Kimputer's Weblog

From the very start, though feeling a bit detached, has the intense acting of Jodie Foster plastered all over it, and that already makes up half of the movie. What follows is a thriller focusing on the psychological side of it, while never digging too deep. While the movie evolves naturally and not overly complicated, it’s all set on a pretty big plane, quite the opposite of the cropped up feeling that Red-Eye had. It also had less story turns, as it focuses on the lingering psycho feeling. All in all, two thumbs up, albeit short ones.7½.

Chicken Little proves to be the biggest one in town, yet again, as he spends a second week at the top spot, with $32 million (only 20% drop, and just in time to chicken out next week to make room for the boy wizard).
New entry Zathura (somewhat a sequel to Jumanji) can’t keep up, opening second with $14 million. Derailed is just what it says it is, slowly choo-choo-ing in at number 3 with $12.8 million. Right behind at 4 is Get Rich or Die Tryin’ starring 50 Cents, with $12.5 million. Rounding out the top 5 is Jarhead, with $12.3 (with a 50% drop).

Hey, a new flavor ? Nopz. Not at all. The ‘Island’, just as it is printed on the can, is between quotes. So, t2he only probable cause I can think of the name, without actually changing the flavor is that is a code printed can to promote King Kong (code can be entered on the Pringles website. And no, I didn’t win anything). Just so you know.

Two months after the US network TV premiere, I finally got a solid schedule hammered out. I thought it was time to let you know, as I scratched my head when I saw some 50 files (some 15 GB of data) sitting in the Still To Watch folder (excluding the few movies still to go). So, if you’re also on a tight schedule, you’d better follow suit.

MUST-SEE:
CSI (season 4)
Alias (season 5)
Smallville (season 5)
Prison Break (season 1)
Lost (season 2)
South Park (second half of season 9)
Threshold (season 1)
King of the Hill (season 10)
My Name is Earl (season 1)
Commander in Chief (season 1)
Everybody Hates Chris (season 1)
Boston Legal (season 2)

The pretty good:
Everwood (season 3)
Kitchen Confidential (season 1)
Criminal Minds (season 1)
Grey’s Anatomy (season 2)
E-Ring (season 1)
Punk’d (season 6)

Was good, now on repeat-the-same-thing-one-more-time-and-I’m-going-to-axe-you-bench:
NCIS (season 3)
Joey (season2)
Numb3rs (season 2)
Ghost Whisperer (season 1)
Close to Home (season 1)

Late Nighters:
The Colbert Report (very regularly)
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Late Night Show with Conan O’Brien, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (less regularly)
Late Show With David Letterman (almost never)

Canceled/Never had a chance:
Freddie, Out of Practice, The War at Home, Invasion, Surface, Just Legal, Head Cases, Killer Instinct, Supernatural, Reunion, Bones.

Weeew, you can see how tough life was 5 years ago (slow internet, no TV eps to download). Now, I pretty much have to dream of snow (the analog noise kind) when I sleep at night.

Widely praised by the critics (maybe just because it’s David Cronenberg ?), I can only see half why. A long setup to establish the main characters usually promises something good to follow. But here, in the end, it feels kind of empty. While the acting is good, and shot with a suggestive feeling (thereby letting the viewer decide what’s really going on), the story takes on pretty normal turns and twist. Mix in a few horror inspired visuals for shock value, and minimise the importance of the psychological influences, and you have yourself a pretty standard movie. It’s still better than most of the current Hollywood flicks though.7+.

It’s been only a year (since Borrowed Heaven), and already there’s a new album waiting. As the title suggest, home is really what this album feels like. Back to the roots where it all began, it’s Irish folklore all over. While I always thought it gave them a unique style, the loss of poppy tunes makes this album hard to swallow. With a few songs in their old native tongue (Gaelic, which will make you scratch your head trying to figure out what they’re singing), and a few ones you’ve already heard (Old Town, Haste to Wedding), it’s a bit hard to recommend this, with their previous album proving to have long legs, and the ones before even more so.5½.

Little Chicken is the title, but it’s pretty huge at the box office. Opening at a higher than expected $40.1 million, it shows Disney can do 3D animation well on its own (after parting ways with Pixar).
Another higher than expected surprise at number 2 is Jarhead, a based on true facts war movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Jamie Foxx, with $27.7 million.
This makes the Saw II a little bit blunt at number 3, with still an edgy $17.2 million income. The Legend of Zorro drops harder, and has to do with the fourth spot with a paltry $10 million. Rounding out the top 5 is Prime, with a lowly $5.3 million, but since it’s just a 18% drop from last week, it could be seen as something positive.

Subtle mix of black comedy and light drama. The opening narration and introduction throws you off a bit, with seemingly no story line developing, but patience will pay off. While not sophisticated, characters are worked out decently, and it ends with a haunting message that will burn in your brains. 7½.

Rate 1 (sucks) to 5 (cool). Only rate the latest pictures, otherwise I can’t keep track of the average.

Total: 781 out of 241 votes > Average is: 3.241

Yupz, black is definitely the way to go these days. One batch down, one more to go.

This weekend saw a one year horror surprise beat a 70+ year legend. Saw II (sequel from last year’s Saw) scared The Legend of Zorro to a second place opener. With a minimal budget ($4 million, over its original $1.5 million), horror flick manages to hack off a considerable amount of the total box office. With $30.5 million the saw proves a mightier weapon than Zorro’s sword, opening with a not so legendary $16.5 million.
Light comedy Prime opens at number 3 with $6.4 million (starring Uma Thurman and Meryl Streep), while the fourth spot is for second-week Dreamer: Inspired By A True Story, with $6.3 million. Rounding out the top 5 is Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit with $4.4, now totalling at a worthy $49.7 million.

Rate 1 (FR#^&% MESS !) to 5 (how very tidy !). Only rate the latest picture, otherwise I can’t keep track of the average.

Total: 1300 out of 423 votes > Average is: 3.073

Normal chilli I know, Thai Sweet Chilli I probably don’t. There’s a slight chili flavor, but there’s a distinct ginger overtone. This makes you eat away this can much more slowly than you would another flavor, and addiction danger is hence a bit lower than usual. Still, having a new flavor to try out is always an adventure.7-.

After just two movies, and I’m at the conclusion that it’s time for retirement for the man in the black mask. With this sequel, I can assure you that you’re not missing out if you happened to miss this so-called legend.
The story is simply put, not very interesting. Yeah yeah, home town in danger blablabla. The dialogue isn’t much better, and most punchlines are close to just being corny. Following the predictable story, we get into a few action sequences, but that’s just not enough. As a total, it’s just a standard hero movie. Nothing extra to make it stand out. The first one at least had Anthony Hopkins, teaching the newbie Antonio Banderas. Hence, this one feels pretty empty. While it’s not totally boring, there are a few times it was closely bordering it.6½.

Literally a Daily Show spin-off (airing right behind it on the Comedy Central, and also produced by Jon Stewart), it’s Stephen Colbert on his own. While a bit in the background on the Daily Show, he made an impression (for instance, This Week in God segments), and a new half-hour show is just what he needs to fill his ego.
While Jon Stewart on the Daily Show can crack a smile on a regular basis, Colbert is downright hilarious. Following a bit on the same line with following current news stories and meshing in a bit of politics, Colbert’s fast paced own opinions and comments keeps it fresh and crackling with energy.
Interviews, just like the Daily Show don’t revolve around Hollywood actors, but lean more towards journalists and writers. And again, with the sharp tongue that he has, the interviews are never what you expect it to be.
With new segments being invented every day, and the quality it has proven over the week, this is one to watch daily, even more so than the more traditional shows like Jay, David and Conan.

Another slow week at the box office despite a whole slate of new releases. First up, makes you wonder if anyone is paying attention to trailers. The most horrible one this year is Doom (especially the continuous use of the PC game’s First Person perspective. Come on, if I wanted to see that, I’d play the game). Still it ends up at the top spot, albeit at a lowly $$15.4 million (with only a slight chance to regain its $70 million budget).
At two, families flocked to see Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story. Starring Kurt Russell and Dakota Fanning, it earned $9.3 million.
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit slips to the third place with $8.7 million, while The Fog is on the way to clear up, at number 4 with $7.3 million.
Rounding out the top five is Charlize Theron starrer North Country. Supposedly another Oscar contender, it earns only $6.5 million (still more than Monster’s weekend grosses in 2003).