The Rocketeer

Four Stars: ˜˜˜˜

This is one of those movies which I watched as a kid and will make sure that my own children watch. Disney’s 1991 film about the beginning of World War II has a little bit of everything: airplanes, movie stars, gangsters, Nazis, damsels in distress… even the Hindenburg explosion! When a young pilot who’s down on his luck stumbles upon a top secret rocket pack, he thinks he can use it to get back on his feet, oblivious to how many people will now be chasing him.

TRAILER

MEMORABLE QUOTES

“I finally played a scene with Neville Sinclair.”

“How do I look?” – “Like a hood ornament.”

“Tell him the dream’s over. Tell him Howard Hughes said so.”

How To Steal A Million

Four Stars: ˜˜˜˜

A romping heist in 1966 Paris is the premise for this comedy. The daughter of a master forger must steal back one of her father’s fakes before it is authenticated by a museum. She enlists the help of a handsome “burglar,” whom she had already caught breaking into her house. The two amateurs spend the night hiding in a closet, using a boomerang to trick a laser field, and irritating the prime minister. They manage to do all this quite stylishly, of course, complete with Audrey’s signature sunglasses.

TRAILER 

MEMORABLE QUOTES

“It's National Crime Prevention Week: take a burglar to dinner.”

“American millionaires must be all quite mad. Perhaps it's something they put in the ink when they print the money.”

“I tossed a coin on the way over—you lost.”

Jane Eyre

Five Stars: ˜˜˜˜˜

The 2011 adaptation of this gothic tale of woe should serve as a model for such future endeavors. All of the magnificent tension between convention and passion has been perfectly translated from page to film. The novel’s complicated plot is beautifully interpreted, making it palatable and accessible without sacrificing any of its substance. This classic story teems with conflict as a poor, plain governess must decide whether to settle for less or to trust in a divine plan: a decision we all must make.

TRAILER

MEMORABLE QUOTES

“I must keep in good health and not die.”

“Most freeborn creatures will submit to anything for a salary.”

“God intended you for a missionary’s wife. I want to claim you.”

The Eagle

Four Stars: ˜˜˜˜

Based on the historical juvenile novel, The Eagle of the Ninth, this film released earlier in 2011 was not as popular as it should have been. The story follows a Roman soldier’s quest to restore his family’s honor by recovering the lost Eagle standard of his father’s defeated regiment. He embarks on the quest with only his British slave and along the way they must confront issues such as courage, cowardice, nationalism, racism and camaraderie.

TRAILER

MEMORABLE QUOTES

“Your father was a perfect Roman—and everything that that implies.”

“Eagle lost, honor lost. Honor lost, all lost.”

“He’s not a slave. He knows more about honor and freedom than you ever will.”

The Help

Four Stars: ˜˜˜˜

Everyone knows about Martin Luther King, Jr. and the race riots in the 60s, but not many people know about the lives of the everyday people who lived through it all and tell their stories in this movie--particularly, the maids. These maids whose mothers had been maids and whose grandmothers had been house slaves, finally join the fight in their own way: whether baking fecal pies or writing about their abusive employers. You can laugh and cry with these women as their world changes in this exceptional film.

TRAILER

MEMORABLE QUOTES

"Courage sometimes skips a generation. Thank you for bringing it back to our family."

"He kept asking me why I was black and one time I told him it was cause I drank too much coffee."

"Love and hate are two horns of the same goat and you need a goat."

Crazy, Stupid, Love

Four Stars: ˜˜˜˜

It never ceases to amaze me what guys will do when they’re actually, genuinely in love. This movie is the perfect example of just how ridiculous they can get—and it’s hilariously entertaining. For those of us who still believe in true love, it goes without question that you fight for your soulmate, whether that means a literal fistfight or just mowing the lawn. Also, a big shout-out to Josh Groban for that cameo!

TRAILER

MEMORABLE QUOTES

“I know you’re 17 and I’m 13, which is the same age as your little brother, but soon our age difference won’t matter because I think you’re my soulmate.”

“You know a word that isn’t used very much anymore? ‘Cuckold.’”

“I bought a firearm from a shady internet website and I am prepared to shoot you in the face.”

RocketMan

Three Stars: ˜˜˜

I’m not sure what the folks at Disney were smoking in 1997, but this movie is some of the most idiotic comedy I’ve ever seen—and that includes SNL! That being said, it never fails to make me laugh. Somewhere around when the Mars astronaut (as blue as a Smurf) leads the globe in a rendition of He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands, I just lose it. If you need to turn your brain off, relax, and have a good, clean laugh, this is the movie you want.

CLIP

MEMORABLE QUOTES

“Fun is my Chinese neighbor's middle name!”

“Can you leave me alone for just a few more minutes? I just got into the third act. ‘Yes! Close the door! It's bloody chilly in here!’”

“It's tale as old as time, Ulysses. Boy meets girl, boy falls for girl. Boy and girl return to home planet…”