The Cars restart the engine
Is it the late '70s again or what?
Next Tuesday, The Cars are holding a press conference in L.A. and expected to announce a new lineup and a summer tour -- including a stop at the Molson Amphitheatre -- with fellow late-'70s-early-'80s music stars Blondie as openers.
The timing is good for Blondie who will be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame on Monday night in New York City and have a new greatest hits package out called Sound & Vision.
Meanwhile, speculation is that The New Cars lineup will consist of original members Elliot Easton on guitar and synth player Greg Hawkes, rounded out by singer-guitarist Todd Rundgren and his regular collaborators, bassist Kasim Sulton and drummer Prairie Prince.
Original Cars frontman Benjamin Orr died from pancreatic cancer in 2000 and guitarist Ric Ocasek has long not been interested in a reunion but has reportedly given Easton and Hawkes his blessing. So far there's no word on what original drummer David Robinson thinks of all this.
The Cars, who broke up in 1988, had hits that included Just What I Needed, My Best Friend's Girl, Good Times Roll, Let's Go, Shake It Up, You Might Think and Drive.
'C.R.A.Z.Y' a favourite going into Genie awards
Jean-Marc Vallée's C.R.A.Z.Y. and Deepa Mehta's Water are the leading contenders for awards at Monday night's 2006 Genie Awards.
Vallée's coming-of-age story about a young man growing up in 1960s and 1970s Quebec won a leading 12 nominations.
The awards gala for the best of Canadian cinema will be held Monday evening in Toronto.
C.R.A.Z.Y. has already won the Golden Reel award, given annually for the film with the best box office take in Canada. It grossed $6.2 million in 2005.
Water, about an eight-year-old widow who shakes up a widows' ashram in 1940s India, has nine nominations, including best picture and best director for Mehta.
It is competing for the best picture award with C.R.A.Z.Y., It's All Gone Pete Tong, Saint Ralph and Familia.
Familia, a debut feature film from Quebec's Louise Archambault, is already guaranteed recognition.
Archambault has won the Claude Jutra Award for most promising young filmmaker for her drama about two mothers and their daughters. The award is named after Quebec film director Claude Jutra.
She also has been nominated for best director, along with Mehta, Vallée, Michael Dowse for It's All Gone Pete Tong, and Luc Picard for L'Audition, about a mob enforcer who wants to become an actor.
Two actresses from Familia are nominated in the best actress category — Macha Grenon and Sylvie Moreau. They'll be competing against Water's Seema Biswas, Arsinée Khanjian from Sabah - A Love Story and Gina Chiarelli from See Grace Fly.
Quebec's vibrant movie industry is well represented among the nominees, with L'Audition and Familia earning seven nominations each. There were also strong showings from Aurore, Luc Dionne's film about a village that looks the other way as a young girl is mistreated and eventually killed, and Le Survenant, Eric Canuel's film about a stranger who disrupts life in a country village.
Two of the actors from C.R.A.Z.Y. are nominated for best actor — Michel Côté, who plays the boys' father, and Marc-André Grondin, who plays the gay son who is influenced fashion-wise by David Bowie. Also nominated are Luc Picard from L'Audition, Paul Kaye as the deaf DJ from the mockumentary It's All Gone Pete Tong and Adam Butcher as the boy who seeks out a miracle for his mother in Saint Ralph.
The Genie Awards are administered by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television; they were founded in 1979 to promote and celebrate the growing Canadian film industry. The first Genie Awards, held at Toronto's Royal Alexandra Theatre, took place on March 20, 1980.
A one-hour special of the awards gala will be broadcast on CityTV, Star!, Bravo! and MusicMax.
Dixie Chicks Get Personal On 'Long Way'
The Dixie Chicks will re-emerge late this spring with the most personal album of their career. Due May 23 via Open Wide/Columbia, "Taking the Long Way" opens with "Not Ready To Make Nice," which addresses the controversy that ensued in March 2003 after singer Natalie Maines criticized President George W. Bush. Afterward, a number of country stations refused to play the group's music.
Lyrics for the track, which was co-penned by the Chicks with former Semisonic leader Dan Wilson, are available at DixieChicks.com. "Forgive, sounds good / Forget, I'm not sure I could / They say time heals everything / But I'm still waiting," Maines sings.
"Taking the Long Way" was executive produced by Rick Rubin and finds the Chicks backed by such musicians as Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, Heartbreakers members Benmont Tench and Mike Campbell and veteran session multi-instrumentalist Larry Knechtel. In addition to Wilson, who collaborated on six tracks, Pete Yorn and the Jayhawks' Gary Louris contributed to the songwriting.
"Everything felt more personal this time," Maines says. "I go back to songs we've done in the past and there's just more maturity, depth, intelligence on these. They just feel more grown-up."
Among the album's selections are "I Hope," a co-write with blues artist Keb' Mo' that served as a charity download for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, "Everybody Knows," "Silent House" and "Lubbock or Leave It."
"Taking the Long Way" is the Chicks' first studio album since 2002's "Home," which debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 and has sold more than 5.8 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
The group is expected to launch an all-arena trek in June, with details to be announced.
Connery Has Surgery for Kidney Tumor
LONDON - Sean Connery has undergone surgery for a kidney tumor and is recovering at his home in the Bahamas, his spokesman said Sunday.
The 75-year-old Scottish actor underwent the operation a few weeks ago in New York, spokesman James Barron said.
"He's very fit — he's 100 percent plus," Barron said of the former James Bond actor, who won a 1988 Academy Award as supporting actor for "The Untouchables." In 2000, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
Connery told The Sunday Times that he "was opened in five places."
His brother, Neil, told the newspaper that "as far as I'm led to believe, the tumor was benign. He seems to be quite upbeat about it."
Connery, an ardent Scottish nationalist, is scheduled to record a voiceover for a political program for the pro-independence Scottish National Party. He also plans to attend Tartan Day festivities in New York in April, party leader Alex Salmond said.
'Failure to Launch' Soars to Top of Box
LOS ANGELES - "Failure to Launch," a romantic comedy starring Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker, took off at theaters, debuting as the top weekend movie with $24.6 million.
Two remakes opened in second and third place. Disney's family flick "The Shaggy Dog," starring Tim Allen, was No. 2 with $16 million, and Fox Searchlight's horror tale "The Hills Have Eyes" was No. 3 with $15.5 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
"Failure to Launch," released by Paramount, bumped off Lionsgate's "Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion," which had been the No. 1 movie the previous two weekends. That movie slipped to No. 5, grossing $5.8 million to raise its total to $55.8 million.
Reviews generally were poor for all three new films, but they overcame the weak critical reception to combine for a healthy $56.1 million. Still, they were unable to match last year's top three, "Robots," "The Pacifier" and "Be Cool," which combined for $64.4 million over the same weekend.
The top 12 movies this weekend grossed $92.4 million, down 10.7 percent compared to the same weekend in 2005. After a strong start this year, Hollywood has slid back into a slump that persisted last year, when domestic attendance fell 7 percent compared to 2004.
While revenues are up slightly this year, factoring in higher ticket prices, attendance is down about 1 percent compared to 2005, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
"You don't want a repeat of what happened last year," Dergarabedian said. "It's still early in the year to call it, but every weekend it's down is chipping away at the advantage we had early on this year."
The three new wide releases offered solid variety for audiences, with "Failure to Launch" drawing the date crowd, "The Shaggy Dog" grabbing parents and their children and "The Hills Have Eyes" bringing in horror fans.
"Failure to Launch" stars McConaughey as a 35-year-old still living with his parents, who hire a bombshell (Parker) to entice him into moving out. The audience was two-thirds female, according to distributor Paramount.
"There hasn't been a good date movie in a while, and I think women just felt like it was going to be a fun movie," said Rob Moore, the studio's worldwide head of marketing and distribution.
"The Shaggy Dog" features Allen, Robert Downey Jr. and Parker's "Sex and the City" co-star Kristin Davis in an update of the 1959 Disney original and sequel, "The Shaggy D.A." Allen plays a prosecutor transformed by a canine bite into a goofy sheepdog.
"The Hills Have Eyes" updates Wes Craven's 1977 horror story, about a family whose road trip takes a grisly detour when they encounter mutant cannibals. Craven serves as a producer on the remake.
Though already out on home video, the ensemble drama "Crash" returned for an encore in theaters to capitalize on its best-picture Academy Award the previous weekend. The film reopened in 175 theaters and grossed $357,000, raising its theatrical total to $53.8 million.
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Failure to Launch," $24.6 million.
2. "The Shaggy Dog," $16 million.
3. "The Hills Have Eyes," $15.5 million.
4. "16 Blocks," $7.3 million.
5. "Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion," $5.8 million.
6. "Eight Below," $5.4 million.
7. "Aquamarine," $3.65 million.
8 (tie). "The Pink Panther," $3.6 million.
8 (tie). "Ultraviolet," $3.6 million.
10. "Date Movie," $2.5 million.