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PollyDarton

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Posts posted by PollyDarton

  2. Posted

    So, what if she did everything right and was a good person on day 11 then blows off day 12 because being a good person didn't end the cycle? Is she stuck with whatever she did on day 12 no matter what? That seems like a potentially cruel message from the universe (or potentially great depending on when your lazy day is in the cycle).

     

    The cruel emotionless void of the universe... that's what all Christmas movies are about, right?

    • Like 5

  3. Posted

    Re 12 days spell:

    It seemed to me that she had a 12 day sentence no matter what her actions were. She assumes that the only way to break the cycle is to "do everything right" ala Groundhog Day (which as we have established, doesn't exist in this universe) but that's bullshit. There was at least one day where she really didn't do anything wrong. I certainly can't remember which day, but the only thing she got "wrong" was distracting her ex from buying the engagement ring. At the end of that "day" she speeds off to the country cabin to make sure he proposes... which we learn that he had indeed done so, just without a ring. (Please note - the dog is not at the cabin or with her when she screeches in - but I'm digressing)

     

    I kind of thought of it like she had 12 chances to get her shit in order because Zack Morris just landed and it's either win him now or lose him forever. If my theory is true (doubtful) then she could have tucked-in to her apartment and eaten donuts for 11 days and on the last one made sure he was into her and BAM... curse over.

    • Like 2

  4. Posted

     

    Same. It makes me tear up.

    12d642e3fca2d3a462291dc75544fdc7.gif

    Me, too.

    As I said in the other thread I definitely saw this movie as a kid, but I don't know it nearly as well as Caper or Manhatten.

    Regardless, Kermit singing Rainbow Connection in the swamp turns me into a blubbering baby every time.

     

    Fun story... I cried THROUGH THE ENTIRE new Muppet Movie (particularly when they got to Rainbow Connection.) I know this is dumb but I had this realization at some point when watching it- here's Jason Segel with his Muppet brother, traveling and meeting Muppets and having Muppet adventures- and he's my age almost exactly. He would have been a little kid watching Sesame Street, The Muppet Movie, maybe Caper and Manhatten... he very likely grew up with them just like I did. And I have to think that was no accident. "Me" and my generation were being included because it is a big part of our collective lives. That movie was for me.

     

    Anyhoo... I love how this one starts with the meta/breaking the 4th wall style the Muppets have always used and then gives the Muppets an origin story.

    • Like 9

  5. Posted

    I loved how every bit of new information we learn about Miles makes him more unbelievably awesome and sympathetic. “Of course he quotes Thoreau...” “He volunteers with foster kids? You don’t say...”

    Let's run down Miles charm points shall we?

    • He's an architect (?City planner, landscape designer?)
    • He not only volunteers his time to coach hockey to underprivileged teens, but is highly involved in their lives.
    • He's a widower at like 35?
    • He cooks
    • He is like off-the-charts good looking

    This guy would only be single by choice.

    • Like 5

  8. Posted

    Which further doesn't make sense because the point of the movie is that she learns to make all these other people's lives better...but she's being self centered until the very moment she starts doing this. She never learned to be good. So what is her reasoning to not be a jerk?

     

    Yes... one of her last "days" she goes shopping for designer clothes, buys a lambourgini, and spends most of her day eating donuts at a salon.

    • Like 4

  10. Posted

    It's been quite a while but there isn't an explanation in Groundhogs Day either is there

    IMDB trivia says this:

    Early drafts of the script explained the cause of Phil Connors' weird experience: a disaffected ex-lover named Stephanie cast a spell on him.

    but, yes... the film never states this. It's just God against Phil.

     

    In 12DOC the rewind is clearly caused by the partridge pendant.

    giphy.gif

     

    Although her glitch in the time continuum seems to have been caused by the perfume spritz plus being super bitchy on Christmas... while hearing the 12 days of Christmas being sung by carolers.

     

    I just really wanted the woman that ‘spritzed’ her to show up on day 12 and be like ‘gotcha’!

    Yes! She's the one who made this all happen... and they never explored her story once! Why not her instead of the RANDO snowflake lighting guy and his slightly unamused but generally friendly girlfriend? Like... what even is that? Making snowflake lighting designs in public places as a show of affection? Huh?

     

     

    A dog couldn't just kick the remote on. Also to come on to the home shopping channel means she was watching that when she turned it off.

     

    However, where was the dog coming from? In the first few dates he was dropped off by the ex and then she starts having these wild days and is going all over the place and the dog still shows up. Did she always make a point to be there to pick up the dog? He stopped phoning to arrange a time or did they just do it earlier in the day or something. Also, you mean to tell me the day she just ran into his building and was acting all weird or the surprise visit at the ring shop the ex was like "Well I guess I best go drop the dog off now" I'd think he'd be more like "Boy, she was acting strange. Maybe we'll just take him up to the cabin with us."

     

    Yes to all the dog questions. The dog seemed like such a big deal at first and I know he's there intermittently (and at the end), but definitely not all the time... and Why!? At first, they make it seem like he's a part of this whole magic thing, but then they just stop including him. There are "days" that she never even mentions her beloved Jack Russell. Was it just cheaper to film without him?

    • Like 5

  11. Posted

    Another 12 dates of Christmas thing:

    I was particularly bothered by how it seemed she had to be in bed with her dog for the time rewind to happen, since the magic seemed to come from the jewelry partridge's eye twinkle as well as the "spell" that said that he offer lasts until midnight. But then a few "days" later the filmmakers decided to forget about that and she just always go back at midnight no matter where she is.

    Kind of a cop-out.

    • Like 5

  14. Posted

    I'm very excited about this pick. I am not always the best at participating in MM, but I'll try my hardest to be present. The Muppets are my Jam.

     

    I know this movie pretty well, but I know Caper and Manhatten in that committed to memory kind of way. We had an illegally taped HBO copy on a beta tape and I wore that shit out.

    Unlike a few of you guys, I do not know the 90's Muppets very well... although I am trying to become more enlightened. I saw Treasure Island for the first time like 2 weeks ago. It was decent and Tim Curry is amazing per usual.

    I was pretty crushed when Henson died and I remember thinking that Kermit never sounded the same. The voice actor who took over after Henson's death, Steve Whitmire, has been doing him ever since and only recently retired (or was fired, not sure.) All-in-all he's done a good job, but at first Kermit sounded so strange to me. The newer movies and TV show sound pretty right.

     

    I like this one a lot, but Scrooged and Mickey’s Christmas are still tops for me.

    UNPOPULAR OPINION ALERT: Muppet Christmas Carol... it's not my favorite. I don't hate it or anything, but I feel like I know a good bit about Christmas Carol and IMO it's just a clunky adaptation. I have been involved in a theatrical version of it for the last 9 years and we've done several scripts. I'm pretty well versed with all the movies... and I've read the novella. I'm not a Dickensian expert by any stretch, but I can discuss CC at length.

    The point is... After all the Christmas Carol I've absorbed, Scrooged is my favorite and IMO tells the story the best of all the movies.

    • Like 7

  17. Posted

    Even the remake "White Christmas" had enough sense to remove the black face scene from the original "Holiday Inn" - and that movie came out in 1954.

     

    It's true although they did still have a "minstrel show" number, but thankfully did not use any makeup. Fun fact on that - the minstrel number in Holiday INN was called "Abraham" - offensively enough it even had a few actors of color singing along from the kitchen. No one in White Christmas sang "Abraham" but they did do a high tempo dance to a sped-up version as a nod to the original.

    • Like 5

  18. Posted

    I just want to add my favourite bit of Neil Diamond trivia. Neil Diamon, Burt Bacharach and his wife Carole Bayer Sager went and saw the movie E.T. Diamond so moved by the film that the three of them collaborated and came up with a song about E.T. They were not contracted or asked to do this, and in fact despite the song not mentioning and characters by name still had to pay $25,000 to MCA. They release the song "Heartlight" a reference to E.T's glowing chest at the end of the film in 1982 and it would be his last song to hit #1 on the charts and top 30 on the hot 100.

     

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBDj4Rlyr28

     

    I DID know this - at least part of it. That song is RIDICULOUS.

    • Like 3

  20. Posted

    Every time he does something that might be construed as unsavory, there's always seems to be a line or an event that immediately precedes that's meant to absolve him.

     

    Minstrel show? - "This is literally our last chance! We know this is fucked up, but we need a guy and you're our only hope."

    You got us all fired? - "That's okay, Jess, because the music is what's important and Billy Idol was completely fucking the song up."

    You're falling in love with another woman? - "That's okay, because you never consummated it."

    Leaving your wife might be the only way for you to achieve your dreams? - "That's cool, because she wants to leave you."

    You're being an asshole in the studio? - "Well, your father just disowned you. We understand."

    You're leaving your pregnant wife? - "Had you known, you never would have left."

     

    I was thinking this exact thing when I was writing last night... I guess Neil Diamond is such a nice guy that he couldn't stand to have his character ever do anything unsavory. That is, if he had that much to do with the writing of the movie (which I suspect he had plenty of input.)

     

    A few people have asked questions like: Why didn't they just hire a younger actor to be this role? but I'm willing to bet that Diamond was the one chasing this movie instead of the other way around. It is, in some ways, a perfect role for him.

    • Like 2

  21. Posted

    I hear ya Cameron H. You have well thought out points and I'm with you. No one should stay in a loveless marriage.

     

    I guess my real complaint about the movie is not even any of this. It's called The Jazz Singer and yet the central conflict has almost zero to do with the actual obstacles someone would find when they are trying to become a famous singer. It's like when a really creative parent wraps a Christmas present to look like a giraffe but when you unwrap it, it's just a bunch of socks.

     

    I rewatched the trailer and it is kind of a beat by beat retelling of the Canter/Rivka/Molly story. So that's what they were selling from the beginning... a melodrama staring Neil Diamond. I guess I thought it was going to be more about his rise to fame than his lovelife.

     

    The trailer really is almost a mini version of the movie up until Jess and Molly fall in love.

    • Like 3

  23. Posted

    I mean, we joke about lots of Jews in entertainment but we rarely see movies with Jewish characters.

     

    If anyone is looking for more current Jew-centric (that doesn't seem right?) entertainment you should check out "Transparent" - despite the recent controversy with Jeffrey Tambour, the show has unbelievably great storytelling and it's just as much about being Jewish as it is about be transgendered.

    Also see the Coen brother's "A Serious Man" which is about being Jewish in 1960's Minnesota. That's a great fucking film.

    • Like 1

  24. Posted

     

    Speaking of the baby, I feel like Bubba must have been there for Molly during her pregnancy and after the birth of the child. So much that Molly named her baby after Bubba's favorite musician, Charlie Parker. (Or so I imagine)

     

    YES! Bubba asks Molly if she has any Charlie Parker at the Banjo/Robert E Lee party and she's like "Totally brah!" and then they bond over the record. That's the beginning of their beautiful lovestory and THAT'S why they named their son Charlie Parker.

    • Like 3

  25. Posted

    Rivka can't even leave New York for two weeks to give him a chance to pursue his lifelong dream. That's fucked up. No one should ever be with someone who holds them as an emotional hostage. Your S.O. should believe in you. If they don't, and they are actively trying to sabotage your dreams, then you should leave them.

     

    Yeah I agree with you on the "your SO should believe in you thing," but I have to point out that Rivka and Jess's father were right. They didn't want him to go to LA out of a fear that he would never come back and Rivka was wary of Molly because she thinks there might be something going on with between her and her husband... which is exactly what happens.

    Isn't her skepticism valid if it is actually an accurate prediction of future behavior?

     

     

    I think Rivka does want kids with him. Again, I’m not trying to say she’s a “bad” person, but they both definitely want different things. She wants to be married to the Cantor and teach at the shul; he wants to write “jazz” or “rock” music. I think she wants him to give up on secular music and settle down. I think this is the point of the scene where he rebuffs her advances. It’s not that he’s just being mopey. He knows that she’s thinking about children, while he’s afraid having kids will tie him down. Molly believes in him right from the start and that’s what he’s attracted to.

     

    I think we kind of agree on this (for different reasons) and I'm just being a bit of a contrarian myself, but I think he's trying to escape his life/wife by any means possible. Yes, he knows if he gets Rivka pregnant that it would complicate everything in his life... the life he is determined to leave behind ASAPMF.

     

    But that aside, you're right about Molly - she believes in him and is light and funny in contrast to Rivka who is very serious and cold. I guess I'm just not sure that makes amends for up and leaving his childhood sweetheart after a month in LA. Does that make him a bad person?

    giphy46.gif

    probably not - Douche bag though? Yeah!

    • Like 4
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