Freedom chimes for charity
Liam Neeson, Kiefer Sutherland true to form in new film, TV projects
Bob Dylan hardly needs the tribute, but this is for a good cause and doubles as a fundraiser, honouring 50 years of tireless work by Amnesty International.
Here is what’s on the radar screen in music, film and television for the coming week.
Big release: Bob Dylan tribute Chimes of Freedom ( Tuesday)
Big picture: Dylan hardly needs the tribute, but this one is for a good cause and doubles as a fundraiser, honouring 50 years of work by Amnesty International. Eighty musicians appear on the 75- song compilation. They include: The Avett Brothers ( in a posthumous collaboration with Johnny Cash on One Too Many Mornings), Elvis Costello ( License to Kill), Diana Krall ( Simple Twist of Fate), My Morning Jacket ( You’re a Big Girl Now), Ziggy Marley ( Blowin’ in the Wind) and Sting ( Girl from the North Country). For the younger set, two women who could be Bob’s grandchildren, Ke$ ha and Miley Cyrus, also make unlikely contributions.
Forecast: It’s hard to argue with an album dedicated to the persecuted and wrongly imprisoned around the planet. It’s even harder to argue with the source material, or the wide variety of talent assembled to re- interpret a master’s work. The times may have changed, but, in many cases on Chimes of Freedom, they’ve never sounded better.
Honourable mentions: Joe Cocker ( Hard Knocks); Tim Mcgraw ( Emotional Traffic). Joe Cocker is a living legend. Tim Mcgraw is married to Faith Hill and played Sandra Bullock’s husband on The Blind Side. While Mcgraw has more authentic Nashville in him than many of his CMT contemporaries, only one of these two deserves a future tribute album.
MOVIES
Big release: The Grey ( Friday) Big picture: Liam Neeson versus Mother Nature. Finally, a true people’s champion has emerged to teach Mama Earth a lesson for all her crimes against humanity. Neeson, reuniting with his A- Team director Joe Carnahan, stars as head of security for an oil- drilling team whose plane crashes in the Alaskan wilderness. Not only is the group stranded, starving and freezing, they’re also being hunted by wolves.
Forecast: It’s like the film Alive, only replace the rugby team with a squad of Big Oil lackeys. I can only hope the A- Team appears to save the day before Neeson is forced to eat costar Dermot Mulroney.
Honourable mention: One for the Money; Man on a Ledge ( Friday).
At first, it looked as if these two movies were companion pieces. Watching another Katherine Heigl rom- com would be enough to make many a man ( or woman) contemplate jumping off a building. Turns out, different movies altogether. It also turns out Heigl is branching out, packing heat and aiming for a more quirky brand of comedy. In the action- comedy One for the Money ( based on the novels by Janet Evanovich), she stars as Stephanie Plum, a newbie in the bail- bond business. Meanwhile, Man on a Ledge stars Sam Worthington as an ex- con threatening to jump off a Manhattan hotel rooftop to expose the truth.
TELEVISION
Big event: Touch ( Wednesday, Global, Fox, 9 p. m.)
Big picture: Everyone’s favourite Canadian rogue, Kiefer Sutherland, is back on the small screen. This time, he’ll have more than 24 hours to save the day, and will depend heavily on David Mazouz, who plays his brilliant, mute, emotionally challenged 11- year- old son. The boy, Jake, can see the mathematical patterns that connect the destinies of everyone on the planet, and seems able to predict events before they take place.
Forecast: From Heroes creator Tim Kring, the globe- trotting premiere is compelling and emotionally touching, without succumbing to the melodramatic and the saccharine. As a bonus, this role won’t require Kiefer to torture anyone.
Honourable mention: Luck ( Sunday, HBO Canada, 8 p. m.)
HBO may have bet on the wrong horse. Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte co- star in one of the most highly anticipated premieres of the season but if the convoluted and often confusing opener is any indication, the insular world of horse racing may be too alien for an uninformed audience. The race track simply doesn’t have the same wide appeal as the likes of vampires, gangsters and bootleggers. But the talent in front of the camera, and behind, means you can’t bet against this series yet; it might just be slow out of the gate.