Trainer Brian Wood demonstrates a perfect proud warrior stance; see theresemblance to Jake?
Proud warrior or plane gearing for take off — I can't decide.
ABC.com
Chad Ochocinco gets ready for flight
Okay, Aiden's arms aren't that bad...
Kate Gosselin and dance partner Tony Dovolani from week 1
It doesn’t take a genius to say that Kate Gosselin is headed home on Dancing with the Stars tonight. The only thing that could save her is a pity vote from Jon and Kate Plus 8fans or divorced moms.
For the rest of us, she’s pretty irritating. Her trainer, Tony Dovolani, even walked out on her. Gosselin told him “I love how you teach but you are not taking into consideration how I learn” which is a patronizing way to say, “You suck at teaching.” She also pulled the “A lot of people quit on me in life” line and in this scenario, I could understand why — she’s a serious pain (for the record, I have no comments on the divorce, just her dancing).
Tony finally said he quit and walked out where he probably found ABC producers reminding him of his contract. He then, of course, returned and it became a bonding experience (typical DWTS style). But it sure didn’t help the dance — it was a disaster. It looked like she had never seen the steps before and hurt me to watch it. I think it was painful for most of America, so I’m betting she goes home.
In other news, what’s the deal with the men’s airplane arms (see pictures)? I know they’re all beginners, but I laugh every time I see it — especially pilot Jake. It's really more of a blend between yoga’s proud warrior stance and little boys pretending to be airplanes — hilarious!
Next time you watch the show, look out for it — guaranteed entertainment value increase. What off-the-wall thing amuses you about Dancing with the Stars? Let us know and maybe we'll write about it.
One of the oddest things about the blockbuster era we live in is that while Disney owns the rights to the majority of Marvel comic book characters, Sony Pictures owns the rights to Spider-Man and any affiliated characters. Since they’re sharing Spider-Man himself with Disney, Sony has been trying to capitalize on those rights by making stand-alone films using niche characters that only comic book fanatics would know.
Having exhausted Venom and whiffed on attempts with Morbius and Madame Web, they’re trying again with Kraven the Hunter. Also known as Sergei Kravinoff, Kraven (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is a self-styled vigilante who, as the film tells it, travels the world exacting vengeance on the truly bad people of the world. He’s the son of Nikolai (Russell Crowe), a hard-edged Russian oligarch, and brother to Dmitri (Fred Hechinger), who is relatively weak compared to the rest of his family.
The origin story has Kraven gaining his animal-like powers - including super-strength, speed, and jumping abilities - as a teenager from a mysterious serum given to him by a girl named Calypso (played as an adult by Ariana DeBose) after he was mauled by a lion. The two maintain a tenuous partnership as adults, with Calypso helping him hunt down other villains like Aleksei Sytsevich (Alessandro Nivola) and The Foreigner (Christopher Abbott).
Directed by J.C. Chandor and written by Richard Wenk, Art Marcum, and Matt Holloway, the film looks and feels enormously lazy, something made merely to hold on to potentially valuable intellectual property. Other than the tense family dynamic between the Kravinovs, little makes sense in the story. Kraven has an indecipherable moral code that has him going after poachers - because he’s part lion? - in addition to other high-powered criminals, with no clear goal except to … get back at his father?
The laziness extends to the action scenes, which feature Kraven being mostly impervious to any damage, whether it’s hand-to-hand combat, knives, or guns. The CGI-heavy scenes don’t even allow moviegoers to enjoy an R-rated bloody free-for-all, as all of the blood splatter is computer-generated, too. Since apparently one Spider-Man villain is not enough, three others make appearances with abilities that are under-explained and CGI that is poorly done.
That’s not even counting Calypso, another Spider-Man villain whose purpose in this film is nebulous at best. Her early connection with Kraven is so coincidental as to be laughable, and her continued reasons for helping him as an adult strain credulity as well. The only saving grace of her presence is that the filmmakers don’t try to shoehorn romance into the plot; perhaps they’re saving that for the (inevitable?) sequel.
Taylor-Johnson has had one of the most prolific-yet-anonymous careers in modern Hollywood, with appearances in big films like The Fall Guy, Bullet Train, and Tenet that have made very little impact. Even as the star here, he fails to hold your attention, with the story and visuals doing him no favors. DeBose has followed up her Oscar win for West Side Story with schlock like I.S.S., Argylle, and this, which doesn’t bode well for her career. At least Crowe gets to chew the scenery.
With a contractual inability to mention the name “Spider-Man,” movies like Kraven the Hunter exist in a weird area that forces filmmakers to make up stories for characters to which most people have no attachment. And just like Sony’s previous efforts, it is a very poor way to spend two hours in a movie theater; avoid at all costs.
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Kraven the Hunter opens in theaters on December 13.