The Couch Potato Report – January 9th, 2006
This week The Couch Potato Report features movies that I have only seen in theatres.
Most weeks here on The Couch Potato Report I speak about films that I have watched at home on DVD.
This week, I haven’t watched any of the films I will speak about at home. I saw them all in movie theatres.
I will watch all of this week’s releases at home eventually – no matter what I thought of them in theatres – because I want to see them all again.
But over the past few weeks I was on vacation visiting friends and meeting my girlfriend’s family for the first time, so there wasn’t any extra time to watch movies.
Thus, this week, let me talk with you about this week’s new DVD releases as they were seen in theatres.
Up first is the summer comedy blockbuster WEDDING CRASHERS.
In WEDDING CRASHERS Vince Vaughn from OLD SCHOOL and Owen Wilson from MEET THE PARENTS are a pair of womanizers who sneak into weddings to take advantage of women who’s inhibitions might be lowered due to the romantic feelings in the air.
Trouble arises for the duo’s lifestyle when one of them actually falls in love at a wedding.
WEDDING CRASHERS is one of my favourite films of 2005 and that is primarily due to the fact that Vaughn and Wilson have such great chemistry as friends.
Plus, the supporting cast that includes Christopher Walken, Jane Seymour and Rachel McAdams are all perfect.
If you like to laugh, this is a film for you!
I wanted to see WEDDING CRASHERS from the moment I saw the trailer and now that it is out on DVD I want to see it again.
I am also looking forward to seeing BROKEN FLOWERS again.
Bill Murray from LOST IN TRANSLATION stars as a long-time bachelor who receives a letter telling him he has an unknown son who might be looking for him.
He doesn’t seem interested at first but he is urged to investigate this mystery by his neighbour, a man who is an amateur detective.
So Murray travels across America to visit four former lovers to see if they can shed any light on the mysterious letters.
Those lovers are played by Frances Conroy, Jessica Lange, Tilda Swinton and Sharon Stone.
Unlike WEDDING CRASHERS, BROKEN FLOWERS isn’t for everyone. It is too slow moving and sad for a mass audience, yet it is exceptionally well acted, written and directed, but at times it is also a very funny film.
That humour primarily comes from Bill Murray’s incredibly expressive face and his expressions of disgruntled cynicism and irony.
Ultimately I would call BROKEN FLOWERS a film for people who like small films that allow you the chance to draw your own conclusions. Conclusions about the people in the film and the movie’s resolution.
It isn’t a masterpiece, but it is very interesting.
The suspense thriller DARK WATER isn’t a masterpiece either, and from what I remember when I saw it in a theatre a few months ago, it isn’t even very entertaining, but for some reason I still want to watch it again.
That might be due to the fact that I am a fan of Jennifer Connelly from A BEAUTIFUL MIND, but it could also be due to the fact that there is no way the movie can be as bad as I remember.
In DARK WATER Connelly is a woman who is going through a messy custody battle with her husband over their daughter.
Since they don’t have much money they move into the only apartment they can afford – a dark, depressing place, with water leaks in the ceiling.
Before long, scary things begin to happen and the daughter has seemingly made an imaginary friend – one who tells her mysterious things about her mother.
Much like THE RING and THE GRUDGE, DARK WATER is a remake of a Japanese film.
But where the original was, well, original*and interesting, this remake is not. It is all build up, build up, build up, leading to an incredibly unsatisfying resolution.
Yet I still want to see DARK WATER again. I remember it as unsatisfying, but maybe with lower expectations it will be more enjoyable a second time.
I doubt it, but I remain optimistic.
I’ve only seen them so far in theatres, but if you missed them on the big screen, DARK WATER, BROKEN FLOWERS and WEDDING CRASHERS are all available on DVD right now.
Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report
Ralph Fiennes is a widower is determined to get to the bottom of a potentially explosive secret involving his wife’s murder in THE CONSTANT GARDNER.
In RED EYE Rachel McAdams from WEDDING CRASHERS is kidnapped by a stranger on an airplane and threatened by the potential murder of her father.
The documentary GRIZZLY MAN is about two grizzly bear activists who were killed in October of 2003 while living among grizzlies in Alaska.
And the TV show FIREFLY becomes the movie SERENITY.
I’m Dan Reynish. I’ll have more on those, and some other 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 time on The Couch!
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