0:00-06:30 - Intro
06:30-20:50 - Stuff We Watched This Week
20:50-34:12 - Junk Mail
34:12-53:00 - Tangent on Camera Movement and Cinematography
53:00-1:06:48 - Junk Mail (continued)
1:06:48-1:26:00 - Review: Sweeney Todd
1:26:00-1:47:50 - Versus: Jackass vs Tom Green
1:47:50-2:00:30 - Trailer Trash
2:00:30-2:01:20 - This Week’s DVD Releases
2:01:20-2:04:20 - Outro
So here it is, the big whammy… the grand finale… le finissimo. We’re wrapping up 2007 in style with another video podcast, counting down our top 10 movies of the year. We hope that you feel it was worth the wait… we certainly do. Mr. Cheel logged many long hours editing this bad boy together, and I think it really paid off. Keep an eye out for some surprise guest appearances throughout the proceedings.
After the jump, you can examine our individual Top 10 lists for the year, and then let the discussion begin! What were your top 10 movies of 2007?
Some people are so old, they seem to have forgotten what it’s like to be young. Such must be the case of Variety film critic John Anderson, who’s recent review of Jennifer Venditti’s wonderful documentary Billy the Kid places the films title character, a socially awkward teen with a troubled past, in the same mental and social category as the Virginia Tech shooter. Such a sensational remark simply supports the fact that kids like this are completely misunderstood, as demonstrated by Anderson’s comments as well as the gaggle of students who refuse to sit with Billy at lunch time. Luckily, for the rest of us, Jennifer Venditti’s film is a touching reminder of awkward first dates and teenage heart break.
Shot in a verite style over the course of five days, the film follows Billy as he walks around town, sometimes in a karate gi, mingling with the locals and making new friends. Eventually he finds his way into a small diner, intent on introducing himself to Heather, a 16 year old visually impared girl who he can’t stop thinking about. We watch as he woos her with some Tim Allen trivia, gradually winning her heart with his awkward yet articulate conversation skills. Eventually a crush becomes an infatuation and for the first time in his life, Billy learns what it feels like to be in love. We spend some time at Billy’s high school, witnessing some moments of unusual interaction among students. One kid suggest Billy drop the rat tail, to which he replies ‘I’m gonna look like Gene Simmons…Of course one of the guys that inspired me to wear a pony tail was Steven Segal. The other is my own step dad.’ Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Sean on December 27th, 2007 Filed under: Site News
Prepare yourselves for a new era in Film Junk history. After months of preparation, experimentation and impregnation, we are finally ready to unveil Film Junk 2.0: The Rebirth!
What better way to usher in the New Year than with a brand new site design? We’re pretty sure that this is yet another step in the right direction for Film Junk, and hopefully you all feel that this is still somewhat familiar… yet shinier. Many thanks to Kevin at KREWdesign for all his expertise and hard work. If you experience any weirdness, make sure to refresh your web browser. If you continue to experience weirdness, then let us know! We’re going to be tweaking some things and adding a few more features in the coming weeks, so please do let us know if you have comments or concerns. Until then… enjoy!
Posted by Sean on December 24th, 2007 Filed under: Site News
Hey guys, I just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas / Happy Hanukkah / Cheery Festivus, and keep you in the loop as far as what to expect from Film Junk over the next week or so.
1. There will be no audio podcast this week. Things got a bit too busy for all of us this past weekend, so we just couldn’t find a way to make it happen. The next podcast will probably be recorded on Sunday, Dec. 30th, or somewhere around there.
2. Jay is currently in the middle of editing the 2nd Annual Film Junk Year End Video Podcast, and we are planning to have it posted sometime on Thursday (Dec. 27th), along with our individual top 10 lists and a special brand new episode of Fishing With Tom! Be sure to check back later in the week for these special treats.
3. We are also working hard with our good friend Kevin at KREWDesign to have the new site design launched somewhere toward the end of this week. It’s not exactly a major overhaul, but it may take a couple days to work out all the kinks. Your patience will be greatly appreciated.
4. There will not be much in the way of new posts happening throughout the week. I may try to get one or two new reviews up, but other than that, I am probably just going to kick back and take it easy for the next few days. The site will officially return to full operational status on Wednesday, January 2nd.
Thanks for reading, and have a great holiday everyone!
At first glance, the synopsis for The Ruins reads like a lot of other horror movies that have been coming out lately: “a group of friends whose leisurely Mexican holiday takes a turn for the worse when they… embark on a remote archaeological dig in the jungle, where something evil lives among the ruins”. Basically, it sounds like a rip-off of Turistas, which was a rip-off of Hostel to begin with. But my interest was piqued when I noticed that the movie is based on a book written by Scott B. Smith, who also wrote the book and screenplay for Sam Raimi’s A Simple Plan.
Now that I’ve watched the first trailer for The Ruins, I gotta say… this looks pretty promising. I don’t know anything about director Carter Smith, but the trailer just struck the right tone to get me hooked. After all, The Exorcist started with an archaeological dig too, and the way they did it there was pretty damn creepy. The movie stars Shawn Ashmore (Iceman from the X-Men movies), Laura Ramsey (The Covenant) and Jonathan Tucker (The Black Donnellys). Peep the trailer below and see what you think. The Ruins is slated to hit theatres on April 4th.
As a Christmas present to his fans, Neil Gaiman managed to wrangle some early footage from the upcoming animated film Coraline to show to the world. Although it’s just a short clip that doesn’t give much insight into what the movie’s actually about, the look of it is super cool and really unique.
Based on a novella written by Gaiman, it’s being directed by stop motion guru Henry Selick (yes, he of Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas), and yes, it’s also being given the full digital 3D treatment. It turns out certain prints of Beowulf in 3D earlier this year were blessed with a full trailer for Coraline as well, but it hasn’t made its way online yet.
I may have been one of the few people who was mostly unimpressed by the Gaiman-penned Stardust this year, but I am definitely stoked for this. A release date for Coraline has yet to be determined, but it will probably be late 2008 or early 2009. Check out a higher quality Quicktime version of the clip over on Neil Gaiman’s site.
Looks like those rumours we heard a few months ago about another Dune movie weren’t just hearsay after all. According to the MTV Movies Blog, director Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights, The Rundown, The Kingdom) revealed in a recent interview that he has officially signed on to helm the project, and that the only thing holding it back right now is the writer’s strike.
Once the strike is settled, they hope to get a script knocked out as soon as possible and then move forward on it. Until that happens, there will probably be little else to say on the matter, but rest assured, we are indeed getting the third adaptation of Frank Herbert’s beloved sci-fi novel at some point in the near future. Berg referred to the scale of the movie as being “big big big”.
While I’m curious to see another take on this classic story, I still have a hard time envisioning Dune as a big blockbuster film. It seems like it was tailor-made to be an art-house production from the start (well, as long as you’re concerned with being true to the source material, at any rate). But when you consider the number of follow-up books written by Frank Herbert, plus the prequels written by his son Brian and sci-fi author Kevin J. Anderson, it’s clear that there is a pretty massive movie franchise here just waiting to be converted into cold, hard cash. Can Peter Berg make it happen? I suppose we’ll have to wait and see.
Posted by Sean on December 24th, 2007 Filed under: Box Office Source: IMDb
Nic Cage is in the hizzie! National Treasure: Book of Secrets was (not surprisingly) the biggest hit at the box office this holiday weekend, cashing in with a solid $45 million performance, which ousted Will Smith and his popular sci-fi/horror flick I Am Legend from the number one spot. Interesting to note: the first National Treasure movie was the highest grossing movie of Nicolas Cage’s career, and the opening weekend numbers for the sequel have exceeded that of the original. Cage is here to stay as a Hollywood headliner, that’s for sure! Other new releases, Charlie Wilson’s War and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, both had modest debuts with approximately $9 million a piece. The Judd Apatow-produced comedy Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, however, didn’t fare quite as well, earning just $4 million and the #8 position for the weekend. Is it that John C. Reilly can’t bring in audiences without his pal Will Ferrell? Or did the movie just look horribly unfunny to begin with?
1. National Treasure: Book of Secrets — $45.5M
2. I Am Legend — $34.2M
3. Alvin and the Chipmunks — $29M
4. Charlie Wilson’s War — $9.62M
5. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street — $9.35M
6. P.S. I Love You — $6.5M
7. Enchanted — $4.15M
8. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story — $4.1M
9. The Golden Compass — $3.98M
10. Juno — $3.4M
With the entertainment news for the year slowing down to a trickle, it seems there was at least one bombshell left to drop before Christmas. Peter Jackson’s settlement with New Line Cinema has opened the doors for The Hobbit to finally head into production early next year. It is now clear, however, that Jackson will only be producing rather than directing, leaving everyone hyped up and excited to see who might fill his shoes for this two-part prequel. Other than that, a few interesting trailers hit the web but for the most part everyone is now in year end mode, looking back on 2007 by creating as many top 10 lists as they can come up with. And yes, we’ll be adding our own lists to the mix shortly! Stay tuned.
Some people are so old, they seem to have forgotten what it’s like to be young. Such must be the case of 
