Finally, a Christmas movie that properly conveys the spirit of the season – Bad Santa! Directed by Terry Zwigoff (Crumb, Ghost World), Bad Santa stars Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox, Bernie Mac, John Ritter and Lauren Graham. Joel and Ethan Coen were executive producers of the film, and it was John Ritter’s last movie before […]
Category: Blog
Day 6 – Trading Places
Trading Places stars Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy and was directed by John Landis. It was Murphy’s second blockbuster in a row (after 48 Hours) and provided Aykroyd with a much-needed boost in popularity, as his post-SNL career (Blues Brothers notwithstanding) seemed to be floundering, Trading Places was released on June 8, 1983 and placed […]
Day 5 – Brazil
Brazil (1985) was written and directed by Terry Gilliam (Tom Stoppard also co-wrote) and was his second non-Python feature film. Jonathan Pryce stars, and the movie is full of huge names in smaller roles. (Robert DeNiro, Bob Hoskins, Ian Holm, and Michael Palin, among others). I rented it on iTunes. For the plot summary, I’ll […]
Day 4 – The Long Kiss Goodnight
Okay, okay I’ll admit it. I’m a little behind on this challenge. What does Jeff Goldblum say in Jurassic Park, “Life gets in the way”? No no, wait. It’s “Life finds a way.” Never mind, I’ll catch up on the weekend. The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) was written by Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, Iron […]
Day 3 – Life of Brian
Life of Brian is the second feature film written, produced and performed by the Monty Python comedy troupe, the follow up to Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It’s not actually a Christmas movie, having been released in August of 1979. Brian stars (of course) Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle and […]
Day 2 – Go
Go (1999) was Doug Liman’s directorial follow-up to Swingers, one of my favorite films of all time. It stars Sarah Polley, Katie Holmes, Jay Mohr, Taye Diggs, Scott Wolfe, Timothy Olyphant, and basically any other young up-and-coming star that 90s Hollywood had to offer. Screenwriter John August follows a Pulp Fiction-style, three-story plot line following […]
Day 1 – Arthur Christmas
Arthur Christmas is an animated film produced by the British Aardman Animations (Wallace & Gromit, Flushed Away) and distributed by Sony Pictures Animation. It stars James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Bill Nighy and Jim Broadbent as a multi-generational family of Santas. It has a fresh rating of 91% on rottentomatoes.com, and I watched it on Netflix. Arthur Christmas begins with the question: “How […]
The Twelve Films of Christmas
This year, in order to cram in as much Christmas cheer as humanly possible, I am challenging myself to watch 12 Christmas movies in 12 days. Now you may not think that’s much of a challenge, but for me it absolutely is. See, I’m talking REAL Christmas movies here, grownup movies. Movies that explore the […]
Video Game Videos
Last week on the podcast, I said that my children would rather watch YouTube videos over anything else, and I mean ANYTHING. Cartoons. Movies. Netflix. Mickey Mouse. Sesame Street. Adventure Time. Heck, even Pixar (the gold standard in children’s entertainment) doesn’t hold a candle to Best Cat Vines or Toby Turner branded videos. Kenton was […]
The Free Ride Is Over
Last episode, Kenton and I discussed my recent trip to Dallas for the Social Media Strategies Summit. It was an amazing conference and I learned a ton. Anyone who is currently working, or who wants to work in social media should attend this conference or something similar. So useful. One of the things that stood […]
