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The Couch Potato Report

In case you need something to watch (or avoid) this weekend.

The Couch Potato Report – February 24h, 2007
This week The Couch Potato Report shines the spotlight on a show and movie I just don’t understand and one group won’t just shut up and sing.
The Trailer Park Boys is a popular Canadian mockumentary television series that premiered in April of 2001 and focusses on the misadventures of Ricky, Julian, Bubbles and the other residents of the fictional Sunnyvale Trailer Park, in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia.
Filmed like a documentary, and seen from the camera person’s point of view, the low-budget program has been very succesful, in fact it is the highest rated Canadian series on the cable network Showcase.
And now there is TRAILER PARK BOYS: THE MOVIE.
The movie features a storyline that is not related to the TV show, but features many of the same characters.
In the film Ricky and Julian get arrested for robbing an ATM machine and when they get out after spending 18 months in jail they come up with a scheme to steal large amounts of untraceable coins.
Now, let me be honest. I don’t get it!
I personally know people who love this show and the characters.
I’ve seen their ratings, so I know that there are people across Canada – and the world for that matter – who love the Trailer Park Boys – and the film was nominated in the category of BEST MOTION PICTURE at the recent 27th Annual Genie Awards.
But I do not get it.
I don’t understand the appeal, I have never laughed, not even once at the TV series or the movie, and I don’t like any of the characters.
I don’t know why anyone would watch this stuff.
But that is the beauty of the entertainment business! There is something for everyone!!
I don’t have to like TRAILER PARK BOYS for it to be succesful, and you don’t have to like everything that I like.
So if you are a fan of the TV show, then you need to see TRAILER PARK BOYS: THE MOVIE. If you are like me, and just don’t understand why anyone would subject themselves to this piece of entertainment, than ignore it and let what happens in Sunnyvale Trailer Park stay in Sunnyvale Trailer Park.
Yes, in the entertainment business there is something for everyone and this week the next two titles are for me, and I will recommend each of them very highly.
Especially the documentary DIXIE CHICKS – SHUT UP AND SING.
Prior to that off the cuff statement from lead singer Natalie Maines in London the Dixie Chicks were one of the most successful bands on the planet.
After it, the entire world changed for the singer and her bandmates Martie and Emily.
But it wasn’t just their record sales that were affected by what was said, and this spectacular film documents all of it.
SHUT UP AND SING was produced and directed by Academy Award-winning director Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck and it shows the firestorm of organized and personal right wing attacks that erupted against the Chicks for expressing a negative personal opinion about President George W. Bush.
In addition to the maestrom, the film also shows the ladies’ resiliance as they attempt to put it behind them and start working on their new album.
An album that would go on to win all five categories for which it was nominated at the recent Grammy Awards, including the coveted Song, Record, and Album of the Year.
I am a huge fan of the Dixie Chicks, and I am also a huge fan of documentaries that take us inside stories and places we wouldn’t normally get to go. SHUT UP AND SING does both, and it is a film I think you should see.
There is even a reference to our province in it.
The final release I have for you this week is THE PRESTIGE.
This film is about the rivalry of Robert Angier and Alfred Borden, two Victorian era stage magicians in late 19th- and early 20th-century London.
Angier blames Borden for a tragic accident, and a competitive one-upmanship ensues, in which both magicians, obsessed with creating the best stage illusion, stop at nothing to uncover the secret of each other’s acts, with deadly results.
Co-written and directed by Christopher Nolan, the man who gave us the superb films MEMENTO and BATMAN BEGINS, THE PRESTIGE stars Christian Bale as Borden and Hugh Jackman as Robert Angier and also features Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, Piper Perabo and Andy Serkis.
And that is all I am going to say about this movie, other than to tell you to see it, and don’t think too much about it.
THE PRESTIGE is a tremendous film, and it is my opinion that the less you know about it, the more you will enjoy it.
The tremendous film THE PRESTIGE, the spectacular documentary SHUT UP AND SING from the Dixie Chicks and TRAILER PARK BOYS: THE MOVIE, the movie that proves that there is something out there for everyone to enjoy, are all available now on DVD.
I’m Dan Reynish. I’ll have more reviews for you 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!