The Couch Potato Report - March 13th, 2010
This week The Couch Potato Report peels an Academy Award Winner, an Academy Award Nominee and some Dogs…cinematic and real.
Going into last Sunday night’s 82nd Annual Academy Awards both UP IN THE AIR and PRECIOUS each had six nominations.
At the end of the night, UP IN THE AIR went home with nothing and PRECIOUS left the Kodak Theatre with two statues – for Best Supporting Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Yet, this week’s edition of the Report begins with UP IN THE AIR because it is a film directed by Montreal born Jason Reitman, and Canadians rule here…whether they win or not!
Nope, UP IN THE AIR didn’t win any Oscars, but if you are looking for an entertaining film to watch this weekend, don’t go looking for THE HURT LOCKER…grab UP IN THE AIR, a well written, acted and directed film with equal parts drama, comedy and romance, with a little business savvy through in for good measure.
UP IN THE AIR stars Best Actor Oscar nominee George Clooney as a corporate downsizer – a man that companies hire to fire employees. The film follows his travels and his attempts to stay on the road, even after his boss has decided that people can be fired using video conferencing, instead of face to face.
Vera Farmiga – from THE DEPARTED – stars as Clooney’s love interest and Anna Kendrick – of the TWILIGHT films – is the young businesswoman who is attempting to make a name for herself by creating the software that takes the downsizers off the road. Both Vera and Anna received Oscar Nominations as Best Supporting Actress for their efforts, and both are great.
Vera is good, Anna is good, Clooney’s good, Reitman is good, and in any other year UP IN THE AIR probably would have won the Oscar as Best Picture….but because of THE HURT LOCKER and AVATAR, it has to be content with just the nominations this year.
However, I liked it better than those two movies and so I highly recommend it!!
Go UP IN THE AIR!
Yes, I highly recommend UP IN THE AIR, and I also highly recommend the film PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE…but for different reasons.
UP IN THE AIR is a great movie, PRECIOUS is a great film…an Academy Award winning film…Mo-Nique won as Best Supporting Actress and Geoffrey Fletcher received an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Both of those Awards are well deserved!
The easy way to describe this film is to tell you that it takes place in Harlem, and is about an overweight, illiterate teen named Claireece Precious Jones who is pregnant with her second child.
Precious goes behind her Mother’s back to enroll and attend an alternative school in hopes that her life can head in a new direction.
That would be the easy way to describe PRECIOUS, but there is nothing easy about the movie, or the book it is based on. That baby she is pregnant with…well, her father is the Daddy. Her Mother, she knows and is abusive toward her daughter because of it…and that daughter…well, she is only sixteen years old.
Nope, there is nothing easy about this movie at all.
But even though it isn’t an easy film to sit through, PRECIOUS is a powerful, powerful film. This is a great movie, with a tremendous cast and even though it isn’t something I could ever call “entertaining”…I do highly recommend it as it will introduce you to some people who live in our world, and others who spend every day just trying to survive their world.
From a pair of Academy Award Nominated films, let me now tell you about a couple of dogs!
One that I will use the slang definition for meaning something that is worthless or of extremely poor quality, an utter failure: For instance: Critics say his new play is a dog.
And the other one is a dog movie because it is actually about a dog.
The utter failure is first…man this one was a dog!!!
OLD DOGS stars John Travolta and Robin Williams as two friends and business partners who find their lives turned upside down when they agree to take care of 7-year-old twins
OLD DOGS has a premise that could work for a movie like this, two stars who are usually good in this type of film, and a great supporting cast…so this movie should have been a slam dunk, right?!?
Well, unfortunately, the film is awful!! The storyline is utterly predictable and the jokes and slapstick comedy all feels forced, as if the stars knew how bad it was going in, so they didn’t even bother to give it their all.
I have to admit that I did laugh a couple of times at OLD DOGS, but the stuff I laughed at was all in the trailer…so if you have seen that trailer, trust me, you have seen the best part of this dog!!
SKIP IT, unless there is nothing else available for you to rent…and I mean absolutely nothing else at all!!
From the dog that is OLD DOGS, let me now tell you about a beautiful movie called HACHI - A DOG’S TALE.
HACHI is a film that is based on a true story and it is about the devotion and undying love that dogs have for their owners.
Richard Gere plays a man who finds a dog at a train station one night and decides to take it home…much to his wife’s chagrin.
Eventually, the wife lets him keep the dog and the film is about their time together, including the time that the dog spends every day waiting for his master to arrive back at the train station after work.
Sadly, the man dies while away from home, and Hachi still goes to the station each and every say at 5 o’clock, waiting for his master.
I loved this movie!! HACHI – A DOG’S TALE is for all animal lovers, especially dog lovers.
No, this is not a perfect movie, the tragic event that occurs could have happened later in the script, giving us more time with Gere and the dogs, and truth be told, not all of the animals used in the film were as well trained as some of the others…but I still loved it.
And, it is rated G, so it is good for the whole family to watch together!
Finally this week, I have a love story for you.
A love story, about CAPITALISM.
CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY is the latest documentary from Michael Moore, the man who gave us the insightful, yet entertaining films Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11 and Sicko.
This movie offers us Moore’s look at the impact of corporate dominance on the everyday lives of regular people and takes us from small towns and the middle class to the halls of power in Washington and the global financial epicenter in Manhattan.
It works best when it tells stories that would be unbelievable…if they weren’t true.
CAPITALISM is heartbreaking, insightful, entertaining and funny…yes, much like Michael Moore’s other films, it features too much of him at times, but if you like his work – which I do – then you should see this one as well as it fits right in with them.
I liked it and I recommend it.
CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY, the enjoyable HACHI – A DOG’S TALE, the awful OLD DOGS, the powerful, yet difficult to watch Academy Award winning PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE, and the very entertaining, Oscar Nominated UP IN THE AIR from Canadian Director Jason Reitman are all available now on Blu-ray and DVD.
Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report
NEW MOON – the latest film in the TWILIGHT film series, Disney’s latest – THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG, the action picture ARMOURED, THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON of the television show BREAKING BAD, and Chris Rock’s very entertaining documentary about GOOD HAIR.
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 again next time on The Couch!
'Mission: Impossible' star Peter Graves dies in LA
LOS ANGELES – Peter Graves, the tall, stalwart actor likely best known for his portrayal of Jim Phelps, leader of a gang of special agents who battled evil conspirators in the long-running television series "Mission: Impossible," died Sunday.
Graves died of an apparent heart attack outside his Los Angeles home, publicist Sandy Brokaw said. He would have been 84 this week.
Graves had just returned from brunch with his wife and kids and collapsed before he made it into the house, Brokaw said. One of his daughters administered CPR but was unable to revive him. Graves' family doctor visited the house and believed he had a heart attack, Brokaw said.
Although Graves never achieved the stardom his older brother, James Arness, enjoyed as Marshall Matt Dillon on TV's "Gunsmoke," he had a number of memorable roles in both films and television.
Normally cast as a hero, he turned in an unforgettable performance early in his career as the treacherous Nazi spy in Billy Wilder's 1953 prisoner-of-war drama "Stalag 17."
He also masterfully lampooned his straight-arrow image when he portrayed bumbling airline pilot Clarence Oveur in the 1980 disaster movie spoof "Airplane!"
Graves appeared in dozens of films and a handful of television shows in a career of nearly 60 years.
The authority and trust he projected made him a favorite for commercials late in his life, and he was often encouraged to go into politics.
"He had this statesmanlike quality," Brokaw said. "People were always encouraging him to run for office. But he said, 'I like acting. I like being around actors.'"
Graves' career began with cheaply made exploitation films like "It Conquered the World," in which he battled a carrot-shaped monster from Venus, and "Beginning of the World," in which he fought a giant grasshopper.
He later took on equally formidable human villains each week on "Mission: Impossible."
Every show began with Graves, as agent Phelps, listening to a tape of instructions outlining his team's latest mission and explaining that if he or any of his agents were killed or captured "the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions."
The tape always self-destructed within seconds of being played.
The show ran on CBS from 1967 to 1973 and was revived on ABC from 1988 to 1990 with Graves back as the only original cast member.
The actor credited clever writing for the show's success.
"It made you think a little bit and kept you on the edge of your seat because you never knew what was going to happen next," he once said.
He also played roles in such films as John Ford's "The Long Gray Line" and Charles Laughton's "The Night of the Hunter," as well as "The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell," "Texas Across the River" and "The Ballad of Josie."
Graves' first television series was a children's Saturday morning show, "Fury," about an orphan and his untamed black stallion. Filmed in Australia, it lasted six years on NBC. A western, "Whiplash," also shot in Australia, played for a year in syndication, and the British-made "Court-Martial" appeared on ABC for one season. In his later years, Graves brought his white-haired eminence to PBS as host of "Discover: The World of Science" and A&E's "Biography" series.
He noted during an interview in 2000 that he made his foray into comedy somewhat reluctantly.
Filmmakers Jim Abrahams and David and Jerry Zucker had written a satire on the airplane-in-trouble movies, and they wanted Graves and fellow handsome actors Lloyd Bridges, Leslie Nielsen and Robert Stack to spoof their serious images.
All agreed, but Graves admitted to nervousness. On the one hand, he said, he considered the role a challenge, "but it also scared me."
"I thought I could lose a whole long acting career," he recalled.
"Airplane!" became a box-office smash, and Graves returned for "Airplane II, The Sequel."
Born Peter Aurness in Minneapolis, Graves adopted his grandfather's last name to avoid confusion with his older brother, James, who had dropped the "U" from the family name.
He was a champion hurdler in high school, as well as a clarinet player in dance bands and a radio announcer.
After two years in the Air Force, he enrolled at the University of Minnesota as a drama major and worked in summer stock before following his brother west to Hollywood.
He found enough success there to send for his college sweetheart, Joan Endress. They were married in 1950 and had three daughters — Kelly Jean, Claudia King and Amanda Lee — and six grandchildren.
Graves credited the couple's Midwest upbringing for a marriage that lasted more than 50 years in a town not known for long unions.
"Hollywood or New York ... can be very flighty and dangerous places to live, but the good grounding we had in the Midwest ethic I think helped us all our lives," he said.
Jack White on making beautiful music with his ex-wife Meg
“Is it possible for a brother and sister to dress in only red, white and black, play blues music with no computers or samples, travel across the Arctic to places other bands would be scared to venture, play free shows everyday at random locations, and not be the biggest thing since The Beatles?” asks Jack White.
“The answer,” he says, “is clear.”
Since the duo’s first Detroit gig at an open-mike night back in 1997 and across six studio albums, the White Stripes — singer-guitarist Jack and his drummer and ex-wife Meg White (they now weirdly describe themselves as siblings) — have dutifully abided by Jack’s Rules of Threes. All clothes, gear, instruments and accoutrements are limited to three colors: red, black and white. Songs have just three sounds: guitar, drums and vocals. Roadies wear three-piece suits. It all feels a bit O-C-D.
Tuesday’s “Under Great White Northern Lights,” the duo’s first release since 2007’s “Icky Thump,” conforms to the code, too. It’s even issued in three different formats: audio (CDs and a double LP), video (concert and documentary DVDs) and print (a 208-page book, plus a silk-screened photo).
It’s issued by Warner Bros. and Third Man, Jack’s Nashville-based boutique label that specializes in handmade vinyl. (And, yes, it derives its name from the number 3).
“It’s us having a plethora of film and music at our table that we decided to put in a curry and bake it at 300 degrees,” Jack, 34, tells The Post. “There are dessert treats in there, too, for those fans that hate their vegetables. All kinds of exclusive vinyl and artwork. This isn’t some Internet mirage, either — you can hold these things in your hands just like Grandpa did.”
Audiowise, it’s the band’s first-ever live release, documenting a tour through every province and territory in Canada, including: a five-pin bowling alley in Saskatoon; a 40-foot fishing boat called the “Annandale Light” off of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; and a rec-center acoustic jam in Nunnavut with Inuit elders, who fed Jack raw caribou.
“The strange locations made for the most intriguing and inspiring moments for us,” Jack says. “You tend to play songs in a bowling alley that you wouldn’t at home with mother in the parlor.”
His favorite performance?
“I like the show that was only one note,” he says, referring to a ridiculously brief, albeit free show in St. John, New Brunswick. “The crowd got their money’s worth on that one.”
The concert footage captures unhinged performances of songs that span the band’s career, demonstrating why Meg’s minimalist percussion and Jack’s colicky blues guitar have earned the Stripes respect from critics and rock titans alike. Jack jammed with Jimmy Page and U2’s The Edge in the film “It Might Get Loud” and shared a stage with the Rolling Stones in Martin Scorsese’s “Shine a Light.” The duo has won three Grammys and sold more than 12 million records.
The box set is also a multimedia monument to the bond between a former husband and wife whose music outlasted their romance.
The Canada tour did, however, end in cancellations and the painfully shy Meg suffering from acute anxiety. In the rare moments when she whispers, viewers need subtitles to understand what she’s muttering. By the end, the cracks in her psyche are showing. Following their 10th anniversary concert in Nova Scotia, Meg sits next to Jack at a piano while he plays “White Moon.” Tears stream down her face.
“Her femininity and extreme minimalism are too much to take for some metal heads and reverse-contrarian hipsters,” Jack says. “She can do what those with ‘technical prowess’ can’t. She inspires people to bash on pots and pans. For that, they repay her with gossip and judgment. In the end she’s laughing all the way to the Prada handbag store. She wins every time.”
The Clash stars to tour with Gorillaz?
Two members of British punk icons The Clash are set to hit the stage together for the first time since 1983 if reports linking them to an upcoming Gorillaz tour are to be believed.
Mick Jones and Paul Simonon both feature on the band's new album Plastic Beach, and Spinner.com reports the pair has accepted an invitation from group leader Damon Albarn to tour.
Simonon and former Blur star Albarn have toured together before as members of The Good, The Bad & The Queen.
ABBA's Rock Hall induction won't be a reunion
ABBA fans can stop holding their breath: The fab four of Swedish pop, who haven't played together since 1982, will not reunite Monday night, when the group is inducted — finally — into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Two ABBA alumni, Benny Andersson and ex-wife Anni-Frid "Frida" Lyngstad, are scheduled to attend the 25th annual induction ceremony at New York's Waldorf-Astoria, and just one is likely to perform. "I may play something on the piano, with someone else singing," Andersson says. He doesn't disclose the crooner, except to say that it won't be Lyngstad. "I don't think she wants to. It's been so long."
Andersson's co-songwriter, Bjorn Ulvaeus, can't make it because of "a big family thing," and Agnetha Faltskog, Ulvaeus' ex-spouse and Lyngstad's former vocal partner, "doesn't like to fly."
The band has turned down numerous offers to reunite through the years, though not because of interpersonal tension. Andersson, 63, and Ulveaus, 64, have continued to work together on several musical theater projects since ABBA dissolved — including, of course, the international smash Mamma Mia! "We were never tempted" to revisit the group, Andersson explains, "because we've been so busy doing other things."
ABBA has been eligible for induction since 1999, 25 years after its first U.S.-released album, Waterloo. The writing team that crafted such hits as Dancing Queen, SOS and The Winner Takes It All isn't surprised ABBA was overlooked for a decade, even as less commercially successful acts were welcomed. "Critics suspected we weren't quite as serious as some other bands from the '70s," Ulvaeus says.
The band's recordings, with pristine melodies and ear-candy production, don't fit everyone's definition of rock 'n' roll. "Their musical vocabulary drew from many types of pop music," says J.D. Considine, a music contributor to Canada's The Globe and Mail. "But there weren't traditional rock mannerisms, like a strong blues base or Chuck Berry guitar."
As time has passed, though, ABBA's influence has been cited by many younger rock acts, "so there's a revisionist appreciation," Considine says. Hall president Joel Peresman agrees that "the respect ABBA has from rock 'n' roll musicians" was a factor, and points to the recent inductions of Madonna and Run-D.M.C. as signs of growing inclusiveness.
Andersson remains a working musician; his Benny Andersson Band just released Story of a Heart in the USA. But neither he nor Ulvaeus, who no longer performs ("He's a pensioner, a senior citizen," Andersson quips), longs to revive ABBA.
"Let people remember us as an ambitious, energetic young group," Ulvaeus says. "A wonderful memory."
'Alice' extends her No. 1 stay with $62 million
LOS ANGELES – Alice is still ruling the movie palace.
Johnny Depp and Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" easily remained the No. 1 weekend draw with $62 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. The Disney fantasy has climbed to a $208.6 million total domestically, becoming the first $200 million hit released this year.
In its second weekend in theaters, "Alice in Wonderland" pulled ahead of the $206.5 million domestic haul of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" to become the top-grossing of Depp and Burton's seven films together, which include "Edward Scissorhands," "Sweeney Todd" and "Corpse Bride."
"I believe it's literally the magical, if you would, pairing of Tim and Johnny," said Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney. "When you take those two, they always seem to make something really out of the ordinary."
"Alice in Wonderland" added $76 million overseas to bring its international total to $221 million and its worldwide gross to $430 million.
A rush of new movies had so-so openings, led by Matt Damon's Iraq War thriller "Green Zone," which debuted at No. 2 with $14.5 million domestically. Released by Universal, "Green Zone" stars Damon as the leader of a U.S. Army team who stumbles onto a conspiracy over the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Paramount's romantic comedy "She's Out of My League" debuted at No. 3 with $9.6 million. The movie stars Jay Baruchel as a geek in an unlikely romance with a babe.
"Twilight" star Robert Pattinson's romantic drama "Remember Me" opened at No. 4 with $8.3 million. The Summit Entertainment release stars Pattinson and "Lost" co-star Emilie de Ravin in a dark story of young lovers with tragedy in their past.
In its fourth weekend, Paramount's "Shutter Island," the latest collaboration between Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese, was No. 5 with $8.1 million, raising its domestic total to $108 million.
Debuting at No. 6 with $7.6 million was Fox Searchlight's comedy "Our Family Wedding," starring America Ferrera as a Hispanic bride marrying a black man.
"Alice in Wonderland" took in nearly as much as the rest of the top-10 movies combined.
"It's like this great divide between the No. 1 and 2 films, which says that without `Alice in Wonderland' in the marketplace, we'd be hurting right now," said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. "By itself, it's really propelling huge box office."
Hollywood's business soared, with overall revenues at $144 million, up 43 percent from the same weekend last year, when "Race to Witch Mountain" led with a $24.4 million debut.
For the year, revenues are at $2.24 billion, up 9 percent compared to receipts last year, when Hollywood took in a record $10.6 billion.
Factoring in higher admission prices, movie attendance this year is running 6.7 percent ahead of 2009's, according to Hollywood.com. Before "Alice in Wonderland" opened, attendance was lagging slightly behind last year's.
"In just a couple of weeks, `Alice' has turned the entire marketplace around almost single-handedly," Dergarabedian said.
James Cameron's science-fiction sensation remained a strong draw after nearly three months in theaters, taking in $6.6 million to raise its domestic total to $730.3 million. The 20th Century Fox release has topped $2.6 billion worldwide.
Summit Entertainment's "The Hurt Locker," which beat "Avatar" for best picture at the Academy Awards, got a slight box-office bump from its Oscar triumph. The Iraq War drama, which is out on DVD but came back to theaters for Oscar season, pulled in $828,000, raising its box-office total to $15.7 million.
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. "Alice in Wonderland," $62 million.
2. "Green Zone," $14.5 million.
3. "She's Out of My League," $9.6 million.
4. "Remember Me," $8.3 million.
5. "Shutter Island," $8.1 million.
6. "Our Family Wedding," $7.6 million.
7. "Avatar," $6.6 million.
8. "Brooklyn's Finest," $4.3 million.
9. "Cop Out," $4.2 million.
10. "The Crazies," $3.7 million.