A killer idea that misfires

Despite it not doing great at the box office, I still had high hopes for Mr. Brooks. Sadly, this was a film that had a great concept, but failed in its execution.

Let me begin though, by singing the praises of Kevin Costner & William Hurt. Their scenes together are just electric. That is high praise from me considering I have never been a big fan of Costner's work. If only the film had given more time to Mr. Brooks and his alter ego. Instead, too much of the film deals with ancillary characters that just take up space. Time that could have been spent on developing who Mr. Brooks is, is instead focused on frustrating subplots like Dane Cook as a blackmailing photographer, Demi Moore as the lead detective, who`s also in the middle of a divorce, and Danielle Panabaker as Brooks` daughter, who may be a chip off the ol' block.

All the stuff involving Moore`s detective is particularly infuriating. While all of the subplots involving her do eventually get tied back into the main story, I would have been fine had they left them out altogether. They also try to create this relationship between Moore`s character and Brooks, similar to that found in Silence of the Lambs between Lecter & Clarice, but it just doesn`t work at all here.

Another annoying thing about the film is the director's decision to have some scenes so stylized; like Moore's shoot-out with another criminal she's hunting down. Those scenes just came off looking cartoonish and out-of-place in what should have been a simple, dark film.

Perhaps my frustration with this film comes from the fact that they treated it as if it were a sequel; that we were already familiar with the primary characters from a previous movie. In a summer filled with sequels, it would have been nice to have a film which properly introduces a new potential franchise character, but this was not it. Grade: C+

Where there's a Wii, there's a way

So I was pretty depressed yesterday about my laptop's monitor crapping out. Then late last night it hit me like a bolt of lightning ... I have Internet access on my Wii! True, it's not an ideal replacement, but it's great as a temporary fix. So, hopefully this means I'll still be able to make regular posts on here; even if takes me a half hour just to type one sentence.

May be MIA for a while

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I may not be making many posts on here for a while. Yesterday, the monitor on my laptop went kaput. Now I have to either find an old monitor to hook up to my laptop or I have to dig into my nonexistent bank account and find money to buy a new computer.

In the meantime, the only opportunity I'll have to use a computer is when I'm up on campus. And since I like to keep that at a minimum, I may not be making many posts.

On the bright side, both Shrek 3 and Mr. Brooks have found their way to the budget theater by me, so I'll be seeing them within the next week. When I get the chance, I'll put my reviews up on here.

Until then, stay classy San Diego.

New Price is Right host named

It's Drew Carey!

I heard this news last night and tried to give it a day to seep in before I commented on it. Oddly enough, my feelings now haven't really changed from when I first heard the news. I don't know if Drew was my top pick for the job, but he's certainly better than a lot of the names that were being thrown out there (Rosie, Mario Lopez, etc.)

Drew is a likeable enough guy and his background in improv will help as well. It's going to be really important for fans and viewers of the show to give him a fair chance. Ultimately, I just want to see show go on and if people come down on him too hard early on, he'll have no opportunity to succeed.

I guess our first chance to see if he'll be any good is when he hosts CBS' new game show The Power of Ten which begins Aug. 7 if I'm not mistaken. But for now, I say congrats to my fellow Clevelander and I wish him the best of luck.

I've even come up with the name of the first new game under his tenure: "Cash and Carey" (*cue rimshot*)

Some quick CBS TV news

As the networks continue to hold press conferences as part of the media press tour, we're learning a little bit more about some of our favorite shows and what to expect from them in their upcoming seasons. CBS recently held theirs and here were some interesting scooplets that got leaked, that some of you may find interesting:

Survivor: The new installment, which takes place in China will NOT have the exile island twist involved. However, the hidden immunity idol will remain apart of the game and according to producers will be placed somewhere "right under their noses".

CSI: Producers are saying that within the first few episodes, there will be a definitive end to the Sara/Grissom relationship. They wouldn't go any further as to whether Sara will be back or not, but it doesn't look like they will remain a couple one way or the other.

Amazing Race: The next season won't air until midseason, but CBS is reporting that it will be a shorter season and as a result there will be no nonelimination legs, which is just fine by me.

Harry Potter 7 thoughts (NO SPOILERS)

So after Jim left early Sunday morning, I was finally able to crack open Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which I received through Amazon on Saturday. In fear of having anything spoiled, I did nothing but plow through the book. It took me about 10 hours, although I'll probably read it again as I probably missed a point or two along the way.

I have to say that I loved the book. Without giving anything away I thought it did a wonderful job of tying up loose ends, providing a ton of drama and action and also paying homage to virtually every character who had ever been introduced in the previous 6 books. For Potter fans, this is a great book. I am very curious though as to how they will make this book into a movie. Even though it's comparable in length to the previous couple of books, there is just so much going on in this one that they'll either have to break it into two films or really gut out a lot of stuff. It's easy to see how Order of the Phoenix could be made into a 2 hour film (since nothing ever happened in that book), but this one can't be handled in the same way.

If you're like me and having already finished it, in fear of spoilers, I'd love to discuss it with you. Although for the sake of everyone, you better email me about it so as not to piss off anyone who hasn't read it yet.

Thank you for waiting...the (soon to be) doctor will see you now

I'm sorry there has been a dry spell of posts from me lately, but I do have a good reason. My friend Jim from Dayton came down to visit me, so I really haven't been around my computer a lot these past few days. But because he's down here, it's given me a reason to see some movies. I saw Spiderman 3 again early this week, but since I've already talked about that, there's no reason to do it here. Tonight, however, I got to see Sicko.

In general, the film was enjoyable. Well, as enjoyable as a film about how we're getting screwed by the HMOs can be. It's also a typical Michael Moore film, which can either be a very good thing or very bad thing, depending on who you are. About the only difference was that I thought this one was a little lighter on the humor than some of his other films had been. Again, though, a film about people dying as a result of greedy doctors...not exactly chock full of hilarity.

The film's biggest detriment is how it presents this problem as so simple, yet complicated. Really, the argument is simple ("Look other countries give their citizens free health care, why can't we?") and the solution is really complicated ("Yeah, like HMOs are really ever going to release their stranglehold on the health care industry"). The other maddening thing about this film is that I was waiting for the other shoe to fall on the systems these other countries like Canada and France have, yet it never came. So either these countries truly do live in these fanatasy worlds where everyone receives medical attention and lives happily or there's more going on than what was being presented in the film.

While the film is well made and never dull, you also leave with the sense that there isn't much you as an individual can do. Unlike say An Inconveinent Truth which gave viewers pause to consider how they can do their part to help the Earth, this problem will come down to whether politicians can grow a sack and make the necessary changes to this system. I recommend you check this out as it can produce some good debate, but be prepared to pull your hair out as you realize the situation we're in. On second thought, don't pull your hair out; it's likely to cause you to lose your benefits. Grade: B+

Summer TV worth watching

I can't believe it's taken me this long to talk about the only summer TV show worth watching; the World Series of Pop Culture. It has returned after its successful premiere season last year. The show has maintained everything that made it cool last year - namely the mega-nerd teams with their geeky names, being a fast-paced quiz show chock full of obscure pop culture references, and most importantly of all, the awesomely dry host, Pat Kiernan. Kudos to the show for bringing back last year's champ, El Chucacabra to compete against this year's contestants.

After a week of play, clearly the biggest surprise was the upset of the aforementioned champs. With 8 new teams left it appears to be anybodys game. Some teams appear to be relying on only one member, while others seem more well-rounded. Then again, with the randomness of the questions asked, it could just be that certain teams dealt with categories that didn't meet their strengths and they could be stronger than they appeared. Of the remaining teams, the strongest ones appear to be 3 Men and a Little Lazy, Wocka Wocka, and Almost Perfect Strangers 2.0.

If you haven't checked this out, please do so next week. New episodes will be on Mon-Thur at 9pm on VH1. And if that time doesn't work for you, don't worry, it's VH1, so you know that it'll replayed ad naseum throughout the day. Also, if you want to test your own pop culture knowledge, you can do so at World of Pop.

Pronk staying put

Hafner signs four year extension.

Knowing that Travis is now signed through 2012 makes me a very happy man. Now lets hope with this out of the way, he can return to his home run hitting self and help guarantee that the Tribe make it to the postseason.

Get Smart teaser trailer

Would you believe....this comes out next summer. Consider me already excited.

Terrible end to the first half

So it appears the Indians decided to limp into the All Star Break, losing 4 of their last six. Their latest loss, today's pathetic 1-0 loss to the Blue Jays really stung as it cost us first place. Now the Tigers get to gloat over the Break about being in sole possession of first place.

I'm not going to turn on the panic button just yet as we're still in a very good position to make it to the postseason. However, this team has got to improve on the road. Luckily we only have four more games on the road for the rest of July. But we're barely home in August and September. If this team wants to play in October, they need to start playing as well on the road as they do at the Jake.

Also, needed is more clutch hitting from guys like Peralta (he really cost us today), Blake, Nixon and sadly, Pronk too. Some better managing in tight games would be helpful, but I'm not holding my breath that that will actually happen.

So for now those crybabies in the Motor City can claim this small victory, but when all is said and done, lets hope it is my Indians who will have something to celebrate.

Still not quite Fantastic

With my movie money almost expired (don't even get me started on that ripoff), I took the evening to finally see the Fantastic Four sequel. Good news: it is a marked improvement over the bloated, tedious, and annoying first film. Bad news: it still has a long way to go before being considered a good series of films based on the popular comic book.

The most notable improvement comes from the fact that the core Four are much more comfortable in their roles and actually seem like they belong (Alba's hotness in the film makes you almost forget that she's supposed to be an astronaut). Another positive of the film is the Silver Surfer, which appears to be a good representation of the character fans have come to know. Galactus does not receive the same treatment, but because I never read the comic books, I'm not as disappointed as some will be.

The film introduces plenty of interesting ideas: the desire to find someone to love, the desire to lead a normal life, dealing with the return of Doom, serving your country vs. serving yourself yet when you make a film that's only 92 mins. long it's kind of hard to properly address any of them. The film just allows you to fill in the holes, if you're so inclined.

The primary fault of this film and the original is that it basically refuses to allow you to be engaged. At no time do you ever get caught up with what's going on on the screen. You always know you're watching a film. Given that the comic book has such a rich tapestry of characters and story, you would think it wouldn't be difficult to create films which would allows viewers to escape reality and enter into their fantastic world. Instead, the film seems content to be light, popcorn fare that is just looking to make a quick buck. In better hands, this franchise had the potential to be discussed in the same breath as the Spiderman, Batman, and X-Men series.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer certainly is enjoyable in a "shut off your mind for 90 minutes" sort of way. I'll recommend it because regardless of what you thought of the first film, you'll definitely enjoy this one more. But be forewarned: this film severely lacks the "Wow" factor. Grade: B-

Won't you be my enabler?

I read a very interesting article today in the Wall Street Journal which basically places blame on Mr. Rodgers Neighborhood for creating the narcissistic attitude seen in a lot of young adults today. For quite some time now, I've expressed concern to others that a big problem with today's youth is that they are never held accountable for any of their actions and expect everything to be given to them. The horrid My Super Sweet 16 is a perfect example of this.

Now I hate to blame Mr. Rodgers for creating this culture, as I grew up on him and found his show to be very beneficial in my formative years. But the author makes some good points about how Rodgers' mantra that everyone is "special" has instilled this mindframe in the youth of America.

You can read the article for yourself here and then share your thoughts on the matter with me.

USA, USA, USA

Our nation can once again hold its head up high as the Hot Dog Eating Championship has come back to America. Check out the exciting finish to this year's 4th of July tradition:

They put the bone in Zamboni

So Blades of Glory finally made its way to the budget theater, which meant it was at a price I was willing to see it at. The end result? A very funny movie that I will place above the vastly overrated (by fans, that is) Talladega Nights. This is a typical Ferrell movie, but that's all right, as he generally knows how to bring the funny.

I think what helps this movie out is the supporting cast. Nights had the unfunny John C. Reilly and the uneven Sacha Baron Cohen. Blades on the other hand was bolstered by the efforts of Will Arnett, Amy Poehler, and Craig T. Nelson. Also, helping things out was Jenna Fischer, who is smoking hot in this movie; both when she's in sexy outfits and when she just playing the "aw shucks", girl-next-door character.

About the only criticism that I have is that the film really doesn't take any risks or explore the rich tapesty of humor that is men's figure skating. It stays in a comfort zone that allows it to be funny, but leaves you a little unfulfilled.

This is a great movie to just watch on a Saturday afternoon for some good laughs; along the lines of something like Dodgeball and it's one that I'll definitely pick up when it comes out on DVD. Grade: B+

New Bourne Ultimatum trailer

Most of the "threequels" (ugh, I can't stand that word) have fallen short of expectations thus far this summer. But after seeing this trailer, I'm thinking the last big movie of the summer, just might be the best. Check it out for yourself:

Finally....Adam has returned to Raleigh

Well after a hectic three week vacation in Cleveland in which I experience emotional highs and lows, I am finally back in NC. After making the 9 hour drive on Sunday, I got no rest, as I began teaching summer school today. Odd as it may sound, teaching will actually be a relief from the schedule I've had lately.

Now that I'm back, here's hoping I'll be updating this blog moreso. I also hope to be catching up on these summer movies that I've been neglecting lately. I'll definitely be seeing at least one film this week, if not more, so be looking for my thoughts on them as I post them.

One thing I will miss though is my Tribe. While I do have the Extra Innings package, it's not the same thing. I won't always get to see the games on STO. I won't get to see All Bets Are Off. And I won't get to watch the games with my family and friends. But as long as they keep winning, I'll be happy. Tonight's win (and sweep) over the D-Rays was awesome and puts us in a good place as we head into a big series with the Tigers here before the All Star Break.