The Couch Potato Report - April 26th, 2008
This week The Couch Potato Report peels a man and a mannequin, a boxer and a reporter and the made-in-Quebec film Summit Circle.
Had anyone...anyone else played the lead role in this week's Hot Potato, the film could have been dismissed as an interesting premise, poorly realized or a stupid high concept comedy.
But since the lead in LARS AND THE REAL GIRL is played by Canadian Ryan Gosling, a tremendous actor who has played a drug addicted inner-city teacher in HALF NELSON, a Jewish man who develops a fiercely anti-Semitic worldview in THE BELIEVER, and a guy with a broken heart who hopes to win back the love of his life in THE NOTEBOOK, since Gosling is playing Lars, what could have come off as a lewd, crude or just disturbing film instead plays as one that is very believable, smart and thoughtful.
I really liked this movie!
So, all that said, let me tell you what LARS AND THE REAL GIRL is about.
Gosling plays Lars, a socially awkward man who spends his days working in a cubical and his nights alone in the garage-turned-apartment he lives in outside of his parents old house.
His brother Gus and sister-in-law Karin now live in that house, and he repeatedly turns down their invitations to eat with them.
But then, one night, Lars knocks on their door and announces that he has met someone, and when he asks Gus and Karen if she can stay in the extra room in the house they are overwhelmed...until they "meet" her.
You see, "Bianca" is actually a life-sized, anatomically correct doll - for adult use - one of the high priced ones, not the cheap blow-up models - and Lars talks to her and treats her as if she was real.
The local psychiatrist, believes that the best approach to Lars' delusion is to play along with it, so the entire town starts to treat Bianca with respect, and act as if she is real.
As I said, I really liked this movie, and if you can suspend your disbelief that everyone in the movie's small town would play along, then I think you will too.
Yes, it does get a little slow towards the end, but Gosling is so good that he pulls this premise off in a way that many actors could not.
Whether you watch it with friends, or with a "Bianca" of your own, I hope you enjoy LARS AND THE REAL GIRL as much as I did!
The made-in-Calgary film RESURRECTING THE CHAMP is our next challenger this morning.
This film, weighing in at 112 minutes, was inspired by a true story...or as the film's tagline reads: Based on a true story, that was based on a lie.
In this picture, an up-and-coming newspaper sports reporter rescues a homeless man from some teenagers who are beating him up, only to find out that the man may just be a former heavyweight boxing contender who is long believed to have passed away.
Josh Hartnett from SIN CITY and LUCKY NUMBER SLEVIN plays the reporter, and Mr. Samuel L. Jackson is The Champ, but the newspaper story they tell - however compelling - just might not be true...and - if that is the case - they are both to blame for that
But, whether the story is or isn't true made the film compelling enough for me to want to stick around to see how it ended.
Sadly, the ending of RESURRECTING THE CHAMP is a bit too Hollywood perfect, and along the way it does drag at times, but I still found the film interesting and engaging.
While not a technical knock out, this film still wins by a split decision on my score card.
Finally this week is the made in Quebec film SUMMIT CIRCLE.
It focusses on Réjeanne - a long-time switchboard operator whose life is thrown into turmoil after her husband Gilles suffers a debilitating stroke.
The movie takes place in both the past and in the present, with the latter revolving around a police lieutenant's attempts to solve Gilles' murder and the former storyline dealing dealing with Réjeanne and Gilles' crumbling relationship after his troke, and the eventual loss of their home on Summit Circle.
As the movie plays out, and Réjeanne's difficulties increase, it becomes increasingly difficult not to sympathize with her plight, and the time-shifting structure employed by the director is very effective...but unfortunately it all builds to an ending that isn't completely satisfying, and as such, I enjoyed SUMMIT CIRCLE, but I can't completely recommend it.
The made-in-Montreal, good but not great SUMMIT CIRCLE, the made-in-Calgary split decision RESURRECTING THE CHAMP and the filmed-in-Toronto LARS AND THE REAL GIRL, which I really enjoyed, are all available now on DVD.
Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report
The Academy Award nominated foreign film THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY debuts on DVD along with the would-be fantasy epic THE GOLDEN COMPASS, Disney's CLASSIC CABALLEROS COLLECTION featuring SALUDOS AMIGOS and THREE CABALLEROS; and also next week is a Canadian Classic...the FIRST Canadian film with sound, in fact...the made in Newfoundland THE VIKING.
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!
Stores prepare for Grand Theft Auto
Retailers are planning for an onslaught of video game fans early Tuesday morning, when Grand Theft Auto IV is scheduled for release, despite the fact that the video game was hacked and posted online earlier this week.
Retailers such as Best Buy and Future Shop are opening their doors 12:01am on April 29 to handle the crowds expected to snap up the game, produced by Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.'s Rockstar Games.
Ironically, the game, as the name suggests, lets you carjack any vehicle in Liberty City, and challenges players to work their way up the criminal underworld by performing missions for seedy characters.
Savvy Xbox 360 gamers can now download this GTA sequel from Bit Torrent sites including the popular PirateBay.org, which has replaced is main logo with a large graphic of the game's protagonist, Niko, and the words "Liberty Bay."
But the number of hoops players will have to go through to steal a digital version of this "Mature"-rated game suggest that only a small percentage will likely try and succeed.
For one, you first need to download a 7 gigabyte file, which is more than 2,000 times the size of a typical MP3 song. Then you need to burn this file onto a dual-layer DVD – capable of storing up to 8.5GB of data, compared to a single-layer DVD's 4.7GB of space – with a compatible dual-layer DVD burner in your PC. Finally, the Xbox 360 has to be modified or "chipped" to play the downloaded and burned game, especially as there are both NTSC and PAL versions for different geographical regions.
Co-operative and competitive multiplayer modes, which are one of the key new features in this sequel, may also not work online since they're not official copies of the game, not to mention you might be missing some single-player missions or cut-scene story sequences.
Analysts said the pirated versions of Grand Theft Auto IV are unlikely to significantly affect Take-Two's sales of the game.
This is the latest release in a highly successful game franchise from Rockstar Games. According to Take Two Interactive, the Grand Theft Auto franchise has sold more than 70 million units world-wide.
The last release, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, was mired in controversy when it was discovered that a patch (called Hot Coffee), made it possible for the main character to engage in explicit sex acts during game play.
The latest game will be released on the Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox platforms. There is no date set for a PC release.
Austin Powers 4 Not Happening
Recent speculation that Gisele Bundchen might be in talks for Austin Powers 4 had everyone convinced that a fourth movie was already happening, but we should have been suspicious. Before the rumors of her possible involvement, the film was nowhere on the radar. Now it looks like despite those rumors, it still isn’t.
Austin Powers star Seth Green recently talked to MTV and told them that as far as he knows it’s not happening and there’s no script. He says, “Austin Powers 4 is nothing more than something Mike Myers talked about off-handedly during the ‘Shrek’ press.”
Sounds pretty definitive to me. I’ll take the son of Dr. Evil’s word for it. Besides, it never made any sense. Mike Myers has clearly moved on. He’s focused on his new Love Guru character, and the whole Austin Powers thing has long since run its course. No Austin Powers 4? Count me relieved!!!
'The Sarah Connor Chronicles' Will Be Back
Judgment Day won't come for at least one more season.
FOX has picked up its freshman series "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" for 2008-09. The show earned a 13-episode order for 2008-09, on the heels of its strike-shortened and reasonably successful nine-episode run earlier this year.
The pickup isn't a big surprise; FOX Entertainment chief Kevin Reilly said in an interview last week that the show was already hiring staff.
"The Sarah Connor Chronicles" enjoyed a big premiere in January following an NFL playoff game, drawing better than 18 million viewers. The show's ratings fell off in its regular home on Mondays, but it still averaged 10.8 million viewers and a 4.5 rating among adults 18-49. In the latter category it's the top-rated new scripted series this season.
The series stars Lena Headey as the title character, who's obsessed with protecting her son John ( Thomas Dekker), the future leader of the human resistance against the machines that will one day wipe out most humanity. Summer Glau and Richard T. Jones also star, and Brian Austin Green, who appeared in five episodes this season, will be a regular next year.
FOX has several shows in development that could form a sci fi-tinged block with "The Sarah Connor Chronicles," including Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse" and "Fringe," from J.J. Abrams' company.
Snipes gets 3 years, apologizes for `costly mistakes'
OCALA, Fla. - After haggling with revenue agents, criminal investigators and eventually U.S. prosecutors for almost a decade, Wesley Snipes finally caught them by surprise.
Hours before he was to be sentenced Thursday for failing to file income taxes he insisted he never had to pay, the action star cut the federal government three checks for $5 million, delivered in court.
So taken aback were prosecutors that they first declined the cash. But by the end of the day, the government took the money and more — a maximum three-year sentence for its highest-profile criminal tax target in decades.
"The sentencing court sends the right message to the American taxpayer — you've got to pay your taxes," U.S. Attorney Robert O'Neill told reporters outside the usually quiet central Florida courthouse. "Rich, poor, it doesn't matter. We all pay our taxes."
Though Snipes was convicted of three counts of willfully failing to file returns, his trial was held by some as proof of victory for the tax protest movement. Snipes was acquitted of five other charges, including felony tax fraud and conspiracy, that would've exposed him to 13 more years in prison.
Criminal tax prosecutions are relatively rare — usually the cases are handled in civil court, where the government has a lower burden of proof.
Snipes' attorneys argued the sentence was too stiff for a first-time offender convicted of three misdemeanors, and recommended he be given home detention and ordered to make public service announcements.
But U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges said Snipes exhibited a "history of contempt over a period of time" for U.S. tax laws.
"In my mind these are serious crimes, albeit misdemeanors," Hodges said.
The action star of the "Blade" trilogy, "White Men Can't Jump," "Jungle Fever" and other films hasn't filed a tax return since 1998, the government alleged. Snipes and the IRS still must determine how much he owes, plus interest and penalties. The government alleged Snipes made at least $13.8 million for the three years in question, owing at least $2.7 million in back taxes on them alone.
Snipes read aloud from a prepared apology, calling his actions "costly mistakes" but never mentioning the word "taxes." He said he was the victim of crooked advisers, a liability of wealth and celebrity that attract "wolves and jackals like flies are attracted to meat."
"I am an idealistic, naive, passionate, truth-seeking, spiritually motivated artist, unschooled in the science of law and finance," Snipes said.
His lawyers said he was no threat to society, and offered three dozen letters from family members, friends and even fellow actors Woody Harrelson and Denzel Washington attesting to his compassion, intelligence and value as a mentor. They called four character witnesses Thursday, including television's Judge Joe Brown, who incited applause from the gallery by suggesting Snipes was no different than "mega-corporate entities" that legally avoid taxes.
Hodges twice halted the proceedings to quiet the crowd, threatening to clear everyone out if they made another outburst.
Snipes' co-defendants, Douglas P. Rosile and Eddie Ray Kahn, were convicted on both felony counts on which the actor was acquittal. Kahn, who refused to defend himself in court, was sentenced to the maximum 10 years, while Rosile received 4 1/2 years. Both will serve three years of supervised release.
Snipes and Rosile remain free and will be notified when they are to surrender to authorities. Defense attorney Carmen Hernandez signaled in court that Snipes would pursue an appeal.
Kahn was the founder of American Rights Litigators, and a successor group, Guiding Light of God Ministries, that purported to help members legally avoid paying taxes. Snipes was a dues-paying member of the organization, and Rosile, a de-licensed accountant, prepared Snipes' paperwork.
The actor maintained in a yearslong battle with the IRS he did not have to pay taxes, using fringe arguments common to "tax protesters" who say the government has no legal right to collect. After joining Kahn's group, the government said, Snipes instructed his employees to stop paying their own taxes and sought $11 million in 1996 and 1997 taxes he legally paid.
Defense attorneys Hernandez and Daniel Meachum said Snipes was unfairly targeted because he's famous. Meachum called prosecutors "big game hunters," selectively prosecuting the actor while Kahn's some 4,000 other clients remained free.
Hodges was not swayed.
"One of the main purposes which drives selective prosecution in tax cases is deterrence," the judge said, while denying it had anything to do with his sentence. "In some instances, that means those of celebrity stand greater risk of prosecution. But there's nothing unusual about it, nor is there anything unlawful about it. It's the way the system works."
Guillermo del Toro to direct `The Hobbit' movies
LOS ANGELES - Guillermo del Toro is directing "The Hobbit" and its sequel, New Line Cinema announced Thursday.
The 43-year-old filmmaker will move to New Zealand for four years to make the films back-to-back with executive producer Peter Jackson.
Del Toro wrote and directed "Pan's Labyrinth," which earned six Oscar nominations in 2006 and won three awards. He is also the director of the upcoming sequel "Hellboy II: The Golden Army," whose monsters bear the unmistakable surreal vision of the Mexican-born filmmaker.
"I am indeed blessed to become a part of the filmmaking community that Peter, Fran and their extraordinary team of collaborators have created in New Zealand," del Toro said in a statement. "Contributing to the 'Lord of the Rings' legacy is an absolute dream come true."
Jackson and Walsh called del Toro "a cinematic magician who has never lost his childlike sense of wonder."
"We have long admired Guillermo's work and cannot think of a more inspired filmmaker to take the journey back to Middle-Earth," they said in a statement.
Jackson co-wrote, co-produced and directed the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, which won 17 Oscar and 30 nominations.