Bringing Up Baby

[RKO Radio Studio, 1938]

Starring:
Katherine Hepburn
Cary Grant
Charlie Ruggles

average rating: ★★★★★
~
performance: ★★★★★
screenplay: ★★★★★
plot/storyline: ★★★★★
cinematography: ★★★
~
Comedy

Ohhhh, this has the be the funniest movie I've ever seen. It is so funny.

The story is about a very conservative young paleontologist named David Huxely (Grant), who is hoping for a certain wealthy old woman to donate her million dollar fortune to his museum, so he can finish his giant dinosaur fossil (a prop that looks to be made from cardboard bones...). In a series of misadventures, he meets a quick-tongued, scatterbrained young woman named Susan Vance (Hepburn), and chaos ensues. Though it seems like weeks, the two are only together for two days, in which hilarious things happen, such as Susan procuring a pet leopard named "Baby" from her brother. The title of the movie is generally stupid - they never "bring up" baby at all, but most of the plot revolves around the leopard and their problems with it. But the real point of the movie is that Susan immediately falls in love with David and when she finds that he is to be married to a strict young lady on Sunday, she goes out of her silly way to keep him by her side.

Despite the fact that this movie was made in '38, the acting is shockingly good. Both Grant and Hepburn are in roles they never had and never again stepped into (so far as I've seen). They were nothing like their stereotypical characters - the suave Grant and the intelligent Hepburn. They have really great chemistry and their acting was so natural, for example, at one point David was irritated with Susan and so he fakes choking her with his hands. You just never see such natural actions and gestures in old movies like that!

Anyway, if you ever get the insane urge to watch an old movie, don't pick up a Grace Kelly movie or, heaven forbid, an Alfred Hitchcock... go pick up "Bringing Up Baby." Or most things with Grant or K. Hepburn. :)

National Treasure

[2005]

Starring:
Nicholas Cage
Justin Bartha
Sean Bean
Diane Krueger
Jon Voigt

average rating: ★★★★
~
performance: ★★★★
screenplay: ★★★★
plot/storyline: ★★★★
cinematography: ★★★★★
~
Action/Adventure

This is a very good movie, actually. We watched it last night, on a whim and a lack of library movies. For reasons later disclosed, I really like this movie, its so gripping. :D

Nicholas Cage, despite his extreme hairline, is really good in this. He plays a man named Benjamin Gates, who is obsessed with both American history and finding a legendary, historical treasure. Along with him is his technical genius, Riley (Bartha), who provides most of the humor and good fashion in the movie (I love everything he wears. That velvet suit jacket is AWESOME). Diane Krueger plays a historian who is dragged into the whole treasure hunt when Ben is forced to steal the Declaration of Independence before his former partner does.

The movie is quick-paced, interesting, and chock-full of historical facts. And, with an official oh my, it managed to stay within a PG rating. Kind of shocking, really. The entire film is clean and fun. Bravo to the director or whoever made that decision!

P.S. Nicholas Cage is actually moderately attractive with a hat on. That hair...

The Bourne Ultimatum

[2007]

Starring:
Matt Damon
Julia Stiles
Jean Allen

average rating: ★★★
~
performance: ★★★★
screenplay: ★★★
plot/storyline: ★★
cinematography: ★★★
~
Action

This was quite the disappointment. I admit that I was all excited to learn the rest of Jason Bourne's story. But this did not live up to my expectations, I wouldn't even say that it didn't live up to the Bourne story at all.

The beginning was actually quite promising, but the movie quickly plunged into a déjà vu-ish combination of the first two movies. There was little more discovered about Jason, and everything that was discovered was information one might have figured out on their own. The camera shots, while interesting in the first two movies, jumped off the deep end. Everything was shot by hand-held cameras, making every scene choppy and hard to watch.

If you have seen the first two movies, I recommend finishing the series, but I do wish it had been better. :(

The Bourne Supremacy
[2004]

Starring:
Matt Damon
Joan Allen
Brian Cox
Franka Potente

average rating: ★★★★½
~
performance: ★★★★★
screenplay: ★★★★★
plot/storyline: ★★★★
cinematography: ★★★★★
~
Action

"The Bourne Supremacy" was just as good as the first. It flows really well, introducing new characters and plot twists nicely. The character of Jason Bourne develops really well, through the subtle acting of Matt Damon. And, unlike many, many trilogies, this middle movie was a movie in itself, with a beginning, middle, and end. I was really impressed by that. Take the "Pirates" trilogy - the second movie was terrible and couldn't sustain itself at all.

Never Been Kissed

[1999]

Starring:
Drew Barrymore
Micheal Vartan
David Arquette
Jessica Alba
Leelee Sobieski
Molly Shannon

average rating: ★★
~
performance: ★★
screenplay: ★
plot/storyline: ★
cinematography: ★★
~
Romantic Comedy

Why did this so loved movie get two stars from us? Perhaps it is the fact that Drew Barrymore has a seriously deformed face that Mother and I find hard to admire, yes, even to look at. Perhaps it is the fact that Micheal Vartan's hair curled much too far down the back of his neck. Perhaps it is the fact that John C. Reilly looks like pig. But I think I will set all of these vain, shallow reasons aside to allow for something more interesting, something more substantial. After all, there are many a movie in which we ignore deformities and haircuts, Jane Eyre (2006) for instance.

No, it was something else that spurred me to take the remote and speed through half the movie. I think that something was because the movie was, um, boring. Predictable. Same old. Simpering. Lame. Generally what defines a O.M.G. movie.

Runaway Bride

[1999]

Starring:
Julia Roberts
Richard Gere
Joan Cusack

average rating: ★★
~
performance: ★★
screenplay: ★★
plot/storyline: ★
cinematography: ★★
~
Romantic Comedy

So. I'm not even going to elaborate much on this movie. It was from 1999, so what can we really expect, but it was terrible anyway.

About a Boy

[2002]

Starring:
Hugh Grant
Nicholas Hoult
Toni Colette
Rachel Weisz

average rating: ★★★★
~
performance: ★★★★
screenplay: ★★★★★
plot/storyline: ★★★★
cinematography: ★★★★
~
Comedy

"About a Boy" is about how a very immature man is taught to grow up by a very mature boy. As you can guess, Hugh Grant plays this very immature man, named Will, who, on the lookout for hot single mom's, attends a "Single Parents Alone Together" meeting. From here, he meets a 12-year-old kid named Marcus (Hoult), who is entirely geeky. Pretty soon into the story you find that Marcus's mother has serious depression problems and tries to commit suicide at one point. After that, Marcus begins to drop by Will's house every day. They develop a reluctant relationship and Will learns to grow up.

The movie was really very funny. Hugh Grant played a moderately different character (who didn't stutter!!) and one of the funnest parts was that both Will and Marcus narrated the story. They would interject their thoughts into random parts of the story. It was really cute. Also, the kid who played Marcus was really good, and however horrible his haircuts may have been, he was funny.

This was yet another movie worth watching! Good laughs, cute story.

I'm about to post the movies that weren't worth watching, so hold your horses. :)