ROBOCOP REVIEWS SELF
January 30, 2007 -- Here's how Peter Weller (succinctly) sums up several pieces of an eclectic résumé:
* "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension" (1984): "I don't understand it to this day."
* "RoboCop" (1987): "Brilliant movie."
* "RoboCop 2" (1990): "Top-heavy, without the morality. Happy to do [both films] and happy to leave them. Left them to do 'Naked Lunch' - fantastic."
* "Shoot the Moon" (1982): "A nonsympathetic look at American divorce, one of the best of the genre. Proud to be in it. And it may just be the best thing Diane Keaton ever did."
* "24" (2006): "The patriot who saw it another way. Did it as a favor for a friend [Manny Coto, one of the head writers], very grateful to have done it. It was great to be in that sort of cutting-edge television. . . . I didn't follow it before the show. They had to get me up to date - they sent me all the DVDs."
Bublé plans to give up Grammys for hockey game
Canadian crooner Michael Bublé is nominated for a Grammy Award for best traditional pop vocal album, but plans to stay home and watch the Vancouver Canucks play on the night of the awards ceremony.
The Vancouver artist, competing for the award with fellow Canadian Sarah McLachlan, said he's boycotting the Feb. 11 event in Los Angeles because his category will not be presented live on TV.
"Our category is selling way too many records to be given away at a dinner before, so I'm just not going to show up," Bublé said, lashing out at organizers for not giving his category the respect he says it deserves.
Most of the Grammys are awarded at an afternoon ceremony before the televised gala.
Bublé is nominated for Caught in the Act. He's competing against McLachlan's Wintersong, Bette Midler's Bette Midler Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook, Smokey Robinson's Timeless Love and Tony Bennett's Duets.
That's another thing that peeves the singer, who won four Junos in 2006.
Last year, in his first Grammy nomination, he lost out in the traditional pop album category to Bennett, one of his idols and a sentimental favourite for the American music industry.
"Why should I go to the Grammys?" he said. "'Cause I'll lose. No, I'll lose. They might as well have already scratched Tony Bennett's name into the damn thing. I'm not going."
It's a chore just to get recognized, he said.
Bublé said he feels "like a dirtbag" sometimes when he walks an awards show red carpet and fans don't recognize him, "just because I'm not in the tabloids."
All in all, he'd rather not miss the hockey game.
"I'm going to stay home and watch the (Vancouver) Canucks," said Bublé, who lives in Vancouver with his girlfriend, Golden Globe winner Emily Blunt.
Best-selling author Sidney Sheldon dies
LOS ANGELES - Sidney Sheldon, who won awards in three careers, Broadway theater, movies and television, then at age 50 turned to writing best-selling novels about stalwart women who triumph in a hostile world of ruthless men, has died. He was 89.
Sheldon died Tuesday afternoon of complications from pneumonia at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, said Warren Cowan, his publicist. His wife, Alexandra, and his daughter, author Mary Sheldon, were by his side.
"I've lost a longtime and dear friend," Cowan said. "In all my years in this business, I've never heard an unkind word said about him."
Sheldon's books, with titles such as "Rage of Angels," "The Other Side of Midnight," "Master of the Game" and "If Tomorrow Comes," provided his greatest fame. They were cleverly plotted, with a high degree of suspense and sensuality and a device to keep the reader turning pages.
"I try to write my books so the reader can't put them down," he explained in a 1982 interview. "I try to construct them so when the reader gets to the end of a chapter, he or she has to read just one more chapter. It's the technique of the old Saturday afternoon serial: leave the guy hanging on the edge of the cliff at the end of the chapter."
Analyzing why so many women bought his books, he commented: "I like to write about women who are talented and capable, but most important, retain their femininity. Women have tremendous power- their femininity, because men can't do without it."
Sheldon was obviously not aiming at highbrow critics, whose reviews of his books were generally disparaging. He remained undeterred, promoting the novels and himself with genial fervor. A big, cheerful man, he bragged about his work habits.
Unlike other novelists who toiled over typewriters or computers, he dictated 50 pages a day to a secretary or a tape machine. He corrected the pages the following day, continuing the routine until he had 1,200 to 1,500 pages.
"Then I do a complete rewrite- 12 to 15 times," he said. "I spend a whole year rewriting."
Several of his novels became television miniseries, often with the author as producer.
Henley says new Eagles album in the works: report
LOS ANGELES, Jan 30 (Reuters Life!) - Fans of Southern California's classic rock group the Eagles may soon be getting that peaceful, easy feeling all over again.
Don Henley, one of the group's founding members, said during a private weekend concert appearance he and his old bandmates were nearing completion of their first album of all-new music in nearly 30 years, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported on Tuesday.
"It's coming out in 60 to 90 days, if we don't kill each other first," Henley was quoted as telling his audience on Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Neither Henley's publicist nor his manager had any immediate comment on the report.
The group's last collection of all-new studio material was 1979's "The Long Run," which produced the Grammy-winning No. 1 hit single "Heartache Tonight."
The Eagles' 1976 greatest-hits collection, including such favorites as "Peaceful Easy Feeling," "Take It Easy" and "One of These Nights," became the biggest-selling U.S. album of all time, with sales of 29 million copies to date, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
The Eagles officially disbanded in 1982 and its members all went on to release solo recordings. In 1994, the group reunited for their first full-scale comeback tour with Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh, Timothy Schmit and Don Felder.
The band appeared together again, with past members Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner, when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.
Teri Polo set for third 'Fockers' film
LOS ANGELES - Teri Polo is set to reprise her role as Ben Stiller's wife in "Meet the Little Focker," the third installment of the movie franchise. "I think he cast me in the role because I play a great straight man," she said. "Actually, I think I'm funnier off-camera."
Polo worked with Robert DeNiro in the 2004 sequel, "Meet the Fockers," and in 2000 in the original "Meet the Parents."
"I literally glued myself to his side because I didn't know if I ever was going to get this opportunity again," she said of their collaboration. "I asked him what was more difficult — comedy or drama — and it surprised me when he said it's basically the same thing. It's all in the way you deliver the line."
Polo, a 37-year-old divorced mother of a young son, can next be seen playing a cynical divorce attorney who finds love with her legal opposition in "Love is a Four Letter Word," airing Saturday on the Hallmark Channel.
Love and marriage are recurring themes for Polo's projects this year. She plays one of three sisters running a wedding-planning business on the upcoming Fox series "The Wedding Bells," written by David E. Kelley.
'Grey's Anatomy' Cast Unsure of Washington's Future
Isaiah Washington's Grey's Anatomy cast mates are keeping their distance as the disgraced actor battles his demons in rehab.
The star was a no-show at Sunday's Screen Actors Guild Awards, where his cast mates claimed a Best TV Ensemble, after checking into a treatment centre to address issues that reared up after he twice referred to gay co-star TR Knight as a "f****t." And while co-star Chandra Wilson offered her support to him during her Best Actress acceptance speech, other cast mates weren't quite so warm towards Washington.
Katherine Heigl, who suggested the actor shouldn't be allowed to speak publicly after mentioning the 'f' word at a Golden Globe Awards backstage press conference earlier this month, was still chilly towards him. Of his SAG Awards absence, she said, "As far as we know, he's seeking treatment right now to help with some of his issues.
We don't know when he'll be back, or for how long." After publicly apologizing for his remarks, Washington checked into a residential treatment facility last week in a bid to keep his job on the medical drama, according to news reports in America.
New Releases, Jan. 30: Norah Jones, Katharine McPhee, Madonna
Norah Jones "Not Too Late"
The jazzy songbird returns with her third studio set. It follows 2004's quadruple-platinum-selling "Feels Like Home," a work that nabbed Jones a Grammy in the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance category (her eighth Grammy overall).
The singer, the daughter of sitar great Ravi Shankar, wrote or co-wrote all of the album's 13 tracks. The disc was produced by Jones' bassist and songwriting partner, Lee Alexander.
According to her publicist, Jones is the best-selling female artist of the 21st century, with more than 15 million in sales over the course of the decade, and 30 million worldwide.
* * *
Katharine McPhee "Katharine McPhee"
The runner-up to Taylor Hicks in last year's "American Idol" competition drops her self-titled debut album. The CD's first single, "Over It," hit radio earlier this month.
The Southern California native worked with a number of collaborators on this disc, including producer Nate 'Danja' Hills, a man nominated for two Grammys this year for his efforts on Justin Timberlake's "FutureSex/LoveSounds."
* * *
Madonna "The Confessions Tour--Live from London"
This two-disc CD/DVD combo was filmed at London's Wembley Arena during the Material Girl's highly successful Confessions Tour.
The set focuses largely on material from Madonna's "Confessions on a Dance Floor" CD, but also includes a few old hits, including "Like a Virgin" and "Lucky Star."
* * *
Celtic Woman "A New Journey"
The money-making machine that is the Celtic Woman returns with a follow-up to its 2006 holiday offering, "A Christmas Celebration," a work that debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard World Music chart back in November.
The female Irish vocal ensemble--featuring Chloe Agnew, Lisa Kelly, Meav Ni Mhaolchatha, Orla Fallon, Mairead Nesbitt and recent addition Hayley Westenra--will launch a lengthy North American trek in support of the album in mid-February, starting off in Tampa, FL.
* * *
Art Garfunkel "Some Enchanted Evening"
Following in the footsteps of such pop stars as Bryan Ferry and Rod Stewart, Garfunkel mines the Great American Songbook on this new album. The disc includes such all-time classic songs as "Someone to Watch Over Me," "Let's Fall in Love," "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" and the title track.
* * *
More new releases:
Lily Allen, "Alright, Still" (Capitol)
Tommy Castro, "Painkiller" (Blind Pig)
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, "Some Loud Thunder" (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah)
Harry Connick Jr., "Chanson du Vieux Carre" (Marsalis)
Harry Connick Jr., "Oh, My Nola" (Sony)
Bill Kirchen, "Hammer of the Honkey-Tonk Gods" (Proper)
Dave Koz, "At the Movies" (Capitol)
Paolo Nutini, "These Streets" (Atlantic)
Pain of Salvation, "Scarsick" (Inside Out)
Rockabye Baby!, "Lullaby Renditions of U2" (Baby Rock)
Xavier Rudd, "Food in the Belly" (Anti)
Jill Scott, "Collaborations" (Hidden Beach)
Skinny Puppy, "Mythmaker" (Synthetic Symphony)
Tin Hat, "Sad Machinery of Spring" (Hannibal)
X Clan, "Return From Mecca" (Suburban Noize)
Various Artists, "Endless Highway--The Music Of The Band" (Savoy)
Colbert wins bet against mayor
TORONTO (CP) - After losing a friendly hockey bet with satirical late-night pundit Stephen Colbert, the mayor of Oshawa, Ont. sheepishly conceded defeat on the show Monday night via telephone.
The punishment? John Gray's birthday on March 20 will be declared "Stephen Colbert Day" in his city, just east of Toronto.
"Mr. Mayor, let me ask you something: How are you planning to spend your 'Stephen Colbert Day,' " the host asked Gray, as a graphic of a moose wearing a "mayor" sash appeared in lieu of a headshot.
"Oh that's right, it's your birthday. How old are you going to be? Old enough to know better than to take on Stephen Colbert?"
The mayor genially responded: "Hopefully in future, yes."
In recent months, Colbert - who portrays a know-it-all right-winger on his show - has been rooting for the Ontario Hockey League's Saginaw Spirit after finding out the Michigan team had named its mascot Steagle Colbeagle the Eagle, as a tribute to him.
On Friday night, The Spirit beat the Oshawa Generals 5-4. Gray was among the 5,527 fans who attended the sold-out game.
Before his brief interview with Gray, Colbert reminded his viewers about the terms of the wager.
"If Oshawa wins, I will wear an Oshawa jersey on my show. But when the Spirit kicks Oshawa's moose haunches, I don't want to declare Stephen Colbert day on my birthday, I want to declare it on your birthday," said Colbert to cheers and applause.
Gray issued his challenge on a local radio station after Colbert urged Spirit fans to toss General Motors earnings reports onto the ice during Friday's game - an apparent jab at the auto-maker's plant that employs hundreds of Oshawa residents.
"Mayor Gray was there to watch his dreams crash to the ice like a sub-par GM financial report," Colbert said.
The financial reports were apparent retaliation for the Generals feting an earlier win against the Spirit by holding a teddy bear toss for charity.
A running joke on "The Colbert Report" is the host's inexplicable fear and hatred of bears. He called Oshawa's stunt an "obvious attempt to taunt me."
The New-York-based Colbert report is aired on Comedy Central in the United States and on CTV and The Comedy Network in Canada.
On Monday's show, Gray accepted his teams' loss graciously and promised to uphold his end of the bargain.
"I've already got a coffee shop downtown threatening to name a coffee after you and whatever the blend is, he promises that the spoon will lean to the right," Gray chuckled.
Colbert played the good-natured winner, too, saying he'd don a General's jersey on his show anyway.
With that, he stood up, untucked his dress shirt, pulled down his suit pants and flashed the Oshawa jersey, wrapped around his bottom like underpants.
Walk of Fame asking for noms
TORONTO (CP) - Who deserves to be on Canada's Walk of Fame?
Canadians are being asked again this year to cast their ballots on who they think should be inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. This year's stars will be announced in a ceremony on June 9 to be televised by CTV at a later date. Peter Soumalias, president of Canada's Walk of Fame, says the contest truly determines who makes it onto the Walk of Fame.
"We received thousands and thousands of excellent suggestions last year," he said in a news release. "And I'm pleased to say that every one of our 2006 nominees were suggested by contest entrants."
Visit the www.Canadaswalkoffame.com website to cast your votes and read the criteria on who can be nominated. Everyone who makes a nomination is automatically entered to win a trip for two to Toronto to take part in all the Walk of Fame festivities courtesy of WestJet.
Canada's Walk of Fame was established nine years ago. To date, 101 Canadians have been honoured.
The Couch Potato Report - January 30th, 2007
This week The Couch Potato Report shines the spotlight on a very engaging documentary, a very entertaining British Royle family and the Oscar nominations.
CHINA RISES is a four part CBC series from the same people who made HOCKEY: A PEOPLE'S HISTORY and it is a very interesting look at a country that
consists of one-fifth of the world's population, uses a third of the world's steel and almost half of it's cement.
I must admit that even though I have many friends who are Chinese, I didn't know that much about China before I started to watch this two-DVD Box Set.
And now I want to know more.
CHINA RISES does feature stories about The Great Wall, the forbidden city and Chinese food, and they all have their own merits, but the series primarily tells the stories of the people.
The people who have succeeded in the new China, those who are working hard to succeed, and the people who have been left behind.
The eyes of the world will be focused on China next year when the Beijing Olympics Begin on August 8th, or 8-8-08 as this documentary shows us, and if you want to take a unique look inside the country now, I suggest you check out CHINA RISES.
It is a superb series that gives you a look at the incredible transformation that the country is undergoing - for better and for worse.
Now, for more on CHINA RISES you can go online to www.cbc.ca/chinarises.
Next up this week is a surprisingly entertaining BBC series.
If you always thought that SEINFELD was a show about nothing, wait until you meet THE ROYLE FAMILY.
The Royles are a British family who appear to do nothing other than eat, drink tea, smoke, watch TV and talk...man do they talk.
Jim Royle is the family patriarch and his long-suffering wife is Barbara. Denise and Anthony are their kids and Dave is Denise's fiance.
With the exception of a few neighbours and a grandparent, the five Royles are the only people you meet in this six-episode series.
Now, when I sat down to watch this show I had never seen or even heard of it.
And as I sit here with you this morning, I must tell you that I loved it!
Sure, THE ROYLE FAMILY are just a group of people who sit around the house and eat, drink tea, smoke, watch TV and talk, but unlike most North American series we see these days about families, there is no anger or negativity.
Sure, The Royles make smart-alec comments about each other, and they poke fun and tease, but they have genuine love and enjoy each others company.
But I enjoyed being in the company of THE ROYLE FAMILY.
Now, the other two films I have to tell you about this week are the horror films SAW III and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE BEGINNING.
I am not going to take up much of your time with these releases, other than to say if you have seen any of the other films in these series, and you enjoyed them, then you will probably enjoyed these two movies.
If you haven't, then you won't.
I am no longer a huge fan of the horror genre, I think I lost interest in it when I lost my twenties, but I will admit that SAW III and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE BEGINNING are worth your time.
If you enjoy watching films like this.
To the surprise of no one SAW III and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE BEGINNING were ignored when the nominations for the 79th annual Academy Awards were announced on last Tuesday morning.
Also to no one's surprise, the nominations confirmed what all prognosticators already knew: the only open race is for "Best Picture."
Even prior to the Golden Globes, and their nominations, the following five of the big six races were already determined, due to buzz, the fact that the people themselves were showing contrition regarding winning an Oscar, and their performances themselves.
It is true that these people can lose their Oscars between now and Tuesday, February 20th when the Oscar Ballots are due, but as of today, those guaranteed to win on Oscar night are:
Best Actress
Helen Mirren, THE QUEEN
Best Actor
Forest Whitaker, THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND
Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Hudson, DREAMGIRLS
Best Supporting Actor
Eddie Murphy, DREAMGIRLS
And
Best Director
Martin Scorsese, THE DEPARTED.
So now, out of the five nominees, who wins Best Picture?
Well, BABEL was a surprise Golden Globe winner, so it has to make the final two; THE DEPARTED has no buzz at all in this category, but it will (finally) give Marty his Award, and Mark Wahlberg's nominations shows the academy notices a great performance - yes "Marky Mark" is now an Academy Award nominee - but no one thinks it was the Best Picture last year; the Academy loves Clint Eastwood, but LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA doesn't have the momentum of his previous Oscar winners MILLION DOLLAR BABY or UNFORGIVEN; LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE was the surprise winner of the top feature film award presented by the Producers Guild of America last weekend, confirming that voters are aware of this wonderful little film, so that gives it momentum; and THE QUEEN is also wonderful, and the nomination for Best Director for Stephen Frears is proof again that voters are aware of the movie, but it is getting all of it's buzz for Helen Mirren, not for the film itself.
So now, who wins Best Picture?
At this point, it looks like it is a race between BABEL and LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, with the latter poised to be the only surprise on Oscar night, February 25th.
That is a surprise I would enjoy.
I will make my final predictions on the day of the Oscars, and if you have yet to see LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, it is available now on DVD, along with the informative CBC documentary CHINA RISES, the somehow engaging BBC series THE ROYLE FAMILY, and the horror films SAW III and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE BEGINNING.
Coming up in the next Couch Potato Report
TALES OF RAT FINK is a Canadian film about the life and times of famed hot rod & custom car designer Ed "Big Daddy" Roth; JESUS CAMP is a documentary on kids who attend a religious summer camp and it received an Oscar nomination this week in the Best Documentary feature catagory; CATCH A FIRE is a drama about terrorism in Apartheid-era South Africa; and the foreign film THREE TIMES features three stories set in three times, 1911, 1966 and 2005.
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!
The Police reunite for Grammys
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Police will reunite to open the 49th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on February 11, The Recording Academy said on Tuesday, fueling speculation that the hit 1980s band is planning a reunion tour.
The five-time Grammy-winning band, led by frontman Sting, with Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers, split up in 1984 and was last seen playing together in 2003 to commemorate their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The band, known for such hits as "Roxanne," "Message in a Bottle" and "Every Breath You Take," has never performed at the annual telecast for the music industry's most prestigious awards that are given by The Recording Academy.
"The Police join a stellar list of past Grammy Awards opening acts, which includes reunions and once-in-a-lifetime performances," said a statement from the academy.
Members of The Police have so far refused to confirm rumors that the band is planning to reunite in 2007 for dates in Britain and the United States, with this year marking the 30th anniversary of the release of "Roxanne."
Last month the band's label A&M Records, which is owned by Universal Music, said in a statement that they would mark the year somehow.
"It is our intention to mark the anniversary by doing something special with the band's catalog of songs. Needless to say, everyone is hopeful the band will support our plans and while early discussions have taken place, nothing has been decided," said the statement.
Other presenters at the Grammy Awards include Justin Timberlake, Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Christina Aguilera, Melissa Etheridge and Stevie Wonder.