The Grinch-Who Failed to Steal Christmas!!

I don't really know how many of you'll would remember this, but much before the movie actually came out in 2000, on Cartoon Network we had the animated movie of 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' which was absolutely spectacular. As a matter of fact that very same movie is present in one of the scenes of Home Alone 2. This movie is based on the same book by Dr. Seuss with of course certain liberties of it's own, and the classic character of The Grinch is played none other than the man of many green faces-Jim Carrey.
Now This story is a children's Christmas classic. And the combination of Jim's magical wit and the fact that he can emote so well even as the Grinch just pushes this movie to a different level altogether.
The Story is about The Grinch and the people of Whoville. For reasons we find out in the movie, he somehow prefers being alone and wallowing in self pity all the time, and absolutely loathes and hates Christmas. He gives it a shot thanks to Cindy Loo of Whoville who has little faith in Christmas herself, but old rivalries and feelings resurface and he plans to 'Steal' Christmas away so that it cannot be celebrated. But how do you steal Christmas???By stealing the material stuff right??Wrong!!
This movie has great relevance to today's society and raises some very important questions.
Is Christmas all about just the presents??
Can't we imagine a Christmas without Santa and Christmas trees and stockings??
Then what is Christmas all really about??
These might sound like really serious questions but the best part about this film is that it gives a moral in the most subtle way possible through a character who everyone should hate but can't stop loving.
Jim Carrey is impeccable as the Grinch and nails the character and mannerisms brilliantly. His counterpart, Cindy Loo is cute and has some of the craziest hairstyles that even Gaga might be inspired to try.
The animation, special effects and make up are in place like you would expect in a high budget Hollywood movie. And for those of you who didn't know this-this movie is actually directed by none other than Oscar Winner Ron Howard who has made some intense movies like Frost/Nixon, A Beautiful Mind and even The Da Vinci Code but this is a movie that's far from the genres he is used to but still has executed it beautifully.
It's a beautiful Christmas tale which you wouldn't mind watching again and again especially if you've grown up watching it.

I'm going with 3.5 out of 5 for The Grinch.

Happy Holidays and Keep Reeling!!

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

The one thing which we all wanted at some point or the other as a kid, was to have our freedom...Freedom from our parents, our home, our city even...and the want to just go and explore things on your own without supervision or guidance. We may fall on our face, or we might just push our potential to another level and rediscover what we are capable of doing, which obviously might surprise us at the same time. The Home Alone series captured this feeling and made an absolutely fun family holiday movie series, the best of which is clearly the movie I am reviewing right now.
There might be very few people among you who are reading who wouldn't have seen this movie, and keeping that in mind, I'll skip the synopsis. But for those who still haven't had the opportunity to see it, well, the title says it all. The Wet Bandits return and this time they are in for more torture by the hands of our very own protagonist-Kevin. This was the obvious bit and the expectation before we could even see this movie. But what sets this apart from the previous one are so many things:
Firstly, the involvement of the Bird Lady played by Brenda Fricker is easily the best and most touching addition to the movie. The relationship between Kevin and her is shown in such a beautiful way and is perfect in every scene of theirs.
Secondly, the involvement of New York-probably the best looking place in America during Christmas. Just the scenery of the stores and the decor is enough to make you want to be there at this time of the year. There's just so many dimensions to the city and this is probably my personal favorite picturisation of the city in a movie.
Lastly of course, there's the fictional gangster movie-'Angels with even filthier souls' which is even more hillarious than the first one and bringing in Rob Schneider for the scene just lifts it up a notch higher. Absolutely brilliant!!

Macaulay Culkin as Kevin is again a standout as in the first one with his misheveous smile and a screen presence that even established actors sometime lack. But of course, the first 2 movies were indeed tailor-made for him in every which way and there couldn't have been anyone better.
As is the same with Director Chris Columbus who is brilliant with Kids' movies ( he also directed the 1st 2 parts of Harry Potter ) by carefully tackling the plot in such a manner that the antics don't look repetitive.

All in all, it's good clean family fun and a movie that anyone will enjoy this Christmas.
I'm going with 4 out of 5 for Home Alone 2. Watch it to see how a comedy worked in the 90's.

Happy Holidays and Keep Reeling!!

Jingle All The Way-It's Turbo Time!!!

My first Pick for this holiday season is surprisingly an Arnold movie from the 90's. But yes, it about Christmas and of course, in this movie too we shall ignore Arnold's effort to act and concentrate on the more cheerful things :-)
But seriously this is among his most remembered movies and especially more so as he completely broke out of his mould as an action hero and adapted to the role of a father and a family guy so easily.
The story is about his son's character wanting an action figure for Christmas. Now like most dads Arnold wanted to be there for his son for most of the time, but due to work and a little bad luck, he always lacked somewhere. Therefore, he sees this want of his son as an opportunity to bond with his son again.
There is one small problem though.
The Action Figure is completely sold out on Christmas Eve and he cannot find one of those in the entire city!! Add to his dilemma, he has a cunning postman, a mad reindeer and a sly neighbour to contend with along with accomplising his task of buying a Turbo-man for his son.
Now the story is simplistic and direct, but also it is a movie that would entertain all audieces and more so it is a movie that gets you in the festive spirit without being 'in your face' about it.
Among the cast it's obviously Arnold who carries it on his Broad shoulders and his lack of acting is cobvered in the honesty of emotion that he so enthusiastically carries through his role.

I', going with 3.5 out of 5 for 'Jingle All The Way'.
It's a movie that'll take you back to your childhood.

Happy Holidays & Keep Reeling