The Couch Potato Report – April 12th, 2008
This week The Couch Potato Report peels a very bad television show, sharks, Bonnie, Clyde, Harold AND Kumar.
I have said it before, and I shall say it again – I am a very lucky man.
I say that because one of the things I get to do each and every week is watch the newest releases on DVD, and then tell you about them.
It is a something that I truly enjoy, even when something is a complete waste of my time.
Since I don’t have a lot of time in this forum each week, I usually just ignore any releases that fall into that category.
However, even though I think this week’s Hot Potato is absolutely awful…I am still going to talk about it because it is a Canadian show, and who knows, maybe you will like it.
I doubt it…but who knows.
That show, and this DVD is RENT-A-GOALIE, a real service that is actually provided to rec hockey teams in Toronto, but all told this show has very little to do with hockey.
Sure, occasionally it does feature the game, but for the most part it is just a show about unlikable people who find themselves in unfortunate situations, ususally as a result of something they did.
The stupidity of the characters in thsi show made it hard to sit through, but the main thing that I couldn’t get past was the language. Now I am not easily offended by any means, but this show – which airs on the cable channel Showcase and is intended for mature audiences – uses profane and highly objectional language, just because it can!
The language doesn’t seem to take place because the characters or on-screen situation warrants it, they just know they CAN use this language, so they do.
And they do that, and other hard to fathom things, a lot!!
Even the guest stars – such as hockey greats Tiger Williams and Phil Esposito – seem to show up, just so they can swear on a TV show!
Truth be told, RENT-A-GOALIE wants to be CHEERS, especially as it attempts to re-create the Sam & Diane dynamic between it’s two lead characters.
But the characters in CHEERS were likable, they had something to say, and they were funny.
The characters in RENT-A-GOALIE have nothing to say, and they are not funny, and even during the few, brief moments when you do maybe start liking them, the writers make them say or do something, and you just don’t care again.
If you like the low-life characaters and humour of TRAILER PARK BOYS, then maybe…MAYBE you will find something to like in SEASON ONE of RENT-A-GOALIE.
Otherwise, this 2-DVD set is just a complete waste of time. This is time I am never getting back!!
Up next this week is a film that I liked a lot more than RENT-A-GOALIE, however, I did not love SHARKWATER – a film that seeks to debunk historical stereotypes and media depictions of sharks – and I fully expected to.
But…while I didn’t love it, SHARKWATER is a film that I would still recommend.
For filmmaker Rob Stewart, exploring sharks began as an underwater adventure. What it turned into was a beautiful and dangerous life journey into the balance of life on earth.
Driven by passion fed from a lifelong fascination with sharks, filmmaker Rob Stewart takes us under and above water with him as he travels to some of the most beautiful locations in the world to save sharks from being put on the endangered species list.
There are some amazing stories in SHARKWATER, some spectacular undersea footage, and some unique facts.
For instance, did you know that pop machines kill more people each year than sharks?
But in the end, what causes SHARKWATER’s ultimate downfall is the fact that filmmaker Stewart starts to tell his story, not the sharks.
So instead of spending extra time with renegade conservationists, or seeing more of the battles with shark poachers in Guatemala, or additinal footage of boat rammings or gunboat chases, we spend time with Stewart as he is laid up in a hospital bed, due to injuries he suffered while making the film.
Less filmmaker, more sharks would have made SHARKWATER a better film, but even the way it is, this is still a film I liked. I didn’t love it, but I liked it.
It is great to look at, and at times it is very informative.
Nope, didn’t love SHARKWATER, I liked it, but BONNIE & CLYDE, now that is a film I love!!
BONNIE & CLYDE is an Academy Award winnning film from 1967 about Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, the real-life bank robbers who roamed the central United States during the Great Depression.
It it’s day BONNIE & CLYDE was regarded as the first film of the New Hollywood era, in that it was very violent and sexual, and it was popular with younger audiences.
On this day, the film stands up, over forty years later! This is a true Hollywood clasic, and the cast and filmmakers seem to know that as the new Two-Disc Special Edition has some great retrospective documentaries that features almost all of the principles, from director Arthur Penn, to stars Gene Hackman, Faye Dunaway and even publicity shy Warren Beatty.
Yup, BONNIE & CLYDE is a classic, and to some, the made-in-Toronto stoner comedy HAROLD AND KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE – about two guys just trying to get some hamburgers, even though Murphy’s Law is preventing that from happening – is a classic too!
With the sequel HAROLD AND KUMAR ESCAPE FROM GUANTANAMO BAY due in theatres in two weeks, this new DVD version features deleted scenes & outtakes; interviews and commentaries and much more.
Harold And Kumar are this generation’s Cheech & Chong and HAROLD AND KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE still makes me laugh.
The still funny stoner comedy HAROLD AND KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE, the still classic film BONNIE & CLYDE, the very informative and interesting SHARKWATER and SEASON ONE of the awful Canadian television series RENT-A-GOALIE are all available now on DVD.
Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report
JUNO – the Academy Award winning film that everyone seems to love, except for me – debuts on DVD; so does BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD, the latest from the director who gave us TWELVE ANGRY MEN, SEPRICO, DOG DAY AFTERNOON, NETWORK and THE VERDICT.
Also next week is the horror film P2; in RESERVATION ROAD, one father loses a son and another tries to live with the guilt of a hit-and-run accident; And THE PROM NIGHT COLLECTION contains the four original films in the Prom Night Franchise including the original film from 1980 starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Saskatchewan’s own Leslie Nielsen.
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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