A Doll's House (1973)

Plot: A wealthy woman's attempts to help her financially troubled husband go unrewarded.

This is some good acting right here. Claire Bloom is absolutely splendid as Nora, and Anthony Hopkins creates a brilliant contrasting character. The dialogue of Ibsen's play allows them to explore these characters deeply and honestly. Simply a superb version of the classic play, and definitely one to see. 4 stars.

Once Upon a Mattress (2005)

It's hard to watch this light and fluffy musical and not smile. It's such a good-natured, pleasant show. There's nothing here that makes it stand out as a thing of brilliance, but it's quite enjoyable. This is a fantastic cast, as well... I particularly enjoyed Denis O'Hare's portrayal of the awkward but sweet Prince Dauntless. Carol Burnett gets to return to this show, where she once originated the role of Princess Fred, but this time around she gets to breathe life into the difficult Queen Aggravain. Very fun family-friendly musical about living happily ever after. 3.5 stars.

Ghost Town (2008)

When I saw Ricky Gervais' name attached to this film, I was remembering The Office. Extras. Night at the Museum. He creates and plays roles in fluffy comedies that leave you smiling at the end but not a lot of thought with afterwards. This was not that. It was a comedy, yes, and it left me smiling at the end, but it also left me with the feeling that this was far more substantial a movie than I expected.

Gervais' character is not a jerk (as the trailers seem to imply) but just someone who's a loner and gets easily annoyed by stupidity in people around him. His solution? Avoid them altogether. This soon becomes a non-option as he is pushed by a demanding ghost (played brilliantly by Greg Kinnear) into the life of the ghost's widow.

There are plenty of laughs in here -- the scene where Gervais finds out that he died on the operating table but was resuscitated is hilarious -- but there's also a very moving love story, as well as the story of someone who genuinely does change to care about the people around him. A lot of movies try to do this convincingly and fail. This one doesn't even seem like the type that *should* try, and yet it succeeds.

I went in expecting popcorn entertainment and although my life wasn't changed drastically by this movie or anything like that, I came to care about the characters and the story in a much deeper way than I thought I would. Definitely a worthwhile movie. Possibly could grow to becoming a favorite. 4 stars.

Duane Hopwood (2005)

This has to be one of the most depressing little movies I've ever seen. And yet nothing seemed to come of it. The first half is a nice portrayal of this guy's "loser" life, but then it just stops and meanders for another fifty minutes. It appeared to try to be manufacturing some sort of "happy ending" at the conclusion of the film, but this happy ending was all a lie because in reality, nothing had been solved and only one thing had even been in the slightest resolved. The subject of Duane's drinking habit is tossed to the side an hour into the movie, although that first hour kept promising us this was a major issue. Apparently not THAT major.

I will say, however, that David Schwimmer was remarkably good in this. I haven't seen him in much else apart from Friends, where he played Ross, a character who was forced to be constantly depressed because the writers kept toying with and then destroying his love life for ten seasons. But while his suffering there was comic, Schwimmer makes an elegant transition here to portraying real suffering, real denial, real pain, without the audience being able to laugh at him. Kudos to him. I was going to give this movie just 2.5 stars, but his unexpectedly great performance earns another half a star. 3 stars.

My Friend Irma (1949)

My siblings and I had never seen a Martin and Lewis flick. We'd seen Martin and Lewis separately, in other films, but never together. So I figured it was about time we saw one. (It was coincidence that we ended up with this - their first.) With most of the comedy teams of the old movies (well, okay, and the comedy teams of the new movies too) you've seen one, you've seen 'em all. This is probably the case with these too... but hey, it was pretty good entertainment while you were watching! It did have a moment or two that made me laugh out loud, and those alone made the movie worth seeing. 3 stars.

The Secret War of Harry Frigg (1968)

This movie was a lot of fun for being a war movie. It had a great setup, great characters (the one Italian guy was hysterical), and even a happy ending. And yet with all that I can't actually remember that much about it. But I do seem to remember it was quite good. And I guess I'm going to have to leave it at that. 3 stars.

Three Guys Named Mike (1951)

I saw a portion of this on TV when I was about eight, back when we had TV reception. Ever since then I've wondered from time to time about "that movie where the airplane stewardess had three guys named Mike who all wanted to marry her". So when I was at my grandfather's house and was browsing through channels for something to watch and saw this... I shrieked, "OH MAN! I saw this when I was little and always wanted to know how it ended!" So I jumped over to that station and watched it from beginning to end. The story behind this being told, on to the review. It was... eh, okay. I didn't much care for the heroine, she seemed pretty oblivious/naive/something. She doesn't even seem to have an inkling that the guys like her, even though they're asking her out on dates and stuff. I will say, however, that the ending surprised me. She didn't go for the guy I thought she would. Now that's a plus on a romantic comedy. Surprise "No I think I'll marry this guy" twists always are fun. 2.5 stars.