The Couch Critic
The Couch Critic is your laid-back guide to movies and TV shows that deserve your attention—or maybe don’t. Nathan dives deep into storytelling, character development, and cinematic style with a sharp eye and a wry sense of humor. Whether it’s a blockbuster hit, a hidden gem, or a cult classic, Nathan’s relatable approach ensures every episode feels like a cozy chat with a friend who just happens to love film. Perfect for casual watchers and cinephiles alike, The Couch Critic brings thoughtful critique without the fluff. Grab your favorite snack, settle in, and let Nathan guide you through the world of screen entertainment.
The Couch Critic
Cinema Saturday: Twists and Turns of "Companion" - A Comedic Thriller Unveiled
What if a movie you thought would be a chilling horror flick turned out to be a clever, comedic thriller? This week on Cinema Saturday, join me, Nathan, your dependable Couch Critic, as I unravel the surprising layers of "Companion." Featuring standout performances by Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, and Lucas Gage, this film takes you on an unexpected journey following a billionaire’s mysterious demise. Despite its gruesome moments and strong language, "Companion" weaves a fascinating narrative that keeps you guessing and entertained, especially with its unique spin on AI consciousness.
Embark on a weekend of surprises at a lakeside estate where not everything is as it seems. With Sophie Thatcher brilliantly playing a companion robot, the film’s unexpected twists add to the intrigue of this comedic thriller. While the rough language might make some viewers flinch, the film’s clever storytelling and dynamic character interactions are sure to captivate fans of thrilling narratives. I rate it a solid 3.5 out of 5, primarily due to the strong language, but it’s a breath of fresh air that’s both engaging and thought-provoking. So, grab your snacks and get ready for a movie experience that will keep you on the edge of your seat!
The weekend's here. It's time to unwind. Grab your snacks, leave the week behind. Blockbusters classics, they're all on the way. Let's kick it off with Cinema Saturdays.
Speaker 2:Hey everybody, welcome to another Cinema Saturday episode of the Couch Critic. I'm your host, nathan, and on today's episode I'm going to be reviewing a movie that I saw last week, or actually the week before, during a screen unseen showing. But this movie didn't come out until January 31st, so I'm talking about it a week after its release, and that movie is Companion. Companion stars Sophie Thatcher, jack Quaid and Lucas Gage, and this movie is about a billionaire's death that sets off a chain of events for Iris and her friends during a weekend trip to his lakeside estate. Now I remember seeing this trailer and again, it's one of those movies that I would not have thought about seeing, and I actually thought that the Scream Unseen that's what it was called. It wasn't Screen Unseen, it was called Scream Unseen, which usually means it's a horror movie of some kind. I thought it was going to be the slasher Valentine's day themed movie, hard eyes, and I think a lot of people thought that. But that movie was actually one of the trailers before companion, and so let me just start off right here.
Speaker 2:Sophie Thatcher was in another movie that I really enjoyed, Heretic with Hugh Grant. I didn't realize it was her until someone commented on something on Facebook about how, hopefully, this movie was better than Heretic. But I actually really really enjoyed that movie, so I was excited to see her in this. I was actually very surprised at what this movie was. When I first saw the trailer I thought it was going to be a kind of like the movie warm bodies, a zombie love story kind of thing. But spoiler alert. Spoiler alert, this movie goes in a completely different direction. It actually reveals itself that sophie's character, iris, is actually a companion robot, and so it was. Basically. It takes the whole ai getting a mind of its own concept, and it was really clever. It was a very clever movie it was. It was very gory at times. It's very over the top kind of kind of comedic violence, if if I can say that, and so it didn't take itself too seriously, but I actually had fun watching it. The biggest thing I didn't like about it was the amount of foul language. This is a hard r movie, not just because of the violence in it, but also because the language is really really rough, and I thought it was interesting that there are a few twists in this movie meaning that not iris is not the only companion robot in the movie. I'm not going to reveal too much because obviously this is not a movie I can recommend to every single person that I know, but I do think that the concept was very interesting.
Speaker 2:I think they did a really good job at keeping you on your toes, making you not sure what's going to happen next, and that's when you. That's what you want in a thriller movie, because it's not really a horror movie, it's more like a comedic thriller and I think they did a really good job. I thought the acting overall by every single person was really really good. You cared about some of the characters.
Speaker 2:You got frustrated with the characters that you were supposed to get frustrated with, and I think Sophie Thatcher's acting, which was stale at times in Heretic that was probably one of the downsides of that movie.
Speaker 2:It works.
Speaker 2:Her acting works in this film because she's supposed to be an AI kind of robot companion and so it works for that, and I thought it was really interesting how they explained why for so long, she believed that she was a real person and it was just like I said before, it was just a really clever movie, clever movie, and again these screen unseen films are allowing me to see majority of the movies that they've shown have allowed me to see movies that I see the trailer and I'm like I don't know.
Speaker 2:But then I go see the film and it's a very pleasant surprise. So I would give Companion probably a 3.5 out of 5, which is kind of low. But the reason I give it so low is because the language is really really rough. But other than that, I thought the storyline was compelling. I cared about the characters, I was interested to see where it was going to go next and they did some really interesting things. So I thought it was fun. But yeah, that language gives it the low 3.5 out of five. So take a listen to what I'm going to be reviewing next Cinema Saturday.
Speaker 1:Marvin Gable. Who are you?
Speaker 2:Your brother brought us in to find you.
Speaker 1:After you, let Rose go Tell my brother to back off this little spider monkey. Ninja got hopped. Hey, what the Rose.
Speaker 2:Hey Marv, why did you come back?
Speaker 1:If we're gonna stop your brother, I'm gonna need to hold you. I'm so sorry. Find my brother and Rose now. Now let's finish this together. You want the old me. You got him. It's about time. Sorry, but love hurts.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna be watching a valentine's themed action film love hurts and so I'm actually looking forward to that, because I like fighting films, I like action films, so I'm looking forward to that. And you can listen to the tuesday episode of Couch Critic, where I will be doing a short but sweet review of the Christmas classic National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation on the Couch Critic, where every movie gets its close up.
Speaker 1:So grab a seat, let the credits play. We'll see you next for cinema saturdays.
