The UBS Evening Television & Movie News 12.10.09
Posted by George H. Sirois on 12.10.2009
A first look at footage of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, a quick mention of this weekend’s new releases, the release date for the Zombieland DVD, a painful reveal of how Twitter could ruin the Oscars and my Mad Prophet of the Airwaves rant directed at Lorne Michaels and the current dwellers of Studio 8H. All this with much more, plus some great news about the upcoming “Excelsior” novel and Andy Critchell’s latest photo news brief in The “Joke Machine or Concept Machine” Edition…
Welcome everyone to the latest edition of the UBS Evening Movie News. I'm George H. Sirois, and if you're on Twitter, you can find me HERE! And don't forget, for all of you who are new to 411Mania.com, make sure you check out all of our zones. We have some of the best writers on the Internet right here, and we love to hear from all of you! So keep coming back to read what we have for you, make us your homepage and if you have Facebook, make sure to join our group HERE!
CHOSEN ONES, STEP FORWARD!
"Eons ago, on the planet known as Denab IV, its creator Excelsior appeared as a vision to several people he deemed "Chosen Ones." Those lucky few were selected by him to lead their fellow Denarians in keeping the planet as the paradise he always envisioned. As each passing generation of the Chosen Ones reached a certain age, Excelsior visited them in their dreams to give them the wisdom necessary to pick up where the previous generation left off. This continued on until Excelsior's spiritual form was cast down to the planet he had taken such care in crafting.
Everything's moving along really well, and with my editor's help, we're getting closer and closer to finishing this novel by the beginning of next year. I couldn't be more excited and the pre-orders are going equally well. The goal is still to reach 50 pre-orders before the end of 2009. YOU CAN MAKE THIS HAPPEN! Remember, putting in your pre-order guarantees you a personally autographed copy and seeing your name in the acknowledgements section in the back of the book. Think of it as a "Special Thanks To" credit just like during the end credits of every movie you see. You know how the movie couldn't have been made without the help of those people? That's what this is for me, a chance to thank all of you for making an investment in me and this book. And I wouldn't be able to make it a reality without YOUR HELP.
And feel free to check out the new blog for the novel HERE! There's a new blog post there called "The Editor & The Elders."
And with that, on with the news!
SYBIL THE SOOTHSAYER
UPCOMING MOVIES
THE LOVELY BONES: Peter Jackson directs this film adaptation of Alice Sebold's bestselling novel about a murdered girl who watches over her family ... and killer ... from heaven.
My wife's more excited about this one than I am. Despite the intriguing premise and the large amount of hype surrounding the book, the early reviews haven't been all that flattering and it sounds like Peter Jackson got lost in the style and didn't bring enough substance. We'll have to wait and see.
INVICTUS: The true story of how Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) joined forces with the captain (Matt Damon) of South Africa's underdog rugby team to help unite their country.
This one seems like an actor's dream come true with Morgan Freeman likely giving a tour de force performance (granted, I haven't seen him give a bad performance anywhere) and Clint Eastwood once again putting together a solid movie. I'm just hoping that Clint knows where to end this one, since his other movies I've seen seem to just limp to the finish line when they should have ended at least 10 minutes ago.
Credit: TheMovieBox.net
DVD NEWS
Fans of Zombieland will be thrilled to know that this surprise hit comedy is making its way to DVD & Blu-Ray shelves on February 2, 2010. Ladies, that means it's just in time for Valentine's Day.
The DVD will contain audio commentary, the featurettes "In Search of Zombieland" and "Zombieland Is Your Land," deleted scenes, visual effects progressions and a Digital Copy. The Blu-ray will additionally carry a behind the scenes picture in picture track, Movie IQ and a PS3 wallpaper.
Credit: DVDReview.com
MOVIE TRAILER OF THE WEEK: First look at: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
JIM WEBBING AND HIS IT'S THE HONEST TRUTH DEPARTMENT
Focusing on Fela: Focus Features has set Steve McQueen to direct "Fela," a feature film based on the life of African musician and activist Fela Anikulapo Kuti -- the subject of the recently opened Broadway musical "Fela!"
McQueen, the British artist who made his feature directing debut last year on the Irish hunger strike drama "Hunger," will write the script with Biyi Bandele, based on the Michael Veal book "Fela: The Life and Times of an African Musical Icon." Cine Mosaic's Lydia Pilcher and Leigh Blake are producing. The musical has spurred a resurgence of interest in Fela, who died in 1997, and his Afrobeat musical style, which is a fusion of American jazz, funk and West African drums.
The musical is not connected to the film project: Focus is basing its pic on a rights package consisting of screen rights to Fela's music and his life story, plus Veal's book.
Fela lived large -- with some 27 wives -- and paid a high price for speaking out against oppression in Nigeria. In one attack on his home, Fela's 78-year-old mother was killed after being thrown from a second-story window. Fela responded by placing her coffin on the steps of the Nigerian leader's residence.
"Fela might be the most globally influential pop artist outside the Beatles in the last 50 years," said Focus topper James Schamus. "The Broadway show is pure joy, but Steve and Biyi's vision is very cinematic and distinctive. Fela was a revolutionary figure in world culture, and Steve is an artist who had a strong vision of politics and the world even before he made his first film. They are kindred spirits."
Schamus said the movie deal was not a reaction to the musical's opening. Pilcher spent five years tying down the rights for Focus.
Schamus, who made the "Fela" deal last week just as the Comcast pact to take over NBC Universal was being finalized, said Focus plans to stay the course in making ambitious and artsy pics on a cost-conscious basis. He cited the company's track record with its recent releases as examples of how it manages the margins.
Now this is a very interesting setup since Focus Features isn't just trying to leech off of the success of the musical. It's very much of a companion piece to the musical, two different ways to tell the same story, and hopefully if this comes off right, both the stage and the screen will benefit in the long run.
When I read this story on Variety.com, I was very impressed with how James Schamus of Focus Features talked about the different risks and rewards his company had this year, and I loved what he had to say so much that I felt I had to include it here. So take a look and realize that if more people like Schamus were in the film industry, some much better movies would be out there for us to enjoy:
"We all feel pressure to hit homers, but 'A Serious Man,' a film that has no definable genre or business plan, is the solid double we hoped it would be, and 'Coraline' got more Annie nominations than ‘Up.' Of course, I got my ass kicked on 'Woodstock.' That is going to happen, but you've got to keep making movies you believe in, at reasonable costs."
Credit: Variety
I sense another Godawful "The Musical Is Back" number in the future: Adam Shankman has a Twitter habit, and it's making Academy officials nervous.
Although the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has nothing against publicity, it likes to dole out its news about the 82nd Annual Academy Awards, set for March 7, on its own timetable.
Shankman, who is producing the Oscar show with Bill Mechanic, doesn't share that reserve, though. He enjoys talking to the fans directly via his Twitter account, which has more than 48,000 followers, as the mood strikes him.
To date, Shankman hasn't had too much to say about the upcoming awards show: Instead, a lot of his tweets have been devoted to Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance," where he became a permanent judge in October.
But this past weekend, Shankman's thoughts turned to Oscar.
It began innocently enough. Visiting New York, he tweeted on Saturday, "Had dinner last night with Oscar cohosts steve martin and Alec Baldwin. Laughed so hard I almost passed out. This is gonna b goooood..."
Then, on Sunday, he tossed a question into the Twitterverse: "Curious: what and who do u wanna see on the oscars? What would make u watch?"
The fans responded in a frenzy. Lots of requests for "High School Musical" stars Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens, scattered calls for the kids from "Glee" and Neal Patrick Harris as well as impassioned pleas for "Twilight's" Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart.
"If Rob and Kristen present an award together, or even just Kristen since she wasn't invited (rude!) last yr, I'd 4 sure watch," one of Shankman's followers tweeted back.
Lots of Adam Lambert's fans demanded he be included. (The mere mention of his name, after his pelvis-grinding turn on the American Music Awards, probably had Oscar broadcaster ABC reaching for the tape-delay button.)
When Shankman posed the follow-up question, "would u watch the oscars with more excitement if I cast some sytycd dancers if there are musical #s," the fans went nearly berserk with excitement. "I will watch the Oscars no matter what, but my excitement factor will be ten-fold if you have SYTYCD alumns in the show. :)," one responded.
Ultimately, after stirring up the fan frenzy, Shankman backed away from any promises. "We will C if thr R musical #s :).," he tweeted. "I h8 musical #'s in shows when they don't make sense. I'm choreographing, so the dancers will be amazing."
Addressing the minority of respondents who were horrified at the thought that the Oscars might turn into some "Twilight"-meets-"High School Musical"-meets-"So You Think You Can Dance" marathon, Shankman tweeted, "I promise that the glamour and sense of occasion will be present! It's the oscRs for god sakes! I'm good at this. They are going to be great."
Actually, if Shankman and Mechanic are determined to give the Oscars some real pop-culture spin, there's no reason not to expect that they won't include such teen idols as Efron and Pattinson, though both did appear on February's broadcast.
But what the whole exchange also demonstrated is that the Oscar process is opening up in the age of such social network sites as Twitter and Facebook.
I don't mind the Oscars getting more interactive, but I want to remind all the teens that saw fit to respond to Adam Shankman with their demands that you guys ALREADY HAVE an awards show like what you want. It's called the Teen Choice Awards. We don't need to see the Academy Awards catering to this crowd, but with the declining ratings, I wouldn't be shocked at all to see every moment in between award presentations catering to Adam Lambert and "So You Think You Can Dance" fans. Does this mean we'll be hearing that terrible Lambert ballad from 2012 or dancers from SYTYCD re-doing numbers from classic musicals just so Beyonce can sing "At Last" for the 432nd time?
I better stop right now before I start giving Shankman ideas. Needless to say, if this is what I have to look forward to watching, I'll just look up the results after the show is done.
Credit: Hollywood Reporter
Nothing like going out in style: "Monk" ended its eight-season run with a bang, becoming the most-watched hourlong series on basic cable.
The Friday series finale of the USA Network dramedy drew about 9.4 million viewers, 3.2 million of them in the adults 18-49 demographic.
It is the largest audience and demo turnout to date, not only for the show and for a USA scripted series but also for a drama series on basic cable, eclipsing the 9.2 million mark for TNT's "The Closer." ("Monk's" final tally is expected to grow further once Live+7 numbers are factored in).
It is a fitting farewell for a series that defined USA's brand of quirky dramedies and kicked off the network's ascension to cable-ratings supremacy.
The second part of "Monk's" two-part closer, which saw Tony Shalhoub's OCD-plagued detective solve the biggest case of his career -- his wife's murder -- beat the series' previous high in total viewers by 37%.
It also towered over all programs on the broadcast networks Friday night.
Boosted by "Monk," the fall finale of USA's freshman series "White Collar" also hit series highs, averaging 5.55 million viewers, the cable network's best performance at 10 p.m. Friday in more than three years, since the series premiere of "Psych."
"Collar" also posted its best numbers in adults 18-49: 2.1 million.
This is the kind of finale that producers of so many shows can only dream of. Not only did the show help reinvigorate USA Network, but it also helped start up another program with a lot of potential to grab some of Monk's audience. Granted, I haven't seen the show, but I have a lot of respect for not only an original piece of work that launched Tony Shalhoub's career higher than anyone expected, the "Columbo" of its generation. Definitely something I'll be Netflixing in the months to come.
ANDY CRITCHELL'S INTERACTIVE BABE PHOTO NEWS BRIEF WITH ANDY CRITCHELL
One of my favorite gals in Hollywood was just honored by a magazine I have never read. By that, I mean Esquire has named Kate Beckinsale as their Sexiest Woman Alive in October. While I don't necessarily disagree, the timing is kind of weird since she's not really doing much right now aside from being rumored for Underworld 4.
But hey, it does give me an excuse to post these pics:
And as a bonus, here is a nice little video:
Have a great week!!
MAD PROPHET OF THE AIRWAVES
Once upon a time, almost 35 years ago, there was a young man from Canada who was given a chunk of late night television time on one of the three main networks in America. He was given this time because of Johnny Carson demanding NBC no longer use reruns of The Tonight Show to fill that slot. So this young man was presented with an opportunity to create a comedy/variety show that stood apart from the shows that were on during Prime Time. His show would be edgier, it would step up to the very line of good taste, and many times it would cross that line without a moment's hesitation. It would satisfy its audience in a way that had never been seen before, and it would not just be - in the words of one alum from the show - a "joke machine."
The young man from Canada was Lorne Michaels and the show he created was Saturday Night Live. The alum who talked about the show not being a "joke machine" was actor & writer Dan Aykroyd. He insisted that SNL would be, in his words, a "sketch machine" or a "concept machine," and those first five years lived up to what Aykroyd promised. There were sketches and short films of all kinds - comedic, musical, even dramatic like "La Dolce Gilda" - and nothing was off limits about what they could talk or joke about. And it wasn't just the short films that did something like this. Every fan of the first era fondly remembers the "Dancing in the Dark" sketch that Steve Martin did with Gilda Radner. It wasn't a laugh-out-loud sketch with a punch line; it was an interesting concept that was played to perfection by everyone involved and it created a lasting memory.
Oh, and there were "The Blues Brothers," who were created simply to get the crowd riled up and entertained right from the start. And we know how well they worked out, huh?
This "concept machine" philosophy continued until the 15th anniversary season, when performers like Jon Lovitz, Dana Carvey, Jan Hooks, Dennis Miller, Kevin Nealon, Mike Myers and the late, great Phil Hartman were in their prime. While the primary focus was on the sketch comedy, every now and then we got a short film from Tom Schiller that would focus on anything but comedy. While it may not have been well received by the majority of viewers who were waiting for the 37th Wayne's World sketch, it was a refreshing look back at how the show used to be run, when Lorne & Co didn't just run characters into the ground and put the emphasis on creating a show that would appeal to all kinds of people. And they were especially memorable among the cast, since the 1986 - 1990 cast selected the "Love is a Dream" short film with Phil Hartman & Jan Hooks as a tribute to Hartman during the 25th Anniversary Special.
That "something for everyone" feeling fell by the wayside when the "frat boys" era started, with Sandler, Farley, Schneider and Spade leading the way. Then it became all about the Copier Guy, the Gap Girls, Canteen Boy and Matt Foley: Motivational Speaker, and with the suddenly large cast needing their spots, there was no room for any risks to be taken. This problem remained the same for the rest of that era, into the next era and the current era we're watching today.
Yes, I am aware that times have changed and that what worked in 1975 likely wouldn't be as effective today. But take a look at what's been on the show lately. As soon as the 2008 election ended (I still can't believe it was already more than a year ago), SNL's ratings and sketch quality took a hit. The fire that pushed the cast and writers towards making some of the best episodes they've had in years was gone, and you could tell from the first episode after the election, when most of the sketches ended with someone getting shot.
With the SNL Digital Shorts gaining more popularity, I don't see any problem with these guys using that format to create a little something that the cast can really sink their teeth into, something that might remind them of what they would see from the earlier eras' casts. So what if the digital short wouldn't be very funny that week? That would give the other sketches a chance to pick up the slack.
All I ask is that Saturday Night Live get back to the basics of what it was in the beginning. It was a show that took risks, that dared to take the comedy/variety show concept and tweak it so that it came off as something a little different. Now it seems to be stuck in the rut of doing what's expected of them. And when a show like this is expected to do something, that's more than enough of a reason to do the unexpected.
Since 1990, SNL has allowed itself to become a "joke machine," the very thing that Dan Aykroyd said they weren't. With a little change here and there, they can get back to being the "concept machine" that it once was.
And that's a wrap for Chapter 142 of The UBS Evening Movie News! For Andy Critchell, I'm George H. Sirois and we'll see you next week!
I'm actually really excited about your book good sir. And if you are reading this and haven't ordered it yet...What are you waiting for? This is like getting a first edition copy of the Bible! C'mon!
Lovely Bones will be great but it will be the "one and done" type of movie due to it's content. Just a prediction.
Posted By: stevethegoose (Guest) on December 10, 2009 at 01:07 AM
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