As cultural shadows go, they don’t come much bigger than that cast by Charles Dickens and his classic festive novel A Christmas Carol, which has been interpreted, in one form or another, by just about TV show and movie that has existed. And why not? The themes of loss, selfishness, Continue Reading
Movies
I’m dreaming of a romantically cookie cutter festive season: James Franco hilarious parodies every Hallmark Christmas movie
SNAPSHOTEvery Christmas season, we can be sure that Hallmark Channel will have more than enough heartwarming holiday films to keep us entertained all month … And yes, these Hallmark holiday movies are super fun to watch, but we can’t help but notice they all seem a little similar. SNL hilariously Continue Reading
Movie review: Star Wars – The Rise of Skywalker
You might find it hard to believe but there are downsides to being the steward of one of the most successful cinema franchises of all time. Star Wars, which took the world by storm in 1977 when George Lucas released his charmingly low budget swashbuckling sci-fi epic, A New Hope Continue Reading
On 10th day of Christmas … I watched the movie Noelle
Unless you are someone staging a nativity play, in which case strict depiction of sacred religious truths is a virtue, there is a temptation whenever you tell a story about any aspect of Christmas’s many well-worn tropes and cliches to place your own merry, eggnog-addled spin on it. In fact, Continue Reading
On 7th day of Christmas … I added 10 more new pop culture ornaments to my tree incl. Ziggy, Scruffy, Star Trek: Discovery and Bing Bong
It would readily apparent by now that I really love Christmas, and by extension that I really love decorating my Christmas tree which takes pride of pop culture ornament-accented place in my lounge room every year. Granted, it’s almost 20 years old and is looking a little old and creaky Continue Reading
Here comes 2020! Five fun films to add to your cinema-going calendar incl. WW84, Free Guy and No Time to Die
Yes, yes I know Christmas has not yet come and gone and we should be luxuriating in the myriad festive wonders of the season – trust me I am; chocolate sultanas and tree decorating anyone? – but 2020 is technically only three away and with a host of new and Continue Reading
Happy 40th birthday The Muppet Movie! (anniversary review)
Who doesn’t want to become rich and famous? Especially if it’s Orson Welles, in a cameo as World Wide Pictures studio boss Lew Lord (a tribute to Sir Lew Grade who co-produced the original Muppet Show), offering it to you? Certainly not one Kermit the Frog who finds himself strumming Continue Reading
On 3rd day of Christmas … I watched Klaus
In the well-trodden, Santa-saturated, redemption-obsessed world of the Christmas film, there is very little snow-covered ground that hasn’t already been well and truly sleigh ridden over. Nowhere this is likely more true, besides the story of the baby Jesus himself, than in stories which address the origins and activities of Continue Reading
Movie review: The Addams Family
People, by and large, are not that good with anything that deviates from universally-agreed norms. Quite when this great conformist meeting of very small minds took place is never quite clear, but somewhere at some point, a group of people decided that things should be this way and not that, Continue Reading
On 1st day of Christmas … I decorated my tree wth 10 new pop culture ornaments incl. Forky, Carl & Ellie (Up), Huckleberry Hound, Mary Poppins and Big Bird
You know that old classic Christmas song “O Christmas Tree” which contains the very appreciative line – “How lovely are your branches”? It’s a lovely sentiment, and as a piece of lauding nature, pretty damn exultant, but what it misses, and yet even with all the gushing positivity it misses Continue Reading