Categories
Television

Shue…every week?!?! AWESOME!!!

Breaking: Elisabeth Shue joins ‘CSI’

Marg Helgenberger may be leaving CSI in January but the veteran procedural found a pretty cool way to make up for the loss: The network announced today that Elisabeth Shue (Leaving Las Vegas) will join the show as a series regular.

She’ll play a CSI who just completed anger management training. Her character will be introduced in the episode airing Feb. 15.

“While it’s difficult to say goodbye to a beloved character like Catherine Willows, it’s exciting to start a journey with a new CSI, especially when that character is played by Elisabeth Shue,” said executive producer Carol Mendelsohn in a statement. “The new CSI also struggles with brutal honesty issues and suffers no fools.”

“Elisabeth’s character will share a past, in another crime lab, with Ted Danson’s character [D.B. Russell],” added executive producer Don McGill in a statement. “The first time things didn’t go so well between the two of them. Maybe the second time’s the charm, or not.”

For years, the broadcast networks have been trying to find a star vehicle for Shue, whose previous film credits include Adventures in Babysitting and The Karate Kid. She was an early contender for The Good Wife and most recently, was eyed to play Tim Allen’s wife in Last Man Standing.

Shue stars in the upcoming film House at the End of the Street opposite Jennifer Lawrence that’ll premiere in April. She’s also filming Of Men And Mavericks opposite Gerard Butler.

Categories
Television

Thanks for everything, Reeg!!

Regis Philbin makes exit from morning TV

NEW YORK (AP) — Regis Philbin couldn’t leave without a joke.

Signing off from morning television after more than 28 years, he brought to a close his final hour hosting “Live! With Regis and Kelly” by telling viewers, “I’ll always remember spending these mornings with all of you.”

Then, as the studio audience’s ovation subsided after the program’s fade-out, he voiced a kidding postscript to that crowd in attendance.

“I just thought of something I SHOULD have said,” he quipped, “I really want to stay!”

No such luck.

Philbin, who at 80 years old has logged more than 16,000 hours on television in a career that dates back to the 1950s, was making good on his decision to leave the daily TV grind, an announcement he delivered on his show last January.

And Friday’s tribute — concluding weeks of Philbin farewell mania — was good for instant TV history, both on- and off-the-air.

The show had opened with cameras following Philbin’s walk from his dressing room to the stage, knocking on Kelly Ripa’s door along the way.

“I love you,” she said softly as they stepped before the cameras.

Then Philbin barked out the question his fans have been asking for months.

“Where’s Regis going?” he erupted with a shrug. “Regis don’t know. Stop asking me!”

During the hour, past guests such as Justin Timberlake and Anne Hathaway offered brief filmed tributes.

The show was otherwise devoted to emotion-filled clip sequences of high jinks with Ripa, and such stars as Dana Carvey and Ben Affleck demonstrating their Regis impersonations.

Philbin’s parting gifts included a key and a plaque. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg paid a visit to thank Philbin for making the city a big part of his show, and presented him with a symbolic key. Walt Disney Co. chief executive Bob Iger showed a plaque honoring Philbin that’s newly installed on the outside of ABC’s Manhattan facility from which the show originates.

But the morning’s festivities had started an hour before the 9 a.m. EST airtime with a coffee-and-pastries reception for the studio audience. This was a hand-picked — and seating-chart-arranged — group of family, friends, past and present colleagues, and celebrities including Diane Sawyer, Bryant Gumbel, Donald Trump, Meredith Vieira, Tony Danza, Dr. Ruth Westheimer and Ripa’s co-host predecessor, Kathie Lee Gifford.

“The world adores Regis,” said Judge Judy Sheindlin, “but his friends adore him even more — enough to get up early in the morning, put on some makeup, come out and give him a cheer. Because, he’s just a special, sweet man.”

A decade ago, Philbin gained prime-time fame as the quizmaster of ABC’s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” But his enduring impact has been as a morning show host, and a raconteur adept at weaving something from nothing in the so-called “host chat,” turning stories about a night on the town or his frustration with a household product into compelling TV.

Alan Alda described Philbin as “unique in all of broadcasting. He invented a form: going on the air and just telling stories about the day before, for 20 minutes.”

“He has such an ease in front of the camera,” said “30 Rock” star Jane Krakowski, an occasional guest host. “He’s such an everyman. He makes us feel like he’s one of us.”

And Katie Couric hailed him as “completely upfront. You never get the sense that he’s editing himself. And on television, where people are so manufactured and packaged, you rarely see that kind of thing.”

Philbin’s unsurpassed quantity of airtime was celebrated by the 14-member troupe from the off-Broadway musical “Rent,” which sang a version of the show-stopper “Seasons of Love” tailored to Philbin’s endurance: “995,600 minutes! How do you measure a career? How about love!”

Unseen by viewers during commercial breaks, Philbin schmoozed with the studio audience and occasionally cracked wise about the on-air ceremony, which clearly left him as uncomfortable as he was touched.

“Gelman’s getting carried away,” he said at one point, meaning longtime executive producer Michael Gelman. “He thinks he’s Scorsese! He’s NOT!”

And although Philbin had publicly sworn he wouldn’t shed tears at his farewell, members of the studio audience were privy to displays of emotion by him that were unseen at home.

Watching one pre-taped piece where viewers held hand-lettered signs that said “Regis,” he finally drew a finger across his throat in mock-desperation as if to signal “Kill it, please,” then glanced heavenward as his eyes welled.

Ripa was much more demonstrative on camera, fighting tears as she recounted how terrified she was on her first day as Philbin’s partner, and how he put her at ease.

As they entered the studio that day in 2001, “the audience leapt to their feet, and they were cheering and screaming,” she recalled for him, “and you said, ‘You see that, sweetie? That’s all for you.’

“Your light is what shined around all of us,” she told him, “and made us look so bright, for so long.”

The show will continue with Ripa. Similar to when she was chosen to replace Gifford, a succession of co-hosts will join her, some in contention for the permanent job.

Meanwhile, Philbin has been careful to say he’s not retiring. His immediate plans include a tour to promote his new book, “How I Got This Way.”

“I’m so happy for Regis because he’s happy,” his wife, Joy Philbin, said after the show, at a champagne gathering in an adjacent studio. “He knew it was time and he wanted to do this.”

And with the emotion-wracked hour done, Gelman, who will continue running things in Philbin’s absence, said, “I’m relieved,” and added with satisfaction, “Regis is happy.

“He doesn’t like being honored,” Gelman explained with a laugh. “So now he’s happy, ’cause he’s not being honored anymore.”

Categories
Magazines

Why do I lose this year after year after year?!?!?!

Cooper named ‘Sexiest Man Alive’

Bradley Cooper has stolen Ryan Reynold’s crown as People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive.

The Hangover hunk follows in Reynolds’ footsteps after claiming the 2011 title, seeing off competition from fellow honourees including Captain America star Chris Evans and Jennifer Aniston’s screenwriting beau Justin Theroux.

But Cooper remains humble about his looks and admits the best part about being named Sexiest Man Alive is sharing the news with his mom Gloria.

He says, “The first thing I thought was, ‘My mother is going to be so happy.’

“I think it’s really cool that a guy who doesn’t look like a model can have this (title). I think I’m a decent-looking guy. Sometimes I can look great, and other times I look horrifying.”

Other stars picked for the annual “hot list” include Ryan Gosling, Alec Baldwin and Idris Elba.

Categories
South Park

Sweeeeeeeeeeet!!!

‘South Park’ parked on Comedy Central until 2016

NEW YORK (AP) — The bad boys of “South Park” will make mischief for years to come.

Comedy Central says “South Park” co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have signed to extend the animated series an additional three seasons, through its 20th season in 2016.

The network announced Wednesday that Parker and Stone will continue to write, direct and edit every episode of “South Park,” just as they have since the premiere of the series in 1997.

Earlier this year, the duo met with tremendous success on Broadway with their hit musical, “The Book of Mormon.”

The Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning “South Park” views the world through the eyes of Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman, four bratty youngsters in an unhinged Colorado town.

Categories
Awards

Get great ratings, and they will want you back!!

Ricky Gervais to return as host of Golden Globes

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ricky Gervais is returning as host of the Golden Globes.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced through Twitter on Wednesday that Gervais will take his third turn as Globes host in January.

Gervais left some wondering if he’d be back after his performance at this year’s show, when he took pointed jabs at Hollywood stars and the HFPA, which puts on the annual ceremony.

The 50-year-old comedian posted a YouTube clip on his Twitter page Wednesday of his biting opening monologue from the 2011 show, promising “This (times) 10.”

At the ceremony earlier this year, Gervais joked that the HFPA accepts bribes (just after the group was sued for allegations that it engaged in payola schemes) and swiped at stars such as Mel Gibson, Bruce Willis and Robert Downey Jr.

“I’m telling you now If you don’t like it… (Expletive) you! If you do like it.. Love you!” Gervais tweeted Wednesday.

The HFPA acknowledged on its website that “not everyone is happy with the decision” to bring Gervais back because “his blunt one-liners targeting big-name celebrities caused anger and resentment in some quarters.”

Downey said during the ceremony: “Aside from the fact that it’s been hugely mean-spirited, with mildly sinister undertones, I’d say the vibe of the show is pretty good so far, wouldn’t you?”

The HFPA said after the show that Gervais “pushed the envelope and occasionally went too far.”

Still, the jabs paid off in ratings, drawing nearly 17 million viewers to the NBC broadcast and beating out its network competition in that time slot.

Gervais initially said after the show that he would not return as its host. Earlier this year, Philip Berk, who was president of the HFPA at the time, denied that Gervais had been invited to come back.

But the organization said Gervais “gradually warmed to the idea” and recently discussed his return with the HFPA’s new president, Dr. Aida Takla-O’Reilly.

The 69th annual Golden Globe Awards will be held Jan. 15 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.

Categories
Music

His musical legacy contains some of my all-time favourites!!

Sting on Play, Solo Triumphs & Closing the Book on Police

As he tours to commemorate the 25 years (actually 26) of his post- Police solo career, Sting is also looking to his next phase, which includes a theater piece as well as a just-launched app geared towards the anniversary.

Sting calls the forthcoming “The Last Ship” “a play with songs. I’m loathe to call it a musical because I don’t like that term.” He has 25 songs written so far for the project, which he describes as “a play set in my home town, in Newcastle (England). I was born in the shadow of a shipyard. I often wondered why I was exposed to this rather surreal environment when I was growing up, and I realize now it has a massive psychological and symbolic importance to me. That’s the landscape of my dreams, my little home town and the house I was brought up in and the ghosts that were there.” The plot meanwhile, is “a story of redemption and occupying a shipyard against the wishes of the owners — which is kind of topical at the moment, occupying things.”

Sting is continuing to write material and hopes to have “The Last Ship” “on the road in a year’s time,” preferring to make it a traveling piece rather than into a theatrical residency. “I think we should start somewhere,” he explains. “There’s a lot of excitement about it from people in the business. I go from being quietly confident to being noisily despondent — but that’s the creative process. It’s a very difficult thing to do… It’s a very, very concise form, and it’s all about stripping everything down to its bare essentials — the narrative, the song, what people say. So I’m finding it very absorbing and difficult, and it takes up most of my waking life and a lot of my dream life at the moment, which is interesting.”

That, of course, exists alongside the 25-year commemoration, which has included a couple of recorded projects — the “25 Years” box set and a “Best of 25 Years” single-disc set. The free app, meanwhile, offers a digital documentary of Sting’s solo career with 10 chapters of multimedia content such as interview clips, photos, memorabilia and concert footage — including from Sting’s 60th birthday concert and Rainforest Foundation Fund benefit in New York City.

“It’s largely retrospective, this app, but it’s very full and can also be constantly updated, so it’s not a static thing. It’s organic,” Sting notes. “I’m not normally a nostalgic person. I think nostalgia is a kind of sickness. And yet, having survived 25 years since the Police is a sizable amount of time, and I think it did deserve to be recognized as such. It was a nice experience to look back and ask the question, ‘Well, have you done good work?’ And I say, ‘Yeah, I have,’ and I’m proud of it. I’ve had a remarkably successful 25 years, and what I’ve chosen to do has largely coincided with popular taste, even though my instinct was just to do what I wanted and what interested me. So I have no complaints in any regard.”

As for another traditional album, Sting acknowledges that “it’s hard to know what the new model is. I think the app is the new model. People are going to stop buying CDs. People are going to stop selling and making them, so I am looking for different ways to get music to people, and the application at the moment seems to be the favorite.”

Sting’s “25 Years” North American tour continues through Dec. 10 in Vancouver, including multi-night stands there and in Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. And as he turns his sights forward again, he says that another Police reunion is an unlikely prospect.

“You know, it’s something I am very proud of but I’m not sure there would be a reason to open it again except for nostalgic reasons, and I think we did that” in 2007-2008, Sting says. “I thought we did it very successfully. The timing was perfect. Everybody was happy to see us. So you know say, ‘OK, let’s close the book…’ “

Categories
Music

Listening to “R.E.M.: Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage, 1982-2011” brought back a heck of a lot of great memories!! A heck of a lot!!!

R.E.M. on its ‘Collapse’: There were hints

In retrospect, the picture of R.E.M. on the Collapse Into Now CD jacket with Michael Stipe waving should’ve been the first clue the group was saying goodbye.

R.E.M. surprised the rock world in September with the announcement of its disbanding, but singer Stipe, bassist Mike Mills and guitarist Peter Buck went into the making of Collapse Into Now, released in March, with the idea it would be their final album. Mills says several of the album’s songs offered lyrical hints of the coming news.

“Everybody missed them because nobody expected that any band in their right mind would break up without some sort of tragedy befalling them,” says Mills, 52. “But that’s not the way we do things.”

On Tuesday, the group releases R.E.M.: Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage, 1982-2011, a 40-song retrospective that encompasses the group’s early recordings for I.R.S. Records, as well as later work for Warner Bros. In addition to career-defining hits such as Losing My Religion, The One I Love and Everybody Hurts, the compilation also contains what almost surely are the final new tracks from the band that formed 31 years ago in Athens, Ga.

“It was absolutely unplanned and perhaps unconscious, but the three songs represent three very important components of what made R.E.M. a little bit unique in the first place,” says Stipe, 51.

Mills calls the brief A Month of Saturdays, which came out of the sessions for the 2008 album Accelerate, “whimsical and goofy.” Buck, 54, had toyed with elements of Hallelujah since the mid-’80s but never completed it. “The song is dark and difficult and not easy but ultimately kind of transformative,” Stipe says.

Then there’s the melancholy We All Go Back to Where We Belong. The band has released two black-and-white videos for the song, one featuring Kirsten Dunst, the other poet/performance artist John Giorno.

“It’s a beautiful, midtempo rocker like we do so well,” Mills says. “All of them lyrically relate in some way to this closing full circle of what R.E.M. was.”

Stipe hopes Part Lies can serve the same role for the next generation of R.E.M. fans that David Bowie’s 1976 Changesonebowie collection did for him.

“He had been quoted by my heroes from (legendary New York punk club) CBGB’s as one of their inspirations, so I bought the record having no real knowledge of what or who David Bowie was,” Stipe says. “It provided for me a template for how to put together a retrospective, how to put together a record that could interest someone in exploring further what it is that we were.”

The group’s members have already started moving into new roles. Buck started a tour last week with singer/songwriter John Wesley Harding and the Minus 5. Mills recently recorded a duet for a Farmer Jason children’s album and plans to tour Europe with Chris Stamey next year, performing live versions of ’70s power-pop band Big Star’s Third album. Stipe made an unannounced appearance Thursday on The Colbert Report.

Long-term plans are hazier. “Now I’m a former pop star,” Stipe says. “I don’t really know what I’m going to do from here.”

R.E.M. archival projects, such as the 25th anniversary reissues with bonus material that have come out the past few years, likely will continue. Document, which came out in 1987 and featured It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine), would be the next album due for that treatment.

“We’ll continue to work with (the record company) to make those as fun and cool and classy as possible,” Mills says.

But nearly two months after announcing that they’d no longer make music together, the members of the R.E.M. still feel good about their decision. “When you can control your own destiny, it’s a rare gift,” Mills says. “The fact that we could choose to do this at this time and in this manner is something that we’re grateful for (and) felt we should take advantage of.”

Categories
The Couch Potato Report

More bad than good this week…unfortunately!!!

The Couch Potato Report – November 12th, 2011

Inside this week’s Couch Potato Report are some well-known Canadian musicians and the last Harry Potter releases…for now.

Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart are better known as the band Rush…the Canadian band Rush who – since they formed back in 1974 – have won a number of Juno Awards, and have been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

Rush’s most recent road trip was The Time Machine Tour, which offered fans the chance to hear their hits, along with their 1981 album MOVING PICTURES played live – in its entirety – for the first time. They also offered up some new tunes, from their in progress next studio album Clockwork Angels, due in 2012.

If you missed seeing the tour, RUSH – TIME MACHINE 2011 – LIVE IN CLEVELAND is now available, and in addition to the music, it also features the guys dressed up in costumes for the very funny skits they play between some songs.

RUSH – TIME MACHINE 2011 – LIVE IN CLEVELAND is a fantastic concert film from one our country’s greatest bands, and it offers up not only the music…but some great footage of Geddy, Alex and Neil having a blast on stage.

I easily recommend it!

I also easily recommend another release featuring Canadian musicians, GERRY, the mostly-made-in-Montreal biography of Gerry Boulet, the talented and personable lead singer of the Quebec rock band Offenbach.

Offenbach was the first Québécois band ever to headline at the Montreal Forum, and the film features that triumphant show, in addition to telling us the story of Gerry’s youth and the formation of a band with his brother.

The group was very successful in Canada, and in France – where they lived and toured for over two years.

Gerry – the man – was not always a likeable guy – and there are plenty of those moments in GERRY – the film. It does not shy away from showing his life – warts and all.

GERRY is a love letter to a beloved Quebecois musician, and his band…who were considered by some to be the Rolling Stones of Quebec…and it is also a very entertaining film.

Whether you have ever heard of Gerry Boulet – or Offenbach – or not, I easily recommend it.

There have been two releases I easily recommend so far this week, but we won’t get to a third. I wanted to – really wanted to like THE CHANGE UP, the latest body swap comedy, but I didn’t. Sadly, the film is just not very good.

THE CHANGE UP is exactly like FREAKY FRIDAY, BIG, 13 GOING ON 30, DREAM A LITTLE DREAM and LIKE FATHER LIKE SON – where one person switches bodies with another, learning something along the way, before ultimately switching back – so it has a great premise, and a fantastic cast – including Canada’s Ryan Reynolds, Jason Bateman, Olivia Wilde – but the movie will bore you at times.

YES, there are a few HUGE laughs in THE CHANGE UP, and some nice scenes between friends, but we have seen this story done before, and done better, so skip it…you don’t need to see it this time.

Another release that isn’t worthy of your time is THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON of the set-in-Ottawa, made-in-Regina CBC series INSECURITY.

The show wants to be a funny, tongue in cheek comedy about some bumbling agents at the fictional National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA), who work at keeping Canada safe, but they aren’t always very good at it.

This is a show that should have worked, a modern day group of bumbling secret agents – a gaggle of 21st Century Maxwell Smarts protecting Canada…but it doesn’t.

The characters are likeable, and it is exceptionally well made, but the tone of the show and the jokes just don’t work. Too often I found myself bored…and for a 22 minute show that is supposed to be a comedy, that is not good.

I wish I could – since it is a CBC show and I work for CBC – I wish I could recommend it, but I just can’t. I can’t, so you should skip THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON of INSECURITY.

Here’s hoping SEASON TWO of INSECURITY is better than the first…and you can see all-new episodes of the show Monday night at 8:30 pm only on CBC Television!!

Let’s head to THE BRIDGE now…that is the name of a Canadian police show that started off with stories that were more about the cops that the criminals…it wasn’t really ever a procedural drama…but even after an interesting start to the series, I lost interest in the show.

I like my cop shows to be about the life of cops and the solving of crimes, but this show is about the head of a police union who is working to clean up the force, and that includes cleaning it up from the people who run it.

Aaron Douglas from BATTLESTAR GALACTICA stars here and he – and the entire cast – are all very good…I just didn’t care about the show they were in.

THE BRIDGE isn’t the worst cop show ever, but I wasn’t surprised to hear that SEASON 1 will be the one and only season. The show has been cancelled, and it won’t be missed.

SMILEY’S PEOPLE is up next…it is the six-part 1982 television mini-series based on the 1979 British spy novel by John le Carré, featuring George Smiley, an intelligence expert in forced retirement who is recalled one final time to help settle the affairs of an old friend…and – as you might expect – his investigation uncovers some potentially deadly secrets.

The great Alec Guinness once again stars as George Smiley.

SMILEY’S PEOPLE is intriguing and involving, slow and smart and I enjoy it every time I watch it.

If you have never seen it, search this three disc set out…I highly recommend it, and its predecessor TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY!!

This quartet of television programs concludes now with the fourth season of the series CALIFORNICATION…once again starring David Duchovny from THE X-FILES as a sex addicted novelist with “loose morals” whose need to be with every woman he meets, complicates his relationships with his long time girlfriend and daughter.

Season Four picks up right where Season Three left off as the bad-boy novelist is getting out of jail, with his home life in ruins, and as the season goes on he is facing trial for statutory rape of a minor.

Duchovny’s character in CALIFORNICATION is utterly unlikeable, but as an actor Duchovny is so likeable that you do not dislike him…you sort of root for him.

THE COMPLETE FOURTH SEASON of CALIFORNICATION isn’t as good as the third season, which wasn’t as good as the second season, which wasn’t as good as the first one. The show is getting tired, and there are even a few episodes that I would describe s awful during THE FOURTH SEASON…but when Season Five comes out next year I will watch it…I just like the show, even when it is bad.

Bad is a word I could use to describe THE KATE LOGAN AFFAIR, but I will primarily use the word awful…a few times.

THE KATE LOGAN AFFAIR is an awful, awful, awful, awful movie!!!

Alexis Bledel from GILMOUR GIRLS Stars here as a young police officer who manages to get a married French businessman to have an affair with her and then…you…won’t…care!!

This movie is totally unbelievable – on absolutely every level – and the acting, writing and all of it – all of it, is awful!!

Skip THE KATE LOGAN AFFAIR at any cost!!

You should also skip SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN, even though it does have it moments.

Based on the novel of the same name by Lisa See and directed by Wayne Wang – who also gave us THE JOY LUCK CLUB – the story here partially takes place in 19th century China and is about the lifelong friendship between two girls who develop their own secret code as a way to contend with the rigid cultural norms imposed on women.

It is also about two friends here in the 21st century, and it is the latter story that bogs this film down because they aren’t as interesting.

The book of SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN doesn’t have the modern day story, just the 19th century one, and it is a very interesting read.

The film is sappy, but not sentimental, and you aren’t likely to feel emotionally involved with any of the characters…I know I wasn’t.

Skip the movie…check out the book.

SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN was filmed in China, and we leave that world for another foreign film… Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN, set in Mexico, where two teenage boys go on a road trip with an attractive older woman, and learn a few lessons about life, friendship, sex, and each other.

Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN is a very entertaining film that I have always really enjoyed. It is smart, funny, fun and the scenery is beautiful!!

If you have never seen it, I suggest you search it out.

I have three films for you now that are all available now in the Limited Edition Steelbook packaging that is preferred by some collectors…including me!!

I love steelbooks, the case is made of metal and features unique artwork, and when the films I love are in them, they are must have additions to my blu-ray library!!

Especially the Academy Award nominated 2000 film REQUIEM FOR A DREAM about four drug addicted New Yorkers whose lives fall apart when their drug addictions become stronger.

REQUIEM FOR A DREAM was the first film that garnered Oscar attention for director Darren Aronofsky and he followed it up with the also nominated THE WRESTLER and the Academy Award winning BLACK SWAN.

Much like those two, this is not an easy film to watch. Aronofsky’s style is to push viewers and test their patience, and that was never more true that in REQUIEM FOR A DREAM. Some scenes in this film can only be described as unsettling, and that is why this is a film that I don’t love…and have never loved…but I respect it enough to keep it n my library.

I do love…and have always loved director Robert Rodriguez’ action film FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, and in its shiny new steelbook packaging – with star George Clooney on the front – this one is a proud addition to my library!!

This 1996 action film stars Clooney and Quentin Tarantino as two criminals who take hostages in order to get into Mexico, but they unknowingly stop and seek refuge in bar populated by vampires.

FROM DUSK TILL DAWN was written by Tarantino, and so it bursts with dialogue and the action – courtesy of Rodriguez – is fantastic!!

This is a great action flick, and I love having it on blu-ray in steelbook packaging!!

When it comes to blu-ray, and packaging in its entirety, there may be some who are indifferent.

And it is true…packaging doesn’t make a film better, it just makes it more collectible…but I like collectibles, and so I enjoy knowing that I can have – for a limited amount of time – a classic film like GONE WITH THE WIND in this style of packaging.

This classic 1939 film about Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler and their ongoing relationship set in the American south during the Civil War and Reconstruction would look great housed in just a cardboard sleeve…but I am glad to have GONE WITH THE WIND in a steelbook!!

It is a film, and a type of packaging, I continue to highly recommend!

The biggest film of 2011 is helping to close this edition of The Couch Potato Report.

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART TWO made $381 million at the Box Office since its release in July, and it is about to head straight to the top of the home viewing charts as well.

Based – as always – on the novel by J. K. Rowling DEATHLY HALLOWS was split into two movies and PART TWO allows us to follow Harry, Ron and Hermione as they try to destroy Lord Voldemort once and for all.

I enjoyed the Harry Potter books when I’ve read them, and – as with the other films – I liked HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART TWO, but – for me – these films have never blown me away. They are very, very good, and the cast of young actors remain fantastic, but I have never highly recommend any one of them, and I don’t with this one either.

But – to those of you who continue to love them much more than I ever will – good for you, Muggles!!! We all have to have something we love!!

WARNING…WARNING…WARNING…while you are in the store picking up your copy of DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART TWO, you will see an 8 disc set called HARRY POTTER – THE COMPLETE COLLECTION – YEARS 1 – 7 on the shelf as well, and you can buy that if you’d like…HOWEVER, it only has the films, and very few Special Features. In 2012 a box set that is already been labelled THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION will be released, and it is likely to be 19 or 20 discs, if not more.

You have been warned.

HARRY POTTER – THE COMPLETE COLLECTION – YEARS 1 – 7 and HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART TWO, the classic GONE WITH THE WIND, the great action film FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, the odd Oscar nominee REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN, SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN, THE KATE LOGAN AFFAIR, THE FOURTH SEASON of CALIFORNICATION, the great mini-series SMILEY’S PEOPLE, SEASON ONE of THE BRIDGE, THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON of the CBC series INSECURITY, the wannabe comedy THE CHANGE UP, the biography GERRY – about Gerry Boulet and the Quebec band Offenbach, and the concert film RUSH – TIME MACHINE 2011 – LIVE IN CLEVELAND are all available now, either on disc or on demand.

Coming up inside the next Couch Potato Report

Kenny Hotz – from KENNY VS. SPENNY – is back with a new television series…in TRIUMPH OF THE WILL he is trying to change society, as we know it.

Also next week, Patrick Dempsey and Ashley Judd star in the heist comedy FLY PAPER, Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts topline LARRY CROWNE, and the LOONEY TUNES show up on blu-ray for the first time in the fantastic three-disc set – THE PLATINUM COLLECTION.

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
Blu-ray

Spectacular news!!!

Unforgiven receives special treatment

Warner Home Video has just announced a 20th Anniversary Edition Blu-Ray Book of Clint Eastwood’s Western masterpiece Unforgiven.

“Unforgiven” is a modern classic that “summarizes everything I feel about the Western,” said Eastwood. In this American Film Institute Top-100 American Movies selection, Eastwood and Morgan Freeman play retired outlaws who pick up their guns one last time to collect a bounty offered by the vengeful prostitutes of the remote Wyoming town of Big Whiskey. Richard Harris is an ill-fated killer-for-hire; Hackman is the sly and brutal local sheriff whose brand of law enforcement ranges from unconventional to ruthless.

The Blu-ray Book contains 54 pages of behind-the-scenes filmmaking insight, rare Eastwood observations, photos, trivia and more. In addition you will find a Commentary Track by Eastwood-biographer Richard Schickel on the disc, along with a series of Featurettes.

Among those will be All on Accounta Pullin’ a Trigger, featuring interviews with Morgan Freeman and others, Eastwood … A Star, Eastwood & Co.: Making Unforgiven and Eastwood on Eastwood, a career retrospective from Richard Schickel.

Also included is the Maverick TV series episode “Duel at Sundown” (1959), in which Eastwood plays a virtual younger incarnation of his Unforgiven role. The release will be rounded out by the movie’s Theatrical Trailer.

The new version of “Unforgiven” will be in stores on February 21 for $34.99.

Categories
Van Halen

I want the new music now, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!!!!

Van Halen Sign to Interscope Records

Van Halen has signed to Interscope Records, a source with knowledge of the talks tells Rolling Stone. The news was first reported by the Hollywood Reporter, which wrote that Interscope chairman Jimmy Iovine was personally involved with the negotiations, and quoted an “insider” as saying, “He heard the band was available and wanted to work with them. It was decided at the eleventh hour.” The deal reportedly includes touring, merchandising, marketing and recording.

Rumors were swirling a few months ago that the band was going to sign with Columbia, but supposedly Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth didn’t want to sign with a label on the East Coast. “He was never on board [with Columbia],” the Hollywood Reporter’s source said. “It was as complicated as anyone would imagine, when one side says black, the other says white. The label was pretty skeptical that things would work out.”

Van Halen haven’t released an album of new material since 1998’s ill-fated Van Halen III, which featured Extreme’s Gary Cherone on vocals. They reunited with Sammy Hagar in 2004 for a tour, but shortly afterwards parted ways with the Red Rocker and founding bassist Michael Anthony. They toured in 2007 and 2008 with David Lee Roth and Eddie’s son teenage son Wolfgang Van Halen on bass. There have been numerous reports that the band was recording a new album over the past few years. It will be their first record with David Lee Roth since 1984.

On November 3rd, the Grammy Foundation posted a Tweet that strongly implied that Van Halen would perform at their nomination special on November 30th: “Who do you predict the reuniting band will be @GRAMMYnoms?. Does this hint make you wanna ‘Jump’ & ‘Dance The Night Away?'” However, a source tells Rolling Stone that the band will not appear at the event.

A spokesperson for the Grammys did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.