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The Jauntys / 2010 Travel Awards / Travel News / Movie Set Travel / Movies / Movie Travel / → All Tags

The Best Travel Movie Of 2010 Is...

It's that time of the year again, the time when the year just plain ends. Alas, we can't just let 2010 go that easily, especially since travelers spent it both up in the air and up in arms over a crazy range of topics, encompassing everything from nudie scans to tarmac delays. Needless to say, we're ready for 2011, but first we're taking a brief look back at the best of 2010 with the Jaunted Travel Awards,—or as we fondly refer to them—The Jauntys.

This was the year of the romantic comedy travel flick. There were a bunch of cheesy girly films shot in gorgeous lust-worthy locations. Most probably hail Eat Pray Love as 2010's top choice. But like the book, the movie is way overhyped. Sex and the City 2 was tripe, despite its Abu Dhabi location and couture fashions. Although its cockamamie rom-com story was beyond lame, Leap Year's bucolic Ireland setting had us craving a trip to the Emerald Isle.

Find out our pick for the best travel movie of 2010 after the jump.

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The Jauntys / 2009 Travel Awards / Travel News / Movie Set Travel / Movies / Movie Travel / → All Tags

2009's Best Travel Movie Is...

You may remember us saying that 2008 was a "marquee year for travel movies." Thanks to George Clooney, an animated curmudgeon, and Mike Tyson, 2009 easily tops it. Many of the films released over the past 12 months didn't just allude to travel or leave us dreaming about about far away lands—their plots centered around hopping a plane, train, or automobile and seeing the world.

Up in the Air, with its critical accolades and dashing lead, would be the obvious choice for Best of the Year, but it didn't feature as much awe-inspiring scenery as it did shots of airport terminals, when we were lucky. If anything, it kind of discouraged people from travel and was generally pretty depressing. The most scenic shots happened during the opening credits, so it gets shoved aside. Julie & Julia was also a top contender, balancing scenes of unglamorous cohabitation in New York with Paris' romantic landscape, not to mention shots of rich French dishes like sole meuniere. Then there was The Hangover, which our sister site VegasChatter comprehensively covered, and also because it was downright hilarious, taking the oft-repeated saying, "What happens in Vegas..." to ridiculous new heights. You thought that your all-night party session on the Strip was epic? Try stealing Mike Tyson's tiger and get back to us.

Find out which film takes home our top prize after the jump.

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Rental Cars / Cars / Movies / Time Travel / Back to the Future / → All Tags

Great Scott! Time Machine Now Available For Rent

On your next trip, get a little more adventurous with your rental car choice, and we’re not talking about getting a Prius or a Smartcar. Go with something that will leave a lasting impression on everyone you drive past—something like the DeLorean Time Machine from the Back to the Future series.

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Sneak Previews / Seth Rogen / Anna Faris / Jody Hill / Movies / Movie Theaters / Hollywood Travel / → All Tags

Seth Rogen and Anna Faris Talk Mall Cops at the Aero Theater

One of the obvious perks of visiting Los Angeles, aside from breathing the same smoggy air as your fave celebrities, is taking advantage of Hollywood industry events like sneak previews of films. We're not talking red carpet movie premieres. We're talking about movie screenings for real movie buffs, not reporters from Us Weekly.

The Aero Theater on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica is a small, one-screen theater that's a far cry from the glitzy, high-tech ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood but yet every week you will find big name directors and actors attending screenings of both new and old movies.

Best of all, these events are usually so low-pro that you can almost always score tickets. Unless someone like Seth Rogen is involved. We bought our tickets nearly two weeks ago to this special Q and A session with the funnyman, as well as Anna Faris and writer/director Jody Hill about their upcoming movie, Observe and Report. (It opens Friday.) But soon after that, the show was sold-out.

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Movie Travel / Movies / Emirates / Airlines / Travel Advertising / → All Tags

Interactive Advertising Travel: Emirates Wants You to Star in Their Movie

Emirates, the Dubai-based luxury airline with onboard shower spas and private first-class suites that are bigger than our apartment, has rolled out an ambitious interactive marketing campaign to promote the launch of its new Dubai-to-Los Angeles service. In honor of the Middle East's newest bridge to Tinseltown, the airline is making a short film, and it wants you to star in it. Entitled The Exposure of Tom King, it's a comedic thriller that - surprise surprise - plays on the theme of celebrity, with appearances by an actor consumed with vanity, a shameless paparazzo, a conniving blackmailer, and her bumbling boyfriend. The twist here is that the film has already been shot, only without actors.

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Auction Travel: Movie Posters for Grown-Ups

Every teenager from Kansas to Kilimanjaro has probably decorated their bedroom walls with movie posters at some point, but there comes a time when that tattered "Pulp Fiction" fold-out just isn't quite classy enough.

For anyone looking to upgrade their collection a good few levels--and with a few hundred pounds to spare--Christie's in London is holding an auction of rare vintage film posters this week.

You can also place bids online for posters from Hitchcock, Bond and other classics, and the live auction takes place on Wednesday. Even if you don't have the cash, it should be worth turning out just to see exactly what kind of a person drops £2,000 ($3,600) on a "Superman and the Mole Men" print.

Related Stories:
· Vintage Film Poster Auction [Christie's]
· Movie Travel coverage [Jaunted]
· UK Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Christie's]

Movies / Dangerous Travel / Tony Leung / John Woo / → All Tags

Dangerous Movie Set Travel: Stunt Man Killed in Boat Blaze

This is turning out to be a scary year to hang around movie sets: After accidents on the sets of "Quantum of Solace" and the "Hannah Montana" movie, a stunt man was killed today in a planned fire on a boat on the set of the John Woo movie "Red Cliff."

The special-effects staging had a smaller boat, ablaze, crashing into a larger boat when things turned tragic for a 23-year-old working on the historical epic, Woo's first movie in Chinese in 15 years.

Not apparently injured in the fire was the film's star Tony Leung ("Lust, Caution" and "The Departed" inspiration "Infernal Affairs"). In fact, in none of the above cases was the movie's star injured--or even on the set at the time of the incident.

Related Stories:
· Bond 22 Filming Wastes Perfectly Good Car [Jaunted]
· A Stuntman Dies Making Woo Film [NYT]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Slice of Scifi]

Statues / Movies / Tourist Attractions / Monuments / → All Tags

The Serbian Statue Syndrome

Serbia really started getting in the Jaunted radar when they began to build statues in honor of Rocky Balboa and Samantha Fox (her monument was later abandoned when a Serbian audience started chanting to see her breasts during her concert). Now Serbia's obsession with statues is going even further, according to a recent NY Times report.

Apparently Tarzan--or more correctly, the actor who played Tarzan most famously, Johnny Weissmuller--was born in Medja in Serbia. And so the town of Medja is busily raising money to build a big bronze Tarzan. (Please don't tell them that Johnny Weissmuller's Wikipedia entry disputes his Serbian origin, saying it's more likely he was born in Romania).

Interestingly, it turns out there could be a serious sociological side to all Serbian statue madness. Experts say that Serbs are turning to Hollywood icons because they don't know who to honor from their own complicated history. Since they're not likely to work that out anytime soon, the crazy statues should keep coming, giving us more and more reasons to head to Serbia.

Related Stories:
· Balkans' Idolatry Delights Movie Fans and Pigeons [NY Times]
· Rocky Solution to Serbian Landslides [Jaunted]
· Move Over Rocky, Serbia's Got Another Idea [Jaunted]

[Photo of Philly's Rocky Statue: Damon Green]

European Union / Sex / YouTube / Movies / → All Tags

European Union = Sex

We've been wondering for a while what the European Union is really doing to help people like us globe-wanderers and now, thanks to their own promotional efforts, we know. The EU is not around for political stability, its cultural wonders, or to provide fast inter-country transport. It's there for sex.

Okay, not exactly sex: but films featuring sex. The European Commission itself has released a YouTube video featuring clips of soft-core porn, er, cinematic depictions of lovemaking from European movies. The EU is happily promoting both its financial support of these films and the idea of one Europe: "let's come together," they say. If this doesn't cause a rise in travel to The Continent, nothing will.

Related Stories:
· Witches Benefit From EU Accession [Jaunted]

[Video: EU]

Lists / Movies / Museums / Airplanes / → All Tags

Favorite Movies of Aviation Geeks

Another day, another new press release announcing an obscure winner of an obscure award, voted on by an obscure audience. We're kind of over travel awards, but int he case of great aviation movies, why not trust some true aviation nuts? It only makes sense.

Visitors to a website maintained by the Experimental Aircraft Association voted Top Gun into the top spot, crowning it the best aviation movie evah:

“Top Gun” was one of 10 finalists in the online poll at www.airventure.org. It collected more than 20.5 percent of the more than 10,000 votes cast, ahead of the classic 1949 film “Twelve O’Clock High” (17.7 percent) and more recent World War II epic “Memphis Belle” from 1990 (12.2 percent).

The finalists were the 10 most-nominated films by EAA members earlier this year, who submitted more than 140 aviation movies. Others in the final poll included “Battle of Britain” (1969) with 11.8 percent; “Spirit of St. Louis” (1957) and “The Great Waldo Pepper” (1975), each with 8.6 percent; “Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines” (1965) 7.1 percent; “The Flight of the Phoenix” (1965) 5.2 percent; and “The High and the Mighty” (1954) with 4.0 percent.

The EAA runs an aviation museum in Oshkosh, WI.

[Photo: Yahoo! Movies]

Related Stories:
· 'Top Gun' Named Greatest Aviation Movie of All Time in EAA Online Poll [Press Release]

Movie Set Travel / Movies / → All Tags

Movie Set Travel: Pride

OK, OK, we admit it: we've seen this week's pick about 500 times. A valiant man/woman finds it in their heart to take on a group of troubled teens in a classroom or on some sort of organized sports team, to rehabilitate them and make them better people, helping the hero/heroine to realize "what's really important in life." Probably the fact they had some high-paying job before this crazy attempt at transforming delinquents...but anyways, this week's pick is Pride.

Terrence Howard plays Jim Ellis, a determined man who wants to start a swim team for troubled youth at the Philadelphia Department of Recreation. Of course this was "inspired by true events." Bernie Mac's also involved so they'll be some joking around and hijinks.

Strangely this movie was filmed entirely in Shreveport, LA, but in the vein of the City of Brotherly Love, we offer some cool things to check out in Philly.

Where To Stay:
Rittenhouse Hotel
Live it up and treat yourself at this swank Philadelphia award-laden hotel. Guest rooms feature 310-count sheets, bathrooms with TVs and timed heat lamps, and some suites offer private washers and dryers. This is for your pre-do-gooder life of course. Book their "King Tut" package (for $402 a night) and get tickets to the exhibit at the Franklin Institute.

Where To Eat:
James Restaurant
Head to Philly's Bella Vista neighborhood and check out this hot American eatery. Chef James Burke highlights locally grown, seasonal produce and wild fish. Think Carmelized Scallop Carpaccio and Hand Cut Pappardelle with Duck Ragu. Just the place to splurge before your life of meaningful sacrifice.

Where Not to Eat:
The Mütter Museum
Leave at least 15 minute between your last meal and a visit here. The Mütter Museum could otherwise make you queasy, if not outright ready to part with your lunch. The $12 admission fee is a bit steep, but the collection of medical information and oddities within is truly cool.

[Photo: Rotten Tomatoes]

Movies / → All Tags

To Do in Minneapolis: Urban Exploration

The authorities see them as a threat, and others just see them as mischievous thrill-seekers. In reality, urban explorers are simply a loosely knit group of ordinary people wishing to document and understand our deteriorating and forgotten urban history. Documentary filmmaker Melody Gilbert (A Life without Pain, Whole) first heard about this subculture through a story about six urban explorers in St. Paul who were arrested as suspected terrorists. Traveling from Minneapolis to Miami to Glasgow to Paris, Gilbert reveals an extraordinary underground world of individuals bonded by their innate sense of curiosity and adventure. "Urban Explorers is not a typical social justice documentary that sets out to change the world. In the end, I hope this film helps people see the world in which they live a little differently than they did before" (Melody Gilbert). 2006, U.S., video, 85 minutes.

Melody Gilbert's film Urban Explorers, which...explores the...exploration activities...of city spelunkers, premieres in Minneapolis next week as part of the Women with Vision Film Festival. If you've ever traveled somewhere and wondered what sits beneath the beaten path--in abandoned buildings, subway tracks, and elsewhere--you'll want to catch Gilbert's documentary about those who not only wonder about, but seek out, the hidden spooky treasures of the city.

@ the Walker Art Center Cinema, March 16 at 9:30 p.m. / March 17 at 4 p.m., $8.

Related Stories:
· Urban Explorers [Official Site]
· Urban Explorers - information and showtimes [Walker Art Center]
· Women with Vision '07 [Official Site]