Thank You and Have a Happy New Year

While everyone this was such a great year for me. I said last year I was going to start my blog and I did. I had hope people no matter how big or small at least looked at what I have to say about a movie whether it be new or old and you did. Which is all I want to say. Thank you, thank you for stopping by and reading what I wrote down. And for that I wish you Happy (upcoming) New Year. A happy new year to all of my readers from America, Russia, Poland, Germany, and whoever else read. Thanks. Let's hope next year you'll love what I have to give you because there is going to be a drastic change coming. But don't worry about that okay. Go enjoy the ending of 2017 and prepare for the beginning of 2018 with your friends and family.



State of The Project (Dec 14th - Jan 1st)


Dec 14th - Raiders of The Lost Media - Cranberry Christmas


Dec 16th - Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi Review


Dec 18th - What You Probably Didn't Know About A Christmas Story


Dec 21st - Bad Santa Review


Dec 25th - Underrated Films - Arthur Christmas


Dec 28th - Thank You and Have a Happy New Year


Jan 1st - There's Going To Be Some Changes and New Segments



NOTE: IF ANYTHING CHANGES I WILL TELL YOU.

Underrated Films - Arthur Christmas Review

Arthur Christmas is a British-American 3D animated Christmas comedy film. The movie is produced by Aardman Animations and Sony Pictures Animation. Arthur Christmas' distributor is Columbia Pictures. The movie was written by Sarah Smith and Peter Baynham and directed by Sarah Smith.



The story is the unthinkable has happened, a child was missed when Santa was delivering presents. Since there is only two hours left before Christmas everyone thinks it's hopeless to give the girl her present. However Santa's clumsy son Arthur is willing to step up to the task. But will he make it on time?

Why It's Underrated

Now while Arthur Christmas did do both critical and finical well what makes it underrated is how nobody really talks about it that much. If you ask any average person about this movie they most likely won't know what your talking about. Which is a crime within itself because there are plenty of reasons why you should watch this movie on Christmas.

Why It's Worth Watching



One reason why Arthur Christmas is worth watching is there's not a villain anywhere in the movie. You can't even say the other Claus' are the bad guys because they just got lost in their work and forgot why they really do what they do.


Another reason why you should watch this movie is I think you'll like Arthur's characteristics. What I mean by that is despite him being the title character and being the main focus is he doesn't have all the answers. In matter of fact throughout the whole film he's just making everything up as he goes along. Also while the previous Santa Claus are arguing which way is the better way to deliver presents Arthur doesn't care also as all the good boys and girls get their gifts.


Now when I watched Arthur Christmas the first time I thought it was funny. Then during my second viewing I noticed some jokes I missed. So basically what I'm saying is the film's humor is great. So great that you'll want to watch the movie over and over again just to see what you missed.


What I also love about  the movie is the generations of Santa Claus. It was a very new and interesting concept to the character's mythology.


Now to tell you about the animation. My words can't do it any justice all I can really say is it's stunning and a few scenes are visually appealing.



Accomplishments


Now even though Arthur Christmas does see to slip under people's radar it did win critics and a lot of audience members hearts with reviews being positive. And yes it did win awards. It won an Annie Award for Voice Acting in a Feature Production with the award going to Bill Nighy and the San Diego Film Critics Society gave it there Best Animated Film award.



So if your ever in the Christmas spirit next holiday season please I beg give Arthur Christmas a chance. You won't be disappointed. Not having a bad guy was a good idea, Arthur is a fantastic and charming title, the humor is funny and helps the movie be rewatchable, the generations of Claus' is a unique idea, and the animation is astounding.




State of The Project (Dec 11th - Dec 28th)


Dec 11th - Scrooged Review


Dec 14th - Raiders of The Lost Media - Cranberry Christmas


Dec 16th - Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi Review


Dec 18th - What You Probably Didn't Know About A Christmas Story


Dec 21st - Bad Santa Review


Dec 25th - Underrated Films - Arthur Christmas


Dec 28th -  Thank You and Have a Happy New Year


NOTE: IF ANYTHING CHANGES I WILL TELL YOU.

Bad Santa Review

Bad Santa is a 2003 Christmas black comedy crime film. The movie was produced by Trypitch Pictures and distributed by Dimension Films and Columbia Pictures. Bad Santa was written by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa and directed by Terry Zwigoff.



The story is two professional thieves named Willie and Marcus reunite once a year for a holiday con posing as a mall Santa and his elf. However this year Willie isn't doing so well, he has become depressed and is drinking and with this behavior he has caught the attention of the mall's security boss. Can Willie get his act together before him and his partner are caught or will they whined up behind bars?

• Negatives

I've got nothing to say. So let's move on.

• Mix

One thing that I think is a mixed bag is the humor. There are parts of the movie where I laughed and other times when I didn't because something just wasn't funny.

In Bad Santa Willie befriends a kid named Therman. And while throughout the movie their friendship does have it's moments there's other times where you question why does this kid put up with Willie's crap?

• Positives

The thing that I found the most enjoyable is Billy Bob Thornton's performance. He did so well that if they ever made another Bad Santa sequel I couldn't see anybody else in this role.

Throughout the movie Tony Cox playing Marcus I found him completely unlikeable. Which makes sense because that was the intent. Marcus is definitely the character you love to hate. So it makes it so great with what happens to him at the end of the movie.

One thing I really like about Bad Santa is it's not the traditional Christmas movie. Typical Christmas movies are always whimsical, happy, or they try to stay family friendly. While not Bad Santa. This is probably the raunchiest Christmas film I've ever seen and I liked that. Because that means there's something that helps it stand out from all the other Christmas movies.

Bad Santa's strengths are standing out from other Christmas movies, Marcus is a pretty good villain, and Billy Bob Thornton's performance. The two things that could have used some work are the sense of humor and Willie and Therman's friendship.

My final rating is Okay

State of The Project (Dec 7th - Dec 25th)

Dec 7th - What You Probably Didn't Know About It's a Wonderful Life

Dec 11th - Scrooged Review

Dec 14th - Raiders of The Lost Media - Cranberry Christmas

Dec 16th - Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi Review

Dec 18th - What You Probably Didn't Know About A Christmas Story

Dec 21st - Bad Santa Review

Dec 25th - Underrated Films - Arthur Christmas

NOTE: IF ANYTHING CHANGES I WILL TELL YOU.

What You Probably Didn't Know About A Christmas Story (1983)

That's right I've got another What You Probably Didn't Know About and this time it's about a Christmas film that there's no way you can escape from, whether you like it or not. As always despite the numbering there is no specific order.






1. For the tongue stuck to a flagpole scene, a hidden suction tube was used to ensure a safe illusion that Flick had his tongue stuck to a piece of metal.






2. Ralphie said "Red Ryder BB Gun" 28 times.





3. The movie was the inspiration for the hit 1980's TV show The Wonder Years.







4. In the DVD commentary Peter Billingsley (young Ralphie) said that nonsensical rambling Ralphie was saying while beating schoolyard bully Scut was scripted word by word.






5. The film's setting is in an Indiana town, but it was actually filmed in Cleveland, Ohio. To find an American city that resembled Indiana in the 1940s, the director Bob Clark sent his location scouts to 20 cities before finally deciding with Cleveland.






6. Bob Clark actually has a cameo appearance in his own movie. He played the neighbor Swede who is one of the on-lookers who marveled at the Leg Lamp.





7. There was going to be a fantasy scene that would have involved Flash Gordon and Ming the Merciless but it was not in the final cut of the movie. And even thought it didn't show up in A Christmas Story the actors are included in the ending credits.





8. Ralphie ask three adults for a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas. Those adults being his mother, his teacher, and a mall Santa and they all said the same thing "You'll shot your eye out." But the one person Ralphie never asked was his father and he gave him the BB gun regardless.






9. The name of the Chinese restaurant is named "Bo Ling." That was actually a bowling sign across the top of the storefront but with the "w" not lit.






10. Ralphie's friends are named Flick and Schwartz. The actor who plays Flick is Scott Schwartz.






11. The film was released just before Thanksgiving and became a surprise hit. By the time Christmas rolled around, the movie had already been pulled from most theaters because it had been "played out". After complaints from audiences to both theater owners and the studio, the film was played on select screens until the first year of 1984.






12. According to Bob Clark, Jack Nicholson was given the script and was very much interested in play the role of Mr. Parker aka The Old Man. However Clark didn't learn of this until later and the studio didn't want to pay Jack's fee anyway, which would have doubled the budget. Regardless Bob Clark said that Darren McGavin was still the better choice and was born to play the role.






13. The writer/narrator for A Christmas Story Jean Shepherd also has a cameo. He plays the irate man waiting in line for Santa at the department store. Also the woman standing behind him is wife Leigh Brown.






14. The melody in Miss Shield's classroom is "Mary Had a Little Lamb". However if you listening closely the last two notes are incorrect.






15. Parts of the movie were filmed in Toronto, Ontario including the Christmas tree shopping scene. Another thing that shows you it was shot in Toronto is their red trolleys can be seen driving by the same tree scene.






16. Wil Wheaton auditioned for the role of Ralphie.






17. The music that plays when Ralphie said "fudge" and when the leg lamp breaks for a second time is the opening of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Hamlet.







18. Due to the film's popularity of being a holiday classic, the Daisy Rifle Company started producing Red Ryder BB Guns for the Christmas season. As such the Red Ryder BB Gun has become one of Daisy's best selling rifle models.






19. When Scut Farkus first appears the music that plays in the background is Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and The Wolf. Fun fact his last "Farkus" is the Hungarian word for wolf.






20. With the success of Bob Clark's 1981 comedy film Porky's he was allowed to make any film he wanted. So without Porky's we wouldn't have gotten A Christmas Story.





21. While Peter Billingsley has the most screen time he only had 93 lines of dialogue.






22. When they were filming for the Chinese restaurant scene, Melinda Dillon was purposely given the wrong script and everybody was in on it. She had no idea that the duck would have it's head and the first time she saw it was when filming was taking place. Which means her entire reaction in that scene was real. And that's exactly what Bob Clark wanted.



Well that ends this post. But before I go on to work on other post I want to tell you something. Next year I'll review A Christmas Story which will be fun but unfortunately I'll also review it's unnecessary sequel A Christmas Story 2. I know you'll have to wait a long time for that but I hope when that happens you'll enjoy what I have to say about both those movies.

State of The Project (Dec 4th - Dec 21st)



Dec 4th - Cinematic Disasters - The Christmas Tree


Dec 7th - What You Probably Didn't Know About It's a Wonderful Life


Dec 11th - Scrooged Review


Dec 14th - Raiders of The Lost Media - Cranberry Christmas


Dec 16th - Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi Review


Dec 18th - What You Probably Didn't Know A Christmas Story


Dec 21st - Bad Santa Review



NOTE: IF ANYTHING CHANGES I WILL TELL YOU.

Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi Review

Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi is an epic space opera film. It's the second film in the Star Wars sequel trilogy following Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens. The Last Jedi is produced by Lucasfilm Ltd. and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The movie is written and directed by Rian Johnson.


The story is Rey has finally begun her training with Luke Skywalker. During her training with her new found abilities Luke has become unsettled with her powers. Meanwhile there's a battle brewing between The Resistance and The First Order.

• Negatives

One of my biggest complaints is we don't get any details or get to know who Snoke is. Yeah we're not giving anything about him. We're told about him bringing Ben (Kylo) to the dark side but that's a thing we already knew. What we wanted to know is was he once a former Jedi, does he have any relation to Lord Sidious, or is an old enemy of Luke's. That's the kind of stuff we wanted to know.

• Mix

One thing I'm mixed on is the humor. Yes much like The Force Awakens this movie has some humor but where I feel as thought Force Awakens did it much better The Last Jedi was a mixed bag. There are two scenes with humor in it that really bothered me. Scene one was the opening fight, during this scene Poe is talking with General Hux and one point during that scene he trashed talked his mother. Yeah that was odd. Then there was also a scene when Kylo Ren and Rey after a mental conversation at one point during that Kylo is shirtless and Rey tells him to put on a towel or shirt. That joke kind of ruined the very serious moment they were having.

Another thing that was in a grey area is Finn and Rose's subplot. Basically they have to get fuel for The Resistance's ship. My problem with it is it felt like it was going on for too long. I understand this is a 2 hour and 32 minute movie but I still feel like this subplot should have been trimmed down a bit.

• Positives

All of the actors did I good job portraying their respected characters but the actor who deserves the most credit is Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker. Mark did a fantastic job. He's portraying a Luke Skywalker who is broken and has lost all hope in both The Resistance and The Force, and it's a stunning performance that I just loved.

I really enjoyed John Williams' score for The Last Jedi. It felt like an improvement from The Force Awakens. I said this because for whatever reason I felt like I couldn't get into The Force Awakens score but in The Last Jedi's I liked it.

The Last Jedi continues to give us Kylo Ren's conflicted struggle. He is so lost and where he should be. He doesn't know if he should stay with the dark side or go back into the light. Kylo's struggle along with Luke's lost of hope really added an even more emotional weight to the story.

We get a special appearance from a classic character. I won't say who it is. But let's say me along with the audience got really excited when he appeared.

Another thing I liked about The Last Jedi is the third act. Much like The Force Awakens and Rogue One we get an action packed and trilling final act. Many of the shots in the action scenes are visually stunning. One of the best shots were when a ship went into lightspeed during a fight. The visuals of that scene and the pause made my jaw drop.

Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi may not have been the grand successor for The Force Awakens like many people hoped for, but there are still things to enjoy. Mark Hamill's performance is with out of a shadow of a doubt the best performance in the movie, John William's score was a lot better here than in The Force Awakens, Kylo's conflict with where he lies was a great story element, the third act once again delivers all of the best action scenes, and that special appearance. The only things I didn't hate but couldn't get into was the humor and the Finn/Rose subplot. And my only real problem with the movie is we're not giving any new information of Snoke.

My final rating is Good

State of The Project (Nov 30th - Dec 18th)

Nov 30th - Raiders of The Lost Media - Champions

Dec 4th - Cinematic Disasters - The Christmas Tree

Dec 7th - What You Probably Didn't Know About It's a Wonderful Life

Dec 11th - Scrooged Review

Dec 14th - Raiders of The Lost Media - Cranberry Christmas

Dec 16th - Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi Review

Dec 18th - What You Probably Didn't Know About A Christmas Story

NOTE: IF ANYTHING CHANGES I WILL TELL YOU.

Raiders of The Lost Media - Cranberry Christmas

Disclaimer: I could be wrong on some details. So take this post with a grain of salt.

That's right just like What You Probably Didn't Know even Raiders of The Lost Media is getting in the Christmas spirit. So let me tell you about the partially lost animated Christmas special Cranberry Christmas. By the way this is probably going to be the shortest Raiders but other than that I hope you enjoy what I'm giving you.

Part One - What is Cranberry Christmas?


Cranberry Christmas is a 2008 animated special based on the 1976 children's book of the same name that was written by Wende and Harry Devlin. The special originally aired as part of ABC Family's (now known as Freeform) 25 Days of Christmas. It was the first and only time the television special was produced by Ocean Spray cranberry company and aired commercial free.



Part Two - The Story


The story is about a frozen cranberry bog that children in a small town skate on during the winter. A man named Cyrus Grape claims ownership of the bog and won't let any of the children skate on it. So a young girl named Maggie sets off to the find the documents to prove otherwise.


Part Three - Video Evidence


Now to my knowledge there is nothing about this special ever released to the public other than when it first aired. There has never been a re-run on Freeform nor has there every been a copy of it on DVD or Blu-Ray. People haven't even released a bootleg version of Cranberry Christmas online. The only thing that proves this special existed are the two video links I have other thing that nothing else.

https://vimeo.com/46487874

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0q3VFW47Yo




So that's going to do it for this edition of Raiders of The Lost Media until then enjoy all the other upcoming Christmas related stuff I have.



State of The Project (Nov 27th - Dec 16th)


Nov 27th - Underrated Films - The Iron Giant Review


Nov 30th - Raiders of The Lost Media - Champions


Dec 4th - Cinematic Disasters - The Christmas Tree


Dec 7th - What You Probably Didn't Know About It's a Wonderful Life


Dec 11th - Scrooged Review


Dec 14th - Raiders of The Lost Media - Cranberry Christmas


Dec 16th - Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi Review



NOTE: IF ANYTHING CHANGES I WILL TELL YOU.

Scrooged Review

Scrooged is a 1988 Christmas comedy film and is a modernization of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. The movie was produced by Mirage Production and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Scrooged was written by Mitch Glazer and Michael O'Donoghue and directed by Richard Donner.



The story is Frank Cross is a wildly successful television executive who has a cold ambition and curmudgeonly nature. This kind of behavior has drive away the love of his life and just to make matters worse he has fired one of his employees on Christmas Eve. Later that night Frank is visited by three spirits each one telling him to chance his ways. But will he?

• Negatives

One complaint I have with the movie is the ending speech. It just didn't feel right. Especially since Bill Murray referenced a line from Little Shop of Horrors that was weird. Basically what I'm saying is Bill's adlibbing was unnecessary.

• Mix

I've got nothing to say. So let's move on.

• Positives

The best thing about Scrooged is it takes a whole new direction of A Christmas Carol. The modernization really worked. I especially loved the new takes of the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, and Tiny Tim (whose stand in this is named Calvin by the way). It was something different and something that helps the film stand out from all the other Christmas Carol adaptations.


Since this is a comedy movie it begs the question. Is it funny? Well in my opinion yeah it's hilarious. One of the funniest parts of the movie is when the employee that Frank fried comes back drunk and with a shotgun. It's was a hilarious WTF moment.


One of highlights of the movie is practical and visual effects. Mainly the practical effects. The makeup was just amazingly well done and to this day they still hold up.


Now to tell you about the performances. Everyone does good but Bill Murray shines in this movie. It goes without saying but Bill Murray is great at playing an asshole.



Scrooged is a Christmas movie you really should watch. The new take on A Christmas Carol is something new and never done before, the humor is very much funny, the special effects are amazing, and Bill Murray's performance is one of the many good things about the movie. The only real downside is that very oddly delivered ending speech.


My final rating is Great



State of The Project (Nov 23rd - Dec 14th)


Nov 23rd - Coco Review


Nov 27th - Underrated Films - The Iron Giant Review


Nov 30th - Raiders of The Lost Media - Champions


Dec 4th - Cinematic Disasters - The Christmas Tree


Dec 7th - What You Probably Didn't Know About It's a Wonderful Life


Dec 11th - Scrooged Review


Dec 14th - Raiders of The Lost Media - Cranberry Christmas



NOTE: IF ANYTHING CHANGES I WILL TELL YOU.

What You Probably Didn't Know About It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

Hey everyone and welcome to What You Probably Didn't Know About. And this time this segment gets into the holiday spirit by telling you things you probably didn't know about the all time Christmas classic It's a Wonderful Life. As always despite the numbering these facts are in no specific order.






1. For the window breaking scene the director Frank Capra hired a marksman to shoot at it on cue. To everyone's amazement Donna Reed broke the window by herself. What helped her have a strong throwing arm was playing basketball in high school.






2. Frank Capra has often said this was his favorite of all his films.






3. The bridge scene were Clarence saves George was filmed on a back lot on a day where the temperature was 90 degrees fahrenheit. This is why James Stewart can be seen sweating in a few scenes.






4. That gym floor that opens up into a swimming pool is actually real. It's located at Beverly Hills High School in Los Angeles.






5. At the time the set of Bedford Falls was the longest set ever built for an American movie. It covered four acres of RKO's Encino Ranch. The set included 75 stores and buildings, a main street, a factory district, a large residential and slum area. Main street was also 300 yards long and to think it only took two months to build.






6. Frank Capra estimated that filming would be shot in 90 days. He was right and in doing so the cast and crew had a party to celebrate.





7. James Stewart was really nervous about the phone scene kiss. The reason being it was his first screen kiss since coming back to Hollywood after the war. Luckily under Frank Capra's watchful eye Stewart finished the scene with only one unrehearsed take, and it worked so well that part of the embrace was cut because it was too passionate to pass the censors.






8. 42 bells ring can be heard over the course of the film. If Clarence is right that means 42 angels got their wings.






9. Despite the film being set around Christmas, it was actually filmed during a heat wave. It once got so hot that Frank Capra gave everyone a day off to recover.






10. It's a Wonderful Life had a budget of $3.7 million that means around that time it was the most expensive independent production. In it's initial box office run it only gained $3.3 million thus making it a box office flop when it first came out.






11. When Uncle Billy drunkenly leaves the Bailey house, it sounds like he stumbled onto trash cans on the sidewalk. The reason being a crew member dropped a large tray of props right after Thomas Mitchell went off screen. During this James Stewart began to laugh and Mitchell said "I'm alright, I'm okay!" Frank Capra decided to use it in the final cut then he gave the stagehand a $10 bonus for "improving the sound."






12. Actor and producer Sheldon Leonard said in an interview that he only agreed to play Nick the Bartender so he would have money to buy baseball tickets.






13. Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star plays in most of Clarence's scenes. If you pay attention closely it plays five times overall.






14. In Gower's drugstore there a several examples of product placement. Coca-Cola, Paterson Tobacco Pipes, La Uncia Cigars, Camel Cigarettes, Lucky Strike Cigarettes, Chesterfield Cigarettes, Sweet Caporal Cigarettes, Vaseline Hair Tonic, Penetro Cough Syrup, Pepto-Bismol, Bayer Aspirin, and The Saturday Evening Post.






15. Two of the writers called the finished film "horrid" and refused to see it when it was released. Only one of Clifford Odets' ideas made it into the movie and that was George stopping Mr. Gower from dispensing poison instead of medication.






16. Films back in those days would use cornflakes painted white for a falling snow effect. Because of the loud sound they produced dialogue would have to be dubbed later on in production. Frank Capra wanted to record the sound live, so a new snow effect was made using foamite, soap, and water. This mixture was then pumped out of a high pressured wind machine for it to create a silent snowing effect. 6,000 gallons of the new snow was used.





17. Lionel Barrymore convinced James Stewart to take the role of George, even though he felt like he wasn't up to it after World War II.






18. This was the first and last time that Frank Capra produced, financed, directed, and co-wrote one of his films.



So I hoped you enjoyed this edition of What You Probably Didn't Know About. As a special Christmas gift you'll get another one of these. Which Christmas classic will it be. Here's a hint "You'll shoot your eye out kid".

State of The Project (Nov 20th - Dec 11th)

Nov 20th - Justice League Easter Eggs

Nov 23rd - Coco Review

Nov 27th - Underrated Films - The Iron Giant Review

Nov 30th - Raiders of The Lost Media - Champions

Dec 4th - Cinematic Disasters - The Christmas Tree

Dec 7th - What You Probably Didn't Know About It's a Wonderful Life

Dec 11th - Scrooged Review

NOTE: IF ANYTHING CHANGES I WILL TELL YOU.

Cinematic Disasters - The Christmas Tree

The Christmas Tree is a 1991 animated Christmas special. The movie was produced by Flamarion Ferreria Films and distributed by Family Home Entertainment. The Christmas Tree was written by Nels Christianson and directed by Flamarion Ferreria.



The story is a group of orphans are living with the heartless Mrs. Mavilda in awful living conditions. Then they befriend a nun named Sister Anthony and her two kids Pappy and Lily. Once the orphans are told the story of Christmas they think the only way to achieve a Merry Christmas is to find Santa Claus.

My Thoughts



When were told in the beginning just how evil Mrs. Mavilda the narrator says how she has nice looking clothes for the kids then she strips them out of those clothes to make them wear the awful ones. I bring this up because apparently the animators thought we need to see that. Yeah the scene literally has Mavilda strip them and we see the kids naked bodies. Thanks The Christmas Tree you now had me feel like I was watching something completely illegal and I should be put on a watch list.


One of the worse things about this movie is the plot. Yeah that synopsis I have above that was just something I made up hoping it would make scene to you guys. The reason being the plot is all over the place so you have a hard time trying to figure out what the story even is. Also there are some plot points that are brought up and never talked about again.



Now to talk about the thing this movie is know for. The absolutely terrible animation. This just might be the worse hand-drawn animation I have ever seen. Nobody moves naturally or anything. Hell there are even some frames of animation that are missing and it's very noticeable. If you by attention real closely you can actually see a guy just teleport onto the street. That's how bad the animation is.



The designs to the characters are just awful. Their always stiff and it also doesn't help that when the kids smile it's so creepy. Even Santa's scary looking in this movie and he shouldn't be. He's Santa Claus for crying out loud I'm not suppose to be scared of him.

Come here Lily, we got some candy for you.

One of the kids is named Pappy. I brought that up because isn't it kind of weird that Judy (Sister Anthony) named one of kids something that is typical associated with your grandpa?



When the kids want to go find Santa their standing around and wondering how are they going to find him? Then the kids' dog barks and Lily says "he knows where Santa is'. I didn't make that up. The dog barks and all of the kids think he knows where Santa is. How does that work? How does the dog barking indicate that he knows Santa's location? That makes no sense even in an animated movie.


Speaking of finding Santa when Pappy and his sister Lily go on their quest they travel to what looks like a snowy mountain and bump into a "polar bear". I put that in quotation marks because it's not a polar bear. What does the polar bear look like you might be asking. The polar bear's design if a blatant rip off of Baloo from Disney's The Jungle Book.

Also how do you screw up the design of a polar bear. Polar bears are not brown there white. Everyone knowns that. Even preschoolers know this and their probably just learning about the animal.

Then in that same scene Lily falls down a cliff (and her voice actress gives off an unconvincing performance by the way) and then nearing the end of the movie Santa Claus appears with her and everything's fine. That may seem cut and dry to you but that brings up some questions.

1. How did she survive her fall down a fucking cliff!?

2. Even if she did survive where exactly did she land where Santa would have seen her and she wouldn't have a scratch on her?

Now onto the voice acting...well like the animation it's awful. I mean a large majority are voiced by kids but they can't act to save their lives. I know that sounds a little harsh but when you hear them you'll say the same thing. However while some of them are voiced by kids one of them is voiced by a teenager girl. Um...why not use other teenagers who can act instead of kids who can't act? I'm so confused right now. Also one kids doesn't even sound like a child. He sounds like a alien who was gargling his drink at the time of his recording. Their was only was person's voice I liked listening to and that was Judy's other than her everyone made me what to turn on the mute button.

The Christmas Tree like many other Christmas movies have a moral your suppose to learn. The moral is "you always win when you are good". Now to be honest I wouldn't have a problem with this lesson if it wasn't for two things. One that message appears at the very last minute of the movie. Which means this moral was an afterthought when the writer wrote this. My other problem with this is it had nothing to do the movie. The whole story was about a group of kids trying to find Santa so they can have a Merry Christmas. So what the hell does this "you always win when you are good" have to do with that. Nothing! Nothing at all!

Well after watching and reviewing this movie I can see now why it's regraded as the worst Christmas special ever. The animation was atrocious, the plot either makes no sense or it doesn't exist, the voice acting is the worst I have heard from an animated movie, and that moral was literally shoved in at the last minute.

My final rating is Destroy It!

Okay one last thing I don't usually do this but since you'll have a hard time finding it here's a link so you can watch the movie for yourself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlFtMxG6mnY

So I hoped you enjoyed the return of Cinematic Disasters. I'll have another one I just don't know when it will be or on what movie. Until then enjoy this one.

State of The Project (Nov 17th - Dec 7th)


Nov 17th - Justice League Review


Nov 20th - Justice League Easter Eggs


Nov 23rd - Coco Review


Nov 27th - Underrated Films - The Iron Giant Review


Nov 30th - Raiders of The Lost Media - Champions


Dec 4th - Cinematic Disasters - The Christmas Tree


Dec 7th - What You Probably Didn't Know About It's a Wonderful Life



NOTE: IF ANYTHING CHANGES I WILL TELL YOU.

Raiders of The Lost Media - Champions

Disclaimer: I could be wrong on some details. So take this post with a grain of salt.





Hello everyone and welcome back to another Raiders of The Lost Media. Once again I'm telling you all about a lost video game only instead of it being on a console this one would have been for your PC. So let's get to it.

Part One - Premise


Champions was based on a table RPG, the game would have had comic book style superhero universe. The players would have had full customization traits such the character's built, facial features, costumes, the color scheme to the costumes, and which superpower your character can have. And of course it would have had pre-designed characters as well.



Part Two - Gameplay


Champions' gameplay consist of 24 different missions having the players face equally-powerful supervillains or your common thug as your base enemies but with these there would have also been different ways to win thus giving each stage some playable value.



Part Three - Cancellation


The original release date for Champions was going to be in September of 1991 (when the game was in Konami's hands) and then later on in April of 1993 (when the game was later giving to GameTek). However what cause the game to be cancelled was for how long it was taking to get made. Due to development continuing to drag some of the creators thought the graphics were outdated by that year's standards. So instead on starting all over again the programmers decide to shut down the project.



Part Four - Gallery


Since there's no gameplay or demo ever created the only thing we have of the game's existence are these photos taking from a magazine.

Well that's going to do it for this edition. Come back in December when I'll have a special Christmas edition of Raiders of The Lost Media.

State of The Project (Nov 16th - Dec 4th)


Nov 16th - The Top 11 Dumbest Justice League New Stories


Nov 17th - Justice League Review


Nov 20th - Justice League Easter Eggs


Nov 23rd - Coco Review


Nov 27th - Underrated Films - The Iron Giant Review


Nov 30th - Raiders of The Lost Media - Champions


Dec 4th - Cinematic Disasters - The Christmas Tree



NOTE: IF ANYTHING CHANGES I WILL TELL YOU.