Kimputer's Weblog

I’ve seen the franchise from the beginning, and while mostly aiming for cheap laughs, it was never horribly bad. Mostly reaching the slight entertainment value, this one is about the same. The story, while nothing really extraordinary, does manage to knit a few movies together, this time making room besides the scary movie types, so more general box office names can be spoofed. Inbetween, we have loads of the usual tripping, punches and object throwing.
Definitely worth going if you’re in a giddy mood. Otherwise, I suggest you wait till you feel giddy, as the impact might be too blunt.6½.

Fox has always been a home for the higher quality comedies and they usually don’t churn out standard unfunny sitcoms like the other networks do (but decisions as of lately really makes you wonder. See Kitchen Confidential’s lightning fast cancelation). The Loop is one of those fresh, fast paced yet focused story, single camera comedy, with a hot chick co-starring to boot. With only a total of 7 episodes scheduled, and ratings somewhat mediocre, it’s a big question if this one will survive Fox’ quick judgement (but why, for Pete’s sake, is The War at Home still on your schedule ?).

The timing of the release of these two new series does raise a few question marks to say the least. It’s either pure coincident, or someone stole the idea from the other. And how fitting both series are about thieves.
Heist found its home at NBC, which is strange, as NBC isn’t known for airing serialised series (rather opting for the cheaper episodic type, making it easier to sell on syndication). As this show works its way to one big heist, there’s only time for general superficial drama. But there seems to be time to develop something good out of this. For now, just because of the bad guy perspective alone, it’s a keeper, but only by a slight margin.
On FX we have the plainly named Thief, which is also a serialised drama, but a little bit darker than NBC’s lil’ brother. Having a slightly sharper edge, just because it’s on cable, still seems to be the rule to live by. Then again, both shows aren’t the glued pants approach that the likes of Prison Break and 24 are taking, offering a more relaxed and leveled adrenaline release.
With 2 episodes, it’s still hard to tell if it’s worth hanging on to, but for now, it fits the schedule.

Last week generated enough heat to continue (Ice Age 2:) The Meltdown, finishing again at the top spot with $34.5 (leaving the original behind, and making it the first this year to cross the $100 million mark). That leaves The Benchwarmers, a comedy with Rob Schneider, David Spade and Jon Heder as a baseball team, the runner up spot with $20 million. Third is another new release, Take the Lead, starring Antonia Banderas as a dance teacher, earns $12.7 million.
Meanwhile Inside Man drops 2 places, with $9.2 million. Rounding out the top 5 is Lucky Number Slevin, but the $7.1 million it brought in, indicates that luck wasn’t very much involved.

With a highly irregular airing schedule on the USA network, the fourth season luckily ends so I can focus on the new bunch of TV series. On the downside, Monk has been consistently funny and original, and combined with the short season run, it’s really too bad, as I see no real winners in the new batch yet.

I’ve only touched the surface off the truck load of new series this month, but I can smell abundance weeks ahead of time. This new series, for instance, will not do ABC any good. While procedural and forensic crime shows have already flooding CBS year ago, ABC had none, till now. And it’s a bad copy at it too. Besides that, it feels woody, and overall unoriginal. I’d say, stuff this series in an airtight zip locked evidence bag, and throw it away, as far as you can.

Movies directed by Rob Marshall usually make me shudder (Chicago, and for TV, Annie, Cinderella, etc). Luckily while elements are there, this is a plain drama and a love story. While never reaching the epic proportions the trailer makes it out to be, it’s as elegant and poetic as can be expected. Also, seeing Ziyi Zhang for more than two hours is fresh breeze on the eyes. Most actresses learned their lines by pronounciation, not by meaning, but the emotions are still acted well.7+.

With James Wong and Glen Morgan retaking the reigns (skipping the second part), their original idea still works well, although it somehow creates some kind of predictability. With a whole new seperate chapter starting, the pace is good, but the story twists make a little bit less sense than before. The scares and gruesome deaths are also still there, and so is the continuous feeling of Death in stalker-mode. Definitely a safe bet for all the horror lovers out there.7.

I’ve never seen the first one, because I could see from the trailer it was a kid’s movie. Now with my unlimited card and free parking, I thought I might try the box office smashing sequel. Big mistake. It’s still targeting the kids with cheap laughter. The basic storyline is also shallow, leaving any adult sighing for the end. Even at a lowly 90 minutes, it still feels too long. The only way to enjoy this movie is get yer kids on a sugar rush, while you get yourself drunk.5.

Rate 1 (FR#^&% MESS !) to 5 (how very tidy !).

No, I’m not going to add a new category for just this. It’s obvious nothing’s gonna change from here on. I mean, it’s not really the place to put stuff on, blocking the view and such.

Total: 16 out of 5 votes > Average is: 3.2

With a 25 hour backlog, it’s that time again. Chopping off chunks of my TV schedule. And I guess this new Fox comedy is along for that cancelation ride. Trying to set it apart by doing a bit of improv, the main story lines aren’t interesting enough to keep it on my busy schedule, and hence, the free ride is over.

It’s the last leg already for TV land, but shows keep rolling out. Jerry Bruckheimer’s second try at the WB, this time with a sitcom. But why oh why a sitcom, the most funny comedies currently on air are just comedies, not sitcoms. I think there actually hasn’t been a solid sitcom since Friends, and this like MANY new ones this year on all networks, is a failure from the start.
It’s three guys with continuous women problem are in therapy with a life-coach (Jane Seymour), and all the predictable weekly “adventures”. Luckily, with the WB and UPN cutting half their shows to form the CW, I’m pretty sure this one is heading to the recycle bin.

If you see the list of award nomination and wins for this movie, you’ll be amazed. If you see the movie itself, not so much. Quite frankly, it’s long stretched and pretty boring.
Furthermore, as a drama, it doesn’t affect me that much, as I can hardly identify with a super gay writer, nor with cold blooded killers. The only thing that translates well, is the long waiting period Capote had to go through. Then again, the movie theatre isn’t exactly the place to experience waiting.
Being a non-reader, I had no idea Capote was the so-called greatest American writer, and after seeing this movie, I still don’t understand. Way to go.4.

Manganese atoms. What does it mean ? I have no idea. Google it with IBM engineers as added keywords, and maybe, just maybe, you’ll find out.

Winter’s just over, but the movie audience already miss it enough to propel Ice Age: The Meltdown to the top spot. Selling $70.5 million worth of tickets, it’s currently this year’s best opening. That’s probably at least till the big guns open in May.
Inside Man tumbles down some 50%, selling just enough to hang on to the runner-up spot, with $15.7 million.
Also a new entry at 3, ATL (whatever that acronym means) earns $12.5 million. Left overs round out the top 5, with Failure to Launch at 4 with $6.62 and V for Vendetta at 5 with $6.46 million.