You wouldn’t expect much from a short movie about the famous Christmas novelty song, but lo and behold Rankin Bass manage to pull off an impressive feat. “Frosty the Snowman” is a great short fantasy film that knows when to call it quits and is never a cloying over abundance of cute and obnoxious.
A long time ago in a galaxy Far, Far Away, Bea Arthur ran a cantina with her alien pals.
And bandit Han Solo found it in his heart to interrupt his daring exploits to take Chewbacca home to be with his family for Christmas–er–Life Day. Though Chewbacca was explained as being a loner whose only friend was Han in the first film, he found time to bonk Mrs. Chewie and birth some chewbacca babies. So every now and then, I imagine Han has to stay over at his pal’s house, listening as Chewie and his wife argue with one another about taking out the trash, while Han tries to unfold the cot for his awkward sleep over.
Thankfully, time has been kind to “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” mainly because the short truncates the Charles Dickens classic, but still maintains many of its themes and heart. In the end, it never sugarcoats the potential fate of Scrooge McDuck, nor does it deny that Tiny Tim will die eventually because he couldn’t afford to eat and purchase the medicine needed for him. That said, “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” is a classic animated special with your usual Disney Easter Eggs, while also telling the classic story of the Christmas spirit.
I’m assuming for Tura Satana fans at the time, this comic book based around Satana would have been a fun little treat from her. Satana’s self titled comic book doesn’t really re-invent the wheel, but I really do enjoy the notion of Satana basically roaming around the country saving people and helping lost souls. Except this isn’t so much Satana as it is Varla from “Faster Pussycat!” who seemingly awakens after death and has to help lost souls to redeem her own (?) in the process.
Despite being featured in an article as one of the lowest grossing movies of the year (It premiered in one theater), “Storage 24” is actually a solid monster movie. If you want to see a vicious monster murdering thirty something Brits, this is the movie you’ll want to watch. Director Johannes Roberts‘ genre entry is a film with big ambitions, but a small budget, so he uses the creature effects wisely and pays off with vicious violence, and a pretty interesting finale. I’m not about to call “Storage 24” a masterpiece, as Roberts film takes too much of its time on back story and set up.
In a movie directed by Aaron Norris, younger brother of Chuck Norris comes “Sidekicks,” a movie about Chuck Norris, co-starring Chuck Norris who plays none other than Chuck Norris. Did I mention Chuck Norris is God? “Sidekicks” is one of the many goofy “Karate Kid” knock offs of the nineties, where Chuck Norris is given a virtual platform to show everyone in America how utterly amazing he is. So amazing is he, he even stars in a young man’s homoerotic fantasies so frequently, it borders on creepy. Bow to Chuck Norris’s Norrisness.
While director Ron Howard’s “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas” is by no means as wretched as “The Cat in the Hat,” it’s definitely a grim sign of things to come for the legacy of one of the greatest authors that ever lived. Typical of the Hollywood factory, the studios take a simple and meaningful story and bloat it to obscene proportions, turning it in to a ridiculous facsimile of the source material.