sad-eyed-angel Reviews

The Social Network (2010)

It shouldn't work.... but it does.

[8/10 · 14 April 2012]

This is the kind of movie that shouldn't work on a number of levels. First the obvious of when word about first got out people were all "a movie about facebook? perish the thought!" and the story itself is basically the plight of privileged douchebags. You've got the head douchebag, Mark Zuckerberg, who in theory would be the protagonist because he well, invented Facebook and everything but given the story he's kind of the protagonist and antagonist rolled into one. Everything knows a guy like him: he's incredibly brilliant and gifted, but the problem is he knows it. All too well. If he had a theme song, it would be "intellectually gifted and I know it." He goes through the entire movie fueled by and in love with his ambition that he is almost a completely unlikable character (when he gets busted towards the beginning of the movie, he suggests the university should thank him for finding holes in their system). Next you've got Sean Parker, not as privileged but still plenty douchey. His thing is that because he has had some success he has confidence in himself much like Zuckerberg does and sees the opportunity to help mold Zuckerberg into a bigshot and ride his coattails in the process. Then you've got the Winklevoss twins, the tall and tan douchebags. Zuckerberg accurately (like I said, the man in brilliant, it's no accident he is where he is) states that the Winklevoss twins are suing him because they didn't get their way for once. Admittedly, the Winklevoss twins only sued Zuckerberg because of the bruise to their fragile egos and the fact that Zuckerberg made it possible for people to watch them lose a race on another continent. Lastly, you've got Eduardo, more privileged than some (he funds everything for the first half of the movie) but the least douchey in the bunch. In fact, he is the most endearing, earnest, and likable character in the movie. Like most college students, he's trying to join an exclusive club but agrees to help Mark because he's his best friend. Eduardo has the most conscience and is always the one to step in when he thinks Mark is crossing a line he shouldn't be crossing, but Eduardo is a loyal sonofabitch to a fault. Loyal until Mark doesn't reciprocate and at Sean's urging, screws his pal over. Eduardo is the one character who you feel sorry for and want to root for.

As you can see, there are so many things in this movie that should make it not work. But... it does. Beautifully. What it comes down to is that this movie is wonderfully written and superbly acted. Aaron Sorkin was at his element here because the dialogue moves along so quickly and effortlessly and the story is fun to follow and watch. Next, every actor does a phenomenal job with their part. Jesse Eisenberg, before this movie was cruising down the Michael Cera highway, playing a string of awkward, likable underdogs, but a lot less annoying than Cera. He truly shines as the pro/antagonist Zuckerberg, making it so he is a complete jerk, but an interesting fella, to boot. As Eisenberg said in an interview, it's liberating to play a jerk because you don't have to worry about offending anybody...because that's all your character does. Next up to bat is Justin Timberlake. I really don't know why people hate on Justin Timberlake, I mean, is it simply boy-band backlash? Guys, the world needs boy bands, too. More to the point, Justin Timberlake is legitimately a good actor, and perfect for the smirky, smarmy careless trainwreck that is Sean Parker. And then there's Andrew Garfield, aka Eduardo. While I had never heard of him before, he was a knockout as Eduardo and makes me look forward to see him as Spiderman. Lastly is Armie Hammer, who plays both Winklevoss twins. Another not very well known actor who is able to play both twins convincingly enough, you do believe they are two different people and are flummoxed when you look it up after and realize he played both. Especially because that means he had to row both sides of the boat. This movie, a story about privileged boys fighting, is actually a masterpiece. It is the kind of movie you watch so you can say you've seen it and look/feel smarter, but you'll actually enjoy watching it, too.

Work It (2012–2013)

Another idea unpacked from the box labeled "Do not open past 1999"

[6 January 2012]

This show, like I Hate My Teenage Daughter and I Don't Know How She Does It, is another idea that could have worked fifteen years ago but really shouldn't have made it into this century. I believe that there is a time where this show would have been okay, but that time was at least twenty years ago. Like Tom Hanks in Bosom Buddies, funny sort of. Cory and Shawn in Boy Meets World putting on skirts to write an article about how what it's like to be a girl on a date, funny. Eric and Jack (why there was so much cross-dressing in Boy Meets World I don't know) stuffing their chests and calling themselves Chantel and Lala... well that was hysterical. But that was also in the 90's. A show in 2012 about two unemployed guys who pretend they're women who gets jobs... all that's gonna do is make people mad. This show is flawed in almost every way possible, not just this premise, but the plot of the show. The plot is that by pretending to be women and being around women all day, these men will become better men. Which might be okay if they were real jerks, but they actually don't seem like bad guys to begin with. Sure the married guy didn't understand at first why his wife didn't want to go out with him and his friends but really, there are a lot worse husbands on TV. And the other guy is a womanizer, but if Barney Stinson and Chuck Bass have taught us anything, it's that that's not always the worst thing either. This show is so bad it actually makes you feel sorry for the men portraying these characters who have this gig because it's quite possible that they, like their characters were in desperate need of a job, otherwise why would they be on this show?! This show could have been a mild hit in another time (Bosom Buddies ran for at least a couple years) but that time is not now, and this show is destined to be off TV faster than How to be a Gentlemen.

The Hangover Part II (2011)

Not bad, just.... nothing new

[7/10 · 28 December 2011]

When a movie is as much of a mega smash hit as The Hangover was in 2009, you can pretty much tell as soon as the credits start rolling that the movie will have a sequel. And that can be a good or bad thing; a sequel can further develop the characters you loved from the first and tell a whole new story, or it can regurgitate whatever made the first so great and just add new words. The Hangover, Part II is the latter.

In part II, the boys are going to Thailand for Stu's wedding and wake up realizing they lost his bride's little brother. Sound familiar? The Hangover part II is very similar to the first one, right down to it starts out almost the exact same way with everyone wondering where they are and Phil calling Doug's wife Tracy. The main difference between this one and the first one (other than it takes place in Thailand) is that the jokes go from funny to uncomfortable to watch. Instead of waking up and discovering one of them lost a tooth, they wake up to find the severed finger of the guy who is missing. Instead of getting tasered in the nuts, Phil gets shot in the arm. Instead of stealing a police car, they've kidnapped a monk. The jokes that made you laugh in the first one makes you feel sorry for them in this one. I'm not saying this movie was entirely bad, Bradley Cooper is still gorgeous (sue me, I'm a girl and that's my main draw for seeing these movies) and there are still some jokes that you can laugh at. I'm saying that they felt the need to rehash or bring in as much from the first one as they could, like Mike Tyson is randomly on the stage rapping at the end, and the movie ends with them looking at pictures from the night before. It makes me hope there is no Hangover III, but I think that would be impossible as the only one left to get hitched is Alan and who sees that happening?

2 Broke Girls (2011–2017)

A pretty decent show, unless...

[20 November 2011]

Whenever I saw previews for this show, I rolled my eyes like everybody else but when I watched it I was surprised by how much I liked it. It centers around Max, a creative girl with a sharp wit and Caroline, a down-on-her-luck socialite who finds her fortune and her way of life gone when her father is arrested for embezzling. The two work in a diner together and Max takes Caroline in and shows her how to be poor, as it were. Caroline's naivete and optimism mix well with Max's cynicism and attitude. One of the reasons this show works is the two stars, Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs, have great natural chemistry and play well off each other. Their characters may be polar opposites, but they also know how to be there for each other in a way that no one else can. Also, it's refreshing on TV in the world of Gossip Girl and Glee (yes their school is allegedly broke but have you seen their costume numbers?) it's refreshing to see a couple of characters who are more relatable with that they have money problems and sometimes they make more money and sometimes they lose some money and they just seem like real people. But this show isn't for everyone, and I could see people not liking it. Max has a very crass sense of humor, and somebody on the show says the word "rape" or "vagina" at least every five minutes. So I wouldn't recommend this show to anyone sensitive to jokes like that, and some of the characters who in the diner with them are stereotypes, but other than that it's a really cute fresh show and I hope it's around for a while.

What's Your Number? (2011)

Not your usual romantic comedy

[20 November 2011]

And that's coming from someone who enjoys your usual romantic comedy, but this is one that I watch and could see someone who doesn't usually favor rom-coms would like this. It tells the story of Ally, who like many rom-com heroines, hasn't met the right guy and gets freaked out when she reads a magazine article that makes her think she's had sex with too many people. So she enlists her neighbor to help her track down her exes to see if she should give any of them a second chance. Okay yes, from the second Chris Evans and his abs appear on screen you know they're going to end up together. But he's not the typical rom-com leading man. He sleeps with a different woman every night and attempts to hide from them the next day so he doesn't have to kick them out. He agrees to help Ally out and the two form a friendship and you can guess what happens from there. Even though it has its predictable moments, it doesn't have the rom-com staples. For one, Ally has no best friend in the movie. Judy Greer is nowhere to be seen and the best friend role is filled by her sister which is a nice change and it gives her some more depth than these types of characters usually have, that her sister and parents play a big role in the story. Ally is the kind of girl who wants to please everybody, such as the film opens with her getting out of bed and brushing her hair, teeth and applying mascara before getting back into bed and her then-boyfriend comments she always looks good waking up. But throughout the film, she realizes that Colin accepts her exactly as she is. Yes, this movie does have a lot of sex jokes, but seriously, show me one movie or TV show today that doesn't? It's not a national lampoon flick, the sex jokes don't draw attention away from the movie. To top it off, Anna Faris and Chris Evans play so easily off each other that they're fun to watch. I'd recommend to anyone, fan of romantic comedies or not.

Good Luck Charlie (2010–2014)

Exactly what Disney Channel needed

[19 October 2011]

I'm hardly exaggerating if I say this is the best show to come out of Disney Channel in at least five years. This show brings us back to the good ol' days of Lizzie McGuire when your mom would sit and watch an episode with you because it was a cute show that managed to provide a lesson without shoving it down the viewer's throat. Then came the era of the suite life, hannah montana, wizards of waverly place, and the creme de la crap, shake it up. These are more shows your mom rolls her eyes when she sees you watching them and after a while you start feeling embarrassed about it too. These shows mostly were all cute when they started out but as they progressed they got stupider and stupider. It's because these shows all have a gimmick, a shtick they need to make them work and ensue crazy plot lines, usually which involves someone trying to be famous.

The buck stops with Good Luck Charlie because the closest thing they have to a gimmick is that they have a baby sister. It's like on some shows like Fresh Prince, Malcolm in the Middle, Family Matters they have a surprise baby when they run out of ideas, GLC makes an entire show out of that. And it works, for a lotta different reasons:

IT'S A FAMILY SHOW. This might not seem that important but in terms of Disney Channel over the last few years it's a big improvement. Every show has families but they rarely interact and everyone is off doing their own thing. But GLC is about a family and everyone has equal story lines and all their plots all involve each other. Next to that, every member of the family is likable and believable. The main character Teddy is a goody-goody who loves her family, her older brother is stupid but sweet, her little brother is a prankster, her mom thinks a bit much of herself and their dad is a goofball. Every member of the family you could believe is a real person.

The supporting characters have lives of their own! Again, this doesn't seem like a big deal, but Disney Channel has gotten reallllly lazy. In not one, but two of their shows when they got tired of not explaining why the best friend was always at the star's house, they had the bestie move in with the star! To do this on one show is pushing it. When you do it on two, it's pathetic. But we see Teddy's best friend Ivy's parents, she has a family and a house and we see them semi-regularly! Again, it goes back to Lizzie McGuire days when we would see Miranda and Gordo's parents occasionally enough to know they existed. We even see Teddy's boyfriend's parents. It's not the biggest of deals but when they acknowledge that the supporting characters don't go sit in storage lockers when they leave the Duncan house it says something about the show.

It doesn't take place in California. Again this is my personal preference but when they have a show that doesn't take place in California (or New York but it's not the same, New York at least has weather) but this show takes place in Colorado! That means they can have mountains and snow and other things most shows on Disney are too lazy to touch.

Bottom line, it's a great show and just what the doctor ordered on Disney Channel. It's an innocent enough family show that a family can watch it together without the parents feeling like morons and if they have older kids reminisce about Lizzie McGuire. Home run, Disney Channel! And its about time!!

School of Life (2005 TV Movie)

An incredibly sweet and underrated movie

[24 September 2011]

This is a very touching and sweet movie that is unfortunately quite uncommonly known. I only found it because I'm a fan of Ryan Reynolds and he did not disappoint. His performance is sensational, and he's not playing a smarmy comedy guy or the action hero. In this he plays a young teacher who take the position of a coveted teacher at a junior high who passes away. This teacher had won the teacher of the year award for over forty years and his son who teaches at the same school sets out to win the award and when this new teacher appears on his territory, he is determined to find out what makes this near-perfect teacher tick and is shocked by what he finds. This movie is like a lighter, slightly tweaked version of "Dead Poet's Society" because Reynolds' character, much like Robin Williams, is a teacher who uses new creative methods that capture his students, but in this movie, the school isn't oppressive and the students aren't miserable. This movie is an incredibly touching story in just about every way. While Ryan Reynolds is the only name I recognized, everyone gives a stellar performance in this movie and all the kids look like junior high kids as opposed to twenty-year-olds playing twelve-year-olds. The only thing I could think of that someone could find fault with this movie is that all the kids are generally well behaved. There is some kids picking on one another but considering the horror stories you hear about junior high it could've been a lot worse. And maybe it's because I'm an aspiring teacher even though it sounds a little corny, I think in a school with great teachers it helps nurture the students and they behave better. I'd recommend this movie to any age, because another appealing aspect is they pulled this movie off without any sex, drugs or vulgar language. I'd especially recommend it to anyone who wants to be a teacher cause honestly, it offers a unique perspective and a great story.

Against the Wall (2011)

Keeps me coming back each week

[26 August 2011]

I've read a lot of bad reviews and honestly, I don't understand where the hostility is coming from. From what I've seen of this show, I like it and it keeps me coming back each week. Being someone who watches Lifetime semi regularly, my curiosity was piqued when I kept seeing promos for their new show and I watched the pilot and was impressed. The premise is a Chicago woman takes an opening in Internal Affairs when her father and three older brothers are all blue-collar cops and are upset with her when they find about her new job. I found this show interesting and this is from someone who doesn't watch a lot of crime TV. What makes it interesting isn't necessarily the crime aspect or prominent eye candy (although there are some cuties to be seen) but because of the story and the characters themselves. It is believable that they are a real family rather than just actors and the way they relate to each other makes their family dynamic believable. So far the stories have been interesting enough to keep me coming back and I hope this stays around for a while.

Four Brothers (2005)

Truly amazing

[28 July 2011]

Let me say right off the bat, normally this would not be my kind of movie. I am strictly a romantic-comedy, buddy-cop movie screwball comedy gal all the way. Usually. But I watched this movie with a friend, and it surprised the hell out of me how much I loved it. The story is four brothers who were all adopted come home to find out exactly why their mom died. I thought it would be too violent but and while there is violence the movie is so amazing it makes up for it. The story is told beautifully and is acted wonderfully by the four leading men, and because of them and how the story is told it makes you care about them and want their sweet departed mother to be avenged. This movie never goes where you think it's going to and keeps you wondering and waiting until the very end. An extremely well put together movie, I'd recommend for anyone, even if you're not a big drama like me, cause hey, you might like it.

I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007)

"I am not Demi, you are not Ashton, and YOU... Definitely NOT BRUCE WILLIS!!!!!

[9/10 · 24 May 2009]

This is one of the most underrated romantic comedies ever; I don't think it even came out in theaters. I caught it on HBO and was hooked. It follows a divorced woman in her forty's who meets a guy in his late twenties through work (she's a producer on a fictitious teen sitcom) while her teenage daughter falls in love for the first time. This movie works for a lot of different reasons. The first being the undeniable chemistry between Michelle Pfeiffer and Paul Rudd. This, I think, is one of Paul Rudd's best movies ever. He plays the kind of guy that any girl at any age could fall for. Even more than his charm is his relentless persistence of Michelle Pfeiffer's character, not caring about the age difference at all and trying to convince her she should either:

Adam: I'm planning on getting older.

Rosie: Well, I'm not planning on getting younger.

Adam: That's just being stubborn. The next part is Pfeiffer's film daughter, Izzie, played spectacularly by Saoirse Ronan, who is able to be funny and cute without trying to be too hip seeming like a real kid. From her ex husband who keeps trying to take things he thinks are his to her "past aggressive" secretary who tries to break them up for no reason to Tracey Ullman as Mother Nature. The movie starts with a monologue from Mother Nature about how she can't stand what the baby boomers have done and Pfeiffer frequently has arguments with mother Nature over the different relationship. Overall, it's a great little movie that shouldn't be missed.

Supernatural: After School Special (2009) Season 4, Episode 13

The cutest episode ever!!!1

[10/10 · 1 February 2009]

Cute usually isn't a word used to describe Supernatural, but that's what this episode ultimately was. It combined the drama, the funny, the flashbacks into something that was really fun to watch. While this isn't the first episode to show flashbacks, it's the first that have them in flashbacks as teenagers. Brock Kelly, who played teenage Dean was absolutely perfect, from making out with a hot blonde in a supply closet to, after a kid picks on Sam, "i'm gonna rip his lungs out." Colin Ford, who plays younger Sam, has played younger Sam before and plays up his shyness, wanting to do what's right perfectly. This episode is hysterical in another aspect because since Sam and Dean's case is at their old high school, triggering all these wonderful flashbacks, Sam takes a job as a janitor and Dean takes a job as a gym teacher. That enough would be hysterical, seeing Dean in his little red shorts and barking out "take a lap!" to making the kids play dodge ball. He tells Sam "With this whistle I'm their God". It still has the drama of hunting down the ghost and Sam feeling guilty about it being his fault the ghost turned out the way he died. Overall, this is one of the best episodes in Season 4.

Sex Drive (2008)

Will leave you open-mouth at some many parts, so funny

[8/10 · 15 January 2009]

An eighteen-year-old is taunted mercilessly by his older brother, loses girls to is younger one, and talks to a pretty girl on the internet. He tells her he has a 1969 GTO (his brother's) and she says if he drives to see her in Knoxville, she'll make it worth his while. The plot sounds normal for a raunchy teen comedy, but it's pulled off hysterically. It probably couldn't have without the perfect cast.

The main character, Ian, is played perfectly to the part of the lovable virgin everyone will be rooting for. Clark Duke is perfect as the suave ladies man in a dork's body and Amanda Crew is perfect for the best-friend-who-wants-more. But the best performances are by Seth Green and James Marsden Seth Green, playing a sarcastic Amish man, will make you laugh every single time he says "I'm just f*cking with you." He plays it so well, you'll want to become Amish. And then there's James Marsden. You've probably seen him play a superhero, a lovable dance show host, an innocently narcissistic prince, and a cynic we all grew to love. Ever seen him play a cocksure older brother with a maniacal laugh? This shows a whole different side to him; the crude, crass, cussing, cocksure homophobic side. His love for his car, his love for torturing his brother, his laugh steals every scene he's in. This is a great movie for a laugh, or to see Seth Green with a beard glued to his face, or to see James Marsden with bleached hair.