Some people just get it and some people don’t.
Monthly Archives: December 2017
Cleaning Out The DVR: My Christmas Prince (dir by Sam Irvin)
(Hi there! So, as you may know because I’ve been talking about it on this site all year, I have got way too much stuff on my DVR. Seriously, I currently have 193 things recorded! I’ve decided that, on January 15th, I am going to erase everything on the DVR, regardless of whether I’ve watched it or not. So, that means that I’ve now have only have a month to clean out the DVR! Will I make it? Keep checking this site to find out! I recorded My Christmas Prince off of Lifetime on December 3rd!)
PRINCE CHARMING IS PRINCE CHEATING!
That’s an actual headline that is seen in My Christmas Prince. The prince in question is Prince Alexander Theodore William Hendricks (Callum Alexander), who is the next in line to take the throne in some little European country that’s definitely not the UK despite the fact that everyone there speaks with a British accent.
Everyone knows that Alexander as a prince, everyone but his girlfriend, Samantha (Alexis Knapp). She just thinks he’s a diplomat and technically, he is. It’s not so much that he lied to her about being royalty. It’s just that he didn’t tell her the whole truth. He wants to be judged based on who he is and not his royal heritage. Of course, by not telling Samantha that he’s a prince, he also hasn’t told her that he will eventually be expected to return home and rule his country. Samantha has plans of her own, which don’t involve being the Queen of a small European country that is definitely not the UK. She’s just been hired to design a summer school program for every school in the Bronx! The children need her!
(Personally, if I had the chance to be the ruler of a small country that pretty much only exists to support its royal family, I would say screw the children and catch the next flight to Monaco.)
Anyway, when Samantha decides to spend her Christmas with her family in Wyoming, Alexander decides to follow. And no sooner has Alexander stepped into the local diner then a waitress immediately recognizes him as the crown prince of whatever country it is that he is from. It turns out that she saw pictures of him online, attending a cocktail party with the royal family of Sweden.
(Of course, it wouldn’t be a Lifetime movie if the Internet didn’t somehow threaten to destroy everyone’s happiness.)
Anyway, it takes Samantha a few minutes to get used to the idea that her boyfriend is a royal prince. Of course, her parents are excited. The entire state of Wyoming is excited. But you know who isn’t excited? Alexander’s mother! Nope, she is scandalized at the thought of Alexander marrying a common American. She’d rather Alexander marry a baroness. Could this possibly lead to a bunch of misunderstandings and unlikely visitors coming to Wyoming?
What do you think?
Every Christmas, it seems like there’s at least a handful of Lifetime and/or Hallmark films that feature obscure European royalty falling in love in small town America. Once you’ve seen one of these movies, you’ve seen them all. There’s not a surprising moment to be found nor a disparaging word to be heard in My Christmas Prince, which is a mildly pleasant but eminently forgettable movie. To be honest, I don’t really demand too much from these movies but My Christmas Prince just didn’t work for me. For a predictable movie like this to work, there needs to be a real chemistry between the two leads but there really didn’t seem to be much of a spark between Knapp and Alexander. Much like the movie, they just seemed to be going through the motions.
I’ve often been asked which member of the Royal Family I relate to. Usually, I say Pippa Middleton but, to be honest, it’s the little girl in the picture below:
12 Days of Random Christmas Songs: “Hooray for Santa Claus!” (Theme from SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS)
1964’s SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS ranks up there with the all-time greatest films, alongside giants like Ford, Welles, Kubrick, Hitchcock… okay, so that’s not entirely true. The low-budget kiddie movie consistently ranks among the worst films ever made, though I kinda like it myself! And I absolutely LOVE the title theme written by Milton DeLugg, “Hooray for Santa Claus”, though I still can’t figure out why the kid chorus sings it as ‘Santy’, not Santa. Oh well, enjoy this classic slice of Christmas cheese:
Artwork of the Day: Hug From Santa (by J.C. Lyendecker)

by J.C. Lyendecker
Music Video of the Day: Bad Santa by Supanova (2012, dir by Jim Lang)
Today’s music video of the day should not be confused with the Terry Zwigoff movie of the same name. If anything this Santa seems pretty fun, even if he does charge for an autograph.
Anyway, I don’t have much to say about this video, other than it’s a fun little video and perfect for the holiday season. It was directed by Jim Lang, who, according the imvdb, has been directing music videos since 2012.
Enjoy!
A Movie A Day #346: Closet Land (1991, directed by Radha Bharadwaj)
It has been nearly two years since the death of Alan Rickman and it is a loss that film lovers are still feeling today. When Rickman was with us, it was easy to take him for granted. It was only after his death that many started to look at the films he made, both the good ones and the bad ones, and realizing just how much Rickman brought to every role he played.
Take Closet Land, for instance. This was made early in Rickman’s film career. It is a very theatrical film, all taking place on one set and featuring only two major roles. Madeleine Stowe plays the Victim, a writer of children’s books whose latest autobiographical work deals with a girl who uses her imagination to escape from unhappiness. Alan Rickman plays the Interrogator, a government functionary who demands that the Victim confess to hiding anti-government propaganda in her books. When the Victim refuses to sign the confession, the Interrogator continually switches techniques in his attempt to break her, trying everything from physically torturing her to blindfolding her and pretending to be other people to even claiming that he abused her when she was younger.
There are many problems with Closet Land but Alan Rickman’s performance is not one of them. Rickman is hypnotically malevolent as the otherwise cultured Interrogator and the most fascinating part of the movie is watching him switch back and forth from being a harried bureaucrat just doing his job and a manipulative sociopath who views the Victim’s sanity as a trophy for him to claim. Closet Land is too stagey and heavy-handed to be effective but Rickman’s performance reminds us of what a great actor we lost when we lost Alan Rickman.
4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Jack Nance Edition (Eraserhead, Twin Peaks — The Pilot, Whore, Meatballs 4)
In honor of the late, great Jack Nance’s birthday, here are…
4 Shots From 4 Films

Eraserhead (1977, directed by David Lynch)

Twin Peaks 1.1 “The Pilot” (1990, directed by David Lynch)

Whore (1991, directed by Ken Russell)

Meatballs 4 (1992, directed by Bob Logan)
Holiday Scenes That I Love: A Visit With Santa From A Christmas Story
I watch this movie every Christmas.
I’m nearly 100% sure that’s not the real Santa.
Here Are The 2017 Nominations of The Florida Film Critics!
Oddly, the Florida Film Critics showed very little love to The Florida Project. The acclaimed film only received one nomination, for Willem DaFoe.
BEST PICTURE
- “Call Me By Your Name”
- “Dunkirk”
- “Get Out”
- “Lady Bird”
- “The Shape Of Water”
- “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
BEST DIRECTOR
- Christopher Nolan – “Dunkirk”
- Greta Gerwig – “Lady Bird”
- Guillermo del Toro – “The Shape of Water”
- Jordan Peele – “Get Out”
- Martin McDonagh – “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
BEST ACTOR
- Daniel Kaluuya – “Get Out”
- Gary Oldman – “Darkest Hour”
- James Franco – “The Disaster Artist”
- Robert Pattinson – “Good Time”
- Timothée Chalamet – “Call Me By Your Name”
BEST ACTRESS
- Cynthia Nixon – “A Quiet Passion”
- Frances McDormand – “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
- Margot Robbie – “I, Tonya”
- Sally Hawkins – “The Shape of Water”
- Saoirse Ronan – “Lady Bird”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
- Armie Hammer – “Call Me By Your Name”
- Barry Keoghan – “The Killing of A Sacred Deer”
- Michael Stuhlbarg – “Call Me By Your Name”
- Sam Rockwell – “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
- Willem Dafoe – “The Florida Project”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
- Allison Janney – “I, Tonya”
- Holly Hunter – “The Big Sick”
- Hong Chau – “Downsizing”
- Laurie Metcalf – “Lady Bird”
- Mary J. Blige – “Mudbound”
BEST ENSEMBLE
- “Dunkirk”
- “Get Out”
- “I, Tonya”
- “Lady Bird”
- “The Big Sick”
- “The Shape Of Water”
- “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
- “Get Out”
- “Lady Bird”
- “The Big Sick”
- “The Shape Of Water”
- “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
- “Call Me By Your Name”
- “Marjorie Prime”
- “Molly’s Game”
- “The Disaster Artist”
- “The Lost City of Z”
- “Wonderstruck”
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
- “Blade Runner 2049”
- “Dunkirk”
- “Personal Shopper”
- “The Post”
- “The Shape of Water”
- “Wonderstruck”
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
- “Blade Runner 2049”
- “Dunkirk”
- “Guardians of the Galaxy 2”
- “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”
- “The Shape of Water”
- “War for the Planet of the Apes”
BEST ART DIRECTION/PRODUCTION DESIGN
- “Blade Runner 2049”
- “Dunkirk”
- “Phantom Thread”
- “The Shape of Water”
- “Wonderstruck”
BEST SCORE
- “Blade Runner 2049”
- “Dunkirk”
- “Phantom Thread”
- “The Shape of Water”
- “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
BEST DOCUMENTARY
- “Dawson City: Frozen Time”
- “Ex Libris: New York Public Library”
- “Faces Places”
- “Jane”
- “Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold”
- “Kedi”
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
- “BPM”
- “First They Killed My Father”
- “Loveless”
- “The Ornithologist”
- “The Square”
BEST ANIMATED FILM
- “Coco”
- “Loving Vincent”
- “The Boss Baby”
- “The Breadwinner”
- “The LEGO Batman Movie”
BEST FIRST FILM
- “Get Out”
- “God’s Own Country”
- “Ingrid Goes West”
- “Molly’s Game”
BREAKOUT AWARD
- Barry Keoghan
- Greta Gerwig
- Jordan Peele
- Millicent Simmonds
- Timothée Chalamet
12 Days of Random Christmas Songs: “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” by Judy Garland (from MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS)
Judy Garland introduced the world to the Hugh Martin/Ralph Blane classic “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” in the 1944 film MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, directed by her then-husband Vincente Minnelli. There have been countless cover versions over the decades, but no one does the tune quite like Judy! Bask in the glow of her warm voice and enjoy!:




