Kimputer's Weblog

As with most movies situated in the desert in the past few years (Flight of the Phoenix, The Mummy Returns), they’re becoming harder and harder to swallow.
This Indiana Jones clone too, where the name is a good start to break down this movie. Dirk Pitt. Come on. The tagline follows as, Adventure has a new name. Not true, just a ridiculous one.
The movie is as exciting as the red line on the map sequence from the Indiana Jones movies, and everything fails from the beginning. Uninteresting script, uninteresting characters, uninteresting missions. There’s no chemistry going on, and boredom sets in pretty quickly, followed up by countless scenes you’ll say “yeah, right” to.
Counting all the grains of sand in the Sahara seems to be a better time killer than watching the whole movie.3.

With all the sweetness going on, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory easily pushed a certain fantastic quartet off the top spot. The high colored movie directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp attracted enough kids and parents for a boffo $55.4 million worth of tickets.
For the adults, there was the R rated Wedding Crashers, starring Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, good for a runner-up spot with $32.2 million.
A steep drop for Fantastic Four with $22.7 million, a whopping decline of 60% is just enough for the third place.
At 4 we have War of the Worlds heading for the $200 million mark (somewhere next week), with $15 million. And rounding off the top five is Batman Begins, with $5.6 million.

Fantastic on paper, but on film, it’s just good. Then again, Good Four doesn’t sound too overwhelmingly exciting.
As with most Marvel Comics heroes, the adventure starts with an accident, after which the discovery of the amazing powers ensues. Difference with huge box office successes like X-Men and Spider-Man is that this movie is built around these powers, instead of seamless integrating it into the story. A second thing that sets this one apart is that the characters seem the least close to being human than the others. This is further exploited by making the interaction simpler, and making the dialogue less complex. Add to that the fact that the story evolves using mostly simple devices and cliches, and you have a standard pop-corn movie. With the other Marvel movies, I’d recommend everyone to see it, but for this one, I only recommend it for the comic book/action movie lovers (as you’ll still have the visual effects and the continuous bickering among the team members to keep you busy).7+.

Marred by a host of bad reviews, results are still pretty fantastic for the invisible, stretchable, firy but ugly quartet, as Fantastic Four attracts $56 million worth in ticket sales. Dropping a gear is War of the Worlds, with $31.3 million at number 2. Batman continues to do quite good business with $10.2 million, but with totals, War is right on its heels already ($172 million in 4 weeks vs. $165 million in 2 weeks).
Jennifer Connelly starrer Dark Water opens at nr. 4 with $10.1 million. As usual, horror pics do better when opening without competition from superheroes. Rounding off the top 5 is Mr. & Mrs. Smith, with $7.9 million.

With any Jet Li movie, some bones have to be broken, and this movie is no different. It’s clear though, how his movies usually play out. He has a handful of typical Hollywood movies (Romeo Must Die, The One, Crade 2 the Grave). He had the standard Hong Kong martial arts flicks (The Black Mask, The Enforcer). He had some higher quality Chinese art movies (Hero). And now he’s trying the European style of making movies.
And it pays off, because the quality is slightly higher than the previously mentioned 2 categories. Story is still slightly simple, but the dialogue in between makes more sense. Mostly thanks to Morgan Freeman, the acting is up to standard too. That leaves only the predictability as a weak point. Still, for fans and non-fans, it’s different enough to make a more firm impression than the mediocre stuff he made earlier in Hollywood (and hopefully avoid in the future).7+.

Aliens wreak havoc at the box office, as War of the Worlds takes in $77.6 million, good for the top spot. A distant second, but a respectable performer is Batman, $18.7 million is good for the runner-up spot. In retrospect, the media stunt Tom and Kate pulled worked quite well, I must say. We should have more of those.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith cling on the number 3, with $12.7 million. The females flocked for the fourth place, Bewitched with $10.8 million, while the kids handled the number 5, Herbie: Fully Loaded with $10.5 million.

These are the movies where not reading any books at all comes in handy (I highly recommend it to y’all). First of all, it helps with many surprise effects, and in this case, the script is somewhat thin and one-tracked.
But leave it to Steven Spielberg to make the most out of it, and turn it into a fast paced, gritty drama/actioner, with awe inspiring special effects to support it. Both from a storytelling and from a technical standpoint, he’s your man. Again, this movie involves and requires shots that make the heads of the people at ILM spin in overdrive. They even do it in the most short-tracked time period a high SFX demanding movie has ever seen (some 7 months), and it still looks amazing.
The story plays out very much the same way as Independence Day, but with more tense setups and a more focused and hence more intimate setting (only 3 principal characters, Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning and Justin Chatwin). The acting is good, though it’s hard to create a strong emotional bond with all the running and hiding going on.
All in all, even though the train ride is rough and wobbly, I’d say, hop on anyway.8.

It’s been a while, but like gambling, you have to give it a try now and then. So for my first direct-to-dvd movie of this year, I thought I wouldn’t try anything too risky, and bet on Wesley Snipes. Still, the fact remains it is a direct-to-dvd for a reason (and hence mr. Snipes has to be careful not to follow in the same footsteps of Jean-Claude van Damme, Steven Seagal and the likes, as he picks more and more of these projects in between his blockbusters), and it becomes evident within moments after the start of the movie.
It’s a big cliche driven show cluttered with C actors with degrees in overacting. The director thinks he can make a difference with strange camera angles, but you can jot down the next line as an irrefutable fact. There no future for this guy beyond these type of movies (in fact, his next one is one starring the aforementioned Jean-Claude). Next, the low-budget feel is all over the place, and the editing is shoddy at best. There are absolutely no technical or creative highlights to be praised.
So that’s it, no more direct-to-dvd’s for me. There’s no reason to ever touch one again, but you have to keep hoping. So, talk to ya again next year.3½.

Batman might have begun last week, but it’s definitely Batman Continues at the box office. Flying in $26.8 million is enough for another sesh at number one, and a total of $121.7 million almost beats Mr. & Ms. Smith ($125.4 million, but with a one week longer run). At 2 is this week’s top opener, Bewitched, starring Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell. With $20.2 million, it’s well within the expectations of this old sitcom remake.
Mr. & Ms. Smith are stuck at three, clinging on to $16.8 million. Number four is for kiddy movie, Herbie: Fully loaded, with $12.8 million in the Beetle’s back trunk. Rounding off the top 5 is zombie horror Land of the Dead, scaring up $10.2 million. Not smart opening a horror movie in such a crowded movie week, as Dawn of the Dead proved last year with an almost triple income (as has the overabundance of this genre proven in the past one or two years).

It’s probably a nice reflection of Dr. Alfred Charles Kinsey’s life, but for a movie, it doesn’t do much. At least, not as much as the reception of his then masterwork, Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male. The movie does give a little bif of insight here and there, and that gives a tiny bit of drama. But as a whole, it’s not that interesting. It’s only the good acting (Liam Neeson, Laura Linney and Peter Sarsgaard) that keep you from walking away.6½.

2 Shrek movies were enough to make the Dreamworks Animation department a grand success (well, there was also Shark Tale, but I kinda surpressed that from my memory), and push the company into a public one. And the first movie to come out and please the shareholders is Madagascar.
Anyone knows this would be a hard act to follow, and frankly, it shows.
There are quite a few wacky characters in this movie, but the design isn’t as strong. Also, with the lack of a strong story comes the fact that jokes aren’t as inventive and there are more pridictabililties. Cliches are another offspring of this fact.
While all this mentioned above is noticable, it doesn’t mean this movie isn’t good though. For instance, the voice acting is pretty solid. And there’s always room for a tiny smile along the way, and it’s probably easier to understand for the kids. As the following grade suggests, it’s definitely a one-time see-er.7+.

While the movie is spectacular, Batman Begins with respectable opening, earning $46.9 million in its first weekend. With such an opening, and no kids to help the box office blow up like Spider-Man did, it’s not clear yet if the $150 million budget will be earned back.
Second was Mr. & Mrs. Smith, dropping one place with $27.3 million, with the total almost crossing the $100 million mark. Firm third spot is for Madagascar, zoo-ing in another $11.1 million. Fourth was SWIII, with $9.7 million, which will cross the $350 million mark next week. Fifth place was for The Longest Yard, the comedy reels in $8 million.
Biggest disappointment this week, was counter-programmed (against darker less family oriented Batman) opener, comedy The Perfect Man. With only $5.5 million (7th place), it might be a sign of Hilary Duff’s fading stardom.

No one will contest Chris Nolan’s superb track record of only 2 movies (Memento and Insomnia). And that was enough to convince the WB that he was the man able to resurrect the Batman franchise. And how well he does it.
Everything seems to be brilliantly executed. A wonderful script, which is both an emotional journey and an actioner at the same time, is a nice start. It truly makes the title worth its name, as the main character develops throughout the movie. Multiple factors over time influence the way he was, is and becomes. Antagonists aren’t as detailed, but luckily aren’t the comical” freaks previously portrayed by Jim Carrey and *sigh* Arnold Schwarzenegger. Then we have the directorial skills, showing off the dark side, focusing both on character and tone. There’s no telling where his talent stops. Oh wait, I just saw it. Action, mostly the personal combat scenes, are quite fast paced short (as in, nanoseconds) cut sequences, making it a bit hard to follow. But the rest is done so nicely, he can be forgiven for those few scenes.
Then we have the ( surprise surprise) mostly British cast (must be thanks to the also Brit director), who all do their part well in their “guest” roles. Main kudos go to, of course, Christian Bale, though after The Machinist, this role is kind of a cakewalk. Also impressive is Katie Holmes, in what seems to be her first mature role, finally shredding her Dawson’s Creek image.
With 2 of my favorites behind the music (Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard), it’s strangely non thematic, lacking a definite signature. Though it still fulfills the dramatic hightening duties.
All this combines into a fresh appetite for a sequel, with hopefully most of the cast and crew intact.8½.

Last year’s low budget indie movie slowly grew into a surprise hit, earning a 100-fold of it’s budget after a price war at the Sundance Festival (from a $400.000 to a $44+ million gross). It’s actually a quite surprising result, considering the sheer simplicity of the movie, both technical and on the creative side.
In the one hand, you have a bunch of complete nerds, done in a minimalistic way (unlike, for instance, the Revenge of the Nerds series). In the other hand, you have the occasional uttering of “Gosh!” and “Idiots!”, immortalizing Jon Heder’s character (while it’s actually Jon Gries’ character that’s the most funny). The rest is just as simple, with no real story and characters to speak of.
Does it hold up as a movie ? Barely. Watching it with friends, laughing at the on-screen losers, might help it a lot. And maybe that’s why it’s become a hit (and a big winner at MTV’s 2005 Movie Awards). But I wouldn’t recommend you spending too much money on it (i.e. share the rental price with your friends).6½.

On set romances probably help a movie, as the Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie starrer proves. Mr. & Mrs. Smith opens with a personal best for both stars and director Doug Liman, with $51.1 million.
The rest of the top 5 paced together tightly. Zoo attendance went down another 50%, as Madagascar earns $17.1 million in its third week. SWIII drops to third place with $14.9 million, and The Longest Yard proves long enough to pass the $100 million mark, with a fourth place and $13.5 million.
Fifth was Robert Rodriguez’ The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3D, another children movie with $12.5 million.