The Couch Potato Report - December 14th, 2004
In The Couch Potato Report this week, since it is the week before Christmas, there are a lot of films to tell you about.
Since there are so many movies to get to, I'm just going to give you the basics this week.
Yes, just the basic information, even though there is nothing basic about the thriller COLLATERAL.
Tom Cruise strays away from a career of good guys to play a contract killer named Vincent who hires an unsuspecting cab driver to drive him through a nocturnal tour of Los Angeles.
Not long into the film the audience, and the cab driver, learn that Vincent's plan is to execute five people in a 10-hour spree.
The film's director is Michael Mann, who in addition to creating the TV show MIAMI VICE, gave us the films HEAT and MANHUNTER. He is a director who knows how to craft a thriller.
Prior to his work playing the late Ray Charles in the film RAY triple Golden Globe nominee Jamie Foxx from ANY GIVEN SUNDAY gave the best performance of his career in COLLATERAL.
And Tom Cruise does a great job playing a sociopaththic killer.
COLLATERAL is just a tad shy of superb. It is an excellent movie.
If COLLATERAL is an excellent thriller, that would make I ROBOT the total opposite - a movie that is instantly forgettable.
Will Smith from MEN IN BLACK and INDEPENDENCE DAY plays a paranoid cop who suspects that the robots who perform the domestic tasks and minimum wage jobs of the near future are going to eventually turn on mankind.
When the creator of the robots dies suspiciously, he is given an opportunity to prove what he believes.
Isaac Asimov's classic book was the inspiration for I ROBOT, but don't look for much of a connection between the film and the book.
I ROBOT - the movie - is efficient enough, but it doesn't break any new ground and once it is over it is instantly forgettable.
Did I say that it was forgettable already? Wow, even this review is instantly forgettable.
The always radiant and never forgettable Anne Hathaway is the star of this week's next film.
Hathaway once again teams up with the legendary Julie Andrews in THE PRINCESS DIARIES 2: ROYAL ENGAGEMENT.
In this sequel to the 2001 original, the American teenager who in the first film learned she was actually European royalty, finishes college and finds out she has to get married in 30 days or she will lose her crown.
THE PRINCESS DIARIES 2: ROYAL ENGAGEMENT is geared toward young girls, but I watched it and it wasn't bad.
I'm not trying to make the case that all 36 year old men should watch the movie, but if you have to, for work, or if you have a teenage daughter, you probably won't mind it.
It isn't as charming as the original PRINCESS DIARIES, but it is an entertaining family film, especially for young girls.
Young boys, on the other hand, will most likely prefer THE LORD OF THE RINGS - THE RETURN OF THE KING - SPECIAL EXTENDED EDITION. This new version of the Best Picture Oscar winning third installment of the uber-succesful series includes 50 minutes of never-before-seen footage incorporated into the film.
All of the new scenes are welcome, and the bonus features maintain the high bar set by the first two films, THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RINGS and THE TWO TOWERS.
And as soon as I can find 12 straight hours to sit and do so, I plan on watching all three extended editions of THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY. Let me know if you want to come over.
I didn't have 12 straight hours this week, but I was able to find two hours to watch MEET THE PARENTS again.
With the high profile sequel MEET THE FOCKERS hitting theatres on December 22nd, I wanted to spend time with the hilarious 2000 original.
Now, we can all spend more time with MEET THE PARENTS as a new BONUS EDITION DVD of the film is in stores.
This new edition gives you more of the work of Ben Stiller and Robert DeNiro as there are never-before-seen extras including, over 35 never-before-seen outrageous outtakes and a deleted scene of Robert De Niro singing during the movie's wedding.
MEET THE PARENTS is one of the funniest films of the past few years and the new BONUS EDITION DVD will get you ready to MEET THE FOCKERS.
This week you can also meet, enjoy and own STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON.
This final eight disc box set features the final 24 episodes on eight discs, plus two versions of the never aired episode "The Cage" and many special features.
The best of the bonus material focuses on Canadian actor James Doohan.
In what is probably his last Star Trek appearance, Doohan, slowed by Alzheimer's but still with a twinkle in his eye, recalls his voiceover roles and his favorite episodes.
He might not be long for this world, but his work in STAR TREK will allow him to live forever.
The final new releases that I want to tell you about this week are the latest offerings in WAVE FOUR of THE DISNEY TREASURES COLLECTION, and we'll start with THE COMPLETE PLUTO - VOLUME ONE.
After Donald and Mickey, Pluto was the most prolific of the Disney characters and it was great to sit and watch the 28 classic animated shorts and the many bonus features on the two discs in this set.
For many years after school THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB entertained kids across North America. Now, this 2 DVD Set allows you to time with Jimmie, Roy, Darlene, Karen, Cubby, Nancy and all of the other Mousketeers. And no matter how old I am, I will always have a crush on Annette!
And MICKEY MOUSE IN BLACK AND WHITE - VOLUME 2 is a collection of 40 classic Mickey Mouse cartoons - in black and white no less - that will enable you to just sit back and enjoy the animation and the joy that is contained in every hand drawn frame.
I, ROBOT, COLLATERAL, THE PRINCESS DIARIES 2: ROYAL ENGAGEMENT, MEET THE PARENTS - BONUS EDITION, STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON and WAVE FOUR of THE DISNEY TREASURES COLLECTION, specifically THE COMPLETE PLUTO - VOLUME ONE, THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB and MICKEY MOUSE IN BLACK AND WHITE - VOLUME 2 are all available now at your favourite local video store.
COMING UP ON JANUARY 8th IN THE NEXT COUCH POTATO REPORT
In the second funniest film of 2004 Will Ferrell from ELF and OLD SCHOOL stars in ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND OF RON BURGUNDY. Ferrell plays a 1970's era TV anchorman who is threatened when the station hires a woman. Man is this film funny!
OPEN WATER isn't funny, but it is one of the most suspenseful films of the year. In the movie two SCUBA divers are accidentally left behind in shark infested waters. It is a small movie, that succeeds on a huge level.
DE-LOVELY is a musical portrait of American composer Cole Porter. In the film Kevin Kline plays Porter as he looks back on his life as if it was one of his spectacular stage shows, with the people and events of his life becoming the actors and action onstage.
GARDEN STATE may be the smallest film of the year, but it is also one of my favourite films this year. Zach Braff from TV's SCRUBS is a man who decides to returns home for his mother's funeral. Natalie Portman from CLOSER and the new STAR WARS films plays the love interest, with a twist. Like I said, I loved GARDEN STATE.
I didn't love TROY, and I doubt you will either. But anyone who is a fan of hunky hunk actors Brad Pitt or Orlando Bloom probably will enjoy staring at the guys in this cinematic telling of Homer's famous story of Achilles and ancient Greece.
The final new films I will tell you about in the next Couch Potato Report are the "comedies" LITTLE BLACK BOOK - with Brittany Murphy as a woman who digs into her boyfriend's past - and HAROLD & KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE - the latest film about two cinematic dumb guys.
I'm Dan Reynish and I'll have more on those, and some other releases, on January 8th.
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!
Hollywood targets downloading
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Hollywood movie studios on Tuesday sued scores of operators of U.S.- and European-based computer servers that help relay digitized movie files across online file-sharing networks.
The copyright infringement suits expand on a new U.S. film industry initiative whose initial targets were individual file-swappers.
The defendants this time run servers that use BitTorrent, which has become the program of choice for online sharers of large files because of its immunity to industry attempts to confound file-swappers with bogus decoy files.
"Today's actions are aimed at individuals who deliberately set up and operate computer servers and websites that, by design, allow people to infringe copyrighted motion pictures," said John Malcolm, head of the Motion Picture Association of America's antipiracy unit.
Malcolm, speaking at a Washington news conference, declined to name defendants. He said the suits, filed in the United States and Britain, targeted more than 100 server operators.
"These actors are neither innovative nor innocent," Malcolm added. "These people are parasites, leeching off the creativity of others. Their illegal conduct is brazen and blatant."
The initial wave of lawsuits targets computer servers that index movies for BitTorrent users, but Malcolm said the trade group is eyeing similar action against servers that direct data for the DirectConnect and eDonkey file-swapping services.
Malcolm noted that neither the creator nor distributors of BitTorrent, whose architecture enables speedy downloads because users share received bits of a file as it is downloaded, were targeted in the suits.
"The target of our actions is not technology," Malcolm said. "There are many legal Torrent sites ... that are dedicated to the distribution of public domain work and we are taking no action against them whatsoever."
The three file-sharing aides work differently but enable computer users to share music, film, software and other files.
EDonkey and BitTorrent steadily gained in popularity after the recording industry began cracking down last year on users of Kazaa, Morpheus, Grokster and other established file-sharing software.
The MPAA is focusing its litigation on servers that link individuals who seek movie files to those who make them available.
The lawsuits follow the same logic employed when the recording industry successfully sued the original Napster file-sharing network. The creators of that software used a central computer server to keep and update an index of what music files were being made available by computer users on the network.
"By bringing these suits, the MPAA runs the risk of pushing the tens of millions of file sharers to more decentralized technologies that will be harder to police," said Fred von Lohmann, a lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco.
Mike Godwin, legal director for Washington-based Public Knowledge, a group that tracks copyright and technology policy, said the same legal arguments against Napster may not stick in this case.
"There may be a legal problem in that some Torrent sites don't really police what people use them for," Godwin said. "In those cases, I think it's hard to create traditional copyright infringement liability."
Another potential wrinkle is that many of the computer servers are offshore, outside the scope of U.S. copyright law.
"It adds a level of complexity that makes it more difficult for someone from the United States to go after a tracker site," Godwin said. "Tracker sites are often run by hobbyists. They go up, they go down. It's a moving target and not a particularly large one."
Hollywood movie studios contend that the unauthorized trading of films online has the potential to threaten their industry, particularly as increasing bandwidth makes the large movie files easier to download.
By comparison, music files are far smaller and swapped at greater volume.
Last month, the studios began suing computer users for swapping digitized films online for copyright infringement. The industry has also been a party to lawsuits against Kazaa, Morpheus and Grokster.
The industry has failed to persuade U.S. federal courts to shut down the services, and is awaiting a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Queen Reunite for Spring
Queen is mounting their first tour since the death of frontman Freddie Mercury from AIDS in 1991 -- with former Bad Company and Free singer Paul Rodgers at the helm. The veteran hard rockers will be playing several European dates next spring, and the shows will feature both Queen and Rodgers material.
The inspiration came this September at the Fender fiftieth anniversary bash, where Queen guitarist Brian May and Rodgers -- who joined the Firm with Jimmy Page in the mid-Eighties and reunited with Bad Company in the late Nineties -- performed the classic Free song "All Right Now." "We were both so amazed at the chemistry that was going on," May writes on his Web site, "that suddenly it seems blindingly obvious that there was 'something happening here.'"
Queen and Rodgers also played together last month when Queen was inducted into the U.K. Music Hall of Fame. According to May, the positive reaction from that performance led to more specific tour plans.
Queen's last shows with Mercury were in 1986; afterwards, the band stopped touring due to Mercury's illness. Since his death, the surviving band members have reunited for a handful of special occasions -- such as the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992, their induction into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, and most recently at the 46664 AIDS benefit concert in Cape Town, South Africa. May and Queen drummer Roger Taylor have also been busy as the musical directors of We Will Rock You, a musical featuring twenty-five Queen songs which has been a success in London and is currently playing at the Las Vegas theater, Paris Las Vegas.
About the idea of touring again after such a long hiatus, May writes, "It's very exciting . . . suddenly the Queen Phoenix is rising again from the ashes."
New Tina Turner best-of set features some new material
A new, two-CD Tina Turner anthology featuring 33 tracks--including three newly recorded songs--is due in stores on Feb. 1, according to Capitol Records.
Dubbed "All the Best," the collection features songs dating from the '60s through the present. "Open Arms," the album's first single, is expected to hit radio by mid-January.
In addition to the first single, produced by Jimmy Hogarth, new tracks include the Steve Robson-produced "Complicated Disaster" and the Trevor Horn-produced "Something Special."
The album also contains some material that should be of interest to collectors, including a live version of "Addicted to Love" and duets with David Bowie ("Tonight"), Bryan Adams ("It's Only Love") and Italian superstar Eros Ramazzotti ("Cose Della Vita").
The track listing for "All the Best" follows:
CD 1
1. Open Arms
2. Nutbush City Limits (Ike & Tina Turner)
3. What You Get is What You See
4. Missing You
5. The Best
6. River Deep Mountain High (Ike & Tina Turner)
7. When the Heartache is Over
8. Let's Stay Together
9. I Don't Wanna Fight
10. Whatever You Need
11. I Can't Stand the Rain
12. Goldeneye
13. I Don't Wanna Lose You
14. Great Spirits
15. Proud Mary
16. Addicted to Love (Live)
CD 2
1. In Your Wildest Dreams
2. Private Dancer
3. Why Must We Wait Until Tonight
4. Typical Male
5. Tonight (David Bowie with Tina Turner)
6. Complicated Disaster
7. On Silent Wings
8. Something Special
9. We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)
10. It's Only Love (Bryan Adams with Tina Turner)
11. Cose Della Vita (Eros Ramazzotti with Tina Turner)
12. Steamy Windows
13. Paradise is Here
14. What's Love Got to Do with It
15. Better Be Good to Me
16. Two People
17. Something Beautiful Remains
NEW CD RELEASES FOR DECEMBER 14, 2004
Ashanti Concrete Rose (Def Jam)
Cary Brothers All the Rage EP
Vic Mizzy Songs for the Jogging Crowd (Vicster)
VA Chicano Sounds Radio: The Mix Tape Vol. 1 (Thump)
OST The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (Bill Murray film) (Hollywood)
DVD Phantom Planet Live in Chicago (Epic)
DVD Martin Sexton Live (Kitchen Table)
DVD Joss Stone Mind, Body & Soul Sessions Live in New York City (S-Curve)
DIAPER DUTY
Liv Tyler and rocker-hubby Royston Langdon welcoming a baby boy Tuesday in New York City, her publicist confirms. No word on the tyke's name, but he tipped the scales at 8 pounds, according to People magazine, and "has full lips."
ONE RING TO RULE THEM ALL
Yes sir, the special extended edition four-disc DVD of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King hitting stores Tuesday along with an extended trilogy box set as well.
Toronto film festival group announces annual list of top 10 Canadian films
TORONTO (CP) - The top 10 Canadian films of 2004, as chosen by an independent panel of 10 industry experts, is an eclectic list of titles from new and old filmmakers, in English and French, features and documentaries, animation and experimental.
As announced Tuesday night by the Toronto International Film Festival Group, the titles are:
Childstar: Don McKellar's bittersweet comedy about an American sitcom star who is shipped off to Canada to make a film.
Elles Etaient Cinq: Directed by Ghyslaine Cote. A woman is forced to confront long-buried memories when she sees a man who resembles someone from her past.
I, Claudia: Chris Abraham's film version of Kristen Thompson's play about a pre-teen dealing with her father's remarriage.
It's All Gone Pete Tong: Michael Dowse's comedy about a legendary and flamboyant DJ who disappears from the music scene after suffering a hearing disorder.
La Peau Blanche: Daniel Roby was producer and director of this story about a man who falls in love with a woman with extremely pale skin. Based on the Joel Champetier novel.
Ryan: Chris Landreth's digitally animated short for the National Film Board about troubled filmmaker colleague Ryan Larkin.
Saint Ralph: Michael McGowan's story of a boy who decides to run in the Boston Marathon in a quest on behalf of his dying mother.
ScaredSacred: A search for exceptional survivors, from the toxic wastelands of Bhopal to 9/11 ground zero in New York City. Directed by Velcrow Ripper.
Shake Hands With the Devil: Peter Raymont's documentary about Romeo Dallaire and the Canadian general's journey back to Rwanda and the source of his genocide trauma.
What Remains of Us: A documentary by Francois Prevost and Hugo Latulippe about a young refugee in Quebec who returns to her native Tibet with a message from the Dalai Lama.
"The spectrum and scope of films on the list shows a new energy and continued vibrance within the Canadian film industry," said Piers Handling, director and CEO of the Toronto International Film Festival Group. "Our established filmmakers on the list display an impressive range and cinematic vision in their work."
The list was unveiled at a Tuesday night reception hosted by director Guy Maddin and actor Arsinee Khanjian. All 10 titles will be screened at Cinematheque Ontario from Jan. 28 to Feb. 5, complete with panel discussions and Q-As.
Trews, Sampson top East Coast nominees
SYDNEY, N.S. (CP) -- Gordie Sampson, Great Big Sea, Shaye and the Trews top the list of multiple-award nominees for the 2005 East Coast Music Awards with five nods each.
In all, there were 125 nominations in 25 music categories announced by the East Coast Music Association at a news conference Tuesday.
"The diversity represented by our nominees this year is incredible," said Shelly Nordstrom, chairwoman of the ECMA board of directors.
"It shows just how much the East Coast music scene has developed and evolved over the years."
Country sensation George Canyon, fiddler Natalie MacMaster, Jimmy Rankin and Nathan Wiley each have four nominations, while Halifax rocker Joel Plaskett has three.
The entertainer of the year category, the only one voted on by the public, includes George Canyon, Crush, Natalie MacMaster, Jimmy Rankin and the Trews.
The ECMAs will be presented in Sydney, N.S., on February 20th. The show will be broadcast on CBC TV.
Here are the nominees for the 2005 East Coast Music Awards:
Album of Year: High Low, Nathan Wiley; House of Ill Fame, the Trews; Sunburn, Gordie Sampson; The Bridge, Shaye; Truthfully Truthfully, Joel Plaskett Emergency.
Female Artist of the Year: Jill Barber, Natalie MacMaster, Rita MacNeil, Susan Crowe, Teresa Doyle.
Male Artist of the Year: Dave Gunning, Gary Beals, George Canyon, Gordie Sampson, Nathan Wiley.
Group of the Year: Brothers In Stereo, Great Big Sea, Joel Plaskett Emergency, Shaye, the Trews.
Rising Star of the Year: Duane Andrews, Garrett Mason, Gary Beals, George Canyon, Madviolet.
Single of the Year: Bad Enough, Crush; Butterfly, Jimmy Rankin; Happy Baby, Shaye; Not Ready To Go, the Trews; Sunburn, Gordie Sampson; When I Am King, Great Big Sea.
SOCAN Songwriter of the Year: Alan Doyle, When I Am King; Gordie Sampson, Brian Daly; Troy Verges, Sunburn; Jimmy Rankin, Butterfly; Kim Stockwood, Damhnait Doyle, Tara MacLean, Jay Joyce, Happy Baby; Nathan Wiley, High Low.
Video of the Year: Butterfly, Jimmy Rankin; Not Ready To Go, the Trews; So Perfect, Mir; Way Back In the Day, Universal Soul; When I Am King, Great Big Sea.
Aboriginal Recording of the Year: Gary Sappier Experience, Gary Sappier; Iskueu Tipatshimu, Nitatshun; Something To Dream Of, Forever; Utaishimau, Meshikamau.
Alternative Recording of the Year: Goodnight Nobody, Julie Doiron; High Low, Nathan Wiley; Life Is Not That Hard, Vetch; Oxcart, Mars Hill; The Night And I Are Still So Young, the Heavy Blinkers.
Blues Recording of the Year: Half Ain't Been Told, Dutch Mason; I'm Just A Man, Garrett Mason; One Size Never Fits, Matt Andersen; Out Of Paradise, Frank Mackay; The Salty Sessions - Vol. II, Hot Toddy.
Bluegrass Recording of the Year: After All These Years, Bluegrass Diamonds; Christmas By The Fireside, Janet McGarry & Serge Bernard; First Impression, Bluestreak; One Mile Hill, One Mile Hill; X8a a mandolin collection, J.P. Cormier.
Classical Recording of the Year: Beautiful Dreamer, Sung Ha Shin-Bouey; Canciones y Leyendas: Songs and Legends for Bassoon and Guitar, Yvonne Kershaw and Steven Peacock; Ocean Suite, Robert Drew; The Great Square of Pegasus, Jasper Wood; Wild Honey, Duo Concertante.
Country Recording of the Year: Don't Forget About The Rain, Shanklin Road; It's What I Do, Jason Williams; Message From Above, Brian Mallery; One Good Friend, George Canyon; The Struggle, Terry Penney.
Enregistrement francophone de l'annee: Coeur variable, Danny Boudreau; Derange, Grand Derangement; Kilogrammes, reason, sexe, taekwondo & amour, Luc Tardif; La route m'appelle, Daniel Leger; Vishten, Vishten.
Folk Recording of the Year: Always Home, Eric Angus Whyte; Miss Canada, Little Miss Moffat; Oh Heart, Jill Barber; Redhead, Isaac and Blewett; Two-bit world, Dave Gunning.
Gospel Recording of the Year: Bound For That City, Celebration; Calvary Answers For Me, Emmaus Road; On A Journey, The Ascensions; Orrachan, Teresa Doyle; This Christmas, The LaPointes.
Instrumental Recording of the Year: Blueprint, Natalie MacMaster; It's About Time, Allie Bennett; Variations, Beolach; Vivacious, Samantha Robichaud; X8a a mandolin collection, J.P. Cormier.
Jazz Recording of the Year: Duane Andrews, Duane Andrews; La Funk 6, Stephane Bouchard; Lucid Blue, Mike Cowie; These Days, Mary Barry; Two Days On The Floor, Steve Dooks.
Pop Recording of the Year: Last Man Standing, Barry Canning; Something Beautiful, Great Big Sea; Sunburn, Gordie Sampson; The Bridge, Shaye; Worry The Jury, Madviolet.
Rock Recording of the Year: -- 2 Days After Yesterday, Three Season Ant; 7 Directions, Mir; Bulletproof and Ignorant, The Danny Mainstreet Band; Something To Dream Of, Forever; Truthfully Truthfully, Joel Plaskett Emergency.
Roots/Traditional Solo Recording of the Year: Blueprint, Natalie MacMaster; Cuts, Andrea Beaton; It's About Time, Allie Bennett; Jenny Gear and The Whiskey Kittens, Jenny Gear; Vivacious, Samantha Robichaud.
Roots/Traditional Group Recording of the Year: A Clearer Path, Banshee; Blou, Blanc, Rouge, Blou; On Fire!, The Cottars; Variations, Beolach; Vishten, Vishten.
Urban Single Track Recording of the Year: Neucleus Remix Radio, Dion Todd; Never Surrender - 22 Green Remix, Dion Todd; P. Titty, Pimp Tea Featuring Mickey D and Bonshah; Shake Ya Caboose, Pimp Tea; Strugglin', The Chronicles.
Entertainer of the Year: Crush; George Canyon; Jimmy Rankin; Natalie MacMaster; The Trews.
'Mary Poppins' Gets a Makeover in New DVD
LOS ANGELES - Movie animation has come a long way since Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke frolicked with cartoon penguins, sheep and carousel ponies in "Mary Poppins." Yet fresh off her voice work in the cutting-edge cartoon sequel "Shrek 2," Andrews thinks the blend of live-action and animation holds up splendidly in the 1964 musical fantasy, which gets elaborate new DVD treatment in a 40th anniversary two-disc set out Tuesday.
"I looked at it again, and I'd just come off `Shrek,' and I know these days how animation has changed and how different it is, the tools they have today," Andrews told The Associated Press. "But you don't see a single crack in the work of `Poppins,' and they didn't have that technology in those days. It's brilliantly done."
For the new DVD edition, Andrews and Van Dyke teamed up with co-composer Richard Sherman for a reunion segment to reminisce about the film. The set also has an extensive making-of documentary and a new cartoon short featuring Andrews in an adaptation of one of P.L. Travers' "Mary Poppins" stories.
The Disney classic marked Andrews' film debut after a stage career that included originating the role of Eliza Doolittle in the London and Broadway productions of "My Fair Lady."
"Mary Poppins" stars Andrews as a practically perfect nanny who floats out of the London sky on her umbrella to become mother hen for the mischievous children of an aloof banker. The movie's memorable songs include "Chim-Chim-Cheree," "A Spoonful of Sugar" and "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."
The role earned Andrews a best-actress Academy Award, ironic given she was passed over in favor of Audrey Hepburn for the lead in the movie version of "My Fair Lady" that same year. Hepburn was not even nominated, though her co-star Rex Harrison won the best-actor prize and supporting players Stanley Holloway and Gladys Cooper earned nominations, while "My Fair Lady" won best picture.
Andrews said she never took her Oscar win as a vindication after losing out on the lead in "My Fair Lady."
"In my acceptance speech, I remember saying how I know you Americans are famous for your hospitality, but this is ridiculous. What I really meant was that I think they were saying, `Welcome,'" Andrews said.
"People were saying welcome to the industry in some way. That may be because there was some sense that they felt unhappy I didn't do `Fair Lady,' but it wasn't my feeling at all. I wasn't anybody in those days. I didn't expect to get it. I'd hoped, but I didn't really expect it."
'Polar Express' Surpasses $100 Million
LOS ANGELES - After a slow start out of the station, "The Polar Express" just keeps chugging along. Taking in nearly $10 million over the weekend, the holiday tale lifted its domestic total to $110 million with plenty of steam left for Christmas and New Year's.
A month ago, "The Polar Express" looked like it could be a train wreck, debuting with $30.6 million in its first five days, an unremarkable start given the movie's $170 million production cost and the luster of star Tom Hanks and director Robert Zemeckis.
Yet the movie's Christmas theme has given it great staying power, with its three-day gross down just 9 percent this past weekend. Revenues fell far more sharply for other holdovers in the top 10, ranging from a 32 percent decline for "Christmas With the Kranks" to 70 percent for "Alexander."
"The Polar Express" opened amid a rush of family films, hitting theaters just five days after the blockbuster "The Incredibles" and a week before the action hit "National Treasure." Distributor Warner Bros. sought to build as big an audience as possible for "The Polar Express" early on to position it for a final Christmas rush.
"Our best play time is in front of us," said Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. head of distribution. "We realized the advantage for us was to get as much play time as we could prior to Christmas, because we always felt our movie, which had fabulous word of mouth, would grow as we got closer to Christmas."
Adapted from Chris Van Allsburg's picture book, "The Polar Express" follows a doubting boy as he regains his faith in the spirit of Christmas during a magical train trip to the North Pole.
The movie was created through "performance-capture" technology, with Hanks and other actors going through the motions on a bare soundstage. Their movements were recorded by infrared sensors, then re-created in digital imagery that resembles the computer animation of "Shrek 2" or "The Incredibles."
The technology allowed for semi-realistic renderings of its human characters, which include Hanks in multiple roles, among them the boy, the train conductor and Santa Claus.
Reviews were wildly mixed on "The Polar Express," with some critics calling it an instant Christmas classic and others saying the human figures resembled lifeless zombies.
With overseas box-office potential and TV and home-video revenue — plus its prospects as a holiday perennial on television and video — "The Polar Express" now has a solid shot to earn back its enormous production and marketing costs.
"That film's been completely vindicated by its long-term box-office performance," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.