Glee: Makeover

This episode was not great. I did not enjoy it. In theory, it wasn’t a bad episode, though the plot was good, the songs failed to impress me and some of the characters are just getting annoying.

In New York, Kurt finally landed his internship. Sarah Jessica Parker was well-cast as Isabelle Bright from Columbus. She is sweet and perky but unsure of her position. Though she had some great ideas, she just can't say no to people and business suffers because of it. Even after Kurt breaks into Vogue to get Rachel new clothes for her makeover, Isabelle is happy about the whole thing. She loves makeovers. The video that Kurt makes of Rachel is a hit with Vogue though it will all be re-shot with famous people. Kurt has finally made it, but in fashion, not on Broadway, which is his first dream.

Back in Ohio, it is time for Student President Elections. It's Brittany and Artie (but she forgot that they even went out for several months in season two) versus Blaine and Sam. Brittany is determined to win and though Artie brings the necessary brains to the party; she still ruins it by saying that she would cut summer vacation and weekends so they could spend more time together because she loves school so much. Artie mutters to himself that they just lost the election, which they did. Blaine won. Also, during the debate, Sam admits that he is not ashamed of his stripper past.

Still, Blaine misses Kurt and has joined many extracurricular activities to fill the void. He is upset and their relationship is headed toward disaster.

On the other hand, Rachel is heating things up (almost literally) with Brody. They had a hot debut number together and finally, she asked him out on a date. After a quick make-out session with him, the door bell rings and she opens the door and it's Finn. Wow, shocker. Their relationship is also headed toward disaster.

Overall, this episode ignored the newly created characters for this show, just when I was starting to like them. The songs weren't great. And for goodness sake, give Tina some screen time, she's been part of this show since season one, and has been ignored since then as well. And stop making Brittany seem so stupid, that is also getting on my nerves. Glee, you need to get better, or else I will stop watching. Grade: B

Trouble with the Curve

This was a pretty good movie, no Moneyball but still enjoyable.
Gus (Clint Eastwood) is a baseball scout for the Braves, but he is getting older and his eyesight is failing. He also has a daughter, Mickey (the always great Amy Adams) who is a successful lawyer. They live separate lives because Mickey believes that is what her father wants. But Gus's old friend and boss, Pete Klein (John Goodman) calls up Mickey and warns her that something is wrong with her father. Though she is also worried, she is reluctant to accompany him on his journey to scout out this kid, Bo Gentry (Joe Massingill), who is the big shot around the baseball world and the attitude to go with it, plus he looks way too old to be a high school student. But, yes, he is a good baseball player and can really hit the ball, but I found him horribly annoying throughout. The kid that caught my attention was the son of the hotel owner, who also sold peanuts at the local ball games. He threw the peanut bag so hard, I knew there had to be more to it. The film would eventually get back to him, but it would take awhile.
Mickey finally joins her father, though she is in the middle of a big case and about to make partnership at her law firm though she has only been there seven years. Her father is not pleased to see her; he wants her to return to her own life. She notices the scratches on his car so she drives, though the next day, she lets her father drive, which is not a good idea as a car hits them, but luckily no one is seriously hurt. along the way to seeing all the games, Johnny Flanagan (Justin Timberlake) arrives. He is a former baseball pitcher who was recruited by Gus, but then he blew his arm out so now he picks players for the Boston Red Sox.  Needless to say, sparks fly between Mickey and Johnny, though Mickey is still very much dedicated to her job.
Long story short, it turns out that Gentry can't hit a curve ball. All Gus needs to do is hear how the ball came off his bat. Gus advices the Braves not to sign him, but he is overruled by the new hotshot scout, Phil Sanderson (Matthew Lillard) who deals with computers. They sign him. The Red Sox don't because Gus told Johnny that he would not work out. Thus Johnny loses his job and is furious with both Gus and Mickey. So much for their budding relationship, which had only just begun. Then, after another confrontation between Gus and Mickey where he finally reveals to her the reason why he sent her away after her mother died was because he lost her and found her being hit on by a man in the horse barn near the ball park. She said being spent away, twice, first to her aunt and uncle's and then later to boarding school, made her feel rejected. Gus leaves and while Mickey is packing, she hears this weird pounding sound coming from outside. She investigates and finds  the peanut kid pitching the baseball to his younger brother. She approaches said kid, whose name is Rigo Sanchez (Jay Galloway) and watches him pitch. Despite not being able to play baseball for school as his grades aren't good enough for his mother, Mickey likes what she sees as Rigo can even throw different types of pitches. She begs Pete to try him out which Pete reluctantly agrees to. The big moment has arrived. Rigo pitches flawlessly and finally the big man on campus is shutdown. Phil is out of a job while Gus can stay on longer though he is aging severely. Mickey is offered the partnership because the other guy being considered choked when his time finally came up. Johnny even shows back up and the film ends with Johnny and Mickey kissing and Gus walking away calmly, saying his has to take the bus.
Overall, the film is flawed. The bad guy is too bad. The arrogant kid is too out of touch with everyone else, not caring about his other teammates, when baseball is a team sport after all. Rigo is so polite and normal you root for him from the very beginning, though I doubt someone with no experience whatsoever could pitch that well. The love scene in a local watering hole between Mickey and Johnny is just an excuse for Justin Timberlake to take his shirt off. Yet the film is enjoyable. No, there is very little depth to the film and probably should have been released during the summer not closer toward Oscar season, but yes, it was good and enjoyable but it handles the sport too lightly for my taste. Luckily, Eastwood, Adams and Timberlake redeem the fairly simple and predictable plot. Grade: B+

Glee: Britney 2.0

They had another Britney episode where some great songs were sung and some bad decisions were made.
Bad Decision #1: Brittany had a breakdown after being kicked off the Cheerios after Sue feels that she sets a bad example, which she kind of does. This triggers a Brittany breakdown, which she does in epic fashion, including nearly shaving her hair off at one point because if she can't wear her high pony, then she doesn't want hair at all. Luckily, her hair is saved. To further save her spirit, Blaine decides to let Brittany sing the song at the assembly, but she wants to lip synch. Though they try to turn her against it, that is what they end up doing. Naturally, they are caught because Brittany walks around like a zombie on stage and shoves food down her mouth. Mr. Schuster is furious at the club and warns them that if the nationals police caught them, they could be bared from competing for the year. But Brittany, having hit rock bottom, is ready for her comeback, just as the real Britney was. She pulls her life together, including getting tutoring sessions from Mr. Schu and Emma and her grades are coming up. Sue allows her back on the Cheerios.
Bad Decision #2: Rachel is still having difficulties with Cassandra July and then Kurt alerts her to July's breakdown on youtube when she was trying to make it on Broadway. While she was performing, a man's cell phone rings and she freaks out. Meanwhile, Rachel was told that she was not sexy enough to learn the tango, so she plans her own dance with the help of Brody, who really likes Rachel, but July still didn't like it. Then Rachel said that she was just jealous because Rachel still had a chance while her broadway life was over. July then kicked her out. Luckily, because of school policy, Rachel is given a second chance but July warned her that things don't work lie that in real life. She was never given a second chance. Rachel is on probation but things are looking up her.
Now to the relationships. Brody really likes Rachel, though she is not yet over Finn. Finn, however, hasn't been heard from in months. And then Brody says, though he will respect her boundaries, every time they are together, he thinks of kissing her. The show ends up Rachel painting over the heart with Finn's name in it in her new apartment that she now shares with Kurt.
Back in Lima, Marley is harboring a super huge crush on Jake even though Unique warns her to avoid him because he dates a whole bunch of girls. Nevertheless, she meets him and they have a beautiful duet together and he even gives her his jacket to wear. Later, when kids are mean to Marley's mother, he picks a fight with them. Mr. Schuster doesn't tell the principal, but instead brings Jake to talk with his brother, Puck (yay, Puck). Puck gives him some good advice and tells him that this club made him a man, not all the girls he banged. So Jake decides to join the club, and Marley is pleased. Then, her heart breaks when Jakes says that he is seeing Kitty. Naturally, Kitty is pleased with herself. Marley sings the final song of the show, Britney Spears's Everytime, the song that should have ended the first Britney episode two years ago. She did an amazing job, filled with pure heartbreak.
This was a pretty good episode. Lessons were learned by several members. The songs worked well and the show just meshed together better than last week as the characters are becoming more engaging. Marley is easily my new favorite character and has an amazing voice. I hope to see more from her to come. Grade: A-

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

This was a good movie; too bad hardly anyone went to see it in theaters. The plot is grim but the first three-quarters of the film is filled with humor.
The film opens up with a man listening to the radio broadcast in his car, saying that a massive asteroid is headed toward the Earth to destroy it. Upon hearing the news, his wife runs out of the car and never looks back. The man is Dodge (Steve Carell), an insurance salesman, who doesn't let this news stop him from living his life. He still goes to the gym and goes to his job, one of the few people who do. He lets a spider in his sink life. It bites the crap out of his face and while parking his car at work, one of his coworkers hurdles himself off the roof and lands on Dodge's car, cracking the windshield. Naturally, he is depressed about the world ending and that his wife left him, but he also feels hopeless and drinks some cough syrup to ease his pain. His friends, including Diane (Connie Britton), Warren (Rob Corddry) and Roache (Patton Oswald) are having fun, throwing crazy parties, drinking and taking illegal drugs. Roache enjoys having sex with as many women as possible, because the women aren't worry about pregnancy, STDs and everything else that they would normally worry about. Diane even tries to have sex with Dodge, who is horrified, Diane would cheat on her husband Warren with him? He leaves, upset that his is alone, thinking of his high school sweetheart.
 Upon returning to his little apartment, alone, he finds a woman crying on his fire escape. Her name is Penny (the great Keira Knightley), upset over breaking up with her boyfriend. He invites her in. She says, "I won't steal anything if you don't rape me." Naturally, Dodge agrees to this. She helps herself to some cough syrup and smokes some weed and promptly falls asleep on his couch, sleeping until his harmonica playing finally wakes her up. When she wakes up, Penny takes him down to her apartment where she gives him all of his mail for the past three years that had been wrongly placed in her mailbox. One of these is a letter from Olivia, his old high school sweetheart, telling him that he was the love of her life.
That night, he attempts to commit suicide by drinking a large amount of window cleaning fluid but wakes up only to find a dog with a leash tied to his foot and a note on his shirt saying "Sorry." That becomes the dog's name.
Later, riots break out all over the town, including near the apartment building. Determined not to get killed, Dodge jumps into Penny's apartment where she is having another fight with her ex-boyfriend, Owen (Adam
Brody). They finally find her car and a deal is made. If Penny gets him to his high school sweetheart, he will hook her up with a plane flight home to visit her parents; they do live in England after all. They get into the car, leaving a frustrated Owen in the dust.
However, things do know as planned, as Penny quickly runs out of gas. Then they run into another driver (William Petersen) who can give them a ride. But, as it turns out, this guy was diagnosed with terminal cancer and hired a hit man to help him commit suicide, but just as he is relieved that Dodge and Penny aren't the hired guns, he gets shot in the neck. Dodge and Penny bury the man, but then, staring at the grave, realize that the keys to his truck are still down there.
The journey continues. They stop at a Friendsy's Bar, which is a great scene, considering it includes Community's Gillian Jacobs as a waitress, Kate. Everyone is welcome here, including the dog. The host says that last week, some guy brought a wolf in. There is plenty to drink, dancing the congo. Penny even smells weed and immediately follows the smell to obtain some. Then, they leave because a sex orgy is beginning. But then, back in the car, Penny throws herself on Dodge and the two have sex. Dodge feels guilty, but Penny simply tells him that it was bound to happen. Then, a policeman pulls them over because Penny is speeding, though she seemed nonchalant about the whole thing, because the world is ending. She also tells Dodge to put her last bit of weed in his mouth, which is a bad idea, but the scene is funny nevertheless. The policeman is unimpressed by everything and takes them to jail where they spend the night. Penny is upset over most likely never seeing her family again. They get out the next morning and are dropped off at the house of one of Penny's ex-boyfriends, who is in the army and set for the disaster with titanium walls and plenty of guns and potato chips. Here, Penny is finally able to call her parents and cries upon just hearing there voices. Specht (Derek Luke) is able to lend them a smart car, though he expects Penny back because she deserves a chance at survival and he expresses his regret over not marrying her.
Dodge and Penny journey back to his childhood home, where some more bonding between the two occurs. Then Dodge leaves a letter on Olivia's door, though Penny is shocked that nothing more happened. Then after a quick trip to the beach, where Penny and Dodge kiss for real and spend some quality time together before continuing on their journey. The next stop shocked me. They arrive at Dodge's father's (Martin Sheen) house. This man left Dodge and his mother years ago and the two hadn't spoken in years, but now he is back. Penny hugs the man immediately. The old wounds would never heal, but Dodge now at least has come closer. When Penny falls asleep, Dodge carries her onto his father's plane, England bound. He kisses her goodbye, saying that she is the love of his life.
He returns home with Sorry. The meteor attack is sped up, coming a week earlier than planned. He expects to die alone. Then Penny returns, saying her romantic parents would understand. (Until now, she had been skeptical about the whole thing.) She wanted to die with him. They lie on her bed, talking. Penny is afraid. Then the first sounds occur and some everything fades to white. The world is over.
The film is good, though it does have its faults, mainly Steve Carell is still playing the same character he did in Crazy, Stupid, Love. He also cannot cry on cue. Keira Knightley (always underrated), on the other hand, is great as this role is different from everything else she's ever done, but she gives the best performance of the film. Also, the tone is quite uneven, but it can really make you laugh and cry as the whole idea is quite sad, I was in tears by the end, refusing to believe that the world would actually end. But the film gave the viewer plenty to think about, what would really happen if the world was about to end? This film is very good and certainly the most underrated film of the year that I've seen. Grade: A-

Glee: The New Rachel

Season Four has finally arrived! The premiere was interesting, to say the least. I haven't decided if it's interesting in a good or bad way yet.
The show begins with showing Rachel in New York. She is attending her dance class, whose teacher is crazy and played by Kate Hudson, no less, turning in a great performance. Cassandra July (Hudson) is the teacher, who can still bust some serious moves and does want the best for her students, but she puts Rachel in her place. Rachel (the always great, though often annoying Lea Michele) probably shouldn't have mentioned that she smelled alcohol on July's breath, but she did anyway. Needless to say, this did not win her any necessary points with July. However, things are looking up for her. In class with Whoopi Goldberg, Rachel performed brilliantly, winning her professor's approval. At least one class is going well. On the roommate front, things aren't looking so good as her roommate (unseen) thinks it is perfectly acceptable to have sex while Rachel is still in the room. Then she meets the sexy Brody (Dean Geyer). He is very nice and knows the school well. For now, he is only Rachel's friend, seemingly the only she has in New York, but he does want more, but knows that she is off limits for now. (Who knows what is going on with Finn, though Rachel did mention that she hadn't heard from him in several weeks.)
Back in Ohio, the popularity of winning nationals has gone to the heads of New Directions. Sue has had her baby, a beautiful little girl named Robin, whose father is still unknown. Yet, Sue surrenders most of the care to her new head cheerleader, Kitty (Becca Tobin), a nasty unpregnant Quinn. There is also Unique (Alex Newell) to joins the fight along with Blaine, Tina and Brittany (who flunked her senior year and is back again, which I'm not too happy about) to become the new Rachel. Artie judges them, and decides, with the help of an online pole that Blaine has won, leaving the other three quite upset. Other new members include Marley Rose (Melissa Benoist), my new favorite character as the new girl with a powerhouse voice, but the overweight lunch lady as her mother who makes countless sacrifices so her daughter can have a normal life. She makes it into the New Directions only to become upset when they make fun of her mother. Luckily, they come around, admitting that they let the popularity go to their heads. In the end, Glee is once again at the bottom of the food chain. The other new member, Jake, is Puck's half-brother, with attitude to spare. He starts off great, and then, already knowing his decision, Mr. Schu cuts him off. Jake (Jacob Artist, an appropriate last name) throws a fit, thus ruining his chances at joining the club.Still, he may come around, as the preview hinted at a possible romance between Jake and Marley, which I am all for.
In other news, Kurt was still in Lima at the beginning of the episode, struggling along. Luckily, Blaine encouraged him to go to New York and his father supported him in this decision. Thus, Kurt is now in New York, hugging Rachel at the end of the episode.
On the song end of the spectrum, they were mostly good, though Blaine's good-bye song to Kurt was distracting with all the cups used as props, but Marley's amazing voice saved the episode. "Call Me Maybe" was an alright performance, but "Chasing Pavements" made the episode worth it. I do look forward to seeing the rest of the season, though, for me, something is missing, but I don't know what. Grade: B+

13 Going On 30 (2004)

This is a great, and completely enjoyable movie. The plot may be far fetched but somehow it worked.
Jenna Rink (Christa B. Allen) is the dorky, thirteen year-old girl struggling to get through middle school. Her biggest dream is to become popular and join the cliche known as the six chicks. Nevertheless, she invites these nasty girls to her birthday party that evening after she offers to write their school report for them. They even promise that they will invite Chris, a popular guy, to the party as well. At the party, her even dorkier and heavyset friend Matt (Sean Marquette) arrives and gives her a beautifully made dream house which she likes though she knows that the six chicks will make fun of it, so after it is sprinkled with some magic dust, she shoves it into her closet.
The party does not go well. Promising that Chris will meet her in the closet, Jenna goes in there and then all her friends leave. Along the way, Matt returns and the chicks tell him that Jenna is waiting for him in the closet. Instead, she pushes him out of the closet, and then returns, depressed that everything has left. She wishes that she was fit and fabulous and 30.
Then she wakes up. Jenna (Jennifer Garner) is in an apartment that she doesn't recognize and is horrified that a naked guy is in her shower. Then she is picked up for her job at Poise Magazine by her friend Lucy (Judy Greer), but she doesn't want to get the car because she doesn't get into a stranger's car. She finds out that her wish came true. Jenna is now 30, but though the last seventeen years of her life happened, she has no memory of them. She doesn't remember stealing the idea and then firing her assistant Charlotte. She doesn't remember never telling her secretary to never tell her when her parents called. And she certainly doesn't remember that she and Matt (Mark Ruffalo) are no longer friends.
She finds Matt. He is living a much less glamorous life than she. He lives in a modest apartment compared to her and works as a freelance photographer. She also learns later that he is also engaged to a news anchorwoman (or person) from Chicago, Wendy (Lynn Collins). Naturally, this news upsets her.
Meanwhile, Jenna adapts to her new life. She enjoys the perks of being an adult, buying clothes and partying until all hours of the morning. But she finds her boyfriend, Alex (Samuel Ball) gross. She doesn't want to have sex with him, though he is quite willing. She tells her secretary that he can call her back in like a zillion years.
Poise Magazine is also having trouble selling its issues. Thus, the owner (Andy Serkis, in the flesh) is told that it must be redesigned. Lucy is secretly plotting against Jenna, forming her own. Certainly she is not above her scheming ways from middle school, as she was the leader of the six chicks, then called Tom-Tom. Luckily, Jenna overhears this and is able to come up with her own idea and even brings Matt in on it. She designs everything like a yearbook. Matt is doing the photographs. Though he is due to be married in only a few weeks, they spend a lot of time together and even share a kiss. She describes the moment in great detail to her new teenage friend, Becky (Renee Olmstead). She also tells them that "love is a battlefield". This inspires them. But everything comes crashing down. The adult Jenna is a not nice person and is even plotting against her company, giving secrets to its main competitor, Sparkle. Though her new idea is a success, Lucy lies to Matt about the whole thing and takes the idea straight to the competitor, which will leave Jenna at the dying magazine, which at one point she had tried to bring down. And, she has no boyfriend. She does go to Matt's wedding and says that she loves him and he tells her the same thing, but they cannot be together; he will still marry Wendy. He does give her the house he made for her thirteenth birthday. She goes out to the front doorstep and cries. The wind starts blowing and more of the magic dust blows on her. She is thirteen again. And alone in the closet. Matt still comes in but she bounces on him and kisses him, which makes him happy. She then drags him up the stairs after ripping the report she wrote in half and tells him that they are late. "For what?" he asks. Though she never answers, we know that they are late for the rest of their lives, just waiting to begin. The two get married and our last shot is of them getting settled into their new house, eating a candy from the 1980s.
Though the concept has been done before, it is refreshing to see it done this way. Jennifer Garner is also a revelation, doing a great job in a difficult role. She is a teenager trapped in the body of a grown woman, and she realizes that though she once longed to be grown, she realizes that she missed out on so much and it was not worth it. All the pain would be worth it if she could just experience going up normally. Judy Greer is great as the best friend, though in this case, she is really the worst enemy. Mark Ruffalo does well, as you can just see his heart break when Jenna finally tells him that she loves him. This is easily the best romantic-comedy of the past ten years and one that I will watch again and again. Grade: B+

Deliverance (1972)

I had to watch this film in my Philosophy in Film class and it was awful. I literally want the two hours of my life back.
The whole thing was stupid. It started out well enough, with four friends going on a great canoe adventure before the river is torn up and made into something more commercial. Yet, the men don't have a plan, instead they decide things on the fly and are sorely punished for it. They go down river, facing some dangerous rapids but largely, everything is okay. And then, the next morning, two of the men, Ed and Bobby (Jon Voight and Ned Beatty) stop because they see other people. These men are mountain men and not in the least bit nice. In fact, the two men are assaulted at gunpoint. Luckily, the other canoe which contains Lewis and Drew (Burt Reynolds and Ronny Cox) arrives and Lewis is able to kill one of the men with an arrow. Then comes the debate on what to do with the body. Drew wants to find the highway patrol because this is a justifiable homicide but all the other men agree to bury the body, which they do. Then they get on with their way, but something is wrong with Drew. He doesn't put his life jacket back on and appears almost to be in a daze. Then another quick area of rapids arrive, thrusting Drew overboard and the other men out of the canoes. Lewis is horribly injured, with bits of muscle from his leg coming out of his pants and Drew is nowhere to be found. Then Ed proceeds to climb up this dangerous rock wall just to find the other men from the sexual assault and kill him, which he does. Never mind Lewis is dangerously injured down below. And this is done because they believe that Drew was shot, refusing to believe that he killed himself over having to live with killing a man and not reporting it to the proper authorities. So, with the other man dead, Ed returns to the canoes and the journey continues, finding Drew's lifeless body along the way. They arrive at their destination and finally medical attention is given to the gravely injured Lewis and the slightly injured Ed. But the police don't believe their story. Yet, despite searching from the police, the bodies of the three men are never found. Then again, that is not really surprising because the men lied to the cops about the location of where the incidents happened. Only after the sheriff asks why four life jackets were found, but only three men to go with them are they told to leave and never come back. (The answer Ed gives is the first truth he tells them: that Drew didn't put his back on and he doesn't know why.) Ed returns home to his wife and young son, but the memory of what happened will haunt him for the rest of his life.
I hated plenty of decisions that the men made throughout. Number One: plan ahead people, please. Number Two: try not to kill random people, or do the right thing and alert the authority, especially when you have reason to. Number Three: if one of your friend's is injured find them help, don't kill another man. And know the facts before you do. I have other problems with the film, but these are the main ones.
Now for the good. The film was realistically gritty and contained some good performances, especially from Jon Voight, but that did not stop me from wanting to walk out of the film, even more so than RoboCop (1987). Grade: C-