Groundhog Day (1993)

Oh, this movie was *fun*! Just fun, fun, fun all the way through! Most comedies, the gag gets old real fast and you have to either keep working on pounding the humor into the audience's head, or find new ways to play with it and make it interesting all the way through. In most recent comedies, making it interesting all the way through is too much work and they just decide, "Aw, this was funny the first time, it'll be funny the eightieth time." However, this was genuinely delightful from beginning to end, filled with quotable quotes ("What if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today!") and hilarious characters. This one I would love to get cleaned up on DVD and own. It's that good. 4 stars.

Freaky Friday (2003)

This shares almost no plot points with the book. The title is the same, and the concept of mother and daughter switching bodies is the same. Everything else has been changed. But somehow the atmosphere is still the same. The goofiness of the novel is still found in this movie. Very few other movies can do that- keep the atmosphere of the book. (Check out my review for Holes, the only other movie that I've found that accomplished this so perfectly.) Quite watchable, even watchable a few times. PLUS I have a soft spot for punk. A movie with so much emphasis on punk music is rare. Yay punk! :-) 3.5 stars.

Duck Soup (1933)

It's a Marx brothers movie. Is there a whole lot to say about it? These videos are good, just because of their ultimate zaniness, but watching a movie like this over and over takes a lot of the fun out of it. So when my siblings watched this movie about 12 times in a row, I got quite sick of it. The mirror scene, for example, is fantastic, but loses its humor when played multiple times. It's still good, though, I'm just tired of it. Heh. This is sometimes lauded as the best of the Marx Brothers movies... I'd definitely argue for Animal Crackers or A Night at the Opera over this one. 3 stars.

Instinct (1999)

Too many jungle bits. But the psychiatry bit was quite fascinating. 2.5 stars.

Guys and Dolls (1955)

After just having seen a live performance, I would have to say... I have no idea which is better. I liked the Adelaide from the show better--the girl in this movie just drove me nuts with her voice--but on the other hand, Marlon Brando's Sky Masterson was definitely a much more interesting character than what's-his-name in Pecatonica. They did a pretty decent job taking this movie to the big screen. They took out many of the boring songs (replacing them, however, with songs even more uninteresting) BUT my big bone to pick with them is...THEY TOOK OUT "MARRY THE MAN TODAY"!!!! How could they do that?!? That song was awesome! Grrrr.... 2.5 stars.

Funny Girl (1968)

Half the songs in this show were musical staples in my house. My mom often sings "I'm the Greatest Star" for no particular reason - there's even a story that when partially anesthized while having a tooth removed, she sang it at the top of her lungs. She has no memory of this event, but the dentist does. :-) But aside from enjoying the music (not to mention Barbra's amazing performances of them . . . I'll never cease to be amazed at her marvelous voice) it even had a moderately interesting plot. How often does *that* happen in a '50's musical, where many musicals seemed to be created by writing a bunch of songs and trying to write a show around them? The final scene, with the performance of "My Man," is a truly touching scene that had me closing my eyes and simply listening to the music. Ahhh . . . definitely worth another watch. 3.5 stars.

Finding Nemo (2003)

I will probably be cast out into the street when I say that nothing in this movie particularly struck me. Yes, the animation was superb (causing me to draw gasping breaths throughout the movie due to a combination of hydrophobia and claustrophobia kicking in), the plotline was sweet, the performances were very solid . . . So what was missing? I have no idea. But something in this movie reached out and grabbed at me. Even the comedy scenes weren't that funny to me. The most enjoyment I had was relating to Dory . . . Curse short-term memory loss! Wait . . . who was Dory again? But, seriously, there wasn't much about this movie that I *really* enjoyed. I moderately enjoyed the whole thing, but for me that's not enough to make a good movie. 3 stars.