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The Break-Up, starring Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn, not only beat a certain group of mutants, but also successfully fended off the critics pointing mostly thumbs down. With $38.1 million it not only doubled the industry’s expactation, it now also ranks 3rd in rom-com openers (behind Hitch and 50 First Dates).
X-Men: The Last Stand took a sizable mutation, no less than a 67% drop, now at number 2 with $34.3 million. Meanwhile, Over the Hedge holds on to number 3 with $20.6 million, just a 24% drop. At number 4, The Da Vinci Code still means business with $19.3 million. At a far distance, rounding out the top 5, is the fading Mission Impossible III, now with just $4.6 million.

Five Fingers: Very low budget psychological thriller type of movie, that develops a bit too slowly, and hence falls in the category repetitive and uneventful.5+.
Running Scared: Didn’t even get passed ten minutes before I stopped it and pressed SHIFT+DEL.1.
Underworld 2: Evolution: Reasonable actioner.6½.
Eight Below: Standard Disney feel good movie.6½.
Cheaper by the Dozen 2: Unfunny sequel to an unfunny original.3.

Wolfgang Petersen has proven himself a high quality box office director over the years, with movies ranging from Troy to In the Line of Fire and Outbreak. Names that make you say, yeah, that was a damn good movie. Usually, character are involved too, and therefore he hires the best actors he can get.
Unfortunately, all that isn’t really apparent in this movie. Don’t even start comparing this to Titanic, which was basically an elaborate love story. No, this movie is pure and simple a mediocre disaster movie. The one you’ve seen many times before, this decade already.
He probably did it for the money, or he just loves playing with water (Das Boot, Das Boot tv-series, The Perfect Storm). So, if brainless action movies with a unavoidable death threat following around isn’t your thing, better get that life support vest and jump for escape, i.e. skip this one. Because elaborate old school action and stunt scenes and supporting cgi effect can’t save this superficial script (with Emmy Rossum’s appearance as a small consolation prize).5-.

Be it shorter seasons (from the regular 22+, down to 15), at least there will be another season after this one. It’s quite understandable the axe swung quite near though, since such a regular animated series as this doesn’t really do exciting stuff. Then again, it’s the day-to-day business and household problems that’s the strength of this series. Every episode features another mundane topic, but still nicely packaged in snickering laughter plaster. Continuity isn’t really the strenght of this show either, because personally I think it could’ve fortified a bigger fan base. But as it is now slowly rumbling on (probably for only one more year), it’s still nice to see normal topics like work, friendship, neighbors and living in general play out in such a cozy familiar setting.

In the true CBS sense, this procedural show is episodic in nature, with characters getting only the slightest hint of background. In this particular series, characters seems excessively cold and stiff (making it hard to let them grow on you). But the stories are entertaining enough to make this series, once again, not must-see TV, but still watchable nonetheless.
Still, I wonder, looking at CBS’s prime-time schedule, do they themselves notice they have the least versatile line-up (80% procedural cirime shows) all the networks ?

This midseason replacement on CBS already has a green light for a second season, doing favorably well in the ratings. From a strict entertainment angle, it only ranges somewhere in the middle. A mission based series, every episode is independently watchable, with only a few story points stretching in between. From a dramatic viewpoint, it’s not really strong, and it mostly hammers on the same subjects. This makes it definitely not must-see TV, but if you have enough time (and military is your genre), this might be something for you.

One of the UPN shows that survived the hack and slash fest for the merger with WB to form CW, and that wasn’t so surprising, having the best ratings for this network, and that on a Thursday no less. Since it’s still your basic comedy, based on Chris Rock’s experiences in his eighties youth, don’t expect anything as outrageous as his one man show comedy routines. It’s all neat, with stories confined to his life at home or at school, and the occasional imaginary fantasy outbursts. Some running gags feel more like repetitions of the same joke, and by the end, you can fill in some of the jokes yourself. For a comedy, it’s acceptable. But if you’re hooked on Chris Rock, you’ll feel a bit disappointed as it never reaches the “hilarious” level.

Memorial Day is good business for the box office, and so X-Men 3: The Last Stand opens a record Memorial holiday earning, no less than $120.1 million. For the usual three day span, it’s $103.1 million, enough for a 4th place of biggest US openings (behind Spider-Man 2, SWIII and Shrek 2). Not too shabby is the Da Vinci Code, at number 2 with $43 million (with a satisfying $145 million cume in its second week). Over the Hedge will have to do with the number 3 spot with $35 million, with a $84 million cume, also after just 2 weeks.
Fourth is MI:III, in its fourth week it manages only a meagre $8.5 million, the lowest of cume for the series till now ($115.8 million after four weekends. The first movie did $145 million, while the sequel did $177 million in the same period).
Rounding out the top 5 is Poseidon, with just $7 million, you could say this ship is heading for a disaster (with a $46.6 million cume, it probably won’t cover even a third of the budget of the movie by the end of its run).

Answers are revealed and more questions pops up. It’s like a wild-goose chase, but the changing nature of it means you just can’t let it go. That’s still the strength of this series. The whole formula works, the continuing story, with flashbacks from only one character every episode. It even works for a guest star, the story is still so enganging it doesn’t even matter who is the star of the week. Meanwhile, all sorts of dilemmas continue to stimulate your brain, but you’re as close to finding the truth as a mouse is able to find the exit of a 2 million square foot maze. And as a tradition, the season finale opens a few more canisters of brain food, which we’ll only be able to taste in a few months when the next season starts. And they say those people on the island have it bad, how about us ?

I should’ve known. Video game. Horror genre. Recipe for disaster. Good horror comes by only once or twice a year, and this one is definitely not it. Spawned after a game series (already up to 4), it means the various scary stuff (which works fine if you have a joystick in your hands) are just there with no reason. No need to explain how detrimental it is for a movie.
This means, people with weaker nerves will be yelling like little girls throughout the movie, but people generally waiting for something good will soon be bored.4.

Change…Evolution… and all. Yeah, change it definitely is, evolution I’m not so sure. Difference is Bryan Singer spent 6 years on the previous 2 movies. Brett Ratner less than a year. After helming movies like Red Dragon and the Rush Hour series, Ratner proven himself an able director, though not anywhere near extraordinary. With this movie, he has his biggest budget till now, and that probably changes a man. While still not close to Singer’s instinct for this franchise, he does take on a more grand, closer to the comic book feel (visually at least). So it’s still a good movie to see, but lacks Singer’s subtlety towards relationships, meaningful dialogue and story altogether. So even while this definitely is the movie with the most sacrifices, less drama will hit you because of this. So, will this series stay a trilogy, or was that sneaky trick Rattner put at the very end of the reel another sign ? No matter, my recommendation is still to see this one.8-.

Halfway through its tenth season, it’s the same quality you’d expect from the previous nine years. Sometimes plain dirty and flat in your face, sometimes sharp social critisism sugar-coated in a layer of sarcasm. In a world with stricter censors, they’re still able to pull off the most daring stunts, and they should be congratulated for that. Short seasons (7 eps per half year), but plenty of fun nonetheless.

Over the years, from her debut a decade ago, every album has spawned several solid hits. With a distinct velvet-ish voice, providing a warm dynamic range and depth, belting out her own written lyrics, she’s gone from folky rock with a dash of Nashville origin to more popy tunes. Her last album, the dance-influenced 0304 from 2003, though, was quite horrible (it’s like a bad dream I’m really trying to forget). Luckily, she’s moving back to the more pop rock style (while leaving her country roots audible here and there) from the excellent This Way from 2001. Not totally bringin back the the piano/acoustic guitar set, it’s clear a seasoned (co-)producer (Rob Cavallo) is behind the wheels to ensure high quality sound on this album. And that makes this new album quite an easy listening experience (with enough uptempo songs balancing the moody ballads), though not as satisfying. Some some have less catchy and somewhat flat hooks, and some aren’t as fluid from verse to chorus as expected. Still, as a whole it’s as elegant as can be expected, making it a must-have nonetheless, if this is your cup of tea.7½.

Having an uninterrupted run since Januari, it’s also time for this season to end. All in all, another exciting day has gone by, and with 2 more seasons signed up, another cliffhanger is introduced to make Day 6 even more horrible.
The start of this day was quite personal and dramatic, and mostly held up till the end. During the last 2 episode it was clear the writers were rushing quite a bit (nitpickers are going to have a field day with this), and it’s a big question if they’ll pick up the pieces back up in Day 6 again. Adrenaline-wise though, it’s still somewhere at the top, though some room should be left for pity, because Jack Bauer will have a lot more to endure the next coming day.

It’s been over 2 years since The Reason hit the airwaves, while not overly exciting (it drags on too monotonic long), it was enough to stand out and be quite the hit of the year. The rest of the same named album was not, though.
How does the new album hold up ? For a rock album, it’s definitely diverse, but still in a boring kinda of way. The vocals don’t carry any emotional resonance, and the whole mix on the album is undynamic, making even the best guitar riffs sound bland. Usually, even though I don’t like an album, I can always accurately predict the potential hits (for the less picky crowd). On this one, I honestly can not. (I could choose the track “If Only”, but I doubt they’d dare release a song so similar to their own The Reason).4-.