You've Got Mail

Five Stars: ˜˜˜˜˜

This fun flick pays loving homage to both of its archetypal inspirations: The Shop around the Corner and Pride and Prejudice. The writers used the relatively new medium of the internet to reinvent a classic tale of boy falls in love with girl who hates him. My personal favorite of all the Meg Ryan-Tom Hanks pairings, this movie has managed to outlive its 90s dial-up connection: good romance and comedy never go out of style.

TRAILER

MEMORABLE QUOTES

“Well, as far as I'm concerned, the Internet is just another way of being rejected by women.”

“This is possibly the most adorable creature I've ever been in contact with, and if she turns out to be as good looking as a mailbox... I would be crazy enough to turn my life upside down and marry her.”

“Kathleen, you are a lone reed. You are a lone reed, standing tall, waving boldly in the corrupt sands of commerce.”

North by Northwest

Four Stars: ˜˜˜˜

Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 classic thriller is a personal favorite of mine. Full of that signature dry humor, the master of suspense skillfully reveals layer after layer of duplicity as the plot unfolds. One of his best actors, Cary Grant, is accidentally mistaken for a secret agent and chased around the country by various organizations—all trying to kill him. Of course, things only become more complicated when he bumps into the femme fatale. This is old school espionage storytelling at its finest.

TRAILER

MEMORABLE QUOTES

“I don't like the way Teddy Roosevelt is looking at me.”

“I've got a job, a secretary, a mother, two ex-wives and several bartenders dependant upon me, and I don't intend to disappoint them all by getting myself ‘slightly’ killed.”

“You gentlemen aren’t really trying to kill my son, are you?”

Bad Teacher

One Star: ˜

The title pretty much says it all. I saw this movie by accident and nearly walked out, only staying because I figured it couldn’t get any worse… I was wrong. It’s a glaring example of everything wrong with the film industry. It was tepid, predictable, and base. Nothing but cheap titillation in a middle school, it manages to make a travesty of the education system while not even being funny. Do not watch this movie.

TRAILER

MEMORABLE LINES

“Did you know that Animal Farm isn’t really about animals?”

“Don’t flinch. Seriously. You and you, hold his arms down.”

“Come on guys, there’s a wig missing!”

Chocolat

Three Stars: ˜˜˜

As delightful as chocolate itself, this 2000 film is equally dangerous to one’s worldview. An unhealthy dose of reform is mixed with a liberal cast into the rather unsubtle recipe of an innocent woman being victimized by small-minded townsfolk. While this stagnant village was in definite need of some stirring, this French Pollyanna seduces them several steps beyond tolerance to outright revelry. Wrapped in delicious coatings of charity and gypsies, the gooey center of this movie is quite sticky.

TRAILER

MEMORABLE QUOTES

“Don't worry so much about supposed to.”

“I think that we can't go around measuring our goodness by what we don't do. By what we deny ourselves, what we resist, and who we exclude. I think we've got to measure goodness by what we embrace, what we create—and who we include.”

“The first Comte de Reynaud expelled all the radical Huguenots in this village. You and your truffles present a far lesser challenge.”

Gladiator

Five Stars: ˜˜˜˜˜

The word “hero” gets thrown around a lot these days. This 2000 epic explores the concept of a true hero in the setting of ancient Rome. In a time of bread and circus much like our own, everybody fight. The question which defines heroism is the why: what are you fighting for? For power, for love, for entertainment, for justice? When civilization itself balances on the edge of a blade, how you use that sword matters. A good question for modern America, this movie fully deserves all its acclaim.

TRAILER

MEMORABLE QUOTES

“Sometimes I do what I want to do. The rest of the time, I do what I have to.”

“Death smiles at us all. All a man can do is smile back.”

“There was a dream that was Rome. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish, it was so fragile.”

Newsies

Four Stars: ˜˜˜˜

When this movie came out in 1992, it was Disney’s first live action musical in almost 20 years. Featuring a cast of adolescent boys (including a young Christian Bale) and recreating historical events from the turn of the last century, this project was quite unique at the time. Singing newspaper boys in old New York form a union and go on strike, taking on industry moguls with their “interesting” dance moves. Just to warn you, the songs will get stuck in your head.

TRAILER

MEMORABLE QUOTES

“He was here, but he put an egg in his shoe and beat it.”

“You remember that hot tip I told you about? Yeah, well someone forgot to tell the horse.”

“Look at this: ‘Baby Born with Two Heads’... must be from Brooklyn.”

Galaxy Quest

Four Stars: ˜˜˜˜

I thoroughly enjoy this ridiculous 1999 hyperbole of the sci-fi genre—this is satire unintentionally ironic, considering science fiction exists to provide an allegorical setting in which to explore contemporary issues. Everyone involved in this movie obviously had way too much fun making fun of themselves and their colleagues. A washed-up cast (rather reminiscent of the Star Trek crew) go from geeky conventions to actual outer space and take the audience one incredibly riotous ride.

TRAILER

MEMORABLE QUOTES

“Look! I have one job on this lousy ship, it's stupid, but I'm gonna do it! Okay?”

“I played Richard III. There were five curtain calls. I was an actor once. Now look at me. Look at me! I won't go out there and say that stupid line one more time!”

“Never give up. Never surrender.”

Mr. Smith Goes To Washington

Five Stars: ˜˜˜˜˜

Every kid wants to grow up to change the world and in this 1939 classic, one guy gets the chance to do just that. A twist of fate lands Jimmy Stewart in Washington as a senator and he’s all starry-eyed to get started making a difference—only to discover that the ideals he’s been championing are subject to procedure and policy and politics. After all the fancy parties are over, he must rediscover his faith in the very people and principles that are America.

TRAILER

MEMORABLE QUOTES

“I wouldn't give you two cents for all your fancy rules if, behind them, they didn't have a little bit of plain, ordinary, everyday kindness and a little looking out for the other fellow, too.”

“I know, it was a wonderful party, and your suit went over big, and she looked beautiful, and when you left she said, ‘Thank you, Mr. Smith,’ but it was the way she said it, you nearly fell through the floor.”

“I let him talk me into staying. Secretary to a leader of little squirts! Why? Because I need the job and a new suit of clothes!”

V for Vendetta

Five Stars: ˜˜˜˜˜

This revolutionary 2006 film caused a new generation to remember the Fifth of November. Set in a future fascist state, characters are manipulated by a terrorist mastermind who wears a Guy Fawkes mask and calls himself “V.” Quoting classic literature and bombing government buildings confuses everyone who is trying to decide whether V is a hero or villain. This stunning story challenges the temptation to exchange freedom for protection—whether by each individual or society as a whole.

TRAILER

MEMORABLE QUOTES

“Who? Who is but the form following the function of what and what I am is a man in a mask.”

“I've witnessed firsthand the power of ideas: I've seen people kill in the name of them, and die defending them... Ideas do not bleed, they do not feel pain, they do not love... and it is not an idea that I miss, it is a man.”

“I remember how the meaning of words began to change. How unfamiliar words like ‘collateral’ and ‘rendition’ became frightening… I remember how ‘different’ became dangerous.”