Weekend To Do/News

Hi:

Our internet was down most of the morning so this is the first chance I’ve had to write my notes.

Not much new in TV News this week. Been seeing a lot of ‘promos’ for the new shows….

MOVIE NEWS

Keanu Reeves has signed on to play the humanoid alien in the 1951 remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still (that starred Michael Rennie). Production is due to start in late Fall or early 2008.

Well, Oliver Stone is at it again! He is in the process of closing a deal with UA to finance PINKVILLE starring Bruce Willis and Channing Tatum. The story centers on the 1968 MyLai massacre in Vietnam. This will be the fourth time Stone has directed a film focussed on the Vietnam war. The first was PLATOON, followed by HEAVEN AND EARTH and then BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY. Bruce will play an Army General who supervises the investigation of the massacre by US soldiers. Tatum will play a helicoptor pilot who sees what is happening and puts his helicopter between the villagers and the soldiers slaughtering them. Sounds like another intense, controversial film for Oliver. I’ll keep you posted on any news of this film.

Sweeney Todd ‘powers that be’ have decided to open WIDE on December 21st rather than the usual NYC and LA in Dec. and worldwide in January. I’m sure this is partly because of Johnny Depp. This is a ‘dark’ musical and may not appeal to a wide audience. I’ve seen it when it was on PBS with Angela Lansbury and enjoyed it very much.

Movie Studios are thinking of doing a big screen version of MAGNUM PI and guess who they think could take Tom Selleck’s place – drum roll please – Nic Cage!!! I guess he’s gotta pay for that new ‘castle’ in England somehow. I can’t honestly see him doing it but ya never know.

Zack Snyder (300 fame) has been hired to do a remake of the ILLUSTRATED MAN. This was a very popular movie back in 1969 starring Rod Steiger and Claire Trevor (who, I think he was married to at the time). Rod gave a chilling performance as a tattooed man whose tattoos come to life! (only in his mind!) This would be a very good rental for the weekend. No stars or when production will start. Zack is busy doing a few other movies at the moment.

DVDs this week

BLADES OF GLORY – Starring Will Ferrell – this movie is sooo funny.
Buy Blades of Glory (Widescreen Edition) on Amazon!

HEROES – First Season (7 disc set so I’m sure it’s got a lot of stuff we haven’t seen)
Buy Heroes – Season One on Amazon!

MASTERS OF HORROR (Showtime) – Season One
Masters of Horror: Season One Box Set is available on Amazon!

IN THEATERS

Not much this weekend – wait until next week -

There will be 3 movies opening that are all ‘must sees’
THE HUNTING PARTY
SHOOT ‘EM UP
and…my fave, natch, 3:10 TO YUMA

NEWS

Michael Jackson’s b’day was this week. He turned 49!!! WOW, still feels like a 12 year old kid to me!!!I guess we got the ‘real’ name of Tommy Brady and Bridgette’s baby.
It is John Edward Thomas Moynihan. Kinda’ thought she’d do the hyphen thing and go with Moynihan-Brady???

I guess that’s it for the weekend – LABOR DAY already.

Have a great one – (you too Robin Thicke). Hope Wayne and Marie are ‘limbering up’!!!!

Joanie

I Am Legend

Directed by Francis Lawrence
Produced by David Heyman, Akiva Goldsman, Neal Moritz, Erwin Stoff
Written by Novel: Richard Matheson
Screenplay: Akiva Goldsman
Starring : Will Smith, Salli Richardson, Alice Braga
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date: December 14, 2007

A man-made virus wipes out the population of New York City, leaving Robert Neville (Will Smith) the last human survivor in the city and possibly the world. Neville lives alone for three years, attempting to contact and find other possible survivors. He is watched by the Infected, mutant victims of the plague. Neville works to find a way to create a cure using his own immune blood, but he finds himself outnumbered by the Infected and running out of time.

Development

In 1994, Warner Bros. Pictures began developing the film project, having owned the rights to Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel I Am Legend since 1970.

In June 1997, director Ridley Scott and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger entered talks with Warner Bros. for I Am Legend, based on a script by Mark Protosevich. Actors Tom Cruise and Michael Douglas were previously considered to star in the film. The following July, Scott and Schwarzenegger finalized negotiations with the studio. Production slated to begin the coming September, with Houston as a stand-in for the film’s setting of Los Angeles. In December 1997, the project was called into question when the projected budget escalated to $108 million due to media and shareholder scrutiny of the studio in financing a big-budget film. Scott rewrote the script in an attempt to reduce the film’s budget by $20 million, but in March 1998, the studio canceled the project due to continued budgetary concerns. In August 1998, director Rob Bowman was attached to I Am Legend, but he moved on to direct Reign of Fire.

In March 2002, Schwarzenegger became the producer of I Am Legend, commencing negotiations with Michael Bay to direct and Will Smith to star in the film. Bay and Smith were attracted to the project based on a redraft that would reduce its budget. However, the project was shelved due to Warner Bros. president Alan Horn’s dislike of the script. In September 2005, Warner Bros. hired director Francis Lawrence to helm the project, with production slated to begin in 2006.

Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman( A Beautiful Mind, Lost in Space, Batman & Robin, Batman Forever, The Da Vinci Code) revised the script, with the story being moved from California to New York to take advantage of locations that would more easily show emptiness. The story was also written to be closer to The Omega Man (1971), the second film adaptation of the novel. In April 2006, Will Smith signed back onto the project, with production to begin in 2007 in New York.

(content from Wikipedia.org)

Trailer

Dancing With The Stars – Contestants

Hi Everyone:

Just read the list of who the contestants will be on this year’s Dancing With The Stars… here we go

1.  Mel B. Brown (Scary Spice – just had a son with Eddie Murphy)

Age 32 – will be paired with Maksim

2.  Sabrina Bryan (the Cheetah girls?) – Age 22 – will be dancing

with Mark Ballas

3.  Helio Castroneves (race car driver) – Age 32 – will be dancing

with Julianne (lucky him!)

4.  Mark Cuban (owns the Dallas Mavericks and is one pain in

the butt!) – Age 48 – will be dancing with Kym (poor Kym)

5.  Jennie Garth – (90210 fame) – Age 35 – will be dancing

with Derek (Julianne’s bro!)

6.  Josie Maran, Supermodel – Age 29 – will be dancing

with Alec

7.  Cameron Mathison, Actor on All My Children, Age 38

will be dancing with Edyta

8.  Floyd Mayweather, Jr., Boxer, Age 30, will be dancing

with Karina (Mario Lopez’s BFF!)

Now here’s where it gets ‘weird’….just my opinion:  Next Two

9.  Wayne Newton, Las Vegas King – Age 65 – will be

dancing with Cheryl Burke!

10.  Marie Osmond, 47, sells dolls on QVC! – will be

dancing with Jonathan

Back to reality….

11.  Albert Reed, Supermodel, Age 22 – will be dancing

with Anna

and last, but not least,

12.  Jane Seymour, Actress (she was a Bond girl years ago, as well as

Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and, very funny in Wedding Crashers!)

Age 56, will be dancing with our fave Tony!

OK, more news:

The first week, the show will be on for 3 consecutive nights.

Sept. 24th – the girls will dance

Sept. 25th – the guys will dance

Sept. 26th – someone will go home (Wayne??)

Samantha Harris is expecting in October so they will have to find a cohost for Tom Bergeron  (someone from the street will do!  Hey, how about Cat Deeley!!!???)

One last note, let’s all say a quick prayer for Owen Wilson that he gets better real soon.

Talk to you later.  Joanie

(too bad Robin Thicke wasn’t in the mix!)

My Weekend

Hi:

Thought I’d give you a quick breakdown on what I did the last 3 days!

First of all, let me say that if the power ever went out at my place I’d be like ‘dead in the water’! I watch so much tv you’d think I was reporting back to the Nielson people!

Stuff on Friday: Burn Notice – this series has been on a while now on USA. I’ve recommended it before but Friday night’s episode was a surprise as Stephen Bauer was a guest. Who, you may say, is Stephen Bauer……well, he played Tony Montana’s sidekick in SCARFACE (one of the best movies evahhhh) and was also married to Melanie Griffith for a brief time. They have a son. Anyway, here I am watching the show and I see this guy and I’m lookin and lookin and finally, it dawns on me who it is. Boy has he changed over the years. He’s gotten ‘bulkier’ not heavy.

Have you seen the Robert Goulet commercial on EMERALD NUTS yet? It’s hysterical….

Monk and Psych – what can I say? Both really fun series. Season 2 on Psych has kicked it up a notch from last year. Think I’ll buy myself a mug!

Another show that’s excellent is MAD MEN – said it before, say it again!
The music is awesome in the background too.

Saturday found me watching the Red Sox and then I went on ON DEMAND and watched ‘300′. At first I was going to give this a ‘thumbs down’ review but, after thinking about it, I have to give it a marginal ‘thumbs up.’ It’s not that it’s a bad movie; I found that there was so much fighting and not enough background storyline. The violence didn’t turn me off. I know that there was 300 Spartans against what seemed like ‘the world’! Gerard Butler and others, did a great job. The way it was presented, it gave you a comic book feel, which was a good thing. I guess what I’m trying to say is I liked it but Russell’s, Gladiator had more of a story to it. There were references to ‘Gladiator’ in the movie too. Respect and Honor as opposed to Strength and Honor – the dried grass, how passionate Gerard was for his country as Russell was for Rome. So, in closing, I would recommend it for something different to watch. I’d love to hear your comments if you’ve seen it.

Saturday night was the Season One Finale of Jekyll on BBC. James Nesbitt did a great job…one more Season to come! (you can always catch this on ON DEMAND – TV Entertainment – BBC America)

Yesterday was a Princess Diana day for me….watched BBC. They had interviews, showing of the Royal Family Jewels, Princes William and Harry and then a Lifetime movie!

I also watched The Kill Point Sunday night. It was the Season One finale. (the summer shows are wrapping up now). Hope it will be back next year. SPIKE TV has a winner with this series.

Watched a couple of movies that I hadn’t seen in a long time too.

The first is: The Fabulous Baker Boys starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Beau and Jeff Bridges. This was a great movie; especially for Michelle.

The second was: The End starring Burt Reynolds and Dom Deluise. This movie was sooo funny. Burt also directed. It was during his Sally Fields‘ relationship so natch, she was in it as well as Joanne Woodward and many others. Funny, funny movie…..

Well, we have to wait until Wednesday morning to hear the cast of the new Dancing With The Stars. Rumors are running rapid for people like Wayne Newton, Monique, Barry Williams (from the Brady Bunch), Courtney Thorne Smith, and a soap star – the one who plays Beau Buchanan on One Life To Live. Let’s see how many we get right!

OK, that’s it for now. Hope everyone had a great weekend.
Love Tommy’s name for the baby – Jonathan!!

Talk to you soon, Joanie

Weekend To Do – 08/24/07

Morning Everyone:

It’s going to get warm here in New England this weekend after having a week of Fall weather!!! Can’t believe Labor Day Weekend is next week!!!

OK, let’s see what’s new this week:

TV NEWS

Janeane Garofalo will be joining the cast of “24″ next January. She will be in a serious role for a change (we all know that there isn’t much humor in ‘24′!). She will play an FBI systems analyst who is assigned to investigate a crisis (what else is new!) involving Jack.

Heard that KFed did a guest appearance on One Tree Hill and they all loved him. Maybe they’ll give him a recurring role in the series?

HBO has renewed Entourage for a 5th Season! I can’t believe they’ve been on so long. Good for Mark Wahlberg!!! (Rent “Shooter”!)

MOVIE NEWS

Jason Isaacs (Brotherhood, The Patriot) and Melissa George (who co starred in a PI series a few years back with John Stamos which I thought was pretty good.) will join John Cusack in a Jan deBont (didn’t he direct Speed?) action thriller entitled STOPPING POWER. Story centers on Cusack trying to rescue his kidnapped daughter. Jason’s the bad guy and Melissa plays John’s BFF. Filming is set to start in Berlin next month.

IN THEATERS

War
The Nanny Diaries
Mr. Bean’s Holiday
Resurrecting The Champ

DVD RELEASES

Tue., Aug. 21st – Complete 1st season of DEXTER (Showtime)

The Ultimate Gift – Drama – PG – Starring Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine), Brian Dennehy, James Garner, Lee Meriwether. Story is a about a wealthy grandfather who dies and Jason Stevens (who has a trust fund setup for him) figures he’ll get a big inheritance. Not So Fast… Grandpa setup his will giving Jason a crash course on life: 12 gifts to challenge Jason – What’s more important in life: Money or Happiness?
Sounds like a good rental.

Perfect Stranger – Starring Bruce Willis and Halle Berry, Thriller – R
(My friend Patti saw this in the movies and said it is very suspenseful)

Robocop – 20th Anniversary Edition – Just saw this one advertised on “Dailies”/Direct TV. Peter Weller, in his breakthru role, and 70s dad, Kurtwood Smith as the really bad buy! The 20th Edition gives you a lot of background on the ‘making of’ plus more footage that was edited from the movie. – Also, worth the rental/buy.

NEWS

Congrats to New England Patriot Tom Brady on the birth of his son. Wonder what he will name it? Both he and Bridget are Irish so I’m guessin’ it will be an Irish name….but, who knows!

Everyone have a great weekend. You too, Robin Thicke!

By the way, I bought the FOREVER COOL CD/DVD set with Dean Martin and others doing duets with him….I’ll let ya know how I like it.

Joanie

My Weekend and Fall Movies

Goodaye Everyone:

Thought I’d do a ‘weekend update’ since ‘Dance’ is not on.

On Friday, I watched AEON FLUX with Charlize Theron.  Now I like Charlize and I’ve been waiting to see this movie a long time since it was ON DEMAND.  Thankfully it is now on Cinemax so I didn’t feel quite so disappointed when I watched it and realized it has to be in my Top Ten of lousy movies.  Puhleez, don’t waste your time with this.  It is horrendous!

I also watched PAN’S LABRYNTH.  Now when I first started watching it, ON DEMAND, I was a little disappointed (once again) cause it is dubbed in English.  I believe it is Spanish that they are speaking.  This movie won 3 or 4 Oscars and I can see why.  If you have the patience, and don’t let the fantasy part throw you off kilter, you will see a truly magnificent movie.

Basically it is the story of a woman whose husband was a tailor for a Spanish captain (this takes place in 1944 during Franco’s reign).  When her husband dies, the captain marries her and she becomes pregnant.  He makes her travel in terrible conditions, to where he is located because he wants his baby born in front of him.  She has a 9ish daughter from her tailor husband.  OK, the atrocities that this captain inflicts on people is too brutal to describe.  It reminds you of the Holocaust.  This little girl, in order to cope with her surroundings, puts her mind in a fantasy world.  And, it goes from there….  A HIGHLY recommend this movie.  Once again, be patient with the dubbing.  After a while you don’t even notice!

On Sunday, I went to see THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM.  All I can say about the action in this movie is WOW!!!!  Matt Damon is unreal.  I can see why those reporters asked him….Bourne or Bond.  He jumps from building to building, crashing threw glass windows, takes cars off buildings; you won’t believe what he does in a police car.  If you’ve seen the first 2, it won’t be too hard to follow.  This is mostly action though and it works.  I did go crazy trying to figure out who the young girl was who was helping him along the way (she was in the first 2 movies also).  I had to wait until the credits to see that it was Julia Stiles.  I get her mixed up with Kirsten Dunst for some reason.  This movie is also HIGHLY recommended.

I thought it may be the end of the series and I read yesterday that Robert Ludlum wrote a fourth novel on Jason.  It’s called THE BOURNE BETRAYAL.  It has Jason involved in the war on terror.  Do we see a 4th movie on the horizon????

For the last 2 Sunday nights, I have watched a mini series on TNT called The Company.  It stars Chris O’Donnell, Alfred Molina, Michael Keaton and a group of very talented actors.  The story starts years ago at Yale when the CIA was formed.  Each of these 3 actors deserves an Emmy nod for their work.  Sunday night was the 3rd and final installment and it was great.  Espionage, double crossing, spies you wouldn’t believe were spies…everything you would want in a spy movie.  Reminded me of the old James Cagney movies of years ago when he’d play a spy and they’d interrogate him, etc.  I hope that they show this series again because for those of you who missed it (and I know there must be a lot of you simply because you’re not a tv fanatic like I am!) it is well worth watching AND taping.  Full of suspense and intrigue!!!

While I was watching this series on Sunday night, I would bounce over to a 2000 movie called ON THE BEACH.  This is a remake of the Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner one of the 50s.  It is the story of a nuclear bomb going off and, eventually, wiping out the WHOLE population.  Australia is the last to be hit with the poisonous clouds.  Now, ordinarily I wouldn’t be caught up with the one because I know the story, etc., HOWEVER, Armand Assante stars in it and that’s good enough for me.  Also you have Bryan Brown and his wife (in real life) Rachel Ward in it.  So you could see my dilemna because both were cool shows.  Anyway, for you Armand Assante fans….rent this one; you’ll love it!

OK, now that I have gotten your attention (I hope), let’s see what movies we can look forward to for the Fall (my choices of course).

September – Naturally, my first pic is 3:10 TO YUMA starring Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, Ben Foster and Gretchen Mol.  It is directed by James Mangold who gave us Walk the Line with Reese (Oscar) Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix (Oscar nom).  This is a remake of the old Glen Ford, Van Heflin movie that is showing on the Western station on cable at the moment.  (little tidbit…in 2006 Tom Cruise was tapped to play Ben Wade but because of all the ‘madness’ going on with Tommy, the studio backed off.  Mangold lined up new financing, signed Christian Bale and then Russell…who, he said, was always his first choice!)  Sept. 7th

THE BRAVE ONE with Jodie Foster – We’ve seen the trailer on this before but it’s definitely one to mention simply because Jodie doesn’t do that many movies and, usually her choices are good ones.  Sept. 14th

INTO THE WILD - Starring Emile Hirsch, Catherine Kenner, Hal Holbrook, Vince Waughn, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, Jena Malone

We’ve also seen the trailer for this movie so it’s just a reminder – Written and Directed by Sean Penn  Sept. 21st

THE HUNTING PARTY – Starring Richard Gere, Terrence Howard, Jesse Eisenbergf.  Also, once again, we’ve seen the trailer on this one. Sept. 7th

SHOOT ‘EM UP – Starring Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti, Monica Bellucci This is my fave movie for Sept. after 3:10 to Yuma.  There is also talk for a 2nd one already.  Sept. 7th

We may have to ‘camp out’ on the 7th with 3 good movies opening!!!

October – Elizabeth: The Golden Age – For those of you who saw ELIZABETH I which gave Cate Blanchett an Oscar nom, this tells the story of the queen in her very early days.  We’ve seen the trailer before but it may be worth a ‘refresher’.  Oct. 12th

Gone Baby Gone – Starring Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman, John Ashton.  Written and directed by Ben Affleck – Have to give a ’shoutout’ to Cambridge boy Ben and hope that this movie is a winner for him…we all know he’s long overdue!  Oct. 19th

Michael Clayton – Starring George Clooney – that’s all we need to know! Oct. 5th

Grace is Gone – Starring John Cusack.  I just did a review on this movie last week and can’t wait to see it.  Could be a ‘big one’ for John.  Oct. 5th

We Own The Night – Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, Robert Duvall.  I’ve done the trailer for this one and they are starting to show it in theaters.  Looks good. – Oct. 12th

HITMAN – Starring Timothy Olyphant (from Deadwood series) – Looks like another action flick from start to finish – Oct. 12th

November - the long awaited AMERICAN GANGSTER – starring Russell Crowe, Denzel Washington, Cuba Gooding, Jr. – Directed by Ridley Scott

I saw the preview for this movie on Sunday when I went to see The Bourne Ultimatum and, unfortunately, I was in the ‘front row’ and almost went out of my seat when it came on!!!  I wanted to say, “I Smell Oscar!”  but, since I haven’t seen the movie yet, I thought that might be a little premature! Nov. 2nd

August Rush – Starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers (The Tudors), Keri Russell, Freddie Highmore – This looks soooo good.  (Robin Williams is in it too).  I think it will be a winner; one of those ’sleeper’ hits.  Nov. 21st

Lions for Lambs – Starring Tom Cruise, Robert Redford, Meryl Streep We’ve seen the trailer for this and it’s probably going to be a ‘blockbuster’! Nov. 9th

Fred Claus – Starring Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti, Kevin Spacey, Rachel Weisz (who we last saw in The (yuck!) Fountain!), Kathy Bates. I think, beside the Russell Crowe movies, I’m looking forward to this one the most.  It looks wicked funny!    Nov. 9th

Beowulf – Starring Angelina Jolie, Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, Robin Wright Penn. – Saw the trailer for this in the theater this weekend.  I think this is one where it is gonna be fantasy like.  Jamie did the synopsis of it when he showed us the trailer a while back.  Nov. 16th

December – I Am Legend – Starring Will Smith, Alice Braga  Maybe Jamie could do the trailer for this one for us.  I’m not sure what it is about but I DO know that when Will is in a December movie, it usually means ‘Oscar buzz’.  Dec. 14th

From Jamie: This is  an adaptation of one of the most successful Vampire stories aside from Bram Stoler’s Dracula. Based on Richard Matheson’s novel which was adapted into film in 1964 as The Last Man on Earth with Vincent Price and later as The Omega Man starring Charlton Heston in 1971. The latest remake has been in development Hell since the 1990’s when Arnold Schwarzenegger was set to star. The story follows the last man on Earth not infected by a virus that has turned the planet into a world of bloodsucking vampires.

Charlie Wilson’s War – Starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts. Philip Seymour Hoffman – Directed by Mike Nichols – You’ve got 3 Oscar winners not to mention Mike Nichols who always seems to get a great pic made when he is involved.  Trailer Jamie? -not yet Dec. 25th

Leatherheads – Starring George Clooney, Renee Zellweger (an old BFF), John Krasinski – Written by George and Directed by….you guessed it, George – Not sure what this one is about either so I guess we need the trailer on it.  Dec. 7th

Sweeney Todd – Starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Sacha Baron – Directed by Tim Burton – hence, the Helena role!  I’m sure many of you have seen the stage play and when it was on PBS starring Angela Lansbury and George Hearn.  Fantastic play; let’s hope Johnny can pull off the intensity and singing of the demented barber!!!  Dec. 21st

Atonement -  Starring James McEvoy, Keira Knightly.- Story starts in 1935 when a servant’s son (McEvoy) falls in love with the upper class Celia (Keira).  This drama spans 6 decades, including McEvoy’s service in WWII and a present-day (Redgrave), etc.  (Your eyes must be burning now so I’ll go no further!)  Dec. 7th

Well I’ve worn out my welcome for about a week!!!  One more thing, AI people…..Elliott Yamin will appear along with Constantine on The Bold and The Beautiful this coming Friday – 1:30 – Channel 4!!!!!

Talk to you later – Joanie (I’m going to go and soak my fingers now!)

So You Think You Can Dance – WINNER – 08/20/07

Hi Everyone:

Sorry for the longgg wait! Since I have Fridays off this info will be ‘anti-climactic’ but I thought I’d write it anyway for those who didn’t get a chance to watch.

Cat came out in a beige ‘puffy’ number with a hairdo that was not the best I’ve seen in the past. Not a good night for Cat and I know she wanted to look her best for the “Winner” Show. Too bad.

Over 16M votes were registered on Wednesday night. Unbelievable!

First up…the Top 20 Dancers danced a really cool number. They are ALL so talented.

All the judges came back for the ‘big’ show. Even Adam came back to sit in. Cat asked each judge, during the course of the night, what routine they enjoyed the best.

First up was Wade (wicked talented!) Robson. Wade said, “There was no DIVA (Blake!) this year. It was a joy to work with all of these dancers.”

Paula Abdul is in the audience…she actually looks pretty good tonight.

OK…highlights!

Top 20

Tyce Diorio had the group do a LION KING tribute. WOW! What a terrific routine. Too bad they can’t all go on tour!

Commercial: L’Oreal skincare cream. Hey…If I were Penelope Cruz, I’d look that good too!!!

OK, back to the show. Mary Murphy (who looked beautiful) chose the Transformers routine as her favorite. We got to see it one more time. It was Pasha and Lauren. Still great dance.

Next up, Nigel brought back Brandon Norris to do some clogging. WOW, that’s so cool! Good job Brandon.

OK, let’s ’surf’ with the remote: Elvis is on PBS, 25th Anniversary Special – Hunka, Hunka Burnin’ Love -

Elvis Home Movies/’Lost’ Songs

There’s that promo for the Best American Band – Fox – Oct/Nov
(I read that, as I surmized, it’s a Simon Cowell and crew show!)

Let’s see which routine Nigel loved the most. It’s Wade’s Hummingbird and Flower with Hok and Jaimie – Still breathtaking!!!!

Jean-Marc chose the hip/hop routine performed by Dominic and Sabra. Once again, so enjoyable.

Back to Elvis…..He’s singing American Trilogy – how he loved his country!

Back to Dance – Whoa…here’s a preview of Prison Break – very intense. Will premiere on Sept. 17th.

Adam (love him) chose the Knock on Wood routine danced by Sara and Neil. This was so much fun and, again with the leaps from Neil!!!!

Ohhhhh, it’s Brian Gaynor from the auditions. I’M CLAPPING!!!
Shane still loves this guy and he is definitely going to be in his movie.

More Elvis.…I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You – (lucky for you that you can’t HEAR ME!)

The Top 8 do a Shane Sparks dance – Get Up – It’s the Matrix # they did before. It is so much fun to watch.

News on the tour: Nigel says that, “Because it’s a long tour, and people may get sick or hurt, we have decided to invite Hok, Sara, Jesus and Jessie to join the group.” (by the way, I jumped onto the ticket website and the prices are astronomically HIGH!!!!)

Wade’s fave routine is the Samba that Lacey and Danny did. This was choreographed by ‘hot’ Dimitri!!!! Very sexy!!!

After the dance, Cat asks Lacey and Danny to stay on the stage as she is about to announce who will be the first of the Top 4 to go home.

It’s Lacey. Don’t cry…she’s got a heck of a career ahead of her!

I’m surfing again….PBS has the Tony Bennett duet special on. Great songs; great singers…

Back to the show – Nicole from the Pussycat Dolls does a song from her new CD. Excuse me if I….turn the station! Back to Tony!

OK, Shane’s fave routine is Sara and Pasha who did the swing coast routine. Benji (last year’s winner) choreographed this number. It was awesome!!!!

Tyce’s fave routine is Danny and Anja doing the Foxtrot that Jean Marc choreographed. How graceful and flowing this number is….

Commercial for BONES and HOUSE – Premiere: Sept. 25th

Tony’s fave routine is Sara and Jesus doing the “Newspaper” dance choreographed by Wade Robson – Flawless and different.

Mia’s fave routine (and I can’t wait for this one) is Neil and Sabra doing the ‘table dance’. It is soooo good.

Cat keeps Neil and Sabra on the stage and asks Danny to join them. We are going to have someone else ‘go home’. It is Neil…..cya on tour Neil and have a great career.

Commercial for the Emmys – Sunday, Sept. 16th – I’ll be watching with my ballgown and tiara on!!!

Another routine by the Top Ten by Imogen Heap

Cat and Nigel dance (which Cat has been promising allll night). This was kinda a gag since it is a routine from www.jibjab.com which you can download yourself to watch. It was cute though.

Ryan Cabrera (who did he used to go out with? was it Ashley Simpson or Hilary Duff????) Anyway he sang, I Will Remember You. Good Song.

Dan Hagarty was talking about the auditions and mentioned Jamal, the big guy who the judges asked to come back a do a swing routine (which he did with his buddy). He was from Boston!!! Didn’t quite make the cut though.

Dan’s fave routine was: Lacey and Neil doing Mia’s tribute to her dad, The Flower. It was, once again, graceful and touching. They did a great job.

OK, this is it, Cat asks Danny and Sabra to come to the stage:

After 16 million votes, the winner of Season 3’s “So You Think You Can Dance” is… drum roll please… SABRA.

For someone who has only been dancing for 4 years, this girl is an inspiration for anyone who would like to dance. She’s fabulous and I’m so happy that she won.

So that’s it for now. Since the show has been signed for another year, I’ll be back next Season to do it all over again.

I’ll write little ‘tidbits’ plus the Weekend To Do stuff for now.

Luv ya all, Joanie

Weekend To Do/Rumors/News 08-16-07

Hi:

I’ll try and make this brief today knowing that I will not be back until Monday.

The first thing I want to ‘highly’ recommend is the new CD/DVD set by Dean Martin entitled, FOREVER COOL. It is filled with duets from people like Kevin Spacey, Chris Botti, Michael Bubble. Excellent buy.

Buy Forever Cool (CD/DVD) on Amazon!

TV NEWS

Criminal Minds – The CBS drama returning in the fall. Mandy Patinkin will be back (it was just announced) for the first 2 episodes to help Joe Mantegna ‘ease’ into his spot on the show. Rumor once had it that Harvey Keitel was interested but I feel that Harvey has a few more movies left in him before he turns to TV series.

HBO has picked up Allen Ball (Six Feet Under) series about vampires, “True Blood”. It is based on Charlaine Harris’s “Southern Vampire” novel series. It stars Anna Paquin (XMEN/The Piano) and others to be named later. Probably won’t see it until the Fall of 2009!

Life On Mars – The BBC Series (excellent!) that David Kelley is taking to ABC will star Colm Meaney as the cranky Detective Hunt. Jason O’Mara will star as Sam, a detective who finds himself back in the 70s after going into a coma following a car accident. Lenny Clarke (Denis Leary’s BFF) is also slated to star….can’t wait for this one!

Medium – Anjelica Huston has been signed for 6 episodes of this series. She will play Cynthia Keener, a PI for a national firm called Ameritips. She will work hand in hand with Allison. Medium returns next January.

The 2 Cory’s….? Kinda – Looks like there may be a LOST BOYS2 on the horizon afterall. (The Corys have a show on A&E at the moment and all Corey Haim talks about is a sequel to Lost Boys!!!). In fact, filming could start as early as next week!!!! Could we hope for a Christmas opening?

DVDs

Wild Hogs – with John Travolta, William Macy, Tim Allen and Martin Lawrence(?) – is out in stores this week. They say the out takes are hysterical!
Buy Wild Hogs (Widescreen Edition) on Amazon!

Buy Labyrinth (Anniversary Edition) on Amazon! (David Bowie)

Vacancy – Horror

Fracture (Widescreen Edition) - starring Ryan Gosling and Anthony Hopkins
Good movie – thriller – but you have to pay attention cause there’s lots of twists and turns in this one!
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Elvis- 30 years today since he passed. I know exactly where I was the moment I heard he was gone. Loved him…..

Merv Griffin – what a life Merv had. He was 82 when he died this week. He was so creative. Even though he made a bundle creating Jeopardy and the Wheel of Fortune, Merv made his BIG BUCKS in real estate. Even battling Donald Trump at one point…and won too!

I used to love his talk show years ago. He had Arthur Treacher on as his ’side kick’. He used to call him, “Merrrrrvin”. It was so funny. One of his best guests, believe it or not, was Burt Reynolds. We found out how funny Burt was on his show! Totie Fields was another, Selma Diamond, Phyllis Diller and many, many others….too many to mention.

You’re upstairs now Merv… look up Tammy Faye; I bet you’d be good company for each other.

That’s it for this week. Everyone have a great weekend and we’ll see you next week.

Joanie – Have a great weekend too… Robin Thicke!

THE LAST LEGION

Starring: Colin Firth, Ben Kingsley, Aishwarya Rai, Peter Mullan, Thomas Sangster, Kevin McKidd, John Hannah
Director: Doug Lefler
Studio: Weinstein Company
Release Date: 8/17/07

The film is loosely inspired by the events of 5th century European history, notably the collapse of the Western Roman Empire under its last emperor, Romulus Augustus. This is coupled with other facts from the history of Britain and fantastic elements from the legend of King Arthur to provide a historical basis for the Arthurian legend.

The film begins shortly before the coronation of Romulus as emperor in 470. His father, Orestes, is the commanding general of the Roman army. Odoacer, leader of the barbarian foederati army, makes certain demands on Orestes the night prior to coronation, which Orestes rebuffs.

On the day of the coronation, Rome is attacked by the barbarians, Orestes is killed, and Romulus is exiled to Capri along with his shamanistic advisor Ambrosinus. While on Capri he finds and acquires the mythical sword Excalibur.

Romulus is rescued from Capri by the loyal general Aurelius and some surviving legions, accompanied by a black-clad Byzantine warrior named Mira. They seek the help of the Byzantines, but learn that the Byzantines have betrayed them and sided with Odoacer. Romulus and Aurelius choose to seek refuge in Britain, where the Ninth Legion remains loyal.

Trailer

Top 4 So You Think You Can Dance – 08/16/07

Goodaye Everyone:

Sorry for no write up from Monday night but I had a little eye surgery on Tuesday so I was home for a few days… but I’m back now!

First let me say what a great competition this has been this year. I think anyone from the Top 10 could have won this contest. But unfortunately we had to let Lauren and Pasha go on Monday night. Now we’re down to:

Sabra/Danny/Lacey/Neil anyone of which could take the $250K prize!
This is what I call a REAL Talent Show, in all aspects.

Let’s start the show:

Cat looked really hot tonight in a short gold metallic number with her hair all curled. Lookin’ good Cat!!!

Dan Karaty joined Mary and Nigel tonight to give his inputs on the dancers. Mary…WOW! look at those diamonds. I’d kill for that emerald ring! You go girl….

Nigel announced that the show will return for a 4th season. Great News!

OK…commercial, let’s bounce over to Power of 10 and Drew Carey.
This is a fun show and he makes it work.

OK…back to the show.

Tyce Diorio had the 4 do a broadway number. I’m EXCITED here cause it’s Liza Minnelli from Cabaret. Great number; great routine; all 4 did a terrific job.

REMINDER: Check Tour Dates on www.fox.com

Solo for Lacey – (I have to admit that a lot of these songs are from people or groups I’ve never heard of so I’ll just skip them tonight).
She’s great as always…love her eyes! Thought it was a riot when she threw herself into the audience and the guys caught her (not that they didn’t know but it was still cool).

Comment: I’ve noticed thru this whole competition how sincere Mary Murphy is. She really loves these kids and wants them all to succeed.
Aside from the Hot Tamale scream, she’s a cool gal!

OK, Sabra and Neil do a hip hop number choreorgraphed by Shane Sparks. – It was a lot of fun even though the judges weren’t thrilled with it.

Back to Power of One – Drew has 2 very young contestants at the moment. They battle it out to see who will go for the $10M…gotta go.

Next up is Lacey and Danny who do a Viennese Waltz choreographed by Jean Marc. Very, very hard understanding this guy cause he is SO French! They figured it out though and did a beautiful job. Lacey even remembered NOT to bend her hand….Judges loved it.

Solo for Neil – WOW look at those jumps. You can tell that he is a gymnast and then a dancer. He incorporates both though and is a terrific performer.

Trailer for Becoming Jane… out this weekend.

Next is Lacey and Sabra in a number choreographed by Wade Robson (who, in my humble opinion, is one of the BEST choreographers out there today!). OK, so the theme is a mama (Lacey) fox and a baby (Sabra) fox. I got it…the judges didn’t. That’s OK cause the two of them did a wonderful job.

Solo for Danny – again (like Neil) with the leaps and splits – WOW!
The judges said that (Nigel in particular) Danny was the best he had seen since Blake…from Season One). Great compliment.
Mary said she never gets tired of watching him.

OK…let’s switch to Larry King to see who he has on tonight.
Oh My God…it’s Priscilla (Botox queen) Presley!!! What, is she like 59 now??? Of course it’s a tribute to the greatest performer of ALL TIME, The King…Elvis. He would have been 72 this year. How very, very sad. She is going to show parts of Graceland that have never been shown before. Look away from the face people and you’ll enjoy the tour!!!

Back to the show…..

Now we have Neil and Danny doing a contemporary number choreographed by Mia – The story is a fight between two kings (I believe) who each want to rule. It was intense, strong, masculine and the judges loved it. I thought both guys did a great job.

Solo for Sabra – What can anyone say about this girl. I can’t believe she’s only been dancing for 4 years. What a talent. She’s awesome.

Commercial: American Band in the Fall. I see Simon Cowell’s input all over this one. Not sure if I want to review/watch it…we’ll see.

Next we have Lacey and Neil who dance to a number (Lindy Hop) choreographed by Nick Williams (who we don’t see too often). I can’t even begin to express how terrific they are together. Lacey had a lot of gumption doing some of those jumps. Fast, fast dance and they definitely pulled it off!!! Great job.

Last we had Sabra and Danny doing a Cha Cha routine choreographed by Melanie (Tony Meredith’s partner). These two covered the whole floor with leaps, jumps dance steps like you wouldn’t believe. The Judges couldn’t believe it was the first time they had danced together. Nigel wished they had been paired together before. AWESOME JOB!

OK, so there you have it. Tonight is the Finale and I have tomorrow off so it will be anti-climactic by the time I get into work on Monday to do my thoughts on the show.

It will be a “fan favorite” choice tonight because, based on talent, any one of these 4 could take the top prize!!!

Good luck to all four. I’m not even going to venture a guess.

Talk to you soon…

Joanie