Kimputer's Weblog

USA Network has a pretty strong, if not the strongest, summer schedule slated, and it contains new seasons of Monk and The Dead Zone. Also started is a second season of The 4400, originally just a one time 6 episode mini series. Well written and developed as it was, it would hold up as a mini series, but expansion was another possibility. And well into season 2 it shows the producers have a lot more coming our way to make this a special series on it own. Most notable names on the production staff are of course Ira Steven Behr and Rene Echevarria, and results are well written stand alone episodes combined with story arch continuation. Mystery, drama, action, and a thought provoking view of the world makes this as unique as their previous endeavors (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine). The way the bigger story unfolds, it looks like a few more years of this one of a kind show is a high probability.

This is Fox’ newest procederal show to highlight the summer, and almost has a (NBC’s) Profiler feel to it. With a professional team behind it (most of the Imagine team that are also behind 24), it still lacks a certain feel to it. As the team of special FBI agents of the Violent Crimes Task Force (still exactly as the Profiler) psycho analyse the crimes, there’s still time for personal drama (again, the same). And while I’m a true proponent for that, so it creates extra depth for the characters, in this series it feels too contrived.
Cases follow up each other in the same way, with the first suspect never being guilty, and a surprise ending by a character you’d least expected. It’s nice, but it’s not perfect. Then again, at least it’s not a forensic show. Let’s see how this plays out after the summer.

He says he’s having a bad day, but if I listen to this “debut” album (he already released an album in 2000), it’s gonna be a bad year.
As is usual with these artists, they start off with the best song of the album. That way you’ll buy the album, only to have it be a huge disappointment (but at least the artist will have his pension taken care of). Well, that’s exactly what this album is.
Of the 10 tracks, only one is a hit, and the rest is mediocre stuff. A few are even irritating. On most of the songs, he even pretends to be a long lost brother of the BeeGees, but raising his voice like that doesn’t make it more interesting. Of course, I have to admit, there are one or two potential next singles that will be a hit, as I do know what the mass will like, but for people with a more evolved taste, this is just too unimpressive.5+.

Marred by a host of bad reviews, results are still pretty fantastic for the invisible, stretchable, firy but ugly quartet, as Fantastic Four attracts $56 million worth in ticket sales. Dropping a gear is War of the Worlds, with $31.3 million at number 2. Batman continues to do quite good business with $10.2 million, but with totals, War is right on its heels already ($172 million in 4 weeks vs. $165 million in 2 weeks).
Jennifer Connelly starrer Dark Water opens at nr. 4 with $10.1 million. As usual, horror pics do better when opening without competition from superheroes. Rounding off the top 5 is Mr. & Mrs. Smith, with $7.9 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: 1281 out of 416 votes > Average is: 3.079

Ever been told that morality tale about the keyboard and the breadcrumbs ? Well, it started here.

With any Jet Li movie, some bones have to be broken, and this movie is no different. It’s clear though, how his movies usually play out. He has a handful of typical Hollywood movies (Romeo Must Die, The One, Crade 2 the Grave). He had the standard Hong Kong martial arts flicks (The Black Mask, The Enforcer). He had some higher quality Chinese art movies (Hero). And now he’s trying the European style of making movies.
And it pays off, because the quality is slightly higher than the previously mentioned 2 categories. Story is still slightly simple, but the dialogue in between makes more sense. Mostly thanks to Morgan Freeman, the acting is up to standard too. That leaves only the predictability as a weak point. Still, for fans and non-fans, it’s different enough to make a more firm impression than the mediocre stuff he made earlier in Hollywood (and hopefully avoid in the future).7+.

A mini-series on ABC, it tells the story of the Roman Empire shortly after Ceasar has been killed. It revolves around the heir of Julius, and the power struggle for a new ruler. And we have gladiators and horses and sand and sun, blabalablala.
The first episode tries to be a cheap Gladiator rip-off, and it fails miserable on all aspects. The acting is quite bad, as are the flimsy action scenes. The second episode is pretty much worse. There’s no depth in the characters, and the story telling is kinda boring. I guess the next $24 million are not spent on me (as $6 million has been the reported budget per episode).

Aliens wreak havoc at the box office, as War of the Worlds takes in $77.6 million, good for the top spot. A distant second, but a respectable performer is Batman, $18.7 million is good for the runner-up spot. In retrospect, the media stunt Tom and Kate pulled worked quite well, I must say. We should have more of those.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith cling on the number 3, with $12.7 million. The females flocked for the fourth place, Bewitched with $10.8 million, while the kids handled the number 5, Herbie: Fully Loaded with $10.5 million.

While Steven Spielberg is always busy on the big screen, he never really left his small screen activities idle. And after Band of Brothers (HBO) and Taken (Sci-fi Channel), it’s TNT’s turn to get a big promotional boost with Into the West. And paying off it does (with 7 million watching at a time, totalling 21 million viewers on its triple play rotation).
His name alone warrants at least a peek at the pilot, I have to be honest to tell you, it’s a little bit hard keeping your attention on the screen. Basically focusing on 2 families throughout a few generations (one hard working family, with the kids going out for adventure, and one Native American family and how they cope with the invasion of the white people during the 1800’s) and how they intertwine, it is a bit boring. Themes like Indian rituals come by, and the dangerous traveling into the west are highlighted. In the following episodes we see some settling down, and just when you’re getting a clear picture of the character, the focus shifts to another generation, jumping another decade. In essence, they’re building a saga, but it’s a bit hard to connect to the characters if they keep popping up and disappearing at the same time.
A whole bunch of notable “guest” appearances should keep the star rating high (Sean Astin, Rachel Leigh Cook, Keri Russell, Skeet Ulrich), and there’s even more to come in the following episodes.
All in all, it sounds like must-see, but if it were not for the summer low season, I’d probably drop this one without much thought .

These are the movies where not reading any books at all comes in handy (I highly recommend it to y’all). First of all, it helps with many surprise effects, and in this case, the script is somewhat thin and one-tracked.
But leave it to Steven Spielberg to make the most out of it, and turn it into a fast paced, gritty drama/actioner, with awe inspiring special effects to support it. Both from a storytelling and from a technical standpoint, he’s your man. Again, this movie involves and requires shots that make the heads of the people at ILM spin in overdrive. They even do it in the most short-tracked time period a high SFX demanding movie has ever seen (some 7 months), and it still looks amazing.
The story plays out very much the same way as Independence Day, but with more tense setups and a more focused and hence more intimate setting (only 3 principal characters, Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning and Justin Chatwin). The acting is good, though it’s hard to create a strong emotional bond with all the running and hiding going on.
All in all, even though the train ride is rough and wobbly, I’d say, hop on anyway.8.

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

Total: 757 out of 234 votes > Average is: 3.235

The people at Google keep themselves quite busy, and the latest project to enter the beta stage is Google Earth (download it here).
As you can see, it integrates your search with satellite images, making for some nifty effects as you zoom and tilt your way into your own local neighborhood.

This is where I live, for instance. That one house somewhere in the middle.

Features work better States-side, with more hits on restaurants and hotels, etc. Big cities will even have 3D buildings streaming to your desktop. Nifty++. Why don’t you try it yourself. (Oh, by the way, I think the satellite images and 3D info are somewhat up to date, as you won’t be able to locate the Twin Towers in New York, I already looked for you).

As you can seen in my last ice cream review, I wasn’t too happy with the new Extreme Gold ice cream cone from Nestle, but now they have another version, Extreme Gold Miniatures. 12 Really tiny cones, with the same concept (the cone is solid chocolate), but with a whole taste overhaul. The ice cream itself is luckily either vanilla or chocolate (6 of both) and the taste is rich (replacing the milky substance in the big Straciatella version). It seems the chocolate outside seems richer too, and it looks like it melts faster (or that could be my imagination. And since it’s so small, it’s in your stomach before you know it anyway). Despite the small size, I can vouch for every little one, it will be a treat. Try it. Twelvice. You’ll like it.8½.

With this comeback (airing on HBO) Lisa Kudrow kills a bird with three or four stones. Technically it is her comeback on the small screen (after Friends), but she also had developer’s credits (writer/exec. producer), and the show itself is about an actress’ comeback from a sitcom, who alongside has a reality show filming this comeback. However, this semi-reality isn’t anything fresh. That thunder had already been stolen with Unscripted (also HBO) and in some degree Fat Actress (Showtime), all from this past TV season. Of course, anything can work if it’s really well written, but this series is not. Lingering too long on the same joke, and unimaginitive situations makes this one of the lower quality show ever to air on HBO. If it wasn’t TV’s low season, I’d drop it a long time ago.

It’s been a while, but like gambling, you have to give it a try now and then. So for my first direct-to-dvd movie of this year, I thought I wouldn’t try anything too risky, and bet on Wesley Snipes. Still, the fact remains it is a direct-to-dvd for a reason (and hence mr. Snipes has to be careful not to follow in the same footsteps of Jean-Claude van Damme, Steven Seagal and the likes, as he picks more and more of these projects in between his blockbusters), and it becomes evident within moments after the start of the movie.
It’s a big cliche driven show cluttered with C actors with degrees in overacting. The director thinks he can make a difference with strange camera angles, but you can jot down the next line as an irrefutable fact. There no future for this guy beyond these type of movies (in fact, his next one is one starring the aforementioned Jean-Claude). Next, the low-budget feel is all over the place, and the editing is shoddy at best. There are absolutely no technical or creative highlights to be praised.
So that’s it, no more direct-to-dvd’s for me. There’s no reason to ever touch one again, but you have to keep hoping. So, talk to ya again next year.3½.