Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer DVD review

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer hit DVD this last week, and with it comes several special features. We'll get to the movie later, but first here's a quick DVD review:

The first of two discs contains two separate feature commentaries, one of which by director Tim Story and the other by the producers and writers of the film. While I don't have the patience to sit through the film two more times, it would be interesting to hear how they justify the embarrassing product placements and geographic inconsistencies in the film.

Also included in the 2-disc set are some deleted scenes (none of which are overly exciting, as you might expect), several production featurettes and one very long documentary about the pre-production and production aspects of the movie (conveniently split into two chapters). This documentary is one of the better ones I've seen, although I still set the Pirates of the Caribbean pre-production documentary as the standard. Fantastic Four 2 didn't have nearly as many problems involved (nor is it as complicated), but it's fun to see some of the elements that go into the film and see the actors off camera.

Overall, if you were a fan of the movie, there are some good special features here, but that requires you to be a fan of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer - and those may be hard to come by. The movie was actually better than I expected and it was mildly entertainment (perhaps due to very, very low expectations after the disaster that was the first Fantastic Four), but it is so poorly done at times (and overdone at other times) that it is hard to thoroughly enjoy.

You can read my full Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer movie review here.

The Top 6 Worst Jessica Alba Movies

Let's face it, guys. Jessica Alba is hot. In fact, she is so hot that if she made a move on you, some of you would even leave your wives or girlfriends just for one night with her. Hell, there are some women who would leave their husbands for a night with her. With a slew of new movies coming out, including Good Luck Chuck and The Love Guru, I'd like to take a look at her accomplishments... or lack thereof. While I truly believe that most actors who make it to the A-list do have talent whether we actually see it or not, it certainly seems like Ms. Alba is riding on her looks thus far, as her career choices suggest...

Here are her top six worst movies, with number one being the worst:

6. Sin City

How could Sin City end up being in a "Worst" list? Easy: when an actress has only starred in six or so films, even good movies end up on the list. Sin City is an awesome movie, with great visuals, acting and plot. Jessica Alba looks hot and pulls off her part well (and her clothes) - in fact, this is her best performance to date. And in reality, it was her sex appeal that pulled a lot of people into theaters, where they then witnessed a wonderful experience (by that I mean a good movie, not a more "personal" wonderful experience). There is nothing wrong with Sin City, and Sin City 2 is on the way (presumably).

5. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

I went into this movie with really low expectations and came out moderately enjoying this film. It is funny, has some good action, and Jessica Alba is in it. Still, the movie is a piece of crap, and had it been made with an appropriate script and director, it actually could have been something. Alba, despite a PG-rated nude scene where she flops naked onto a sidewalk in front of dozens of people, is definitely not the highlight of the film, and in fact she's quite bad. She's never been good in the Fantastic Four movies and probably never will be. Oh, and her blonde hair makes her look less hot. It is amazing what makeup artists can do!

4. Into the Blue

This action-adventure starring Paul Walker wasn't an especially good movie, but it made up for a dreadfully boring first hour and a half with a halfway decent conclusion full of all kinds of action and death. That being said, the movie almost succeeds on Jessica Alba's looks herself; after all, she spends the entire movie in a skimpy bikini and seems more like part of the beautiful scenery than anything else. And this film is also remarkable for the fact that it actually features a blink-and-you'll-miss-it boob shot of Ms. Alba as she's trying to escape a man underwater. Still, the movie is as shallow as the water she's swimming in.

3. Honey

I don't remember much about this hip-hop dance movie, other than that Jessica Alba stretches her body in all kinds of unnatural yet seductive ways. Still, the movie isn't all that great as it's been done a hundred times before. Once again, the film seems reliant on Alba's hotness to piece together the story, as otherwise there would be no noteworthy reason to ever watch it.

2. Idle Hands

Idle Hands, the odd horror-comedy, was the first movie I ever saw Jessica Alba in, and I must say that she was the one positive thing I remember from the film. The plot has something to do about a kid getting an evil hand, but he's also trying to get the hot girl next door, a very young but uber-hot Alba. The movie sucked and was a dreadful waste of time, but Alba was nice to look at.

1. Fantastic Four

The first Fantastic Four movie had a lot going for it: cool special effects, a cool superhero team and Jessica Alba as the Invisible Woman. Unfortunately, Alba ended up being not-so-good and the movie overall was one of the worst comic book adaptations ever. Cheesy, ludicrous and boring from beginning to end, this was the most disappointing film starring Jessica Alba. Ever. How it spawned a sequel amazes me.

As you may have guessed, the reason for this article was simply so we could find some good Jessica Alba pictures to go along with it.

Weekend Box Office: Fantastic Four Outperforms

There was never any doubt that Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer would land in the #1 spot this weekend; there was a surprise, however, in the amount of money the mediocre comic book movie made. Analysts had it pegged at $50 million or below (the previous film opened to $56 million two years ago), mainly because the first movie was so incredibly bad and the previews for this one didn't make it look much better. Instead, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer opened to an outstanding $57.4 million based on estimates, which equates to over $14,000 earned per theater.

I don't know what to think about this one. I wanted this movie to crash and burn, and I definitely do not want to see another Fantastic Four movie made (Marvel is already planning on doing a Silver Surfer movie, which could be bad enough - he wasn't exactly the most dynamic of characters). The first movie really was God-awful, but I found some entertainment value in its sequel, if only for the fact that I had such low expectations going in (read my Fantastic Four movie review here).

One I'm more disappointed about it the poor reception Nancy Drew received. The kid-oriented film earned only $9 million, which is a shame considering the movie is based on one of the most popular mystery series ever. Marketing is to blame for failing to build more hype and excitement for this one; the movie received decent enough reviews, but no one decided to show up to watch it. If done right, they really could have expanded the audience beyond the pre-teen girl audience... even I used to like Nancy Drew, when she was in the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Super Mysteries (hint hint).

The rest of the movies do about as expected, and the only other thing to note is that Knocked Up surpassed Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End for the first time.

I am going to sue Dodge for Fantastic Four product placement

If you've seen Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, you know what I'm taking about. Amidst the movie's blatant product placement through and through, Dodge paid to get their logo prominently displayed way too many times over the course of a minute when Mr. Fantastic's flying car shows up to save the day.

Never mind the fact that this amazing Dodge vehicle - built personally by Mr. Fantastic which makes the Dodge imprint all the more curious - arrived from New York to Siberia in a matter of minutes... the real pathetic part is that director Tim Story focuses in on the imprint several times. The shot is completely pointless except to show the word "Dodge".

Shame on Dodge for (forcing?) this pathetic product placement. I hope it damages their sales. Of course, in reality, they are just hoping for coverage, and I'm giving it to them right now. Either way, this was the worst product placement I've ever seen.

If you want to hear more rants about Fantastic Four: Rise of the the Silver Surfer, read my movie review.