To all the readers who have been kind enough to follow us over the years...
...here's our very special SEXY Christmas surprise just for you!
Enjoy! And Merry Christmas!
Music by The Dukes of Dixieland and Carmen Dragon
I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!
(Here's some Christmas nostalgia that was originally posted on 12/22/15. Especially for fans of the late, great Tim Conway.)
Santa Claus is being tracked and caught on film with the family friendly website iSpotSanta.com starting December 1st and going all the way to Christmas Day. You can only find these Santa videos, pictures and more with the “25 Days of Santa” from the entertainment site iSpotSanta.com from Pasquale Murena, creator of the site.
THIS YEAR’S SPECIAL ATTRACTION: Six time Emmy winner, comedian/actor Tim Conway appears in comedy sketches as “Dorf” the elf, helping Santa Claus in his workshop and causing havok. Tim's hilarous work on "The Carol Burnett Show" and "Dorf on Golf" videos are rekindled this Christmas seaon.
PLUS, You’ll enjoy new comedy sketches featuring Internet sensations Chip & Bernie and Puppets from the North Pole Newsroom they spot Santa Claus in comedy sketches that children of all ages enjoy.
OVER 100 SANTA VIDEOS: Site visitors will see Santa at the North Pole, France, Germany, Rome, New York, England, Australia, Japan, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, the Pyramids in Egypt and many more. “You are never too old to believe in Santa and the Spirit of Christmas,” Pasquale Murena said with a trinkle in his eye.
http://ispotsanta.com/
Originally posted on 11/7/12
There seems to be an entire category of movies on the SyFy Channel in which small Canadian towns double as small Northwestern towns in the USA which are menaced by some kind of supernatural (or super-natural) force, which resides or has its origin in a nearby mountain. Bad CGI comes as a standard feature; giant tentacles are optional.
One of the latest entries in this curious little sub-genre is SNOWMAGEDDON (2011), a movie whose title pretty much lets us know what kind of movie we're in for. This time, a rustic burg in Alaska gets hammered by a series of unnatural disasters such as a storm cloud that shoots ice torpedoes which shatter into deadly shrapnel, gaping fissures bisecting city streets and gushing flames, and huge pointy things shooting up out of the ground to spear moving vehicles like shish-kabobs.
The reason for all this is kept from us at first, lending the film an air of supernatural mystery that's mildly intriguing--until, that is, we find out that the secret behind it all is pretty freakin' dumb. Suffice it to say that there's this kid named Rudy who plays a role-playing game about dragons and wizards, and he anonymously receives a strange snowglobe for Christmas with a tiny repica of the town in it, and whenever he winds it up, something bad happens. Somehow, all of this is related to that RPG that he plays. Why? Don't ask me.
The destruction is depicted with some pretty good practical effects--the picturesque little town is trashed quite nicely--along with the usual fair-to-awful CGI. Once the slush hits the fan, the action is split into different little suspense situations of varying interest, including two hapless shlubs trapped in a bus covered with downed power lines, stranded snowboarders who picked the wrong mountain to board, and a mother-daughter duo in a crashed helicopter.
Good editing helps jazz things up a bit, but it's all just standard time-waster stuff that helps cheapo flicks like this fill in the space between the opening and closing credits.
Once the kid finally convinces the grownups that his evil snowglobe is causing all the trouble--which, admittedly, might be a bit hard to swallow at first--they follow his sage advice on how to combat the supernatural menace. Which means two things: one, they've really run out of ideas. And two, his dad, John Miller (David Cubitt), must make a trek up the now-volcanic peak in order to do what the hero in the game does to stop the evil.
The acting is about as good as you'd expect from this sort of thing, with Laura Harris (of the late, lamented "Defying Gravity") deserving better as Rudy's plucky mom, Beth. The dialogue isn't any better or worse than required, save for the occasional eye-rolling exchange such as this:
LARRY: "That thing's straight from Hell itself."
FRED: "Calm down, Larry."
LARRY: "You calm down, Fred."
The DVD from Anchor Bay is in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby 5.1 sound and subtitles in English and Spanish. No extras.
Really, I can't add any more to this than you can already figure out from the title. If the word SNOWMAGEDDON doesn't tell you exactly what this movie is all about and whether or not you'll enjoy it, nothing will. Bottom line: it's a passable, tolerable time-waster.
Originally posted on 11/19/17
Bob Hope was one of those comics who got as much mileage out of a bad joke as he did a good one (a talent shared by Johnny Carson). In fact, he sometimes seemed to welcome audience groans so that he could do that "take" and comment about how bad the joke was. Which, of course, got the biggest laugh!
If you're a fan of the inimitable Hope comedy style, especially as presented on all of his various television specials over the decades, you'll be able to gorge yourself on it with the colossal four-volume, 19-DVD boxed set from Time-Life, THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES: THE BOB HOPE SPECIALS DELUXE COLLECTION.
It's a dizzying mish-mash covering five decades of Bob's TV memories--39 specials and more--all in a collage of celebrity guests, comedy and musical bits, and endless one-liners--that should have you alternately laughing and groaning for days.
(Originally posted on 12/21/14. MoviesAndMore offers are no longer valid.)
"YES. VIRGINIA, THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS"
Our Season's Gift To You...
The Iconic 1897 Editorial That Continues to Bring Holiday Joy
On September 21 1897, the New York Sun published what was to become history's most reprinted newspaper editorial. The letter from eight-year old Virginia O'Hanlon of New York City and the quick response from veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has appeared whole or in part in dozens of languages in newspapers, books, movies, on posters, stamps and the internet.
DEAR EDITOR
I am eight years old.
Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Poppa says "if you see it in the Sun it's so." Please tell me the truth.
Is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O'Hanlon
115 West 95th Street
New York City, NY
Originally posted on 12/21/10
In the 60s, Joseph Hanna and William Barbera pioneered the use of limited animation for television, knocking off a string of successful cartoon shows such as "Huckleberry Hound", "Quick-Draw McGraw", and "The Flintstones." While simpler and cheaper than fully-animated theatrical cartoons, the initial Hanna-Barbera TV output was still far superior to the increasingly-inept Saturday morning drivel that would follow, and hold up today as good-looking, well-written shows which, like their big-screen counterparts, are entertaining for both children and adults.
Such is the case with one of their most popular characters, Yogi Bear, who lives in Jellystone National Park with his pal Boo-Boo and drives Mr. Forest Ranger crazy by constantly stealing picnic baskets from unwary campers. With the DVD release of YOGI BEAR'S ALL-STAR COMEDY CHRISTMAS CAPER, we get to see examples of Yogi both in his glorious 60s heyday and in a lackluster 80s adventure that pales in comparison.
(Little kids, of course, will probably enjoy each of them equally, so feel free to pop in this DVD and let the tykes go nuts. With that out of the way, let's look at the two stories on this disc from the nostalgic old geezer perspective.)
First up is the titular tale, "Yogi Bear's All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper." This originally aired in 1982, when most made-for-TV cartoons had regressed in quality to a point well beyond "limited", coming off as cheap, slapdash drivel whose stories were written solely for the purpose of keeping undiscerning kids occupied. Design and rendering of characters is sketchy and sloppy, direction is uninspired, and the "comedy" is on roughly the same level as pulling funny faces at babies to make them laugh.
The best thing about it is that it reunites some of the best vocal talent in the business--Mel Blanc, Allan Melvin, Hal Smith, Janet Waldo, Don Messick, and the great Daws Butler, among others--as a group of Hanna-Barbera's most memorable characters help Yogi and Boo Boo celebrate the Christmas spirit by bringing a poor little rich girl and her neglectful father closer together during a sojourn to the big city.
An interesting side note to this episode is the fact that the word "Chanukah" was edited from the soundtrack when the show first aired. According to tvseriesfinale.com, someone at CBS was leery of Snagglepuss' line "Merry Christmas! Season’s Greetings! Happy Chanukah, even!", bleeping the reference to the Jewish holiday for reasons unknown. Even on this DVD, it's simply replaced by the word "happy." Weird, even!
After being distinctly unimpressed by Yogi's yuletide antics, I was relatively ecstatic to find that the second offering was a special 1962 episode of the original TV series, entitled "Yogi's Birthday Party." The difference is immediately apparent--there's exquisite artwork and character design done with style and flair, snappy direction by Hanna and Barbera themselves, and, best of all, genuinely funny gags that adults (especially us nostalgic cartoon geeks) can appreciate right along with the kids. Maybe even more so.
It's a week before Yogi's birthday and the show's sponsor is planning a gala surprise celebration for their star, with a nervous Mr. Forest Ranger charged with keeping the secret from him. "Trying to keep a secret from Yogi is like trying to hide Lake Michigan from a duck," he moans. Yogi overhears just enough of the phone conversation to get the idea that he's being given his own entertainment special, and will be expected to perform.
Worried that his singing and dancing skills aren't up to par, Yogi takes a series of lessons in a montage that pokes fun at some popular personalities of the era. He gets dancing lessons from Fred Upstairs, singing tips from Boppy Darin, and even some piano-playing pointers from one "Lee B. Rocky."
When the big night comes and Yogi discovers the birthday surprise, his reactions are priceless. Mr. Forest Ranger turns the event into a spoof of Ralph Edwards' "This Is Your Life" with a succession of all-star guests from Yogi's past appearing one after another. First, Huckleberry Hound's voice is heard from offstage: "A hound-dog howdy to y'all, Yogi." Mr. Forest Ranger asks, "Who's that, Yogi?" Yogi's guess: "The president?"
As familiar characters such as Snagglepuss, Hokey Wolf, Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks, Quick-Draw McGraw, Yakky Doodle, Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy, and Snooper and Blabber accumulate onstage (with all the top voice actors on hand again, this time including June Foray and Duke Mitchell), the gags give way to a cheery birthday song written especially for the occasion. For me, this breezy and utterly charming classic episode is a delightful treat all the way.
The Warner Brothers DVD is in standard format with English and Spanish soundtracks. Subtitles are in English, Spanish, and French. Bonus features consist of some DVD and video game trailers.
I keep saying that "the kids" will like both features on YOGI BEAR'S ALL-STAR COMEDY CHRISTMAS CAPER, but to tell you the truth I'm never really sure what the hell little kids like or don't like these days. As for me, I had a ball watching the older one because it's really good and it brought back fond memories. The later one, on the other hand, is one of the main reasons I quit bothering to get out of bed on Saturday mornings.
Originally posted on 12/16/10
Most fans of Charles Schulz' "Peanuts" no doubt have a special place in their hearts for those animated specials that have been popping up on TV off and on for over forty years. If it's been awhile since you watched one, you can relive old memories with CHARLIE BROWN'S CHRISTMAS TALES, a good example of the best and worst of the lot.
First up on this DVD is the title piece from 2002, which is a series of Christmas vignettes loosely linked by the seasonal theme, each showcasing a particular character. There's no main plot linking them all together, but each mini-story is charming and engaging on its own.
The episodes play like those "Peanuts" comics that followed a single story thread for several strips, and watching it is like reading an animated version of one of Schulz' paperback compilations. In fact, I have a feeling these were actually taken right from the comics. The setups and punchlines come one after another just as though we're paging through one of those comics collections, and they're deftly delivered like a stand-up comedian on a roll.
Our favorite characters get the spotlight in turn, beginning with Snoopy, who's taken up being an accordion-playing street corner Santa. An example of the classic set-up and punchline style on display here: Lucy and Linus walk by Snoopy-Santa as he squeezes out a tune, there's a pause, and then Lucy remarks, "I don't know, Linus...to me, 'Oh Susanna' just doesn't sound very Christmassy." (In a nod to past glories, Snoopy then switches to the theme song from "A Charlie Brown Christmas.")
The second feature on the disc, "Is This Goodbye, Charlie Brown?", came out around the tail end of the vintage Charlie Brown specials and isn't nearly as memorable as the earlier ones. It seems as though writer Charles Schulz' heart wasn't really in this one, which had the potential to be one of the series most heartfelt stories.
This time Linus and Lucy are moving away due to their father's job relocation, and Charlie Brown faces the loss of his two best friends. Such an event is important in a kid's life, and we expect something more substantial than this episodic, disjointed narrative. With Linus and Lucy gone, the story veers into a lengthy and rather unspecial subplot about Peppermint Pattie's dogged attempts to get Charlie Brown to ask her for a date. An abrupt wrap-up follows this uninteresting detour from the main story, which isn't developed very well at all.
Besides an awful musical score (not by Vince Guaraldi), subpar vocal talent, and some iffy character design, "Goodbye" commits a cardinal sin--showing adult characters onscreen. Watching this when it first aired back in 1983, I remember thinking how jarring it was when the moving men were shown loading the Van Pelts' belongings into a van. "Peanuts" has always been a kids-only world, where the closest thing to a grownup was the comically distorted "voice" of Charlie Brown's nagging teacher. So, to casually introduce some anonymous adult characters from out of the blue is, to me, a bothersome misstep.
The Warner Brothers DVD is in standard TV format and Dolby Digital sound with English and French subtitles. Also included are trailers for other Peanuts DVDs.
Now that I think of it, the disappointing "Is This Goodbye, Charlie Brown?" is probably the reason I finally quit watching these "Peanuts" specials altogether. So it's nice to see that, with "Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales", the old magic was restored. Of course, all of this nitpicking comes from the point of view of a grownup, and, despite my comically distorted gripes, kids will probably manage to enjoy both of these stories just fine.
Originally posted on 11/29/12
I'm not sure who first had the idea of turning Santa Claus into a psycho killer, but I do recall sitting at the drive-in and thrilling to the sight of a not-so-saintly Saint Nick menacing Joan Collins in the original TALES FROM THE CRYPT. Later, the home video age allowed me to witness Linnea Quigley's celebrated antler-skewering in 1984's SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT in the comfort of my own recliner. And now, with Anchor Bay's release of SILENT NIGHT (2012) on DVD, the jolly old elf with the axe and the attitude problem stalks the snow-swept streets yet again.
The pre-title sequence gets things off to a nice start with some teasing glimpses of Psycho Santa gearing up to go medieval on a couple of squirming home-invasion captives. One guy's harrowing electrocution, complete with exploding eyeballs, gives us a foretaste of the film's generous gore content which will include plenty of slashings, choppings, piercings, dismemberments, and other mischief all done with old school 80s-style practical effects.
Strangely enough, though, we've seen all this stuff so many times before that even the ghastliest effects have a "been there, done that" quality. It's the staging of the mysterious killer Santa's attacks that makes the difference, with director Steven C. Miller doing his best to inject new life into very familiar situations. He's already shown that he can do horror on a small budget (AUTOMATON TRANSFUSION) and handle action scenes with skill (THE AGGRESSION SCALE).
Here, both are done with Miller's usual competence, although little that happens is original or over-the-top enough to really impress us on the level of, say, HALLOWEEN--which this movie resembles a bit in its earlier scenes of a placid Midwestern town lazily gearing up for a holiday amidst ominous glimpses of a murderous masked intruder. As slasher killers go, this hulking Santa with the plastic mask has the size and imposing bearing for the job, yet lacks the personality needed to make him truly memorable in the "Michael Myers" vein.
Jaime King, who was the beautiful Goldie in SIN CITY, does a fine job in a non-glamorous role as a woman who actually looks like she might be a smalltown deputy. Having just lost her husband, she's getting moral support from her parents over the holidays but is called in to work when Deputy Jordan (Brendan Fehr, COMEBACK SEASON) fails to show up--for reasons we're already aware of.
As the killings escalate and a Santa-suited slasher is identified as the main suspect, the investigation is made doubly difficult by a plethora of Saint Nicks wandering the streets in preparation for the big Christmas parade. Red herrings and false leads abound, including Donal Logue as an amusingly cynical fake-Santa who likes to make the kiddies cry by telling them the truth about Christmas. Playing a crotchety old sheriff who looks forward to dealing with something exciting for a change, Malcolm McDowell is a welcome presence and seems to enjoy lending this earnest little horror flick some name value.
King's acting talent is given full range as her character's vulnerability and shaky self-confidence are evident in a series of close calls with suspects and some disturbing crime scenes including the murder of a little girl (who, as we see earlier, is an insufferable brat who richly deserves her fate!) Equally shocking ends are in store for a stereotypically lecherous priest and an even more stereotypically sex-crazed teen couple whose lusty liason is rudely interrupted. (The latter includes a direct homage to SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT that echoes a similar re-enactment by Linnea Quigley herself in CAESAR AND OTTO'S DEADLY XMAS.)
The gore effects are hokey but fun, with a crudely inventive woodchipper scene being perhaps the most genuinely unpleasant sequence.
Miller uses his modest budget to good effect and his movie looks pretty good (the Christmas ambience is especially well done) except for when the camera starts spazzing out during the murder scenes. A frenetic flamethrower finale inside the police station isn't all that exciting but is rather impressively staged.
The DVD from Anchor Bay is in 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby 5.1 soun and subtitles in English and Spanish. Extras consist of some deleted scenes and a brief behind-the-scenes featurette.
Like most good yuletide horror movies, SILENT NIGHT is melancholy and atmospheric, and actually generates a bit of Christmas spirit with which to contrast its brutal carnage. While in no danger of becoming a perennial cult favorite along the lines of BLACK CHRISTMAS, and not particularly memorable in general, it's a morbidly fun way to pass the time while waiting for your chestnuts to roast.
Originally posted on 11/18/10
Here's the deal: the Bureau of Yuletide Affairs constantly monitors everyone, looking for people who hate Christmas so that they can send the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future into action. Charles Dickens was one of their former targets, and he wrote a fictionalized account of the experience in "A Christmas Carol", but don't mention that book around the Bureau because they find it an unflattering depiction of their organization.
Anyway, in CHASING CHRISTMAS (2005), the latest focus of their efforts is Jack Cameron (Tom Arnold), a divorced father who despises Christmas because, seven years earlier, he caught his former wife Alison (played by the MILF-tastic Sarah-Jane Redmond of "Smallville" and "Millenium") fooling around with their dentist in the coatroom during their daughter Suzanne's Christmas play. In an early scene, two cute little kids notice that Jack doesn't have any Christmas decorations around his house so they cheerfully give him one of theirs, a happy plastic snowman which Jack gratefully places out in the street so a truck can run over it. At the coat factory that he owns, an employee is shocked to find that he's no longer donating their irregulars to the homeless at Christmas, selling them instead to the Guatemalan army. "They don't care if the epaulets are upside-down or not," he tells her. "They're not a very good army--they'll probably only wear 'em once, anyway."
So, with Jack's Scrooge-ness well established, it looks like we're in store for yet another "A Christmas Carol" variant with few surprises along the way. Indeed, at the stroke of seven on Christmas Eve, the Ghost Of Christmas Past shows up in Jack's livingroom just as he's downing a large glass of Scotch and watching non-seasonal shows on TV. Past is played by Leslie Jordan, who used to be Lonnie Garr on "Hearts Afire" and has appeared in numerous other movies and TV shows ("Will & Grace", "Boston Legal", "Boston Public", JASON GOES TO HELL, HERO). You'd know him if you saw him--he's about four feet tall and he's pretty funny. But when he hurls a reluctant Jack over the couch and launches him down the front stairs to get him motivated, we detect that something seems to be bothering him.
Zipping back to 1965, they visit Jack's boyhood home on Christmas Eve, beginning the usual "A Christmas Carol" guilt-trip cycle. But Past is fed up with all that--he yearns to be human, smoke cigarettes, drink alky-hol, chase babes, and stay forever in his beloved past. So, going off-mission a tad, he smashes his "snowflake of invisibility" in order to become human (don't ask), knocks Jack out with a holiday snowglobe, ties him to a chair with a string of decorative lights, and scampers off into the night. It's at this point, you might guess, that the story begins to veer off from the usual "A Christmas Carol" template and become somewhat less predictable.
The Ghost Of Christmas Present is called into action ahead of schedule and sent to the scene to perform damage control before the timeline is irrevocably altered. But first, her "snowflake of invisibility" must also be smashed so that she can become human, too. (Really, it's just better not to ask.) Present is a tall, blonde babe, which I found to distinctly increase this movie's watchability. She is played by a tall, blonde actress named Andrea Roth, who has also been in a whole bunch of other stuff ("Rescue Me", "CSI", THE PERFECT HUSBAND). Her character doesn't know anything about the past, only the present ("Where's Madonna right now?" Jack asks her. "In the bathroom," she replies.)
In their quest to track down Past across various time periods, she'll experience things she's never known before, such as getting drunk, disco dancing, and falling in love. That's right--she falls in love with Jack, as if you didn't already see that coming. (I think it happens while they're in the hot tub.) And Jack gets to see himself not only as a little boy (played by the hilarious Zak Ludwig in an all-too-brief scene), but during his ski-lodge honeymoon ("I was BORING!" he groans), where he also discovers that Alison was already cheating on him with a low-forehead hunk in the bar while he was in their room watching IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE.
And somehow during it all, Jack learns the true meaning of Christmas, although I didn't really understand exactly how all that frantic chasing around caused this to happen. "God bless us every one!" is shoehorned in at the end, as well as the standard "Scrooge transformed" ending, but I just didn't get that Christmas vibe--which leads me to doubt that CHASING CHRISTMAS will ever become any kind of modern seasonal tradition along the lines of A CHRISTMAS STORY, or even THE SANTA CLAUSE.
But it is fun and fairly entertaining, and I didn't regret sitting through it. I'm a fan of Tom Arnold (although I never understood the whole Rosanne thing) and a non-raunchy, family-friendly Tom is still funny. I like his comedy persona, which seemed to come into full fruition as Ah-nuld's sidekick in TRUE LIES, and which easily keeps this ABC Family TV production enjoyable throughout. Just don't expect to get all misty-eyed and start reaching for the eggnog when he jumps around at the end screaming "Merry Christmas, everybody!"
Originally posted on 10/25/11
With so many zombie movies out there, it's nice to come across one like SILENT NIGHT, ZOMBIE NIGHT (2009) that still has that old zing. This low-budget indy may have been done with limited locations and resources, but it makes up for any such disadvantages by being both an interesting "people" story and a good old-fashioned undead blowout.
The cast are certainly up to the task--the lead performances are intriguing and fun to watch even when they don't display the kind of finesse that wins big, shiny awards. Likewise for the script, which actually gives them some interesting dramatic scenes and scintillating character interplay along with the carnage.
Your classic love triangle forms the basis of the plot as two buddy cops, Frank Talbot (Jack Forcinito) and Nash Jackson (Andy Hopper), have a falling out over their mutual interest in Frank's lovely wife Sarah (Nadine Stenovitch). Meanwhile, a zombie apocalypse is brewing right under their noses, which they seem blissfully unaware of until a little undead girl bites Andy in the foot and Frank shoots his toe off while dispatching her. (Most of the best scenes between these two guys will occur during zombie attacks.)
Back at Andy's apartment, Frank and Sarah nurse him back to health while the zombies mill around outside and try to get in. We find that Frank can be a huge S.O.B. but a very handy one to have around, with Forcinito playing the role in a casual and lighthearted way that makes the character likable. Hopper and Stenovitch both play off him very well and have a good chemistry with each other as Andy and Sarah's illicit love inches toward consummation. With her intense performance, Stenovitch in particular adds weight to the more serious side of the story.
Action-guy Frank can't resist loading up his shotgun and making a nocturnal foray into zombieland, resulting in some cool kills and an amusing passage in which he makes like Babe Ruth on a few skulls to the tune of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." (Elsewhere, Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" is also well used for comic effect.) More human-type drama ensues when he runs across Jeffrey (Lew Temple) hiding out in his attic after his family has been killed.
Writer-director Sean Cain solves the eternal "fast zombie-slow zombie" dispute with some blah-blah scientific exposition that allows him to feature a pleasing combination of both. The faster and smarter zombies are led by a snarling, leisure-suit-wearing used car dealer whose roving pack of voracious marauders supply much of the film's giddy menace. The other zombies are nicely played with a variety of individual attributes in both appearance and behavior, all boasting some excellent makeups which make good use of prosthetics, airbrush, and contact lenses.
Vernon Wells ("Wez" of ROAD WARRIOR fame) and Felissa Rose (SLEEPAWAY CAMP) ramp things up big-time with their late appearance as part of a heavily-armed rescue group locating stray survivors. Frank, naturally, manages to piss off even these good Samaritans, and his altercation with Felissa gives her an opportunity to deliver some of the best acting I've seen from her in years. As for Wells--any time Wez shows up in your movie is a good time.
Sean Cain keeps the dramatic scenes interesting and the action scenes full of splattery fun, his lean directorial style perfectly complimented by the no-frills camerawork and editing. Aside from some quick cuts of exploding heads, nasty bites, and a dismemberment or two, there really isn't a whole lot of over-the-top gore for its own sake, but the film is so suspenseful and the characters such fun to watch that I barely noticed. Or maybe I really have become desensitized after all these years.
The DVD from Pacific Entertainment is in 16x9 widescreen with Dolby sound and subtitles in English and Spanish. Extras include a commentary with director, producer, and cinematographer, deleted scenes, bloopers, trailers, and a brief Easter egg featuring Vernon Wells.
Neither exceedingly downbeat nor wisecrackingly frivolous, SILENT NIGHT, ZOMBIE NIGHT hits just the right tone from the start and just keeps getting better. If you can appreciate the ambiance of a good B-movie with its heart in the right place, this lively zombie romp should be on your Christmas list.
Originally posted on 12/4/13
A mix of the "spooky old house" and "axe murderer on the loose" genres, SILENT NIGHT, BLOODY NIGHT (1972) is hardly the campy-fun slasher-trash fest I expected. In fact, there isn't an ounce of humor, intentional or otherwise, in this somber, wintry horror tale.
The gravely-intoned prologue, in which the Mayor's daughter Diane Adams (Mary Woronov, EATING RAOUL, ROCK 'N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL) reflects on the horrible events surrounding the old Butler mansion at the edge of town, is enough to let us know that we're in for a depressing time, It all has to do with the house's original owner, Wilfred Butler (Philip Bruns, "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman"), his mysterious death by fire, and the tragic fate of his daughter, Marianne.
When his grandson Jeffrey (James Patterson, IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT) disobeys the stipulation in his will that the house remain untouched and unsold, a mysterious killer begins stalking the premises to make sure that whoever goes in doesn't come out.
(Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this blog post. The opinions I share are my own.)
Originally posted on 10/25/19
Much of the success of a "Cinderella" story depends on how much we hate her wicked stepmother and two wicked stepsisters, while at the same time finding them perversely funny. We also have to like the title character enough to root for her to win out over those three harpies and find true love with her Prince Charming.
In that, 2019's A CINDERELLA STORY: CHRISTMAS WISH (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment) fills in the blanks quite nicely, with Johannah Newmarch (POLARIS, "Stargate: SG-1") as stepmother Deirdre Decker, along with Lillian Doucet-Roche and Chanelle Peloso as the jarringly misnamed stepsisters Joy and Grace, horrify us with their selfishness, vanity, and deviousness yet still delight with their comically overdrawn characters and addlebrained bungling.
As Kat Decker, Laura Marano ("Austin & Ally", SAVING ZOE) fills the "Cinderella" role likably enough, going about the thankless task of waiting hand and foot on her step-monsters while holding down a job as a performing elf at Santa Land, all the while keeping as cheerful and upbeat as possible as she dreams of someday becoming a famous singer and performing her own songs for an adoring public.
Originally posted on 12/14/17
I don't remember ever sitting down and watching a production of Tchaikovsky’s classic musical fantasy (derived from the E.T.A. Hoffmann story “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King”) all the way through, so I was surprised to find that the 1986 screen adaptation, NUTCRACKER, THE MOTION PICTURE (Olive Films), is a lot less Christmassy than I imagined.
It's also less skillfully rendered than I expected from director Carroll Ballard, who gave us the exquisite THE BLACK STALLION as well as NEVER CRY WOLF. I think this is because Ballard excelled at more natural, realistic storytelling (albeit through a beautifully artistic eye) and was out of his element taking on a stagey ballet with an almost non-linear storyline that's told through music and dance.
He made a sort of metaphorical dance out of the boy and the horse getting to know and love each other in THE BLACK STALLION, and it was beautiful. Here, he's a bit at a loss as to how to shoot literal dance sequences, often editing a bunch of tight shots together in rapid succession to convey movement but losing the effect of the group choreography in doing so.
Originally posted on 11/14/10
This movie used to be called COOPERS' CAMERA until somebody realized that it's kind of dumb to make a Christmas movie with absolutely no reference to Christmas in the title. So they renamed it COOPERS' CHRISTMAS (2008) and stressed the fact that it stars Jason Jones and Samantha Bee of "The Daily Show", which I've never watched. At first, I was wishing I didn't have to watch this movie, either, but little by little the darn thing just grew on me. Like a fungus.
To say that COOPERS' CHRISTMAS is low-class would be a gross understatement. If you're expecting that odd mixture of warmth and irreverence that makes NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CHRISTMAS VACATION a perennial family favorite, think again--this movie isn't aiming for that at all. Instead, it dispenses with any attempts at "warmth" and zeroes in on the awkward, uncomfortable, increasingly grotesque, and ultimately nightmarish experience of being in claustrophobic quarters with a family so dysfunctional it's amazing they can stand to be in the same house with each other.
The idea here is that back in 1985, the Cooper family patriarch, Gord (Jones) has obtained a newfangled video camera from their sex-maniac neighbor, Bill Davidson (Dave Foley), in lieu of the $2,000 Bill owes him--money which Gord's pregnant wife, Nancy (Bee) was counting on for their big vacation at Orlando's Disney World. As the festive occasion steadily deteriorates into an ordeal of disillusionment and chaos, youngest son Teddy (Nick McKinlay) uses the new video camera to record every ugly development.
Jayne Eastwood is hideously funny as Nancy's chain-smoking mother Nana, who insists that everyone eat mushrooms on toast for breakfast because it's an "old country" tradition. Older son Marcus (Dylan Everett) is the ultimate nerd, throwing a fit because Dad has given him cheap imitations of the Star Wars toys he wanted for Christmas (such as a crappy Mr. Potato Head plush doll that's supposed to be Jabba the Hut) in addition to a new snow shovel and a stocking full of rock salt. "Marcus, you're 17 years old," Gord reasons with him later. "I think it's time you learned the truth about Santa. He don't always bring you what you want."
Things get worse as the house fills up with relatives. Gord's brother-in-law Nick (Mike Beaver, who co-wrote the script with Jones) is the ultimate booze-guzzling, un-PC-joke spewing, crude-as-hell middle-aged frat rat, whose idea of humor is to hump everything. When Nancy's sisters show up, Aunt Bev's juvenile delinquent son Wayne steals Gord's car and Aunt Joan's gleefully insufferable little brat Dougie roundhouse-punches Gord right in the balls, eliciting my second genuine belly laugh of the movie. Poppy, Nana's feeble, estranged husband, also gets groin-punched by Dougie as he sits in his wheelchair, prompting a frantic trip to the hospital.
The worst is yet to come, however, with the appearance of Gord's brother Tim, whom he hasn't spoken to in 17 years since Tim got overly "familiar" with Nancy on their wedding night while Gord lay passed out. Worldly travel agent Tim is a real smoothie who wins over all the ladies with his charm and immediately starts putting the moves on Nancy again, eventually wearing down the frustrated housewife's defenses. This leads to a showdown between the brothers that grows to outlandish proportions.
Personal revelations begin to emerge--Gord's sons learn disturbing new things about their parentage, the already-insecure Marcus discovers that he might not even be 100% male, and Gord reveals a sexual hang-up that even prompts Nick to flee in disgust. At one point, Gord gets to have a tearfully heartfelt reconciliation scene with Nancy that's so mock-maudlin that I was impressed by the film's unapologetic emotional insincerity.
Unlike Chevy Chase's likable, well-meaning Clark Griswold, Gord is a crude, childish, insensitive jerk who makes Homer Simpson look like Cary Grant. Gord and Nick are all over this movie like two Neanderthals in heat as they inhale increasing quantities of "Christmas cheer" and act out their most childish impulses while Gord's family situation falls to pieces around him. Before it's all over, Gord will lock everyone out of the house in the freezing cold and drunkenly lay waste to Christmas dinner, thoughtfully shoving some turkey under Nana's door for when she wakes up.
Director Warren P. Sonoda pulls off the idea of having everything occur through the lens of a video camera pretty well, even though the performances aren't always strictly "real-life" convincing. The script never slows down, constantly moving from one lowbrow gag to the next and throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks.
The period humor is fun--Teddy remarks about how small the bulky video camera is, and while discussing Gord's impotence Nick jokes that someday doctors might invent some kind of "penis pill" to enhance virility. Even when it isn't funny, COOPERS' CHRISTMAS is trainwreck-interesting to watch once you become accustomed to where it's coming from. And every five minutes or so something happens that is genuinely laugh-out-loud funny.
The DVD from Anchor Bay is in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, with English subtitles. Extras include a director and producer commentary, a behind-the-scenes featurette, and a trailer.
COOPERS' CHRISTMAS just might become a holiday tradition for those who find the adventures of Clark Griswold and his family too highbrow and sophisticated. I don't think it'll ever replace A CHRISTMAS STORY as the popular family favorite, though, unless your idea of family entertainment is seeing Dave Foley's cottage-cheese buttcheeks or watching Jason Jones pound one out on the john.
