The Couch Potato Report - July 5th, 2005
This week The Couch Potato Report features one of John Candy's greatest films and some cartoons that date back as far as 1928
While I was buying my DVD copy of the 1991 film ONLY THE LONELY a few weeks back the teenage cashier looked at the title of the film and said, "'Only The Lonely.' Ohhh, I love Elvis Presley."
She then proceeded to speak with her two - also teenage - co-workers about Elvis and his music, and how much she enjoyed it.
I debated whether to say anything, and then after my transaction was complete, I spoke up and I said, "'Only The Lonely' is a Roy Orbison song."
They thanked me politely for the information, but as I walked away I overheard the cashier asking her friends, "Who's Roy Orbison?"
Although I have friends who do, I never feel old when I find myself in situations where someone younger than me doesn't know the music I know and love.
What does come to mind is a hope that people - such as this teenage cashier and her friends - get the chance to listen to artists like Roy Orbison some day.
That is my hope for many reasons, but primarily due to the fact that Bo Bice, Gavin DeGraw, Rob Thomas, Howie Day, and many of the other artists you can currently find at the top of the charts added together don't equal one Roy Orbison.
And many of the actors working in Hollywood today don't equal one John Candy, the man who is the main reason why I was buying the DVD of ONLY THE LONELY.
Now, prior to his work in that movie Candy had put his comedic talents to good use on the television show SCTV and in the movies SPACEBALLS, PLANES, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES, THE GREAT OUTDOORS, UNCLE BUCK and HOME ALONE.
In ONLY THE LONELY Candy was given one of the few dramatic roles of his career, and he is wonderful!
With his comedic background Candy easily handles the film's lighter comedic moments, but he also does a superb job with the more serious parts of the script.
In the end his Danny Muldoon is a believable and sympathetic person.
That person, Danny, is a 38-year-old Chicago cop who still lives with his mother.
Screen legend Maureen O'Hara plays the mother and even though she had appeared in the classic films HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY, MIRACLE ON 34th STREET, THE QUIET MAN and THE PARENT TRAP when ONLY THE LONELY came out in 1991 it was her first role in almost 20 years.
But I digress.
O'Hara's character is named Rose, but she is an irate, stubborn woman. That said, she is also a loving, caring mother to Danny.
Without actors like O'Hara and Candy in the leading roles, this could have turned into a film about a mama's boy and his mean old momma.
Instead the actor's talents allow them to give us people we like and care about.
Candy's talents shine even brighter when he meets an introverted make-up artist played by Ally Sheedy of THE BREAKFAST CLUB.
Their relationship initially flourishes, but the son can't quit worrying about his mother long enough to be any kind of lover or partner.
Plus, the Mother is uncomfortable and challenges the young lady as she finds her place as the only woman in her son's life threatened.
ONLY THE LONELY succeeds as a love story, and a comedy. It is a very beautiful film that is heartwarming and poignant and very worthy of your time.
And if the cashier at the store where you buy it or rent it doesn't know who sings the title song, or who John Candy is, make sure you tell them as well!
Yes, from time to time we may have to remind people who Roy Orbison is, or John Candy for that matter, but it is unlikely that we will ever have to tell anyone who Mickey Mouse is.
However, that isn't due to the fact that people in this day and age love his cartoons, that is due to the fact that Mickey is the corporate image for The Walt Disney Company.
Yet it was cartoons that brought fame to Mickey Mouse, and Walt Disney.
Now some of those very first Mickey Mouse cartoons are available on the DVD VINTAGE MICKEY.
The disc has nine of the mouse's most memorable cartoons, including the classic "Steamboat Willie" from 1928, the first Mickey Mouse cartoon released and the first cartoon with sound.
No, Mickey doesn't wear his trademark gloves and he doesn't speak either. All he does is whistle and play music.
VINTAGE MICKEY also includes the Academy Award nominated "Mickey's Orphans" and "Building A Building", plus the always entertaining "The Birthday Party."
Yes, it is true that all of these cartoons have already appeared on DVD in the Walt Disney Treasures releases MICKEY MOUSE IN BLACK & WHITE, but since those releases were limited editions, and are no longer available, this disc is an inexpensive, fun, and wonderful way to own and look back at the origins of the little mouse who became one of the world's most famous images.
Whether he is speaking, or just whistling and playing music.
VINTAGE MICKEY and the superb ONLY THE LONELY are both available now at a store near you.
COMING UP IN THE NEXT COUCH POTATO REPORT
Clint Eastwood's Academy Award winning masterpiece MILLION DOLLAR BABY debuts on video and DVD.
I'm Dan Reynish and I will have more on that film, 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!
Live 8 Coming Soon On DVD
EMI has confirmed they have secured the DVD for this past weekend’s Live 8 extravaganza. The entertainment giant have worked out a deal with the organisers which will see them release a DVD of the event in all territories around the world.
However, the DVD will differ from country to country, tailored to include footage from each of the various Live 8 events. It will be hitting shops in November and the Live Aid organisation will receive what EMI describe as a "major financial contribution" from the DVD deal.
Bob Geldof explained, "I hope this will be the biggest-selling DVD of all time. It deserves to be. More importantly perhaps, it should be, for it will help us achieve our goal of changing the lives of the extreme poor for the better and making our generation the one that helped end the disgrace of poverty.
“We are very grateful to EMI for their financial contribution which helped to make the July 2 concerts happen everywhere on the planet and thus nudge the world a little closer towards our shared aim."
Will There Be A Charlie’s Angels III?
Drew Barrymore has announced her interest in proceeding with Charlie’s Angels III. Teenhollywood reports Barrymore says, "I know Cameron, Lucy and I would all sign up if there was, but there are no plans in the works. All three of us still hang out all the time anyway, so we might as well be filming it." While the previous two films’ box-office profits earned Sony $260 million worldwide each, the runaway budget for the second film has the studio weary about green-lighting chapter 3.
'Big Brother 6': Bigger, Better, More Fragrant
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) At the end of production last year on the fifth season of CBS' summer reality series "Big Brother," the house -- actually a series of linked temporary trailers -- on a studio lot in the San Fernando Valley was demolished to make room for a new CBS office building. For Allison Grodner, who executive produces the show with partner and fellow executive producer Arnold Shapiro, it didn't come a moment too soon.
Each summer, the house plays host to contestants who live in it minus contact with the outside world for three months, scheming and planning and conniving in hopes of staying in long enough to win the $500,000 grand prize. Shapiro and Grodner have produced the second, third, fourth and fifth seasons so far, all in the same location.
"I can tell ya," Grodner says, "after five years, that house that was torn down stunk. It was awful. No one wanted to go in. A lot of it can be attributed to Marvin's stinky feet last year, but when we had to put the houseguests on lockdown outside to go in to clean things up or set things up, I mean, people would go in with masks. It was horrible."
"Big Brother 6" launches its thrice-weekly airings Thursday, July 7, on CBS. The Thursday episode, with host Julie Chen, is the live edition of the show, featuring the weekly eviction of one of the housemates. Pre-taped episodes air on Tuesday and Saturday. As always, cameras and microphones monitor the houseguests 24 hours a day, both on television and continuously on the Internet.
At the premiere, fans will get their first look at the new home of "Big Brother," a two-story, loft-style house built inside a soundstage on the same lot. (There's still an outdoor back yard and large pool.)
"We've got a whole new space," Grodner says. "It doesn't smell yet. We'll see how long it takes. It's got high ceilings and just gives the whole thing a different look. We're able to look down on them, get different perspectives, and it gives us more space to do bold decorating statements as well.
"That's pretty much all I can reveal right now about the house, that it's a very bold, colorful design. Our chief engineer, who's been with us forever, is responsible for putting together the initial construction design for this and making it work for a two-story inside a soundstage, (making something) that's livable, that can sustain the weight and the wear and tear, which is very different from a regular sitcom set. This has to be functional.
"It has high ceilings, big walls, balconies, lots of ways for people to keep an eye on each other, lots of new nooks and crannies for people to scheme and hide, not from us, but from each other."
Strangely enough, enlarging the set seems to have had a corresponding effect on the cast.
"There are a lot of very tall people here," Grodner says. "That works. We actually have the ceilings to contain tall people. Whereas in past years, I have to say, not that we've stopped ourselves from putting tall people in the cast, but we're always worried about the bigger people, wondering how they would be able to fit into these rooms, bend with the lights and cameras."
While fans enjoy the drama inside the house, Grodner says there's no lack of drama behind the scenes.
"It's a whole other story that we've only touched on in the media, but it's an amazing little city that goes on behind the scenes at 'Big Brother.' For us, it's summer camp. We get a huge return with our staff and our crew. It runs like a top. It's very well-planned, with up to 200 people working on the show behind the scenes.
"I'm here 24 hours a day as well, with everyone else, getting my hands dirty, eating my peanut butter."
With her new space to play with, Grodner got to do something she's wanted to since she and Shapiro took over the show. "When we took over 'Big Brother 2,' we added the head-of-household component and therefore the head-of-household room. The way it was with the original set, we had a limited amount of space to work with.
"I will say, this year, the head-of-household room is very special. I will go so far as to say it's sort of the penthouse suite. We're excited by that because we really were able to design it from the ground up instead of having to shoehorn something in. You earn that, you win it, it's a powerful position to have, so the space should be deserving of that power and that prestige in the game."
Last season, Grodner and Shapiro introduced the twist of having identical twins in the house, pretending to be the same person -- a twist, Grodner says, imitated by the Australian edition of "Big Brother."
"The twin twist gave them one of the highest ratings they've ever had on the show. The twins went in and switched out every day, which isn't something we did. That was a very bold move on their part. They were caught on the seventh day, and it was the most-watched show they had. It was high drama."
Asked how "Big Brother 6" will top last year's twist, Grodner says, "Every season is different. There will always be surprises, twists and turns, and we will guarantee that again this summer."
Summer films: Sales bells ring
Look for many of the summer blockbuster movies — even ones that haven't opened in theaters yet — to arrive on DVD in time for holiday shopping.
As video marketers seek to maximize the momentum from theatrical campaigns, movies are coming to video a lot sooner than ever, in about four months, down from six months just a few years ago, according to The DVD Release Report.
That means most of the summer movies will be in stores as holiday shoppers head to the mall.
"The progression from a summer theatrical release to a holiday video release is a well-worn path," says industry analyst Tom Adams, president of Adams Media Research. "Even late-summer releases will be out in time for the holidays."
The year's No. 1 movie so far, Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, is expected to arrive in stores Nov. 8. That was the same week that top sellers Shrek 2 and Finding Nemo came out in previous years.
Other movies that will be released for holiday sales, although no dates have been announced, include The Longest Yard, The Amityville Horror and Cinderella Man.
Also likely to be released in the fourth quarter of this year: War of the Worlds, Madagascar, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Fantastic Four, Bewitched, Kingdom of Heaven, The Interpreter and Batman Begins.
Other releases aimed at gift buyers include:
•The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Sept. 13.
•Robots, Sept. 20.
• Last year's holiday hit, Polar Express, Nov. 22.
"The fourth quarter is going to be wildly competitive," says Craig Kornblau, president of Universal Studios Home Entertainment.
Older audiences pass on theaters
Karen Shinoda loves Ray, the Oscar-nominated movie starring Jamie Foxx as the late Ray Charles, but she didn't see it in theaters.
"I missed it because of the cost of going to the theater, and I was unemployed at the time," says Shinoda, 54, a legal secretary in Castro Valley, Calif.
But for $15, she picked up a copy on DVD a few months after the film opened in theaters. That's about half what she would have shelled out on a movie ticket, popcorn and drink, gas and parking.
Ray has earned nearly $150 million from DVD sales and rentals, twice its $75 million gross in theaters, says Craig Kornblau, president of Universal Studios Home Entertainment. It is one of a growing number of dramas that performed much better on DVD than they did in theaters, primarily because they appeal to older movie fans.
Cost is one factor keeping older moviegoers from theaters, as is time. For some films, up to 80% of the people who buy the DVD didn't see the movie in the theater, says Buena Vista's Lori MacPherson.
"People's lives are becoming increasingly busy. Consumers don't always have a chance to get to the theater to see every film they would like."
Turnaround is another factor: Most movies are available for home viewing about four months after opening in theaters.
People who are just now buying DVD players, Kornblau says, are "primarily older consumers who are significantly embracing not only the DVD phenomenon but also, more specifically, DVD dramas."
Dan Gurlitz, general manager of Koch Vision, also credits older adults with fueling sales of those dramas that had limited runs in art-house theaters.
One such film is the critically acclaimed DearFrankie, which showed in just 96 theaters and arrives today on DVD. The movie is about a single mother who invents a tale that her son's father is away at sea, but the lie catches up to her.
"Drama is quite possibly our best-selling genre," Gurlitz says. "The core audience is intensely involved in collection-building, and while many visit their local theaters, most yearn to own."
Steve Beeks, president of Lions Gate Entertainment, discovered the power of the over-45 set with the drama Beyond the Sea, starring Kevin Spacey as Bobby Darin. It showed on just 383 screens (wide release is considered 500 or more) and earned just $6 million in theaters, but it sold about $17 million in DVDs.
Older adults are buying 10% more DVDs now than they were at the end of 2004, says Kornblau, citing internal research. "As evidenced by the runaway success with such dramatic titles as Seabiscuit, Friday Night Lights and Ray, the late adopters are the prime catalyst for these films' overperformance on DVD."
Marketers are responding to the trend by tailoring ad campaigns for dramas to older adults and releasing special anniversary editions of older films such as Jaws and Casino
For the Oscar-nominated Finding Neverland, "we targeted a broad audience, including parents, many of whom did not get a chance to see the film in theaters," says Gordon Ho, executive vice president of Buena Vista Home Entertainment.
The Oscar-nominated Sideways was advertised on cable channels with high mature-adult viewership, such as A&E, Bravo, Lifetime and Fox News, says Mike Dunn, president of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.
London Live 8's 'Hey Jude' finale offered
LONDON (AP) — London Live 8's Hey Jude finale led by Paul McCartney was offered as a download Monday, while the concert's opening number was topping the online charts in several countries, the distributor said.
The McCartney/U2 concert opener, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, was No. 1 on the iTunes charts in Britain, Canada, Ireland, Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Belgium, said Adam White of Universal Music International.
The track was also No. 2 in Spain and No. 3 in France.
Universal said it logged the first Pepper sale just 45 minutes after the performance.
McCartney's performance of The Long and Winding Road, also from the end of the concert, was made available for downloading on Sunday, White said.
Universal is donating its share of the sales to Live 8, White said.
Putting Pam On The Menu
Pamela Anderson will become the first female recipient of a "Comedy Central Roast" spec, skedded to tape Aug. 7 for an Aug. 14 airdate.
Jimmy Kimmel will host the roast, which Tenth Planet Prods.' Joel Gallen is exec producing. Elizabeth Porter oversees for the comedy net.
A few months ago, "The Comedy Central Roast of Jeff Foxworthy" premiered to 6.2 million viewers, making it the second most-watched cablecast in the net's history, after a 1998 episode of "South Park."
Anderson, who will be lampooned for her animal activism among other things, is donating her fee to PETA.
McCartney Makes History with "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
Sir Paul McCartney's "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" performance with U2, which kicked off Live 8 in London Saturday, was the first time the former Beatle had ever played the song live. The British rocker has never included the tune in live sets, because he always felt odd performing it without his former group. But McCartney thought it was a great idea to open the show with Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band as it has the perfect opening line - a reminder of Live Aid 20 years ago. He says, "I was rung up, initially, by Bob Geldof... and he said, 'We want you to open up with U2. We've got this idea: 20 years ago today... Do Sgt Pepper. I said, 'You know what, that's a good idea, ' so I did it."
Union agrees BBC deal, job cut talks to begin
LONDON (Reuters) - The BBC can begin plans to cut 4,000 jobs after a technical workers' union voted on Monday to accept a revised offer put forward by the public broadcaster's Director General Mark Thompson.
About 92 percent of members of the Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematograph and Theatre Union (Bectu) voted to accept a one-year guarantee of no compulsory redundancies while talks move forward on how to reduce staff by 20 percent.
About 41 percent of Bectu members voted on the proposal. The other two BBC unions, the National Union of Journalists and Amicus, previously had agreed to the offer.
Talks are now set to begin at a divisional level to seek redundancy volunteers, according to Luke Crawley, Bectu's top BBC official. The union said it has reserved the right to strike if too many people are offered such packages.
"Managers with direct responsibility for day-to-day activities will be expected to explain how the BBC can continue to function properly with 20 percent fewer staff," Bectu said.
In addition to delaying any compulsory redundancies for one year, the BBC agreed to put off the sale of its BBC Resources unit for at least two years. It had been scheduled to be sold much sooner.
Staff at BBC Broadcast also were promised access to final salary pension scheme comparable to the BBC's and other assurances that terms will remain unchanged for at least three years.
The unit is being sold to Australia's largest investment bank Macquarie Bank Ltd. and investment fund Macquarie Capital Alliance Group. The group agreed to a one-year moratorium on compulsory job cuts.
The compromise deal with the world's largest public broadcaster came about after the unions had gone on strike for a day and had been planning more work stoppages.
Luther Vandross' Swan Song
Luther Vandross wasn't just a singer. He was a wedding day. A radio-show song dedication. A seduction.
The supremely smooth Grammy winner died Friday at a hospital in New Jersey, his record label confirmed. He was 54.
Vandross, whose hits included the romantic renderings "Power of Love/Love Power," "Here and Now" and "Always and Forever" was felled by a stroke on April 16, 2003, at his Manhattan apartment.
His label said, "Luther Vandross had a peaceful passing under the watchful eye of friends, family and the medical support team. As you know, Luther Vandross suffered a stroke two years ago, which he never fully recovered from.
"Throughout his illness, Luther received excellent medical care and attention from his medical team. Luther was deeply touched by all the thoughts and wishes from his fans."
Less than two months after his stroke, what would be his final studio album, the reflective Dance with My Father, was released.
The album proved to be Vandross' most successful, immediately topping the charts and winning four Grammy Awards in 2004, including Song of the Year for the title cut.
While Vandross regained consciousness, and sufficiently recovered to appear in a taped message at the 2004 Grammys and on The Oprah Winfrey Show later that same year, he never resumed his recording or performing career.
In a heartbreaking statement to the Associated Press in May 2003, the entertainer's mother, Mary Vandross, said she was banking on her son to rebound. "He has to recover, he's all I have left," Mary Vandross said. "He's my last surviving child."
In a 2001 interview, Luther Vandross, who'd long battled obesity, diabetes and hypertension, said his father, brother, nephew, maternal grandfather and paternal grandfather had all succumbed to diabetes.
Luther Ronzoni Vandross, his middle name cribbed from a pasta label, was born April 20, 1951, in New York City.
The future R&B crooner got his start in gospel. As a teenager, he played Harlem's famed Apollo Theatre with the gospel-soul group Listen My Brother.
At the age of 20, his career moved downtown to Broadway, where his composition "Everybody Rejoice (A Brand New Day)" was featured in the hit musical The Wiz.
The young Vandross went on to pay the bills as a commercial jingle writer and backup vocalist for the likes of Bette Midler, Barbra Streisand and David Bowie.
Vandross scored the Bowie gig through an old school friend. At the time, the English rocker was working on his landmark 1975 album, Young Americans. Hired as a singer, Vandross ended up arranging the vocal parts and cowriting the song "Fascination."
The following year, Vandross moved from the background to the foreground with the disco group Luther. To the relief of wedding deejays, Vandross' bout with Saturday Night Fever was brief. Luther, the group, was a bust. Vandross, the sultry R&B star, was about to be born.
His breakthrough--more than 10 years in the making--came with his 1981 solo debut, Never Too Much. The seven-track collection included the hit title track and a cover of a Burt Bacharach standard he made his own, "A House Is Not a Home."
The platinum-selling album was a career definer. No more would Vandross ping-pong from Broadway to Bowie. He was, always and forever, the standard-bearer of the smooth love song.
"[My style is] not 'Meet me in the shower' and 'Let's rub oil on each other,' " he once said in an interview. "You'll never hear me sing about those things."
Vandross' more understated style brought him the 1990 Grammy for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for "Here and Now." He repeated in that category in 1991 for "Power of Love" and in 1996 for "Your Secret Love." In all, Vandross won eight Grammys and sold more than 25 million albums.
If his career held steady, Vandross' health did not. By his own admission, he was a carb addict who lost, and gained, more than 100 pounds 14 times--often in the very public eye. As recently as 1998, the six-foot-three singer weighed in at 340 pounds.
"[When you're that heavy it] feels like you're wearing an 80-pound hat and a coat that weighs 300 pounds," Vandross told ABC News in 2001, during one of his slender, 220-pound periods. "You wear it externally, so the minute you walk through the door, everybody knows, Luther's not winning his battle with his demon."
"An alcoholic can't have half a martini," he said, "and you know, I can't have bread."
Fortunately, Vandross always had song--and admirers. Mariah Carey dueted with him on "Endless Love," off his 1994 cover-tune collection Songs. Whitney Houston recorded his "Who Do You Love," for her 1990 album I'm Your Baby Tonight. Foxy Brown, Busta Rhymes and Queen Latifah contributed to Dance with my Father. His duet with Beyoncé from that collection, "The Closer I Get to You," earned the Grammy for Best R&B Performance By a Duo Or Group with Vocals.
Vandross called Dance with my Father a personal album; the title track "the best song he ever wrote," according to his mother.
"When I heard it, I felt like I was going to, well, scream," Mary Vandross said in a statement around the time of the album's release. "I played it over and over, and I cried and cried. I was amazed how well Luther remembered his father, how we used to dance and sing in the house. I was so surprised that at seven and a half years of age, he could remember what a happy household we had. It was always filled with a lot of music."
The song debuted during an April 2003 episode of Fox's Boston Public. American Idol alum Tamyra Gray handled the singing honors. Vandross himself was to have graced the Idol stage in 2003 as a guest judge, but then the stroke struck.
To the end, his mother held out hope for his full recovery.
"Knowing how he loves this new album, I believe Luther would want it to come out now, and I'm so grateful that he can get this chance," she said in 2003. "He is going to recover, and when he does, I want him to be greeted with a big success story. "
Vandross was remembered in the 2004 tribute album Forever, for Always, for Luther, featuring the work of jazz artists such as George Benson. A new R&B-style tribute album was announced just last month. Carey, Celine Dion and former Idol champs Fantasia and Ruben Studdard were among those scheduled to contribute tracks.
"Remember, when I say goodbye it's never for long," Vandross said during his videotaped appearance at the 2004 Grammys. "Because," he continued, slipping into one of his trademark tunes, "I believe in the power of love."