Yes. There is a Christmas movie about Santa and Martians. Yes, you may now cry, whether it be from disappointment or hilarity will by entirely up to you.
So, this movie begins with a reporter introducing us to Santa's workshop and to the big man himself, and Jolly Ol' Saint Nick gives the camera crew a tour around the workshop, just spreading some good ol' Christmas cheer. Little do they know, children on Mars are also tuning in, and many of them have become depressed. Unlike Earthling children, Martians are fed information into their brains at birth, and by the time they have the bodies of little boys and girls, their minds are already adults, so they miss childhood. The leader of the Martians goes to see a wise man, who in turn tells him that because the children are watching Santa Claus, they are becoming depressed at their lack of fun. The wise man recommends that they kidnap Santa, which they of course go and do.
When they get to Earth however, they don't quite know where to find the old chap, so they ask two little kids, Billy and Betty, where he lives. After the children tell them, they are also kidnapped because they can't be left behind as evidence. So the big man kidnapped, they're all off to Mars. From this point onward there are treacherous plots and intrigues, as we are to expect of course, schemed up by an evil doer that wants to rid Mars of the rosy-cheeked, fun-loving, toy-giving menace that is Santa. For good!! Dun dun duuunnnn.
This movie is so bad it's good. It has indeed found that line and crossed it. The acting is horrible. The children can barely remember all of their lines, never mind perform them in a believable way, and the adults are almost as bad. There's a really bad, funny scene when Santa is first introduced to the martian children, and to bring them cheer and show them joy, he just starts ho ho ho-ing in front of these sullen.. and then they all start laughing. It makes no sense. The end is also really good, Santa just starts yelling AWAY! like he won't see these people while they fly him home. Timeless classic right here.
This documentary is a sweet little time capsule of the day July 24, 2010. The creators asked YouTube users to submit a video of what their life was like on that specific day. They were also to answer a few questions, like what do you love, what are you afraid of, etc. In response, they received 4,500 hours of video from 192 countries. This movie really is a product of the times, and it's actually pretty good.
The director organized the videos chronologically, beginning with videos taken in the early morning and ending with videos taken late at night. Participants either vlogged various activities or parts on their day in response to the various questions asked. Other than the ideological progression of the questions, there is no real plot to this film. There are no main characters, no objective, no statement to prove. It's simply a day in the life of the people who participated across the world. Some of the participants are focused on more than others. A handful of people from several different countries are given more than the couple of minutes of time it would take to answer a question, and through this we get some insight into these people's lives. The majority though is a series of short clips edited together.
For those who aren't familiar with vlogging, it's basically the act of creating an online journal via film. Some people actually do this for a living and make daily vlogs of their everyday lives, unfortunately, not very many people are good at this. When I first heard of this film I thought it would be rather slow, maybe even boring, simply because of the fact that there are really only a handful of people who are good at this, enough so to make a full-time job out of it. A majority of the people who try to do this aren't very interesting to watch or listen to. For the first five minutes of this film I thought I was right.
However, the editing and organization of the clips that went into this film were really well done. One of the things that makes this form of film so effective is that it's real. Documentaries by nature deal in non-fiction, but this is something different. As I said in the beginning of this little blurb, it's more of a time capsule than it is a film. There's a real sense of connection with the people featured here and they're just trying to preserve the state their lives were in on July 24, 2010. They aren't actors, they're not trying to prove or discredit anything, there's no story here, no story other than the story of their day- to- day, run of the mill lives. They want so much to share these events with you that you can almost feel a connection with these people. Their laughter is real, as is their pain, as are their tears, and because of that you can empathize with them more easily than you could watching a story you know is false. You can actually watch this on YouTube for free. If you choose to do so, read some of the comments other viewers have made. Many of them were really touched by the stories these people wanted to share, and for me that's one of the best indicators of the reception this movie. Yes critics and film buffs can give their perspectives on it, but this movie was made by the people of YouTube, for the people of YouTube, and if the viewers there liked it, you can be sure it was a success.
That being said, it does transcend a YouTube audience. The wonderful everyday is celebrated in this film. You can truly appreciate how wonderful life is, and how heart-wrenching it can be. The humanity is glaringly apparent, and who doesn't like a little humanity every now and again?
This is a romantic comedy starring Carey Grant, Myrna Loy, and Shirley Temple. The story follows a high school girl named Susan who falls in love with a playboy of an artist who keeps running into trouble with the law, and he ends up going out with her too! Because of a misunderstanding at her school, Susan came to believe that the artist, Dick, wanted to use her as a model, and was thrilled because she was enamoured with him. Not knowing where she went, her sister Margaret became very worried, and when she found out where Susan had gone, was very angry with Dick. This wouldn't be a very big problem normally, but unfortunately for Dick, Margaret is a judge. Instead of sentencing him to do jail time, she tells Dick to pretend to go out with her sister to help her get over her teenaged crush.
At first things seem to be going according to plan, but Susan's infatuation shows no signs of waning, and even more concerting, there's a growing attraction between Dick and Margaret! How oh how will they all find happiness!?
A nice light romantic comedy with just a touch of drama. "You remind me of a man. What man? The man with the power. What power? The power of whodo. Who do? You do! Do what? Remind me of a man...."
This is a great movie about a woman, Ellen (Irene Dunne), who returns to her family after being shipwrecked on an island and declared dead. When she finally returns to her home, she speaks to her mother who tells her that her husband, Nick (Carey Grant), has remarried on that very day. Ellen goes to the honeymoon suite to try to find Nick, and when he sees her he's shocked and overjoyed... and acquires a whole new set of problems!
He has never stopped loving Ellen, but doesn't quite know how to break the news to his blushing (but of course snobby, potentially mean-spirited) bride. They all end up going back to the house and Ellen tells Bianca (new wife) and the kids, who don't know who she is, that she is a cousin from the south. The new wife gets more and more jealous of the bond between Nick and Ellen, and Nick seems to find it increasingly difficult to tell her that Ellen is in fact his first wife.
In the meantime, Nick finds out that Ellen was not alone for those seven years, but was stranded with a man. Nick completely drops his issue with Bianca and goes out of his mind with jealousy trying to find this man. When he finally does, he discovers that the man is very attractive, and is in love with Ellen!!
Just when things can't get any more complicated, Nick is arrested for bigamy. How will he get out of this scrape and will he and Ellen ever be able to be together!?
I really enjoyed this movie. It was a lighthearted, romantic, screwball comedy with a cheeky heroine and a hilarious scenario. Fun for the whole family!
As you can guess from the title, this movie is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet... with gnomes. Going into this movie I quite honestly had very low expectations. As they stated in the movie itself, more than once, this is an old story that has been retold many times. However, though it took maybe half of the film for the story to engage me, it ended on a good note and I didn't regret watching it.
The story takes place in the garden of a semi-detached house. The owners, last names Montague and Capulet of course, are a middle-aged to elderly pair or neighbours who loathe each other and toss insults at the other on site. Both neighbours have gardens and their garden ornaments seem to have adopted the feuding nature of their owners. One side is decorated in blue and the other in red. They either try to out-do their enemies by creating a better garden than their opponents, or more destructively, try to sabotage their enemy's garden. On the night of one such sabotaging raid, Juliet sneaks out of her garden because she sees a beautiful flower that will make their garden superior. In samurai style, she disguises herself in a black sock (and has a fishing pole she holds like a katana) and proceeds to leap and run along the alley fences toward her goal. Gnomeo, escaping from a failed raid, sees dark figure and intrigued, follows it to its unknown destination. He sees the flower also and as the two of the grab for it at the same time, their eyes lock and they are stunned by their attraction to each other (both in disguise). After a little flirtation stealing of the flower from one another, they fall into some water and their identities are revealed. And there continues the story of their deciding to meet secretly despite clan differences and the problems that arise. Will they ever be happy?!?!
Though the movie on the whole wasn't amazing, it wasn't over clichéd either, which was refreshing. There were one or two side stories that varied the forbidden love theme to keep the viewer guessing. However it wasn't at all a complex story line. An interesting little twist they did stick into the story however was a small chat Gnomeo has with a statue of Shakespeare. The Shakespeare statue listens to Gnomeo's situation and says that he's heard a story like it before, and that it ended in the lovers dying. Gnomeo then goes off to prevent this from happening to him.
Overall, a nice movie if you want to introduce Shakespeare to children who don't read, but not a classic.
So I came across this anime... and it is the most pointless show ever. The idea for this show is that the viewer is supposed to play this while they're going to sleep. So that they can sleep with Hinako, literally sleep with her. There are some perverted angles, but no nudity. I wouldn't recommend that a young person watch it, lets put it that way.
Anyway, the show starts off with Hinako saying that she's ready to go to bed, and then lying down talking to the viewer for a bit, and then sleeping. Pervy shots throughout. And that's pretty much it. When I first heard about the show I didn't really believe that that's all the show was about. I felt like there must be something more, but after a quick internet search and 10 minutes of my life I'll never get back... yes that's all there is to it. It's basically a show for lonely, lonely, girlfriend-less men.
I kind of want to recommend this show so that someone else can feel my pain... but no, do not watch it.
This is a story about an elementary aged school girl named Hinamori Amu. She's known as the cool girl, or the tough girl in her school because of her non-nonchalance and tough-guy attitude, but really, Amu is very different from her exterior. One day when she wakes up, there are three eggs in her bed, and one by one these eggs hatch into little guardian beings the represent who Amu would really like to be. Amu is recognized as a 'character bearer' and is asked to join an elite club at school called The Guardians, the members of which also have guardian beings of their own. As the plot progresses, Amu finds out that there is something or someone out there trying to take the dreams of children away and turn them into negative self-doubt, for some unknown and evil purpose. It is up to Amu, with the help of her new friends, to save the dreams of these kids and stop whoever is behind the attacks.
The basic premiss of the show is that all children have dreams and hopes and desires in regards to who they want to be when they grow up. Some may want to be really good at baking, some may want to be really good at art, some may just want to make other people happy. In the show these dreams are represented by eggs, which is nice in theory, I mean you give birth to this wish but don't know what it is until it hatches into something. But I have to very honest, it's only after watching two seasons of the show that I was able to stop cracking up at the whole egg idea (yes? yes.). To top it off there are these magical items in the show, a lock held by Amu, and a key held by one of her love interests, and these are called, wait for it.... the Humpty Lock. And the Dumpty Key. I laughed my way through the first ten episodes. I mean the episodes were good... but sometimes the execution was just ridiculous. Oh Japan, how I admire and love you.
Aside from some funnier elements of the show, the story was actually really well done. The plot, while dragging in some places (as do most in the magical girl genre.. what with the capturing and everything), was surprisingly well thought out and intricate compared to others in the genre. The show is basically playing with the idea of having a dream or a goal, or even an idealized version of yourself that you'd like to one day achieve. But of course, everyone has doubts and fears, especially when what they're dreaming for is very important, and sometimes that fear or that lack of self-confidence can get the better of you and make that dream seem impossible. One of the main objectives in the show was that Amu cleanse all of the 'x eggs' or the eggs that were consumed by self-doubt. While this got a bit tedious by the second season, for the most part a little lesson about the human psyche was learned with each cleansing. Sometimes through the dialogue of the characters, sometimes just by observing the situation. This is coming to me at a time in my life when I'm also struggling with these issues, so I might be over-playing the whole 'finding yourself' theme.. but it's good.
The characters were also well done. None of the characters were one dimensional... which can sometimes happen in animes. There was at least one episode devoted to developing each of the side characters to augment the personality they usually display. I won't go too much into character development because one of the best things about these kinds of shows it the anticipation of wondering when certain things will happen, and the surprise when they throw you something from left field. If you're familiar with manga and anime, the surprises won't be entirely shocking, but if you're not... they might be. And if you're not I suggest you get into it!! If you are willing to go there, I don't know what it is, but the Japanese are some of the best when it comes to emotional turmoil, both romantically and not. Anime/ manga or tv drama, it is definitely something to experience.
But yes. All of the characters are pretty strong, each in their own way. And what I enjoy about Amu (in terms of personal strength) is that when the show opens she has this tough, 'strong' exterior that she almost hides behind, and many people might consider that exterior to be true strength, but as the show progresses she finds a new kind of strength. If I were to relate Shugo Chara! to anime's that have come before it, I'd say that it's a combination of Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura. It's like Sailor Moon because of the purifying souls idea, and the team of helpers that can all transform, but unlike Sailor Moon, Amu is very self-confident and doesn't rely on some guy to fight her battles, nor does she enter into any unhealthy relationships. And it's like Cardcaptors because the show is really about personal development and inner strength, but there it more magic and transforming than Cardcaptors.
So again, though some parts of the show might be hard to swallow at first, if you stick with it you'll be rewarded with cute story about personal strength!
This is a wonderful collection of stories, both for young children and for older readers. The book has 10 elegantly written short stories. Some are clever, some are funny, some show the value of kindness, but all have universal truths and wise lessons to be learned. The stories are hundreds of years old, but the way they are told keeps them fresh for a contemporary reader, and their messages keep them relevant. There is a pronunciation guide in the back of the book, as well as a sources section telling us a little bit more about each legend. A must for all lovers of stories with a moral.
This is an interactive, mixed-media book about going out into the garden to find fairies. The author took pictures of someone going for a walk around in their garden with some children and drew in fairies here and there. Each page is a different location and the author talks about different things he or she sees around the garden and how it could be related to fairies. For example there will be a circle of grass and the author will say maybe its a fairy bed, or will find a fairy shoe and leave it on a rock for fairies to find later, or wonder where fairies are. All the while the impish drawn in fairies are hiding or prancing about all over the page. It’s a good book about going out to explore your own garden and find the fairies there. It’s not so much a how to guide as it is someone’s account of a thoughtful walk.
I didn’t personally like the book that much. The photographs the fairies were drawn on reminded me of those farm animal picture books they give you in the second grade at school, stale and boring. The writing too. I don’t mind stories with a simple plot or writing style, but children are brighter than this book gives them credit for. Without the little drawings I wouldn’t have picked this book up, and I don’t think any children would either. I don’t mind the idea of a book supporting an outdoor adventure in search of fairies, but this book is borderline boring. It’s a very slow-paced walk through a garden with simple text and uninteresting pictures. The little sprites are cute, but not enough so as to make up for everything else. I may be taking this to a bit of an extreme, but as a lover of fairies I know that a hunt for fairies can be full of wonder and excitement and mystery, and all of that was lost on me when I read this. It’s ok for a quick glance through, but definitely not a purchase.
This is a coming of age fantasy about a boy who is fascinated with trolls, but he’s reached an age where believing in trolls has stopped being acceptable. The boy goes in search for a troll one day after his mother has told them they don’t exist. Since the book he reads about trolls says that they live under bridges, he goes in search the bridge that is hiding the troll he believes exists. Fate allows him to meet a series of adults who give him information, but all of these adults tell him that trolls do not exist. He eventually finds what he is looking for, finds that his new friends are in trouble, and has to save them.
This is a made for tv movie… and you can really tell. I have only ever seen this on the internet, but other reviewers have stated the poor quality so it’s not just me. It looks a little bit better than a home movie, but if you grew up with this I’m sure nostalgia will equip you with a pair of rose-coloured glasses. The plot sounds like a good idea, but the actual product falls short of the mark. Labyrinth does a much better job at conveying this story line, but if you are willing to overlook the poor production and the cheesy story line you will find an acceptable family film.
This film is about a dark lord who wants to destroy all that is good in the world and take over it, so sends his minions to kill the only thing that could stand in his way, the personification of light and purity, which happens to be unicorns. At the same time, a princess named Lily and a feral child named Jack meet up in the forest. They’re in love and Jack decides to show Lily the unicorns as a present of sorts, and the dark lord’s minions follow them in the shadows. When they meet the unicorns the goblins shoot a dart into one of the unicorns, scaring them away, and then steals the male’s horn. The female unicorn and princess Lily are also eventually captured and taken to the dark lord’s lair, and at this point it is up to Jack and the forest faeries to save the unicorns and the princess.
I only heard about this movie a couple of months ago and after I watched it, I wondered why. It’s on the same level as The Princess Bride and The Neverending Story, but I suppose it wasn’t a book first. I was kind of skeptical when I first picked it up because Tom cruise is Jack. He was never one of my favourite actors, and he I wouldn’t peg him as being able to pull off a fantasy film… but he’s actually pretty good. Also, Tim Curry is the Dark Lord. Enough said.
I suppose the thing that would turn most people off about the movie would be the fact that there are unicorns in the movie, and I guess I can understand why that may put some people off. It’s very rare that you’ll find a serious, adult movie with a unicorn in it. Unicorns are almost synonymous with little girls and tea parties, and any attempts at showing their heroism or prowess are often side-lined, if at all existent, at least in pop culture. I promise you though, you will not think that this is a movie for children and may even find that you have a soft spot for our horned friends, not that they have a lot of screen time. In addition to a non-childish representation of unicorns, I also enjoyed the other faeries in the movie. As is so often stressed in faerie lore, the use of riddles and a battle of wits saves Jack many a time when he’s dealing with these inhuman friends and foes. I think you have to watch the Director’s cut (or the Goldman version) though, because the other version cuts out some of that banter.
One of the things I didn’t like so much was how the fall of the unicorn was sort of blamed on Lily. She went to go touch the unicorn despite Jack telling her not to, and when she touched it the goblin shot his dart. After that she was more or less blamed for goblins taking the horn. This doesn’t really sit well with me. I don’t know a lot of unicorn lore, but I know that girls are supposedly the only humans unicorns can really stand, so why would a girl touching a unicorn be a bad thing? It wasn’t her touch that cursed humanity, it was the goblins. Unless she was somehow meant to personify the dark lord and his evil, but that might be getting a little too biblical in its blame.
Something interesting about this movie is that, according to my Legend of Zelda friend, this film is the basis for the video game ‘The Legend of Zelda’. Wikipedia says that the inspiration for the game came from the creator’s “explorations as a young boy in the hillsides surrounding his childhood home in Sonobe, Japan where he ventured into forests with secluded lakes, caves, and rural villages.” I don’t know whether or not Wikipedia is right (you never do) but I do know for a fact that this exact explanation is how Miyamoto (the creator) came up with the idea for Super Mario Bros. … so maybe they’re just copy and pasting. Plus, Zelda was released in 1986 while Legend came out in ’85. You do the math. Knowing this you’ll be able to pick out the similarities very easily, if you know anything about Zelda that is.
