The Couch Potato Report – August 24th, 2013
An amazing story of love is inside this week’s Couch Potato Report, sadly so are two films you won’t love.
I don’t usually begin a review by telling what I thought of it, I usually save that until the end to build suspense and keep you listening, but I enjoyed this first film so much that I want to shout it out loud and share the news with everyone.
I loved it!! I loved the French film AMOUR.
AMOUR won the Palme d’Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival AND the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film earlier this year, where it was also nominated in four other categories: Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay and Best Director. It absolutely deserved all of those accolades, and now is worthy of your time.
This great film stars legendary French actors Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva as an elderly couple in their eighties. Upon returning home after suffering a paralyzing stroke, she makes him promise that he’ll never put her in a hospital again, which he reluctantly agrees to. So as she continues to get worse, he takes care of her at home.
Her frustration and impatience with her own condition and limitations, and his having to do almost everything for her at all hours of the day severely tests their love…but he won’t break his promise to her, to his AMOUR.
AMOUR is a story about dedication and love, and it is both beautiful and heartbreaking. From the performances to the script and sets, everything in this movie contributes to how great it is. I loved it and highly recommend it.
Oui, je t’aime AMOUR!!
Here is another story about love now, but this one isn’t as beautiful, however it too is heartbreaking.
Set in New York City, WHAT MAISIE KNEW stars Julianne Moore and Steve Coogan as a separating couple who are both exceptionally selfish as they fight for custody of their only daughter, Maisie.
Neither one is a good parent, and neither one really deserves to have this bright little girl in their life, and they don’t really want her – yet they don’t want to lose to the other either – so they’re both fighting for her.
WHAT MAISIE KNEW also introduces us to the wife’s new husband – a bartender who she expects to do nothing but babysit her kid while she is working – and the husband’s new wife, his daughter’s former nanny who he never treats as his equal and her only role seems to be taking care of the little girl, a little girl who is paying attention to her surroundings.
WHAT MAISIE KNEW isn’t great in any way, but its a nice little movie that I enjoyed. I especially enjoyed how it ended. Without giving anything away, it ended exactly the way I hoped that it would.
Nothing but love…that is what I have for these two new releases, nothing but love. They are both exceptionally well-acted and written and take me to places I wouldn’t normally get to go.
So get ready for a love fest, one that starts in Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the Prohibition era, circa 1919 to 1933.
BOARDWALK EMPIRE has been the best show on television about underworld characters since THE SOPRANOS went off the air in 2007.
This show stars Steve Buscemi from FARGO and THE BIG LEBOWSKI as Nucky Thompson, the undisputed ruler of Atlantic City, who is part politician but mostly gangster.
Not unlike that other gangster filled show set in New Jersey, BOARDWALK EMPIRE also features a personable cast of supporting characters that you will want to see get away with their crimes, even murder.
BOARDWALK EMPIRE is a great show, that is exceptionally well made, written and full of engaging characters and performances, but what works against it is the fact that it is the type of show you never need to see it again…once you’ve seen it, you’ve seen it.
Plus, during THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON there are several characters that are no longer necessary, they could be written out or killed off and they wouldn’t be missed.
But, what works in THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON of BOARDWALK EMPIRE is that the show added character actor Bobby Cannavale as Gyp Rosetti as a ruthless gangster from New York City who challenges Nucky at every turn.
Even though I’ll never watch any episode of the show a second time, I always enjoy the first viewing. I like this show, I respect this show, and I can easily recommend this show.
THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON of BOARDWALK EMPIRE gets nothing but love from me!!
More love now for SEASON TWO of a show that some Trekkies have been dying for, yet others – even those who have to own absolutely everything connected to the franchise – can live without.
I’m talking about THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON of STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE!!
ENTERPRISE – as it was actually known for the first two seasons – takes place 100 years before the adventures of James T. Kirk and Spock in the original television series.
Scott Bakula from QUANTUM LEAP plays Captain Jonathan Archer of Earth’s first Warp 5 starship, the Enterprise….picking up, actually beginning STAR TREK’s adventures.
Of all the STAR TREK shows, ENTERPRISE has always been my least favourite, but I admit that I did really enjoy watching the series again this week on blu-ray.
It looks great in HD and features a wealth of brand new retrospective features.
Huge fans…don’t miss STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE – THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON on blu-ray. Casual fans, I’d maybe wait until the price goes down in a few months.
And now a warning. There are two new releases out there that would like you to waste your time and money on them but you must avoid them at all costs.
Both think they are comedies, but neither are funny, and both have great casts, full of actors we love, but none of those people can save either film.
Stay away from SCARY MOVIE V and RAPTURE PALOOZA…as far away as you can!!
SCARY MOVIE V is the sad – hopeful end – to a once funny franchise. I didn’t laugh once during this 86 minute mess, and I have laughed with and at these films in the past. This one is just not funny.
Skip SCARY MOVIE V, it’s not scary, it’s not funny, it is garbage. Ignore it…you’ve been warned!
Let me also warn you now against watching an end of the world mess called RAPTURE PALOOZA.
This 85 minute waste of your time stars John Francis Daley from BONES and Academy Award nominee Anna Kendrick from UP IN THE AIR as two teenagers who are trying to survive the apocalypse on earth and devise a plan to defeat the Antichrist.
He is played by Craig Robinson from HOT TUB TIME MACHINE and television’s THE OFFICE.
RAPTURE PALOOZA has a great cast, but is not funny at all. This is total garbage and it must be avoided.
Ignore it, skip it, don’t waste your time on it!!
The absolutely awful – in every way – wannabe end of the world comedy RAPTURE PALOOZA; the non-entertaining, horrible – in every way – sequel SCARY MOVIE V; SEASON TWO of the entertaining STAR TREK series ENTERPRISE; THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON of the great mob show BOARDWALK EMPIRE; the nice little film WHAT MAISIE KNEW and the Academy Award winning Best Foreign Language, beautiful film AMOUR are all available now, either on disc or on demand.
Coming up inside the next Couch Potato Report
The made-in-Ontario and New Brunswick 2013 Canadian Screen Award winning drama STILL MINE; THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON of the television series THE WALKING DEAD; and Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan star in the latest cinematic adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel THE GREAT GATSBY.
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!