Friday Film Review

Friday Film Review: Corpse Bride

Friday Film Review: Corpse Bride

Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride (2005) Genre: Stop Action Animation Grade: B- Though Corpse Bride doesn’t live up to the wonder that is “Nightmare Before Christmas,” it still has oodles to recommend it. Fantastic puppets, painstaking animation and the voices of some acting greats to bring these creations “to life” (even if some of them are(…)

Friday Film Review: Love and Basketball

Friday Film Review: Love and Basketball

Love and Basketball (2000) Genre: Sports Romance Grade: B I’ve wanted to review this movie for over a year and finally got off my lazy butt when I realized that June 23rd was the anniversary of what’s come to be called simply Title IX. Now I’m probably one of the most unathletic people on the(…)

PRIDE WEEK:  Friday Film Review: If These Walls Could Talk 2

PRIDE WEEK: Friday Film Review: If These Walls Could Talk 2

If These Walls Could Talk 2 (2000) Genre: GBLT Social Dramedy Grade: B Frankly I put this one in my Netflix queue because after enjoying “Saving Face” I was looking for another lesbian centered movie and this one seemed to have gotten fairly good reviews while many others had been panned. It also features several(…)

Friday Film Review: The Sea Hawk

Friday Film Review: The Sea Hawk

The Sea Hawk (1940) Genre: Historical swashbuckler/romance Grade: B- Since Flynn’s birthday is next week, I thought I’d review another of his Warner Brothers swashbucklers. Released in 1940, it bears little resemblance to the Raphael Sabatini novel of the same name. Instead, it was supposed to be a take on the war that had just(…)

Friday Film Review: The Reluctant Debutante

Friday Film Review: The Reluctant Debutante

The Reluctant Debutante (1958) Genre: Comedy/Romance Grade: B We read so many books here about “The Season” that I thought it appropriate to review this movie set during the last official one before the Queen pulled the plug on it in 1958. Though it was probably watched more for Sandra Dee and John Saxon during(…)

Friday Film Review: The Wedding Singer

Friday Film Review: The Wedding Singer

The Wedding Singer (1998) Genre: Romantic Comedy Grade: B- I’ll be honest and say that I didn’t expect I’d like this movie. Drew Barrymore is an actress who works for me about 50:50 while Adam Sandler is someone I’ll dive for the remote to change the channel away from. But the comments about the movie(…)

Friday Film Review: Les Demoiselles de Rochefort

Friday Film Review: Les Demoiselles de Rochefort

Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (The Young Girls of Rochefort) (1967) Genre: Musical/Romance Grade: B- Cate mentioned this one in comments on the review of “Moliere” and described the plot as “barking.” Oh, yeah, I agree with that. Another way to phrase it might be wondrous European WTFery. Singing and dancing and romancing and a gruesome(…)

Friday Film Review: Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

Friday Film Review: Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (2008) Genre: Comedy/Musical/SF Grade: B+ Cheer for the villain? Hate the “hero?” Listen to people sing catchy songs? Have Joss Whedon turn superhero/villain tropes on their heads? You’ll do all this and and more when you watch “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.” For those who’ve never seen it, go now and watch(…)

Friday Film Review: The Mark of Zorro

Friday Film Review: The Mark of Zorro

The Mark of Zorro (1940) Genre: Swashbuckler/romance Grade: B When you do a search of movies/TV shows based on the character of Zorro, it’s amazing just how many there are. But for me, this one is still right up there. Made in the golden age of Hollywood swashbucklers, it features Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell,(…)

Friday Film Review: Grosse Pointe Blank

Friday Film Review: Grosse Pointe Blank

Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) Genre: Action/Romance/Comedy Grade: B+ It’ll soon be that time of year again, when we get contacted about the organized hell that are High School Reunions. “Festivals of Pain” as one character here calls this one, when we see people we’ve barely thought of in 10, 20, 30 years and wince as(…)

Friday Film Review : The Glass Slipper

Friday Film Review : The Glass Slipper

The Glass Slipper (1955) Genre: Ballet/Fairy Tale Grade: B- Somebody recommended this a while back as their favorite Cinderella film version. And since I can’t resist a challenge to find a rare film, off I went to look for it. And look for it. And finally find it through ebay as an import from SE(…)

Friday Film Review: Quo Vadis

Friday Film Review: Quo Vadis

Quo Vadis (1951 and 2001) Genre: Religious Historical Grade: B- Yes, the dates are correct. This is a dual review of the famous 1951 Hollywood version and a Polish version made in 2001 which was also released as a six part TV version in 2002. I saw the Polish TV version which clocked in at(…)

Friday Film Review: Broken Trail

Friday Film Review: Broken Trail

Broken Trail (2006) Genre: Western Grade: B+ Ah, the beauty of the West, of a herd of wild horses, of a campfire crackling at night, of a group of young Chinese women being driven to a fate worse than death in a rough hewn mining camp – wait, back up, strike that. Let’s start again.(…)

Friday Film Reviews: The Lady Eve

Friday Film Reviews: The Lady Eve

The Lady Eve (1941) Genre: Screwball comedy/romance Grade B For some reason I’d missed watching this movie until recently. Preston Sturges films either work well for me or bomb and after a miss with “Christmas in July,” I hesitated on trying “The Lady Eve.” Now that I’ve seen it, I wish I’d watched it years(…)

Friday Film Review: Cyrano de Bergerac

Friday Film Review: Cyrano de Bergerac

Cyrano de Bergerac (1990 and a bit of 1925) Genre: Historical Romance/Drama Grade: B+ In honor of Edmund Rostand today’s film review is for Cyrano de Bergerac. It’s swashbuckling, it’s funny, it’s romantic and it’s ultimately tragic. It’s perfect for clearing out the tear ducts by either weeping in a hankie or crying in your(…)