Sony Will Bring Machete To The Masses
When he first teased his Grindhouse spin-off movie Machete, Robert Rodriguez seemed to think it would never be anything other than a direct-to-DVD feature.
The movie has since become a reality, a much bigger reality than anyone ever really imagined. The picture’s been filming in Austin with a star-studded cast including the likes of Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, and Cheech Marin, and now it has worldwide theatrical distribution. Bottom shelf DVD this isn’t.
Variety says Sony Pictures has acquired the international distribution rights to Machete, which they’ll release through their Hyde Park Entertainment appendage. Apparently the movie is also now about a police officer. How did I miss that?
No really. For some reason I’d thought it was about a Mexican assassin but Variety says the “story centers on a former Mexican police officer who turns the tables on the masterminds who double-crossed him.” I liked this idea better when I (mistakenly) thought it was about hiring illegal immigrants as hired killers. Back your pickup to Home Depot and hire a Mexican ninja is cooler than Federale revenge. It’s also not entirely a Robert Rodriguez film. He’s co-directing again, this time with Ethan Maniquis whose only previous work was as an editor on Rodriguez’s other movies.
Taxi - JUST in Time for Christmas: The 5th and Final Season Drives onto DVD
Fans have had to endure a four-year wait since the third season came to DVD, but tomorrow - September 22nd - sees the long awaited release of Taxi - The 4th Season. It made everybody wonder how long the studio would take before coming out with the 5th and last year of the classic sitcom, but CBS/Paramount isn't going to make it a long wait at all. They've flagged down a December 22nd street date for Taxi - The Final Season on DVD!
With a running time of 571 minutes long, it seems like the set will include all 23 episodes, including the double-length "clip show" from mid-season called "A Taxi Celebration". Guest stars include Marcia Wallace, Ricardo Montalban, Dick Sargent, Vincent Schiavelli, Rhea Perlman, Penny Marshall, Keenan Wynn, "Judo" Gene LeBell, ring announcer Jimmy Lennon Sr., and musician/actor Scatman Crothers, among others.
On the same release date, CBS/Paramount will also release a "complete series" bundle which takes all five seasons and shrink-wraps them together into a "brick" with no special pricing or packaging, just as a convenient way to pick up everything at once (they'll probably make a fancier complete set down the line). No further details for Taxi - The Final Season are available just yet, nor do we have package art. But stay tuned and we'll update you just as soon as we can!
Star Trek: Season Three goes Blu in December
Paramount Home Entertainment has just added a Blu-Ray Disc set of Star Trek: The Original Series: Season Three to their line-up, bringing the show’s final season to high definition in December.
Space. The Final Frontier. The U.S.S. Enterprise embarks on a five year mission to explore the galaxy. The Enterprise is under the command of Captain James T. Kirk. The First Officer is Mr. Spock, from the planet Vulcan. The Chief Medical Officer is Dr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy. With a determined crew, the Enterprise encounters Klingons, Romulans, time paradoxes, tribbles and genetic supermen lead by Khan Noonian Singh. Their mission is to explore strange new worlds, to seek new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.
In addition to presenting the show in 1080p high definition with a DTS 7.1 HD Master Audio language track, the set will once again be filled with bonus materials. Lookf or part 3 of Billy Blackburn’s Treasure chest, as well as the Unaired Alternate Pilot Episode for “Where No Fan Has Gone Before.” Further you will find numerous Featurettes on the release, including “Life Beyond Trek: Walter Koenig,” “"The Anthropology of Star Trek" ComiCon Panel 2009”, “Chief Engineer's Log • Other: "The World of Rod Roddenberry" ComiCon 2009,” “Memoir From Mr. Sulu,” “Captain's Log: Bob Justman,” and others. Further the disc set will contain Trailers and Collectible Trek and more.
“Star Trek: The Original Series: Season Three” will be in stores on December 3 for $129.99.
Doc Walker's Beautiful Life tops WCMA event
Beautiful Life continues to take Doc Walker for one helluva ride.
The song by the Manitoba trio was named country recording of the year Sunday night at the Western Canadian Music Awards.
It capped a triumphant week for band members Chris Thorsteinson, Dave Wasilyw and Murray Pulver. Doc Walker won group of the year at last week's Canadian Country Music Awards, in Vancouver.
Also from Manitoba, Winnipeg's Romi Mayes captured songwriter of the year and roots solo recording of the year — both for the song Achin in Yer Bones.
They were among 22 different artists up for awards in 14 different categories at the seventh annual show, at the Manitoba Centennial Auditorium.
Marianas Trench won pop recording of the year for Masterpiece Theatre, while rock recording of the year went to Scars and Souvenirs by Theory of a Deadman.
Krystle Dos Santos's self-titled work captured the urban recording category. Jerrold Dubyk's The Maverick was jazz recording of the year.
Steve Dawson won instrumental recording for Telescope and Eagle and Hawk's Sirensong won for aboriginal recording.
Among the other winners:
Blues recording: Big Dave McLean, Got 'em from the Bottom.
Children's recording: Bobs and Lolo, Action Packed.
Gospel recording: Steve Bell, Devotion.
Classical composition: T. Patrick Carrabre, A Hammer for Your Thoughts.
Francophone recording: Daniel ROA, Le nombril du monde.
Rap/hip hop recording: Grand Analog, Touch Your Toes.
Independent album: The Waking Eyes, Holding on to Whatever It Is.
Roots group recording: The Deep Dark Woods, Winter Hours.
Classical recording: Windrose Trio, Path of Contact.
Manitoba singer and composer Loreena McKennitt received the Hall of Fame Award for her "eclectic Celtic" music that has won critical acclaim and soaring album sales worldwide.
Sean Connery In Indiana Jones 5?
At one point there were rumors that Sean Connery would show up in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, reprising the role he last played in 1989 as Indy's father Henry Jones. Lucas and Spielberg opted instead to make Henry dead. Now they may want to bring him back.
The website Ireland Online claims to have an inside source with information on the direction being taken with the now all but inevitable Indiana Jones 5. What their shadowy, mysterious, and probably wrong scooper tells them is that Sean Connery is in. He says, “Steven Spielberg has been working on a script with George Lucas and there is an element of the story that could see Sean returning.”
Odds are this rumor’s just what it seems, a load of bunk. But where there’s Indy talk there’s always an anonymous source willing to float out the name of Sir Sean. Still the timing is rather well done. It was only a few days ago that Harrison Ford revealed Spielberg and Lucas are actively working on the fifth Indiana Jones script. It’s just a little hard to believe that after skipping Indy 4 Henry Jones might show up in it.
The fact that his character is rather dead isn’t the only obstacle to Connery’s return. Lucas can invent something, maybe blame his resurrection on midichlorians or something. But would Connery want to return? Last we heard the elderly actor was happily retired. Back in 2007 when rumors swirled that they might write him into Indiana Jones 4 Connery had this to say, “retirement is just too damned much fun.” It’s been a couple of years though and assuming the seventy-nine year old actor is still mobile, he could be getting sick of puttering around in the garage. Maybe he's bored. Maybe they’ll talk him into it and invent something to bring him back from the dead. Indiana Jones and the Zombie Dad? Can't be worse than the last one.
Ceaseless deaths of the famous mark summer `09
NEW YORK – We had been told to expect the deaths of the famous to come in threes, not in the dozens.
But all through the summer of 2009 came a ceaseless and somber drumbeat, as idols of all walks of life passed away. From Walter Cronkite to Sen. Ted Kennedy, the nonstop loss of luminaries continued almost as if a seasonal occurrence — as much a part of summer as hot dogs and humidity.
If a filmmaker were trying to capture the summer of 2009, Michael Jackson news would be playing in the background. Many thought coverage of Jackson's death was too much; a Pew Research Center poll released in July found that 64 percent of those surveyed thought the media blitz was overdone (though none could top MTV Japan, which designated an entire week of mourning for Jackson).
But news outlets went heavy on coverage for the many others who passed. Collectively, it made the constant commemorating hard to escape, especially for anyone active on social networks and the Web.
"It's relentless because of the impact of the Internet," said Adam Bernstein, the obituary editor of the Washington Post. "Twitter feeds go out. Every death seems to become more of a tempest rather than just the simple news of what it is."
Hayes Ferguson, the chief operating officer of Legacy.com, a site dedicated to providing a way for readers to express memories and condolences, believes media and technology can offer comfort to those grieving.
"People are able to reminisce and collect their thoughts after reviewing career highlights of prolific artists such as Michael Jackson," said Ferguson. "The number of Kennedy and Jackson tributes has been particularly large but there is a demand for this type of information."
Even with the media-inflated memorials, the parade of deaths was unusual. The phrase "summer of death" popped up, perhaps first used by New York magazine, which cheekily claimed the trademark. There's no particular reason for such an aberration; the death rate is typically higher during winter.
Early May saw the passing of the beloved Dom DeLuise, 75. But the portly entertainer was only a springtime harbinger of what was to follow.
On June 4, the "Kung Fu" actor David Carradine, 72, was found dead in a Bangkok hotel room. On June 23, Ed McMahon, the loyal "Tonight" show sidekick to Johnny Carson, died at the age of 86.
Just two days later, two icons of Generation X died. First was the news that Farrah Fawcett, the `70s sex symbol and "Charlie's Angels" star had died of cancer at 62. Late in the day, came the more unbelievable reports that Jackson had died.
Jackson's cultural importance alone would have been enough to keep his passing in the news cycle for weeks. But the complex nature of his estate and the murky details surrounding his death (eventually labeled a homicide by the medical examiner's office) insured Jackson remained on front pages and on cable news crawls. He was only buried on Sept. 3. Prosecutors are still investigating.
Before the end of June, the TV pitchman Billy Mays died. Like Jackson, he was just 50.
Early July saw the passing of Robert S. McNamara, 93. The Pentagon chief who directed the escalation of the Vietnam War — and was vilified by many for it.
Cronkite, who memorably commented in 1968 that Vietnam appeared an unwinnable stalemate, died on July 17. A voice of authority and the premier TV anchorman of the century, Cronkite's death was felt across journalism.
Don Hewitt, the TV news pioneer who created "60 Minutes" and was, like Cronkite, a CBS legend, died later in the summer on Aug. 19. That was just a day after the passing of political columnist Robert Novack.
Two days after Cronkite's death was Frank McCourt's. The teacher and "Angela's Ashes" author, died of cancer at the age of 78. Perhaps more than anyone, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer blazed the trail of the popular modern memoir.
August saw the death of writer-director John Hughes, whose films such as "The Breakfast Club," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and "Sixteen Candles" defined `80s youth. Hughes was 59.
On Aug. 11, Eunice Kennedy Shriver died. Famous to some for being the sister of President John F. Kennedy, Shriver's great accomplishment was founding the Special Olympics.
Two days later, Les Paul died at the age of 94. His contributions to music can't be underestimated; he developed multitrack recording and the solid-body electric guitar.
And just two weeks after Shriver's death, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy died at his home in Hyannis Port at the age of 77 after battling a brain tumor. The liberal lion of the Senate served for 46 years in Washington where he helped pass countless laws on many parts of civic life, from civil rights to health care.
The glamorous New York author Dominick Dunne, who specialized in stories about the rich and famous, died on Aug. 26 at the age of 83. Two days later followed DJ AM, the 36-year-old celebrity disc jockey.
"It feels like there's a lot of interest in celebrities — maybe more interest now than there used to be," said Claire Noland, obituary editor of The Los Angeles Times. "Any time you have someone that's even a moderate celebrity, they make more news now than maybe they would have before."
Last week, Patrick Swayze. The "Dirty Dancing" actor, 57, lost his long fight with pancreatic cancer. But even he wasn't the last.
With just days of summer officially remaining, perhaps — and hopefully — the last star to pass away in the summer of '09 was Mary Travers, who was one-third of the `60s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary. She died Wednesday at the age of 72 after battling leukemia for several years.
And that summary still omits the passings of many others, including TV actress Gale Storm, Academy Award-winning actor Karl Malden, music manager Allen Klein, former NFL quarterback Steve McNair, British conductor Sir Edward Downes, the jazz composer George Russell, and Merce Cunningham, the avant-garde dancer and choreographer.
Together, those who died in the summer of 2009 came from seemingly every phase of life. Among them were titans of the news business, moviemaking, television, politics, music and literature.
No one who ever picked up a guitar, danced to "Thriller," watched a quality TV news broadcast, read a gripping memoir or laughed through a coming-of-age comedy could have failed to feel the loss.
Autumn can't come soon enough.
The Couch Potato Report - September 19th, 2009
This week The Couch Potato Report peels a comic book film about a Canadian superhero and some DVDs that were dead on arrival!
The film that started the Summer Movie Season off back in May is now available for you to watch in your homes, and it is our Hot Potato this week.
There have been four now, films based on the X-MEN Marvel Comics characters who are human mutants, each with unique special powers.
The first two X-MEN AND X2 or X-MEN: UNITED - both directed by Bryan Singer - were spectacular!
They were so good, and made the characters so popular, that at least one spin-off film was inevitable, and now we have the first one.
It is called X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE
WOLVERINE grossed $180 million at the box office, and was the Number Seven film of the summer, but man, what a mediocre movie.
Hugh Jackman's character has been so appealing and interesting, that this film seemed like an easy slam dunk, a walk-off home run in extra innings, an overtime goal in game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals, a double-raise jam that rolls to the button for the winning point with the hammer in the 10th end!!
It seemed like there was no way that they could mess it up...this film had box office success written all over it!!
But mess it up, they did, primarily by hiring the wrong director.
Gavin Hood's previous films were the Best Foreign Film Oscar winner Tsotsi (2005) and the boring drama Rendition (2007). Yes, his talents brought emotional weight to the dramatic scenes, but he wasn't able to elevate the majority of the action filled ones to a higher plain...that plain where you see a stunt or scene and think - cool!!!
I don't know anyone who went to see WOLVERINE for it's dramatic elements, and I also don't know anyone who went to see Danny Huston play the villain, Colonel William Stryker.
Huston has been okay in films like The Kingdom, The Number 23, Children of Men, Marie Antoinette and The Aviator, but he just does not have the acting weight or talent to pull off playing a guy you could - in any way - believe would best the superhero who the film is named after.
Yes, despite the wrong director and actior playing the bad guy - I admit, there is a lot to like about WOLVERINE, and not just the fact that he is Canadian.
Liev Schreiber is great as his half-brother, the very beautiful Lynn Collins is sympathetic and passionate as his love interest, and Vancouver born Ryan Reynolds is both menacing and entertaining, but as a whole this film just isn't very good.
However, because those first two X-MEN films were sooo good...I, as someone who is a huge fan of these sorts of films, am willing to overlook the mediocrity.
No, WOLVERINE offers absolutely nothing new, and for the most part just shows us what we found out in the second film...but if you like these types of films, and have seen the other X-MEN movies, then it is a must see.
Otherwise, it is a must skip.
Oh, and if you do watch it...make sure you stay with the film until AFTER the credits.
There is a new feature here on the Report that I will debut for you in a couple of minutes, but before those movies that arrived DOA, let me focus on a show that focuses on people who are dead on arrival.
FRINGE is a television show that is sort of a cross between The X-Files and The Twilight Zone, combined with the film Altered States.
It was co-created by J.J. Abrams, who also gave us ALIAS and LOST.
It is about an unorthodox team, lead by a female FBI agent who works with an institutionalized scientist and his son in order to solve cases that all seem to be connected to a growing series of unexplained phenomena.
FRINGE is a very entertaining show that has a great cast, including Canadian Joshua Jackson from DAWSON'S CREEK, and it is kooky, creepy, odd and interesting...and sometimes it is even all of those things at the same time.
Each episode stands on it's own, but I especially like how everything is also part of a season long storyline that has a great payoff.
FRINGE - THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON is a 7 DVD and 5 Blu-ray Set that I really enjoyed!
THE WES CRAVEN COLLECTION is a two-disc DVD set that I also enjoyed, even though it doesn't contain the master director of horror film's best known work.
That would be THE NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and SCREAM films, but I digress as this COLLECTION does still provide us with some great horror moments through the - entertaining in their own right - films THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW, SHOCKER and THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS.
THE WES CRAVEN COLLECTION is primarily for people who saw those films when they first came out, and have just never picked them up on DVD. Well, now you can...and you can get all of the chills and horrific moments they offer, all for about twenty bucks.
It is time for a new feature here on The Report now, and its called DOA DVDs.
Sadly, not every film that is made can be good...even with the best intentions, some films are just not worthy of your time.
And that fact can be subjective. I know I have loved films that you have hated, and vice versa.
But, from time to time there are awful films that do get released, with casts full of people whose work we love and usually look forward to seeing, that are absolutely awful, and they are the films that are DEAD ON ARRIVAL, and are DOA DVDs.
I'll watch them, so you don't have to, and from time to time I'll warm you about them.
This week, I'll warn you about three of them, starting with a film that even the star of it thinks is bad.
Sienna Miller, the late David Carradine, Scott Glenn and James Franco from PINEAPPLE EXPRESS and the SPIDER-MAN films star in CAMILLE, and when Franco was being interviewed on BBC Radio he told Edith Bowman he was shocked it was even coming out and that it was "not good".
He was right, CAMILLE is DOA and you should ignore this one about a young newlywed couple on their way to Niagara Falls at all costs.
The same is true for THE INFORMERS. This one has a cast made up of Academy Award winners Billy Bob Thornton and Kim Basinger, along with Mickey Rourke, Winona Ryder, Amber Heard and Chris Isaak, and it is based on the book by Bret Easton Ellis, who also wrote the screenplay.
Like most of Ellis' work, THE INFORMERS is about excess in the eighties, and it is a stiff. Not worthy of even another word!
So lets move on to our final DOA DVD this week, the film DEAD GIRL.
This absultely awful film is about two teenagers who find an imprisoned woman in an abandoned mental asylum who cannot die.
The things they do to her, the things this film is about...it is dead on arrival. I can't beleive this one even got made, but it did, and you will see it in your local store, and you have been warned. Stay away from DEAD GIRL, it is a DOA DVD.
How about some laughs now? Enough with the DOAs, let's laugh.
Those laughs, and many, many others, can be found in the four DVD Box Set for the COMPLETE SECOND SEASON of THE BIG BANG THEORY.
This is the show that was about a beautiful woman who moved in across the hall from two male science geeks, exposing their inabilities to communicate with the opposite sex, but in season two it just became a show ith a great ensemble cast that provided some great pop culture references, and more that a few laughs.
THE BIG BANG THEORY - THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON was so much fun, that I am really looking forward to watching SEASON THREE. And I might not even wait for the DVDs...I might actually watch it on TV when it airs.
And one thing is for sure, I will always sit through the show's opening credits, with the theme song from the Barenaked Ladies!!
Finally this week, the BLU-RAY BEACON shines it's light on two westerns with ensemble casts, one from 1985 and the other from 1995.
The one from the eighties is the great SILVERADO, about a group of cowboys who decide to fight the injustices that are taking place in a small town.
It stars Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, Kevin Costner, Danny Glover and Mr. John Cleese
SILVERADO remains a great film with a cast full of people I like and admire and the Blu-ray comes with some nice retrospective features.
Sam Raimi's 1995 film THE QUICK AND THE DEAD also has a great cast, but that film just doesn't gel as well, and in the end it isn't a good.
THE QUICK AND THE DEAD stars Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, Leonardo DiCaprio and Gary Sinise.
It is a film that was made by people who admire and respect westerns, and it looks good in high definition on Blu-ray, but it isn't one that I liked when it first came out, and I can't say I like it now. I admire it...but I'll probably never see it again.
The Blu-ray westerns THE QUICK AND THE DEAD and SILVERADO, the DOA DVS CAMILLE and THE INFORMERS and the great COMPLETE FIRST SEASON of FRINGE and the mediocre summer action film WOLVERINE are all now available on Blu-ray and DVD.
The DOA DVD DEAD GIRL, the inexpensive horror release THE WES CRAVEN COLLECTION with THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW, SHOCKER and THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS and the very funny COMPLETE SECOND SEASON of THE BIG BANG THEORY all available now, only on DVD.
Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report
Canadian actor and writer Seth Rogan stars in the mis-fire OBSERVE AND REPORT, Jenniger Garner and Matthew McConaughey topline THE GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST, Jessica Biel takes on Noel Coward in EASY VIRTUE and there are laughs aplenty in SEASON THREE of 30 ROCK.
I'm Dan Reynish. I'll have more on those, and several 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!