The Couch Potato Report - October 10th, 2009
This week The Couch Potato Report peels a Winnipeggers life, in ruins
year one, and Degrassi goes Hollywood.
If you have ever wondered what Winnipeg born actress and writer Nia Vardalos has been doing since the worldwide success of her 2020 film MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING, well her film became a short lived television series called MY BIG FAT GREEK LIFE that tried to capture the spirit of the original.
It failed.
Then she wrote and co-starred in the film CONNIE AND CARLA.
And it also failed.
Nia then took a break from her career to deal with what she has called "...the end of her 10-year battle with infertility." and she and her husband adopted a baby.
That was almost two years ago, and her daughter is now almost 4-years-old.
During her hiatus she was asked to write a script for Tom Hanks, who was one of the co-producers of MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING.
She wrote six scripts, and one of them is the film that returned her to movie screens back in June.
It is called MY LIFE IN RUINS.
Nia plays an American tour guide living in Greece, and even though she is surrounded by life and beauty every day, she is searching for her "kefi" - a Greek word that has been described as the spirit of joy, passion, enthusiasm, high spirits, or frenzy.
Nia's latest tour group is a mixture of characters that you would only see on a television sitcom, they never come acrross as real people and that hurts the film.
What also works against it is how utterly predictable it is - especially the scenes with the great Richard Dreyfuss - and the fact that Nia is overacting during most of her scenes.
However, if you like Nia Vardalos - which I do - and you are in the mood for some light-hearted entertainment, then you might enjoy MY LIFE IN RUINS.
I didn't love it, but I liked it, and so I say Opa!!
I doubt there is anyone who will get any enjoyment out of this next film. I won't call it a DOA DVD - a film that is dead on arrival - as I actually laughed a couple of times - but that said, this is still a horrible, horrible movie!
It is called YEAR ONE and it stars Jack Black from TROPIC THUNDER and KUNG FU PANDA and Michael Cera from JUNO and the TV series ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT.
They play two cavemen who are kicked out of their tribe who wander through a series of biblical events - specifically Cain and Abel, Abraham preparing to smite his son Isaac, and everybody converging on Sodom.
Sadly, YEAR ONE is not funny...when you watch the behind the scenes features or listen to the commentary the stars and director think it is funny...but the movie just is not funny.
And that director...Harold Ramis!!! The man who gave us CADDYSHACK, GROUNDHOG DAY, ANALYZE THIS and many great comedies over the years knows funny, he knows comedy.
Or at least he used to.
YEAR ONE is awful, and you should just skip it.
I mentioned that YEAR ONE is not a DOA DVD - a film that is soo bad it is only worthy of a mention because the film's stars are appealing - however VISIONEERS is a movie that is Dead On Arrival.
This film is only coming out due to the success this summer of THE HANGOVER. Zach Galifianakis - who played the guy with the beard in that film - stars here and even if you thoroughly enjoyed his work in that film...this movie is a complete waste of your time.
The filmmakers think that it is a one of a kind, irreverant comedic classic.
It isn't!
VISIONEERS is a DOA DVD!! If you see it, I suggest that you keep walking!!
I would also suggest that many of you keep walking if you happen to see DEGRASSI GOES HOLLYWOOD on a shelf...however, it isn't a DOA DVD because I know that it will probably appeal to fans of the show....which I am not...and people who fit within the show's target demo...teenage girls...which I am not.
That said, I thought that DEGRASSI GOES HOLLYWOOD was awful, and it actually made me lose some respect for two of the people in it.
Specifically Kevin Smith and Jason Mews...who have been in and been the creators of films like CLERKS, MALLRATS, DOGMA and CHASING AMY.
What are they doing in this thing?!?!
Okay, I know why they are in it...Smith has long decalred his love for the show - even naming characters in his films after them - and he has appeared on it before...but did he not read the script for this thing?!!?
In DEGRASSI GOES HOLLYWOOD the Degrassi students venture to Los Angeles to try and get parts in a film directed by Jason Mewes that is being produced by Kevin Smith.
Now if - and only if - you love the show, then DEGRASSI GOES HOLLYWOOD is for you. If you don't, then it is not.
I have a film from France to tell you about next. SUMMER HOURS is about two brothers and a sister who have to deal with the passing of their mother, and their own childhood memories as they are forced to decide what to do with their Mother's estate after she dies.
SUMMER HOURS does move a little slow, and the ending isn't as strong as I was hoping, however this is a very interesting film.
And so is THE BROTHERS BLOOM. It is also very interesting. It is also clever at times, and at others very smart.
This movie stars Academy Award winners Rachel Weisz and Adrien Brody, along with Mark Ruffalo from ZODIAC.
The men play brothers, who are also con men who swindle millions through complex scenarios of lust and intrigue.
For their final job, they try and con an eccentric heiress.
THE BROTHERS BLOOM is not great, but I liked it. If quirky is your cup of tea, this is a good rental.
We are off to Columbia now for a fascinating movie!!
PVC-1 was inspired by a true story about a pipe bomb that was placed around the neck of an extortion victim.
The victim then has to walk across town, unaware of how long she has before it explodes, where the police will try and defuse it.
The story in PVC-1 is interesting all on it's own as you watch - in real time - to see what will happen to this poor woman with a bomb around her neck...but what elevates it to another level is the fact that the whole 84 minute movie - from start to finish - is one shot.
There are no cuts, no edits, none of that, it is just one shot.
PVC-a is a well written, well acted movie that I thought was great!.
The 1994 film WOLF starring Jack Nicholson and Michelle Pfeiffer is also well written and well acted, but I've never thought that it was great, or even very good.
This story about a book publisher who is fighting to keep his job, while he also seems to be turning into a wolf is okay, but with the talent involved, I always thought it was a bit of a misfire.
WOLF is now available on Blu-ray and there are absolutely no Special Features or retrospective looks back. Plus, the film's transfer to High Definition is not as good as most of them are, so this disc is for true fans of the film only.
And then there is the final release I have for you this week.
WOLF doesn't hold up 15 years after it's release.
SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS does...72 years after it was first shown to audiences.
The BLU RAY BEACON this week shines on the spectacular DIAMOND EDITION of Snow White.
The film itself continues to be the focal point as it does not have a wasted minute and there is an abundance of Special Features - Brand New and old - that take you even further into the artistic process that created it.
SNOW WHITE is one of those films that will live forever, and now in High Definition, it looks and sound better than ever before.
This one is both a classic AND a masterpiece!!
The superb SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS, the not great WOLF, the quirky con-men movie THE BROTHERS BLOOM, the not funny, not funny at all "comedy" YEAR ONE and MY LIFE IN RUINS, starring Winnipeg born Nia Vardalos from MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDINg are available on Blu-ray and DVD.
VISIONEERS, PVC-1, SUMMER HOURS, DEGRASSI GOES TO HOLLYWOOD are all available now only on DVD.
Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report
ANVIL - THE STORY OF ANVIL is a superb documentary about a Canadian band who are still trying to make it big, over 30 years after they first started.
Also next week, THE END OF THE LINE is a documentary about how many fish there are actually left in the ocean, we'll call a cab for TAXI - THE COMPLETE FOURTH SEASON, get ready for Halloween with DRAG ME TO HELL and THE CRAFT, and the BLU RAY BEACON will shine on SOUTH PARK: BIGGER, LONGER AND UNCUT.
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!
...Jackson's 'This Is It' single to debut online
NEW YORK (AP) The first song from the upcoming Michael Jackson music documentary will make its debut online.
Sony Music says This Is It will have its premiere late Sunday, at midnight, (0400 GMT Monday) on www.MichaelJackson.com.
The song plays during the closing sequence of Michael Jackson's This Is It and will be included on a companion two-disc CD set. The unreleased single features backup vocals by Michael's brothers, The Jacksons.
The documentary opens Oct. 28 for a two-week limited run and was built around rehearsal footage for Jackson's planned London concerts. He died in Los Angeles on June 25.
The CD features original album masters of some of Jackson's biggest hits, including Thriller and Billie Jean. They're in the same sequence as they appear in the film.
Aye Carumba! Marge Simpson poses for Playboy cover
CHICAGO Aye Carumba!
Marge Simpson has done something that Homer might not like but will make Bart the proudest kid in his school: She's posed for Playboy magazine.
After more than a half century featuring women like Marilyn Monroe, Cindy Crawford and the Girls of Hooters on its cover, Playboy has for the first time given the spot to a cartoon character.
And the magazine is giving the star of "The Simpsons" the star treatment, complete with a data sheet, an interview and a 2-page centerfold.
The magazine's editorial director, James Jellinek, won't say exactly how much of Marge will show in the November edition that hits newsstands on Oct. 16 or whether she lets that big pile of blue hair down. But, he said, "It's very, very racy."
But he stressed that the mother of three the youngest a baby, by the way has a lot to be proud of.
"She is a stunning example of the cartoon form," he said on Friday at the magazine's headquarters in Chicago, appearing both pleased and surprised at the words coming out of his mouth.
For Playboy, which has seen its circulation slip from 3.15 million to 2.6 million since 2006, putting Marge on the cover was designed to attract younger readers to a magazine where the median age of readers is 35, while not alienating older readers.
"We knew that this would really appeal to the 20-something crowd," said Playboy spokeswoman Theresa Hennessey.
The magazine also hopes to turn the November issue into a collectors' item by featuring Marge, sitting on a chair in the shape of the iconic Playboy bunny, on the cover of only the magazines sold in newsstands. Subscribers get a more traditional model on the cover.
"It's so rare in today's digital age where you have the opportunity to send people to the newsstand to pick something up," Jellinek said.
Playboy even convinced 7-Eleven to carry the magazine in its 1,200 corporate-owned stores, something the company has only done once before in more than 20 years.
"We love Marge," said 7-Eleven spokesman Margaret Chabris.
For those who do collect the magazine and they're out there the cover will bring to mind another first for the magazine that occurred in 1971 when a black woman appeared on the cover in exactly the same pose and, like Marge, smiling under an impressive head of hair.
"We knew it was something all of our readers would get a kick out of," said Hennessey.
Jellinek said putting Marge on the cover, while unusual, made perfect sense. For one thing, the cover celebrates the 20th anniversary of the TV show. Further, he said there was an episode in which "Marge bears all," which suggested the at she, or at least the people who drew her, would be comfortable with the Playboy treatment.
Perhaps most important, the idea seemed like a good one to the magazine's founder, Hugh Hefner.
"He's a huge 'Simpsons' fan,' said Jellinek. "He's been on 'The Simpsons.'"
Gasps as Obama awarded Nobel Peace Prize
OSLO The announcement drew gasps of surprise and cries of too much, too soon. Yet President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday because the judges found his promise of disarmament and diplomacy too good to ignore.
The five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee four of whom spoke to The Associated Press, said awarding Obama the peace prize could be seen as an early vote of confidence intended to build global support for the policies of his young administration.
They lauded the change in global mood wrought by Obama's calls for peace and cooperation, and praised his pledges to reduce the world stock of nuclear arms, ease U.S. conflicts with Muslim nations and strengthen its role in combating climate change.
"Some people say and I understand it 'Isn't it premature? Too early?' Well, I'd say then that it could be too late to respond three years from now," Thorbjoern Jagland, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, told the AP. "It is now that we have the opportunity to respond all of us."
Jagland said the committee whittled down a record pool of 205 nominations and had "several candidates until the last minute," but it became more obvious that "we couldn't get around these deep changes that are taking place" under Obama.
Obama said he was surprised and deeply humbled by the honor, and planned to travel to Oslo in December to accept the prize.
"Let me be clear: I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations," he said at the White House. "To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honored by this prize."
Obama will donate the $1.4 million cash award that comes with the prize to charity.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, who won the prize in 1984, said the decision showed that great things are expected from Obama and "wonderful recognition" of his effort to reach out to the Arab world after years of hostility.
"It is an award that speaks to the promise of President Obama's message of hope," Tutu said.
Many were shocked by the unexpected choice so early in a presidency that began less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline for the prize and has yet to yield concrete achievements in peacemaking.
"So soon? Too early. He has no contribution so far. He is only beginning to act," said former Polish President Lech Walesa, who won the peace prize in 1983.
Some around the world objected to the choice of Obama, who still oversees wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and has launched deadly counterterrorism strikes in Pakistan and Somalia.
Jagland told AP that while the war in Afghanistan was a concern, the Obama administration "immediately started to reassess the strategy."
"That itself is important, because when something goes wrong, then you need to ask yourself why is it going wrong," he said.
Obama said he was working to end the war in Iraq and "to confront a ruthless adversary that directly threatens the American people and our allies" in Afghanistan, where he is seriously considering increasing the number of U.S. troops on the ground and asking for help from others as the war enters its ninth year.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi in Afghanistan condemned the Nobel committee's decision, saying Obama had only escalated the war and had "the blood of the Afghan people on his hands."
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki called the Nobel decision "hasty."
"The appropriate time for awarding such a prize is when foreign military forces leave Iraq and Afghanistan and when one stands by the rights of the oppressed Palestinian people," he was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency.
Aagot Valle, a lawmaker for the Socialist Left party who joined the Nobel committee this year, said she hoped the selection would be viewed as "support and a commitment for Obama."
"And I hope it will be an inspiration for all those that work with nuclear disarmament and disarmament," she told AP in a rare interview. Members of the committee usually speak only through its chairman.
The peace prize was created partly to encourage ongoing peace efforts, but Obama's efforts are at far earlier stages than those of past winners, and the committee acknowledged they may not bear fruit at all.
"If everything goes wrong, then one cannot say that this was because of Barack Obama," Jagland said. "It could be that it is because of us, all the others, that didn't respond. But I cannot exclude that Barack Obama also can contribute to the eventual failure."
In Europe and much of the world, Obama is praised for bringing the U.S. closer to mainstream global thinking on such issues as climate change and multilateralism. A 25-nation poll of 27,000 people released in July by the Pew Global Attitudes Project found double-digit boosts to the percentage of people viewing the U.S. favorably in countries around the world. That indicator had plunged across the world under President George W. Bush.
The award appeared to be at least partly a slap at Bush from a committee that harshly criticized Obama's predecessor for his largely unilateral military action in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
"Those who were in support of Bush in his belief in war solving problems, on rearmament, and that nuclear weapons play an important role ... probably won't be happy," said Valle.
At home, the picture is more complicated. Obama is often criticized by his political opponents as he attempts to carry out his agenda from government spending to health care to Afghanistan.
Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele said Obama won because of his "star power" rather than meaningful accomplishments.
"The real question Americans are asking is, 'What has President Obama actually accomplished?'" Steele said.
Drawing criticism from some on the left, Obama has been slow to bring troops home from Iraq and the real end of the U.S. military presence there won't come until at least 2012.
The Nobel committee said it paid special attention to Obama's vision of a nuclear-free world, laid out in a speech in Prague and in April and at the United Nations last month.
Former Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, said Obama has already provided outstanding leadership on nuclear non-proliferation.
"He has shown an unshakable commitment to diplomacy, mutual respect and dialogue as the best means of resolving conflicts," ElBaradei said.
In July talks in Moscow, Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed that their negotiators would work out a new limit on delivery vehicles for nuclear warheads of between 500 and 1,100. They also agreed that warhead limits would be reduced from the current range of 1,700-2,200 to as low as 1,500. The U.S. now has about 2,200 such warheads, compared to about 2,800 for the Russians.
There has been no word on whether either side has started to act on the reductions.
Obama also has tried to restart stalled Mideast talks with no progress yet reported.
In the Gaza Strip, leaders of the radical Hamas movement said they had heard Obama's speeches on better relations with the Islamic world but had not been moved.
"We are in need of actions, not sayings," Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said. "If there is no fundamental and true change in American policies toward the acknowledgment of the rights of the Palestinian people, I think this prize won't move us forward or backward."
Obama has said that battling climate change is a priority. Yet the U.S. seems likely to head into crucial international negotiations set for Copenhagen in December with Obama-backed legislation still stalled in Congress.
Unlike the other Nobel Prizes, which are awarded by Swedish institutions, the peace prize is given out by the five-member committee elected by the Norwegian Parliament. Like the Parliament, the panel has a leftist slant, with three members elected by left-of-center parties and two right-of-center members. Jagland said the decision to honor Obama was unanimous.
The secretive committee declined to say who nominated Obama. In Nobel tradition, nominations are kept secret for 50 years, unless those making the submissions go public about their picks. This year's nominations included Colombian activist Piedad Cordoba, Afghan woman's rights activist Simi Samar and Denis Mukwege, a physician in war-torn Congo who opened a clinic to help rape victims.
Nominators for the prize are broad and include former laureates; current and former members of the committee and their staff; members of national governments and legislatures; university professors of law, theology, social sciences, history and philosophy; leaders of peace research and foreign affairs institutes; and members of international courts of law.
Obama is the third sitting U.S. president to win the award: President Theodore Roosevelt won in 1906 and President Woodrow Wilson was awarded the prize in 1919.
In his 1895 will, Alfred Nobel stipulated that the peace prize should go "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses."