The Couch Critics
The Couch Critics is your laid-back guide to movies and TV shows that deserve your attention—or maybe don’t. Nathan, along with a rotating door of eclectic co-hosts, dives deep into storytelling, character development, and cinematic style with a sharp eye and a wry sense of humor. Whether it’s a blockbuster hit, a hidden gem, or a cult classic, Nathan’s relatable approach ensures every episode feels like a cozy chat with a friend who just happens to love film. Perfect for casual watchers and cinephiles alike, The Couch Critics bring thoughtful critique without the fluff. Grab your favorite snack, settle in, and let Nathan and friends guide you through the world of screen entertainment.
The Couch Critics
Balancing Dark and Light: The Surprising Depth of "Sketch"
What happens when an ordinary sketchbook transforms into a portal for nightmares? Angel Studios ventures into uncharted territory with "Sketch," starring Tony Hale (Arrested Development), D'Arcy Carden, Bianca Belle, and Kue Lawrence. This bold departure from their usual faith-based dramas delivers a surprisingly nuanced exploration of mental health wrapped in a family fantasy adventure.
When a young girl's drawings mysteriously come to life after her sketchbook falls into a strange pond, her family must reunite to battle the monsters they never intended to unleash. Beneath the surface of this seemingly straightforward premise lies a thoughtful metaphor for confronting our inner demons and finding balance between light and dark emotions.
Unlike previous Angel Studios releases, "Sketch" incorporates elements that push its PG rating to the limit, including genuinely frightening creature designs and occasional mild profanity. While the film has faced criticism for potentially misleading parents about its content, this shouldn't overshadow its meaningful message about not facing our darkest moments alone. Tony Hale delivers a standout performance, skillfully balancing humor with dramatic weight as the father figure trying to help his family navigate literal and figurative monsters.
"Sketch" earns a solid four out of five stars for its originality, strong performances, and meaningful themes. It's best suited for teenage viewers and adults, offering families with older children an excellent opportunity to discuss emotional health in an engaging context. By supporting films like this, audiences send Hollywood a clear message about the demand for thoughtful, values-oriented entertainment that doesn't shy away from difficult topics. Have you seen "Sketch" yet? We'd love to hear your thoughts on Angel Studios' new creative direction!
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The weekend's here. It's time to unwind. Grab your snacks, leave the week behind. Blockbusters classics, they're all on the way. Let's kick it off with Cinema Saturdays.
Speaker 2:What's up everybody and welcome to a Cinema Saturday episode of the Couch Critic. I'm your host, nathan, and on today's episode it will just be me, even though this is a movie that my wife and I both went to go see. This is the Angel Studios newest film sketch, but before I can go into what I liked, what didn't work and if you should watch this, I have to go over the synopsis. When a young girl's sketchbook falls into a strange pond, her drawings come to life chaotic, real and on the loose. As the town descends into chaos, her family must reunite and stop the monsters they never meant to unleash. Sketch stars tony hale, darcy carden, bianca bell and q lawrence. Tony hale, if that name sounds familiar, he starred on the hilarious until it kind of went to netflix arrested development. I thought he was hilarious in that show and this is a very unique angel studios film.
Speaker 2:All the films that we've seen up until this point have been fairly serious, based on true events, things like that. That's kind of what angel studios has been known to release. This is the first original film that I believe they've released. It's not based on anything, it's not based on a true story, it's just a very unique film and that's what works for this movie. It's very unique. I know some of the backlash that Angel Studios has been getting from this film is that it's not suitable for young audiences. It is rated PG. There are some moments that are quite borderline, scary, creepy, and so that is why I think it's been getting a lot of backlash. But going back to what works about this film, it is very original, it's very unique. It takes a subject matter trauma and mental health and it puts an interesting spin on it and how you know, we may go through some dark times and we don't need to go down those dark paths all by ourselves. We need to find the good in everything and kind of balance the good and the bad feelings that we have, and don't ignore the bad feelings but also don't let those bad feelings overcome us. And so I think this is a very important film for young adults to watch. I think teenagers should watch this film, I think adults should watch this film and if you do watch it with your child which again I don't fully recommend this could be a really good, interesting discussion piece.
Speaker 2:I think a lot of people ignore that aspect of watching films with their children, that you should be talking to them about what you're watching, whether it's good or whether it's bad, whether there's negative things in it. Discuss what makes those things so negative. I think a lot of parents are afraid to talk to their children about topics that kind of I guess they would consider quote, unquote, taboo. And this movie again does a really great job at discussing those topics. I thought the acting was really really well done. I thought tony hale did a good job at not always being the funny character but also having serious moments. The dad character in this movie, the kids, all the kids were funny. They're sweet, they. They portrayed their characters very well. All the other side characters I thought were portrayed very well.
Speaker 2:One thing again is that you might be hesitant to watch with your child is that there is some language in this film. Angel studios for the most part has been very clean, no profanity, no anything like that. But recently with like the last radio and then this movie, they've kind of inserted a little profanity here and there. I don't know exactly how to feel about that. I don't think it detracts from the movie, but I also don't think it adds to the movie either. I don't think it needs to be there, especially in this film. The language that's in there is just in there to just be in there. It's kind of like a shock value kind of thing, one of those times that they use profanity to, I guess, to make a joke or something like that. It doesn't really hit well with me.
Speaker 2:So that's another reason why you may not want to go see this movie with your kids, because there is profanity in it and, like I said before, it is very like there are some characters, like if you know the premise of the movie, you know it's about a girl who draws these monsters and stuff some of them. When they come to life they're kind of scary and so just be prepared to not watch this with. You know, like a three and five year old like I have, I would not watch this movie with them because I was telling my wife as we were watching this. I can imagine my daughter saying I don't think I want to watch this anymore. I mean, she's done that with classic Disney movies like the Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast and things like that. When the moments kind of get intense she's like I think I'm done watching this now. So I can just imagine her doing that with this movie, but I thought it was really well done.
Speaker 2:Angel Studios, again again, hasn't really made a movie that I have not liked, and so this is just another movie in that collection. Well, what did not work for me? Again I stated before some language I don't think was needed and I think they needed to kind of promote and this has nothing to do with the film itself but they needed to promote it a little better on like the age of what, of who should be watching this movie. And they've actually come out and admitted that they should have done that, and that's one thing I like about Angel Studios. There's something I don't like about Angel Studios, but the few things that I do like is that they are open to criticism and they are aiming to better themselves in the future when it comes to promoting films and, like you know, in that realm, because, yes, it's rated pg but honestly I think some of the content it could have been bumped through pg-13 because I think those character moments they're pretty scary and I know I've said that a lot, it's because it is, and so I think they need to do a little bit better of a job of deciding the rating system for their movies and everything I said.
Speaker 2:I think my wife would probably agree with me, and so that's why, unfortunately, when I go, we go see these movies, we don't record right away, and so by the time I'm ready to record, either the kids are going to bed or we. It's very hard for her and I to record together, and when we do record together, as you've probably heard in the past, she's not the type of person who likes to divulge in talking. So but yeah, we both enjoyed it. Again, the things I mentioned before, we both felt the same way, but I would give the movie Sketch a four out of five. The reason I'm not giving it a five is because of the language and some of the creepy moments. While they did not bother me, they did. They probably would bother a child.
Speaker 2:Speaking of children, before I move on, we were in a theater obviously we saw this, a movie theater and this mother, who I guess saw the trailer and heard about the movie, maybe, and thought it was a kid's movie, brought little, little little children to this movie. And if you've listened to the show before, you know one of my big pet peeves is bringing children to movies in general, like little children who aren't ready to watch a movie in a movie theater. That was this scenario. You had kids walking up and down the stairs. You had kids walk running around the theater. If your kids can't handle a movie theater, just wait to watch it at home.
Speaker 2:I know some people may not agree with that, because they just don't agree with that, but I'm like, if your kids cannot handle going to a movie theater, don't go to a movie theater. You're going to ruin the experience for everyone else. This isn't live theater, this isn't outdoor theater. This is a movie theater where the whole purpose is to just sit and watch a movie. The whole purpose, the whole purpose is not to make sure your kids aren't going crazy. Okay, so that's the end of my little spiel about that. So Sketch gets a 4 out of 5 from me. I liked it. I think people should go out and support these movies because if you support them, then you're showing Hollywood that you want more of them. So this Tuesday, lexi and I will be reviewing Last Christmas and then next Cinema Sunday, mitch and I will be talking about Freakier Friday, the sequel to the Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan Freaky Friday, and you can listen to all of that on the Couch Critics, where every movie gets its close-up.
Speaker 1:Lights are low, the screens will glow, we'll go. Only movies know Hot coins popping. It's time to stay. Let's escape with Cinema. Saturdays no-transcript.
