L.A. critics honor Iraq war movie "Hurt Locker"
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – "The Hurt Locker," an independent movie about a team of American bomb-disposal experts serving in Iraq, was named the year's best picture by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association on Sunday.
The movie also won the directing prize for Kathryn Bigelow, who ended a seven-year break from feature filmmaking with the acclaimed saga.
As with most other Iraq War-themed movies, "The Hurt Locker" failed to muster mainstream support. It grossed about $13 million at the North American box office.
The Los Angeles critics' top acting prizes went to Jeff Bridges for playing a bad-boy country singer in "Crazy Heart" and Belgian actress Yolande Moreau for her title role as a French painter in "Seraphine."
Austrian veteran Christoph Waltz was named best supporting actor for his chilling performance as a calculating Nazi with a disarming smile in Quentin Tarantino's revenge fantasy "Inglourious Basterds."
Comedienne Mo'Nique was honored for her supporting turn as the abusive mother of an overweight incest survivor in "Precious."
The Los Angeles critics are not normally considered an Oscar bellwether, although their best actor choices have gone on to win the Academy Award for the past four years. On the other hand, the last film to win best picture from both groups was 1993's "Schindler's List."
Separately on Sunday, "The Hurt Locker" was also named one of the year's 10 best movies by the American Film Institute, a Los Angeles-based group that promotes movie conservation and education.
Its annual list names the movies in alphabetical order. The others were "Coraline," "The Hangover," "The Messenger," "Precious," "A Serious Man," "A Single Man," "Sugar," "Up" and "Up in the Air."
The Couch Potato Report - December 13th, 2009
The Couch Potato Report is about to peel box sets, multiple disc sets, and offers some gift ideas!
The Holiday season is upon us, and so the studios have been releasing a wide array of gift boxes, series collections and celebratory sets in hopes that you'll decide they will make a great gift idea for someone you love, or to complete your own collection.
So, if you need some ideas, I have nine new releases to tell you about this morning, starting with the Canadian one, or the Canadiens one, if you will.
100 YEARS OF THE MONTREAL CANADIENS is a four disc box set that has over four hours of stories, game action, and historical footage from the team that just celebrated it's centennial.
The centerpiece of the set is a feature length documentary called "100 Years Of Glory - The History Of The Montreal Canadianes 1909-2009" and it is narrated by Viggo Mortenson, from the LORD OF THE RINGS films.
The other three discs look at the Habs' "24 Stanley Cup Championships", the "Dynasties and Rivalries" and "The Immortals - The Greatest Players."
100 YEARS OF THE MONTREAL CANADIENS is a must have for any fans of the Habs, but I can't recommend it otherwise, and that is not because I am a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs...it is because even though they had 100 Years of history to work with, this box set - and especially the documentary, leaves a lot of it out - good and bad.
There is no mention of the 1976-77 season when the team only lost 8 games all year, no mention of the game where Patrick Roy was shelled and said he'd never play for the team again, and if those omissions weresn't bad enough...the majority of the players who made up the legendary teams this set is celebrating, are absent!
Sure, a few of them are featured in the main documentary, but most of them are not. You have to go to the other discs to find Ken Dryden and Scotty Bowman for instance.
And Viggo Mortenson, who professes to be a huge and passionate fan of the team...offers boring, mundane narration.
All that stuff aside, like I said, 100 YEARS OF THE MONTREAL CANADIENS is a must have for any fans of the Habs, however, with such a tremendous hockey legacy to commemorate and celebrate, it had been my hope that it was going to be a must have for any fans of hockey.
But it isn't...and that is my review.
Love that song, and if you were a fan of the television series Ally McBeal when it aired from 1997 to 2002, I bet you love that show's theme song.
It has taken a long time, but ALLY MCBEAL is finally available on DVD. The hold up was the music rights, for that song and the many others that were performed in the series over the years, a series about a woman named Ally McBeal that starred Calista Flockhart in the title role.
She was a lawyer working in a Boston law firm with people whose cases, lives and loves were eccentric, humorous and dramatic.
So if you have been waiting for this show to come out on DVD...here you go! ALLY MCBEAL - THE COMPLETE SERIES is a 32 disc Box Set that features every episode, with every joke, every dramatic twist and turn, and above all else...every Fish-ism.
There are also some great retrospective features, and unlike the Montreal Canadiens Box Set, the producers of this set brought back the principal players!!
I wasn't a regular viewer of ALLY McBEAL when it aired, but I did watch it from time to time, and it remains a very fun and entertaining show...this is a great Box Set!!
Another great DVD Box Set that might make a great gift is FUTURAMA - THE COMPLETE COLLECTION...and in addition to the great episodes of the TV show I love, the discs come housed in a plastic Bender head...bender being the robot from the show...the 18 discs all come in a case that is his head.
I love the show even more for that!!
FUTURAMA was created by Matt Groening after the success of THE SIMPSONS and it is about Fry, a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, who is frozen for a thousand years and wakes up in the 31st century.
It aired from 1999 to 2003.
FUTURAMA - THE COMPLETE COLLECTION - in addition to the Bender head packaging - includes all four volumes of Futurama, as well as the four feature-length films they made after the series ended.
As a fan of the show, I had all of the DVDs already, but when I heard about this set, this was the one I wanted to keep in my collection.
If you know someone who is a fan...you now have one left gift idea to come up with.
You're welcome!
From BIG, celebratory Box Sets, lets move now to single season sets that have recently been released...and we'll start with Royalty.
The King....no, not the television royalty from THE TUDORS, I'll get to them in a second, I meant the Queen!
Yes, Mary, Murray, Lou and Ted are all back in THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON of THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW!!
SEASON FIVE is the one where Mary Goes to Prison, Lou has to deal with Ted after Ted endorses a candidate during a broadcast, and Ted reacts when Lou gambles away their football pool winnings.
Its also the one that offers more huge laughs!
SEASON SIX of THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW is coming out in January, but THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON is available now.
Okay, from TV's Queen, lets go to the King now.
Specifically, King Henry the 8th.
The Tudors envisions Henry VIII as a young man of both passion and ambition, driven by boundless sexual energy and the desire to establish a legacy early in his monarchy.
Jonathan Rhys Meyers is back as The King in THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON and once again we are treated to a unique re-telling of history full of incredible costumes and period set pieces and storylines.
THE TUDORS remains a great guilty pleasure for me, and with only 8 episodes, this year went by too fast.
If you have seen the first two seasons - either on CBC Television or DVD - don't miss THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON of THE TUDORS!!
THE TUDORS is a show that I do usually watch, because I enjoy it.
Admittedly, I do enjoy the series BONES as well, but it isn't one I watch on a regular basis. Some friends of mine and my sister watch it, so when I visit them, I see it, but otherwise I don't.
However, I sat down to look at the episodes of BONES - SEASON FOUR this week that I hadn't seen, and - like I said - I do enjoy it!
BONES is a procedural crime drama that is based on forensics, with each episode focusing on an FBI case file concerning the mystery behind found human remains.
Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz head up a great ensemble cast, and if you - or someone you love has been looking for a new TV show to watch, how about BONES - SEASON FOUR?
Stewie from FAMILY GUY even makes a guest appearance this season.
Or, if you are looking for a fantastic new TV sho wto watch, and you have not seen the BBC show LIFE ON MARS, well...let me HIGHLY recommend LIFE ON MARS!!
LIFE ON MARS is about a Police Detective who is hit by a car in 2006, and wakes up in 1973.
In addition to solving the mystery of why he is now there, he also has to solve cases with his new unit as well.
There was only two seasons of LIFE ON MARS filmed by the BBC, and now the second one - SERIES TWO - is available as a tremendous 4 disc Box Set.
LIFE ON MARS mixes the genres of science fiction, police procedural, and time travel...and I think it is a spectacular show, and I highly recommend it!!
And make sure you get the original British version of the show...the American remake just wasn't as good.
Up next is a new Gift Set for the stop-motion animated film CORALINE.
CORALINE is a teenager who has just moved to an old house in the middle of nowhere with her writer parents.
When she finds an old hidden door, she convinces her mother to unlock it, only to find a wall of bricks.
But that night, the bricks magically disappear and she discovers a pathway to another world where everything is just what she wishes for.
But...be careful what you wish for!!
The director of CORALINE is Henry Selick, the man who gave us THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS and JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH and he once again populates a film with unique, oddball characters and sets.
This is a fun, family film, and the new GIFT SET includes the 2-Disc Collector’s Edition DVD; Plus 4 pairs of 3-D glasses; and a book.
The box set for SEASON ONE of ELVIS COSTELLO'S SHOW SPECTACLE doesn't come with glasses or a book, it merely features the iconic performer in conversation with some other well-known musicians and people.
It also features the man singing as well, both his songs...and others.
The music in SPECTACLE is great, but it is the conversation - with the likes of Elton John, Lou Reed, Diana Krall, Rufus Wainwright, Smokey Robinson, Bill Clinton, and all three members of The Police - that had me tuning in week after week, and now that it is out in a Box Set, I will own it forever!!
ELVIS COSTELLO - SPECTACLE - SEASON ONE is a great gift for fans of music, great conversation, or both!!
ELVIS COSTELLO - SPECTACLE - SEASON ONE, the GIFT SET for CORALINE, THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON of THE TUDORS and BONES - SEASON FOUR are available on Blu-ray and DVD.
LIFE ON MARS - SERIES 2 THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW - THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON FUTURAMA - THE COMPLETE COLLECTION ALLY MCBEAL - THE COMPLETE SERIES 100 YEARS OF THE MONTREAL CANDIENS are all available only on DVD.
Coming up on Saturday on the next Couch Potato Report.
The made-in-Quebec film HEAT WAVE, Ang Lee's TAKING WOODSTOCK, Quentin Tarantino's INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, and the complete third season of the television show ICE ROAD TRUCKERS.
Plus, coming soon...the great non-love story (500) DAYS OF SUMMER.
I'm Dan Reynish. I'll have more on those, and some other releases, in seven days.
For now, that's this morning's COUCH POTATO REPORT.
Enjoy the movies and I'll see you back here next time on The Couch!
'Princess and the Frog' hops to No. 1 with $25M
LOS ANGELES – "The Princess and the Frog" earned a big wet kiss from family audiences as the animated musical leaped to No. 1 with $25 million in its first weekend of nationwide release, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The Disney musical is the studio's first hand-drawn animated tale in five years, a contrast to the computer-animated films that now dominate the cartoon world.
"I've always believed that when you start with great storytelling, then the format aside doesn't mean anything," said Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney.
The movie also is a return to Disney's reinvention of classic fairy tales, offering a 1920s New Orleans twist on the Brothers Grimm story "The Frog Prince," following the adventures of a young woman turned into a frog by a kiss from an amphibian.
Despite its No. 1 finish, "The Princess and the Frog" drew modest crowds compared to many big animated tales, which can open with two or three times as much business. Those films typically open during the busy summer season, though, and Disney is counting on the long shelf life that many films manage during the holidays.
"The Princess and the Frog" took over at No. 1 from the inspiring sports tale "The Blind Side," which slipped to second-place with $15.5 million. Released by Warner Bros., "The Blind Side" raised its total to $150.2 million.
A surprise box-office sensation, "The Blind Side" is on its way to a domestic total of about $230 million, said Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. head of distribution.
"The Blind Side" chronicles the real-life story of Baltimore Ravens rookie lineman Michael Oher, who had been a homeless teen taken in by a wealthy couple (Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw).
"It's the heartland that's pulling the strings of the movie," Fellman said. "While it's performing well everywhere, the response in smaller marketplaces and Christian communities has been outstanding."
The film opened the same weekend as "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," but with only a fraction of that movie's blockbuster business. Audience word-of-mouth has kept crowds coming for "The Blind Side," while "New Moon" has waned to the No. 4 spot with an $8 million weekend, raising its domestic haul to $267.4 million.
Warner Bros. also had the No. 3 film with a $9.1 million debut for another inspirational sports drama, Clint Eastwood's Nelson Mandela saga "Invictus," featuring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon. Freeman stars as the South African leader, who uses an underdog World Cup run by the country's rugby team to help unite the racially divided nation.
Though it had a modest start, "Invictus" debuted in the range of Eastwood's sober drama's "Mystic River" and "Million Dollar Baby" in their first weekends of wide release. Eastwood's films draw older audiences and tend to have a long life at the box office, Fellman said.
"The Lord of the Rings" creator Peter Jackson had a strong opening in limited release for "The Lovely Bones," which pulled in $116,000 in three theaters.
The Paramount Pictures release features Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz and Stanley Tucci in an adaptation of Alice Sebold's best-seller about a murdered girl looking back on her grieving family from the afterlife.
The Weinstein Co. drama "A Single Man" also started well with $216,328 in nine theaters. The film stars Colin Firth as a gay academic in the early 1960s who's planning to end his life amid grief over his lover's death.
Hollywood is poised for a big finish to its record box-office year, with James Cameron's science-fiction epic "Avatar" opening Friday, followed Christmas week by the family comedy "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel," Robert Downey Jr.'s action tale "Sherlock Holmes" and the nationwide expansion of George Clooney's comedy "Up in the Air."
With nearly three weeks left in the year, 2009 domestic revenues already have set a new record of $9.79 billion, surpassing the previous high of $9.68 billion in 2007, according to Paul Dergarabedian, Hollywood.com box-office analyst.
Domestic grosses should top $10 billion for the first time within the next 10 days or so. Dergarabedian estimates that Hollywood will finish the year with $10.5 billion domestically.
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "The Princess and the Frog," $25 million.
2. "The Blind Side," $15.5 million.
3. "Invictus," $9.1 million.
4. "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," $8 million.
5. "Disney's a Christmas Carol," $6.9 million.
6. "Brothers," $5 million.
7. "2012," $4.4 million.
8. "Old Dogs," $4.39 million.
9. "Armored," $3.5 million.
10. "Ninja Assassin," $2.7 million.
The Couch Potato Report - December 12th, 2009
This week The Couch Potato Report peels a television show about real people and some movies about people who are real.
For five years now, two guys from Toronto have been trying to outdo each other in some of the most innane challenges you'll ever hear of.
Challenges such as Who Can Wear a Gorilla Suit the Longest?, First Guy to Touch the Ground Loses, Who’s the Best Pro Wrestler?, Who’s the Best Soldier?, and those are just the ones I can say without getting fired.
But as odd as it might be to think of two friends trying to win those challenges, imagine it as a TV show.
Because it is a show...and now KENNY VS. SPENNY - SEASON FIVE is available in a 2 DVD set.
KENNY VS. SPENNY stars Kenny Hotz and Spencer Rice and the loser of the episode must perform an act of humiliation, usually selected by the winner.
KENNY VS. SPENNY is one of those shows that I sit and watch and wonder, "Why am I watching this?!?!"
And as I laugh out loud at their idiocy, I wonder, "Why do I find this funny?!?!?"
I guess it is because KENNY VS. SPENNY is a guilty pleasure, so if you have laughed at them in the past, enjoy SEASON FIVE!
I did!!
I also enjoyed JULIE & JULIA...although for completely different reasons.
I enjoyed this one because it is a great movie!!
JULIE & JULIA stars Meryl Streep and Amy Adams and is about the life of chef Julia Child in the early years in her culinary career, AND it is also about Julie Powell, a woman in New York who aspires to cook all 524 recipes from Child's cookbook "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" during a single year.
I found JULIE & JULIA very entertaining, and it is also very funny and sweet...plus, the movi emade me smile. There were scenes where I was just sitting there smiling at it.
Admittedly, Meryl Streeps scenes are stronger than Amy Adams, and they could actually have made a whole movie just about Julia Childs...but they didn't, and in the end, I liked what they did make, warts and all!
JULIE & JULIA is a great film, that I highly recommend, and when the Academy Award nominations are announced on Tuesday, February 2nd, you can expect to hear at least Meryl Streep's name announced for Best Actress!
Unlike JULIE AND JULIA, this next film has very little Oscar buzz, but I liked it as well.
Johnny Depp and Christian Bale star in director Michael Mann's PUBLIC ENEMIES
This film is set during the Great Depression and it is based on the true story of Bale's Bureau of Investigation agent Melvin Purvis' attempt to stop Depp's John Dillinger and other criminals.
PUBLIC ENEMIES is well written, acted and directed and like all Michael Mann's films - Manhunter, The Last of the Mohicans, The Insider, Ali and Collateral - it has a fantastic attention to detail.
Yes, truth be told, like most of Mann's films this one also takes a bit of time to get where it's going, and with a running time of two-hours and twenty minutes it may seem very long at times, but I completely enjoyed it.
PUBLIC ENEMIES is not perfect, but I think there is enough good stuff for me to recommend it.
Another one of Michael Mann's films that plays long is the 1995 film HEAT. It is almost three hours long, at 170 minutes, but it too EASILY features enough good to recommend it.
Namely two actors whose names are Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.
HEAT is a crime and heist movie that takes place in Los Angeles and is about two men on opposite sides of the law - one a detective; the other a thief.
HEAT is new on Blu-ray and in addition to the old school action and acting, the disc features some great special features.
I love this film, and even though it is long, I am always surprised at how fast the time goes by when you are watching a great movie.
There is another new heist movie that is available now, it is called THE MAIDEN HEIST, and while it isn't as good as HEAT it is quirky enough to get a mild recommendation from me.
I love the cast of this film, Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken, William H. Macy and Marcia Gay Harden, and the men in the cast play museum security guards who put together a plan to steal the artworks they love, after they have been sold to another museum.
Yes, I love the cast of THE MAIDEN HEIST, but I didn't think the movie was as good as they are. It isn't a bad film, but I was hoping for better.
As I said, I watched it because of the cast, so if you like them too, give it a shot.
I have four foreign films for you now, three of them which I consider classics - so if you have never seen Krzysztof Kieślowski's THREE COLOURS TRILOGY, now is your chance as Alliance has released them in an inexpensive set.
Blue, white, and red are the colours of the French flag in left-to-right order, and the story of each film is loosely based on one of the three political ideals in the motto of the French Republic: liberty, equality, fraternity.
BLUE was released in 1993, and stars Academy Award winner Juliette Binoche, WHITE in 1994 and stars Julie Delpy from BEFORE SUNRISE, and RED came out later in 1994, remains my favourite of the three, and it stars Irčne Jacob.
The THREE COLOURS TRILOGY is full of a wealth of interesting characters, operates on a multitude of layers, and all three are spectacular films!
If you have never seen them...go ahead!! I highly recommend them all!!
This other new foreign film release is one that I don't recommend. Sure, it is very interesting at times, and it is both horriffic and erotic, but ultimately I didn't care.
This film is called THIRST and it is a two-hour and fifteen minute South Korean film about a failed medical experiment that turns a priest into a vampire.
THIRST is one of the best made films I have ever seen, but the acting is stiff and the story is actually boring at times.
Vampire movies and stories are popular these days, and if you need to see them all, then you'll have to bite into this one, otherwise...ignore it.
It bites.
It is time to let the BLU RAY BEACON shine now on two new releases that look great in High Definition. If you enjoy these films, then this is definitely the way to see them.
Especially, LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL, Luc Besson's superb 1994 action film starring Jean Reno, Gary Oldman, Danny Aiello and a young Natalie Portman about a professional assassin who reluctantly takes care of a 12-year-old girl.
In addition to the great film itself, the Blu-ray for LEON features the International and North American versions of the film, along with some great retrospective features.
The new Blu-ray for THE GREEN MILE also comes with a wealth of special features, and a book about the film, however this is a film that I have always thought was only pretty good.
I know others love this this Frank Darabont adaptaion of a Stephen King story as much as the other one the men did together - a little movie called THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION - but I don't love it as much as that film, one that I consider a classic.
However, THE GREEN MILE is an interesting movie, and it certainly looks and sounds great on Blu-ray.
I was going to save this next film for last, so I could say: "last and certainly least this week...", but I have decided to make it second last so I could end this week's Report on a positive.
So, instead I will now say, "Second last and certainly least this week...SHORTS."
Actually, it's full name is "Shorts: The Adventures of the Wishing Rock" and this is the latest film from Robert Rodriguez, the man who gave us Desperado (1995), From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), Sin City (2005), Planet Terror (2007), and the SPY KIDS trilogy.
This film is another one for kids, starring some kids who find a magic rock that makes their dreams come true.
Simply put, SHORTS is for kids - boys mostly - under 10. No one else. Adults, you will not like this movie...I certainly didn't, even though I was once a kid - a boy in fact - under ten.
SHORTS bites too!!
Finally this week, last, but NOT least is the latest season of the television show LOST.
This FIFTH SEASON of LOST is when the show started getting good again, after it had slipped a little in quality, and when I say good, I mean good.
This was a great season of television, that now makes up a great 5 disc Box set!!
LOST gave us lots of twists, turns and time travel last year and now THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON is available on DVD and Blu-ray, along with the kids only film SHORTS - THE ADVENTURES OF THE WISHING ROCK, THE GREEN MILE, LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL, Michael Mann's film HEAT and PUBLIC ENEMIES, an dthe very entertaining JULIE & JULIA
THE MAIDEN HEIST, THIRST, the spectacular THREE COLOURS TRILOGY, and the guilty pleasure KENNY VS. SPENNY - SEASON FIVE are all available now only on DVD.
Coming up soon on a Special Edition of The Couch Potato Report
I'll tell you about some new DVD and Blu-ray box sets that are available now for gift giving, both to yourself, and others, including: the 32 disc set for ALLY MCBEAL - THE COMPLETE SERIES and the 4-disc set celebrating 100 YEARS OF THE MONTREAL CANADIENS.
Also, FUTURAMA, THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW, BONES, THE TUDORS, LIFE ON MARS, and ELVIS COSTELLO - SPECTACLE.
I'm Dan Reynish. I'll have more on those, and some other releases, soon!!
For now, that's THE COUCH POTATO REPORT.
Enjoy the movies and I'll see you back here next time on The Couch!