chesterfilms Blog

Frosty the Snowman

chesterfilms — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 06:15:29 GMT

jimmy durante narrates and sings this hand drawn classic. "happy birthday! hey, i said my first words. but... but snowmen can't talk. ha ha ha, come on now, what's the joke? could i really be alive?" it's pretty much the song acted out... well drawn out, with a not so hot magician added as some what of a villain. but nobody stays naughty at christmas time.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

chesterfilms — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 06:14:45 GMT

the first popular release from the rankin-bass team. narrated by the great burl ives who also sings the famous title song and silver & gold. fantastic characters like hermey the elf who would rather be a dentist, yukon cornelius the self-proclaimed "greatest prospector in the north", the abominable snowmonster (a.k.a., "Bumble"), and all the misfit toys. nothing says childhood christmas like claymation.

The Bear Who Slept through Christmas

chesterfilms — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 06:13:33 GMT

you probably have never heard of this one. I have only actually seen it on television twice, but I own it the VHS (remember that unstoppable format). it stars tom smothers as ted edward bear...get it (ted e. bear), a sweet little bear who lives in Bearbank....get it? as we all know, bears hibernate during the winter. ted has always heard of this thing called christmas. he decides to stay awake this year and find out for himself what it's all about. I am surprised this special has never found a bigger audience. makes me sad.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

chesterfilms — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 06:12:47 GMT

i can't remember the first time I saw this special. I just remember always knowing about it. everything works so well. directed by chuck jones who is most famous for his work on the loony tunes shorts. you can see the similarity between some of his loony tunes from that period. especially from the roadrunner and coyote stuff. narrated and voiced by the iconic boris karloff, and the fantastically whimsical song lyrics and story by dr. seuss. it's a wonderfully redemptive story that always seems to stay relevant each year.

A Charlie Brown Christmas

chesterfilms — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 06:12:00 GMT

simple characters and simple drawings keep this classic so endearing. charlie's adimate frustration with the commercialization of christmas has always seamed funny to me because of his young age. the special celebrates everything great about christmas from the picking out of the tree, to the christmas pageant, to the most important part of christmas, the birth of christ. as mentioned in my top five favorite christmas albums post, the soundtrack is my favorite christmas album of all time. this special perfectly captures and celebrates the childlike spirit of christmas.

Control

chesterfilms — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 06:10:29 GMT

control is a biopic of ian curtis, singer for the late seventies band joy division. anton corbijn, who makes his feature film debut is best known for his photography and music videos. control is beautifully shot in black and white, and each shot is composed like much of corbijn's rock photography. this is anything but the feelgood movie of the summer. curtis was a troubled kid who suffered from epilepsy, and ultimately killed himself at the young age of 23. sam riley and samantha morton give fantastic performances as ian and deborah curtis. morton is especially good and is able to pull off playing a 17 year old (she is thirty). they give two of the best performances of the year. the film focuses more on curtis than on the band, but there are some great performance sequences, and they found actors who look exactly like the members of joy division. it's a downer, but a very good film.

Atonement

chesterfilms — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 06:09:34 GMT

joe wright's debut film was 2005's pride & prejudice. a film that i enjoyed, but never exactly saw what others loved so much. atonement is his second film. like pride & prejudice, it is also a period film, and it also stars keira knightley. i am not quite ready to write much about this film yet because i will be posting my list of my ten favorite films of 2007 in a few weeks. i guess that kind of gives away one on my list. i will say that this is the most beautiful film i have seen in a few years, and i have finally enjoyed, neigh, loved a keira knightley performance. it also contains of amazing sequences.

mist

chesterfilms — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 06:06:51 GMT

I consider myself a film snob, but the truth is i love movies so much that i give most of anything a chance. when i heard they were making a movie based on the stephen king story "the mist", i was very apprehensive about it. i really like king's books, but many of his films have not turned out to be good adaptations. i loved shawshank redemption,misery, & the shining (kubrick's version), and the green mile, but not so much of the rest. hope sprung forth when i heard that frank darabont (shawshank & green mile) would be writing and directing. then i saw the trailer for the mist. i completely wrote it off, but like always i end up watching these things.

it's a story where a military experiment goes wrong. and a handful of towns people become trapped in a supermarket as a "mist" rolls in to town. they can't leave, because as soon as someone leaves the building, they are attacked by some unworldly creature. the set up was ok. the cast was doing a fine job, but then about 45 minutes into it it began to unravel. marcia gay harden plays an over the top, typical to king, religious crazy lady. horrible special effects, and changes from the original story started to upset me . Than two thirds through the film it became interesting and actually creepy things started happening. darabont is a good director, so his shots and performances are more interesting than a less experienced director. still, it kept a b-movie feel throughout the film.

the end of the film was completely unexpected, dark and unsettling. it was very different from the original story, but it was really ballsy. i'm giving it a 3 out of 5. not a bad film at all, but i'm not really excited about ever seeing it again.

white christmas

chesterfilms — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 06:04:45 GMT

this is a horrible movie to watch with me. i promise you that i can recite 95 percent of this movie. seriously. my grandmother introduced me to this one when i was very young and i may have seen it more than any other film (i used to watch it in the summer). bing crosby, danny kaye, rosemary clooney & vera-ellen are the perfect cast to dance and sing their way through this classic. directed by michael curtiz (casablanca), all songs
written by irving berlin, and the first film to be shot in vistavision = classic!

Miracle on 34th Street

chesterfilms — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 06:04:03 GMT

although the 1994 remake is a charming, it lacks the magic of the original. with edmund gwenn as what may be the greatest santa in movie history, miracle's strength lays in it's cast. the beautiful maureen o'hara and the soft and sweet natalie wood. it's very inspirational and still holds up today.