Kimputer's Weblog

A certain secret agent didn’t have to battle super villains at the box office, but had to face an army of… Penguins. Happy Feet proved to be the winner, with $42.3 million, ahead of a very satisfactory opening for the first Bond to be distributed by Sony (instead of the previous tradition of MGM releasing it), with $40.6 million. At three, Borat is finally showing signs of fatigue, dropping some 46% to $14.3 million, but with a healthy $90.5 cume. The Santa Clause 3 and Flushed Away round out the top five with resp. $8.2 million and $6.8 million.

I know when to avoid film noir murder mysteries when I see one (it’s right up there in the same alley as costume period dramas). But I ignored the better half of me this time, thinking names like Brian dePalma, Scarlett Johansson and Hilary Swank wouldn’t disappoint me. But plain ol’ statistics won again, as this is another one of those quite boring, tedious film that nicely fit the category (only thing missing is the use of pure black and white film). Add some more boring jazzy background music, and your yawning muscles are in for a good training. If not for Scarlett’s utter beauty on screen, I might have joined the guy sitting behind me snoring out loud. I have to admit, some story points are well done, but in its current form, I can’t recommend it to anyone.5-.

After Borat’s surprise performance from last week, word of mouth made it reign the box office for another week. With a wider release, it actually earns more than last week, $29 million and a $67.8 million cume.
The rest of the top 3 is also unchanged, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause with $16.9 million and Flushed Away with $16.7 million.
One newcomer in the top 5, at 4 is Stranger Than Fiction starring Will Ferrell, with $14.1 million. Saw III rounds out the top 5 with $6.6 million.

The original Hong Kong movie Infernal Affairs (and to some extend, the two pre/sequels) garnered critical acclaims when it was released (praised as that years best movie), and it was bound to spread around the world. However, before the import DVD arrived here, Brad Pitt’s production company Plan B already snatched the right for a remake, and hence, I waited for the Hollywood version (saves you a lot of time, just like I do with written literature).
Was it worth the wait ? Yeah, it’s a good movie. But not the gem everyone was talking about when referring to the original. For starters, the beginning is chaotic, and filled with light-hearted banter. The original and remade title made me think it was a darker drama. But as time goes by (and clocking in at two and a half hour, there’s enough of that), the focus is indeed dark drama (with Leonardo DiCaprio getting the meaty role, the only one with real issures). As the tension grows, the cat and mouse game is far ahead of the cliches we’ve seen so many times already. The dichotomy built inside the story creates an intriguing atmosphere, but as I had my reservations for the sloppy start, the end is even worse. This way, I can’t call it a gem like I would call Michael Mann’s Heat, but it’s definitely one of the better movies of this year, and the star-powered ensemble cast is nifty (but not totally necessary).8-.

Apparently, Borat is up for a Pulitzer Prize soon, as the Kazak journalist blasts to the box office top spot this week with his documentary Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. Opening at just 837 locations, it still earned a whopping $26.5 million. Where $10.000+ per screen is more an exception than a rule for the number one, Borat manages $31.607 per screen. Jagshemash to that.
A bit too early for my taste, but The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause manages a runner-up spot with $19.5 million. Close behind is a Dreamworks/Aardman Animation collaboration, Flushed Away, with $18.8 million.
With three new entries, it means a big drop for Saw III, now at 4 with $14.8 million. Rounding out the top 5 is The Departed, with $7.7 million in its fifth week, with a total of $102 million. This is just an inch away from Martin Scorcese’s current highest grossing movie, The Aviator ($102.6 million).

And here we have another multi-threaded time-shifting inter-locking story, which is quite becoming a commodity these days. This one focuses on some personal tragedy divided over a few storylines and locations, and it wouldn’t be a tragedy if all of it happens to all the people in a short period of time. From a drama perspective, this only works half. Mostly since this whole thing is event-driven and dragged out and stretched thin. And I mean, it’s really really loooooong, filled with the director trying to capture sequences that might jog your visual and auditory senses a bit, but certainly doesn’t stimulate any particular feeling in the brains. Best comparison I can come up with is, you’ll kinda have to see this as shallow Magnolia rip-off, that while is shorter, feels longer.6-.

You’ve gotta hand it to Sacha Baron Cohen, he’s a genius when it comes to crude unexpected humor. You’ll pretty much know how it works, if you’ve seen the bits on his Channel One or HBO shows, but this time, it’s glued together by a full script. Plus, he takes it a step further, this is truly extreme cinema you’ll be seeing. The mix of scripted (himself with actors) and unscripted (sections with unknowing participants) are contrasting, but it’s still a solid mix of different laughs. Granted, it’s not high-tech storytelling, there’s nothing new about the Borat character. But it’s such a laughing cannon, you can’t get around it.
If you fancy yourself to have even have the slightest sense of humor, I will eat my leather shoes (without condiment or sauce) if you can keep your laughter down to mere chuckles. Hell, I’ll eat my whole if you keep your eyes dry. Trust me, you’ll wanna wipe the floor before watching this, if you want to keep your clothes clean.8+.

Twelve years ago, Kevin Smith made a mark with Clerks, showing his own style and off-beat humor. And now he’s back, his ego a bit bruised (Jersey Girl flopped, even though it wasn’t really bad at all), and back to low budget. Like most of his movies, it’s starts off slow, seemingly about nothing. Silly dialogue about nothing etc. Then a story starts taking off, and hilarity ensues. Inbetween the atrocities and vulgarities, you can see a real movie being born, even as far as the main subject being everything about life itself. Definitely one of those rare funny feel-good movie without being too pretentious.7½.

By now a Halloween tradition, Saw III reigns the box office, with a healthy $34.3 million, topping both Saw and Saw II, each a year apart. While still low budget and highly profitable, it’s nowhere near the $1.2 million budget of the original.
Not departing just yet, The Departed stayed strong at number two with $9.8 million. The Prestige loses a bit of magic, now at three with $9.6 million.
Flags of our Fathers doesn’t seem to catch on, dropping to number 4 with $6.4 million. With the current cume at $19.9 million, it will be a tough road to break even ($90 million budget). Rounding out the top 5 is left-over Open Season with $6.1 million.

One of the few bigger British productions (besides their James Bond series), and most of the budget is probably in the post-apocalyptic building scenes. About 80% though, it’s pretty low budget cinema, like the odd abandoned train station or the hidden house in the woods.
Does it mean you’re not getting your worth of money seeing this movie ? Actually, that’s exactly what I mean, even though the first half was a bit promising. Story setup went well, and direction was acceptable. It goes down the drain during the second half, as it doesn’t add anything new or significant to the story. And the end, will leave you pretty much disappointed.6½.

Typical indie drama, with a family road trip touch. Only scratches the characters’ surface, and the story has its quirks here and there, but in the end, it’s all feel-good sweetness. And it’s nice to see Steve Carell in a mostly non-comedic role, finally breaking away from the more or less psychotic characters he’s been playing all along.7+.

Two rival magicians ended up at the top spot, as Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige was a star powered force to be reckoned with. Batman Begin’s (Nolan’s last film) cast mates Christian Bale and Michael Caine are joined by Scarlett Johansson, Hugh Jackman and David Bowie to conjure $14.8 million.
Second is Scorsese’s The Departed, holding strong with $13.7 million. Another new entry by another decorated director is Clint Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers with $10.2 million.
Rounding out the top 5 is fourth-weeker Open Season with $8 million and Flicka (a family drama headlined by country star Tim McGraw) with $7.7 million.

Or, Black Book, as the title will be as the Dutch representative to vie for one of the five empty spots on the Oscar nomination list for Foreign Film. Maybe that’s one of the reasons I went to see it. Maybe it was just Paul Verhoeven’s name that attracted me (translates to nudity, for the film facts challenged among you). Whatever it may be, people think I’m a violent person. Whenever I go see a Dutch movie, I take a baseball bat with me. People are wrong though, as I only take the bat with me to knock myself out, or at least, knock myself senseless. After all, that’s been the overall experience I’ve had in my life.
Strangely enough, I didn’t have to touch it for the whole duration of the movie (while it ran a bit long for my taste). The acting was on a few levels quite satisfactory (though some overacting crossed the line here and there, and I still wanted to use the bat on Johnny de Mol), and the story, which wasn’t overly complicated, had a good pace. On screen, budget restraints weren’t obvious, and Paul’s Hollywood experience made action scenes look fluidly professional.
So I probably can leave my bat at home for the next movie from Paul Verhoeven (already one planned for next year), but that’s the only exception I’m willing to make for now, when it comes down to Dutch movies.7.

I’ve learned to watch any movie involving Woody Allen with much caution, because, diverse as they are, they’re mostly too weird to describe. I wasn’t overly enthused with Match Point either, but at least the beautiful Scarlett Johansson caused enough distraction for this stiff romance with panic ending.
Luckily, this movie is one of another category, basically a very lighthearted murder mystery. Luckily, with Woody Allen’s continued confidence in Scarlett, she takes the lead again, while Woody co-stars as a, whud else, neurotic person. Doing his usual fast paced rapid fire dialogue trying to fit in a punchline or word play in every sentence isn’t really hilarious, but at least it’s a bit amusing.
The story is simple but overall solid, and there’s no real boring moment in it. So here’s two thumbs up for Woody Allen, who knows how much more of this will ever happen ?7½.

Another victim of the trailer-disease, you’d better stick with just the trailer. Of course, you can already dream the plotline seeing it, and seeing the movie makes you think you’re a telepath or something. Nothing is further from the truth, as a slip up during the search for good kid actors might be forgiven (after all, how many really good kid actors are there nowadays ?), for this lousy script there no forgiving or forgetting. The script chews out cliche after cliche, and the sappy second half doesn’t really help the movie or the silly cheap jokes, at all. I suggest you use your remote control at home and watch some good TV instead.