Entry Nineteen

Howl's Moving Castle: A fine fantasy film, full of wonderful ideas and characters. Miyazaki's ability to meld realism with the fantastic is unsurpassed, and there are plenty of memorable moments in the movie, enhanced by the terrific animation.

Tropic Thunder: The all-star cast is hit and miss, but there are plenty of laughs to be had anyway. Tom Cruise is particularly brilliant as the aggressive studio head, and the looks at other films in the "actor'" catalogues are inspired, especially Simple Jack and Satan's Alley.

You Don't Mess with the Zohan: What I thought would be an excruciating 2 hours of non-comedy turns about to be a decent movie with a performance from Sandler that isn't as annoying as his turns in say, The Waterboy or Little Nicky. The chronically unfunny Rob Schneider is given too much screen time though, and a lot of the laughs fall flat, but it's not too bad overall.

Big Doll House: Typical women-in-prison movie, full of the usual cliches found within the genre: lesbianism, misogyny, and oodles of sadism. Just like the other movies, these elements don't necessarily comprise a good movie, and though it has its moments - Pam Grier and Roberta Collins are both attractive and interesting to watch - it's a little dull and isn't quite silly enough to entertain.

Sisters: I've never particularly enjoyed Brian de Palma films, but this one isn't too bad, and is only let down by it's final 15 minutes, which is so completely over-the-top that it took me out of the movie into "what the hell?" territory. Margot Kidder is good as the seemingly innocent french-Canadian model, but Jennifer Salt is better as the small-time reporter who's convinced she's seen a murder in Kidder's apartment. All the de Palma trappings are in place too, with a heavy borrowing of Hitchcock, the same leering camera, and a complete lack of empathy for any of the characters.

The Reluctant Dragon: Technically Disney's first live-action movie, it's basically a fictional tour of the Disney studios of the early 1940s, with a bumbling guide in the form of Robert Benchley as he attempts to sell the children's book of the Reluctant Dragon to Walt Disney. It features some fascinating footage of how writers and animators work, what equipment they employ and what goes into the making of a cartoon. I thought it was pretty great, but the final cartoon - a 20 minute adaption of The Reluctant Dragon - was a little weak, and fizzles the movie out slightly. Look out for future tough guy Alan Ladd as a Disney animator pitching a story.