Minority Report
Tom Cruise stars in this outstanding piece of work by legendary director Steven Spielberg. After A.I. debuted last year, I had my doubts going into this one. After all, A.I. had Stanley Kubrick behind it while this one had a guy named Dick. (Philip Dick wrote the original short story.) Spielberg basically managed to ruin A.I. but luckily he does not do the same here. Cruise stars as John Anderton (probably renamed from Anderson to avoid the calls of Mr. Anderson in a Matrix-like Agent voice) who runs the Pre-Crime unit of the District of Columbia. Using the minds of three pre-cogs, they use them to predict future murders. As a result, there hasn't been a murder since its inception. Soon enough, with an upcoming election to turn it nationwide and a federal attorney played by Colin Farrell breathing down his neck looking for flaws in the system to add on to the pressure, the newest crime (#1109) involves Anderton himself killing Leo Crow, a man he's never heard of. Now he's a man on the run because everybody runs. No longer can he trust anyone and as a result, takes it upon himself to find out what the heck is going on, including tracking down a minority report, a recording as it is seen through the mind of the one-pre-cog who sees things a bit differently than the other two.

This is one riveting movie. Even at two and a half hours, it did not seem long enough. It starts out with a bang with crime #1108 and continues its lively pace all the way through its chases and twists and turns. Its addition of humor in the middle act makes for a nice departure to the depressing scenes we've been watching. There were strong performances throughout including Cruise and Samantha Morton as Agatha, the lead pre-cog. Two plot questions: How much time passes between the conlcusion of the first crime and the discovery of the pre-crime of John Anderton? Apparently, it's enough time for Colin Farrell's Danny Witwer to grow a moustache and beard. And when Anderton roams around the Pre-crime complex looking for clues, why is he allowed to? You would think after he's been charged with a crime, they would revoke his privileges inside the complex but no. They even let his ex-wife in later through the same means. For a place set 50 years in the future, I guess security protocols don't exist. But these are very minor questions to a very exciting film. 4 stars (With a 4 star average, it becomes the new champion of Star Search!)

Wasn't I right about Brazil?

Here's a friendly warning from your electric company. In advance of the release of Like Mike, they are warning the kids and the kids at heart to not get their shoes stuck in electrical wires in an attempt to be struck by lightning and then play like Michael Jordan. Instead, they warn us, we might die. Umm, who do they think we are?

Mr. Deeds
This movie can't really be critiqued normally since no Adam Sandler movies are works of art by any stretch of the imagination. Instead, it needs to compared to the films he has done in his "storied" career. This one has Sandler playing Longfellow Deeds, a well-liked pizza guy from the small town of Mandrake Falls in New Hampshire. He just happens to be related to a wealthy man who just died. Since no heir could be found, he is the sole beneficiary of 49% of the media company he owned, worth $40 billion. He travels to a place very unfamiliar to him, New York City, to claim this new-found fortune. There, he meets Babe Bennett, a lady in distress who's really undercover for her TV show to get the scoop on him. She's played by Winona Ryder. (Sorry, no references to shoplifting in the movie but there is a part where she says she is broke.) But as cliches go, in the process of getting gossip about him, she falls for him. But before she can confess, Deeds finds out through the TV show, basically running him out of town and in the process handing over the company to the CEO who's hellbent on selling the company not just for the money, but for a shitload of money.

So as far as Sandler movies go, this one's middle of the road. It's not as hilarious as Billy Madison or Happy Gilmore, but it seems on par with The Waterboy and The Wedding Singer and it is certainly better than Little Nicky. The editing is terrible. Scenes end in awkward places, often staying with the action seconds after the joke has ended. There were many good and funny scenes but not enough to make me choke on my popcorn. And as always, things turn out happy for Sandler in this Happy Madison production. 2.5 stars

I let you know about the new teaser of Lord of the Rings II last night. Tonite on ET and the web, the new Star Trek X: Nemesis teaser is being shown. Should be good, both teaser and movie, becuase for some odd reason, when Star Trek goes dark (First Contact, DS9), it gets very good. Plus, it's an even numbered movie. The streak won't die. In the Bay Area, ET airs at 7:30 and 10pm on KRON4. The teaser is uploaded at 7:30 pm PT at startrek.com also.

The Cal-Berkeley football team has been penalized for some academic infractions. Apparently, they won't be allowed to go to a postseason bowl game because a professor allowed two players to pass a course (Ethnic Studies 21AC and UGIS 56 for those Berkeley kids reading) they really did not pass. Considering Cal hasn't been to a bowl game in 6 years, I guess it's not much of a penalty, is it? Let's face it, a 1-10 record to a bowl game doesn't happen in a year.

Heard on The Practice rerun today:
Judge: Bail?
Bobby: Yes, my client is a respected member of the community and poses no flight risk.
Judge: But he poses a health risk. He goes around shooting people in the head.

I wasn't a big fan of the first Lord of the Rings but after seeing this teaser to the second feature, The Two Towers, this one may actually live up to the hype. Catch it on movie-list.com while you can cause I think it's up earlier than the studio wanted to.

Really, how do you lose $3.8 billion?

I just heard Berkeley will offer a course on blogging. Maybe they can mix it with another topic: how blog is not even a real word. (Yet.) Those English majors might have a field day. Still, it sounds interesting. More and more journalists are using blogs nowadays. Why not teach people how to use it? True, it's not that hard. Look at this lame thing you're reading right now. But they get an A for effort. If only I had grades for effort...

After watching Mole II, a show nobody watches but still fascinating to me, I managed to catch the little summary rundown of that other show people are talking about, American Idol. Boy, those people are terrible. I'm sure they are talented and all but nothing beats the real thing and they aren't even close. You'd think a storied institution of broadcasting such as Fox would bring out the best and brightest of America in American Idol. Instead, they got pretty faces with half talent who are so hyped up we're forced to believe they have any real talent.

Now to catch a good show, Scrubs.

When my parents bought a new Accord a month ago, I knew the days of driving the old van were numbered. It's not even that old. It's a 1991 Plymouth Voyager. Sure, it leaked a lot of oil, enough to give it an oil change everyday. It smelled like it was burning whenever it was driven. Flames were seen shooting out of the muffler. It couldn't go faster than 50 mph, a big no-no in the California freeway car culture. So after 11 years and 230,000 miles, it was given away to Goodwill. May it enjoy a better life in the hands of the needy. Watch out for those Chinese food stains in the back. O, and the sticky cup holders. Or for that matter, the broken cup holders.

From what I hear, they also took away our plagued TV set too. It was always on but it was off. You had to shake the TV constantly to get a picture out of it and that's no way to watch TV. This from a Sony, too.

Speaking of TV, if you live on the west coast, or Alaska and Hawaii for that matter, you can catch Triumph making fun of people in the Star Wars line. It's on Late Night with Conan O'Brien in 15 minutes (NBC). Yes, you can download the skit but it's better to watch it on the television. For everyone else, it's also on at 3:05 am on most NBC stations next Tuesday morning.

Feeling half-awake, I managed to make myself presentable and make an appearance on campus for one of those classes that Berkeley is famous for. I figured it would be boring since the teacher would proably spend the hour talking about himself. Boy was I surprised. Not only did he talk about himself, he managed to put in some material for the class into the lecture while feeling less awake than I was. Literally, he was speaking one word every three seconds. Plus, it was stuff I already learned. So, I muddled through it in the back of the class talking to the only person I recognized.

As I walked out, I happened upon my friend from high school, Lily. She and her roommate Sam moved to the lower west side (read: Dwight and Shattuck). So I was dragged along to see the place. It's nice but it's far away from campus. It's as far as my place.

It's amazing how much the place changes over a short month. The old Kragen place has turned into a thrift store/Magic Johnson clinic. Maybe Magic himself will make an appearance? More importantly, the Burger King by the BART station has closed down! Oh the humanity!

Growing up on subtitled Asian movies, I've been particularly disappointed with the new batch that have been coming out in recent years. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon wasn't particularly exciting. Yes, it was a solid movie, but it wasn't something I hadn't seen before. Hollywood is forcing John Woo to direct some pretty crappy films; Hard Target and Windtalkers come to mind. (I haven't watched Windtalkers yet, but the trailer seems to speak for itself.) But while I was locked down at my uncle's house, I happened to catch a very entertaining Korean film named Bichunmoo. The plot could use a little work. People appear and reappear for no apparent reason. Weird things happen at some climactic moments which aren't explained. But its basic plot of two men fighting for a girl, the "good" guy the holder of the Bischun secrets and, inexplicably, two names, is executed well enough that it goes along with the action and swordplay scenes it provides.

After a month off at home, Berkeleyan life begins again.

My favorite baseball team, the Baltimore Orioles were playing in San Francisco this weekend. It was a sight to see since they probably won't be in the city for another six years though there is always Oakland. While watching a whole Giants game for the first time in ages, I became fascinated with watching Barry Bonds. I don't know, but it just seems like he doesn't care anymore. Sure, he hits the home runs and he plays the game, but there's doesn't seem to be too much effort. (Sorry JJ.) Truly, I wouldn't have been surprised if he walks the bases when he hits home runs. When he scored the run today, it looked as though he was jogging his way to third base and because of this slow trot, he needed a second or two to decide whether to go home or not. Luckily, he did and made it. Other than that, I really didn't see any more jogging. Just lots of walking. It's not golf, Barry! As for the game, a strong game by pitcher Jason Johnson allowed the Orioles to win 3-1. Big Livan Hernandez was tagged with the loss. The O's took two of three from the Giants. Go O's.

My sister asked me why Vanessa Carlton would only walk a thousand miles to be with her boyfriend. "So like if he lived farther than Denver, she wouldn't walk at all?" Well, it's better than the Proclaimers, who would only walk 500 miles with an option to walk 500 more.

And wouldn't it be funny if instead of Hoobastank's "Running Away", they were jogging away?

Like most Americans, I was asleep at 4 am while the soccer team went down in defeat to the Germans in the World Cup. Man, just when I was starting to like soccer again. I do have to admit that those South Koreans can be a pretty wild bunch. Nice to see them in the semifinals even though they'll probably lose to Germany. My pick? Brazil wins it all.

Went to Olive Garden tonite for dinner. They have the slogan that when we're there, we're family. Let's see...waiting an hour for any sort of food to arrive. People who just don't care or even want to talk to you. Lots of yelling in the background. Food that doesn't taste right. Yep, seems like family all right.

Let me get this straight. In Colorado, a forest ranger burns a letter from her ex-husband, accidentally setting a wildfire big enough for the governor to say the whole state is burning. She tries to hide her tracks by saying she was putting out an illegal campfire, yet she confesses two days later. But when she's in court, she pleads not guilty. Huh?

Even though he failed a lie detector, some guy has said terrorists are planning to strike Las Vegas on the 4th of July. Guess where I'll be 4th of July?

I found myself watching King Ralph today. I have to wonder if George W. watched this before he was inaugurated as president.

Tiger Woods won the U.S. Open recently. Writers are now calling him the best golfer ever, to which I say bull. Jack Nicklaus will forever be the greatest golfer ever, simply because he had competitors Tiger doesn't have today. Nicklaus had Palmer, Trevino, Watson, Irwin, and Player among others. Most of whom now have nicknames. Tiger has what, Sergio Garcia? A guy who needs to regrip a billion times before he swings a club? Phil Mickelson, a lefty who can never pull it out? David Duval, a guy who wears sunglasses on cloudy days? See, none of these come close. Plus, Jack had 18 major championships to Tiger's 8. Soon, Tiger may very well pass that mark. But bear in mind, Jack was second and third place in these majors numerous times. He won the Masters when he was 46! Tiger it seems to me has never been a second or third place nor will he be playing competitvely at this level even a decade later. So unless Tiger wins like 15 or 20 more times or actually accomplishes the Grand Slam twice, Jack will truly be the greatest.

The Bourne Identity
This film stars Matt Damon as Jason Bourne, a man with a lot of holes physically and mentally. You see, he's been shot a couple of times and he's suffering from amnesia. After getting back on his feet with the help of some fishermen, he tries to find out who he is. An account number found in a laser pointer attached to his hip takes him to a bank, where he finds passports, money, and a gun. The CIA wants him dead after Bourne's mission from a couple of weeks earlier fails. They track him to this bank where the game of cat and mouse begins. Bourne befriends Marie, a cash-strapped woman played by the great Franka Potente of Run Lola Run fame, who is willing to drive him to Paris for $20,000. Soon, she finds herself a target of this chase and they go together to elude the various CIA agents chasing them.

The story is smart and intelligent. It shows not all summer flicks need to be dumbed down to a level that everyone can understand. Probably not intentional, but I laughed at all the references Bourne makes about running when talking to Marie. But what's lacking in this summer atmosphere of movies is the action. We see glimpses of it, but nearly not enough in a movie that hypes itself as one. It also goes along at a snail's pace. A device by the director to discover memories with Bourne? Who knows? But it's a little frustrating all the same. Also, it's not fully explained as to what Bourne actually is. Cyborg? Universal Soldier? (What other Van Damme movies have there been?) Plus, one has to wonder why Julia Stiles is here playing a bit part. Nevertheless, it's a thinking man's movie as we along, with Jason, find out what the heck is going on. 2.5 stars

Along with watching the DVD's, a friend of mine has gotten me hooked to the game Pyramids on Yahoo. Ever played it before? While the game is simple, putting cards in order, it's these kinds of games that are addictive. In my case, they've included Diamond Mine, Collapse, and The Price is Right on Gamesville.

What is it with these simple games getting reborn nowadays? You know, the kinds of games that could be played on my old Sega Master System I has new life in the form of an online game. ("Hey, it's Pong with chat!" stands out, but for some reason, it's not at the site anymore) Weird, but hey, it kills time and the eyes.

You can always learn stuff or find something interesting in the newspaper. For example, a couple of people are suing Britney Spears for illegally using the song Oops, I Did It Again. But why? It's a dumb song. The only reason it's popular is because Britney Spears is singing it.

Also, did you know you can fold a $20 bill in such a way that you can actually see the World Trade Center buildings burning? Check out this site and see for yourself. I can't. I don't have a $20 bill.

Graduation is upon the kids at my former high school today. Another group of people walking down the mythical aisle of ascension. I'm planning on going even if the people who knew me two years ago have no idea who I am. At least for the first 15 minutes. Then I'm outta there. There's never enough parking and I wanna beat the traffic.

My sister's two years away from graduating. But to be on the safe side, we'll call it 3 years away.

In the meantime, I'm stuck here at home. I'm currently watching a couple of people replace the tile and linoleum downstairs and being the only one at home, you get the picture. That doesn't leave too much time to feed my addiction on movies. I've been watching the DVD's instead, waiting for better movies to come out at the theatre. How aren't some of the movies interesting? Find out later. I'll compile a list. I would like to say Ghost World is an interesting movie, contrary to everyone around me who says it's a boring piece of crap or words to that effect.

If I had to rethink my college plans after high school, I probably would have been a dentist. This after a visit to the dentist yesterday. I hadn't been there for a year so I was expecting the worst. Before I go, my parents told me my dentist, a nice old guy, had retired. Since it was a dentist group, we'd be assigned to some other dentist there. Wow. This new dentist seemed to be trying to get money left and right. He had already gotten to my dad and sister. My sister has four cavities, not unexpected. She's not too responsible for her teeth plus she lost her retainers. That's hundreds of dollars already. They told my dad he'd need to get a root canal and some crowns before they could clean his teeth. What a bunch of bull. My dad responds that it doesn't hurt anywhere to which the dentist says, "Really? It should." With this kind of dentistry, he must be a very rich man.

Then, he gets to me. Since I hadn't been there in a year, they make me fill out a form. On it, it asks if I have had any of a list of 50 ailments in my life. I put a line through all the no boxes. But the hygenist tells me I have to check every box. Geez. The dentist comes in, obviously middle-aged but seemingly inexperienced. Says I have perfect teeth, albeit with a little plaque, but nothing to worry about. So at least he knows perfect teeth when he sees it. As for identifying other problems, he might be just seeing green instead of holes.

Do you remember what they call a person who flunks medical school? A dentist.

Family parties such as the one my family had today can have its pros and cons. Let's look at some of them as it applied to this party.

Pro: Lots of people I recognize and vice versa
Con: Not many people my age causing sheer boredom throughout

Pro: Lots of good food to eat
Con: I get the job of unclogging the toilets

Pro: When I do get bored, I'm at my home so I can find something to do
Con: After a late night, I'm forced to wake up early to set things up

Pro: It's a nice sunny day for a party
Con: We're indoors, there's no AC, and it's hot as hell

I'll try to think of more later.

Disaster movies are coming at us left and right. The Sum of All Fears came out last week as a full-blown drama that threatens Baltimore. Bad Company opens today as a dramedy (or comma) that threatens Jersey City, New Jersey. But this review of Atomic Twister will have you believe this tale of a nuclear power plant that threatens to meltdown half of Tennessee is a full-blown comedy. To be shown on TBS on Sunday night, it sounds like must-see for a few laughs in this unintended comedy. Read the review by Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Sun-Times here.

The MTV Movie Awards always provides a couple of hours of laughs every year followed by hundreds of more hours through the number of times it gets re-run. This year was no exception. But with most likely early teens watching, I was surprised with the amount of sex content in the telecast. I'm not complaining but it didn't seem appropriate. From visiting the upside-down Spider-Man kiss to mentioning sex in the opening number to domimatrix people (domimatrices?) showing off on stage to Jack Black having the ring from Lord of the Rings pierced to his member plus much more. It all seemed to pile on. But even if you ignore all this and focus on the rest of it including the half-dressed ladies, always a good thing in any awards show, from host Gellar to various audience members, this was a funny show. Not as funny as when Mike Myers hosted a while back but still... that Panic Room skit had me laughing, especially when they broke out in song.

Did anyone notice when the great Jennifer Garner and the hitless-but-pretends-to-be-a-big-actress Charlize Theron jokingly talked about the year of the man, we got a shot of Hilary Swank?

Funniest ad-lib was from Matt Damon talking about "hating whiteys" to Chris Rock and Will Smith. I'll get the exact quote later when I watch one of their thousands of repeats.

Is it just my TV or did Mandy Moore look black with the tan she had? Besides that, her speech went way too long and thanked a lot of agents and other people we don't care about. I don't know anybody, okay maybe one, who actually watched this Remember Walking movie she did. Oh, right, A Walk to Remember. (Does it make a difference?)

Kelly Osbourne doesn't sound like a good singer at all. One way to tell is when her band totally drowns her out and we can barely hear her voice.

Hey look! Guess what's on MTV right now. It's the MTV Movie Awards. What a surprise!

Undercover Brother
Eddie Griffin stars in this movie about his efforts along with the Brotherhood to prevent The Man from trying to rid society of black influences. It's very funny. Think of it as an Austin Powers movie but with a 70's black man trying to deal with modern-day white people instead of a 60's man dealing with a 60's villain in a 90's society. Plus, there aren't any of the gross-out jokes like in Austin Powers that really would make Undercover Brother stand out from the rest of the comedies out there and be memorable. Sure, you'll be laughing at all the jokes in the theatre, but once you get out and live life, you would have forgotten all the hilarious one-liners given in the movie. I know I have. Still, it provides an hour and a half of comedic entertainment. Billy Dee Williams of Star Wars fame has an excellent cameo as a Colin Powell-esque General who is about to run for President only to start a fried chicken restaurant chain, easily the funniest two scenes in the movie. 3 stars

Must Leno keep putting on that Ross the Intern? He is the most annoying guy on TV, plus that Ross guy is annoying too. At least Dave is on, funny as ever.

Hi, Bob. Hi, Stan. How's the go going?

Winona Ryder. What's there to say about her? She's pretty and she's a good actress. But she's really dug herself into a hole with this whole shoplifting accusation. The latest news is that she hurt her left arm after someone accidentally bumped into her with a news camera. Yet, she comes back with a cast on her right arm! What's going on here? With this and the odd videotape of her carrying many pieces of clothing, she just might be guilty. Unless they make her try on something and it doesn't fit...then anything might happen down there in SoCal.

Ok, maybe this Hurricanes-Red Wings series might go on a bit longer than I thought.

So I was watching Spy TV tonite. I still don't understand the tagline at the end of each little prank. They tell them that they're on Spy TV but do they really know what that show is? Heck, it could mean anything. Plus, it's a new show. I'm sure barely anyone watches it. I flipped to it when I saw Ali Landry, not because of the dumb pranks they were doing. They should've just bought the rights to Candid Camera and called it that. At least people would recognize that plus it has a catchy tune.

Why am I up this late? Helping my procrastinating sister with a Spanish video project. Whatever happened to old-fashioned skits, the bread and butter of learning a language when I took 4 years of Spanish? Geez... (True, all I got out of those years were a few words and phrases but I learned something, si?)

It was probably only fitting that the Lakers-Kings series would end in sudden-death overtime, with the Lakers thankfully prevailing. Yes, the Kings are an elite team now and they are to be given props for that, but all I can remember were those days years ago when they occupied the cellar with the Warriors and the Clippers. Now with the Clips half decent, the local Warriors have the bottom all to themselves.

Did you notice if you add up the margin of victories by each team, Sacramento is ahead by a mere 2 points? Alas, but it's the votes that count, and the Lakers advance.

Whoever made Minute Maid OJ with Calcium is an idiot. Did they just mix milk and orange juice together or something?

The Sum of All Fears
This "present-day prequel" has Jack Ryan, played by Ben Affleck, saving the world again, this time under the backdrop of a nuclear explosion at a football stadium. This fresh-faced CIA agent is promoted to consult CIA director Cabot, played by Morgan Freeman, on the new Russian president, whom Ryan wrote an extensive paper on. Soon, with the disclosure that 3 Russian nuclear scientists are missing, the two start to investigate. Meanwhile, a group of Neo-Nazis go-ahead with their plans to escalate the fighting between the U.S. and Russia, so that once they finish each other off, the Neo-Nazis can finally rule the world, or at least what's left of it. They destroy the capital of Chechnya, which the new Russian president must take responsibility for or else he would look weak. Ryan discovers the next piece of their plan, the nuclear explosion on U.S. soil, and tells Cabot, but it is too late. Afterwards, Ryan acts alone in trying to prevent the United States and Russia from detonating nuclear weapons against each other.

All of it is well-done with some minor problems. The pre-nuclear half seems to run a bit long, talking about things the average moviegoer has no interest in listening to, but presumably, it's to get us used to seeing Ben Affleck instead of Harrison Ford or even Alec Baldwin in the role. The actual explosion and subsequent aftermath probably would have been more devastating had the events of September 11th not happened. Instead, this seems a bit rushed plus we've seen the whole sequence in the trailer. The last half lacks plausibility, with our hero Affleck racing through the disaster area only minutes after the blast, with no signs of sickness from the fallout (though hurriedly expained that the fallout was being blown to the south and east, I think making it near the epicenter would expose him to some radiation). Plus, do you mean to tell me that after Affleck's helicopter crashes, all he has is a bump on the head while the two pilots are dead? Come on! Admittedly, it is only a movie and at that, it is riveting. I couldn't keep my eyes off the screen, waiting for the back and forth between the U.S. vs. Russia and Ryan vs. everyone to continue. It's straightforward but effective. 3 stars