Movie Night: Movie Night: Deck the Halls.

December 13, 2013

Movie Night: Deck the Halls.

Review #497: Deck the Halls.

Cast

Danny DeVito (Buddy Hall), Matthew Broderick (Steve Finch), Kristin Chenoweth (Tia Hall), Kristin Davis (Kelly Finch), Alia Shawkat (Madison Finch), Dylan Blue (Carter Finch), Sabrina Aldridge (Ashley Hall), Kelly Aldridge (Emily Hall), Josh Hayden (Ben Hall), and Jorge Garcia (Wallace) Directed by John Whitesell.

Review

Deck the Halls...is just awful. It makes Christmas with the Kranks seem tolerable, it makes the Miracle on 34th Street remake seem like a better alternative, it makes fruitcake look like a tasty treat, whatever comparison I use, nothing equates to what Deck the Halls really is: Awful. The plot itself is just...I can't really comprehend it enough to explain, but how does one equate trying to make your house visible from space to be a Christmas film? Also how does one make the film so unlikable? I don't know, but the filmmakers did it, they made an awful Christmas film with characters ranging from near unlikable to bland. What I mean is that the characters that get the most screen time are the least likable, such as the two main leads and the ones that don't get screen time are too bland to care about, such as the children. DeVito isn't awful, but I'd stick to Twins instead. At least he had a fine partner to pair off with in that film, unlike Matthew Broderick, who just doesn't work well with him. Chenoweth isn't bad, and Davis is mild, but not awful. This is one of the worst ideas for a Christmas film as instead of focusing on spending time with the family (and getting mediocre gifts you hopefully won't re wrap next year), the film focuses on...getting a house visible from space. Yes, racking up your electrical bills and nearly driving your family away from you is truly worth it. This is simply the fruitcake of Christmas film, the movie you watch to truly be depressed about Christmas. Ernest Saves Christmas had more dignity (and entertainment value) then this, but if I keep talking about this film, I will go insane. There are much better ways to spend your Fridays, reviewing Deck the Halls is not one of them. Countdown to 500 Reviews: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3...

Overall, I give it 2 out of 10 stars.

No comments:

Best of the Best (10 out of 10 stars)

#001 - Terminator 2: Judgment Day

#014 - Die Hard

#015 - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

#026 - Ghostbusters

#035 - 12 Angry Men

#036 - Network

#039 - The Sixth Sense

#040 - Batman (1989)

#054 - The Dark Knight

#063 - The Terminator

#072 - Frankenstein (1931)

#079 - A Christmas Carol (1984)

#081 - The Maltese Falcon (1941)

#083 - The Iron Giant

#093 - 2001: A Space Odyssey

#099 - Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

#100 - Blade Runner

#102 - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

#109 - A Streetcar Named Desire

#110 - On the Waterfront

#113 - Star Wars (1977)

#114 - The Empire Strikes Back

#124 - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2

#125 - Casablanca

#126 - Close Encounters of the Third Kind

#153 - The Incredibles

#155 - Finding Nemo

#159 - The Wizard of Oz (1939)

#168 - Raiders of the Lost Ark

#170 - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

#175 - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

#181 - Rebel Without a Cause

#188 - Sullivan's Travels

#199 - Forbidden Planet

#200 - Citizen Kane

#214 - Shrek

#222 - WALL-E

#223 - North by Northwest

#227 - Singin' in the Rain

#228 - Inherit the Wind

#232 - The Princess Bride

#250 - The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

#256 - Nosferatu

#257 - The Curse of Frankenstein

#258 - Dracula (1958)

#261 - The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

#286 - Lawrence of Arabia

#288 - Up

#300 - Watership Down

#303 - Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

#312 - The Avengers

#319 - It's a Wonderful Life

#333 - M

#348 - Poltergeist

#351 - Schindler's List

#352 - Who Framed Roger Rabbit

#355 - Lethal Weapon

#356 - Lethal Weapon 2

#361 - The Producers

#382 - Toy Story 3

#383 - The Natural

#394 - Bride of Frankenstein

#399 - The Thief of Bagdad (1924)

#400 - The Thief of Bagdad (1940)

#416 - Yankee Doodle Dandy

#427 - The Magnificent Seven

#440 - Toy Story

#441 - Toy Story 2

#447 - Psycho

#450 - Vertigo

#455 - Rear Window

#456 - It Happened One Night

#480 - Jaws

#499 - Sunrise: A Tale of Two Humans

#500 - Metropolis (1927)

#505 - The Adventures of Robin Hood

#530 - Alien

#569 - Gone with the Wind

#573 - E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

#574 - Aliens

#579 - Frozen

#599 - The Kid

#600 - City Lights

#601 - Three Colors: Blue

#631 - Chinatown

#635 - Nebraska

#636 - Being There

#641 - The Apartment

#655 - Young Frankenstein

#659 - True Grit (2010)

#667 - The Freshman

#674 - Grandma's Boy (1922)

#688 - Horse Feathers

#690 - Life Itself

#695 - Broken Blossoms

#697 - The Artist

#701 - Back to the Future

#702 - The Hustler

#714 - Inside Out

#725 - The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

#750 - All About Eve

#758 - Safety Last!

#759 - The Gold Rush

#765 - Fargo

#777 - The Seventh Seal

#800 - Shadow of a Doubt

#809 - Sunset Boulevard

#810 - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

#820 - Modern Times

#891 - Beauty and the Beast

#900 - Nashville

#904 - Cabaret (1972)

#907 - White Heat

#908 - The General (1926)

#910 - Notorious (1946)

#941 - Sherlock Jr

#968 - Throne of Blood

#990 - Taxi Driver

#1000 - The Last Picture Show

#1111 - Spirited Away

#1218 - Pulp Fiction

#1232 - Nanook of the North

#1233 - Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

#1246 - Akira (1988)

#1248 - Apollo 11 (2019)

#1249 - Footprints on the Moon: Apollo 11

#1255- Do the Right Thing

#1292 - Nosferatu the Vampyre

#1301 - Dr. Strangelove

#1322 - Battleship Potemkin

#1323 - The Adventures of Prince Achmed

#1349 - Stagecoach (1939)

#1355 - The Philadelphia Story

#1358 - To Be or Not to Be (1942)

#1367 - A Matter of Life and Death

#1368 - The Best Years of Our Lives

#1385 - Seven Samurai

#1386 - La Strada

#1392 - The Searchers

#1400 - The 400 Blows

#1415 - Mary Poppins

#1416 - My Fair Lady

#1429 - Once Upon a Time in the West

#1438 - The French Connection

#1440 - A Clockwork Orange

#1445 - The Sting

#1448 - Monty Python and the Holy Grail

#1460 - Apocalypse Now

#1463 - Raging Bull

#1496 - Goodfellas

#1498 - The Silence of the Lambs

#1501 - Unforgiven

#1506 - The Shawshank Redemption

#1519 - The Truman Show

#1520 - Saving Private Ryan

#1525 - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

#1533 - Adaptation

#1544 - The Departed

#1546 - There Will Be Blood

#1553 - Fantastic Mr. Fox

#1570 - Birdman

#1584 - Parasite (2019)

#1596 - The Housemaid

#1615 - Edward Scissorhands

#1629 - Miller's Crossing

#1634 - Symbiopsychotaxiplasm

#1640 - Boyz n the Hood

#1643 - Malcolm X

#1655 - Daisies

#1656 - Harlan County, USA

#1657 - The Decline of Western Civilization

#1712 - The Fly (1986)

#1729 - Alice

#1731 - The Phantom Carriage

#1758 - My Neighbor Totoro

#1768 - Dumbo

#1773 - Red River

#1774 - The Cameraman#1792 - This Sporting Life, #1812 - The Eternal Breasts, #1813 - The Connection, #1825 - Double Indemnity, #1828 - Rebecca, #1835 - Everything Everywhere All at Once, #1887 - The Thin Man, #1932 - Django Unchained, #1933 - Grave of the Fireflies)

December 13, 2013

Movie Night: Deck the Halls.

No comments:

Post a Comment