run-down of mostly fluffy summer film-watching: the accidental tourist (1988) i mistakenly thought this would be a sort of romantic comedy, when it's actually a drama about a man and his grief over his son's death. generally well constructed and acted, but the reason i'd recommend it is b/c of geena davis's completely worthy academy award-winning performance. bride and prejudice (2004) poor jane austen. it was actually a pretty good idea to adapt her most famous novel to a bollywood-style musical set in india, but the execution was a decided failure in pretty much every way. characters act without any motivation; dialogue is stilted and unbelievable; and the bollywood-campiness is completely sporadic and never used to its fullest potential. skip this one. broadway melody of 1940 (1940) it amazes me that completely mediocre musicals like -singin' in the rain- become part of the canon, and great classics like this one get completely overlooked. typical plot, but astaire is unbelievably fantastic. can't buy me love (1987) blast from the past, from the days of disney's sunday night movies. a very 80's teen flick about the perils of popularity, but some scenes have surprisingly good writing. the incredibles (2004) wow. a pixar movie that i actually enjoyed w/ out reservations for once. much better plot than usual, a lot of good humor, and really fantastic visuals. latter days (2003) a fairly cheesy gay story about a mormon and an LA party boy, but solid acting by the two (good-looking) leads make this worth watching. noises off! (1992) the mother of all farces. it's easy to see how much better this would work onstage. despite a starry cast (inc. christopher reeve and carol burnett), this is mostly lackluster acting and the timing is generally rushed. moulin rouge! (2001) highly enjoyable and some virtuosic film-making. some truly classic moments (such as all the on-top-of-the-elephant scenes) and some good acting from nicole kidman. like all of luhrmann's films, a definite crowd-pleaser with no cheap shots. sommarnattens leende (1955) (smiles of a summer night) very hard to get the sondheim adaptation of this out of my head, but i enjoyed bergman's darker characterization. sneakers (1992) way worse than i remembered. to modern-day audiences the plot seems threadbare and the action mostly unbelievable. some like it hot (1959) another overrated classic: entertaining, but not a must-see. the action isn't that memorable, but the comedy and romance aren't bad. the most memorable moments are marilyn singing "i wanna be loved by you" and the classic ending line. the work of director spike jonze (2003) very disappointing installment in the directors' series. jonze seems content to include a single conceit in his music vids w/ absolutely no development whatsoever. completely forgettable.