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
Movies
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
Forget phoning home! ET comes back to see Elliott and the result is magical
SNAPSHOTDuring this [year’s] Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Xfinity dropped an incredibly nostalgic commercial reuniting Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster alien with his former co-star Henry Thomas. It’s a moving commercial, all things considered, mostly due to all the callbacks and the use of John Williams’ iconic score. Die-hard fans will no doubt Continue Reading
Movie review: Frozen 2
You have to applaud the bravery of directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee (the latter also wrote the screenplay) who took on the challenge of crafting a sequel to arguably the biggest animated hit of the last decade, Frozen. Bestriding the cultural landscape in late 2014 and well into 2015 Continue Reading
The short and the short of it: The bright lights and dedication of Mr #Christmas
SNAPSHOTAn offbeat, touching portrait by director/editor/producer Nick Palmer of a man who has spent three decades turning his small Northern California home into a beautiful, towering Christmas display people travel across the country to see. (synopsis courtesy Vimeo) As someone who adores, lives and breathes Christmas – now, I think Continue Reading