The Farmer's Daughter (1947)

Smarter-than-she-looks Swedish girl gets off on the wrong foot in the big city, but quickly regains her bearings, falls in love, and becomes a congresswoman. Just goes to show.

B+

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)

There was so much missing – and I'm not talking about huge sections that I understand must be excised because of expense & time; I mean the small touches like a dropped line of dialogue – that it was hard for me to appreciate what was there.

Ronald Weasley (Rupert Grint) can apparently only swing two facial expressions: fear and confusion. His best "acting" was done when in another body...and, come to think of it, that doesn't really count, does it?! But Hermione (Emma Watson) has really grown as a little actress. Gilderoy Lockhart was sorely (and sadly) underutilized. This sounds like a mountain of complaints but, really, it was enjoyable...just somehow less than it needed to be.

B-

The Christmas Box (1995)

Clunky, slow-moving story (with leaden acting by John Boy & Maureen O'Hara) about a family moving in with old lady and how they all GROW AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Still managed, somehow, to make me cry. But, really, that's not a huge accomplishment...I cry during commercials.

Good, blatantly Christian, message.

C

Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984)

Starts out with a bang - very engaging while the main character "grows up wild." Once he hits Lambert age, though, all goes to hell. Winds up being a repetitious fish-out-of-water story.

D+

Walking and Talking (1996)

Had me smiling, laughing, and feeling pain. I was fond of it the first time I saw it…I'm in complete awe now. Everyone is so real and clumsy and there isn't a single character that doesn't get under my skin. I want to watch it over & over!

A

Working Girl (1988)

A lot of fun despite the presence of the annoying Griffith and her baby-talking ways.

B

Don't Drink the Water (1994)

Everyone seems to be trying to achieve a tone of manic screwball – but despite valiant effort, failing. Often, the actors seem to have just been thrown together and told to improvise (and, of course, some aren't all that great at it). Still, the laughs are there if you look and Dom Deluise's magician-priest cracks me up.

B

Dark Victory (1939)

Muted melodrama for the first 7/8 of film…gets good just only as it’s about to end. Why did the main characters fall in love? The guy's a stiff and the girl's a selfish bore.

C+

Wuthering Heights (1939)

They took a book full of malice and dread and turned it into a movie about unfulfilled soul mates. Ah well.

C+

Love is a Many Splendored Thing (1955)

If I'm to believe this film…love is flat, lifeless, and damned depressing. The acting is stiff and the dialogue limp.

D

The Ring (2002)

There’s only one truly frightening scene, and they wait until the end to give it to you (and that's after a false ending). Should have been much better, and doesn't anyone know the magic number: 9-1-1?

D-

The Santa Clause 2 (2002)

I REALLY like the original, so I had high hopes for this second installment. The romance (when it's on firm footing in the real world) works wonderfully, but the North Pole sequences lack. Unfortunately, most of our time is spent on a ridiculous subplot with a replacement Santa, which serves no purpose except to take attention away from the wonder of remembering... remembering how magical Christmas was when we really believed and how we all long to return to that wonderful state. That's what’s special in these films: introducing Christmas magic into the everyday world... the fact that the first movie spent most of its time doing just that is what made it so touching. In SC2, as we see Santa melting the heart of the strict schoolmarm, those same tears blurred my vision as when "Mystery Date" floated down to his ex-wife in the first film. Why couldn't we have spent more time in that world?

C-