The Couch Potato Report – March 28th, 2009
This week The Couch Potato Report peels Bolt, Dog Bolt, Bond, James Bond, Big Stan and a not so noble, Nobel son.
What a great week I had watching movies this final full week of March!
Sure, there was one movie that was an absolutely awful piece of garbage…but for the most part, this was been a great movie week!!
That garbage is coming up, just to ensure you completely avoid it…but up first is this week’s HOT POTATO…the Academy Award nominated, co-directed by a Canadian, animated film BOLT.
I loved this film, it was fun, had great action and characters, the animation was great and I loved it.
So, need I say more?
Well, I will say more, only because the it is worthy of the time, plus, it gives me a chance to mention that I met the directors of the film Byron Howard and Chris Williams on the Red Carpet at the Oscars last month!
And Chris Williams was born and raised in Kitchener, Ontario!
BOLT is about a dog – voiced by John Travolta – who is the star of a television show where he has superpowers.
And, when the cameras are off, he still thinks he has superpowers.
When Bolt believes that his co-star and friend Penny – played by Miley Cyrus – is in trouble, he runs away from the trailer he is kept in to try and save her.
He is aided in his efforts by the films most entertaining character, a star-struck, running ball-enclosed hamster named Rhino.
BOLT is fun for the whole family, I loved it and when I have time I will definitely see it again.
Just as I will happily see this week’s next five films again…and again…and again…and again…
The latest Bond, James bond film QUANTUM OF SOLACE came out this week, so four other films in the series have also been re-released, and are available now for the first time on Blu-ray…just in case you want to upgrade to hi-definition.
I will get to the other four in just a moment, but first, I would like to rave about QUANTUM OF SOLACE
QUANTUM is Daniel Craig’s second outing as Bond, and the film picks up right where CASINO ROYALE left off, and I mean literally right after, so if you didn’t see Craig’s first outing as Agent 007 you will be a little lost when watching this one as it begins with a spectacular car chase that is actually Bond taking a prisoner in for questioning.
The interrogation and subsequent events uncovers a global conspiracy named Quantum, that has members in positions of prominence and power who are all up to no good…but the film is only partially about them.
It is primarily about Bond seeking revenge toward those who killed the woman he loved.
QUANTUM OF SOLACE isn’t the best Bond film ever made, but it is still a great movie, and I liked it, and Bond Girl Olga Kurylenko a lot. However, if you are going to see it, make sure you watch CASINO ROYALE first…unless you prefer the older Bond films instead…and if that is the case, well you are in luck!!
The space based MOONRAKER with Roger Moore, THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH starring Pierce Brosnan, and two Sean Connery Bond films – NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN and GOLDFINGER are now available once again!
NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN is the 1983 film that say Connery return to the role of Bond in a film that many don’t even consider an official Bond film, and while it isn’t one of my favourite films, I do like it. But I love GOLDFINGER!!
It was the very first Bond film I ever saw, and even if you think you don’t like this series of films about the super-suave British secret agent, I can still highly recommend GOLDFINGER!!
From the long-lasting and legendary James Bond cinematic character, we now move on to a character who should be ignored and forgotten.
This next film is so bad, so awful and such a piece of garbage that I only mention it so you can make sure you avoid it…even if you have laughed at films by Rob Schneider in the past.
Those films may have included, The Benchwarmers, The Hot Chick, The Animal, or Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo…and Schneider has also been funny in almost all of Adam Sandler’s films…but he is not funny in his latest release!!
It is called BIG STAN and it is garbage!! Absoulte garbage!!! Even if there is nothing else in the store to rent, do not rent BIG STAN…it is a complete waste of your time!!
And that is enough time wasted on this mess!
Let me tell you about a real comedy! One that may not be for everyone, due to the fact that it is absolutely NOT politically correct, and some of the humour and references are waaay out there, but still, WET-HOT AMERICAN SUMMER made me laugh.
And isn’t that what a comedy is supposed to do?
WET-HOT AMERICAN SUMMER is a film set in a summer camp in 1981 and it stars Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Molly Shannon, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Amy Poehler from Saturday Night Live and Christopher Meloni from LAW & ORDER: SVU.
WET-HOT AMERICAN SUMMER is the type of film that not everyone will enjoy…but I did.
I also enjoyed NOBEL SON. It isn’t a great movie, but it is very good.
This film is a very black comedy about a dysfunctional family who have to deal with a kidnapping following the father’s winning of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Alan Rickman from DIE HARD plays the very arrogant prize-winning professor.
NOBEL SON has a great cast that also includes Mary Steenburgen, Bill Pullman, Eliza Dushku, Danny DeVito and Ted Danson, and it almost succeeds at being a hip and cool, fast, heavily edited flick, but there is very little suspense and that takes away from it in the end. Like I said, this one is not great, but it is very good.
Finally this week is the two disc set for SEASON TWO of the televison show THE RICHES.
Minnie Driver and the great star in this show about a family of crooks who assume the identity of an upper-middle-class suburban clan in the Deep South.
Personally, I never thought THE RICHES was as good as it could have been, but is still an above average sgow and I really enjoyed seeing how it played out in this second, and as it turns out final series, as the show has now been cancelled.
Cancelled or not, THE RICHES is a very good show and SEASON TWO of it is available now on DVD alongside NOBEL SON, WET-HOT AMERICAN SUMMER and the awful piece of garbage that is BIG STAN!!
The James Bond reissues NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN, GOLDFINGER, MOONRAKER and THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH, the great newest Bond film QUANTUM OF SOLACE, and the very entertaining animated film BOLT are available now on DVD and Blu-ray.
Oh, and the OUT & ABOUT feature from this year’s Academy Awards featuring my interview with BOLT’s director Chris Williams can be heard online at www.cbc.ca/saskweekend…just look under LINKS.
Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report
I will tell you about a new Canadian made documentary called AIR INDIA 182 and the Academy Award winning film SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE.
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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