Category: The Couch Potato Report

The Couch Potato Report – October 13th, 2007
This week The Couch Potato Report peels a 2 DVD set from the Air Farce and a pair of Special Edition DVDs.
I have three titles to tell you about this week, and none of them really need much introduction, since they have all been around since at least 1998.
I’ll start with the elder statemen in this week’s group, the thirty-four year old Royal Canadian Air Farce.
The one and only Air Farce started performing under that name in 1973, and later that year their CBC radio show began.
It was on the air for 24 seasons through 1997.
The first Air Farce television special aired in 1980, and a short-lived TV series went to air in 1981.
After a long hiatus from TV, it was a 1992 New Year’s Eve special for CBC television that brought the group back to our airwaves in October of 1993…where it continues to this day.
THE ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FARCE – FARCEBOOK is a double-DVD of Air Farce comedy, featuring one disc with 43 of their best sketches from last year, and another one with their entire 300th show, including some special guests.
For the record, I have done 378 episodes of my show!
Anyway, the thing that always makes me appreciate the Air Farce is the fact that always spoofs Canadian politics and politicians, Canadian trends, our commercials, and even some of our well-known institutions, like the CBC.
THE ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FARCE – FARCEBOOK is a very funny collection of Canadian comedy, and I think you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.
Oh, and don’t forget that you can see the AIR FARCE every Friday night at 8 pm on CBC Television.
Up next this week, just in time for the release of ELIZABETH – THE GOLDEN AGE in theatres yesterday, is a SPECIAL EDITION of the Academy Award winning 1998 film ELIZABETH.
Academy Award winners Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush and Richard Attenborough star in this great movie that is loosely based on the early reign of Queen Elizabeth the first of England and it primary follows Elizabeth being courted by suitors as she deals with various threats to her reign.
Yes, there are many historical inaccuracies with ELIZABETH, so it probably shouldn’t be shown in a history class as a documentary on the era, but if you enjoy costume dramas, then this is a film for you!
It is engaging, entertaining, and features some incredible acting, costumes, make-up and locations.
The film ends with Elizabeth assuming the persona of ‘The Virgin Queen’, and initiating England’s Golden Age, and that is where the new movie – now in theatres – picks up her story.
This SPECIAL EDITION DVD includes a look at the new film, and some making of features on the first one as well.
It is a great movie to add to your library!
Another film that you can now add to your library is the 1980 Al Pacino film CRUISING as it is finally available on DVD, and as a DELUXE EDITION no less!
CRUISING stars Al Pacino as an young cop who goes under cover in New York City in the 1970s to try and find a serial killer that is targeting gay men.
His work takes a toll on his relationship with his girlfriend and leads him to question his own sexual orientation.
CRUISING is by no means a classic, and it is very homophobic at times, but it remains a film that has a hard to figure out murder mystery at it’s core, one that I finally understand, but only because I listened to director William Friedkin’s commentary, and watched the behind-the-scenes documentaries on the DVD.
If you are a fan of Al Pacino, and you are a completist, then this is one for you!
The DELUXE EDITION of CRUISING, the SPECIAL EDITION of ELIZABETH, and THE ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FARCE – FARCEBOOK are all available now on DVD.
And rememberÖyou can see all-new episodes of the AIR FARCE every Friday night at 8 pm on CBC Television.
Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report
YOU KILL ME is a mafia comedy thriller made in Winnipeg starring Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley; In THE HOAX Richard Gere is a man who sells a fake biography of Howard Hughes to a premiere publishing house in the early 1970s; PLANET TERROR is director Robert Rodriguez’s half of the GRINDHOUSE movie duo from earlier this year, and this is the better half; And Steve Carell from TV’s THE OFFICE and THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN stars in the most expensive comedy ever made, a film called EVAN ALMIGHTY.
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 next time on The Couch!

The Couch Potato Report – October 6th, 2007
This week The Couch Potato Report peels sound, on film, a forty year old jungle book, and we’ll laugh.
The definitive documentary on Jazz music and Jazz musicians is Ken Burns’ ten part series JAZZ, that first aired on television, and was released on DVD, in 2001.
JAZZ is a spectacular series that looks at the history of jazz music from its origins at the turn of the twentieth century through to the present day.
Canadian director Ron Mann’s IMAGINE THE SOUND documentary on jazz actually predated Ken Burns’ magnificent series by two decades, but Mann’s film was only released on DVD this year.
And while Ken Burns’ looks at jazz as a whole, IMAGINE THE SOUND is about free jazz, a type of music that attempts to break down or extend the conventions of jazz, often by discarding fixed chord changes or tempos.
IMAGINE THE SOUND features interviews with and musical and dramatic performances by pianist Cecil Taylor, saxophonist Archie Shepp, trumpeter Bill Dixon and pianist Paul Bley.
It was filmed and produced in Canada and it is a great tribute to a group of highly celebrated artists that helped forge the avant-garde jazz scene of the 1960s.
Over the years Mann has become known for his one-of-a-kind documentaries COMIC BOOK CONFIDENTIAL, TWIST, GRASS and TALES OF THE RAT FINK.
IMAGINE THE SOUND was Mann’s first film and it is now available on DVD for the first time.
If you are not already a huge fan of jazz music, and the free jazz period of teh 1960s, IMAGINE THE SOUND is not a good place for you to start.
You have to know at least a little about free-form jazz music, or jazz music as a whole, to take anything away from it.
But if you are already a jazz lover, or a lover of jazz if you will, then this is a great movie for you.
I know a little about jazz, so I enjoyed it, but I loved Ken Burns’ series much more.
However, the reason that both IMAGINE THE SOUDN and Ken Burns’ JAZZ are worth mentioning is because they get jazz music out to the masses, and that is always a good thing, as far as I am concerned
Yes, I only know a little about jazz, but I can trace the history of what I do know back to one thing.
One thing that is also new on DVD this week…well, new in a 40th anniversary edition.
Louis Prima stars as King Louis from the Walt Disney animated film THE JUNGLE BOOK, and I first learned what jazz music was because of his performance in the film.
After hearing it, I just wanted to know more, and now, I know a little about jazz.
Originally released on October 18th, 1967, THE JUNGLE BOOK was very loosely based on the stories about the man-cub Mowgli from Rudyard Kipling’s book of the same name.
And now, THE JUNGLE BOOK is available as a two-disc 40th Anniversary Edition! This edition comes complete with a superb digital restoration, a wealth of special features, and all of the fun and magic you remember, including one of the greatest songs of all time!
I loved THE JUNGLE BOOK then, I love it now, and I will always highly recommend it.
This is the textbook definition of a “classic” film!
Also out this week is the suspense thriller 1408, based on the Stephen King story of the same name.
1408 is the number of a hotel room in New York City that may just be the final room that Cusack’s character visits.
This is not the best suspense thriller that you will see this year, but if you enjoy things that go bump in the night, or are just a fan of Cusack’s work – as I am – then I think that you will enjoy it.
RED ROAD is also full of suspense, but it is set in Glasgow, Scotland, instead of New York.
The other main difference is the fact that during the course of RED ROAD, you are never quite sure what is going on.
RED ROAD is about a security camera operator who observes the daily activities of the public through a large bank of video monitors, and reports suspicious incidents to the police.
One day she notices a man from her past, and she continues to observe him, eventually makes contact.
During the entire time she is watching him, tracking him, and dating him, we – the audience – never know her motivations, as they aren’t given to us until the end.
RED ROAD is a movie where nothing happens for the longest time, but somehow it is all very interesting.
And then, once everything is explained, it is interesting for different reasons.
I didn’t love RED ROAD, but it engaged and entertained me.
If you are looking for a small, unique film to watch, I think you should look for it!
Finally, this week is a three movie set that I wanted to let you know is available, just in case you need a few laughs, because THE ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER COMEDY FAVOURITES COLLECTION will defintely make you laugh.
This set features the Governator’s best foray’s into comedy – TWINS, JUNIOR, and KINDERGARTEN COP.
All three movies were directed by Canadian filmaker Ivan Reitman, and all three are very, very funny!! I highly recommed all three, whether you have seen them before, or haven’t seen them since they came out in the late eighties and early nineties!!
The very funny ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER COMEDY FAVOURITES COLLECTION, the interesting suspense films RED ROAD and 1408, the classic Disney film THE JUNGLE BOOK, and the Canadian made documentary IMAGINE THE SOUND are all available now on DVD.
Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report
THE ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FARCE – FARCEBOOK is a double-DVD of Air Farce comedy, featuring 43 sketches from the show last season on CBC – and don’t forget that you can see the AIR FARCE every Friday night at 8 pm on CBC Television.
YOU KILL ME is a mafia comedy thriller made in Winnipeg starring Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley; Academy Award winners Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush and Richard Attenborough star in the new SPECIAL EDITION of the film ELIZABETH; and the classic 1980 Al Pacino film CRUISING debuts on DVD in a DELUXE 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 next time on The Couch!

The Couch Potato Report – September 29th, 2007
This week The Couch Potato Report peels an Emmy Award winning western shot in our neck of the woods and one of the funniest films of the year!
It has been a busy two weeks full of releases, and I have six notable ones for you right now.
So let me jump right into things with an Emmy Award winning movie that was filmed in Western Canada!
The book BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE was written by Dee Brown and it was first published in 1970.
It is a history of Native Americans in the West in the late nineteenth century, and their displacement and slaughter by the United States federal government.
The book features strong documentation to original sources and is still in print 37 years later.
The movie BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE was made in and around Calgary last year and a few weeks ago it won the Emmy Award for “Outstanding Made for Television Movie”.
Now while I wouldn’t personally call the film Outstanding, it is very entertaining, educational and informative.
The displacement of Native Americans, and First Nations peoples here in Canada is too long, heartbreaking and detailed a story to tell in a 133 minute movie, but BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE does a good job of detailing the horrors that took place before and at the slaughter of men, women and children who were considered Sioux prisoners at Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
The film’s performances are all superb, especially Montreal’s August Schellenberg as Sitting Bull, Winnipeg’s Academy Award winning Anna Paquin, and Ashern, Manitoba’s Adam Beach as a college-educated Sioux doctor that the Americans exploit.
The only reason I can’t call BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE outstanding is because it is too big a story to tell, and this film version only has the time to tell a few small parts of it.
Still, that being said, it is a solid piece of entertainment and an important encapsulation of history.
BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE is worth seeing, by young and old alike, because those who forget their history – good and bad – are condemmed to repeat it.
Up next is the comedy hit of the summer, KNOCKED UP, starring Vancouver’s Seth Rogan.
Rogen plays a 23-year-old slacker, who meets the beautiful Katherine Heigl – from GREY’S ANATOMY – at a club and theys pend the night together.
And then she gets (see the name of the film!).
After that, the pair try to make the relationship work.
Now, the reason that the film works, and it works both as a love story and a comedy, is due to Rogan.
From the moment we meet him on screen, we know he doesn’t deserve this girl, but he works hard to earn her, and the audience’s love.
KNOCKED UP is the latest film from Judd Apatow, the man who gave us THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN, so in addition to the heartwarming scenes, this film is also very, very funny!
KNOCKED UP is one of my favourite films of the year! I laughed very, very hard, even this week when I saw it for the third time, and in addition to that, I also enjoyed it.
It’s a great film!
Yes, the funny, raunchy, heartwarming KNOCKED UP is one of my favourite films of the year.
Before it was released as a part of the GRINDHOUSE double feature film back in April, I thought that Quentin Tarrantino’s latest film DEATH PROOF would also be one of my favourites of 2007.
Unfortunately…, it is not.
I love Tarantino’s work! From RESERVOIR DOGS and PULP FICTION through JACKIE BROWN and KILL BILL, it is my standing policy that whatever he does, I will be the first in line to see…and when this film came out, I was.
I was also disappointed…but I still enjoyed it…or parts of it anyway.
GRINDHOUSE was concieved as a double feature film collaboration with Robert Rodriguez as a tribute to the B-Movies that used to play at drive-ins and as late, late shows at some theatres in the 1970s.
As I mentioned, it was a double feature in theatres, but the two movies are being released seperately on DVD, starting with DEATH PROOF, a film about some two sets of female friends and a psychopathic stunt man who targets them with his stunt car.
Tarantino’s films are known for their dialogue and action. The action in this film as it is great, but this time, his dialogue lets his film down.
Instead of interesting people talking about interesting things, full of pop culture and real life references, we get characters who have nothing to say, saying a lot of nothing.
No, I didn’t love DEATH PROOF, even though I thought Kurt Russell was great in it, but I am proud to own Quentin Tarantino’s latest.
And, even though I don’t recommend it, I know that I will watch it again some day.
As for our next release, the high profile football movie WE ARE MARSHALL…I will never watch that movie again…and you should never see it for a first time!
WE ARE MARSHALL had the chance to be an exceptional movie, albeit one inspired by a real life tragedy.
But instead of something that will inspire, inform, and entertain movie goers, the result is something you should just ignore, even if it does feature a football team wearing green and white.
WE ARE MARSHALL is based on the true story of the Marshall University football team from West Virginia.
On November 14th, 1970, most of the school’s team – and coaches – died in a plane crash. In all, there were 75 people killed.
The University was ready to shut the football program down, but in the end they kept it going. Then, by 1984, Marshall football began a streak of 21 straight winning seasons.
Now those are the facts, the real life facts.
To me, as tragic as it is, it sounds like a great idea for a very moving film.
But somehow, WE ARE MARSHALL ended up as just another sports movie full of chiches.
There are the usual, waaaay too-familiar, training montages and field action, and the film just never seems to find the right tone between sports, action and drama.
WE ARE MARSHALL does have some touching moments, but what could have been a powerful movie about never giving up, even in the face of tragedy, just is not.
Instead, it is a film that just isn’t worth your time.
I will also use the contraction “isn’t” for the poker movie LUCKY YOU.
It “isn’t” worth your time either!
LUCKY YOU was shot and completed over two years ago, and it was finally released this year…but it shot have stayed unreleased.
It is about Huck, the gambling son of a gambler, who’s itching to earn a seat in the World Series of Poker, where he’ll play high-stakes Texas Hold-‘Em against the world’s finest, including his semi-estranged father, with whom he doesn’t get along with.
Enter the female love interest who watches as Huck wins his way to the big game, but she can’t fully love, or trust him, because of his gambling lifestyle.
LUCKY YOU doesn’t have an engaging romantic angle, there is little to no tension between the father and the son, and even if you play poker, it is unlikley that you will feel that you have been dealt a winning hand with thsi film.
So to recap, if you watch LUCKY YOU, you will be unlucky.
Even with a cast that includes the great Robert Duvall, Eric Bana from MUNICH and the usually reliable Drew Barrymore, skip this movie! Cash out and rent or buy something else!!
Like a stupid, juvenile, exceptionally funny DVD like SEASON TWO of the hilarious TV show ROBOT CHICKEN.
ROBOT CHICKEN is an Emmy Award-Winning animated television series with short, quick sketches that parody a number of well known pop culture icons, such as Batman, Lord Of The Rings, Harry Potter, Hilary Duff, the Muppets, Austin Powers, Inspector Gadget, Looney Tunes, Spy Vs. Spy, and My Little Pony.
Each episode is less than 12 minutes long, and if you enjoy being entertained by stupid or juvenile humour, and you have not seen this show yet, then rush out and get ROBOT CHICKEN right now, and have a laugh…or two…or even more!!
The very funny SEASON TWO of ROBOT CHICKEN, the not-worth-your-time LUCKY YOU and WE ARE MARSHALL, Quentin Tarantino’s DEATH PROOF, the hilarious KNOCKED UP and the very good, Emmy Award winning film BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE are all available now on DVD.
Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report
IMAGINE THE SOUND is a Canadian made documentary on some of the key pioneers of the free jazz movement from the sixties and early seventies.
The line between reality and delusion is blurred in the BUG, the latest film from the director of THE EXORCIST.
The foreign film A FEW DAYS IN SEPTEMBER begins on September the 1st, 2001, and concludes on September the 11th.
In RED ROAD a woman starts stalking a man, and the reason for her obsession is gradually revealed.
Finally next week, we will share some laughs as THE ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER COMEDY FAVOURITES COLLECTION features the Governator’s best foray’s into comedy – TWINS, JUNIOR, and KINDERGARTEN COP.
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 next time on The Couch!

The Couch Potato Report – September 15th, 2007
This week The Couch Potato Report peels the careers of some former child stars, including Canadian Sarah Polley.
There is an eerie concidence that coincides with this week’s Report.
You see, I plan which movies I am going to discuss week’s in advance. I look for ways to tie films together, in addition to consulting the studio’s planned release dates, and always attempt to attach a Saskatchewan and Canadian angle, whenever possible.
It had been decided that this week I would use the films AWAY FROM HER and GEORGIA RULE to talk about two former child stars who are now moving into very different positions as adults in the movie world.
And for all child stars, Jodie Foster has the career that most of them asprire to.
Jodie began her career at the age of three in a television commercial, and before long she made her debut as a television actress in a 1968 episode of Mayberry R.F.D.
After several TV movies, she then moved on to make films in her teens, including FREAKY FRIDAY and TAXI DRIVER, before winner her first Academy Award for Best Actress in 1988 for THE ACCUSED and her second in 1991 for THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS.
And then, in addition to starring in movies and winning Oscars, she started directing movies, including LITTLE MAN TATE and HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS.
And now, Jodie is back in theatres this weekend with her new film THE BRAVE ONE, just as Sarah Polley’s AWAY FROM HER and Lindsay Lohan’s GEORGIA RULE debut on DVD.
Coincidence?
Maybe…maybe not.
Either way, between Polley and Lohan, the former star of ROAD TO AVONLEA is the one who seems most likley to follow in Jodie’s footsteps, especially with her spectacular directorial debut AWAY FROM HER.
Sarah Polley was born in Toronto and her film debut came at the age of four. At the age of eight, she was cast in the title role of the television series RAMONA, and starred in the Terry Gilliam film TEH ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN.
Her next role was Sara Stanley in the CBC show ROAD TO AVONLEA, and she followed that up with roles in the films THE SWEET HEREAFTER, GO, MY LIFE WITHOUT ME and DAWN OF THE DEAD.
This year, she went behind the camera to direct Oscar winner Julie Christie of DOCTOR ZHIVAGO fame and the great Gordon Pinsent from THE SHIPPING NEWS in AWAY FROM HER, based on the Alice Munro short story “The Bear Came Over the Mountain.”
AWAY FROM HER is about Grant and Fiona, a couple who have been married for 45 years.
Their lives change forever when Fiona begins to suffer from Alzheimer’s.
Eventually Fiona moves into a nursing home, where she loses virtually all memory of her husband.
In addition to Christie and Pinsent, who both give unforgettable performances, AWAY FROM HER also stars seasoned actors like Olympia Dukakis, Michael Murphy, Wendy Crewson and Alberta Watson, and Polley uses the fact that these are actors we know to benefit her film.
Their experience in front of the camera benefits her behind it.
Had she cast actors who we aren’t as familiar, or as comfortable with seeing on screen, AWAY FROM HER could have been a completely different film.
Meaning, it could have been an uncomfortable film from an inexperienced director.
But it is neither of those things…AWAY FROM HER is a quiet and very confident film. It is a mature film, starring mature actors, for a mature audience…from a first time feature film director who is only twenty-eight years old.
It is a solid movie that is quite worthy of your time, even with it’s heavy subject matter.
If Sarah Polley aspires to have the career that Jodie Foster has, as most young actresses do, she is well on her way.
Lindsay Lohan, on the other hand, has become a cautionary tale for young actresses, and her film GEORGIA RULE, on the other hand, is not worth your time.
Lindsay Lohan started in show business as a child fashion model for magazines and television commercials. At age ten, she began her acting career in a soap opera; at eleven, she made her motion picture debut by playing both twins in the 1998 remake of THE PARENT TRAP, and soon she was playing the Jodie Foster role in the 2003 remake of FREAKY FRIDAY.
She rose to stardom with the 2004 film MEAN GIRLS, and she also released her first music CD that year as well.
Since then, she hasn’t made a film, or record worth mentioning.
Then, on January 18th of this year she checked herself in to a rehabilitation facility for drugs and alcohol.
In May and July she once again ran into trouble with the law, and went to rehab, and on August 23rd it was announced that Lohan would serve one day in jail and 10 days community service for both her DUI arrests.
In between all of the attention she received for her lifestyle, Lohan also got some mentions in the press for the two movies that she was in this year…but the two came together with the film GEORGIA RULE as the producer of the film publically criticized Lohan for excessive partying and showing up late to the set.
I am not sure if the resulting film would have been any different had she stopped partying, and showed up on time, and it really doesn’t matter. This just isn’t a very inventive movie.
In GEORGIA RULE, a rebellious uncontrollable teenager is sent to live with Georgia, her unrelenting, non-flexible grandmother who has a series of rules that she, and anyone who knows her, has to follow.
This is all done in an attempt to settle the teenager down….but maybe there is a larger problem at the core of her rowdiness….and as teh film goes on, we find out that her step-father might have been making late night visits to her room.
In addition to Lindsay Lohan, GEORGIA RULE also stars legendary actress Jane Fonda, the great Felicity Huffman from DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, and it was directed by Garry Marshall, who gave us HAPPY DAYS, LAVERNE & SHIRLEY, PRETTY WOMAN, and BEACHES.
So, this film’s pedigree is top notch, but the film just does not work.
The scenes that are supposed to be funny, are not funny, and the dramatic stuff doesn’t work either…and for me that was primarily die to the fact that I wasn’t able to see Lohan as an actress playing a role.
Instead, I saw a young troubled woman in real life, playing a young troubled woman in a movie.
So what I was left with was a one-hour and fifty-three minute film that wasn’t worth my time, and I don’t think it is worth yours.
But, let me conclude by saying that I think Lohan is an actress with talent, so here’s hoping that she can get her life back on track, so her career can follow.
And maybe some day, she will have a career like Jodie Foster’s…or even Sarah Polley’s.
Okay, I have two other new releases to quickly tell you about this week.
These days Sam Raimi is known around the world as the man who directed the SPIDER-MAN trilogy of films.
But before that trio of movies, he was involved with the great DARKMAN TRILOGY.
The original DARKMAN movie came out in 1990 and starred a pre-SCHINDLER’S LIST Liam Neeson as a scientist working on skin replacement technology who is beaten up by a group of mob hitmen and left for dead.
He survives, but is left disfigured, and he uses his replacement skin to mold a new face for himself, and other ones that will allow him to get revenge on the men who attacked him.
DARKMAN did well enough at the box office to warrant two direct-to-video sequels – DARKMAN II: THE RETURN OF DURANT and DARKMAN III: DIE DARKMAN DIE – both of which were filmed in Toronto.
The sequels weren’t anywhere near as good as the original, as both Raimi and Neeson had moved on to other projects, and eventual huge success.
Now all three films are available in THE DARKMAN TRILOGY, an inexpensive package that is very worthy of your time.
And if you are a fan of the SPIDER-MAN films that Raimi has made, you should definitely see DARKMAN because he set the stage for a lot of what he did in those films in it.
Finally this week is a film called EVEN MONEY.
EVEN MONEY has a cast that includes Oscar winners Kim Basinger and Forest Whitaker, along with Danny DeVito, Kelsey Grammer, Nick Cannon, Ray Liotta, Carla Gugino and Jay Mohr.
That cast, and the description on the back of the DVD case might tempt you into renting or buying this movie, but I am here this morning to tell you not to bother.
The film is about how gambling addiction ruins three unconnected people’s lives….but those lives, teh people and all of it is just a…slow…moving…melodrama.
Unless you are on the verge of a gambling addition, and you need a movie to show you how your life can change forever if that happens, then don’t bet on EVEN MONEY.
Just remember, the casino always wins!!
The medicore EVEN MONEY, the THE DARKMAN TRILOGY with one great film and two mildly entertaining sequels, the Lindsay Lohan film GEORGIA RULE and the great AWAY FROM HER directed by Canadian filmmaker Sarah Polley are all available now on DVD.
Oh, and the new Jodie Foster film THE BRAVE ONE, is in theatres now!
Coming up in Two Weeks on the next Couch Potato Report
BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE is the Emmy winning film that was made right here on teh prairies and adapted from the book of the same name by Dee Brown; KNOCKED UP is the comedy hit of the summer, starring Vancouver’s Seth Rogan.
I will also talk about Quentin Tarrantino’s latest film, his half of the GRINDHOUSE double feature called DEATH PROOF; the football movie WE ARE MARSHALL; the poker movie LUCKY YOU; and SEASON TWO of the hilarious TV show ROBOT CHICKEN.
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 next time on The Couch!

The Couch Potato Report – September 8th, 2007
This week The Couch Potato Report peels one of the greatest moments in Canadians sports history, and some TV shows on DVD.
Good morning and welcome, I am about to recap some classic hockey games, from twenty years ago, and over 55 hours of television shows.
Here we go….To some September of 1972 featured the greatest goal in Canadian sports history. To other, including me, that goal came in September of 1987.
The voice of the great Dan Kelly still gives me chills everytime I hear the call of that goal, and now his calls for all of the three final games of the 1987 Canada Cup are available in the spectacular three DVD Box Set CANADA CUP 1987 – THE FINAL SERIES.
The 1987 Canada Cup took place from August 28th to September 15th that year, and games were played in Calgary, Hartford, Halifax, Sydney, Montreal, Regina and at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton.
It was in Hamilton where the final two games took place.
While it is common place now to see Russian stars in the NHL, at the time, they weren’t allowed to pursue playing careers in North America, and so it was only through tournaments like the Canada Cup where hockey fans could see their skills head-to-head against the best of the NHL.
Some people remember where they were when Paul Henderson scored THE goal against Russia in 1972, and other people know exactly where they were when Canada beat the United States in Salt Lake City in 2002, and then there are others who are fans of other games and series as well.
But, I remember where I was on September 15th, 1987. I working at the World Trade and Convention centre in Halifax…okay, I wasn’t actually working…my colleagues and I were watching the game!!
Each one of those words has a unique memory attached to them, and I completely enjoyed reliving them as I watched the DVDs in the CANADA CUP 1987 – THE FINAL SERIES.
This Box Set features the games, as they aired, in their entirety. There are no interviews, retrospective looks back or anything like that…just the games.
And as we approach the twentieth anniversary of that final game, I really appreciated that.
We live in a day and age where sports DVDs are over produced, over edited, and feature load booming narration.
This set lets the games, the plays, the great Dan Kelly, and the incredible excitement of this once-in-a-lifetime Series speak for itself.
From a great Canadian hockey series that is available for you to own on DVD, we movie now to a short lived television series, created by an Oscar winning Canadian.
That series is THE BLACK DONNELLYS.
In Canadian history, The Black Donnellys is the common nickname of the Donnelly family; a family that emigrated from Ireland, to Canada in the mid-1800s, and who participated in a notorious feud in Ontario.
Stompin’ Tom Connors wrote a song about it called “The Black Donnellys’ Massacre” and Steve Earle mentions the family in his song “Justice in Ontario”.
Writer and director Paul Haggis – who was nominated for an Academy Award for writing Clint Eastwood’s MILLION DOLLAR BABY and won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for CRASH in 2004 – is from London, Ontario, and his naming of the family in his TV show is no coincidence.
He references the real-life Black Donnellys’ situations as the Donnelly brothers in the TV show also participate in feuds.
Plus, they are also Irish, but their stories don’t happen in Canada, they take place on the streets and in the bars of New York.
The TV series follows four young Catholic Irish-American brothers in Hell’s Kitchen and their involvement with organized crime, their family and each other.
THE BLACK DONNELLYS debuted on February 26th of this year, and after seven episodes it was cancelled. There were thirteen episodes produced, but only seven aired.
You could only see the last six episodes online, and even though I had been watching the series, I didn’t bother watching the reamining episodes as I knew it would eventually come out on DVD…and now it has!
THE BLACK DONNELLYS – THE COMPLETE SERIES is a three disc set and if you were left hanging when this less than superb, but very satisfying series was cancelled, you can now find out what happens to Jimmy, Tommy, Kevin, and Sean Donnelly, and Jenny Reilly.
While it isn’t as engaging a story as the Canadian Black Donnellys is…the show is still worth seeing.
Another show that is also worth seeing, that also suffered low ratings when it aired, but wasn’t cancelled is 30 ROCK.
Executive produced by Toronto’s own Lorne Michaels, 30 ROCK is a show about what happens behind the scenes at a television variety show…not unlike Saturday Night Live, the iconic television show that Michaels created back in 1975.
But 30 ROCK isn’t just about the fictional TV show at it’s core, it is also about the people who work there.
The insecure, sometimes idotic, but always interesting people who work there.
The first few episodes of 30 ROCK aren’t as good as the last few. The show, and it’s ensemble cast, got better as the season went on, lead by it’s star, creator, and writer, the great Tina Fey.
The other reason for the show’s success is Alec Baldwin…he owns every scene he is in.
30 ROCK – SEASON ONE is also a 3 DVD set and it is a show I always enjoy.
THE OFFICE, as I have mentioned before, is a show that I always love!
While some feel it is blasphemy to praise the American remake of the classic BBC series THE OFFICE, I do not.
Yes, the British version is superior, and always will be, Steve Carell and the cast and writers of the American one continuously come up with unique and interesting situations and jokes that make me laugh. That is the primary thing I expect from a comedy and there are many, many laughs in SEASON THREE of THE OFFICE.
I highly recommend THE OFFICE, both in it’s original incarnation and the remake.
It is laugh out loud funny!!
I also laughed a lot as I watched Season Two of the show WEEDS.
WEEDS stars Mary-Louise Parker from THE WEST WING and FRIED GREEN TOMATOES as a suburban widower who is also the mother of two kids…and a pot dealer in the Los Angeles suburb of Agrestic.
In the Second Season of the show, her brand new business – and crop – is a hit, but she now has to work hard to keep up with her competition, her kids and her neighbors.
WEEDS isn’t a perfect show, but it is exceptionally entertaining, smart and funny. If the premise doesn’t bother you, give it a shot.
Up next is FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS – THE FIRST SEASON.
This show is based on the movie of the same name, a film I liked.
Unfortunately, I didn’t like the TV series as much, but it isn’t bad.
In both the film and the movie, FRIDAY NIGHT’s lights shine on high school football in Odessa, Texas. To some people in the small town, the weekly game is the only game in town and every single game is a must win.
The reason I have for not completely embracing this rock and roll, high energy football show, is simply due to that fact that I wasn’t engaged by it.
For a two hour movie, the story of this team, it’s players and fans kept me interested, and I felt a connection to it.
Over the course of the series’ 22 episodes, I just lost interest.
It is well written, acted and done, but it is just not the show for me…but maybe it is the show for you, and that is one of the greatest thinsg about the fact that there are so many shows! We all fine one that we love!
One of the shows I loved when I was a kid was the program VOYAGERS!
It was a time travel series that aired during the 1982-83 television season.
Due to the fact that they always met actual historical people and events, the show engaged me when I was a kid.
Cleopatra, Babe Ruth, the Titanic, and Moses were just some of them…and there were many others.
Watching VOYAGERS! this past week did make me feel like a kid again, but it didn’t hold up as well through the years. It is still entertaining, but some of the special effects and footage looks really dated.
All that said, I did enjoy re-living the VOYAGERS! adventures, and I would recommend it to kids today.
That is because it is a very positive show, that always encourages the viewer to find out more.
The entertaining, if dated, eighties TV show VOYAGERS!, the way too dramatic, but entertaining first season of FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, the superb second season of WEEDS, the less than superb, but very satisfying THE BLACK DONNELLYS, the great first season of 30 ROCK, the spectacular third season of the American version of THE OFFICE, and one of the greatest moments in Canadian sports history – CANADA CUP ’87 – THE FINAL SERIES – are all available now on DVD.
Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report
I will talk about two very different child stars who are moving into adult positions in the movie world.
Canadian actress Sarah Polley from ROAD TO AVONLEA will be featured as she continues her path forward with her superb film – and directorial debut – AWAY FROM HER.
And the other side of that coin will feature the downward spiral of American actress Lindsay Lohan’s and her latest GEORGIA RULE, a movie that also stars the great Jane Fonda and Felicity Huffman.
Also next week, before Sam Raimi made the SPIDER-MAN trilogy, he was involved with the great DARKMAN TRILOGY; Reiko Aylesworth from TV’s 24 stars in CRAZY LOVE; and an all-star cast are featured in EVEN MONEY a movie about how gambling addiction ruins three unconnected people’s lives.
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 next time on The Couch!

The Couch Potato Report – September 1st, 2007
This week The Couch Potato Report peels six figures, history bites, heroes and our FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD concludes.
Up first this week is the Canadian film SIX FIGURES.
Set in Calgary, SIX FIGURES introduces us to Warner. He is 35, married, the father of two children, and has a career that isn’t going well.
Warner works hard at his job, and loves his family, but while he and his wife are looking for an affordable house to buy, he can’t help but think that they should be further along in life by now.
Warner’s wife Claire loves him so much that she ignores her Mother’s advice that he is a loser, just like her father was.
As the film goes on, we see Warner struggle at his job, while Claire gets a raise and a promotion….and just when they finally find a house they are interested in, and can afford, Warner’s boss tells him that maybe he shouldn’t buy a house just yet.
Warner is 35, married with a wife who loves him, two children he adores, but he thinks that his life isn’t going well.
But then it gets even worse. Claire is violetly attacked and left for dead, and the people closest to the couple suspect that Warner’s general frustration with life may be to blame.
Since he is the prime suspect, the only suspect in fact, Warner is arrested and put in jail for 24 hours.
And after he gets out, his accounts are frozen, he loses his job, and his own parents aren’t even sure that he’s innocent.
SIX FIGURES is the type of film that wants to be a low concept thriller, and at times I will admit that it is interesting. Mostly, however, it is just a very, very slow film that isn’t all that thrilling.
In fact, there is segment of the movie that comes at the one-hour-twenty-minute mark where absolutely nothing happens for five straight minutes. No action, no dialgue…nothing!
But that five minutes, or the movie’s very slow pace aren’t the main faults with the film.
No, the primary reason why SIX FIGURES isn’t something I can fully recommend to you is that fact that it has a fatal flaw.
A flaw that prevents it from having any logical conclusion, a flaw that erases any hope of a conclusion that makes any sense….a flaw that I can’t even discuss, because if I do it will ruin any suspense the film does possess, should you choose to watch it.
No, I won’t tell you what the film’s fatal flaw is, but I will tell you that I mentioned the fatal flaw just a few sentences ago.
SIX FIGURES wants to be the type of film that you’ll talk about and dissect after it is over. But you won’t do that. You may spend a few minutes making up your own mind about what you think happened, but it isn’t good enough to compell you to discuss it with anyone.
SIX FIGURES isn’t great, but it does have a few interesting moments.
Plus, the actress who plays Claire – Caroline Cave from THE L WORD – and Brooklynn Proulx, the young actress who plays the couple’s daughter, are very good in the film.
Now, let me be honest, if SIX FIGURES wasn’t a Canadian film, I probably would tell you that it is a waste of your time…but since it is Canadian, I happily cut it some slack, and you should too.
They even reference Saskatchewan in it!
Search it out and give it a watch! Support Canadian films!!
Up next this week is the three-DVD set for series five of the TV show HISTORY BITES.
HISTORY BITES was a Canadian sketch comedy show that ran from 1998-2003.
Each episode of the series looked at what might have been on television had the medium had been around for the last 5,000 years of human history.
Typically, a significant historical event was chosen and mock news, sports and entertainment programming was created around it.
For instance, the first Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims is done as a parody of ALL IN THE FAMILY, and renamed ALL IN THE PILGRIM FAMILY.
Each episode also includes several segments of the great Rick Green – of The Frantics!! – giving historical background of the episode’s chosen era.
HISTORY BITES frequently goes from one comedy sketch to another, and often returns to running skits, as it is meant to represent a channel-surfing viewer who never watches anything for more than a few minutes at a time.
That was a great impression of ANNIE HALL-era Woody Allen, and the cast of HISTORY BITES all do great impressions, and the show is well researched and well-written, but as a whole, the show is hit and miss.
Some of it is exceptionally entertaining, while other parts aren’t very good at all.
Plus, for a Canadian show, there was never much Canadian history included on the show…in fact, with the exception of The War Of 1812, there isn’t much about our home and native land on this 15 episode set.
Still, if you have never seen it, HISTORY BITES is very worthy of your time…even if it is hit and miss.
Perhaps what was a miss for me, will be a hit for you. And when it is a hit, it is very, very funny.
HISTORY BITES – THE COMPLETE SERIES 5 is now available on DVD, and so is SEASON ONE of HEROES, the spectacular TV show that debuted last season about some ordinary people who discover that they have extraordinary abilities.
During the last television season, many of the anthology shows that had been entertaining us, and confusing us weren’t as good as they had been. LOST and 24, to just pick on two, had awful years…but luckily there was a show that filled in the gap and gave action and adventure fans a weekly dose of confusion, an answer here and there, some great writing and very interesting characters.
That show…yes…was HEROES, the most talked-about television show of the 2006-2007 season.
The HEROES, who “thought they were like everyone else… until they realized they have incredible abilities”, soon realized that they have a role in preventing a catastrophe and saving humankind.
HEROES tells it’s story like a comic books with short, multi-episode story arcs that build upon a larger, more encompassing storyline.
But most importantly, the show doesn’t just tease and tease and tease. It makes you ask questions, and then from time to time, it gives you answers.
And now, with the debut of Season Two coming in about four weeks on Monday, September 24th, SEASON ONE is available on DVD in a superb 7 disc Box Set full of special features, including cast commentaries, deleted scenes, and an extended version of the Pilot episode that shows where the series might have gone.
HEROES is a spectacular show, even if you don’t usually watch science-fiction or fantasy based shows. The stories and plots are all very well-written, and the actors all make their characters seem like believeable people.
I highly recommend it.
And here’s hoping that Season Two, and the upcoming seasons of LOST and 24 are all as good as Season One of HEROES!
Finally this week, when the Summer Movie Season began with the opening of SPIDER-MAN 3 on May 4th, the action filled, very loud, check-your-brain-at-the-door summer movie season began.
With the Labour Day upon us, that season has ended with box-office sales hitting a record $4 billion, surpassing the industry’s previous high established in 2004.
Each week during the summer movie season I have been telling you about at least one current release on DVD that you’ll need your brain to enjoy.
Welcome to the 18th and final entry in the FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD.
Our Festival continues with the superb Academy Award nominated Danish film AFTER THE WEDDING.
I can’t think of a better way to end than with this movie. It is an exceptionally interesting and entertaining film!
Mads Mikkelsen, who played the villain in the most recent James Bond film, is a very human man named Jacob.
He is a Danish emigrant running an orphanage in India.
With the orphanage facing closure due to financial pressures, he returns to Denmark seeking funding from Jorgen, a multi-millionaire who will only give him the money if he goes there to get it.
Since their meetings will take a few days and since Jacob has no other engagements, Jorgen invites him to be a guest at the wedding of his daughter.
When he arrives at the church for the ceremony, Jacob discovers that Anna’s mother and Jorgen’s wife is an old flame.
And that’s only the first of several startling revelations that will turn Jacob’s short business trip into a life-changing experience.
When I watched AFTER THE WEDDING I repeatedly wanted to skip chapters so I could see how it ended. I was that curious.
Luckily I did not because what played out in front of me was a film full of tension, betrayal, and interesting people.
Like I said, I can’t think of a better way to end thsi summer’s FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD than with this movie.
Search it out, AFTER THE WEDDING is an exceptionally interesting and entertaining film!
And don’t worry, I will continue to talk about Foreign Films here on CBC radio whenever there are titles available.
So, let me recap – the interesting and entertaining AFTER THE WEDDING, SEASON ONE of the great TV show HEROES, the hit and miss, but still entertaining Canadian TV show HISTORY BITES and the Canadian film SIX FIGURES, a movie that is worth seeing, even with it’s fatal flaw, are all available now on DVD.
Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report
To some September of 1972 featured the greatest goal in Canadian sports history. To other, including me, that goal came in September of 1987. Next week, we will relive that goal, and much more with CANADA CUP ’87 – THE FINAL SERIES.
Also next week, with the new TV season starting soon, I will tell you about the new DVD box sets that are available for THE OFFICE, 30 ROCK, THE BLACK DONNELLYS, WEEDS and FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS.
Plus, the one-of-a-kind eighties show VOYAGERS! is also now available on DVD!
So, to recap, next week I will cover 20 hockey games, from twenty years ago, and over 55 hours of television showsÖand I will do it all in 12 minutes!
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 next time on The Couch!

The Couch Potato Report – August 25th, 2007
This week The Couch Potato Report peels a fracture, a superb documentary, an awful ex, and IÖfor India.
When the Academy Award nominations came out in January for last year, Canadian actor Ryan Gosling from London, Ontario, was included in the Best Actor category for his work in the superb film HALF NELSON.
When the nominations for this year are announced in January, it is unlikley that Gosling will get nominated for his latest film, but that doesn’t mean that FRACTURE isn’t worth seeing…because it is!
Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins from SILENCE OF THE LAMBS also stars in FRACTURE.
He plays a millionaire who loves his wife, but when he discovers that she is having an affair, he shoots her.
Gosling plays hot shot assistant D.A. Willy Beachum.
But Willy’s head isn’t in the game as he is about to start a new job with a prestigious law firm.
Plus, he thinks the case is a slam-dunk because there is a signed confession and a weapon.
Since the lawyer has one foot out the door, he isn’t prepared to deal with a man who is a superb adversary, and he starts to lose the case.
While not a superb film, FRACTURE is a very entertaining cat and mouse thriller that won’t overload you with “shocking” twists and “surprise” turns.
Yes, Hopkins can play this sort of role in his sleep, and at times he does seem a bit bored by the script, but at those times Gosling holds the film together as he spars with Hopkins.
FRACTURE is a movie that is worth your time, it is, as they say, a good rental.
Up next this week is a film that is not only also a good rental, it is a must see!
That film is the documentary GOD GREW TIRED OF US.
This film is about three of the “Lost Boys of Sudan”, a group of some 25,000 young men who have fled the wars in Sudan since the 1980.
After showing some of the horrific realities of life for the thousands of men living in a refugee camp GOD GREW TIRED OF US then begins to focus on three of them as they move to the United States, and hopefully a brighter future.
But as they learn new customs, adapt to new and strange foods, and cope with the ordeal of getting and keeping a job, or multiple jobs, they never forget the loved ones they left behind in Africa.
GOD GREW TIRED OF US is utterly fascinating from the moment it begins, and in addition to being an exceptionally well-made documentary, it is also an entertaining film.
Especially once the boys get to American and have to learn how to use new devices.
Yes, GOD GREW TIRED OF US will entertain you, but it will also break your heart.
It might even move you to try and help…and if it does, the DVD also provides you with links and information on how you can help The Lost Boys Of Sudan.
However it affects you, I suggest you give it an opportunity to do so. GOD GREW TIRED OF US is a superb movie!
Yes, GOD GREW TIRED OF US is superb….our next release – THE EX – is an awful film about a slacker who is forced to work for his father-in-law.
Three television actors I love, I mean literally love to watch on screen star in this mess – Zach Braff from SCRUBS, Jason Bateman from ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, and Amanda Peet from STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP, and their talents are wasted
Braff plays a guy who has a history of being unable to keep any job for long.
His latest opportunity comes from his father-in-law, who invites him to leave New York and become part of his team at an advertising agency.
So, his wife, and their new baby, move to Ohio and he finds out that his mentor, the wheelchair-bound Chip, used to date his wife, and still has a thing for her.
THE EX has a great cast and a premise that could have resulted in something entertaining.
But the execution of all those elements is a film that should just be executed.
THE EX is just a movie populated by dislikeable individuals doing unpleasant things and you should ignore it, no matter how much you might like the actors who star in it.
I wish I had!
Alright, lets close this week with two good titles, two things that are worth watching, that are worth you rtime.
Starting with SEASON THREE of the superb TV series HOUSE.
HOUSE is an Emmy-winning show that stars British actor and comedian Hugh Laurie as Dr. Gregory House, a maverick medical genius who heads a team of young diagnosticians at a Teaching Hospital set in New Jersey.
The team goes to extraordinary lengths to accomplish a common task: diagnosing and treating unusual ailments.
HOUSE is one of those shows that I don’t watch on TV every week. Instead, like many people do, I always wait for the DVD release so I can watch an entire season in a few days.
It is that good, and I enjoy taking it all in, as opposed to patiently waiting to see it unfold each week.
Yes, with HOUSE, a show about a doctor and the people he sees and the cases he and his team work on in each epiosde, I have no patience!
By the way…that joke is funnier than anything you will hear in THE EX.
In SEASON THREE of the show, HOUSE ups the ante by putting its main character in jail and threatening him with prison.
That changes the relationships that House has with all of the show’s main characters, and makes for some engaging ongoing storylines, while the team works together to solve a medical mystery in each episode.
HOUSE mixes medical drama with some CSI-style investigating and graphics, and it challenges you. I always like it when a TV show challenges me and I enjoyed watching every episode of SEASON THREE this week on DVD.
Okay, finally this very busy week, our FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD continues with the British film I FOR INDIA.
After moving to Britain from his home land of India in 1965, Yash Pal Suri bought two Super 8 cameras, a pair of projectors and two tape recorders so that he could keep in audiovisual contact with his relatives back in India.
The dialogue between the families is fascinating as Dr. Suri and his family enjoy life in Londaon and everything it has to offer, while his family in India misses him, and wishes that he will return.
Dr. Suri’s now grown-up daughter has collected all of her family’s correspondence, and with it she tells their story.
But she also charts the rise in immigrants to England, using vintage news reports and clips from BBC shows that were airing in the early sixties to help immigrants get acclimatized with their new home.
I FOR INDIA is a unique look back at the history of this family, a great time capsule for a era gone by, and it is the second to last entry in this summer’s Foreign FIlm Festival on DVD.
The very interesting I FOR INDIA, SEASON THREE of the great TV show HOUSE, the awful non-comedy THE EX, the utterly fascinating documentary GOD GREW TIRED OF US and the very entertaining cat and mouse thriller FRACTURE are all available now on DVD.
Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report
The Canadian film SIX FIGURES asks, could a man in his mid-thirties, married, two kids, with a dead-end career in fund raising be capable of murder?
The TV show HISTORY BITES is a sketch comedy show that answers the question, “What if television had been around for the past 5,000 years?”
HEROES is the spectacular TV show about some ordinary people who discover that they have extraordinary abilities.
Also next week, our FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD concludes with the Academy Award nominated Danish film AFTER THE WEDDING.
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 next time on The Couch!

THE COUCH POTATO REPORT – August 18th, 2007
This week The Couch Potato Report peels a Manitoba made lookout, some wild hogs and Welcome Home!
Up first this week is a great little thriller called THE LOOKOUT
In THE LOOKOUT Joseph Gordon-Levitt – who played the kid, Tommy, on the TV show THIRD ROCK FROM THE SUN is Chris, a star high school hockey player with a bright future and a gorgeous girlfriend.
One night, on a back country road, everything changes.
An accident leaves him with a brain injury, and he now needs notes to remind him to do simple things, like to grind the coffee beans before trying to make a pot of coffee, to take a shower when he wakes up, and such.
The film primarily focusses on the time four years after the accident, when Chris is as recovered as he is likely to be.
All he wants is to lead a normal life, but he has no girlfriend, he works as a night janitor in a bank, and his only real buddy is his blind, older roommate, Lewis.
Then, one day at a bar, he meets Gary and the two become friends.
They two hang out and play pool together, Gary introduces him to a woman, and everything appears to be going well …until the day that Gary asks for Chris’s help….to rob the bank.
And that is about all I am going to tell you about this film, because any more details might ruin it for you, and I do not want to do that. I want you to see it!
Screenwriter Scott Frank – who gave us LITTLE MAN TATE, MALICE, OUT OF SIGHT and GET SHORTY has given us another well-written film with real-life characters.
He also makes his directorial debut with THE LOOKOUT…a film shot in and around Winnipeg.
THE LOOKOUT is one of those films that most people would probably skip over at the store, it was bypassed by almost everyone it when it played in theatres back in March, but you should not miss this film.
It is full of grit, has a great deal of tension, and is always interesting.
THE LOOKOUT is a film I highly recommend.
Now…on the other side of that coin, the polar opposite if you will, is our next film this week.
A film I disliked, dispised…actually, let me be blunt…this next title is a film that I absolutely hated!
That film is WILD HOGS, and it is one of the worst movies I have ever seen.
Four actors I really like, respect, and usually enjoy star in WILD HOGS – John Travolta, Tim Allen, William H. Macy and Martin Lawrence.
They play four middle aged men who ride their motorcycles after work and on weekends.
It is something they do as a group for fun and relaxation, but then one day they decide to take it to the next level.
They plan to take a road trip from their home in Cincinnati to the Pacific, in order to get away from their lives which – they feel – are leading them nowhere.
Now let me stop there and remind you of the plot of the 1991 film CITY SLICKERS – Mitch and his friends Ed and Phil are having mid-life crisis. They decide to go on a two week holiday in the wild west driving cattle from New Mexico to Colorado. There they become real cowboys, and find out one or two other things about life in the open air of the west.
Sound familiar? Well it is…but that is where the similarities end. CITY SLICKERS is a classic, WILD HOGS is awful!!
The main problems I have with WILD HOGS is that it doesn’t seem to give any respect to the very talented actors it has playing the leads.
The script never allows them to act, and thus, inhabit their characters.
Had they done that, this could have been a pretty good movie.
Now, I usually don’t sit here and tell you how a movie could have been better, but this week I will make an exception.
Had WILD HOGS followed it’s premise of just sending their characters on a road trip, and let time, the guys’ egos, the elements and the things that actually happen along the road take their course, this could have been a great film.
But instead of letting life be the antagonist, the filmmakers had to include a biker gang as the Wild Hogs’ enemies.
The minute we meet this gang is when the film loses any momentum it had built up, and instead of being entertained, we get Ray Liotta – as the lead bad guy – yelling.
And then he yells some more.
Now I know my dislike and disdain for WILD HOGS isn’t shared by the majority of people who have seen it.
After all, it made over 168 million dollars at the box office since it debuted last March, and within a few days an announcement will come that it is the best selling DVD of the past week in North America.
So the film has found an audience…but I don’t know why…this movie just doesn’t work.
The screenplay isn’t funny, the actors spend so much time trying to outdo each other on screen that they aren’t believable as friends, much less comrades, and…I…can’t be bothered talking about this movie anymore.
If you decide to see it, go ahead, maybe you will like it better than I did.
But to be clear, I did not like WILD HOGS at all.
It is one of the worst movies I have ever seen.
Ever!!
Okay, from the awful, lets get back to some good.
And we will cleanse ourselves from the stench of WILD HOGS with Jim Henson’s classic television program THE MUPPET SHOW, because SEASON TWO of the show is now available on DVD!!
All 24 episodes from the show’s second season are included on this digitally remastered and restored 4-disc DVD set.
The set also includes THE MUPPETS VALENTINE SPECIAL, rare archival footage and more.
But mostly, it features the classic characters we grew up with, doing what we best remember them for.
SEASON TWO of the show saw Jim Henson and crew win an Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Program, and the guest stars included Steve Martin, Peter Sellers, Elton John, Julie Andrews, Don Knotts, Bernadette Peters, George Burns, John Cleese, Bob Hope, and many others.
I loved THE MUPPET SHOW when I watched it as a kid and a teenager, and I also enjoy watching it now on DVD, as an adult. I think you will too!!
Finally this week, our FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD continues with the very entertaining Spanish Film WELCOME HOME.
Out of all of the foreign films I have told you about this summer, this is one of my favourites!
WELCOME HOME is about Samuel and Eva, a young couple, who move to Madrid after she is hired to play viola in the orchestra.
The two have been dating for a while, but had been living apart, and now Samuel is very nervous because they are moving in together.
However, Eva has an even bigger bit of news for him. News that will worry him even more…and make him reconsider everything he thinks he knows…she is pregnant.
In addition to the relationship side of WELCOME HOME, we meet the interesting people that Samuel works with and runs in to, including a movie critic who is blind, and an old friend who never got over the crush she had on him.
WELCOME HOME isn’t spectacular, in fact it isn’t really even all that unique a relationship movie.
But Pilar LÛpez de Ayala – the actress who plays Eva – and Alejo Sauras – who is Samuel – are just so believeable as these people, that the film works, perhaps in spite of itself.
It is an enjoyable way to spend two hours, and it is the third last selection in the FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD.
The very enjoyable WELCOME HOME, SEASON TWO of the classic televison program THE MUPPET SHOW, the absolutely awful WILD HOGS, and the made-in-Manitoba thriller THE LOOKOUT are all available now on DVD.
Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report
Canadian Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling takes on manipulative criminal Anthony Hopkins in FRACTURE; and GOD GREW TIRED OF US is an utterly fascinating documentary about a group of Sudanese refugees granted asylum into the USA after wandering around Africa for years having been displaced by the wars in the 1990s.
Also next week, THE EX is an awful film about a slacker who is forced to work for his father-in-law; SEASON THREE of the superb TV series HOUSE debuts on DVD and our FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD continues with the British film I FOR INDIA.
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 next time on The Couch!

The Couch Potato Report – August 11th, 2007
This week The Couch Potato Report peels dissent, boiling, a starter and guys who don’t cry.
A few weeks ago, while I was reviewing Canadian filmmaker Debbie Melnyk’s documentary CITIZEN BLACK about Conrad Black, I said that it wasn’t a spectacular documentary as too often it told Debbie Melnyk’s story and not Conrad Black’s.
I also said that – when it comes to making documentaries – Melnyk is no Michael Moore, even though she really, really, really wants to be.
In the end, I stated that CITIZEN BLACK was always interesting, so ultimately I recommended the film as one that is worth your time.
Now, here we are five weeks later, and here we have another documentary from Debbie Melnyk and her husband Rick Caine.
And once again, she really, really, really wants to be Michael Moore, the celebrated filmmaker who gave us ROGER & ME, FAHRENHEIT 9/11, SICKO and the Academy Award winning BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE.
No, Melnyk is no Michael Moore, and her latest subject is the man himself.
This film is definitive proof that those who can’t do…do a documentary about who they aspire to be.
MANUFACTURING DISSENT is a documentary that tries to distinguish what is fact, fiction, legend, and otherwise about American filmmaker Michael Moore as he tours with his film FAHRENHEIT 9/11.
Because of his style, Moore is one of the most controversial figures to ever join the world of documentary filmmaking.
Moore is best known for his in-your-face-style interviews with high-profile politicians and actors and his now well-known use of editing to re-write the truth.
In MANUFACTURING DISSENT the filmmakers attempt to turn Moore’s own tactics against him.
They follow him around North America hoping for an interview, which he does not grant them, and they lie about their credentials to gain access to events he is holding, and they leave their cameras on after telling people they are off..
But none of those things lead up to what they want…a sit down interview with Michael Moore.
Since Moore won’t talk with them, the filmmakers then spend too much time interviewing his friends and colleagues…and way too much time telling their story as they follow him around.
No Debbie Melnyk is no Michael Moore, as much as she really seems to want to be, and she and her partner Rick Caine sure can’t make a film like Moore either.
But, in spite of itself – MANUFACTURING DISSENT is not that bad.
Much like CITIZEN BLACK it is always interesting, and has more than a few good interviews about Moore, so ultimately I recommended it as one that is worth your time.
And after you watch it, or any documentary for that matter, make sure you search out websites and books on the film’s topics so you can get the whole story.
Alright, let me quickly tell you about two of this week’s other new films, beginning with STARTER FOR 10 – a bittersweet comedy about life at a British university in the 1980s.
James McAvoy from THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND is a first year student at a high class British university whose main goal is to become a contestant on the popular game show “University Challenge.”
It is a show that is not unlike the legendary Canadian show “Reach For The Top.”
Since it is a film, our hero achieves his goal, but he has other road blocks ahead of him – namely, choosing between Alice and Rebecca – two women who both seem right for him, for different reasons.
Since STARTER FOR TEN takes place at a university in the eighties, the clothes, the attitudes of people, and the music will all seem familiar, and lead to some nostalgic moments for some.
I didn’t go to University, but I enjoyed the eighties, and it is that nostalgia that made me enjoy the film.
Yes, the plot is a little boring, the romances a little obvious, and some of the supporting characters seem pulled from bad sitcoms, but I did enjoy this movie.
STARTER FOR TEN isn’t the best film you will see this year, but if you are the same vintage as me, I think you will enjoy it. It is what people refer to as a “Good rental.”
The next release I have for you this week is the classic John Woo Hong Kong action film HARD BOILED.
It is now available in a TWO-DISC ULTIMATE EDITION and it must be said that director Woo made a film that contains some of the best action sequences ever filmed!
The great Chow Yun-fat plays a take-no-prisoners cop on the trail of the Hong Kong Mafia, when his partner is killed during a gun battle.
His guilt propels him into an all-out war against the gang, including an up-and-coming soldier in the mob – played by the also great Tony Leung – who turns out to be an undercover cop.
The two men must come to terms with their allegiance to the force and their loyalty to each other as they try to take down the gangsters.
HARD BOILED is smart, funny, well-written and features an incredible wealth of hard-to-believe action sequences!
Simply put, it is one of the greatest action films ever made!
I was originally going to make HARD BOILED this week’s selection in our ongoing FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD, but since it is a classic, I thought I would give it a seperate review.
I then chose the Polish film GUYS DON’T CRY as this week’s film from a foreign land to focus on.
GUYS DON’T CRY is about Kuba, a young violinist who tries to find a girl for his bumbling buddy Oscar.
With no luck, they call an escort service, but then they don’t have the money to pay, putting Kuba on the wrong side against the local Polish mafia. .
Luckily for him, these mafiosos are incompetent at best.
GUYS DON’T CRY is an action filled black comedy.
It is stupid at times, it is funny at times, and I enjoyed it from start to finish.
This is also the type of foreign film I always enjoy watching, because it shows up people and places we don’t usually see in North American films.
I guess that is why it is this week’s entry in the FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD.
GUYS DON’T CRY, the TWO-DISC ULTIMATE EDITION of the classic Hong Kong film HARD BOILED, teh good rental STARTER FOR 10, and the interesting Canadian made documentary MANUFACTURING DISSENT about American filmmaker Michael Moore are all available now on DVD.
Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report
THE LOOKOUT is a film made in Winnipeg about a once promising high school athlete whose finds himself caught up in a planned bank heist.
WILD HOGS stars John Travolta, Tim Allen, William H. Macy and Martin Lawrence as suburban biker wannabes who hit the open road looking for adventure; Canadian Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling takes on manipulative criminal Anthony Hopkins in FRACTURE; and the classic Jim Henson characters we grew up with are back on DVD in SEASON TWO of THE MUPPET SHOW.
Plus, our FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD continues with the very entertaining Spanish Film WELCOME HOME about a young couple trying to cope with moving in together, and having a baby.
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 next time on The Couch!

The Couch Potato Report – August 4th, 2007
This week The Couch Potato Report peels four foreign films and one Hollywood epic about some foreigners.
I’ll start The Report off this week with a question: Do you know who Johnny Halliday is?
Until recently, I had no idea who he was.
But I am not from France, I don’t live in Quebec, and I don’t listen to very much French music.
For if I did, I would have known that Johnny Halliday is an icon to our French friends.
Some even consider him to be the French equivalent of Elvis Presley.
Johnny Halliday has had a 40-year career in the music industry and is one of France’s biggest stars. He has made 400 tours, had 18 platinum albums, performed in front of 15 million people, and sold 100 million discs since the beginning of his career.
Yet Hallyday remains largely unknown outside of France and the French-speaking world, being often nicknamed in English-speaking countries as “the biggest rock star you’ve never heard of”.
As I said, I hadn’t heard of Johnny Halliday until recently, and I learned of him because of one of the most entertaining films I have seen this year.
The French film JEAN-PHILIPPE.
At the start of the movie we meet Fabrice. He is the biggest Johnny Hallyday fan in the world. He listen’s to Johnny’s songs as he travels to work, he carries an autograph around in his wallet, and he even has a room in his house full of memorabilia…complete with lifesize cardboard cut-outs of the man.
He’s a fan, his family knows he’s a fan and he work colleagues all know it too.
But one day he wakes up in a world that – on the surface – only seems a bit different. But in this new reality, it is a whole different world.
Instead of working on the right side of the office he shares, he works on the left, and his daughter now wants to be called Marion, and not Laura.
But the biggest difference is that fact that his music idol doesn’t exist!
In this new world no one has heard of Johnny Halliday.
So Fabrice tries to find out what happened to Jean-Philippe Smet, the man he knows as Johnny Hallyday.
And he finds him!
In this world Jean-Philippe is an ordinary average Joe running a bowling alley.
But Fabrice doesn’t want to live in a world without his beloved Johnny, so he makes it his mission to resurrect his idol, no matter the cost!
As I said a few minutes ago, JEAN-PHILIPPE is one of the most entertaining films of the year!
It was fun, charming, romantic, and if you have ever loved a singer so much that you can’t imagine your world without that person or their songs, then you will be able to relate to it.
Plus, Johnny Halliday plays himself, giving the movie an extra layer of enjoyment.
JEAN-PHILIPPE isn’t a film that you will find in every store you go into, but if you see it, watch it. It is that good!
Another movie you won’t find in every store is the remastered edition of the classic MOTHRA VS. GODZILLA.
But if you are a fan of this 1964 Japanese monster movie, you should search it out as well, becuase the new DVD features remastered versions of both the original movie and the English version.
MOTHRA VS. GODZILLA has great new packaging, the films look and sound tremendous, and the bonus features are all informative and entertaining as well.
Plus, the English version also features extra footage not in the Japanese version!
If you are a Godzilla fan, don’t hesitate to pick it up! Again, you may have to search for it, but it is worth your time!
The next two films this week are also worth your time, and the good news is you won’t have to search for them as they are everywhere!
I am referring to the hilarious British movie HOT FUZZ, from the makers of SHAUN OF THE DEAD, and the epic Hollywood action film 300 – based on Frank Miller’s graphic novel.
Let me start with HOT FUZZ.
Nicolas Angel is a highly decorated London police officer who is so good at his job that he is shunted off to an assignment in the country.
Sanford would seem to be an impossibly idyllic place, winner several times of the top village in England award. But it is a town that houses mysteries.
It also houses a wide array of unique characters.
HOT FUZZ is an action film…and a mystery…but it is primarily a satire on the genre of loud and explosive Hollywood action films.
The film also contains numerous references to other movies, making it a treat for those who love action movies.
Plus, it is incredibly well-written, kinetically edited, and very funny too.
HOT FUZZ is absurd, and priceless! It is one of the most entertaining films of the year!
And so is 300!!
The first time I saw this film all I said was: Wow! That was a unique cinematic experience.
The second, third, and now fourth times I saw it, I thought exactly the same thing!
300 is a spectacular cinematic experience…even it you are watching it at home!
Filmed primarily in Montreal 300 is based on Frank Miller’s graphic novel, and both are a retelling of a battle that took place in 480 B.C.
An inferior number of Spartan soldiers – 300 to be exact – under the command of King Leonidas fought a vastly superior Persian force – that was estimated to be anywhere between 200,000 and 2,000,000.
300 is a film about heroism in the face of insurmountable odds, but it is also so much more than that.
In order to try and duplicate the imagery of the original graphic novel, the filmmakers have created masterpiece of images, style, and testosterone.
It has soldiers, action, fighting and death.
It also has beautiful woman and men.
300 is not a film for you if you have a problem with action movies or bloodshed…but if you have no issues with those things, I think you will agree – it is a unique cinematic experience.
Finally this week is our FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD.
With movies already appearing from France, Japan and Britain, and 300 about warriors in Greece, this week’s selection is a little bit less of a Foreign film than some of our other selections.
RENAISSANCE PARIS 2054 is a Foreign film, it was also made in France so that fact makes it eligible, but the DVD also features an English language track with many well-known English speaking actors, including JAMES BOND’s DANIEL CRAIG, so it is more half and half than truly foreign.
But all of it is interesting to look at.
Set in the city of Paris in the year 2054, RENAISSANCE features a world that is not unlike the one established in the science-fiction classic BLADE RUNNER.
In the city, all movement is monitored and recorded and a giant corporation has a hold in every aspect of human life.
For the most part, RENAISSANCE PARIS 2054 is classic film noir – there is a lady in peril, a sister trying to find her, and an honest cop fighting for truth and justice.
RENAISSANCE is visually impressive, it is a black and white animated film with no grey…it is all black or white, but toward the end the story lets the visuals down.
I am not saying there aren’t any surprises, because there are a few inspired ones, but around the time the cop gets suspended – as cops do in these types of films – his story starts to be the least interesting one.
All that said, it is still a very interesting film, and you won’t see animation like this in any of this year’s summer movies, and that si why it is this week’s entry in our Foreign Film Festival on DVD.
RENAISSANCE PARIS 2054, the classic Japanese film MOTHRA VS. GODZILLA, the unique cinematic experience 300, the very entertaining HOT FUZZ and the French film JEAN-PHILIPPE, one of the most entertaining films I have seen this year, are all available now on DVD.
Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report
MANUFACTURING DISSENT is a Canadian made documentary that tries to distinguish what is fact, fiction, legend, and otherwise about American filmmaker Michael Moore.
The classic John Woo Hong Kong action film HARD BOILED is now available in a TWO-DISC ULTIMATE EDITION.
STARTER FOR 10 is a bittersweet comedy about life at a British university in the 1980s.
And our FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL ON DVD continues with the Polish film GUYS DON’T CRY.
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 next time on The Couch!