Kimputer's Weblog

Horror flicks are doing well this year, as this week’s opener The Ring 2 proves. With $36 million it opens at number one, beating The Ring’s opening weekend in 2002 by more than double.
Mechanical failure sets in with Robots, dropping one place to number 2 with $21.8 million. Following at number 3 is The Pacifier with $12.5 million.
At number 4 we have a cold start for Ice Princess, a romantic comedy for teen girls demographics, only good for $7 million. Hitch hits the number 5 with $6.6 million, making clear the love doctor is about to resign, with a current total of $159 million.

It’s sad Tru Davies’ life saving gifts couldn’t save this series’ demise, clocking out at only 26 episodes. It’s even sadder when you see the last 6 episode packs more punch than the whole previous season. Twists and turns through different and fresh story telling devices, leading its way to the series’ finale, whille upping the stakes. Guess it’s fate telling us there can’t be too many good series running at the same time

Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet teams up again with the wonderful Audrey Tautou (previous movie Amelie), in a long hope-driven post-war drama. In the same tradition, it’s a bit lighthearted and frivolous story telling, and hence doesn’t ever reach the tear-jerker status. The driving force behind the story telling is more based on facts revealing itself (feeling more like a detective novel) than feelings. Add the subtitles, and you’re lost. With two and a half hours of this, it’s too overwhelming and boring at the same time.6½.

It’s always hard to find good horror/thriller movies whole year around, and this one proved the search for a good one is not even close. A paper thin plot has to be stretched to 90 minutes, and that means, you’ll be mostly repositioning yourself in your chair the whole while. A usual sweet Dakota Fanning can’t help this movie much either, and neither can the auto-pilot acting of DeNiro, Janssen and Shue. This movie better play hide and seek on your schedule.4½.

Having competed in several film festivals already the past year, I thought it was finally time to find out what this was all about.
Wow, what a long sit this was. While there are enough movies running two and a half hours, this one seemed extremely long in comparison. Scenes that should take seconds are stretched to minutes.
As far as story telling goes, it’s pretty much thin air. Every single minute you keep wondering, where the hell is this going to. After 30 minutes it’s pretty much hopeless. Nonsensical scene after scene. While the soundtrack keeps the dull atmosphere pretty dull, there’s a recurring song that chills to the bone. Downright irritating.
Tony Leung Chiu Wai is in most of the scenes, but this role is a long distance away from previous performance in Hero. When the movie is over, you can finally let out a long sigh, with the only solace being that you’ve seen a full hour of Ziyi Zhang.5-.

The controversial topic alone makes this a grim drama, but the execution makes it much more than that. Following Kevin Bacon’s character after his release back into society (on supervised parole) and how he deals with it, is written in such a way, it’s almost a psychological thriller. In-depth character exploring dialogue covering multiple angles on his life make this in the end a more heartfelt drama.
The movie is executive produced by Kevin Bacon, and it’s not that surprising, as it’s another spot on his resume that proves he belongs to the best among his peers. Taking a risky role like this, he gives an excellent performance, that gives us a dark look into the mind of a former child molester, but supporting cast should not be overlooked.
This being a sensitive subject, it’s definitely hats off for the script writers and the director, making this balancing act work just fine.8.

While Fox beat NBC to the punch with The Next Great Champ, the idea was born at NBC’s side, shelling out some 2 million bucks per ep for this Burnett/Stallone produced reality show. Besides Fox’s quicky cancellation due to bad ratings, NBC’s version didn’t come easy either. Already suffering bad press with one suicide of one of the contenders, the ratings aren’t that much to write home about either.
While I’m not a reality show watcher, I thought I’d try this one, obviously because of the hosts (Sylvester Stallone and Sugar Ray) and the high testosterone topic (boxing), even though I’m not a sports fan either. But knowing NBC, and knowing how reality show works (usually lacking any depth), it’s actually the perfect series to watch at work. If you don’t pay attention, you don’t miss that much anyways. And to really watch it, you don’t need that much attention either. A win-win situation.
As for the quality so far, it’s pretty nicely directed, and while it follows a neatly laid out plan, it’s just enough not to get bored.

Robots proved the superior beings this weekend, landing the top spot with $36.5 million (a few million short of Fox’s Blue Sky Productions’ previous entry, Ice Age from 2002). Battling the same family demo, is The Pacifier, slipping to number two with $18 million.
Be Cools suffers from a few degrees of unwanted warmth, dropping to nr. 3 with $10.3 million.
Hostage might be an indication of Bruce Willis’ fading star status, opening at 4 with only $9.8 million. Fifth is for Hitch with $8.7 million, gathering enough love for a total of now close to $150 million.

It’s no surprise Will Smith always felt good in the comedy scene. That fact isn’t that fresh anymore. For me, it was always, of course, about Eva Mendes. So, it was kinda horrible to see her act all “I’m in a comedy, so I’m gonna act like it too”-ish, but luckily, that method fades after while.
The story is like any other romantic comedy. Light and stretched, so it’s definitely not a laughing cannon. It’s slightly predictable too. While it is enjoyable overall, if there was a flaw to be named, it’s that is sticking too much to the established standards.7+.

A first for everything, so this time, it’s the first cub in my family. The first scouting rank is in ! Congratz to the lil’ one.

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

Total: 1241 out of 399 votes > Average is: 3.110

You can still vote, but it won’t be counted. Obviously, this is Cheyenne’s desk. Still, I urge you to judge like you always judge it.

The online community is adamant this is one of the best sci-fi series ever to exist. The only fact I’ve collected so far though, is that it’s the longest running sci-fi series. So I had to try the new revival (since the original went from 1963 through 1989). The fact that it was leaked on the internet before the BBC screening a few weeks from now helped too.
Too bad what I found out wasn’t able to live up to its hype, at all. The first scene made it clear the budget was quite low. Lightning, filming techniques, special effects, it’s all sub-par. Then the acting isn’t that of high standard either. Then there must be at least one last thing to make this show last so long ? The storytelling ? Neupz, not that ingenious either. All this combined makes any scene easily comparible to Eastenders in all aspects, which means it’s not worth any of my time.
Conclusion is like the harsh reality we live in. Life was better when wondering who, I mean, what Doctor Who was all about.

Online Flash games. Mostly garbage, but sometimes you find one that’s simple and still quite addictive. Try Squares 2. My first try was above 12000 points, and it was proven a lucky shot, as subsequent retries usually reached half the score. Don’t try it at work though, I will not be held responsible for the wasted time spent on this.

If you want weird, this one is definitely for you. The trailer had a slight indication of this, but most people are hoping for fun. And this whole movie is more silliness than fun. This is mostly accomplished by unrelated gags in the background combined with sheer ignorance. Added is a good dose of sketch-like editing, not the best way of storytelling. And if that’s not enough silliness, check out the soundtrack. It almost comes close to getting annoying. If you like Wes Anderson’s previous project (The Royal Tenenbaums), you’ll probably like this too.6½.

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

Total: 704 out of 218 votes > Average is: 3.229

A first time for everything. Here’s a steel misprint, and hence the standard floppy bay can’t be used. Let’s hope it’s not a series defect, coz it takes a full 10 minutes of hacking and slashing to release the bay underneath it.