Kimputer's Weblog

Widely praised by the critics (maybe just because it’s David Cronenberg ?), I can only see half why. A long setup to establish the main characters usually promises something good to follow. But here, in the end, it feels kind of empty. While the acting is good, and shot with a suggestive feeling (thereby letting the viewer decide what’s really going on), the story takes on pretty normal turns and twist. Mix in a few horror inspired visuals for shock value, and minimise the importance of the psychological influences, and you have yourself a pretty standard movie. It’s still better than most of the current Hollywood flicks though.7+.

Little Chicken is the title, but it’s pretty huge at the box office. Opening at a higher than expected $40.1 million, it shows Disney can do 3D animation well on its own (after parting ways with Pixar).
Another higher than expected surprise at number 2 is Jarhead, a based on true facts war movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Jamie Foxx, with $27.7 million.
This makes the Saw II a little bit blunt at number 3, with still an edgy $17.2 million income. The Legend of Zorro drops harder, and has to do with the fourth spot with a paltry $10 million. Rounding out the top 5 is Prime, with a lowly $5.3 million, but since it’s just a 18% drop from last week, it could be seen as something positive.

Subtle mix of black comedy and light drama. The opening narration and introduction throws you off a bit, with seemingly no story line developing, but patience will pay off. While not sophisticated, characters are worked out decently, and it ends with a haunting message that will burn in your brains. 7½.

This weekend saw a one year horror surprise beat a 70+ year legend. Saw II (sequel from last year’s Saw) scared The Legend of Zorro to a second place opener. With a minimal budget ($4 million, over its original $1.5 million), horror flick manages to hack off a considerable amount of the total box office. With $30.5 million the saw proves a mightier weapon than Zorro’s sword, opening with a not so legendary $16.5 million.
Light comedy Prime opens at number 3 with $6.4 million (starring Uma Thurman and Meryl Streep), while the fourth spot is for second-week Dreamer: Inspired By A True Story, with $6.3 million. Rounding out the top 5 is Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit with $4.4, now totalling at a worthy $49.7 million.

After just two movies, and I’m at the conclusion that it’s time for retirement for the man in the black mask. With this sequel, I can assure you that you’re not missing out if you happened to miss this so-called legend.
The story is simply put, not very interesting. Yeah yeah, home town in danger blablabla. The dialogue isn’t much better, and most punchlines are close to just being corny. Following the predictable story, we get into a few action sequences, but that’s just not enough. As a total, it’s just a standard hero movie. Nothing extra to make it stand out. The first one at least had Anthony Hopkins, teaching the newbie Antonio Banderas. Hence, this one feels pretty empty. While it’s not totally boring, there are a few times it was closely bordering it.6½.

Another slow week at the box office despite a whole slate of new releases. First up, makes you wonder if anyone is paying attention to trailers. The most horrible one this year is Doom (especially the continuous use of the PC game’s First Person perspective. Come on, if I wanted to see that, I’d play the game). Still it ends up at the top spot, albeit at a lowly $$15.4 million (with only a slight chance to regain its $70 million budget).
At two, families flocked to see Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story. Starring Kurt Russell and Dakota Fanning, it earned $9.3 million.
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit slips to the third place with $8.7 million, while The Fog is on the way to clear up, at number 4 with $7.3 million.
Rounding out the top five is Charlize Theron starrer North Country. Supposedly another Oscar contender, it earns only $6.5 million (still more than Monster’s weekend grosses in 2003).

For Paul Haggis, the future looks bright. With this one, he definitely has another Oscar contender after writing Million Dollar Baby (technically, Million Dollar Baby got off the ground after Crash was already finished filming). Going behind the camera also, he has total control over this special pet project. There’s a certain unique story telling that makes quite a few things happen. First of all, we have actors flocking in, happily doing it without pay (pretty much keeping production costs at a measly $6.5 million). Not only that, it also brings the best out of them. When you think some of them slumbered into mediocrity because fame got to their heads (for instance Sandra Bullock, Ryan Phillipe), their performances here validates their job as actor/actress for another few years. Then there’s the character writing. With so many characters around, Haggis is still capable of bringing psychologic twists to it with a minimum of screen time. The story itself is very racially charged, but he is still able to infuse other certain elements in it, so it functions as a breeding ground for other social issues. And while the drama keeps pressuring your mood, after this grim outlook on things, he keeps a few rays of light shining through, subtly suggesting there’s still a bit of hope and faith left.
All this combined, makes this crash resonate far beyond the movie theatre, making you ponder over it for some time to come.8½.

A dip in the box office this week, with the number one only taking in $12.2 million. The Fog stars Tom Welling and Maggie Grace (the first to cash in on Lost’s tv fame) in a remake of master scarer John Carpenter.
Second was Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, dropping one spot with $11.7 million. Third up is Elizabethtown, romantic comedy starring Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst, with $11 million.
At four, Flightplan continues at a declining trajectory, with $6.47 (and a respectable cume of $70.8 million). Rounding out the top 5 is In Her Shoes, with $6.1 million.

It seems John Singleton’s carreer has been going downhill ever since his critically acclaimed debut (Boyz’n the Hood). Shaft was pretty mediocre, and 2 Fast 2 Furious is just too dumb to even criticise it. Four Brothers falls, again, in the popcorn categorie, and hence, all logic goes out the window. Instead, we get testosterone. Spoon-fed. Lots of it. As the title and film poster suggests, it’s about four brothers, on a revenge quest. Lotsa of brotherlike homey talk, lots of goofing around. Lots of hit first, ask questions later. And even though they try to make a deeper story out of it, the low bar has been set, and there’s just no way to up the ante when you go down that road.7-.

Clay wins over flesh this week at the box office, as Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit takes the top-spot with $16.1 million. Second is Flightplan, diving to a lower altitude after spending two week at number one. With $10.8 million this week, it has cumed $60.9 million since its release.
At three we have Cameron Diaz in In Her Shoes, with $10.0 million, those shoes are probably not the running kind. At four is another new release, Two for the Money. Starring Al Pacino and Matthew McConaughey in a sports/gambling drama, it appears they don’t do high stake bets, as it only books $8.4 million.
Rounding out the top 5 is The Gospel. Low budget drama has a choir worth $8.0 million.

As the title suggest, this could be an outrageously funny movie, with lotsa opportunity for racy jokes and the likes. That, however, is not the case. It’s a very soft comedy with nothing really inventive going around. While Steve Carell is very fit for the starring role, the movie itself feels a bit flaccid. It’s not all that bad, but the 110+ minute running time is definitely too long. A 90 or even a 75 minute cut would’ve worked better.6½.

Jodie Foster is still flying high, as Flightplan spends another week at the top spot with $15 million. Planned or not, this does mean a pretty low income for the other movies.
At number two is Serenity, Joss Whedon’s first feature movie. A remake of his (well deservedly) failed TV series Firefly, the fan base is probably responsible for the $10.1 million.
Corpse Bride drops to number 3, a steep 50% decline is good for $9.8 million. Well reviewed A History of Violence, a thriller starring Viggo Mortensen and Maria Bello, starts a wide release, and lands a fourth spot with $8.2 million.
Rounding out the top 5 is Into the Blue, but Jessica Alba in bikini’s and Paul Walker in shorts is only good for $7 million. Guess there was a reason for the delayed release (filmed right after Honey, before Sin City and Fantastic Four).

Clear cut subject makes a clear cut movie. Pretty straightforward story telling, that follows what the many documentaries out there already show. As a drama it works the basics, and that’s about it. Everything around it (for instance the fight scenes) isn’t really something to write home about. Not very enlightning, but not bad either.7.

Scheduling mishaps happen (especially since I’m not in charge of the thursday movie schedule), and this one was just too obvious. Translated from the pages of Jane Austen’s book, it’s not prejudice at all to mark this book and movie as “not meant for the XY chromosomed”. It is, without any exception, the most girly movie I’ve ever seen. It’s a costume drama set in the late 18th century England, where subjects like predetermined and financial advantageous marriage are the hot topics. We get to see dancing (lots of it), and romances with true love declared after a few superficial conversations.
Except for a few sparkly dialogue, men will have swooped out their Gameboy Advance/Nintendo DS/Playstation Portable, while the ladies will swoon over an ice cold character called Darcy.
If it weren’t for the Keira Kneightly’s capturing smile, I’d ask for my money back (or beat the crap out of the dimwit who scheduled this movie).5+.

After a 5 year directing hiatus (last one was Scream 3 in 2000), Wes Craven is back solid behind the camera (if we forget Cursed from earlier this year, which bombed anyway) in this closet type thriller. While the story is very linear (with no side stories at all) and hence feels kinda short, it can be scary here and there (I mean, what do you want with Cillian Murphy as the bad guy ?). Not overly complicated, so it’s lightly entertaining.7.