The Couch Potato Report – November 10th, 2012
Inside this week’s Couch Potato Report is a television show about women working in a munitions factory during the war.
The first release I have for you this Remembrance Day weekend is a made-in-Toronto television series, set during World War II, about a group of women working in a factory building bombs for the Allied forces fighting on the European front.
It is called BOMB GIRLS.
BOMB GIRLS was originally just going to be a six-part mini-series, but it was picked up for a second season…and you may have seen it in the entertainment news this week as former talk show host Rosie O’Donnell has joined the cast for Season Two
Season One of BOMB GIRLS introduces us to Lorna, Gladys, Kate, Betty and the women who risk their lives every day. They are from all walks of life, rich and poor, some even start off as rivals, but they become friends as they become liberated from their home and social restrictions of the time.
BOMB GIRLS isn’t a great show, there is some really bad acting and make-up work here, but the show has some people you will care about. Ultimately I did enjoy SEASON ONE enough to mildly recommend it.
And here’s to the actual bomb girls, and all military veterans and personnel this Remembrance Day weekend…Lest We Forget.
The last Spider-Man movie in the trio of films starring Tobey Maguire was released in 2007 and it was a mess. There were too many villains, too many storylines and things going on, and most of the cast seemed bored and no longer interested in being in the series.
So – even though it was the highest grossing film of the three – the studio decided to hire a new actor to play Spidey and reboot the series…so now Andrew Garfield from THE SOCIAL NETWORK stars as the webslinger in THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN.
Yes, even though we are only five years removed from the last series, and a decade away from the fantastic first film in the last series, we have another origin story about how mild mannered teenager Peter Parker becomes a superhero after being bitten by a genetically modified spider.
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN has some great action sequences and fight scenes, and great chemistry between Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone – who plays Gwen Stacey, the first true love of Peter Parker before he developed deep feelings for her friend and rival, Mary Jane Watson – they have great chemistry…but where the film doesn’t always succeed is when Garfield is Spider-man.
I didn’t always buy him as the character I know so well, from the original comic books and the cartoon series I loved as a kid, and the more recent movies.
That said, I do still recommend this film…as there is far more good than bad. THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN isn’t a perfect action film, but it is a very good one.
Very good doesn’t begin to describe THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW…it is a television masterpiece, a classic show that remains hilarious to this day, especially their parody of GONE WITH THE WIND, called WENT WITH THE WIND.
There were 278 episodes hour long episodes of this show produced over 11 years, and it isn’t likely they will all ever be released, but on the six disc set CAROL’S FAVOURITES there is over eighteen and a half hours of laughs and quality entertainment.
Including the old gang – Carol, Harvey Korman and Tim Conway – looking back on their efforts.
I used to sit and watch this show on Saturday nights with my big sister Wendy, and we used to laugh and laugh, so THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW will always have a special place in my heart…but the show has earned that place as was – and remains – hilarious.
CAROL’S FAVOURITES is something I highly recommend to everyone, and I know a certain sister who might even get one as a Christmas gift.
Did you realize, that after this weekend, there are only six weekend left until Christmas? Yes, the holidays are fast approaching and you are about to see more and more holiday releases available to buy on disc and download.
One of the newest ones is called ARTHUR CHRISTMAS and it is the story of what happens on Christmas Eve at the North Pole when there is one child who Santa doesn’t leave a present for, and so his young clumsy son looks to use his father’s high-tech operation to ensure everyone gets a gift.
ARTHUR CHRISTMAS has a great voice cast featuring James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton, Ashley Jensen, Laura Linney, Eva Longoria and Michael Palin, and there is some good stuff here for kids, but adults might have a hard time sitting through it.
I will mildly recommend it, but only because I am not a Grinch toward anything Christmas.
I will also recommend the film 360 starring Anthony Hopkins, Ben Foster, Rachel Weisz, and Jude Law, but not mildly…very highly.
360 is an ensemble piece about a group of people from different social backgrounds and their intertwining relationships.
360 is a story of good people trying to do their best but aren’t always capable of that and it is incredibly well-written and acted and it is also very interesting.
It is just a few scenes short of being great, however as it is, 360 is very, very good.
Not as great is EVEN THE RAIN, a movie with some very good character arcs, but it all doesn’t add up to a film that you need to see.
EVEN THE RAIN is a Spanish film that introduces us to a director and his crew who are trying to shoot a controversial film about Christopher Columbus in Bolivia, while the locals are demonstrating against plans to privatize the local water supply.
Although I did find EVEN THE RAIN interesting, I didn’t think it went far enough with any of the stories it tries to tell and so while I liked a lot of it, I don’t recommend that you see it.
There are other people on my Christmas List who will be receiving a different movie as a gift this year…the 20th ANNIVERSARY EDITION of one of my favourite holiday films of all-time: THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL.
This was the very first film that was produced with The Muppets after Jim Henson’s untimely death in May of 1990 and their version of Charles Dickens’ classic is fantastic, and new this week in HD on blu-ray.
Muppet fans…in case you are wondering…the version of the film now on blu-ray is the theatrical one…so the song “When Love Is Gone” is not included here…so, if you have the DVD of the movie, hold on to that – even if you pick this up – to keep this great scene that has long been omitted from the movie as it was deemed not appealing to children.
The 20th ANNIVERSARY EDITION of THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL has some great bonus features, old and brand new, but mainly it has the tremendous holiday treat that is good for the whole family!
The 20th ANNIVERSARY EDITION of THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL, the foreign film EVEN THE RAIN, the very good intersecting drama 360, the okay animated family film ARTHUR CHRISTMAS, the sensational 6 disc set CAROL’S FAVOURITES featuring THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW, the very good but not great reboot THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, and SEASON ONE of the made-in-Toronto series BOMB GIRLS are all available now, either on disc or on demand.
Coming up inside the next Couch Potato Report
The made-in-Montreal romantic action comedy LIVERPOOL, DON CHERRY’s ROCKEM SOCK EM 24, director Oliver Stone’s SAVAGES, the cinematic classic SUNSET BOULEVARD and Pixar’s summer box-office hit BRAVE.
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 again next time on The Couch!