Twin Peaks On DVD - Will You Wait?
We've got a bit of an update for you today on CBS/Paramount's plans for David Lynch's Twin Peaks TV series on DVD in 2007.
As most of you should know by now, the long-awaited Twin Peaks: The Second Season is already set to hit DVD on 4/10.
Our sources are telling us that this release is designed for those who may already have Season One (released back in 2001 by Artisan/Republic) and the unaired pilot episode (released on DVD in Japan and available only as an import) on disc.
However, for those of you who are patient and want it all in one shot... we're told to expect CBS/Paramount to announce a Twin Peaks: The Complete Series box set for release later in 2007 that contains both seasons AND the pilot episode, PLUS lots of newly-produced extras.
Watch for details on the box set to be announced in the next few months.
'King of the Hill' returns
NEW YORK (AP) - "I'll have a normal orange juice, please," says Hank Hill. "And make it normal."
He wishes! Hank, plaintive hero of Fox's comedy "King of the Hill," is joining someone at a dang ol' prissy juice bar. Not by his choice. This is not Hank's kind of place. Nor are these his kind of times.
Never were. After a decade on the air, "King of the Hill" (starting its new season 8:30 p.m. EST Sunday) finds Hank pretty much where he was in January 1997: a Texas good ol' boy in a world bent on serving up things that, in his mind, just aren't normal. Hank's a regular guy in a world that's always redefining "regular."
Hank doesn't smile much. He's sad-eyed, with fretful little furrows etched into his brow.
Even so, he loves his job as a propane salesman and also "loves barbecue, pickup trucks, edging the lawn, both kinds of music (country and western), and lamenting how a lack of common sense and a crush of meddling bureaucrats in today's society make life all that much harder for the working man."
At least, that's how I described him 10 years ago, when reviewing the premiere of this animated yet staunchly uncartoonish sitcom.
I could've added that Hank's a churchgoer and a family man (sturdy wife Peggy; slothful 13-year-old son Bobby; coquettish niece Luanne, 18) who, with his high school football days long gone, plays a new team sport - posting himself with buddies Dale, Bill and Boomhauer out by the street, standing side by side, saying little, beers in hand.
Hank was a remarkable invention 10 years ago. The fact that "King of the Hill" carries on to this day, still funny and savvy, is even more notable.
Sunday's episode focuses on Peggy. She is feeling unfeminine (her size-16 feet and all the great shoes that don't fit them are to blame).
"YOU think I'm feminine, doncha, Hank?" she presses.
"Sure y'ar," says Hank, who, unequipped with a silver tongue, elaborates: "You're a wife, and a mother."
But then Peggy makes a new gal-pal, Carolyn, someone with whom she can comfortably share female concerns - and female tips.
Accounting for her square-rimmed eyeglasses, Peggy tells Carolyn they "hide thin brows, frown lines and wrinkles. People do not say it, but they make me look 10 years younger."
In short, opening up to Carolyn is just what she needed.
But there's a problem. Turns out Carolyn is a drag queen who, while shopping for plus-size ladies' shoes, mistook Peggy for a fellow drag queen.
If it sounds sitcommy, it isn't. "King of the Hill" is as understated as Hank's laconic manner. Its stories rely not on gimmicks, but on shrewdly observed details.
Distraught at having been taken for a man, Peggy orders Hank not to answer the phone when Carolyn calls. But he's obliged to object: "Well, Peggy, that's just like telling a lie."
"Fine," she snaps. "Then, I'm not at home."
"Well," persists Hank, "that's ALSO a lie."
It's a revealing exchange. Not for the first time, Hank has argued for following the rules, however much society prefers to rewrite them. The world may be shifting under his feet, but Hank is taking a stand on his tiny piece of turf.
He's not a raging, Archie Bunker-like nostalgist singing "Those Were the Days." Hank doesn't yearn for the past. He stays busy clinging to a tenuous now: when "orange juice," under normal circumstances, can still mean simply orange juice, without "nutrient boosters"; when being a wife and mother can still certify a woman's femininity.
In his 11th season, Hank more than ever is a man on the spot, torn between squabbling, widening extremes. With his muted battle cry "Hold on a minute here," he's a man caught in the middle between the people in charge. He's the man politicians always glorify in campaign speeches, but conveniently forget once they win. The ordinary guy, just trying to get by.
Nonetheless, dang it, Hank is getting by OK.
And so is "King of the Hill."
Co-created by "Beavis & Butt-head" mastermind Mike Judge (who also furnishes Hank's voice) the show premiered with dim prospects. Only two prime-time animated series before it had been hits: "The Simpsons" (then already seven years old) and "The Flintstones" (which premiered way back in 1960).
What were the odds for this newcomer succeeding? Not only was it a cartoon, but its setting and style were even more reined-in than the typical live-action sitcom.
And what of Hank and the other denizens of quiet, if quirky, Arlen? These characters weren't tailored for the viewer to relate to, exactly. Nor were they engineered as joke machines. Instead, they came across as comfortably familiar - acting like real folks just might act.
As Hank is fond of saying, "I'll tell you what." Against the odds, that's what his show continues to do.
Chipmunks Movie Has A Director
Fans of songs so high-pitched that only dogs can properly appreciate them are in for a treat. The long-mooted Alvin and the Chipmunks movie has a director, in the shape of kids movie veteran Tim Hill.
The story, for those three of you not familiar with the series, follows a trio of chipmunks who form their own musical group, managed by their human adoptive father, Dave. The three chipmunks are Alvin, the troublemaker and star of the group; Simon, the tall, bespecled intellectual, and Theodore, the nice but dim baby of the group.
Originally created in the 1950s for novelty records and then a cartoon series, most people today probably remember the 1980s adventures of the three lovable scamps. Oh, and those helium vocals, actually created by speeding up the voice of their creator, Ross Bagdasarian Sr.
The film will be a CG-live action hybrid, like Hill's last effort, Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties. But don't hold that against him - he was also the head writer on the much better Spongebob Squarepants: The Movie, and directed Muppets From Space, which wasn't bad. The script for this effort comes from Jon Vitti, a longterm Simpsons writing veteran (he's one of the screenwriters on the movie) and King of the Hill. So while it still has the potential to be really annoying and utterly eardrum bursting, let's keep our fingers crossed and our voices high as this one moves forward.
Report: Police Rehearsing For Tour In Vancouver
The Police will rehearse for their upcoming reunion tour at Lions Gate Studios in Vancouver, according to reports today (Jan. 25) by the city's classic rock radio station, CFMI. Details of the summer trek, the band's first in more than two decades, will be announced next month.
In addition, the Police are strongly rumored to be performing as part of the opening segment of the Grammy telecast on Feb. 11 from Los Angeles' Staples Center. At deadline, a Grammy spokesperson had no information on a possible appearance by the group.
Before the Police get busy, Sting has a three-week European tour on tap in support of his lute album, "Songs From the Labryinth." The outing, which finds the artist accompanied by lutenist Edin Karamazov, begins Feb. 18 in Paris and wraps March 12 in Stuttgart, Germany.
On Feb. 20, Deutsche Grammophon will release a CD/DVD companion piece to "Labryinth," dubbed "The Journey And The Labyrinth: The Music Of John Dowland." The project will include a DVD chronicling Sting's fascination with 16th century musician John Dowland and a concert at St. Luke's Church in London.
The audio from that show, which features the Police's "Message in a Bottle" and Robert Johnson's "Hell Hound," is represented on the CD.
Hargitay & Meloni's $VU
Forget coffee and donuts—with the amount of cash Detectives Benson and Stabler are about to rake in, they may want to consider upgrading to lattes and croissants.
After weeks of negotiations and insinuations that the franchise could fare just as well without its star castmembers, NBC has confirmed that Law & Order: Special Victims Unit actors Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni have extended their contracts for two more years.
Which means the fictional perps of sexually based offenses will be hunted down through at least 2009.
While neither NBC nor franchise mastermind Dick Wolf disclosed the financial terms of the renewed deal, the trades are reporting that Hargitay and Meloni will take home annual salaries of more than $6.5 million.
The hefty payday, which amounts to roughly $300,000 to $340,000 per episode each.
If the reports are accurate, the pay bump puts Hargitay on par with The Closer star Kyra Sedgwick, who, after signing a contract for a reported $300,000 per episode last week, had been pegged as one of, if not the, top compensated female stars on TV.
While he refused to talk specifics of the deal, Wolf did comment on the return of his leads.
"I'm thrilled that Chris and Mariska have decided to stay with a show that they've made an indelible stamp upon, as we move into our ninth season," he said in a statement.
The contracts were apparently finalized this week, though they had been in the works for some time and apparently were close enough to a done deal for for the network to announce last week during the Television Critics Association conference that Law & Order: SVU would be returning in the fall.
Hargitay, who's taken home both a Golden Globe and an Emmy for her role as Detective Olivia Benson, and Meloni, who this year received an Emmy nomination for his role as Detective Elliot Stabler, have been with the series since its debut in 1999 and are considered more crucial to the show's success than players in other branches of the franchise.
Law & Order: SVU, the highest rated of all the Wolf procedurals, will not only welcome back its two stars this fall but will add another to its roster.
Flags of Our Fathers actor Adam Beach has signed on as a regular castmember, reprising his guest-starring role as Brooklyn-based Detective Chester Lake.
Movie Theaters To Sell Naming Rights
Borrowing a page from sports arenas and stadiums, movie theaters may be next to sell naming rights to advertisers.
Canada's Cineplex Entertainment, the country's largest exhibitor, announced Wednesday that it had sold naming rights to five theaters in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver to Scotiabank.
As part of the deal, movie patrons who use a specially branded Scotiabank debit card to make purchases at the theater will be able to earn free movie tickets and combos at concession stands.
Crowded House confirms reunion for world tour
MELBOURNE, Australia (Billboard) - Crowded House has confirmed media speculation that it will reunite for a 12-month world tour this year.
Although tour dates are yet to be finalized, the Neil Finn-led group will appear at April's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in southern California along with Bjork, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rage Against the Machine, among others.
A new album, "Time On Earth," will be released to coincide with the performances, according to a statement from their label, EMI Music Australia.
The line-up will include singer/guitarist Finn, bassist Nick Seymour, and touring keyboard player Mark Hart. Auditions have been held in Melbourne for a drummer, to replace Paul Hester, who committed suicide in 2005. These auditions will extend to Auckland and Los Angeles in coming weeks.
"It feels right to us that the band should re-emerge at this time," New Zealand-born Finn said in a statement. "We look forward to reconnecting with the audience that we established and for whom we still hold a deep respect.
"We aim to make the upcoming shows and the new music every bit as vital and spirited as what has come before."
Crowded House released four studio albums between 1985 and 1996, all of which topped the Australian and New Zealand charts. Its self-titled debut album reached No. 12 on the Billboard 200 on the back of smash single "Don't Dream It's Over," which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The follow up album "Temple Of Low Men" from 1988 peaked at No. 40 in the United States.
The group built a huge following in the United Kingdom, where the 1993 album "Woodface" -- featuring Finn's older brother, Tim -- reached No. 6, and hits set "Recurring Dream" hit No. 1 in 1996.
A newly released DVD, "Farewell To The World," documenting their 1996 farewell show on the steps of Sydney Opera House before 120,000 fans, topped the Australian Recording Industry Assn.'s DVD chart and is certified 4-times platinum (60,000 units).
Kidman in crash during LA movie shoot
LOS ANGELES - Nicole Kidman was taken to a hospital after the Jaguar she was in crashed early Thursday during downtown shooting of the science fiction thriller "The Invasion," police said.
Kidman, 39, was examined at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and then released a short time later. Paramedics were called to examine Kidman for injuries before she was taken to the hospital, police said.
"Nicole Kidman was in the vehicle at the time of the accident and was taken to the hospital for evaluation. She was released shortly thereafter," Warner Bros. said in a statement.
No other actors were involved in the scene at the time of the accident, the studio said.
The Jaguar was being towed by a camera rig that skidded while taking a corner and caused Kidman's car to hit a pole on West Sixth Street, police said. The actress was wearing a seat belt.
"The stunt driver apparently went off course and hit a light post at about 1 a.m.," police Officer Karen Smith said.
Eight people, including Kidman, stuntmen and cameramen, were taken to hospitals for examination and were released, Smith said. Warner Bros. said two crew members had minor injuries.
Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc., also said production continued after the crash and Kidman was expected back on the set Thursday.
The Oscar-winning actress, who stars as a Washington psychiatrist who unearths the origin of an alien epidemic, was involved in a scene involving an escape from zombielike characters who are on the hood of the car.
The stakes are high in Casino Royale
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is currently preparing the release of the latest James Bond movie, Casino Royale for release on DVD, Blu-Ray Disc and for the PSP in March.
“Casino Royale” introduces James Bond before he holds his license to kill. But Bond is no less dangerous, and with two professional assassinations in quick succession, he is elevated to "00" status. "M" (Judi Dench), head of the British Secret Service, sends the newly-promoted 007 on his first mission that takes him to Madagascar, the Bahamas and eventually leads him to Montenegro to face Le Chiffre, a ruthless financier under threat from his terrorist clientele, who is attempting to restore his funds in a high-stakes poker game at the Casino Royale.
"M" places Bond under the watchful eye of the Treasury official Vesper Lynd. At first skeptical of what value Vesper can provide, Bond's interest in her deepens as they brave danger together. Le Chiffre's cunning and cruelty come to bear on them both in a way Bond could never imagine, and he learns his most important lesson: Trust no one.
The 2-disc DVD set will offer up the film in an anamorphic widescreen transfer with over 90 minutes of extras such as the Documentaries “Becoming Bond” and ”James Bond: For Real.” Also included is a new Featurette called “Bond Girls Are Forever” as well as the Chris Cornell Music Video.
The Blu-Ray Disc version of the film will feature a 1080p transfer of the movie, including the same bonus materials, while the UMD version for PSP will contain only the feature film without any extras.
“Casino Royale” will come to stores on March 13 and carry a $28.96 price tag for the DVD and UMD versions and a $38.96 price tag for the Blu-Ray version.
PITY PARTY
Now it's time for the Oscar for best achievement in (kiss and) makeup. The world's most stupendous and celebritastic event - you know, the one that draws about the same ratings as the losers-and-freaks episode of "American Idol" - is shaping up as a great big pity party for longtime snubbees Martin Scorsese, Helen Mirren and Peter O'Toole. Collectively, they are zero for 14 at previous ceremonies. But after yesterday's nominations emerged, all were hoping to turn guilt into gilt at the Feb. 25 Academy Awards.
Oscar is always playing catch-up by backing not the swiftest ponies, but the ones at the door to the glue factory. Al Pacino got his makeup Oscar for "Scent of a Woman" because they owed him one for "The Godfather Part II" - which he didn't win because Oscar was bestowing belated (and undeserved) honors on Art Carney for "Harry and Tonto."
Henry Fonda got his Oscar on his deathbed for "On Golden Pond," and John Wayne got his for "True Grit" because for the first time he looked mortal.
Meanwhile, the immortal performances of Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight in "Midnight Cowboy" were overlooked.
Mirren - described by one bookmaker as a 1-to-12 crap bet, the single biggest favorite in the history of the Academy Awards has spent more time waiting to be crowned than Prince Charles. She's a cinch to win for her QE II turn in "The Queen," a surprise hit that picked up six nominations, including nods for Best Picture, Director and Screenplay.
The film is a serious contender for Best Picture, along with "Babel," which received seven nominations and is a favorite of the huge actors' branch of voters, and "The Departed," which earned a disappointing five nominations, including only one acting nomination, for Mark Wahlberg as Best Supporting Actor.
Mirren has been nominated twice before - for "The Madness of King George" and "Gosford Park" - but the industry is slavering to reward her this time.
Scorsese, who has five previous nominations but no wins, "should have won twice - for 'Raging Bull' and 'GoodFellas,'" says a longtime voter. This year, he's the favorite for Best Director for "The Departed," though again he's up against Clint Eastwood for the little-seen Japanese-language WWII movie "Letters from Iwo Jima," which has no chance for Best Picture.
Scorsese isn't well liked in Hollywood; working in New York alienates him from the mass of voters.
"He's not a local," says a West Coast voter. "There's this admiration for him as a terrific director, but we don't ever run into him. Aloof would be the polite term. He's like Woody Allen. Let's face it, he's a strange man. We all respect him, but Hitchcock was nominated five times and didn't win. Do Marty's films stack up against Hitchcock's? I think people would be happy if he won because then he could quit campaigning. And who else would you give it to? Marty's the default winner."
(Also up for Best Director are Stephen Frears for "The Queen," Alejandro Gonz lez Iñ rritu for "Babel"and Paul Greengrass for "United 93.")
Like Mirren, O'Toole is gifted, British and winless. He's up for an eighth, and likely final, nomination for "Venus," which will set a record for Oscar futility if he loses to the favorite, Forest Whitaker for "The Last King of Scotland."
His first big role, in "Lawrence of Arabia," got steamrolled by Gregory Peck's equally legendary performance in "To Kill a Mockingbird." O'Toole easily could have won in 1968 for "The Lion in Winter," but the Oscar went to journeyman Cliff Robertson for playing a mentally retarded man in "Charly."
Now O'Toole is tied with his old drinking buddy Richard Burton (both were nominated for "Becket" but lost to Rex Harrison for "My Fair Lady") for the futility record - seven nominations, no wins. Three years ago, O'Toole won the honorary Oscar - which he initially declined, saying he hoped to "win the lovely bugger outright" - but both Fonda and Paul Newman won the career award the year before they won Best Actor.
But like Scorsese, O'Toole doesn't work the scene, while Whitaker has been shaking every hand in the 310 area code. "If you have somebody like O'Toole up against you, it's gotta make you nervous," says a voter. "But I'd have to say Whitaker is going to win because he seems like such a nice guy. O'Toole hasn't let anyone know he wants to win. You gotta look like you want it. O'Toole, I worked with him on two films. He was a thorny, thorny man."
"Babel," "The Queen" and "The Departed" were seen as almost evenly matched in the race to win Best Picture. The underdog nominee is "Little Miss Sunshine," a hilarious kitchen-sink indie.
"Babel" nearly ran the table, getting Best Supporting Actress nominations for both Rinko Kikuchi and Adriana Barazza, two blazingly obscure performers. But the film's only star, Brad Pitt, didn't get a Best Supporting Actor nomination. Nevertheless, he could still win an Oscar - he's a producer of "The Departed."
Also snubbed was "The Departed"'s cackling anti-conscience, Jack Nicholson. "Nicholson sucked," says an East Coast voter. "Wahlberg was brilliant. Plus, they like to discover new people."
Meanwhile, "Babel" is both depressing and a financial flop; "The Queen," while enjoyable, is basically BBC TV.
Does that lay the ground for the biggest underdog in Oscar history - a movie that didn't get a Best Director nod or a single nomination in any crafts category?
"The only film I've heard people say they love," says a voter who has been talking to many peers, "is 'Little Miss Sunshine.'"
MARTIN SCORSESE - ODDS TO WIN: 4:9
nominated 6 times
Best Director
1981 "Raging Bull"
1989 "The Last Temptation of Christ"
1991 "GoodFellas"
2003 "Gangs of New York"
2005 "The Aviator"
2007 "The Departed"
HELEN MIRREN - ODD TO WIN: 1:12
nominated 3 times
Best Supporting Actress, 1995 "The Madness of King George"
Best Supporting Actress, 2002 "Gosford Park"
Best Actress, 2007 "The Queen"
PETER O'TOOLE -ODD TO WIN: 6:1
nominated 7 times
Best Actor, 1963 "Lawrence of Arabia"
Best Actor, 1965 "Becket"
Best Actor, 1969 "The Lion in Winter"
Best Actor, 1970 "Goodbye, Mr. Chips"
Best Actor, 1973 "The Ruling Class"
Best Actor, 1981 "The Stunt Man"
Best Actor, 1983 "My Favorite Year"
Best Actor, 2007 "Venus"
ALAN ARKIN - ODDS TO WIN: 8:1
nominated
Best Actor, 1966 "The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming"
Best Actor, 1968 "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter"
Best Supporting Actor, 2007 "Little Miss Sunshine"