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A Charlie Brown Christmas, a review by Danae Cassandra

A Charlie Brown Christmas
Year of Release: 1965
Directed By: Bill Melendez
Starring: Peter Robbins, Christopher Shea, Tracy Stratford, Bill Melendez, Chris Doran
Genre: Comedy, Animation, Television

Overview:
Christmastime is here. Happiness and cheer. And for Peanuts fans everywhere, it just wouldn't be Christmas without this classic holiday delight. Lights may twinkle red and green, but Charlie Brown has the Yuletide blues. To get in the holiday spirit, he takes Lucy's advice and directs the Christmas play. And what's a Christmas play without a Christmas tree? But everyone makes fun of the short, spindly neverMy Thoughts:
One of the few true pieces of Christmas perfection.  Everything about this little special is made of win.  The music is now part of the canon.  We can see a bit of us in each of the kids.  Who hasn't been depressed about this time of year, wondering with all the commercialism what the true meaning is?  Who hasn't been upset that they don't get what they want?  Or that they aren't going to get their fair share? 

It's also the innocence of childhood that makes this a perfect piece of Christmas.  Dancing just for the joy of it, catching snowflakes on your tongue, ice skating.  Snoopy is the embodiment of this.  He celebrates every moment, has fun and enjoys himself, and only stops when the others eye him disapprovingly (dancing on the piano).  We should all be more like Snoopy.

Bechdel Test: Fail
Mako Mori Test: Fail

Overall: 5/5

(From Christmas 2016 on December 26th, 2016)

Jodhaa Akbar, a review by dfmorgan

Jodhaa Akbar

Year: 2008
Director: Ashutosh Gowariker
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Sonu Sood


Overview: Jodhaa Akbar is a sixteenth century epic romance about a marriage of alliance that gave birth to true love between the greatest Muslim Mughal Emperor that rules Hindustan (now India), Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar , and the fiery young Hindu Rajput Princess, Jodhaa.

The film stars Hrithik Roshan as Emperor Akbar and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as Princess Jodhaa.


Watched: 13th/14th Jul. 2010
My Thoughts: Following Asoka and Black this is my third Bollywood film, the second one full blown with song and dance. An immensely enjoyable experience although I couldn't watch it in one sitting, my own fault as I didn't start until 21:30ish on the 13th and at 214mins it wouldn't have finished until 01:00ish. Putting aside the song and dances, there were only 5 or 6 not sure if that is the average, this was a very enjoyable historical drama/romance. There were some decent battle scenes but I wasn't too sure about the sizes of the armies and the distances and locations that they fought in.

My Rating: A very enjoyable 4

Dave


(From Dave's DVD/Blu-ray Reviews on July 14th, 2010)

2016 TV Pilot Reviews, a review by DJ Doena

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It's all about family. Brothers, sisters, children, fathers.

One happy pair is expecting triples, about to burst into this world.

The other pair are siblings; she's heavily overweight and struggling with it, and he's Mister Hardbody and an actor playing a stupid role in a mindless sitcom.

And the last one is a man looking for his biological father who left him at the entrance of a firehouse when he was born.

What they do share, is their birthday. Their 36th birthday to be exact. The triplet-father, the twins and the fatherless man. And by the looks of it, the triplets will share their birthday.

I did enjoy the acting, it is an interesting cast and it could be an interesting story, especially after you learn how all the people are connected to one another.

I particularly found it hilarious how Justin Hartley's (Smallville) character was against taking off his shirt in every scene for the sake of being eye-candy. Why did I find that to be funny? Well, because that was basically his job for all his episodes on Smallville. I don't think there was a single episode on that show where he didn't take his shirt off. He was even shirtless in the opening credits.

But in the end the show is going to be a family drama and that's not exactly my favourite TV food. As I said, the story could be interesting, but it's just not a genre that I personally prefer.




(From 2016 TV Pilot Reviews on September 24th, 2016)