The Couch Potato Report - May 30th, 2006
This week The Couch Potato Report shines the spotlight on a small new Canadian film and a 29-year-old American one.
Have you ever found a film interesting that you couldn't recommend?
The Canadian film WHOLE NEW THING fits that bill for me.
This made-in-Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia movie is about a thirteen year old boy who is enrolled in high school after years of being home schooled by his pseudo-hippie parents.
The boy is clever, intelligent and since he was raised in a household of casual nudity and openness about sex he is also androgynous.
We all know that kids can be cruel and the boy’s transition from home to school doesn’t go smoothly.
He does manage to get along well with the teachers, especially his English teacher.
However, this man has his own problems, including an ailing Mother.
The teacher's problems increase once he realizes that the boy has developed a crush on him.
As I mentioned, I found WHOLE NEW THING interesting, and the Canadian cast featuring Rebecca Jenkins, Robert Joy, Daniel MacIvor, Callum Keith Rennie, and Aaron Webber as the boy are all superb, but I just didn’t think the film was very good.
If you like small, interesting Canadian films, then I think you should see it. Otherwise don't bother as the film isn't very good.
The pace is slow, some of the secondary stories - especially the affair the boy's Mother has - just seem added on because the filmmakers wanted to make the movie longer.
However, for some reason, maybe because it is a Canadian film, I found it interesting enough to watch right until the end.
I am glad I saw WHOLE NEW THING, as I really like small, interesting Canadian films, but I won’t ever need to see it again. Once was enough.
Yes, I like small, interesting Canadian films. I also like big huge American box office hits from the 1970s.
Films like SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT.
Burt Reynolds stars in this film as “The Bandit”, a man who is hired to deliver a tractor trailer full of beer.
Along the way he is pursued by a relentless sheriff. Jackie Gleason plays Sheriff Buford T. Justice.
Sally Field is Reynold’s love interest and Jerry Reed is The Bandit’s truck driving buddy.
I have seen this film almost every year since it originally came out and one of the reasons that I am continually entertained by it is the fact that it doesn't pretend to be anything more than it is.
It is just ninety minutes of pure cinematic fun.
And now the new SPECIAL EDITION DVD for SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT features a remastered version of the film, a new “Making `Smokey And The Bandit'” feature and a CB Radio Tutorial.
I always wondered if they thought they were making Shakespeare when they were filming, or if they were having as much fun as the audience did watching it, and this new DVD gave me the answer.
SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT was fun 29 years ago when it first came out, and it is fun now.
Wow, has it really been 29 years?!?!
Oh well, either way the SPECIAL EDITION of SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT and the interesting Canadian film WHOLE NEW THING are both available now on DVD.
Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report
In the 4 disc set for ALF - SEASON THREE the former Gordon Shumway, refugee of the long-gone planet Melmac, continues to wreak hilarious havoc upon his adoptive Earth family the Tanners.
And the JOHN WAYNE - AN AMERICAN ICON COLLECTION is a two-disc set that features five of The Duke’s films.
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!
Nostalgic Sesame Street DVD set coming in October
For the first time ever, Sesame Workshop is planning to release Classic Sesame Street on DVD. Sesame Workshop has not yet announced if the set will contain complete episodes or skit compilations.
In September, Sesame Workshop stated that they were considering the possibility of releasing "classic" Sesame Street material on DVD, but not to expect anything anytime soon. This is due to the necessary development time, many legalities and several other organizational issues that would need to be addressed first.
There is now light at the end of the tunnel. Recently we received the following response from Sesame Workshop on the issue:
We are planning to release a "Sesame Street Nostalgia Box Set", however this is something that will not happen until October '06.
In the meantime, we released a boxed set of The Electric Company in February '06, and there are plans for a second volume of The Electric Company as well.
So, now it is official. The first DVD box set of "classic" Sesame Street material should be released (if all goes as planned) in October 2006.
There are no further details on the set available at this time, but we'll be sure to keep you all updated as more information is revealed on this exciting upcoming release.
Police Squad! - Frank Drebin's Almost Ready To Roll, And We've Got The Street Date!
The day after Christmas this past year we broke the news that Paramount Home Entertainment had officially revealed to us that Police Squad! was on its way to DVD in 2006. The short-run series starring Leslie Nielsen only lasted 6 episodes, but was important in that it led up to the release of all three Naked Gun films, which were a big-screen extension of the show's premise. Now, on Memorial Day, we've got the street date for this long-awaited, highly anticipated release!
How long before Police Squad! - The Complete Series DVDs hit store shelves?
Well, the studio hasn't made a formal announcement yet, but word among our industry sources is that this is planned to hit the streets on November 7th!
Remember to count this as a "rumor" until the formal date is announced by the studio, because until then it's always subject to change. We don't know about costs or extras or anything else yet, though. Just that date, and to expect all 6 episodes that include guest stars such as Lorne Greene, Kathryn Leigh Scott, Tommy Lasorda, K. Callan, Robert Goulet, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Spencer Milligan, William Shatner, John Ashton, Florence Henderson, Dick Miller, William Conrad, and Dick Clark.
Stay tuned, and we'll have more for you about this just as soon as we can!
'X-Men' scores record holiday opening
LOS ANGELES - The superhero epic "X-Men: The Last Stand" proved magnetic over the Memorial Day weekend, taking in $120.1 million, the biggest opening ever for the holiday weekend.
Preliminary estimates also gave the latest installment of the comic book franchise the fourth best three-day opening ever and the best single Friday in movie history with a gross of $45.5 million.
The film's box office was the second-biggest one-day gross ever after last year's "Star Wars: Episode III."
The movie exceeded expectations, including those of 20th Century Fox, which released it.
"Wow," said Bruce Snyder, head of distribution at 20th Century Fox. "It blew my expectations away. It's rarefied air."
The film was embraced by audiences despite mixed reviews and fears about what would happen to the franchise when director Brett Ratner, best known for the buddy-comedy "Rush Hour" movies, took over the from Bryan Singer, who is directing this year's "Superman Returns."
The movie's climactic tale of a drug company developing a "cure" the mutants appealed across the board.
"There was something for everybody to relate to," Snyder said. "That's what makes 'X-Men' crackle as it does. Everyone has these feelings of being a little bit different."
While moviegoers flocked to see the exploits of mutants such as Storm ( Halle Berry), Wolverine ( Hugh Jackman) and Mystique (Rebecca Romijn), they also came out to support the two other big summer films, the religious thriller "The Da Vinci Code" and the animated family film "Over the Hedge."
"Da Vinci," starring Tom Hanks, was the second-highest grossing film of the four-day weekend with $43 million, down 56 percent from last week's impressive opening weekend.
The DreamWorks Animation film "Over the Hedge" took in $35.3 million, down 30 percent from last weekend.
This year's box office revenue for the top 12 films is running about 6 percent of last year and with potential blockbusters on the horizon, such as the Pixar Animation film "Cars" and "Superman Returns," the industry is poised for a spectacular summer.
"I think this puts to bed the notion that people don't want to go to movies anymore," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
"The combination of 'Da Vinci Code' and 'X-Men' proves that people really love to go to the movies, especially in the summer."
Last year saw a slump in box office revenue and fears were kindled this year when the first two big films of the summer, "Mission:Impossible III" and "Poseidon" opened lower than expected.
The Al Gore documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" also made an impressive debut over the weekend.
Playing on only four screens in New York and Los Angeles, the film from Paramount Vantage, about the dangers of global warming, took in an estimated $365,787 from Friday to Monday — a per screen average of $91,447.
"Not only are superheros big right now, but global warming as a topic is really hot as well," Dergarabedian said.
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Monday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations. Final figures will be released Tuesday.
1. "X-Men: The Last Stand," $120.1 million.
2. "The Da Vinci Code," 43 million.
3. "Over the Hedge," $35.3 million
4. "Mission: Impossible III," $8.6 million.
5. "Poseidon," $7 million.
6. "RV," $5.3 million
7. "See No Evil," $3.2 million
8. "Just My Luck," $2.3 million.
9. "United 93," $1.1 million.
10. "An American Haunting," $936,680.