Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)

This movie is such complete nonsense. It makes pretty good viewing if you're making fun of it with a friend, but as far as actual quality of movie goes... well, there isn't any. Also, be forewarned: At no point does any conquering actually happen during this movie. I know I, for one, was quite disappointed by that. 0.5 stars.

Stand by Me (1986)

This is a superbly crafted movie. The boys in this movie seem so familiar. They think and act and react like young boys. The dialogue is natural and familiar and instantly relatable, as are the characters. All these young actors do an excellent job in their roles. I found myself caring deeply for these children... As the credits rolled, I took a moment to just lie back and enjoy what I'd just seen. An excellent coming-of-age movie that's truly heartwarming and charming. 4 stars.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966)

This is far from Sondheim's best musical. His lyrics hadn't really settled into themselves yet, and musically here he suffers from Cole Porter Syndrome, where each of his songs has exactly 1 tune that is repeated 15,000 times, with cleverly-rhymed verses for each one... but it just goes on far too long without any substance. The visual choices for the songs were also very unpleasant - rapid montage sequences that are just very distracting.

The story itself occasionally goes overboard on the slapstick, but I would still infinitely rather watch something like this than any of the period comedies written today which feature pop culture jokes that will be outdated in 2 years. It's not perfect, by any means, but I mostly enjoyed it. Zero Mostel was occasionally over-the-top but always entertaining. 3.5 stars.

Start the Revolution Without Me (1970)

There is, unfortunately, not a lot in this comedy that's funny. Gene Wilder is a hilarious actor and can make most things funny just by saying them, but Donald Sutherland never seemed to quite catch up. Most of the gags went on far too long and weren't that funny to begin with, and all the possible humor that could be taken from the setup didn't even really come into play until the end. They were too busy making sexual jokes about the queen to really make any of the humor stick. Too bad... I was hoping I would enjoy this much more. 2.5 stars.

Sita Sings the Blues (2008)

One of the most strikingly original movies I have ever seen in my life. I was enthralled the entire way through. I laughed out loud, I cried a little, I was entranced by the visuals and thoroughly enjoyed the songs. I'm so glad that this movie is freely available for everyone to see - it's not going to be enjoyed by everyone, but this way anyone who's interested is able to see it. I don't say this often, but I would definitely watch it again. One of the best I've seen this year. 4.5 stars.

Star Spangled Girl (1971)

Something about Neil Simon's work is very special to me. I haven't yet seen a Neil Simon play I didn't like. This isn't one of his more well-known plays, but it was one of my very favorites in a collection I read this past year. The cast in this movie are all superb, embodying their characters perfectly and delivering Simon's brilliant dialogue with their own comedic timing. Aside from a few awkward in-between montage sequences (primarily the ones not taken directly from Simon's script), this movie flows beautifully from beginning to end, and had me laughing and smiling the entire time. And somehow it all manages not to be too sentimental, or at least to play around with stereotypical sentimentality. When Tony Roberts rushes to catch Sandy Duncan's bus and is chasing after it on his bike, his final cry to her is not the anticipated "I love you," but the briliant, "I like the way you smell." Great stuff. 4.5 stars.

Fame (2009)

This movie fails on one very important point: It is a *terrible* movie about performing arts. While this would be very acceptable in a High School Musical movie, about a group of students at a local high school doing a high school show, it is completely out of place here in this movie. Am I supposed to believe that these students were accepted into a prestigious performing arts school in the country when most of them are distinctly mediocre at their performing talents? It's all Disneyfied and dumbed down and (I'm going to say it at the risk of sounding like a music snob) not enough "real" music. I *like* Disney channel music... but I don't like it in the middle of my attempted serious musicals. The original Fame had its failings, but at least it was, for the most part, about real performers. I miss the nobility in it. Camp was a horrible movie, but it was about people who cared passionately about performing and about musicals and knew what they were talking about. This is about performers in some alternate world, or possibly one in the all-too-near future, where the goal of performing seems to be to get a record deal or a role on a TV show. There aren't enough performance snobs in this movie.

As a result of this, the actual musical performances are nothing different than what you would see in a typical music video or Disney made-for-TV movie. The final graduation scene could have come right out of High School Musical. The only good musical scene is stolen straight from the original Fame movie - the song "Out Here On My Own" sung passionately in an empty auditorium. Now THAT is beautiful. Everything else is auto-tuned to perfection and leaves me glad I was never a part of that school.

Also, they set up about 10 characters we were supposed to know and love but ignored all but 3 of them. They really should play fair with that. 1.5 stars.