Month: August 2011

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Uncategorized

Sadly, no movies for me again this weekend!! Maybe next week!

“Apes” hangs on to domestic box office lead
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Nothing could stop angry apes from tearing through the domestic weekend box office as “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” took the lead with an estimated $27.5 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales plus $40.5 million internationally.
The revival of the classic sci-fi franchise beat four new releases to hang on to the top ranking at U.S. and Canadian theaters for the second straight week, according to studio estimates released on Sunday. Civil Rights-era drama “The Help” finished a strong second with $25.5 million over three days, beating studio forecasts.
The U.S. and Canadian audience for “Apes” shrunk 50 percent from its opening weekend. The drop was “a fantastic hold” against four new films that grossed a combined $60 million, said Chris Aronson, senior vice president for domestic distribution at 20th Century Fox, which distributed the movie. “Apes” brought in a total of $68 million globally for the weekend.
Strong reviews and a rare A+ rating from audience-survey firm CinemaScore propelled “The Help,” a film based on a best-selling book by Kathryn Stockett. The movie chronicles the lives of wealthy white women in Mississippi and their black housekeepers. It cost about $25 million to produce.
“The Help” appealed to broad audiences across the country and drew positive responses from men as well as the core audience of women, said Dave Hollis, executive vice president for motion picture sales and distribution at Walt Disney Co, which distributed the DreamWorks-produced film.
“This is a most pleasant surprise,” Hollis said of the opening weekend sales. Disney expects to add another 100 to 200 additional theaters after the early success sparked more interest, he said. The film was showing in 2,534 theaters over the opening weekend after debuting on Wednesday. Over five days, the film grossed $35.4 million.
STRONG SHOWING FOR ‘THE SMURFS’
In third place for the weekend, horror flick and new release “Final Destination 5,” in which survivors of a bridge collapse try to cheat death, generated $18.4 million domestically. That hit the low end of studio forecasts.
Surprise summer hit “The Smurfs” took fourth place on the domestic charts with $13.5 million during its third weekend in theaters, plus an impressive $60 million haul in international markets for the live-action and animated family film.
Comedy “30 Minutes or Less,” starring Jesse Eisenberg, finished fifth with $13 million at the domestic box office. The movie tells the tale of two criminals who kidnap a pizza delivery boy, strap a bomb to his chest and order him to rob a bank. The production budget was $28 million.
The weekend’s other new release, “Glee: The 3D Concert Movie,” failed to crack the top 10 with $5.7 million domestically, making it No. 11 for the weekend. The film pairs song-and-dance performances from a “Glee” concert tour with commentary from fans of the hit television show about an Ohio high school’s show choir. The movie cost $9 million to make and is scheduled for just two weeks in theaters.
Categories
The Couch Potato Report

We are back!!

The Couch Potato Report – August 13th, 2011
 
Inside this week’s Couch Potato Report is a trigger, your highness, Paul and a “classic” comedy from the eighties?!
Hello again! After a two week break it is great to be back, and I’ll begin this edition of the Report the same way that most of them start, with a look at the latest Canadian film on the market…as we like to promote and support Canadian cinema…so up first is Kingston born director Bruce McDonald’s latest – TRIGGER.
 
I gave Bruce McDonald top billing, because he is the director, but he’s just one of a group of fairly well-known Canadians responsible for this film…a group that includes Sarah Polley, Callum Keith Rennie, Don McKellar, Daniel MacIvor, Tracy Wright and Molly Parker…the latter two – Tracy Wright and the great Molly Parker – from DEXTER and DEADWOOD – star in TRIGGER as two former rock and roll band mates who reunite after twelve years apart.
 
It is a reunion that reignites all of the love, passion, anger and friendship they once shared.
 
Set in Toronto, TRIGGER is basically a movie about two people who are friends – whether they like it or not – and while it is never great, it features some really great moments between Tracy and Molly and as a whole is very good.
 
I liked it and I also liked the movie PAUL, but I should have loved it…since it features Simon Pegg and Nick Frost – the very funny and entertaining co-stars of 2004’s SHAUN OF THE DEAD and 2007’s HOT FUZZ – two films I do love!!
 
Simon and Nick are back together in PAUL playing two British science fiction loving geeks…or nerds, if you prefer…who travel to Nevada and Area 51 in America’s UFO heartland.
 
While there, they meet an alien – named Paul – who is voiced by British Columbia’s Seth Rogen from PINEAPPLE EXPRESS and KNOCKED UP.
 
Paul then asks the guys for their help and takes them on a road trip where a whole heck of a lot of fun ensues, and I did like it, but I was expecting it to be a lot funnier.
 
If this hadn’t come from two of the people responsible for SHAUN OF THE DEAD and HOT FUZZ, two films that I may have mentioned I loved, then maybe my expectations would have been a bit lower…but it did, and while I laughed – out loud at times – I did expect more.
PAUL is not a disappointment, after all with a cast that also includes Jeffrey Tambor, Jane Lynch, Jason Bateman, and Sigourney Weaver how could it be…but I was hoping for more.
 
What was a disappointment, and remains one even after I watched it for the second time this week is the medieval stoner comedy YOUR HIGHNESS, starring Seth Rogen’s co-star from PINEAPPLE EXPRESS, James Franco.
 
Franco isn’t the main reason that YOUR HIGHNESS doesn’t work, everyone here – including Danny McBride, Natalie Portman and director David Gordon Green – have to share the blame for a film that isn’t that funny, clever, engaging or interesting.
 
The only thing it actually is, is a flop.
 
YOUR HIGHNESS is about the quest that Franco’s Prince undertakes when his bride is kidnapped, a quest that seems him accompanied by his lazy useless brother, played by Danny McBride of EASTBOUND & DOWN.
 
I will admit that there are some laugh out loud jokes, but most of them aren’t funny, the story isn’t that interesting, and at times it is just awful…so the majority of you should skip it…however, for some of you, this movie is destined to become a cult classic.
 
YOUR HIGHNESS will be one that some people watch repeatedly…especially those who love stoner comedies.
 
Even though I was away for the last two weeks, there were still new movies that came out, and I thought I would re-cap a few of them for you…in case you’ve been away as well.
 
The adult drama LAST NIGHT leads the way.
 
LAST NIGHT stars Sam Worthington and Keira Knightley as a married couple who are apart for the night.
 
He is on a business trip with the lovely Eva Mendes – a colleague he is attracted to – while she runs into and decides to have dinner with a past love, played by well known French actor and director Guillaume Canet.
 
Will she cheat, will the husband? Both scenarios are possible.
 
LAST NIGHT is a mature film that I found very interesting.
 
It movies a little slow at times, but I enjoyed it.
 
I also enjoyed my time spent in RIO…no, that isn’t where I went on vacation, I was on Prince Edward Island, I mean I enjoyed my time spent in the world created by the animated film RIO about a macaw who must travel – with his human owner – to Rio de Janeiro because he is the last male of his species and he needs to mate with a female macaw named Jewel.
 
RIO has a voice cast that includes the great Anne Hathaway, Jesse Eisenberg of THE SOCIAL NETWORK, Jane Lynch from GLEE and Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx and it is a bright, colourful and fun film that I think kids will really enjoy!! It isn’t a home run for us adult fans of animation, but I did like it.
 
In computer science, source code is text written in a computer programming language. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source code, which can then be automatically translated to binary machine code that the computer can directly read and execute.
 
In the movie world SOURCE CODE is a science fiction-techno-thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga and Jeffrey Wright.
 
Jake plays a soldier who finds himself inside a computer and is repeatedly put in the body of another man as he works to try and find the bomber of a train…a train that he is a passenger on.
 
SOURCE CODE was partially filmed in Montreal and while it is not a great action thriller, it is okay. This is the type of film you can watch and just relax…so I will call it, and this next film a good rental.
 
And this next film is one called LIMITLESS…a movie about the human brain and our mental capacity that is very entertaining…as long as you don’t think about it!!
 
Nope, do not use your brain on this movie about the brain!!!
 
LIMITLESS stars Bradley Cooper from THE HANGOVER films as a writer who takes an experimental drug that allows him to use 100 percent of his mind…affording him the opportunity to succeed in ways even he couldn’t have imagined.
 
Robert De Niro is a businessman who is interested in putting Bradley’s brain to work.
 
Like I said, if you don’t think about LIMITLESS, you’ll enjoy it as it is a pretty good flick.
 
It is Blu-Ray Beacon time now, time to shine a light on releases new to the HD format!
 
The 2006 comedy horror film SCARY MOVIE 4 is out in High Definition now in a Blu-Ray and DVD Combo pack and even though some of the jokes are a bit dated, many of them stand up and are still very funny.
 
The SCARY MOVIE franchise has changed a lot over the years, and the first two are still the best, but this fourth one does offer us the chance to see the late, great Leslie Neilsen in action once again…and for that reason alone, I recommend it!
 
Yes, I recommend SCARY MOVIE 4, after all…if it makes you happy, is it really that bad?
 
That is Sheryl Crow leading her band through IF IT
MAKES YOU HAPPY as seen and heard on the Blu-ray for SHERYL CROW: LIVE, a 92 minute concert that features many of her biggest hits.
 
If you like Sheryl Crow, this is a must have as she – and her music – sound and look great in HD!!
 
 just wished she had more to say. She doesn’t talk much, but that means there are more songs…including My Favorite Mistake, Leaving Las Vegas, Strong Enough, Soak Up the Sun, Everyday Is a Winding Road, and one of my all-time favourites…HOME.
SHERYL CROW: LIVE is a disc I recommend, and I also have nothing but high praise for HEART: LIVE.
 
Heart is a Seattle based band who first found success in Vancouver and the two main members are sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson who deliver a 23-song set that touches on every era of their career–from “Barracuda”, “Magic Man” and “Crazy on You” to the ’80s hits “These Dreams” and “Alone.”
Ann and Nancy also don’t have much to say in HEART: LIVE, but I love the tunes, so I ate it up!!
 
But the live Blu-ray that I enjoyed the most this week features Jewel, a singer/songwriter that I just love!
 
She does talk during the course of the two concerts and bonus features on the 3 hour and 42 minute disc JEWEL: THE ESSENTIAL LIVE SONGBOOK.
Yes, Jewel talks, and looks beautiful, and sings all the hits!
 
I completely enjoyed JEWEL: THE ESSENTIAL LIVE SONGBOOK on Blu-ray, and if you enjoy her as much as I do…whether you can admit it or not…don’t miss it!!
 
She even yodels!!!
Another jewel this week is SHARK WEEK: RESTLESS FURY, the best of this year’s SHARK WEEK – as seen for the past 23 years on the Discovery Channel.
 
Several of the shows in SHARK WEEK: RESTLESS FURY were done using high-tech, high-definition cameras that enable us to see the power of sharks in all-new ways…including in slow motion as we get to see a one-ton great white shark blast from the water at 25 mph, with almost no warning, to pull a sneak attack on congregating seals.
 
This…stuff…is…awesome!!!!
 
I always love SHARK WEEK and I completely enjoyed watching RESTLESS FURY this week!!
The Blu-Ray Beacon shines now on a pair of “classic” comedies from the 1980s. One is undeniably a classic, as it is beloved by almost everyone, and the other…well, it is a classic to me and my friends, and possibly you and yours!!
 
Let me start with the undeniable one…1986’s FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF.
 
Written and directed by John Hughes this still fantastic film follows high school senior Ferris Bueller, who decides to skip school and spend the day in downtown Chicago with his girlfriend and best friend Cameron.
FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF looks and sounds amazing on Blu-ray, but sadly this new 25th Anniversary Edition is missing the one feature that has never appeared on blu-ray before, the rare and no longer available John Hughes commentary from the original DVD release.
 
But even without that insightful commentary from the late, great filmmaker, FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF is still a must own on Blu-ray!!
 
I love this film!!
 
I also love 1985’s BETTER OFF DEAD, and so do many of my friends, friends I grew up with in the eighties and watched this comedy with when it came out…a comedy starring John Cusack as a teenager who decides he is BETTER OFF DEAD when his girlfriend breaks up with him.
 
He then meets a foreign exchange student…who turns his life around.
 
BETTER OFF DEAD isn’t a film for everyone, but its mixture of animation, comedy, idiotic childish humour, and a great cast continues to appeal to me.
 
I continue to quote it 26 years after I first watched it!!
 
If you’ve never seen it, pick it up and enjoy!!
The “classic” eighties films BETTER OFF DEAD and FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF, the very entertaining SHARK WEEK: RESTLESS FURY, JEWEL: THE ESSENTIAL LIVE SONGBOOK, HEART: LIVE, SHERYL CROW: LIVE, SCARY MOVIE 4, LIMITLESS, SOURCE CODE, the entertaining RIO, the mature LAST NIGHT, the destined to be cult classics YOUR HIGHNESS and PAUL, featuring the voice of British Columbia’s Seth Rogen, and Canadian director Bruce McDonald’s TRIGGER are all available now in stores and online.
 
Coming up inside the next Couch Potato Report
 
British Columbia raised actress Kim Cattrall stars in MEET MONICA VELOUR, the Canadian film THE BANG BANG CLUB shows us the true-life experiences of four combat photographers during the final days of apartheid in South Africa, the foul-mouthed but funny Kenny Powers is back in THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON of EASTBOUND & DOWN and Mr. Lebowski debuts on Blu-Ray in THE BIG LEBOWSKI!!!
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
Rumours

Good idea?!?! I don’t know!!

Exclusive: Mike Myers is signed, sealed, delivered for ‘Austin Powers 4’
Mike Myers will return to his best-loved movie role with ‘Austin Powers 4,’ HitFix has exclusively confirmed.
I guess it was inevitable.
Mike Myers had a small part in Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds,” and he’s reprised his role as Shrek for both a sequel and a TV special in the last few years, but as far as live-action movies where he’s the star, the last one was the disastrous “The Love Guru” in 2008, and the response to that nearly drove him out of the business.
Myers is a very particular talent, a guy who likes to workshop a character for a while before he actually makes a movie.  He has not made that many films, all things considered, and a few times over the course of his career, he has actually pulled the plug on things that probably could have gotten made because he didn’t feel they were ready.  That happened most famously with “Sprockets,” the feature-film version of one of his SNL characters.  I liked the script he co-wrote with Mike McCullers, but Myers bowed out just before it was supposed to start, killing the film in the process.
His most successful bigscreen character, of course, is the hyper-horny snaggletoothed secret agent Austin Powers, and there has been much talk about the possibility of a fourth film in that series over the last few years.  For a while, there was talk of a Dr. Evil spin-off film, but I think all of those weird characters need to share the same universe.  Taking one of them into a solo film just seems odd.  Whatever the case, we haven’t’ seen the character since 2002’s “Goldmember.”
That’s about to change, as HitFix can now confirm that Mike Myers just closed his deal to return to the role.  Yep.  “Austin Powers 4” is coming, officially.
No word yet on who will be directing.  I would hope Jay Roach returns as well, since I think a lot of the kick of the films is the ’60s pop aesthetic, and Roach has been a big part of that since day one.  There’s also no word yet on a proposed storyline, but I will certainly start digging to see what I can come up with.
Right now, all that’s sure is that someone’s going to get shagged, and for the first time in a decade, Austin Powers fans are going to have new material to get excited about.  We’ll update you as more details become available.
Categories
Television

Cool!! I hope Steve guest stars!!

Alec Baldwin back on ‘Saturday Night Live’
NEW YORK (AP) — Alec Baldwin earns bragging rights as the most familiar “Saturday Night Live” host when he opens the NBC show’s 37th season on Sept. 24.
It will be his 16th time as host. The “30 Rock” actor moves past Steve Martin, who has done it 15 times. Radiohead will be the musical guest, the network said Friday.
Melissa McCarthy of CBS’ “Mike & Molly” and the movie “Bridesmaids” will be the host of the show’s second week, her “SNL” debut. The country trio Lady Antebellum will be her musical guest.
Categories
People

May he rest in peace!!

Former Warrant lead singer Jani Lane dies at 47
LOS ANGELES — Jani Lane, the former lead singer of the metal rock band Warrant, has died in Los Angeles. He was 47.
Officer Sara Faden says Lane’s body was found Thursday in a Woodland Hills hotel. She had no immediate information on the cause or circumstances of his death.
With his long blond hair and tight leather outfits, Lane embodied the excess of 1980s “hair metal” rock bands. He joined Warrant in 1984 and wrote such hits as “Heaven,” “Down Boys” and “Cherry Pie.”
He had an on-and-off relationship with the band, leaving it in 1992 before returning and quitting again several times.
In recent years, he appeared in VH1’s “Celebrity Fit Club” and made news for a drunken driving arrest.
He is survived by two daughters from two previous marriages.
Categories
Television

Leno Strikes Again!!

TBS canceling comic George Lopez’s talk show
LOS ANGELES (AP) — George Lopez, who surrendered his TBS time slot to Conan O’Brien and then saw ratings for “Lopez Tonight” slide, got a cancelation notice Wednesday. Lopez’s Thursday show at midnight will be the final one, the cable network said in a statement.
“TBS has reached the difficult decision not to order a third season of ‘Lopez Tonight,'” the network said, adding that it was proud to have worked with the “immensely talented comedian and entertainer.”
TBS declined further comment. The decision was based not only on ratings but also the cost of the show, according to a person familiar with the production, who spoke on condition of anonymity because TBS hadn’t authorized public comment.
A call to Lopez’s representatives was not immediately returned.
The comic gave up his 11 p.m. ET time slot to make room for O’Brien, who joined TBS after leaving NBC’s “Tonight” over a time-slot dispute that ended up reinstating Jay Leno as “Tonight” host.
The plan for TBS was to have a one-two punch of late-night shows that would particularly appeal to young viewers, but the results have been unimpressive and the cancelation unsurprising, said media analyst Brad Adgate of Horizon Media.
“The only positive was a young median age” of about 32, Adgate said, which is part of the younger adult audience favored by advertisers.
Lopez was among the rare minority entertainers to get a shot at a late-night show, with Arsenio Hall and Wanda Sykes also in the group. Late-night hosts are uniformly white and male, including O’Brien, Leno, David Letterman, Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel.
Neither Lopez nor O’Brien has been covered in ratings glory since TBS made its bold move to snare the former broadcast network star.
Lopez’s total viewership dropped 40 percent in its second year, from an average of 910,000 nightly viewers at 11 p.m. ET to 543,000 at midnight. In August, the audience has dropped to 391,000.
“Conan” has been drawing slightly more than 1 million viewers for the season, just 13 percent higher than Lopez did in his first year, Adgate said, citing Nielsen Co. figures.
For the first part of August, “Conan” is averaging 709,000 nightly viewers. During its debut month, November 2010, O’Brien’s show had about 2 million nightly viewers.
In comparison, “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” is getting nearly 1.3 million viewers for Comedy Central at 11 p.m. ET, with “The Colbert Show” following it up at 11:30 ET with an average 982,000 viewers.