You may not think you know who Jay Baruchel is by name, but you have undoubtedly recognized him in a number of Apatow productions or perhaps even his memorable turn in Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby. His gawky frame and nice guy hang-doggedness is more than a suitable fit for the misfire that is She’s Out of My League, a wholly belabored film that doesn’t trust its audience enough to let the humor of the premise to permeate gradually. Instead, it goes for countless crass and easy jokes that have done dozens times before. The movie is afraid to try and that’s very disconcerting… (more…)

Well I figured Alice in Wonderland would open big, but this is just straight up retarded. The 3D extravaganza that is Tim Burton’s latest took in 116 million dollars this weekend! That’s pretty damn huge. This will put the movie in pace (unless word of mouth is convincingly toxic) to become Tim Burton’s biggest film ever. Too bad it’s also one of his least successful on a storytelling front. Nonetheless, 2010 has its first megahit! How did everything else do? Why go beyond the break to find out silly pants… (more…)

Couples retreat features a strong comedic cast and one of the funniest things in life: Relationships. Will you cherish this DVD in sickness and in health, or will you cheat on it with the next cute thing in a short skirt? There’s nothing in life like a relationship. They can bring us incredible joy or unbearable pain. Ironically enough, a DVD about relationships may leave you pretty ambivalent about the institution of marriage. Go beyond the break to find out why… (more…)

Hooray for Oscar night! The one day of the year where I go out of my way to celebrate celebrities and all of their shallow holdings. This year’s Oscars had promised to be shorter, but with the inclusion of five more Best Picture nominees, I held my expectations at bay. All I can say is I’m glad I live on the west coast. Poor east coast! Suckers!! So let’s get right into it shall we? Go beyond the break for the whole messy affair… (more…)

What up my creeps? McJeffrey is in full swagger today bringing you all the news on the big releases this weekend at your local multiplex. As always before we get into that lets take a gander over at what is arriving locally in Sacramento. Roman Polanski’s latest slow burner The Ghost Writer makes its SacTown debut at the Tower Theater and Olympus Pointe in Roseville. Word-of-mouth on this one is pretty strong, regardless of your opinion of the director. I’ll be checking it out for sure sometime next week. Also, veteran actor Hal Holbrook, who got a Best Supporting Actor nod a few years back with Into the Wild, has his first staring feature in almost forever coming to The Crest this weekend. It’s called That Evening Sun and well… it stars Holbrook. Research? I don’t any damn research? If you like old men in wife beaters (as that is what the poster image promises) then you’re set! Everything else? Go beyond the break to find out… (more…)

Country music is simple. Lose your truck, your wife, your dog. Does Crazy Heart follow this formula, or is there some heart & soul in this redemptive tale? Go beyond the break to find out… (more…)

Since 1997, I have taken it upon myself to drag my mom to every film that gets nominated for Best Picture by the Academy Awards. That first year we saw Good Will Hunting, As Good as it Gets, L.A. Confidential, The Full Monty and Titanic. My favorite was Confidential. She loved As Good as it Gets. Of course, Titanic won. This quickly became a tradition for us and a fine way to spend quality time yelling at each other based on the other person’s taste. She hated American Beauty, Moulin Rouge and Babel (three films I very much enjoyed). She also watched No Country for Old Men virtually from a slit between her fingers. She was that freaked out. However every once in a while, she surprises me. She enjoyed Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, There Will Be Blood and Gangs of New York, three films I would assume she would despise. She loved Life is Beautiful, Juno and Finding Neverland, three films that she probably never would have seen unless we did this silly annual journey. This year, with the number of eligible nominees doubled from five to ten we had our work cut out for us. Fortunately, half of the films are available on DVD so our movie going budget stays the same at five films. Go beyond the break for our thoughts on the lastest two films viewed… (more…)

THE CRAZIES
Bobert Didn’t Like It — ★½ out of ☆☆☆☆☆
Director: Breck Eisner (SAHARA)
Writer: Scott Kosar & Ray Wright, based on George A. Romero’s original screenplay
Starring: Timothy Olyphant (HITMAN), Radha Mitchell (SURROGATES), Joe Anderson (ACROSS THE UNIVERSE), Danielle Panabaker (FRIDAY THE 13TH)
Bobert’s Take… Stop me if you’ve heard this one — In a quiet small town, all is right with the world. The local sheriff governs the town justly, while his wife seemingly serves as the town’s lone doctor. Baseball season has just started, and everyone is out enjoying a local high school game. Then crazy shit starts happening. Drunks wander onto baseball fields wielding shotguns, a husband and father burns down his house — with his family in it, and a group of hunters stumble upon a dead military pilot in the local marsh. Turns out this pilot was flying a plane that had a virus onboard, and now that virus is in the water supply. Before you can say Holy Pandemic, the townspeople are infected with RAGE and begin turning on each other. As the government steps to clean up their mess and hide the evidence (which requires the eradication of the town’s entire population), the Sheriff and his trusty deputy struggle to save as many innocents as they can while fighting off — THE CRAZIES!

Bobert’s Blurb… If reading that synopsis left you with a familiar deja vu type feeling — don’t worry, you’re not going crazy. THE CRAZIES plays like a greatest hits album of the past decade’s Horror remakes, everything from 2004’s DAWN OF THE DEAD (right down to the music queues, like opening the flick with a Johnny Cash diddy) to 2006’s THE HILLS HAVE EYES (closing shots of a faceless someone or something watching our protagonists from afar) are cherry-picked for Breck Eisner’s derivative update of George Romero’s original 1973 cult classic. While its a far more polished product than the original could ever dream of being, it glimmers with a hollow Hollywood sheen that too often takes priority over actual story. Call me crazy, but isn’t everyone supposed to be tired of these soulless remakes? Especially ones that add nothing new to the genre? People infected by a government created virus that invokes Rage? Really? Again? It’s even worse when a project of this type is put in the hands of a bland and mind-numbingly generic director like Eisner, punctuated by sorta bored acting from stars Timothy Olyphant (whose face is contorted in one unpleasant sneer throughout the film’s entire running time) and Radha Mitchell (Joe Anderson manages to give the only compelling performance, but thats probably because he gets to go crazy). Every Horror/Zombie movie cliche is used and reused, stretched so thin that you feel absolutely nothing about what’s projected on screen. Seriously, how many last minute gunshot saves did this movie have before someone said enough is enough? And do jump scares as telegraphed as the ones served here still surprise people? Have I just become immune to this stuff, or has everyone else just gone crazy? That appears to be the case as critics across the nation are awarding THE CRAZIES accolades like “smart” and “well-made”. You’d think not having seen the original film would’ve lessen my criticisms of this new version, but oddly enough it hasn’t. It’s just more of the same as far as I’m concerned. I fear that Hollywood has irreparably sullied my love for the once-precious Zombie movie, forcing me to bear witness to one abomination after another. The subgenre seems to have fallen to pieces, like so many decaying Zombie carcases. There’s nothing new here, nothing worth noting, nothing worth seeing. Needless to say, I was not crazy about THE CRAZIES.

Hi ladies and gentlemen! Well, Martin Scorsese managed to weather new release storm. Shutter Island maintained its top spot with a healthy 22 million dollar outing, dipping forty-five percent from last week. The movie is in route to snag 100 million which will give Mr. Scorsese his second straight flick to do so. A very impressive feat for a director who dealt with a couple of decade’s worth of fine cinema with usually stagnant box office receipts. I for one couldn’t be happier and this is coming from a guy who thought Shutter Island was less than perfect. As for the rest of the list, go beyond the break to see what is what… (more…)

Ladies and Gentleman, I’m proud to present — the 50th episode of The FnJ Podcast! Obviously this is already a week old, but I wanted the announcement post to be eventful nonetheless. And quite an eventful show we had! Not only was our SuperFan Melissa there to show off her Eva Mendez skirt, our first (and probably only) call-in show featured a number of guests, including one that threatened the life of our dear friend Metaldy! The caller even sent the staff a dead bird as proof of his intentions! Don’t believe me? Check out the pics beyond the break for photographic evidence! Episode 51 is also up, and with a title like “Anal-Eaze”, how could you not want to listen to it right away?! To further celebrate our 50th milestone, we’ve switched from the Video Games category on iTunes to straight-up Comedy! So remember to subscribe to the FnJ Podcast on the iTunes Store and leave us your thoughts and comments, we love the attention as you know! We also have a new home at Mevio.com, so you can find us there too! (more…)