2010 December Marathon - Discussion thread

[Tom]

It is time for our annual December (Christmas) marathon.
You are not bound by a specific marathon type. You can choose any type you feel comfortable with. Here are a few suggestions from last year's thread:

Choice A
Full Christmas Marathon (A)...
Watch 31 films or tv episodes linked either directly, or loosely, with Christmas.
Film examples - santa clause, miracle on 34th street
TV episode examples - tour of duty s3: green christmas, jonathan creek christmas special
Loosely linked examples - Die Hard (set in xmas holiday), 25th hour (25th is xmas), Crash (stars HOLLY Hunter)


Choice B
Full December Marathon (B)...
Watch 31 films or tv episodes beginning, or ending, with the following letters;
D V D C O L L E C T O R S O N L I N E X M A S M A R A T H O N


Choice C
12 DVDS of Christmas (C)...
Watch 12 films or TV episodes linked directly to Christmas

Please post your lists in the dedicated list thread.

[Critter]

I won't be doing this marathon but this made me laugh  .

Crash (stars HOLLY Hunter)

[Rogmeister]

I had forgotten about this marathon!  I will try to take part but I rarely manage to see them through.  I don't have that many Christmas-themed movies anyway so I will take choice C.  I should be able to manage 12 movies and/or TV episodes.  if I don't have 12 Christmas movies, I know I can fill in the rest with TV episodes.

[addicted2dvd]

As I already set up... I will be doing my annual 25 Days of Christmas marathon.

[Tom]

I thought I'd start with the letter which is always the most difficult to fill in this marathon: X
I have rewatched "Hors de Prix", which I have reviewed before.

[Achim]

Choice C
12 DVDS of Christmas (C)...
Watch 12 films or TV episodes linked directly to Christmas

This might be something I can try. I might have to go flexible on the link to Christmas, but 12 seems doable, especially if I mix in a few TV episodes

[Tom]

If I am going at this rate, I will not be able to finish this marathon 
Already the fourth day and I only watched one movie so far. And I didn't even watch anything from my unwatched TV pile, but instead rewatched the first season of the live-action version of Gokusen. And now I am in the mood to rewatch the anime version. And after that I am thinking about rewatching the live-action version of GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka. 
Maybe I will get through a few movies when my brother visits me this evening.

[Tom]

The Dish (2000/Australia) IMDb | Wikipedia Icon Home Entertainment (United Kingdom) Director: Rob Sitch Writing: Santo Cilauro (Writer), Tom Gleisner (Writer), Jane Kennedy (Writer), Rob Sitch (Writer) Length: 97 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital 1, Commentary: Dolby Digital 1 Subtitles: English

Stars:
Sam Neill as Cliff
Billy Mitchell as Cameron
Roz Hammond as Miss Nolan
Christopher-Robin Street as Damien
Luke Keltie as Graeme

Plot:
July 1969. Apollo 11's astronauts will walk on the moon - and a huge satellite dish outside a sheep-farming Australian town has been chosen to beam the live footage globally.

The whole world is depending on scientist Cliff Buxton (Sam Neill - 'Jurassic Park'), who must steer the eccentric crew who man the telescope through a sea of mishaps and disasters that threatens to spoil the small town's finest hour. Watching over them is a by-the-book NASA representative who can't quite understand their quirky working methods. A comical culture clash erupts in this effortlessly funny tale of how history's biggest televised event was almost cancelled.

'The Dish' is a warm-hearted and quick-witted comedy based on a true story of what we didn't see.

Extras:

• "The Hidden Dish"
• Commentary
• Featurettes
• Interviews
• NASA Archive Footage
• Photo Gallery
• Production Notes
• Radio Spot
• Scene Access
• Storyboard Comparisons
• Trailers

My Thoughts:

I enjoyed it. Though I have to admit, that I enjoyed watching the NASA archive footage (over an hour of it is available in the special features section) more
I thought that Patrick Warburton was a strange choice for his role here. I enjoyed watching him, but he comes across as one of his usual dimwitted characters even though his character here is actually rather smart. This contrast was quite funny.

Rating: [mr]3[/mr]

[Tom]

I also watched "The Jacket". You can find the review in my Time-travel movie marathon thread.

[Tom]

So Close (2002/Hong Kong) IMDb | Wikipedia Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (United Kingdom) Director: Cory Yuen Writing: Jeff Lau (Writer) Length: 106 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85 Audio: Cantonese: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Italian: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 Subtitles: Dutch, English, Hindi, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish

Stars:
Shu Qi as Lynn
Zhao Wei as Sue
Karen Mok as Kong Yat-hung
Song Seung Hun as Yen
Michael Wai as Ma Siu Ma

Plot:
GET READY FOR ONE OF THE MOST DYNAMIC, ACTION-PACKED FILMS OF THE YEAR!

Directed by famed action choreographer Cory Yuen (The Transporter, Jet Li's The Enforcer) SO CLOSE is a thrill-a-minute shootout, with lightning-quick action sequences and great performances by Qi Shu (The Transporter), Zhao Wei (Shaolin Soccer) and Karen Mok (Black Mask).

A crooked businessman brings in a pair of high-tech assassin sisters to murder his elder brother so he can take over the family's business empire. When a determined policewoman starts to put the pieces of the puzzle together, the businessman realizes that he must destroy all evidence... including the assassins and the cop! The three women are left to fight for their lives, while helping each other along the way.

With some of the best action scenes to appear on film this year, SO CLOSE is a high-octane blockbuster hit!

Awards:
Nominated:

Love Hong Kong Film Awards (2002)

Best Action

Extras:

• Bonus Trailers
• Scene Access
• Trailers

My Thoughts:

A fun movie. Great fight choreograpy and a story which is not as silly as I have expected. This movie also put much effort on cinematogrophy. The one thing which would have made it more enjoyable would have been, if they would have talked in the more pleasing (to my ears) Korean or Japanese instead of Cantonese .

Rating: [mr]3[/mr]

[Kathy]

I enjoyed it. Though I have to admit, that I enjoyed watching the NASA archive footage (over an hour of it is available in the special features section) more

My father was a scientist and played a small role for NASA. He was responsible for the chemical analysis of the material that was brought from the moon. Two things stand out in my mind from his work.

My favorite was the time that he brought home some moon rocks - I still remember holding them in my hands staring at them in wonder.  My dad teased me about keeping one - but who would ever believe that a rock in my collection actually came from the moon?

The other memory I have is of a package accidentally being delivered to my father. The box contained all the secret plans and schematics for what would eventually be the machine that traversed the surface of Mars.

The amazing thing is it was delivered parcel post so we had no idea what was inside. My brother and I opened it and had all these top secret documents spread all over the floor.

[Tom]

Usually I try to avoid including TV series in this kind of marathons, but I will make an exception this time around. I have now spend a lot of time rewatching the first live-action series and the anime series of Gokusen. So I decided to use an entry each for those. I will probably also rewatch the GTO live-action series this month. Another 9.5 hours which I intend to warrant one entry in the list.

[Tom]

Mujhse Shaadi Karogi (2004/India) IMDb | Wikipedia Splendid Film (Germany) Director: David Dhawan Writing: Anees Bazmee (Writer), Rumi Jaffery (Screenwriter) Length: 164 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35 Audio: German: Dolby Digital 5.1, Hindi: Dolby Digital 5.1 Subtitles: German

Stars:
Salman Khan
Akshay Kumar
Priyanka Chopra
Amrish Puri
Kader Khan

Plot:
Sameer is a hot-headed youngsters with a knack of getting into brawls. When his girlfriend dumps him, he is heartbroken and relocates to Goa to work as a lifeguard. He falls for his next-door neighbour Rani, but Rani dislikes him because Sameer had slapped her father by mistake. On top of it, Sameer's new roommate Sunny is a lecherous playboy who has the hots for Rani. This results into a zany battle of wits between Sameer and Sunny over who will win Rani's heart.

Awards:
Won:

IIFA Awards (2005)		Best Background Score (Salim Suleman)
IIFA Awards (2005)		Best Choreography (Farah Khan)
IIFA Awards (2005)		Best Comedian (Akshay Kumar)
IIFA Awards (2005)		Best Costume Designer (Vikram Phadnis)

Nominated:

Filmfare Awards (2005)		Best Comedian Award (Akshay Kumar)
Filmfare Awards (2005)		Best Female Playback Award ("Lal Dupatta": Alka Yagnik)
Filmfare Awards (2005)		Best Supporting Actor Award (Akshay Kumar)

Extras:

• Bonus Trailers
• Music Videos
• Scene Access

My Thoughts:

A boring run-of-the-mill movie with a lot of stereotypes. Priyanka Chopra is again the love interest without substance, where the main character falls in love with her on first sight. An attraction which obviously can only be based on her looks. I found it strange at first, that the characters played by Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar are reversed to what I would expect both of them to play. But I must admit it worked here. Amrish Puri is typecast as the strict father of the love interest. But it is a role he plays well.

Rating: [mr]2[/mr]

[Achim]

Choice C
12 DVDS of Christmas (C)...
Watch 12 films or TV episodes linked directly to Christmas

This might be something I can try. I might have to go flexible on the link to Christmas, but 12 seems doable, especially if I mix in a few TV episodes

I tried putting together a list of things I could watch for this and ended up with mainly a list of TV episodes, 80% of which were for South Park. I am therefore canceling this "marathon" for me and will only watch A Christmas Story and A Nightmaree Before Christmas during the holiday weekend.

[RossRoy]

Added reviews for Jonah Hex & Watchmen