plus 4, YouTube getting into movie rental business - Norwalk Hour

YouTube getting into movie rental business - Norwalk Hour
GOP’s 41st senator gets movie star’s greeting - Chattanooga Times Free Press
Movie Review:'Tooth Fairy' - Delaware County Daily Times
Movie Review 'Tooth Fairy' - Courier-Journal
Conan O'Brien took pleasure in his revenge on NBC this week - Erie Times-News

YouTube getting into movie rental business - Norwalk Hour

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 09:44 PM PST

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SAN FRANCISCO

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE

AP Technology Writer

YouTube's coming attractions now include movie rentals.

The Internet's most popular video channel will make its debut as a rental outlet today to help promote some of the movies that will be shown at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

It's part of a test that YouTube hopes will encourage more studios to rent movies through its site, eventually creating a new financial stream to supplement the Internet ads that bring in most of its revenue.

The first five films available to rent through YouTube will cost $3.99 for a 48-hour viewing period. Movie studios will be able to set their own prices, with rental viewing windows ranging from one to 90 days. YouTube will get an unspecified commission from each rental.

The expansion announced Wednesday marks the latest step in YouTube's evolution from a quirky and sometimes edgy Web site that showed free clips posted by wannabe stars, showoffs, bored teens, lonely hearts and video pirates.

While YouTube still has plenty of eclectic entertainment, the site increasingly has been trying to reel in more traditional fare from movie, television and music producers.

The reason: most major advertisers are more comfortable placing their commercials next to professionally produced videos than alongside wacky -- and potentially offensive -- clips posted by amateurs.

The strategy appears to be paying off for YouTube and its owner, Google Inc. Barclays Capital analyst Douglas Anmuch expects YouTube to generate about $700 million in revenue this year, an estimated 55 percent increase from 2009. If YouTube hits that target, it likely will turn profitable, helping to justify the $1.76 billion in stock that Google paid for the site more than three years ago.

YouTube says it is diversifying into movie rentals to meet user demand and provide an alternative means of distribution for movie makers that don't want ads cluttering up their work.

There already are plenty of places to rent movies that can be downloaded or streamed over high-speed Internet connections. The major vendors include Apple Inc.'s iTunes store, Amazon.com Inc., Netflix Inc. and Blockbuster Inc.

YouTube's biggest challenge figures to be a familiar one: persuading movie studios to make their digital rentals available at the same time the films are released on DVDs and Blu-ray discs. The studios aren't keen on that particular idea, partly because selling DVDs and Blu-ray discs is so profitable.

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GOP’s 41st senator gets movie star’s greeting - Chattanooga Times Free Press

Posted: 22 Jan 2010 12:07 AM PST

By LAURIE KELLMAN and ANDREW MIGA

Associated Press Writers

WASHINGTON — The Republican state senator who shook the political landscape from Massachusetts to California this week descended on Capitol Hill to a celebrity's welcome Thursday as he to introduced himself to a Congress he says has lost its way.

Sen.-elect Scott Brown acknowledged that winning the seat held since 1962 by the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in Tuesday's special election upset presented unique challenges.

"I'm stepping into shoes that are very, very big," Brown said during a meeting in Kennedy's former offices.

Brown made other gestures of humility and substance during visits with Senate veterans and leaders.

"This is the best place in the world when it comes to solving problems," Brown said, "but we've sort of lost our way."

Washington greeted the Cosmopolitan centerfold, followed through the complex by a camera-clicking mob, more like movie idol Brad Pitt — who created a major fuss at the Capitol in March — than Jimmy Stewart's Mr. Smith who went to Washington.

Brown said he was overwhelmed. Inciting a particularly dense swarm after one meeting, he expressed hope "no one trips" in the frenzy.

Republican leaders are hoping the same thing about Brown, largely unknown outside Massachusetts until he began surging past Democrat Martha Coakley to capture the Senate seat held by Kennedys all but a few months since 1953.

Welcoming Brown first was Sen. John McCain, the GOP presidential nominee in 2008 whose independent streak has often riled other Republicans.

Brown, who campaigned emphasizing his independence from either party, recalled that McCain was one of the first people "in this very office, to look me in the eye and say, 'Well, you're a longshot, but I'm with you."'

Brown's victory shook President Barack Obama's Democratic Party to its core, breaking its 60-vote Senate majority, jeopardizing health care reform and sending a shudder through even the most well-funded Democratic incumbents up for re-election in November.

"Every state is now in play," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., a campaign chairwoman and one of the Senate's most prolific fundraisers who was suddenly, since Tuesday, considered by some a little more vulnerable for re-election next fall.

As the senator-elect behind all the uncertainty got the feel of his new workplace, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made official more difficult news for Democrats: The Senate-passed health care overhaul did not have support from the 218 House members it needed to become law.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell found a pithy way to describe the place Brown holds in the clubby Senate even before being sworn in. He recalled that on the campaign trail, Brown sometimes signed autographs, "41" — the GOP's 41st vote against the Democrats' health care bill, the magic number required to kill it or anything else on Obama's agenda in Congress.

"I will always think of him as 41," McConnell said.

Despite the unpleasantness Brown presented them, Democrats greeted him politely.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the two had found at least one thing in common: They both have children who are college athletes.

But those closest to Kennedy were warmer. They included Kennedy's son Patrick, a representative from Rhode Island, and Sen. John Kerry, the Democrat with whom Brown will steer legislation affecting Massachusetts.

"Scott very successfully managed to tap into anger and impatience that's very, very real. So it's a good lesson," Kerry said. "I hope Republicans on the other side of the aisle hear it as well."

Later in Kennedy's former office, Paul Kirk, the former Democratic Party chairman who was appointed interim senator after Kennedy's death in August, said Brown had made it clear that he would be an independent voice.

"I heard him loud and clear," Kirk said. "He's going to be his own man."

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Movie Review:'Tooth Fairy' - Delaware County Daily Times

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 10:20 PM PST

By Jake Coyle, Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) --- Just weeks after something dubbed a "squeakquel," we have a movie advertised with the tagline: "You can't handle the tooth." One quakes for the marketing that awaits us for "Marmaduke."

Just as Hollywood has been digging through the superhero archives, it has also been marauding the cupboard of mythical childhood creatures — they come with a "built-in" audience, after all. Yes, following the big-screen exploits of elves and bedroom monsters, the Tooth Fairy was inevitably ready for its close-up.

"Tooth Fairy" steals liberally from "Monsters Inc." and "Elf," among many others. It's very much what you'd expect: a tale of optimism overcoming disbelief; family fare with comical casting (Julie Andrews as a Fairy Godmother); a PG-rated "SNL" skit; The Rock in a tutu.

But despite its predictability and pat Hollywood cliche, "Tooth Fairy" is mostly charming.

Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock) is Derek Thompson, a formerly skilled hockey player who, after injury, has wound up "a goon" — a bruiser whose muscle shields more talented players — on a minor league hockey team in Lansing, Mich. He's beloved by the fans, who chant his nickname "the Tooth Fairy" because of his ability for sending bicuspids flying.

His overriding philosophy is akin to the early rounds of "American Idol": Dreams are nothing but delusion. He dashes the hopes of pip-squeak fans and very nearly ruins them for the two young children (Chase Ellison, Destiny Whitlock) of his girlfriend, Carly (Ashley Judd).

In violation of "dissemination of disbelief" (Bill Maher be warned) he's summoned to Fairyland, where he's sentenced to two weeks of Tooth Fairy duty by Andrews' Fairy Godmother.

Stephen Merchant, the spindly, googly-eyed comedian best known as Ricky Gervais' frequent collaborator, plays Derek's "case worker," and ushers him through fairy training. The spry, ever-grinning Merchant is a considerable boost to the film — he's innately funny.

Billy Crystal (who also voiced one of the monsters in "Monsters Inc.") makes a cameo as an older fairy "with tenure," who outfits Derek with the tools of the trade: a shrinking potion, amnesia dust, an invisibility spray, a cat repeller.

Johnson is perhaps ill suited to believably play a cynic. His enormous grin, even when in repose, is never far below the surface. He's also playing a character quite close to his footballer in "The Game Plan." Nevertheless, he's exceptionally winning.

He knows enough about comedy (he's been an excellent "SNL" host) to make the joke on him. Comedy may be the movie realm (rather than action or, for now, drama) best for Johnson. He's like a human-sized Buzz Lightyear.

That Derek should be neatly redeemed — and turned from Sean Avery into Sidney Crosby, to boot — is patently obvious and confirms the lack of ambition of "Tooth Fairy."

Director Michael Lembeck (who helmed the second and third of the "Santa Claus" movies) shows little imagination in what could have been a quirkier, more interesting kids tale. He does direct surprisingly good hockey sequences, though, including an overhead shot of an airborne tooth.

But movies that implore whether or not you can handle the tooth aren't to be picked apart like a dentist. Suffice to say, families could do a lot worse than spend some time with the toothy smiles of Johnson and Merchant.

"The Tooth Fairy," a 20th Century Fox release, is rated PG for mild language, some rude humor and sports action. Running time: 101 minutes. Two stars out of four.

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Movie Review 'Tooth Fairy' - Courier-Journal

Posted: 22 Jan 2010 12:00 AM PST

The 10-word review: No dollar under the pillow for this cavity-ridden Disney wannabe.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson tries to cash in on his "Game Plan" — proven kid appeal — and Fox strains to find a little Disney magic in "Tooth Fairy."

This time he plays Derek, a washed-up minor league hockey player who must learn to encourage children's dreams and fantasies.

When he disillusions his girlfriend's daughter about the Tooth Fairy, the Fairy Godmother of Tooth Fairies calls him on the carpet. She's Julie Andrews.

Derek is sentenced to be a tooth fairy. When the fairy BlackBerry buzzes, wings pop out, he uses his shrinking cream and other tricks to go under a kid's pillow, retrieve a tooth and leave a dollar bill.

As ham-fisted as this is, the glint of what might have been a cute kids' comedy still glimmers randomly. But that Disney touch is missing.

Recommended if: The Rock was born to play the tooth fairy!

Not recommended if: Anything else is playing.

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