2015 Seasonal TV Viewing - Die Hard

Die Hard

An annual watch so once again liberated a previous blog entry with some updates.
The debate rages on if Die Hard really qualifies as a christmas movie, it's set during christmas and you could probably engineer the same circumstances for any major holiday but for me the christmas theme is always there and becomes part of the story so it qualifies in my book. It really does have the important ingredients of family and redemption as the main character addresses mistakes made and lessons learnt through events in the movie, no different to a Christmas Carol when you get right down to it. New York Cop John McClane visits his family in LA as his wife took a good promotion but there are evident marital issues, it's not simply their jobs that are keeping them apart.
He arrives during the senior staff christmas party at the partially completed office building and before he even gets settled in the bad guys raid the festivities with superior manpower, technical resources and firepower. They present a terrorist stance but it soon becomes apparent that this is a high tech raid against the company's vaults which contains hundreds of millions of dollars in bearer bonds. While their plan seems to be going flawlessly the "fly in the ointment" soons makes his presence felt after witnessing the murder of a senior company official and the battle is on.

Die Hard from the opening scenes to the final credits is a classic action movie and is holding up very well as the years move on, yed technology wise the state of the art gadgets are laughable but the production and style of the movie seems to be proving ageless. Bruce Willis earned every penny of his then record breaking paycheck having really made the most of his success on tv with Moonlighting and negotiating a huge contract but he is ably supported by Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia and Reginald VelJohnson. While I will always watch this movie over the christmas holidays it's also an option for when I want a good high energy action flick made when the studios were not afraid to make something for adults rather than just the family.

Welcome To The Party Pal!

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2015 Seasonal TV Viewing - Christmas Magic

Christmas Magic

Carrie Blackford (Lindy Booth) is driving back to the city in her new BMW when she stops off at a petrol station, she meets a bus driver and they have a friendly chat about life and christmas, he warns her to be careful driving in the icey conditions and they say goodbye. Carrie loses control of her car and smashes into a concrete pillar and wakes in central park with the bus driver and she learns that he is an Angel and after her crash she has been given the opportunity to return and improve the life of a restaurant owner. She agrees and meets Scott Walker (Paul McGillion) who owns a small restaurant which is close to failing, he is also a single parent of a young girl Abby (Kiara Glasco) and she gains his trust by offering her skills as an event planner to boost the marketing of his restaurant and she has until christmas eve to effect a change.

Christmas Magic is distributed by Hallmark so you know what you are going to get but this movie is a very definite step above the usual seasonal fare, two very good performance from Lindy and Paul with Kiara really shining. The story while certainly not unique was done well which again is helped by the casting and I don't think there is really anything not to like, well except for the singing at the end which for one song really was overplayed and didn't even sound like Scott.

 

For fans of Paul or Lindy this is the seasonal movie for you and it works if you are just looking for a family feel good movie for the holidays.

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2015 Seasonal TV Viewing - While You Were Sleeping

While You Were Sleeping

This feel good movie is a Sandra Bullock romantic comedy and one of her earliest, produced after her breakout in Demolition Man and the huge hit Speed which really gave her career a boost. In this movie she is a lowly cashier/collector on the city's network of elevated trains who is mildly infatuated with a guy (Peter) she sees on daily basis. Working on a christmas eve she sees him accosted and he falls onto the tracks, she jumps on to the tracks and saves his life. A slight hiccup at the hospital has the staff and the man's family believing she is his fiancee and this surprising but most welcome news helps the family get through the holidays while their oldest son is in a coma. Meanwhile complications mount up as the lie is played out and to add a further twist Lucy (Sandra Bullock) and Jack (the older brother) played by Bill Pullman fall in love but neither will admit it thanks to guilt and existing obligations. It all comes to a head after Peter awakes from his coma and well he asks Lucy to marry him (for a second time as far as he knows) and we get the classic farce wedding scene as everything comes to a head.

While You Were Sleeping is an excellent romantic comedy and a great feel good christmas movie, there is not a bad character or performance in the entire film even Joe Jr. Since I watch this movie every christmas I've taken last years blog entry and tweaked it a little, my opinions haven't changed, this will always be on my must watch list at christmas if not anytime.

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2015 Seasonal TV Viewing - Scrooged

Scrooged

I watch this movie every year so being the lazy so and so I am I copied and pasted the majority of this entry into the blog, so there:)
There have been many adaptations of the classic Dickens novel and to be honest those that stay within the traditional setting leave me a little dry so when I first watched Scrooged many many years ago it was because of it's star a certain Bill Murray. Since then I have watched the movie more times than I care to think about with no shame in the reasoning, it's an excellent reworking of the tale in a more modern era (well modern as in when it was made) and combines all the important aspects of the original with some very good comedic elements both through visual gags and some excellent writing and performances.

Robert Mitchum was great in his small role and Karen Allen as always a delight and it's hard to fault any of the actors, I particular liked the score for the movie as well. It was also rewarding to have a movie that made full use of the talents of Bobcat Goldthwait without going over the top, his hunting rabbit line was inspired and a sign of the times, Lee Majors was a fun cameo for those that grew up when he was a headliner on television:)

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2015 Seasonal TV Viewing - Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day

While the movie is certainly not set at christmas there is a lot of snow and you get the main character on a path of redemption, that for me makes it a christmas movie and one I do watch more than once a year. To be honest anyone that doesn't consider it worth finding the time to watch one of Bill Murray's best movies has something wrong with them:)

Groundhog Day follows Phil Connors a very arrogant regional weather man who draws the short straw to visit Punxsutawney and cover the Ground Hog festival. He goes along with his camera man and new line producer (Rita Hanson played by Andie MacDowell) and the coverage of the event is fine but on the way back they get caught in an unexpected snow storm and return to Punxsutawney. Phil awakes the next day to the same music on the radio and the same people in the same situations, he is living the day all over again and again and again.
The majority of the movie covers Phil as he explores the options with living the same day so many times, he uses it to seduce women, steal money and indulge the more negative aspects of his character until he sees the opportunity to better himself with music and medicine and many other things to make those around him feel better. Ultimately having spent so much time in the company of Rita he eventually has an almost perfect day and no matter how hard he tries he can not recreate it until she surprises him and maybe herself and they spend the night in his room and he awakes to find her at his side. Phil can now live the rest of his life.

Groundhog Day is a classic comedy with dramatic elements but at it's heart it's teaching the viewer a lesson as we see Phil fall and rise as he embraces the negative and then the positive aspects of humanity. It also has Stephen Tobolowsky and that is never a bad thing:)

Ned... Ryerson. "Needlenose Ned"? "Ned the Head"?

2015 Seasonal TV Viewing - Trapped In Paradise

Trapped In Paradise

There are many Nicholas Cage movies I don't like and there are many that have received viewer and critical acclaim and judging from the reviews Trapped In Paradise is a movie that is not that good nor appreciated by the audience. That said for some reason I just enjoy watching this movie once a year during the christmas holidays, at least from about about ten minutes in:)

Trapped In Paradise deals with three brothers namely Bill, Alvin and Dave played by (Nick Cage, Dana Carvey and Jon Lovitz) who rob a bank in the small town of Paradise and from then on through a number of trials come to understand that what they did was wrong and change their evil ways and are rewarded for it. On the surface you can easily see the appeal during the holiday period as bad guys (but not really) meet good people who by example bring the antagonists back to the side of goodness. Of course this is comedy and relies a little too much on the usual sticht of Dana and Jon with Nick as the straight man, it doesn't always work and that is where the movie falls a little flat. The support cast is excellent though with some great performances both in the emotional sense and the humour and I would say adds more to the movie than the main cast. I'm not going into any specific plot points even though this movie was released in 1994 because my guess is that this probably passed you by even in the great days of video rental and for the last few years anything with Nick Cage in the credits (barring established hits) seems to be avoided by the mainstream audiences.

Trapped In Paradise is not a great christmas movie despite some very familiar themes, it's not a great crime caper or fish out of water comedy either but overall it kinda works and is certainly worth a watch.

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2015 Seasonal TV Viewing - Deadliest Catch

Deadliest Catch

This is the eleventh season of the Discovery Channels premier reality/drama show dealing with the crab fishermen of the Bering Sea. While overall there was nothing new in this season the ingredients to make the final product offered up plenty of humour and drama with the usual mix of relationship and real world issues impacting on the job.

It has to be said that Deadliest Catch makes no bones about clever editing to maximise drama and pretty sure they milk the ups and downs of the "greenhorns" who are taking their first trip on a working crab boat. That said the entertainment derived from watching men (and a woman) face down mother nature never lets up and while we don't see weeks of simple, clear skies and calm seas fishing we do see the worse the crabbers have to deal with. The downside of an edited reality show is that you simply do not know for sure how serious events and situations are so you're never quite sure if you should invest in the conflicts between characters or events in their real life. However as before the sheer thrill of watching the boats and crews brave 30 foot rogue waves which smash the decks more than makes up for any question mark you put against a "story" being told.

The eleventh season had eighteen episodes and perhaps the highlight was Jake making a move away from the NorthWestern to skipper the Saga, it was very risky and perhaps proved he still wasn't quite ready but he didn't fail and that's a learning experience. He also became a father and pretty much had to leave right away to take on his duties on his new boat, it's that element of real world and the extreme workplace that makes this series work.

2015 Seasonal TV Viewing - Scrooged

Scrooged

There have been many adaptations of the classic Dickens novel and to be honest those that stay within the traditional setting leave me a little dry so when I first watched Scrooged many moons ago it was because of Bill Murray. Since then I have watched the movie more times than I care to think about but no shame in the reasoning, it's an excellent reworking of the tale in a more modern era (well modern as in when it was made) and combines all the important aspects of the original with some very good comedic elements both through visual gags and some excellent writing and performances.

Again as with The Muppet Christmas Carol I am not going to bother recounting the story but lets say the massaging of some of the characters and additions makes this a strong contender for the best of the movie adaptations of a Christmas Carol.
Robert Mitchum was great in his small role and Karen Allen as always a delight and it's hard to fault any of the actors and I particular liked the score for the movie. It was also rewarding to have a movie that made full use of the talents of Bobcat Goldthwait without going over the top, his hunting rabbit line was inspired and a sign of the times, Lee Majors in a fun cameo :)

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