Home Alone 3 (1997)

Alex Pruitt is 8 years old. He's unlucky to get the chickenpox and therefor must stay home in bed. When his mom steps out to get some papers at work Alex notices some shady type breaking in to a neighbors house. As the good kid Alex is he calls the police. However when they get there the thieves are gone. Next day it is dads turn to look after the kid and sure enough he has to step out to. Same thing, when the cops shows up the thieves are gone. Alex is trying to figure out what they are looking for and where they are gonna strike next. Since the cops didn't find any the 2 times he called nobody believes him and Alex decides to take matter into own hands and catch the thieves on his own with a camera and his toy car. Which happens to be what the thieves are after. Then of cause he has to protect his house and catch the bad guys (classic!)

Saying this is a home alone movie in line with the 2 first ones is almost a sin. It's fun and all but it is nothing compared to the others. Not the same type at story and everything.. not like they forget him at home they just don't believe him. Anyhow good things about the movie.. well even though the pranks are not all that cool the bird on the other hand is.. Alex's big brother has this talking parrot that I just love... it's funny and awesome..

"Houston we have a problem"

back to the movie.. well it's a onetime watch for sure but don't think it will end on anyone favorite christmas list on its own. You might like me just think hey lets see the whole bunch of Home alone.. but.. hm hope you know where i'm at...

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)

The McCallisters is back. It's been 2 years since the McCallisters forgot their youngest son Kevin at home while going on Christmas vacation. This year they plan another trip, this time to Philadelphia. once again they oversleep and have to leave home in a hurry. This time they do remember to get Kevin in the car to. When they get to the airport they have to run to the plane. On the way Kevin gets his fathers bag to get new batteries in his camera. He the follows his father to the plane. When the family lands in Philadelphia they realizes that Kevin isn't there. Kevin has a similar experience when he gets of the plane in New York. Upside is Kevin has his dads credit card, making it a lot easier to make the Big Apple his playground... Downside.. well the notorious Wet Bandits has escaped and is in New York to get some cash.

So even before the movie starts you just know that The Wet Bandits are gonna be sorry. The Movie follows then first movie great. You get the moms worry about might forgetting Kevin again. And Kevin's face when he realizes that he got himself forgotten again is just priceless. I know that some of the things is quite similar to the first movie.. but it is just in such a nice wrapping that I for one don't mind.. Its a really nice sequel that I love watching just as much as the first one :)

Home Alone (1990)

The McCallister is one BIG! family. They are all gather to prepare for a Christmas vacation to France. Kevin McCallister is only 8 years old and feels a little forgotten in the whole preparing stuff. His Mom tells him to pack his bag, a thing he's never done before, because she is busy talking on the phone. When Kevin ask around among his siblings and cousins they pick him down telling him he is worthless. At dinnertime Kevin starts a fight with his oldest brother because they have eaten Kevin's pizza, making the whole family mad at Kevin. Next morning the alarm clocks don't go off due to a power failure. They are all in such a hurry that they forget Kevin at home. Something the mom realizes on their way over the Atlantic. Kevin however is having the time of his life.. That is until 2 idiotic robbers starts roaming around and it is up to a scared little 8 year old boy to stop them.

Love this movie. Reminds me of Christmas back home.. no my parents did not make a habit of forgetting me at vacation time. I just watched it a lot over the years.. thing is I was 3 when this movie came out, Danish TV seemed to be very found of it so they send it every year since. And since it is a fun movie I have watched it often. Macaulay Culkin was very cute back then.. And the pranks always makes me smile.. Also there's morals in this movie (don't steal cause a kid will ruin your day) about Christmas being the time for family and forgiving each other, but also about being good to other people except for robbers though you can be "mean" to them ;) I do realize that most Christmas movies is about this. But that doesn't make it a bad one does it. 

The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006)

Santa's back. It's been 2 years since Scott got married to Carol. Carol is pregnant (wow like this won't screw someone up) Anyway being pregnant Carol is missing well tall people. Scott is behind on his schedule because he wants to bee as much as possible with his wife. To make Carol feel less homesick Scott brings her parents (and his ex-wife and her family) up for Christmas. However the board of legendary icons is having some trouble with Jack Frost. Jack Frost is kinda mad that he doesn't have his own holiday, therefor he is trying to steal Christmas. With the baby on the way Scott agrees on letting Frost help out. Frost uses the time to figure out how the Escape Clause works, so he can trick Scott and become Santa himself

Third times the charm right. Love the Frost character. He makes everything goes wrong. All and all another great Disney adventure on the North Pole. It is more a family drama than the others giving the baby and the secrets they keep from Carols parents, they have been told that Scott is working at a toy factory in Canada.

so go get that hot Chocolate and if you haven't seen the others then start that mini Christmas marathon watching the magic of the North pole.

The Santa Clause 2 (2002)

So went home to my parents this weekend thinking I wasn't gonna need my laptop (BirthE) since my dad has a laptop I'm allowed to use... WRONG! the thing is I'm not really allowed to install programs on it making it kinda hard watching the movies. Then i got home on Monday and the will to watch anything was just not there..  This is why I'm sry to say that I'm a bit behind >.< But I'm gonna catch up today... Nothing like a day off to just watch Movies ;)

As promised I'm all over The Santa Clause 2. In the first movie we meet Scott Calvin before he became Santa Clause. Today he has embraced his job as Santa Clause, however he is now faced with another clause in the Santa agreement. After working as Santa for 10 years he has about 28 days to find a Mrs. Clause. Not the easiest job  when you live on the North pole. Also there's the thing about Charlie ending up on the naughty list.

Okay maybe I should just admit that i love the Santa Clause Movies. and who doesn't love Curtis when he begins with the big words promoting the ending of Christmas. He is just so sweet. I love that they made a sequel that doesn't have this thin story line to follow. The story is well built and it is funny. You have your laughs and your almost crying moments because it's so sweet (last part might be a girl-thing).. And as a fan of Elizabeth Mitchell there is no way around that I just goes into aaauw mode when she shows up all cold and cute in this one ;)

Find Your Cocoa (remember not to hot, extra chocolate and shaken not stirred) and enjoy Santa Clause's search for a wife :)

The Santa Clause (1994)

In the Santa Clause Scott Calvin has his son for Christmas. After setting the turkey on fire twice Scott decides it is better to find a open diner. Being Christmas and all its not the easiest thing in the world to find a place that's open. When it's bed time Scott is reading a bedtime story to his son charlie about Santa. Charlie is having doubts about Santa Clause being real since he has been told that Santa is more a feeling than an actual person. That night Scott and Charlie sees Santa Claus and ehm kills him by accident. The thing is that when Santa dies a new must become Santa. Meaning that Scott becomes Santa, very much against his will.

¨
The Santa Clause is a favorite of mine. Even lost count of how many times i actually watched it. Guess it's just Disney being at the top of their game. You know funny, cute and meaningfull at the same time (oh a kinder eggs)... not much else to say than I love this movie...

sry for the short review today... work came up so ran out off time.. but i promise you this tomorrow I'm gonna watch the Santa Clause 2 :)

Elf (2003)

Elf's can have 3 jobs... the most wanted one being one of Santa's workers. In Elf we meet buddy, a well human elf. You see buddy is an orphan that mistakenly ended up on the north pole. Here they chose to raise him as an elf but he ends up just being to big and also to slow at making toys he is send to the special department. One day he overhears a conversation and realizes that he is human and not an elf. Buddy then decides to take to New York to meet his father and learn about who he is. Since Buddy is raised as an elf he just doesn't know how to act around humans. 

So seeing a grown man dressed in a green jacket and yellow tights just screams nut job.. which is pretty much what everybody is thinking when meeting Buddy in New York. And Buddy not being the brightest candle in the chandelier he is kinda acting like one to. So no wonder his father doesn't wanna know off him in the beginning.

I have to say I just love when Buddy goes to the mall for the first time. He's so adorable. His character is so comical. Filling the story with these little things that are just hilarious. Seriously laughing through the entire movie. So yeah it is a comedy big time. With the whole saving dad, get the girl and promote Christmas thing going on. I like it a lot because it's so funny. The Cast is well planed which can be the make or break in movies like this. Also Zooey Deschanel (uh mini bones  in blond version) is quite sweet and wow can that girl sing... like Amazed...  Am just gonna sit all quite now and droll very discretely. ^.^

Also just to brag a bit... this thing right here you see it.. these small bricks he's throwing out on the floor... they are called Lego.. guess where they were made.. oh yeah it's a Danish invention.. so proud or something like that..

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

As promised The Nightmare Before Christmas. Its after Halloween And the king of Halloweentown, Jack Skellington is feeling bored. He seems to have lost the Halloween spirit. After wandering for a while he finds 6 trees in a circle each with a door shaped like something representing the specific holiday. Jack opens the door for Christmas and is sucked in. Seeing the joy of this holiday Jack is filled with the excitement  he is missing in Halloweentown. When he gets back he tries to share this joy with the other citizens but they don't quite grabs the concept. Still Jack gets them to help him plan for Christmas.

So I'm told that I should be ashamed of myself for never seeing this one before. Might just be me that has been seeing other stuff. Anyway I am a Tim Burton fan so no surprise there that i liked the movie. Love the gloomy universes of his. The Nightmare Before Christmas is a mix between Halloween and Christmas and could maybe be watched at Halloween too. I myself would prefer it at Christmas. 

the movie is filled with screams and joy and songs.. some of them really evil songs... love the Evil songs muhahaha... ehm sry bout that. The song that i love the most however is "What's This", where Jack is just like a kid feeling the Christmas spirit for the first time. I love it so much I'm gonna share it.. A least YouTube isn't Cruel about this movie ;)

Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas (1999)

In need of a cartoon I rounded up Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas... Being a Disney I'm pretty sure it's gonna be good.. Disney do after all have a way of making instant classics... (just add water)

Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas is divided in 3 small stories; Donald Duck´: Stuck on Christmas, A very Goofy Christmas and Mickey & Minnie's Gift of the Magi

In Donald Duck: Stuck at Christmas Huey, Dewey and Louie (boy that's different from Rip, Rap and Rup) is being rude and selfless. At the night of the 25th december they wish that they could have Christmas everyday. But is it still magic and fun if it's Christmas everyday?

A very Goofy Christmas tells the tale of beliefs. Knowing Goofy of Cause he believe in Santa Claus. Max however has a bit of doubt. Goofy is doing everything to keep the magic alive in his very own goofy way. Something is wrong in the Goofy house if everything goes right.

Mickey & Minnie's Gift of the Magi is about doing good for others.. even when you don't have a lot. Mickey and Minnie don't have a lot but instead of just thinking about themselves they help out wherever they can. 

so like I predicted it's an instant classic. it's very entertaining and it actually got the Christmas spirit to rise within me, like a lot,. But then again it's also close to match to the childhood memory of the annual Christmas show provided by Disney that i have seen on the 24th since well since i can remember. I Love this one for they way it shows the true meaning of Christmas. Christmas will always be about Family, Beliefs and giving to others.  :) 

That's it for today come back tomorrow.. it's gonna bee The Nightmare before Christmas ;)

All I Want For Christmas (1991)

So did you know that if you do a Keyword search on Christmas in IMDb you get (wait for it) 3198 Titles (in fairness only 1096 of these are full movies) to choose from? Well since I didn't really make a watch list for this advent calender (in retrospect that could have been a great idea) I'm doing this cool thing called browsing. Doing this browsing time I learned that apparently there is something about Christmas in The Godfather (1972). Now I haven't seen The Godfather (yikes) so I don't know if it is true... i have heard about the horses head but never did i Imagine that there was alittle Holiday spirit to be found... Anyway Godfathers aside I fell on this movie All I Want For Christmas from 1991 it sounded good and a bit more in the spirit than The Godfathers ;)

All I Want For Christmas is about these 2 kids, Hallie and Ethan. Their parents split up and this is the first Christmas after the split. Now little Hallie wishes for the parents to get back together. So she starts of a plan well helped by her big brother. Not that he wants to. Anyway the scheme is on... but what is a great plan without complications. Besides things going wrong and Ethan being in love there's the thing with Tony, the moms date interest. 

okay so I'm a sucker for these sweet and funny flicks. The jokes is great, the kids are just so cute and their pranks hilarious. To tell the truth it took me about 5 minutes to realize I've seen this one before but it's so great I just let it play.. typing this in the meantime and looking at recipes (oh yeah I'm good at multitasking) still there was a lot of jokes I forgot or just didn't get the last time i saw it. So yeah this one is definitely on my favorite Christmas list ;) 

19 days til the Duck is served (guess that's 20 for some of you) :)

Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure (2003)

If  you're a follower you will know that yesterday I watched Christmas Vacation. If you want a recap you can get it here! Well I figured that i just as well could keep up the fun with the second one.

So we kinda gone a bit away from the Griswold family. Instead we follow their Cousin Eddie, a somewhat loser that can be outsmart by a monkey. Just before Christmas Eddie loses his job. He comes back to beg for his job when a monkey bites him. To get out of a lawsuit they pay off Eddie with a payed Christmas vacation on in the South Pacific.. Given that Eddie is well an idiot off cause everything goes wrong, They go sailing and end up stranded on an island. Since Christmas is right around the corner its up to Eddie and the family to make a proper Christmas.

So apparently I just live in a wrong country.. at least when it comes to YouTube.. stupid thing won't let me watch the trailer >.<

anyway... So being a Dane I'm used to that cold thing called snow being a part of Christmas.. know that's not the standard all around but it's just a i don't know what Christmas is to me.. kinda like Christmas smells like Cinnamon. So watching a Christmas movie without the snow was well a bit weird. However.. what the movies missing in snow it makes up for in fun. Kinda wished I watched this one yesterday cause it is so much more fun. Mostly cause they are just so unlucky and yet they feel lucky.

So because YouTube is CRUEL! I been nice and found this picture for you

Merry Christmas from the Tuttle family :)

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

So after a long long LONG day at work I just needed a good laugh. National Lampoon usually does the job so of cause I went for Christmas Vacation.

It's time for Christmas vacation at the Griswold family. Due to previous vacation going well not as planed (for reference we're talking about Vacation (1983) and European Vacation (1985)) the Griswold decides to have a Christmas at Home. What could possibly go wrong... well just EVERYTHING!

So guess what National Lampoon lived up to the expectations... Barely had the movie begun and I was laughing... hard. Just what I needed. Sorry apparently I ain't all that creative when i'm tired. Anyway this is a great movie.. it's funny and full of Christmas joy. And yes I'm gonna watch this one again.. Probably not this year given the Advent Calender but next year oh yeah it's on.

Tune back in again tomorrow.. until then keep the Christmas spirit up :)

Magic Gift of the Snowman (1995)

Hello and Welcome to December the 2nd. Started the day off with putting my alarm on snooze for well to long so i have to make it a short movie today so that i can actually see it before going to work.. After snooping around and figure out that my favorite stream-host is down for maintenance I found Magic Gift of the Snowman. a short cartoon lasting a little short of an hour.

Magic Gift of the Snowman tells the story of a family of four where the youngest, a girl, is really really sick and for her to pull though she is to survive to after Christmas. Given that she is so sick that of cause takes a miracle (well isn't that what they are all about?) The girls Big brother wants to help her sister and doing the night he makes a snowman and promise her sister to tell her the story about the snowman if she eats her food. After she has finished he tells the story of a magical land... And then someone stole the princess' smile. That's a bad thing just so you know.

Well the movie is kinda sweet, cliche but sweet. The beginning is a bit stiff.. It is trying to hard to show the perfect family with this big tough problem, which makes it a bit fake (me and perfect family just don't mix)
Anyway it warms up and when the cool cool snowman gets in  the picture it's just a great cartoon. And yes there are hidden messages.. Like Magic starts with a little imagination.... I'll let you find the rest

But can say that this is a cartoon I'll be willing to watch again.. like maybe next year ;)

And remember the only rule is to smile :)

One Magic Christmas (1985)

I LOVE Christmas. Unfortunately for me i work nights a couple of times every week so following the daily episode of whatever advent calender is on TV is kinda hard. So i present you with my own advent calender. For 24 days am i gonna review a movie with Christmas as a theme (preferably the main one) so that the Christmas feeling can find its way to me to ;)

So today is the 1st December, and my choose to go back in time to One Magic Christmas. Must say I'd never really heard anything about this movie so I figured this would be as good a place as any to start on.

So first thing i noticed is that this is a Disney production. Cool huh. Anyway around Christmas all the Christmas Angels gets there assignments by Nicholas. One Angel, Gideon, is sent to a shopping mall to find and help Ginny Grainger to find the Christmas Spirit. You see Ginny is not really big on Christmas and therefor stands as a big challenge for Gideon. Gideon then allies with Ginny's daughter on trying to make her believe in Christmas and Santa Claus again.

Sadly the only trailer for this movie on YouTube was someone making a horror trailer for it.. So instead i found this one with bits and pieces from the movie.. a bit of a spoiler alert though since it is whole scenes from it and not just a bit of quotes.

So what did i think of this movie... Well uhm I don't really know. It's not a bad movie not at all. but really slow and the story is very small. Might just be me being to used to major stories great effects and other stuff that movies holds today. Anyway i got a little bored along the way and honestly I didn't get the biggest Christmas feel of it. However (don't you just love how bad I am at making a decision) I myself is not in the biggest Christmas mood yet and guess this could have an impact on the movie.

My final conclusion is as follows if you have nothing else to watch this is a fine movie to put on. If you like older movies then sure go ahead. But my feel is don't go out choosing this one over others. The story about a parent who don't believe in Christmas anymore and has to be turned back to the spirit isn't like the most original and there are other movies that makes a better job at telling it.

so with this said happy December the 1. and welcome to my advent calender ;)

Crime d'amour (2010)

Yeah a French movie... I might have mentioned this a few times by now but I simply love french movie. Been watching a lot of them and most of them tend to end up on my list of favorites. This is no exception.

Crime d'amour or Love Crime, as the English title is, is a movie about Christine, an international business woman and her assistant Isabelle. Christine is the type to play with everything and everyone for her own pleasing and sure enough she is going to toy around with Isabelle to. Isabelle is exceptional at her job and seems somewhat in love with Christine and therefor willing to do pretty much everything to please her. One day however Christine takes credit for one of Isabelle's ideas in front of Isabelle and Isabelle is slowly beginning to see the game and that Christine might not be as good as she believed.

Okay so I kinda dig these movies where you see the human behavior at its worst (or should I say best?) The thing about humans is that we tend to like to see people at their worst behavior. Might be why reality shows are so in at the moment. Though I don't fall to the trend of reality shows I also enjoy watching this game that we play with each other even though most people wont admit it. This movie is a bright example of how cruel people can be and what effects it has when they are. How emotions blend in to whatever we do even when we hurt others. Off cause the title indicates that love is a feeling that we are gonna see a lot to in this movie. But there are so many types of love and most people don't realize how much love is a part of our life. Mainly because most people define love as a feeling you feel for someone else.

So rambling aside if you like french movies and/or movies with the content of cruelty of human nature this is one to watch. Some might say that some of the actors where stiff or whatever.. I must admit I don't usually notice this.. guess that when i do it's really bad ;).. and truly you could pretty much always say someone else would have done better, since it is a matter of taste. However I did noticed that maybe I should start watching more with Kristin Scott Thomas. I have watched a bit with her in the past and always found her a good actress. My amazement of her in this movie is that she can get so many different expressions without moving a muscle in her face but simply by the changes in her eyes. Love that in an actress :)

Sucker Punch (2011)

This is a movie that is hard to recommend to everyone. Not because it's a bad movie, I love this movie, but because a lot (like a lot a lot) of people don't seem to understand it. I don't know if it is because of lack of imagination or it is because they just don't know the feeling of wanting to get lost. I'll come back to this...

Sucker Punch is about a young girl, who after loosing her mom, kills her sister by accident in an effort to protect her from their stepfather. After the accident the stepfather gets her locked up in a mental facility paying a caretaker to make sure she gets "taken care of". The girl then enters a alternative reality where she is called Baby Doll and is to train in dancing so that she is ready for when the high roller comes.

So my opinion to the movie. Well it's simple I get it and I love watching it. So yeah it is an action movie that doesn't always makes the best sense. There is a lot of eye candy in it, and sure it is a big part of the movie. It is the fantasy Baby Doll chooses to have. And as I told in an earlier post I like movies that assumes I have at least half a brain and likes to use it.

Which brings me back to the fact that a lot of people just seems to hate this movie. In the beginning when I was reading about this hate I just didn't get it, simply because I find this movie great. And i kept reading these bad reviews and hate post about Sucker Punch and just ended up thinking that these people simply had to have watched a different movie than me. And then it hit me, Maybe they have. Not physical another movie but emotional and understanding wise. Like they didn't saw the hidden things that her fantasy tells without showing it or actually saying it. Not understanding how it's like to disappear into a fantasy giving you a reality that you can deal with better than what life is giving you on a daily basis.

So after all this rambling my conclusion is..... watch it with an open mind and form your own opinion. Don't think about what you heard about because it does effect you.

also whether or not you like the movie the soundtrack is quite good. I is a collection of great songs that fits the movie and that you could lose your brain to doing a bad day.

New vs. Old: The Parent Trap

So just because I can I decided to take a look on some movie remakes, comparing them to the old one. (hit's in the title ha?)... so I'll be take 2 movies at a time, watching the original one first (the old) and then the remake (the new) and then start rambling here about the 2 of them.. telling which one i preferred (if I can)

So let the battle begin. Disney has been so kind to make a remake of one of their own movies. They started of by making The Parent Trap in 1961 (following up with a sequel in 1986 wup wup) and then about 37 years later Disney rounds up a cute little Lindsay Lohan for a remake of The Parent Trap in 1998.

The Parent Trap is about 2 girls meeting at summer camp. They look like one another (well they are twins) but instead of just clicking they starts doing pranks on one another. Finally they screw up big time and are punished to be in solitude with each other. In the end they starts talking, figuring out they are twins and decides to switch places so they can meet the parent they never met. Also in this plan is the fact that they at some point have to switch back again forcing the parents to meet again. But there are some complications to the plan...

So getting a trailer for The Parent Trap 1961 on YouTube is pretty much imposible so this is all i could come up with

So I was one of those who grew up with the second version of The Parent Trap, I did learn about the first one a while ago but never really got around to watching it. Now I have.. must say that beside the Language and clothes having changed over the years and a few scenes, they are actually pretty similar :) this also makes it kinda hard to say you should chose not to watch one of them.

The old one is great... especially if you are into older movies. The new one is more modern (naturally) and I actually know the actors and actresses in that one. ;) If i have to chose it would fall on the new one. The pranks are so much more imaginative in this one. Also I love the fact that it takes a lot longer for the twins to notice one another. And let's face it Lindsay Lohan with her beautiful red hair and blue eyes is just adorable :) And of cause giving that technology has gotten better over the years there's better effects in the new one like getting to see the landscape and stuff... making me like the movie a lot more.

Also I have befriended IMDb.com (geeky me) and learned that there is the original parent trap from 61, followed by the sequel in 86, a third in 89 and a little bonus in The Parent Trap: Hawaiian Honeymoon also in 89. Guess i have some work cut out for me trying to find those three.

uh and a really cool fact, the woman (Joanna Barnes) who plays the girlfriend in The Parent Trap from 61 is playing the girlfriends MOM in The Parent Trap from 98

Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil (2010)

Not really sure how to start on this one. The thing is I really don't want to spoil this one because it is a very special film that is worth the watch. Again my friend was there to show me this nice piece.

Okay so there is this bunch of teenagers who goes camping. On the way they meet Tucker and Dale. Turker and Dale has just bought an old log near the lake where the teenagers is camping. Through accidents the teenagers and Tucker and Dale's stories gets mixed together and stuff starts happening. Now I'm stopping talking about the movie and letting you watch the trailer instead, Making sure I don't do a lot of spoiling :)

Anyway I find this movie cool. It's backward compared to other horrors and it is a comedy. I myself isn't one to go and look for horrors on my own. Don't really know why because I enjoy horrors just as much as most others (okay so if you are in doubt I generally just love movies). I do believe this to be more a comedy than a horror. Might be because my definition of horror is a bit different than Hollywood's. Anyway I believe that even the most hardcore horror fans would enjoy this movie just because it is so different from most horrors.

The beginning of a beautiful tradition

So my friend, yeah I spend quite a lot of movie time with this friend.. :) Anyway when we first met he told me he was gonna "teach" me to watch horror movies. The thing about horrors is that I truely belive that it is a group activity... also I have this thing about laughing in really inappropiate moments... :P So we havn't really watched that many in the time we spend together.. don't get me wrong we have fun making good food and watching different movies. So we desided in the spirit of the upcoming All Hallows Eve to go all in.. So this weekend we did... some good food... the try to make a little scary food and some horror movies... The choice of food fell on a chicken burger-sandwich thing... soooo good.. really yummy. And for well it was dessert.. like a couple of hours later... we had this tombstone/graveyard mud thing we found right around here... the thing is being danish the american measurements don't make much sense. Actually I'm fairly sure we did something very wrong in the translation. Which is why I kinda renamed it to Death by Chocolate. It wasn't bad it was just really heavy and it took some time to get through.. and you'd get a bit of a sugar rush.

so to the movies.. :)

After.Life (2009)
I really like this one. It is more a thinker than a scary one, but that should not stop you. Anyway the movie is about funeral director, Eliot, who is preparing a young woman, Anna, for her funeral. Doing this Eliot is talking with Anna, telling her he has a gift to talk to the dead. Anna however doesn't really believe that she is dead. Giving the interesting question and plot of the movie.. Is Anna dead or not?

So no surprise i wanted to watch this one because of Christina Ricci. I think she is a great actress and I am actually ashamed to say that I haven't seen all that much of her later work. Ricci was the actress I grew up with watching her in Casper and The Addams Family. Remembering her like this has in some ways made it a little difficult seeing her as an adult especially because she is so damn tiny.
Anyway I loved her in this one. I felt like I got the same quirkiness I remember from The Addams family.. but an adult one. You know?
Back to the movie. I was really intrigued by this one. Basically I love movies where I have to think about it, where I can't figure out what exactly is the truth. And this is definitively one of those movies.

Insidious (2010)
Insidious (good thing I'm writing cause I have no plans on pronouncing it.) starts of about this family of five moving into this big ass house. Now like any half descent horror movie of cause the house is scary. One night the oldest son climbs to the attic and falls down, alerting the house with his scream. Next day the boy won't wake. And then really weird things starts to happen...

So even with my lack of knowledge in the horror genre I know that this is the way a lot of horrors goes. I liked most of the movie. It was interesting and the effects where spot on and somewhat spooky. But in some way i guess it just didn't fit together. Like the movie was trying to be to much. know what i mean? Well I just believe that this is one of the movies where the "less is more" would have done so much for the movie. As we got along in the movie I got the feel that it was explaining to much. I generally just really like to think for myself and i felt like it was not that big an option. Now you might think I hated Insidious. I didn't, I actually liked it. I was entertained, I got my small jolts of shock, I even had a descent story to follow... it just could have been more by using less.

Trick 'r Treat (2007)
Trick 'r Treat is 4 (well 5) stories put nicely together as one. It tells the story of Halloween tradition (like trick or treating) and what happens when you don't abide to the rules of tradition....

So this is a really bloody one.. lots and lots of lovely blood (yes I'm a creepy one). Loved Trick 'r Treat for the fact that even though it is smallstories it actually fit together...  It is these small stories and one big story all wrapped up in one :) ... So get your costume on light your jack o'lantern, find a plate of spooky treats and put on Trick 'r Treat... if you dare! 

Also Sam is just adorable 

Happy Halloween

oh and remember ALWAYS check your candy 

Cracks (2009)

So this is another weird movie, but at the same time one of those you just simply can't take your eyes off. I mean as the movie got along i started hating some of the caracters and care and love others. Like really getting into the story. And the absolute best part is that at no point did i feel like it was getting to predictable on contrary i was hoping what was going to happen next wasn't really going to happen. (really really hoping) Which to me just makes a movie so much better.

So Cracks is about a bunch of girls in a british elite bording school in the 1930's. This particular bunch has a very special relationship with a young teacher and don't really socialize outside the group. In the beginning of the schoolyear the girls are told that they have to welcome a spanish girl into their group, not something the girls are rather fond of. However the spanish girl gets accepted, that is untill unwanted attention and jealousy gets into the scene.

So if you didn't catch it in the beginning, then i am gonna say it flat out now. I loved this movie. The quirkiness, the thrills and the cruelty of human beings is something that never ceases to amaze me. And this movie has plenty of it all. This is also thanks to the actresses that does the amazing job of protraying things we humans rarely want to admit exists in all of us.

This is however somewhat a chick flick. It is about the cruelty amongst girls (a thing i noticed very few boys know that much about) I do mean though that boys could enjoy this movie if they are into watching movies about human natures darker side.

Even Cowgirls get the Blues (1993)

So this movie is apparently based on a book. I didn't know that. Honestly I found this movie because IMDb told me Heather Graham was in it and I have made it somewhat my mission to watch all her movies (same goes for a few other actresses) Anyway Heather doesn't show much in this movie (quite disappointing) on the other hand we get to see a young Uma Thurman... that was, well different... actually not a bad thing.

However the movie isn't all that good.. bad is more the term. Something about a young girl with abnormal large thumps hitch hiking the country, being a model.. meeting cowgirls and i think joins their fight for uhm birds? :S I got lost somewhere around Uma kissing a girl and then moments later kissing a old Chinese-Indian guy...

As much as I love weird movies where you have to think things over a few times before it starts making sense, I most say I GOT REALLY REALLY LOST! That is never a good thing.. like ever. I get the humor in the beginning i even get the finding yourself wanting to be normal thing going on. But something must have gone wrong when turning this book (which i haven't read and it could therefor be just as weird and confusing even though i doubt that) into the movie.. like i just don't get the whole cowgirl fight thing.

I am not sure if I need to watch it again or if it is just a lost cause. As I don't know the book I can't even tell if you as someone who do will get disappointed or thrilled about this movie.. All I can say is that I didn't get the movie and found it weird and boring. With this note I hand the choice over to you... However.. if ANY guys reads this post.. RUN as fast as you can to find something manly to watch because I'm quite sure this is a feministic chick-flick

Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)

So a friend of mine popped this on one night and boy I have to say WOW!
Repo! The Genetic Opera is like this lost pearl that I never heard of. Which is a real shame because it is just that great. It's like an instant classic and it should be on any movie buff's watch-list.

So what exactly is Repo! The Genetic Opera? Well it's a really cool musical. Yiiks they're singing? Yeah a lot, but in a good way. The songs are really awesome and dark which I must admit I'm somewhat addicted to (welcome to the darkside...) guess it makes me in a good mood. weird hu?. Anyway evil singing aside. Repo! is about a future where you'd need surgery to survive.. also a lot of people seems addicted to these lifesaving surgeries. The base to the story is that when you get these surgeries you either pay a lot of money or end up in debt to the Geneco company. And if you don't pay your debt in time it's allowed to send the repossession man after you. Shorten down to the Repo man.

Back to the singing I might have mention this before but the soundtrack to this movie is just awesome. Like really catchy. Seriously after first watch (yeah I watched it a couple of times by now) I was humming the songs while at work... if you don't believe take a look at this song below ;-)

now go out and get this movie.. and get part of the cult world... 

lost in the series

Now the summer is over us and for most people that means not spending as much time in front of the screen as before. In my case it also means that BirthE chooses to turn off a little more often because of the heat... though it hasn't been to big a bother since the weather has been great and a bunch of my friends really want me to be social with them :)

When it comes to movies I generally don't see as many in the summer. Not just because i'm hardly home (yes I live my social life mostly doing the summer) but also because having to sit still for like 1½-3 hours and enjoy the movie just seems impossible... and you just know that the cord is nowhere near long enough for you to go outside and watch the movies. so my solution is SERIES... lots and lots of series. Each episode normally has the neat length of 30-45 minutes which gives you more than enough time to run around doing well stuff without forgetting half the plot in the meantime... oh yeah i have a short-term memory which falls a lot short of awesome.

Anyway series... what to recommend. Well most people are familiar with the lovely Ncis and Bones. Here in DK it is what rule the screen day in and day out... with good reason if you ask me. Anyway if you like these 2 series it is fair to say that you properly will enjoy the series I'm gonna mention below.

Life
I watched Life last summer. Still it is a favorite of mine. In Life we meet Charlie, a red haired dude who is returning top the job at the station after spending time in prison for a crime he did not commit. You follow Charlie in the chase after the person guilty of the crime he served time for all while working the force and showing a really weird relation with his recently gained freedom. It's a funny take on revenge.

The Mentalist
A series I recently finished the last aired episode of. Love this series for Patrick Jane's very special way to act. Jane is a "psychic" who helps the police in various cases against him being involved in catching Red John. He is attached to Agent Lisbon's team and has a way of driving them somewhat insane with his tricks and traps... here especially Lisbon. basically you follow Jane on his quest of revenge.

Veronica Mars
Now this is a more girly and especially youth targeted series. Veronica is in  high school and has a different type of after school activity. Veronica's father used to be the town sheriff but after a huge case involving the murder of Veronica's best friend he was forced to resign and is now working as a private detective instead. Veronica is helping her father with the job and even takes small assignments at school every now and then. I find this series very fresh and different from both the average crime fighting and youth series. there is the thrill of trying to figure out the mysteries and also all the social problems that Veronica is going through (yep girly) with friends or the lack of them, with love, her disappeared mom and of cause the case of Lily's murder.

Castle
Okay admitted I LOVE this series... like love love love love. I keep watching it over and over again. And yes I have been driving my friends and family completely insane talking about it. My fascination with this series starts with the choice of actors, who is doing a splendid job capturing the roles. Honestly the smoking Stana Katic as detective Beckett and the lovely Nathan Fillion as Castle is just awesome. And then we move on to the nice balance between fun and seriousness. It's just perfect and the writers has my deepest respect on this as I know it's a really hard thing to do. On to the show itself. It's about Richard Castle, a crime writer, who with the help of some powerful friends gets to follow detective Beckett around as inspiration for his next novel.

Has plans on posting a video about the series... just need the time and creativity on hold.. and then getting friendly with Youtube.

so this was my recommendations for a murderous summer... have fun :)

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)

So there would be no point whatsoever to hide that I'm a HUGE fan of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. And i would be lying if i said that I hadn't been waiting for On Stranger Tides since, well since they started talking about making it. And I am happy to say that in no way was I disappointed when I FINALLY got to see it. I simply just love it! Once again Johnny Depp portraits the oh so lovely Captain Jack Sparrow in all his problems. Beside having lost The Black Pearl... well again... Jack also has an imposter running around trying to recruit a crew... is there any way this could not go wrong?

Nah.. and just like the first 3 movies you go on the hunt for riches, revenge and a bit of love.. and yet not quite the same. However going into details is a major spoiler alert. Not really up for doing that.

I do however feel the need to point something out. I've seen more than one person complaining about how On Stranger Tides doesn't tie with the first 3 movies. Some even seem to find it a bad thing that they made a Pirates without Elizabeth and Will. o.O

Well this is how it is.. The 3 first Pirates of the Caribbean is a trilogy. Their main theme is without a doubt the love story between Elizabeth and Will (apologies) and you must admit that this little story tied up in a nice little bow in At Worlds End.

Now Moving on to On Stanger Tides. Well first of it is left with the promise of being the beginning of a new Trilogy. I am not sure about the main theme yet but I don't really seems to care for it at the moment. The point being it has a NEW main theme. Therefor it should not suffer under the assumption that it just starts where the third movie left us. Savvy?

all there is left to say is.. there is a long long LONG time till 2013 where we should be so lucky to encounter Captain Jack Sparrow again in a fifth movie.

Love and Other Drugs (2010)

Love and Other Drugs is about Jamie, a notorious bachelor with a fascinating charm and gumption. Unfortunately this is also the reason he gets fired... A lot! After one of these firings Jamie's brother suggest a job as a salesman for the medical company Pfizer. Jamie takes the job and while trying to get the doctors to proscribe Zoloft instead of Prozac he meets the patient Maggie. Maggie is a young and free spirited artist suffering from Parkinson. Because of the disease Maggie doesn't want anyone to get close to her, so her and Jamie starts up an emotionless relationship. As you can guess this doesn't hold and sure enough Jamie falls in love with Maggie. This starts a tumble of fitting Maggie, the job and Parkinson's together.

So after watching the trailer I was sure that this would be one of those movies where you'll be rolling on the floor laughing. Then a friend of mine went to see it and told me afterwards that it wasn't so and that she actually found the movie bad. Giving this information I turned my expectations way way down before popping the movie on. This made this movie a good surprise when watching it as i really enjoyed it. However it is NOT a roll-on-the-floor-laughing movie as I originally thought and if my expectations hadn't been on low I would have been very disappointed. Expectations are a pain ha? :P

Anyway I found this movie real as it takes a hold on a taboo most people hardly even realizes exists and yet a lot of people are forced to deal with it everyday. The question about what you would do if you fell in love with someone who has Parkinson or some other incurable disease. 

Honestly I would probably never see this movie again. However giving its theme I will recommend it as a onetime watch. It is a sweet movie and the main question of the movie is still roaming around in my head. Mostly because I myself have no idea what I would do given this specific choice. 

On other notes. This movie reminds me a lot of Autumn in New York (2000) and Sweet November (2001) both movies I adore and recommend. So if you seen these and like them you will definitely like Love and Other Drugs and vise verse. 

The Joneses (2009)

This is the story of a perfect family. Steve and Kate Jones is moving into a nice neighborhood with their 2 children, Jenn and Mick. Right from the beginning they show off their perfect life to everybody. Only thing is, the Jones family isn't real. Instead they are a group of people hired to sell trends in the suburbans.


As you might have guessed the Jones family can't stay perfect as people just ain't perfect. Steve is new to the job and has a really hard time setting off trends, keeping his sales minimized. Also he is in love with Kate. Their boss is after Kate for choosing a "rookie" for such an important job and she is therefor kinda on the line if Steve doesn't improve. Furthermore all the little things of human nature starts tearing up the perfect picture. For instant Jenn is having an affair with a married man and Mick turns out to be gay. Not even close to the picture of a perfect family.

Generally I find the plot extremely well thought and interesting. It attacks the modern problem of all of us wanting something bigger and better than the people next door. And the fact that we can't afford it doesn't seem to stop us. Therefore the idea of a "showroom-family" actually doesn't seem so far off. And with this kind of story line I feel that you get a good sense of the consequences of this type of society where the material things means everything. And also of how money and lies takes lead and ends up destroying all sense of love and friendship. Just because we can't admit that we are in over our head in dept. 

"well who's acting I love this car"