s a good month for niche blockbusters to be released, too. Sure, Watchmen could have come to theaters in the summer, but its box office potential would be hindred for any number of reasons.

So, to maximize revenues, Warner Brothers needed to release Watchmen in March. Fox had a legitimate claim, but to maximize their revenues, the movie needed to come out when Warner Brothers planned and marketed it. Both Warner Brothers and Fox had their own vested, individual interests, and those interests played to a common tune: money. And with their interests in sync, an invisible hand guided them to do the right thing: get the movie released on the day that has been marketed for months.

Oh, and I can’t wait until March.

2008 was a good year for comedies, and this coming from a guy who rates comedies as the least desirable genre. I actually do really enjoy comedies, but I like action flicks and depressing dramas much, much more. But in the absence of really great dramas, this genre rose up to truly deliver….

1. In Bruges
   Most people haven’t seen this movie, but it is certainly worth it. Unlike the four or five movies that follow on this list, In Bruges may not be the non-stop laughfest, but it comes pretty close. More importantly, it is a unique and surprisingly excellent drama-comedy that features Colin Farrell bashing the poor town of Bruges for two hours, getting overly excited about cracked-out midgets and telling fat Americans that they can’t climb up some steep stairs. OK, so that explanation does the comedy absolutely no justice, but this is a movie that blew me away in more ways than one.
2. Role Models
   Based on the previews, who could have seen this one coming? Role Models flew in under the radar, looking like a decent but generic comedy starring Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott. But from the first minute, Role Models is a consistently funny and vulgar picture that has a surprising amount of heart and more laughs than you’ll know what to do with. (more…)

Jurassic Park 4 is dead, long live Jurassic Park. With the death of popular author Michael Crichton a few weeks back, producers Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy announced that the movie, which has been in development hell for years, is officially dead. So said Kennedy:

“No… I don’t know. You know, when Crichton passed away, I sorta felt maybe that’s it. Maybe that’s a sign that we don’t mess with it.” (more…)

I just watched the movie trailer for Dragonball, the live-action adaptation of whatever Dragonball is (a cartoon series, I believe), and as expected, it looks pretty stupid. Despite the presence of Chow Yun-Fat, Dragonball looks like nothing more than a B-grade kung fu action film fused with cheesy special effects.

I know there are some people who are rabidly anticipating this picture, but for the regular moviegoer, I see this one crashing and burning. The best kung fu movies are the ones that feel realistic and use minimal special effects, whereas Dragonball, out of necessity, has to go to the other extreme. Furthermore, the glossy, bright colors just make it look like a second-tier film, and I don’t think there’s anything the marketing department will be able to do to hide that fact.

By the way, Justin Chatwin’s hair absolutely drives me crazy.

You can watch the Dragonball movie trailer here. What are your thoughts?

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian rides onto DVD today, and with it a good chunk of bonus features.

Prince Caspian moved the lucrative franchise out of its December time slot to May, where it stumbled mightily. A bit lost among bigger, more adult fare and lacking a major Christian holiday to play to churches, not to mention that many people, including myself, came away with mediocre reactions to the first film, the movie put the franchise on shaky ground – however, Voyage of the Dawn Treader is moving forward as planned.

Nevertheless, Prince Caspian is surprisingly entertaining and action-packed film that pushes its PG rating to the max while still holding true to its family roots. A vast improvement over the first film in terms of excitement and suspense, I highly recommend Prince Caspian. You can read my full Prince Caspian movie review here.

In other exciting news, I’m currently watching the bonus features for the movie as I fly home from Los Angeles. Having just reviewed the Wanted DVD, this one shows the difference between mediocre bonus features and good ones; the Prince Caspian bonus features are much more in-depth, informative and interesting. (more…)

The Longshots arrives on DVD on Tuesday, December 2nd. The movie stars Ice Cube and the girl from Akeelah and the Bee as a coach and female football quarterback respectively, who carry a rather crappy team to the playoffs. The family sports movie, directed by Fred Durst of all people, is based on a true story.

I’ve written a movie review for the film, so the only logical next step is to… read my Longshots movie review.

Alternatively, if you’re too lazy to read, you can instead enter to win a Longshots DVD.