Kimputer's Weblog

American Wedding, the third part of the raunchy teenster Pie movie series, led the box office with 34.3 million (opens here 18th Sept). This is the tenth sequel this summer already (2 Fast 2 Furious, Bad Boys II, Tomb Raider, Spy Kids, Legally Blonde, Terminator, Charlie’s Angels just to name a few), so people obviously aren’t tired yet. Spy Kids hang on the second place as young kids are still in for the weirdo green/red 3D glasses, while the parents take their medicine for their headache, worth 20.1 million. And proving really hard to kill are the Pirates on the third place with 19.1 million, totalling an amazing 210 million. How does that money ever fit in a standard pirate’s treasure chest ?

After many 80- and 90-ties blockbusters, you might think Eddie Murphy could carry a movie. Obviously, with a bad script and worse direction, you can’t carry anything, short of a dirty diaper. The most funny thing of this whole experience is that I didn’t laugh AT ALL during the whole run. Granted, it’s a kiddy movie, but the All Ages certificate should definitely be changed to Kids till 12, all female humanoids and 30+ parents. Final grade is with this in mind.3.

It seems the kids decided the box office this weekend, with the 3rd installment of Spy Kids (subtitle 3-D: Game Over) opens at 32.5 million. The best opening yet for this series.
Pirates are also still in the business, another limited drop makes this third week run end on the second place at 22.4 million. Close behind is last weeks number one opener Bad Boys II. A foul mouth won’t get you anywhere, I guess.
A disappointing opener for Lara Croft’s search for the Cradle of Life finishes fourth with 21.8 million (opens here 7th Aug). If Jan de Bont really found the Cradle by now, he also must have found there wasn’t much money left in it. An more impressive opener is Seabiscuit (racehorse drama featuring Spidey star Tobey Maguire. Opens here 30th Oct), finishes fifth, with 21.4 million, as it opened in almost half as much cinemas as Lara did.

Like many, even James Cameron started out of the shadows of Ridley Scott’s sequels. He got to be not just pretty big, he got to be the biggest. Jonathan Mostow on the other hand, still has a lot to learn. After a few mediocre movies, he got to be the big guy, or so we thought. While managing to bring a decent movie, he steals a lot of shots that are trademarked James Cameron (including the foot scenes, cracking up a pair of sunglasses). The action special effects heavy scenes, is where he fails. Unable to create widescreen chase scenes, he falls back to the easier close up and cut fast method, heavily limiting the viewer’s experience. The legacy created by James Cameron certainly had a lot of depth going on, but again, this sequel lacks all that. No good backstory to fall back to, no character to focus on. It drifts inevitably to the end, with only a gut feeling of wanting to see the next Cameron actioner. Arnold manages to utter a few punchlines, and the paradox in time travel itself will linger on a bit. But not for too long.7-.

With the foul mouthed cops, Bad Boys II (opens here late, 9th Oct.) takes the box office top space, taking in some 46 million bucks, a nice start for an R rated movie. With only a slight drop from last week, runner up is The Pirates of the Carribean, with some 33 mill. This makes producer Jerry Bruckheimer a really rich man, trust me on that one (producer of both movies). Finishing off, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen won’t let go of the nr. 3 spot. And finally, Terminator 3 will be terminated from the top 5 next week already.

A touching family drama story, with a new talented young girl (Keisha Castle-Hughes) giving a wonderful performance. It gives insight in some (Indian ? Aboriginal ?) family matters and traditions, with some dramatic twists here and there. It has a few touching moments and even has a bit of humor. While it’s pretty predictable from start till end, it still manages not to get you bored.7½.

Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl (Opens here 14th Aug) crushed the box office with some 70 odd million dollars. Johnny Depp must be a convincing pirate. 2nd was Sean Connery starrer The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (opens here 11th Sep) with some 30 million bucks. 3rd place was for Terminator 3’s second week run with an acceptable 55% drop. (Opens here next week).

Again, Ang Lee proves himself to be a truly wonderful director with a strong first Hulk movie of hopefully whole series. People wanting to see an action movie will be sorely disappointed, because this is an overall good movie. While the first few minutes may seem to have some forced dialogue, Ang builds the characters nicely while mixing in another few elements to give the whole movie a fuller body then Hulk’s torso. The first half of the movie has a bottle up feeling to it, which probably was the intention. The second half will show the characters at full intensity. Combined with some magnificent special effects, the Hulk is here to stay.8-.