Another typical Jackie Chan movie. Low on story and characters, a bit of action, a bit of humor, a bit of stunts. Actually, for the past few years, the rule, seen one, seen them all, applies. In this case, if you’ve seen The Tuxedo, you probably have no need to see this one. That rule alone, will make the upcoming Around the World in 80 Days a movie to look forward to.6+.
It is as I feared. The first single, Slow, featured a heavy dance beat, with not much of lyrics or melody to it. It was even irritating. Then comes the second single, Red Blooded Woman. A nice swing-beat, that is worthy of a Hype Williams directed video clip. She even lets me remember that she can carry a tune. Now the curiosity is on. But how disappointed am I after listening to the other twelve tracks (or ten, if you don’t have the bonus tracks). Every single one features the feared heavy dance beat, combined with some kind of creepy variation of her voice. No melody, no soul, and definitely no highlight.2.
Like Face/Off, a bit of the future mixed with very current old-style action sequences. Obviously shot in less time and with a lower budget, it’s still a typical John Woo movie that scores above average. It’s mainly the story-driven style that keeps it all going. With the clues all laid out and waiting to be solved, all the way to the end. The beginning has some rushed scenes, as is the end. There are also scenes that drag on just a bit too long. The score from John Powell is also uneven throughout the movie, almost seemingly jumping from track to track. And of course, in any movie involving time, be it forward or backwards, there are holes to be found. But as a brainless just sit back movie, it’s entertaining.7+.
Here, at work, everything seems slow. Not much to do. Over there, on IRC it seems slow. Not much to do.
So, what about a challenge to kill some time, and to let the brainjuices flow. First one to answer this correctly deserves a hummmmm *hug* !
Why are dead people buried at six feet exactly ? (Hence the term Six Feet Under)
For most non-US viewers, it’s hard enough trying to live into the moment, not knowing the full weight and impact of the Civil War raging for 4 years in 1861. It’s even harder when not only the title is cold, but also the relationship between the two main characters (Jude Law and Nicole Kidman). The story plays out more like a fairy tale than a civil war drama, but there are subtleties to be appreciated. As a drama it does not succeed fully, but save a few characters, there are performances to be remembered (mostly that of Renee Zellweger). Another minus is for the type casting. Short roles for Philip Seymour Hoffman, Natalie Portman, Giovanni Ribisi and Donald Sutherland, all playing the roles we’ve known them to perform best. All in all, not Oscar material, just average.7-.
After another few “loose” episodes, the latest two are slightly improving again in writing. Especially the last episode had good dialogue and character interaction, though still very cliche. But better cliche than the crap from the already forgotten season two eh ?
A record setting comedy is 50 First Dates (opens here 24 Jun) coinciding with the Valentine’s Day weekend, starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. Earning $41 million, good enough for the first place. Previous best comedy opener was Runaway Bride ($35.1 million).
Second place was for Barbershop 2 with $15.6 million. Third is for Miracle, with $14 million.
My ranting on the British a few days ago, still stands. The BAFTA (British Academy of Film) awards totals were:
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – 5 (YAY! Film, Adapted Screenplay, Visual Effects, Cinematography and People’s Choice)
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World – 4 (Director, the insanity !!)
Lost in Translation – 3 (YAY! Bill, Scarlett and Editing)
Cold Mountain – 2
As you can see, Master and Commander ranks second !!
There was a time when Joss Whedon was busy with screenplays for movies, and directing and producing and writing for two TV shows. Those days are over.
Firefly well deservedly got cancelled after a only few episodes. Buffy had to move from the WB to UPN in its last season. His Giles back home in the UK spinoff series never got off the ground. And on top of this, Thursday he got the message from the WB big heads. No more Angel after this current fifth season. That leaves him with enough time to make a nice concluding story line.
But yikes, he wants to turn Firefly into a feature length movie. Bad idea.
Ah, it’s that time again. Heavily commercial, but undeniably sweet. Can’t help but love it, Valentine’s Day. But.. there’s one problem. I’m single.
So this is an open letter for all human beings carrying the XY chromosome, being single, aged somewhere between 21 and 26, not taller than me, but not too small either, with sizes somewhere around 34-26-36 (I actually don’t have a clue what that means, but I’m putting it there just to be sure), and in possession a certificate of being catagorized as a “chick” by a certified professional modeling bureau. For those who meet the description, for Pete’s sake, MAIL ME !!
This ad is going around in the newspapers these days:
Well, all I could do was roll on the floor laughing my ass off (and that, only because of one word: immediate. So follow-up questions are not possible). What would you expect if you’d send an SMS with just your gender and age ? I guess the responding SMS would be something like “We were just measuring the gullibility of the Dutch population. YOU DUMBASS, HOW CAN WE DECIDE IF YOU GET ENOUGH VITAMINS IN YOUR SYSTEM WITH JUST THESE TWO LOUSY PIECES OF INFORMATION !!! Oh and THANK YOU FOR SENDING THE SMS, WE REALLY LIKE ALL THE MONEY WE’VE EARNED ON YOU”.
Of course, they get more info, sometimes your phone number, but that could be useless, as a prepaid would be virtually untraceable. With subscriptions, you can trace the owner, and using a linked database, like the one of the Airmiles, you could get some extra info. Then again, linking databases like that is still illegal. So, you have a better (valid) explanation, that doesn’t always answer YES YOU NEED EXTRA VITAMINS ?
As you can read in my previous post, I was kinda pissed at my favorite public transport company here. But I just saw it on the electric announce boards, the planned cutbacks on the earlier and later rounds are off the table, or delayed. Maybe they did some more digging on my name and discovered my ties with the chinese mob and got scared.
Labeled as an erotic mysterious crime thriller, it’s none of the above. From the very beginning, it’s nothing but dialogue that makes no sense. The director doesn’t know which direction to shoot, and hence, all the scenes and events happening don’t make much sense either. After 30 minutes, it starts getting on your nerves, and you just don’t care anymore. The basic storyline is simple at best, and they try to “thicken” it with the aforementioned nonsense dialogue. But put simple and shit together, and you end up with shit. The clues for the mystery and thriller part are too obvious and guessed within seconds when in sight. Cartoons in the newspaper cut, shifted, and pasted together have more coherence then this whole movie. So, a low grade, but then higher, for all the full frontals of Meg Ryan. Yeah, I can appreciate that.3.
We already use the term stiff upperlips for the British island wandering human beings, but I’d like to add another term. Boring nutcrackers. Why ?
The London Film Critics’ Circle Award. With over a hundred critics for TV, newspapers etc. voting, most awards went to mind-numbing Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and none to LotR: The Return of the King. If you consider that watching a glacier melt is more exciting, you can understand my frustration.
Ah well, hopefully the Oscar jury will set things right.
Do you, by accident uhmm, have $50 billion on ya ? If you have, you might just have enough to buy Walt Disney Co. This includes the numerous film studios, the themeparks, all the rights to the cartoons and movies and the characters, the ABC TV network, sports network ESPN.
This is the current bid coming from cable operator ComCast Corp. but somehow people expect the bid will be overthrown by one or more rivals. Who’s up for $55 billion ?
Update 13-02-2004: Currently Disney is valued at roughly $59 billion. Better dig a bit deeper in your pocket if you still want it.