Let's begin...

Bend It Like Beckham
Fox Searchlight; IMDb; Movie Tome; Rotten Tomatoes; Wikipedia

Okay, there's this Indian girl who lives in England, named Jesminder Bhamra (who we like), and she plays football (soccer to Yanks) in the park. She gets noticed by a girl named Juliette Paxton (who we like), who plays for a team called the Harriers, so she invites Jess to try out for the team. Their coach is a guy named Joe, a former footballer who has been "reduced" to coaching a girls' team because of an injury. Anyway, Jess's family don't like that she plays football, they want her to act more like, you know, a traditional Sikh girl. Though her father is somewhat supportive, because he used to play ball, but when he moved to England he wasn't allowed to anymore. Juliette's mom isn't very happy about her playing football, either, but her dad is also more supportive. Then there's a subplot about Jess's sister getting married, and inevitably, her wedding will be on the same day as the final football match, at which there's a scout for an American university, which if Jules and Jess get into, they might eventually go pro. There are problems to overcome, involving the girls' families, as well as their both fancying Joe... but in spite of everything, the movie's always relatively upbeat, and of course it has a happy ending. Anyway, it's all reasonably fun, and it had a few moments I quite liked. And I guess that's about all I can think to say... definitely worth watching at least once, but I doubt I'll watch it again.

Mean Girls
IMDb; Movie Tome; official website; Rotten Tomatoes; Wikipedia

Based on a nonfiction book about female high school cliques. Which is pretty scary. Actually the group in this fictional movie reminded me of the Fashion Club from Daria (see animated shows 1). The movie was written by Tina Fey (who plays a teacher in the movie, and who we've always liked). It's about this girl named Cady Heron (who we like; in fact I should just say we like all the girls in the movie), who had been home schooled in Africa all her life by her anthropologist parents. But then they moved to an American suburb, and Cady had to learn to survive in high school. She first hooks up with a couple of outcasts named Damian and Janis, who hated the clique called The Plastics. So Cady became a Plastic to bring them down from the inside. Things get complicated, of course. Not sure what else to say. It's a good movie, and hopefully, in addition to entertaining, it might teach some kids not to act... the way they do. But anyway, I wasn't majorly into the movie, I'm afraid. Not sure if I really want it on tier 4 or 5, but I'll stick it here for now...