The Couch Potato Report - April 25th, 2006
This week The Couch Potato Report shines the spotlight on another wide array of new releases, including the latest from Woody Allen and a documentary about fish.
Even people who have never seen one of his films know Woody Allen's on-screen persona: The comical and brainy New Yorker in nebbish glasses, who is nervous about sex, death and modern times.
Even when he doesn’t star in his films, his leading actors still usually play a variation of Woody’s persona.
Now I like Woody Allen, and I love his work. PLAY IT AGAIN SAM, CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS and ANNIE HALL are three of my favourite films of all time.
However, I enjoyed the fact that the leading actor in Woody’s new film has no Woody-isms at all. Not one!
As usual, the film is well made and well written, but if no one told you it was a Woody Allen film, you might not even know.
No, MATCH POINT won’t have you thinking too much about Woody Allen, and it will only have you thinking a little bit about tennis.
Jonathan Rhys Meyers from BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM is Chris, a former tennis pro who finds work as an instructor. He then meets Tom and he falls in love with Tom’s sister Chloe.
Tom also introduces Chris to his fiancé Nola, and soon, they are having an affair.
Chris tries to juggle both women but at some point, he must choose between them.
Scarlett Johansson from LOST IN TRANSLATION plays Nola, and she does a wonderful job playing a woman who is originally chased, who then becomes the chaser.
If you think you know Woody Allen’s work, take the time to be surprised with MATCH POINT. Or if you have enjoyed him in the past, but haven’t bothered with his films since the 1990s began, well I recommend that you come back for more.
MATCH POINT is a great film, that is well cast and very well directed and written.
MATCH POINT is yet another one of last year's best films.
The documentary DARWIN’S NIGHTMARE wasn't one of 2005's best films, but it is still very good.
DARWIN'S NIGHTMARE takes a look at the effect of fishing the Nile perch in Tanzania's Lake Victoria. The predatory fish, which has wiped out all of the other fish in the local waters, is sold in European supermarkets, while starving Tanzanian families have to make do with the leftovers.
The trend in documentaries these days is for the filmmakers to give you their opinions, and subsequently, their own conclusions.
DARWIN’S NIGHTMARE just gives you the facts, with no opinions, and when it concludes, the only opinions you will have are your own.
DARWIN’S NIGHTMARE isn’t a perfect film, but it is interesting. In my opinion, that is all any documentary needs to be is interesting.
Let me also use the word “interesting” to describe Oscar winner Charlize Theron’s work in the film AEON FLUX.
This science fiction film is based on the animated MTV series and takes place 400 years in the future.
Disease has wiped out the majority of the earth's population except for one walled, protected city.
Theron plays Aeon Flux, the top operative in the underground rebellion. When she is sent on a mission to kill a government leader, she uncovers some secrets that lead her to question everything she believes to be reality.
Now, I use the word “interesting” here because the film is just that; interesting.
Not in the same way any documentary is, but I was interested in seeing how it ended, and what all the secrets lead to, so to me, it was interesting.
I also always enjoy watching Charlize Theron in a movie, so I found that interesting too.
AEON FLUX isn’t the best science fiction film of all time, but I liked it. It interested me, and it entertained me. It didn’t do that well when it played in theatres last December, but if you like these types of films, check out AEON FLUX.
And if you enjoy science fiction of any kind, I urge you to start watching the remake of the 1970’s TV series BATTLESTAR GALACTICA.
The old series was primarily made for kids, which is why I loved it when it was first on.
This new series is a drama for adults about the fight to save humanity, that just happens to take place in science-fiction setting.
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA - SEASON 2.0 is a new 3 disc box set that is finally available for sale in Canada, after debuting in America in December. The set features the first ten episodes of Season 2 of one of the best shows that is currently on television.
There are three LAW & ORDER shows still actually on television, four of you count the semi-spinoff CONVICTION, but one LAW & ORDER series is no longer on TV.
LAW & ORDER - TRIAL BY JURY was the short-lived series showing the workings of the judicial system, beginning with the arraignment and continuing through the lawyers process of building a case, investigating leads and preparing witnesses and defendants for trial.
Jerry Orbach starred in the show as the familiar Detective Lennie Briscoe from the original LAW & ORDER, but when he died after the first few episodes, it never recovered.
Now, LAW & ORDER - TRIAL BY JURY- THE COMPLETE SERIES is available as three-disc set. It contains all 13 original episodes of the one LAW & ORDER series that has failed in the last sixteen years.
Admittedly, TRIAL BY JURY isn’t a bad series, but there isn’t anything special about it either.
And if you would like to own it, LAW & ORDER - TRIAL BY JURY- THE COMPLETE SERIES is now available at a store near you along with BATTLESTAR GALACTICA - SEASON 2.0, AEON FLUX, DARWIN’S NIGHTMARE, and MATCH POINT.
Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report
Steve Martin’s wonderful novella “Shopgirl” is now the wonderful little film SHOPGIRL; the classic nineties film DELICATESSEN debuts on DVD; and so do the TV shows DINOSAURS - THE COMPLETE FIRST AND SECOND SEASONS and LEAVE IT TO BEAVER - THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON.
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 time on The Couch!
OLN opts for a name change
STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) - The Outdoor Life Network is changing its name to Versus.
The new name will take effect in September, in time for the NHL season, OLN announced Monday. "Versus is a word that perfectly captures the essence of our brand. It is immediate shorthand for competition and has a range that can suit everything from stick and ball sports, to bull riding, to field sports," network President Gavin Harvey said. "We felt it was a slam dunk, and sports fans we talked to all agreed."
OLN, which began soliciting suggestions for a new name about a year ago, said Versus was chosen "not only for its bold nature, but because it universally evokes competition."
"Whether it is man versus man, man versus beast or team versus team, the channel will celebrate sports at its best, where athletes and sportsmen compete at their highest levels with the greatest passion," the network said in a statement.
Before acquiring the rights to the cable broadcasts of NHL games, OLN was best known for covering Lance Armstrong and the Tour de France.
'Big Brother' Picks All-Star Team
LOS ANGELES -- "Survivor" did it, with mixed results. "The Bachelor" has done it. And this summer, "Big Brother" will follow suit.
The CBS show, which will have its seventh incarnation this year, has decided to populate its house with past players this time around. Ladies and gentlemen, presenting "Big Brother: All-Stars."
The network is banking on familiar faces to boost interest in the show, which suffered a fairly sizable ratings decline last summer; the three weekly episodes averaged between 700,000 and 1.2 million fewer viewers than their 2004 counterparts.
In what CBS says is a first for any "Big Brother" franchise worldwide, the network will let fans pick who enters the house. Viewers will choose 12 people from a pool of 20 past contestants -- where have you gone, Chicken George, Marcellas and Nakomis? -- to enter the house and play the game.
The choice of host is not up for a vote: Julie Chen will be back in her familiar spot.
CBS hasn't announced the 20 potential All-Stars yet, nor has it said how voting will be done. As with past versions of the show, the winner will walk away with $500,000.
Forsythe rules his 'Dynasty'
WOODSIDE, Calif. — A limousine turns into the courtyard of Northern California's Filoli Mansion. It is just before 8 a.m., and actress Linda Evans steps out of the car. A greeter hurries down the steps with an umbrella to shield her from the light rain and escorts the still-elegant 63-year-old inside the familiar 43-room, 36,000-square-foot brick manor seen in the opening credits of ABC's Dynasty from 1981 to 1989.
She is soon followed by a stream of limos carrying Carrington cargo.
John Forsythe, who played the popular prime-time soap's debonair Denver oilman Blake Carrington, is flying in from his ranch near Santa Barbara to visit the mansion, 30 miles south of San Francisco, for a one-hour CBS retrospective, Dynasty Reunion: Catfights and Caviar (May 2, 10 p.m. ET/PT).
And many of his fellow Carringtons are not sure what to expect.
Aside from close friend Evans, who played Forsythe's devoted secretary-turned-wife, Krystle, no one has seen the cast's 88-year-old patriarch for more than a decade.
"We haven't all been together for a really long time," says Evans, who looks like classic Krystle in a draped black-and-white-striped chinchilla wrap over a periwinkle-blue gown designed by Dynasty wardrobe wizard Nolan Miller.
Wearing a camel-colored sweater jacket, Forsythe has been sneaked into the mansion by his protective daughter, Brooke, and wife of four years, Nicole, and brought to a guarded room posted with a sign: "Quiet Room. Shhhh." This only ups the anticipation and creates concern about what state the star is in.
"I haven't seen John since 1992, and I'd heard stories that maybe he wasn't too well," says Joan Collins, still sexy at 72. She is seated in the ballroom, dressed in an over-the-top style reminiscent of Blake's evil ex-wife, Alexis Morell Carrington Colby Dexter Rowan, in a $12,000 white/silver gown draped in white fox.
"We're all waiting for him. He really was like a father to me," says Pamela Sue Martin, 53, who left Dynasty and acting when she felt her "glib" character — Blake and Alexis' bratty daughter, Fallon — had been reduced to "a victim."
"I asked John to walk me down the aisle when I got married in real life, but he said, 'I think maybe you should ask your real dad,' " Martin says. "I was just so attached to him."
Says Al Corley, 49, seated in the library where his character, Steven, engaged in so many ugly fights with his father, Blake, "I had heard John sometimes felt good and sometimes didn't, so you don't know what to expect." Corley quit the show after less than two seasons when he objected to producers caving in to network pressure to straighten out his gay character. "Seeing John was really the only reason I wanted to do this."
Gordon Thomson, 61, the former bad-seed son Adam, whose gray temples now make him look like Forsythe in his Dynasty prime, descends the grand staircase from the upper floor, where he chose to meditate during his lunch break.
"I am a year younger than John was when he began doing Dynasty," says the smoky-voiced Thomson, who was "dreading" this reunion because of the low pay he had been offered. But he worked out a deal and now says: "It's been so great to see everyone thriving. It is the last time, probably, most of us are going to see John."
But Collins already is making plans for the next reunion. She says Forsythe has accepted her invitation to attend a Los Angeles performance of Legends, the play she is producing with her fifth husband, 40-year-old stage manager Percy Gibson. (Cracks Thomson: "What better mate for Joan than a stage manager?")
The play, which opens in Toronto in September, reunites Collins and Evans (in her first play) as actresses who loathe each other. Though both have different demeanors, Collins and Evans share laughs between takes as they sip sparkling apple juice from champagne flutes. Dressed in snakeskin boots, Collins adjusts her wig in a mirror and asks, "Is my bra showing?" and "Can I ask someone to check if I have lipstick on my teeth?"
"I'll tell you, Joan," Evans assures.
Before they begin, Collins issues a stern warning: "Can I ask everyone behind the camera to be absolutely still?" Later, she scolds, "Even if someone puts their hand in their pocket, it distracts me."
As the women recall their characters' catfights — with pillows, mud and sequins — the Carrington children begin to emerge from hair and makeup. Missing from the reunion are Heather Locklear (Sammy Jo), John James (Jeff) and Diahann Carroll (Dominique), who were invited but declined.
In the ballroom, Martin is greeting her TV siblings. "You guys look exactly the same," she says. "It's like we're all in formaldehyde."
The last Carrington child to arrive is Catherine Oxenberg, 44, whose two-season run as Amanda was defined by the infamous 1985 Moldavian massacre cliffhanger, when the whole cast flew to another country for her wedding only to be gunned down by revolutionaries.
"We were all afraid it was going to be the end of the show because it was so over the top, but I think it's the show's best moment," she says.
Oxenberg says she owes a lot to Forsythe for offering personal guidance during a difficult time. "I was battling bulimia, and he had tried to do this little intervention on me," says the actress, who sought therapy after leaving the series when producers balked at raising her $7,500-a-week salary by $2,000. "John was very delicate, but I looked at him like any addict in denial. It broke my heart that I was never in a place to thank him."
It is early afternoon, and cast members — still minus Forsythe — have gathered around a table to reminisce, but they're finding it hard to fake spontaneous greetings after a get-together the night before at San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel.
"So we're supposed to pretend like we didn't have that cocktail party last night?" Martin asks.
"Or even lunch today?" Evans adds.
But before long, they are all gossiping about their differing salaries and why each left the series.
When Collins, who remained with Dynasty throughout its run, announces that she quit as well, her castmates look at her dumbfounded. "Well, I wasn't going to come back," she explains, "so they canceled the show."
While the cast continues reminiscing, Miller helps Forsythe into his tuxedo as producer Henry Winkler assists Forsythe with his lines. There has been a great effort to shield him from media camera crews. But the concern is unwarranted. Finally revealing himself to the cast, Forsythe appears, as Oxenberg notes, "a little more slouched" but with "the same quick wit and sparkle in his eye." And the cast's greeting of Forsythe is authentic, as everyone leaps from their seats to embrace him.
Greeting his grown "children," Forsythe playfully asks Collins, "Can we make more of them?" The one-liner puts everyone at ease.
"John looks great — witty, charming and fun as he always was," says an uncharacteristically emotional Collins. "I have to say I got a bit of a lump in my throat."
Adds Thomson: "He has good days and bad days, and this was a good day. It's sad to see the simple process of aging, but he did extraordinarily well."
Forsythe says he'll cherish the experience. "Chatting and sharing stories with the old Carrington clan was heartwarming," he says. "I miss them all so much." And poking fun at his age, he describes 88 as "great ... much better than 87!"
As the sun starts to set over Filoli, Martin alerts Forsythe that his champagne is, in fact, juice, prompting him to wince.
Still, he plays along as the Carringtons raise their glasses, saluting in unison: "Twenty-five years of Dynasty."
"I'll drink to that," Forsythe says, clinking glasses with Evans and Martin. Then, after the cameras stop rolling, he adds, "I'll drink to anything." But ever the black sheep Carrington, Collins feels left out. "Hey," she pouts, "no one clinked with me."
New CD Releases For Tuesday April 25th, 2006
Natacha Atlas Mish Maoul (Mantra)
Bob Belden Three Days of Rain (Sunnyside)
Tab Benoit Brother to the Blues (w/Jim Lauderdale, Billy Joe Shaver and Louisiana LeRoux) (Telarc)
Richard Bona Tiki (Decca)
The Coup Pick a Bigger Weapon (w/Talib Kweli, Black Thought, dead prez, Tom Morello and Jello Biafra) (Epitaph)
Drive-By Truckers A Blessing and a Curse (New West)
Elf Power Back to the Web (Rykodisc)
Filastine Burn It (Soot)
Misha Michel Fitzgerald Encounter (Sunnyside)
Godsmack Four (Universal)
Gonzales Solo Piano (Sunnyside)
Groove Collective People People Music Music (Savoy)
Jeff Healy and the Jazz Wizards It's Tight Like That (Stony Plain)
Danielle Howle Thank You, Mark (guest Darius Rucker of Hootie and the Blowfish) (Valley Entertainment)
JazzReach Subway Songs (Sunnyside)
Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris All the Roadrunning (Nonesuch/Warner Bros.)
Lil' Boosie Bad Azz (Asylum/Trill/Atlantic)
Metric Grow Up & Blow Away (Restless)
Christina Milian So Amazin' (Def Jam)
Mr. Anonymous (ex-Samples drummer Jeep MacNichol) Mr. Anonymous (w/Sly and Robbie, Bounty Killer, members of Black Uhuru, the English Beat and more) (KAB America)
The Rakes Capture/Release (V2)
Bobby Sharp The Fantasy Sessions (Poignant)
Shooting at Unarmed Men Yes Tinnitus (Too Pure)
Skerik's Syncopated Taint Septet Husky (Hyena)
Bruce Springsteen We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (Sony BMG)
Stereo Fuse All That Remains (produced by Mark Slaughter) (Toucan Cove)
The Streets The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living (Atlantic)
The Terms Small Town Computer Crash (Maple Jam/Icon Music)
Time Again The Stories Are True (Epitaph)
Nestor Torres Dances, Prayers and Meditations for Peace (Heads Up)
Tom Verlaine (ex-Television) Around and Songs and Other Things (w/members of Television) (Thrill Jockey)
The Waybacks From the Pasture to the Future (Compass)
VA Bay Area Funk 2 (Luv N' Haight/Ubiquity)
VA Healing the Divide (Epitaph)
VA La Perla: Noir (Milan)
DVD Refused Are Fucking Dead (documentary w/exclusive live footage) (Epitaph)
ABC Gives Fans a "Lost Experience"
You can be a winner at the game of Lost.
ABC has devised a way to keep fans of its hit show confused, guessing and on the edge of their seats during the lazy days of summer reruns. The network announced Monday the creation of an interactive multiplatform treasure hunt game called Lost Experience that will introduce a new story line but stay true to Lost's signature mix of supernatural and psychological mystery.
The Lost Experience will require players to trade e-mail messages and phone calls and check out billboards, TV commercials and websites to gather all the necessary clues.
The game's premise will be rooted in Lost history but ABC said that you don't need to have watched the show to get in on the game, which will feature new characters and delve deeper into the manipulative Hanso Foundation that was introduced in season two as the benefactor of the button-pushing Dharma Initiative. (Well, watching a few episodes beforehand couldn't hurt...)
There is no grand prize for those who manage to piece the puzzle together, but ABC promises that those who play will end up learning some of the island's better-kept secrets.
In a savvy stroke of synergy, the game's first clue, in the form of a toll-free number that you must call, will air during a May 3 Lost episode. The first clues for Others in the U.K. and Australia are being released May 2 and May 6, respectively.
One of the most exciting parts of the Lost Experience will be the interaction it fosters among people all over the world, according to Michael Benson, a senior VP at ABC. He said that Lost's writers, not ABC marketers, were responsible for plotting the game's course and that 19 other broadcasters in various areas of the globe would air the series of clues in different ways. ABC would like to see fans reaching out to each other to stay up to date on the latest Lost Experience info.
"We wanted to tell stories in a nontraditional way," Lost writer and executive producer Carlton Cuse told the New York Times, "and there were certain stories that Damon [Lindeloff] and I were interested in telling that don't exactly fit into the television show."
Luckily the worry that something might not fight hasn't stopped them from adding a host of complicated back stories, symbolism and numerical puzzles to the show for fans to writhe in exhilarated anticipation over.
"We purposely design the show with a big amount of ambiguity so people can theorize about what a certain scene means," Cuse said. "This allows the fans to participate in the process of discovery."
Cuse also offered viewers a tip for starting the Lost Experience off on the right foot:
"Watch the May 3 episode very carefully. You can TiVo it, but don't skip the commercials.
"You have to give the audience something to connect to," Benson told the New York Times. "I want to prove to the audience that this is something they will enjoy, that is organic to the show. I don't want the audience to feel like 'they are just selling to me or marketing to me.'"
This is not the first time that Lost has sent its faithful to other media platforms in search of answers. To up the eerie factor, the show's team created a website for Oceanic Airlines, whose doomed Flight 815 made our castaways Lost in the first place.
"What we discovered was that by creating additional content for this show, we could creative a marketing tool that would have fans more invested in the program, and if it was cool they'd share with their friends," Benson said.
ABC also announced earlier this month that it is making new episodes of Lost, Desperate Housewives, Alias and Commander in Chief, available in May for free online viewing, although fans will have to sit through ads that they can avoid if they download commercial-free shows for $1.99 per episode from Apple's iTunes Music Store.
Lost, which has averaged 15.4 million viewers this season and is one of iTune's most popular TV downloads to date, will leave viewers staring into the dark hatch of summer hiatus with a two-hour season finale May 24.
Comedies Dominate MTV Awards
NEW YORK - Comedies, frequently snubbed by award shows, will be front and center at this year's MTV Movie Awards.
"The 40-Year Old Virgin" and "Wedding Crashers" lead with five nominations each, MTV announced Monday. Both films will compete for best movie along with "Batman Begins," "King Kong" and "Sin City."
"Virgin" star Steve Carell is up for three awards, including best performance, best comedic performance and best on-screen team with Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen and Romany Malco.
Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn will also vie for best on-screen team for "Wedding Crashers." Both actors received nominations for best comedic performance.
Nominees for best kiss include Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger for "Brokeback Mountain" and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie for "Mr. & Mrs. Smith."
"Crash," the Academy Awards best-picture winner, didn't receive a nomination.
One of the more unlikely groups of nominees is for sexiest performance, a newly added category. Rob Schneider, star of "Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo," competes with Beyonce Knowles, Jessica Alba, Jessica Simpson and Ziyi Zhang.
MTV has also added a category for best hero and will present an mtvU Student Filmmaker Award. For the first time, acting awards won't be divided by gender, and instead will be grouped under best performance.
A host and performers will be announced later.
The 2006 MTV Movie Awards will take place June 3 at Sony Picture Studios in Culver City, Calif. The show will air June 8 on MTV (9 p.m. EDT).