Archive
Review: “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”
Directed by: Jeremiah Chechik
Produced by: John Hughes, Matty Simmons
Written by: John Hughes
Starring: Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, Randy Quaid, Juliette Lewis, Johnny Galecki, John Randolph, Diane Ladd, E.G. Marshall, Doris Roberts, William Hickey, Mae Questel, Miriam Flynn, Nicholas Guest, Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Music by: Angelo Badalamenti
Year: 1989
My mom this year decided to put up the Christmas tree in the front of the house, right in the formal living room in front of the window. That might not sound like a big deal, but, really, how many households actually use the formal living room that often? I told my mom this. Families spend most of their time in front of the television. Whether you consider this a tragedy or fact of life, it’s true, and I’m used to the tree being right there next to it, for everyone to see. I normally don’t like distractions while watching movies, but, during Christmas? I’ll make an exception to be able to watch Christmas movies while the tree is nearby. It just feels so… Christmassy. But, I guess, not this year. When I go home for Christmas this year, I’ll see the tree in the window as I pull up, but I’ll have to go out of my way to see the tree once I get inside. Lazy? Maybe, but it just feels weird. Why did my mom put it there and break our tradition? Read more…
Review: “Elf”
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…
Review: “Hesher”
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…
The Viewer's Commentary 