Category: The Couch Potato Report

The Couch Potato Report – August 9th, 2014

DIVERGENT is the first film based on the books in The Divergent Trilogy, a series of young adult science fiction adventure novels by Veronica Roth. The stories all take place in a post-apocalyptic version of Chicago.

DIVERGENT takes place in a society that divides its citizens up by their social and personality-related affiliation and places them in one of five different factions.

The main character is Beatrice “Tris” Prior, and she – like everyone else – takes an aptitude test at the age of sixteen to determine with faction they’ll live. Tris’ test indicates that she has the aptitude for three factions. Thus Tris is Divergent and won’t fit in, and as the story goes on, she discovers a plot to destroy Divergents.

Tris is not acting alone, her faction of choice is Dauntless and she finds some new friends and in a relationship with a guy named Four. Together they search to find out what makes Divergents dangerous before it’s too late.

I think what made DIVERGENT believable at all to me is the level of acting. In some other film series based on young adult books the producers have hired really bad actors. For this film the supporting cast is lead by Golden Globe nominee Ashley Judd and Academy Award winner Kate Winslet. Their presence and talent make a world of difference.

DIVERGENT might not make my list as one of the ten best of the year, but it is still a very good movie with a great cast. I can easily recommend it, even if you haven’t read the book(s).

The list of bad movies based on successful video games is a long, long one and you can now place NEED FOR SPEED alongside SUPER MARIO BROTHERS, SILENT HILL, MORTAL KOMBAT, STREET FIGHTER and BLOODRAYNE.

Aaron Paul from BREAKING BAD stars in NEED FOR SPEED as street racer Tobey Marshall. After getting out of prison he takes part in a cross-country race to try and avenge his friend’s death at the hands of a rival racer…but it doesn’t matter.

Even though the movie has some spectacular racing scenes and cars, it is both awful and boring.

There is nothing in NEED FOR SPEED that you haven’t seen before, and seen done better. Yes, is has great racing scenes, and some incredible stunts, but it is a bad movie.

Only racing and adrenaline junkies need to bother with it. Everyone else should skip it.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I like a good horror film. Sometimes I even like a bad horror film.

A creepy new movie called OCULUS is both good and bad, and so I kind of liked it.

OCULUS had its world premiere last September at the Toronto International Film Festival, and stars Karen Gillan – Amelia Pond from DOCTOR WHO. She is a woman in her early twenties who is convinced that an antique mirror is responsible for the death and misfortune her family has suffered.

Yes, forget the house or a person, the mirror is haunted in this one.

The story and plot points in OCULUS don’t all hold up until the end, but the performance of Karen Gillan does. She fully believes the whole time that the mirror has destroyed her family and must be destroyed and I enjoyed her here, more than I ever did on DOCTOR WHO.

Had the movie been as good as her, I would highly recommend the film. As it is, I kind of liked it, but I like good and bad horror films.

If you do too, I mildly recommend that you check it out. If you do not, skip it. This isn’t a movie for you.

Finally this week is a movie that fails, brilliantly fails, and I give it points for doing so, and for trying.

“A” for effort for Terry Gilliam’s THE ZERO THEOREM!!

Former Monty Python animator Terry Gilliam has given us some great films over the years – such as BRAZIL, TWELVE MONKEYS and THE FISHER KING – and some real stinkers – such as TIDELAND and THE BROTHERS GRIMM. But no matter how bad his movies are, they are still always great visually with uniques sets and costumes.

THE ZERO THEOREM is no exception, it looks amazing, and what a cast!! Academy Award winners Christoph Waltz, Matt Damon and Tilda Swinton all appear in the movie along with David Thewlis from THE BIG LEBOWSKI.

Christoph Waltz stars here as a computer hacker whose goal is to discover the reason for human existence, but the story and plot of THE ZERO THEOREM actually come secondary to the visuals and sets and they aren’t really all that important. No one is ever going to watch this film for the story or the plot.

But the visuals and sets are worth it, for film lovers and Gilliam completists. You people should not miss this movie!! Everyone else should skip it. Avoid it at all costs.
The odd but interesting Terry Gilliam film THE ZERO THEOREM; the very creepy but not great horror flick OCULUS; the boring action film NEED FOR SPEED – which does have some great racing scenes; and the very good first movie in the DIVERGENT series are available now, both on disc and 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!

The Couch Potato Report – August 2nd, 2014

I’m absolutely saving the best for last this week. In just a few minutes I’ll tell you all about the superb new ten disc box set for the 1990s television series TWIN PEAKS, but first we head aboard the Snowpiercer, a massive train that travels around the globe in the year 2031 with the planet’s only survivors.

Once an experiment to counteract global warming causes an ice age that kills nearly all life on Earth the planet’s survivors move onto a massive train, called the Snowpiercer.

A class system is installed on the train, with the elites inhabiting the front and the poor relegated to the tail.

The elites have clean, spacious cabins, the poor live in dirty quarters and are only fed protein blocks for food, and periodically guards take some of their children

In the year 2031, the tail inhabitants continue to fight the class system, and they are lead by Chris Evans, who is Captain America in the Marvel Universe. Here he is just an everyman, struggling for a better life for himself and the oppressed around him.

SNOWPIERCER is well made and acted and very, very interesting. It’s an ambitious first English language film from South Korean director Bong Joon-ho. Admittedly, the movie does slow down a lot in the middle, but it picks up again and is well worth your time.

I highly recommend it.

I’m not going to spend much time talking about this next film, and I certainly won’t recommend the art-house-sci-fi flick UNDER THE SKIN starring Scarlett Johansson as a mysterious woman who seduces lonely men in Scotland.

This movie is so boring that I honestly can’t believe that I sat through the whole thing.

Scarlett Johansson has been great in films like LOST IN TRANSLATION and as Black Widow in THE AVENGERS films…along with Chris Evans…so it is safe to say that she will be in great films again.

But UNDER THE SKIN is not a great film. I was curious to see how it ended, and I was glad when it did end, so you shouldn’t bother with it. I only include it here as Scarlett Johansson is such a popular actress, and I don’t want you to waste your time.

Skip this one at all costs.

As I sat in a darkened theatre in Cincinnati earlier this year watching director Darren Aronofsky’s NOAH – about the man who is chosen by his world’s creator to build an ark and save the animals before an apocalyptic flood cleanses the world – I kept asking why?

Why did he choose to make this film as the follow up to BLACK SWAN and THE WRESTLER? Why did the studio pay to finance it? Why did Academy Award winners Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly and Anthony Hopkins, along with Emma Watson of the HARRY POTTER FILMS agree to star in it?

The one “why” question I didn’t ask, not once either that night or this week as I re-watched it was, “Why am I watching this?”

There have been many Biblical epics made over the years, and from a technical standpoint NOAH is one of the best made of all of them. But that’s not to say it’s one of the greatest. It is too long and too artsy at times for that to be true,

But the cast is great and the story continues to be interesting, so that is why I can mildly recommend NOAH to those who think they might enjoy it.

If a two hour and seventeen minute Biblical epic is something that sounds interesting to you, then don’t miss NOAH.

Otherwise, you should skip it. It is very good, but it’s not for everyone.

Another movie I’ve seen twice now is the comedy THE OTHER WOMAN.

Cameron Diaz from THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY and the SHREK films stars in this one as a high powered lawyer in New York City who discovers that her boyfriend is married, so she breaks up with him.

Much to her surprise, the man’s wife – played by Leslie Mann of KNOCKED UP and THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN – comes to her office looking for answers to questions she has never thought she’d ever have to ask.

As happens in films like this, the two become fast friends and soon there is a third member of their group as they meet the other woman the man is having an affair with. She is played by swimsuit model Kate Upton and the three of them decide to team up to punish the three-timing cheater.

I had little to no expectations for this film either time I watched it, and so I actually enjoyed THE OTHER WOMAN. It is never great, and it really comes across as just a younger version of THE FIRST WIVES CLUB most of the time, but the actresses are fun together and so I liked it and can mildly recommend it.

Finally this week, I said I was saving the best for last and I did, this is TWIN PEAKS – THE ENTIRE MYSTERY.

TWIN PEAKS was a quirky television series that was first broadcast in April of 1990 and ran for two seasons. It was followed by the 1992 feature film, TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME, that was both a prequel and an epilogue to the television series.

TWIN PEAKS is named after the small town in Washington state where it’s set and the show follows the investigation of the murder of homecoming queen Laura Palmer by FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper and the local police force.

TWIN PEAKS is about the search for Laura Palmer’s killer, but it is also about so much more and this blu-ray box set has all of it! All the show’s signature strangeness, plus, an incredible amount of making-ofs, deleted scenes, and retrospective features.

Even though the series still veers way of it’s initial course by the time it gets late into the second season, TWIN PEAKS is still one of the most interesting television shows of all time, has a fantastic cast, and it looks and sounds amazing in this new HD version.

Do not miss it, this is one of the greatest releases of the year!
The fantastic 10 Disc Blu-ray set TWIN PEAKS – THE ENTIRE MYSTERY; the fun at times but never great comedy THE OTHER WOMAN, starring Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann and Kate Upton; the would-be Bible epic NOAH, starring Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly; and the awful art-house-sci-fi flick UNDER THE SKIN starring Scarlett Johansson are available now, either on disc or on demand.

The very interesting action thriller SNOWPIERCER, starring Chris Evans and Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton is available now 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!

The Couch Potato Report – July 26th, 2014

“Heaven Is For Real: A Little Boy’s Astounding Story Of His Trip to Heaven and Back” is a 2010 New York Times best-selling Christian book written by Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent.

The book is about the near-death experience of Burpo’s then-four-year-old son, Colton and is the story of how the little boy started telling people he had visited heaven.

A movie based on the book was filmed in and around Winnipeg last Summer and it is called HEAVEN IS FOR REAL. The movie stars Greg Kinnear from LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE as the little boy’s Dad.

Not only does the boy just say that he was in heaven, he begins describing events and people that he didn’t even know…such as an unborn sister whom no one had told him about and his great grandfather who died 30 years before he was born.

HEAVEN IS FOR REAL is never a bad movie, but it’s also never great. It just tells it’s story and then ends. While watching it, I liked it and I liked the characters in it. Most of them seemed like real people dealing with an odd circumstance.

So what we have here is a nice little movie that I will mildly recommend.

I’ll also mildly recommend the film THE FACE OF LOVE, although its not completely believeable.

Annette Bening from the Academy Award winning film AMERICAN BEAUTY is a widow who – years later – has yet to get over the loss of her husband, the love of her life.

Then, she meets Tom, who looks and acts just like her dead husband, and so she goes after him and they start a relationship…and all the while we, the audience wait for the other shoe to drop.

We wait for Tom to find out that he looks exactly like the woman’s dead husband.

Four time Academy Award nominee, the great Ed Harris from APOLLO 13 and THE TRUMAN SHOW plays the man and he, Bening and supporting actor Robin Williams are all very good here, giving us restrained, mature performances, but what held the movie back for me is the fact that we’re supposed to buy the fact that this guy, who looks and acts almost exactly like the woman’s ex-husband, also just happens to live in Los Angeles?!

The film wants the viewer to get lost in whether she actually loves Tom or just his face…the face of love…but the other stuff gets in the way.

Yet, even with the fact that I never quite bought into the fact that she would actually stumble upon the guy, and even though we spend the whole movie just waiting for the other shoe to drop, THE FACE OF LOVE still has enough going for it that I can mildly recommend it.

I’ve mildly recommended two films to you this week, and now I’m going to suggest that you stay as far away from one as you can.

At all costs you should avoid the Johnny Depp flick TRANSCENDENCE.

TRANSCENDENCE is a science fiction film directed by cinematographer Wally Pfister in his directorial debut. Pfister has a great eye for movies as he has worked with Christopher Nolan on the films THE DARK KNIGHT, MEMENTO and INCEPTION.

Plus, in addition to Johnny Depp, TRANSCENDENCE stars Rebecca Hall, Kate Mara, Cillian Murphy, Paul Bettany, and Morgan Freeman, but this is one of the most boring films of the year.

The intent of TRANSCENDENCE is to show us the dangers of a scientist’s drive for artificial intelligence and the implications of what can happen globally when his consciousness is uploaded into one such program.

But you won’t care, you’ll be bored. I sure was.

Skip TRANSCENDENCE. Unless you are a Johnny Depp completist, you never need to see it.

Finally this week is a very good, but not fully realized documentary called VIDEO GAMES – THE MOVIE.

This is a 105 minute look at video games; it’s history and culture, told by the creators of the games and systems, and fans.

It was a blast looking back on the history of gaming from their inception in the 50s and 60s to modern day games. It goes from Pong to Call Of Duty, from Atari and Intellivision to the PS4 and beyond.

The problem with VIDEO GAMES – THE MOVIE is that it’s a love letter to games and gamers. It constantly screams – aren’t games awesome?!

And they are, but there are also youth violence and obesity issues that have been connected to video gaming over the years and this documentary doesn’t spend much time looking at them. They are mentioned, but then we are taken back to the positive side of gaming again.

A truly great documentary shows both sides of the story – the good and the bad – and I would have appreciated seeing more of that story, and how the gaming industry has changed over the years to protect it’s audience.

That it didn’t tell the whole story is the only problem I have with VIDEO GAMES – THE MOVIE, otherwise I really enjoyed it and can highly recommend it.
The very good documentary VIDEO GAMES – THE MOVIE is available now On Demand.

The boring Johnny Depp sci-fi drama TRANSCENDENCE, the mildly recommended mature drama THE FACE OF LOVE and the mildly recommended made-in-Manitoba Christian drama HEAVEN IS FOR REAL are 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!

The Couch Potato Report – July 12th, 2014

I’m going to use the word “bad” a lot this week. Not necessarily because the movies I have for you are bad, just because they have the word in their names.

And we begin with BAD WORDS, starring Jason Bateman from ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT as a 40-year-old middle school dropout who is trying to win the National Spelling bee…yes, competing against 10-year-olds.

He’s using a loophole in the rules that allows him to compete, and we don’t find out his real motivation right away. In fact, we don’t find out much right away, but if you like your humour dark and well-written, you’ll be laughing almost right from the start of the movie.

In addition to the grown man trying to win a spelling bee, BAD WORDS’ main characters are a female reporter who helps move the story along and a young male contestant who is also the reason for some of the movie’s best scenes and one liners.

The kid also gives the movie some emotion.

BAD WORDS is not a movie for kids or the whole family, it is for adults, and this adult really enjoyed it. It is very dark, very funny and very entertaining. I don’t have any bad words to say about BAD WORDS, just four good ones: I highly recommend it.

I also had some good words to say back in January when the film BAD GRANDPA was released.

It was lewd, crude, rude, juvenile, and sophomoric, but it was also laugh out loud funny. It was even nominated for an Academy Award.

But now we have Johnny Knoxville and the makers of the JACKASS films and television series releasing something called BAD GRANDPA POINT FIVE and it’s almost a complete waste of your time and money.

The original BAD GRANDPA stars Johnny Knoxville – in makeup as 86-year-old Irving Zisman – on a road trip from Nebraska to North Carolina to drop his 8 year-old grandson, Billy, off at his father’s.

BAD GRANDPA POINT FIVE is an 87 minute “making of” that should just have been a Bonus Feature on the original release, and not something that has come out on it’s own.

It’s not bad…but it’s a making of, so fans of the film, beware!!

Lars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He has given the world DANCER IN THE DARK (2000), DOGVILLE (2003) and MELANCHOLIA (2011), all films that most cinephiles and film festival goers know and have heard of, but most movie-goers won’t know because his films are challenging and not commercial at all.

Lars von Trier’s latest was released by him in a five and a half hour version, but the studio has cut it into two, two-hour films, and it is known as NYMPHOMANIAC – PARTS 1 & 2.

Charlotte Gainsbourg is a frequent collaborator with Lars von Trier and she also stars here, playing a self-diagnosed nymphomaniac who recounts her erotic experiences to the man who saved her after he found her beaten and lying in an alley.

Stellan Skarsgård from GOOD WILL HUNTING plays the man, and the cast also features Shia LaBeouf, Christian Slater, Uma Thurman, and Willem Dafoe.

Great cast, but not a great film.

I haven’t thought that any von Trier film was great, most of them I would actually label as bad, even very bad, but I wouldn’t say that about NYMPHOMANIAC – PARTS 1 & 2.

Yes, at times it is boring and even unwatchable…but primarily it was interesting. Ultimately the movie is very unsatisfying, and I don’t recommend it at all, but I will admit that I was interested right up until the end.

I have one final use of the word “bad” this week, and that’s because it’s the title of one of Sergio Leone’s Spaghetti Westerns starring Clint Eastwood, a series of films better known as THE MAN WITH NO NAME TRILOGY.

Eastwood stars in A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (1964), FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE (1965), and THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY (1966).

THE MAN WITH NO NAME TRILOGY is a three disc blu-ray set that was previously released back in 2010 and is being re-released now because THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY has been remastered.

The other two discs are exactly the same, but the trilogy’s final film has been cleaned up and looks and sounds better than ever.

I have always easily…and highly…recommended THE MAN WITH NO NAME TRILOGY and it’s even better now due to the remastering. Even without the upgrade, they all look so great in HD!!

I love these movies!!
Sergio Leone’s still classic MAN WITH NO NAME TRILOGY – with A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE and a remastered version of THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY; the not great, but interesting, but ultimately unsatisfying Lars Von Trier film NYMPHOMANIAC- PARTS 1 & 2; the should just have been a bonus feature on the original release BAD GRANDPA POINT FIVE; and the very funny comedy BAD WORDS 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!

The Couch Potato Report – July 5th, 2014

I’ve got some science fiction to start with this week – the made-in-Montreal television series HELIX.

Helix primarily takes place in a bioresearch station in the Arctic. A team of scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention near much warmer Atlanta travel to the station to investigate a potential outbreak of disease.

However, once they arrive they find themselves stuck in life-or-death situations that not only put their lives in jeopardy, but all of humankind.

HELIX is sci-fi that is part medical conspiracy, part grotesque horror story, and mostly above average.

The thirteen episodes in SEASON ONE give the story the room it needs to expand and play out, and what starts as possibly just another sci-fi horror story eventually leads down an engaging road of secrets, plots twists, and power plays.

Some of the special effects aren’t great, but the show itself features well-written characters and I liked it.

I can easily recommend HELIX to my fellow sci-fi fans.

I do not – at any price – recommend the absolute bore that is the wannabe supernatural drama WINTER’S TALE.

Even with a cast that includes Russell Crowe, Colin Farrell, William Hurt, Jessica Brown Findlay from DOWNTON ABBEY, Will Smith and Jennifer Connelly, you should skip this one.

The film opens in 1895 as we meet a young immigrant couple who are refused entry into Manhattan because they have consumption, a common, and in many cases fatal, infectious disease of the day.

Their infant son is also not allowed entry to the country, so they place him in a model sailboat to float there safely. He grows up to be a thief who is being raised by a demon posing as a gangster.

Yes, you heard that right, he was raised by a demon posing as a gangster.

After that, the young man decides to leave the gang, is rescued by a mysterious white horse – who turns out to be his guardian angel, meets a beautiful dying woman named Beverly who he falls in love with and wants to save, because – you see – he believes that saving her is his “miracle”.

Then, the gangster asks the devil, who is played by Will Smith, for access to where the young man is so he can kill him before he pulls off his ”miracle”, but his request is denied.

Obviously, since the gangster is a demon, he doesn’t listen to the devil and does what he wants…but that leads to the young man becoming immortal, but he has amnesia and so he wanders the streets of New York City for a century…and I’ve told you enough because it doesn’t matter.

I sat through WINTER’S TALE and I highly suggest that you don’t. There are some nice sentiments in the movie, and the cast is tremendous, but the movie is a bore and a snore.

Skip it. It is a complete waste of your time.

One of the great things for me about movies today is the fact that we can sometimes watch new films at home On Demand at the same time they are playing in theatres.

For instance, the romantic comedy THEY CAME TOGETHER starring Paul Rudd from ANCHORMAN and Amy Poehler of PARKS & RECREATION – two actors I really like – is only playing in a few select theatres across North America, but you and I can still now watch it in our homes whenever we want.

I watched it last Monday morning and quite enjoyed it.

Paul and Amy play a couple who meet outside a party, yet arrive together, and it’s hate at first sight as his big Corporate Candy Company threatens to shut down her quirky indie candy shop.

It might seem that THEY CAME TOGETHER is a regular Hollywood romantic comedy, and it sort of is.

But in reality, the film is a parody of romantic comedies, as the cast helps us navigate our way through this relationship that seems perfect, at least in the movies.

THEY CAME TOGETHER is not a perfect romantic comedy, at times it is very hit and miss, and some of the misses are huge and even uncomfortable, but it hit more than it missed for me and I was even laughing out loud at times, all while appreciating the parody and hoping that Paul and Amy could somehow manage to find a way to stay together.

It’s not perfect, but I can still easily recommend it.

I also easily recommend the beautiful made-in-India film THE LUNCHBOX.

In Mumbai, India, you can hire people to collect hot food in lunch boxes from your residence in the late morning, deliver the lunches, and then collect and return the empty boxes back to your residence that afternoon.

A mistaken delivery of one of those food containers is at the centre of a very good film called THE LUNCHBOX.

A young neglected and lonely housewife decides to try and get her husband’s attention through food and so she cooks him something special and sends it to him.

But her lunchbox ends up going to to someone else…a lonely accountant who is about to retire from his job. They start to communicate as the lunchbox goes back and forth and end up building a nice fantasy world together.

One that could conceivably come true through mutual admiration and loneliness.

I really liked THE LUNCHBOX. It showed me things I had never seen on screen before, and the characters all seemed real. If you’re looking for something interesting and entertaining to watch, I recommend you search it out.
The very good made-in-India romantic drama THE LUNCHBOX; the snore of a movie WINTER’S TALE that should be skipped at all costs; and SEASON ONE of the above average made-in-Montreal sci-fi series HELIX are available now, either on disc or on demand.

And the very funny romantic comedy parody THEY CAME TOGETHER, starring Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler is available now 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!

The Couch Potato Report – June 28th, 2014

As the Summer Movie Season rolls along in theatres this long weekend with the loud, action packed release TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION, another movie that requires you to shut your brain off in order to enjoy it, I have an alternative to that for you this week, a pair of interesting Academy Award nominees.

I’ll begin with the Palestinian film OMAR, which was nominated as Best Foreign Language Film of the Year.

Omar is a pretty decent young man who works in a bakery whose been drawn into the violent political warfare of the West Bank through his love for a woman, due to his circle of friends from childhood, and because he was mistreated by the local authorities.

Omar agrees to be an informant, working against his friends, after he’s tricked into an admission of guilt after the killing of an Israeli soldier.

OMAR is both thrilling and dramatic, and it has some great story twists and turns. It also features a great love story between Omar and Nadia – a young woman who is the sister of one of his friends, a friend who is the main suspect in the Israeli soldier’s shooting.

OMAR was justly nominated for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year, and if you are looking for something great to watch this long weekend, I highly recommend that you search it out.

The other Academy award nominated film I have for you is ERNEST & CELESTINE. This French-Belgian animated comedy-drama competed in the Best Animated Feature Film of the Year, against the Hollywood hits THE CROODS, DESPICABLE ME 2 and the eventual winner, FROZEN.

Based on a series of children’s books of the same name, published by the Belgian author and illustrator Gabrielle Vincent, ERNEST & CELESTINE is about an unlikely friendship between a bear named Ernest and a young mouse named Celestine.

This movie takes place in a world where the Bears live above ground in their cities and the rodents live below in their underground cities.

Celestine, an apprentice mouse dentist, finds a momentary common cause with Ernest, a poor street Bear musician, and that causes them both to be labelled outcasts in their respective worlds.

ERNEST & CELESTINE is a great film with fully realized characters and the animation is beautiful to look at.

I don’t know if kids will watch it as often as they’ve seem to be re-watching FROZEN, but I think it is worthy of their time. Plus, I think parents will enjoy it too.

And, you can watch it either with the original French language soundtrack, or in English, featuring a well-known Hollywood cast including William H. Macy, Lauren Bacall, Paul Giamatti and Forest Whitaker.

ERNEST & CELESTINE tells a nice story and I really enjoyed it. Search this one out, if not for the kids, for yourself.

And I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Okay, I have a pair of superb TV show sets for you right now.

Both are smart and well written and feature great performances from some great actors.

SEASON SIX of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION is coming up, but up first is the show MASTER OF SEX.

MASTERS OF SEX is based on Thomas Maier’s biography Masters of Sex: The Life and Times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, the Couple Who Taught America How to Love.

It tells the story of Dr. William Masters and Virginia Johnson, two pioneering researchers of human sexuality at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan star as the lead characters in MASTERS OF SEX and their performances are amazing. Plus, the story in very interesting, and the show is exceptionally well written and produced.

Due to it’s very graphic nature, SEASON ONE of MASTERS OF SEX won’t be for everyone, but I do still highly recommend it.

It is one of the best television shows in production right now, and I’m really looking forward to SEASON TWO!

Time now for the blu-ray set for SEASON SIX of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION.

One could argue that SEASON SIX was the best season of THE NEXT GENERATION as it features Captain Picard being tortured, Worf discovering a life-changing secret in the Deep Space Nine crossover episode, and Geordi rescues Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott from a 75 year transporter limbo.

Yes, Scotty from the original series – Canadian actor James Doohan – guest stars in SEASON SIX.

And once again, the blu-ray set comes with a wealth of special features including the continuing retrospective series where the entire cast and crew look back at the show, including Commander Riker – Jonathan Frakes.

SEASON SIX of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION looks amazing on blu-ray and is a must own for fans, and a must see for those who haven’t ever seen it.

I highly recommend it, even if you don’t usually watch science fiction.

This is great stuff!!

Finally this week is a that I did not enjoy. 300 – RISE OF AN EMPIRE is the follow-up to the great action film 300, about King Leonidas and a force of 300 men who fought against the Persians in 480 B.C.

This sequel actually takes place before, during, and after the events of the first movie and even if you absolutely loved the original, this is still a major step down.

Even though it is action packed at times, 300 – RISE OF AN EMPIRE is actually quite boring. Plus, the special effects – which were so great the first time around – look dated and fake most of the time, and with the exception of Bond Girl Eva Green from CASINO ROYALE, the cast have nothing to offer.

300 – RISE OF AN EMPIRE is a release for those who absolutely have to see every action film that comes out. Everyone else – heck, even those people – should skip this mess.
The nowhere near as good as the original, completely forgettable sequel 300 – RISE OF AN EMPIRE; the very good SEASON SIX of STAR TREK – THE NEXT GENERATION; SEASON ONE of the informative and interesting series MASTERS OF SEX; the very entertaining Academy Award nominated French/Belgian animated ERNEST & CELESTINE; and the also very entertaining Academy Award nominated Palestinian film OMAR are all available now, either on disc or on demand.

And consider those last two a great alternate to the loud and explosive Summer Movie Season.

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!

The Couch Potato Report – June 21st, 2014

The number one reason I watch movies is because I like to laugh. Sure, I also enjoy great documentaries, dramas, action films and thrillers, but overall I love comedies, and laughing the most.

Tisdale, Saskatchewan’s Brent Butt has made me laugh many times over the years, through his stand up comedy and the television show CORNER GAS.

Unfortunately Brent’s detective comedy NO CLUE doesn’t have as many laughs as even a single episode of CORNER GAS.

Amy Smart from CRANK and JUST FRIENDS stars in NO CLUE as a woman who hires Brent Butt’s Leo to find her missing brother.

Only problem is, he’s not a private eye, she merely walked into the wrong office.

Obviously Leo doesn’t tell her the truth because she is beautiful and he wants to be around her, and maybe, just maybe, he’ll actually solve the case, and maybe, just maybe she’ll fall for him too.

NO CLUE was made-in-Vancouver and while it isn’t laugh out loud funny, it does have a few laughs. If you’re a fan of Brent’s, it’ll tide you over until the CORNER GAS MOVIE comes out later this year.

And I’m sure – with that film – Brent Butt will definitely have us laughing again.

Of all the films released so far in 2014, my favourite one is the animated adventure comedy THE LEGO MOVIE.

THE LEGO MOVIE is fun and funny and interesting and enjoyable and features a tremendous voice cast that includes Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Toronto’s Will Arnett, Alison Brie, Liam Neeson, Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum AND Morgan Freeman!!

There is actually a very good story in the film, about believing in yourself even when all the odds are against you, but what makes THE LEGO MOVIE so worthy of your time is how much fun it is, and it is fun…laugh out loud fun…for the whole family.

I absolutely loved this film, and highly recommend THE LEGO MOVIE to kids of all ages.

In the past, I have also enjoyed and highly recommended the quirky, odd, dramatic and comedic films of writer – director Wes Anderson.

From BOTTLE ROCKET in 1996 to RUSHMORE, THE ROYAL TENNENBAUMS, THE LIFE AQUATIC, THE DARJEELING LIMITED, and FANTASTIC MR. FOX, to the Academy Award nominated MOONRISE KINGDOM in 2012, his movies usually offer the audience something magical.

And it’s not like his latest – THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL – isn’t magical, and it sure also is quirky, odd, dramatic and comedic, it is just with this film there is too much of all of those things that usually benefit Wes Anderson’s films.

The story here takes place between the first and second world war and introduces us to Gustave H, a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel.

We also meet Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend.

The teriffic cast of THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL includes Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Léa Seydoux, Jeff Goldblum, Jason Schwartzman, Jude Law, Tilda Swinton, Harvey Keitel, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Murray and Owen Wilson.

Some are used well, some only have cameos, but they all appear as the legendary consierge tries to thrive and survive after one of the hotel guests dies and leaves him a priceless painting in her will.

The family thinks he tricked her into leaving it to him.

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL is interesting and engaging, and seeing that cast is a real treat, but the movie is just too quirky and odd for it’s own good.

It’s never awful, and I do still mildly recommend it, but I hope Wes Anderson dials the quirky back a bit for his next film.

If you don’t know him, I’d like to introduce you to Alan Partridge right now.

Alan Gordon Partridge is a fictional character created in the early nineties and portrayed by British comedian Steve Coogan of TROPIC THUNDER and HAMLET 2. He was originally created for the BBC Radio 4 programme On The Hour.

Alan Partridge is a parody of both sports commentators and talk show hosts and he has appeared in two radio series, three television series and numerous BBC television and radio specials.

The man is insecure, superficial, narcissistic and very, very funny

I think he is one of the greatest characters ever created.

And now a feature-length film simply called ALAN PARTRIDGE in North America has been released and I really enjoyed it…the second time I watched it.

The first time I saw it, I just love the character and his creators so much, that I thought the movie would be a laugh riot. Instead, like just about everything that has come before it featuring Alan Partridge, the humour is subtle, black and very witty and well written.

Upon my second viewing, I really enjoyed it

In the film, Alan Partridge is working as a radio station that has been taken over and rebranded by a new media conglomerate.

That leads to the firing of a long-time staff member who takes the staff hostage. Alan then has to work with the police to try and defuse the situation.

ALAN PARTRIDGE is primarily for people who know the character from “The Day Today”, “Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge” and the other shows he’s been in, and to you I suggest you either lower your expectations, or watch it twice to appreciate it…and in those situations, you will appreciate it.

To those who are just hearing of Alan Partridge for the first time right now, do yourself a favour…search out those TV shows – and then the movie – and enjoy!!

Finally this week is something spectacular…THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON of the Netflix series HOUSE OF CARDS.

This exceptional show is a political drama set in present day Washington, D.C.

Oscar winner Kevin Spacey plays a very ruthless and brilliant politician who – after becoming Vice President of the United States – works hard to keep the job, and become President…hopefully sooner, rather than later.

Spacey’s main confident and advisor is his wife, played by Robin Wright. No matter how dirty his hands get, and they occasionally get very, very dirty, no matter what happens her tells her just about everything.

HOUSE OF CARDS tells a great story, using some amazing – and believable – twists and turns, and it is all driven by Spacey’s amazing performance.

I highly recommend HOUSE OF CARDS, SEASONS ONE and TWO, and don’t feel that you have to save it for a rainy Summer night, it’s available on disc and Netflix right now for you to watch…and enjoy!
THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON of the spectacular series HOUSE OF CARDS; the funny but just not as good as the television shows that inspired it Steve Coogan comedy ALAN PARTRIDGE; Wes Anderson’s good, but just a little too quirky comedy THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL; the superb, for the whole family, animated comedy THE LEGO MOVIE; and the likeable detective comedy NO CLUE starring Brent Butt from CORNER GAS 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!

The Couch Potato Report – June 14th, 2014

Earlier this year many people spent a part of their Sunday nights watching the detectives as the series TRUE DETECTIVE unfolded over the course of eight thrilling episodes.

Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey of DALLAS BUYERS CLUB and Oscar nominee Woody Harrelson from ZOMBIELAND and NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN star as two Louisiana State Police Criminal Investigations Division homicide detectives hunting for a serial killer.

TRUE DETECTIVE follows their hunt over a 17-year period, and at times it even seems like one of the true detectives – or the other – may have something to do with the murders.

I loved almost everything about this series…except for how it ended, which I won’t spoil for you. It is so smart, has plenty of style, and TRUE DETECTIVE is exceptionally well-written and acted. The series is probably the best work about serial killers since THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS.

I only wish the ending was as strong as the rest of the series. It doesn’t totally ruin it…but everything that comes before it is just so much better.

Yes, I highly recommend you spend some time watching these true detectives.

TRUE DETECTIVE features characters that were brand new.

The action flick JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT does not.

John Patrick “Jack” Ryan, Sr. is a fictional character created by Tom Clancy. Ryan appeared in many of the late author’s novels and their respective film adaptations.

So far on screen he has been played by Alec Baldwin in THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER (1984), Harrison Ford twice PATRIOT GAMES (1987) and CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER (1989), and Ben Affleck in THE SUM OF ALL FEARS (1991).

And now, young Chris Pine – who also played Captain James T. Kirk in the two newest STAR TREK films – stars as the CIA analyst in JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT

In this film we meet a young Jack Ryan, yes this is a series reboot, as he uncovers a Russian plot to crash the U.S. economy with a terrorist attack.

Kenneth Branagh both directed the film and plays the bad guy.

JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT is never a bad film, it just really isn’t anything new. Plus, Keira Knightley is sadly miscast as Mrs. Jack Ryan and so is Kenneth Branagh as the bad guy.

I do mildly recommend it, but I probably won’t ever watch it again.

I also won’t watch the action thriller NON-STOP again, and I also mildly recommend it.

Liam Neeson from the TAKEN films stars as an unstable and barely employed air marshal who has to try and save the passengers on a transatlantic flight. Unless the airline transfers $150 million into an off-shore account, people on the plane will die.

Oscar nominee Julianne Moore from THE BIG LEBOWSKI and CRAZY STUPID LOVE is the woman who just happens to be sitting next to Liam Neeson…or is there a reason she is there?

NON-STOP is better than it should be, primarily because of the presence of great actors Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore, and that is why I’ll give it mild suggestion.

Up next is a film for martial arts fans. JOURNEY TO THE WEST – CONQUERING THE DEMONS is a blast!!

I could go into detail about the plot of this film, and tell you that the story is about a Buddhist trying to protect a village from three demons, while dealing with his his emerging feelings for a beautiful woman, who is also a demon hunter who helps him repeatedly, and how his life is changed by his encounter with the Monkey King.

I could do that, but instead, let me just tell you that it has some great effects and story ideas, and happily state that JOURNEY TO THE WEST – CONQUERING THE DEMONS is an odd but very entertaining martial arts comedy for fans of the genre.

If that is you, pick it up and enjoy!!

Finally this week, a documentary with a very interesting premise, that unfortunately plays like watching paint dry.

Directed by Teller – of the comedy magic act Penn & Teller – TIM’S VERMEER is the story of inventor Tim Jenison.

He is seeking to understand – and duplicate – the unique painting techniques used by Johannes Vermeer, the Dutch master from the 1600’s.

Penn Jillette – of Penn & Teller – narrates the film, and as I said, the story here is so interesting…but the movie is – primarily – about watching a man paint, and that isn’t always very entertaining. Ultimately I will recommend TIM’S VERMEER, because it did keep me interested until the end, but it is primarily for art fans.

The not awful, but not entirely successful documentary TIM’S VERMEER; the very good martial arts flick JOURNEY TO THE WEST – CONQUERING THE DEMONS; the not great, but better than it should be action film NON-STOP, starring Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore and Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o in a small role; the okay action reboot JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT; and the almost exceptional…if only it had a better ending…series TRUE DETECTIVE, co-starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson 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!

The Couch Potato Report – June 7th, 2014

In the film LONE SURVIVOR, the loner is Marcus Luttrell.

We first met Marcus in the non-fiction book “Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of Seal Team 10”.

Published in 2007 the real-lfe story takes place in Afghanistan, where we follow Marcus and a group of Navy SEALs as they set out on a mission to capture or kill notorious Taliban leader Ahmad Shah.

The movie, simply called LONE SURVIVOR, stars Mark Wahlberg as Marcus Luttrell, along with Kelowna, B.C.’s Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch and Ben Foster as the Navy SEALs in his team. After they locate the Taliban leader everything goes wrong for the men, starting when the team runs into and captures some mountain herders. They then have to decide what to do with them (kill them, or let them go).

LONE SURVIVOR is a very well made, very violent film with lots of great action and combat scenes and the cast is all exceptional.

Unfortunately after a very strong start, the film really slows down in the middle and doesn’t recover. I was even bored during parts of the film.

But I will still give it a mild recommendation as it does start off so strong.

Plus, the sacrifice of the loner and his sacrifices also make LONE SURVIVOR worthy of your time.

Back in 1987 director Paul Verhoeven gave us a great action flick called ROBOCOP, before he went on to also make TOTAL RECALL, BASIC INSTINCT, SHOWGIRLS and STARSHIP TROOPERS.

Set in a crime-ridden Detroit in the not-too-distant-future, the original ROBOCOP is about a human police officer who is killed in the line of duty and brought back to serve as a superhuman cyborg law enforcer known as “RoboCop”.

They have now done a remake of ROBOCOP and while it isn’t quite a pale imitation of the first one, it is only a few steps above pointless.

The original film was clever and full of some very interesting plot twists and turns. The made-in-Toronto remake is none of those things…but it isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. In fact, a few times, I actually thought it was okay.

So, while the original is still a much, much better film, the ROBOCOP remake isn’t a complete waste of time. It’s enough like the first one for me to give it a mild recommendation.

Former MMA fighter Gina Carano debuted in major motion pictures three years ago in a great action movie directed by Academy Award winner Steven Soderbergh called HAYWIRE. She followed that up with a supporting role in the blockbuster FAST & FURIOUS 6.

And now, she is back in the lead role again in the action crime thriller IN THE BLOOD.

When her husband goes missing during their Caribbean vacation, a woman goes looking for him and she isn’t going to stop until she finds him….no matter what.

Gina Carano is a beautiful woman who is a great fighter, and she’ll probably become a better actress one day, once she stars in more films, so while parts of the film are very predictable, and the ending isn’t as big a shocker as the filmmakers think it is, I still enjoyed IN THE BLOOD.

The movie may only be pretty good, but she is great!

Finally this week is the 1983 summer horror flick SLEEPAWAY CAMP, a cult classic that is mostly remembered by people for it’s then unique, but still super odd twist ending…which I won’t divulge here.

It came out in theatres at a time when slasher films were in their heyday, and it was also popular on video – where it was also called NIGHTMARE VACATION.

Whatever the title or format you saw it on, the story in SLEEPAWAY CAMP is about a very shy girl who is sent away to summer camp with her cousin, and not long after her arrival people start to die.

Available now in a great blu-ray version in a COLLECTOR’S EDITION, SLEEPAWAY CAMP has some great retrospective features that take us back to the summer of 1983.

I only hope we survive the trip!!
The still horrific and odd 1983 horror film SLEEPAWAY CAMP; the pretty good action flick IN THE BLOOD, starring the always great former MMA fighter Gina Carano; the step above pointless remake of the eighties action classic ROBOCOP; and the mildly recommended war movie LONE SURVIVOR, starring Mark Wahlberg and Kelowna’s Taylor Kitsch, 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!

The Couch Potato Report
May 31st, 2014

Green is the colour to fans of the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders, and those fans don’t only reside in the province the team calls home, they can be found from coast to coast.

There’s Tom and Vanessa (Fleming) in Mount Pearl, Newfoundland, Regan (Alford) in Halifax, Genevieve (Tardif) in Montreal, Laura (Monette) in Ottawa, almost all of Saskatchewan itself, another Regan (Tate) in Medicine Hat, and Robbie (Ireland Longpre) in Victoria, British Columbia.

It is those fans whom the new release ALL IN comes highly recommended as a must have!

Subtitled A BEHIND-THE-SCENES LOOK AT THE TEAM AND EVENT THAT MADE HISTORY, ALL IN is a 70 minute look at the Riders victory last November on home soil in Regina in the 101st Grey Cup Game.

ALL IN takes us from training camp to the last seconds of the game and features interviews with team management, local media personalities, and several of the players, including Grey Cup 101 MVP Kory Sheets.

For die-hard fans of the team ALL IN is a must own. Casual fans may just want to borrow it from a friend because the release is far from perfect.

For starters, 70 minutes is nowhere near enough time to cover an entire season and Grey Cup Week and the game, the victory, the parties afterward, AND feature new interviews with management and players looking back and sharing their memories.

Plus, ALL IN doesn’t feature enough of the television version of the game, which was the fourth most-watched Grey Cup ever aired.

And where is Number 4? Where is Darian Durant throughout most of ALL IN? The team’s quarterback literally put the entire team on his shoulders at times last season, especially in the playoffs, and yet he is only featured through old interview footage from media scrums and from public events held after the victory.

His omission is a glaring mistake. Luckily Geroy Simon is there to cover for his QB, and the filmmakers.

Those criticisms aside, ALL IN – A BEHIND-THE-SCENES LOOK AT THE TEAM AND EVENT THAT MADE HISTORY is still a very good production, and I can easily recommend it to fans of the Green & White across Saskatchewan, and from Newfoundland to British Columbia.

There was a remake of the 1966 film GAMBIT released late last year that featured a screenplay by Joel and Ethan Coen, written back in 2010 not long after they were given an Academy Award nomination for their remake of TRUE GRIT.

The GAMBIT remake co-starred Academy Award winner Colin Firth, the always fun Cameron Diaz, Alan Rickman of DIE HARD and Stanley Tucci from THE HUNGER GAMES films.

Sadly, with all of that talent involved, the film is almost unwatchable.

Firth plays an art curator who decides to try and con his abusive billionaire boss into buying a fake Monet, but he can’t do it without the help of a complete stranger, an eccentric and unpredictable Texas rodeo queen played by Cameron Diaz. Yes, he’s willing to trust a complete stranger with a multi million dollar art heist. That is totally believable!!

GAMBIT isn’t funny, charming or really all that interesting. I like heist films, and I love this cast and the screenwriters, but this movie just isn’t worthy of your time.

Back in 1981, legendary Italian director Franco Zeffirelli gave us a movie called ENDLESS LOVE.

It starred Martin Hewitt as a high school student who’s love for a 15-year-old girl was thwarted by parental disapproval, circumstance and the fact that he set her family’s house on fire.

Brooke Shields played the young girl and while the film was a moderate box-office success, the only thing about it that has stood the test of time is the movie’s theme song.

Also called “Endless Love”, it was performed by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie and it spent nine weeks at Number One on the charts.

And now, because Hollywood loves to remake old movies, we have an updated version of ENDLESS LOVE but it actually plays more like a remake of SAY ANYTHING than anything else.

This ENDLESS LOVE stars Alex Pettyfer from MAGIC MIKE as a smart and charismatic recent High School graduate who doesn’t want to go to College, he’s happy to just work with his Dad in the family garage.

Gabriella Wilde from last year’s remake of CARRIE, yes Hollywood loves to remake old movies, plays the object of his affection, but she is such an uninteresting human being and movie character, it’s hard to believe that he’s fallen that hard for her.

Yes, as in the original, their love affair is made reckless by parents trying to keep them apart, and there is also a fire in this one, and it’s all a little bit different. Not much, but enough to be different

This version of ENDLESS LOVE is never awful, and it has a very strong supporting cast lead by Canadian actor Bruce Greenwood, it is always only okay. I didn’t like it, I didn’t dislike it, it is just okay.

That being the case, I’ll neither recommend it or suggest you skip it either…and I hope that is just okay too.

Alright, let me split the difference…should you think you’ll enjoy it, you just might. Otherwise, skip it.

Finally this week:

In 1984 a very funny comedy about social life on a university campus was released called REVENGE OF THE NERDS.

Lewis, Gilbert, Poindexter, Wormser, Lamar, Takashi and the boys are smart, personable, learned young men, many with pocket protectors…okay, they’re nerds, and they struggle to stop being picked on and harassed by the campus jocks.

These nerds seek revenge!!

The new Blu-ray for REVENGE OF THE NERDS has a great print of the film, and some very entertaining retrospective Bonus Features, and the original theatrical trailer, voiced by Orson Welles!!

I love this film, always have and always will. The sequels were a mixed bag, but this original one is still entertaining and laugh out loud funny.

Nerds forever!!

The still great eighties comedy REVENGE OF THE NERDS; the okay remake of the eighties drama ENDLESS LOVE; and the not great remake of the sixties film GAMBIT are all available now, either on disc or on demand.

ALL IN – A BEHIND-THE-SCENES LOOK AT THE TEAM AND EVENT THAT MADE HISTORY is available on the Saskatchewan Roughriders online store at theriderstore.com.

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!