The Couch Potato Report - May 24th, 2008
This week The Couch Potato Report peels a small Canadian Film that works, a huge Hollywood film that doesn't, and some zombies!
For some reason, I don't have a lot to say about this week's five new releasses.
Admittedly, due to my fondness for The Muppets, there is one of them that I could go on and on about, but I won't...in fact, I won't go on at leangth about any of them.
That includes this week's HOT POTATO - the Canadian film WALK ALL OVER ME is about a small town girl runs into big time trouble as she takes on her roommates identity as a dominatrix to pay the bills.
Filmed in and around Winnipeg and Vancouver, WALK ALL OVER ME stars Tricia Helfer - who plays The Six on the latest incarnation of TV's BATTLESTAR GALLACTICA, and Leelee Sobieski - who co-starred in Stanley Kubrick's EYES WIDE SHUT.
They are both very beautiful and talented actresses, and if you have enjoyed their work in the past, and the plot sounds interesting to you, then I think you will like the film itself.
If you don't care for the cast, and the premise doesn't engage you, then you won't.
With some films, it is as simple as that.
I did like the cast, and so I acknowledge that I liked this quirky, mildly entertaining film.
I also found NATIONAL TREASURE - BOOK OF SECRETS to be mildly entertaining.
This one picks up where the original one left off - with Nicolas Cage once again playing a treasure hunter whose family believes in the legend of a fantastic treasure trove of artifacts and gold, hidden by the Founding Fathers of the United States, and forgotten to all but a few.
This sequel sees Cage's Benjamin Franklin Gates looking to find out the truth behind the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and whether one of his ancestors was involved, by uncovering the mystery within the 18 pages that are missing from assassin John Wilkes Booth's diary.
Like I said, I found NATIONAL TREASURE - BOOK OF SECRETS to be mildly entertaining, and if you liked the first one, or just can't get into the new INDIANA JONES film this weekend, well then this would be an okay second choice.
So, mild recommendations for this week's first two releases, a huge SKIP IT is up now for the latest zombie movie from George A. Romero, the man who basically invented the Zombie Movie genre with the 1968 film NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD!!
Unfortunately his latest film isn't as good as his first, or even his last few films.
Filmed in Toronto, DIARY OF THE DEAD is about a group of young film students who run into real-life zombies while filming a horror movie of their own.
Now, even though I respect George A. Romero's career and work, and I do enjoy a good zombie film, I still went into this one with very low expectations...and even those low expectations weren't met as the premise of a film within a film with one character recording everything on his camera, no matter what happens never putting it down, just doesn't work here.
It worked in the movie CLOVERFIELD earlier this year, but it is highly ineffective here.
Sadly, this one is for Zombie Film Officiandoes only.
Now, if you don't like Zombies, but instead enjoy the classic science fiction films they used to make in the 1950s, well then do I have something for you!!
The 6 DVD, 10 movie set - THE CLASSIC SCI-FI ULTIMATE COLLECTION - VOLUMES 1 & 2!!
If you love the sci-fi films that Hollywood specialized in during the 1950s, either because you saw them in theatres, or in the seventies on late night TV, then this is the set for you...or maybe even your Dad...Father's Day is coming up after all!!
The set includes Tarantula, The Mole People, The Incredible Shrinking Man, The Monolith Monsters, Monster on the Campus, Dr. Cyclops, Cult of the Cobra, The Land Unknown, The Leech Woman and The Deadly Mantis, featuring a huge praying mantis that is on the attack in metropolitan cities after being released from an Arctic iceberg.
If you grew up with these films, go ahead, enjoy them all once again!!
As for me, I love this stuff!!
Finally this week is the new release that I mentioned that I could speak at length about, but since I didn't have much to say about this week's other new releases, I won't go on and on about this one either....even though I absolutely enjoyed every second of my time watching it!!
"It" is THE MUPPET SHOW - THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON and this 4-disc set features guest stars Roy Clark, Gilda Radner, Alice Cooper, Loretta Lynn, Liberace, Raquel Welch, Danny Kaye, Sylvester Stallone, Roy Rogers & Dale Evans and Cheryl Ladd.
It also features my beloved Muppets!!
Even though these episodes are 32 years old, and even though I have seen them all dozens of times over the years, I still laughed a lot this past week when I watched them again.
But I promised to not ramble on, so I will stop at that.
The COMPLETE THIRD SEASON of the spectacular THE MUPPET SHOW, the 6 DVD, 10 movie set - THE CLASSIC SCI-FI ULTIMATE COLLECTION - VOLUMES 1 & 2!!, DIARY OF THE DEAD - for Zombie Film Officiandoes only, NATIONAL TREASURE - BOOK OF SECRETS - a movie that is good to see if the new INDIANA JONES film is sold out, and the quirky, mildly entertaining Canadian film WALK ALL OVER ME are all available now on DVD.
Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report
THE WHA CHRONICLES is a three disc set that looks back at the old World Hockey Association.
John Cusack plays a man who's wife dies in Iraq in the drama GRACE IS GONE.
THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE is one of those classic films that will have me saying: "They don't make them like this anymore!!"
And if you need an alternative to the action filled, very loud, check-your-brain-at-the-door summer movie, well, once again next week I will give you one as THE FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD returns with the Dutch film WAITER!
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!
"Law & Order: CI" is returning for 8th season
LOS ANGELES - "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" will remain on the case for another season on USA Network.
The show has been renewed for a 16-episode eighth year, the network said Thursday.
Part of the three-series "Law & Order" franchise created by Dick Wolf, "Criminal Intent" originally aired on NBC. But when the network decided that this season's schedule had room for only two of the shows, a deal was struck to air "Criminal Intent" first on USA, then on NBC.
NBC and USA are corporate cousins within NBC Universal, and "Criminal Intent" reruns on USA already had proved among its most popular programming.
"We're thrilled to have 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent' for another season," Bonnie Hammer, president of NBCU Cable Entertainment & Cable Studio, said in a statement, adding that USA "forged new ground" by debuting what had been an established network series.
Wolf, executive producer of the "Law & Order" shows, said in a statement that "Criminal Intent" has "thrived in its new home on USA and will for years to come."
The new order from USA trims the series from the 22 episodes that were ordered for the seventh season. The show returns Sunday, June 8, after a break.
"Criminal Intent," which looks at cases from both the perspective of police and lawbreakers, stars Vincent D'Onofrio, Kathryn Erbe, Julianne Nicholson and Eric Bogosian. Chris Noth, of the "Sex and the City" TV show and movie, also stars.
Both "Law & Order" and spinoff "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" will return to NBC next season.
It will be season 19 for the original series, second only to "Gunsmoke," which aired from 1955 to 1975, as the longest-running network TV drama series. "Special Victims Unit" will be in its 10th year.
"Indiana Jones" cracks whip at box office opening
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Paramount Pictures appears to have another hit on its hands, as the new "Indiana Jones" movie grossed $25 million from its first full day in North American theaters, independent box office analysts reported on Friday.
That tally ranks as the fourth highest-grossing Thursday debut on record and puts "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" on track to possibly match or overtake last year's "Pirates of the Caribbean" film as the biggest opening on a U.S. Memorial Day holiday weekend.
The last big release from Viacom Inc's Paramount, "Iron Man," opened three weeks ago with $98.6 million in U.S.-Canadian receipts its first Friday-through-Sunday frame -- a sum that the latest "Indiana Jones" film is expected to surpass.
Unlike the new "Indiana Jones" film, "Iron Man" was fully financed by Marvel Studios, which paid Paramount a flat fee to market and distribute its film. Thus, Paramount has much more at stake riding on the success of its latest release.
"Crystal Skull," directed by Steven Spielberg, is the fourth movie in the beloved and lucrative movie franchise that began in 1981 with "Raiders of the Lost Ark," and is the first to hit the big screen in 19 years.
Harrison Ford reprises his title role as the bullwhip-cracking archeologist who hates snakes, and reunites with actress Karen Allen, his co-star from the first adventure. In the new film, set during the 1950s Cold War era, he competes with an evil KGB agent played by Cate Blanchett to find a skull endowed with mystic powers.
Box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers, said the film's opening Thursday performance was strong enough to bode well for its commercial potential but not so strong as to diminish its weekend audience.
If its Friday-through-Monday box office tally crosses the $140 million mark, the film would exceed last year's Walt Disney Co's "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" as the biggest North American opening yet for the four-day Memorial Day holiday weekend.
"They have a strong shot at meeting or exceeding that Pirates of the Caribbean number last year," Dergarabedian told Reuters.
By comparison, the highest-grossing Thursday debut at the domestic box office was the $50 million raked in three years ago by "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith," according to Box Office Mojo.