WEEKEND REVIEW

It’s very odd… every time I leave town, less likely to be influenced by the buzz of Hollywood, my instincts about things like box office seem to improve.  On Friday, I wrote that American Pie 2 had an outside shot at keeping the box office crown, even though every tracking report had Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back in the $20 million range. 

Of course, before I break my arm patting myself on the back, I didn’t show the courage of that conviction in my Weekend Guesstimates.  (Ghosts of Mars was even more disappointing at the box office than it apparently was on the screen.  And Bubble Boy is easily the disaster of the weekend… almost makes me want to see it.)  That said, perhaps the greatest irony of the weekend is that Kevin Smith mocks internet buzz in his movie and it was internet buzz that led to the false perception that there was a big audience for this movie.  That said, it’s Kevin Smith’s best opening yet, so the only reason for him really to be disappointed is because of overly raised expectations.

In The Hot Button’s first homage to ass kissing, I won’t be reviewing Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, which I went to see over the weekend, hoping to have my first great Kevin Smith experience and the opportunity to be nice to a guy who I kind of like, even though I don’t think I’ll be on his Christmas card list anytime soon.  I will say this… the teen girls sitting next to me squealed with delight when every celeb appeared – especially for Jason Lee, who practically had the girl next top me rubbing her zippered area hard enough to start a brush fire – and laughed at every fart joke.  They even laughed every one of the four times characters did the same gag of turning to the camera when they wondered aloud about the audience.

The thing about Kevin Smith is he’s smarter than any of his characters.  A lot smarter.  And a lot more thoughtful.  And when he makes a movie that’s as smart as he is, I will probably love it… even if he never learns how to shoot a dialogue scene with the acuity of a Movie of the Week director. 

FYI:  For whatever reasons, my internet connection here at the hotel is hideous and it is almost impossible to do any reading or research on box office or anything else.  My apologies.  There’ll be a  new column on Wednesday.  DP

READER OF THE DAY:  Taiwan Steve writes:  “It's not easy to accept Aaliyah is dead.

Last February, I flew over to New York, attended the junket of 'Romeo Must Die'. For most Chinese journalists, Jet Li was our focus.

Somehow, I still remember how exhausted everyone was the afternoon, after the long hours of interview, included the movies stars. But Aaliyah was so sweet and nice that totally surprises me.

During the fifteen minutes she was spending with a bunch of journalists like us, came from the nation of Jet Li's fans, she kept smiling all the time. I knew she had been asking all the same questions by each reporter from the whole world, but she still has lots of patience to complete her job in her own smoothly way.

In order to cheer her up, I asked intended, 'Who's your favorite Romeo, Leonard or Jet Li?'  'Of course it's Jet Li!' she smiled like a sunshine, even I guess she would have to say so while sitting in front of people like us.

She was also very excited about the wire trick, because she's the only African American who had the chance to do so in the film. She's kind of proud or something.

When I asked her to give some tips to teenagers who rush to join the show business, after Britney and Backstreet Boys were such successfully, she laughed and said, 'Go to the school, so you can read your contract!'

That's the last question she answered, then time's up, Warner Bros. Publicity took her away to next group of journalists.

I never been her fans, Even I truly enjoy her performance of 'Journey to the Past' and 'Try Again', I sang a little bit of 'Journey to the Past' in the morning to other people to refresh their memories about what she had done.  Few months ago, I started to find 'Try Again' CD single, because I thought she danced very cool. Then I turn out to know the music video is the bonus track of 'Romeo Must Die' DVD.

I was very happy to hear she released her third album, Aaliyah is one of two leading actress who got the No.1 single in 2000 by performing the title song from the film starring within, another is Janet Jackson.

Aaliyah, no matter where you are, I wanna thank and admire you. You are the one of few artists that I ever met who truly respect their work. Maybe other people may say your kindness was nothing but simply polite to a bunch of strangers, but that's not what I felt.

It's sorry not to see you in the next two Matrix.”

E ME:  Hmmm…