The Couch Potato Report - February 14th, 2009
This week The Couch Potato Report peels eleven films, that may not be about love, but many of them are films people actually love.
It is Valentine's Day weekend, full of days to love. But it is also a day that some people are indifferent or apathetic to, because of the fact that love is seemingly forced upon them by retailers and the Greeting Card companies.
So, in order to cover both sides, I have some brand new releases for you this week, that I loved, and some that I am simply indifferent to.
Let's start with the love, shall we? I love BEING THERE!
BEING THERE is the classic 1979 film starring the great Peter Sellers as Chance, a simple gardener, who has never been outside of his employer's estate in Washinsgton, DC.
When the man dies, Chance does leave, and through a series of misunderstandings, he becomes one of the most sought after political minds in America.
Chance's comments and passion towards plants, flowers and gardening are misunderstood as profound statements, and therin lies the comedy in this film.
Sellers' career prior to BEING THERE had been full of over the top characters pieces - like THE PINK PANTHER films, DR. STRANGELOVE and THE PARTY - but in this film he played it straight and let the siuations around him provide the humour.
And it works!! BEING THERE - which features a small cameo from Saskatchewan's own Buffy Saitne-Marie - is a classic!! And the brand new Blu-ray version is a must own!!
I love BEING THERE, and I also love THE DIRECTOR'S CUT of the Academy Award winning film AMADEUS.
AMADEUS is the 1984 Oscar winner for Best Picture that very loosely on the lives of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, two composers who lived in Vienna, Austria, during the later half of the 18th century.
This DIRECTOR’S CUT adds about twenty additional minutes to the film, and while it didn’t really need the extra time, it does enhance it, and thus a great film offers even more to enjoy!
Plus, this new Blu-ray edition comes with a 35-page booklet with the DVD on one side and a music CD on the other.
That glorious music!
YES, THE DIRECTOR’S CUT of AMADEUS is another film I love, and to love, and for different reasons, I also love DONNIE DARKO.
DONNIE DARKO is the textbook definition of a film that is not for everyone. This is a great example of a cult classic…and I am a happy member of that cult.
Jake Gyllenhaal from BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN and ZODIAC is Donnie, a troubled teenager who has visions of an evil, large bunny rabbit that convinces him to commit a series of crimes.
And it all happens after Donnie has narrowly escaping a very bizarre accident.
DONNIE DARKO is dark and trippy and some of it is waaaaaay out there, but I also found it a challenging and enjoyable film.
Both the theatrical version and the Director’s Cut are now available, and while I thought the original was great on it’s own, I did prefer the latter, actually, I loved them both!!
Challenge yourself, this weird little film may just surprise you!
We are going from LOVE to INDIFFERENT on this Valentine’s Day edition of The Report, and we are in between those two opposites now with three films I merely liked.
The Academy Award nominated film FROZEN RIVER is the first of those three.
FROZEN RIVER is a very small budgeted film that takes place near a little-known border crossing on the Mohawk reservation between New York State and Quebec.
Two women, both single mothers faced with desperate circumstances - are drawn into the world of border smuggling in order to provide for their kids.
Melissa Leo received an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress for her work in the movie, and she and the rest of the cast are very good.
The film is engaging, and interesting, and I liked it.
I also liked ANTWONE FISHER, when it first came out in 2002, and I liked it when I watched it again this week on Blu-ray.
This is the based-on-a-true-story of Antwone Fisher, an orphaned navy man, who comes to like himself, and put the pieces of his life back together, only after he is forced to see a psychiatrist.
Denzel Washington directed the film and co-stars as the doctor.
At times ANTWONE FISHER follows all the clichés of the patented Hollywood doctor who makes his patient better and learns about himself in the process…but the acting usually allows those scenes to stand above the clichés, and ultimately this is a film I liked.
I may never watch it again, but I liked it…and that is true with DRUMLINE as well.
DRUMLINE is another film from 2002 and this one possesses some clichés as well…the sports movie clichés…but since it takes place in a different setting, it is a likeable film.
This film is about a cocky Harlem street drummer who is recruited to play at a very strict – and quite serious - Southern university.
For me, DRUMLINE changed the way that I watched the musicians and cheer squads who appear on the field during games as I wasn’t aware how hard they worked, and for that reason, and the fact that it is a pretty good movie, I liked it.
We have covered love and liked now, lets move to the opposite end of the spectrum…indifference. I don’t hate these next two movies, but I certainly didn’t like them, so I am completely indifferent to them.
NIGHTS IN RODANTHE is the first of this week’s bottom of the barrel releases, and that is a bit of a surprise as it stars two likeable actors – Richard Gere and Diane Lane – and it is based on the book by Nicholas Sparks, who also wrote “The Notebook”, “Message in a Bottle”, “A Walk to Remember”, and several other very enjoyable books.
But this one doesn’t add up to the sum of it’s parts and thus NIGHTS IN RODANTHE is a movie to skip.
Gere plays a lonely doctor who is traveling to see his estranged son after a fatal operation.
He meets an unhappily married woman at a North Carolina inn.
Gere and Lane were so good together in the film UNFAITHFUL, but this movie just doesn’t work. If you absolutely need something of a romantic cinematic nature today, then MAYBE you will get something out of it.
But I didn’t care for it at all.
I also didn’t care for Spike Lee’s MIRACLE AT ST. ANNA. This movie is a mess!
After a very public battle with Clint Eastwood about the lack of African-Americans in Eastwood’s FLAGS OF OUR FATHER’S and LETTERS FROM IWO JIM films, Lee set out to tell this story about four black American soldiers who get trapped in a Tuscan village during WWII.
Spike’s intentions were great, but his film – based on fact and fiction - is not.
MIRACLE AT ST. ANNA is – at 160 minutes – way too long, it doesn’t focus on the most interesting characters, and the ending of it is ridiculous.
Now, that said, I will admit that there are some interesting scenes, and a few good moments, but ultimately this is a waste of time.
Unless you LOVE war movies…skip this one too.
Finally this week, I want to end with a film that I love…actually three films that I love, the BACK TO THE FUTURE trilogy!!
Previously only available in one 3 DVD set with all films, now the 1985 original, 1989’s PART II, and the 1990 conclusion – BACK TO THE FUTURE, PART III – are all available individually.
Plus, the original film is now a 2-DVD Set with several all-new retrospective features, including an interview with the Canadian star of the series, Mr. Michael J. Fox!
I love all three of these films, even the third one, and I had a great afternoon this week watching all of them back to back to back to the future!
The BACK TO THE FUTURE films are all available now, only on DVD, with a Blu-ray version rumoured for later this year.
MIRACLE AT ST. ANNA, NIGHTS IN RODANTHE DRUMLINE, ANTWONE FISHER, FROZEN RIVER, DONNIE DARKO, BEING THERE and THE DIRECTOR'S CUT OF AMADEUS Are available now as new releases on Blu-ray, and they are all available on DVD as well.
Coming up in TWO WEEKS on the next Couch Potato Report
Clint Eastwood's CHANGELING focuses on the crimes of Saskatchewan-born murderer Gordon Northcott, who was convicted in 1928 of crimes in California.
Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio star in BODY OF LIES, Robert DeNiro cinematically asks WHAT JUST HAPPENED, and we will conclude BLACK HISTORY MONTH with THE ULTIMATE MUHAMMAD ALI COLLECTION.
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!
Hugh Jackman plans for `intimate' Oscars
LOS ANGELES – Hugh Jackman says he knows the Oscars ceremony isn't about him, but he'd better enjoy it all the same.
"Celebration is the key. I'm certainly going to have a good time. If I'm not going to have a good time, how the hell is anybody else?" said Jackman, who sounded up for the job in a phone interview Friday, less than two weeks before the Feb. 22 ceremony airing on ABC.
Academy Awards producers Laurence Mark and Bill Condon have said they plan to take the ceremony in a new direction. Asking the multitalented star of "Australia" and the "X-Men" films to host was their first apparent step.
The rest of the details have been under wraps, but Jackman, who thrice soared as host of the Tony Awards, dropped a few hints — including a more "intimate" look for the ceremony's home, the Kodak Theatre.
Jackman declined to give his favorites among the contenders, with one emotional exception: the late Heath Ledger, a best supporting actor nominee for "The Dark Knight." Ledger died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs last year at the age of 28.
"I can't hide the fact that I would really love for that honor to be bestowed upon him," Jackman said of his fellow Australian. "It would be fitting and I think he deserves it."
AP: How would you compare your Tony experience to that of the Oscars?
Jackman: The Oscars is obviously a very different beast. There's a lot of hype. There's so much anticipation. ... I chatted with Steve Martin on the phone who gave me some great tips. The first five or six minutes you're going to have possibly the best audience you've ever had in your life, because all of them know they're going be on camera at any moment, none of them have lost yet and they're all sort of generally ready for a good time. He said from that point on, just move it on quickly. Just be quick.
In terms of style, there's a quantum shift happening this year, and fingers crossed we get a lot of it right. ... There's an obvious amount of business that has to happen in the night. There's 24 awards; you can't change that. But I think Oscars could do a little more of the show in show biz. I think there's been a little too much business.
AP: The producers intend to try different things. Does that add to your excitement or trepidation?
Jackman: I think it's great. ... Obviously I'm not a standup comedian and generally there's been comedians who are actors as well (who) have been doing it for the last however many years. So there's not the same pressure. I don't think people expect me to come out and do seven minutes of bang-bang-bang jokes. ... They really just encourage me to do what I feel I do best. It's a night to have a feeling of celebration, of community.
The look of the theater is very different. It's more like the nightclub of your dreams. It's very intimate. ... It's got to be a lot closer. It's been a little austere in the past. You know, there's that stage, the host being up above the stalls, looking down at everybody. ... But this is a lot more intimate. It's still spectacular, being in the Kodak Theatre. But it's a real difference in the way things are laid out.
Peter Gabriel won't perform at Oscars
Though he won't perform his nominated song, Peter Gabriel says he'll still attend the Oscar ceremony and hopes that the producers will still ask the Soweto Gospel Choir to back up his replacement.
The singer of Big Time and In Your Eyes is nominated for best song for his tune Down to Earth from Wall-E, but says in a video on his website, PeterGabriel.com, that the producers' decision to do a medley of the three nominated songs left him only 65 seconds of performance time.
"I've now decided very recently to withdraw from the ceremony," Gabriel says, adding that he'll still attend the ceremony "because it's a fun adventure."
He says in the video that it's unfortunate to give songwriters such minimal time to showcase their work, even though it's a small part of the filmmaking process. "I'm an old fart, and it's not going to do me any harm to make a little protest," he says. "But I think for some of the other artists it's not so easy."
Gabriel adds that he hopes The Soweto Gospel Choir, which accompanied him on the song, would still be allowed to perform with whoever ends up singing the song.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences declined to comment.
Tragically Hip announce new disc
The more things change, the more they remain the same for The Tragically Hip.
The veteran Canadian rockers will release their dozenth studio album, We Are the Same, on April 7, their record label announced yesterday.
Like 2006's World Container, the 12-song CD was produced and mixed by superstar producer Bob Rock. Here's the track list for We Are the Same:
1. Morning Moon
2. Honey, Please
3. The Last Recluse
4. Coffee Girl
5. Now the Struggle Has a Name
6. The Depression Suite
7. The Exact Feeling
8. Queen of the Furrows
9. Speed River
10. Frozen In My Tracks
11. Love Is a First
12. Country Day