Category: The Couch Potato Report

The Couch Potato Report – January 4th, 2014

The first week of any new year will never be the biggest week for new releases…Happy New Year, by the way…but there are a few that are worth mentioning, including the interesting DON JON, which marks the directorial debut of former child star Joseph Gordon-Levitt, from THIRD ROCK FROM THE SUN, who has recently appeared – as a grown-up – in THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, LOOPER and INCEPTION.

DON JON finds him playing a regular guy who is fully dedicated to his family, friends, and church.

One night he meets a beautiful and seemingly perfect woman – played by Scarlett Johansson of THE AVENGERS and LOST IN TRANSLATION – and Don falls in love.

Unfortunately, no matter how perfect she seems, no matter how much he loves her and his family love her, Don loves something else even more than her, more than any woman, in fact. Don is addicted to adult films.

Don Jon is trying to find happiness and intimacy with his potential true love, but he struggles to give up the adult films he loves so much.

With a lesser cast, DON JON could have been a film that wasn’t worthy of our time, but this cast – that also includes Julianne Moore and Tony Danza – is so strong that I can actually recommend the movie.

Yes, DON JON is a bit repetitive and the subject matter may turn some people away, but I do mildly recommend it, especially during the first week of the new year, when there isn’t much else out there.

Horror fans, Happy New Year to you!!, I have something for you…remember the 2010 film INSIDIOUS about the couple whose son became comatose and a vessel for ghosts in an astral dimension?

Well, that creepy flick now has a sequel and in INSIDIOUS – CHAPTER 2, the boy is safe, but his parents are possibly at risk and need to discover how they have become connected to the spirit world…before it’s too late!!

I didn’t think that the first INSIDIOUS film was great, but it was an effective horror film. It did what I expect from movies like this: scare me a little, creep me out, make me jump back a few times, and show me something I haven’t seen before…or at least not seen too often.

INSIDIOUS – CHAPTER 2 is all of that as well, plus it is extra creepy. And I mean that in the good way that horror films can be.

Non-horror fans should skip INSIDIOUS – CHAPTER 2, but I do easily recommend it to anyone who likes this kind of stuff.

Every year or so a small little film comes out that I usually gravitate toward and easily recommend.

Even without much acclaim or fanfare, I tend to love these movies. Last year that movie was YOUR SISTER’S SISTER and when I first heard of TOUCHY FEELY, I thought it would be one of these films for me as well, after all it has a cast I like and a premise I find interesting, but – unfortunately – it is just a small little film that I’m glad I’ve seen, but won’t recommend.

TOUCHY FEELY is the story of a massage therapist who finds herself unable to touch human skin. She is one of the best at what she does, but one day she just can’t touch people…at all.

That I still find interesting, but instead of examining how someone can turn into someone who has an aversion to touching skin, TOUCHY FEELY is also about that woman’s brother, an uptight dentist who somehow becomes a man with the power to heal.

That secondary story wasn’t interesting as the character is basically a jerk, with little to no redeeming qualities, and the tertiary story in the film – featuring Canadian actress Ellen Page as a young woman with a crush on her Aunt’s boyfriend – was the least interesting part of the film.

I never disliked TOUCHY FEELY, as I said, I’m glad I’ve seen it, but I don’t recommend it…at all. Nothing really happens, and then it just ends. Like this review.

I also can’t recommend the film WRECKERS, starring Benedict Cumberbatch of the BBC’s SHERLOCK. This is an older film, made before he was the well-known actor he is today, and it isn’t one most people need to see.

Benedict stars here as one half of a married couple who move back to his childhood village to start a family.

All is – seemingly – going well, until the day they receive a surprise visit from the husband’s brother.

A visit that re-ignites some age old sibling rivalry and makes the wife start to wonder if she even knows the man she’s married.

The problem with WRECKERS is that it has very little that we haven’t seen before, and the result is a movie that is barely a step above boring.

This one is for huge fan, and I mean HUGE fan of Benedict Cumberbatch’s only. Everyone else should just skip it.

Hey, let’s laugh now, and laugh you will at THE SIXTEENTH SEASON of the classic animated show THE SIMPSONS!!

SEASON SIXTEEN features guest voices Jason Bateman, Gary Busey, James Caan, Stephen Hawking, Eric Idle, Liam Neeson, Amy Poehler, Ray Romano and plenty more! Plus, they make fun of Saskatchewan!!

I agree, this season of the show isn’t included when fans talk about the glory years of the show, but there are still some huge laughs, and I really enjoyed it!!

THE SIMPSONS – THE SIXTEENTH SEASON, guaranteed to fit on your shelf between SEASONS FIFTEEN and SEVENTEEN!!

And guaranteed to fit on your shelf between VOLUME 11 and 13 is VOLUME 12 of FAMILY GUY!!

I’ve been saying for more than a couple of years that FAMILY GUY is waaaaay past its prime, and I maintain that stance right now, but I’ve also been saying that said, it does still make me laugh out loud on occasion.

And it does…at least it made me laugh out loud.

FAMILY GUY – VOLUME 12 features the show’s 200th episode and a few extra surprises.

I can’t highly recommend VOLUME 12 of FAMILY GUY because it is past its prime, and continues to feature lazy, borderline racist humour, but I will admit that it did make me laugh.

Just as I’m sure VOLUME 13 will.

Hey, do you remember, back in the mid-to-late-eighties, when all of those movies about people switching bodies came out at around the same time?

There was LIKE FATHER LIKE SON, 17 AGAIN, VICE VERSA, ALL OF ME and BIG, just to name five.

Most of them haven’t stood the test of time and can be hard to find on DVD or Netflix, except for BIG, which has just been re-released in HD on blu-ray in a fantastic 25th ANNIVERSARY EDITION.

Directed by Penny Marshall, BIG stars Tom Hanks – in an Academy Award nominated performance – as Josh Baskin, a young boy who makes a wish “to be big” and wakes up the next day an adult, much to his delight, but to the dismay of his parents.

The new blu-ray of BIG also features an extended cut of the film, and some great behind-the-scenes retrospective materials.

I’ve always loved BIG, Tom Hanks is great in it, and I thoroughly enjoyed re-watching it again this week.

The 25th ANNIVERSARY EDITION of still great comedy BIG; VOLUME 12 of the occasionally funny FAMILY GUY; the very enjoyable SIXTEENTH SEASON of THE SIMPSONS; the for Benedict Cumberbatch fans only drama WRECKERS; the completely skippable drama TOUCHY FEELY; the creepy horror flick INSIDIOUS – CHAPTER 2; and the interesting, yet odd DON JON – written, directed by and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt – are all available now, either on disc or on demand.

And for the first weekend in January 2014, 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 – December 21st, 2013

It’s the final shopping weekend before Christmas and I have a few releases that could make great gifts for the Couch Potatoes on your list. I’ll start with one for the science fiction fan.

Back in 2009, South African born, Vancouver raised director Neill Blomkamp gave us a superb sci-fi flick called DISTRICT 9 and this year he followed it up with the very interesting ELYSIUM, starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster.

This film takes place in the year 2154, in a time when the very wealthy live above the now overpopulated, ruined earth on a man–made space station called Elysium.

People there live in luxurious comfort and all have medical devices called Med-Bays to keep them free of disease and injury. No one, who can afford it, ever gets sick.

Matt Damon plays a man who lives on earth, and after an accident at the plant he works at exposes him to a lethal dose of radiation, he only has five days to live…unless he can get to Elysium and into one of the Med-Bays.

Jodie Foster is the Elysian Secretary of Defense, and it is her responsibility to ensure no one from earth has access to their land, lifestyle or equipment.

But Damon isn’t just trying to save himself, he wants the two worlds to be equal and for everyone to have access to the same lifestyles and medical benefits.

ELYSIUM is a very, very smart action film, but overall it isn’t great. Damon is playing a character we’ve seen too many times before, so is Jodie Foster for that matter, and her accent is unfocussed, which is surprising as she is a two-time Academy Award winner who knows how to act and do accents.

But the partially made in Vancouver film does have enough going for it that I can – and do – recommend it…especially to the science-fiction fans on your Christmas list, who will really appreciate all of the behind-the-scenes features..

Fans of actor Hugh Jackman on your list might be pleased to receive the drama PRISONERS. This movie is engaging and isn’t predictable, at least I never saw the end coming. I figured some of it out, but not the ending.

PRISONERS is a thriller directed by Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve, who also gave us POLYTECHNIQUE and INCENDIES.

Hugh Jackman stars here as a father who is living every parent’s worst nightmare – his six-year-old daughter, and her friend, go missing and are presumed kidnapped. They may even be prisoners.

He is prepared to do anything – just about anything – to get them back. And as the days go by, what he’s willing to do becomes more and more violent.

PRISONERS is very well made, with some strong performances, but it is a flawed film. It doesn’t always have the greatest attention to detail, and its own plot points, and that works against it.

But Hugh Jackman fans will appreciate his performance, and so let me recommend it to them, and for them as a present this Holiday Season.

Fans of the cinematic character of Jack Ryan will appreciate the gift and enjoy owning the four disc blu-ray set THE JACK RYAN COLLECTION, starring Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck as the title character, based on works by Tom Clancy.

THE JACK RYAN COLLECTION includes the incredible HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, the very good PATRIOT GAMES, the only okay CLEAR AND PRSENT DANGER and the not great at all Ben Affleck entry THE SUM OF ALL FEARS.

Even though the entertainment value of the films went down as the series went along, THE JACK RYAN COLLECTION has some great special features and is still a great Box Set for action film fans and I can – and do – easily recommend it.

There was a little movie that came out in 2010 that I really liked. Called KICK-ASS, it was about a group of high school students who decided to stand up for the oppressed and become super-heroes, even though they had no powers, training or meaningful reason to do so.

A sequel to that little film came out this year, and it is nowhere near as good as the original.

It isn’t odd for a sequel to not be as good as the original film, but KICK-ASS 2 pales in comparison to the first one. That flick was fun, and full of interesting characters, all a bit cartoony, but the mood, tone, action, and humour were all perfectly done.

The made-in-Toronto KICK-ASS 2 has all the action and some of the adventure of the first one, but none, absolutely none of the fun. This second one just isn’t fun at all…even with the addition of Jim Carrey to the cast.

I like the characters of Kick-Ass, Hit Girl, Battle Guy, and the other made-up superheroes, so I hope they can get it right when they film the expected third movie in the trilogy.

Get it right, and make the series fun again.

See KICK-ASS…that movie is a blast…skip KICK ASS 2…it is not.

WOW!! That is what I will start off with when it comes to THE FINAL SEASON of the television series BREAKING BAD. WOW!!

This is the Emmy Award winning show about former teacher turned meth dealer Walter White and his partner Jesse Pinkman.

Over the course of the series, Walt struggled to survive and keep his drug dealing identity a secret from his DEA agent brother-in-law Hank.

At the end of the last season, Hank figured out that Walt was a drug dealer, and these final eight episodes offer the series an epic and spectacular conclusion.

The creators of BREAKING BAD have given us a superb FINAL SEASON, and even though I wasn’t always the biggest fan of the show, it grew on me with each season and the ending is perfect.

Even if you watched the show when it aired, check out this three-disc set as it offers extended and uncensored versions of some episodes, and the alternative ending they filmed with Bryan Cranston’s co-star from MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE is also included here. That other ending is incredible!!

So are the final eight episodes, and the series itself.

As I said, WOW!!

Finally this week, last and absolutely least is THE LONE RANGER, starring Armie Hammer from THE SOCIAL NETWORK as the title character and Johnny Depp as Tonto.

This movie was universally panned, even before it was released, and it is as bad as you’ve heard.

It absolutely is one of the worst films of the year.

While I will admit that that there is some good stuff in the film – the train crash scene is amazing, for instance – there is so much wrong with it and with a running time of almost two and a half hours, it goes on and on and on and on and you have better things to do at this time of year.

The best gift you can get for the movie fans on your list this holiday season is to get them any movie other than THE LONE RANGER.

It should be avoided at all costs…man, is it a stinker!!

The absolutely every bit as bad as you’ve heard it is movie version of THE LONE RANGER; the absolutely every bit as good as you’ve heard it is FINAL SEASON of BREAKING BAD; the action packed, not as good sequel KICK-ASS 2; the mostly entertaining JACK RYAN COLLECTION, featuring the incredible HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, the very good PATRIOT GAMES, the only okay CLEAR AND PRSENT DANGER and the not great THE SUM OF ALL FEARS; the very good, but flawed adult drama PRISONERS, from Canadian director Denis Villeneuve; and the not great, but very good science fiction film ELYSIUM – from Vancouver based director Neill Blomkamp – are all available now, either on disc or on demand, for your Holiday gift giving.

And, for 2013, that’s THE COUCH POTATO REPORT.

Enjoy the movies HAPPY HOLIDAYS and I’ll see you back here again next year on The Couch!

The Couch Potato Report – December 14th, 2013

It has been two weeks now since actor Paul Walker died in a car crash.

The studio that produces the FAST & FURIOUS films that he starred in has announced that they’ll be donating a portion of the proceeds from the release of the latest in the series – FAST & FURIOUS 6 – to Walker’s non-profit charity.

Reach Out WorldWide is made up of a network of professionals with first responder skill-sets who augment local expertise when natural disasters strike in order to accelerate relief efforts.

Paul Walker was only forty when he died, may he rest in peace.

It is rare to see a series of films get better as they go on, but that is definitely the case with FAST & FURIOUS 6, which once again features Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto and Paul Walker as former undercover cop Brian O’Connor, who has not only become part of Toretto’s gang, but he is now also his brother-in-law.

If you’ve never heard of this series – which began in 2001with THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS – the films are primarily about beautiful people and incredible cars involved in one type of street race, or another, and that also occasionally see’s the characters cruising through the world’s most famous streets as part of several different types of heists.

And everything that takes place in the series happens fast and it happens furiously.

It was in 2011’s fifth film in the series – FAST 5 – where we first met Federal Agent Luke Hobbs – played by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson – and he returns in FAST & FURIOUS 6 to get Dom and Brian to reassemble their now retired crew in order to take down another a bad crew, one that has just destroyed a Russian military convoy, and are on their way to bigger crimes.

They agree to help in exchange for full amnesty for all of their past crimes.

FAST & FURIOUS 6 is an amazing summer movie. It has beautiful people, in beautiful cars, in beautiful settings, doing some cool things.

I really enjoyed it and can easily recommend it. Shut of your brain and enjoy.

The most fun I had at the movies this year came courtesy of the criminal mastermind Gru and his awesome minions in DESPICABLE ME 2.

We first met Gru – and his workers, his minions – in 2010’s DESPICABLE ME. Voiced by Steve Carell from THE OFFICE and ANCHORMAN, Gru started off DESPICABLE ME using a trio of orphan girls as pawns for a grand scheme to beat his nemesis Vector.

As the story went on, Gru decided to adopt the girls as their love made him a better person.

DESPICABLE ME 2 actually softens Gru, he is no longer primarily a criminal mastermind, he’s a father now. But when he is recruited by the Anti-Villain League to help deal with a new super criminal, he goes back to work…reluctantly.

DESPICABLE ME 2 as adds more and more minions!! They are everywhere and as a result the film is fun and entertaining and funny and has great animation and action and is fun and so funny!!

I really enjoyed it, and can recommend it to every member of the family. Pick it up and enjoy the fun.

I also had some fun this week, courtesy of THE MUPPETS.

In 1981, the second film from Jim Henson’s Muppets was released. Called THE GREAT MUPPET CAPER it features Kermit, Gonzo and Fozzie as reporters who go to Britain to work on a story about jewel thieves and meet the rest of the gang there, including Miss Piggy. They all soon become wrapped up in a plot to steal the coveted Baseball Diamond, which is on display at the local Mallory Gallery.

The fifth film from the group was MUPPET TREASURE ISLAND. Released in 1996, it is based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island.

And now both THE GREAT MUPPET CAPER and MUPPET TREASURE ISLAND are available on blu-ray in one budget priced package – the OF PIRATES AND PIGS MOVIE COLLECTION.

Neither THE GREAT MUPPET CAPER nor MUPPET TREASURE ISLAND have ever been my favourite Muppet films, but each of them does have their moments and they do still make me laugh so I do recommend them.

Plus, with the release of the OF PIRATES AND PIGS MOVIE COLLECTION, all of the Muppets’ movies are now available on blu-ray, and that is great news!!

Up next is not a film for the whole family, but one about a family is not whole.

JAYNE MANSFIELD’S CAR is Billy Bob Thornton’s first directing job since 2001 and he has crafted a good, but slow and very long adult drama about a family in 1969 Alabama who are forced to come to grips with many of the family’s secrets when they have to spend time with the British side of their family, a side that only exists because the family matriarch left Alabama a few years earlier and married a British man, leaving her old family behind.

JAYNE MANSFIELD’S CAR actually plays a small part in the film, but it – and the whole cast – are used very effectively.

In addition to Billy Bob Thornton, the cast includes Robert Duvall, John Hurt, Frances O’Connor, Robert Patrick and Kevin Bacon.

Although I think it fit the film, I really didn’t like the ending of JAYNE MANSFIELD’S CAR, but otherwise I enjoyed it. It is a movie for adults about war and family and I do mildly recommend it.

Finally this week, a true cinematic classic, for the whole family.

Released on August 27, 1964, MARY POPPINS is now available in a 50th ANNIVERSARY EDITION and comes on blu-ray for the first time. She looks and sounds amazing in HD!!

Plus, the 50th ANNIVERSARY EDITION comes with a wealth of Special Features.

MARY POPPINS is the timeless story of a magic nanny who goes to work for a man and his unhappy family. It won five Academy Awards, including Best Actress for Julie Andrews and Best Song for “Chim Chim Cher-ee” and it continues to be a great film, one that I can easily recommend to the whole family.

The 50th ANNIVERSARY EDITION of the classic family film MARY POPPINS; Billy Bob Thornton’s good, but very, very slow adult drama JAYNE MANFIELD’S CAR; the still fun, but not classic OF PIRATES AND PIGS MUPPETS MOVIE COLLECTION featuring THE GREAT MUPPET CAPER and MUPPET TREASURE ISLAND; the most fun film of 2013, so far, DESPICABLE ME 2 (minions laughing); and the great action film FAST & FURIOUS 6, starring the late Paul Walker, 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 – December 7th, 2013

I begin this week, not with a Canadian movie…as I usually do…but with a Canadian character.

We didn’t know much about Wolverine when he first debuted in Marvel comics in 1974, other than the fact that he was a superhuman agent of the Canadian government.

Eventually Wolverine would go on to be ranked Number One on Wizard magazine’s list of Top 200 Comic Book Characters of all time, and he would be played on-screen by Hugh Jackman in six, soon to be seven, films. The seventh X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED will be released next May, and the sixth one – THE WOLVERINE – is available to watch at home right now.

In THE WOLVERINE, Logan travels to Japan to say goodbye to an old friend and ends up losing his immortality and battling deadly samurai, along with his own inner demons.

I am a huge fan of this character, and I have enjoyed all of the films he’s been in – yes, even the less-than-stellar X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE. This new one doesn’t finish as strong as it starts, but there are some great action scenes and it has an interesting story. Plus, Hugh Jackman is tremendous in the role, as always, and the return of Famke Janssen as Jean Grey gives the film some extra dramatic weight.

I really enjoyed THE WOLVERINE and can easily recommend it to others who have also seen the other films in the series. No, you don’t need to see those other movies to enjoy this one, but it does help.

And for those looking forward to Logan’s next cinematic adventure…don’t miss the bonus scene a few minutes into the credits!!

Let me tell you about Luke and Kate now. They are co-workers at a micro-brewery in Chicago and they spend most of their time together drinking and flirting. They seem perfect for each other, and they seem to know it, except for the fact that they’re both in committed relationships with people who also seem perfect for them.

We soon learn that their committed relationships aren’t perfect, but Luke’s girlfriend is content to wait for him to grow up and ask her to marry him.

Unfortunately for Kate, her boyfriend breaks up for her…leaving the door wide open for Kate and Luke to get together.

The will they or won’t they dynamic is present in DRINKING BUDDIES, but as it goes on you realize that – although they are perfect for each other – maybe Luke is perfect for his girlfriend too.

And within that fact lies the cinematic dilemma at hand.

DRINKING BUDDIES is a little slow at times, but it doesn’t always go where you think it will, and it has a great cast that includes Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick and Ron Livingston.

I like the characters they play and I enjoyed the film, so let me recommend DRINKING BUDDIES to you.

I wish I could also recommend THE SMURFS 2, and I don’t mean as well, I mean THE SMURFS…Number 2, as in the second big screen mix of live action and animation featuring the lovable little blue characters created in 1958 by Belgian comics artist Peyo.

I wish I could, but it just isn’t any fun.

The first Smurfs film released in 2011 was fun. It wasn’t perfect, but it was fun. This movie is not fun. The animation is still great, but the movie is no fun as the little characters and their human friends Neil Patrick Harris and Jayma Mays work to save Smurfette, who has been kidnapped in Paris by Gargamel.

Little kids might like THE SMURFS 2, and it was created for kids, after all, but you don’t need to stay in the room when they watch it. It is safe for them, but harmful to you as you won’t enjoy it.

Adults, skip it, kids, Smurf it up!!

Finally this week I’ve just been handed an urgent and horrifying news story. And I need all of you to stop what you’re doing and listen!

Ron Burgandy – as played by Will Ferrell – is the lead character in the spectacular 2004 comedy ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND OF RON BURGUNDY and with the sequel ANCHORMAN 2: THE LEGEND CONTINUES due in theatres on Wednesday, December 18th, the new UNRATED RICH MAHOGANY EDITION of ANCHORMAN is now available for us to watch, and enjoy all over again.

This edition comes in an oversized box with a booklet, some collectible cards, and two different cuts of the film. There is also a second disc that has the spin-off movie called ‘Wake Up, Ron Burgundy’, made up of footage cut from the original film, and a whole boatload of special features.

I loved this story of a seventies newsman and his news team from the first moment I saw a trailer for the film, and I can’t wait to see what happens as they move into the eighties in the new one.

In the meantime, let me recommend to you the UNRATED RICH MAHOGANY EDITION of ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND OF RON BURGUNDY.

The great ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND OF RON BURGUNDY, starring Will Ferrell, Steve Carell and Paul Rudd; the great – only for little kids – sequel THE SMURFS 2, adults, stay away; the grown up comedic dram DRINKING BUDDIES and the enjoyable Summer action film THE WOLVERINE, starring Hugh Jackman as the Canadian mutant, are all available now, either on disc or on demand.

Hey, coming up in the next Couch Potato Report, Gru and the minions are back in DESPICABLE ME 2!!

For now, that’s this week’s COUCH POTATO REPORT.

Enjoy the movies and I’ll see you back here again next time on The Couch!

The Couch Potato Report – November 30th, 2013

Instead of movies, this week we’ll focus on performances, and we’ll start on the ice in the National Hockey League with the one and only Don Cherry.

It’s been twenty-five years since Don started to issue his yearly look back at the best of the game, from his point of view, and just as numbers 1 through 24 have DON CHERRY’s ROCK EM SOCK EM 25 features the best plays, goals, saves, bloopers, hits and fights from the 2012-2013 NHL Season, as well as highlights from Coach’s Corner – as seen on CBC Television’s Hockey Night in Canada.

Plus, as has become the tradition over the past few years, DON CHERRY ROCK EM SOCK EM 25 is also a look back at last season’s Stanley Cup Playoffs.

ROCK EM SOCK EM 25 delivers exactly what Don Cherry has been giving us for two and a half decades now, and I enjoyed it, as much as I did the first 24.

Happy Anniversary Don!!

It has been twenty-five years for Don, it has been over fifty years since the world first met a young stand-up comedian from Philadelphia named Bill Cosby, and in 2013 he is far from finished.

FAR FROM FINISHED is a brand new release from the legendary comedian and entertainer and it is his first comedy special in 30 years.

Some of the topics Mr. Cosby talks about are friendship, first love, marriage and raising children and they will have you laughing out loud.

I can’t remember a time in my life when I wasn’t laughing with – and even at – Bill Cosby. I’m glad that he is FAR FROM FINISHED and I can easily – and happily – recommend this new release.

This next film features some great car crashes, car chases and cars, but GETAWAY doesn’t really feature much else.

GETAWAY stars Ethan Hawke from REALITY BITES and THE PURGE as a former race-car driver who is forced to drive fast through the streets of a busy city at the urging of a mysterious villain who has kidnapped his wife.

If he doesn’t steal a young woman’s car and do what the man tells him, he’ll never see his wife again.

Pop tart Selena Gomez plays the young woman, and at one plot point she gets in the car as well.

GETAWAY features few surprises, stiff acting, bad dialogue, and little to no chemistry between the lead actors. But what it does have is great stunts and crashes and scenes of a car demolishing a city. That stuff is cool!!

That stuff, however, is not enough to make me recommend GETAWAY. No, it’s never awful, but it’s far from worthy of your time.

There used to be all sorts of raunchy teen comedies. Movies like PORKY’S, MEATBALLS, REVENGE OF THE NERDS, CADDYSHACK, and FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH. Of late, we’ve really only had the AMERICAN PIE films, and a few others. I like raunchy teen comedies, I miss raunchy teen comedies.

So I was excited to sit down this week to watch THE TO DO LIST, a raunchy teen comedy starring the fun and interesting Aubrey Plaza from TV’s Parks & Recreation as a bookworm teenager who decides that she needs to gain more experience with men during the summer before she goes off to college.

So she creates a to do list of the things she needs to accomplish. A naughty to do list, which she creates with the help of her learned older sister.

Unfortunately there really isn’t anything all that original in THE TO DO LIST, but the cast manages to save it…a cast that also includes Bill Hader from SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, Alia Shawkat of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, McLovin’ from SUPERBAD.

I never loved THE TO DO LIST, but I still love the genre and the cast helped make it a pretty good flick, so I guess I liked it enough to mildly recommend it.

The final performance film I have for you features the Pre-Fab Four, The Rutles, Stig, Nasty, Dirk & Barry, and if you think their story mirrors The Beatles’, well that’s because it was created to do just that.

The fictional band The Rutles first appeared in 1975 as a sketch on former Monty Python member Eric Idle’s BBC television series Rutland Weekend Television.

The sketch came about when musician Neil Innes conceived a parody of The Beatles film A Hard Day’s Night, after writing “I Must Be In Love” which he thought sounded very “Beatley”.

Their idea lead to several appearances on Saturday Night Live and – in 1978 – the full-length movie ALL YOU NEED IS CASH.

Yes, THE RUTLES lovingly parodies the rise and dissolution of The Beatles, and it does that in a very funny way. It also does it with the help of Canadian Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Bill Murray, The Beatles George Harrison himself, Monty Python’s Michael Palin, and Mick Jagger.

The brand new blu-ray THE RUTLES ANTHOLOGY features not just the classic 1978 film ALL YOU NEED IS CASH, but also its 2002 sequel CAN’T BUY ME LUNCH. That sequel mixes old footage from the seventies along with modern day interviews with stars like Tom Hanks pretending to be huge fans.

The blu-ray also features a brand new interview slash commentary with Eric Idle.

I love The Rutles! The films are fab, the music fun, and I never fail to be entertained by them. This new blu-ray has their whole history in one digitally restored package that looks and sounds great.

If you’ve never seen it, you should see it!! This is great stuff!!

The spectacular Beatles parody THE RUTLES ANTHOLOGY; the not overly original but fun at times raunchy teen comedy THE TO DO LIST; the not awful but never great action flick GETAWAY; the hilarious BILL COSBY comedy special FAR FROM FINISHED; and DON CHERRY’s ROCK EM SOCK EM 25 are all available now, either on disc or on demand.

And that’s this week’s COUCH POTATO REPORT.

Enjoy the performances and I’ll see you back here again next time on The Couch!

The Couch Potato Report – November 23rd, 2013

Calvin & Hobbes was a daily comic strip written and illustrated by Bill Watterson.

The very funny strip was about Calvin, an imaginative, mischievous, and adventurous six-year-old boy, and Hobbes, his blunt and usually sardonic pet tiger, who was real to Calvin, but a stuffed toy to everyone else.

Calvin & Hobbes ran from 1985 to 1995 and came to an early and quite unfortunate end as Watterson – feeling constrained by the daily deadlines and shrinking panels in newspapers – decided to stop doing it. He also didn’t want to merchandise or commercialize his characters, something his syndicate did want as they could have made hundreds of millions of dollars.

Part of the new documentary DEAR MR. WATTERSON focuses on the fact that the man walked away, but it primarily features interviews with fans – including director Joel Allen Schroeder – and other cartoonists, all discussing how the strip changed comics and even affected their lives.

What it doesn’t feature is an interview with Bill Watterson. Since walking away from the strip he values his privacy, rarely gives interviews and hardly ever makes public appearances.

I am a huge fan of Calvin & Hobbes, I Still read a few of them every day, so I really, really enjoyed DEAR MR. WATTERSON, especially the segment where the director visits the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at Ohio State University where the cartoonist’s original artwork is stored.

Fans will enjoy it for sure, but I also recommend it to non-fans of Calvin & Hobbes as DEAR MR. WATTERSON is entertaining and informative.

Search this one out, it is available online right now for you to view or download.

We have arrived now at THE WORLD’S END, but this isn’t just a movie about the end of the world, The World’s End is the name of a pub, the twelfth and final drinking establishment on a pub crawl undertaken by five friends who reunite in their small hometown to recreate something they failed to do twenty years earlier while in high school, visit all twelve pubs in one night.

However, upon arriving home, the people all look familiar, but seem different because…they are. They’ve all become robots, and it’s now up to the five guys to defeat them, save themselves and their hometown, and maybe even save the world.

THE WORLD’S END is from the same guys who gave us the great flicks SHAUN OF THE DEAD and HOT FUZZ and I really, really enjoyed it. The film has a great cast, is loads of fun, and I can easily recommend it.

This is fun stuff!!

Also fun and funny is the straightforward Summer Comedy WE’RE THE MILLERS

Jason Sudeikis from Saturday Night Live is a drug dealer who creates a fake family so he can transprot a huge shipment of marijuana into the U.S. from Mexico. Jennifer Aniston pretends to be his wife and Emma Roberts his daughter.

I’ve seen WE’RE THE MILLERS twice now, and it even made me laugh the second time. It isn’t the funniest film of the year, but it is funny. I recommend that you shut off your brain and have a few laughs this weekend, courtesy of the Miller family.

I have a couple of kids films to review now. Neither is a classic, but I think both of them are good enough to entertain kids.

We’ll start in the air with PLANES, from some of the folks who brought you CARS. Any kids who liked CARS will also like PLANES.

PLANES is about a cropduster with a fear of heights who dreams of something bigger. He dreams of competing in an around-the-world aerial race, and – with the help of his friends – his dreams may just come true.

Unless some of his competitors get in the way of his dreams.

PLANES is never great, but it is pretty good. Like I said, any kids who liked CARS will like it, but it probably won’t resonate with anyone older.

TURBO is another movie for kids who liked cars, and for kids who like racing movies, even though it is highly implausible.

TURBO is about a garden snail who realizes his dream of racing in the Indianapolis 500…alongside cars.

Yes, this is a film about a snail who races in the Indy 500.

A freak accident turns an everyday garden snail into a racer and so now he might achieve his biggest dream: winning the Indy 500.

That is honestly what TURBO is about.

I didn’t think much of the idea behind this film, even though I love animated film and comic books and cartoons, a snail racing in the Indy 500 against cars just seems a bit too far-fetched for me.

Yet the film made using that story isn’t as bad as the idea. TURBO has dozens of colourful characters, and is bright and shiny and colourful, you know…for kids.

Kids who enjoy playing with cars and such will likely like TURBO, but it probably won’t resonate with anyone older.

The final new release I have for you this week is the blu-ray set for SEASON FIVE of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION.

There are some tremendous episodes in SEASON FIVE, especially the two-parter “Unification”, where Captain Picard and the crew of the Enterprise have to pursue a rogue Ambassador into enemy Romulan territory.

The Ambassador is Spock, Leonard Nimoy from the original series.

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 Patrick Stewart.

SEASON FIVE 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!!

SEASON FIVE of the still great STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION on blu-ray; the only okay animated film TURBO; the pretty good but not great animated film PLANES; the fun and funny Summer Comedy WE’RE THE MILLERS; and the very funny and entertaining buddy-comedy-action-film THE WORLD’S END are all available now, either on disc or on demand.

The fantastic documentary DEAR MR. WATTERSON, about the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes and it’s creator, is available for digital download now, and will debut on disc December 15th.

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 – November 16th, 2013

I love an underdog, and in a year that saw the release of the very successful animated films MONSTERS UNIVERSITY, THE SMURFS 2, PLANES and DESPICABLE ME 2, the animated Canadian film THE LEGEND OF SARILA is definitely an underdog.

THE LEGEND OF SARILA is Canada’s first 3D animated feature and it takes place in our Far North where a group of Inuit nomads are threatened by famine when all the animals in the area suddenly disappear due to the actions of their Shaman.

When the clan’s wise woman Saya recalls the legend of Sarila, a promised land hidden among the glaciers, where wild game is said to be plentiful, three young friends who are pure of heart set out with their pet lemming to try and bring back some food.

I watched the original French version, but the English version of THE LEGEND OF SARILA has a voice cast that features Canadians Christopher Plummer, Rachelle Lefevre and Genevieve Bujold and while the animation doesn’t rival anything you’ve seen Hollywood do lately, meaning it all looks a bit stiff, the movie is still very good.

I liked this story, this animated Canadian story and I recommend you offer it to your kids. I think they will enjoy THE LEGEND OF SARILA too.

They might not watch it over and over and over again like MONSTERS UNIVERSITY, THE SMURFS 2, PLANES and DESPICABLE ME 2, but they’ll watch it.

Fans of Superman will definitely watch MAN OF STEEL, the latest Hollywood re-boot of the iconic character which was co-created by Canadian Joe Shuster. Yes fans will watch it…once, but probably not many more times than that.

And non-fans should probably just stay away from it altogether.

Easily surmised, MAN OF STEEL is a bloated film that believes that more is more. Superman and the villain General Zod can’t just fight, they have to fight for forty minutes. There can’t just be a little bit of backstory from Superman’s home planet of Krypton, there has to be a lot of it. And there can’t just be a few scenes featuring product placement, the stores and items who are featured have to be everywhere!

That negativity aside, on the positive tip, director Zack Snyder has populated MAN OF STEEL with a great cast and some unique ideas, scenes and moments.

But most of the good stuff gets lost amongst the unnecessary mess.

MAN OF STEEL isn’t the most disappointing film of the year, there is enough good stuff for me to mildly recommend it to action film fans, and I will likely watch it again, but Superman purists won’t love it as much as we Batman fans love THE DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY…unfortunately for them.

Surprise, surprise!! As there was with all three films in his LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY, there has been an Extended Edition released of director Peter Jackson’s first film in his Hobbit Trilogy. AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY adds almost thirteen minutes and the film now comes in at 182 minutes – or three hours and two minutes – and I have to admit that this was the fourth time I’ve seen the movie, but the first time I truly enjoyed it.

If you’ve seen the original and have been wondering, the extra footage was been added to the prologue, shows us Bilbo as a child, and allows some characters to be more fleshed out. A few scenes have also just been padded, but overall I really like how the film plays now as reluctant Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, sets out on an “unexpected journey” with a spirited group of Dwarves to reclaim their stolen mountain home from a dragon named Smaug.

I liked it a lot! The EXTENDED EDITION of THE HOBBIT – AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY is a must see for fans of the series!

And you’ll love the more than nine hours of bonus materials…yes nine hours!!

The worst! The absolute worst release this week is the eighth and final season of the television series DEXTER.

After building the story up for seven years, with endless possibilities for a spectacular conclusion possible, the people behind this show have let down the audience, the cast and even the characters on the show by delivering a final season that not only betrays the lead character, but is ludicrous in just about every way, from how bad the special effects are, to the utter implausibility of it all.

For years DEXTER was one of those shows that everyone said was a must watch, and for the first five, maybe six seasons I agreed with them, but the last two years were nowhere near as good and THE FINAL SEASON is horrible. Skip it, skip it, skip it, it is awful, awful, awful in each and every way.

Farewell Dexter, you – and your fans – deserved a better fate.

We’re off to MAGIC CITY now, specifically Miami Beach, Florida, circa 1959.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan from GREY’S ANATOMY and WATCHMAN stars in this show – called MAGIC CITY – as Ike, the owner of a luxurious hotel. However, in order to finance his dream hotel he had to sell his soul – and partial ownership – to a mob boss.

And as Ike tries to remain an honourable man, both his mob ties and the CIA threaten to take him down.

Much like the first season, released last year, the new COMPLETE SECOND SEASON of MAGIC CITY was never awful, but it always seemed like a low-budget gangster show to me, populated by character actors who’ve appeared in other mob flicks.

The sets and stories are all okay, but the cast doesn’t feature any really big names…and so, it is never captivating the way classic mob movies are.

Negativity aside…I actually enjoyed THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON of MAGIC CITY, and the first one as well.

It builds to a great finale, and there are some very beautiful people who star in the show, so even though it never is anything special…I did enjoy it.

So, let me call that a mild recommendation for the two and out seasons of MAGIC CITY.

Here’s a surprisingly good film now, from Denmark. THE HUNT stars Mads Mikkelsen from CASINO ROYALE as a teacher in a small town who is wrongly accused of sexually assaulting a child.

He didn’t do it, and the child is only repeating something she heard her brother say, but no one is looking for the truth, they just believe the accusation.

THE HUNT was screened at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and competed at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival where Mads Mikkelsen won the Best Actor Award for his role and he does an amazing job playing a guy who no one believes. His colleagues, friends, neighbours and even his girlfriend all doubt his innocence, yet no one asks him for an explanation or looks for the truth…and that is what I found so frustrating, no one believes that he is innocent, they just pronounce him guilty. Even when the child says that he didn’t they don’t believe her.

As frustrating – and uncomfortable – as it was at times, due to the subject matter, I liked THE HUNT. It is a very good film.

I also liked the film FRANCES HA, but that is primarily due to the lead actress, Greta Gerwig, from NO STRINGS ATTACHED and GREENBERG.

Here she plays a New York woman, who doesn’t really have a home, she lives with friends in their apartment until they eventually kick her out. She doesn’t really have a job either, she is an apprentice at a dance company, although she’s not really a dancer. And she tells everyone she is best friends with a woman named Sophie, but they don’t really speak anymore.

Despite all of her shortcomings and her own reality, Frances remains a positive person and throws herself headlong into her dreams, as the chance of them coming true continues to dwindle.

FRANCES HA is a black and white, quite artistic film that isn’t for everyone, the character is too flaky for most movie fans and her reason for the change the plot eventually puts upon her isn’t really explained, but I liked it.

I don’t really recommend it, but I did like it.

Finally this week is a film that I love, actually, and have actually loved for a decade now.

LOVE ACTUALLY has an incredible cast that includes Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Laura Linney, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Keira Knightley, Rowan Atkinson and Andrew Lincoln, who plays Rick on THE WALKING DEAD.

They are part of ten separate stories, many that weave together, that all take place primarily in London in the weeks before Christmas.

Each story is involving, and every character – even the ones that are clichés – are entertaining.

Unfortunately this tenth anniversary edition of LOVE ACTUALLY doesn’t come with any new bonus materials…a retrospective featuring this cast would have been incredible, but the film is so good it can survive the lack of anything new.

Yes, LOVE ACTUALLY is that good and this 10th ANNIVERSARY EDITION is a must see. Pick it up, and enjoy!!

The 10th ANNIVERSARY EDITION of the still fantastic LOVE ACTUALLY, the interesting and personable but not great FRANCES HA, the very good Danish film THE HUNT, THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON of the very good Mob series MAGIC CITY, the absolutely awful FINAL SEASON of DEXTER, the very entertaining EXTENDED EDITION of THE HOBBIT – AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY, the not great…at all…Superman reboot MAN OF STEEL, and the likeable 3D Canadian animated film THE LEGEND OF SARILA 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 – November 9th, 2013

On the classic Canadian television show SCTV Joe Flaherty and John Candy played a pair of farmers, who were also movie reviewers, and their names were Big Jim McBob and Billy Sol Hurok.

There was nothing they enjoyed more on Farm Film Celebrity Blow-Up than to see people blown up, blown up real good.

Well Big Jim and Billy Sol would have loved the made-in-Montreal Summer Action Movie WHITE HOUSE DOWN, because it features things blowing up, blowing up real good.

WHITE HOUSE DOWN stars Channing Tatum from MAGIC MIKE as a policeman who wants to join the Secret Service. While he is on a tour of the White House with his daughter, he not only meets the President – played by Jaime Foxx of RAY and DJANGO UNCHAINED – but he has to save him when a heavily armed group attacks and takes his daughter hostage.

If you can imagine DIE HARD, in the WHITE HOUSE, directed by the man who also made INDEPENDENCE DAY, then you can appreciate what type of film this is.

There isn’t an original moment in WHITE HOUSE DOWN, in fact the ending is a direct copy of DIE HARD 2’s, and some of the green screen shots where they try to put the actors in Washington settings look really, really fake, but I still recommend it. I suggest that you turn of your brain, and just enjoy watching it all unfold, like Big Jim McBob and Billy Sol Hurok would.

The film doesn’t take itself too seriously, and you shouldn’t either.

When the Adam Sandler comedy GROWN UPS came out in 2010, it was dismissed by almost everyone, film goers and critics alike, and justifiably so as it wasn’t one of his best.

No, it was nowhere near as good as THE WEDDING SINGER, HAPPY GILMORE or BILLY MADISON, but I still liked it.

Yes, it was really just a thinly written story, wrapped around getting Sandler and his pals from Saturday Night Live – plus Kevin James – hanging out on screen, but I liked it.

And now we have a sequel, and I liked it too!

GROWN UPS 2 stars Adam Sandler and Kevin James, along with Chris Rock, David Spade, Salma Hayek, Maya Rudolph, Steve Buscemi, Colin Quinn, Tim Meadows, Jon Lovitz, and even Shaquille O’Neal.

I could tell you what the story is, but it doesn’t matter. The film merely goes from set piece to set piece and scene to scene featuring these friends and pals – on screen and in real life – hanging out, laughing, and reminiscing about the stupid stuff we all did when we were kids.

It’s not a classic, but it made me laugh and since I like everyone in it, I enjoyed it and can easily recommend it to anyone who also likes the cast.

Otherwise, stay away!!

When it aired this summer, I admit that I stayed away from the series UNDER THE DOME, which is based on the 2009 Stephen King book. After all, didn’t we already see what happened to a whole town forced to live under a dome in THE SIMPSONS MOVIE?

But as I watched it on disc, I actually enjoyed it.

UNDER THE DOME has a big cast that features Dean Norris, DEA agent Hank Schrader from BREAKING BAD, and Montreal actress Rachelle Lefevre from the first two TWILIGHT films.

The show is about an invisible and mysterious force field that drops over a small town one day, trapping everyone in the town inside, cut off from the rest of the world.

Over the course of the thirteen episodes they discover the secrets and purpose of the “dome” and its origins.

They also discover some secrets about each other.

UNDER THE DOME features some really bad acting, and isn’t always compelling, but I enjoyed it. I didn’t have to know, I didn’t have to stop everything and get through all of the episodes, but it made me curious enough to care.

And when it comes back on the air next summer, I’ll be watching!!

The final release I have for you this week is last, but certainly not least.

History may show that TERMS OF ENDEARMENT won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1984, but the best movie released in 1983 was actually THE RIGHT STUFF.

THE RIGHT STUFF was adapted from Tom Wolfe’s best-selling 1979 book of the same name. It’s about Chuck Yeager, Alan Shepard, John Glenn, Gordon Cooper, Gus Grissom and the men who were selected to be the astronauts for Project Mercury, the first attempt at manned spaceflight by the United States.

The film did win four Academy Awards, but none of the big ones, however the films that did win the big awards that night haven’t just been released on blu-ray with digibook packaging.

THE RIGHT STUFF has. It is new in HD and looks and sounds amazing!!

Unfortunately the 30th Anniversary Edition of THE RIGHT STUFF doesn’t feature any new Bonus Features, not one. Sure it’s now available on blu-ray for the first time, and the packaging is great, but some new retrospective footage would have been nice.

However, the unforgettable scenes and iconic performances the film is known for are still intact, so that is enough for me.

THE RIGHT STUFF is an interesting, engaging and actually very funny film that is a must see, and I highly recommend it.

The classic 1983 film THE RIGHT STUFF, the surprisingly entertaining television series UNDER THE DOME, the funny if you like the cast – but not great – Adam Sandler flick GROWN UPS 2, and the mildly entertaining Summer Action Film WHITE HOUSE DOWN 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 – November 2nd, 2013

Jeff Bridges and Vancouver’s Ryan Reynolds are well known movie stars who have appeared in several films over the years that people love, such as THE BIG LEBOWSKI, TED, STARMAN and THE PROPOSAL. But no matter how much you enjoyed their work in those films, or any other, do not waste your time with their latest.

R.I.P.D. is a complete waste of your time.

R.I.P.D. – or Rest in Peace Department – is based on the very entertaining comic book by Peter M. Lenkov, about a recently killed police officer who is recruited by a supernatural, other worldly law enforcement organization to help capture “Deados”, spirits that have failed to cross over and have returned to Earth as monstrous ghosts.

Reynolds is the modern day recruit and he accepts the job so he can return to earth to get revenge on the man who murdered him. Jeff Bridges plays his partner, a crime fighter from the wild west, but you won’t care.

When I first saw the trailer for R.I.P.D. earlier this year it just looked like a pale imitation of MEN IN BLACK, and it is…but it’s MEN IN BLACK LITE.

Very, very lite.

R.I.P.D. is instantly forgettable, even while watching it I had to struggle to remember what had happened even a few minutes earlier.

Skip this mess, it is one of the worst films of 2013, and you have better things to do with your time.

The first time I watched the Pixar film MONSTERS UNIVERSITY, I also thought that it was a poor imitation of a much better film. However after seeing it a second time, while I do still consider it basically a remake of REVENGE OF THE NERDS, I really enjoyed it.

MONSTERS UNIVERSITY is a prequel to the superb 2001 film MONSTERS INC., starring the voices of Billy Crystal and John Goodman as two monsters – who are best friends – that work for a company that generates their city’s power by scaring children

In this new film, we see how they became friends, and it wasn’t something that happened overnight.

The best thing about MONSTERS UNIVERSITY is how great it looks, and it does look great. The animation here is so crisp and clear, I just wish the film was a little bit more original, the way MONSTERS INC. was.

I did ultimately enjoy MONSTERS UNIVERSITY, and I do recommend it, to young and old alike.

Surprisingly I don’t recommend a documentary made about Bruce Springsteen and his fans to young and old alike…and I say “surprisingly” as I am a huge Springsteen fan.

SPRINGSTEEN & I has the man they call “The Boss” and his E Street Band talking and performing during the various stages of their career, but primarily it features the man’s fans discussing what his music has meant to them over the years.

There are stories in SPRINGSTEEN & I that will break your heart, make you cheer, and have you laughing out loud, but not all of them, especially the ones at the start of the film, are that interesting, and some go on far too long.

Luckily there are more good ones than bad.

Fans of the man and his music should not miss SPRINGSTEEN & I, especially the bonus materials which include Bruce performing with Paul McCartney. That concert footage is fantastic!!

If you’re not a fan, why aren’t you?!?

How about a few laughs now? Even though it isn’t a great movie, I definitely laughed during THE INTERNSHIP.

THE INTERNSHIP puts Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson in a film together for the first time since 2005’s WEDDING CRASHERS.

Here they play the same kind of relaxed, close to middle aged but comfortable in their own skin guys suffering from arrested development, the change comes from the fact that – after being laid off from their jobs selling watches – they decide to try to get an internship with Google, which would lead to jobs, but they’re competing with high school students who are more tech savvy and more experienced at this sort of thing.

What the young generation lack is the one thing Vince and Owen have…experience, and that leads to several scenes where they try to inspire them.

THE INTERNSHIP is a fun, mindless comedy that was released in the Summer, so it works better if you shut off your brain and don’t think too much about it.

It isn’t as good as WEDDING CRASHERS, but I enjoyed seeing these guys together again, so I can easily recommend it.

Surprisingly, I also recommend THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON of the television series NEW GIRL…very surprisingly because I didn’t care for the first season of this show at all.

This is the show about Jess, an offbeat, quirky and self-described “adorkable” woman in her early twenties who movies into an apartment loft with three single men.

In SEASON ONE her behavior was over the top unusual and I didn’t believe that they would have even let her move in, let alone support her as they do.

But in SEASON TWO she is less odd, and much less annoying, so it isn’t harder to understand why the guys support her, most of the time, no matter what.

I now like NEW GIRL! I had fun watching THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON and enjoyed hanging out with Jess and Nick and Schmidt and Cece and Winston, which is why I now recommend it.

I’ve enjoyed spending time with Freddy Benson and Lawrence Jamieson since I first met them upon the release of the film DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS in 1988.

As played by Steve Martin and Michael Caine, they are con-men who agree to work together – not for a huge score – but because the small very rich town they are working, just isn’t big enough for the two of them.

I’ve been quoting this movie since it first came out and to this day it is still smart and very, very funny.

The new blu-ray for DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS doesn’t feature any new bonus materials, but I truly enjoyed watching it, and I highly recommend it, if you’ve never seen it.

Finally this week, we head back to the old west for one of Clint Eastwood’s most interesting westerns…HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER.

Released in 1973, HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER stars Eastwood as a gunfighting man with no name who ends up in a small settlement that is full of secrets.

He is asked to help keep the place safe from three outlaws who are on their way, and he agrees and is promised anything he wants…anything. So he requests everyone leave the hotel, orders a barn dismantled in order to make picnic benches, has the entire town painted red.

His reasons and methods are all explained in the movie’s final scene.

I wouldn’t put HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER on par with THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY or UNFORGIVEN, two of Eastwood’s best, but when you consider that this was only the second film he directed, it is an impressive effort, one that looks great in HD on blu-ray.

It might not be one of his best, but it is still a terrific film!!

Clint Eastwood’s still great HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER, the smart and funny eighties comedy DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS; the surprisingly entertaining COMPLETE SECOND SEASON of the show NEW GIRL; the mindless and funny summer comedy THE INTERNSHIP starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson; the entertaining music documentary SPRINGSTEEN & I…that is for fans only; Pixar’s fun sequel MONSTERS UNIVERSITY; and the completely horrible waste of your time R.I.P.D. are all available now, either on disc or on demand.

And that’s this week’s COUCH POTATO REPORT.

Enjoy the movies and I’ll see you back here again next time on The Couch!

The Couch Potato Report – October 31st, 2013 – Halloween

It is Halloween and if you’re someone who likes to spend their movie time watching releases full of frightening delights and things that go bump in the night, then you’re in luck as this is a Couch Potato Report full of new releases just for Halloween!!!

The filmed-in-and-around Toronto series HANNIBAL brings the first frights. Based on characters from the novel “Red Dragon” by Thomas Harris HANNIBAL focuses on the manipulative and challenging relationship between FBI special investigator Will Graham and Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a forensic psychiatrist who is destined to become Graham’s most cunning enemy.

SEASON ONE of HANNIBAL features some exceptionally horrific episodes that pay off both within the series and because of what we already know of the characters from the movies and books they’ve appeared in.

HANNIBAL features thirteen episodes and while not all of them are classics, almost all of them are very, very creepy. I enjoyed watching it, I highly recommend it and I’m looking forward to Season Two in 2014.

The premise behind THE PURGE is one that I also recommend – as far as horror based works of fiction are concerned – but I just can’t recommend the movie they made from that premise.

THE PURGE takes place in the not too distant future in a world that is crime free because once a year everyone gets to purge during a 12-hour period when any and all crimes – from petty theft to murder – are completely legal.

The film ultimately fails – and it does – fail – because once we find out that the supposed super secure home of the main family isn’t so secure after all, it’s just a film full of shooting and killing and on week Halloween I want horror, not just shooting and killing.

Now THE CONJURING, now that is a horror film!!

Oh yes, THE CONJURING is a movie full of some great jumps and scares!! It’s about a married couple, who are also paranormal investigators in the early 1970s. They go to work to help a family who are being terrorized by another family who appear to be residing in their remote farmhouse.

But not everyone can see them.

Not everything in THE CONJURING works, there are too many extra storylines that don’t need to be included, but the majority of it does. Pick this one up, turn down the lights and get ready…what you’re afraid of is right behind you!!

The creepiest release available for viewing this week before Halloween is the second season of the television series AMERICAN HORROR STORY. This one is called ASYLUM and even though it is nowhere near as great as the first, it is still super extra creepy and always unpredictable.

ASYLUM takes place in Briarcliff, an institution for the criminally insane, and some of the everyday activities here include medical experiments, terrifying evil, alien abduction AND demonic possession. Oh, and don’t forget the creature known as Bloody Face.

Even though it isn’t as great as the first season, and it doesn’t finish as strong as it starts, I still recommend AMERICAN HORROR STORY: ASYLUM because it offered up some things I didn’t see coming, things that shocked me, and I can’t forget them!!

That is the good stuff at this time of year.

John Carpenter’s classic 1978 film HALLOWEEN has imprinted many an image on my brain, and the brains of millions, specifically the image of a masked killer named Michael Myers stalking and killing promiscuous teenagers after breaking out of a mental hospital after being locked up for fifteen years.

There have been hundreds of films just like HALLOWEEN since it first came out, but the first is still the best and this new 35th ANNIVERSARY EDITION has some great new Bonus Features that feature both director John Carpenter and star Jamie Lee Curtis.

The 35th ANNIVERSARY EDITION of the horror classic HALLOWEEN; the unpredictable but not as good second edition of AMERICAN HORROR STORY called ASYLUM; the very, very creepy supernatural thriller THE CONJURING; the better premise that film THE PURGE; and SEASON ONE of the made in-and-around Toronto horror series HANNIBAL, about Hannibal Lechter, are all available now, either on disc or on demand.

And that’s this week’s COUCH POTATO REPORT.

Enjoy the movies – Happy Halloween – and I’ll see you back here again next time on The Couch!