CHRISTMAS VACATION came across Amazon Prime and I realized that is has been far too long since I’ve seen it. This was one of those movies I saw pieces of so many times as a kid, but really only watched all the way through once.
Continue reading ‘johnlink ranks NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION (1989)’
Originally entitled SCROOGE, this 1951 CHRISTMAS CAROL, starring Alastair Sim, is considered by many to be the premier version of the Dickens classic. I’ve watched a version per year for the past four years, so it’s good to get at another one that is new to me. I feel like I could see a new-to-me CHRISTMAS CAROL every year until I die and there would still be a dozen left over I haven’t seen. Dickens’ classic is just one of those immensely filmable stories.
I watched and ranked the first two Shrek films way back in May of 2010. I started the third but only got twenty minutes in before getting distracted. I never returned to it. Since then, I had a son. He’s three now. He loves PUSS IN BOOTS (a movie I’ve seen in pieces, but not absorbed all the way through). I told him there were more films with Puss in Boots and he got very excited. So we watched SHREK THE THIRD.
Well, another small milestone here at johnlink movies. PICKPOCKET marks review number 600. Break out the champagne, blow up some balloons, toss some confetti. Or, alternatively, enjoy a ranking of a French film from the dawn of the New Wave. Either way, it’s going to be a party. Or. I suppose… a review about a movie which can be a little depressing.
A year behind everyone else on this, perhaps, but finally got around to seeing the big award winner of 2012. Some others are all perturbed about Ben Affleck ruining Batman next year, but I think people just like to complain. He’s been on a pretty good run as an actor here since the decade turned over and he’s become a mature filmmaker in his own right. ARGO is one movie that has been sitting on my shelf unwatched for far too long.
IN A LONELY PLACE seems to be categorized as a film noir in just about any place you look. Calling it so is somewhat of a lazy generalization, as the film doesn’t have many of the classic noir elements. Really, this is a drama about a guy who may or may not be a terrible human being.
Another day, another horror movie remake. The original EVIL DEAD is one of those campy classics which wouldn’t be such a huge deal to remake if it weren’t so beloved. Sam Raimi’s film was made cheaply, creatively, and without the advantage of major studio effects. All of which makes it the more endearing, even if it isn’t a movie which holds up as a particularly scary film. The EVIL DEAD remake sought to renew the fear while maintaining respect for its predecessor. How did it do?
If you have visited this site with any frequency, you’ll know me to be a Buster Keaton fan. While not a silent movie scholar, I’ve seen enough to know that I’ll give anything with Keaton a run. Turner Classic Movies is usually good for a new title every so often, and GO WEST is another example.
I feel like I’ve owned this movie on DVD forever. It’s one of those I got on sale at some point and never watched. Being Steven Spielberg’s early directorial effort (albeit as a TV movie) was a reason to buy it, but I never found a reason to pop it in. For the record, this is the extended 90 minute version released theatrically in Europe, as opposed to the 74 minute television version made for American audiences.
There is a child. He is young; he feels invincible. He sees a hot pan burning brightly upon a stove. The metal is turning a slight red from the sheer heat, the water inside bubbling at a rapid pace threatening to pour itself over the edge as if the contents of the pan would escape to assured death rather than spend another moment suffering within. The child knows it is hot. He knows it will burn. He knows if he reaches out to touch the glowing metal that he will be scarred and the result will be one of pain and torturous agony. Yet he touches the pan anyway.
Last night I was that child. And the 1997 Ray Liotta film TURBULENCE was that pan.
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