The Couch Potato Report – October 11th
This week The Couch Potato Report features a movie that is good for a laugh or two, a TV show that is good for several more and a release that is a leftover.
I like Will Ferrell.
I have laughed – and laughed hard – at his work on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, and in the movies OLD SCHOOL, ELF and ANCHORMAN.
Since I have enjoyed his work in the past, I look forward to his new films as well, as I figure they will be good for a laugh or two.
That figuring proved to be correct when I watched Ferrell’s latest film, a soccer comedy called KICKING AND SCREAMING.
No, I didn’t laugh a lot, and you won’t either, but it is good for a laugh or two.
In KICKING AND SCREAMING Ferrell is a man who has never lived up to his father’s expectations.
Dad is a man’s man who is big on winning and toughness and the son…is not.
Robert Duvall plays the father and when he trades his own grandson from the soccer team he coaches, Ferrell becomes the coach of his son’s new team.
His son’s really bad new team.
Along the way to the championship game, where father and son – and father and son – face off, there are lessons to be had, games to be won, and lost, and a few laughs to keep you entertained.
Some of those laughs even come from Football Hall-Of-Fame Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka, who seems to be having a great time playing a caricature of himself.
There is nothing about KICKING AND SCREAMING that makes it a great movie, not even the usually reliable Ferrell, and there is certainly nothing about the film that is unique.
But it is entertaining, and it is good for the whole family. Plus, it is good for a laugh or two.
On the other hand, SOUTH PARK – THE COMPLETE SIXTH SEASON is good for many, many laughs!
When the sixth season of South Park aired in 1997 is saw creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone using their show to poke fun at almost everyone and everything that seemed to be relevant at the time.
It also saw their writing skills improve and that allowed the show to become funnier, an lose some of the more juvenile, less clever, humour that the show had started to rely on.
Oh don’t get me wrong, the juvenile humour is still there, but it is better written.
Included in the SOUTH PARK – THE COMPLETE SIXTH SEASON DVD set is “The Return of Lord of the Rings to the Two Towers” episode, one of the funniest South Park episodes ever!
As I have in the past, I will admit that you have to be a fan of SOUTH PARK to enjoy the DVD box set that is SOUTH PARK – THE COMPLETE SIXTH SEASON DVD. Since I am a fan, I enjoyed this set, and I eagerly await the Season SEVEN set!!
If you have been eagerly awaiting the return of The Couch Potato Report, let me first say “Thank you”, and secondly say “I have been awaiting it’s return as well!”
Over the past eight weeks, since the last edition of The Report, there have been approximately 1000 titles released on DVD and video.
So over the next few weeks I will spotlight some of those releases, or as I am calling them “Leftovers.”
This week I am not saving the best of those releases for last, I am putting it first!
The show STORYTELLERS airs on the music channel VH1 in America.
Each week on the show some of the world’s best, and best known, singers and songwriters play their music and tell the stories behind their greatest songs.
In the past STORYTELLERS has featured Elvis Costello, Melissa Etheridge, Garth Brooks, James Taylor and David Bowie, among others.
On April 23rd of this year it featured Bruce Springsteen!!
Now imagine that you could sit and listen to one of your favourite artists play a song and then dissect it line by line, explaining what he was thinking while he wrote it, and who or what it is actually about.
Since Bruce Springsteen is one of my favourite artists I no longer have to imagine it because he did it!! And it is now available on DVD!!
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN – VH1 STORYTELLERS is nearly two hours long and features a total of 8 complete Springsteen songs including the classics “Thunder Road” and “Blinded By The Light” as well as songs from his recent album DEVILS & DUST.
If you are a fan of the man, or are just interested in how some artists write songs, then this is a release for you!
It is insightful and entertaining and along with SOUTH PARK – THE COMPLETE SIXTH SEASON and KICKING AND SCREAMING, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN – VH1 STORYTELLERS is now available at a store near you.
Coming up in the next Couch Potato Report is the summer blockbuster BATMAN BEGINS and THE COLLECTOR’S EDITION of the classic bowling movie THE BIG LEBOWSKI!!
And yes, for the record, I did just say the phrase “classic bowling movie.”
Our “Leftover” next week is the EXTENDED EDITION of the Academy Award winning film GLADIATOR. This new version includes 17 minutes of additional footage, and a three hour and twenty minute documentary that includes some never-before-seen footage.
I’m Dan Reynish. I’ll have more on those, and some other releases, in seven days.
For now, that’s The Couch Potato Report.
Enjoy whatever you choose to watch and I’ll meet you back here next week on The Couch!
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