Category: Movie Talk

My Favorite Christmas Movies

Lauren6 Comments

Okay, so we’ve been back from Jamaica since Saturday at 2 AM and I swear I’m writing something up about our trip but there’s a lot to say and it’s snowy and I’m watching my all-time favorite Christmas movie and I’m feeling the sudden urge to write about all my other favorites, so Jamaica will have to wait.

My Favorite Christmas Movies

1. Love, Actually

1219-loveactually-inset-2If you haven’t seen or don’t like this movie, you really need to ask yourself “what is my life even about?!”

One time, years and years ago, when I was immature and dramatic, Joey and I bought this movie and I went ballistic when he told me he had watched it without me. Except, I think if that happened now, I would still probably throw a fit. Maybe I’m still immature and dramatic.

2. The Grinch Who Stole Christmas

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How great is Jim Carrey in this movie?!

My family took a trip to California one year and did a tour of Universal Studios and they happened to be filming this movie so we got to see the Whoville set. I just remember seeing big whimsical snowy mountains. And that’s the thing about this movie, it captures the whimsy of a Dr. Suess book so perfectly. Plus it’s funny and touching at the same time. Win-win!

3. The Holiday

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I recently watched this one after realizing I hadn’t seen it in a couple years, gasp! Jude Law is gorgeous, Jack Black is endearing, Kate Winslet is perfect as usual and Cameron Diaz is…annoying. Or maybe I’m just jealous because Jude Law is in love with her and her hair always looks perfect. Either way, I LOVE this movie.

After watching it, Joey exclaimed that he wants to have a little English daughter like Jude Law. Which worries me because I am very very American.

4. A Muppet Christmas Carol

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Again, call me immature (see #1), but I’ve always loved this movie. Unfortunately for me, my family only owns it on VHS and apparently it’s socially unacceptable to watch (and sing along to) a movie starring a cast of puppets at the age of 23, so it’s been much too long since I’ve actually watched this one.

5. The Santa Clause

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Another movie I’ve loved since I was little. Tim Allen is so great in this one. I may have watched it a few weeks ago and then quoted line after line after line to my sister so we could giggle like small children. That basically sums up our relationship.

6. Scrooged

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FAVORITE and currently watching. I think this is a lesser-known and hugely overlooked Christmas movie, but seriously, it’s the best. I watch it every year and laugh at all the same lines, like I’ve never heard them before. Bill Murray is the king of all Scrooge characters.

Now, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll go enjoy the rest if my movie.

P.S. Please don’t hate me for not having Home Alone or Christmas Vacation on the list.

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What are your favorite Christmas/holiday movies?

Which Christmas/holiday movies seem to be everyone’s favorite, except yours?

Indie Pick of the Week: Brick

Lauren2 Comments

Joey and I don’t really agree when it comes to movies.  Mostly because everything he watches/likes is stupid.  Case in point: one time I tried to clean out his movie collection and he threw the biggest hissy fit over… Grumpy Old Men!  Because “that’s seriously his favorite movie!!!”  Come on.  That’s no one’s favorite movie.  I think he may have been being slightly dramatic and exaggerating just a little bit.  Also I hadn’t seen any of the Back to the Future movies until a couple years ago and this was apparently a big huge deal.  I guess.

Anyways.  One genre of film we do agree on is Indie films.  We love them!  Okay, some are a total wash, but for the most part they are creative, interesting, artistic and witty.  It’s like a breath of fresh air in a world where most of the big blockbusters star Kristen Stewart and look and feel like they took a week to make.

Lately, we have this little routine where we stay in on Saturday nights, cook up some awesomely sophisticated dinner, that usually involves fish (because fish is so sophisticated) and watch an Indie film.  You know, stuff old people probably also do, but I digress.  I thought it would be fun to share some of the movies we see, since most times, we love whatever we end up watching.

This past weekend, it was Brick, which stars Joseph Gordon Levitt.  So basically, say no more, I’m in.  After doing a little research (who does that??), and realizing it was written in the style of a hardboiled detective novel, I was super excited.  I read a lot of hardboiled stuff in a detective fiction class in college and loved it all.  The movie was hardboiled to a tee.  You’ve got the solitary but smooth detective, the classic detective story slang and the themes of drugs and violence.

Except.  All the characters in Brick are high school students, who apparently don’t go to class or have parents and who throw big lavish parties where everyone is dressed like royalty and no one is playing beer pong or chugging Bud Light.  Also it takes place is sunny California.  I mean, film noir translates to “black film” and there’s nothing black about bright cloudless skies.  It just wasn’t believable.  I will say that I think the dialogue was well-done, but reading detective slang is one thing, listening to it and trying to decode everything as quickly are the actors are speaking, is entirely different.

This one was a miss for me.  Joey claims he liked it.

Maybe we don’t agree on anything.

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What’s your favorite movie genre?

Do you watch Indie films?

Do you like detective stories?