Month: May 2011

Categories
Music

I like new tunes!!!

Coldplay to Release ‘Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall’ Single Friday
Coldplay fans will finally get to hear some new music when the group releases a new single, “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall,” this Friday (June 3), the same day their summer festival run kicks off in Germany. The band made the announcement on its official website, where it also posted the single’s artwork and full lyrics, and posted a video teaser on its YouTube page. 
 
“We’re about to play a bunch of summer festivals so it’s as good a time as any to put out a new song,” the band wrote in a message credited to drummer Will Champion. The song’s lyrics hint at a triumphant tone for the “rebel song,” with lines like, “And all the kids they dance, all the kids all night/Until Monday morning feels another life/I turn the music up/I’m on a roll this time/And heaven is in sight.”
 
“Waterfall” will stream on the band’s website Friday and be released digitally everywhere except the U.K., where it will come out a day later. Coldplay will also perform the new single for the first time during its gig at the Rock Im Park festival in Nuremberg, Germany on Friday. After performing at European fests like Glastonbury and T in the Park, the group will head to Japan and Australia before hitting the States for Lollapalooza on August 5 and Austin City Limits on Sept. 16.
 
The announcement does not indicate whether “Waterfall” is the first taste of Coldplay’s forthcoming, Brian Eno-produced fifth album, which frontman Chris Martin described as focusing on “love, addiction, OCD, escape and working for someone you don’t like” in an interview last January. The group’s last effort, 2008’s “Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends,” has sold 2.7 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Categories
People

I can not wait to see BEGINNERS, and Christopher Plummer remains one of the greats!!!

At 81, Plummer still relishing the actor’s life
NEW YORK – Ewan McGregor was having a hard time keeping up with Christopher Plummer.
At the suggestion of director Mike Mills, McGregor had brought his 81-year-old co-star to Barney’s in Los Angeles to pick up a scarf for Plummer’s elderly gay character in their film “Beginners.” But Plummer had other designs.
“Christopher only wanted to get skinny black jeans,” recalls McGregor. “That was his main goal in life. When we got there, he asked where the jeans department was, and off he went to find skinny jeans.”
That one of the finest living interpreters of Shakespeare and one of the few remaining greats of classical acting was hell-bent on procuring a hipster staple might seem odd. But then again, Plummer has seldom acceded to the stereotypes of old age.
“I’m glad (my ambition) is still there,” said Plummer in a recent interview. “If it faded, what’s there to live for? It makes you appreciate other things if you keep working at your job and you love your job. Too many people in the world are unhappy with their lot. And then they retire and they become vegetables. I think retirement in any profession is death, so I’m determined to keep crackin’.”
Plummer’s remarkable late period began with his acclaimed performance as Mike Wallace in Michael Mann’s 1999 film “The Insider,” continued in films such as 2009’s “The Last Station” (his performance as a fiery yet deteriorating Tolstoy was nominated for an Oscar) and arguably culminated with his staggering “King Lear” at Lincoln Center in 2004.
In “Beginnings,” which opens in theaters Friday, Plummer gives yet another career-capping performance. He plays Hal, a 75-year-old who comes out of the closet after his longtime wife dies, and shortly before terminal cancer sets in. McGregor stars as his son in a film largely based on Mills’ own family.
The role suits Plummer particularly well because Hal, like Plummer, is randy, funny and undimmed.
“The wonderful thing about Hal is that he has such a ball at the end of his life,” says Plummer. “It was a charming script, I thought, and so lacking in sentimentality and self-pity. There was none of that nonsense. Usually, when scripts like that come along, you have to work so hard to play against them because they’re just so saccharine. And the writers and producers will tell you that’s what the public wants. Blow it out your bum!”
Plummer long chaffed at less dynamic roles, none more than his most famous part: Capt. Von Trapp in “The Sound of Music.” In his rollicking 2008 memoir, “In Spite of Myself,” he surveys a life begun amid Montreal privilege, carried through boozy `50s New York and swinging `60s London, and ultimately spent in reverence of, as he says, “the Thee-ah-tah.” He also refers to “The Sound of Music” as “S&M” and laments the “humorless and one-dimensional” Von Trapp.
“We tried so hard to put humor into it,” he says now. “It was almost impossible. It was just agony to try to make that guy not a cardboard figure.”
The role catapulted Plummer to stardom, but he never took to leading-men parts.
“I hated playing them,” he says. “They were so innocuously and badly written and cardboard figures, most of them. In my 40s, I began to suddenly enjoy making movies because the character parts are so much more interesting. I started having a ball and working with much better directors — John Huston, for example, and Anatole Litvak from the old school. After Michael Mann’s `The Insider,’ then the scripts improved. I was upgraded! Since then, they’ve been first-class scripts. Not all successful, but worth doing.”
All the while, though, Plummer would “go back for my medicine” on the stage. The Canadian-born actor has performed most all of the major Shakespeare roles (among them Hamlet, Macbeth, Henry V, Iago and Cyrano), often at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada. Plummer, who lives with his wife of 41 years, Elaine Taylor, in Weston, Conn., last year played Prospero in “The Tempest” at Stratford.
“I’ve become simpler and simpler with playing Shakespeare,” he says. “I’m not as extravagant as I used to be. I don’t listen to my voice so much anymore. All the pitfalls of playing the classics — you can fall in love with yourself.”
“I’m determined to finish playing all the great parts,” says Plummer. “I think I have, actually.”
Actors who have recently worked with Plummer speak of his unceasing joy in his work and his commitment to still growing as an actor.
“That was the surprising thing about Christopher, just how contemporary he is as an actor, how modern it feels when you’re working with him,” says McGregor. “Acting was very different and it’s evolved. But what’s very clear is that so has Christopher’s acting. He gives an amazing performance in this film, but it never, ever felt like he was when we were acting it. We were never aware of his performance. It just felt like I was in a scene with my dad.”
Mills, whose only previous feature was 2005’s “Thumbsucker,” calls Plummer “a bit of a rascal, in the best sense of the word.”
“It’s really contagious being around a 79-year-old man (during filming two years ago) that loves what he’s doing and isn’t taking it for granted,” says Mills. “There’s something really magical and special about that. Ewan and I both talked about that a lot, like, `Wow, I want to be like that.'”
Plummer has been working at a pace of about three films and a play every year. He co-stars in the highly anticipated “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” due out later this year, and is currently prepping roles in two films and one play (though he declines to name them).
Plummer says he relishes finding “new ways of simplifying things,” and is enjoying acting more than ever.
“It’s cliché, but you know that you have to,” he says. “You appreciate life much more because there’s so little of it left. I must say there’s a sort of panic, too, that takes over when you hit 80. Am I going to be able to do all the things that I want to do, starting now? Rather like Hal, in that respect, that he starts his life when it’s too late. But never too late because even five minutes is glorious.”
Categories
Sports

Spectacular news!!!

NHL back in Winnipeg!!!!
A deal has been reached to bring a National Hockey League team back to Winnipeg for the first time since 1996.
A deal to move the NHL’s Atlanta Thrashers to the Manitoba capital has been announced at press conference at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg.
As soon as the announcement was made by Mark Chipman, chairman of True North Sports and Entertainment Ltd., thousands of fans shouted, cheered, clapped and whistled at two party places in the city: the city’s famous intersection of Portage and Main, and The Forks marketplace.
“It’s a fantastic day for the city and I’m hoping, you know, for decades on, everybody will get to experience the NHL and the economic impact and the wonderful pride that comes with being a city that has the best of the best,” said Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz.
Added former Jets centreman Thomas Steen: “It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this joy, that’s for sure. Today, I’m just going to enjoy.”
Chipman cautioned the deal has been completed but must still receive NHL board of governors approval. That could come at a June 21 meeting.
David Thomson, co-owner of the new team, travelled to Winnipeg from Toronto on Tuesday morning, as did NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly.
True North has been in negotiations with Atlanta Spirit, the owners of the Thrashers, for a number of weeks.
Bettman said the ink is still drying as negotiations were still ongoing as of 4:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday.
Organizers said ticket prices will range from $39 to $129 per game, and a drive to sell 13,000 season tickets would start this week.
Categories
Television

I suspect that she’ll be back!!

Hendricks afraid to lose ‘Mad Men’ job
Mad Men star Christina Hendricks feared for her job on the hit show as TV bosses feuded over finances earlier this year, insisting the dispute left her “scared” for her acting future.
The fifth season of the drama, in which Hendricks stars alongside Jon Hamm and January Jones, was due to begin shooting in the spring ahead of a summer U.S. TV debut.
But executives at network AMC and the Lionsgate studio which makes the series threw the show into jeopardy when they failed to reach a renewal agreement over costs, forcing producers to push the next series back until 2012.
At the height of negotiations, bosses suggested downsizing the cast – news which left Hendricks “scared” for her job security.
She tells The Hollywood Reporter, “I was reading all that information along with the general public. A couple (of) people have already been cut out of the show, and that was very emotional for me. So hearing that – it’s not like it can’t happen because it’s happened before. It scared me. Every single person is such a contributor and… people just love these characters.”
But Hendricks admits she can understand why the option to fire cast members was brought up.
She says, “It does feel disrespectful, but I also know they are trying to do their job and save money, and there is this whole power-play thing, and it all works itself out.”
The two parties ended months of discussions in March, when they reached a deal to bring the hit show back for two more seasons.
Categories
Movies

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!!!

‘The Hobbit’ sequels officially ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ and ‘The Hobbit: There and Back Again’
Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema put much speculation to rest today by officially naming and dating each installment of Peter Jackson’s upcoming big screen adaptation of “The Hobbit.” 
The first installment has been christened “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” and will hit theaters on Dec. 14, 2012.  The second film shall be known as “The Hobbit: There and Back Again” and will debut on Dec. 13, 2013.  
Currently, the only film set for an opening on either date is 20th Century Fox’s “Life of Pi,” but you can expect that Ang Lee adventure to quickly find another release window.  
Based on a screenplay by Fran Walsh, Jackson, Philippa Boyens and Guillermo del Toro, the beloved J.R.R. Tolkein novel will be brought to life by a stellar ensemble of actors.  Ian McKellen returns as Gandalf the Grey, Martin Freeman takes over the central role of Bilbo Baggins from Ian Holm who played the hobbit in the original Oscar-winning “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Also reprising their roles from “The Lord of the Rings” movies are: Cate Blanchett as Galadriel; Orlando Bloom as Legolas; Ian Holm as the elder Bilbo; Christopher Lee as Saruman; Hugo Weaving as Elrond; Elijah Wood as Frodo; and Andy Serkis as Gollum.  The cast also includes ( Richard Armitage, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Stephen Fry, Ryan Gage, Mark Hadlow, Peter Hambleton, Stephen Hunter, William Kircher, Sylvester McCoy, Bret McKenzie, Graham McTavish, Mike Mizrahi, James Nesbitt, Dean O’Gorman, Lee Pace, Mikael Persbrandt, Conan Stevens, Ken Stott, Jeffrey Thomas, and Aidan Turner.
Production is currently underway in New Zealand.
Categories
Movies

It will be interesting to see how much THE HANGOVER drops off in it’s second weekend!!

‘The Hangover’ lingers with record $105.8M weekend
LOS ANGELES – Hollywood has hustled up a hangover for the record books.
“The Hangover Part II” set a new high for comedy debuts with $105.8 million over the long Memorial Day weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The blockbuster sequel also led Hollywood to a new revenue record of around $280 million for the holiday weekend, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com.
That surpassed the previous record of $254.6 million in 2007. But factoring in today’s higher admission prices, more tickets were sold over the Memorial Day holiday that year than this past weekend.
“The Hangover Part II” raised its domestic haul to $137.4 million since opening Thursday, nearly half the business the 2009 original movie did over its entire run. The sequel has added $60.3 million more in 40 countries overseas.
“If you can enjoy a hangover, this is one to enjoy,” said Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros., which releases “The Hangover” flicks. “People love these characters. They can do no wrong.”
The movie reunites stars Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis as they awake in another haze and attempt to piece together the mayhem of their drunken night in Bangkok.
Opening at No. 2 behind “The Hangover Part II” was another sequel, DreamWorks Animation’s “Kung Fu Panda 2,” with $62.2 million.
The first “Kung Fu Panda” did almost the same business in just a normal three-day weekend, but DreamWorks hits tend to have a long shelf life at the box office.
“There’s no other animation for four weeks. We think we’ve got a lot of good play time still ahead,” said Anne Globe, head of marketing for DreamWorks Animation.
“Kung Fu Panda 2” has pulled in $68 million domestically since its Thursday debut and added $57 million more in 11 overseas markets, including $18.5 million in China.
The animated sequel again pairs voice stars Jack Black and Angelina Jolie as the menagerie of martial-arts heroes takes on a villain aiming to conquer ancient China using gunpowder and cannons.
Slipping from first-place to third in its second weekend was Johnny Depp’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” which took in $50.4 million.
The Disney release lifted its domestic booty to $164 million. The “Pirates” sequel remained No. 1 overseas with $137.1 million from Friday to Monday, raising its worldwide total to $649.1 million.
Hollywood’s $280 million haul for the four-day weekend was a huge leap above last year’s Memorial Day holiday, when “Shrek Forever After” led with $57.1 million. Business was up 45 percent from the lackluster 2010 holiday weekend, when revenues came in at just $192.5 million.
In barely a month, Hollywood has hurtled out of a box-office slide that lingered all winter, when revenues were down as much as 23 percent compared to the previous year’s.
“Hollywood is back with a vengeance,” said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian. “We always knew there were big movies on the horizon coming to save the day, and it looks like that’s what’s happening so far this summer.”
Revenues still are down 8.3 percent compared to 2010’s, but studio executives expect to erase that deficit with an upcoming summer lineup that includes “Harry Potter,” “Transformers” and “Cars” sequels.
“Every week, you’ve got another monster movie,” Fellman said. “Give us another month, and we’ll be ahead of last year.”
“The Hangover Part II” took in more cash than the previous record-holder for a four-day comedy debut, “Bruce Almighty,” which grossed $85.7 million over Memorial Day weekend in 2003. Accounting for inflation, however, “Bruce Almighty” sold more tickets.
In limited release, Woody Allen’s romance “Midnight in Paris” is positioned to become one of his biggest hits, breaking into the top 10 as it expanded to more theaters in its second weekend.
The Sony Pictures Classics release came in at No. 7 with $2.6 million in just 58 theaters, averaging a whopping $45,081 a cinema. That compares to a $29,257 average in 3,615 theaters for “The Hangover Part II.”
The film stars Owen Wilson as a contemporary writer who gets a lesson about romanticizing the past as he gets a chance to meet some of his idols in 1920s Paris.
Director Terrence Malick’s sprawling drama “The Tree of Life,” featuring Bard Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain, had a colossal opening in just four theaters in New York City and Los Angeles.
The Fox Searchlight film took in $488,920 for an average of $122,230 a theater.
Expanding to more theaters gradually through July 1, “The Tree of Life” chronicles an intimate family story told in a collage of impressionistic images and exchanges, intercut with grand scenes of the creation of the cosmos and the age of dinosaurs.
The film won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival just days before its Friday opening.
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Monday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Tuesday.
1. “The Hangover Part II,” $105.8 million.
2. “Kung Fu Panda 2,” $62.2 million.
3. “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” $50.4 million.
4. “Bridesmaids,” $21 million.
5. “Thor,” $12 million.
6. “Fast Five,” $8.2 million.
7. “Midnight in Paris,” $2.6 million.
8. “Rio,” $2.4 million.
9. “Jumping the Broom,” $2.35 million.
10. “Something Borrowed,” $2.3 million.
Categories
Concerts

I have seen them both alone, so technically I have seen them!!!!

Roger Waters hints that he’ll never reunite with Pink Floyd again
Roger Waters has hinted that he will never reunite with Pink Floyd again after stating he has “no wish” to work with the band again.
The singer raised hopes of a full reformation earlier this month (May 12) when he was joined onstage by former bandmates Dave Gilmour and Nick Mason at a London O2 Arena gig.
The concert, which was part of Waters’ ‘The Wall Live’ tour, was the first time that Waters and Gilmour had appeared onstage together in London since the Live 8 gig six years ago. They also played a four-song set for the Hoping Foundation at a fundraising event in Kiddington Hall, Oxford last year.
But speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs this morning (29), Waters appeared to distance himself from the possibility of a full Pink Floyd reunion.
“I’m really glad that I was in that band for the 20 years that I was in it and I really enjoyed it. I think we did some great work together but I have no wish to do it ever again,” he commented.
Pink Floyd had planned to reform last year for a charity concert, but pulled out when they learned that it was to be staged at socialite Jemima Khan’s house.
Drummer Nick Mason explained that the venue “wasn’t right” for a reformation.
Earlier this year, Mason said that he hoped the band would play live together again, but said it would be “very unlikely” that they would tour.
The band are set to re-release remastered versions of the albums in their back catalogue with EMI on September 26, after resolving a dispute with the label earlier this year.
Categories
Concerts

THIS IS SPECTACULAR NEWS!!!!

Jerry Seinfeld to perform in Regina on Sept. 9
 
REGINA — Thirteen years after ending his hit sitcom, comedian Jerry Seinfeld is once again back on the road performing and yada, yada, yada … he will be at the Brandt Centre in Regina on Sept. 9.
Tickets for the show go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. Tickets are available online at ticketmaster.ca, all Ticketmaster outlets or charge by phone at 543-7800 or 1-800-970-7328.
Ticket prices for the Regina show range from $92 to $112.
Categories
The Couch Potato Report

Lest we forget!!!

The Couch Potato Report – May 28th, 2011
 
This week The Couch Potato Report storms Juno, goes inside the last days of World War 2, and looks back on a platoon.
 
D-Day is a term often used in the military to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation will start.
 
The best known D-Day is June 6th, 1944 — the day of the Normandy landings — initiating the Western Allied effort to liberate mainland Europe from Nazi occupation during World War II.
 
Juno Beach is the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion in the Normandy landings on D-Day… and just ahead of June 6th, 2011 – and the Memorial Day Holiday in the States – several titles have come out with a connection to World War II, and the first one I have for you helps tell the Canadian side of the story that took place over there.
 
STORMING JUNO, a half film/half documentary project completed with the help of real veterans.
 
STORMING JUNO is based on the true events of some of the Canadian troops who went ashore on D-Day.
 
Theirs is a story that must continue to be told, and STORMING JUNO works best at telling that story when it lets the veterans tell it…something that occurs during the last 30 minutes of the project.
 
The first hour is the movie part as we go into battle with three young Canadian soldiers. Their stories are told concurrently so we can see first-hand what our soldiers went through – from the Channel crossing, to the landing, into the heart of battle.
 
I easily recommend STORMING JUNO, almost in spite of itself. The re-creations of the war are well done, but the acting is a bit wooden at times, and the meshing of the three stories doesn’t always work. The result is a good, not great film, but I think it should be seen because this is our history and it is important everyone knows it.
 
If you are interested in a more comprehensive look at the events of – and leading up to June 6th, 1944 – the two-disc set D-DAY: THE TOTAL STORY provides that.
 
D-DAY: THE TOTAL STORY shows us war room strategies, combat, and battles and does it using war footage that has to be seen to believed, along with conversations from soldiers, survivors, and medical staff.
D-DAY: THE TOTAL STORY offers up a very insightful and thorough look at that one day, while this next release – also exceptionally well produced by The History Channel – takes us inside THE LAST DAYS OF WORLD WAR II.
 
THE LAST DAYS OF WORLD WAR II presents several documentaries in a two disc set, and while they are primarily told from an American point of view, they still examine the war’s final days, showing us amazing footage from ground battles and the last Allied ship sunk by the Nazis, to the drama of the Nuremberg trials and much more.
 
The footage and storytelling included here is awful to look at, hard to believe, but also fascinating.
 
THE LAST DAYS OF WORLD WAR II and D-DAY: THE TOTAL STORY are must own releases for war buffs.
 
The final title that has come out ahead of D-Day this year  is actually brand new on DVD, even though it was originally produced in 1978.
 
THE UNKNOWN WAR is hosted and narrated by Academy Award winner Burt Lancaster and is all about World War II and the epic battles of the Russian front.
 
THE UNKNOWN WAR is a twenty part series that is now available in a five disc box set and it shows us rare and awful footage recorded by Soviet camera crews on the front lines, and most of it hasn’t been seen since the series first aired…I know I hadn’t seen most of it, and I watch almost every War documentary that comes out.
 
This series shows us the struggles of the Soviet army as they fought, and ultimately helped win victory over the Nazi war machine. We see strategies, suffering, and heroism, much of it told through first-hand accounts.
 
THE UNKNOWN WAR is an incredible set, about a time in humankind’s history that must never be forgotten.
 
Let’s focus on love now, not war, with WILLIAM & KATE – PLANNING A ROYAL WEDDING.
 
And there you go, that is almost all of the words spoken directly by Prince William in this television special…instead, we get childhood friends, schoolmates, and former Royal Family staff, as well as designers, chefs, and stylists. We also meet journalists who have covered The Royals over the years….and not one of the talking heads we meet – not one of them – were actually invited to the wedding.
 
The royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on April 29th, 2011was a major event, and so this DVD – and the others that are also now available – will be thoroughly enjoyed by Royal followers…and ignored by the rest.
 
And that is about right…that’s how it should be.
 
Someone who was invited to the Royal Wedding, someone who actually knows William, and has since he was a boy because he was close friends with his mother – Princess Diana – is Elton John.
 
Elton is a co-producer of the animated film GNOMEO & JULIET and his music is featured throughout this retelling of Shakespeare’s classic ROMEO & JULIET, told using garden gnomes as the lead characters.
 
Yes, in GNOMEO & JULIET the neighboring gardens of Montague and Capulet are at war, but the gnomes, Gnomeo and Juliet, are in love…and the results are fun. Yes, it is far too long, there is too much fighting, and the Elton John music seems out of place…especially since it is wall-to-wall…but it is fun, and full of clever jokes.
 
It isn’t a classic, but it is fun.
 
Yes, GNOMEO & JULIET is fun, and so is the 1994 western romp MAVERICK, starring my beloved Jodie Foster and Mel Gibson, when he was still an actor we liked.
 
Director Richard Donner, Gibson, Foster and everyone involved with this film – which is based on the 1950s television series – all seem to be having fun in this Wild Western a roguish gambler trying to make it to a big game.
 
Gibson is Bret Maverick, and James Garner – who played Maverick on TV – plays a lawman who travels alongside Gibson and Foster, who plays the love interest.
 
MAVERICK is full of satire and broad jokes and it looks and sounds great in high definition on Blu-ray. There aren’t any new features – everything here is carried over from the previous DVD releases, but I am still happy to recommend it, it is just so much fun!
 
THE BLU-RAY BEACON continues to shine now on another film new to the format, TIGERLAND – director Joel Schumacher war movie starring Colin Farrell as one of a group of recruits going through Advanced Infantry Training at a camp called Tigerland, the last stop before Vietnam for tens of thousands of young men in 1971.
Farrell plays a draftee who is opposed to the war, and he wants out.
 
TIGERLAND was released in 2000 and I have never thought that it was a great war movie. It is engaging and interesting at times, but it is never great.
The final title I have for you this week is not a war documentary, although it is globally revered as a film that is about as close to war as an audience can get.
 
It is Oliver Stone’s 1986 Academy Award winning Best Picture…PLATOON.
PLATOON stars a young Charlie Sheen as a recruit in Vietnam who is dealing with the horrors of war, and what it does to his fellow soldiers and officers.

 

PLATOON also stars Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Forest Whitaker, Keith David, Kevin Dillon and Johnny Depp and it is the definitive movie about the Vietnam war, and this new Blu-ray release is now THE definitive way to watch it.
 
The picture is crisp and clear, and the sound is amazing!!
 
Simply put, the movie is a classic.
 
 
PLATOON, TIGERLAND, MAVERICK, KABOOM, GNOMEO & JULIET, WILLIAM & KATE – PLANNING A ROYAL WEDDING, the twenty part documentary series THE UNKNOWN WAR, The History Channel documentaries THE LAST DAYS OF WWII and D-DAY – THE TOTAL STORY and the Canadian docu-drama STORMING JUNO are all available now in stores and online.
 
Those latter four have been released ahead of the Anniversary of D-Day on June 6th.
 
 
Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report
 
Two straight to DVD films – ALL GOOD THINGS with Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst and PASSION PLAY, starring Mickey Rourke, Megan Fox and Bill Murray.
 
Also next week, the classic films AMERICAN GRAFITTI and THE HUSTLER.
 
I’m Dan Reynish. I’ll have more on those, and some other releases, in seven days.
 
For now, that’s this week’s COUCH POTATO REPORT.
 
Enjoy the movies and I’ll see you back here again next time on The Couch!
Categories
Uncategorized

I saw “The Hangover” and I was very, very, VERY disappointed in it!! I had hoped for a better movie, but it looks like people enjoyed it anyway.

‘Hangover’ hurls up huge numbers with $86.5M debut
LOS ANGELES – Hollywood’s hangover is a lot bigger the second time around.
“The Hangover Part II” hauled in $86.5 million in its first weekend, putting Hollywood on course to set a new revenue record for the long Memorial Day weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.
From Friday to Sunday, Hollywood’s domestic take totaled about $220 million. Once Monday’s receipts are counted, the industry should finish the four-day weekend with around $270 million, easily topping the $254.6 million Memorial Day record set in 2007, said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com.
“The Hangover” sequel did nearly twice the business of the original blockbuster comedy in its $45 million opening weekend two years ago.
In its first four days since opening Thursday, the Warner Bros. sequel has taken in $118.1 million and is on track to finish the long Memorial Day weekend with about $140 million in the bank.
The first “Hangover” did not hit the $100 million mark until its second weekend. The movie went on to gross $277 million domestically.
“The Hangover Part II” reunites stars Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis as they awake in another haze and attempt to piece together the mayhem of their drunken night in Bangkok.
Overseas, the sequel opened in 40 other countries and added $59 million.
DreamWorks Animation’s “Kung Fu Panda 2” opened solidly with a $48 million weekend, though it came in well below the $60.2 million debut of the first installment three years ago.
Since opening Thursday, “Kung Fu Panda 2” has pulled in $53.8 million. Distributor Paramount estimates the sequel will reach $68.2 million when the holiday weekend closes.
With voice stars Jack Black and Angelina Jolie returning, “Kung Fu Panda 2” follows the menagerie of martial-arts heroes as they face a villain aiming to conquer ancient China with gunpowder and cannons.
“Kung Fu Panda 2” also took in $57 million in 11 overseas markets, including $18.5 million in China.
After a No. 1 debut the previous weekend, Johnny Depp’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” slipped to third-place with $39.3 million. Distributor Disney estimates the sequel’s domestic revenues will reach $163.6 million by the end of the holiday weekend.
“On Stranger Tides” also has taken in nearly half a billion dollars overseas, with its worldwide total through Monday estimated at $646.5 million.
Director Terrence Malick’s sweeping drama “The Tree of Life” drew huge crowds in limited release, debuting with $352,320 in just four theaters in New York City and Los Angeles.
That gave the film a whopping average of $88,080 a theater, compared to a $23,923 average in 3,615 cinemas for “The Hangover Part II.”
“The Tree of Life” stars Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain in the story of a grown son reflecting on his boyhood with his two brothers, saintly mother and loving but domineering father. The film, which won the top honor at the Cannes Film Festival the previous weekend, expands to more theaters Friday.