Freaky Friday (1976)

Heh. Well, this one is closer to the book than the newer one was, but it definitely has that Old Disney Movie feel. You know, where you have to suspend disbelief more than you ever had to before . . . where everything has a moral . . . where outlandish, crazy action feats are done by fourteen-year-old girls. Once you get used to that, it's actually a fairly entertaining movie, with quite a few fun moments. 2.5 stars.

City Slickers (1991)

I was nervous sitting down to watch this movie. I was terribly afraid it would turn out to be one of those "obnoxious rich dude from the city finds his heart and soul among the country people and decides to move there" movies which depress me horribly. Turned out to be nothing like that, though. He does go back to the city at the end and is very happy about it. It actually was a pretty fun movie, with several moments that made me chuckle. Not a bad viewing, all in all. 2.5 stars.

Gosford Park (2001)

While I love the old-fashioned 1930's-40's British murder mysteries (i.e. Agatha Christie), this just wasn't nearly as interesting as I had thought it was going to be. It ended up being far less about the mystery and much more about just all the characters and their connections. However, as THAT it was quite interesting and quite well-done. My family and I guessed every single plot twist though, no matter how minor. 3.5 stars.

Following (1998)

From the very beginning I was interested in this movie . . . primarily because it started off as sounding way too much like something I'd do. Not the breaking and entering bit . . . but following people just to see where they went, what they did. Except hopefully it wouldn't lead to this if I did it. :-) While this wasn't as amazing as Memento, it still felt Memento-like enough that I thoroughly enjoyed the style and was just able to sit back and enjoy. It's a short little movie, just slightly over an hour, but everything fits together neatly and perfectly. Quite fun. 3.5 stars.

Bounce (2000)

Hmm. This truly is a romantic drama, not a romantic comedy. That's unusual. I'm still not sure I was truly crazy about it. I utterly don't get it in movies when both people keep secrets from each other and then when they're revealed, one of them is angry, not because of what they were lying about, but because of the FACT of the lie ("You lied to me!!") when, hello! They did the same thing! *sigh* But aside from that, it was a decent movie. Very well-done. Just not the type of movie I really care for. 2.5 stars.

Bedtime Story (1932)

In the morning, I found out Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was a remake. In the evening, I went to the video store and found the original, which I'd never even heard of before. Up until the very end of the movie, I was liking it significantly better than the remade version, but then . . . it ended and there was no big twist. Darn it, I liked the twist! It worked so well! So the movie lost coolness points for that. However, the rest of the time it was actually much funnier. (For example, the entire segment with Ruprecht was much funnier and much less . . . well, disgusting than the Dirty Rotten Scoundrels version.) Kudos the movie in general for being a blast to watch . . . I only wish that twist was still there. Ah, well. 3.5 stars.

Antz (1998)

I'd never actually seen this movie, and I decided it was high time I did. So . . . I rented it and watched it. My feelings on it are mixed. While it had some fun moments, it overall felt like an adult movie that was trying to be for kids and pretty much failed. (DreamWorks movies actually nearly all have that feel actually, except for the Shrek movies, which are far more charming than anything else DreamWorks has done.) I appreciate the movie's shortness - if there had been more of this I would have much less pleased with it. As it was, it was just enough for me to enjoy the viewing but definitely not want any more of it. 2.5 stars.