Not so quietly, the Pacifier storms to the top spot. Vin Diesel is clearly trying to walk the same road that Arnold Schwarzenegger walked when he did Kindergarten Cop, and people are apparently still not tired of this overrated piece of musle. Or, so says the $30.2 million it dragged in this weekend.
At number 2 is another premiere, John Travolta in the Get Shorty sequel, Be Cool, with $23.5 million.
Feeling less loved is Hitch, slipping to the third spot with $12.5 million. At four is last weeks surprise hit Diary of a Mad Black Woman, with $12 million. At five, Million Dollar Baby proves to have long legs, good for another $8.5 million.
The trailer may seem like it’s another Rocky clone, and frankly, it kind of is. The very first one that is (also an Oscar winner), but with slightly more evolved characters. Both have the same feel to it, good script, good acting, good dialogue. With Million Dollar Baby’s script slightly more polished, it’s the same low budget feel, while gearing slight more to the drama side, and keeping the Hollywood spirit (touching and inspiring) on a low but always present simmer. The superb acting, with a three Oscar contending cast, it comes as no surprise. From this bunch, you actually don’t expect anything less. Adding another dramatic undertone is the narrative by Morgan Freeman, doing it just the way as no-one else can do it, stitching the story together into a fulfilling experience.8.
While sending my mail through gmail (see previous post), I noticed a whopping FIFTY invites left. Having no idea what to do with it all, and since I have my own mail server (so I can send myself the invites using different email adresses), I might just use them all myself. Think about it, 50 GB of external storage for free. And those accounts spawn more invites, giving me 100 GB more in less than a few months. Think about it, that’s probably more than most of you people have in your computer !
Geachte Maasstad/bezorging/klachtafdeling,
heden wilde ik wederom mijn afschuw spuien, dit maal via email (volgens mij is dit nieuw, eerdere klacht was per brief naar kantoor City Zuid verstuurd, hieronder nogmaals gekopieerd en geplakt, waar overigens heel vriendelijk NIET op is gereageerd.)
Als u het onderstaande leest, lijkt het erop alsof dat de druppel is dat de emmer doet overlopen. Nooit gedacht dat er nog een vloedgolf achteraan zou komen.
Wat is nu het geval ? Niet vind ik alleen WEER een stapeltje van 4 kranten op de trap (wederom ‘s avonds laat), maar nu zijn het er zelfs ZES. Zoals u ziet, de bezorger is te lui om de 4 brievenbussen te vullen (wat dus niet hoeft als hij/zij op de NEE/NEE sticker let) (punt c), maar maakt nu ook punt a waar, tellen is echt te moeilijk geworden in deze koude tijden.
Als de opleidingsniveau zo doorzet, en dezelfde bezorgers gebruikt worden voor het Rotterdams Dagblad (als ik dat zo goed uit de contact informatie haal), ben ik bang dat de toch al suffe “Het Bewijs van Rotterdam” reklame een heel andere uitwerking zal hebben dan meer klanten te trekken.
Hopelijk kunt u met mijn bewijzen gezonde conclusies trekken en er werk van maken om de kwaliteit weer tot een normale hoogte te brengen.
When the movie starts, you actually think you’re gonna see a standard action movie. But it soon clears up it is everything you’d expect from the Trey Parker/Matt Stone duo. South Park fans, of course, already know the ingredients. Thought provoking, coarse and twisted humor and self mockery build in an already thought-out script, where a little bit of story, character interaction, drama mix together in a cinematic experience (which you might not expect from a puppet movie). They have tight control over your laughs, in all manners possible. The lyrically strong songs interspersing the exaggerated dramatic scenes. Movements of the puppets, expressions on their faces. It all works. In the end, you’re still left with the question what the exact message was, as both sides had their time to show the good and the bad characteristics.
Maybe the only bad thing is that after 7 years of South Park, getting new voice talents to do the lead characters isn’t such a bad idea.8-.
Launched mid-season on THE home of procedural crime solving shows, CBS, it’s an able competitor. Taking a different angle (using math to solve problems), helps to elevate it above the other shows. A good cast helps too (though Judd Hirsch and Peter MacNicol are kind of typecasted, they carry a giant of TV history and experience). Then you have the Scott brothers (Ridley & Tony) overseeing the project to keep the production value high. They also have time to fit in social time in the b-story reel, definitely putting it ahead of static shows like CSI:Miami and NY, and NCIS). While the scripts are not perfect, with lots of room left for more depth, the formula is definitely there. Also, the math angle sometimes seems far fetched and quite unbelievable. Then again, so does succesfully zooming in a million times and getting all the details from a shoddy security video tape. The final argument to dump the aforementioned mediocre shows off the schedule, the female lead is quite the hot chick.
Diary of a Mad Black Woman, a black drama/comedy, one-upped matchmaker Hitch, opening at number one with $22.7 million (with only a budget of $5.5 million). Still, Will Smith’s love is still powerful enough for a number 2 spot, earning another $21 million (with a current total of $120 million).
At three, Constantine is losing steam, with $11.8 million. At four, Wes Craven teams up again with Kevin Williamson. Their horror pic Cursed earns $9.56 million. Rounding off the top 5 is Tommy Lee Jones with Cedric the Entertainer, in a Man of the House. This comedy opens with $9 million.
Following his Matrix Trilogy with another special effects heavy movie might not have been such a smart move. Mainly focusing on good and evil, angels and demons, Keanu plays some kind of detective trying to balance of the powers that be. As an actor, he might lose credibility now, playing his role VERY Keanu Reeve-ish, as in characteristic movements, delivery and timing of his lines etc (of course, he might have been typecasted, and the character from the comic book is just like that, but I think that’s highly unlikely the match would be this exact). All in all, he’s a pretty cold frog (AGAIN).
Storywise, it’s not that interesting. It tries hard though, with deeper plotlines (that are not developed), but the characters are just as undeveloped. Take into account that the heroes/enemies all have some weird not so positive appeal to them (probably due to the setting of this all), and your left with the eye candy (which has nothing new to offer). Definitely not a must-see for regular movie-goers.7-.
Yupz, it has grown back, THE White Hair of Wisdom. So again, I’ll be pouring wisdom out of me till I shave it off. A recent incident made me think about some old evolution theories. So, let me be the first one to rewrite those old history and biology books. First take a look at this:
As you can see, I injured my middlefinger, and I thought nothing of it. Till I was just about to begin my relaxation hours in the evening and started Counter-Strike:Source. As I prepared for battle, it finally came to me why I was shaking with fear. It was the injury that made me fear my headshot performance in this online game (which, by the way, did not suffer too much).
Now on to the old theory, where they say we’re more advanced than any other mammal, just because of our thumbs, the dexterity and such. Read more here.
Well, those old book clearly didn’t include a revolutionary game as Counter-Strike:Source, and hence I’ll be starting a rewrite where it’s actually the middlefinger that will replace the thumb in all these old texts. As you can see in the short flash movie (any pro-gamer recognises the position of the left hand, as oppososed to n00bs who use the cursor keys at the right of the keyboard), the middlefinger has TWO important keys to attend to, while the thumb has only the so-so function of jumping, which will not prevent your demise when faced with a spread of bullets from an M4 or AK47. Add to that, that jumping makes sound and will give your position away for eager-listening enemies. I rest my case.
That’s it for me today, till the next hair pops up.
This band never treaded the path of excellency, but with this latest album, I’d say, if there was ever a need for a posterchild for mediocrity, these friendly neighbours (as their name suggests) would definitely be it. As with all previous albums, they have no real grasp of producing a solid melody or riff. Incidentally, they’re close, but overall, they keep missing it. The results are pretty often a bit dull and easily forgotten. So, in essence, the album title is an epitome of exaggeration, as it won’t even hold you interested for longer than 17 minutes.5½.
With a late cancellation axe coming down, several episodes were already filmed and produced with uncertainty of an US airing. Fox, not satisfied with the ratings, probably still wanted to squeeze every dollar out of it, sold the remaining six episode to a New Zealand station, so luckily, they have geeks with hardware and internet there too.
While I critised the formulaic structure during the beginning of season one, major improvement was seen at the end of it. Now that it’s cancelled, it’s extra sad the unpredictable factors keep improving the episodes during season 2. Guess we’ll just have to live with the short vision most high-up suits have at the studios.
And even more unfortunate is the fact that they added a hot chick this season, which we’ll be able to see only 3 more times. Her name is Lizzy Caplan.
Almost at the end of the ride, but I’m giving up anyways. Frowning upon one missed joke after another just isn’t fun. While the season began shaky, I thought I noticed improvement, but it was quickly replaced by long tedious unfunny dialogue and predictability. All characters converged to the same template, probably due to lack of imagination or just plain laziness. Even the February sweeps didn’t help, but luckily, there’s still enough other comedies on the air to keep the laughs going. Maybe somebody can warn me in the future, if he decides to move back to New York (or New York comes to Joey, as in, a guest spot from some old “Friend”).
It’s nice to see Bill Gates isn’t holding a grudge against Steve Jobs. Looking at my MSN Messenger window, I saw an icon (4th tab) resembling an iPod, and when I clicked on it, it opened an MSN Shopping window displaying various iPod versions for sale. If those two can work together, I bet we can have world-peace within this decade.
