The Couch Potato Report - May 19th, 2007
This week The Couch Potato Report peels an old Joni Mitchell concert film and asks: Who the bleep is Jackson Pollock?
While we will always have her music, on CDs and albums, we will likely never get the chance to see Joni Mitchell live in concert anytime soon.
In a 2002 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Mitchell voiced her discontent with the current state of the music industry, describing it as a "cesspool.
She also stated her dislike of the record industry's dominance and her desire to control her own destiny.
So Joni no longer tours or performs in concerts, and that is too bad for those of us who never got the chance to see her.
Even though we may never get to see her live, there are now several DVDs available that document her tours during the heyday of her success.
Including REFUGE OF THE ROADS
This sixty-minute disc features a performance from Joni's "Wild Things Run Fast" tour in 1983.
Okay, it is a concert, but we only hear the audience a few times, and they are never seen.
But we don't really need an audience, because REFUGE OF THE ROADS gives us Joni Mitchell, live, on a stage with musicians, and they all look like they are having a great time.
The DVD also includes some very interesting film footage, including Joni backstage.
No, you and I may never get the chance to see Joni Mitchell live, but if more great DVDs like REFUGE OF THE ROADS are made available, it will be a pretty good substitute.
Up next this week is a film I will not use the words "pretty good" to describe.
Instead, I will refer to THE FOUNTAIN as a wonderful failure.
Partially filmed in Montreal THE FOUNTAIN is the latest film from director Darren Aronofsky, who worked for four years to complete this epic-sized love story that stretches across centuries and galaxies.
The film takes place in three time periods - the 16th century, the present day, and the 26th century.
Hugh Jackman from the X-MEN films and Academy Award winner Rachel Weisz from THE CONSTANT GARDENER play a couple who struggle to stay together, only to keep losing each other through death and time.
Much like Darren Aronofsky's other films - PI and REQUIEM FOR A DREAM - THE FOUNTAIN is very poetic, beautiful to look at and has an interesting premise and great performances, but it just isn't a good piece of entertainment.
I respect this film, and continue to admire the filmmakers and actors, but I just didn't care for their movie
As I said, THE FOUNTAIN as a wonderful failure.
Okay, now on to our next film...a film that is a great piece of entertainment.
Teri Horton is a very profane 73-year-old former long-haul truck driver with an eighth grade education.
She bought a painting for her friend and she paid five dollars.
But there is a chance it is worth a few dollars more...fifty million dollars more.
Jackson Pollock was an influential American painter and a major force in the abstract expressionist movement. In November 2006 Pollock's "No. 5, 1948" became the world's most expensive painting, when it was auctioned to an undisclosed bidder for the sum of $140,000,000.
Teri's decade long attempt to sell her painting is chronicled in the film WHO THE BLEEP IS JACKSON POLLOCK?
This documentary is exceptionally engaging because of Teri Horton personality, and because of the lengths she has gone to prove skeptical Pollock and art experts of the validity of her painting.
Some say that she has a Jackson Pollock...some say she doesn't.
After you watch WHO THE BLEEP IS JACKSON POLLOCK?, and I recommend that you do, you will have your own opinions as well
Finally this week, our FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD continues.
The action filled, very loud, very hyped, check-your-brain-at-the-door summer movie season is upon us in theatres, this week's entry is the animated sequel SHREK THE THIRD.
So, if you would like something different, I'll be offering you an alternative every week.
This week's selection is the Mexican film PAN'S LABYRINTH from director Guillermo del Toro Rating.
There were two fantasy films released in the past year that featured a young girl as the main character.
One of those films was the made-in-Saskatchewan, non-Academy Award nominated film TIDELAND.
The other is the three time Academy Award winning PAN'S LABYRINTH.
When TIDELAND came out on DVD I invited some people to watch it with me and this is what one of those people - Russ - had to say.
Now the opposite of what Russ said is the truth about PAN'S LABYRINTH.
It is entertaining.
And it does have a great story!
PAN'S LABYRITH is a masterpiece!!
Set in rural Spain in 1944, this film is a fairytale for adults about a young girl who moves in with her new stepfather, a tyrannical military officer.
As he forces he life to change, she is only left with her imagination, but with it she discovers a mysterious labyrinth and the lines between fantasy and reality begin to blur.
PAN'S LABYRITH features real characters, is beautifully made, and it is an exceptional movie.
It is a must see entry in the FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD
The masterpiece PAN'S LABYRITH, the very entertaining documentary WHO THE BLEEP IS JACKSON POLLOCK?, the wonderful failure that is THE FOUNTAIN, and the concert film from Joni Mitchell REFUGE OF THE ROADS are all available now on DVD.
Coming up in the next Couch Potato Report
THE JOURNALS OF KNUD RASMUSSEN is a Canadian film about an Inuit shaman and his headstrong daughter; VENUS features screen legend Peter O'Toole in his Oscar Nominated role; George Clooney and Cate Blanchett star in THE GOOD GERMAN; Clint Eastwood's LETTER FROM IWO JIMA tells the story of the battle of Iwo Jima from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it; and our FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD will continue with the exceptional French film LA MOUSTACHE, about a man who shaves off his moustache...and his whole world changes.
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!
De Niro, Pacino to reunite on-screen for upcoming thriller
Veteran Hollywood tough guys Robert De Niro and Al Pacino are set to team up for only the second time ever for a new detective thriller, producers revealed at the Cannes Film Festival.
The deal was sealed late Thursday, with just a few details revealed to the media.
The movie, to be called Righteous Kill, will see the two stars portray police detectives on the hunt for a serial killer. The screenplay is by Russell Gerwirtz, who penned last year's tense Denzel Washington-Clive Owen bank heist thriller Inside Man.
Unlike the two actors' previous match-up, Righteous Kill will feature De Niro and Pacino "on screen together for virtually the whole film," Avi Lerner, head of the movie's Los Angeles-based production company Millennium Films, told the Hollywood Reporter.
The two Oscar-winning actors starred as epic rivals on different sides of the law in Michael Mann's well-regarded 1995 crime thriller Heat. However, they appeared together in just a few scenes.
De Niro and Pacino also both starred in The Godfather Part II, but did not share any scenes.
According to Randall Emmett, one of Righteous Kill's six producers, the idea for the film originated from De Niro and Pacino's desire to be co-stars again.
"They're friends and this really all got started from that," Emmett said at a short press briefing in Cannes.
Rumoured to have a budget of $60 million US, Righteous Kill is expected to begin filming in Connecticut and New York in August.
Pacino will also be honoured by the American Film Institute next month, with the group set to present him with its 35th Life Achievement Award on June 7.
Past recipients include De Niro, who won the award in 2003, Meryl Streep, Frank Capra, George Lucas, Billy Wilder, Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Sidney Poitier and Elizabeth Taylor.
White Stripes Put Trust In New Label For 'Icky Thump'
As the June 19 release of the White Stripes' new album, "Icky Thump," approaches, Jack White is less concerned about "indie cred" than at any other time in the band's 10-year history.
Not only is the band now signed to a major label (Warner Bros.), but White, in a first, also used a modern recording facility (Nashville's Blackbird) to make a record. (Though with "Icky Thump" he still recorded to reel-to-reel and mixed to tape, as is his typical analog approach.) Last year, White quietly recorded music for a Coke commercial that ran briefly in the United Kingdom and Australia. And in touring in support of "Icky Thump," the band will play venues it attempted to avoid on prior outings.
"At the tail end of [2003's] 'Elephant,' we were touring these hockey arena kind of things, and we were just like, 'Eh, I don't know, man. It's a little cold and sterile,'" White tells Billboard. "But you just take it for what you can do. Right now, we're just trying to find the right spot for each town."
For his part, White seems unfazed about life on a major label. "We were leery for a long time ... we'd never had the trust in us to do it," he says. "It would have been a bad idea to do that on 'White Blood Cells.' We had them all offering it then. But I think it would have been over very quickly for us. We would have been a new flavor of the week and probably would have been a one-hit wonder with 'Fell in Love With a Girl.'"
At this point in the band's career, White says those types of concerns are no longer an issue. "Everything's happening at the right time," he says. "In some ways, we look back and we're kind of like, 'Man, maybe we were stupid with this naive thing about if artistic freedom and business collide, something bad happens.'"
White's joie de vivre is apparent on "Icky Thump," which after 2005's moody, piano-dominated "Get Behind Me Satan," marks a return to the raw electric blues that fueled the White Stripes' breakthrough 2003 album, "Elephant."
"When it comes to the songs themselves, the songs are in charge, not me," White says. "Take a song like 'You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told)' [from "Icky Thump"]. That was pretty much a country song in my mind. If I really was in control I could have just said, 'Hey, how dare you allow electric guitar and heavy organ on there.' But I don't do that. I let the song tell me what it wants."
Sunday episodes take 'Simpsons' to No. 400
Mmmm … 400!
With Sunday's two episodes (Fox, 8 ET/PT), The Simpsons hits 400, a milestone reached by just four other prime-time scripted series. That's something Homer can drool about.
"It's so hard today to keep something on the air," says executive producer Al Jean, who runs the day-to-day operation. "It's immodest, but I think our achievement is unbelievable."
Creator Matt Groening says The Simpsons, which premiered in 1989 after starting as short segments on The Tracey Ullman Show, has succeeded because Homer, wife Marge, children Bart, Lisa and Maggie and a cast of hundreds can appeal to all.
"I love the style that we stumbled into, this high-velocity pacing that allowed us to do every kind of comedy we could think of, from the most high-falutin' literary references to sub-Three Stooges physical abuse," he says.
The Simpsons, followed closely by Law & Order, trails only Gunsmoke (633), Lassie (588), The Adventures ofOzzie & Harriet (435) and Bonanza (430), says Ron Simon, curator at The Museum of Television & Radio.
He says it's tougher today to hold onto an audience because of cable and the Internet. "We're dealing with a much more crowded TV universe."
The Simpsons, winner of 23 Emmys, no longer gets the big ratings that helped put Fox on the map (Season 18 average: 8.7 million viewers, ranking 67th), but it remains strong with prized young adults, ranking 34th, according to Nielsen Media Research. Syndication, DVD sales and product licensing have been a bonanza, with some sources listing the yield at more than $1 billion.
Groening credits then-fledgling Fox — a frequent Simpsons target — with taking a risk on animation, which can fly under the radar with satire, double-entendres and the like. "We were in this overlooked medium associated with children."
Since the Janet Jackson incident, bare bottoms are out, but the boundaries of humor remain the same, Jean says. In the age of South Park edginess, the show no longer is a lightning rod for complaints.
In recent years, it has made digs about the decision to invade Iraq and its consequences. "The show always takes on who's in power," Jean says.
Creatively, the series can keep on going, Groening and Jean say. Groening disagrees with critics who say it has declined, calling current episodes as "smart and twisted" as ever. However, the chances of matching Gunsmoke's 20-season run depend on re-signing the voice actors, whose deals end after next season, the 19th.
On his wish list, Groening says, he would like to see a series spinoff centered on Homer "in all stages of his life."
That remains a faraway prospect, he says, with The Simpsons Movie opening July 27, a video game due later this year and a Simpsons theme park ride, along with the TV series. "And we're trying to figure out how to fix the holes in the Bart Simpson balloon so we can get it back in the Macy's parade."
'The Office' Star Fischer Breaks Back
The Office star Jenna Fischer has fractured her back in four places after falling down a set of stairs in a New York bar on Tuesday.
The actress, who plays Pam Beesly in the Emmy Award-winning U.S. comedy, was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan after the fall at Buddakan.
Her representative tells the New York Daily News, "She avoided anything scary near the spine and she'll make a full recovery in time to shoot season four of The Office this summer."
Fischer most recently appeared onscreen in hit comedy Blades Of Glory opposite Will Ferrell and Jon Heder.
Rep: Isaiah Washington's staying 'Grey'
LOS ANGELES - Isaiah Washington's Dr. Preston Burke packed his bags on the season finale of "Grey's Anatomy" but that doesn't mean the actor is being dumped by the show, his publicist said Friday.
"We fully expect to be back in the fall," spokesman Howard Bragman said. "The deal's not done but we have no reason to believe he won't be putting on the scrubs."
A furor over Washington's use of an anti-gay slur had provoked speculation that his job might be in jeopardy. He said the word backstage at the Golden Globe Awards in January while denying he'd used it previously against castmate T.R. Knight.
Thursday's finale seemed to open the door for the departure of Washington's character. Burke was on the verge of marrying Dr. Cristina Yang ( Sandra Oh), but her doubts at first delayed and then derailed their splashy wedding.
"I'm up there waiting for you to come down the aisle and I know you don't want to come," Burke told a shocked Cristina. "If I loved you, I wouldn't be up there waiting for you. I would be letting you go."
Then he did just that. Later, Cristina found that Burke had cleared his favorite possessions out of their apartment.
ABC declined comment Friday on Washington's status.
But a source close to the production, speaking on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to comment publicly, said the finale doesn't indicate that Washington is a goner from "Grey's."
"A lot of character story lines were left in question. It's a cliffhanger finale," the source said. "T.R's character looks like he could be going. ... It doesn't necessarily mean anything."
Knight's character, George O'Malley, was the only intern to fail the end-of-year exam and he was seen in the finale cleaning out his locker after deciding against repeating his intern stint.
Washington will spend the summer working, his publicist said, not worrying about the show. The actor leaves next week to continue his charity work in Sierra Leone, which a DNA test showed to be his ancestral home.
Washington, who started a nonprofit foundation last year to improve the lives of people in the West African nation, plans to deliver mosquito netting and check on a school he helped found.
He'll also spend part of his summer break working on an independent film, "The Least of These," Bragman said. Washington expects to be back at work on "Grey's Anatomy" when production resumes in August, he said.
Washington filmed a public service announcement on behalf of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network after the flap. The spot is in post-production, a GLAAD spokesman said Friday.
Delays continue for former SNL comedian jailed 2 years awaiting trial
Former SCTV and Saturday Night Live comedian Tony Rosato must wait until June to find out if he will get a bail hearing this summer after spending two years in jail without trial.
On Friday, lawyers involved in Rosato's case met in court in Kingston, Ont., but were unable to agree on moving up court proceedings to discuss his bail and the exceptional delay in his trial for charges of harassing his wife.
They will be discussing the issue again in June, said Rosato's lawyer Daniel Brodsky.
If Rosato is granted bail, he will be released to a psychiatric hospital, Brodsky said.
Rosato, 53, has been in jail since May 2005.
He was charged with harassment after he complained to police that his wife Leah Rosato and their daughter had gone missing and had been replaced by imposters.
On Friday, the Superior Court of Justice offered to move Rosato's hearing on bail and court delays from November to July, but the lawyer for Rosato's wife said she was not available.
"Tony is shocked that he may have to wait until November to accommodate the complainant's lawyer," Brodsky said in an e-mail. "I'm appalled."
Lawyer wants charges dropped
Brodsky is arguing that charges against Rosato should be dropped because of an unreasonable delay in his trial.
That delay has prompted Karl Pruner, the president of Rosato's union, to speak to Ontario's attorney general about the case.
"From what I can find out about the case, nobody's done anything wrong. There's no malice here," said Pruner, head of the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists. "It's just this guy has wedged himself into a crack and we need to get him out."
A spokesperson for Ontario's Attorney General's Office told CBC that the Crown has taken steps to have Rosato's case moved forward "judiciously and expeditiously" and to have Rosato held in a psychiatric facility instead of jail.
Rosato was born in Italy, grew up in Ottawa, and rose to fame after he joined Second City in Toronto. He was on SCTV and Saturday Night Live in the '80s and went on to star on other TV shows and in movies through the '90s.
CBC to honour McKenzie brothers
TORONTO (CP) - The Trailer Park Boys may be Canada's latest low-rent darlings, but beer-swilling hosers Bob and Doug McKenzie were blazing a proud trail of loserdom when Ricky, Julian and Bubbles were mere children.
And so CBC-TV is celebrating the SCTV favourites, portrayed by comics Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis, this Sunday with its so-called "Two-Four Anniversary Special."
The title is an homage to three beloved Canadianisms: the country's May 24th holiday weekend, the beverage of choice for Bob and Doug - an ice-cold case of 24 beer, colloquially known as a 2-4 - and the 24th anniversary of the Bob and Doug movie, "Strange Brew," a film that became something of a campus cult classic in the U.S. upon its release in 1983.
"Someone was saying to me recently that if you did a montage of all of Canada's best-known symbols, there wouldn't be too many of them, but Bob and Doug would definitely be on there," Thomas said Thursday on the line from Los Angeles, where he's lived for more than 20 years.
"We are certainly icons."
The special - airing on Thomas's 58th birthday - features a long list of personalities paying tribute to Bob and Doug, including Canadians Martin Short, Tom Green, Paul Shaffer and Dave Foley. But there are also some longtime American fans like "The Simpsons" creator Matt Groening and actor Ben Stiller, who remembers lining up with his mother for hours at a New York City record store as a child to get Bob and Doug's autographs.
One of the funniest parts of the special, Thomas says, is former prime minister Paul Martin's deadpan appearance as he pleads for Canadians to reject the Bob and Doug stereotype once and for all. At one point, Martin sadly recalls: "I'll never forget the four-year-old girl in Buenos Aires who looked up at me with her pretty eyes and asked, 'Where's your beer, you knob?"'
"He absolutely nailed it," Thomas says incredulously. "I couldn't believe how hilarious he was."
In honour of the 24th anniversary, even beer-makers are getting in on the party - Red Cap Ale has created a limited-edition range of six Bob and Doug collectible stubbies available in Ontario all summer long.
In every 12 pack of Red Cap stubbies, beer fans in Ontario will find one of the six anniversary edition clear stubby bottles, showcasing some of Bob and Doug's finer moments.
Thomas loves Bob and Doug - characters created as a sort of raised finger to the CRTC's strict Canadian content regulations when SCTV was one the country's biggest television hits - but he admits to having frequently thrown out the Bob and Doug costume of toques and parkas in the past. He figured he and Moranis, one of his closest pals, had closed the door on the characters for good.
"And every time, here we go again - I have to get another parka and another toque," he says with a laugh. When told he should hang on to the costume this time because they'll likely be expected to resurrect Bob and Doug again on the 50th anniversary, Thomas is rueful.
"If I'm still alive, that is."
He may be approaching 60, but Thomas doesn't appear to be slowing down. He makes the odd television appearance, playing Charlize Theron's uncle on an "Arrested Development" episode ("Who would turn that down?" he asked). And he's currently working on a movie about Canadian bandleader Guy Lombardo, and awaiting word on two television pilots - one a sitcom set in a hospital.
Thomas admits he misses Canada, even though he sold his cottage on Ontario's Lake Simcoe years ago.
"My wife caught me hurling rocks at our motorboat in anger and frustration and she said: 'You know, maybe you're just not a cottage person,"' he recalls. "And she was right. It was a hassle maintaining that cottage."
But he marvels every time he returns to Toronto, saying he's astonished at how bustling and vibrant the city is now compared to how it was in the 1970s and '80s, when he was launching his comedy career.
"I sometimes wonder if Toronto was the city it is now when I was starting out, if I would have even needed to leave it," he said. "It is really such a great, vital place now."