Category: The Couch Potato Report

The Couch Potato Report – August 25th, 2012

Inside this week’s Couch Potato Report a pair of would be comedies and two enjoyable cinematic anniversaries.

CLIP – ZOMBIE – Bring It
TIME – 15 seconds

I have several releases to tell you about this week, and the first one is the made-in-Sudbury, Ontario would be horror comedy A LITTLE BIT ZOMBIE.

After becoming infected with a zombie virus, a mild mannered man attempts to fight off an all-encompassing desire for brains, and keep his wedding on track to a less than believing fiancé.

CLIP – ZOMBIE – Little Bit
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A LITTLE BIT ZOMBIE has a few jokes that work as the man, his bride and sister and brother in law are all at an isolated cabin, but most of them fall flat. And every scene featuring the zombie hunter and his beautiful sidekick are way over the top.

This is never an awful movie, it does have some cool zombie moments and some fun and funny scenes, just not enough for me to recommend the film.

A LITTLE BIT ZOMBIE tries…it just doesn’t succeed.

CLIP – ZOMBIE – Zombie
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Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest would be comedy THE DICTATOR also doesn’t succeed, in fact it fails…I’d even say that it fails miserably. But that said, it definitely tries. The writers, director and the star himself really try to produce something funny, so I will give them kudos for trying. Unfortunately, most of their comedy just didn’t make me laugh.

CLIP – DICTATOR – Sailor Man
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In THE DICTATOR, Sacha Baron Cohen – the creator of BORAT and BRUNO – plays the oppressive Saddam Hussein/Kim Jong Il type ruler of The Republic of Wadiya.

When he is summoned to New York to a UN assembly to address concerns about his country’s nuclear weapons program, he ends up with none of his usual riches and is stripped of his power.

As he works hard to gain it all back, he is helped and falls for an earthy woman, played by Anna Farris of the SCARY MOVIE films.

CLIP – DICTATOR – Okay
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THE DICTATOR has some great cameos, but most of them – like the film itself – just don’t pay off. I laughed a couple of times, but not that often, and certainly not out loud, which is why I say that you should skip THE DICTATOR.

CLIP – DICTATOR – Cheney
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I wasn’t quite what to expect when I sat down to watch the latest film from the director and star of the very entertaining 2003 film SCHOOL OF ROCK.

Jack Black and director Richard Linklater have reunited for a film called BERNIE where Black plays a mortician in small-town Texas who befriends and then – in a fit of frustration – kills a wealthy widow, played by Shirley MacLaine.

CLIP – BERNIE – Servant
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Matthew McConaughey plays Danny Buck, the man prosecuting Black for the murder and the fact that this film has the cast that it does…and I later found out the story it is based on really happened…left me not sure what to expect.

CLIP – BERNIE – Kiss Her
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Ultimately BERNIE is more interesting than entertaining, but it did hold my attention all the way through, so I will give it a mild recommendation.

CLIP – BERNIE – Clapping
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There are some performers that no matter what films they star in we will watch them. I have certainly sat through more than my fair share of bad movies just because I like Jennifer Connelly.

For every A BEAUTIFUL MIND, DARK CITY, THE ROCKETEER or LABYRINTH that she has given us, there is the corresponding INVENTING THE ABBOTTS, MULLHOLLAND FALLS, HIGHER LEARNING and OF LOVE AND SHADOWS.

But good or bad, I will watch her in anything, which is why I sat down to watch a movie called VIRGINIA this week…even though I could tell going in that it was going to be one of the bad ones.

CLIP – VIRGINA – Think
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In VIRGINIA Jennifer Connelly plays a psychologically disturbed woman who has been having an affair with a small-town married Sheriff for two decades. Adding more drama to the mix is the fact that Virginia may be dying and her son – who may or may not be the Sheriff’s – is in love with a girl who may or may not be his half-sister.

CLIP – VIRGINA – Life Now
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VIRGINIA was written and directed by Dustin Lance Black, who won an Oscar for writing MILK in 2009 and his involvement, and the fact that it stars Jennifer Connelly are the only two reasons I watched it.

I was barely interested in what was going on, and by the end I just didn’t care. I am glad I’ve seen it, but you should skip VIRGINIA.

And here’s hoping that Jennifer Connelly’s next film – a movie called WRITERS that will debut at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival – is better!!

CLIP – VIRGINA – That
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Our final two releases this week are films celebrating anniversaries, and I will start with the one that remains my absolute favourite animated film to this day – 1977’s THE RESCUERS.

CLIP – RESCUE – Police
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Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor voice and bring alive two mice who work for the Rescue Aid Society – and international mouse organization headquartered in New York and shadowing the United Nations, dedicated to helping abduction victims around the world at large.

Together they search for a little girl who is being held by Madame Medusa and forced to search for a missing diamond.

CLIP – RESCUE – Else
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THE RESCUCERS has been released in a 35th ANNIVERSARY EDITION and the film looks better than ever. The hand drawn animation is beautiful.

Sadly, it is very light on the special features and doesn’t include any retrospectives. However, it does include the not-as-great but still pretty good 1990 sequel THE RESCUERS DOWN UNDER, which features the voice work of the late great John Candy.

CLIP – RESCUE – Fair Fare
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I still love THE RESCUERS and easily recommend it to everyone, whether you saw it in a theatre 35 years ago, or for the first time this week.

CLIP – RESCUE – R-E-S-C-U-E
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I can also easily recommend the partially filmed in Toronto, but set in Boston, Academy Award winner GOOD WILL HUNTING.

CLIP – HUNTING – Coffee
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GOOD WILL HUNTING won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Robin Williams and Best Original Screenplay for Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. All three appear in a great retrospective included in the new 15th ANNIVERSARY EDITION.

CLIP – HUNTING – Hindsight
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Matt Damon plays a math genius who would rather hang out and get drunk with his buddies than apply himself, Minnie Driver is a woman who loves him, and Robin Williams is the psychologist trying to give Will some direction.

CLIP – HUNTING – You
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GOOD WILL HUNTING is a movie that I still enjoy, because the acting and writing are both so strong, and so I have no problems recommending this new 15th ANNIVERSARY EDITION.

CLIP – HUNTING – Apples
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The 15th ANNIVERSARY EDITION of the still entertaining GOOD WILL HUNTING, the 35th ANNIVERSARY EDITION of the classic animated film THE RESCUERS which also includes THE RESCUERS DOWN UNDER, the not great VIRGINA – starring Jennifer Connelly the interesting mild recommendation BERNIE, the unfunny would be comedy THE DICTATOR and the made-in-Sudbury, Ontario would be horrific comedy A LITTLE BIT ZOMBIE are all available now, either on disc or on demand.

CLIP – ZOMBIE – Seriously
TIME – 15 seconds

Coming up inside the next Couch Potato Report

The made-in-Niagara Falls comedic drama A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO ENDINGS, the crime drama EDWIN BOYD: CITIZEN GANGSTER, Jean Renoir’s 1937 classic LA GRANDE ILLUSION and THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON of THE WALKING DEAD.

CLIP – WALKINGDEAD2 – None
TIME – 15 seconds

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!

CLIP – DICTATOR – Thank You
TIME – 15 seconds

CLIP – ROMULUS – Wasted Time
TIME – 15 seconds

(Now to hear it with those clips, go to http://www.cbc.ca/couchpotato)

The Couch Potato Report – August 18th, 2012

Inside this week’s Couch Potato Report another great movie about a teacher, the hunger games and Duh nah…

Over the years there have been dozens of films made about teachers who inspire their students. GOODBYE MR CHIPS, MR. HOLLAND’S OPUS, DEAD POETS SOCIETY, DANGEROUS MINDS, LEAN ON ME, STAND AND DELIVER, TO SIR WITH LOVE are just some of them. Teachers are a universal theme in movies because we all went to school, we all had them, and many of us have been fortunate enough to have had teachers that have inspired us.

You can now add the made-in-Montreal film MONSIEUR LAZHAR to the list of movies made about inspirational teachers.

MONSIEUR LAZHAR was nominated as the Best Foreign language film at the Academy Awards this year, and it is an amazing film about an Algerian immigrant who is hired to replace a popular grade school teacher who committed suicide in her classroom.

As he helps the students work through their grief, they help him work through his own, as we find out he has also recently suffered a loss.

In addition to the Oscar nomination, MONSIEUR LAZHAR won six Genie Awards earlier this year, including trophies for Best Actor and Best Picture. Simply put, it was the best Canadian movie made last year, and it is a beautiful movie about love, loss and a teacher who inspires people.

I really enjoyed it, and highly recommend it.

“The Hunger Games” is a global pop culture phenomenon created by Suzanne Collins that has resulted in sales of over twenty-six million books and one movie – so far – that has made almost $700 million dollars at the box office.

My review of THE HUNGER GAMES is not aimed anyone who has read the books – and loved them – or seen the film – and loved it. You have already made up your mind and so to you I just say, enjoy the film and the extra disc of bonus features!

Instead, this review is for uninitiated movie fans who are wondering if they should spend their money and set aside the almost two-and-a-half-hours it will take to watch the film.

THE HUNGER GAMES is set in a post-apocalyptic future where once a year one 12 to 18 year-old boy and one 12 to 18 year-old girl from the twelve surviving districts are selected by random draw to take part in a competition…to the death…on live television.

Katniss Everdeen is the hero of the piece. She is a sixteen year old girl from District 12 who volunteers to take part when her younger sister’s name is chosen.

Ultimately what director Gary Ross and the writers have given us is a movie with no immediacy to it. It takes forever to get to the Games themselves, and once it does nothing happens.

This is supposed to be a fight to the death, but the participants we are introduced to – who we are supposed to believe are blood thirsty – are content to take their time…for instance: at one point an alliance of five bad characters manage to trap Katniss up in a tree, and after shooting two – count ‘em two arrows – and failing to climb that tree, they decide to wait her out.

Not shoot more arrows, cut down the tree, or smoke her down…they wait.

The lack of immediacy in THE HUNGER GAMES is the primary reason why it isn’t a great movie, plus, the computer graphics all look cheap, most of the cast is wooden, and the movie takes far too long getting where you know it is going…even if you haven’t read the book.

But…all that said… the young actress Jennifer Lawrence and veterans Stanley Tucci, Woody Harrelson and Canadian Icon Donald Sutherland are so entertaining in their roles that I have to admit I didn’t dislike the movie. That is why I will mildly recommend THE HUNGER GAMES to movie fans.

However…here’s hoping that when the second film – CATCHING FIRE – comes out next year the filmmakers do a better job of transferring Suzanne Collins’ words to film.

Not great, but not awful. Those five words easily sum up these next two films.

THE FLOWERS OF WAR stars Christian Bale from THE DARK KNIGHT films in this historical drama as a Westerner who poses as a priest and stays in a church with a group of women and girls in a church during Japan’s Nanking massacre of 1937.

Historians and witnesses have estimated that 250,000 to 300,000 people were killed during this massacre, and the film centres on Bale’s reluctant decision to try and get the women and girls to safety.

THE FLOWERS OF WAR is a well made film with some very smart action scenes, and even though it is almost 2.5 hours long it goes by fast. However, there are more good intentions contained in it than good moments and that is why I can only use those five words to describe it: Not great, but not awful.

So, call that a mild recommendation.

We are off to Los Angeles, California, now because that is where the film GIRL WALKS INTO A BAR is set. This is a pseudo-sequel to a 2010 film called ELEKTRA LUXX and a movie from 2009 called WOMEN IN TROUBLE.

And even though I love the girl who walks into the bar – and all the women in the film – the film itself isn’t awful, but it also isn’t great.

The women in the film include Canadian actress Emmanuelle Chriqui from ENTOURAGE, Carla Gugino and Rosario Dawson of SIN CITY, and former model Amber Valletta. I am also a fan of most of the men who co-star, including Danny DeVito, Robert Forster, Zachary Quinto and Vancouver’s Gil Bellows.

The stories here take place in ten different Los Angeles bars over the course of one evening and how they overlap is what is interesting about it.

GIRL WALKS INTO A BAR does feature actresses and actors I like – many of who play interesting characters – and there are some interesting topics of conversation, but the sum of its parts isn’t all that great.

Once again the filmmakers seem think they have given the world a comedy with some dramatic moments…but after three attempts, I wish they would stop making these movies.

Admittedly, GIRL WALKS INTO A BAR is not great, but it is also not awful. However, unless you absolutely love one or more of the performers, you might just want to skip it.

With the new television season about to begin, the DVD and blu-ray sets for last season are starting to be released at a frantic pace. I have a trio of them for you right now, and we begin with THE SIXTH SEASON of DEXTER.

DEXTER is a multiple award winning show about Dexter Morgan – played by Emmy winner Michael C. Hall of SIX FEET UNDER. He is a bloodstain pattern analyst who uses forensic science to help the Miami Metro Police Department catch criminals.

Oh, and he also moonlights as a serial killer.

In THE SIXTH SEASON of DEXTER our anti-hero has to track down a delusional religious zealot or pair of zealots.

DEXTER is a smart police procedural drama, that is exceptionally well written and if you have never seen it, you should.

This is an amazing show, and THE SIXTH SEASON is fantastic!! This show keeps getting better and better!!!

I can’t wait for SEASON SEVEN!!!

Another dark show that has come out on disc this week is GRIMM – a police procedural fantasy drama set in a world in which characters inspired by Grimms’ Fairy Tales exist.

Set in modern day Portland, Oregon, a police detective discovers that he is part of a line of guardians known as Grimms. They are charged with keeping balance between humanity and the mythological creatures of the world.

I am a huge fan of procedural dramas, and the fact that GRIMM is set in the supernatural world gives it a unique twist. Unfortunately there are no characters in the show that I like and am interested in following. Plus, the computer effects here are not that great. It looks really fake when some of the characters change from being regular folk to members of the supernatural realm.

GRIMM – SEASON ONE has a great premise, but it isn’t fully realized. I liked it, but it is never great.

One show that is great, is COMMUNITY. It is also smart, hip, funny, always fresh and full of characters that I always enjoy hanging out with!!

COMMUNITY is sitcom about a group of people who met when they joined a study group at Community College in Colorado who – over the course of the first two seasons became a pseudo family and during the newly released COMPLETE THIRD SEASON, they continue to have their ups and downs…and we get to enjoy it all!!

COMMUNITY isn’t the greatest show on TV, but it is fun and has a great ensemble cast.

If you are looking for some laughs, you will definitely find some in THE COMPLETE THIRD – and FIRST and SECOND – in all seasons of COMMUNITY!!

We are off now to the beach…get in the water…if you dare.

On June 20, 1975, a movie about a great white shark that terrorizes a small island community was released.

In the film – directed by a then unknown talent named Steven Spielberg – the community fights back as a police chief, a marine scientist and grizzled fisherman set out to capture it.

JAWS was a huge hit and it is known around the world as the first summer blockbuster.

JAWS has now been completely remastered for release in High Definition and it looks and sounds fantastic!! Plus, there are some great retrospective features, old and new.

JAWS is a classic film and this blu-ray is one of the best releases of the year!!

Pick it up…and get back in the water…if you dare.

Steven Spielberg’s still amazing JAWS, SEASON ONE of the okay supernatural police procedural GRIMM, THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON of the very entertaining show COMMUNITY, THE SIXTH SEASON of the very smart show DEXTER, the well cast but not great movie A GIRL WALKS INTO A BAR, Christian Bale’s never great non-BATMAN movie THE FLOWERS OF WAR, the phenom THE HUNGER GAMES – which I can mildly recommend to movie fans, and the great Canadian Academy Award nominated film MONSIEUR LAZHAR are all available now, either on disc or on demand.

Coming up inside the next Couch Potato Report

The made-in-Ontario undead comedy A LITTLE BIT ZOMBIE; Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine and Matthew McConaughey star in BERNIE; Sacha Baron Cohen of BORAT infamy is THE DICTATOR; and the Academy Award winning, partially made-in-Toronto film GOOD WILL HUNTING gets a Fifteenth Anniversary Edition.

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!

The Couch Potato Report – August 11th, 2012

Inside this week’s Couch Potato Report is a trip to Moon Point, a close look at Bob Marley and Clue: The Movie.

Moon Point is where we get things started this week, for that is the title of the first release and the destination of a 23-year-old slacker named Darryl. As the story begins, he lives with his Mother, and sees no problems with living with her forever.

His desire to go to Moon Point stems from the fact that his elementary school crush is making a movie there, and he thinks that he can get there, he’ll get the girl, and get his life in order.

But life – even in movies like this – rarely goes as planned.

Now Darryl doesn’t drive, and neither does his paraplegic friend Femur, so they only way he can get to Moon Point – which is over two-hundred kilometres away – is to hook a wagon onto the back of his friend’s electric wheelchair.

As you might expect in a road movie such as MOON POINT, the guys meet some unique people along the way, and befriend a woman…who has some problems of her own.

Together though, they all might just be okay.

The Ontario scenery looks great here, and the young cast are all very good. Almost everything in MOON POINT works, until one of the characters lies to another, so then you spend the rest of the film waiting for the other shoe to drop…and it does drop…making an otherwise decent film far too predictable.

MOON POINT was so close to being great. As it is, I still liked it. It is a quirky road movie that I can mildly recommend.

Thirty-one years after his death, Marley remains the most widely known and revered performer of reggae music, and is credited with helping give Jamaican music a global audience.

You know his name, you know his music, but, how much do you actually know about him?

The aim of MARLEY – a new film from Academy Award winning documentarian Kevin MacDonald – is to make sure you know almost everything.

MARLEY features the man himself, his wife, his children, bandmates, friends, family, lovers…it features just about everyone who ever knew him or worked with him. It is a love letter to him.

I have read just about every book written about Bob Marley, and I still learned things about him from this film. It is informative, interesting, and entertaining.

Bob Marley was a complicated guy and he remains a man whose music will live forever. I highly recommend you check out MARLEY and get to know him…or get to know him better, man.

In 1972, Bob Marley and the Wailers released their classic album “Catch A Fire”, featuring “Stir It Up”, “Kinky Reggae” and “Stop That Train.”

Also in 1972, a man named Theodor Seuss Geisel released a book that chronicles the plight of the environment.

That book was called THE LORAX, and that man is better known around the world as Dr. Suess.

The Lorax speaks for the trees, and in the big screen movie version of the story he is voiced by Danny DeVito.

DR. SUESS’ THE LORAX is a fun flick about a boy searching for a real tree to give to the girl he loves, which leads to him meeting the greedy Once-ler, which leads to us meeting the Lorax.

This is a very entertaining, good for the whole family film, full of a wide array of characters and critters. Even little, very young kids will enjoy it as it is bright and colourful.

I really enjoyed it.

All too often, the movies made in this day and age cater to a younger crowd. Very rarely do we get movies geared toward adults and mature audiences.

Well, I am happy to report that this week, not only is there one release that has been made for adults, there are two.

THE DEEP BLUE SEA is the first of the two and in this one Academy Award winner Rachel Weisz from THE CONSTANT GARDENER and ABOUT A BOY plays the wife of a judge who wants a divorce after she finds herself caught up in a passionate love affair with a pilot.

Set in 1950, the story takes a very dramatic turn when the pilot forgets her birthday and she decides – since he will never love her as much as she loves him – that she should kill herself.

That she survives doesn’t change things, he will just never care for her in the same manner.

THE DEEP BLUE SEA is a serious film – for adults – that is exceptionally dramatic, and at times it moves very, very slowly.

But I really enjoyed it, and can easily recommend it.

The other release this week that is meant for adults is the three-part television mini-series based on the actual feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys.

Academy Award winner Kevin Costner plays the head of the Hatfield family and Bill Paxton from TITANIC stars are the leader of the McCoy clan.

As the story begins, they fought on the same side during the Civil War, but they became enemies after they returned home to their lives on the West Virginia/Kentucky border.

These two families just did not get along – even when one member of the family or another worked hard at it and tried to, even falling in love. To this day people worldwide know that these two families had one of the longest and best known feuds in American History.

The problem with the HATFIELDS & MCCOYS mini-series is the fact that at four hours and fifty minutes it is way too long. Had it been shorter – a two part series, instead of three – and thus closer to three or three and a half hours instead of five hours it would have been much more interesting.

HATFIELDS & MCCOYS has a great cast, and it starts off really strong and isn’t horrible, it is just too long and that is why I can’t call it a must see.

I only mildly recommend it, especially to adults.

Finally this week, we go to the year 1985, for a film about six guests who are invited to a strange house and must defend themselves as they strive to solve a murder mystery in CLUE – THE MOVIE.

Based on the board game CLUE, this film will have you wondering if it was Colonel Mustard in the study with a candlestick? Miss Scarlet in the library with a knife? Or did the butler do it?!

The best thing about CLUE: THE MOVIE has always been the cast. It features Tim Curry, Christopher Lloyd, Michael McKean, Eileen Brennan, Martin Mull, Lesley Ann Warren and Madeline Kahn.

I’ve never thought that CLUE: THE MOVIE was great, but I have always enjoyed it’s manic pace and at times it is fun, funny and very entertaining.

CLUE: THE MOVIE, the far too long 5 hour HATFIELDS & MCCOYS, the very, very dramatic THE DEEP BLUE SEA, DR. SUESS’ exceptionally entertaining THE LORAX, the spectacular documentary MARLEY about the life, times and music of Bob Marley, and the almost great quirky Canadian road movie MOON POINT are all available now, either on disc or on demand.

Coming up inside the next Couch Potato Report

The Academy Award nominated Montreal film MONSIEUR LAZHAR, Katniss Everdeen is available for you to watch at home in THE HUNGER GAMES, and JAWS, the very first summer blockbuster debuts – and looks and sounds amazing – on blu-ray.

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!

The Couch Potato Report – August 4th, 2012

Inside this week’s Couch Potato Report is a Northern Canadian love story, Marilyn Monroe, and we’re off to Mars.

We start this week on a road trip to North Bay, Ontario for the romantic road trip I’M YOURS.

The story here begins in a bar in New York City as a man celebrating his thirtieth birthday meets a beautiful woman, and they spend the night together.

When he wakes up the next morning, in his car, she explains that they are on the way to North Bay to meet her parents.

The reason he agrees is because she found a bag of money that he was planning to use to run away from his Wall Street life and he’ll only get it back if he helps her.

And there is your classic movie set-up…two people at odds forced to spend time together…who just might find out that they have a lot in common, and might even find love.

But the reason I’M YOURS worked for me is that the characters are likeable and the performances by the young Canadian actors never seem like performances. It seems as if they are the people they have created.

I’M YOURS slows down a bit toward the end, but it starts off strong enough that it doesn’t matter.

I liked it, and can easily recommend it.

It was fifty years ago this weekend that one of the brightest stars in Hollywood was extinguished.

Marilyn Monroe died on August 5th, 1962, at her home in Brentwood, California. She was 36 years old.

In commemoration of the anniversary of her death, a new blu-ray box set called FOREVER MARILYN has been released featuring seven of her best known movies: THE MISFITS, SOME LIKE IT HOT, THERE’S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS, GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES, HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE, THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH and the made-in-Alberta western RIVER OF NO RETURN.

Five of these films have never been available in High Definition before, and that is one of the main reasons as they now look and sound amazing. Marilyn has never looked better!!

Sadly, FOREVER MARILYN is not a definitive box set as it doesn’t include all of the screen icon’s films, and four of the movies don’t have very many special features, plus…the set’s packaging isn’t the size of blu-rays, it is the size of a DVD, so it won’t fit on your blu-ray shelf. But those facts don’t diminish what it does have…seven classic Marilyn Monroe performances.

Fifty years after her death, she remains legendary, and one of the most beautiful women of all time.

I highly recommend this collection of her films.

I recently had a long conversation with a long time friend of mine about television shows. Old shows we love, current shows we enjoy, new shows that we would recommend to each other, we discussed everything from SEINFELD to THE NEWSROOM.

One show I didn’t mention, because I hadn’t seen it yet, but I have since emailed and told my friend about is the British series THE INBETWEENERS.

This show – about four friends trying to navigate life in and out of high school – is amazing!!

THE INBETWEENERS is a situation comedy that aired for three series from 2008 to 2010and now the six episode COMPLETE FIRST SEASON is available for us in Canada to watch or own.

Since the show features and is all about adolescent boys it is very profane at times and does feature storylines about things you can imagine high school boys would be interested in and all of it done honestly, and is usually very funny.

I do and will always love shows about friends just hanging out and doing stuff, even doing nothing, and that combined with the quality and well written situations offered up in THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON of THE INBETWEENERS is why I can say that I really enjoyed it, and can highly recommend it.

I am really looking forward to seeing the other two seasons and the movie they’ve made!! This is great stuff!!

The Discovery Channel’s first ever Shark Week took place in 1988 and this week long television celebration of sharks now takes place in over seventy-two countries around the world and is going strong twenty-four years since it first began.

Yes, 2012 minus 1988 is 24, yet there is now a new DVD and Blu-ray available called SHARK WEEK – 25th ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION, which I guess is okay since we are now heading in to the twenty-fifth one…right?!

Admittedly, this could have been called SHARKS, SHARKS AND MORE SHARKS and would have wanted to watch it…I love sharks and shark week!!

SHARK WEEK – 25th ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION features four programs that have ran over the years about sharks – Great White Shark: Uncaged, Blood In The Water, Mythbusters: Shark Special and the incredible Ultimate Air Jaws which features flying sharks…sort of…and oh so much more!!

I don’t think that the shows featured on SHARK WEEK – 25th ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION are the best ones that have ever aired – Blood In The Water is especially weak – but I still enjoyed watching it, and I will watch it again one day down the road…whether it is Shark Week or not!!

Shark lovers, don’t miss it!!

LOL. If you text me a message, post something on Facebook, or send me an email and include those letters – LOL – I, and just about everyone else in the world will assume you mean Laughing Out Loud.

Even Wikipedia defines it as “LOL, an abbreviation for laughing out loud, or laugh out loud, is a common element of Internet slang.”

LOL is also in the Oxford English Dictionary – which is often referred to as the premier dictionary of the English language. LOL was added in March of 2011.

The fact that they don’t know what most people who speak the English language use the letters LOL for is just one of the many, many, many problems the producers of a Miley Cyrus movie called LOL have.

To the people who made this mess, LOL stands for Lots Of Love, which is another accepted use of those letters… and so is Little Old Lady…but most people don’t use LOL for Lots Of Love…and most people do not need to waste their time on this movie about a teenager with a broken heart who is also rebelling against her mom…in all o fthe most clichéd ways imaginable.

LOL is J-U-N-K, B-O-R-I-N-G, A-W-F-U-L, and you won’t care about it – and most of the people in it – for a second.

If you see it, S-K-I-P it…because you will not be laughing out loud, and you certainly won’t have lots of love for it.

Finally this week…lets go to Mars!

There is a remake of the 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi classic opening in theatres next week, and so the original has been re-released on Blu-ray as TOTAL RECALL: ULTIMATE REKALL EDITION with some new special features, including an interview with Director Paul Verhoeven.

TOTAL RECALL is a great film that features some unique twists and turns, along with some of Schwarzenegger’s most quotable movie lines.

I have always enjoyed TOTAL RECALL and the newly remastered blu-ray version of it called the ULTIMATE REKALL EDITION looks and sounds great and is something I can easily recommend.

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s TOTAL RECALL, the awful Miley Cyrus film LOL, the great SHARK WEEK – 25th ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION, THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON of the fantastic British series THE INBETWEENERS, the not perfect but still great seven movie Marilyn Monroe set FOREVER MARILYN, and the likeable made-in-Northern-Ontario film I’M YOURS are all available now, either on disc or on demand.

Coming up inside the next Couch Potato Report

The quirky Canadian comedy MOON POINT, the documentary MARLEY about Bob Marley, CLUE: THE MOVIE and DR. SUESS’ THE LORAX…he speaks for the trees.

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!

The Couch Potato Report – July 28th, 2012

Inside this week’s Couch Potato Report are frights and scares, some sushi, and The Next Generation in HD.

I have several new releases to tell you about this week, even a really good one, but you should know up front that I am saving the best for last.

I will conclude with SEASON ONE of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, now in HD on blu-ray, but I will start with a made-in-Winnipeg dramatic thriller from director Guy Maddin that just doesn’t work.

Guy Maddin has given us a wide variety of films, including TALES FROM THE GIMLI HOSPITAL, THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD and the love letter to his hometown MY WINNIPEG. His films are distinctly his films, he has a style all his own that can only be described as abstract. He doesn’t do anything using the tried and true, some would say stereotypical movie making way, and that is definitely true with his latest movie KEYHOLE.

I could offer up a synopsis of KEYHOLE, but the story here isn’t the focus, it is the way the film looks and unfolds…in an odd, very weird way. It’s look and feel are what this movie is all about…and that is why I ultimately didn’t care for it and don’t recommend it. Too often it seems as if it is a student film project and not a real movie.

KEYHOLE is unique failure, but a failure nonetheless. And you should skip it.

Here is a film now that I can recommend…the very well done psychological thriller SILENT HOUSE.

A very talented young actress named Elizabeth Olsen stars here as a woman who finds herself trapped inside her family’s cottage with at least one unwelcome intruder. But…as the movie goes on…you will start to wonder…is she really trapped and is there really an intruder or intruders?

SILENT HOUSE has some very good frights and jumps and scares and as the story turns from one type of horror film to another it kept me interested all the way and the ending wasn’t a letdown.

I won’t be silent about this house, I enjoyed it! It is a very good flick!!

A documentary now, about an 85-year-old sushi master who has a tiny restaurant in the lower level of a Tokyo office building. This is JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI.

Jiro is a man who loves what he does, and enjoys his job, but his eldest son – who works with his Dad and respects him – wants him to retire…and that provides some drama. Plus, we are told that most restaurants fail when the sushi master retires, no matter how good the new person is, or what their relationship to the master is.

JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI is a very interesting documentary that I really enjoyed and can easily recommend, especially to people who love sushi.

I have a trio of foreign language films to share with you now, and the first one – the Spanish film CASA DE MI PADRE – stars one of the biggest comedy stars in the world, American Will Ferrell…from ANCHORMAN and TALLADEG NIGHTS, yes…that Will Ferrell.

Yes, Will Ferrell stars in CASA DE MI PADRE speaking only Spanish, and this movie is hilarious…not because he is speaking a different language, he is taking his work seriously, but the film is an overly dramatic semi-tribute to Mexican soap operas – or telenovelas – and since their quality is never very high, neither is the quality here.

CASA DE MI PADRE has bad continuity – a pretty woman is in a room handing out drinks, but in the next shot a man’s hairy arm is doing it, the sets often don’t look real, in close-ups it is obvious the actors are not actually on horses – and all of that, and much more, makes the film a visual treat.

CASA DE MI PADRE is not for everyone, it is a bit too cheesy and goes too far on occasion, but the story is entertaining, the actors all do a great job, and I found it very entertaining.

A Spanish movie I didn’t really enjoy was the pseudo-sci-fi flick EXTRATERRESTRIAL. A guy wakes up one morning in the apartment of a beautiful woman…an apartment she shares with her boyfriend, who is missing, along with almost everyone else. There is no one on the streets, because high in the sky is a spaceship that is six kilometres wide.

Eventually the boyfriend returns home, and we also meet the guy who lives across the hall, a guy who has a huge crush on the aforementioned beautiful woman.

So to lay it all out there, EXTRATERRESTRIAL has a love triangle…a guy with a crush on a woman…part of a spaceship…no actual aliens, some attempts at comedy that don’t really work, and lots and lots and lots and lots of talking.

EXTRATERRESTRIAL is occasionally interesting, but it is far too slow and borders on boring at times. I didn’t dislike it, but I didn’t really like it either. It is only okay. Search it out if you enjoy chatty Spanish films.

The footnote to the trio of foreign language films is the Academy Award nominated Best Foreign Language film FOOTNOTE from Israel.

This is a film about a father and his son who are rival professors in Talmudic Studies.

When it is announced that the father will be given an award for his work – an award that he had been passed over for repeatedly for decades – their complicated relationship reaches new levels as the award was actually supposed to go to the son.

FOOTNOTE isn’t a great film, but it was interesting and even very clever at times. I didn’t love it, but I liked it.

Off we travel now to Australia for the modern day dramatic adventure THE HUNTER starring Willem Dafoe as a hired gun who is sent to search the wilderness for the last Tasmanian tiger, an animal that was thought to have become extinct in the 20th century, around 1930. A military biotech company wants its DNA for research.

Life is not easy for The Hunter. Upon arrival he receives a hostile reception from the locals, who believe he is an environmental protestors and don’t want him around. Plus, the company he is working for wants results no matter the costs.

I like Willem Dafoe as an actor. Whether his playing Green Goblin in a Spider-man film or serious drama in THE ENGLISH PATIENT he is usually an engaging performer, and that is true here as well.

But no matter how engaging Dafoe is here, THE HUNTER is boring. I did want to see what happened and how it ended, but the movie isn’t worthy of a recommendation. Unless you are a huge fan, just skip it.

Another movie to skip is a small made-in-Hamilton and Toronto slice of Canadian melodrama called JESUS HENRY CHRIST, about a very smart ten year old boy who was conceived in a petri-dish, raised by his feminist mother, and is now searching for his biological father.

This movie would like to be quirky and enjoyable odd, like a Wes Anderson film, and at times it achieves that, but ultimately JESUS HENRY CHRIST isn’t all that good. It isn’t awful in any way, it is just too melodramatic and not unique enough to recommend.

We have arrived at two television shows, which will conclude this edition of The Couch Potato Report, and the first one is BOSS starring Five-Time Emmy Award winner Kelsey Grammer from CHEERS and FRASIER.

In BOSS Grammer plays the deceptive, scandalous and very popular mayor of Chicago. At the start of the series he is diagnosed with a degenerative neurological disorder and since he loves being in charge the mayor hides the news from everyone around him except his own physician…and soon her life is in danger because she knows.

But BOSS isn’t just about the mayor, it is also about his advisors – who suspect something is up, but fear and respect him too much to ask – and it is also about the politicians running for Governor as they struggle to get the mayor’s support…or maybe take his job.

SEASON ONE of BOSS is very good. It is populated by a wide variety of characters – good and bad – and Grammer does a great job making an unlikeable character fairly likeable.

I enjoyed it!

Finally this week, as I said I would, I have saved the best for last. SEASON ONE of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION has been re-created in High Definition and is now available on blu-ray.

This isn’t just the case of an old show being released in a new format, oh no, the studio has spared no expense hiring a team of people to work on this series to recreate it. They took all the original film, matte shots, picture elements, and materials used to make the shows and created something that now looks and sounds fantastic!!

Now, before you start to wonder if they have ruined your beloved Next Generation…the episodes are the same, they haven’t added anything that was there before, but they have cleaned it up and reproduced effects like transporter beams and phaser shots so it matches the look of the low-res images, but is more brilliant and eye-catching than ever before.

The blu-ray set for SEASON ONE of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION also has some great retrospective features on the show’s creation, and some old interviews with the creator of the STAR TREK universe, Mr. Gene Roddenberry.

I have always loved this show, but watching it again, looking and sounding this good, gave me a new appreciation for it. It truly allows us to see it like no one has before.

SEASON ONE of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, SEASON ONE of the very good series BOSS starring Kelsey Grammar, the overly melodramatic Hamilton, Ontario, made JESUS HENRY CHRIST, the boring but interesting Willem Dafoe film THE HUNTER, the Academy Award nominated Israeli film FOOTNOTE, the okay Spanish film EXTRATERRESTRIAL, Will Ferrell’s very funny CASA DE MI PADRE – which is not for everyone, the very good Japanese documentary JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI, the very good psychological thriller SILENT HOUSE and the abstract made-in-Winnipeg wannabe dramatic thriller KEYHOLE are all available now, either on disc or on demand.

Coming up inside the next Couch Potato Report

The Northern Ontario filmed road movie I’M YOURS; seven of Marilyn Monroe’s films are put together in the FOREVER MARILYN box set; and Arnold Schwarzenegger heads back to Mars in a new Blu-ray version of TOTAL RECALL.

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!

The Couch Potato Report – July 21st, 2012

Inside this week’s Couch Potato Report is the King of late night, a visit to Comic-Con and an American Reunion.

Before Dave or Jon or Jay or Conan…Jimmy, Craig or Colbert, before any of the people who work in late night television today made their debut, there was one man who ruled the airwaves.

An appearance on his show could make a comedian a star overnight and it could help make your movie or record a hit.

His show was The Tonight Show, and he was Johnny Carson. Both are featured in an amazing new documentary called KING OF LATE NIGHT.

Carson reigned over The Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992 and this documentary features clips from his three decades of shows. It also offers up well known comedians such as Steve Martin, Drew Carey, Ray Romano, Gary Shandling, Joan Rivers and Jerry Seinfeld discussing what it was like appearing with The King of Late Night.

The documentary also features praise and stories from many of the hosts who came after Johnny, including David Letterman.

I was – and remain – a huge fan of JOHNNY CARSON and I enjoyed every second of KING OF LATE NIGHT and wanted more. It is a comprehensive biography of a very private man who was – and remains – the biggest television star of his time.

I highly, very highly recommend it.

I actually have another documentary for you this week, and while I won’t refer to it as “amazing”, COMIC-CON EPISODE IV: A FAN’S HOPE is very, very good.

Joss Whedon, the writer and director of this Summer’s THE AVENGERS – the third highest-grossing film of all time – appears in this film talking about the annual Comic Convention – or Comic-Con – in San Diego that brings over 130,000 people together to sell and trade merchandise and take part in a shared experience with other fans of comics, graphic novels, movies and television shows.

COMIC-CON EPISODE IV: A FAN’S HOPE was directed by Morgan Spurlock, who also made SUPER SIZE ME, and he has given us a very interesting documentary populated with some really unique people. It also offers up some real drama as several artists put their dreams on the line.

Not everything in COMIC-CON EPISODE IV: A FAN’S HOPE works, but almost all of it does, and that is why I can easily – and highly – recommend it…even to people who don’t usually like comics.

Do you remember a time…not that that long ago…when Mel Gibson and Robert DeNiro were two of the biggest movie stars in the world? Succeeding with audiences, critics, and with the Academy as they have both won multiple Oscars?

They used to be huge stars, but DeNiro’s career has waned as the quality of projects he has chosen to appear in over the years has fallen off, and Mel Gibson’s personal life and racist tirades have turned him into box office poison…plus, Gibson no longer has the pick of the litter – as he did when the LETHAL WEAPON movies and BRAVEHEART had him at the top of Hollywood.

So now, he only gets to star in movies like GET THE GRINGO.

Things go wrong for Gibson’s gringo after he is caught during a getaway after a multi-million heist. He is thrown in a Mexican prison where he is forced to fend off corrupt cops and ruthless drug lords who all want his money AND his life.

His only friend is a ten-year-old boy…and you won’t care.

GET THE GRINGO is predictable…everything that you think will happen does. No, it is never boring, but I just didn’t care.

This is yet another Mel Gibson movie that you should skip, and BEING FLYNN is another Robert DeNiro movie to skip. I love DeNiro, he is possibly the greatest actor of my lifetime, but once again his talents are wasted.

This is a movie about a man who runs into his estranged Father while working at a homeless shelter. The Father is a cab driving con man, who professes himself to be a great writer, and the younger Flynn has to decides whether to help his Dad – or not – as he has been burned by him too many times in the past

BEING FLYNN is a very slow and predictable film that I never once felt connected to. It is based on a true story, yet I never once cared what happened to the people I was watching on screen.

That is why I suggest that you just skip it.

But…here’s hoping that both Robert DeNiro AND Mel Gibson eventually make a movie worthy of their talents and legacy again. That is something I would highly recommend!

Moving on…do you remember the 1981 sci-fi thriller ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK? The classic John Carpenter film starring Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken, an outlaw loner who is given the task of going in a giant maximum security prison to rescue the President?

Well, there is a new film that is almost exactly like it called LOCKOUT…except this time Guy Pierce from MEMENTO and L.A. CONFIDENTIAL plays a guy named Snow, not Snake, Snow, and he is tasked with rescuing the President’s…daughter.

Oh, and it all takes place in space!!

LOCKOUT isn’t an awful film, the cast is pretty good and there are some well done action scenes, but it is no ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK…as much as it would like to be.

Sci-fi fans should definitely see it, but don’t expect much. Everyone else should skip it.

And everyone…young, old, tall, short…everyone should skip the Farrelly Brothers movie version of THE THREE STOOGES.

This film is just pointless!!

The original Three Stooges were a vaudeville and comedy act of the early to mid–20th century best known for their short films. Their trademark was physical farce and extreme slapstick and what they did was usually very funny.

This movie version of THE THREE STOOGES does feature some well choreographed slapstick and farce, but it is never funny.

I did not laugh once as Larry, Curly and Moe try to save their childhood orphanage, stumble into a murder plot, and eventually become reality TV stars.

Not once did I laugh.

This Three Stooges film once had Benicio Del Toro, Sean Penn and Jim Carrey attached to star, and that might have been a classic update. But for one reason or another they all dropped out, and the result is a movie that is just pointless.

Skip THE THREE STOOGES movie, but search out their short films.

Now that is comedy!!

Finally this week, the opportunity to catch up with the entire cast of the great 1999 comedy AMERICAN PIE!

Yes, Jim, Oz, Kevin, Finch, Stiffler, Michelle, Nadia, Vicky, Jessica, Heather, Jim’s Dad and Stifler’s Mom are all back in AMERICAN REUNION.

Yes, as you might expect, everyone is returning to East Great Falls, Michigan, for their High School Reunion and hijinks ensue as they try and pick up their friendships where they left off, and deal with the next generation of kids in their town.

The first AMERICAN PIE film is still the best, and I did enjoy seeing these characters I liked again, but the movie just isn’t very good. There are a few okay scenes and a couple of laughs, but not many, and as a result this is an AMERICAN REUNION only for people who have seen the other three and also like the characters.

Otherwise, just skip it.

The not very good AMERICAN REUNION, the pointless update of THE THREE STOOGES, the less than great sci-fi action flick LOCKOUT, BEING FLYNN – starring a past his prime Robert DeNiro, Mel Gibson’s predictable GET THE GRINGO, the great documentary COMIC-CON EPISODE IV: A FAN’S HOPE and the amazing JOHNNY CARSON documentary KING OF LATE NIGHT are all available now, either on disc or on demand.

Coming up inside the next Couch Potato Report

The made-in-Winnipeg thriller KEYHOLE, the fascinating documentary JIRO (hero) DREAMS OF SUSHI, we’ll go SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN, and SEASON ONE of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION debuts – and looks and sounds amazing – in HD on blu-ray.

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!

The Couch Potato Report – July 7th, 2012

Inside this week’s Couch Potato Report aboriginal peoples, Canada and the way forward…plus, a trip back to 1968.

The first of the new releases I have for you this week is a four-part series called 8th FIRE – ABORIGINAL PEOPLES, CANADA & THE WAY FORWARD.

This is a very interesting, informative, educational AND entertaining release all about why we urgently need to fix Canada’s 500 year-old relationship with Indigenous peoples, a relationship that remains mired in colonialism, conflict and denial.

Now, before you start to think that this is a series all about guilt and blame, let me assure you that it isn’t.

This is a series that will make you think, yes it will make you think, but it will also entertain you and introduce you to some interesting Canadians.

8th FIRE is hosted by Winnipeg based journalist, rapper and musician Wab Kinew, and his easy conversational style allows what you are seeing to come across as if you are listening to a friend tell you stories. He is never talking at us, he is talking with us.

I really enjoyed 8th FIRE – ABORIGINAL PEOPLES, CANADA & THE WAY FORWARD. Unfortunately it doesn’t finish as strong as it starts – the fourth and final episode in the series is the weakest one – but I still highly recommend it to everyone.

I also highly recommend this next release, but it is not interesting, informative, or educational. This one is just darn entertaining.

21 JUMP STREET was a procedural crime drama television series that ran from 1987 to 1991 about a squad of youthful-looking police officers who went undercover in high schools, colleges, and other teenage venues.

It is most notable for co-starring Johnny Depp.

Since Hollywood likes to take old ideas and repackage them for a modern audience, we now have a big screen version of the 21 JUMP STREET…and unlike some other movies made based on old TV shows – I am talking to you STARSKY & HUTCH – this one works because it doesn’t take itself too seriously, but it also never winks at the camera, as if to say, “Hey, look how clever we are.”

It is just a smart and clever modern day action adventure police procedural comedy.

The movie version of 21 JUMP STREET co-stars Jonah Hill from SUPERBAD and Channing Tatum of THE VOW and they make a great oddball on-screen team, who go back to high school to try and find the supplier of a deadly new drug.

21 JUMP STREET is very clever, but it is also exceptionally juvenile at times. That is why I don’t recommend it to everyone – but if profanity and over the top locker room humour don’t bother you, then you need to see this movie.

I really enjoyed it!!

Finally this week…the answer to a trivia question.

First, the question…what 1968 Franco-Italian science fiction film starring Jane Fonda did the British band Duran Duran take their name from?

If you replied – “What is BARBARELLA?” – you are correct!! Bonus points if you knew that the villain’s name is actually Dr. Durand-Durand.

BARBARELLA stars Jane Fonda as a highly sexual woman in the distant future who is given the task of finding and stopping the evil Dr. Durand-Durand.

While she is out on her journey, she meets some very unique people.

BARBARELLA is new on Blu-ray this week and it looks and sounds amazing!! The HD transfer is so exceptional that fans of the movie will love this disc…except for the fact that it doesn’t include a retrospective feature. I would love to hear what Fonda has to say about this movie…that has become a beloved camp classic over the years…why she did it and what it meant to her career…but alas, it just has the film and the original theatrical trailer.

That disappointment aside, I still enjoyed it, as I have every time I’ve seen it. It isn’t Shakespeare…but it is…Barbarella.

The still entertaining cult classic BARBARELLA, the very entertaining big screen version of 21 JUMP STREET, and the exceptional documentary series 8th FIRE – ABORIGINAL PEOPLES, CANADA & THE WAY FORWARD are all available now, either on disc or on demand.

I will be away next week, so coming up in two weeks inside the next Couch Potato Report

The gang from AMERICAN PIE are back in AMERICAN REUNION, Will Ferrell speaks Spanish – and only Spanish in CASA DE MI PADRE, and the great JOHNNY CARSON is the focus of an amazing documentary called KING OF LATE NIGHT.

I’m Dan Reynish. I’ll have more on those, and some other releases, in fourteen 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!

The Couch Potato Report – June 30th, 2012

Inside this week’s Couch Potato Report: this year’s Academy Award winning Best Picture and a great box set for a long weekend.

It is the Canada Day Long weekend…Happy Canada Day, everyone!! Whether plan to be outdoors enjoying our home and native land, or indoors watching DVDs, blu-rays or enjoying a digital download with family and friends, I hope you are able to enjoy Canada’s 145th birthday. She sure looks good, for 145, doesn’t she?!

And you know what else looks good? Indian Head, Saskatchewan, as seen on screen during THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON of the Canadian television series LITTLE MOSQUE ON THE PRAIRIE!

In the fifth season of this entertaining, informative and educational show Amaar finally proposes to Rayyan, but life – and the people they share their small town with – continually get in the way of their happy ever after.

However, by the end of the thirteen episode season, the whole gang is back together – including Reverend Magee and Yasir – and life is good in fictional Mercy, Saskatchewan.

LITTLE MOSQUE ON THE PRAIRIE finished it’s run earlier this year, and it came just in the nick of time as toward the end of the series – and during THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON – the show started to become less engaging. But, in this two-disc set it does succeed – and make me laugh – more than it fails…so I will continue to recommend it, whether you go to a Mosque, Church, Temple, or Synagogue.

Back in February, at the end of the 84th Annual Academy Awards, Tom Cruise walked to the microphone and made the announcement that THE ARTIST would forever be known as the Best Picture of 2011.

THE ARTIST is a black and white, mostly silent movie…meaning no dialogue…about a huge movie star who thinks that the talkies are a passing fad and doesn’t want anything to do with them.

Yes…the film just has music, because it is a silent film…Now, as the movie star shuns the talkies, his career fades…just as a new actress named Peppy Miller, who loves the actor, begins her meteoric rise to success.

For a silent film, the THE ARTIST is surprisingly fast paced, and very entertaining. I have seen some of the original ones that move very slowly, but this tribute to them – and to the movies in general – is charming, fun and funny and features some great performances from Best Actor Oscar winner Jean Dujardin and the entire cast.

I really, really enjoyed it and highly recommend it to everyone!!

Somehow, for some unknown reason, 2012 has become the year that features not one, but two movies about the well known fairy tale SNOW WHITE.

In theatres right now is the action fantasy film SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN, starring Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart, and Chris Hemsworth.

And now available on disc and for download is the comedic fantasy film MIRROR MIRROR starring Lily Collins, Julia Roberts, Armie Hammer, Nathan Lane, and Sean Bean.

Sadly, neither one is great, neither one can be labelled the fairest of them all.

MIRROR MIRROR stars Julia Roberts as an evil Queen who uses her charm and magic to take control of a kingdom, exiling Snow White to the forest, where she meets seven…ummm, resourceful rebels.

There is also a prince, love, and maybe even a poisonous apple…yes, if you know the fairy tale, you know most of the film’s tale.

MIRROR MIRROR has a lot of style, but very little substance, and the sets that it was filmed on always looks like it is a movie set and never the real world.

It just isn’t anything special at all, and so you should just skip it.

Another film you should skip is the wannabe dramatic thriller GONE.

Amanda Seyfried from MAMMA MIA! plays a woman who believes that she was kidnapped and left in a well, and now – years after she escaped and it trying to put her life back together, she believes that the kidnapper has returned because her sister has gone missing.

She believes all that, problem is…very few people believe her.

GONE doesn’t work because there are literally dozens of red herrings that never pan out, and there is too much back story that is left untold. Once it ended, I had no problem with the conclusion, but the execution of the story didn’t work for me.

I remain a fan of Amanda Seyfried…but I am glad that I am now finished with GONE.

Finally this week is a keeper!! I am about to highly praise the seven disc box set CHRISTOPHER NOLAN DIRECTOR’S COLLECTION with MEMENTO, INSOMNIA, INCEPTION, BATMAN BEGINS and THE DARK KNIGHT.

I love Nolan’s Batman films, and can’t wait for THE DARK KNIGHT RISES – in theatres on July 20th – but the best film in this set is still MEMENTO, the told backwards tale of a man, suffering from short-term memory loss who uses notes and tattoos to hunt for the man he thinks killed his wife.

It co-stars Burnaby, British Columbia’s Carrie-Ann Moss from THE MATRIX films.

And I absolutely can’t forget INCEPTION, the partially filmed in Alberta thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio about a team of people who plant ideas in your mind while you dream. This movie is literally mind blowing!!

The weakest film in the set is INSOMNIA – starring Academy Award winners Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank – but even it is worth at least one viewing if you have never seen it.

If you are looking for a series of above average films to watch this long weekend, do not miss the CHRISTOPHER NOLAN DIRECTOR’S COLLECTION!!

The fantastic CHRISTOPHER NOLAN DIRECTOR’S COLLECTION BOX SET, the okay rental GONE, the full of style – but little else – MIRROR MIRROR, the spectacular Academy Award winning Best Picture THE ARTIST, and THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON of LITTLE MOSQUE ON THE PRAIRIE are all available now, either on disc or on demand.

Coming up in inside the next Couch Potato Report

Willem Dafoe stars as THE HUNTER as a man on hunt for the last Tasmanian tiger, the 1968 science fiction camp classic BARBARELLA debuts on blu-ray, and the eighties television show 21 JUMP STREET gets a modern day update.

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 – HAPPY CANADA DAY!! – and I’ll see you back here again next time on The Couch!

The Couch Potato Report – June 23rd, 2012

Inside this week’s Couch Potato Report is the evolution of Metal Music and the sweet hereafter.

Banger Films is a production company in Toronto that specializes in music documentaries. They have given the world several tremendous films so far, including IRON MAIDEN: FLIGHT 666 and RUSH: BEYOND THE LIGHTED STAGE.

Now, Banger Films has produced an 11 episode series called METAL EVOLUTION that looks at how the hard rocking music style came to be through interviews with people like Alice Cooper, Slash, Lemmy, Iggy Pop, and members of Rush, Metallica, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Slayer, Van Halen, Soundgarden, Mötley Crüe, Rage Against the Machine, and Canadian music producer Bob Ezrin…a man who was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2004.

Hosted by anthropologist and film-maker Sam Dunn METAL EVOLUTION picks up where the 2005 documentary METAL – A HEADBANGER’S JOURNEY left off as Dunn travels the world to find out how this music he – me, and so many other people love – came to be.

As much as I enjoyed this series – and I really enjoyed it – I can’t label METAL EVOLUTION the definitive documentary of the genre because it barely mentions AC/DC and a few other bands that helped make heavy metal and hard rock music what it is today.

But it does get to almost everything else, including grunge and even eighties hair metal and that is why METAL EVOLUTION is an amazing series. I highly recommend it to all music fans!!

Music fans will love METAL EVOLUTION, and fans of the Zombie genre will love the Ontario-made-movie EXIT HUMANITY…which refers to itself as “A Zombie Saga”.

EXIT HUMANITY is set after the American Civil War as a man tries to survive an outbreak of the undead and others who are still alive as he travels the countryside to try and find his son.

EXIT HUMANITY gets credit for being a low budget film, that doesn’t look like it was cheaply made. The costumes and effects are very well done, and the film also includes some great animated sequences.

What takes away from it is the running length. At 108 minutes it was far too long as the time that was included to set up the tension only slowed it down…a lot.

I never loved the movie, but it was never awful, and while I don’t think everyone needs to see it, I can easily recommend it to fans of the zombie genre.

No matter how hard you search, nowhere in Canada will you find anyone who supports the Canadian film and television industry like The Couch Potato Report. Each and every week, we proudly fly our nation’s flag, letting you know about the latest releases shot in Canada, by Canadians, starring people born and raised in our home and native land.

BEING ERICA is a Toronto-made show starring Jasper, Alberta born actress Erin Karpluk as Erica Strange, a young woman who decides to see a therapist because she wants to start dealing with the regrets she has in her life.

In each episode she would go back in time to actually relive her regretful moments, even change them.

In THE COMPLETE FOURTH – AND FINAL – SEASON of BEING ERICA, she is finally happy…mostly…thanks to the guidance of Dr. Tom, but it is now almost time for her therapy to end, as she begins the final stage of her therapy as a doctor in training.

I have watched BEING ERICA since it first began back in 2009. The show has always been too hit and miss for me to ever be a huge fan, it just misses far too often, but I like the character of Erica, I have always rooted for her happiness, and I like her group of family and friends, and so, even though it isn’t perfect, I like the show and can easily recommend THE COMPLETE FOURTH SEASON, and all of the seasons of BEING ERICA to you.

It had a very good run.

BEING ERICA is hit and miss…but – sadly – the made in Toronto and Southern Ontario CBC television movie SUNSHINE SKETCHES OF A LITTLE TOWN is mostly miss.

“Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town” is a sequence of stories by Stephen Leacock, first published in 1912. It is generally considered to be one of the most enduring classics of Canadian humorous literature.

The book is funny, the movie it is based on…made me want to read the book again.

The film does have a great Canadian cast – including Gordon Pinsent, Jill Hennessy, Ron James, Patrick McKenna, Colin Mochrie, Debra McGrath, Eric Peterson and many others, and this adaptation starts off strong, but by the end it really slows down and as it became a coming-of-age story, I just lost interest.

At times SUNSHINE SKETCHES OF A LITTLE TOWN is charming, witty and whimsical…just not often enough for me to recommend it.

Read the book, skip the movie.

Of this next release, I would say see the movie…skip the movie.

See the 1935 John Wayne western THE DAWN RIDER, skip the 2012 re-make DAWN RIDER.

Christian Slater stars in this British Columbia made film as a man who is searching for the people who killed his father. Trouble is, he has no idea that the person responsible may be living under the same roof.

Edmonton born actress Jill Hennessy from Law & Order and Crossing Jordan plays the love interest, and Canadian acting icon Donald Sutherland is a bounty hunter…and truth be told, DAWN RIDER is never an awful film, it is an okay western…it just isn’t as good as the original, and so if you can find the John Wayne version, watch it and skip the remake.

If you can’t find it, this one is okay too…and since it was filmed in Canada, by picking it up, you will be supporting the Canadian film and television industry, and that is never a bad thing!!

Finally this week…ohhh, baby!! Two Canadian classics…from Victoria, B.C. raised director Atom Egoyan…1994’s EXOTICA and 1997’s Academy Award nominated THE SWEET HEREAFTER.

THE SWEET HEREAFTER is about the effects of a tragic school bus accident on the population of a small town in British Columbia.

It won three awards at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, six trophies at the Genies that year and was nominated for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay at the 70th Academy Awards.

EXOTICA…one of my favourite Canadian films of all time…is about a group of people who are connected by a tragic event, which is only revealed to the audience late in the movie.

The new blu-ray versions of EXOTICA and THE SWEET HEREAFTER are incredibly well produced, and each also include all of the old special features from the DVDs and all-new audio commentaries full of insightful information about the films…for instance, Ian Holm wasn’t the original star of THE SWEET HEREAFTER.

If you have never seen them, these are both well-written, well-acted films, that I easily recommend. And if you have seen them, don’t miss these new blu-rays. They are now the definite way to see these two great films!!

The Atom Egoyan classics THE SWEET HEREAFTER and EXOTICA, the not as good as the original British Columbia filmed Western remake DAWN RIDER, the okay but never great made-near-Toronto CBC movie SUNSHINE SKETCHES OF A LITTLE TOWN, THE COMPLETE AND FINAL FOURTH SEASON of the hit and miss series BEING ERICA, EXIT HUMANITY – the Ontario filmed Zombie saga for genre fans only, and the not definitive but exceptional music documentary series METAL EVOLUTION – from Toronto’s Banger Films – are all available now, either on disc or on demand.

Coming up inside the next Couch Potato Report

THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON of the made-in-Saskatchewan series LITTLE MOSQUE ON THE PRAIRIE, the Academy Award winning Best Picture THE ARTIST, and the seven disc box set CHRISTOPHER NOLAN DIRECTOR’S COLLECTION with MEMENTO, INSOMNIA, INCEPTION, BATMAN BEGINS and THE DARK KNIGHT.

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!

The Couch Potato Report – June 16th, 2012

Inside this week’s Couch Potato Report: Sherlock Holmes and Spider-man, Spider-man, Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-man.

Three weeks ago on The Report, I referred to the modern day reimagining of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes as brilliant…and I stand by that. The television series that has run for two seasons now on the BBC – simply called SHERLOCK – is brilliant.

That review – and all previously aired reviews – are all available online at cbc.ca/couchpotato, by the way…and at the time, in addition to praising and highly recommending SHERLOCK, I also spoke briefly about the most recent cinematic version of SHERLOCK HOLMES starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law. I stated that A GAME OF SHADOWS was pretty good too…and it is.

In this follow-up to their 2009 adventure, Detective Sherlock Holmes and his partner Dr. John Watson work to bring down their fiercest adversary, Professor Moriarty.

Because director Guy Ritchie and his cast gave us such a fresh twist on the characters and how we’d seen them over the years…specifically showing them to us in ways we had never seen…this sequel was bound to seem a little less unique than the first one, however SHERLOCK HOLMES – A GAME OF SHADOWS is still a very good film.

Yes, if you are paying attention it does telegraph everything that is going to happen, but the chemistry between Downey, Jr and Law is so good, and it is so well made that it’s cons don’t get in the way of its pros.

I enjoyed it, recommend it, and am already looking forward to the next one!

I also enjoyed, recommend, and am already looking forward to the next season of the television show HAPPY ENDINGS…which will actually be its third. The second season just finished airing and will be out on DVD this Fall, but THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON of the show is available right now!

HAPPY ENDINGS stars Calgary born/Montreal raised actress Elisha Cuthbert from the television series 24 as one of six people in their mid-twenties/early-thirties who drink coffee while talking about life’s problems…oh, and in the debut episode Cuthbert’s character leaves her soon-to-be husband at the altar.

Now wait…wait…this is not FRIENDS…his show is called HAPPY ENDINGS and it is not FRIENDS…exactly…it is just a lot like FRIENDS.

In THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON of HAPPY ENDINGS their pals are forced to choose which side to take after the split, but by the end of it that fact is a story point, but the show is more about people who hang out…and I like shows like this. Plus, the cast has great chemistry, the writing is quite strong, and there are plenty of very funny jokes.

If you miss the old FRIENDS, why not make some new ones?

One of the original FRIENDS – Matt LeBlanc – co-stars in this next release, an amazing television series called EPISODES.

A British husband and wife team decide to bring their successful and award winning television series to America, making all of their dreams come true, until the network changes almost everything, and suggests they cast the former FRIEND…who changes almost everything about their beloved show, and their lives.

The two main reasons that THE FIRST SEASON of EPISODES works so well – and it does work very, very well – is due to the writing and the fact that Matt LeBlanc is playing Matt LeBlanc, not an actor…he is playing himself, sort of, and the show is better for it!!

EPISODES is smart, laugh out loud funny and I really enjoyed it as well!!

I have three films for you right now, from three different genres. None of them are great, but they will be seen by people due to their cast or premise.

The family film JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND is up first and this is a sequel to the 2008 film JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH starring Canadian actor Brendan Fraser and Josh Hutcherson, who is better known today as Peeta from THE HUNGER GAMES…which is one of the main reasons why people will sit through this film.

Fraser isn’t back for this JOURNEY, but Hutcherson is and he is joined this time around by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Vanessa Hudgens from HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL.

Yes, regardless of its own merits, this film will be seen because it co-stars the guy from THE HUNGER GAMES and the girl from HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL.

JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND is not an awful movie, but it isn’t very smart, and the computer graphics and special effects do look really bad at times.

That said, there are some fun scenes, and plenty of references to books – especially the writings of Jules Verne – and so if the film can get kids interested in books, then that is a good thing!

JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND is never great, but it is an okay film that the whole family can watch together. Call that a mild recommendation.

The main reason people will see this next film – even after I call it a predictable mess that is absolutely awful and a complete waste of time – is the cast. Sean Astin starred in THE LORD OF THE RINGS films, Michael Vartan appeared in the television series ALIAS and David Cross starred in the classic series ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT.

There is absolutely nothing classic about a wannabe “comedy” called DEMOTED. It is a predictable mess that is absolutely awful and a complete waste of time.

In this mess, Astin and Vartan are two prank playing tire salesmen who get their comeuppance when the main person they picked on becomes boss. However, he is a jerk too…and you won’t care about any of it.

The characters aren’t real or in any way likeable, the jokes are not funny, and you can see absolutely every single thing that is going to happen coming a mile away.

DEMOTED is one of the worst comedies I have ever had to sit through. Skip it, even if you LOVE a member of the cast or even all of them!!

The final of the films I have for you that aren’t great, but will be seen by people due to their cast or premise…is the based on a comic book action film GHOST RIDER – SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE.

This failed sequel to the 2007 flick simply called GHOST RIDER is a huge surprise. Oh, nothing in the movie is surprising, the fact that they made it at all is a surprise, since the original one was awful.

In these films, motorcyclist Johnny Blaze gives up his soul to become a hell blazing vigilante and in SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE he has to fight the devil himself, who is trying to take human form.

As I said, the first one was awful, the second one is awful…this film series just doesn’t work. From the casting of Nicolas Cage, to the special effects…nothing works here.

People will still buy, borrow or digitally download GHOST RIDER – SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE though, because they saw the first one, and people like movies based on comic books.

Personally, even if that is you…I still suggest you skip it!!

Finally this week, not one!

Not two!!

But three SPIDER-MAN films on blu-ray!!

Director Sam Raimi’s 2002 SPIDER-MAN movie was great…his 2004 sequel was even better, in fact it is still one of the greatest comic book based action films ever made…but his 2007 SPIDER-MAN 3 was and remains awful, although in High Definition it does look as amazing as the other two.

All three films in this series starring Tobey Maguire as a crime fighting teen have been available on blu-ray before, but the first two didn’t have the Special Features that were available on the DVDs. That has been rectified, and you can now enjoy the webcrawler’s adventures with Mary Jane, The Green Goblin, Doc Ock and others in HD, and see how they were all made.

I still really enjoy 1 & 2, and 3…well, even Spider-man can’t win them all.

Sam Raimi’s still impressive SPIDER-MAN TRILOGY, the not very good GHOST RIDER – SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE, the awful non-comedy DEMOTED, the okay family film JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND, the very entertaining FIRST SEASON of the comedic series EPISODES, THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON of the very entertaining ensemble comedy HAPPY ENDINGS – starring Calgary born/Montreal raised actress Elisha Cuthbert, and the very good sequel SHERLOCK HOLMES – A GAME OF SHADOWS, with Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law are all available now, either on disc or on demand.

Coming up inside the next Couch Potato Report

THE COMPLETE FOURTH SEASON of the CBC series BEING ERICA, the Burnaby, B.C. filmed western DAWN RIDER, Director Atom Egoyan’s Canadian classics EXOTICA and the Academy Award nominated THE SWEET HEREAFTER debut on blu-ray, and I will also talk about the Canadian zombie saga EXIT HUMANITY.

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!