The Couch Potato Report May 11th, 2004
In The Couch Potato Report this week: Is Cruise cruise? Plus, some calendar girls, a few friends and a scary movie, that's funny.
Some actors have made great careers out of playing the same character in almost every movie they make.
May I submit as exhibit A: Tom Cruise.
Tom Cruise always plays the same character. In every movie he's basically a variation of the same person who is good, but flawed in some way, and needing redemption.
I doubt anyone would argue that Cruise is talented and does good work, but since he has become an uber-star it is always "Tom Cruise as."
Tom Cruise as a vampire; Tom Cruise as a jet pilot; Tom Cruise as a Secret
Agent, A Police Detective, a sports agent, a doctor, a lawyer.
Similar bigger than superstar actors like Russell Crowe and Brad Pitt inhabit and
become the characters they play on screen, but Tom Cruise is always just playing one form of the Tom Cruise character or another..
In his latest movie Tom Cruise stars as Tom Cruise playing an American soldier who is sent to Japan in order to help the Imperial Japanese Army become more 'modern' and less 'traditional.'
The goal is to prepare the Army to fight the legendary Samurai.
The costumes, locations and battle scenes are all quite impressive, and the story is interesting at times, but it is all overshadowed by the "performance" of Tom Cruise.
THE LAST SAMURAI is not a great film but the main - if not only reason - to see it is so you can enjoy the amazing performance of the Oscar nominated Ken Watanabe.
Cruise becomes a captive of Watanabe, the deadly but extremely polite leader of the Japanese Samurai.
At this juncture the story shifts to why the Samurai are fighting to preserve their way of life against Western influences.
And that is interesting stuff, well acted by Ken Watanabe. Watanabe is an actor known primarily for his work in Japan and he is exceptional in the film.
Cruise is Cruise. He works hard and is very reliable in the part, but I could never see past the fact that it was Tom Cruise.
Had an actor like Crowe or Pitt played the part, it would have been an incredible film. With Cruise it is just another Tom Cruise movie.
Love him, or appreciate his work, and you'll love THE LAST SAMURAI.
If you don't have a Tom Cruise calendar on your wall you probably won't.
As Cruise moves toward his 42nd birthday no one would be surprised to see his face on a calendar.
However, one could be surprised at some of the faces featured within CALENDAR GIRLS might.
CALENDAR GIRLS is a based-on-a-true-story of a group of women, all over the age of 50, who pose provocatively for a calendar to raise money for Leukemia
research.
Think of it as a female version of THE FULL MONTY.
With a great cast that includes Helen Mirren from PRIME SUSPECT and Julie Walters of EDUCATING RITA and the HARRY POTTER films CALENDAR GIRLS doesn't specifically go for cheap laughs, but it has a few anyway.
Conversely, SCARY MOVIE 3 - the third installment of the movie spoof franchise - does aim for cheap laughs. Unfortunately there are only a few laughs to be had while watching the film, cheap or otherwise.
It's funny, much funnier that the second installment, but no where near as
funny as the first SCARY MOVIE.
This chapter in the franchise combines parodies and elements of Eminem, THE MATRIX, THE RING, SIGNS, THE OTHERS and provides a decent dose of laughs.
You will be thinking "this is stupid" on more than a few occasions, but you might also be laughing while doing it.
If you're in need of a laugh, check it out.
And you might need a laugh now that FRIENDS is finished.
Over 51 million people tuned in to watch the final episode of the show and now they, you and all of your friends can own FRIENDS - THE LIMITED EDITION SERIES FINALE.
And I don't necessarily mean to be mock the obvious marketing ploy of this release, which came a scant 5 days after the finale aired, but as Jerry Seinfeld used to say: “Yeah, it's limited to how many they can sell.”
My mocking aside, FRIENDS - THE LIMITED EDITION SERIES FINALE contains two versions of the final episode: the broadcast version and a slightly longer version with unseen footage.
And no, that version wasn't made longer by giving Chandler and Monica an even further unbelievable third baby.
The disc also contains the original 1994 pilot episode of the show about 6 friends, their lives, their loves, their coffee and the fact that they'll be there for you (When the rain starts to pour).
They'll be there for you! (Like they've been there before).
They'll be there for you ('Cause you're there for them too).
THE LAST SAMURAI, CALENDAR GIRLS, SCARY MOVIE 3 and FRIENDS – THE LIMITED EDITION SERIES FINALE, are all available right now on video and DVD at your favourite local video store.
COMING UP IN THE NEXT COUCH POTATO REPORT
MIRACLE is the based on the true story of 1980 U.S. Olympic Gold Medal winning hockey team.
While it might not actually be "The Best Sporting Event In History", as indicated on the video and DVD sleeve, it is a great film.
Kurt Russell does a great job portraying Herb Brooks and the movie isn't as "Rah, rah, rah, USA is number one!!!" as you think it's going to be.
After a few weeks delay I will finally get the chance to tell you all about the rah, rah, rah, thoroughly enjoyable, Oscar nominated THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE.
There are only a few spoken sentences in the entire wonderful animated film, so I'll have to choose my words carefully to do it justice.
I'll start with these: Be prepared to be dazzled.
Also next week,
In PAYCHECK, the latest misstep from director John Woo, Ben Affleck plays
an engineer who discovers that his memory has been erased. The one and
only Uma Thurman co-stars along with Aaron Eckhart, but you won't need to care.
I'll have more on those releases in seven days.
For now, that's this week's COUCH POTATO REPORT.
Enjoy the movies and I'll see you back here on The Couch!
BEHIND JERRI'S WALKOUT
Former "Survivor" all- star Jerri Manthey is not handling rejection well.
The wanna-be actress and three-time reality show star spent part of yesterday explaining why she stormed off the set of Sunday's live "Survivor" reunion during a commercial break.
"I was pretty upset. I didn't get to finish making my point," Manthey - a veteran of two editions of "Survivor"- said on yesterday's "The Early Show."
She was booed by the nearly 5,000 people in the audience at Madison Square Garden during a "Survivor" wild-and-woolly telecast that crowned winner Amber Brkich, 25, and allowed runner-up "Boston Rob" Mariano, 28, to propose marriage to her.
"The point was that this show for entertainment comes at a price," she said of "Survivor." "Some of the costs for us [are] friendships and feelings."
With 25 million viewers, the ratings for the reunion were in fact slightly better than the two-hour finale, which drew more than 24 million viewers.
Manthey, who had a lot to say while on "Survivor," was uncharacteristically taciturn on "The Early Show."
She could not be reached for comment yesterday - even by CBS officials who said she was tired and had returned to her hotel room but was not answering the phone.
Manthey is expected to appear Thursday with all of the "all-star" castaways in a Manhattan studio for a live 8 p.m. telecast in which one will be awarded $1 million, based on viewers' votes.
He'll Be Back Again and Again?
A scooper at Dark Horizons talked to producers Mario Kassar and Andrew Vajna who said that that they are working on TERMINATOR 4. "We are gearing up for some very huge projects! We are focusing all of our energies on Terminator 4! We have an amazing idea that will make sci-fi movie goers cheer. It stays true to the Terminator universe says Vajna. Arnold will be back for this one, but for how long he will be in the film is the question right now."
X-Factors
X2 producer Lauren Schuler Donner told Sci Fi Wire that X3 will film in June 2005 and be released in May 2006. Also, she added, "I tried to get Beast in the first one and the second one, but it was always too expensive. So, yeah, I'm really dying to get Beast in, and I'd love to get Gambit in, because he's such a cool guy. And there's some really good casting ideas for Gambit."
Kryptonite
A Warner Bros spy got a chance to look at the offices of the long-troubled SUPERMAN project; the spy didn't shed too favorable a light on the project. "It appears that they are going with the scripts JJ Abrams wrote," said the report. "I got a chance to read it a few months back and I know what a pile of crap that was. I heard that they were going to change a few things around in it but from what I saw it looks like they went with the original draft...." However, Wolfgang Petersen, at one time attached to BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN, says that the project has been shelved.
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Wicked, the fantasy-filled musical prequel to The Wizard of Oz, scoring 10 Tony Award nominations Monday. Stephen Sondheim's musical Assassins followed with seven. Both Kevin Kline and Christopher Plummer picked up nods for Best Actor in a Play, while Hugh Jackman is up for Best Actor in a Musical. The Tonys are set for June 6.
Goodfellas and other Scorsese films
One of the last holdouts from the early Warner flipper discs to get a reissue is Martin Scorsese’s AFI top 100 film Goodfellas.
An anamorphic non-flipper special edition is finally coming.
To add to the good news, four other Scorsese films will finally make their debut; After Hours, Alice Doesn't Live Here Any More, Mean Streets, and Who's That Knocking At My Door?.
In addition to an anamorphic widescreen transfer and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, the Goodfellas disc will feature two audio commentaries, the first with the cast and crew, and the second with Henry Hill and agent Edward McDonald.
Four featurettes are included as well; Getting Made, The Workaday Gangster, The Goodfellas Legacy and Paper is Cheaper that Film. A trailer is also included.
The other four titles will also all contain audio commentary, trailers and behind the scenes featurettes. After Hours will also include deleted scenes.
Each title will be available on August 17th. Goodfellas will be priced at $26.99 while the remaining titles will be priced at $19.97.
For a huge savings, a box set of all five films will be available for $59.92.
Charley Pride Recovering After Surgery
DALLAS - Country singer Charley Pride is expected to make a full recovery following brain surgery last week, his personal manager said Monday.
Pride, 66, was hospitalized Wednesday for a subdural hematoma, a blood clot that occurs when blood from a torn vessel collects between the brain and the skull.
He had sought treatment after experiencing severe headaches, his manager, John Daines, said. The surgery was performed Saturday at an undisclosed hospital.
Daines said Pride was alert and awake when he visited him Monday morning. He's expected to make a complete recovery and could be released from the hospital Tuesday, Daines said.
"He wants to go back to work," Daines told The Associated Press.
Pride's nine-show, 12-day tour of Canada scheduled to start this week has been rescheduled for August, said Daines. Pride will take four to six weeks off and recover at his Dallas home.
The singer's hits include "All I Have to Offer You (Is Me)" and "Kiss an Angel Good Morning."
Passion' Debuts on DVD in August
LOS ANGELES - Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" will be released on DVD on Aug. 31. The actor-director's company, Icon Productions, announced Monday that it has partnered with 20th Century Fox for the home-video distribution.
Gibson's company couldn't persuade any of the major Hollywood studios, including Fox, to distribute the movie, which was released in theaters on Feb. 25, Ash Wednesday on the Roman Catholic calendar.
It became the year's biggest blockbuster so far, earning a place among the top 10 highest-grossing movies of all time with more than $368 million at the North American box office.
Although Fox passed on the theatrical distribution of the film, the studio exercised its "first look deal" with Gibson's company that put it at the head of the line among those who wanted to distribute the DVD.
Asked if the movie's box-office success was a motivator for Fox's DVD interest, Steve Feldstein, spokesman for Fox Home Entertainment, would only say: "We enjoy a strong relationship with Mel Gibson and everybody at Icon."
Besides the film's violent content, some Jewish organizations objected to the movie, starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus, fearing it would spark a rise in anti-Semitism by blaming ancient Jewish people for killing Christ.
Filmed in Aramaic and Latin, the movie will be presented with English subtitles on VHS and English and Spanish subtitles on DVD.
Feldstein said there will not be any extra features.
"For the consumers and fans of the film, it's going to simply be the film," he said Monday.
As to whether another version would be released in the future with extra features such as behind-the-scenes footage and commentary audio tracks, Feldstein said: "I wouldn't rule it out."