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.

A Civil Action (1998)

Plot: The families of children who died sue two companies for dumping toxic waste: a tort so expensive to prove, the case could bankrupt their lawyer.

Oooh, courtroom movies! Although this was less about the actual courtroom scenes than it was the struggle to actually GET the case to court in the first place. It was a pretty interesting movie, though, with a very nice ending that didn't work out the way courtroom movies usually do. Also I find as I sit down to write this review, I'm not sure what else to say about it. It was a very solid drama that I enjoyed watching, but nothing that popped out at me. Oh well. 3 stars.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)

Teehee. What a fun movie. I got it primarily because I hope to see the Broadway show in January of '06 and thought maybe I'd find out what the actual story is. It was quite amusing, because as I watched it I kept seeing the Broadway cast in the roles. (Talk about perfect casting. *shakes head*) This movie definitely had several moments that made me grin, and although nothing made me laugh out loud and roll on the floor giggling uncontrollably, it was thoroughly enjoyable to watch all the way through - quite an accomplishment! I'd definitely recommend this for a goofy movie. 3.5 stars.

Clueless (1995)

Ya know, every once in awhile you need to sit down and watch one of these incredibly fluffy, pointless, everyone-ends-up-happy-for-no-good-reason movies, as long as it's one that is truly entertaining and not just stupid. This one . . . truly entertaining. The characters were fun, the story was engaging, and while it was utterly fluffy and silly, I did come away from it feeling actually rather cheered. Not bad. 3.5 stars.

City of Angels (1998)

Weeeeellll... okay, Anna recommended this, and thus far I've not minded all her recommendations and I even liked a few pretty well. But this one had only one thing going for it (well, two maybe - Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan, both of which I like) and a couple major strikes against it. First, it had enough theological holes in it to make me a bit uneasy, the basic message being along the lines of "love is more important than everything, even obedience to God, and everyone out there should understand and respect that". Which... yeah, as I said, made me uneasy and it made this difficult for me to watch. Secondly, it followed two romantic formulas that I really don't care for: the Love Conquers All formula and the Well, At Least We Had One Beautiful Night Together formula. (Although the second is slightly better than the first.) Pah, pah, and triple pah. Although I have to say my mom came up with a significant way of improving the movie... in that next-to-the-last scene when he eats a pear, Mom suddenly says, "Wouldn't it be terribly sad if after all this, he really, really hated pears?" which made me crack up laughing because it would put such a markedly cynical spin on it. Gah. I'm not REALLY this cynical, just as far as movies go. :-) So . . . sorry, Anna. This wasn't my type of movie. 0.5 stars.

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Plot: Disturbed Blanche DuBois moves in with her sister in New Orleans and is tormented by her brutish brother-in-law while her reality crumbles around her.

Tennessee Williams wrote a bunch of plays that are considered true classics of American drama, and maybe they are, but most of them just leave me going, "Uh?" I watched this movie in hopes that I'd like the movie more than the play, and although I must say it was very well done, I could never really get involved in the story. It seems to meander all over the place. Just when I think it's about one thing, it goes, "Oops, sorry, nope, it's about THIS!" and sends me off toward a different sideplot. Maybe that's what makes it good. I don't know. All I know is that it made ME confused -- so confused that I really felt very indifferent at the end of the movie, despite the very good acting by the entire cast. Probably someone else would get an entirely different feeling about this. 3 stars.