Kimputer's Weblog

The mob still has a firm grip on the box office, with Shark Tale still topping the list, another $22.1 million. Also still number 2 is Friday Night Lights, with $13.1 million.
A team of puppets took a hold of number 3, Team America: World Police, by South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker. With just $12.3 million, the puppet sex hype and the R rating didn’t do much.
Shall We Dance ?, a romantic comedy starring the voluptuous endowed Jennifer Lopez and Richard Gere move their way into the fourth place, opening with $11.6 million.
And again, Ladder 49 drops two rungs, at number 5 with $8.6 million.

Rate 1 (FR#^&% MESS !) to 5 (how very tidy !). Only rate the latest picture, otherwise I can’t keep track of the average.

Total: 1206 out of 371 votes > Average is: 3.251

With their single Leaving New York out, I thought their album could be interesting, not having listened to anything new for a few decades. In the end (after the full 3 obligatory rounds of the whole album), I was bored to death. Where they managed to get at least a faint melody on Leaving New York, the rest of the songs sound just like it, and I mean only the verse part. This album features songs that will put kids with ADHD to sleep in no time. If you ever feel overly excited, this album will bring your mood down a few notches for sure.4.

Rate 1 (sucks) to 5 (cool). Only rate the latest pictures, otherwise I can’t keep track of the average.

Total: 643 out of 195 votes > Average is: 3.297

On its third year stint, they’re still able to keep it interesting, something I feared they couldn’t keep up. But injecting the series with some fresh energy (the addition of two formidable actors, Scott Wolf and Anne Heche), still keeps this show above average. Drama is still there, and so are the laughs. In favor of the new scenery though, some characters will be dropped, but for now, it’s still so far, so good.

I’ve mentioned her before, and starting your career on a Spider-man soundtrack is no small matter. While the song We Are was bordering sink or swim, the album would finally give the answer.
First off, given how We Are sounds mature, the other songs seem rather childish. And I don’t just mean her voice, I’m also referring to the lyrics. Her voice also doesn’t really stand out. Ending up with a handful of mediocre songs, and a few more I keep skipping, the result isn’t that enticing. This album is definitely not a recommended hearing object.5-.

Rate 1 (FR#^&% MESS !) to 5 (how very tidy !). Only rate the latest picture, otherwise I can’t keep track of the average.

Total: 1198 out of 367 votes > Average is: 3.264

The Sharks have the mob under control, staying at number one with a respectable $31.7 million. Only a 33% drop, a feat not pulled often.
Number 2 is for Billy Bob Thornton starrer Friday Night Lights. This based on facts school football drama took in $20.6 million. At number 3, Ladder 49 climbs down on step, taking in $13.3 million.
Fox’s Taxi remake, starring SNL’s Jimmy Fallon and Queen Latifah, didn’t make enough rounds, cashing in only $12.1 million, good for number 4. The Forgotten sticks at the fifth spot with $7.5 million.

When J.J. Abrams creates a new series, you can usually expect two things. One is of course the simplistic intro theme (Alias, for instance, was totally Flash based, while this is a 5 second 4 letter 3DSMax scene). The second is excellent writing, usually able to stretch story lines across a whole season. And again, he shows it with this simple group of people lost on uninhabited (or is it ?) island, after being thrown off course, which means the chance of rescue seems nigh. What ensues are multifacetted written episodes, mixing drama with mystery, cutting between character interaction and flashbacks, executed by a very able cast (starring drama veterans Matthew Fox, Terry O’Quinn, and a whole bunch of new comers). With only 13 episodes stacked, and good ratings, a full season order is probably on its way. With the power of Abrams behind this series (and hence longevity, proven in series like Alias), I wouldn’t mind a few more years on this creepy island.

What looked like a promising start, turns out to be another copy of CSI:Miami. The pilot revealed workaholic Gary Sinise, with some personal drama haunting him. 2 Episodes further down the road, we only know he’s overworked. The other characters don’t fare well either, they’re just talking objects with enlighting dialogue about the case files. It follows the same CSI routines of its two bigger brothers, but the lack of fun and personal drama (albeit pretty low on the original CSI series) make it looks like it’s Miami’s twin. This means I’ll probably give this show a few more shots, but it’s definitely off the high anticipation list. Which leaves the only one suprise this franchise still has to offer. How many more The Who songs can be turned into a catchy theme with only minimal editing ?

Everything that Shrek was, this is not. Fresh, not. Fun, not really. Smart, not at all. And now I’m comparing it just with its fellow Dreamworks brother. If I had to compare it with rival Disney, we’d end up with Finding Nemo pretty fast. There, I still remember the characters. Again, not so with Shark Tale. If only it wasn’t 3D animation, I’d definitely say they were all stereotypes. In short, it’s an ocean full of cliches. You’d be better off enjoying the beach instead.5½.

If you thought black guys dressed up as girls, AND being totally under white make-up was hard, guess again. Sitting through this movie without a fast forward button is much much much harder. Luckily I had one, but still, it’s a tough one.
Here and there the Wayans brothers delivered some funny movies, so I had not expected this movie to totally suck. But with bad acting, lame recycled jokes and a lot of cliche story twists, you can go a long way. And you don’t even find out halfway through the movie. You will have this nagging doomsday feeling somewhere during the third minute already. By the end, you’ve either fallen asleep, or if you’re in a movie theatre, you’ve probably walked out already.2.

Usually, I don’t have that much faith in quizes and their conclusions. But actually, this one is right on the target. It’s the Daily Show with Jon Stewart that I’ve been watching the most these last few years.

For an independent movie, it really tries hard to be a Hollywood blockbuster. There’s drama and comedy. There’s teen school stuff. There’s the obvious satire. There’s the moral preaching (that’s pretty ironic, as it’s satiring Christianity). There are a handful of stories and subjects. It’s just too much too handle, and it falls flat. In the end, it’s so thinned out, there’s physically no depth to find here. On the up side, the acting is good, even if the total movie is predictable (though you may not notice because of all the things going around).6-.

As the title suggests, it’s a Dawn of the Dead-inspired horror comedy, British style. Winning rave reviews from the online community and fairly good reviews from the known critics, I thought this would be splendid. Truth be told, luckily I didn’t see it in the movie theatre, as this is a typical movie best served on your homevideo system.
A low budget Working Title production, they try to focus on the characters, which is always fine. However, it doesn’t reach any highs or lows, hanging somewhere between predictable and fairly enjoyable. Same goes for the story itself. The humor is what you expect from the Brits. Combined with the absent visual extravaganza, rent it if you have a lot of time to kill.6½.