Two weekends ago we had our first “bomb” of the season, as “Macgruber” not only failed according to the critics, but the audiences stayed away in droves as well.

But at least the studios didn’t sink that much money into that sink hole, and when it’s all said and done, the DVR and pay-per-view receipts might even make it so that this stinker might actually break even.

For the summer’s first big time money loser; that came last week with the video game adaptation “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time”.  A $200 million project, it came in third at the box office last week, losing out not only to the second weekend of “Shrek Forever After”, but also raking in less money than the horrendous “Sex and the City 2”.

Lessons learned?  Video games turned into movies don’t sell.  The second lesson is that while Jake Gyllenhaal is a very good actor; he’s not a movie star.

Then again, neither is Ashton Kutcher…as another studio is about to find out in a very painful way this weekend.

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They made a second one of these?  Are you kidding me?  What did I do wrong in my past life to deserve this level of punishment?

Fortunately, I'm not being forced to go watch this one.  And it doesn't matter, as there is absolutely no difference between the first debaucle and this one.  So with that in mind, I will re-post my review of the first movie, as a cautionary tale to any poor sap who is thinking that he might actually get lucky with his girlfriend if he consents to going with her to see this.

Trust me.  It's not worth it...as I will now demonstrate.

Hence, in the time that I've had this position, she has went with me to attend such gender neutral and wholesome family movies as "300", "Casino Royale", "Eastern Promises", "Shoot ‘Em Up", and possibly her favorite..."Snakes on a Plane". Yes, there is nothing that quite says "I love you" more than going to a film with your idiot husband and watching a poisonous viper bite someone in the eyeball.

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Memorial Day Weekend.  My favorite holiday of the year, as it kicks off the start of summer, and all the great things that come with that.

No matter what your plans are this weekend; stay safe, and have fun.

For the box office?  Not so good.  Last week saw two movies that failed to meet expectations, including the mammoth bombing of “MacGruber”…which failed so miserably that it may (finally) spell the end of SNL sketches that are turned into movies.

This week sees two movies coming out that are already being trashed.  And then next week there are four movies being released, none of them appear to be worth seeing at even bargain matinee prices.

Mini Review  - The Road

I saw this at the theater in its very limited release back in January, and caught it again this week on DVD.

It was possibly even more powerful the second time through.

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And now, the end is here

And so I face, the final curtain

That can be said for both the television version of “24”, and also this column that I’ve published through three seasons of Jack.

Let’s start with one last response to my most fanatic email partner; Mr. Gary Benz.  Gary jogged my memory about something I had forgotten; the fact that Jack kidnapped Logan in Season 5. 

In other words; another retread of a plot device. 

How surprising.

On the other hand, as much as I usually agree with Gary’s points, I will disagree with him on one thing that seems to bug him a lot more than me.  That being Jack’s journey “off the rails”.  Gary’s opinion is that if Jack had been the type of person to totally wig out over a murder, it would have happened after the death of his wife Teri at the end of the first season.

Fair enough…but I contend that no single event in itself caused Jack to go over to the dark side.  Instead, it was a culmination of all the terrible things that had happened to him over the years; Teri, his father, his brother, being kidnapped and tortured by the Chinese, Tony Almeda’s actions, Audrey Rains going loony-toons, being forced to execute Ryan Chappelle, and the deaths in the line of duty by so many that he cared for; like Bill Buchanan, Michelle, Edgar, David Palmer, etc.  There is only so much angst one person can take before he is ready to go Anton Chigurh on as many people as he can…and I think that line was finally crossed with the death of Renee Walker.

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