The Couch Potato Report – April 27th, 2004
In The Couch Potato Report this week there’s love, actually, a big fish and The
Statement.
I just want to say this boldly and honestly so you don’t misunderstand me. I adored the movie LOVE ACTUALLY. Just adored it. It was so charming and entertaining, I just adored it!
That said, let me say more.
LOVE ACTUALLY is the latest British romantic comedy from the folks who gave us FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL, NOTTING HILL and BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY.
Written and directed by Richard Curtis LOVE ACTUALLY is an ensemble comedy that tells ten separate – but intertwining – stories of love.
Love lost, love found, love taken for granted, love missed and potential love. LOVE ACTUALLY is about love, actually.
In other recent movies that attempted to tell more than one story, and failed miserably, every single story and every character in the film is interesting and engaging.
You’d be friends with them if you knew them, so it’s easy to feel their pain, pleasure and passion.
The personable cast includes Hugh Grant as the British Prime Minister, Emma Thompson plays a mother and wife who loves Joni Mitchell, Colin Firth is a wronged husband who finds a new love, Liam Neeson is a recent widow with a stepson who’s fallen in love, BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM’s Kiera Knightly portrays a new bride, Laura Linney is a woman with a crush and Alan Rickman is a husband and father with a very attractive secretary. Topping it all off is a hilarious appearance from Rowan Atkinson as a jewelry salesman.
LOVE ACTUALLY is smart, sappy, funny, touching and heartwarming, but the main word I would use to describe it is charming.
LOVE ACTUALLY is charming, and I adored it.
I also adored the new film from director Tim Burton.
BIG FISH is the story of a son trying to get to know his Dad as his father is dying.
The son just wants to know which of his Dad’s stories are real and which ones
aren’t.
Neither the son, nor you as a viewer, will actually know until the very end of the movie where the truth lies.
The first time I saw BIG FISH I wasn’t able to fully let myself go and grasp the
fantasy element. I just thought the dad was just full of sh…, well, full of himself is
perhaps a better way to put it.
Once it unfolded I was overwhelmed, and that is why it has my adoration.
The superb cast of BIG FISH includes Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, Danny DeVito, Helena Bonham Carter, Alison Lohman and Steve Buscemi.
BIG FISH combines your imagination with motion picture fantasy and I hope when you’re done watching it you’re moved as much as I was.
Yes, I was bored during my initial viewing, but I hope you do what I did and give it a chance because BIG FISH is an enchanting film.
Canadian Director Norman Jewison’s film THE STATEMENT isn’t enchanting and I didn’t adore it. It was just okay.
Michael Caine stars in this based on a true stroy as a French Policeman who is a Nazi collaborator who is being pursued by a passionate French judge and an army colonel.
Caine’s Pierre Brossard is also being hunted by another group who don’t want to bring him to justice, they just want him dead.
THE STATEMENT isn’t a bad film, but once it reaches it’s conclusion, I assure you that you’ll want more.
After two hours THE STATEMENT just ends. It concludes, but there’s no conclusion.
STUCK ON YOU concludes, but you’ll wish it ended much earlier.
Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear are conjoined twins who pursue a career in acting in the “comedy” STUCK ON YOU.
This film comes from the Farrelly Brothers, who gave us the very film flicks THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY, SHALLOW HAL and DUMB AND DUMBER. Apparently they’ve forgotten how to be funny, as this “comedy” has no laughs at all.
None!
If it wasn’t for the scrumptious Eva Mendez’ skimpy wardrobe I wouldn’t know how it ended. I’ve never said this about a movie before, but thank god for that bikini!
The bikini, and the woman inside were great. STUCK ON YOU wasn’t.
LOVE ACTUALLY, BIG FISH, STUCK ON YOU and THE STATEMENT are all available right now on video and DVD at your favourite local video store.
COMING NEXT WEEK IN THE COUCH POTATO REPORT
Tom Cruise stars as Tom Cruise playing an American soldier who trains a Japanese army in THE LAST SAMURAI. The only reason to see the film is for the amazing performance of the Oscar nominated Ken Watanabe.
J.M. Barrie’s classic children’s fantasy PETER PAN is a less than classic live action movie. If you’re in the mood to spend time with the boys of Never Neverland, just watch the classic animated version. Better yet, read the book.
CALENDAR GILRS in the true story of a group of women, all over the age of 50, pose provocatively for a calendar to raise money for Leukemia research. The film doesn’t go for cheap laughs, but it has a few anyway.
In CHASING LIBERTY pop-tart Mandy Moore is the teen daughter of the President who ditches her bodyguards. Want me to make it sound worse? Well, the boy she falls for turns out to be her Secret Service agent!
If you’ve ever wondered what a movie would be like if it were based on a Vermeer painting, you’re answer comes in the form of THE GIRL WITH THE PEARL EARRING. The movie stars Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth and somehow evokes the Dutch artist’s masterworks.
And,
Words cannot explain the thoroughly enjoyable, animated Oscar nominated THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE, but that’s okay as there are only a few spoken sentences in the entire film.
I’ll have more on those releases in seven days.
For now, that’s this week’s COUCH POTATO REPORT.
Enjoy the movies and I’ll see you back here next week on The Couch!
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