Kimputer's Weblog

Ben Stiller is able to put together an action-comedy with more names on the bill than at first glance (himself, Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black, but in fact includes Tom Cruise, Matthew McConaughey, Steve Coogan and some more cameos). It looks big budget, and the pacing is unregularly high and cut together with dialogue at true thunder-speed. It leaves no room to go into anything really deep, but at least it’s consistently funny (though never reaching levels where you roll on the floor). For a comedy, it’s thumbs up, but not fully two.7½.

It’s been a while since we had some new release opening the same week as in the States. Part of the rush is seeing it one day before the people in the US, of course, with the risk of no critical reviews warning you of something bad.
On the surface, you should’ve recognised this one too though, being a video game translation (usually never offering real depth). Lots of violence and Mark Wahlberg headlining got me over the line, but it turned out not to be really much.
It’s basically your average revenge story, set in the present, but still trying the film noir look and feel for no other reason than giving it style. But it leads to the expected style over substance cliche, as the story is slow, not much saying and slim to the bone.
The action are the usual slow-mo shots, with the Matrix copying here and there, and they’re far and apart too. The whole movie is on the verge of being boring, and for a movie marketed in the action genre, it means at least 4 nails in the coffin.6-.

I thought it was a funny title, but as I typed that in, I did a domain name check, and see it was registered yesterday.
But seriously, who do I really blame ? The American with their dumb mortgages and money grubbing creditors putting them on the streets ? The Icelandic population ? The world economy ? The world wide stock market who decide their prices on a gut feeling and follow each other like sheep ?
Nopz, I blame my own government. I went searching for a safe place to park my money, and not see it diminish because of tax. To do that, you have to find the bank with highest interest rate, and that was for the time being IceSave. Not only that, why would the government let it open a Dutch subsidiary if it had the knowledge the bank was not up to par ?
If last week, anyone who would say putting my money on Starbucks stock (SBUX on Nasdaq) was safer than a savings account, I would’ve laughed so hard in his face my leather belt would pop and my Levi’s jeans would fall on the floor.
Now all I can do is suck up to a certain Wouter Bos and look at the Dutch Bank with puppy dog eyes. Can I have my money back now ?

British caper based on a real heist back in the early Seventies. Of course it means Jason Statham has to headline, and his acting is as you’d expect.
The story starts up slowly, with more than a dozen of characters introduced (only becoming clear what their purpose is far into the story). While a few things seems to be stretched from the truth, they seem to be really based on facts indeed, but it still dampens a heightened state of thrill.
This is just a normal heist flick, with no ingenious plot twists or extra-ordinary features pulled off.7.

The 2008-2009 season has opened again, and now we get to see the SAG strike after-math. And it doesn’t look pretty at all. Here are the new entries so far:

The Mentalist: CBS, home of the procedural crime shows, comes with another entry, mixing in a bit of all the other show (mixing flashy imagery, dark and light drama, and a serial killer for a continuous backstory), but most of all, looks like a complete rip-off of USA network’s Psych. While Psych is laughing your ass of funny, which dynamic characters to fill in stories, this one focuses on one character that really doesn’t seem to get off the ground. While looking at this used-to-be-fake-psych character from a drama viewpoint, it doesn’t stand out enough to really hit any wow-factor.

Fringe: Not to be missed becaused it’s headed by one of my most favorite producer around (JJ Abrams), it’s a blatant X-Files rip-off. From the opening sequence (hand print sign), to a recognisable theme, and to top it off, taking an X-Files producer in its crew (Darin Morgan) to top it off. It’s more episodic than one expects from Abrams, but since this show airs on Fox, it might be a logical choice for the target demographics. The look, feel, and atmosphere is still very X-Files like, including the running theme of believer vs. unbeliever, supernatural and faith vs. science, but still, I expect Abrams will pull it off to make something special of this show.

Gary Unmarried: If the last decade of comedies have proven anything, it’s that normal sitcoms just don’t cut it anymore. A single look at single-cam (My Name is Earl, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), and you clearly see the era of Friends and Mad About You is really over. This one is no different. Sure, a few soft laughs are available, but overall, it’s too cliche, and not special enough. I won’t be touching any sitcoms soon, this genre is really dead.

Raising the Bar: TNT comes with a court-room drama, a genre I usually like. Here it lacks a lot, mostly a smart guy to push special court cases forward (say, someone like David E. Kelley, who does/did it from a drama standpoint (The Practice) or comedy standpoint (Ally McBeal, Boston Legal)). So here you have mostly predictable dull cases, and a whole group of not-so-interesting characters. The characters from both sides (prosecutors and public defenders) are supposedly a tight group of friends, a fertile ground for cliche conflicts. A noble effort to show every case from both standpoints (though the public defenders are naturally ALWAYS the protagonists), but creator/producer Steven Bochco doesn’t seem to be able to put something off the ground that’s worth mentioning.

Knight Rider 2008: NBC resurrects an old eighties properties, and updates it with *gasp* … HORRIBLE CGI ! In the times of the A-Team and Airwolf, the Knight Rider fared well alone on the cool factor, but in these times, it just doesn’t cut it anymore. Add some horrible characters (coupled with even worse actors), bad writing (and hence, badly directed and cut episodes), and you have a toe-curlingly bad series. Maybe fun to watch with a group of friends, purely for the purpose at poking fun, but besides that, it has no redeeming qualities.

Yup, as a hardcore geek, I just couldn’t let it go. Even though I had a somewhat disappointing ultra mobile pc (or alternatively named, netbook) already, I just had to go for the superior MSI Wind.
While the screen has a lower resolution (HP’s 1280×768 vs MSI’s 1024×600) the screen is bigger by a full inch.something, and whoever designed full reflective screen (HP’s, but Toshiba also employs it in their whole range) must’ve bumped their heads on the way down a bungee jump once too many. I have yet to come upon a human being who feels seeing themselves in mirror image, plus light sources behind them comfortable while reading a screen. So, not only is MSI’s screen more readable because it’s screen size, it’s also because is has a more sensible anti-glare screen. It’s not as bright though, and colors seem oversatured. (On this picture, MSI’s screen looks better, but in real life, it’s slightly less good than HP’s)

On the technical side, the MSI clearly feels more responsive with it’s 1.6 GHz Intel Atom then HP’s sluggish 1.0 GHz Via C7. But feelings aside, while benchmarks gives the MSI about a factor 2 advantage, a simple DVD authoring session shows it finishing a whopping 9 times faster (just benchmarking though, remember these things don’t have optical drives) ! Even the HP refitted with Ubuntu will sluggishly play divx/xvid tv episodes, so don’t even try full HD downloads. As a side note, MSI also throws in bluetooth, expanding the connectivity option besides network and wireless network (while also adding one more USB port).
On the bad sides, are the keyboard, and only one key is responsible for it. While touch typing, the pinky will reach for the period (“.”), but with MSI keyboard, you will consistently hit the “/” key due to a whole row of downsized keys. The cursor keys are downsized too much too.
Another bad thing is the tinny speakers, with the HP blaring its speakers without much strain. Too be honest, even small mobile phone speakers or those in my iPAQ are better.
Battery life seems only a tad better, but not by more than 20 minutes.
All in all, for general purpose, it’s still okay (in my case, emergency use when at customer site on support cases). For media, it displays nice, but carrying a pair of good headphones would be a good idea to keep in mind. It beats the HP down by a KO, though picking up on those two negative points would make the 400 euro price point a must have. Now it’s only recommended for nerds and geeks.

I can’t seem to be able to keep plants alive, be it a supposedly human lifespan outgroing Bonzai, or now this nice herby Koriander (a highly underrated taste explosion for your own prepared food).

At only a measly 2 weeks since I brought it over from Germany, it’s wilted and showing brown spots.
Is it a curse ? Or it just doesn’t like my tap water ?

Low budget independent film that comically chapterises 5 unrelated sexual encounters. It provides nothing new in the screenplay, touching predictable topics, but with the unknown actors and quickly paced dialogue, it’s mildly entertaining. While the full title (abbreviation of Young People F***ing) might make you suspect a full frontal hard porno flick, but it’s all decent and the most outrageous thing on screen just be a pleasurising appliance.7.

Thriller pits Ewan McGregor against Hugh Jackman in a cat and mouse game, where things are too obvious, revealed too soon, and doesn’t hold the intensity. Absolutely no surprises if you keep your eyes open, and think of all the contrived story points, because the writer didn’t bother throwing in any misleading clues. Sure it’s consistent, but it doesn’t leave any thrills and results in a softy movie.6-.

Russian director Timur Bekmambetov gets a break from his low budget Matrix copies, and gives it a try in Hollywood. It results in an entertaining pop-corn movie, where a mindless office drone (James McAvoy paired with vixen Angelina Jolie) also gets a break from his routine to do some cool action stuff. There’s not too much thinking involved, and the narrative isn’t mindbendingly sharp, but it sure is a break from reality. Pacing and quickly edited action sequences finish off the most surprisingly brainless entertainment on the brink of this summer.7½.

The title reads like it’s made up by an illiterate, but the movie seems like it’s made by twin amateurs. The story seems laughable when you see the B story develop, and the actions by the main character (Nicolas Cage) leaves a lot of room for head scratching. Furthermore, it’s full devoid of emotional resonance, as much as they try to fill it with cliche dramatic turns. Cinematography is irritatingly dark (even daylight scenes have dark grey filters over them) and action is shoddy with coarse extreme color contrast substituting as style.
Even hardcore Cage fans will have to leave this one be ! Let me warn you one more time, Bangkok Boring.4-.

Mike Meyers creates a new character for a new comedy, but there’s nothing new to be seen. Not nearly as outrageous as Austin Powers, but more smart or subtle humor it ain’t either. So it’s some kinda weak carbon copy that just goes through its normal way to the end without any surprises or laugh fests. Having Jessica Alba as eye candy is a life saver, but I still can’t sell this movie with my full support.6-.

Having both Jet Li and Jackie Chan opposite each other in one movie should have been a milestone. Save for one head to head battle, it’s the story and acting that’s bringing this movie down.
Story wise, it’s a copy and paste of so many cliche dialogues, it doesn’t even make sense anymore.
For the rest, it’s just mediocre, the jokes, the effects and some of the directing. Between the fights, it’s just too much of nothing, and it will kind of bore you. So beware.5½.

A slow simmering study of an elder man (Ben Kingsly) and his life, treading between sexual lust (this time the object being Penopele Cruz) and love. For the first half, it only focuses on the lust part, but slowly more elements are developed over time. In the end, it’s still a bit too slow, and the end might be a bit off-putting, but drama-wise, it’s a one thumb up.7-.

Sure, the new Google Chrome browser is fast and lean, but it didn’t hit a home run. The main browser for me is still Opera. (Geert, please update to Opera 9.52, because your 9.02 version is reaaaaallly old).
Security-wise it might also be at the top, but Opera ain’t no slouch either. And small extra features like Inspect Element look cool.

But, here are the things that will keep me from using Chrome as the main browser (as well as any other, actually):

No integrated mail.
No mouse gestures or click+roll enhancement.
No handy toolbars with things like Find on page, Find Next, Fit to Width, Zoom percentage dropdown menu.
Handling of tabs still easier in Opera (Shift+Click to close, Duplicate opens new tab, not new windows like Chrome).
Browsing logic. In paged documents, pressing space repeatedly will drop you down until the end END after another space, you will move to the next page. No other browser will do this.
Blocking content per site.