The Couch Potato Report – May 2nd, 2006
This week The Couch Potato Report shines the spotlight on one film that is ìniceî, one that is ìawfulî, and three TV show DVD Box Sets.
Of all the words used to describe movies, perhaps the most underused one is ìnice.î
Films are usually described as good, great, superb, horrible, bad, awful, entertaining, highly recommended, a waste of time, or worthy of your time, but very few films are ever called ìnice.î
So let me add one to the ìniceî category. The film made out of Steve Martinís wonderful novella ìShopgirlî is nice.
SHOPGIRL is a nice film!
Claire Danes from THE HOURS and BROKEDOWN PALACE plays Mirabelle, a disillusioned salesgirl and aspiring artist who sells gloves and accessories at a department store.
She has two men in her life: wealthy divorcee Ray Porter and struggling musician Jeremy.
Steve Martin plays Ray and Jason Schwartzman from RUSHMORE is Jeremy.
Mirabelle falls in love with Ray, while Jeremy falls in love with Mirabelle.
Eventually the shopgirl must decide which man will make her happier.
I loved Martinís original novella and when I heard they were making a movie out of it, I was actually disappointed. The story and the characters existed so beautifully in my mind, and that is where I wanted them to stay.
But somehow, the film is just as engaging as the source material and Danes, Martin and Schwartzman all give wonderful performances. More importantly, they all seem like real people, and in a day and age when too many films with love triangles are full of unbelievable characters, that is refreshing.
What is also refreshing is that SHOPGIRL is a nice movie. Yes, SHOPGIRL is ìnice.î It is also very good!
Oh the other hand is DIRTY LOVE.
Not only is DIRTY LOVE not good, but it is actually really, really bad. In fact, it was named The Worst Picture Of The Year at the most recent Golden Raspberry Awards.
The Golden Raspberry Awards were created in 1980 and are intended to complement the Academy Awards by dishonoring the worst acting, screenwriting, songwriting, directing, and films that the film industry had to offer.
DIRTY LOVE stars and was written by former Playboy Playmate Jenny McCarthy. She plays a photographer trying to get back at her two-timing boyfriend after he breaks up with her.
The film, which earned just $58,116 at the box office, also won Razzies for worst actress, worst director and worst screenplay.
Now, donít be mistaken, I donít recommend you see DIRTY LOVE as it is a horrible movie, but if you would like to see what people have named The Worst Film Of The Year, DIRTY LOVE is now available on DVD.
Three new DVD Box Sets for old TV shows are also now available on DVD.
DINOSAURS – THE COMPLETE FIRST AND SECOND SEASONS is the set for the 1991-1994 show about the life of a family of Dinosaurs who live in a modern world. They have TV’s, fridges, and all the amenities that you and I enjoy. The only humans in the show are caveman, who are viewed as pets and wild animals.
The Dinosaurs in the show were animatronic and created by the late Jim Henson. As a huge fan of the man I watched the show, hoping that it would have the class and humour of THE MUPPET SHOW or the many other shows that Henson has been a part of.
Sadly, he made the costumes, but he didnít write the scripts. That said, there are still a great many laughs to be had from DINOSAURS. Iím not sure it will gain any new fans with this DVD release, but as an old fan I know I am quite happy.
I was also very happy to sit down and watch all 39 original, uncut episodes from LEAVE IT TO BEAVER – THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON.
The quintessential 1950ís American family of Ward, June, Wally and Beaver Cleaver are back and SEASON TWO has stories about building a boat through beating a bully and dealing with girls.
Ahh, if real life was only as easy as it was on LEAVE IT TO BEAVER.
Or on THE COSBY SHOW for that matter!
THE COSBY SHOW – SEASON TWO features the 25 original second season episodes on four discs.
SEASON 2 includes the episode where the family honourís Mr. Huxtableís parents’ wedding anniversary with a show-stopping lip-sync routine to Ray Charles’s “Night Time Is the Right Time.”
This set also has the episode where the family shows Theo what the real world is like when they show him what takes to live on his own.
Thursday nights in the 1980s werenít complete without THE COSBY SHOW and now you can watch SEASON TWO anytime youíd like as it is available at a store near you.
So are LEAVE IT TO BEAVER – THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON, DINOSAURS – THE COMPLETE FIRST AND SECOND SEASONS, the awful DIRTY LOVE and the ìniceî film SHOPGIRL.
Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report
Steven Spielberg’s Academy Award nominated MUNICH is about a secret squad that tracks down the 1972 Olympic terrorists.
NANNY MCPHEE features Emma Thompson as a magical nanny who takes control of 7 naughty children.
In RUMOUR HAS IT Jennifer Aniston is a woman who attends her sister’s wedding and learns family secrets. Secrets like her family might have been the inspiration for THE GRADUATE.
And then there is the ìclassicî 1974 disaster film EARTHQUAKE, starring Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, George Kennedy, Lorne Greene, and an all-star cast.
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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