so why do you live on a boat? / Because I hate mowing lawns

A diverting mix of good and bad, dramatic and funny, worth seeing and worth mulching....

Bachelor Party (1984) - "A 1984 American sex comedy revolving around a bachelor party that a group of men throw for their friend on the eve of his wedding, and whether he can remain faithful to his fiancée Debbie."
Source: I borrowed the DVD
I watched it because: it's a Tom Hanks movie I haven't seen
IMDB: 6.3/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 54% Audience: 56%

notable quote: "'Let's have a bachelor party with chicks and guns and fire trucks and hookers and drugs and booze!'

'Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! All the things that make life worth living for.'"

visuals: madcap
costumes, hair & makeup: 80s
acting: madcap/80s- the best of the bunch is Adrian Zmed (O'Neill), though Hanks' Rick Gassko is not as dumb as some of his early parts

intangibles: almost offensively stupid, this is a very mindless way to spend 105 minutes
overall: recommended with its obvious limitation

Blue Sky (1994) - "In the late 1950s, the US Army assigns a nuclear engineer to an isolated weapons testing facility in Alabama. He causes waves with his superior officers due to his stance against the atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons. His wife further aggravates the situation because of her emotional instability and flirtatious nature. The move to Alabama sends her into the arms of the base commander."
Source: I borrowed the DVD from my parents' collection
I watched it because: Tommy Lee Jones has stolen a place in my heart
IMDB: 6.4/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 79% Audience: 58%

notable quote: "You take water, for example. Sometimes it's water, sometimes it's ice. Sometimes it's steam - vapor. It's always the same old H2O. It only changes its properties. Your mother's like that; she's like water."
story: in a way, the story is not really the point
visuals: some neat stuff
costumes, hair & makeup: just the right kind of dated
acting: Jones (Hank Marshall) is a master of understatement. He captures the whole gamut of emotions, from lovestruck to heartbroken, from arrogant to gut-shot, from tightly-wound to letting it all go.

intangibles: this is a tough film, and not what I'd anticipated. It's worth a see
Academy Award winner: Best Actress—Jessica Lange (Carly Marshall)
overall: recommended

Blood Work (2002) - "Still recovering from a heart transplant, retired FBI profiler Terry McCaleb returns to service when his own blood analysis offers clues to the identity of a serial killer."
Source: I borrowed the DVD from my parents' collection
I watched it because: Clint, in steely FBI mode
IMDB: 6.4/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 52% Audience: 40%

notable quote: "If you can't protect the integrity of the system, then there is no system."
story: FBI agent with a real knack for profiling gets knocked out of service with a shot to the heart. After a successful transplant, he's reluctantly pulled back on the scene to clean up some old business.
visuals: gritty good
acting: this is my favorite version of Clint (Terry McCaleb), the steely-eyed but notably warm-hearted (no pun intended) good guy

intangibles: this is either really high- or really low-concept, depending how you look at it, and requires great suspension of disbelief. If that all works for you, then you'll like it as well as I did.
overall: recommended

Bandits (2001) - "Two bank robbers fall in love with the girl they've kidnapped."
Source: I borrowed the DVD 
I watched it because: I like Bruce Willis and Cate Blanchett, and am learning to suffer through Billy Bob Thornton
IMDB: 6.5/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 64% Audience: 58%

notable quote: "'You're insane!'

    'I'm unhappy! It's not the same thing.'"
story: two inmates break out of prison, start robbing banks, and in so doing end up with a female ride-along with whom each falls in love. Hilarity ensues.
visuals: not sure that any of this is particularly well done
costumes, hair & makeup: bizarre

intangibles: this is an apologia for ménage à trois. Sort of. It's not even that clear-cut. Careful readers may have gotten the hint that I am a fairly broad-minded individual, but this one was a bit too far out there for me. Bruce was fine, but Cate is too precious and Billy...good lord. Ick.
overall: not at all recommended

City Lights (1931) - "With the aid of a wealthy, erratic tippler, a dewy-eyed tramp who has fallen in love with a sightless flower girl accumulates money to be able to help her medically."

Source: I borrowed the Blu-ray from the public library
I watched it because: I'm in AFI mode, borrowing titles that are on the American Film Institute's "best" lists
AFI: 100 Years ... 100 Movies (original list 1998) #76

100 Years ... 100 Laughs (2000) #38

100 Years ... 100 Passions (2002) #10

100 Years ... 100 Heroes and Villains (2003) Hero #38

100 Years ... 100 Cheers (2006) #33

100 Years ... 100 Movies (10th anniversary ed. 2007) #11

10 Top 10 (2008) Romantic Comedy #1

IMDB: 8.5/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 98% Audience: 96%

story: deceptively simple—boy meets girl, falls in love, and does what he can...
visuals: stunning. Absolutely stunning.
costumes, hair & makeup: simple and perfect
acting: I have stayed away from silent film because I had the mistaken impression that the acting was all over-done and obvious. I was so wrong! Charlie Chaplin's Tramp is subtle, gorgeous, lovely, heartfelt, and unforgettable. 

intangibles: extraordinary
overall: very highly recommended

[the title quotation is from Blood Work]