The Couch Potato Report – November 2nd, 2013
Jeff Bridges and Vancouver’s Ryan Reynolds are well known movie stars who have appeared in several films over the years that people love, such as THE BIG LEBOWSKI, TED, STARMAN and THE PROPOSAL. But no matter how much you enjoyed their work in those films, or any other, do not waste your time with their latest.
R.I.P.D. is a complete waste of your time.
R.I.P.D. – or Rest in Peace Department – is based on the very entertaining comic book by Peter M. Lenkov, about a recently killed police officer who is recruited by a supernatural, other worldly law enforcement organization to help capture “Deados”, spirits that have failed to cross over and have returned to Earth as monstrous ghosts.
Reynolds is the modern day recruit and he accepts the job so he can return to earth to get revenge on the man who murdered him. Jeff Bridges plays his partner, a crime fighter from the wild west, but you won’t care.
When I first saw the trailer for R.I.P.D. earlier this year it just looked like a pale imitation of MEN IN BLACK, and it is…but it’s MEN IN BLACK LITE.
Very, very lite.
R.I.P.D. is instantly forgettable, even while watching it I had to struggle to remember what had happened even a few minutes earlier.
Skip this mess, it is one of the worst films of 2013, and you have better things to do with your time.
The first time I watched the Pixar film MONSTERS UNIVERSITY, I also thought that it was a poor imitation of a much better film. However after seeing it a second time, while I do still consider it basically a remake of REVENGE OF THE NERDS, I really enjoyed it.
MONSTERS UNIVERSITY is a prequel to the superb 2001 film MONSTERS INC., starring the voices of Billy Crystal and John Goodman as two monsters – who are best friends – that work for a company that generates their city’s power by scaring children
In this new film, we see how they became friends, and it wasn’t something that happened overnight.
The best thing about MONSTERS UNIVERSITY is how great it looks, and it does look great. The animation here is so crisp and clear, I just wish the film was a little bit more original, the way MONSTERS INC. was.
I did ultimately enjoy MONSTERS UNIVERSITY, and I do recommend it, to young and old alike.
Surprisingly I don’t recommend a documentary made about Bruce Springsteen and his fans to young and old alike…and I say “surprisingly” as I am a huge Springsteen fan.
SPRINGSTEEN & I has the man they call “The Boss” and his E Street Band talking and performing during the various stages of their career, but primarily it features the man’s fans discussing what his music has meant to them over the years.
There are stories in SPRINGSTEEN & I that will break your heart, make you cheer, and have you laughing out loud, but not all of them, especially the ones at the start of the film, are that interesting, and some go on far too long.
Luckily there are more good ones than bad.
Fans of the man and his music should not miss SPRINGSTEEN & I, especially the bonus materials which include Bruce performing with Paul McCartney. That concert footage is fantastic!!
If you’re not a fan, why aren’t you?!?
How about a few laughs now? Even though it isn’t a great movie, I definitely laughed during THE INTERNSHIP.
THE INTERNSHIP puts Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson in a film together for the first time since 2005’s WEDDING CRASHERS.
Here they play the same kind of relaxed, close to middle aged but comfortable in their own skin guys suffering from arrested development, the change comes from the fact that – after being laid off from their jobs selling watches – they decide to try to get an internship with Google, which would lead to jobs, but they’re competing with high school students who are more tech savvy and more experienced at this sort of thing.
What the young generation lack is the one thing Vince and Owen have…experience, and that leads to several scenes where they try to inspire them.
THE INTERNSHIP is a fun, mindless comedy that was released in the Summer, so it works better if you shut off your brain and don’t think too much about it.
It isn’t as good as WEDDING CRASHERS, but I enjoyed seeing these guys together again, so I can easily recommend it.
Surprisingly, I also recommend THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON of the television series NEW GIRL…very surprisingly because I didn’t care for the first season of this show at all.
This is the show about Jess, an offbeat, quirky and self-described “adorkable” woman in her early twenties who movies into an apartment loft with three single men.
In SEASON ONE her behavior was over the top unusual and I didn’t believe that they would have even let her move in, let alone support her as they do.
But in SEASON TWO she is less odd, and much less annoying, so it isn’t harder to understand why the guys support her, most of the time, no matter what.
I now like NEW GIRL! I had fun watching THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON and enjoyed hanging out with Jess and Nick and Schmidt and Cece and Winston, which is why I now recommend it.
I’ve enjoyed spending time with Freddy Benson and Lawrence Jamieson since I first met them upon the release of the film DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS in 1988.
As played by Steve Martin and Michael Caine, they are con-men who agree to work together – not for a huge score – but because the small very rich town they are working, just isn’t big enough for the two of them.
I’ve been quoting this movie since it first came out and to this day it is still smart and very, very funny.
The new blu-ray for DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS doesn’t feature any new bonus materials, but I truly enjoyed watching it, and I highly recommend it, if you’ve never seen it.
Finally this week, we head back to the old west for one of Clint Eastwood’s most interesting westerns…HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER.
Released in 1973, HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER stars Eastwood as a gunfighting man with no name who ends up in a small settlement that is full of secrets.
He is asked to help keep the place safe from three outlaws who are on their way, and he agrees and is promised anything he wants…anything. So he requests everyone leave the hotel, orders a barn dismantled in order to make picnic benches, has the entire town painted red.
His reasons and methods are all explained in the movie’s final scene.
I wouldn’t put HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER on par with THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY or UNFORGIVEN, two of Eastwood’s best, but when you consider that this was only the second film he directed, it is an impressive effort, one that looks great in HD on blu-ray.
It might not be one of his best, but it is still a terrific film!!
Clint Eastwood’s still great HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER, the smart and funny eighties comedy DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS; the surprisingly entertaining COMPLETE SECOND SEASON of the show NEW GIRL; the mindless and funny summer comedy THE INTERNSHIP starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson; the entertaining music documentary SPRINGSTEEN & I…that is for fans only; Pixar’s fun sequel MONSTERS UNIVERSITY; and the completely horrible waste of your time R.I.P.D. are all available now, either on disc or on demand.
And that’s this week’s COUCH POTATO REPORT.
Enjoy the movies and I’ll see you back here again next time on The Couch!