The Gleek Critique: "New York" Episode

The glee kids seeing the sights in New York City!  Image property of Fox.

by Jack Garcia

So last night was the second season finale of Glee on Fox and I had to work!  Oh, life can be cruel can it not?  But luckily Hulu was there for me this morning, so I was still able to see the spectacular farewell.

The episode opens with the sexy saxophone wail of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue while showing us a glitzy shot of New York City's Time Square, ending on Rachel Berry standing in utter glee in the city of her dreams.  That's when the Glee title came up and I knew I was in love with this episode.  New York City, Gershwin, and Glee. Oh, I was in heaven!

So the kids are in New York City with Mr. Schuester for Nationals, and although they want to explore the city and have fun, Mr. Schu insists that they stay in the hotel room and write the songs they will compete with.  But feeling uninspired indoors, the kids sneak out anyway and explore the city!  But they aren't the only ones being sneaky.  Mr. Schuester still hasn't told the kids about his possible Broadway debut, and he sneaks off to rehearse onstage.  However, his secret doesn't stay a secret for long.  Dustin Goolsby, the coach of rival Vocal Adrenaline, finds out and tells the New Directions kids.  They approach Mr. Schuester about it, but he decides then and there that he's not going to leave them.  His true calling is teaching.

Meanwhile the boys convince Finn that he should ask Rachel out and tell her how he feels.  So he texts Rachel and tells her to dress up and meet him in Central Park.  She does and he surprises her with a date.  They go to dinner at Sardi where they run into Rachel's idol, Patti Lapone.  She tells Rachel to never give up on her dreams, also adding that Finn is "cute."  Finn and Rachel seem really happy later as they are strolling through the nighttime streets of the city, but when Finn tries to kiss her, Rachel says no.

We discover the reason behind this when Kurt takes Rachel out to stand where Audrey Hepburn stood in Breakfast at Tiffany's.  While eating bagels she reveals that she wants to go to New York after she graduates from high school, and she knows Finn won't want to.  She loves Finn, but she doesn't want anything to hold her back and keep her from pursuing her dreams.  Kurt then convinces her to break into the Wicked stage, where the guard lets them sing a song before kicking them out.  After singing on a real Broadway stage, Rachel is even more convinced that she belongs there.

The moment arrives for the big competition, and New Directions performs two original songs just like they did at Regionals.  The first song is a duet between Rachel and Finn, and in the heat of the moment, the two kiss.  Everything is silent before they move on to their next number and really knock it out of the park!  However, that unplanned kiss ruined their scores and the group doesn't place in the top ten.  The competition is over.

Although they are crushed by the loss, everything ends happy.  Back in Ohio, Rachel talks to Finn about the big kiss and makes it clear that she loves him, but will be moving to New York City in the future.  Finn understands, but figures they still have a whole year before that ever happens and he kisses her again.  Looks like Finchel is back.  Other happy endings include Blaine and Kurt telling each other "I love you" and the realization that Mercedes and Sam are now dating.  Brittany and Santana also have a tender moment together where they express their feelings.  The episode ends with the group celebrating their 12th place victory with the smallest trophy I've ever seen.

I cannot wait until next school year!


The Pros:

• The episode was filmed on site in New York City!!!
• The opening with Rhapsody in Blue.  I am in love with that piece of music!!
• Quite a few original songs tonight!  Rachel and Finn's duet "Pretending" followed by the big New Directions number "Light Up the World" were both awesome.  The song "As Long as You're There" sung by Sunshine Corazon and Vocal Adrenaline was also an original song written for the episode.  And while Mr. Schuester's "Still Got Tonight" wasn't written for Glee, it wasn't a cover either.  It comes from Matthew Morrison's debut album.  Oh, and gotta love Brittany singing "My Cup"!
• The opening mashup of Madonna's "I Love New York" and the song "New York, New York" from the musical On The Town was so colorful and fun!  It really made me want to run away and move to New York City!
• Rachel looked unbelievably beautiful in this episode.  I couldn't get over it.  She was simply stunning on the date with Finn, in the blue dress with the adorable updo.  Who wouldn't want to kiss her?  And that rainbow coat she had on earlier?  So pretty!!
• "Bella Notte" from Disney's The Lady and the Tramp was adorable.  Puck and Artie are fantastic, are they not?
• Rachel and Kurt's duet "For Good" from the musical Wicked was also very, very good!  And it was filmed on the actual Wicked stage, how cool is that?
• I am glad they didn't win Nationals.  As mean as that sounds, a win just wouldn't have been very believable.  Just making it to Nationals is a success in and of itself, and ranking twelfth in the nation is still pretty dang good.  They still beat out 38 other schools!  Besides, it gives them something else to aspire towards next season.  Maybe they can rank higher.
• Finn and Rachel are back together and I love it!  Seriously, love it!!  The big surprise kiss where the sound disappeared and it was like they were frozen in time...in that moment.  Oh, just spectacular!

The Cons:

• I would have liked more New York-themed songs in this episode.  There was just the one mashup.
• I'm also a little annoyed that they flew all the way to New York without even knowing what songs they were going to sing.  In fact, their first assignment there was to write them!  I love Glee, but sometimes I just roll my eyes at how they never practice for anything.  Ever.
• Plenty of character closure at the end, but they left out Will and Emma.  I would have liked to see her waiting for him at the airport or something romantic like that.  Mostly I just love Emma and wish she were in more episodes...
• They also wrapped up the season without Sue.  I guess she had her big moment last episode... but it seems odd to leave her out of the big finale.  Maybe a scene at the end of her saying "Congratulations" to the kids.  That would have been nice.
• Jessie St. James.  Annoys me every time.

Movie Review: Zombies and Mermaids and Frogs, Oh My!

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides movie poster.  Image property of Walt Disney Studios.

by Jack Garcia

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides ADMIRABLE

I have to admit that I was very nervous going into the fourth Pirates movie.  I love Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow—what a character!—and I’ve always thought the movies were a lot of fun, but for some reason a fourth one just seemed… unnecessary.  Then the reviews came in and critic after critic hated it.  A couple of friends said things like, “it was long” or “it was a snooze,” which isn’t exactly the most promising praise.  Even some random sales clerk at a retail store told me, “If you go in thinking you’re going to hate it, you might actually like it.  A little.”

So I’ll say it again.  I was very nervous going into the theater.  But I have to say that I didn’t find it to be all that bad.  In fact, I thought it was really enjoyable and fun.  Director Rob Marshall did a pretty good job, in my opinion.

Johnny Depp returns as Jack Sparrow, who runs into an old flame of his named Angelica (Penelope Cruz) who happens to be impersonating him to recruit a pirate crew.  Why does she need a crew?  Well she and her father—the infamous Blackbeard (Ian McShane)—are in search of the fabled Fountain of Youth.  Sparrow soon finds himself onboard the “Queen Anne’s Revenge” along with “zombified” pirates, being forced to help Blackbeard and Angelica in their quest.  It’s kind of hard to say no to a guy who can control the ship with a touch of his sword and control your actions with the pin prick of a voodoo doll.

Blackbeard needs to get to the Fountain of Youth because there is a prophecy that he will die by the hand of a one-legged man, that man being no other than Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) of the previous films.  Barbossa  seems to have given up on pirating and is now sailing under the British flag.  You see, the English are now interested in getting to the Fountain of Youth simply because they know the Spanish are going.  They are determined to beat them there and claim it as their own.  Barbossa however has more personal reasons of getting to the fountain.  He lost his leg when Blackbeard took control of the ship, The Black Pearl, and he now seeks revenge.  He’s even coated his sword with poison from a frog… he’s ready.

So everyone is off towards the Fountain of Youth!  In order to obtain eternal life from the fountain, the tears of a mermaid are required.  And I have to say, I loved the mermaids!  They were beautiful and whimsical, seducing the men and luring them closer… before turning into vicious, fanged monsters!  Very cool.  They manage to catch one of them, Syrena (Astrid Berges-Frisbey), who seems to be a lot more docile than the others.  She has fallen for the missionary Philip (Sam Claflin) whom Angelica has brought along in the hopes that he will convert her father to Catholicism.  Philip develops feelings toward the mermaid as well, and is the only one upset that they are treating her harshly to get what they want out of her.

Speaking of missionaries and Catholicism, the movie has a lot of religious things to say.  It talks about faith and salvation, which seemed a little too deep for a Pirates movie.  Of course, the movie also has voodoo and mermaids and fables as well.  I guess it’s just interesting to see the Christian and the Pagan beliefs interwoven together.

All in all, I felt like Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides lived up to the film franchise.  It fit right in.  There was over-the-top swashbuckling, plenty of cheeky laughs, fantasy elements and a little bit of romance.  Rush and Depp were great in their roles as always.  Although I've seen Cruz in more interesting roles, I thought she brought a lot of energy to the movie and she and Depp had some great chemistry.  The story might have been a little disjointed, but I found that it wasn’t nearly as confusing as the previous sequels and for the most part pretty straight-forward.  The action was well-choreographed if not a little noisy with the constant scoring, but I’ll forgive its overuse of music.  I also didn’t miss Orlando Bloom or Keira Knightley.  Like, at all.  And casting Richard Griffiths as King George really made my day!  Very funny.  Sure, it’s not nearly as fantastic as the first Pirates movie, but it was a fun adventure that I didn’t mind going on.

Movie Review: Crude, Crass yet Completely Compassionate

Bridesmaids movie poster.  Image property of Universal Pictures.

by Jack Garcia

Bridesmaids AWESOME!

I saw this movie twice.  That’s how much I loved it.  It is hilarious.

Saturday Night Live’s Kristen Wiig stars as Annie, a woman who has hit rock bottom.  Her latest business endeavor—a bakery called Cake Baby—has gone under, her boyfriend left her, her car is a piece of junk, she lives with weird roommates that she dislikes, and her current job was given to her as a favor to her mother.  She spends a lot of nights going over to Ted’s (Jon Hamm) house for booty calls, hoping a real relationship might arise from this.  Of course it won’t.

So in the midst of all this crappiness, her lifetime best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph) has announced her engagement and wants Annie to be her maid of honor!  Annie accepts and is obviously very happy for her friend, but can’t help but feel a little envious of Lillian’s happiness.  Annie’s life just seems so much worse by comparison.  This feeling of inadequacy intensifies when she meets Lillian’s new friend and fellow bridesmaid Helen (Rose Byrne) who is rich, beautiful, classy and seemingly perfect in every way.  Annie can’t stand Helen, and feels like she is losing her best friend to her.

Needless to say, Annie makes a million mistakes while trying to plan this wedding.  She takes the girls to a seedy Brazilian restaurant where they all get food poisoning… She gets so drunk and disorderly on a plane that they get kicked off…  She goes berserk at the Bridal Shower and destroys everything…   Annie seems to be on a self-destructive path.  Not only is she destroying her friendship with Lillian, she’s also mucking up a potentially good relationship with a cop named Rhodes (Chris O’Dowd) who she met when he pulled her over.

In the end everything works itself out, and Annie’s character finally gets some closure.  She realizes that she needs to take responsibility for her own life, and this realization comes from the oddest bridesmaid, the round and ridiculous Megan (Melissa McCarthy).  In what is arguably the best scene in the movie, Megan comes over and tells her to stop moping.  She wrestles Annie onto the couch, hitting her while saying things like, “I’m your life, Annie.  I’m your life.  Fight back!”  Funny to watch, but what a revelation!  Once Annie finally fights Megan off of her, Megan simply says, “You are your own problem, Annie.  But you’re also your solution.”  Words can’t describe how much I loved that scene.

Bridesmaids, to me, is a perfect comedy.  Every good comedy has elements of drama, just like every good drama should have elements of comedy.  This comedy is laugh-out-loud funny and not afraid to “go there.”  There is plenty of raunchy, crude humor in the true Judd Apatow style (who produced it).  The audience was in fits of laughter throughout.  But like a lot of Apatow’s movies, there is a very sentimental backbone that really grounds all of the comedic elements.  Kristen Wiig was one of the screen writers (along with Annie Mumolo) and her background as a comedienne really shone through.  The script was so funny, fresh and real.  I would say it’s one of the best-written comedies in a really long time.

And boy oh boy did Kristen Wiig put in a star-making performance in Bridesmaids!  I promise you we will see her in more leading roles, because not only was her comedic timing spot on but she proved to be a very talented dramatic actor.  She's so likable on screen and her character was so relatable.  She was essentially everyone who has ever felt lonely; who has ever felt like a failure.  Her character learns a lot and grows a lot in this movie, and I just can’t find the words to express how fantastic her performance was.  It really, really was.

I think I'll go see it again.

Movie Review: Infidelity is Okay as Long as Everybody’s Doing It

Something Borrowed movie poster.  Image property of Warner Brothers.

by Jack Garcia

Something Borrowed AWFUL

Ginnifer Goodwin stars as Rachel, a sweet lawyer without a backbone.  I’m not really sure how she survives in her job since she has a habit of letting people walk all over her.  Like her best friend Darcy (Kate Hudson).  You see, Rachel was friends with this guy named Dex (Colin Egglesfield) all throughout law school.  She harbored this secret crush on him but never had the guts to do anything about it.  Then along comes Darcy, who is not only flirtatious but highly assertive.  She sees that Rachel isn’t pursuing Dex so she puts the moves on him.  Rachel, of course, doesn’t say anything.  She just lets Darcy date the guy she likes.  Years go by and now Darcy and Dex are to be married!

Have you ever found out years later that someone you once had a crush on happened to have a crush on you too?  At the same time?  Well, that’s the case with poor Rachel.  With Dex and Darcy’s wedding quickly approaching, Dex decides to reveal that he used to have a huge crush on Rachel in law school.  What?  Are you serious?  Rachel reveals that she had a crush on him too!  OMG!  How did neither one of them pick up on that?  They only did everything together, laughing and flirting with sexual tension all around…  but who picks up on subtleties these days?

So what do Rachel and Dex do about this?  They kiss.  They do a little more than kiss.  And now we are caught up in a crazy love triangle of lust, betrayal, and secrets.  Although I don’t normally have a problem with infidelity portrayed in movies, for some reason this one bugged the crap out of me.  I think that the filmmakers didn’t handle the subject matter with the seriousness that they should have, and instead tried to make it all seem justifiable.  I don't know if we should blame Emily Giffin who wrote the novel or Jennie Snyder who wrote the screenplay, but the story lacks as much backbone as Rachel does.  Her character was always seen as “good” even when she was doing bad things.  Then towards the end—sorry if this ruins the movie for you—it is discovered that Darcy has cheated on Dex a few times, with a mutual friend named Marcus (Steve Howey).  Here we were all expected to breathe a sigh of relief and say, “It’s okay guys.  Darcy’s cheating too, so it’s okay that Dex was.  Nothing to worry about, folks.  They were both doing it.  Rachel is still a good person because Darcy didn’t really deserve Dex anyway.”

I really wish the movie had the balls to say this instead: “Look.  Rachel really did a horrible thing to her friend Darcy.  She really did.  Dex wasn’t in the right either.  Things between Rachel and Darcy will probably never be the same.  Maybe Rachel will be happy because she has found out that Dex has always loved her, and now the two can be together, but it doesn’t change the ugly truth that she was lying to her friend, betraying her trust, and sleeping with an engaged man.”

All that aside, I feel like Goodwin proved to be a likable enough leading lady.  Hudson, unfortunately, was more annoying than anything in her role and Egglesfield was more eye candy than substance.  John Krasinski, who played Rachel’s friend Ethan, was a bright spot for me although he felt a bit underused in this movie.  He can do so much more, I feel, than play the ignored best friend.  And one last thing, for a movie being advertised as a romantic comedy, Something Borrowed is oddly lacking in laughs.  I honestly don’t think I laughed once.  And with the drama of it being superficial at best, I didn’t cry either.  I didn’t laugh, I didn’t cry, I didn’t really feel anything.

Movie Review: Witchy Mothers Ride Brooms

Jumping the Broom movie poster.  Image property of TriStar Pictures.

by Jack Garcia

Jumping the Broom AVERAGE

Paula Patton stars as Sabrina Watson, an uptown girl who is tired of one-night stands.  In an annoying narration we discover that she makes a promise with God that the next man she sleeps with will be her husband.  God seems to answer that prayer by sending Jason Taylor (Laz Alonso) into her life.  She hits him with her car and then it’s love at first sight.  A little cheesy right?  But it gets better, I promise.  After months of chaste dating Jason proposes and the two instantly begin to plan the wedding.  Everything is rushed because Sabrina is supposed to move to Japan for work, and they want to go together as husband and wife.  Also they want to have sex.  Wouldn’t you?  They’ve been dating like 6 months or something…

Anyway, the wedding is happening so fast, in fact, that the big weekend comes and the two families are meeting for the first time!  And oh how these two families clash!!  Sabrina’s family is extremely rich living on Martha’s Vineyard, and Jason’s family… well, isn’t.  The movie focuses less on Jason and Sabrina’s relationship and more on class differences, family secrets, and ethnic roots.  Jason’s mother (Loretta Devine) can’t stand the Watsons mostly because she feels like they have forgotten their heritage and are taking her son away from her.  She is appalled that they once owned slaves and that Sabrina doesn’t even want to “jump the broom” which is an African American tradition, much like Jewish people breaking glass at their weddings.  Sabrina’s mom (Angela Bassett) looks down on the Taylors because they are poor, uncultured, and oftentimes rude.  However, the movie reveals a much less glamorous side to the rich Watsons as we discover some of their family secrets, which are much too juicy to reveal to you right now.

The movie is essentially a comedy, mixed with some drama of the soap opera type.  Some of the things that happen in this movie just scream daytime television and the set-up of the film isn’t exactly fresh—how many times have we seen polar opposites being forced to get along?  However, the movie managed to keep me interested in the characters and their predicaments.  Devine and Bassett were terrific as the two battling mothers.  Both of them managed to be both vile and contemptible, yet sweet and misunderstood in their own right.  Neither one was a cut-out villain but a living, breathing, multi-dimensional woman.  However, some of the other characters were less fleshed out, and some of their storylines were a bit unnecessary.  The movie could have benefited greatly from stronger leads, tighter control and focus, and maybe even a bit more humor.  Like I said, at times I felt like I was watching a soap.

Oh, and Julie Bowen who plays Claire Dunphy on ABC’s Modern Family was in it!  She played the wedding planner and she was the only white character in the movie!  I love her!  Also Romeo Miller (Lil' Romeo) is super sexy in his small role.

The Gleek Critique: "Funeral" Episode

Kurt sings "Some People" from the musical, Gypsy.  Image property of Fox.

by Jack Garcia

Jessie is the glee club's new consultant, and he doesn't seem to think that Finn should sing any solos at Nationals.  Now Finn's confidence is shattered and his hate for Jessie is intensified.  But he's not the only one who can't stand him.  When Jessie decides that everyone should have to audition for solos, his harsh critiques get under some people's skin.  Thankfully Mr. Schuester kicks Jessie to the curb in the end, and decides that New Directions will perform as a group, and not as individuals.

Meanwhile, Terri is helping Sue to alter the glee club's plane route, sending them to Libya instead of New York.  Seems like Sue is just as mean and cruel as ever.  So mean, in fact, that she's kicked little Becky off of the Cheerios squad.  But it turns out that all of this rage is bubbling up due to the fact that her sister Jean has recently passed away.  Sue struggles to cope with this death, and reaches out to Mr. Schuester and the glee club kids who help her to plan the funeral.  She's so moved by their love and support that she comes clean about her devious schemes and even wishes them good luck as they head to Nationals next week.

Hearing Sue talk about how she always felt "tethered" to her sister in a way, Finn realizes that he doesn't feel that way about Quinn... but rather, with Rachel.  After the funeral he breaks up with Quinn, who refuses to accept it.  But the timing couldn't be more off.  Now that he's free to pursue Rachel, he finds that she and Jessie seem to have gotten back together.

The Pros:

• Once again Sue Sylvester has depth!  With the death of her sister, her vulnerable side broke through her tough exterior...  there were some very powerful scenes with her, especially her funeral speech (with the help of Mr. Schuester).  Way to go, Jane Lynch, for delivering a terrific performance.
• Rachel's gold star stickers are back!  Hee hee.  Reminded me of the first episode... aw.
• Great auditions from Santana, Kurt, Mercedes and Rachel.  These four really are the strongest singers of the bunch, aren't they?  I loved Santana's "Back to Black" by Amy Winehouse, Kurt's "Some People" from Gypsy, Mercedes' "Try a Little Tenderness" by Otis Redding and Rachel's "My Man" from Funny Girl.
• I was very happy that the funeral scene and the breakup scene were both done without a sappy score.  Silence!  Beautiful silence really aided the emotional impact of those scenes.  The performances really stood on their own.  (And I'm overjoyed that Finn broke up with Quinn!)
• Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory's "Pure Imagination" performed by the entire glee club was beautiful!  I loved it!
• Terri Schuester is now moving to Miami to manage a Sheets 'N Things store.  That means she's out of Will's life for good!!  Thank you, Jesus!
• Rachel, to Santana, "How do you get that raspiness?"  Santana's response?  "I smoke cigars."  Ha ha!  Love it!
• There were older songs and show tunes tonight!  YES!

The Cons:

• Sue Sylvester's sister passed away, and I bawled my eyes out.
• I'm sad that Finn saw Jessie kissing Rachel, right after breaking up with Quinn.  I just want Rachel and Finn back together!!  Please make it happen, people!
• Jessie St. James' character is much more annoying than it was last season.  Seriously, I just wanted to punch him in the face all night.  Grr!
• Where was Blaine?  Why didn't I hear his beautiful voice tonight?  And speaking of characters who are M.I.A., whatever happened to Coach Beiste?
• Only one more episode left of this season.  :(

Movie Review: I Guess This Makes Me a "Thork"

Thor movie poster, property of Paramount Pictures and Marvel.

by Jack Garcia

Thor ADMIRABLE

Since the day Thor opened in our theater, floods of people have been washing up to see it.  As I help these "Thorks" (as I've lovingly named them) get their concessions, they always ask me if I've seen it yet.  And for a full week my answer was "no."  They would always react the same way, "WHAT?  But you work at a movie theater!!  How have you not seen it yet?"

Truth was, I really wanted to see it.  Well, not since the first trailer.  I thought it looked stupid.  But once it opened to moderately good reviews and I began to hear positive word-of-mouth from all my friends, my desire to see the movie shifted into high gear.  Of course, I couldn't go see Thor without Brian, and that created the difficulty.  It seemed that whenever I had a free night, he was either working or we had plans to do things with friends.  One night we almost went, but we realized that the showtime we wanted was in 3D...  Brian and I despise 3D more than we despise Glenn Beck or the cast of Jersey Shore. 

So when I was sent home from work early last night, I decided to take advantage of my freed-up Friday night and convinced Brian to see Thor with me!  And I am very happy to say that I was not disappointed!  The story is of a hammer-wielding warrior named Thor (Chris Hemsworth) who is the next in line to be the king of a land called Asgard.  However, his arrogant and foolhardy ways get him banished by his father Odin and sent to live on Earth without any of his powers.  That is of course, unless he can become worthy to possess that power.

When he lands on Earth he is almost run over by Jane (Natalie Portman) who just so happens to be an astrophysicist.  She's accompanied by Dr. Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) and her assistant Darcy (Kat Dennings).  Rightly thinking that Thor may hold the answers to her quest to find a connection between Earth and other realms of the universe, Jane keeps Thor around.  Although everyone can't get over how incredibly odd he is, their friendship with Thor is what causes him to have his change of heart.  He falls in love with Jane (within a matter of days) and their relationship is really what drives him to become a more mature man.

Meanwhile, back on Asgard, Thor's brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) has discovered a secret about his own past and origins.  Combined with his existing jealousy of Thor and desire to make his father proud, this new revelation really propels him to take matters into his own hands now Thor is out of the picture.  He becomes king and strikes up a devious scheme with Asgard's enemies, all while doing everything he can to ensure Thor never returns.

I don't want to give away the ending if you haven't seen this movie yet, but I'm sure it won't surprise you if I say that Thor ends up victorious in the end.  I mean, when does the bad guy win?  However, things do sort of lend themselves to a sequel... in this case, Thor's reprisal in The Avengers movie coming out next year.  And although a lot of the movie sort of felt like prep-work for what lies ahead, I still felt Thor to be compelling and entertaining enough to stand alone.

I would say that Thor's biggest asset was its embrace of humor.  The fantastical world of Asgard is breathtaking to behold, but the costumes and dialogue of the people there lend themselves to being goofy at best.  Of course Thor looks cool, but his comrades look really ridiculous in their get-ups.  But thankfully, the movie is aware of this and even plays it up to comic effect.  Also, when Thor comes to Earth, there are several funny moments of the fish-out-of-water sort that really provide a great balance to all of the very grand and epic things happening back on Asgard.

In addition to its ability to laugh at itself, the movie also had a very human nature to it.  A few very nice scenes with Jane and Thor quickly and believably established their romantic feelings in a natural and lighthearted way, and a good scene in a bar with Thor and Dr. Selvig was also very endearing.  All of these scenes were very simple, but extremely essential in helping the audience feel like they could relate to this hammer-heaving hero.  Natalie Portman is bubbly and charming and Thor is very charismatic (and easy on the eyes).  I'm glad they found an actor to play Thor that wasn't just big and brawny but actually a decent actor.

This movie wasn't profound or groundbreaking in any way, but it has a lot going for it.  The fantasy elements are visually beautiful, the action sequences are concise and well shot, and the story is simple yet sufficient... but really it was the humor and heart of Thor that won me over.  I had a lot of fun while watching Thor, and having fun at the movies is always a good thing.

I guess this makes me a "Thork."

Movie Reviews: Seven Movies!

by Jack Garcia

I’ve fallen behind on writing movie reviews… so I’ve decided to quickly catch up by posting no less than SEVEN reviews right here, right now in one post!  Holy mackerel!  But in order to not bore the crap out of you, I’ve decided to limit my ramblings to paragraph-long mini reviews.  Enjoy!

The Adjustment Bureau AWESOME!

Matt Daman plays a politician who meets a fascinating dancer (Emily Blunt) in the men’s bathroom moments before making a big speech.  She inspires him, and although their meeting is fleeting, he just can’t stop thinking about her.  When he runs into her again in his life, he discovers that there is a group of people called The Adjustment Bureau who work to keep all human beings on their set paths.  He wasn’t meant to ever see her again, and the rest of the movie has him working against his own fate and destiny in order to be with the one he loves.  This movie was a whimsical twist on science fiction, dealing a bit with God and our life’s purpose, and I found it to be completely enjoyable!  Daman and Blunt had fantastic chemistry and I couldn’t help rooting for them from the get-go.

Arthur AVERAGE

Russell Brand plays Arthur, a rich playboy and a drunk who has to marry a woman he doesn’t love (Jennifer Gardner) or else his mother will cut him off from the family money.  To complicate things, he has fallen in love with a quirky, poor girl named Naomi (Greta Gerwig).  The comedy is a remake of the 1981 Arthur starring Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli, and I couldn’t help but compare the new one to the old one while watching.  While the original is my favorite, I found that the remake still managed to maintain a lot of the sweetness and charm, even while making some big changes.  The biggest change was switching the character of Hobson from a male butler to a female nanny (Helen Mirren), which presented a very different relationship between Hobson and Arthur.  Different doesn’t necessarily mean bad, and once I got over the changes I found the movie to be pretty funny.

Hanna ADMIRABLE

Saoirse Ronan plays a 16-year-old girl named Hanna who has been living alone with her father (Eric Bana) all of her life in a remote, snow-covered forest.  He has trained her to be the perfect assassin, and when the time comes, Hanna is set out on her mission: to kill an intelligence agent named Marissa (Cate Blanchett).  The movie is for the most part a stylistic game of cat and mouse, but while Hanna is being pursued by Marissa and her operatives, she runs into an average family and meets a young girl her own age.  Here the movie shifts slightly to become more of a coming-of-age story where Hanna discovers that there are many things she’s never known:  like friendship and young love.  This aspect of the movie was very endearing in my eyes, and the humanity of the film really provided a nice contrast to the more violent action-driven scenes.  The movie does leave a lot of things unanswered and unexplained, but I guess that’s kind of what I found to be most fascinating.

Water for Elephants ADMIRABLE

Robert Pattinson plays a veterinary student, Jacob, who quits school after the unexpected death of his parents.  He runs away and joins the circus—as clichéd as that is—where he meets the ringmaster August (Christoph Waltz) and his beautiful wife Marlena (Reese Witherspoon).  Jacob becomes the new vet working with Marlena’s elephant, and the two fall in love.  My only complaint of this movie was I felt the characters had nothing more in common than their mutual respect for animals.  A few more scenes of the two of them talking together might have helped me to believe that she would run away with him.  However, the true star of the show was Christoph Waltz!  Without him, I wouldn’t have liked the movie as much as I did.  He is truly a brilliant actor (go watch Inglourious Basterds now!) and his character is deeply complex and compelling.  A good villain is one you love to hate, and Waltz knows how to make that happen.

Prom AWFUL

Aimee Teegarden leads the cast of high school kids getting ready for prom night.  She plays Nova Prescott, a goody-goody who is in charge of the prom committee.  When an accidental fire destroys all of the decorations a mere three weeks before the big dance, she is forced to redo it all with the help of Jesse Richter (Thomas McDonell) who is the “bad boy.”  Obviously these two opposites attract.  Other plotlines involve a geeky guy trying to ask a girl—any girl—to be his prom date, a girl afraid to tell her boyfriend that she’s not going to the same college that he is, and a lower classman crushing on a pretty girl who is interested in a jock with a girlfriend.  Being a Disney flick, it’s not surprising that it suffers from extreme cheesiness and bad acting…

Fast Five AWFUL

Vin Diesel plays Dominic Toretto, the leader of a group of fast-driving thieves.  Along with his sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) and her boyfriend Brian (Paul Walker) they enlist the help of a multitude of others to steal money from a corrupt Brazilian businessman named Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida).  To add to the difficulty of this feat, the money is being kept safe within a police station and Toretto is being pursued by a federal agent named Hobbs (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson).  Although the plot sounds as if it would be action-packed and riveting, I found myself incredibly bored throughout the overlong movie.  Aside from a very cool—albeit unrealistic—action sequence at the beginning involving a moving train and the final car chase where they drag a heavy bank vault behind them, the movie is oddly devoid of any action or suspense.  Instead it is filled with horrible “serious” dialogue that amounts to zero character development, mingled with unfunny banter and unmotivated fighting.  Dwayne Johnson is such a bad actor that he makes Vin Diesel look like an Oscar winner.

Rio ADMIRABLE

Jesse Eisenberg voices Blu, a domesticated macaw that can’t fly in this fun and colorful animated film.  When it is discovered that he is the last male of his species, he is whisked away by his owner Linda (Leslie Mann) to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in order to mate with the only remaining female, Jewel (Anne Hathaway).  Jewel, however, isn’t the least bit interested in the pathetic Blu, but when they are kidnapped by some bird traders they are forced to work together to escape.  Throughout their journey they meet several fun characters, grow to care about each other, and Blu even learns to fly.  This movie comes from the same studio as Ice Age, and I thought it was a huge improvement both visually and story-wise.  The colors were vibrant, the story both fast-paced and endearing, and I loved the original music.

The Gleek Critique: "Prom Queen" Episode

Puck, Artie and Sam performing at McKinley's prom.  Image property of Fox.

by Jack Garcia

The kids of New Directions are performing at prom, no matter how hard Sue Sylvester protests.  The entertainment for the big night has fallen through, and Principal Figgins figures it's a budget-friendly way of filling the bill.  Sue just requests that they not sing any stupid songs... like "Run, Joey, Run."

When Puck finds out that everyone thinks Zises wears the pants in their relationship, he decides he really needs to regain his reputation of being a tough guy.  His plan is to spike the prom punch bowl with alcohol, but he needs Artie's help to do it.  Without the love of Brittany anymore, Artie figures he has nothing to lose.

Kurt asks Blaine to go to prom with him, and he's a little hesitant to accept.  He had tried to go to a school dance with a boy he liked a few years ago at his old school, and it resulted in them both getting a beat-down from some high school guys.  Eventually he agrees to go.  Although things at school seem fine, at prom Kurt discovers that kids are still hating on him.  They've voted him as their Prom Queen just to make fun of him.  Kurt is supposed to dance with Karofsky (the Prom King) but Karofsky just couldn't handle it, even though he clearly has feelings for Kurt too.

Mercedes and Rachel asked Sam to take them both, but when Jessie St. James comes back into Rachel's life, the trio becomes a double date.  Finn becomes ridiculously jealous of Jessie and Rachel, and he decides to duke it out with Jessie at prom.  Quinn in turn slaps Rachel!  Such drama!  But it looks like perhaps Sam and Mercedes might become an item... but that's just hopeful optimism on my part.

The Pros:

• Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" performed by Rachel with the unexpected surprise of Jessie St. James' return was nothing short of spectacular.  I really loved turning the song into an a capella duet... awesome harmonies!
• Mercedes saying "I thought this song was about a baby..." when Artie serenaded Brittany with Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely" was funny.  Too bad Brittany is still mad at Artie...
• Rebecca Black's popularity just rises and rises doesn't it?  Not only has her music video "Friday" gone viral on YouTube, but now Glee is covering the song!  (Of course Glee does it better)
• Quinn looked so beautiful in her prom dress!
• "I'm just showing you my dental kit..."  Ha ha ha!  I loved when Sue Sylvester was torturing Artie for information after he was caught spiking the punch.  "You are the worst POW ever!  John McCain is rolling in his grave!"
• Blaine's performance of "I'm Not Going to Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You" by the Black Kids was pretty sexy cool.  It doesn't help that I already have a little crush on Darren Criss...  too bad Finn and Jessie were fighting throughout it!
• I love that Blaine and Kurt got to have their dance together... and in front of everyone!

The Cons:

• Kurt's fashion choices are very bold and I applaud that... but no man should wear a kilt to prom.  Hideous!
• When Kurt's name was announced as Prom Queen my heart stopped.  It was so quiet and so awkward...  Although that part was done very well, everything that followed was a little big over-dramatic.
• Quinn slapped Rachel and Rachel didn't even get mad.  I would have slapped her back!
• Karofsky still needs to man up!

The Gleek Critique: "Rumours" Episode

Sam and New Directions singing Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop."  Image property of Fox.

by Jack Garcia

Rumor has it I was forced to work last night until midnight and miss Glee!  Isn't that horrible?  Unfortunately that rumor is true, but luckily I have Hulu to keep me updated on all of the Glee gossip!

Sue Sylvester is at it again, and this time her plot to destroy the glee club involves bringing back the old school newspaper to print incendiary rumors about all of its members.  She's recruited the same kids she used as Hecklers a couple of episodes back to do the dirt-digging, but she's also using Will's ex-wife Terry (remember the League of Doom?).  Terry has called up April Rhodes and convinced her to return to Lima to see Will.  Why would she do this?  She's hoping April can convince Will to runaway to Broadway with her.  Obviously Sue wants this to happen to annihilate her nemesis.  Terry just wants her old apartment back.

And in a small town high school there is no shortage of rumors!  Brittany has a new web show called "Fondue for Two" where she outed Santana.  Oops!  Of course Santana is still trying to deny it publicly, although it's absolutely true.  Her love for Brittany seems more intense than ever, but even though Brittany and Artie have broken up (over Santana), she still isn't ready to come out of the proverbial closet.

The biggest rumors seem to center around Sam.  First he is seen leaving a seedy motel with Kurt!  What?  Kurt's cheating on Blaine?  But Quinn assures everyone that Sam is not gay.  She sounds a little too sure about that, and when she is spotted leaving the same motel room the next night, rumors fly that the two are sleeping together!  What's worse, neither Quinn nor Kurt will comment, making everything seem all the more true.  Sam appears to be quite the bisexual home-wrecker, and the entire glee club turns on him.  But this rumor, unlike the Santana rumor, is not actually true.  The truth comes out and the glee club is left feeling like complete assholes...  Sam's parents have no jobs, they've lost their house, and that motel room is his home.  Turns out Quinn was helping Sam babysit his younger brother and sister, and Kurt was just bringing him some of his old clothes.  They were the only two that knew of Sam's situation, but being embarrassed he asked them not to say anything.

And the rumors that Will Schuester is abandoning the glee club to run away with April Rhodes to star in a Broadway musical?  Absolutely not true.  Although the allure of stardom is obviously pulling him in that direction, he just can't bear to leave the kids... or Emma.

The Pros:

• An entire episode devoted to the music of Fleetwood Mac!  And unlike other episodes devoted to one single artist (ie. Britney Spears), this one still managed to be character-driven and plot-moving!
• I enjoyed the use of songs to highlight the love triangle between Quinn, Finn, and Rachel.  The strain on Quinn and Finn's relationship was evident in "I Don't Wanna Know."  They really don't trust each other like they should.  And Rachel once again made her feelings for Finn known when she sang "Go Your Own Way," clearly hinting that he doesn't need to be with Quinn.  Come on, Finn, take control of your life!
• Artie's "Never Going Back Again" was really cool, especially with the nine or ten guitarists lined up behind him.
• Santana!!  I'm telling you, I love her more and more every episode.  Her cover of "Songbird" was even more moving than when she sang "Landslide" a few episodes back.  So beautiful!!
• Sue Sylvester dressed as David Bowie and Ann Coulter in the same scene = awesome.
• "Ohio loves you, Ann Coulter!"
• Finally Sam's character has some importance and some depth.  He came in at the beginning of this season as the "new guy" and then he was sort of dropped after that.  I liked that we were able to find out what brought him to move to Lima in the first place... and realize why he wants so desperately just to fit in.

The Cons:

• Although I would love it if Santana and Brittany could be together, I'm still sad that Brittany and Artie broke up.  I always really liked the two of them together.  Artie is such a sweet guy...  he deserves to have a beautiful girlfriend!  The scene where he called her "stupid" was very good, though, even if it did break my little heart.
• Sue is becoming one-dimensional again.  We were really starting to see her humanity, but lately she's just been plain evil.  Don't get me wrong, I love Sue when she's scheming and hateful and full of awesome one-liners...  I just like it more when it's balanced with her softer side.  She's a complicated woman, that Sue Sylvester!  Show off her complexities!!
• And Terry.  She's really not needed this season at all.  Will's moving on, and she should too.

Movie Reviews: Lawyers, Conspirators, and Lincolns

The Lincoln Lawyer movie poster, property of Lionsgate.
The Conspirator movie poster, property of Roadside Attractions.

by Jack Garcia

The Lincoln Lawyer AWESOME!

The Conspirator AWESOME!

Two very different courtroom dramas, both having to do with Lincolns—one being the car and the other being the president. 

In The Lincoln Lawyer, Matthew McConaughey plays a slick defense lawyer named Mick Haller.  He does most of his business from the backseat of his Lincoln town car while being driven around by his chauffeur.  He used to drive himself until he got his license revoked because of too many DUIs.  He’s kind of a bad boy.  His clients are usually seedy hustlers, members of motorcycle gangs, and other riffraff.  But his newest client, Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillippe), is very different.  He’s the son of a very wealthy and high-profile family.  He’s been accused of raping and beating a woman, and insists he is innocent.  This movie made me look at client confidentiality in a whole new light…

In Robert Redford’s The Conspirator, we are taken back in time to the moment President Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth.  One of the accused co-conspirators is a woman named Mary Surratt (Robin Wright).  She runs a boarding house where Booth and others—including Surratt’s son—met up to plan the assassination.  Nobody believes Surratt is innocent, not even her lawyer Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy) who has been dumped with her case.  A Civil War vet who fought for the North, Aiken finds it to be very difficult to defend this woman who may or may not have been involved in the murder of his president.  However, he soon realizes that she isn’t being tried fairly.  The movie never decides for us if Mary Surratt was guilty or not.  We as the audience can make that decision for ourselves.  The point of the movie is this:  every citizen deserves a fair trial, even if they are accused of the most heinous crimes.

Both movies were very good.  The Lincoln Lawyer I saw a few weeks back, and might even be out of theaters at this point.  If you haven’t seen it, be sure to rent it when it becomes available.  Since Matthew McConaughey seems to be only in banal chick flicks these days, I’ve started to doubt his abilities as an actor.  However, with The Lincoln Lawyer he proves that he’s more than a nice set of abs and a southern drawl.  He’s actually a pretty adept actor!  His portrayal of Mick Haller was very well done, and the movie also benefits from a stellar supporting cast including Marisa Tomei, William H. Macy, Josh Lucas and John Leguizamo.  The twist that happens about midway is very interesting and puts the lawyer in a very difficult predicament.  I don’t want to give it away, but it really made the movie work for me.

The Conspirator also boasts a great cast of actors.  James McAvoy did a spectacular job as the conflicted young lawyer, and Robin Wright was equally impressive as a woman trying desperately to protect her son even if it meant being sentenced for his crimes.  I had read in other reviews that the characters were all one-dimensional, but I didn’t find that to be the case when I watched this movie.  Both Aiken and Surratt were complex, and Surratt’s daughter played by Evan Rachel Wood was also very interesting.  I’m always impressed with Wood’s performances.  Tom Wilkinson, Kevin Kline, Justin Long, Jonathan Groff, and Alexis Bledel all had great—albeit small—roles to play. 

Our justice system can be complicated, and both The Lincoln Lawyer and The Conspirator highlight that fact.  Lawyers must do their best to protect the rights of their clients, whether they are judged guilty or not.