The (Pod) Casting Couch - The Descendants

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FILM: RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES REVIEW

Rush Hour: Always a bitch.

I’ve never really understood the whole ‘Planet of the Apes’ phenomenon. I get that they’re entertaining films with a few good ideas and a nice twist, but the series’ longevity and level of cultural impact was always somewhat beyond my grasp. I was therefore not only surprised that there was a prequel on the way but even more surprised that it was premiering in this, the most blockbuster-heavy summer in recent memory.

Most of the hype for ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ has happened by stealth and put the special effects front and centre as the primary selling point. Stars James Franco, Freida Pinto and Draco Malfoy (I mean, Tom Felton) have been sidelined in favour of short, effects-heavy clips of the stunningly real-looking apes. Not only is this also how the film itself works, but it’s also why the film works – and no one is more surprised than me that it does.

The (Pod) Casting Couch - Kung Fu Panda 2/Top 4 Kids movie Scenes

The Podcasting Couch this week tackles their top 4 kids movie moments and reviews Kung Fu Panda 2. Featuring Shannon Harvey from the West Australian (@Choc_Bomb), Quickflix film critic Simon Miraudo from blog.quickflix.com.au (@quickflix), Andrew Williams (@Intheboxseat) and Laura Hewison (Twitter account pending). Also, the Podcasting Couch has just joined twitter, so you can get all the podcast updates from @podcastingcouch.

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The Podcasting Couch - Super 8

The Podcasting Couch puts on their best 'Spielberg face' and takes a wistful look at the new J. J. Abrams movie Super 8. You can e-mail us anytime atthepodcastingcouch@gmail.com with your suggestions for this week's Top 4 - the best ever movie monsters!

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The Podcasting Couch - X-Men: First Class

After an inconsistent couple of weeks, The Podcasting Couch has returned to regularly scheduled programming and this week we bring you our thoughts on X-Men: First Class, as well as discuss our Top 4 Movie Teams of all time. Check it out and e-mail thepodcastingcouch@gmail.com.


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The Podcasting Couch - Arthur

This week the Podcasting Couch has a lot of ground to cover, so we've split the podcast into two parts. In the first part, you'll find:
Review of 'Arthur', starring Russell Brand, Greta Gerwig and Helen Mirren. E-mails - best movie deaths. Shannon's reviews of Sucker Punch and Scream 4.

In the second part, you'll find our Top 2 Worst and Top 2 Best Movie Remakes of all time, including a fairly robust discussion of Gus Van Sant's Psycho.

Enjoy and e-mail your best and worst movie remakes to thepodcastingcouch@gmail.com.

Search 'The podcasting couch' on itunes, or listen below...

PART ONE:

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PART TWO:

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FILM - THOR REVIEW

I’ve written and spoken often about how important expectation is to the success (or otherwise) of films in this hype-heavy, instant-reaction world we live in nowadays. This is a film world where people get excited to see still images from a film – something I’ve never understood – and hype has the ability to make or break a film. You go in expecting Spiderman and you get Spiderman 2, Sam Raimi is a directing god. You go in expecting Spiderman 2 and you get Spiderman 3, and you’ll be cursing out Sam Raimi on internet message boards for the rest of time.

So as I went into the cinema to see Thor, I was aware that the hype had been middling in the lead-up to the film’s release. The promotional pictures had been gaudy and ridiculous, the trailer was uninspiring and the fish-out-of-water humour was in danger of derailing the whole operation. All I was hoping for, as someone who has never read a Thor comic but desperately wants this whole Marvel cross-film pollination to succeed, (I’ll never get sick of superhero films) was a three-star movie that regular punters would go and see.

The Podcasting Couch - Sucker Punch

For the Podcasting Couch's thought on the new Zack Snyder film 'Sucker Punch' - search 'the podcasting couch' on itunes, go to http://boxseattv.podbean.com/ or simply listen below...

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FILM REVIEW - FASTER

Sorry, son. It's a starring role in the Tooth Fairy for you.

You know how people have guilty-pleasure songs, or guilty pleasure movies? I have a guilty pleasure actor – Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. Part of it stems from me being a wrestling fan when I was younger but mostly I just find him an incredibly appealing screen presence. He’s not quite in the Patrick Swayze guilty-pleasure actor pantheon, but he’s getting there.

Wherein lies the appeal? In Johnson, you have a gregarious, cocky presence who owns the screen when given the chance to explore that side of him. (See The Other Guys, Get Smart, Welcome to the Jungle, Be Cool, Saturday Night Live). If you don’t allow that side to come out, you’re playing to his weaknesses – dramatic heft, introspection and so on. What you really need for a role like that is someone with far greater dramatic chops than muscles.

As such, in casting the sedimentary action star as a hard man on a mission who rarely speaks and has no sense of humour, the film completely wastes Dwayne Johnson. There’s a sentence I never thought I’d write.

FILM REVIEW - TRUE GRIT

The Coen brothers have made great movies. No Country for Old Men is well loved and an Oscar Winner for Best Picture. The Big Lebowski would go close to being the most popular cult film ever made and what is widely considered their best film, Fargo, is a classic. So the Coens are no strangers to greatness.

Their latest film, True Grit, fails to bridge that crucial gap between a good, capable, well-executed film and a great one.

FILM REVIEW - THE GREEN HORNET

It’s hard not to watch The Green Hornet without thinking about Batman. Under the stewardship of Seth Rogen, The Green Hornet plays like Batman if Batman didn’t have skills, an alternative personality or sense of purpose.

That’s not the world’s worst idea. There’s the possibility of a subversive superhero movie there – like a more professional Kick-Ass – and if one director and star combination might pull it off, it’s Michel Gondry and Seth Rogen.

Unfortunately, they don’t.