I'm not big on the big three teen movies. I somewhat wonder if The Breakfast Club inspired all the annoying scenes people wrote in college, or it's jsut how theatrical cliches are bound to end up. Still, I like it the most sort of by default, by virtue of less synthesizer music.

Eh, a little from Column A, a little from Column B.

Thanks to my new Channing Tatum love, I watched Step Up, and, thanks to my Channing Tatum love, I found it okay. The dancing was actually great, but everything else? Ugh. The female lead, in particular, was particularly bad in the acting department. But, Channing...so...I'll watch it again.

Sidenote: what was Rachel Griffiths doing in this movie? A paycheck?

I got the feeling that she had <<married Cillian Murphy, but they just didnt spell it out, I read the book though, so maybe I was just influenced by that >>

My fave is Pretty in Pink, for one reason: James Spader. Sex in white linen he was.

Sixteen Candles did have the hilarity of Farmer Ted (Anthony Michael Hall gave a really good comedic performance imo) and Baby John Cusack though.

Music and Lyrics and I LOVED it, and I don't care who knows it!

Except I have Pop! Goes My Heart stuck in my head now and I think it shall never be shifted.

Hee! That was my most recent rental too and I too loved it! Call me, Hugh Grant! Also Scott Porter! And Matthew Morrison. It also totally nailed that 1980s Wham/Duran Duran video vibe. And the girl playing Cora Corman? Really funny.

Trust me, it will be there for a LONG. TIME.

Whatever you do, don't download the soundtrack and listen to Buddha's Delight. I think it's worse than Pop! Goes My Heart with the earworminess.

Seriously. I saw Music and Lyrics in the theater when it came out in February, and I STILL occasionally have that song stuck in my head!

I finally got around to watching Sliding Doors which I really enjoyed, despite the presense of Fishstick. John Hannah was wonderful and the oh-so charming James, and Jeanne Triplehorn was really good as the evil bitch other woman. My only complaint was that I didn't think much of the guy playing Jerry. I couldn't figure out why the heck two women would be interested in a guy who pretty much did nothing, and had no intention of ever finishing his novel.

Nonetheless, it was a cute romantic comedy despite the somewhat unexpected way the two timelines were resolved. And personally, I don't think Gwyneth has ever looked better than when she was rocking that short blonde hair. It really suited her.

My main problem with Sliding Doors was that it was a very American look at London. For example, I have never come across anyone here who thinks doing Monty Python impressions is cool - they seem to be much more of a US obsession and more damningly, why would a Brit quote Jeopardy, (I think it was that) which is a programme we don't have? So that annoyed me. I'm sure the US audience would have been able to cope with a reference to Mastermind or University Challenge and it seemed patronising to think otherwise. I thought Gwynneth gave a good performance but her voice had the slight lack or nuance or maybe flatness that you sometimes get when people adopt an accent (I'm sure it goes just as much for Brits playing Americans)

I think it works better going Brit-to-"American" - though I couldn't say why. I occasionally hear "leakage" in Hugh Laurie on House, but for the most part, he's pretty on. And Kenneth Branagh being English kind of shocked me since the first movie I saw him in was Dead Again. I don't remember Emma's voice in that movie, but I do know that after learning KB was English, I was very impressed.

I think it may depend on the actor more than which accent is being faked. Actually, upon reading psammead's post the first example I thought of in which an Englishman's American accent didn't sound convincing was Branagh in Dead Again. (Sorry, laddical: I swear I'm not just being contrary.) On the other hand, I was impressed by Emma Thompson's American mimickry in that film and others.

As for Sliding Doors, the mangled Britishisms were lost on me, but I remember being befuddled by the tone but liking Paltrow's performance(s). This was before she became annoying, wasn't it?

It may be silly, but I'm pretty giddy about that fact that Trilogy of Terror arrived in my mailbox today. I've had it in my Netflix queue for a while, but it spent a long time in my saved list because it's availability suddenly changed to "unknown." I guess they got another copy.

I loved that movie as a kid, and can't wait to see it again.

I think Brits (And Australians) can sound good playing American, but unless they're specifically Southern or New York or something, but I think they've all kind of converged into one particular dialect that's become a category of "Non Americans doing American" all its own. Kate Winslet, Cate Balnchett, Rachel Weisz and Eddie Izzard all sound convincing, but it does sound like like a particular version of the American stage accent.