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. :)

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. :)

13 Going On 30

[2004]

Starring:
Jennifer Garner
Mark Ruffalo

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

We honestly thought that this movie was going to be horrible. The title "13 Going On 30" is not very promising for our type of movie. But we were wrong. "13" happens to be a really cute movie.

Jennifer Garner was absolutely adorable (as always). Her character is Jenna, a 13-year-old girl who wants nothing more than to fit in with the popular crowd. At her 13th birthday, her best friend Mattie gives her a model of her dream home and dusts it with a powder that is supposed to make dreams come true. After a few misadventures, Jenna knocks the dust onto herself and wakes up 30, all her dreams come true.

With an awesome performance by Jennifer Garner, Jenna discovers how she's lived her life since being 13, how she became editor of her favorite childhood magazine, how she never spoke her best friend Mattie (Ruffalo) anymore, how everyone thought she was a jerk. There are some really funny bits that just scream 13-years-old at you and some cute, real scenes.

I think one reason I liked the movie was because it wasn't really about love, and it wasn't really about fitting in, and it wasn't really about friendship, though those things were combined, the movie was really about making choices. And, of course, being careful what you wish for.

It was a funny, enjoyable watch, all in all, with some really great songs from the 80's. Lol, I'm kind of kidding... Liz Phair, Billy Joel, Lillix, Rick Springfield... If you want some serious songs stuck in your head...

Life With Father

[1947]

Starring:
William Powell
Irene Dunn
Jimmy Lydon
Elizabeth Taylor

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

Miss Congeniality 2

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

The Odd Couple

[1968]

Starring:
Walter Mattau
Jack Lemmon
Herb Edelman

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

heartBREAKeRS

[2001]

Starring:
Sigourney Weaver
Jennifer Love-Hewitt
Jason Lee
Gene Hackman
Ray Liotta

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

Shakespeare In Love

[1998]

Starring:
Joseph Fiennes
Gwyneth Paltrow
Geoffrey Rush
Colin Firth

average rating: ★
~
performance: ★
screenplay: ★
plot/storyline: ★
cinematography: ★
~
Shakespearian Comedy from the Land of the Mentally Lame

Okay, I would like to start out with a big fat "WHAT THE HECK?" in the general direction of Judi Dench, Colin Firth, Tom Wilkonson & Imelda Stauton. Four of my favorite British actors, agreeing to act in this disaster of a comedy. Oh and let's throw Geoffrey Rush in the list too, because he was lovely in Pirates.

While on iTunes the other day (after watching Shakespeare), I chanced upon the cover of the movie in the rentals section, so I clicked on it, to see if other viewers disliked it as much as I. Um, I was wrong. The average rating was 4 and a half stars and there were over 200 reviews, most of which proclaiming that this was one of the most charming movies, la de da. If I had seen these reviews before watching the movie I'm sure I would have fell for them and been sorely disappointed, but instead I was just dumbstruck.

Shakespeare In Love was supposed to be funny. It was supposed to be cute. It was supposed to be slightly interesting. Nada. The story was about Shakespeare (Fiennes) who was trying to write a new play but had writer's block of sorts. So then he meets this Lady Viola or something (Paltrow) who is the most American of America's girls playing this British woman. They fall in love at first sight (oh joy) and he begins to randomly write Romeo and Juliet with the help of friends. But being a lowerclass playwright, he isn't allowed to be with poor Viola. But they meet again when Viola dresses as a boy (mustache and all) to try out for the part of Romeo in his play.

Most of the movie was play practice with Viola in a fake mustache/goatee deal, Shakespeare and Viola sleeping together and necking and all sorts of yumminess irrelevant to plottage or humor, and Shakespeare and Viola quoting Shakespeare. Very funny, huh? Other than that there was the lame villian of Colin Firth who was to marry Viola, Imelda Stauton as Viola's lame maid, Judi Dench as the lame (but frankly quite terrifying - but what's new?) Queen of England, and Ben Affleck as a lame self-centered actor in the play. Oh, and there was Tom Wilkonson as the lame man who paid for the plays, Geoffrey Rush as lame the theater-owner.

In fact, we never reached the end of the movie, it was so boring. It was plotless, only about five lines were laughable, and there really didn't seem like there was an end in sight, and if there was, it certainly wasn't promising.

Fin.

[poster courtesy of impawards.com]

How To Marry A Millionaire

[Twentieth Century Fox, 1953]

Starring:
Marilyn Monroe
Betty Grable
Lauren Bacall
William Powell
Rory Calhoun

average rating: ★★★
~
performance: ★★★
screenplay: ★★
plot/storyline: ★★★
cinematography: ★★
~
Marilyn Monroe!

Personally, I don't recall watching many, if any, Marilyn Monroe movies, so I was curious to see her in this film. To my surprise, Marilyn's performance is fun and endearing. She's pretty young, 28 years old, and already seems to have a good sense of comedy timing. In this film, Marilyn doesn't seem to have the starring role, but is supporting Betty and Lauren. Even still, Caroline and I enjoyed her performance.

This film is about three women (models) who have decided to intentionally seek and snag millionaires for husbands. Lauren's character was the ring-leader, instructing the other girls on the proper way to attract millionaire men, and above all, stay away from "gas jockeys."

Marilyn and Betty's characters were meant to be rather simple and silly. Marilyn's character, Pola, wore glasses and was "blind as a bat" without them. Since she considered wearing glasses as a horrible, unattractive thing, she always took them off around other people. So, Pola bumped into walls and doors, etc., it was pretty funny.

The movie had a predictable, funny ending that tied in with the beginning and middle, which was surprising, considering other films we've watched from the same era.

A Knight's Tale

starring:
Heath Ledger, Paul Bettany, Shannyn Sossamon,
Rufus Sewell, Alan Tudyk

average rating: ★★★¾
~
performance: ★★★★
screenplay: ★★★★
plot/storyline: ★★★★
cinematography: ★★★
~
comedy/action/knightliness

To begin with, the music was quite literally insane, starting with "We Will Rock You," by Queen, and going through ten more songs of equal illogicality for a medieval movie. Quite funny watching a jousting tournament chanting "We Will Rock You." Paul Bettany was probably the best thing that happened to the film, making a stark naked appearance as a writer/poet/whatever with a weakness for gambling. He was seriously consistent through the entire thing and generally did a good job.

The movie was kind of a mix of comedy and seriousness, for instance, the crazy songs suggested goofing off, and then Heath Ledger's completely serious expressions and getting beaten by the bad guy made you think twice.

No one has hair like Heath Ledger.

And that all that can be said about that!

[watched for the first time, 12-30-07]
[poster courtesy of allposters.com]

The Importance of Being Earnest

[2002 version]

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


I don't know if it's because we already watched the '86 version before we watched this new one or not, but it was very disappointing. The actors, though we like practically all of them (Colin Firth, Reese Witherspoon, Rupert Everett, Tom Wilkinson, Judi Dench) they really didn't quite capture your fancy as much as the old version. They were all rather flat and the characters were depicted in a less comical way. The dialogue was not nearly as fast, either, which was kind of a pity. What can be said for the entire film is that it had mostly the same screenplay, it was colorful (as in, it had lots of colors - green, blue...), and that we finally figured out just what kind of "muffins" they were referring to. In fact, the best part of the whole movie was the tussle over the muffins, I think.


{viewed for the first time, 12-30-07}
[poster courtesy of impawards.com]

The Importance of Being Earnest

[1986, BBC]

average rating: ★★★★★

~
performance: ★★★★★
screenplay: ★★★★★
plot/storyline: ★★★★★
cinematography & direction: ★ (exempted from average because it's 1, BBC, and 2, from '86)
~
comedy

Wow. We laughed until our sides literally hurt when we watched this 1986 vers. The dialogue is amazingly clever and very, very funny. The actors are fantastic, saying every line as if they really thought up each of witty line. The plot is ridiculously funny, a chain-reaction of problematic situations that lead to a satisfying end. Since this was filmed by BBC in '86, the cinematography will be forgiven, for they used very strange camera views at times and was not the best quality. But the screenplay made up for any fault the film might have, definitely.

The Princess Bride

Starring:
Robin Wright
Cary Ewles
Billy Crystal
Mandy Pantinkin

average rating: ✩✩✩✩¼
~
performance: ✩✩✩✩
screenplay: ✩✩✩✩✩
plot/storyline: ✩✩✩✩
director: ✩✩✩✩
~
comedy

The Princess Bride is one of the most wryly witty movies I've ever seen. It's really quite cute, and as a lot of people (including the author/screenwriter) have stated, has a little bit of mostly everything. Romance, action, humor galore, good acting and entertaining situations... Personally, I'm all set. :)

It's kind of like one of those movies you have to see in order to understand what all the fuss is about. The movie is just as dryly funny as the book. Quite the laugh.

{view time #3, 12-28-07}