Since Conan O’Brien replaced Jay Leno as its host, “The Tonight Show” has surrendered its ratings lead to “The Late Show with David Letterman.” I’ve caught more or less every episode since Conan took over in August and, like most fans of his “Late Night” program, I’ve been disappointed by the overall results. I assumed brining Andy Richter back would resurrect some of alternative, zany comedy Conan helmed in the 90s. Not so much. While the off-kilter sketches (“Slipnutz”) and refreshing characters (Crooner Ghost) have taken a back seat, Conan still brings it every night. For example, he’s absolutely hilarious in this segment with molecular mixologist Claire Smith. No, NBC shouldn’t replace him with Jerry Seinfeld.
Month: December 2009 (Page 10 of 24)
She was a remarkable and arresting, if uneven, actress and a reluctant sex symbol known for a painful personal life who, probably very wisely, kept a great distance between herself and the press. At her best though, she was remarkable in films like the wonderful final screwball comedy by Ernst Lubitsch, “Cluny Brown” (which you can watch for free in a good looking print via ten minute chunks on YouTube…though I can’t embed it!).
Anyhow, here’s an obituary and a great appreciation by my favorite expert on such things, the Self Styled Siren. If you’ve never seen her, or haven’t in a while, this montage will give you an idea of why Jennifer Jones captured many an imagination.
Variety has gone behind a pay wall. Jolly Carl DiOrio of The Hollywood Reporter is either taking a night off or filing later. Still, this is one week when, if I may paraphrase Bob Dylan, I don’t need a weatherman to tell me which way the wind’s blowing. As a science-fiction adventure sure-to-be blockbuster, James Cameron‘s “Avatar” has pretty much everything going for: huge ballyhoo, much of its centered on its groundbreaking use on “performance capture” (not mere motion capture) and what everyone seems to be describing as a new and more immersive 3-D, strong advance sales (skewing male as of right now), and solid reviews. Sure, it’s actors aren’t precisely A-listers, but we all know what good stars are these days. I’m sure people will eventually remember that Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, and Sigourney Weaver were in there some place.
The latest from James Cameron at this point has racked up an 82% “fresh” on the Tomatometer and a whopping 96% from the usually harder to please “top critics,” with only Village Voice‘s exacting J. Hoberman submitting a mildly negative review that is actually about as positive as a bad review can be.
Our own Jamey Codding is positive, but not quite ecstatic. Ken Turan, a critic I respect but often disagree with for his rather schoolmarmish tastes — don’t get him started on Tarantino — waxes poetic and compares the technical breakthroughs to “The Jazz Singer.” I personally hope that isn’t quite the case. 3-D is cool as an occasional treat, but I just don’t see how it’s necessary for every movie. Of course, there were people who said that about sound movies too, but don’t laugh too much because there are still people who thought they were right! (Not me. Being a word guy, I like talkies. My fogeyosity has limits) In any case, Roger Ebert might be summing things up nicely when he writes:
There is still at least one man in Hollywood who knows how to spend $250 million, or was it $300 million, wisely.
So, we know that “Avatar” will, baring apocalypse or a mass, blindness-inducing plague, win the weekend. The real question is, by how much? Well, considering it’s opening in 3,453 theaters and probably taking up nearly every higher priced regular size and Imax 3-D screen in the country, I’d say the sky is the limit for the moment. Beyond that, I really don’t have the kind of information to make these kind of assertions, but fortunately there is Daniel Frankel of The Wrap who says that the gurus have agreed the Fox film will do over $60 million at least and possibly as much as $90 or $100 million.
In the mood for an inspirational sports story? You won’t get it in this hard-edged, documentary style 1969 sports film starring Robert Redford (a star but not yet a superstar) as a reckless Olympic-level skier who is utterly selfish and cold-hearted. A pre-“French Connection” Gene Hackman is his coach, probably a good guy and a bit off-put at having to deal with this grade-A douche who, like it or not, might be a champion.
As the DVD extras in this typically strong Criterion package inform us, “Downhill Racer” was originally conceived by Redford as a film to be directed by a hot new European director who shared his passion for skiing. Roman Polanski, however, was too busy with “Rosemary’s Baby,” so Redford concentrated his efforts on working with writer James Salter and first-time feature film director Michael Ritchie (“The Bad News Bears”) to craft this deliberately cold lack-of-character study. The ski footage is as exciting as you can imagine and “Racer” is often as intriguing as it is chilly. Still, it’s primarily a cerebral experience, hobbled by a protagonist who is incapable of changing and a bit dull. Redford and Ritchie inverted the formula in their next collaboration, placing a well-intentioned idealist in conflict with the morally dangerous world of electoral politics in “The Candidate.” That made for a much more engaging movie, but “Downhill Racer” remains worthwhile — and notable historically. Redford says the troubles he encountered making it ultimately led him to conceive of a project to help emerging filmmakers called “Sundance.” That’s more than a footnote.
If you’re a regular viewer of “How I Met Your Mother,” then you’ve seen Alan Thicke pop up on the show on a couple of occasions. First, it was in Robin Sparkles’ video for her classic ballad, “Sandcastles in the Sand,” then as the host of the infamous website CanadianSexActs.org, which was apparently so controversial that it now simply defaults you back to CBS. (Damn!) Most recently, Lily asked him to step in and try to save the relationship between Robin and Barney, and while he failed in that endeavor, his appearance resulted in a fascinating and heretofore-unrevealed link between Robin Sparkles and Alan Thicke: they once starred in a failed variety show.
Since this revelation, “How I Met Your Mother” fans have been demanding to know two things: will we ever see this variety show, and if so, when?
I chatted with Thicke in conjunction with the DVD release of “The Goods” (look for the full interview on Bullz-Eye in the near future), and he gave me the answer: “Yes! You can expect to see that next year.”
Thicke has been friends with Pamela Fryman, longtime director of “How I Met Your Mother,” for many years, having worked with her way back when he was starring on “Hope and Gloria” in the mid-1990s.
“I’ve become kind of an annual recurring guest role on (‘How I Met Your Mother’), which I quite enjoy,” he says. “It impresses my 12-year-old a lot. He loves the show. But I love the cast. And it’s the role I was born to play: Alan Thicke!”
One has to wonder, however, if he ever imagined that he’d grow up and have his name associated with the phrase “Canadian sex acts.”
“Well, those are just the kind of things that you aspire to as a young man,” he said, laughing. “Sometimes they happen, sometimes they don’t.”
No date has been set for the episode yet, unfortunately, but just knowing that they’ve got it in their back pocket is enough to make you feel all warm inside.
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