Red eye flights are a good time to catch up on sleep but they’re an even better time to catch up on movies. So, as any incredibly exhausted person would do, I opted to stay awake and watch Austenland. Why? I love Keri Russell! Anyone who was in their late teens/early 20s at the turn of the millennium knows that Keri Russell was pure magic as Felicity. As a result, I’m a fan for life. (Except I don’t watch her TV show, The Americans… So, in retrospect, maybe not as huge of a fan as I thought.)
The premise for Austenland is a bit out there but as someone who has read Pride & Prejudice multiple times and can’t pass by any iteration of it on TV without stopping to watch, I figured I’d be able to roll with it. Keri Russell plays Jane, a woman who is beyond obsessed with Jane Austen novels and the world that exists within them. Click, click, click!
I’ve never been to a movie on Christmas Day before. But today was a time for something new and I think it would be great if it became a tradition in my family. Anyway, that’s neither here nor there except to say that I went to a matinee today with my mother and brother to watch Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.
First off, I am glad this movie was made and released before Nelson Mandela passed away. We’ve all heard of Mandela. Depending on your age and where you were in the world, you either remember a lot or very little of his personal struggle, the nation’s struggle, his leadership. This is one of the few times where I think the words living legend actually applied. So I think it would have been very difficult for the filmmakers to resist the temptation (and pressure) to falsify the man that Mandela was, to turn this amazing man into something superhuman which would actually be doing him a disservice and making him something less than the man that he was. He wasn’t perfect and that’s why this movie was so overwhelming to watch and part of what made him rise to the rarefied air of the truly remarkable. March on…
After a couple of failed attempts, I was finally able to get to a theater to watch Catching Fire with my Hunger Games movie buddy. (Hmm, I see now that It’s odd that the two of us are Hunger Game buddies given that we’re both notorious for having some sort of a snack on us at all times for fear of not being able to get to food fast enough. Seriously, we both always have at least a granola bar on us at any given moment.) Anyway, two nights ago, we continued our journey into the world of Panem. And I am glad we did!
I must say right off the bat that I was impressed by how faithful an adaptation this instalment was to the Catching Fire book. Keep reading to continue Catching Fire
Now that December is upon us, it finally seems like the right time to commence with watching some of my perennial holiday favourites. There are seemingly thousands of Christmas-themed movies and, maybe, dozens of Hanukkah-themed movies so it’s hard to narrow it down to a handful of favourites but that’s exactly what I’m going to attempt to do. I hope you see some of your faves below but if not, let me know what you would include on your holiday movies list. Happy Holidays!
Anyway, if you haven’t watched this movie before, where have you been for the last 10 years?! It’s definitely worth watching it for the first time or re-watching it for the 100th time. With lines like, “Let’s go and get the sh*t kicked out of us by love!”, you can’t go wrong.
Trading Places
I don’t know what it is about this movie but if I pass by it on TV, I have to stop what I’m doing and tune in. Every holiday season, I like joining my favourite conman, Billy Ray Valentine (Eddie Murphy) as he teams up with the recently fallen from grace Louis Winthorpe III (Dan Akroyd) to get the best of the two thoughtless millionaires (millionaires was ’80s talk for what we now call billionaires) who are responsible for Louis’s fall from the top.
Home Alone
This movie made kids everywhere wish their families would unintentionally abandon them for the holidays so they could have the run of the house! Who didn’t love how sinister Joe Pesci managed to be (but in such a child-friendly way) and how cute was Kevin McAllister (Macaulay Culkin)? And a lovely cameo from one of my comedy faves, John Candy! However, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York just amounts to child neglect. How do you forget about your kid again?! As Gob would say, Come on!
The Holiday
What other movie would have Kate Winslet and Jack Black playing love interests? The Holiday is probably not that great but I love it. Maybe it’s because I remember watching it in theaters with one of my oldest friends who makes everything more fun than it should be, but I just love this movie and look forward to stumbling across it on TV every festivus season. Plus, it’s pretty hard to beat 2006 Jude Law!
The Family Stone
I laugh every time I even think about Luke Wilson and Dermot Mulroney chasing each other in the house fighting as only brothers can. And when SJP slips in the breakfast she’s just prepared for the family? Amazing. And it’s a pretty impressive cast to spend a couple of hours with over the holidays. Might make your family seem just a little bit less dysfunctional.
I’ll Be Home for Christmas and All I Want For Christmas
I am always willing to watch one or the other of these movies… but never both in the same festive season. Come on, even I have my limits. I don’t think these movies really stand the test of time but I love them just the same as they’re such quintessentially ’90s movies. I mean, Jonathan Taylor Thomas?! Everyone loved them some JTT back in the day! Everyone. In this movie, all he wants to do is get back to his family in time for the holidays. Who wouldn’t want to watch that? And yes, that is Jessica Biel playing his girlfriend.
As for All I Want For Christmas… As you may recall (but probably not as I’m sure most of you have never seen this movie), All I Want For Christmas is a tale of two kids in NYC who will stop at nothing to try to get their divorced parents back together for the holidays. And shocker of all shockers, hijinx ensues! Yes, this is cheesy as can be but does it make it more fun if I mention that one of the kids is played by Ethan Embry? Well, it does for me!
Honorable Mentions:
The O.C. Chrismukkah episodes
Obviously, my penchant for teenybopper dramas from the late ’90s and ’00s has informed many of my preferences over the years but I think it’s safe to say that The O.C. was amazeballs. (Or at least the first couple of seasons were.) They gave us one of the best friendships of the decade when underdog Ryan met loner Seth Cohen. And that show gave us terms like Chrismukkah, which will surely endure the test of time.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
I really want this to make the list and every year, I get excited about the idea of seeing it on TV again but I can never quite bring myself to sit through the whole thing. I guess I just like knowing that it will be played every December but I don’t actually like watching it. Same goes for A Charlie Brown Christmas.
Mickey’s Christmas Carol
For a long time, I didn’t realize this story existed as anything other than an awesome animated movie featuring Scrooge, Mickey and Goofy but this one seems to be hard to come by these days. It’s been years since I was last lucky enough to happen upon it on a cold winter’s night. But just the thought of it brings on a fresh wave of childhood nostalgia.
Things I've Scene 