Only slightly off. →
nytimes.com
Ok so Indy opened to 151 mil. I was a little bit off, but in my defense I didn’t take into consideration the 5 day weekend. The movie still wasn’t good.
May 2008
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Dr. Jones!
Last night I saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It took Spielberg/Lucas 20 years to make this movie. They waited and waited for the best possible script. Finally David Koepp comes around and writes up Crystal Skull. They say “This is is the one.” They get everyone back together, recreate all the old hijinx, and cash in big time whilst adding another epic to their repertoire.
Here’s my question did anyone that has ever worked on any movie ever, bother reading it? I didn’t think a script could be both complicated/confusing but dumbed down at the same time. Somehow this managed to do it.
At SU, I have a play writing professor who says “a successful script makes the audience feel smart.” Revealing arguably the biggest secret of this movie in the first 10 minutes doesn’t make anyone feel smart. Thank you for spoon feeding us.
Just had to get that off my chest…enough bashing…One thing it did get right was staying true to the originals. The film is fun. Good action, good humor.
I’m predicting 105 mil opening weekend.
crack your whip at some of this too:
TV - The Mole. I mentioned it in my ‘Failures’ post. Its back at ABC for a 3.0 reboot. Summer is the season of reality TV. This is most likely the most intelligent reality show around. It starts June 2nd.
Music - “The Big Bang Theory Theme Song” by Barenaked Ladies. Also We Shot The Moon for some high quality piano rock a la Ben Folds.
Idol Finale Blog Thru
Much like the Oscars here is a blog thru of the American Idol Finale…
8:05 - “All blondes and necks” Can you tell this show is live? Oh, Seacrest.
8:08 - The David’s duet on Nickelback’s “Hero.” Very nice, this is what the show is about.
8:10 - Mike Meyers is funny but this extended commercial for his movie seems very forced. At least he knows he’s shamelessly promoting his movie. That was a long commercial.
8:17 - Is that Seal?
8:18 - Let’s talk about the wide shots of the judges. Paula is up and down more than a congregation at schul on Rosh Hashannah.
8:19 - An actual Love Guru commercial. wtf.
8:24 - Oh good, now we can remember Jason Castro in a positive light and not from the burning wreckage he went down in a few weeks ago.
8:30 - Amanda Overmyer does not want to be there. Oh oh, no. Not good. Get her off the stage.
8:33 - Syesha is showing up Donna Summer.
8:37 - The Moment of Truth is everything that is wrong with American television.
8:39 - Carly and Michael Johns should have been top 5 instead of Jason and Brooke. Just an observation, they’re very good.
8:42 - Jimmy Kimmel. I wonder if he wrote this monologue? Anyway, the variety is good.
8:47 - Jason Castro butchers another.
8:49 - I want to see Wall-E really badly.
8:54 - DC needs to grow out his beard like ZZ Top.
9:02 - Coldplay Itunes commercial. I have a feeling that song (Viva La Vida) will be big.
We have reached the halfway point. So far, so good. Nothing too crazy — Some of the best and worst (Amanda Overmyer) performances of the year.
9:07 - Who is this Pat woman?
9:10 - Oh this is the freaks part of the show! I like that the marching band drowns out Rinauldo. He just kept singing! What? And now a quote from a text I just got from my friend Sammy, “Yes!! I love this guy!”
9:16 - Apologize? I don’t know this one. Acappella groups everywhere rejoice.
9:19 - FOX doesn’t have enough money to fly out Archy’s grandparents for the Finale? Really? They were stuck in the bleachers?
9:24 - Jordin Sparks is straining. Maybe cause of her acute vocal hemorrhaging. Yikes.
9:30 - Very ingenious little special effects video from the Tropic Thunder cast.
9:35 - Carrie Underwood is hot, there’s no denying it. But the connected sleeves, what are those? Don’t trip!
9:40 - Fringe - yes.
9:42 - Amanda Overmyer sounds like Roseanne. Mic technical difficulties.
9:43 - I just noticed the amount of costume changes. A lot.
9:52 - Alright we’re getting down to the wire here. Not a lot of filler tonight, good performances and comedy all around. And surprisingly we didn’t hear from the judges.
9:55 - Clearly I spoke too soon. One last round of comments. Like One Republic said “its too late to apologize” Simon.
9:57 - The big moment. DC pulls an upset. Don’t cry Cook, your eye liner will run.
10:01 - I hope this isn’t his single. “Dream Big” would be a much better lead single for him.
Well thats it. Time to switch to Bravo for Top Chef. Good night everybody. Seacrest out.
Failure.
Ok so the Wachowski brother’s Speed Racer film opened this weekend at second making only $20 million. Iron Man took first again making $50 million.
I just want to take a moment to laugh and inspect Speed Racer. I’ll admit when I first heard about the Wachowskis making a live adaptation of the anime I thought it had a lot of potential. But unless you’re dropping E and going to the theater it looks like this blue screen-a-thon just might make you sick. So here’s to Speed Racer for stalling at the starting line, falling on its face, and getting all that it deserves. Hopefully your G rated, epileptic inducing picture will make back its budget in the international market or from DVD sales.
In a related show biz story, Broadway musical Glory Days (which I was really looking forward to seeing) closed after one performance. Apparently it wasn’t ready for the great white way and its subject matter/music were immature and underdeveloped. Contrary to Speed Racer which I couldn’t care less about, I think people should give Glory Days some love. Even though you can’t see it, head over to their myspace and listen to the songs.
Recently viewed media:
Television - Top Chef. Rarely will I recommend a reality show, unless its ABC’s forgotten The Mole, that show was awesome. BUT Bravo’s cooking competition breaks the mold, its sophisticated AND overly dramatic. No, you can’t eat the food so how do you know who is good? Well it doesn’t matter, it’s just fun TV. The challenges are creative and exciting and the show is full of lesbians and people with faux hawks.
Music - Jason Mraz’s latest We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. American Idol finalist David Cook’s old tracks (check out Analog Heart). Socratic’s Spread the Rumors. And listen to The Starting Line because they’re on hiatus.
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Taking Flight.
A few months ago I posted some info about Flight of the Conchords full length release. Well it’s been released, and it hit #3 on the charts. Topping Dane Cook. That’s right people, Flight of the Conchords are bigger than Dane Cook. That is all. Thank you.
