The Couch Potato Report – July 6th, 2013
There are five releases inside this week’s Couch Potato Report and I am saving the best of them for last.
Five, yes, count ‘em, five! I have five new releases this week, and the first one is UPSIDE DOWN…and that is both the name of the made-in-Montreal sci-fi romance fantasy flick AND the reality some of the people in the film have to live with.
Young actor Jim Sturgess from ONE DAY stars with Kirsten Dunst of ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND in this tremendous looking movie as people named Adam and Eden who fall in love as teens, even though they come from different worlds where integration is not possible.
And let me make sure you understand the two worlds thing fully…there are two planets that exist next to another. Look up, or down, and right there – within arm’s reach – is the other planet.
The gravity of the planets have three rules:
1) All matter is pulled by the gravity of the world that it comes from, and not the other.
2) An object’s weight can be offset by matter from the opposite world. Unless you used weights from the other world, you’d float back to your planet.
3) But, after some time in contact, matter in contact with items from the other world burns.
It seems that for Adam and Eden, love is not meant to be, especially after a forced separation.
Ten years after it seems he will never see her again, Adam sets out on a dangerous quest to reconnect with the love of his life and everything – even gravity – are working against him.
UPSIDE DOWN does look great…the images, the sets, the visuals, even the actors in it all look fantastic, but the movie itself is nothing special. It just doesn’t have a script that lives up to the premise and the result is an interesting concept that resulted in a mediocre movie. Too bad, this one could have been great!
THE CALL could not have been great as it is based on the tired, clichéd thriller model. This is a movie that only find its way to a conclusion because of coincidences, not because the writers thought up anything interesting.
THE CALL stars Academy Award winner Halle Berry as a veteran 911 operator who once made a mistake that got a young girl killed. Now only training new operators – instead of taking any calls – she is the only person, the one and only person in the entire call centre who can talk to another teenage girl who has just been abducted.
And, wouldn’t you know it, this girl may be with the exact same killer from Halle Berry’s past.
THE CALL is only 94 minutes…but it seems much, much longer. This film is boring and too hard to believe to be anything other than a movie you skip. Do not take this call, for any price.
Let me say “yes” now to NO, a film from Chile about that country’s 1988 referendum. A talented and in-demand advertising man is asked to help produce the commercials for the NO side and he creates something young and hip and fresh. Yes, this film looks as a time when advertising tactics started to be widely used in political campaigns.
The debate in the movie comes from the historic plebiscite over whether general Augusto Pinochet should have another 8-year term as President. At the time, even real life celebrities – like Christopher Reeve – were involved in the local ad campaigns.
NO was nominated at the Academy Awards this year for Best Foreign Language Film, and I really enjoyed it. I didn’t remember much of the story, so it was mostly new to me, and the film is creatively shot and edited together to look like it is from the late eighties.
That is why I can easily say “yes” to NO.
I also say “yes” to a quirky and odd, creepy and interesting mystery thriller called STOKER. This one is about a mysterious “Uncle” who comes to live with an 18-year-old girl and her unstable mother.
He is charming and charismatic and may be a killer, and the more the teenager gets to know about him, the more she becomes infatuated with him.
STOKER is from the same Japanese director – Chan-Wook Park – who gave us the spectacular film OLDBOY, and while this one isn’t as great as that film, it is still very good. It isn’t for everyone, it is too odd and dark and creepy for everyone, but I liked it and can recommend it to anyone who is attracted to odd and quirky and dark and creepy.
To you I say enjoy!!
It is best for last time now, the best release this week is FALCON, a four-part television series released on disc as two 90 minute films, about a brilliant police detective in Seville, Spain.
Javier Falcon’s personal and professional life is continually compromised by dark secrets from his own past, and the past of members of his family.
FALCON is an exceptionally well-written series about a flawed man, and one movie picks up after the next and will leave you wanting more.
I really enjoyed them, and look forward to more!!
FALCON might not be available in every store, so you’ll probably have to search it out, but it is worth the extra effort. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it!!
The fantastic two movie series FALCON; the creepy & odd mystery thriller STOKER; the very good Academy Award nominated Foreign Film NO; the boring wannabe thriller THE CALL; and the nice to look at made-in-Montreal romance fantasy flick UPSIDE DOWN are all available now, either on disc or on demand.
Coming up inside the next Couch Potato Report
The New Zealand comedy BOY; the Academy Award nominated Israeli documentary THE GATEKEEPERS; Tina Fey and Paul Rudd star in ADMISSION; and THE HOST is a romantic science fiction film based on the novel of the same name from the creator of THE TWILIGHT SAGA.
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!