Entertainment Today and Beyond THOUGHTS OF THE DAY

The RETURN of 24 – Judging by the first 4 hours it appears the show is back on track. It’s amazing how the Jack Bauer role has really defined Kiefer Sutherland as an actor as he continues to show a dynamic presence in the role. Let’s hope they can keep the quality of this show up for the entire season.

TV REMINDER – FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS returns to NBC this Friday for season 3. This is one of television’s best programs and I highly look forward to watching once again.

Sunday night’s Golden Globe awards pulled in a respectable 14.5 million viewers. As always the broadcast was the fastest moving and most entertaining of all awards shows. Some of the highlights included acceptance speeches by Mickey Rourke, Colin Farrell, and Chris Nolan who spoke on behalf of Heath Ledger, who won for his supporting performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight. While it was nice to see Kate Winslett win for both The Reader (supporting actress) and Revolutionary Road ( best actress), I thought her second acceptance speech where she practically imploded was embarrassing, and once again shows how isolated some stars are from the real world. When she kept saying “I can’t believe this”, “I can’t believe this”, while hyperventilating I thought maybe for a second she had found the cure for cancer! She did NOT. She merely won an acting award.  

One other BIG highlight for me was the appearance of Sacha Baron Cohen. While presenting an award, the Borat star unleashed three jokes that had the audience cringing, especially the last one were he took a shot at Madonna and Guy Ritchie. It was blisteringly funny, even if the crowd felt uncomfortable with his humor and held back from laughing. Cohen certainly didn’t hold anything back – a major, irreverent, talent! I could only imagine the possibilities if he were allowed to host the Oscars. It would probably be a night for the ages. Coming out of the Globes I would say it now appears that SLUMDOG MILLIONARE will be the favorite to win the Oscar for best picture.

GRAN TORINO’s 29.5 million box-office take over the weekend was MIGHTY impressive. What other 78 year old actor besides the living legend, Clint Eastwood, could attract this type of audience. The answer is NOBODY!

Radha Mitchell, who starred in the horror film SILENT HILL, has been signed to play the female lead in Overture film’s remake of George Romero 1970’s horror thriller THE CRAZIES. She will play the wife of the film’s star, Timothy Olyphant. The Crazies hits theaters Sept 25, 2009.

With Lionsgate’s stock price teetering at the $5.00 level, more than 50% from its 52 week high, MY BLOODY VALENTINE 3-D will be a pretty important film for them when it hits theatres on Friday. With current financial disasters like Punisher War Zone and The Spirit the independent badly needs this film to perform. If it bombs, their solvency could come into question. My gut feeling is the film will at least get out of the gate this weekend and have a respectable opening!