Bye Bye Birdie (1963)

IMDb plot summary: A rock singer travels to a small Ohio town to make his "farewell" television performance and kiss his biggest fan before he is drafted.
Directed by George Sidney. Stars Janet Leigh, Dick Van Dyke, and Ann-Margret.

This movie varies greatly from the play it was based on (the 1995 TV version is much closer). This version is sillier, more outlandish, and much less coherent. However, I wouldn't even have a problem with its idiotic plot (not even the moment where they drug the conductor of the Russian ballet on the Ed Sullivan show in the hopes of getting him to conduct REALLY FAST so the dancers dance REALLY FAST so there's enough time for Conrad Birdie to sing) if the musical numbers were fun and energetic. But despite this musical reprising some of its Broadway cast and being made during the heyday of musicals... the musical numbers in this kind of suck. The singing is off, the sound mixing is terrible, the choreography is bizarre, and most have zero energy. My two favorite songs, "Put On a Happy Face" and "A Lot of Livin' To Do," are great fun, but this version offers me the most lackluster versions of these two I have EVER seen. With a weak plot and weak songs, there's very little I can recommend about Bye Bye Birdie. Believe it or not, the TV version with Jason Alexander and Vanessa Williams is far superior. At least that one enjoyed its musical numbers. 1 star.

Best Part: "How Lovely To Be a Woman" is one of my least favorite songs in the show, but it was the highlight of this movie for me.
Worst Part: "Put on a Happy Face" made me sad. That's probably not what that song should do.
Flickchart: #1400, below Sleeper and above Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

Rushmore (1998)

IMDb plot summary: The king of Rushmore prep school is put on academic probation. [Wow. That's a terrible summary. But I'm not correcting it because I'm nearly out of Internet time and want to finish posting this review before I have to leave.]
Directed by Wes Anderson. Starring Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray and Olivia Williams.

There's nothing really wrong with Rushmore. Watching it gives me a general sense of well-being and a desire to see the main characters succeed. But neither do I find it as funny as I like my comedies or as poignant as I like my dramas. It may be that Wes Anderson requires multiple viewings for me - it wasn't until a second viewing of The Royal Tenenbaums that I actually enjoyed that movie - but on first impression, this one gets tucked into the "pleasant and harmless" category. I did particularly like Jason Schwartzman in the role - Max Fisher is a very likeable character - but he wasn't quite enough to pull the movie up from "fine." 3 stars.

Best Part: Hmm. Nothing really sticks out. I'll go with Jason Schwartzman in general, then, since I did enjoy him.
Worst Part: I'm sure I was supposed to have SOME sort of response to Bill Murray's character. I didn't.
Flickchart: #658, below The Secret of Santa Vittoria and above Brothers.

Nell (1994)

IMDb plot summary: In a remote woodland cabin, a small town doctor discovers Nell - a beautiful young hermit woman with many secrets.
Directed by Michael Apted. Starring Jodie Foster, Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardsonn.

I am fascinated by stories about feral children (or, in this case, near-feral adults) but as soon as this movie hit the halfway mark, it headed downhill. What started off as an interesting psychologically-driven character study turned into a cliched story of how the young and innocent can teach us to be better people. And I have never liked those stories, much less when they feel as forced as this one. Mix that with a horrific "emotional person makes an emotional speech in a courtroom and wins for no apparent reason" ending, and you have something that started off interesting but soon fell completely apart. Disappointing. 1.5 stars.

Best Part: The moments when I'd suddenly realize I could understand what she was saying. As a linguiphile (I need to actually look up what word I want there...) I loved that.
Worst Part: The courtroom scene. Wowwww.
Flickchart: #1340, below Camp and above Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)

IMDB plot summary: Kazakh TV talking head Borat is dispatched to the United States to report on the greatest country in the world. With a documentary crew in tow, Borat becomes more interested in locating and marrying Pamela Anderson.
Directed by Larry Charles. Stars Sacha Baron Cohen and Ken Davitian.

Let me preface this by saying I *love* Da Ali G Show. I think it is absolutely hilarious. However, of the three regular Sacha Baron Cohen characters, Borat was my least favorite, so I expected to be underwhelmed with the movie. To my surprise, I really liked it. I laughed out loud several times, and not at the parts I expected. I knew the premise of the show and its involvement of real people, so I expected to enjoy those parts and be rather bored with the scripted sections of him in his village and so on, but those turned out to be some of the funniest parts of the movie. Although the Borat characters pushes societal boundaries in a way that absolutely could be deemed offensive, I personally think it's occasionally a very, very revealing look at our country. (Of particular interest was the rodeo scene, where Borat's blessing on the war on terror gets increasingly more violent, while the crowd cheers him on.) Overall, much funnier than I anticipated - definitely a pleasant surprise. 4 stars.

Best Part: His conversation with the yard sale woman he thought was a gypsy. It was a tiny segment, but I laughed really hard through the whole thing.
Worst Part: The scene where he and his director fight naked in the hotel. I really did not need to have any of those images in my mind. And the scene went on WAY longer than it ever needed to.
Flickchart: #371, below The Hunger Games and above Dark Shadows. (Two movies I saw for the first time on the same day. WEIRD.) Also, this is a bit high, but that was because I have 12 Monkeys ranked way too high on my chart.

My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

IMDB plot summary: When two girls move to the country to be near their ailing mother, they have adventures with the wonderous forest spirits who live nearby.
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Stars (in the English version I saw) Dakota Fanning, Elle Fanning, and Tim Daly.

This is my fourth Miyazaki movie and, I think, my favorite. While Spirited Away had wild adventures and a sense of excitement all around it, this one was very moving. I was really drawn into the story of these two girls, and as we learn more about their family situation and their mother's health, I really, really wanted them to be OK. I'm always on the lookout for "best parts" in movies, and I kept changing my mind on this one. There were so many really wonderful moments. 4 stars.

Best Part: I think I've settled on Kanta as my favorite part. His clumsy attempts to show Satsuki he likes her while also kind of hoping she never finds out felt very true and realistic in a way that reminded me how awkward those pre-teen years really are.
Worst Part: Every once in awhile the high-pitched giggling would be... just too much for me.
Flickchart: #366, below Beetlejuice and above The Hunger Games.

The Exorcist (1973)

IMDb plot summary: When a girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two priests to save her daughter.
Directed by William Friedkin. Stars Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Jason Miller and Linda Blair.

That was an incredibly well-paced, believably-done horror movie. While I wouldn't say it *scared* me at almost any point, it did have plenty of tense moments and, above all, filled me with a sense of horror at how the demon tortured the little girl. While many films might overdo the "creepy child" effect, here it was so *very* clear that it wasn't Regan, but something possessing her. There were moments where all of a sudden you'd hear Regan's voice or see a glimpse of her and think, "Oh, my gosh, that poor girl is in there somewhere." That, to me, was the most interesting part of the whole movie. It wasn't just a Good vs. Evil fight - it was a fight over a person. It was a fight to make sure they didn't destroy Regan. And that was, for me, where it succeeded the most. 4 stars.

Best Part: The longer exorcism scene was wonderfully done. Very tense, while in a very small space with not a lot of *action* happening. Impressive.
Worst Part: I still am not sure what that opening scene had to do with anything. They never really went into that.
Flickchart: #398, below Contagion and above The Aviator.

The Disappearance of Alice Creed (2009)

IMDb plot summary: Two men fortify a nondescript British apartment so it can serve as a prison, and then kidnap a woman and tie her to a bed. Before there's even time to react, we're plunged into a very nasty situation, but not a simple one.
Directed by J Blakeson. Starring Martin Compston, Eddie Marsan, and Gemma Arterton.

This movie kept taking me by surprise, bouncing back and forth between thriller and romance and character drama. It ended up as a pretty satisfying little movie, but in the early parts of it I found myself not sure whether I liked the shifts in tone. The most interesting part was watching the characters of the two kidnappers and how they interacted with each other and with their victim. As that began to develop more and more, I found myself getting drawn into the story. In the end, it's nothing special, but it's an interesting little movie that I enjoyed watching, for the most part. 2.5 stars.

Best Part: Watching Danny's character develop.
Worst Part: Alice herself. I don't know what about her rubbed me the wrong way, but *something* did.
Flickchart: #923, below Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex..., and above In the Line of Fire.