CD Review
Bruce Springsteen - Magic
There's only one event in music guaranteed to generate more buzz than a new album from Bruce Springsteen: A new album from Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band.
Why? The answer is right there in the title of The Boss's 15th studio disc.
As spellbinding and brilliant as the 58-year-old rock icon is on his own, when he plays with The E Streeters, it's magic. Call it a spark or chemisty or anything you like; whatever it is, it has always been an unmistakable, inimitable sound far greater than the sum of its parts. That's what you get on Magic, their first collaboration since 2002's stirring album The Rising (and perhaps their final album together, based on some reports).
But that's not all you get. Along with the heartland-rock sonic touchstones and everyman lyrics that preach to Bruce's congregation of fans, the dark 11-song album - recorded in Atlanta with Rising producer Brendan O'Brien - includes forays into '60s-style orchestral rock.
And while it doesn't equal Born to Run or Born in the U.S.A. - really, how many albums do? - Magic's gritty intensity almost puts it on par with Darkness on the Edge of Town and The River.
Which is to say: Bruce and the E Streeters still have a few tricks up their sleeves.
Radio Nowhere 3:18
"I want a thousand guitars, I want pounding drums," The Boss demands. And on this driving rocker, that's what the band supplies - along with a howling sax solo, a jangling riff that echoes Tommy Tutone's 867-5309/Jenny and a darkly yelpy vocal reminiscent of Warren Zevon. A killer single - assuming radio will play a song about how much it sucks.
You'll be Coming Down 3:45
After Radio Nowhere, the downtempo gait of this karmic warning seems slight at first. After a few listens, the shimmery U2ish guitars, '60s folk-pop overtones and seductive chorus hook you.
Livin' in the Future 3:56
Between the bouncy swagger, twangy guitar licks, wailing sax and shimmering organ, this is a soulful celebration in the style of Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out and Hungry Heart - though lyrics about liberty sailing away add political overtones.
Your Own Worst Enemy 3:18
Bruce gets in touch with his inner Brian Wilson on this midtempo ballad, wrapping his dour melody and weary vocals in a lush blanket of sombre strings, kettle drums, percussion and bells.
Gypsy Biker 4:31
The band kicks back into high gear with a swelling, anthemic roots- rocker about a small-town hero coming home - in a coffin. The revving guitars and piercing solo are outstanding.
Girls in Their Summer Clothes 4:19
Another orchestrated pop ballad, with sweeping strings and a growling sax that follow Bruce's heartbroken protagonist as he roams the streets looking for love - and getting passed by.
I'll Work for Your Love 3:34
The tinkly piano at the start harkens back to Thunder Road - but the tune breaks into a bittersweet, Dylanesque folk-rocker laced with Biblical lyrics symbolizing the sanctity of love.
Magic 2:45
A woozy carnival organ, a sawdusty beat, a fluttery mandolin and a ghostly violin decorate this dreamy vignette in which innocent deception quickly gives way to monstrous trickery.
Last to Die 4:17
Another gritty, hard-hitting rocker accented with strings and fuelled by lyrics built upon John Kerry's famous statement about the Vietnam War. One guess what this one is about.
Long Walk Home 4:34
With its lightly strummed guitar and gently melancholy vibe, this one opens like Streets of Philadelphia, but quickly moves into a roots- rock lament about finding your way back home.
Devil's Arcade 5:05
The disc's most overtly poltical cut is this tale of a soldier wounded in battle. The striking arrangement elegantly builds from mournful strings and guitar to a richly intense orchestration.
Bonus Track: Terry's Song 4:11
Springsteen pays tender tribute to his longtime assistant Terry MacGovern, who died this summer at age 67. It's the most nakedly personal song he's written in years. And one of the most moving.
'Away From Her' tops Director's Guild Awards
TORONTO - Sarah Polley's poignant "Away From Her" was the big winner at the 2007 Directors Guild of Canada Awards on Saturday, taking home the best picture.
Polley herself was named best director and her husband, David Wharnsby, won the prize for best picture editing.
The critically acclaimed movie chronicles the intrusion of Alzheimer's disease into the lives of an aging couple, played by Gordon Pinsent and Julie Christie.
On the television front, CBC's "Dragon Boys" was named best television movie or miniseries, while "Slings and Arrows" won the best television drama award. CTV's "Corner Gas" won the best television series comedy award.
The best documentary prize went to "Sharkwater."
The other winners:
Family Television Movie/Miniseries: "Me and Luke."
Family Television Series: "Instant Star," Episode 213.
Direction, Television Movie/Miniseries: Sturla Gunnarsson, "Above and Beyond."
Direction, Television Series: Stephen Surjik, "Intelligence," Episode 311.
Production Design - Feature Film: Rob Gray, "Fido."
Production Design - Television Movie/Miniseries: Jennifer Stewart, "October 1970."
Production Design - Television Series: Sandra Kybartas, "Regenesis," Episode 301.
Picture Editing - Television Movie/Miniseries: Jeff Warren, "Above and Beyond."
Picture Editing - Television Series: Christopher Donaldson, "Slings and Arrows," Episode 303.
Sound Editing - Feature Film: Stephen Barden, Alex Bullick, Jill Purdy, Craig Henighan and Nelson Ferreira, "The Fountain."
Sound Editing - Television Movie/Miniseries: Jonas Kuhnemann, Richard Calistan and Mark Beck, "In God's Country."
Sound Editing - Television Series: Joe Mancuso, Dan Sexton, Matt Hussey and Richard Calistan, "Regenesis," Episode 301.
Canadian stars to appear on 'Little Mosque'
TORONTO - "Little Mosque on the Prairie" kicks off its second season Wednesday on a definite high.
The show is starting to air in countries around the globe while a roster of beloved Canadian personalities are showing up this year in the fictional Prairie town of Mercy.
Dave Foley of "Kids in the Hall" and "Newsradio" fame is slated to appear on the popular CBC sitcom, as is Samantha Bee from "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and Darcy Tucker, the pugnacious Toronto Maple Leaf winger who will appear as himself.
At a recent lunch at a Moroccan restaurant in downtown Toronto, the cast was relaxed and chatty after just wrapping up season two in Regina and Toronto.
"It's been the most fun I've ever had in my life," said Sheila McCarthy, who plays Sarah Hamoudi, a convert to Islam who's turned out to be more devout than her husband, Yasir.
That's quite a compliment coming from one of Canada's most celebrated actresses - McCarthy has won two Geminis, two Genies and two Doras throughout her prolific 25-year acting career on stage and screen.
"When these little projects come up from out of the blue that are completely different from anything you've ever done, it's just great," says McCarthy, who will soon be seen in the "The Stone Angel," which premiered at the recent Toronto International Film Festival.
McCarthy, 51, says she's proud to be in a TV show with a gentle message of tolerance and understanding as it's poised to air in some of the world's most troubled hotspots, including Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.
"My mother knows what Ramadan is now," McCarthy says with a laugh. "I feel very lucky to be the visible minority in this show, and I'm proud to be in something that has a little bit of weight.
"We're knocking down stereotypes, and the show is growing and developing in good ways, and I think it's a wonderful thing."
"Little Mosque" proved to be a prime-time ratings saviour for the struggling CBC last winter, routinely drawing an audience of about a million people per show for its truncated eight-episode season.
The network poached two key writing and production figures from CTV's "Corner Gas" in the spring, and has high hopes the show will sustain its audience this season with a full 20-show slate.
Season two will feature not only cameos from Canadian personalities but also a Christmas Eve special and a look at the back stories of some favourite "Little Mosque" characters, including Amaar's complex relationship with his mother back in Toronto.
"There will also be a quick glimpse into something hilarious that happened in his past," says Zaib Shaikh who, as the only Muslim in the cast, was observing Ramadan and forgoing feasting on lamb and chicken with the rest of his castmates on a warm September afternoon.
For Carlo Rota, who also plays Morris on the dark and intense American megahit "24," "Little Mosque" offers him some sweet relief.
"It's the absolute best; it's the best of all worlds," said the 46-year-old Rota, who was born in London but spent many years working as an actor in Toronto. "The adage 'to those that have much is given' is applying to me right now.
"I just hope it lasts and I can continue to appreciate it. Life is fleeting, and your fame is fleeting too."
Jackie Chan no fan of 'Rush Hour' series
HONG KONG - "Rush Hour" put Jackie Chan in Hollywood's major leagues, but the Hong Kong star isn't a fan of his successful action comedy franchise.
Chan said when he made the first installment of the "Rush Hour" series in 1998 he only wanted to test the U.S. market and didn't have high hopes.
"When we finished filming, I felt very disappointed because it was a movie I didn't appreciate and I did not like the action scenes involved. I felt the style of action was too Americanized and I didn't understand the American humor," Chan said in a blog entry on his Web site seen Sunday.
The actor said he made the sequel because he was offered an "irresistible" amount of money to do it and made the recently released third installment to satisfy fans of the series.
Chan said "Rush Hour 3" was no different from the first two installments for him.
"Nothing particularly exciting stood out that made this movie special for me ... I spent four months making this film and I still don't fully understand the humor," he said, adding the comedic scenes may be lost on Asian audiences.
Chan's comments came even though the "Rush Hour" series, which revolves around the racial humor stemming from the pairing of a Chinese (Chan) and a black (Chris Tucker) police officer, helped the action star cross over to mainstream American audiences.
"Rush Hour" was Chan's first movie to break $100 million at the U.S. box office, earning $141 million, according to the box office tracking Web site, Box Office Mojo. "Rush Hour 2" made $226 million and "Rush Hour 3" has earned $137 million so far.
Chan has been known to be blase about his Hollywood work. He said in a 2005 interview with The Associated Press that he uses the high salary he earns in the U.S. to fund Chinese-language projects that truly interest him.
He also showed little enthusiasm for his latest Hollywood project, "The Forbidden Kingdom," which marks his first on-screen collaboration with fellow action star Jet Li.
Bond's Moneypenny, Lois Maxwell, dies
LONDON (AP) — Lois Maxwell, who starred as Miss Moneypenny in 14 James Bond movies, has died, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported Sunday. She was 80.
The Canadian-born actress starred alongside Sean Connery in the first James Bond movie, "Dr. No," in 1962 as the secretary to M, the head of the secret service.
She died Saturday night at Fremantle Hospital near her home in Perth, Australia, the BBC cited a hospital official as saying.
Bond star Roger Moore said she was suffering from cancer.
"It's rather a shock," Moore, who had known her since they were students at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1944, told BBC radio.
"She was always fun and she was wonderful to be with," he said.
Born Lois Hooker in Ontario, Canada, in 1927, she began her acting on radio before moving to Britain with the Entertainment Corps of the Canadian army at the age of 15, the BBC said.
In the late 1940s, she moved to Hollywood and won a Golden Globe for her part in the Shirley Temple comedy "That Hagen Girl."
After working in Italy, she returned to Britain in the mid-1950s.
In addition to her 14 appearances as Miss Moneypenny, she also acted in Stanley Kubrick's "Lolita" and worked on TV shows including "The Saint," "The Baron, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)," and "The Persuaders!," the BBC said.
She was 58 when she appeared in her final Bond film, 1985's "A View To A Kill." She was replaced by 26-year-old Caroline Bliss for "The Living Daylights."
Her last film was a 2001 thriller called "The Fourth Angel," alongside Jeremy Irons.
'Game Plan' pays off with $22.7 million
LOS ANGELES - Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson had the winning game plan at the box office. Disney's "The Game Plan," starring Johnson as a football quarterback whose bachelor lifestyle is disrupted by the arrival of a daughter he never knew he had, opened as the top weekend flick with $22.7 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The weekend had looked like it would be a showdown between "The Game Plan" and Universal's Middle East thriller "The Kingdom," which stars Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner as members of a U.S. team investigating a terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia.
But "The Kingdom" fell short, debuting at No. 2 with a solid $17.7 million.
The previous weekend's top movie, Sony's action tale "Resident Evil: Extinction," fell a steep 66 percent from its opening-weekend gross, finishing in third place with $8 million and raising its total to $36.8 million.
Johnson was the latest action hero aiming to broaden his audience with a family film. With a PG rating, "The Game Plan" took advantage of a long dry spell for kid-friendly movies, as parents with children made up two-thirds of the audience.
"There was definitely pent-up demand for people who don't necessarily want to go to the heavy R-rated films," said Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney. "The entire general audience has been underserved lately."
"The Kingdom" faced heavy competition from other violent R-rated films, among them "3:10 to Yuma," "The Brave One" and "Eastern Promises." Though not an overtly political film, "The Kingdom" also had to test audience interest for action tales set against the war on terrorism.
"If you're going to tell stories like this, you're going to tell stories of what's actually going on in our world. It's very difficult, challenging subject matter," said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal. "Either you're going to like this kind of movie or you're not."
In limited release, Fox Searchlight's "The Darjeeling Limited" opened strongly, taking in $140,000 at two New York City theaters on Saturday and Sunday, following its premiere Friday at the New York Film Festival.
Directed by Wes Anderson ("The Royal Tenenbaums"), the film stars Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman as brothers on an odyssey across India.
Focus Features' World War II saga "Lust, Caution" also did well in its debut at one New York City theater, taking in $61,688. From director Ang Lee ("Brokeback Mountain"), the NC-17-rated "Lust, Caution" features scenes of explicit sex as a Chinese woman goes undercover in a plot to kill a man collaborating with invading Japanese forces.
Both films expand to more theaters Friday.
It was the second straight weekend that Hollywood business was down after a summer of record revenue. The top 12 movies took in $76.7 million, down 11 percent from the same weekend last year, when "Open Season" was the No. 1 movie with $23.6 million.
"What goes up must come down," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "It would be really difficult to maintain three, four months of up box office, so this was kind of inevitable. It was quite a strong fall last year, so we're having a little trouble competing."
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "The Game Plan," $22.7 million.
2. "The Kingdom," $17.7 million.
3. "Resident Evil: Extinction," $8 million.
4. "Good Luck Chuck," $6.3 million.
5. "3:10 to Yuma," $4.2 million.
6. "The Brave One," $3.8 million.
7. "Mr. Woodcock," $3 million.
8. "Eastern Promises," $2.9 million.
9. "Sydney White," $2.7 million.
10. "Across the Universe," $2.05 million.