Grease

A 42-year re-viewing of what most people (at least my age) would consider a classic. It may not get a ton of respect, but it is immensely entertaining, and--I would argue--worthy of the love it gets from a couple of generations of viewers. The lyrics on almost all the songs are really sharp; you notice how clever the songs are when you watch it a couple of times. The performances are good, ranging from fine to a real blast, especially from some of the bit players who inhabit the fringes of the story; the cameos from stars of yesteryear add a lot of fun to the proceedings. Mostly, though, this about the principals, and they deliver the goods. Travolta really is fine, but Olivia Newton-John...oh, my. If nothing else, this movie is about as close as you can get to spending the bulk of two hours with the girl of your dreams, if you're not so lucky in real life. (Few of us are.) Yes, the ending remains problematic, but that's a quibble (and probably says more about me than the ending itself). Mostly, this flick is a joy to watch--which you should do, or do again, before the '50s theme gets another day older and out of date.

Xanadu

Caught this one late one recent night, on TCM of all things, after having not seen it in decades. The verdict, upon re-viewing so much later in life: it's weird. Very weird. It's also probably ill-conceived, overly ambitious, rather clueless, and ultimately a failure. And it probably deserves a HISS, but...There's someting in its strangely innocent ambition--trying to tie together big band and classical musicals to the roller-disco era, among other things--that elicits a certain amount of sympathy. The presence of an absolutely radiant Olivia Newton-John aids the proceedings immensely; she's a dream girl in every frame of the thing, where as her co-stars look profoundly unimpressive in comparison (Michael Beck is a nobody, and even Gene Kelly just looks foolish through most of the proceedings). Ultimately, the whole thing is preposterous, but just entertaining enough that you don't want to find every extant reel of the film and burn it. But I can't exactly say it's recommended, either.