Kimputer's Weblog

Pop. That’s the main word here. As in pop music, short in longevtiy, and quick in forgettability. All that because the story is simple and strings of possible punchlines serve as dialogue. That leaves you with Hugh Grant’s physical antics as a way to make you laugh, and that just doesn’t work. The music and lyrics can’t hold it together either, being cheesy is the highest praise available here.
If you like Drew Barrymore and you want a bit of music in a romantic comedy, just go for a The Wedding Singer re-run.4½.

Nivea is heading a full blown ad-campaign aiming at men. Their Nivea for Men: Summer Look is filed under Innovations, so click on this link and take a look.
Hell, for all you men, I urge you to click further, and request a free sample.
Next time I see you, and you’re somewhere on day 4 or 5, I can laugh out loud right in your face (with an optional rolling on the floor).

An inspiring true story, starring Hilary Swank as a first-time teacher thrown in the deep with a multi-cultural class in a time and place where gang related violence is on the daily menu. Makes you think of 1995’s Dangerous Minds ? Yeah maybe. It’s still has a character of it’s own, maybe even more so. The whole story is nicely packaged, and while somewhat predictable, it delivers the drama and it’s ultimately feel-good and fullfilling.7½.

Another prequel wasted. Should I blame the writer of the book or the screenwriter ? Oh wait, they are the same person. Well that’s easy. The conclusion is that this movie is as cold as it is boring. While Silence of the Lambs had an utterly interesting psychological duel between Clarice and Hannibal, the followup had already lost that. This origin story is simple and predictable. What’s left is the waiting for the cruel acts from accent-bearing Joker-smile-wearing younger Hannibal. Most of the other “bad” guys overact like their lives depended on it. So I’m sure I can blame the director as well, presenting us with dull visuals and focusing on lame facial expressions. All I can say is, cannibalism is so overrated.4.

Airing on the Comedy Central, it’s a whacky, almost sketch-like, comedy, but still written with episodic stories in mind. Sarah, as usual, brings a certain kind of off-beat humor, usually the right-in-your-face or controversial kind, while intermittently mixing in even more weird songs and clips. For now, it’s pretty funny, but time will tell if she’s versatile enough to keep the show interesting.

Wild Hogs, a biker road-movie style comedy starring Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy, speeds its to the top spot, bumping a certain Ghost Rider all the way back to the third spot. Being drowned by negative critic reviews didn’t matter, as the name tags were probably enough to manage a $38 million income.
At 2, a long-awaited comeback for director David Fincher (last movie was Panic Room from 2002). Zodiac, a high budget thriller featuring the same named serial killer, earns $13.1 million.
Ghost Rider drops 2 gears, and earns $11.5 million at the third spot, now totalling a healthy $94.8 million.
Rounding out the top 5 are Bridge to Terabithia with $8.6 million and The Number 23 with $6.5 million.

New comedies at ABC, while being single camera format, it feels more like sitcoms (visual style and story-wise). Of the two, ICE is the most generic, about a group of friends, and what they’ve become after college. Of course, not is all well, and with the help of each other, they try to get a handle on life. Mildly entertaining. Nothing more.
KoP is more mission based, a group of friends working at the lower end of the food chain decide to rob Mick Jagger. Planning and the slow execution of all the steps ensues. As it may or may not work towards a big finale this season, this one is more likely to hang on, even if the writing is only marginally better.
So it means ABC still doesn’t have a killer comedy in their line-up, despite Boston Legal (while being hilarious, it’s still technically a legal drama).

You could say it’s movie-low-season, so I had to fill this week with The Hitcher. A horror flick that didn’t get pass the cardboard sign waving stage, according to the critics. So I went to get a good laugh. I mean, a body count of over two dozen in just an hour, how to glue that to a story ? Well, you don’t. You just go straight ahead, don’t look back and don’t stop. Too bad it’s not that entertaining. I didn’t get a good laugh either. Just nodding my head in a negative “don’t be so stupid” way. Maybe I should get myself a girlfriend who’s easily scared. Maybe _then_ I could’ve gotten a few good laughs.3.

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

Total: 30 out of 8 votes > Average is: 3.75

My trunk space. As you can see, if I have to dispose of a corpse, I’d have to use a bone saw and make 4 trips (nothing wrong with extending the fun parts, right ?). Anywayz, that’s not the point. It’s not messy at all, that’s the point. Those empty cans of wind screen fluid are there for a reason. It’s there for protective reasons. When driving around with large servers or computers, it functions both as air cushioning, place holder and scratch protection.

A few years into the indepedent world of recording, they have released several CD’s and DVD’s through their own 3CG production and record label company. Through that process, it was the extremele difficult birth of Underneath (which was basically in the finishing stages when they broke free from the record label), followed by the live CD set Live and Electric, and their own feature length documentary. This docu, about the above mentioned long process of getting Underneath released, appropiately titled Strong Enough to Break, is now part of the The Walk promo and is freely downloadable through iTunes (and it’s pretty interesting too).
Album was said to be very different from their previous material, and so it definitely is. There’s no doubt they’ve grown over the years, from the full pop Middle of Nowhere, to the pop rock of This Time Around and Underneath, still they’ve managed to create and evolve their own sound.
For this album, they dropped the highly melodic verses and instantly recognisable choruses from before. Riffs and long hooks are traded in for a steady rhythm, set all the way to the end, while the lyrics will provide the extra depth. If you liked last album’s bonus track Dream Girls, you will know what I mean, and probably like this album. Lyric-wise, they’ve veered away from writing only love songs. If you come across lines like “On the third floor of a hotel lies a pregnant flamingo dancer, in the bath tub is a razor, and she’s planning a great escape”, you know you need time to let it sink in properly.
There are a few minor points that begs for answers though. Knowing Taylor provides the most dynamic vocals, you wonder why Watch Over Me is recorded on one of Isaac’s bad voice days. Same goes for Zac on Fire on the Mountain, and several other songs in a lesser degree. While the oldest and the youngest brothers have always done a few songs on previous albums, it’s probably more noticable now that they’re going for more vocally challenging material. Also, on the few songs where they build around their own verse/chorus style (Running Man, Tearing it Down, Something Going Around), it sounds particular weak compared to their newer rhythm style (Been There Before, Georgia, Watch Over Me, I Am).
Commercial success or not, they’ll be around for quite a while, proving they do it for the music and not the money, and taking their creatively independent music always a step further. And that thought alone, will make this album all the more enjoyable.8 (UK/US Release)/8+(for the Japanese album, with two extra tracks).

Funny songs. Yeah. Not enough to fill a movie. If the songs aren’t all that funny (wears of after one or two times), it means it can hold half a movie. And that’s exactly what you have here. The humor isn’t of the highest calibre either. Combined with the lack of an interesting story, and you have a guitar with only 2 strings playing.5.

A new series on the Sci-Fi chan with big behind-the-camera names attached to it. First of all, Nicolas Cage is an executive producer. Probably more of a monetary title, the other names are pretty much the creative forces. Headed by Hans Beimler and Robert Hewitt Wolfe, things are looking positive. After all, these two were prominent writers on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Like their colleagues, I follow them closely (Rene Echevarria/Now and Again, Dark Angel, The 4400 – Ronald D. Moore, David Weddle, Bradley Thompson/Battlestar Galactica – Ira Steven Behr/The 4400 – Michael Piller/The Dead Zone), the list is filled with only quality shows.
Somehow though, they’ve taken a turn somewhere, and it’s one I don’t like. Totally abandoning in-depth character exploration and development, they’re probably chasing the books (can’t really tell, I avoid books like the plague) and going for the most simple style of storytelling set in a fantasy world with wizardry and accompanied scary creatures like werewolves and demons. This means an unrestricted way of going through the story, including easy endings with made-up potions or magic artifacts. Loosely translated, it’s a pretty lazy job. The beauty of their earlier works was that it was actually sci-fi (also unrestricted story telling), but they’d bound it closely to reality, both in story- and characters-wise, with real consequences.
All that cutting-edge stuff is now muddled into the pool of ordinary episodic forget-me-easilies. I give it a few more weeks, but don’t expect me to hang on if the direction stays the same.

Musicals bore me. Musicals makes me wanna kill people. I knew this was an original Broadway production, but the trailer made it seem like it was going to be a normal movie, with music integrated to it. And then the Oscars, that got me curious.
Essentially, it’s about 70% singing and 30% movie. The singing ain’t that bad, and even might spawn a few hits. The movie part is also acceptable, but with such a limited story, I can’t believe they’d nominate any acting gigs for that.
Also, for the most part, the camera is focused on the stunningly beautiful Beyonce, and her many guises that will pass the stage. Not bad at all.
All in all, it’s pretty enjoyable, bar the singing dialogue parts, that will have the musical-challenged audience surpress their laughter, and will result in the drama being a sure misfire in those scenes.7-.

Very nice follow-up to earlier this year’s Flags of our Fathers, also directed by Clint Eastwood and a Dreamwork/Amblin production. Having seen Flags is actually a must, immmersing you deeper into the story, but then from the other point of view. While the concept might not be new, it’s refreshing to have a full Japanase angle on this story. Also, the atmosphere is distinctively different than Flags, logically. Then again, Japanese reasoning and mindset towards war is also nothing really new.
What IS the same, is the gritty monochromic filming, but that’s as far as it goes. There’s even a humorour undertone in many scenes.
If you ever wanted a series of war movies that are not too much of the same, these two movies should be in your collection.7½.

Usually, I have nothing against an updated lay-out. It happens all the time (‘cept here, I like to keep the same theme going, saves me HOURS and HOURS of work).
But now ol’ trusty IMDB decides to make a change too. And I don’t like it at all. Strange gaps all over the place, and everything is scattered (for instance, voting + grade is all the way at the right top).
What do you think ?

Old design:

New design:

Ah well, guess I’ll be a http://former.imdb.com/ user while it lasts (it will be removed in the near future).