The Couch Potato Report - November 16th, 2005
This week The Couch Potato Report features some good, some bad, and some very funny penguins!
With the holiday season fast approaching the home entertainment industry continues to release strong titles for your gift giving consideration.
The latest animated film the industry is hoping you will pick up is MADAGASCAR.
Chris Rock, Ben Stiller, Jada Pinkett Smith and David Schwimmer lend their voices to - respectively - Marty the Zebra, Alex the Lion, Gloria the Hippo, Melman the Giraffe.
They are four friends who all live in the New York City Zoo.
Marty the Zebra decides that he wants to know what is outside of the walls he's surrounded by and he escapes. The friends realize that they have to rescue him so they escape as well to try and bring him back.
Their escape and eventual capture leads to a public outcry about the state of mind of animals in captivity and the friends find themselves back in the wild.
I know, it all sounds a bit boring, doesn't it?
I love animated films, but when MADAGASCAR opened in theaters back in May I didn't go see it because that synopsis, and the film's trailers, didn't make the film look remotely entertaining.
Yet when I finally sat down last week and watched the film, I found it very entertaining.
Especially all of the scenes involving the penguins!
This group doesn't need Sidney Crosby to be it's savior, they score all on their own!
The plot in MADAGASCAR isn't superb, the story isn't anything you haven't seen before, and the animation isn't as good as what you've seen in THE INCREDIBLES, FINDING NEMO, or even CHICKEN LITTLE, but for some reason MADAGASCAR works.
And those penguins are tremendous!
I also use that word - tremendous - when I talk about the TV show SCRUBS.
SCRUBS is situation comedy that gives us an interns'-eye view of hospital life and the torturous, tragic, and triumphant route to becoming a doctor.
The show has a great cast and is exceptionally written.
SEASON TWO of the show features the continuing development of the characters of JD, Turk, Elliot, Carla, and Dr. Cox and the Janitor!
I already said that I find the show tremendous, but I feel just as comfortable describing it as hilarious, poignant, and just plain entertaining!
There won't be new episodes of the show airing on TV until January. In the interim SCRUBS - SEASON TWO is a 3-disc box set with all of the 22 hilarious episodes from SCRUBS sensational second season. And it is available right now!
Plus, it is tremendous, hilarious, poignant...did I mention that already?
I did? Well, let me just move on to THE SKELETON KEY then.
This film is a mildly entertaining supernatural thriller that takes place in rainy, mild Louisiana.
Kate Hudson from ALMOST FAMOUS plays a compassionate caregiver who takes a job in the rural plantation home of a woman and her invalid husband.
The place is creepy and in all of the house's rooms are secrets, especially in the rooms that no one goes in.
Ohhhhh!!!!
I like Kate Hudson, and I usually enjoy supernatural thrillers, but this one just has too many scenes that have nothing going for them other than a stereotypical scary movie music score.
The main spell in the film only effects you if you believe it. I didn't believe it, so the film didn't effect me.
If you don't expect much, maybe you will enjoy THE SKELETON KEY more than I did.
Finally this week, I want to compare a brand new film that has just been released to this week's "leftover."
Both HAPPY ENDINGS - the new film - and CRASH * the "leftover" - are ensemble dramas with large casts.
Both tell many stories with one or two things that happen that tie everyone and all their stories together.
But both aren't successful in keeping you engaged as a viewer.
CRASH does, HAPPY ENDINGS does not.
Let me start with the latter.
HAPPY ENDINGS features three main stories. Lisa Kudrow from FRIENDS is having an affair with a masseuse when a wannabe filmmaker blackmails her to get a movie made.
Her gay stepbrother believes that his boyfriend may be the father of the child of a lesbian couple.
And a homeless, gold-digging karaoke singer tries to make her life better.
Even re-reading those story points, I think it would make a great film. But they don't.
HAPPY ENDINGS is interesting, but it just isn't engaging enough to hold your attention. It certainly didn't hold mine.
The film's characters are interesting, but their situations are not.
The result can only be described as a disappointment.
Now CRASH on the other hand is engaging from start to finish!
CRASH is an intelligent, completely engaging and moving exploration of the interlocking lives of a dozen Los Angeles residents.
Those residents include a politically nervous white district attorney and his wife who get car-jacked by two black youths; a rich black T.V. director and his wife who get pulled over by a white racist cop; and a black detective who is investigating a white cop who shot a black cop.
Normally I would never focus on a character's race in a review, but CRASH is a film that demands it.
Canadian writer/director Paul Haggis spins his characters in unpredictable directions, and refuses to let any one of them become a stereotype.
CRASH is a film that will anger you, entertain you, enrage you, and make you smile, but most of all it will make you think.
The cast of CRASH includes many well known actors, including Sandra Bullock, Brendan Fraser, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Ryan Phillippe, Jennifer Esposito, Terrence Howard, and rap star Ludacris, but it is the writing and the film itself that make it worth seeing.
HAPPY ENDINGS is an ensemble picture that doesn't work at all, CRASH is one that does.
Both films are available now at a store near you. So are MADAGASCAR, SCRUBS - SEASON TWO and THE SKELETON KEY.
Coming up in the next Couch Potato Report
The summer blockbuster WAR OF THE WORLDS is Steven Spielberg's take on H.G. Wells science fiction classic. Tom Cruise and Tim Robbins star.
Tom Hanks is the star of the animated film version of the classic book THE POLAR EXPRESS. He voices five characters in this heartwarming story about a group of children are taken to the North Pole to meet Santa.
Three television shows from different eras are new releases on DVD. I'll talk about LEAVE IT TO BEAVER - THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON, SEINFELD - SEASON 5 and SEASON 6 and A DIFFERENT WORLD - SEASON ONE is our final "leftover."
I'm Dan Reynish. 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!
'Metropolis' film poster sells for record $690,000
LONDON (Reuters) - A poster for the classic German 1920s film "Metropolis" has been sold for a world record $690,000 to a private collector from the United States, the London gallery which arranged the sale said on Tuesday.
The sale beat the previous record for a movie poster of $453,500, set in 1997 by a poster for the 1932 film "The Mummy," the Reel Poster Gallery said.
Graphic artist Heinz Schulz-Neudamm designed the sepia-colored poster featuring the futuristic skyline which helped make Fritz Lang's film famous.
The art deco poster is one of only four known copies in existence. The Museum of Modern Art in New York and Berlin's Film Museum have one each while another is in a private collection.
The poster was bought by California-based collector Ken Schacter from British businessman Andrew Cohen, chairman of mail order firm Betterware, a spokeswoman for the gallery said.
Angelina Jolie Unhappy Over Role Offered For "Casino Royale"
007 movie producers are apparently trying to make Angelina Jolie happy, in hopes of snagging her as the next Bond girl.
According to Bang media, Casino Royale filmmakers have their sights set on the Oscar winning actress for the role of Russian agent Vesper Lynd, however the 30-year-old actress isn't thrilled about the character.
Although Jolie recently admitted to a "lifetime ambition" of playing a 007 villain but after reading the script for the upcoming film, the Tomb Raider star feels the female character isn't fierce enough. One insider says, "Angelina would rather play a baddie than eye candy."
"March of the Penguins" on Oscar list
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "The March of the Penguins" and "Mad Hot Ballroom," two documentaries that drew impressive lines at box offices, are among 15 documentaries that made the cut for Oscar consideration, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said on Tuesday.
The 15 were chosen by the Academy's Documentary Branch Screening Committee from 82 films. The list will be narrowed to five when Oscar nominations are announced on January 31. The 78th annual Oscars will be presented on March 5.
The French-made "March of the Penguins," a nature tale that humanizes the life of penguins, became a U.S. box office phenomenon by grossing $77 million in domestic ticket sales, second only to 2004's "Fahrenheit 9/11," the all-time top grossing documentary with $119 million in domestic receipts.
"Mad Hot Ballroom," a heartwarming tale of New York City schoolchildren competing in a dance contest, earned critical raves plus $8 million in ticket grosses. Critics have called 2005 an exceptional year for documentaries, thanks in part to the success of "Penguins" and "Ballroom."
Among the 13 other films making the short list are "After Innocence," about three convicted men freed by DNA evidence, "The Boys of Baraka," about 12-year-olds from Baltimore going to school in Kenya, "Darwin's Nightmare" about fishing for a predatory fish in a lake in Tanzania, "The Devil and Daniel Johnston," about a tormented musical genius, and "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room," about the collapse of the company.
Also on the list are "Favela Rising," about slums outside of Rio de Janeiro, "Murderball," a film about quadriplegics who play a form of wheelchair rugby, "Occupation: Dreamland" about the Iraqi war, "On Native Soil: The Documentary of the 9/11 Commission report," "Rize" about a Los Angeles dance movement, "Street Fight," about one man's campaign to become mayor of Newark, "39 Pounds of Love," about a man unable to move any part of his body and "Unknown White Male" about a man who woke up with total amnesia.
Lennon Killer Says He Was Unstoppable'
NEW YORK - The man who murdered John Lennon 25 years ago says "nothing could have stopped" his twisted quest to track down and assassinate the ex-Beatle.
"I was under total compulsion," killer Mark David Chapman says in a segment to be aired at 8 p.m. EST Friday on "Dateline NBC."
"It was like a train, a runaway train, there was no stopping it."
Chapman fatally shot Lennon on Dec. 8, 1980, as the musician and his wife, Yoko Ono, returned home from a night in a Manhattan recording studio. Chapman's comments came from audiotapes made in 1991-92 and first used as part of a British documentary.
Chapman recalled waiting for Lennon that night, then reacting as he saw a limousine pull up outside the ex-Beatle's home.
"I heard a voice in my head saying, `Do it, do it,'" Chapman recounted. "And as he passed me I pulled out the gun, aimed at his back and pulled the trigger five times in succession."
Chapman recalled that his desire to kill Lennon began one day in his apartment in Hawaii, where he was sitting on the floor and looking at the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album. His animosity soon began to consume Chapman.
"There was a successful man who kind of had the world on a chain, so to speak, and there I was, not even a link of that chain, just a person who had no personality," Chapman said. "And something in me just broke."
Chapman, 50, is eligible for parole again next year. Ono has repeatedly argued against Chapman's release, and his bids for freedom were already rejected three times by the state parole board.
Lee Ann Womack Earns Three CMA Awards
NEW YORK - The CMA Awards held its first shindig in New York with its country twang intact Tuesday night, as Madison Square Garden was transformed into the Grand Ole Opry with rootsy performances from Lee Ann Womack, Gretchen Wilson, Sara Evans and Rascal Flatts.
Appropriately, Womack emerged as the leader with three wins, including album of the year for "There's More Where That Came From." The album marked her return to more traditional country music after a detour through pop-infused material.
"Oh my God, I love country music!" Womack shouted as she accepted her award for single of the year for "I May Hate Myself In the Morning," a bittersweet ballad. Earlier in the evening, she won for best musical event for her duet with George Strait, "Good News, Bad News."
Backstage, she said she hoped her wins would encourage more of her kind of country music.
"Sometimes I think we are scared of real country music but a message like what was in that song, that transcends any boundaries, and a great song is a great song," said Womack of "I May Hate Myself."
The Country Music Association uprooted the awards show from its traditional home in Nashville to shine in New York's international spotlight at one of the city's most famous venues.
Although New York's skyline was the visual backdrop for the show and the ceremony had appearances by such non-country names like Billy Joel, Bon Jovi and Norah Jones, Nashville's influence wasn't diluted in the process.
Country music has been criticized in years past for drifting more toward pop, but it seemed the evening's performers were determined to "keep it country" in the Big Apple. Even country's most mainstream couple, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, seemed retro with their performance of "Like We Never Loved at All."
The show kicked off with a fitting performance by Big & Rich, who have shaken up country by mixing various genres, including hip-hop, in their music. The pair performed "Comin' to Your City," crooning: "We're comin' to New York City, we're gonna play our guitar and sing you a country song."
The show's highlights included a performance by Garth Brooks in the middle of Times Square. In front of frenzied fans, Brooks sang "Good Ride Cowboy," a tribute to his friend and fellow country singer Chris Ledoux, who died of liver cancer this year.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg appeared, and other comments and quips also helped infuse the city in the show. Vince Gill did his best Bronx accent when he joked, "There's like a rule here in New York, that you can't do a show without a guy named Vinnie."
But it was mainly a Nashville party, which pop's stars joined as well. Jones played piano while Willie Nelson sang "Still Crazy After All These Years," and Paul Simon joined the pair and sang "Crazy." Even Elton John conformed to country, singing "Turn the Lights Out When You Leave" with Dolly Parton. The pair also sang John Lennon's "Imagine."
Womack and Brad Paisley led all award nominees with six each, though Paisley went home empty-handed.
Keith Urban was a dual winner, winning entertainer of the year and male vocalist of the year. Toby Keith won music video of the year for "As Good As I Once Was"; Wilson won best female vocalist. And Dierks Bentley won the Horizon Award for emerging artists.
Jon Randall and Bill Anderson won song of the year for "Whiskey Lullaby," sung by Alison Krauss and Paisley.
"I've probably been writing songs in Nashville longer than anybody. My first co-writer was Andrew Jackson," Anderson joked.
The CMA show's move was designed to raise its profile in New York City. While country generates plenty of multiplatinum superstars and New York is one of its top markets in terms of album sales, it lacks a major presence here, including a radio station devoted to the genre.
The move was a one-time stint; the show will return to Nashville for its 40th anniversary next year.
'Live With Regis and Kelly' Hosts One-Hour Exclusive 'Seinfeld' Cast Reunion
November 23, 2005 will be a big day for Regis Philbin, the world's biggest "Seinfeld" fan. Philbin and co-host Kelly Ripa will host the four stars of his favorite hit series in an exclusive, one-hour "Seinfeld" edition of "Live with Regis and Kelly."
Stars Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander and Michael Richards reunite on "Live" to talk about the release of the DVDs Seinfeld: Season Five and Seinfeld: Season Six. It's their only joint appearance in support of this latest release of "Seinfeld" episodes, and the first time "Live" has devoted a full show to the cast of another program.
In addition to showing favorite clips and outtakes, Regis and Kelly invite the cast members to share memories and behind-the-scenes stories from their days on the set of the hit show. Seinfeld, Alexander, Louis-Dreyfus and Richards also reveal their favorite episodes, and talk about the on-going impact the show continues to have on fans today.
Seinfeld: Season Five and Seinfeld: Season Six DVDs, available in stores Nov. 22 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, feature classic episodes including Jerry's Today show appearance in the now infamous Puffy Shirt; George's "shrinkage"; Jerry's deaf date who could read lips; George's new job with the Yankees' George Steinbrenner and Elaine's admission that she "faked" 'em all. A special Seinfeld Giftset includes both seasons plus an exclusive reproduction of Jerry Seinfeld's hand-written script and a unique Puffy Shirt Collectible.