Kimputer's Weblog

Two rival magicians ended up at the top spot, as Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige was a star powered force to be reckoned with. Batman Begin’s (Nolan’s last film) cast mates Christian Bale and Michael Caine are joined by Scarlett Johansson, Hugh Jackman and David Bowie to conjure $14.8 million.
Second is Scorsese’s The Departed, holding strong with $13.7 million. Another new entry by another decorated director is Clint Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers with $10.2 million.
Rounding out the top 5 is fourth-weeker Open Season with $8 million and Flicka (a family drama headlined by country star Tim McGraw) with $7.7 million.

Or, Black Book, as the title will be as the Dutch representative to vie for one of the five empty spots on the Oscar nomination list for Foreign Film. Maybe that’s one of the reasons I went to see it. Maybe it was just Paul Verhoeven’s name that attracted me (translates to nudity, for the film facts challenged among you). Whatever it may be, people think I’m a violent person. Whenever I go see a Dutch movie, I take a baseball bat with me. People are wrong though, as I only take the bat with me to knock myself out, or at least, knock myself senseless. After all, that’s been the overall experience I’ve had in my life.
Strangely enough, I didn’t have to touch it for the whole duration of the movie (while it ran a bit long for my taste). The acting was on a few levels quite satisfactory (though some overacting crossed the line here and there, and I still wanted to use the bat on Johnny de Mol), and the story, which wasn’t overly complicated, had a good pace. On screen, budget restraints weren’t obvious, and Paul’s Hollywood experience made action scenes look fluidly professional.
So I probably can leave my bat at home for the next movie from Paul Verhoeven (already one planned for next year), but that’s the only exception I’m willing to make for now, when it comes down to Dutch movies.7.

There was a time I was hoping for another season of The Office (the original, of course, not the NBC version). Luckily Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant moved on to newer things and Extras was born. Beyond expectations, it stood on its own, and this second season proved these comedic geniuses are still on top of their game. While keeping it legendary short, it makes you only want more, but it’s still better than a longer half baked season. The story line continued to another place where different poignantly akward situations were displayed, while not relying too much on the cameos (which were still a riot nonetheless).
There is, as always, the fear that this will be the last season (just like The Office had only 2 short seasons), but at least every single episode was an instant classic.

I’ve learned to watch any movie involving Woody Allen with much caution, because, diverse as they are, they’re mostly too weird to describe. I wasn’t overly enthused with Match Point either, but at least the beautiful Scarlett Johansson caused enough distraction for this stiff romance with panic ending.
Luckily, this movie is one of another category, basically a very lighthearted murder mystery. Luckily, with Woody Allen’s continued confidence in Scarlett, she takes the lead again, while Woody co-stars as a, whud else, neurotic person. Doing his usual fast paced rapid fire dialogue trying to fit in a punchline or word play in every sentence isn’t really hilarious, but at least it’s a bit amusing.
The story is simple but overall solid, and there’s no real boring moment in it. So here’s two thumbs up for Woody Allen, who knows how much more of this will ever happen ?7½.

While I certainly don’t like them all, ABC has a strong drama line-up, unlike any other channel. This seems like a limitation, but actually gives it more variety (than say, CBS’s forensic and procedural shows).
On the drama side, there hasn’t been anything quite like Party of Five (which ran on Fox from 1994 till 2000) on the air, with the same urgent familial feel to it, but Brothers & Sisters comes close. Not quite, because the situation isn’t quite as dire and in this case, they’re all adults. Still, it’s a nice try coming from the other creative half of the now ended Alias (Ken Olin writes/directs/produces, while JJ Abrams is involved with the other 3 shows currently running on ABC), and for pure family drama, it’s the strongest entry this year.

Time to start reviewing the individual new shows for this season, and I’m actually starting with one that I’m going to drop. It’s another JJ Abrams produced series, and this will be the second one in a row from this usual genius that just didn’t make the cut (last year’s What About Brian starts its second season this fall, which I also dropped after a few episodes). You can actually compare this quite good with that show, it has it’s drama bit going, but it’s just not enough. The six degrees twist adds something, but it’s too contrived (with the same people bumping into each other every day or so). There are also a few mystery story lines unveiling, but it lingers on a bit too long. All in all, not too interesting and a bit too slow.

Another victim of the trailer-disease, you’d better stick with just the trailer. Of course, you can already dream the plotline seeing it, and seeing the movie makes you think you’re a telepath or something. Nothing is further from the truth, as a slip up during the search for good kid actors might be forgiven (after all, how many really good kid actors are there nowadays ?), for this lousy script there no forgiving or forgetting. The script chews out cliche after cliche, and the sappy second half doesn’t really help the movie or the silly cheap jokes, at all. I suggest you use your remote control at home and watch some good TV instead.

With almost all of this season’s new pilots rolled out, I’ve gotta be harsh and cut corners already, mainly because time seems to be an unbudging variable.
While ratings look pretty bad all across the board for all the big fours, my cuts are purely based on specialty, quality and longevity of the shows.
Of course, the comedies are the easy targets, offering nothing new, while also not really being laughing matter.
So it’s bye-bye to:

Happy Hour (Comedy. Riihiiight)
Til Death (Hope it dies really soon)
Vanished (serialised, but boringly infused with half-revealing hints and clues that lead nowhere)
Kidnapped (serialised, but boring, feels miscast and uninteresting)
Friday Night Lights (Sports docu style filming. Peter Berg on a digicam frenzy)
Help Me Help You (Nice try mr. Ted Danson)
Men in Trees (Light-hearted Everwood for females. Nice effort, but really isn’t missed when gone)
The Unit (A bit too much of the same)
Dexter (too weird and unbelievable outline, that will only become worse in the future)

This still leaves me with some 20 shows every week. Next round of the axe in a few weeks.

Another quick buck made for executive producer Sam Raimi. With his Ghost House Pictures production company, the low budgets horror flicks usually earn their budget back their first week, and so too does The Grudge 2 with $22 million, good enough for the top spot.
At 2, The Departed holds good retention, down to $18.7 million (a respectable 31% decline). At three, Man of the Year (starring Robin Williams) doesn’t impress, with just $12.6 million. Rounding out the top 5 are left-overs Open Season with $11 million and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning with $7.8 million.

In general, James Bond copies for kids are bad. You’ve seen this formula fail (at least, for the adult audience) for Cody Banks and Spy Kids (why in heaven’s name were there sequels made ?). Now the UK tries to strike back with their pet “let’s show Hollywood” project based on the Alex Rider novels. A more mature hero figure, and besides a moderately high budget they threw in some bigger names too (Ewan McGregor, Alicia Silverstone, Mickey Rourke, Stephen Fry, Bill Nighy). Did it help ?
Unfortunately, no. It’s still a kids movie. Well, maybe teens can also be included in the target demo now. But leaving the adults in the cold, it can’t bear the name family flick. Besides using the very same formula I just told you didn’t work, the script is dull and the screenplay unimaginitive. Add to that the predictibility of a Tic Tac Toe game heading for a draw, and you wish the budget wasn’t wasted all on just making a flashy trailer, because the movie doesn’t add anything to it.4+.

One of the break-out comedies that’s been doing well Stateside, but also doing well currently abroad. It should mostly appeal to the female audience, but as an all-round comedy, it’s just about average. It’s the discovery period that’s the most fun, and the middle part already suffers from introducing nothing new. Predictability is also a weak point, but all in all, if the girls drag the guys along for this movie, it’s not a disaster, coz Anne Hathaway surely doesn’t hurt the eyes.7.

My reply on their reply from 07-10-2006 from my original post:

Geachte heer Ung,

Hartelijk dank voor uw e-mail. Het spijt ons te vernemen dat de kwaliteit
van de AH Scharrelei dubbeldooiers niet in orde was, doordat er tweemaal
een dooier te weinig in zat. Wij bieden u hiervoor onze verontschuldigingen
aan.

Dubbeldooiers zijn te vergelijken met het krijgen van een tweeling: dus
niet veel voorkomend. Dit gebeurt bij kippen die in de eerste paar weken
van de legperiode eieren leggen (een legperiode duurt gemiddeld vanaf de
17e week tot aan de 65e week). Deze eieren zijn groter dan normale eieren
die in die eerste periode gelegd worden en worden dus ook gesorteerd op
grootte. Nu kan het af en toe gebeuren dat een wat groter ei dus geen
tweeling bevat.
Wij zullen uw klacht hierover onder de aandacht brengen van de
verantwoordelijke inkoper.

Voor onze onvoorwaardelijke kwaliteitsgarantie verwijzen wij u naar uw AH
filiaal.

Met vriendelijke groet,
Albert Heijn Klantenservice

Lxxx Fxxx

Graag wilde ik nog even reageren. U stelt dat het “af en toe kan gebeuren”. Ik moet u helaas melden dat ik nu eindelijk alle 6 de eieren heb gebruikt, en op een
faal-percentage van 100% zit. De ernst van de zaak is hiermee alarmerend gestegen. Met zo’n hoog percentage, durf ik voorlopig deze eieren niet te kopen. Ik
hoop dat er in het vervolg betere detectie apparatuur gebruikt gaat worden om deze “foute” eieren te onderscheppen. Misschien iets met een felle lamp en er
doorheen kijken ofzo.
Zelf zie ik het niet zo zitten om elke keer met lege opengebroken eierschalen bij de klantenservice balie te staan om de helft van mijn geld terug te vragen.
Wie weet heb ik daar niet eens recht op, ik ben er van overtuigd dat jullie algemene voorwaarden daar vast geen specifieke hoofdstuk aan gewijd hebben.

Mvg, KaNam.

Usually I don’t review something recommended by someone other than myself. But it’s been a while since lazy ass Bern uttered something online, and I hoped the low calory Ramadan diet might have cleared up his brains a bit.
It did not. His recommendation was bust. Then again, I should’ve known beforehand. I mean, it’s written in the Koran. It states any disc jockey willing to put London Bridge on the airwaves, should be dragged behind a horse, by his ears. Allah is going to get him soon, as proof is online here and here.
Most of this album is the same. That irritating semi-rapping under a simple sample mixed with an overbearing bass track. That’s not called music, that’s called troish (trashy noise or noisy trash, take your pick). Can I use make up words as I go along ? Yeah, the Dutchess isn’t in the dictionary either. I just gave her the benefit of the doubt, hoping it would have something to do with my home country. Granted, a lot of influences can be heard. Besides the lot of hip hop, there’s is an Aguilera-style ballad (*snore*), there’s reaggea and some tough chick rock.
Ah well, my playlist is now 2 songs richer (the poppy Big Girls Don’t Cry, and R&B style All That I Got, coz at least she uses her voice properly there ), and that just saves her from a red grade.5-.

Martin Scorsese scores his best with a remake (Hong Kong’s critically acclaimed Infernal Affairs). Not only does The Departed earn a solid $27 million, it earns much of the same critical acclaim as the original.
At two, actually doing better money-wise, is low-budget horror The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, with $19 million.
Open Season has to settle for a third place in its second week, with $16 million. Rounding out the top five is new comedy Employee of the Month with $11.8 million and left-over The Guardian with $9.6 million.

Another whole album of parodies. But…uhm, I can’t even figure out half of’m. That doesn’t actually matter, but what does is that as a whole, it’s not a whole-in-one (even though it’s Weird Al’s first top 10 album, entering straight to that position in the Billboard this week).
Granted, humorous as he is, most songs, even the worst ones have a few funny lines in them. He can even get your attention going on for a solid 11 minutes with a slow simmering soul fueled dialogue driven R&B song. But the most fluid trademark homerun parody (James Blunt’ You’ Beautiful turns to You’re Pitiful), can’t be even counted, as it’s not on the album, and is only available as a free download, due to legal matters. Plus of course, I rate on voice, composition and technical merits, not on humor. That said, as a music CD, I can’t rate it that high (how can I consciously recommend others to listen to it), even though on comedy alone it’s acceptable, making the combined grade still below average. I’d recommend you pick up his previous album Poodle Hat.5½.