The Couch Potato Report - April 6th, 2007
This week The Couch Potato Report shines the spotlight on one of the world's greatest directors, a "classic" Canadian film and more.
Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s - when I was a kid - I loved going to the movies! Yes, in the winter I also played hockey, and baseball was also my summer past time, but all year 'round, I went to the movies.
I have many great childhood memories of sitting in a theatre, with my pop and candy, and being taken to different places around the world through films, and those experiences are one of the reasons why I am as passionate about movies as I am today.
It was at the movies that I got to know the works of some of the world's greatest filmmakers, including Martin Scorsese, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, and Robert Altman.
Especially Altman.
He is a filmmaker who was born on February 20th…and we share a birthday. In 1970 Robert Altman made a movie called MASH, about some doctors in the military...I am sure you've heard of it, it was a huge hit and they even made a long-running TV series about it.
The reason his military movie appealed to me, was because my Dad was in the military, and as a kid who looked up to his father, I was always interested in things that were connected to him.
Robert Altman had great success in the early 1970s, but as the eighties began, that success waned.
However, he had a career renaissance that started in the early 1990s with a spectacular film called THE PLAYER.
And now all eight films that he made, starting with that comeback film, during the remaining years of his life are available in the spectacular eight film box set THE ROBERT ALTMAN BOX.
Those films are THE PLAYER, READY TO WEAR, SHORT CUTS, COOKIE's FORTUNE, DR. T AND THE WOMEN, KANSAS CITY, A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION and the Academy Award winning film GOSFORD PARK.
Of the eight films THE PLAYER, SHORT CUTS and GOSFORD PARK are the classics, but each movie is distinct in it's own way, especially since Altman doesn't seem to waste a single moment on screen, and the diaglogue in each of his movies is not only well written, but the people in his films talk the way people in the real world do.
Their not just characters, they are humans.
THE ROBERT ALTMAN BOX is a great way for you to get to know the work of a master of filmmaking, a man who in 2006 was given an Honorary Academy Award for a career that has repeatedly reinvented the art form and inspired filmmakers and audiences alike.
This BOX SET is available in stores now, and I think you should check it out so you can begin making some cinematic memories of your own...childhood or otherwise.
Yes, let me talk about something other than Hollywood as I recap some other notable releases this week.
A naive barber is the main character in the new-to-DVD "classic" Canadian film HIGHWAY 61.
Don McKellar from TWITCH CITY and THE RED VIOLIN is the aforementioned barber and the film allows us to spend some time with him one summer as he travels down highway 61 with a mysterious red-haired woman who asks him for a ride.
HIGHWAY 61 is a classic in the sense that if you saw it when it first came out in 1991 and loved it, then you will still love it today.
Otherwise, you probably won't get much out of this rock and roll road show.
I am not the world's biggest fan of the film, but I had a great time watching it again on DVD.
I also had a great time watching the latest screen performance from a woman who doesn't act in very many movies these days.
The great Ashley Judd from KISS THE GIRLS, DOUBLE JEOPARDY and DE-LOVELY is back, and she is playing a woman searching for love in COME EARLY MORNING.
This movie is not a classic, but it is a very interesting story about a woman who just can't seem to allow herself to be happy...unless there is alcohol involved.
However, the film does respect it's lead character, and I am happy to report that this isn't your usual "girl meets boy, boy loses girl, boy wants girl back" Hollywood film.
Everything that happens makes sense, and for that reason, and the presense of Ashley Judd, I enjoyed COME EARLY MORNING
I have two other releases to quickly tell you about this morning, the Academy Award winning Best Animated Feature HAPPY FEET has tap danced it's way onto DVD.
If you are looking for a film for the kids the Easter Weekend, this story about a penguin who can't sing, but can dance, will definately entertain the younger ones.
But if you are an adult, this film loses steam at around the 55 minute mark when it goes from an upbeat, very entertaining movie about some dancing and singing penguins, to a message film.
Now I am not saying that there is anything wrong with message films, but when HAPPY FEET starts to preach about saving the world's oceans and protecting teh environment it all just seems out of place...especially in a film about some singing and dancing penguins.
I think kids will enjoy the film from start to finish, but I only enjoyed the first half.
But...for that first 55 minutes HAPPY FEET is a great film and worthy of the Oscar it won.
Finally this week is the three DVD Box Set for part one of season three of the spectacular TV series ENTOURAGE.
This show is about film star Vincent Chase, his group of friends from New York, and his agent who live and work in and around the movie business in Hollywood.
This series features great work by Canadian actress Emmanuelle Chriqui, and Oscar winning filmmaking Canucks James Cameron and Paul Haggis.
ENTOURAGE does a great job of taking us behind the scenes of the movie business, but it does a much better job at allowing us to spend time with four guys who are enjoying life.
Due to it's language and content, ENTOURAGE isn't a series for everyone, but it is a show that I love, and I enjoyed watching this DVD set again this week.
ENTOURAGE - SEASON THREE, PART ONE, the Oscar winning HAPPY FEET, Ashley Judd's COME EARLY MORNING, the "classic" Canadian film HIGHWAY 61, and the eight film DVD set THE ROBERT ALTMAN BOX are all now available on DVD.
Coming up in the next Couch Potato Report
I will talk about the engaing and entertaining CBC series AT THE HOTEL.
Also next week, I will share my thoughts on teh very interesting film CHILDREN OF MEN; the eye opening A CRUDE AWAKENING; and the latest DVD releases of the classic 1980's series MIAMI VICE.
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!
Lucas Still Trying To Sign Connery for Jones Movie
Movie mogul George Lucas refuses to give up on recruiting Sean Connery for the fourth Indiana Jones movie, despite the Scottish star's reluctance to sign on as the adventurer's father.
Connery has been linked to the upcoming fourth Indiana Jones movie, but insists he's not that interested in reprising his role as Henry Jones from Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade.
That hasn't stopped persistent Lucas, who says, "We're still trying."
In other Indiana Jones casting news, Lucas admits he was stunned when director Steven Spielberg told him he wanted to sign Cate Blanchett as Jones' love interest in the new film.
He tells newspaper USA Today, "That's who my director wanted and I always bow to the wishes of my director. I approved it because she seemed like a good idea. When I met her at the Academy Awards, I told her, 'Hey, you work for me now!'"
Foster's Sexuality Under Attack Again in Gay Magazine
Actress Jodie Foster's sexuality is under attack again - this time from one of America's top gay magazines.
The bold editors of Out have put an image of two models holding masks of Foster and CNN newsman Anderson Cooper over their faces on the cover of the upcoming May issue, over the headline: "The Glass Closet: Why the stars won't come out and play."
The lifestyle magazine's May issue features a list of America's most influential gay men and women, but editors couldn't resist taking a swipe at Foster, who has been the subject of lesbian rumors for years.
According to the editors, the controversial cover image is "a sly commentary on the way that semi-closeted celebrities hide in plain sight." The accompanying article, penned by leading gay writer Michael Musto, sets out to challenge stars like Foster to address the sexuality issue that dogs them, rather than simply avoid the question.
Musto writes, "It's true that stars are free to put up whatever walls they want in order to maintain boundaries with the public."
Meanwhile, entertainment mogul David Geffen tops Out's gay power list.
`Sopranos' star ready for show to end
NEW YORK - The time has come for HBO's "The Sopranos" to be rubbed out. And Michael Imperioli is ready for the end.
The 41-year-old actor returns as Christopher Moltisanti for the final season of the Emmy-winning mob drama, which premieres Sunday (9 p.m. EDT).
"I love the show," Imperioli told AP Radio in a recent interview. "It's gonna be sad to leave it. I think the timing is right to end it."
What's in store for his character?
"I would like to end it in the psychiatric hospital with Uncle Junior," he joked. "It's probably gonna end, I would imagine, not the way people expect."
Imperioli said he hopes Tony Soprano, played by James Gandolfini, won't allow Christopher to take over as mob boss.
"If it ends with me as the boss then what's the point, it's over, right? Then I don't get to enjoy it," he laughed. "I don't have any desires in that how it ends. I mean, I know however it's going to end, it's going to be interesting and appropriate."
He said it would be funny if Christopher's fiancee, Adriana La Cerva (Drea de Matteo), got revenge on him.
"Maybe (she) comes from beyond the grave, makes him a zombie and brings him to the netherworld. I don't know, I always thought he could be killed by Adriana but that's not gonna happen," he said.