He-Man and She-Ra: A Christmas Special

Who:  Amber
What:  He-Man and She-Ra:  A Christmas Special
Where:  I borrowed a friend's DVD
Why:  Why not!

Oh wow - was this Christmas special super cheesy.  I loved watching He-Man when I was a kid, but I knew that 20 years later, it would look utterly ridiculous, and I was right.  It was silly. Why does He-Man wear animal skin undies?  And She-Ra's normal outfit is a leotard, but when she transforms, she's wearing a cute little skirt.  And she flies around on a rainbow unicorn.  It's so 80s, I love it!

So He-Man and She-Ra are getting ready to celebrate their birthdays (they are twins - remember?).  Actually, their real names are Adam and Alura (I think that's She-Ra's name).  All their cheesy superhero friends are helping to decorate for a rockin' party.

In the meantime, He-Man, and some creepy looking guy with a creepy looking mustache (maybe He-Man's dad?!?) have built a 'sky spy' rocket ship to help spy on Skeletor.  He-Man's doofis magical flying guy hops in the rocket, and accidentally launches it.  He crash lands on … guess where … Earth, where Christmas is a few days away.

Doofis magical flying guy runs into 2 young kids who are lost in the woods looking for a Christmas tree.   They are cold, so they go to the rocket ship to warm up.  Doofis magical flying guy  asks the kids all about Christmas, since he's never heard about it before.  The young girls talks about presents, but the older boy mentions that it's not all about presents.  He tip toes around the religious reason for Christmas.  I am proud of this cheese ball Christmas special.  It's now all about Santa and presents.  It's more about the real reason for the season.  Kudos He-Man!

Well, of course He-Man has the power to bring back the 'sky spy' rocket back to Eternia (their planet).   Well, the kids are still stuck in the rocket ship, so they come back to Eternia too.

The kids tell He-Man and She-Ran all about Christmas.  And the story spreads to their cheesy super hero friends as well.  Even Skeletor gets in on the Christmas spirit!

I don't think this special is on TV any longer, but if you have Nexflix, check it out!

P2

Who:  Amber
What:  P2
Where:  @ home - free Starz weekend!
Why:  I like horror movies

This movie wasn't so much as "scare the pants off you" as it was "how is she going to get out of this".

Angela is a young go-getter who works in a corporate office.  She is stuck working late on Christmas Eve.  She is totally late for a family get together.

When she finally tries to leave, her car won't start.  Thankfully, the parking garage attendant is there to help ... or kidnap her!  It seems young Tom, our parking attendant who owns a very vicious dog has a crush on Angela.  And working the night shift in a parking garage is very lonely.  It's a good thing Tom has video camera everywhere, so he's been watching Angela for months.

I never got the feeling that Tom was going to hurt Angela.  Sure, he chained her to the table for a Christmas feast (in his parking attendant office), and he handcuffed her when they went to 'take a ride' around the parking garage.  Tom introduces us to a little back story about Angela, and about a jerk guy she works with.

Angela is pretty smart, and she's always thinking of ways to escape.  Unfortunately, Tom has keys to everything in the parking garage (floors are P1, P2, P3, etc ... hence the name of the movie), so it's impossible to escape.

Since the only 2 actors in this movie are Tom and Angela, I figured one of them would eventually kill the other one.  Who will it be . . .

A Miser Brother's Christmas

Who:  Amber
What:  A Miser Brother's Christmas
Where:  @ home on ABC Family
Why:  I was curious

This new holiday special was ... just ok.  Everybody remembers the Heat Miser and Snow Miser from the '70s classic.  "I'm Mr. Snow Miser ... I'm Mr. 10 below ..."  I think it was "Santa Claus is Coming to Town?"

I was really excited b/c the original Misers were super cool.  I think they were super cool because they were so random, and only in the original Christmas special for about 10 minutes.  An entire hour devoted to them ... not so much.  And this was nominated for an Annie award!  Yowsers!

What was cool about it was the animation.  I'm assuming it was not clay-mation (like it was in the 70s), but CGI.  But they made the characters look just like the clay-mation.  Their mouth's had those lines around them, and they were a little herky jerky.

The story is a 'tale as old as time'.  Santa hurts his back (it was sabotage!) and the Miser Brothers must stop fighting to take over for him for this year.  Can they stop fighting, make some decent toys and get them delivered in time?  What about the Wind Miser-guy who sabotaged Santa's sleigh.  He's got a serious Santa complex.  Will he ruin Christmas??

Santa Jr.

Who:  Amber
What:  Santa Jr.
Where:  @ home on ABC Family
Why:  Why not!

The Christmas bandit is on the loose, but the cops have him!  Or do they?  He's dressed like Santa, and he's inside a strangers house.  But he appears to be unloading toys from a sack, not putting toys IN the sack?

None the less, the cops bring him and put him in front of a judge.  Susan, a nice public defender (Lauren Holly) puts her address down on the forms, in order to keep "Santa" out of jail.  It works, although "Santa" is now on house arrest, and is stuck at Susan's house.

"Santa" is actually Kris ... Kris Kringle ... Jr.  He's Santa's son.  And he wasn't stealing toys, he was delivering toys.  Since he's not very good at it yet, he was starting Christmas delivery early.

In typical Holiday/Romantic/Comedy, Susan doesn't really like Christmas and Kris, along with the help of 2 police officers teach her a thing or two.  There's a decorating montage, etc, etc.

The real Christmas bandit is caught, and Santa Jr. is free to deliver toys!  Hip, hip, horray!

Did I mention the actor who plays Santa Jr. is really hot?!?

Muppet Christmas Carol

Who:  Amber & Jonathan
What:  Muppet Christmas Carol
Where:  on DVD
Why:  We love Muppets!

This Christmas special is a classic!  It's the same old story of Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol, but Muppets play all the characters, except Ebenezer Scrooge.  He's played by Michael Kane.  I don't know what it is about Michael Kane, but I really feel bad for him.  He's an angry old Scrooge, but he's so alone, and so lonely (and pretty old).  I always have a big lump in my throat when I see him, sitting in the dark, eating his cheese and crackers all alone.

Anyways - Scrooge's loyal and underpaid assistant is Kermit the frog.  Mrs. Cracket (Kermit's wife) is Miss Piggy.  Tiny Tim is that little frog - Kermit's nephew ... and I forgot his name.  Grrrr!  Oh, Robin, that's it!  Gonzo and Rizzo the Rat (who is hilarious!) are the narrators.

Scrooge is visited first by the ghost of Christmas past - played by a freaky looking CGI 5 year old.  It's not a Muppet either, just an odd little girl.

The ghost of Christmas present is played by a new Muppet - a giant red haired fellow.  Unlike the little girl, this Muppet is adorable!

The ghost of Christmas future is just a 8' tall black hooded guy.  There's also a giant Muppet spider who is quite disturbing.

Throw in a bunch of original songs, and a host of townspeople who are random Muppets, and you've got yourself a classic!

Jack Frost

Who:  Amber
What:  Jack Frost
Where:  @ home off cable
Why:  I'm getting in the Christmas spirit!

Jack Frost (yes, that's his real name)(Michael Keaton) is a musician, and a family man.  The problem is, sometimes his music takes over, and he doesn't show up at his kid's events.  This makes the kid mad, especially when he promises to come his hockey games.

Unfortunately, on Christmas Eve, Jack gets in a car accident and dies.

Fast forward to the following Christmas Eve.  Mrs. Frost (Kelly - what's her name - John Travolta's wife) and the boy are doing ok.  But they miss their father terribly, and it's almost Christmas.

The kid makes a snowman, and he comes to life - as Jack!  Once the kid gets over his shock that his dad has come back to "life", they have some wild adventures together.  They go snowboarding, they practice some hockey moves, and they try to hide that fact that this snowman is 'alive'.

Unfortunately, this year, a heat wave is coming for Christmas.  All the snow will be melted really soon.  So the son and the snowman hop on a truck to take dad up to the mountains, where the snow never melts!  This plan can't fail ... can it?!?

Well, trust me, it's a family Christmas movie, so it has a happy ending.