THE TWELVE CLIPS OF CHRISTMAS - DAY 4: SANTA CLAUS VS. SATAN

Well, yesterday's match-up between Santa and the Frankenstein Monster turned out okay in the end. But that was just a warm-up. Now, thanks to some weird fever dream writer/director René Cardona had back in 1959, Santa has to go up against Ol' Scratch himself...

Hopefully, the first thing everyone learned from this clip is that you should really invest in some sort of home security system, otherwise just about anyone will be able to waltz in anytime they feel like it. Given who might take advantage of the opportunity of an open door, a good home blessing with holy water and salt might not be a bad idea either.

The second thing to be learned from this clip is... Satan isn't always the brightest person in the room. As C. S, Lewis wrote in his rather lengthy preface to Paradise Lost (seriously, it's as long as some books), "What the Satanic predicament consists in is made clear... by Satan himself. On his own showing he is suffering from a 'sense of injur'd merit.' This is a well known state of mind which we can all study in domestic animals, children, film-stars, politicians, minor poets; and perhaps nearer home... What we see in Satan is the horrible co-existence of a subtle and incessant intellectual activity with an incapacity to understand anything. This doom he has brought upon himself; in order to avoid seeing one thing he has, almost voluntarily, incapacitated himself from seeing at all... He says ‘Evil be thou my good’ (which includes ‘Nonsense be thou my sense’) and his prayer is granted."

The short version is, if you purposely make yourself blind to what is right in order to be able to do something wrong unimpeded by conscience, you will almost always screw up by missing something important. This may even include not noticing a fat guy crawling in a window behind you and setting up a cannon to shoot you in the ass with a dart.

The even shorter version is... sin makes you stupid.

Thursday Movie Picks: Television Edition: Friendship

Welcome to Thursday Movie Picks, the weekly series hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. Each week we are asked to pick three to five films (on the last Thursday of the month we pick TV series this year) to fit the week's theme. We are closing the year with another Television edition and what a better theme than friendship? 

Cougar Town (2009-2015)

I guess at first this was supposed to be about Jules, a recently divorced, 40-something year-old mom, and her attempts at dating very young guys (hence the title), but it ended up being about her friends and her struggles to rediscover herself. I loved this one and I cried when it ended. The characters are awesome and the cast has such a nice chemistry.

Friends (1994-2004)

I'm pretty sure you all know this one, but in case you don't, it follows the personal and professional lives of six 20-something year-olds living in New York. This is one of my favourite shows ever. I love every single thing about it. It's probably the funniest show ever made. And I cried with this one too. Actually, this was the first sitcom that made me cry. 

The Big Bang Theory (2007- )

It follows a group of brilliant but socially awkward physicists whose lives are changed when an attractive waitress and aspiring actress becomes part of their lives. This is another of my favourites. It has decreased in quality over the years, but I still enjoy watching it. And it's still pretty funny. 

First They Killed My Father (2017)

I knew very little about Cambodia's history. Actually, I knew nothing at all so I took advantage of Angelina Jolie's latest movie, First They Killed My Father, to learn something about it, specifically about the brutal Khmer Rouge regime.

Set indeed in Cambodia in the 70s, as the Khmer Rouge invades the country, 7-year-old Loung Ung (Sareun Srey Moch) and her family are forced to leave their home and live in a horrific work camp. As you probably guess from the title, her father (Phoeung Komphaek) is killed and her family is forced to split in order to survive.

Like I said, I didn't know this part of history so I don't know whether the film is accurate or not, but I couldn't help but notice that the film doesn't dwell deep enough into the historical aspects of the story and to me, someone who didn't know the "backstory", was a little confusing. There isn't much of a plot either, to be honest. Nothing really happens other than the main characters going from place to place.

That being said, the story Angelina Jolie told, Loung Ung's true story (the film is based on her novel "First They Killed My Father") is compelling, moving and very powerful. It's told through the eyes of a child, and that's what made it work for me. That allowed me to feel her pain, her struggles, her doubts and her loneliness.

There's very little character development in this but at least the characters feel real and they are quite deep too, especially Loung. She's a young girl who finds herself in the middle of chaos without really understanding what's going on. She feels lost, and the young Sareun Srey Moch was able to convey all that bewilderment so well to make me feel it.

Netflix

As for the direction, it's a little uneven and it seems as if Jolie wasn't sure whether to make a documentary or a film. At times First They Killed My Father feels extremely realistic so much so it's haunting (the minefield scene to name one), while in others it's very emotional. There are several documentary-like aerial shots that show the work camps that feel very detached, and then there are others that are way more intense and impactful on the audience such as the close-ups of Loung. The cinematography by Anthony Dod Mantle is gorgeous though and the score is very atmospheric and fits the film.

Pottersville Movie Review

Pottersville (2017)

Rent Pottersville on Amazon Video
Watch Pottersville on Netflix
Written by: Daniel Meyer
Directed by: Seth Henrikson
Starring:  Michael Shannon, Judy Greer, Ron Perlman, Christina Hendricks, Ian McShane
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer 

Plot
Local businessman Maynard is mistaken for the legendary Bigfoot during an inebriated romp through town in a makeshift gorilla costume. The sightings set off an international Bigfoot media spectacle and a windfall of tourism dollars for the small town of Pottersville.

Verdict
The description conjured an image of a man stuck in a moral dilemma. I didn't realize this was primarily a cheesy Christmas movie. This refuses any drama and instead embraces bad jokes. The movie is ridiculously shallow. Does Michael Shannon ever refuse a role? This movie suggests he doesn't. Michael Shannon could have gone emotionally dark, but instead he's stuck in an ill-fitting comedy that takes a great concept and does as little development as possible.
Skip it.

Review
Maynard (Michael Shannon) is a store owner in a small town that's struggling financially. The movie makes a point to portray him as nice and kind, so when he went home early to surprise his wife I knew exactly what was coming.
I did not expect his wife and another man dressed in animal mascot uniforms. Hurt at the betrayal, Maynard gets drunk and makes his own mascot uniform, stumbling about town and waking up over the toilet. People claim they saw big foot and it makes the news with the small town becoming a tourist destination.

This small town on the edge of extinction is suddenly filled with tourists, bringing in money.
Maynard wants to reveal his folly, but he also doesn't want to turn off the cash flow. He cares for the town and the people in it.

I liked the idea of a moral dilemma. Maynard saves the town based on a lie. Revealing the truth could devastate the town. What I expected and what this is are vastly different. There's an annoying reality television host that wants to film big foot. That character was annoying and added nothing. It made the movie more shallow than it already was as this becomes the focus. We know reality television is fake, so I don't know why the movie wanted to explore that.

This is a weird concept and set up, but it becomes a surprisingly cheesy Christmas movie with the unwanted bonus of a lot of 'furry' jokes.
Everyone hates him when they find out it was all a ruse until they are reminded of what a kind person he is and all is forgiven. Maynard learns a little about himself, and the town opens their hearts.

This could have explored Maynard's emotional state during the ordeal. He doesn't want to lie, but the lie is helping. You could make this morally gray with the money he's making and contrast that with how much he's given away. He' stuck between a soon to be ex-wife and a potential girlfriend, but nothing happens there either.

Manhunt: Unabomber Review

Manhunt: Unabomber (2017)
Mini-series - 8 episodes

Buy Manhunt: Unabomber on Amazon
Watch Manhunt: Unabomber on Netflix
Created by:  Andrew Sodroski, Jim Clemente, Tony Gittelson
Directed by: David Ayer
Starring:  Sam Worthington, Jeremy Bobb, Ben Weber, Chris Noth, Paul Bettany, Mark Duplas
Rated: TV-14

Plot
Faced with few clues and an increasingly panicked public, the FBI calls on a new kind of profiler to help track down the infamous Unabomber with this in-depth look at how the FBI tracked him down.

Verdict
An engrossing look at a historical event. The true story part gives this terrorism story a lot of intrigue as we see the successes and failures of the investigation. While this falls into the oft used protagonist who everyone discounts, that doesn't take much away from the story. We even get into the history of the Unabomber, and the series tries to make us feel sympathy for him. The scale of the pursuit is astounding, and the break in the case is facinating. While the FBI got their man, they sacrificed a few people in the pursuit.
Watch it.

Review
The opening monologue, presumably from the unabomber, is effective. It's amazing how the mail operates and by the same turn dangerous, revealing insight into how he worked. This is cross cut with Sam Worthington's character Agent Fitzgerald's first starting the case and after the unabomber was caught. Fitzgerald is a profilers, constantly ridiculed as not real police and his ideas are dismissed despite being accurate. It's nothing we haven't seen before, but I do give the FBI credit, they have years of profiles with top profilers telling them each time they need to start over, so a brand new agent telling them the same thing is easy to dismiss.

Agent Jim Fitzgerald and Kaczynski.

The cross cutting from during and after the case works well. In episode three Kaczynski details how he'll evade the charges while we're also seeing the FBI trying to break the case. Episode four is crazy with the FBI's plan to set up Kaczynski and catch him. They plan to find a needle in a haystack by going through the haystack straw by straw. We get a lot of drama in this episode and it highlights how the drama is drummed up for a series. It's easy to misdirect the viewer. Even in the next episode we're introduced to Kaczynski's brother who proclaims Ted cant' be the unabomber. We know how that's going to go.

Everyone in this image was a suspect until proven otherwise.

A lot of movies and series depict a cop or agent bent on catching the bad guy. This obsession leads to them ruining careers, forsaking their family, and becoming obsessed. Maybe that's what it takes to track down people like Kaczynski. Is it worth it? In the broad sense, yes. By the body count, yes. Fitzgerald ruins his own life in the process. He also broke the rules to catch Kaczynski. I didn't do any research so I don't know what's fact and what's drama. Would he argue with his superiors as much as we see? The FBI has a hierarchy. Did Fitzgerald really break rank as depicted?

A young Kaczynski at Harvard.

Episode six gets into Kaczynski's background. I like how the series shows both sides, but he was a sociopath. He had no idea how to express emotion, acting out violently. He was isolated in every step at life and susceptible to suggestion. With no social skills this only highlights the abilities he lacks, fueling his desire for revenge. He was mentally tortured after being groomed for a year in a crude experiment. While I feel bad for him and the irreparable damage this had to do to him, he had tendencies before any of that. The show depicts him regretting what he's done, wishing he had started a family instead of feeding hate, but it feels like emotional manipulation. There's no way to know that, and anything the real unabomber said after he was caught cant' be fully trusted.
I also felt bad for Kaczynski's brother. The FBI sold him out to catch the unabomber, destroying the brother's life. Ultimately the ends justify the means, but more than a few people were thrown off the burning bridge that was this investigation.

Kaczynski eventually accepts a plea bargain. He's aware enough that he would be perceived as crazy during a trial, but somehow doesn't think he's doing anything wrong. I don't know how that reconciles. Did he just want to be heard, to get attention? Maybe it was all revenge for the experiments at Harvard. It was Kaczynski's need for attention that got him caught. That and analyzing his writings and speech patterns. Fitzgerald may not have been "real police," but he caught his man.

Lovesick Season 3 Netflix Series Trailer

Lovesick (2015-)
Season 3 (2018)

Lovesick premieres on January 1

Formerly known as Scrotal Recall, Dylan contracts an STD and has to contact all of his former partners.

Images from the trailer:

 

 

 

Somebody Feed Phil Season 1 Netflix Series Trailer

Somebody Feed Phil (2018-)
Season 1 (2018)

Somebody Feed Phil premieres on January 12

Continuing I'll Have What Phil's Having, the 6 part PBS series saw Phil Rosenthal visit Barcelona, ​​Paris, Hong Kong, Italy and Los Angeles to sample local delicacies. The series will continue on Netflix. Rosenthal is the creator of Everybody Loves Raymond.

Images from the trailer: