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Archive for December, 2011

Review: “Elf”

December 2, 2011 9 comments
Directed by: Jon Favreau
Produced by: Jon Berg, Todd Komarnicki, Shauna Robertson
Written by: David  Berenbaum
Starring: Will Ferrell, James Caan, Bob Newhart, Zooey Deschanel, Mary Steenburgen, Ed Asner, Daniel Tay, Amy Sedaris
Music by: John Debney
Year: 2003

The 21st century hasn’t been kind to the Christmas genre. The signs were there from the very near-beginning when in late 2000 (which is not the 21st century) Ron Howard delivered his misguided attempt to make a live action adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Brett Ratner’s pale imitation of It’s a Wonderful Life, the Nicolas Cage-starring The Family Man, and on from there we got the endless barage of cynical actor cash-ins like Christmas with the Cranks, Deck the Halls, Fred Claus, and the terrible sequels to The Santa Clause. Perhaps the worst of these was Surviving Christmas, a miserable, annoying, and rage-inducing film starring Ben Affleck making a nuisance of himself to James Gandolfini. Read more…

Christmastime is here! Watch “Santa Clause Conquers the Martians”… MST3K Style!

December 1, 2011 Leave a comment

It’s officially after Thanksgiving and, therefore, it is officially time to start thinking about Christmas movies here at The Viewer’s Commentary! As with Scary Movie Month in October, I will be making my primary focus this December on Christmas movies! And, even though I’m not Jewish, I’ll even try to find a few good Hanukkah films, too! (And I’ll try to make sure that the only Hanukkah film I find isn’t just Adam Sandler’s Eight Crazy Nights, which is all I could really find at the local Blockbuster, I promise!)

I broke a few promises with my Scary Movie Month line up due to time issues and a detour thanks to the response to my review of Nightmare on Elm Street, but I’ll try not to do that this time around. There are far more diverse movies in this category than the horror category, and I’m certain that everyone will find something to enjoy this month, including myself! Some reviews to look forward to are National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, The Polar Express, ElfMeet Me in St. Louis, and, of course, the holiday classic… Die Hard!

Of course, I’ll try to make sure to throw in a few more surprises and classics, too! I’ll even try to throw in a few features here and there to keep you interested. My Top 10 Favorite Christmas Movies, anyone? I’m way more excited about this than I was Scary Movie Month, as Christmas is seriously my favorite holiday of the year. I’m like a freaking little kid when it comes to this holiday, and it’s not just the presents, either. (I get presents on Halloween, too, since it’s also my birthday, so I’m totally unbiased in that regard.) I love the sense of togetherness, family, and giving, and, of course, it’s also a time for us Christians to remember Christ’s birth, even though it totally wasn’t originally for that purpose, as we Christians just usurped a pagan holiday… but let’s not get into that now, eh?

In the meantime, as I make preparations to deliver my Christmas cheer, why don’t you celebrate Christmas the same way we kicked off Halloween by watching an embedded movie, right here on my site? This one’s a public domain classic! However, it’s all for unintentional reasons, as Santa Claus Conquers the Martians is about as bad as it sounds! Like fruitcake, it’s probably best to serve it up with a heavy side of libations, here taking on the form of the comedic commentary of Joel Hodgson, Tom Servo, Crow T. Robot, and the rest of the gang from Mystery Science Theater 3000! Hurry, though! I don’t know how long this video — not posted by me! — will actually be up!

Santa isn't afraid because he doesn't really believe in aliens.

Part I

Part II

Part III

 

Part IV

Part V

UPDATE: Turns out, Eight Crazy Nights might actually be the only Hanukkah film out there! Seriously, do a search for “Hanukkah movies” and this very post on The Viewer’s Commentary is on the first page as of right now, and this post is only a couple hours old! What gives, Hollywood? There are so many Jews involved in the entertainment business, you’d think a few more than just one Hanukkah movie would exist, right? Oh well… Looks like I’m already breaking promises. Guess I’ll be getting coal this year.

Review: “Hesher”

December 1, 2011 3 comments
Directed by: Spencer Susser
Produced by: Natalie Portman, Spencer Susser, Morgan Susser, Lucy Cooper, Johnny Lin, Scott Prisand, Win Sheridan
Written by: Spencer Susser & David Michôd (screenplay), Brian Charles Frank (story)
Starring: Joseph  Gordon-Levitt, Devin Brochu, Rainn Wilson, Natalie Portman, Piper Laurie
Music by: Francois Tetaz, Metallica & Motorhead (incidental music)
Year: 2010 (Sundance), 2011 (wide)

 

I’m going to admit to something: I really don’t know what this movie was going for. It’s as conflicted as its titular character is, and that’s not really a compliment. I admit that I went into Hesher not really knowing what to expect. I knew there was going to be a dark sense of humor throughout undercutting a surprising amount of drama, but what I didn’t expect was the strange, almost pointless reason for its being – again, kind of like Hesher himself. Read more…