Month: September 2013

Categories
Movies

Love it!!!

‘Hunger Games’ star Jennifer Lawrence joins ‘Dumb and Dumber To’

“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” star Jennifer Lawrence is ready to get dumb. The actress, who has an impressive list of films in the works, is dipping her toes in the comedic pool with an appearance in “Dumb and Dumber To.”

Lawrence is currently in Atlanta to film “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1,” where the “Dumb and Dumber” sequel is also shooting, THR reports. The entire “Mockingjay” cast dropped by to visit the set, but it was only Jennifer who was filmed.

She will play the younger version of Kathleen Turner’s character, Fraida Felcher. The movie also stars a returning Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, along with Laurie Holden, Cam Neely and Rob Riggle. “Dumb and Dumber To” is aiming for a 2014 release.

Categories
The Couch Potato Report

Hello, Dan here. I wrote these reviews just for you!!

The Couch Potato Report – September 28th, 2013

Here we are in the final weekend in September, well on our way to the end of 2013. There are still dozens of films to be released in theatres between now and the end of the year, but it’s unlikely that any of them will make enough money at the box office to challenge the highest money makers so far this year.

So it looks like the Top Five films of the year will be 5) FAST & FURIOUS 6 ($238,679,850); 4) MONSTERS UNIVERSITY ($265,840,988); 3) MAN OF STEEL ($291,045,518); 2) DESPICABLE ME 2 ($360,796,080) and the Number One film of the year will be IRON MAN 3, which has made almost $410 million ($409,013,994 4,253).

The rest of the Top Five will be available for home viewing soon, and I’ll cover them all in detail when they’re released, but IRON MAN 3 is available now so…here we go!!

IRON MAN 3 picks up not long after the events that took place in last year’s number one film, THE AVENGERS. Robert Downey, Jr.’s Tony Stark is not sleeping as he continues to flashback to almost dying while trying to save the planet and so he works to modify his metallic outerwear.

When a terrorist named the Mandarin successfully unleashes a plot for world domination, Iron Man is soundly defeated and Tony Stark has to pick up the pieces, personally and professionally..

Truth be told, IRON MAN 3 is nowhere near as good as THE AVENGERS or the first IRON MAN movie, but it is better than IRON MAN 2. I have so many problems with this third installment…so, so, so many…unless I shut off my brain and focus on the fact that it is a Summer Movie about a superhero named Iron Man.

As a Summer Movie, full of shiny things that bow up real good, IRON MAN 3 is a success. As a part of the continuing cinematic story being told around characters who first appeared in Marvel comics, it is a huge success!

As a fan of movies like this, I don’t consider it that much of a success, but I do still recommend it as I will watch it again and I’m still looking forward to IRON MAN 4 and THE AVENGERS 2.

Up next is not a Summer Movie, but a television biography that features movie stars – and Academy Award winners – Michael Douglas and Matt Damon, along with Oscar winning director Steven Soderbergh. They have teamed up for a picture called BEHIND THE CANDELABRA and it is amazing!!

This Emmy Award winning film focusses on the last decade of the legendary pianist Liberace’s life and the secret affair he had with a much younger man named Scott Thorson.

It is based on Thorson’s 1988 memoir, “Behind the Candelabra: My Life with Liberace” and the young man is played by Matt Damon, and Michael Douglas is Liberace.

There isn’t anything about BEHIND THE CANDELABRA that I didn’t enjoy. The writing is great, the sets fantastic, and the performances by the lead and supporting actors are all tremendous.

This movie is entertaining and fun and funny and I highly recommend it.

The new television season officially began this week, and so there is a wide array of box sets available now featuring last year’s episodes. I had a blast not doing much else this week but watching these five sets!

I started with THE COMPLETE SIXTH SEASON of the still great comedy THE BIG BANG THEORY.

This is the show about two geeky and socially awkward professors and their circle of friends and lovers. There’s Leonard and Sheldon; Penny – who lives across the hall and is dating Leonard; Amy – who is spending time with Sheldon; new married couple Howard and Bernadette; and Raj. Poor, lonely Raj who spends most of Season Six looking for love.

The geekiness and intellect of the guys continues to be mined for comic effect with Penny’s social skills and common sense and the fantastic timing of the entire cast.

THE BIG BANG THEORY continues to be one of the most entertaining shows on television and I highly recommend THE COMPLETE SIXTH SEASON and all of the seasons!!! Check them out and enjoy!!

Oh, and a bonus in this season is the appearance of the legendary Bob Newhart, who won an Emmy Award for his appearance!!

Last year at this time I spoke about the release of the Box Set for SEASON ONE of 2 BROKE GIRLS. I said that the premise and the lead actress – Kat Dennings from THOR – all appealed to me, but I concluded by saying that I didn’t really like the show.

Well, THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON of 2 BROKE GIRLS is now out and the show is starting to lose me because it doesn’t seem based in any sort of reality at all.

2 BROKE GIRLS is about two women in their twenties who find themselves working together at a small diner. They forge an unlikely friendship based on their dream of quitting and raising enough money to have their own business.

The show has a television sitcom premise, but as its gone on they succeed and fail merely at the whim of the writing. Why they succeed and fail doesn’t seem real life real, it feels television sitcom real and I am losing interest in it.

Plus, Kat Dennings character continues to be the most abrasive and sarcastic character on TV. She is rude and insulting to just about everyone, who absolutely no consequences whatsoever. She still has a job, dreams, and customers in the diner…and her boss puts up with it all, why? Because this is a TV sitcom.

Yes, okay, much like SEASON ONE, THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON of 2 BROKE GIRLS has a few laughs, and some nice moments between the two leads, but not enough. Ultimately I started watching it as a guilty pleasure, but as it goes on I am enjoying it less and less.

Unless you already watch it, you should skip 2 BROKE GIRLS. It isn’t real and they aren’t likeable.

Unless you already watch it, you should also skip SOUTH PARK. It isn’t real and the characters in it aren’t likeable either.

And that is what I continue to love about it!!

THE COMPLETE SIXTEENTH SEASON of SOUTH PARK is out now…and it puts a smile on my face that this show about four young profane characters and the people who live in their Colorado town has even lasted sixteen seasons!!

Yet it has, and it continues to make me laugh out loud, especially when each season comes out on DVD and blu-ray and creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone do short commentaries on every episode. They would always rather be doing anything else!!

SOUTH PARK – THE COMPLETE SIXTEENTH SEASON is full of laughs and I love it!! Here’s to the next sixteen seasons!!!

Some shows work, not only because of their content, but because they are content to be exactly what they are. The action adventure series SPARTACUS works because it knows what it is, a graphic, bloody, sword and sandals show with plenty of violence and nudity. It is what it is and what it is works.

In THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON of SPARTACUS – called WAR OF THE DAMNED – he continues to amass victories over Rome, more determined than ever to bring down the entire Roman Republic.

But Rome continues to fight back!

SPARTACUS – WAR OF THE DAMNED – THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON is also the series final season and it will never win any awards, but it is jam packed full of action and it – and me as a viewer – is content enough with that. I am totally content with the content of this show and can easily recommend it to all action fans, and fans of action.

The biggest surprise I had this week while watching TV Show Box Sets came from how much I enjoyed the made-in-Vancouver action adventure show ARROW. And I did, I really enjoyed it!!

Based on the fictional superhero Green Arrow, a costumed crime-fighter who appears in comic books published by DC Comics, ARROW is a surprisingly good show about a hooded vigilante armed with smarts, fighting expertise and a bow and arrows.

Arrows that do all sorts of things…including putting fear in the hearts and minds of villains.

THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON of ARROW is very entertaining and has some great characters and villains. Even the drama here – and there is plenty of drama – but even it is entertaining. The season also ends with a tremendous cliffhanger

If you are looking for something new, and you enjoy shows based on comic books, do not miss ARROW.

I am so looking forward to SEASON TWO!!

Finally this week is a film that is much smaller in scope and audience awareness than either BEHIND THE CANDELABRA or IRON MAN 3, but for those who stumble upon it, it may just be the film of the year for you.

It is a coming of age film called THE KINGS OF SUMMER.

Here is a film about three teenage friends who just can’t get along with their parents and so they decide to run away from home and build their own house, with their own rules, in the woods. They are going to live there and live off the land, and enjoy life with no parental interference.

For a while their plan succeeds and they truly are THE KINGS OF SUMMER, but eventually they need things that can’t be found in the woods, like food and other friends.

That is when things fall apart.

The cast of THE KINGS OF SUMMER features some actors you’ll know – like Nick Offerman from PARKS AND RECREATION, Megan Mullally of WILL & GRACE and Alison Brie of COMMUNITY – but for the most part you won’t know who they are, but they all give very good performances.

I never loved the movie, but I did really, really like it.

Search this one out.

The nice little film THE KINGS OF SUMMER; THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON of the very entertaining made-in-Vancouver series ARROW; the very good sword and sandals series SPARTACUS – WAR OF THE DAMNED; THE COMPLETE SIXTEENTH SEASON of the still incredibly funny animated series SOUTH PARK; THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON of the once guilty pleasure that is losing me 2 BROKE GIRLS; THE COMPLETE SIXTH SEASON of the continually entertaining THE BIG BANG THEORY; the Emmy Award winning spectacular Liberace bio-pic BEHIND THE CANDELABRA; and the Number One film of the year, which isn’t great but can be entertaining if you turn off your brain, IRON MAN 3 are all available now, either on disc or on demand.

And 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
Music

Cool idea!!!

Krist Novoselic to play bass on new Modest Mouse album

Former Nirvana bass player Krist Novoselic is set to feature on the forthcoming new album from Modest Mouse.

Speaking to Spotify – via Pitchfork – Novoselic revealed that his contribution is “pretty edgy”. He said: “I did a song with Modest Mouse earlier this year for their new record. It’s pretty edgy. I’ve got my big Gibson bass and a Rat distortion pedal busting out a… this bass riff.”

Modest Mouse cancelled their summer European tour in order to work on the follow-up to their last album, 2009’s ‘No One’s First and You’re Next’.

Meanwhile, Novoselic recently revealed that he would be interested in performing Nirvana songs live. Speaking to Australian radio station Triple J, he was asked if he would be keen on visiting the country for the first time in 20 years to perform some of the band’s tracks. He replied: “That’s the best plan I’ve heard all year. It has to happen.”

Novoselic also revealed that he had originally been hoping to play live in the country with former bandmate Dave Grohl’s Sound City Players project, adding: “I was gonna come over with Dave [Grohl] to do the Sound City thing but that hasn’t happened yet. I wanna get there, man. When there’s a continental drift, I’ll be there.”

Over the past year, former Nirvana members Novoselic, Grohl and guitarist Pat Smear have played a number of shows with Beatles legend Paul McCartney. The foursome performed a gig in Seattle, the city whose grunge scene Nirvana became an integral part of, in July of this year but elected to play a smattering of Beatles tracks rather than any songs originally performed by Kurt Cobain and co.

Categories
Movies

I need to see RUSH and CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2!!!

Box office report: ‘Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2’ rolls past ‘Rush’, ‘Don Jon’ with $35 million debut

Four years after the original Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs stormed theaters, Sony’s $78 million sequel Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 topped the chart once again, earning $35 million in its first weekend. The film opened in an ultra-wide 4,001 theaters, and it notched a strong $8,748 location average.

The first Cloudy scored $30.3 million in its debut frame on the way to a $124.9 million finish. Most prognosticators were expecting Cloudy 2 to finish above the $40 million mark — in the same range as Sony Pictures Animation’s Hotel Transylvania, which opened last September with $42.5 million, the best September debut in history. Cloudy 2 finished a bit below that, but it still notched the fourth best September bow of all time behind Transylvania, Insidious Chapter 2 ($40.3 million), and Sweet Home Alabama ($35.6 million).

The film benefited from a lack of animated competition in the marketplace. Planes, the last animated title to hit theaters, debuted nearly two months ago, and moving ahead, Cloudy should endure quite well due to a dearth of family films in October. The next kiddie flick entering theaters is the Thanksgiving-themed Free Birds on Nov. 1. Thus, Cloudy, with its “A-” CinemaScore grade, should have no trouble playing to parents and children for weeks to come.

Last weekend’s champion, Prisoners, locked up another $11.3 million in its second frame, with a 46 percent drop from its $20.8 million debut last weekend. Warner Bros.’ $46 million revenge thriller, which stars Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal, has now earned $39 million. Despite great reviews, though, the drama is facing serious competition from other well-reviewed adult fare such as Rush and Don Jon (and next weekend’s Gravity), which could limit its final box office potential.

That said, Ron Howard’s Formula One racing drama Rush raced off with a rather lackluster $10.3 million in its expansion from five theaters into 2,297 locations. The Universal-distributed film, which stars Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl, marks a major decrease from Howard’s last sports drama, Cinderella Man, which punched up $18.3 million in its 2005 debut. For Hemsworth, Rush (obviously) started off slower than both Thor and The Avengers, but it also under-performed compared to his non-superhero vehicles The Cabin in the Woods ($14.7 million) and Red Dawn ($14.3 million). The film will need great word of mouth to drive it to profitability, and given its strong “A-” CinemaScore, it may achieve that. Also working in Rush‘s favor? Its relatively low $38 million budget.

Two newcomers rounded out the Top 5, though both finished the weekend with rather lackluster totals. The Paula Patton-starring romantic comedy Baggage Claim flew away with $9.3 million from 2,027 theaters, while Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s porn-addiction comedy Don Jon pulled in a more tepid $9 million from 2,422 theaters. Baggage Claim‘s “A-” CinemaScore grade suggests it could find an audience in the weeks to come, though Don Jon’s weak “C+” grade may signify challenging word of mouth (despite strong reviews) down the road. Fortunately, Don Jon cost only $6 million to produce, so it should turn a nice profit for Relativity. Fox Searchlight did not disclose the budget for Baggage Claim.

1. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 – $35 million
2. Prisoners – $11.3 million
3. Rush – $10.3 million
4. Baggage Claim – $9.3 million
5. Don Jon – $9 million

Further down the chart, Eugenio Derbez’s Spanish-language comedy Instructions Not Included scored another $3.4 million from 948 theaters, for a remarkable $38.6 million cumulative total. The film surpassed Pan’s Labyrinth ($37.6 million) this weekend to become the highest-grossing Spanish-language film in U.S. box office history. It’s a major winner for young distributor Pantelion, a joint venture of Lionsgate and Mexican media company Televisa.

This weekend, Sandra Bullock’s ultra buzzy sci-fi thriller Gravity floats into theaters — as does the rather unbuzzy Justin Timberlake-Ben Affleck thriller Runner Runner. Check back to see how both films fare at the box office.

Categories
Muppets

Time to go back for a visit!!

Miss Piggy joins Kermit in Smithsonian’s Muppet collection

Miss Piggy is finally joining her love, Kermit the Frog, in the Smithsonian Institution’s collection of Jim Henson’s Muppets, and Bert and Ernie will have a place in history, too.

Henson’s daughter, Cheryl Henson, donated more than 20 puppets and props Tuesday to the National Museum of American History. The donation included Miss Piggy and some of her co-stars from The Muppet Show including Fozzie Bear, Scooter and the Swedish Chef.

Henson also donated a number of puppets from Sesame Street including Bert and Ernie, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Grover, and Count Von Count.

The donation also included Boober Fraggle and Travelling Matt from Fraggle Rock.

Many of the puppets are the first constructions of the characters.

The museum was previously home to Oscar the Grouch, Kermit and the cast of Henson’s early TV show Sam and Friends. The collection includes the original Kermit the Frog creation, as well as the more famous Kermit from Sesame Street and The Muppet Show.

The museum says Miss Piggy will go on display in March 2014 in the museum’s “American Stories” exhibit. The original Kermit and Cookie Monster will go on view in November in a special display case.

Categories
The Simpsons

Woo hoo!!! They’re back!!!

‘The Simpsons’ Producer Al Jean on the ‘Astounding’ 25th Season

“The Simpsons already did it.”

That’s not a valid argument to make anymore, South Park, not when The Simpsons is still doing it (in this case, “doing it” equals “making all-new original episodes”) after 25 years on the air. That’s right: Later this month, the longest-running American primetime scripted series extends its run for a milestone 25th season.

“It’s an astounding number to all of us,” executive producer Al Jean said during a conference call with the press. Jean, who was part of the original writing staff on The Simpsons, has served as showrunner since 2001. “What it means is, whatever happens, if anything goes wrong, it’s your fault,” he joked. But based on his comments, Jean and his writing staff don’t have much to worry about in the “doing it wrong” department.

“I think this upcoming season is one of our best ever,” he said. “There are some extremely ambitious episodes toward the end of the year that are unlike anything we’ve done before.”

Season 25 premieres Sunday with an episode called “Homerland.” Fans of a certain Showtime drama can draw their conclusions about what the episode entails.

“It was an idea pitched by one of our writers, Stephanie Gillis,” Jean said. “The fact that Homer works at a nuclear power plant lends itself to him being somebody who could be turned by nefarious forces to do something terrible. And there’s the fact that you just add an ‘r’ to Homeland and you get ‘Homerland.’”

Another happy coincidence: “Homerland” airs the same night Homeland premieres its third season. The timing was a “complete accident,” Jean said, but the premise of the episode was anything but.

“When you have a basic, great dramatic premise — is this person a traitor or a hero? — that’s something you can turn into comedy very easily,” he said. “Particularly the scenes where his daughter is discovering what he’s doing. We thought that would work very well with Lisa and Homer.”

There’s even more drama in store for Homer later in the season, when the Simpsons patriarch finds himself trapped in an elevator, forced to help a woman (played by Mad Men star Elisabeth Moss) give birth.

“She’s grateful, she doesn’t have a husband, so she names the baby Homer Junior,” Jean revealed. “Homer bonds with this baby better than with his own children — and Marge gets very mad.”

But it’s not just the nuclear family getting in on the action this season. One future episode involves Comic Book Guy getting married, with none other than Stan Lee presiding over the ceremony. And on a darker note, Jean teased that an established Simpsons character is on their way to the great beyond.

“We’re working on a script where a character will pass away,” he confirmed. “I’ll give a clue: The actor who plays the character won an Emmy for playing that character. I won’t say who it is.”

Speaking of dark themes, the opening for The Simpsons‘ annual Halloween tradition, the “Treehouse of Horror” episode, is in the hands of horror master Guillermo del Toro this year.

“It was amazing, what he did,” Jean said of del Toro’s work on the episode, airing Oct. 6. “I’ve met some people who like scary things, but he’s the greatest expert on horror movies that I’ve ever encountered. There are so many references in that opening that he put in. It’s really brilliant.”

Much later in the season — right around finale time, in fact — The Simpsons will have a full-on crossover episode with the cast of Futurama.

“I’ve been here for 25 years and we had a read for [the Futurama episode] yesterday where the excitement was as high as I’ve ever seen,” he said. “We had John DiMaggio and Billy West and Maurice LaMarche from Futurama, and we had our cast. I thought, ‘This has got to be the best voice-over talent at one read that I could ever think of.’ It was really great seeing Bender interact with Homer. I can’t wait to see that episode.”

With all eyes on the show’s 25th season, there’s one area of Springfield that isn’t getting much attention these days: the movies. Jean said there are no active plans for a follow-up to 2007′s The Simpsons Movie, even if the possibility isn’t completely off the table.

“The really honest answer is, we talk about it from time to time. We say we’d like to do one,” Jean said of making a second Simpsons movie. “But I will say there’s a unanimous feeling that nobody wants to do a bad movie or a movie that looks like it’s for the money, or anything that doesn’t have the attention that the first movie got lavished on it. If we come out with one, it won’t be for a while, and it will only be because everyone working on it would say, ‘This is a great movie. We want to do this.’”

Perhaps that’s why The Simpsons is still active after all these years: Jean and his team do what they want with the show, and very little else.

“It’s a pretty small list of what we’ve wanted to do where we’ve been told ‘No,’ and a pretty long list of amazing things we can’t believe we’ve been able to do,” he said. “You can go to a Simpsons [theme park] in Universal, Florida. There’s a play on Broadway that we didn’t write, but it’s inspired by an old episode. It’s crazy. It’s really nuts what’s come about because of this show.”

“Animation is the most evergreen thing there is,” he added. “I’m really glad I do it.”

The Simpsons begins its 25th season Sunday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.

Categories
Concerts

Remember Cher?

Cher Announces ‘Dressed to Kill’ Tour

Cher is ready to hit the road on the “Dressed to Kill” tour, her first trek in eight years. The legendary performer made the announcement Monday morning on NBC’s “Today” show, telling the hosts that it won’t be easy.

“The road is horrible, but the concerts are great,” she told Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie. “I understand why guys in bands tear up hotel rooms and throw TVs out the windows, because it’s a very lonely place. The only time you have fun is at the concerts.”

The tour will visit 49 cities across North America starting March 22 in Phoenix and will include stops in major markets including Washington D.C., Philadelphia, NYC (Brooklyn and East Rutherford, NJ), Seattle and Los Angeles before wrapping up July 11 in San Diego.

A pre-sale for American Express cardholders runs Monday, Sept. 30, through Thursday Oct. 3. Online ticket-buyers will get a free copy of Cher’s new album, “Closer to the Truth,” which comes out tomorrow (Sept. 24). Further ticket info, including timing for general public sales, will be made public on Cher’s website.

Cher, 67, wrapped her “Farewell Tour” (later dubbed “The Never Can Say Goodbye Tour”) in 2005 after playing 325 dates in 20 countries over the span of nearly three years.

CHER ‘DRESSED TO KILL’ TOUR IN 2014

March 22 – Phoenix, AZ (US Airways Center)
March 24 – Houston, TX (Toyota Center)
March 26 – Dallas, TX (American Airlines Center)
March 28 – Little Rock, AR (Verizon Arena)
March 29 – Tulsa, OK (BOK Center)
March 31 – Nashville, TN (Bridgestone Arena)
April 2 – Pittsburgh, PA (Consol Energy Center)
April 4 – Washington DC (Verizon Center)
April 5 – Uncasville, CT (Mohegan Sun
April 7 – Toronto, ON (Air Canada Centere)
April 9 – Boston, MA (TD Garden)
April 11 – Indianapolis, IN (Bankers Life Fieldhouse)
April 12 – Detroit, MI (Joe Louis Arena)
April 23 – Buffalo, NY (First Niagara Center)
April 25 – Montreal, QC (Bell Center)
April 26 – Ottawa, ON (Canada Tire Centere)
April 28 – Philadelphia, PA (Wells Fargo Center)
April 30 – Columbus, OH (Nationwide Arena)
May 2 – Cleveland, OH (Quicken Loans Arena)
May 5 – Charlotte, NC (Times Warner Cable Arena)
May 7 – Raleigh, NC (PNC Arena)
May 9 – Brooklyn, NY (Barclays Center)
May 10 – East Rutherford, NJ (Izod Center)
May 12 – Atlanta, GA (Philips Arena)
May 14 – Jacksonville, FL (Veterans Memorial Arena)
May 16 – Orlando, FL (Amway Center)
May 17 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL (BB&T Center)
May 25 – Las Vegas, NV (MGM Grand
May 28 – Denver, CO (Pepsi Center)
May 30 – Lincoln, NE (Pinnacle Bank Arena)
May 31 – Kansas City, MO (Sprint Center)
June 2 – Louisville, KY (KFC Yum! Center)
June 4 – St. Louis, MO (Scottrade Center)
June 6 – Milwaukee, WI (BMO Harris Bradley Center)
June 7 – Chicago, IL (Allstate Arena)
June 9 – Des Moines, IA (Wells Fargo Arena)
June 11 – Minneapolis, MN (Target Center)
June 20 – Winnipeg, MB (MTS Centere)
June 21 – Saskatoon, SK (Credit Union Centere)
June 23 – Edmonton, AB (Rexall Place
June 25 – Calgary, AB (Scotiabank Saddledome)
June 27 – Vancouver, BC (Rogers Arena)
June 28 – Seattle, WA (Key Arena)
June 30 – Portland, OR (Moda Center)
July 2 – San Jose, CA (SAP Center) at San Jose
July 5 – Ontario, CA (Citizens Business Bank Arena)
July 7 – Los Angeles, CA (Staples Center)
July 9 – Anaheim, CA (Honda Center)
July 11 – San Diego, CA (Valley View Casino Center)

Categories
Awards

The show was nothing special, but it was very emotional. Congrats to all the winners.

Emmy Awards winners and losers

“This may be the saddest Emmys of all time, but we could not be happier.”

Those were the words of Modern Family co-creator Steve Levitan as he accepted the award for best comedy series at the 65th annual Primetime Emmy Awards Sunday night.

Levitan was on to something there. From the outset, with the show starting a few minutes late to due a football overrun on CBS (which obviously delayed things on CTV, too), it essentially was an awkward and bland Emmys show.

On the drama side, while the penultimate episode of his groundbreaking series had aired the same night on another network, Vince Gilligan accepted the award for outstanding drama series for Breaking Bad.

“I did not see this coming,” Gilligan said.

Can’t really say I believe him.

In a stunning upset, Jeff Daniels was named the outstanding lead actor in a drama series.

“Well, crap,” Daniels said as he took the stage. We imagine a lot of people were saying the same thing.

Not that Daniels wasn’t deserving, he certainly was. It’s just that with the competition he was facing – Bryan Cranston of Breaking Bad, Jon Hamm of Mad Men, Damian Lewis of Homeland, Hugh Bonneville of Downton Abbey and Kevin Spacey of House of Cards – Daniels was a long shot at best.

“Aaron Sorkin (creator of The Newsroom) makes it matter and makes it count,” Daniels said.

Well, that news has broken.

To no one’s surprise, Claire Danes of Homeland again was named the outstanding lead actress in a drama. She thanked her husband, actor Hugh Dancy of Hannibal, for keeping her so happy at home, so she can be “so entirely unhappy in the land of make-believe.”

In the comedy field, Jim Parsons was re-elected king.

Parsons, who plays super-nerd Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory, was honoured as the outstanding lead actor.

Parsons, who also won this award in 2010 and 2011, clearly had teary eyes as he gave his acceptance speech.

“It’s so silly to be emotional, isn’t it?” Parsons asked.

Well, only if you’re Sheldon Cooper, not for anyone else.

On the best lead actress in a comedy front, who says vice-presidents don’t get any respect? Julia Louis-Dreyfus won her second straight Emmy for playing vice-president Selina Meyer in the HBO series Veep.

There was a big laugh when Louis-Dreyfus was joined on stage by Tony Hale, who plays the vice-president’s personal assistant on Veep. Hale stood right behind Louis-Dreyfus, whispering in her ear to remember to thank her family and other such things.

Just a few minutes earlier, Hale had won an Emmy himself, as the outstanding supporting actor in a comedy.

Laura Linney of The Big C: Hereafter was named the outstanding lead actress in a movie or mini-series.

“She’s such a great actress, she didn’t even need to show up,” presenter Matt Damon joked as he accepted the award for the absent Linney.

The long-suffering wife on Breaking Bad finally got a break. Anna Gunn, who plays polarizing figure Skyler White, was honoured as the outstanding supporting actress in a drama.

Bobby Cannavale, who played terrifying villain Gyp Rosetti on Boardwalk Empire, was a surprise winner but an absolutely deserving one as the outstanding supporting actor in a drama series.

Jane Lynch paid tribute to late Glee castmate Cory Monteith, who was found dead from a drug overdose in a Vancouver hotel room last July at age 31. The inclusion of Monteith for an individual tribute at the Emmys — along with Jonathan Winters, Jean Stapleton, James Gandolfini and producer Gary David Goldberg — was controversial, in that neither Larry Hagman nor Jack Klugman were accorded such treatment.

“Cory was a beautiful soul,” Lynch said. “He was not perfect, which a lot of us can relate to. Tonight we mourn the loss for all he could have been.”

As for the first big award of the evening, if only Merritt Wever was in charge of keeping the Emmys running on time!

After being handed the hardware as the outstanding supporting actress in a comedy, a stunned Wever merely muttered, “Thanks so much. I gotta go, bye.” Cute? Or might some see it as a little contemptuous or disrespectful in a way? Up to you to decide.

Emmys host Neil Patrick Harris left no doubt as to where he stood on Wever’s speech.

“Merritt Wever, best speech ever,” Harris said. “Good luck everyone else.”

Outstanding lead actor in a mini-series or movie went to Michael Douglas for his portrayal of Liberace in Behind the Candelabra, beating out his castmate Damon, who played boy-toy Scott Thorson.

“This was a two-hander,” Douglas said, prompting laughter as he thanked Damon, “and you’re only as good as your other hand. You really deserve half of this, so do you want the bottom or the top?”

Behind the Candelabra also won the award for outstanding mini-series or movie.

Translating buzz into bling, The Voice won the award for outstanding reality-competition series. “We’re back on Monday, keep us No. 1,” producer Mark Burnett, who never stops selling, said in his acceptance speech.

In the wide-ranging variety-series category, The Colbert Report was the victor. “Wow, the Emmys are so good this year,” host Stephen Colbert said.

There was a great unscripted moment when Bob Newhart came out with Parsons to present an award, and the legendary Newhart received a heartfelt standing ovation from the crowd.

Harris’ first bit was to pretend he was binge-watching an entire season of television. Throw in a couple of addictions and bloodshot eyes, and he could be a TV critic.

“We’re here to honour the best in television,” Harris said in his monologue. “For our younger audience, that’s the thing you watch on your phones.”

More seriously, Harris added, “This past year has been one of the greatest in television history, truly.”

Harris then was joined on the stage by past Emmy hosts Jimmy Kimmel, Jane Lynch, Jimmy Fallon and Conan O’Brien, all presumably giving Harris advice, even though he had hosted the Emmys before. O’Brien quipped that when he hosted the Emmys, “There was no Internet. You had to pay for pornography.”

While the former hosts were arguing with the current host, the camera found Spacey who turned and delivered a for-the-audience speech about his Machiavellian plans, just like his character in House of Cards.

A pre-taped bit featured Harris’ castmates from How I Met Your Mother doing a public-service announcement to raise awareness for EHD, or Excessive Hosting Disorder. The ad was promoting The Ryan Seacrest Center for Excessive Hosting, which was funny, but it went on a little too long.

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Music

I would like to hear it now, please!!!

Arcade Fire’s ‘Reflektor’ tracklist leaks

The tracklisting for Arcade Fire’s forthcoming new album ‘Reflektor’ has leaked online.

The 13 tracks, spread over two discs, were revealed on Amazon France this weekend. New single ‘Reflektor’ is the album’s opening track, and is followed by ‘We Exist’, ‘Flashbulb Eyes’, ‘Here Comes The Night Time’, ‘Normal Person’, ‘You Already Know’, ‘Joan Of Arc’, ‘Here Comes The Night Time II’, ‘Awful Sound (Oh Erydice)’, ‘It’s Never Over (Oh Orpheous)’, ‘Porno’, ‘Afterlife’, and ‘Supersymmetry’.

‘Reflektor’, the band’s fourth album, is set for release on October 28. Frontman Win Butler recently described the album, which is a double, as a “mash-up of Studio 54 and Haitian voodoo”.

Meanwhile, David Bowie light-heartedly threatened to steal Arcade Fire’s ‘Reflektor’ for himself, according to band member Richard Reed Parry.

Bowie appears alongside the Canadian band on their new single, the first track to be taken from the forthcoming double album of the same name. Speaking to NME in a new interview in this week’s issue, available digitally and on newsstands now, Parry lifted the lid on what it was like to be in the studio with Bowie.

“It was just after ‘The Next Day’ had come out. He basically just came by the studio in New York while we were mixing, just to have a listen to the stuff we were doing,” explains Parry. “He offered to lend us his services because he really liked the song. In fact, he basically threatened us – he was like, ‘If you don’t hurry up and mix this song, I might just steal it from you!’ So we thought, well why don’t we go one better, why don’t you sing on our version? Thankfully he obliged, and we were really happy about that.”

The ‘Relfektor’ tracklisting is as follows:
‘Reflektor’
‘We Exist’
‘Flashbulb Eyes’
‘Here Comes The Night Time’
‘Normal Person’
‘You Already Know’
‘Joan Of Arc’
‘Here Comes The Night Time II’
‘Awful Sound (Oh Erydice)’
‘It’s Never Over (Oh Orpheous)’
‘Porno’
‘Afterlife’
‘Supersymmetry’

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Music

Rest up, boys!! Rest up!!

Mumford and Sons announce hiatus: ‘No band activities for the foreseeable future’

Mumford and Sons have announced plans to take “a considerable amount of time off”.

The band completed their tour promoting second album ‘Babel’ in Bonner Springs, Kansas on Friday night (September 20). Speaking to Rolling Stone earlier in the week, keyboard player Ben Lovett revealed: “There won’t be any Mumford & Sons activities for the foreseeable future following Friday’s show.”

Asked exactly how much time the band are planning to take off, Lovett replied: “We have no idea. We just know we’re going to take a considerable amount of time off and just go back to hanging out and having no commitments or pressure or anything like that. It feels like the last week of school right now, before school holiday when you’re in high school. The atmosphere on the road is one of… I think everyone’s excited about being free of schedules.”

Mumford And Sons released their debut album ‘Sigh No More’ in 2009 and followed it with last year’s ‘Babel’, which debuted at Number One on the UK’s Official Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200 in September of last year (2012). The band have toured extensively in support of both albums and delivered headline sets at Glastonbury and T In The Park earlier this summer.

Explaining how the band members intend to spend their break from Mumfords activities, Lovett said: “We’re just going to rest up. I don’t think we’ve had actually much time in the process to be with other people and living a life outside of the band. I think that’s what’s in place at the moment, to do very little – especially when it comes to Mumford & Sons.”