Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman (2000) Review

CLAYTON'S CHRISTMAS CINEMA!

Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman (2000) Review

You may remember back in October I reviewed a Christmas cult horror flick called Jack Frost, and I compared it to films so bad they’re good, such as The Room and Zaat. The sequel, Jack Frost 2, is the most inexplicable and ridiculous Christmas films of all time.

The family from the first film goes away to a tropical island for a vacation a year after Jack Frost, the murderer turned snowman thanks to some genetic alterations, attacked the town of Snowmonton and went on a killing spree. The Christmas season is in full swing on the island, but soon mysterious deaths start occurring, and everyone realizes Jack Frost is back with a vengeance. He turns the thermostat down on the island, killing people not just by firing icicles at them this time, but also by throwing snowballs at deadly speeds, turning into an ice block shaped like an anvil, and using his carrot nose like a knife. Once they find out anti-freeze won’t defeat him this time, he spits up a snowball that hatches into a baby Jack Frost snowman. Soon there are hundreds of these things running around, and the survivors must fight back against the impending threats and escape the island alive.

I thought the first Jack Frost was preposterous but fun, but Jack Frost 2 is somehow, some way, even more ludicrous! The bar was set extremely low with the first—so low even Hermes from Futurama couldn’t limbo under it—but this one accomplishes the impossible: it’s  EVEN WORSE! To be fair, it actually does improve in a few ways. There’s more blood this time when people get killed, the kills are pretty creative, and Jack Frost utters some more great one liners. Where it fails hardest is in the special effects. Was Jack Frost realistic to begin with? No, and he stays pretty consistent from the previous movie. There are a few scenes with a little animation, and they look atrocious. All the tiny Jack Frost offspring look like plush toys (as I’m sure they were in real life) and are mostly stationary. Whereas before no one took things too seriously, this time the characters/actors take things even less seriously. Nothing is scary, just like before, but before, it was funny. This time, the filmmakers tried so hard to be funny, that most of the time the jokes, gags, and purposefully corny dialogue miss the mark and is more annoying or pathetic than laugh out loud funny.

Jack Frost 2 is probably the worst Christmas film I’ve ever seen. To review it feels like a pointless exercise. It’s essentially just more of the same from the first Jack Frost. At times, it does manage to reach so bad it’s good status, but generally, it’s just a cluster of silliness. I wouldn’t recommend checking it out unless you really enjoyed the antics from the first one. 

A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas (2011) Review

CLAYTON'S CHRISTMAS CINEMA!

A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas (2011) Review

With this being the third film in the ongoing Harold & Kumar series, it seemed like a risky and questionable choice to take the two stoners who had such trouble getting to White Castle and getting out of Guantanamo Bay in the previous two films and place them in a holiday setting. But surprisingly enough, it works to maximum effect, and may even be the best Harold & Kumar adventure yet.

Like the previous two, this one is a stoner comedy, but it’s set six years after Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay, and since then, the two friends have split up and gone on to live very different lives. Harold (John Cho) has quit smoking pot, now works on Wall Street, and is married to Maria, the girl he first met in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle.  Kumar (Kal Penn), on the other hand, is still living in the same apartment, still smoking pot, and still doing nothing. Unless you count getting his girlfriend pregnant by accident (actually make that ex-girlfriend). Harold’s father in-law (played by a terrifying and hilarious Danny Trejo) brings his prized Christmas tree to Harold’s for Christmas. The tree, which he’s been growing for eight years, accidently gets engulfed in flames, when Kumar comes over to pick up a package that turns out to be a giant joint, which he lights up of course. And so begins their quest to find a new Christmas tree. Along the way, they get in some insane situations, slowly reconnect, meet crazy new characters, and one very familiar one who has an awesome song and dance number up his sleeve.

A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas is a very hilarious stoner comedy, and a great Christmas flick. In a scene very early on, there’s actually a direct reference and joke made at the fact that the movie was originally presented in 3D, and it’s still hilarious even in 2D. The gimmick is fully embraced throughout, and the special effects are surprisingly high tech. One particularly memorable scene involves Harold and Kumar tripping out, and it’s rendered all in stop motion. They see terrifying holiday themed monsters chasing them. Meanwhile, we get to see from the point of view of people on the street that they are being chased by nothing and attacking a lamp post. It’s easy to criticize the plot and general ridiculousness at play here—not just in this film but in all three—but compared to the last entry, the gags are all taken a step further, as they should be, and more jokes actually hit successfully for me than in Guantanamo Bay. If you’re looking for a raunchier sort of holiday comedy along the lines of Bad Santa, but still want a story that keeps the spirit of the holidays intact, then this is the movie for you. 

A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas is among the better third entries in a film franchise—particularly a comedy franchise—and will satisfy fans of the original with inside jokes and references, while also delivering enough Christmas cheer that even Buddy the elf would have something to sing about.

It's a Wonderful Life (1946) Review

CLAYTON'S CHRISTMAS CINEMA!

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) Review

Few Christmas films have managed to achieve what It’s a Wonderful Life has. Not only is it undoubtedly one of the greatest—debatably the greatest—Christmas-themed films ever made, it’s also one of the best films ever made in general, and is undoubtedly a classic in every sense of the word.

It begins with George Bailey (James Stewart in one of his most memorable roles) contemplating suicide on Christmas Eve. Clarence, (Henry Travers) an angel who hasn’t yet earned his wings, is assigned the task of saving George, and to prepare for this difficult task, he is shown his life. The story follows George from his childhood to his adult years. As a kid, George falls in a frozen pond while ice skating with friends and becomes deaf in one ear as a result. It’s these little details that make him, as well as the other characters in the film, so memorable and unique. After seeing George’s life in what is essentially an extensive (and extremely well structured) flashback, Clarence comes down and intervenes with George’s plan, jumping off the bridge into the river just like he was planning to. George saves Clarence, who proceeds to show George what life would have been like if he had never been born, and all the people whose lives he has positively affected over his life.

It’s extremely hard not to like or at the very least appreciate It’s a Wonderful Life. The film really is a character study, and a great one at that. We get to see many big events in George Bailey’s life, a number of them quite in depth, but it never feels overly indulgent or too extensive. There are more unforgettable scenes and quotable lines than I can count on my fingers, and it’s clear many other Christmas films have been influenced by this one. It’s difficult to truly pinpoint anything wrong with It’s a Wonderful Life. You may think it would seem outdated given that it’s nearly seventy years old, but there are surprisingly few aspects that really feel out of date. Across the board—acting, story, music, emotional impact—nothing is lacking.

This is a shorter review, because there isn’t much more to be said, other that if you haven’t seen Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life, then you’re missing out on the ultimate Christmas classic, and you should go watch it right now!   

Lethal Weapon (1987) Review

CLAYTON'S CHRISTMAS CINEMA!

Lethal Weapon (1987) Review

If you’re looking for a Christmas movie that isn’t just all carols and cookies and ribbons and wrappings and you want some gritty action to balance the yuletide carols, the default film is usually Die Hard. It’s one of the best action films of the eighties, and it just so happens to be set at Christmas time. But there’s another awesome action movie that was released a year before Die Hard which many people seem to forget also has a December setting, and that is Lethal Weapon.

It begins with a topless woman doing cocaine and jumping off a balcony, appearing to have committed suicide. The opening is very attention grabbing, but then it takes its time setting up the plot and characters. Murtaugh (Danny Glover) is an aging cop who’s trying to be a good family man and keep his insanity while working in the hectic L.A.P.D. As he says, he’s “...getting too old for this shit.” Riggs (Mel Gibson) is a batshit crazy ex-Special Forces cop who lives a rough life and fights with depression. Murtaugh and Riggs are made partners, and they begin an unlikely and unstable partnership, eventually becoming friends as they pursue whoever laced the woman who jumped off the balcony’s cocaine with drain cleaner, which makes it an attempted murder, not just suicide. As they get closer to catching their perp, the action ramps up, the stakes become higher, and it culminates in a final duel between Riggs and the villain behind the whole scheme (Gary Busey).

Lethal Weapon might not be as much of a classic as Die Hard, but it’s still an exciting action film and also one of the best of the eighties. The lead actors are definitely the standout here. Danny Glover is great as always, and Mel Gibson is both hilarious and frightening as the off-balance Riggs. It’s made clear he’s insane from the beginning, and his unpredictability plays out to maximum effect in several scenes. There’s a part where Riggs is negotiating with a guy who’s teetering on the edge of a building, ready to jump and kill himself. Riggs tries to talk him down, but then he handcuffs himself to the guy and jumps off the building! Luckily there’s an inflatable mattress below, but the audience doesn’t know that until they land on it. The direction by Richard Donner is excellent, particularly with the action scenes, and Shane Black’s script is full of witty sarcasm and memorable pieces of dialogue. As great as the film is, when there isn’t an action scene happening or the two leads aren’t interacting, it does tend to drag in some spots, and the pacing in general is actually quite slow. I also had a problem with the very end being too over the top, but I won’t spoil what it entails.

Overall, Lethal Weapon is a fun flick, and the Christmas season is present in nearly every scene, though it doesn’t play a huge part in the overarching story. It could have been set at any time of year, but we need more unconventional Christmas films, so I’m glad to have an action film other than Die Hard to watch over the holidays.

Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) Review

CLAYTON'S CHRISTMAS CINEMA!

Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) Review

How the Grinch Stole Christmas is easily one of the best books written by Dr. Seuss. It’s also certainly one of the greatest Christmas TV specials of all-time—personally my all-time favourite—so when I found out there was going to be a full length movie made, I was pretty excited. It got a mixed reception when released, and I can definitely say I wasn’t among those who enjoyed it.

The story is the same as the cartoon overall, but was expanded to sustain the 100 minute runtime. The Grinch is depicted as an orphan creature that ends up in Whoville and his raised in as regular of a home as can be considered regular in Whoville. As The Grinch matures and discovers he’s in love with a fellow classmate, he tries shaving, to miserable results. His classmates make fun of him, and this becomes the root of his Christmas hatred. He climbs up Mount Crumpit in anger, and lives out the rest of his days up there. Until one day, Cindy Lou Who discovers him messing with the mail down in Whoville as a prank, and starts researching his history. She invites the Grinch to join in on the Whoville festivities, and when he tries to be accepted by the un-accepting people, it goes bad and he returns to Mount Crumpit once more. Finally, he decides to remove the Christmas joy from Whoville once and for all by dressing up as Santa, stealing all the “stuff”, and taking it up Mount Crumpit in a sled and dumping it over a cliff. Cindy Lou Who discovers his plan and tries to stop him, but can she stop him before it’s too late?

This movie simply did not need to be made. Although it was directed by Ron Howard, it almost feels like a Tim Burton-ified Grinch film. The set designs are wonky and weird, both in Whoville and the Grinch’s lair, which is basically a garbage heap. Even though the idea of the Grinch’s home being, and I quote, “an appalling dump heap, overflowing with the most disgraceful assortment of deplorable rubbish imaginiable”, makes sense, it’s too over the top. That’s my main issue here; everything is so over the top. Jim Carrey is great as the Grinch, let that be clear. He gives a great performance and Rick Baker’s makeup effects were and are Oscar worthy, but the Grinch himself is so extreme he’s no longer funny and endearing despite being an anti-hero like in the cartoon and book. At times this film is actually quite frightening and disturbing, for a Christmas film aimed at family audiences, that is. I didn’t enjoy the story expansions—I liked it a lot better when no one quite knew the reason the Grinch hated Christmas, and the explanation given here comes across as the first idea that came to the screenwriters’ minds and they went with it—and as a whole, I didn’t think this film adaptation added anything new worth much praise.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas isn’t all bad, but it’s nowhere near a great Christmas film and fails to capture the magic of the source material. Jim Carrey does all he can in the role, but director Ron Howard presents an uneven tale set in an unappealing Whoville, with a tone too downbeat to be truly enjoyable.