Pump it up

We had hoped to hear more from "Green," and maybe a bunch of "Murmur" tossed in. But hey, that's because we're old.

What we did hear at the packed R.E.M. show at the Hollywood Bowl last night still warmed our nostalgic hearts like only the band from Athens, Ga., and its politically-outspoken frontman (Stipe for Obama!) can do.

The multiple-Grammy-winners, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year, do have a new record to promote, after all. (The very solid return-to-form "Accelerate.") But they didn't forget tunes like "Pretty Persuasion," "Fall on Me," "The One I Love," and "Man on the Moon."

It was only their second Bowl appearance ever (hard to believe) and just the third outing on the current tour. You'd never have known it, though. Spectacular night for a band that sounds as tight as ever (Mike Mills, please sing us to sleep every night!).

One major complaint: sound so low during the early songs that a chorus of, "Louder, louder!" erupted from the audience. Problem never really got solved, especially for those of us in the (let's just call them) modestly priced seats.

We realize it's a neighborhood and all, and it was a school night, but we hope the venue works out those kinks soon. Don't recall any such issues last season, and with bands like Thievery Corporation coming up on our list of Bowl dates, we'll be wanting to hear that loud. At least louder.

Still, memorable show under cloudless skies. Sweet music, indeed.

Global warbling

"Tectonic Plates: The Musical!" Not really, but not so very far away.

The Oscar-winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" -- basically a wonky slide show that made Al Gore a movie star and helped him win the Nobel Peace Prize -- will be made into an opera.

According to the AP, Italian composer Giorgio Battistelli has been commissioned to turn the doc into a musical piece of theater for the 2011 season in Milan.

Plenty of movies hopping to theater and back again (as in some recent Tony nominees like "Xanadu" and "Cry-Baby") but low-budget infotainment to La Scala-scale opera? Not bashing the film, but just having a tough time seeing the translation. Complete with pie charts!

But considering what else is on tap at the famous opera house -- a 29-hour work by someone who's described as a "notoriously difficult German composer" -- this could just be one of the least nap-inducing projects of the year.

RIP

Even as a clueless kid glued to the tube, as we often were, we recognized the dichotomy that was Harvey Korman. How could someone so tall and elegant be so self-deprecating and goofy, we wondered.

And no one -- no one -- played the nearly-breaking-into-giggles-in-mid-dialogue gag better than he did.

That was quintessential Korman (pictured here clowning with Tim Conway a few years back), a four-time Emmy winner and foil to Carol Burnett on the seminal sketch comedy show that shaped a decade's worth of primetime TV and our budding sense of the absurd.

Sad news this afternoon that Korman, at 81, has died.

This, only a few days after Dick Martin's passing. So long, kings of comedy, and praise be DVD.

Hump day happs

Tidbits for today:

As if "The View" weren't already a promotionpalooza (catch Whoopi's Favorite Stuff the other day?), the Daytime Emmys are likely to get a barrage of exposure over the next several weeks because Sherri Shepherd will be hosting for the first time. She's joining soap hunk Cameron Mathison (pictured) as MC on the show that'll be broadcast June 20 on ABC. The hosts of "The View" are perennial also-rans in the talk show category, having lost 10 times.

Since Whoopi's hosting the Tonys this year, that show also has taken up a big bunch of air time on the morning chatfest. "Project Runway's" Christian even stopped by yesterday to trot out some possible frocks for Whoopi to wear for the Broadway honors. We got distracted and don't know if she eventually picked out the sleek black number or the one with the fierce feathery shoulder pouf. Anyone?

CineVegas is luring some heavyweight award winners to its film fest this year with the strangely-named Half-Life Awards. Maybe that means that Anjelica Huston, Don Cheadle, Viggo Mortensen and a handful of others have half their lives left to make great movies? More about this year's lineup here.

The Shaggy defense is starting to wear thin at the R. Kelly trial in Chicago.

 

Man on Wire

Time to stop talking smack about "Two and a Half Men?"

The sitcom's creator and longtime TV maven Chuck Lorre, (pictured here with Charlie Sheen) speaking in today's Envelope about his picks for the upcoming Emmy Awards, nails it thusly:

"One of the greatest pieces of work on TV this year or any year, consistently, has been 'The Wire.' The fact that it hasn't won every award including the Nobel Peace Prize astonishes me."

Us, too, Chuck! Us, too!

Lorre's rep as a darn decent guy precedes him. Now we know the depth of his good taste, four-camera, laugh-track-heavy shows in his repertoire notwithstanding. But then, he has churned out some award-winning memorable comedy in his time, while wrangling the most difficult divas to ever terrorize the small screen (Cybill, Roseanne, Brett Butler!).

So, we're making a pledge to refrain from liberally tossing out insults about the precocious wisecracking kid plus "lovable" cad plus goofy straight man show. Just don't make us watch it, please. And don't even get us started on "The Big Bang Theory."

Cue up "The Wire" on DVD.

Cannes do

We prefer those years at Cannes where critics hiss and boo and perhaps throw overripe fruit at movies (see: "Da Vinci Code" minus the food), but the just-ended French festival had no such histrionics.

That is, if you don't count the meeting between Oscar-winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and the press, which apparently didn't go well, according to an NPR report over the weekend that had a mute Kaufman refusing to answer, "But what does it mean?" kind of questions from reporters about his directing debut, "Synechdoche, New York."

Less accessible, perhaps, even than his other movies? No boffo boxoffice likely for this one.

Though there was some buzz about Clint Eastwood's fifth trip to Cannes finally breaking him into the top prize stratosphere (it didn't), those assembled seemed to be universally supportive of the movie that did win the Palme d'Or. Our brother blogger Steve Zeitchik describes the junior-high-based biopic ""The Class" as "Stand & Deliver" or "Dangerous Minds" without the Hollywood formula, or "Half Nelson" without the drugs."

What does that mean for its U.S. distribution and Oscar potential? Read more here.

Eastwood didn't go home empty handed, having been given a specially-created award (luminous actress Catherine Deneuve got one, too) for doing work that jury president Sean Penn called "so rare and so important."

Oscar winner Benicio Del Toro (pictured) won for best actor in "Che," having provided what many critics said was the only watchable thing about Steven Soderbergh's marathon movie. (We were down with "Traffic," but this just seems like head-scratching self-indulgence from a filmmaker who should know better. Oh yeah, we forgot about "Bubble" for a minute).

More here about this year's truly international lineup of winners.

 

A class act

There's always something so comforting about a Sydney Pollack movie. Not that it won't address social issues or offer some challenges. It's just that we feel like we're in good hands when we settle in to watch. We know he's going to take care of us, the viewer, and give us a satisfying experience.

So rare in these days of massive buildup and abject disappointment that surround many big-budget projects.

For that and many other reasons, we're saddened by the death yesterday of 73-year-old Pollack, an Oscar winner for the timeless classic "Out of Africa" whose films have collectively snagged 48 Oscar nominations and actor nods for such A-listers as Meryl Streep, Barbra Streisand, Dustin Hoffman and Jessica Lange.

He made commercial films, no cringing necessary.

Pollack, a true multi-hyphenate who directed, produced and acted for two-plus decades, made a memorable appearance in last year's incisive "Michael Clayton," delivering some of the best biting lines in the movie, which he also produced. Again, seeing him reassured us that this would be a quality film. Nothing to worry about here. We still think it was one of the most underrated of the year, despite its seven Oscar nominations and the much-deserved win for Tilda Swinton.

We're looking forward to the inevitable Pollack movie marathon on cable, hopefully as soon as possible. Because if one's not organized soon, we'll mount one of our own that will include (but not be limited to) "Three Days of the Condor," "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" and, of course, "Tootsie."

 

Queen of Cannes

It's been a dour, downbeat Cannes film festival, with overly long, disjointed and bummer movies all around. The showplace for potential Oscar bait has been decidedly lacking in excitement (and sales) this year.

Who'll win the Palm d'Or at the close of the fest this weekend?

Who cares*, when there's an adorable pooch who's already taken home the Palm Dog, the award for the best performance by a canine? Her name is Lucy the Thespian Pooch and she's described as a cross between a hunting dog and a retriever (she looks like no such thing -- she's a Pug, people!).

Tough contest, this. Lucy beat out the pup that licked Julianne Moore's face in Fernando Meirelles' "Blindness." And a dog named Jesus Christ in "The Wackness."

But she does have a top-billed role in the Alaskan road trip drama "Wendy and Lucy," with Michelle Williams, in which she gets separated from her person and tossed into the pound. There's some serious emoting going on there, you just know it.

Prize: a brass-studded leather collar. And maybe some Snausages.

We have to think Lucy's an improvement over past winners, which include two flatulent bulldogs.

*OK, we do care, and we're waiting to see if Clint Eastwood's fifth attempt at Cannes glory -- this time with the Angelina Joie-starrer "The Changeling" -- can come out on top. There's already best picture Oscar talk around the period drama. Check back for results.

Spiked

Sometimes, he waits until he wins an award to unload on people.

Sometimes not.

This time, it's fellow filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen and Clint Eastwood who are in Spike Lee's cross-hairs. What'd the Oscar winners do to bring this on? Says Lee: the brothers treat death cavalierly (though we see their brand of murder and mayhem more as funny strange than funny ha ha) and Clint largely excluded black servicemen from his World War II films.

Lee poked his colleagues while he was in Cannes this week to pump "Miracle at St. Anna," his own period war drama. So, additional ink is good for the fall release, right? Not that that was his motivation, necessarily, but the fact that he is a masterful marketer and consistently speaks his mind, correctness be damned, are just a couple more reasons we love him. We don't even have to agree -- that's really not the point.

It's about the all-too-rare candor. Hey, Spike, keep giving good soundbite.

 

Beyond the big four

Cable Ate the Emmys!

As far as we're concerned, that should've already happened, what with ground-breaking shows like "The Wire," "Rescue Me" and "Damages," just to name a few dramas, dotting the schedule.

But, as Ray Richmond writes in THR, cable's just now coming into its own, as far as benchmark primetime awards are concerned. When the Emmy nominations are announced in July, expect such developments as:

A nomination for HBO's superb "In Treatment." Dark and intense? Talky? Sure! But we were more intrigued by listening to other people whine five nights a week than we ever thought possible. And incidentally, who knew Josh Charles had it in him? Now we do.

Laura Linney, three-time Oscar nominee, will likely rack up her third Emmy for "John Adams," with the miniseries likely to continue HBO's unparalleled domination in the category.

"Mad Men," which has done more for AMC's rebranding than a million themed-movie nights could, will rock.

"Pushing Daisies" -- one of the only new network shows worth watching during this past truncated season -- could get recognized alongside "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (four nominations, no wins) and "30 Rock" (reigning champ).

We haven't officially kicked off the rants about what will be left off the Emmy list, but we're gearing up for it. Two words: "The Wire." Check back later for the beginning of many fist-shaking hissy-fit-throwing commentaries.