How to Spend $20
By Eric Hughes
January 5, 2010
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Pick of the Week
For people who think all the Baldwins deserve a show on NBC: Chuck: The Complete Second Season
It's hard to believe that the network that once broadcasted new episodes of Seinfeld, Friends, Frasier and ER (in its heyday) in the same week now relies on reality fare like The Biggest Loser to make money. Next to football on Sunday nights, The Biggest Loser is the network's sole major player, having been the only program to average more than 10 million viewers per episode this season. Of course, a show that averages that many eyeballs on any other major network, namely CBS, would likely face the threat of cancellation. But lo! On NBC, 10 million is royalty. Ten million is hot stuff. Ten million will get you renewed for many years to come. (Heck, just a few days ago, NBC confirmed plans to bring back Law & Order for a historic 21st season. And that show does poorly in total viewers and adults 18-49, the demographic advertisers love. Of course, much of the decision was based on (NBC Prez of Primetime Programming) Angela Bromstad's desire to bust Gunsmoke's long-standing record of 20 television seasons, but still!).
The take home message here is that NBC could use a break. A hit. A sign that firing Ben Silverman was the right thing to do. That very aspired for relief could come in the form of Chuck, NBC's quirky comedy-actioner that oozes with cool, so much so that its opening theme is an instrumental version of Cake's "Short Skirt/Long Jacket." (That's how you know it's legit). There's been solid buzz about the new season (at least on the Internet) for what seems like a few months now. And if the series, about a computer whiz who receives an e-mail that copies the world's greatest spy secrets into his brain, not only matches last season's average audience – 7.36 million – but increases it to maybe eight or nine million, NBC will be happier than a kid on Christmas.
Originally brought back for a third season consisting of 13 episodes, Chuck's order was later increased to 19 episodes. And its premiere, bumped from a planned February or March-ish debut to this weekend (Sunday), is a hefty two hours. NBC, shall I say, has some holes to fill, especially since football has vacated its schedule until next fall.
Disc includes: Truth, Spies and Regular Guys: Exploring the Mythology of Chuck featurette; Dude in Distress: Explore Some of This Season's Best Action Sequences featurette, Chuck Versus the Webisodes: Wed-Originated featurettes, Chuck: A Real-Life Captain Awesome's Tips for Being Awesome featurette, John Casey Presents: So You Want to Be a Deadly Spy? featurette, deleted scenes, gag reel
For people who have beer-flavored nipples: 10 Things I Hate About You (10th Anniversary Edition)
Before Heath Ledger was The Joker, he was Patrick Verona in one of my most favorite guilty pleasures from the late '90s. I'm not generally a fan of teen comedies – save for a handful of titles including American Pie and Superbad – but this movie, which arguably achieved more success in home media than at the domestic box office, seemed to nonchalantly cross gender barriers and attract the attention of both females and males.
Honestly, what's not to like? It's got Allison Janney in a toned down version of her character we saw a couple months ago in Away We Go as the school's guidance counselor (who, ahem, moonlights as an erotic fiction writer), Larry Miller as an extremely protective father (and OBGYN) who wears a fake pregnant-belly suit without a lick of shame and, of course, its stable of young, talented actors – the aforementioned Ledger, as well as Julia Stiles, Larisa Oleynik and Joseph Gordon-Levitt – in the movie's lead roles.
For those who have yet to discover this delightful gem, 10 Things I Hate About You is a loose retelling of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew set, as you have come to suspect, at a high school. It largely concerns a family rule put in motion by an overbearing Larry Miller, which prohibits the more popular and prettier of two sisters, Bianca, from dating boys until her rebellious sibling, Kat, gets a suitor of her own. In his attempt to finagle Bianca into dating him, a boy strikes a deal with an unruly Patrick to win Kat's heart.
Disc includes: Audio commentary, Behind-the-Scenes featurette, cast interviews, screen tests, deleted scenes, on-set B-roll, digital copy
For people with an appetite: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (Special Edition)
Capitalizing on the industry's successful permeation of 3D movies in 2009 – which David Mumpower highlighted a few days ago at #6 in BOP's Top 12 Film Industry Stories of 2009 – Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs raked in more than $30 million at the domestic box office during its opening weekend, good enough for first place (and third all-time against all opening weekends in the month of September). Against a $100 million budget, the project has so far tallied more than $200 million worldwide, meaning anything this puppy makes in the home media market will be gravy for Columbia. Not too shabby for Sony Pictures Animation, which has theatrically released only two movies prior to Meatballs: Open Season and Surf's Up.
Loosely based on a same-named 1978 children's book, Meatballs is about a man (voiced by SNL's Bill Hader) who "solves" world hunger by devising a way to make food fall like rain from the sky. Hunger problems go from bad to worse when the food overloads cities and towns.
Disc includes: Audio commentary, A Recipe for Success: The Making of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs featurette, "Raining Sunshine" music video, Interactive "Raining Sunshine" Sing-A-Long, Behind the Scenes of Miranda Cosgrove's "Raining Sunshine" music video, Key Ingredients: The Voices of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs featurette, extended scenes, Progressive Reels with Introductions featurette, Early Development Scenes featurette, Interactive Splat Button, Flint's Good Fight Game, digital copy
For people who want to see Rose Byrne in something fluffier than your average Damages episode: Adam
Rose Byrne, who caught a break a few years ago in landing a leading role in FX's Damages as Glenn Close's protégé-turned-nemesis Ellen Parsons, is now at work on bulking up her career on the silver screen. Though starring alongside Nic Cage in a mindless sci-fi Blockbuster like Knowing won't attract any positive critical attention an actress like Rose deserves, appearing in a movie about a relationship between a school teacher and a man (Hugh Dancy) with Asperger syndrome certainly will.
The film, distributed by Fox Searchlight, was generally favored by critics (77% of the nation's top critics on Rotten Tomatoes wrote a positive review) but failed to break out into the mainstream. The title ended its domestic run at $2.2 million, having never appeared in more than 177 theaters in a weekend.
Disc includes: Not specified
January 5, 2010
Blu-ray
10 Things I Hate About You 10th (Anniversary Edition)
Battlestar Galactica: Season One
Cheaper by the Dozen 2
Chuck: The Complete Second Season
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
D Grayman: Season 1, Part 1
Dogtown And Z-Boys
Fifty Dead Men Walking
The Green Berets
The Ministers
Riding Giants
Wicked Lake
DVD
10 Things I Hate About You (10th Anniversary Edition)
Adam
Battlestar Galactica: Season One
Big Love: Seasons 1-3 (Set)
Big Love: The Complete Third Season
Burn Notice: Seasons 1 & 2
Cheaper by the Dozen 2
Chuck: Seasons 1 & 2 (Set)
Chuck: The Complete Second Season
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (Special Edition)
Coco Chanel
Everybody Loves Raymond: Seasons 3 & 4 (Side-By-Side)
Fifty Dead Men Walking
Fresh Prince of Bel Air: Seasons 1 & 2 (Side-By-Side)
Ghost Hunters: The Best of Ghost Hunters
Kendra: The Complete First Season (Widescreen)
The Last Starfighter (25th Anniversary Edition)
Lorna's Silence (Widescreen)
Martin: Seasons 3 & 4 (Side-By-Side)
The Ministers
Night Court: Complete Seasons 1 & 2 (Side-By-Side)
The Philanthropist: The Complete Series
UFC: The Ultimate 100 Greatest Fights (Widescreen)