April, 6th

Director: David S. Ward

John Goodman … Ralph Hampton Gainesworth Jones
Peter O’Toole … Sir Cedric Charles Willingham
John Hurt … Lord Percival Graves
Camille Coduri … Miranda Green
Richard Griffiths … Duncan Phipps
Leslie Phillips … Gordon Halliwell

Synopsis: After the entire Royal Family has been wiped out, England needs a new king and they find him – in America. Ralph is not what one would call born to be a representative of a nation but he has to do since there’s no one else – or is there? The parliament could decide to end the Windham line and re-establish the Stuarts as the royal line again. And Lord Graves – the next in line – does everything in his might to make this happen.

My Opinion: After watching so many Doctor Who episodes I wanted to watch the movie where I saw Jackie Tyler (Camille Coduri) for the first time again.
It’s not that good a movie but I still enjoy it very much mainly because it’s true what Cedric says in the end: Ralph is a good and decent man and he does what is right.
This movie has many funny scenes and still manages to not really mock the British monarchy.

Afterwards, I listened to this quite a few times:

April, 14th

Director: Steven Spielberg

Tom Hanks … Capt. John H. Miller
Tom Sizemore … Sgt. Mike Horvath
Edward Burns … Pvt. Richard Reiben
Barry Pepper … Pvt. Daniel Jackson
Adam Goldberg … Pvt. Stanley Mellish
Vin Diesel … Pvt. Adrian Caparzo
Giovanni Ribisi … T-5 Medic Irwin Wade
Jeremy Davies … Cpl. Timothy P. Upham
Matt Damon … Pvt. James Francis Ryan
Nathan Fillion … Pvt. James Frederick ‘Minnesota’ Ryan

Synopsis: Normandy, June, 1944. Captain Miller and his men have just survived the landing of the allied forces in France when they get another mission: To find Private Ryan who is with the 101st Airborne and has landed somewhere in the middle of the ongoing battles. Private Ryan has lost his three brothers in this war and it was decided that at least one of the Ryan brothers should return home alive. But he is not an easy man to find.

My Opinion: A very impressive movie. What makes this movie watch-worthy for me are not the big battle scenes. Those I watch with a rather analytical eye and am somewhat disconnected. What gets to me are the scenes in between, when they just sit somewhere and talk, or when Miller silently cries after the fight at the radar station, or in the end when Ryan asks if he has been a good person.

I haven’t seen this movie in quite some time (It’s not a movie one puts in lightly) and I noticed how many faces have become familiar since then: Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, Nathan Fillion (I had to look twice to recognise him!) and even Jeremy Davies (Daniel Faraday in LOST) – that last one I didn’t even recognise, he just looked familiar until I looked him up.

March, 11th

10 Things I Hate About You

Director: Gil Junger

Heath Ledger … Patrick Verona
Julia Stiles … Kat Stratford
Joseph Gordon-Levitt … Cameron James
Larisa Oleynik … Bianca Stratford
David Krumholtz … Michael
Andrew Keegan … Joey Donner
Larry Miller … Walter Stratford

Synopsis: Cameron has a strong crush on Bianca but he’s not the only contender for her attention. His opponent Joey is not only a model but also financially well equipped. To make matters worse Bianca is only allowed to go on a date if her older sister Kat has one, too. And Kat has no intentions to date in the near future and she’s also not the most uncomplicated person.
Cameron needs to find someone who isn’t afraid of the challenge and that’s were Patrick Verona comes into play.

My Opinion: It’s a nice, modern day adaption of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew and Heath (RIP) and Julia make a great couple. They have to because even though this is a movie about a triangle and a couple only the couple really works. Especially Cameron and Bianca pale in comparison, Cameron even more so than Bianca who has at least a few good scenes with her sister and the Prom scene.
But it’s still very watchable and has a cool soundtrack.

March, 21st

Ghostbusters

Director: Ivan Reitman

Bill Murray … Dr. Peter Venkman
Dan Aykroyd … Dr. Raymond Stantz
Sigourney Weaver … Dana Barrett
Harold Ramis … Dr. Egon Spengler
Rick Moranis … Louis Tully
Annie Potts … Janine Melnitz
William Atherton … Walter Peck
Ernie Hudson … Winston Zeddmore

Synopsis: Peter, Ray and Egon are scientists in the widest sense of the word. They studied psychology and parapsychology and their experiments are on the fringe of actual science.
Their life changes drastically when the university fires them and the Sumerian God called Gozer tries to enter this world via Dana Barrett’s fridge.

My Opinion: It’s still a very funny movie and I still enjoy all the physical jokes in it, e.g. when they get slimed on or when they destroy a ball room with their proton packs or when Ray thinks of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
But I have to say that I was a bit disappointed by the quality of the Blu-ray. Especially in front of dark backgrounds you can see a lot of grain. They either didn’t clean up the picture at all or they didn’t do a very good job at it.

March, 31st

WALL·E

Director: Andrew Stanton

Ben Burtt … WALL·E / M-O (voice)
Elissa Knight … EVE (voice)
Jeff Garlin … Captain McCrea (voice)
Fred Willard … Shelby Forthright – BnL CEO
MacInTalk … AUTO (voice)
John Ratzenberger … John (voice)
Kathy Najimy … Mary (voice)
Sigourney Weaver … Ship’s Computer (voice)

Synopsis: WALL·E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter – Earth Class) is a robot that presses trash into cubes and piles them. It – he – has done it for the last 700 years and seems to be the only functioning robot left on Earth. The Humans left even more than 700 years ago. But then a search drone called EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) lands there to check if Earth has became inhabitable again. It – she – finds proof for that and returns to the last Humans out in space. And WALL·E, having fallen in love with her, begins his biggest adventure and follows her.

My Opinion: E.T. meets Number 5. The big eye trick always works. It’s fascinating how this movie manages to communicate so much without having the characters to say anything. I also love all these “product placement” jokes that aren’t in-your-face. Like when WALL·E has recharged, he makes the same sound a Mac does when it’s booted up. Or EVE looking like a modern day Apple product. But I also loved “Also sprach Zarathustra” (2001) or AUTO (HAL 9000 anyone?).
Then I watched the bonus material and laughed again about the short movie BURN·E and the way it interwove with WALL·E.

The Hangover

Director: Todd Phillips

Bradley Cooper … Phil Wenneck
Ed Helms … Stu Price
Zach Galifianakis … Alan Garner
Justin Bartha … Doug Billings
Heather Graham … Jade

Synopsis: Doug is about to marry and he, his friends and his wife’s brother want to enjoy their bachelor party in Vegas. Only that they can’t remember any of it the day after. And even worse: Doug has disappeared. But instead they have a tiger, a baby, a police car and a lot of trouble. What the hell is going on here?

My Opinion: The viewer is as puzzled as these three guys. The movie is a single row of WTF?! moments (especially when you see it for the first time) and the characters are all very “eccentric” on their own, especially Alan (the bride’s brother).
I had a lot of fun watching it again.

April

February, 13th

Superman Returns

Director: Bryan Singer

Brandon Routh   …    Clark Kent / Superman
Kate Bosworth   …    Lois Lane
Kevin Spacey   …    Lex Luthor
James Marsden   …    Richard White
Parker Posey   …    Kitty Kowalski
Frank Langella   …    Perry White
Sam Huntington   …    Jimmy Olsen
Kal Penn    …    Stanford

Synopsis: Nobody has seen or heard from Superman in five years. In the meantime Lois Lane has become a mommy and she’s written the Pulitzer-winning article “Why the World Doesn’t Need Superman”. But now Clark is back from what is left of Krypton and he’s needed right now again: Lex Luthor has stolen Kryptionian crystals from the Fortress and wants to build a new continent – at the expense of that small island called North America.

My Opinion: It took me some time to really get used to that movie. Mainly because I was mad at Bryan Singer for abandoning the X-Men project which resulted in The Last Stand. But now with a few years distance, I like this movie.
Some elements are still very comic-like, like Lex’s behaviour at some points of the story but that is fully outweighed by the moments he’s truly evil.
I also like Brandon Routh’s portrayal of Clark/Superman. While Christopher Reeve’s Clark was a bit of a douchebag that I didn’t like very much, they chose to do it differently here. He’s just a nobody who lingers in the background and isn’t noticed by anybody but Jimmy. Lois couldn’t care less about him in any way – which makes it believable that she doesn’t see Superman in him. For me that works.
Speaking of realism (;) ): The one scene I didn’t buy was when Superman lifted that island out into space while he still had a piece of Kryptonite stuck in his side and was exposed to the other K in the island. If Lex can beat him up just because he’s around it, he should have never been able to lift that weight. So much for in-universe consistency…

February, 22th

Men in Black

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld

Tommy Lee Jones    …    Kay
Will Smith   …    N.Y.P.D Ofcr. James Darrel Edwards III / Jay
Linda Fiorentino   …    Laurel
Vincent D’Onofrio   …    Edgar
Rip Torn   …    Chief Zed
Tony Shalhoub   …    Jack Jeebs

Synopsis: Officer James Edwards is a normal NYPD cop until he meets a guy who has two pair of eyelids (one of them are gills) and when he learns that the guy who fences stolen watches also fences alien weapons. After he passed a test, James Edwards ceases to exist. He becomes J, a Man in Black, working for the most secret organization on the face of this planet. And his very first mission is to help give birth to a squid. Ah yes, and his second mission is to save the Earth.

My Opinion: Remember the times when 90 minutes for a movie were standard? Now it feels short. The advantage is that it has no lengths; there is not one point where this movie is boring. It is packed with jokes and gags regarding alien visitors and Tommy Lee and Will make a great team because they are so different.
I also loved Linda as the coroner. I only know her from two movies (this and Dogma) and I’d love to see her in more. In both movies she has this nice dry sense of humour.

March

January, 16th

The Negotiator

Director: F. Gary Gray

Samuel L. Jackson … Lt. Danny Roman
Kevin Spacey … Lt. Chris Sabian
David Morse … Cmdr. Adam Beck
Ron Rifkin … Cmdr. Grant Frost
John Spencer … Chief Al Travis
J.T. Walsh … Insp. Terence Niebaum
Siobhan Fallon … Maggie
Paul Giamatti … Rudy Timmons

Synopsis: Danny Roman is a negotiator for hostage situations for the police and he’s one of the best there is. One day he gets framed for stealing money from the police pension fund and it looks like he’s going to prison for it. He sees no other choice than taking hostages himself, to force the issue and to find out what really happened and who was involved. His negotiator is Chris Sabian from the other side of the city and he’s also very good at what he does.

My Opinion: A fascinating thriller with an excellent cast. I’m not a big fan of thrillers but this is a movie I watch regularly. It’s very powerful and still has its funny moments – like the scene where we get introduced to Chris Sabian. I also like the selection of hostages and how they contribute to the case.
Spoiler (mark to read):
An interesting thing about these kinds of movies is that – despite them ending in a happy end – they don’t actually have a real happy end, because if you think it through he still will be charged of taking hostages, destroying a federal building and other stuff. Even if he gets only a slap on the hand, it’s unlikely that he’s ever going to work as a cop again.
But I think that falls in the category of Fridge Logic.

Die Hard 2

Director: Renny Harlin

Bruce Willis … Lt. John McClane
Bonnie Bedelia … Holly McClane
William Atherton … Richard Thornburg
William Sadler … Col. Stuart
Reginald VelJohnson … Sgt. Al Powell
Franco Nero … Gen. Ramon Esperanza
John Amos … Maj. Grant
Dennis Franz … Capt. Carmine Lorenzo
Fred Dalton Thompson … Trudeau
Tom Bower … Marvin

Synopsis: “The same shit happens to the same guy twice.” Another Christmas and Holly is flying in to Washington D.C. where her husband is waiting for her. But a flight designated FM-1 is also scheduled to land – and this flight has an important “passenger”: General Esperanza, a despot and drug lord and he has friends at the airport. And they have no intentions of getting the General be handed over to the justice system. What they didn’t expect was the hero of the Nakatomi Tower.

My Opinion: I like this movie nearly as much as the first one. It hasn’t as good a villain as the first one had, but it’s still a great action movie with a cool story, an awesome body count and a lot of exploding buildings and planes and even more swearing. What’s not to like?

The Fugitive

Director: Andrew Davis

Harrison Ford … Dr. Richard Kimble
Tommy Lee Jones … Samuel Gerard
Julianne Moore … Dr. Anne Eastman
Joe Pantoliano … Cosmo Renfro
Andreas Katsulas … Sykes
Jeroen Krabbé … Dr. Charles Nichols
Tom Wood … Newman

Synopsis: Dr. Richard Kimble has been found guilty of murdering his wife. But he claims to be innocent and when his prison bus collides with a train he gets the chance to escape. But now he has Deputy Samuel Gerard from the U.S. Marshals Service on his tail. Can he stay out of prison long enough to find the killer of his wife?

My Opinion: I’ve never seen a single of the series this movie is based upon but I already like it on its own. Tommy Lee Jones is a great hunter but Harrison Ford is the better hunted. I like all the action sequences and all the running (lots of running!) but the movie doesn’t forget the actual story and I liked all these small pieces like when he helped that boy in the hospital. I also liked the scenes where it appeared as if they were close to him just to reveal that he wasn’t the target.

January, 17th

Under Siege 2: Dark Territory

Director: Geoff Murphy

Steven Seagal … Casey Ryback
Eric Bogosian … Travis Dane
Everett McGill … Marcus Penn
Katherine Heigl … Sarah Ryback
Morris Chestnut … Bobby Zachs
Andy Romano … Admiral Bates
Royce D. Applegate … Ryback’s Cook
Nick Mancuso … Tom Breaker
Kurtwood Smith … General Stanley Cooper

Synopsis: Casey and his niece Sarah are travelling by train across the United States. But aboard this train are also a crazy lunatic and a group of mercenaries who take over a highly secret and highly dangerous satellite that can destroy the entire west coast by causing earthquakes below the San Andreas Fault. Casey is the only one who can stop them before they kill millions.

My Opinion: Steven Seagal is no Bruce Willis but I still enjoy his action movies a lot. He kills ruthlessly and has cool knife-fighting skills. The general plot is pretty much a slightly adjusted template copy of Under Siege but I don’t really care. It’s just fun to watch.
This time was also the first time that the name Katherine Heigl rang a bell.

Under Siege

Director: Andrew Davis

Steven Seagal … Casey Ryback
Tommy Lee Jones … William Stranix
Gary Busey … Cmdr. Krill
Erika Eleniak … Jordan Tate
Colm Meaney … Doumer
Patrick O’Neal … Capt. Adams
Andy Romano … Adm. Bates
Nick Mancuso … Tom Breaker
Glenn Morshower … Ens. Taylor

Synopsis: The destroyer U.S.S. Missouri embarks on its last journey from Pearl Harbor to San Francisco where she will be decommissioned. Manned only with a skeleton crew the crew prepares for the captain’s birthday party – including the cook, Casey Ryback. But the party takes an unexpected turn and the ship is suddenly in the hands of mercenaries who want to get their hands on the nuclear warheads from the ship’s arsenal. The only people who can stop them is “just a cook” – and a stripper.

My Opinion: I love this movie. I know it’s cheesy but Casey and Jordan work very well together and Stranix and Krill are really cool bastards. And then there’s of course the jumping-out-of-a-cake scene.
It’s a nice action movie but there’s one scene that upvalues the movie for me and that is the last scene of the movie where Ryback pays his last respects to the captain – in full dress uniform.

January, 24th

Hero

Director: Stephen Frears

Dustin Hoffman … Bernie Laplante
Geena Davis … Gale Gayley
Andy Garcia … John Bubber
Joan Cusack … Evelyn
Tom Arnold … Chick
James Madio … Joey

Synopsis: Bernie’s life philosophy is to stay below the radar, to keep a low profile. Unfortunately that didn’t help him when he was caught selling stolen goods for which he most likely will go to prison. But before that happens, a plane crashes right before his nose. And Bernie – reluctantly defying his own nature – helps to save all the passengers. Then he snatches a purse and disappears into the night. And suddenly the whole world is looking for the Angel of Flight 104…

My Opinion: This is a comedy that doesn’t follow the usual plot pattern. Bernie isn’t a nice, charming guy at the end; he’s the same old grumpy character as in the beginning with all his flaws and merits. Actually, the character that changed the most throughout the movie was Gale. Too bad she quit her job the moment she was emotionally ready to be a different reporter than she was before.

The Girl Next Door

Director: Luke Greenfield

Emile Hirsch … Matthew Kidman
Elisha Cuthbert … Danielle
Timothy Olyphant … Kelly
James Remar … Hugo Posh
Chris Marquette … Eli
Paul Dano … Klitz
Amanda Swisten … April
Sung Hi Lee … Ferrari

Synopsis: Matthew is the model student at his high school: He’s class president, wants to go into politics and has already gotten into Georgetown University. Then he meets his new neighbour: Danielle. She’s very different from any girl he’s ever met. But he has yet to learn how different she really is. And she has the talent to bring out a side of him he didn’t even knew he had.

My Opinion: I simply bought the movie because 24’s Elisha Cuthbert starred in it. On the surface it’s just another romcom but due to Danielle’s background it’s not that usual. And even though he makes the genre-typical blunder and affronts her, it doesn’t happen at the usual point in the story and then the movie isn’t over either. I also liked the surprising end and also Timothy Olyphant as the “villain” who isn’t that bad after all.
The juice was worth the squeeze.

January, 29th

The Proposal

Director: Anne Fletcher

Sandra Bullock … Margaret Tate
Ryan Reynolds … Andrew Paxton
Mary Steenburgen … Grace Paxton
Craig T. Nelson … Joe Paxton
Betty White … Grandma Annie
Denis O’Hare … Mr. Gilbertson
Malin Akerman … Gertrude

Synopsis: Margaret Tate is a successful yet hated editor-in-chief in a New York book publishing house. Her assistant Andrew puts up with her because he wants to become an editor one day but she keeps him on a short leash. Margaret is not American, she’s Canadian and suddenly she has a problem: Her visa has been invalidated and she’s about to be deported. Her only chance is to marry Andrew who unwillingly agrees to the sham. What looked like a simple business proposal in the beginning becomes harder when she meets his actual family…

My Opinion: Sandra Bullock isn’t the youngest anymore but I think she’s aged very gracefully. I like this movie. It hasn’t that much haha-funny moments where you have to laugh out loud but it has a certain charm that makes you smile a lot when you watch it. And just like with Men in Trees it wins much of its comedy elements from a putting a big city girl into nowhere land.
I also watched the alternate ending and I am glad that they didn’t use it. The movie ending was certainly better.

January, 30th

While You Were Sleeping

Director: Jon Turteltaub

Sandra Bullock    …    Lucy Eleanor Moderatz
Bill Pullman   …    Jack Callaghan
Peter Gallagher   …    Peter Callaghan
Peter Boyle   …    Ox Callaghan
Jack Warden   …    Saul
Michael Rispoli    …    Joe ‘Joey’ Fusco, Jr.

Synopsis: Lucy works in a ticket box on the ‘L’ in Chicago and while he doesn’t notice her, she has noticed and fallen in love with him. And when he’s tossed on the tracks one day she saves him. But it’s only then when the real trouble starts. She is mistaken as his fiancé and since he’s in a coma he can’t clear up this mess and for now she’s just going along with it. But while she pretends to be engaged with the comatose Peter, she’s slowly falling in love with his brother, Jack.

My Opinion: Even though I was aware of the general plot of this movie (I’ve seen it many times before) I didn’t notice the many parallels between this and The Proposal until now. But if at all, it would be a neg for The Proposal, not for this one, since it was here first and there are also quite a few differences.
In order to not having to praise Sandra again (though I could go on for hours if I wanted to ) let me say a few words about Bill Pullman. I like his characters. There, you had your few words… No, really, I only know him from romances and not so serious movies like Spaceballs and Independence Day but I really like him in these movies and I like him here; he’s way better for Lucy than his brother.

Speed

Director: Jan de Bont

Keanu Reeves    …    Officer Jack Traven
Dennis Hopper   …    Howard Payne
Sandra Bullock   …    Annie Porter
Joe Morton   …    Capt. McMahon
Jeff Daniels   …    Det. Harold ‘Harry’ Temple
Alan Ruck   …    Stephens

Synopsis: Jack and Harry work with the L.A. Police Bomb Squad and they just managed to save 13 people from a rigged elevator. They believe the bomber to be dead until he calls again. Now he has mined the bus 2525 which will explode as soon as it drives faster than 50 miles per hour and then falls under that speed limit. While Harry tries to find the bomber, Jack tries to rescue the passengers – among them Annie Porter, who drives the bus.

My Opinion: A cool piece of action cinema with a lot of car stunts (and a flying bus!). It’s watch-worthy based alone on the sheer amount of things, cars, planes and subways that get destroyed over the course of this movie.

February

You might have noticed that the old year is over, so I’m starting a new diary.
But I will only review movies I haven’t reviewed before – unless my opinion has changed drastically.

January, 1st

You’ve Got Mail

Director: Nora Ephron

Tom Hanks … Joe Fox
Meg Ryan … Kathleen Kelly
Greg Kinnear … Frank Navasky
Parker Posey … Patricia Eden
Jean Stapleton … Birdie Conrad
Steve Zahn … George Pappas

Synopsis: Joe Fox is one of the owners of the “Fox Books Superstore” chain and he sells cheap books. And now he wants to open a new store in New York. Kathleen Kelly owns the children book store “Shop Around the Corner” in close proximity to the new superstore. When they are Kathleen Kelly and Joe Fox they can’t stand each other. When they are Shopgirl and NY152 they are close online friends. The question is what happens when these world collide.

My Opinion: I like this movie, it’s a sweet little romance where Meg Ryan plays the role she always plays and Tom Hanks shows his romantic side once more. I have to say I like it even better than its “predecessor” Sleepless in Seattle. That is a nice movie, too, but when I have the choice between these two, I choose this one. And even though I don’t really like The Godfather I like the running gag references to it.

January, 2nd

Spider-Man 2

Director: Sam Raimi

Tobey Maguire … Spider-Man / Peter Parker
Kirsten Dunst … Mary Jane Watson
James Franco … Harry Osborn
Alfred Molina … Doc Ock / Dr. Otto Octavius
Rosemary Harris … May Parker
J.K. Simmons … J. Jonah Jameson
Ted Raimi … Hoffman
Bruce Campbell … Snooty Usher

Synopsis: Spider-Man is still the hero of the day but Peter Parker has ever bigger problems to manage these two sides of his life and it’s often Peter’s life that loses. Which means he loses his jobs, his grades at the university are dropping and the worst: Mary Jane is disappointed of him. And then an experiment of Dr. Octavius’s goes horribly wrong and turns him into an obsessed maniac.

My Opinion: I like this movie a tiny bit more than the first – which is saying much because I really love the first part. All the fights against Doc Ock are great but what’s really great is, that he isn’t a villain through and through and has the capacity to see his error and redeems himself at the end.
It’s really sad that after these two great movies the third failed due to executive meddling.

Die Hard

Director: John McTiernan

Bruce Willis … Officer John McClane
Bonnie Bedelia … Holly Gennaro McClane
Reginald VelJohnson … Sgt. Al Powell
Paul Gleason … Deputy Police Chief Dwayne T. Robinson
William Atherton … Richard Thornburg
Alan Rickman … Hans Gruber

Synopsis: John McClane is a NY police detective who visits his wife for Christmas. She works as an executive in a company in L.A. and they celebrate not only Christmasbut also the new offices: the Nakatomi Tower. But it isn’t a party until someone crashes it. In this case Hans Gruber and his gang, a pretending terrorist but actual thief who wants the 650 million Dollars in bearer bonds in the Nakatomi safe. What he didn’t expect was “Roy”.

My Opinion: Still a great piece of action cinema. John was one of the first heroes who actually bleed during their lone gunman action but there aren’t many people who can keep up with his cool badass attitude. Of course Alan Rickman was also brilliant as the villain and if you ask me he was the best opponent John ever had. Or as Barney put it in How I Met Your Mother: “Charming international bandit. In the end, he dies hard. He’s the title character.”

January, 3rd

How to Lose a Guy – in 10 Days

Director: Donald Petrie

Kate Hudson … Andie
Matthew McConaughey … Ben
Kathryn Hahn … Michelle
Annie Parisse … Jeannie
Adam Goldberg … Tony
Thomas Lennon … Thayer
Michael Michele … Spears
Shalom Harlow … Green

Synopsis: Andie is a columnist with the Composure magazine and she usually writes the “How To” articles but she has bigger plans. She wants to write about politics and the economy. Ben works in an advertisement agency and usually creates campaigns for sports companies. But he has bigger plans. He wants to score the deal with the DeLauers who are the biggest fish when it comes to diamond jewellery. Ben gets it when he manages to make a woman really fall in love with him until the presentation. Andie gets her wish granted if she can write an article about what women do wrong with guys: “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days”. Guess who’ll run into each other.

My Opinion: This romcom gets its appeal from the absolutely opposite intentions of its protagonists. She does everything to drive him crazy and he puts up with it. But it also works because they have chemistry together.
I also like their performance of “You’re so vain” at the end, especially because neither can really sing (at least the characters can’t). Rationally neither is really in the position to be mad at the other but in that moment they’re just pissed off and it makes for a great scene.

January, 8th

Pretty Woman

Director: Garry Marshall

Richard Gere … Edward Lewis
Julia Roberts … Vivian Ward
Jason Alexander … Philip Stuckey
Alex Hyde-White … David Morse
Hector Elizondo … Barney Thompson

Synopsis: He’s a successful business man. He buys companies, fillets them and sells the pieces at a profit. She hasn’t even finished high school and works now as a hooker on Hollywood Boulevard. Their lives cross paths because he can’t drive stick. But it’s just a business arrangement. She’s his companion for one week and that’s it. As if life was that easy…

My Opinion: Hollywood fairy tale at its best. Julia Roberts was only 22 when she made this and she looked gorgeous in it, especially in the cocktail dress. But my favourite character in this movie is the hotel manager Mr. Thompson. The way he treats her and verbally sails around the cliffs and when he helps her – it’s really great, particularly because he has no reason to help her.

January, 10th

Blind Fury

Director: Phillip Noyce

Rutger Hauer … Nick Parker
Terry O’Quinn … Frank Devereaux
Brandon Call … Billy Devereaux
Noble Willingham … MacCready
Lisa Blount … Annie Winchester
Meg Foster … Lynn Devereaux

Synopsis: Nick Parker was blinded during the Vietnam War but he’s come to live with it. The locals have taught him to compensate it and even how to use a sword. After many years he tries to contact an old army friend of his but Frank is in deep trouble. He owes people money and they force him to create designer drugs. When he doesn’t want to cooperate they kill his wife and try to take his son. But they didn’t anticipate that blind man showing up.

My Opinion: I always liked this movie. The acting isn’t exactly the best but I like the relationship between Nick and Billy; their bantering in the beginning and their friendship in the end. I also like all the fights because it looks different from what a seeing man would do.

Look Who’s Talking

Director: Amy Heckerling

John Travolta … James
Kirstie Alley … Mollie
George Segal … Albert
Abe Vigoda … Grandpa
Bruce Willis … Mikey (voice)

Synopsis: Mollie is in love with a married man who promised her to get divorced (which he doesn’t of course) and one day she gets pregnant. Nine months later a lunatic cab driver brings her to the hospital where her son Mikey is born. The crazy cab driver becomes her babysitter … and more. And even though he cannot express himself verbally, Mikey has an opinion about everything in this world and he will “tell” us it.

My Opinion: It’s a very funny movie, mainly of course due to Bruce Willis’s voice-over of Mikey but John Travolta and Kirstey Alley are a lot fun, too.
I bet the shootings were very exhausting (working with a number of small children and all) but the end product doesn’t show it – if you exclude Mollie’s birth-giving scenes.

Curly Sue

Director: John Hughes

James Belushi … Bill Dancer
Kelly Lynch … Grey Ellison
Alisan Porter … Curly Sue
John Getz … Walker McCormick
Fred Dalton Thompson … Bernard Oxbar

Synopsis: Bill and his “adopted” daughter Curly Sue are two hoboes who fight their way through life with minor cons. But with their latest scam they hit the jackpot. The lawyer Grey Ellison takes them into her home, gives them food and clothes. But how long will this work?

My Opinion: And another favourite comedy of the harmless kind of mine. All the scenes with Curly Sue are so funny, when she sings “Star-Spangled Banner” or when they play Poker or when they teach Grey the high art of conning.
Too bad, Alisan Porter doesn’t act anymore. But her new career ain’t bad either:

January, 13th

Dave

Director: Ivan Reitman

Kevin Kline … Dave Kovic / Bill Mitchell
Sigourney Weaver … Ellen Mitchell
Frank Langella … Bob Alexander
Kevin Dunn … Alan Reed
Ving Rhames … Duane Stevenson
Ben Kingsley … Vice-President Nance
Charles Grodin … Murray Blum

Synopsis: Dave Kovic is a simple man who works in an agency that gives people jobs. But he also looks exactly like the President of the United States. One day the Secret Service hires him for a public appearance because the real President Bill Mitchell has “more important” things to do. But when Mitchell falls into a coma due to a stroke the chief advisor Bob Alexander engages Dave to play the President for real.

My Opinion: This is a great fun flick about American politics with all its aspects (like the budget, running campaigns and so on) and Dave pretending to be the President and getting used to the job. I liked all the characters in their roles, from the First Lady to the bodyguard and of course the villain of the piece – Bob Alexander (Skeletor in Masters of the Universe) but the scenes between Dave and Ellen I like the most because then it shows how different a man Dave is from Bill.

January, 15th

Superman

Director: Richard Donner

Marlon Brando … Jor-El
Gene Hackman … Lex Luthor
Christopher Reeve … Superman / Clark Kent
Ned Beatty … Otis
Jackie Cooper … Perry White
Glenn Ford … Jonathan Kent
Margot Kidder … Lois Lane
Valerie Perrine … Eve Teschmacher
Terence Stamp … General Zod
Phyllis Thaxter … Martha Kent
Susannah York … Lara
Jeff East … Young Clark Kent
Marc McClure … Jimmy Olsen
Sarah Douglas … Ursa

Synopsis: Shortly before the destruction of the planet Krypton Jor-El and his wife Lara send their infant son, Kal-El, to Earth. There he grows up as Clark Kent. He looks like one of them but he isn’t one of them. Earth’s yellow sun and his dense molecular structure give him powers no Human possesses. As a Human he’s Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter; as a Kryptonian he’s Superman, saviour of the Human race.

My Opinion: I am a bit torn about this movie. I really like the entire beginning with Jor-El and when his father dies and when he learns in the Fortress.
But when he’s the reporter Clark Kent I don’t really like his persona. I know that it’s THE myth and that he has been portrayed this way in the comics but I’ve gotten too used to a much more “normal” Clark like he was portrayed by Dean Cain in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman or Tom Welling in Smallville.
I’m also not too comfortable with the scenes Lex is in because then the movie drifts too much into a comic style. I know I shouldn’t hold that against it – it’s derived from a comic after all – but I’ve got other expectations from comic movies after watching the new X-Men and Spider-Man and especially Batman movies.
But it is still a good movie one can enjoy if one accepts its origins.

January – Part 2