Bryan Adams returns with '11'
If Bryan Adams could have aligned the stars his new album 11, featuring 11 songs and the eleventh studio effort of his career, would've come out last year.
And it's a safe bet, given the numerical theme, it probably would've hit stores in November, say Nov. 11.
But even a megastar such as the 48-year-old Adams, with his millions of record sales and global recognition, still has to play the label-waiting game. It's something he wasn't exactly happy with.
"It was ready in August and it was basically done in September," Adams says while nursing a tea inside a Toronto hotel room in late February with a Toronto writer. "The record company in Europe didn't want it to come out until March so we had to sit on it. You can imagine my frustration."
The album, out Tuesday, was originally going to be an acoustic record. But Adams hadn't committed to the idea entirely even while writing 11. The idea became less of a reality when touring through Europe.
"I was on tour and I think there was an acoustic artist opening up this festival that we were doing," Adams says. "I was watching them play and I thought to myself, 'I can't imagine myself doing that.' "
What fans can imagine Adams doing is part and parcel of the new record, namely offering a batch of radio-friendly ballads such as the U2-ish We Found What We Were Looking For, Mysterious Ways and Broken Wings. The album, featuring Kathleen Edwards' hubby/guitarist Colin Cripps, is also notable for the rootsy I Ain't Losing The Fight, which Adams wrote in Bulgaria.
Adams also revisited the topic of celebrity with Flower Grown Wild, a song based on Shannon Wilsey a.k.a. Savannah, a former stripper and girlfriend of Slash who killed herself. Earlier in his career, Adams and writing cohort Jim Vallance penned The Best Was Yet to Come. The song was inspired by the 1980 murder of Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten.
"To me, it's sort of an ode to the fallen star and a little bit of a nod to the way we devour our celebrities and then spit them out," he says of Flower Grown Wild.
"We devour them because we love them, but then we spit them out. It was that idea of one woman's journey to stardom and then the way she can't deal with it."
In terms of his songwriting, Adams had about 30 songs for 11 with the best rising to the top. He also says he's not one to start with a completely clean slate heading into each album.
"What usually happens is I'll take the 15 unreleased songs and when it comes time for the next album, I'll take one of those and rewrite it or take a piece of one and combine it with another," he says. "That's what started happening on (1991's) Waking Up the Neighbours and I've worked that way ever since. You take one section, the section that seems to write the best and then rewrite or work to that. It's about not being precious."
This year also marks the 30th anniversary of Adams signing to A&M Records in Toronto that launched his solo career. He feels it was tougher to break into the music business then as opposed to new bands trying to get noticed now.
"When I started it was ultra-hard," he says. "In some ways it's kind of easier today because there are more avenues to create some sort of image for yourself. Back in 1979, you were stuck with an 8x10 photograph and a demo tape on a cassette and prayed that the cassette didn't sound like sh--t. Otherwise, that was the end of your hope.
"And there's a lot of knocking on doors. It's very difficult to get to know the guy who knows the guy who knows the guy. So if you're no one, like when I started out, no one, how do you get through these systems?"
In keeping with the album title, Adams spent March doing an 11-day, 11-city European tour of 11 acoustic shows. He's hoping to do the same thing in North America but the lone Canadian date is a "secret show" in Vancouver on March 20. He's already thinking about album 12 and threatening it might be "the acoustic record."
Just don't expect him to spend five or six straight months on the road anymore.
"I'm not going to change my lifestyle just because an album comes out," Adams says. "I'm going to work (just) as hard, like I always do which is I spend this amount of time (10 days) a month allocated to touring and the rest I spend doing other things."
The Couch Potato Report - March 15th, 2008
This week The Couch Potato Report peels a small Canadian "comedy", 2007's Oscar winning best picture, and Dan…in real life.
Well, even though I was away last week, I only have five releases to talk about this week, beginning with our Hot Potato...the made-in-Vancouver-starring-half-the-cast-of-CORNER GAS-film LOVE AND OTHER DILEMMAS.
LOVE AND OTHER DILEMMAS stars Gabrielle Miller, Lacey from CORNER GAS as a woman who insists her wedding day will be perfect, even though she's eight-months pregnant, been robbed, kidnapped and thinks her fiancé Henry is dead.
Now, if this was a big Hollywood film, with say Jennifer Anniston or Katherine Heigl as the bride and George Clooney or Patrick Demspsey as the kidnapper, I would tell you that it was the sort of film you have seen a million times, made a million times better, and that it was a complete waste of your time!
But...for some reason...because it is a small Canadian film, that features Lacey, Hank and Emma from CORNER GAS...I sort of enjoyed it.
Yes, LOVE AND OTHER DILEMMAS is utterly predictable and not really all that funny for a comedy...but something about it made me not hate it.
I guess you could call this one a good rental.
I also didn't hate AUGUST RUSH...and I really, really thought I would!
The trailers for this film made it look awful...but somehow, somehow I didn't hate it.
In fact...I liked it!!
Yes, I liked AUGUST RUSH!
AUGUST RUSH is about a young orphaned boy who is searching the streets of New York for his parents.
He is also a musical prodigy, the result of a chance meeting and night of passion between a guitarist and a cellist.
The main reason the trailers for this film made it look bad was due to Robin Williams presense in them.
In the trailer, and the film itself, he is a mysterious stranger who gives the boy his name.
This looked to be another one of those roles where Williams was just yelling the whole time...but luckily he isn't in the film that much, and his presence never actually hurts it.
As I said, I didn't expect to like AUGUST RUSH...but I did. Yes it is predictible melodrama, and the music that is supposed to be some of the best ever written really isn't anything special...but the film...somehow...is.
I don't expect it to become your favourite film of all time...but it is worthy of your time.
At last Month's Academy Awards AUGUST RUSH was nominated in the Best Song Category.
The Coen Brothers' NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN was the winner of several of those Awards, including Best Director AND Best Picture.
From Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing and Barton Fink through The Hudsucker Proxy, Fargo, The Big Lebowski and O Brother, Where Art Thou?, I am a huge fan of Joel and Ethan Coen's work, and like many film lovers, I think NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN is a masterpiece of filmmaking.
And as you heard on this show, the fact that it won Best Picture, and they Best Director, came as no surprise to me...but what might come as a surprise to you is the violence in this film.
In fact, violence and mayhem ensue after a hunter stumbles upon some dead bodies, a stash of heroin and more than $2 million in cash.
So if you don't care for violence...stay away from NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.
But if it doesn't bother you...this is a film you must see! The acting from Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin and Oscar winner Javier Bardem is tremendous, the writing is superb, the filmmaking unmatched, and...I will stop there as I made my point...I loved this film!
Yes, I highly recommend NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.
Two other films to quicky tell you about this week, starting with a film that I really like...and not just because of the title.
Steve Carrell from television's THE OFFICE stars as DAN IN REAL LIFE.
Carrell plays Dan Burns, a widowed father of three young girls who is a newspaper columnist living in New Jersey.
While spending the weekend at a family reunion, he happens to meets a woman named Marie at a bookstore. They have a chemistry that goes beyond a chance meeting.
But then Dan finds out that Marie is actually dating his brother, Mitch.
I thought I might like it, but I honestly didn't expect to enjoy DAN IN REAL LIFE as much as I did. It is a small and fairly quiet film that is surprisingly entertaining.
What's more, it is a mature film, for grown-ups. I really enjoyed DAN IN REAL LIFE, even regardless of the fact that I share the same name, and I highly recommend it to you.
I thought I would also be recommending this week's final release...but while there is some great animation, and voice work in JUSTICE LEAGUE - THE NEW FRONTIER - an origin story of how Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the Justice League first got together - the film itself is not that great.
If you are already a fan of Toronto comic book writer, artist, cartoonist and animator Darwyn Cooke, and you love his work in the Shuster Award-winning six-issue comic book limited series DC: The New Frontier, then you probably won't find any value in this abridged version of his work.
If you have never heard of Darwyn Cooke, then maybe...maybe you will find some enjoyment in JUSTICE LEAGUE - THE NEW FRONTIER.
Personally, I was aware of the comics...but I have yet to read them, so the story here was fresh. It was the film itself that just didn't work for me.
It isn't awful...and I do have to admit that there is some pretty cool stuff here...but when they eventually get around to making a live action Justice League feature film...and they will...somedy....I hope it is better than this!
JUSTICE LEAGUE - THE NEW FRONTIER , the surprisingly effective films AUGUST RUSH and DAN IN REAL LIFE, the Academy Award winning Best Picture of 2007 - NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN and the Canadian "comedy" LOVE AND OTHER DILEMMAS are all available now on DVD.
Coming up in the next Couch Potato Report
I will tell you about the Canadian Hockey film-with-a-twist BREAKFAST WITH SCOT; the spectacular Disney movie ENCHANTED - which was one of my favourite movies of 2007; and Oscar winner Javier Bardem from NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN stars in the first Hollywood filmed version of the beloved Spanish novel LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA.
Plus, there will be not one, but TWO Keira Knightley costume dramas - ATONEMENT and SILK - and two television series reboots: BIONIC WOMAN - THE COMPLETE SERIES and SEASON FOUR of BATTLESTAR GALLACTICA.
I'm Dan Reynish. I'll have more on those, and some other releases, in fourteen 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!
Crowds hear 'Horton' hauling in $45M
LOS ANGELES - Horton hears a hit. Family audiences boosted 20th Century Fox's animated tale "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!" to a $45.1 million debut, the best opening so far this year, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Featuring the voices of Jim Carrey and Steve Carell in an adaptation of the beloved storybook about an elephant defending a microscopic community from destruction, "Horton Hears a Who" is the latest computer-animated film from Blue Sky Studios, the outfit behind the "Ice Age" flicks.
The previous weekend's No. 1 movie, the Warner Bros. action yarn "10,000 B.C.," slipped to second place with $16.4 million, raising its 10-day total to $61.2 million.
Summit Entertainment's "Never Back Down," about a troubled youth who finds purpose in the sport of mixed martial arts fighting, opened in third place with $8.6 million.
The weekend's other new wide release, Rogue Pictures' horror thriller "Doomsday," premiered at No. 7 with $4.7 million. The movie follows a team of specialists trying to find a cure for a ravaging epidemic that has forced the quarantine of Scotland.
"Horton Hears a Who" topped the $40.1 million opening in January for "Cloverfield," which previously was the year's No. 1 debut.
"It's a 'who-mongous' opening, and it's playing to all Whos two to 92," said 20th Century Fox distribution executive Chris Aronson. "If you can't do an ode to Dr. Seuss with an opening like this, come on."
The new movie was the fourth-best opening ever in March. With the two "Ice Age" movies, "Horton" and "Robots," Blue Sky Studios now has four of the top six March debuts of all time.
"They should rename March 'Blue Sky month,'" said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers.
"Horton" landed in between the debut weekends of two other big-screen Seuss adaptations, 2000's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" with $55.1 million and 2003's "The Cat in the Hat" with $38.3 million.
With solid reviews for "Horton," Fox is counting on strong business through Easter next Sunday and beyond, as many students are out of school, Aronson said.
Hollywood's revenues rose for the first time after four straight weekends of declining business. Overall receipts came in at $127 million, up 8.5 percent from the same weekend last year, according to Media By Numbers.
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. "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!", $45.1 million.
2. "10,000 B.C.," $16.4 million.
3. "Never Back Down," $8.6 million.
4. "College Road Trip," $7.9 million.
5. "Vantage Point," $5.4 million.
6. "The Bank Job," $4.9 million.
7. "Doomsday," $4.7 million.
8. "Semi-Pro," $3 million.
9. "The Other Boleyn Girl," $2.9 million.
10. "The Spiderwick Chronicles," $2.4 million