If You Liked BEST IN SHOW and WAITING FOR GUFFMAN
Here's A MIGHTY WIND
'Daredevil' Clings to Top Box-Office Spot
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Serious film proved no match for a daredevil and a big old frat party.
Ben Affleck's superhero adventure "Daredevil" remained the No. 1 movie for the second straight weekend with $18.9 million, pushing its 10-day total to $70.3 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
"Old School," starring former "Saturday Night Live" comedian Will Ferrell with Vince Vaughn and Luke Wilson as thirtysomething partiers who form a college fraternity, debuted a close second with $17.5 million.
A rush of heavy new dramas had modest to weak openings. "The Life of David Gale," starring Kevin Spacey as a capital-punishment opponent who lands on death row, was No. 6 with $7.2 million.
The Civil War epic "Gods and Generals," featuring Robert Duvall in a follow-up to "Gettysburg," debuted at No. 8 with $4.8 million. "Dark Blue," with Kurt Russell and Ving Rhames in a police thriller set in the days leading up to the 1992 Los Angeles riots, opened in ninth place with $3.75 million.
Hollywood had a solid weekend overall, with the top 12 movies grossing $96.2 million, up 14 percent from the same weekend last year.
Among the new movies, "Old School" had a healthy $6,508 average in 2,689 theaters. "The Life of David Gale" averaged $3,580 in 2,002 cinemas, "Gods and Generals" did $3,115 in 1,533 theaters and "Dark Blue" managed just $1,723 in 2,176 locations.
Critics welcomed "Old School" as a lowbrow but fun successor to the campus classic "Animal House," with Ferrell earning high marks compared to other "Saturday Night Live" alumni, whose big-screen efforts often draw bad reviews.
Men made up 58 percent of the audience for "Old School," and 56 percent of viewers were younger than 25.
"The genius of the movie, if you can call it genius, is it had appeal across a pretty broad age range," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "You had older teens and twentysomethings interested, then you had thirtysomethings who wanted to see people they could relate to in this frat-house setting."
"Daredevil," based on the Marvel Comics character, is poised to become the first movie released in 2003 to top $100 million. The movie began with a largely male audience but drew solidly among women this past weekend, said Bruce Snyder, head of distribution for 20th Century Fox, which released "Daredevil."
"It's a legitimate across-the-board movie today," Snyder said.
The musical "Chicago" continued to trade on its leading 13 Academy Awards nominations, coming in at No. 5 with $8.5 million. Considered the front-runner to win best picture, "Chicago" pushed its two-month total to $94.4 million.
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Daredevil," $18.9 million.
2. "Old School," $17.5 million.
3. "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days," $11.9 million.
4. "The Jungle Book 2," $8.6 million.
5. "Chicago," $8.5 million.
6. "The Life of David Gale," $7.2 million.
7. "Shanghai Knights," $6.4 million.
8. "Gods and Generals," $4.8 million.
9. "Dark Blue," $3.75 million.
10. "The Recruit," $3.5 million.
Once Again They Got It Wrong!
"Various Artists- O Brother Where Art Thou?" "Two Against Nature- Steely Dan." "Come Away With Me- Norah Jones."
What do these three discs have in common? They have all been unjustifiably named the best "Album Of The Year" over the past three years at The Grammy Awards. The latter defeated Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising" just last night. Granted, I am a huge Springsteen fan, so I could see how you might think that I am biased towards The Boss.
Not true.
If Eminem or the Dixie Chicks, or even Nelly had won the award, I would have been fine. An argument could be made that all of those releases helped define the music world in 2002. But Norah Jones?!?!
Do you know anyone, and I include me in that list, do you know anyone who owns, loves or has even heard the disc? Yes, even I haven't heard the whole CD and I don't own a copy of the CD or even MP3's of the songs, save for the title track.
Yet Ms. Jones, in the same fashion as Steely Dan and the "O Brother Where Art Thou?", has now been recognized as THE Album Of The Year.
I am disgusted! If the Academy Of Recording Arts And Sciences, the people who give out The Grammy Awards, don't soon completely revamp the way that they give out these Awards, I assure you that I will no longer care.
Can they afford to lose me, a serious music fan who always clears his schedule for Grammy night? Can they afford to see us longtime viewers and supporters walk away due to the idiotic way they dole out Awards? I'm sure they can.
But they can't afford to lose you, the casual music fan who tunes in if there is nothing else on.
So I implore you to stand up and be counted. Make the Academy Of Recording Arts And Sciences accountible for their Awards. If they want us to recognize their selected item as "Album Of The Year", shouldn't they recognize an album that is refelctive of the year in question?
Can you, in any way, say that that album in 2002 was Norah Jones? And that isn't a rhetorical question.
Personally, I say "Come on up to 'The Rising'!"
PS- Even with my stance on the above issue, I will give the Grammy people major points for their tribute to the late, great Joe Strummer. Putting Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen, Dave Grohl and Little Steven together for a rousing rendition of "London Calling" was tremendous. It was a tribute worthy of the man who inspired it.
Norah Jones Sweeps Grammy Awards
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The soft, jazzy voice of Norah Jones inviting listeners to "Come Away With Me" swept up eight Grammy Awards at Sunday night's top music industry awards that were punctuated by a smattering of low key anti-war protests.
Jones, 23, nominated personally for five awards and tipped by many music critics to dominate the 45th annual Grammys, did just that by taking home the golden gramophone statuettes for Album of the Year, Best New Artist, Record of The Year for the single "Don't Know Why," Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Female Pop Vocal Album.
"I can't believe this, I can't believe this. Bonnie Raitt and Aretha Franklin. This is freakin' me out," Jones, who wore a black dress, said on the Madison Square Garden stage after receiving the Record of the Year award from the famous singers.
Later, after receiving the coveted Album of the Year, the modest Jones said, "I just want to say that at a time when this world is very weird, I feel really blessed and really lucky to have had the year I've had. Thank you very much."
The number "Don't Know Why" from her debut album "Come Away With Me" won Song of the Year for songwriter Jesse Harris while the album collected Best Engineered Album, non-classical category and Producer of the Year, non-classical.
Jones outdid the critics' other top pick, veteran rocker Bruce Springsteen, who won three Grammys for his album "The Rising" influenced by the Sept. 11, 2001 hijacked plane attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center, killing nearly 2,800 people.
The three-women country band Dixie Chicks won four Grammys for work on the album, "Home."
Jones is the daughter of Indian music master Ravi Shankar, 82, and former music promoter-turned nurse Sue Jones who were not married and split up before she was born. When she stood on stage to accept the first of her gold gramophone statuettes Sunday night, she thanked her mother but did not mention Shankar.
A few musicians made low-key statements or gestures opposing the U.S. buildup to the possible war on Iraq. The most pointed remarks were made by award presenters, rocker Fred Durst and Raitt.
"I don't know about you but I just really hope we are in agreeance (sic) that this war should go away as soon as possible," Durst said before presenting the Best Hard Rock Performance Grammy to Foo Fighters.
Raitt, who joined Franklin to present the Record of the Year Grammy, said, "Enough about building a mystery, let's build some peace."
Best Female Rock Vocal Performance Grammy winner Sheryl Crow sported a guitar strap with the words "No War" written on it and wore a large, silver peace sign on a necklace as she performed on stage during the show broadcast live by CBS.
THE RISING
In the pre-telecast segment the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences gave Springsteen, 53, three Grammys in rock categories for "The Rising," the first all-new recording with his famous E Street band since 1984.
Springsteen and the band performed a rousing version of "The Rising" during the awards ceremony.
The Springsteen album includes the track "Into the Fire," which he wrote after the Sept. 11 attacks. Another track was "My City of Ruins," an earlier song about down-on-its-luck Asbury Park, New Jersey, that the musician dedicated to New York after the attacks.
In another echo of the attacks on New York, country singer Alan Jackson's emotional "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)" won in the category of Best Country tune.
Dixie Chicks won Grammys for Best Country Album for "Home" and Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal, "Long Time Gone," and Best Country Instrumental Performance, "Lil' Jack Slade" and Best Recording Package on "Home" went to art director Kevin Reagan.
Dixie Chicks talked about how satisfying it was winning with the "Home" album, which they put together themselves.
"This is special," said lead singer Natalie Maines. "We feel we made this one by ourselves. We had no on else to answer to."
The Blues album called "Screamin' and Hollerin' The Blues: The Worlds of Charley Patton" won three Grammys in the pre-telecast show -- Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package, Best Album Notes and Best Historical Album.
The Grammys returned to New York for the first time since 1998. The awards were moved to Los Angeles in 1999 after then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani had a much-publicized dispute with Academy executives.
If you are interested, you'll find a complete list of the winners at the official Grammy website.
MUGGLE ALERT!
Warner Bros. finally confirming that actor Michael Gambon will take over the role of Professor Dumbledore for the late Richard Harris in the Harry Potter movies.
ACROSS THE POND
Roman Polanski's The Pianist winning honors for Best Picture and Best Director at the British Academy Awards Sunday. Nicole Kidman won Best Actress for The Hours and Daniel Day-Lewis was named Best Actor for Gangs of New York.
Nia Vardalos builds 'Big Fat Greek' franchise
By Bill Keveney, USA TODAY
A blockbuster movie can do amazing things for a stalled sitcom.
Nia Vardalos and Steven Eckholdt star as newlyweds in My Big Fat Greek Life.
CBS passed on Nia Vardalos' pilot about her raucous Greek family for last fall's schedule. But the mood changed when her $5 million film, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, became the year's surprise hit and grossed more than $240 million.
"When the film crossed $120 million, they coincidentally picked up the phone and said, 'We're picking you up as a series,' " Vardalos says of My Big Fat Greek Life, which makes its debut tonight (9:30 ET/PT), then moves to Sundays (8 ET/PT).
In less than a year, Vardalos has gone from Hollywood hopeful to the real-life star of a Cinderella story more unlikely than that of her Wedding character, a mousy type who found love, pizazz and the backbone to stand up to her loving but domineering family.
"We're out on video. We're in theaters. And the TV show is premiering. It's just unheard of," Vardalos says of her Greek empire. "And really fun."
There's an Oscar nomination, too, for best original screenplay.
Vardalos, 40, a Winnipeg native and veteran of Chicago's Second City comedy troupe, remains stunned by the power of a short, family-oriented monologue. Inspired by her family and her husband, actor Ian Gomez, her piece grew into a screenplay and a one-woman show, produced with the simple goal of trying to attract a better agent. After Rita Wilson, an actress of Greek heritage, saw the show, she and her husband, Tom Hanks, shepherded the story onto the big screen. Both are involved in producing the series.
"I keep thinking I'll be able to catch my breath one of these days. One thing piles on the next. I have these moments, as if I've absorbed it all. Then I start to shiver. What happened?" says Vardalos, who also will star in the upcoming movie Connie and Carla Do L.A.
As star and co-executive producer of the TV show, with responsibility for its voice and tone, Vardalos hopes to remain faithful to the film while moving beyond it. To start, she wants to reduce the old-world feel, making the family less obstinate and shifting away from such themes as the father's idea that women shouldn't go to college.
The success of Wedding probably means many viewers will give Life a look. But Brad Grey, whose company is one of Life's producers, hopes the early spotlight doesn't lead to snap judgments.
"My experience is you don't find your footing for six to 13 shows," he says. "Hopefully, if given time, we'll find our way to an entertaining show."
In what might be a first for a movie turned sitcom, all but one member of the movie cast returns, including Portokalos family members Lainie Kazan, Michael Constantine, Andrea Martin, Louis Mandylor and Gia Carides. The change is the spouse: Steven Eckholdt (It's Like, You Know ...) replaces John Corbett, who has his own series, Lucky, premiering on FX in April.
Eckholdt, a longtime friend of Vardalos', played the same part in the pilot and says the series has been more fun. "It just has a different vibe to it. It might be that it's the cast; there's a cohesiveness they bring with them."
Eckholdt doesn't feel like a stranger at the Wedding party, but he realizes his relationship with his on-screen Greek-American in-laws has to be laced with frustration. "There has to be that conflict in order to sustain it. A movie is a two-hour capsule. A TV series has to be there every week."
The presence of Eckholdt and the Wedding cast creates an instant comfort level for Vardalos on the set, but there have been adjustments and concessions. She didn't want a laugh track, but that sitcom staple will be there. The demands of a weekly series mean delegating writing duties.
On Wedding, "I had complete autonomy. No one touched a word of that screenplay but me," Vardalos says. "At CBS, they are very supportive, but I can't possibly write every episode. And yet these are characters I created, so no one knows them better than I do.
"It's a tough couple of first episodes, trying to keep characters' voices right, trying to keep jokes out of the script. It's a work in progress."
Marsh McCall, the day-to-day executive producer, is impressed by Vardalos' ability to jump from writing to rehearsing to editing. "She doesn't seem to need sleep," he says.
Even with non-stop work, the series could find crossover success elusive. For every M*A*S*H, there are plenty of duds, such as Working Girl and 9 to 5.
But Vardalos, who went from virtual anonymity to wealth and fame in less than a year, says she doesn't feel pressure.
"I'm a bit of a fearless idiot that way," she says. "I honestly think this whole experience is, 'Hey, I'll try it.' If it doesn't work, OK, I'll do something else."
Limp Bizkit Names New Album, Offers Track Online
Limp Bizkit has announced that Bipolar will be the title of its next studio album, due out May 13. None of the tracks to appear on Bipolar have been announced, but Limp Bizkit has posted a new song, titled "Just Drop Dead," on the band's official website.
In a written introduction to the song, frontman Fred Durst notes, "It's a crazy world we live in, and too many people can't be honest. Everything happens for a reason." Durst concludes, "This is raw, unmixed, and straight from the studio."
Durst reveals the inspiration for "Just Drop Dead" came from "someone who just shouldn't have crossed the line...Someone who thinks they can just get away with anything regardless of how bad the karma will be."
NUMBER ONE- A Generation’s Final Journey comes to DVD
The tenth and most recent Star Trek film Star Trek Nemesis is making its way to DVD as a special edition from Paramount Home Entertainment this May.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the Enterprise-E crew find themselves on a diplomatic mission to initiate peace with the Romulans. Learning that the Romulans have undergone a political upheaval and their new Praetor, Shinzon, wants to discuss a peace treaty with the Federation, Picard and his crew must investigate the situation and determine Shinzon's sincerity. But they learn that not only is the new Praetor not a Romulan at all but a native of Romulus' sister planet Remus, they also find that he is a human replica of Picard, originally bio-engineered by the Romulans to be substituted for the captain as a weapon against the Federation. Now, Picard and his crew must determine if the Romulans truly desire a peace treaty, or if they have other plans in mind.
The film will be available in both fullscreen and anamorphic widescreen (a first for Trek DVDs) and carry sound in Dolby Digital 5.1 as well as English and French Dolby 2.0 Surround. Extras include seven deleted scenes an audio commentary by director Stuart Baird, four brand-new featurettes titled "New Frontiers: Stuart Baird on Directing Nemesis," "A Bold Vision of the Final Frontier," "A Star Trek Family's Final Journey" and "Red Alert! Shooting the Action of Nemesis" and a photo gallery. Streetdate is May 20th.
NUMBER TWO- Cheers!
In other Paramount news, wanna go where everybody knows your name? Now you can... again and again and again. On May 20th Paramount will debut Cheers: The Complete First Season. This 4-disc set features all the first season episodes presented in their original 4:3 full screen aspect ratios, plus a bar full of extras: The featurettes "Setting The Bar: A Conversation with Ted Danson," "Love At First Fight: Opposites Distract" and "Coach Ernie Pantusso's Rules of the Game," some "I'll Drink To That: Stormin' Norm-isms," and the trivia game "It's A Little Known Fact...".
NUMBER THREE- After Cheers!
How about Frasier: The Complete First Season, one of the few TV spin-offs to be as successful as the original? Paramount will also debut this 4-disc set on the 20th, with plenty of extras as well: audio commentary on the pilot episode by Peter Casey and David Lee, the featurettes "Behind The Couch: The Making Of Frasier" and "Frasier Crane's Apartment," and a trivia game. All 24 episodes are also presented in 4:3 full screen (the show didn't go HD until last year).
NUMBER FOUR- Stands with a fist
Just announced was a 3-disc set of Oscar winner Dances with Wolves, streeting on May 20th. Featuring the 236-minute extended version (the theatrical cut is not included) of the film presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround (no DTS option is included), the extras are plentiful: All-new, full-length audio commentaries with Kevin Costner and producer Jim Wilson, and on the second director of photography Dean Semler and editor Steve Potter, the new "Creation of an Epic" documentary, the original making-of featurette, the music video, a still montage with introduction by Ben Glass, a poster gallery, trailers, and TV spots.
NUMBER FIVE- A 'Back to the Future' Update
Rounding out today's news is an update on those corrected Back to the Future II and III discs, which should be available in the next month to consumers who called or wrote in to receive replacement discs. Repressed box sets should also be arriving in stores in March as well, but how to tell? Look for the packaging which will have a "V2" printed near the bottom of the bar code sticker, which indicates it has been remastered (these "V2" letters will also be printed on the discs themselves.) I you would like to get corrected versions of your current misframed BTTF set, just send back discs II and III (without the case) at the following address:
Back to the Future DVD Returns
PO Box 224468
Dallas, Texas 75260
Be sure to include your name, mailing address, a daytime phone number, and a return address. Good luck!
And you are now up to date on new DVD release news.