The ShowBuzz Weekly Forecast
The Grammy Awards are being handed out this week and, although there are certainly fresher music trophies to be had, the Grammy is still the granddaddy of them all. Since it's been around longer than the rest of them, it carries a bigger prestige factor.
If you are totally not into music, you can go to the movies and acquaint yourself with the young Hannibal Lecter, played not by Sir Anthony Hopkins but by the very youthful Gaspard Ulliel. Never heard of him? Now you have, and if "Hannibal Rising" does decent box office when it opens this week, you'll no doubt hear of him frequently.
Even outside of the cinema, you can't get away from creepy diversions. Go to the book store and you'll see that James Patterson (with Michael Ledwidge) is out with a new thriller, "Step on a Crack." But it kind of balances out because Robert B. Spenser also is out with a new one, a detective story titled "High Profile."
MOVIES
In "Hannibal Rising," audiences are promised a story that illustrates how Gaspard Ulliel grew up to be Anthony Hopkins. Actually, it is the tale of "young Hannibal," and the origins of his unspeakable villainy are pretty unspeakable in themselves.
In Lithuania at the end of World War II, he sees his parents die violently and, even worse, his little sister is torn from his protection to be killed and eaten by thugs. Of course, his early ghastly killings are in the name of revenge. But how can you fully enjoy a movie about Hannibal without the presence of Hopkins? Time (and box office) will tell.
As the title character in "Norbit," Eddie Murphy once again gets to wear funny makeup (as he did in "Bowfinger" in 1999 and "The Nutty Professor" in 1996), playing a luckless fellow who is trapped in a nightmare of a marriage with a mean, overweight woman named Rasputia. Wouldn't you know, it's only after they are married that Norbit realizes that his true love is Kate, his childhood sweetheart. Murphy's co-stars include Thandie Newton and Cuba Gooding Jr.
In "Breaking and Entering," a young, successful architect finds himself re-thinking his life after a young Muslim thief breaks into his office. The plot builds on a variety of incidents that cross the lives of both architect and thief. This one is directed by Anthony Minghella, with a cast that includes Jude Law, Vera Farmiga, Juliette Binoche, Martin Freeman and Ray Winstone. Minghella previously directed Law in such movies as "Cold Mountain" (2003) and "The Talented Mr. Ripley" (1999).
Photos: "Breaking and Entering" Premiere
"The 49th Grammy Awards" will be telecast live from Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 9, (8 p.m. ET/PT) on CBS, featuring a reunion of The Police (including Sting) 23 years after their breakup. Up for the most awards is Mary J. Blige, followed by Carrie Underwood and India.Arie.
On Monday, Feb. 5, Lifetime continues its practice of bringing a novel by Nora Roberts "to life" for the small screen. This time, it's "Montana Sky," in which three half-sisters meet for the first time at their father's funeral. Then, when the will left behind by their cattle-baron dad is read, the women are startled by the terms for collecting their inheritance: They must spend 12 months together on his ranch.
Photos: Sting Through The Years
The will is ironclad: If any of the trio bolts before the year is out, the $24 million estate will be donated to a nature conservancy, and the daughters will each get $100. Then, as if that weren't peculiar enough, they discover their father may have left enemies behind who are dead set on sabotaging the women's efforts to make their rightful claim.
"Montana Sky" stars Ashley Williams as cowgirl rancher Willa, Charlotte Ross as sexy Hollywood writer Tess, and Laura Mennell as introverted Lily, three chilly strangers-turned-adversaries who must learn to work together or lose everything. Also starring are Diane Ladd and John Corbett.
Percy Julian won worldwide acclaim for his work in organic chemistry and, after forming his own private lab, became a self-made millionaire. He was also a black man, the grandson of Alabama slaves who met with countless barriers in a highly segregated nation. But as the first black director of an industrial chemistry research lab, he broke the color barrier in American science more than a decade before Jackie Robinson did the same in major league baseball. A special two-hour "NOVA" tells the story of a man who, despite his tremendous achievements, remains largely unknown after his death a quarter-century ago at age 76. With Courtney B. Vance narrating, "Forgotten Genius" gathers archival footage and interviews, while Tony winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson stars as Julian in period re-enactments. The portrait airs 8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 6, on PBS (check local listings).
The relationship between celebrities and paparazzi has traditionally been one of give-and-take, but as fees have risen in recent years, so have the stakes for this cat-and-mouse game. "THS (as in True Hollywood Story) Investigates: Paparazzi" uncovers the complex love-hate relationship fueled, of course, by the public's insatiable appetite for photos of the stars. Offering a glimpse of the day-to-day routine of paparazzi, host Rob Nelson tags along with freelance photographer Giles Harrison, who has been taking celeb pictures for more than a decade. Nelson also delves into legal issues, including legislation to deal with dangerous paparazzi behavior that was signed into law by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. It airs 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 10, on E! Entertainment.
MUSIC
Fans are not about to miss the Grammys, but there are some new releases that also are bound to attract attention.
Sure, they're quirky, but they know their way around a song. The Barenaked Ladies are released a new CD, "The Barenaked Ladies Are Men."
But even more quirky is filmmaker John Waters ("Hairspray," "Serial Mom"), who has compiled a bunch of eclectic songs for the romantic release "A Date With John Waters." Sure, he includes Ray Charles ("Night Time Is The Right Time") and Dean Martin ("Hit the Road to Dreamland"), but there's also his protégée Mink Stole with a little ditty called "Sometimes I Wish I Had A Gun."
Waters has promised to make a sequel, "Breaking Up With John Waters," but only if the record sales for his "Date" are decent, so take action accordingly.
Speaking of quirky, we're not sure if there is an official Queen of Quirk, but Yoko Ono surely would be in line for the throne. Her music back in the '70s left many people scratching their heads, though her late husband, John Lennon, once said that she was an unsung trailblazer of the punk rock genre. This week sees the release of "Yes, I'm a Witch," a collection of Ono's vocals with collaborations from artists including The Sleepy Jackson ("I'm Moving On"), The Apples in Stereo ("No One Can See Me Like You Do") and Spiritualized ("Walking on Thin Ice").
Photos: When The World Mourned Lennon
BOOKS
Books that carry the name of James Patterson are formulaic and hard to put down. This time, he teamed with Michael Ledwidge for "Step on Crack," about a mass kidnapping perpetrated at St. Patrick's Cathedral during the funeral for a former first lady. The detective in charge of negotiations has a dying wife in the hospital and 10 adopted children (with different ethnic backgrounds) at home.
"High Profile" is Robert B. Parker's latest, billed as sort of a sequel to last year's "Blue Screen." (The main characters are Jess Stone and Sunny Randall.) The plot begins with the murder of a political commentator and escalates with the sexual assault of Stone's former wife.
From Sherrilyn Kenyon, there is "The Dream-Hunter," whose central character is Arik, condemned by the powers-that-be to living forever without being able to feel emotions — except when someone else is dreaming about him. Enter Dr. Megeara Kafieri, who travels to Greece to fulfill her father's deathbed request that she carry on his lifelong quest to prove that the lost continent of Atlantis actually did exist. There, her dreams and Arik's existence converge.
THEATER
The Public Theater is bringing us William Shakespeare's "King Lear" with Kevin Kline as the tragic king. The actor has a long history at the Public, having starred in its productions of "Richard III," "Much Ado About Nothing," "Henry V" and "Hamlet" — not once but two times. Preview performances begin Friday, Feb. 9.
If the only reason was the fact that Liev Schreiber is starring in "Talk Radio," that would be enough to get a ticket. But the play itself, written by and originally performed by Eric Bogosian, is absorbing to anyone who's into listening to such programs on the radio. These days, with Sirius and XM, the territory is more wide open than ever. Diehard fans of "Law & Order: SVU" will be interested to know that Stephanie March, who played the greatly missed prosecutor Alexandra Cabot, is also in the cast. Preview performances begin Friday, Feb. 9, at Broadway's Longacre Theatre.
DVDs
"Flags of Our Fathers" is the English-language twin of Clint Eastwood's Oscar-nominated "Sands of Iwo Jima." The famous photo of the soldiers raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima remains a powerful symbol of hard-won victory in war. In "Flags," Eastwood focuses on the stories of those six soldiers, and their own realizations and memories after they come home to the United States to help in the war-bond effort.
Some sequels are terrific but most of the time, you simply wonder why they bother to make them. (Hint: $$$) Walt Disney's "Cinderella" stands on its own as one of the animated classics of the 20th century (singing mice and a surprisingly sassy heroine). But that did not stop them from making a direct-to-video sequel, and now they're out with "Cinderella III: A Twist in Time" in which the evil stepmother casts a spell (did you know she could even do that?) and reverses all the good work of Cinderella's Fairy Godmother (so much for "Bibbity Bobbity Boo"). Complications ensue. Your kids probably will be asking you to buy this one.
This is Eddie Murphy's year. No, we're not talking about "Norbit." He's adding a lot of trophies to his collection, thanks to his turn in "Dreamgirls." But if you are dying to see him spew politically incorrect comedy while dressed entirely in red leather, your dream comes true with "Eddie Murphy: Delirious." In 1983, when he was 22, his stand-up act was filmed for HBO and released in movie theaters. It is a reminder for some, and a revelation for others, of the kind of boundaries Murphy used to push and the risks he used to take.