Kimputer's Weblog

Sequel to an okay movie, results in an okay continuation of a group of flaky animal characters. Mostly designed to have only one outstanding trait, it’s clear it’s still geared towards children. Hence, the jokes are not of the highest quality, but they’re just okay.
Casually comparing with the original, this one does seem to have a more streamlined and dense story with slightly more depth. But overall feeling is still the same. Really okay for a one time viewing.7+.

Keanu Reeves headlines another big sci-fi production, and the looming title makes you curious. The movie however, seems a bit small scale, even with moderately budgeted effects. The movie poster makes it looks like Independence Day times 5, but the movie doesn’t reflect this.
The story is linear all the way, and it follows a predictable path. Characters are that interestingly written besides the obvious cliches, and a text book ending is something you didn’t wish for as well.
This movie is disappointingly average. So much for a Christmas box office surprise.6½.

Dark cop drama that has to have it from family conflict. Disappointingly, most thrills are subdued due to the fact there’s no real hidden agenda, and the viewer gets to see and know about things at the beginning. After that, it follows the path taken already by many many other movies. There’s totally no surprise left, and even with good acting (Jon Voight, Edward Norton and Colin Farrell), it feels a bit disappointing.
Director Gavin O’Connor throws away chance to show what he’s worth with big stars (previously only directing smaller movies), with most blame going to his own weak script.6½.

Lies it is. Mainly the trailer, which is so cut up and edited, it seems more than the movie really is. The conflict is not as you expected and is only mild and monotonous. The story isn’t that good either. There’s some drama, but overall, it’s mediocre.
As a drama actor, DiCaprio is okay, and Russell Crowe is cast well as an obnoxious supervisor. The story doesn’t take much out of them though.
Since The Gladiator and Black Hawk Down, it seems Ridley Scott doesn’t seem to be able to make any intense movies anymore (Kingdom of Heaven *yawn*). Will Nottingham be his downfall (a Robin Hood movie) ? 6½.

Simon Pegg has enough comedies under his belt to start carrying his own movies (slightly type cast), and this one is no different. Your average comedy, being fairly predictable combined with lots of moderate laughs. It doesn’t go anywhere near anything extreme, so you’ll have to do with the lot of slightly interesting characters (small roles for Thandie Newton, Megan Fox, Gillian Anderson and the likes).7-.

Love at first sight, and then some. It doesn’t feel right though, how this thing is meshed together, throwing in Diane Lane and Richard Gere together. It’s too contrived, and then the story is also predictable as hell. Not much depth in the characters, even thought it’s a pretty chatty women flick.6½.

Saturday Night Live’s alumni bundle together for a movie, and with Tina Fey mostly out of character, it seems almost refreshing. Paired with Amy Poehler it’s still not a laughing riot. It’s your average comedy, following a predictive path. Greg Kinnear as the romantic male lead works pretty well, as well as parts of Sigourney Weaver and Steve Martin, while most of the other SNL cast have cameos.
If you’re up for easy non-extreme jokes, this movie is for you.7-.

Many of you know I’ve had a pocket knife on me that’s probably older than most of my friends. At age 7, I managed to trade one of those flimsy thumb-sized souvenir styled pocket knife (you know, with a promotional picture on the sides) for a better equipped and larger pocket knife. While it was clear that knife was already older, I saw potential. As you can see in other post, over the past 24 years, I’ve lost it MANY times, sometimes I had to get around without it for days. However, now it’s final, after 2 weeks, I still can’t find it.
So, it’s time for an upgrade. I’ve had my cutleries already from Victorinox (and the damage it has done since, see here and here), and they seem indestructable (though it’s not invulnerable against sloppy pre-dish-washing-throws in the garbage can. Yes, I think I lost a few forks this way.)
While on a shopping stroll in a department store in Hamburg, I saw a Victorinox pocket knife stand, and I was sold. Most versions still fit the extra pocket in most Levi’s jeans, and the patented locking mechanism had me sold (which automatically ups the size from “normal” pocket knives to fulll hand-sized). If you have a dangerous job already, protecting oneself from potential damage is always a plus. Take a look here which version I bought, and that for just around 25 years (which brings the expense to just 1 euro a year if I don’t lose it again for another quarter century).
I recommend this gem of a tool to everyone, and dare you to undercut (pun intended) my record of hacking off live fingers with an average speed of 0.72 seconds (beating the old record of 0.93 seconds with my old knife). Of course, other job related records are also possible, if you can’t stand a little bit of blood. Things like cutting through electric or UTP cables, precision cable stripping and hard plastic package opening.

The second Daniel Craig outing as the not so secret agent (while just earning his 00 license, already everyone knows him by name and face), and it’s the same raw violence, but with less depth and drama. It’s a bit sad, since that’s what made Casino Royale so good, but director Marc Forster thought he’s go straight forward with just action. And that’s the strange thing, the director of dramas like The Kite Runner and Finding Neverland abandons that what he is good at, and goes for something he’s never done.
And it shows, action sequences are cut together with scene changes easily counted by mere frames (while brand logos, like Ford, get some full seconds), making some sequences a total blur of head scratching and wondering what the hell is happening.
That’s not to say it didn’t inherit some good things from Casino Royale, there’s still a bit of drama and intrigue, and M plays her role well again. It also still abandons high tech gadgets and the following breed of bad and mismatched CGI overload, depending on more traditional stunts and car chases, giving it a more authentic feeling.
While it will be a break out hit again, building on its first chapter’s success (probably outpacing its previous boffo earnings), it’s definitely no master piece like The Dark Knight, and hence will have to do with a lower box office score.
So, it’s lacking and slightly below expectations, but still enjoyable.7+.

George Clooney and Brad Pitt team up again, but also with the Coen brothers. The result is a drama with some comedy aspects. Mostly what the Coen brothers had in mind is to think up how to make up the most weird characters. You will hence get ridiculous story lines, but still the mix of drama and comedy just isn’t my cup of tea (mostly because it creates a fake-ish feeling). For heaven’s sake, just pick a side. Until then, I’m definitely not a fan of these two people (they actually chose the drama side for No Country for Old Men, but that was just okay, not super).6-.

A typical British dog-eat-dog crime flick, nothing more, nothing less. Some smiles here and there, but mainly, the story is a bit slow and doesn’t say a lot. Also, it’s mostly predictable. Count me out for the sequel.6-.

As can be seen in this previous post, plants don’t do well in my house.
But believe it or not, the Koriander v2.0 (re-bought after v1.0 died) has been upgraded to v2.1 by itself, growing new life, and hopefully a big bush of freshly tasting herb. (As can be seen to the right of the picture).
However, trying to get Koriander v2.1 a life companion in the form of Chives v1.0, which was standing quite nicely vertically, somehow decided after a few days of brave behaviour, to become a typical household downer. Again, I can’t help but wonder, what’s wrong with my tap water ?

It’s the usual Jason Statham action flick, low on brains (and mostly his characters share the same profile), high on adrenaline. It’s fast paced action, coupled with an almost non-existent script that’s highly predictable. Set your brains on minimum savings power, and you just might enjoy Jason kicking butt in a car, beating the bad guys along the way.
But hey, if you happen to miss this one, how about waiting for the same type of movies coming up like Crank 2 and Transporter 3. Is there any difference at all ? 6.

Shia LaBeouf teams up with DJ Caruso (and producer Steven Spielberg) again for fast paced thriller. The quick editing (where only a car chase it cut too close to make any sense), the action and the thrills is what carry the movie, as the suspension of belief will test your plain ol’ logic big time. If you leave the thinking at the door though, it’s somewhat enjoyable, but it’s sure not the best work of either aforementioned people.7-.

Nice little independent dramedy about the Californian wine making uprise, where a Frenchman decided to setup a blind wine testing competition. A little light on everthing (for both drama and comedy), it’s still fresh and quick enough to have the same sensation as drinking a fruity white wine.
Character design is a bit predictable, but the mostly unknown cast (except for maybe Bill Pullman) do carry the sometimes illogical motivations well.
If you want something different from the normal Hollywood crop, this might just do it.7.