The Couch Potato Report - November 30th, 2004
In The Couch Potato Report this week, there is a movie about a hero that isn't called hero and one movie about a hero that is.
When the original SPIDER-MAN movie was released in 2002 I enjoyed it, but I didn't really like it. My problem was with the fact that every time the lead character broke the plane of gravity his actions looked fake.
Even though director Sam Raimi and his cast did do a great job of bringing the legendary comic book character to the big screen, I just wasn't able to get past how fake I thought the computer effects were.
I still can't. Most of the original SPIDER-MAN film looks fake, and even though I like the movie, I find it hard to watch.
So you can imagine my trepidation when SPIDER-MAN 2 came out in theaters this past June. Oh, how I wanted the computer effects to be great!
I am happy to report that even though there are still a few parts of the film that look less that realistic, the overall movie is superb!
Now, should you be unfamiliar with the Spider-Man story thus far, here is a brief recap. Not a recap of the legacy created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in the Marvel comic books, but a recap of the first movie.
Tobey Maguire is Peter Parker, a brainy high school outcast who transforms into an amazingly agile, web-shooting superhero named Spider Man, after he is bitten by a "super-spider."
The radiant Kirsten Dunst is Mary Jane Watson, Parker's girl-next-door unrequited sweetheart. At the end of the first movie, he shunned her for fear that she would get hurt if his enemies knew he loved her.
In the first movie, that enemy was The Green Goblin. Spidey's nemesis in SPIDER-MAN 2 is the deranged, mechanically tentacled "Doctor Octopus" or "Doc Ock."
But it isn't the foe that is the most compelling part of SPIDER-MAN 2, it is the dilemma that Peter Parker has to face within.
He has to decide if he should continue his obligatory, lonely life of crime fighting, or pursue love and happiness with Mary Jane?
And in a rare move here on The Couch Potato Report, I'm going to tell you the ending of the movie.
Yes, he throws away his super human gifts and movies into the suburbs with the girl of his dreams to live happily ever after.
Oh no, wait, that is THE INCREDIBLES. Oops!
Of course I'm not going to tell you the ending of SPIDER-MAN 2, or any other movie for that matter.
But I will tell you that the action sequences in this movie are great!
Yes, there are times when the computer effects aren't good enough to keep up with the action and the superb storyline, but they are so few and far in between that they never stop the film in its tracks, unlike the effects in the first SPIDER-MAN.
What also pleased me about SPIDER-MAN 2 is the fact that the script stays true to the original Marvel comic book mythology.
Spider-Man in the movie is as he was on the page for so many years before, a kid who just happens to have super powers.
SPIDER-MAN 2 is fast-paced, witty, and even a bit poignant at times. Most of all, it is fun! I liked it a lot.
I also liked the film HERO a lot.
And not the 1992 film HERO with Dustin Hoffman, Geena Davis and Andy Garcia about a down on his luck man who rescues passengers from a crashed jet but sees someone else take the credit.
No, I am speaking of the superb 2002 martial arts film HERO that finally got a North American theatrical release this year, and is debuting on DVD and video this week.
That is the HERO I am referring to.
In that HERO, a nameless warrior - played by Jet Li from ROMEO MUST DIE - arrives at an emperor's palace with three weapons. Each one of them belonging to a famous assassin who had sworn to kill the emperor.
The nameless man explains how he acquired the weapons.
Then the emperor counters with his own interpretation of what might really have happened.
In a wonderful cinematic achievement each of the stories unfolds in red, blue, white or another dominant color.
HERO is a true delight for the eyes at it combines sweeping cinematography and superb performances. It also possesses emotion that deepens with every well choreographed action sequence.
Yes, I liked the film HERO a lot and if you are a fan of the Academy Award winning film CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON from a few years ago, I think you will enjoy HERO as well.
And they say that a hero can save us.
I'm not gonna stand here and wait.
I'll hold on to the wings of the eagles.
Watch as we all fly away.
SPIDER-MAN 2 and HERO are now available at your favourite local video store.
COMING UP IN THE NEXT COUCH POTATO REPORT
DODGEBALL: A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY was one of the funniest and most entertaining films of the year, and it's about exactly what you think it is: dodgeball. Vince Vaughn of OLD SCHOOL and a group of misfits rise to the challenge at dodgeball tournament. Ben Stiller of MEET THE PARENTS is Vaughn's nemesis.
Assassin Jason Bourne has many nemeses, or adversaries in THE BOURNE SUPREMACY. Matt Damon reprises his role as the title character and in this second of two stories he takes on the CIA for his own survival.
Survival is the goal in every hour of the TV series 24. Now, 24: SEASON THREE is a seven disc box set that features the complete third season of the series 24. Kiefer Sutherland, Elisha Cuthbert, Dennis Haysbert as star.
I'm Dan Reynish and 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 next week on The Couch!
DVD KICKS 'MATRIX'
Some critics weren't big fans of "The Matrix" movies — and they speak their mind freely on the new 10-disc DVD "The Ultimate Matrix Collection."
The eccentric Wachowski brothers, who directed the three "Matrix" movies and who have never spoken publicly about their work, instead invited three critics to do the talking for them, asking them to provide feature-length commentaries for the DVD set (which will be released Dec. 7).
And in what's believed to be an industry first, they mostly trash the films — particularly the trilogy's second and third installments — in the nearly seven-hour-long commentary track.
"Is anyone else as stupefied by this as I am?" asks John Powers of Vogue magazine when the hero Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, meets with the Oracle (Gloria Foster) in the second film, "The Matrix Reloaded."
"It's just dreadful," says David Thompson, a British critic who wrote "The Autobiographical Dictionary of Film."
The harshest criticisms in "Reloaded" come during the notorious rave sequence, where hundreds of people writhe sexually in the underground Zion City.
"Now comes one of the funniest scenes in contemporary cinema," says Powers. "It looks like a beer commercial with all the slow-mo."
Todd McCarthy, chief film critic of Variety, harshly pans a lengthy car chase for which directors Larry and Andy Wachowski had a 1.6-mile section of freeway built outside San Francisco.
"In narrative terms," McCarthy gripes, "not much has happened at all."
They are slightly kinder to "The Matrix Revolutions" — but not much.
"I'd rather play The Matrix video game than watch this," complains a bored Powers during the climactic battle in the Zion docks.
The critics reserve most of their praise for the original "The Matrix" and opine that the sequels were pointless.
"I think if the whole series ends there, you've got nearly a masterpiece," says Thompson.
"You've got a hell of a film, a film that could stand alone for having a vision you couldn't shrug off."
But the publicity-shy Wachowskis don't let the critics have the last word.
In addition to the commentary track from the critics, the DVD set includes a second commentary track contributed by a pair of philosophers: Ken Wilbur, whose works include "Sex, Ecology, Spirituality," and Princeton University Professor Cornel West, who makes cameo appearances in the second and third films as a member of Zion City's ruling council.
The philosophers, not surprisingly, defend the films.
"Most of the critics are just too lazy to figure [them] out," says West.
Andy Patrizio, who comments on DVDs for the ign.com Web site, says the unusually critical commentary tracks are sure to spark controversy among fans.
"Some of their comments will probably not go over with the easily offended crowd," he wrote.
Channel-surfers paying less attention to TV
Viewers are watching prime-time programming almost as much as they did 10 years ago, but they appear to be paying less attention, according to a new study by Knowledge Networks, a consumer-research company whose clients include networks and advertisers.
Growth in channel switching, up 42% since 1994, and multitasking, such as talking and eating, "indicate lower attentiveness," says company vice president David Tice.
Increased channel switching, most often during ad breaks and between programs, may indicate viewers are more intent on controlling what they watch.
Trends in prime time are moving too slowly to cause alarm among advertisers, Tice says: "Viewing behavior is changing, but not drastically." The July survey of 696 viewers ages 18-49 (comparisons with 1994 are limited to the first hour of prime time) found:
• More people are watching alone, partly a result of more TVs in the home. More TVs mean more viewing, a plus for networks and advertisers, but solo viewers are more likely to switch channels.
• Viewers are more likely to change channels during reality shows than scripted programs.
• Growth in other prime-time TV uses, like video games (up from 1% in 1994 to 6%) and recording shows (from 14% to 17%), have reduced viewing of regularly scheduled shows (from 85% to 82%).
Jeffrey Cole, head of the Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California, says channel switching, multitasking and digital video recorder usage threaten traditional commercials. "I think TV advertising is in its final phase as a medium that delivers national audiences to advertisers in 30-second blocks."
But Artie Bulgrin of ESPN, a Knowledge Networks client, says TV generally remains a passive medium, and if advertisers "understand who their audience is and make their messages relevant to that audience, the 30-second spot will be around a while."
OSCAR ON MY MIND
Universal is rushing Oscar contender "Ray" to DVD just in time for Oscar balloting February 1.
The biopic of singer Ray Charles will hit vidstores just 13˝ weeks after it debuted at the box office, where it has grossed nearly $60 million thus far.
The single-disc DVD will be priced at $29.98, with a limited two-disc special edition also available for $44.98.
No details about bonus features were immediately available.
Last year Universal released "Seabiscuit" in December, enhancing the studio's awards campaigning for the film.
MGM is putting its awards candidate "De-Lovely" on DVD December 21, timed with a limited theatrical re-release, and DreamWorks is releasing the DVD of "Collateral" on December 14.
I Love Music!
Here are the new music releases for Tuesday, November 30th, 2004.
-- 4MULA 1 Let's Get It (Sobe)
-- Afroman Jobe Bells (Christmas album) (Hungry Hustler)
-- Arch Enemy Dead Eyes See No Future (EP) (Century Media)
-- Carpathian Forest We're Going to Hollywood for This: Live (Special Limited Edition) (Music Video Distributors)
-- The Chapters Bleeding All Over This Town (Has Anyone Ever Told You?)
-- Kelly Clarkson Break Away (RCA)
-- Dirty Vegas ONE (Capitol)
-- Robert Downey Jr. The Futurist (Sony Classical)
-- Drovers Dreamland (Fundamental)
-- The Egon All Theory and No Action (Has Anyone Ever Told You?)
-- The Exies Head for the Door (Virgin)
-- Fairburn Royals The Whistler (Two Sheds)
-- Dino Felipe I'm You (Schematic)
-- Finesse & Runway Finesse & Runway (Schematic)
-- The Flesh The Flesh (Gern Blandsten)
-- Gerald Levert Do I Speak for the World? (Atlantic)
-- Jay Z & Linkin Park MTV Ultimate Mash-Ups Presents: Collision Course (CD/DVD combo) (Roc-A-Fella/Warner Bros.)
-- Local Division Pure Electric Light (EP) (Aeronaut)
-- Wynton Marsalis Unforgivable Blackness (Blue Note)
-- Modern Day Zero Coming Up for Air (Bullet 339)
-- Paradise Boys The Young and the Guest List (Princehouse)
-- Patton/Kaada Romances (Ipecac)
-- Rupee 1 on 1 (Atlantic)
-- S'Cool Girls S'Cool Girls S'Cool Girls S'Cool Girls (EP) (Aeronaut)
-- Sleepytime Gorilla Museum Sleepytime Gorilla Museum of Natural History (Web of Mimicry/Revolver)
-- Styrofoam Nothing's Lost (Morr Music)
-- T.I. Urban Legend (Atlantic)
-- Urban Mystic Ghetto Revelations (Warner Bros.)
-- Various Artists African Underground Vol. 1 - Hiphop Senegal (Nomadic Wax)
-- Various Artists The Free Design ‘Redesigned' (Vol. 2) (Light in the Attic)
"Silly customer, you cannot hurt a Twinkie!"
— Apu, Fox's The Simpsons
More Information About SPIDER-MAN 3
Even if SPIDER-MAN 3 is still in the early stages of conception, Sam Raimi can bring up-to-date the fans about the upcoming sequel.
Raimi and his brother have finished a 50-page document to flesh out SPIDER-MAN 3. Sam Raimi is now ready to work with a storyboard artist to work out some of the visuals and with Alvin Sargent to work on a first draft of the screenplay.
There may be 50-pages worth of work done so far but Raimi he's still toying around with different possibilities for a chief villiain or villains to confront Spider-Man. Raimi says he still needs to figure out what life lessons Peter Parker will experience, what obstacles will be in his path and if he'll be able to overcome these conflicts.
SPIDER-MAN 2 will be released on DVD on November 30 while SPIDER-MAN 3 is set to hit theaters on May 4, 2007.
Det. Mike Logan Back On TV?
NBC is considering Chris Noth for a role on Law and Order: Criminal Intent, according to Broadcasting and Cable magazine.
Lucas Wants TV 'Star Wars' Film Banned
Moviemaker George Lucas wants his first Star Wars sequel banned, as he is so disappointed with its quality. The one-off, two-hour-long The Star Wars Holiday Special was originally screened on the CBS network in 1978 and tells the story of Chewbacca's journey home with Hans Solo to celebrate Life Day with his family.
During the course of the much-maligned movie, Carrie Fisher's beautiful Leia is seen reducing Hans Solo and Luke Skywalker to tears with a song.
A contributor on the Star Wars website comments, "The Holiday Special has always been the red-headed step child of the Star Wars family." While a source at LucasFilm adds, "The Holiday Special was the biggest f***-up ever. The Force was definitely not with Mr. Lucas the day that doozy was born."
Tommy Douglas 'father of universal health care' voted Greatest Canadian
TORONTO (CP) - T.C. (Tommy) Douglas, former Saskatchewan premier, former leader of the federal New Democratic Party and touted as the father of the country's universal health-care system, has been voted The Greatest Canadian.
The late politician emerged victorious in the public contest initiated by CBC Television this fall and which climaxed in an hour-long prime-time special Monday night. "I feel that Tommy Douglas is getting the recognition he deserves," declared a jubilant George Stroumboulopoulos, the TV host designated as Douglas's official advocate. "When we started this campaign in the summer, folks had never even heard of Tommy Douglas."
Douglas's victory came at the end of a show in which the other advocates were asked to throw their support, political leadership convention style, to another candidate when theirs was voted off. But it was a moral support only, not affecting the public tally.
Despite an impassioned two-hour debate among designated celebrity advocates for the top 10 contenders, which CBC aired Sunday night, the post-weekend standings remained virtually unchanged.
In second place was one-legged runner Terry Fox, with former prime minister Pierre Trudeau placing third.
The remaining finalists, in order of ranking, were Nobel Prize winner Sir Frederick Banting (co-inventor of insulin), environmentalist and science broadcaster David Suzuki, former PM and Nobel Peace Prize winner Lester Pearson, CBC hockey broadcaster Don Cherry, the country's founding prime minister Sir John A. Macdonald and, bringing up the rear, telephone pioneer Alexander Graham Bell and hockey great Wayne Gretzky.
A total of 1.2 million votes were cast by the Canadian public via telephone, e-mail or text messaging. Since Saturday, more than 342,000 ballots were turned in before the Sunday midnight voting deadline, according to a CBC spokesperson. The only change triggered by Sunday night's impassioned TV debate was that both Pearson and Trudeau enjoyed 37 per cent increases in their tallies, the official said.
Executive producer Mark Starowicz said he had high hopes for the enterprise but that it turned out even better than he expected. He insisted there really was a national groundswell of support for the project, that it wasn't just CBC-induced hype.
"We had 4,000 schools plugged into this entire thing," Starowicz said. "Practically every school's got projects, demonstrations. You've got the city of London, Ont., mobilizing, Toronto naming Tommy Douglas Day. People got carried away. It's great."
Douglas was born in Scotland in 1904 and moved to Canada with his family in 1919. An ordained minister, his first church was in Weyburn, Sask., where he witnessed the suffering caused by the Depression and decided that political action was needed.
He was a member of Parliament from 1935 until 1944, when he became premier of Saskatchewan as leader of the CCF, forerunner to the NDP. He announced the medical insurance plan in 1959.
Liz Jeffrey, director of the McLuhan Global Research Network at the University of Toronto, felt the Greatest Canadian exercise itself was more significant than the outcome. She was also particularly fascinated by the orators' negative attacks in the final debate.
"All those silver-tongued presenters were far better at the attack ad than they were at presenting the merits of their own candidate."
Speaking prior to learning the outcome of the voting, Jeffrey said if Douglas won it was because of the symbolism of his chief accomplishment in health care.
"He gets the visionary side of this, of coming up with the idea, at least at a political level," said Jeffrey. "You can't blame Tommy Douglas for the health-care crisis."
She said that was expressed when, during the Sunday debate, Stroumboulopoulos, whipped out his red-white plastic health card and waved it about.
To delirious cheers, Stroumboulopoulos dramatically argued that if Douglas, who died in 1986, were removed from the national equation "you remove the caring, sharing legacy of everything that we value. . .you remove this, and this is our most treasured, treasured national characteristic!"
Not surprisingly, Jeffrey said she and her colleagues at U of T's McLuhan program were rooting for Marshall McLuhan himself but were shocked when the internationally renowned media guru failed to make even the earlier top 50 CBC list.
The series debuted Oct. 18 and aired twice weekly from then on with prime-time specials advocating each of the 10 finalists.
The Final Showdown, the debate special also hosted by Wendy Mesley and Shaun Majumder, was taped Saturday for Sunday night telecast, on a specially built set with a live studio audience. It featured highlights of the various campaigns as well as celebrity guests who helped back up the candidates' official advocates.
Starowicz dismissed the inclusion of at least two CBC employees on the final 10 list, Cherry and Suzuki.
"It's a big country. Half of it's been on the CBC payroll, it seems, anyway," he replied with a laugh. "Trudeau worked for it once."
As he watched the boisterous studio audience that gathered for the final weekend debate, the veteran CBC producer was impressed with the energy that was demonstrated.
"I love seeing what you normally don't think is a typical CBC audience. I mean this was Canada from ordinary suburbs, ordinary places, sports mixed with politics."
He said that as far as he was concerned, it didn't matter in the slightest who won, that what was important was that Canadians got engaged on the issue of what values they wished to treasure in their country.
"Unity, diversity, compassion, caring for each other. I mean this is not an American list. There's nothing Darwinian in this room. I was a very generous list."
The final standings in CBC-TV's The Greatest Canadian contest:
1. T.C. Douglas.
2. Terry Fox.
3. Pierre Trudeau.
4. Sir Frederick Banting.
5. David Suzuki.
6. Lester Pearson.
7. Don Cherry.
8. Sir John A. Macdonald.
9. Alexander Graham Bell.
10. Wayne Gretzky.
George Clooney Sidelined by Ruptured Disk
LOS ANGELES - George Clooney is suffering from a ruptured disk that kept him from promoting his new film, "Ocean's Twelve," this week.
Clooney had been scheduled to travel to New York Sunday for appearances on shows including "Good Morning America," "The Daily Show" and "Charlie Rose," his spokesman, Stan Rosenfield, said Monday.
But Clooney told Rosenfield on Saturday that his condition had worsened and he would be unable to travel. Rosenfield said he didn't have information on how or when the injury occurred.
The former "ER" star, whose sequel to the caper film "Ocean's Eleven" opens Dec. 10, was being treated by a doctor, Rosenfield said. He declined to provide details.
Asked when Clooney, 43, might be back on the publicity trail to talk about the movie, Rosenfield said, "Hopefully next week."
"Ocean's Twelve" co-stars Julia Roberts, who gave birth to twins, a boy and girl, on Sunday.
CRTC incentives will increase ads
OTTAWA (CP) -- Viewers could end up watching a lot more TV ads under an incentive program designed to encourage broadcasters to produce more Canadian dramas.
Depending on how and where the dramas are made, TV stations could broadcast up to eight minutes more advertising for every hour of original Canadian drama they produce, says the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.
The exact amount of additional advertising would depend on such things as the level of Canadian participation in the production, how much is spent and when the drama is broadcast.
"Broadcasters who choose to take advantage of this incentive program will apply for conditions of licence that will allow them to broadcast additional minutes of advertising if they meet the commission's criteria," the CRTC said in a news release Monday.
Under the plan, broadcasters could earn the right to air between 30 seconds and eight minutes of additional advertising for each hour of original Canadian drama they broadcast.
For instance, broadcasters who increase their Canadian drama audience share by a set amount could increase the amount of advertising they air by 25 per cent.
They'd get a further 25-per-cent increase if they spend a pre-determined amount of money producing the drama.
The CRTC estimates the changes will give the biggest broadcasters $80,000 for each additional advertising minute they air during prime time.
For the largest English-language networks, the incentives would apply only to qualifying drama in excess of 26 hours per year. Drama programs that do not receive funding from the Canadian Television Fund would be exempt.
"This will encourage broadcasters to invest directly in the creation of new independently-produced drama projects," said the CRTC.
The commission promises additional measures soon to help French-language TV maintain original French drama programming in peak viewing hours.
Band Aid Single Released in Britain
LONDON - A new, star-studded recording of the 1984 charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" hit British record stores Monday, many of which opened early in anticipation of large crowds.
The single features artists including Coldplay's Chris Martin, former Beatle Paul McCartney, U2's Bono, and Dido, and will raise money for victims of the ongoing strife in the Sudan, where fighting has killed thousands of people and created 1.8 million refugees.
HMV Records, one of Britain's largest music retailers, opened more than 200 stores an hour early, at 8 a.m., and reported strong early-morning sales for the single.
"There wasn't a huge rush of people, but a steady stream of customers this morning," said Gennaro Castaldo, a spokesman for HMV. "I don't know that it's going to be the smash success that the original was, but I think it will do quite well and raise quite a bit of money for Africa."
Castaldo said he expects the single to sell at least one million copies and to top the singles charts in Britain for several weeks.
Twins Sarah and Kirsty Burgess, 21, were the first in line to buy the single at HMV's flagship store in London on Oxford Street, the city's main shopping street.
"I thought I would come along because it's a great cause," said Kirsty. "I was about one when the first single was released, but I've heard it about 100 times. Hopefully, this one will raise lots of money, too."
HMV and other retailers were selling the song for 3.99 pounds ($7.55). The song retails for 1.49 pounds ($2.82) at online distributors.
Apple's iTunes, the popular online music store, was not carrying the single because it declined to sell the song for more than the service's $1.50 base price. An Apple spokesman in London declined on Monday to comment on its dispute with the Band Aid trust over the cost of the recording.
The original single was released 20 years ago and was a smash success, raising millions of dollars for victims of starvation in Ethiopia. It featured artists including Boy George, Duran Duran, and Phil Collins. Bono is the only artist to appear on both versions of the song.
The new track also includes Robbie Williams, Jamelia, Ms. Dynamite, Will Young and members of the bands Busted, the Darkness and Sugababes.