Archive for December, 2016
Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to all of my friends and family out there.
Oh Look… It’s A Christmas Carol and It’s a Wonderful Life Again
Posted: December 22, 2016 in Entertainment, Needless Things, Seen That Try This
It has come every year for decades now. It’s almost like a seasonal plague. Sometimes there are only a few cases here and there while other times we suffer a massive, terrifying outbreak. I speak of course of the annual tradition with many television writers where they feel that they too must do their show’s take on either A Christmas Carol or It’s a Wonderful Life.
Sometimes the attempts have been just plain bad. Well, most of the times the attempts have been just plain bad. A good chunk of the time we get something that’s watchable- perhaps it’s even good –but totally forgettable. It’s like the writing teams just decided to do the most basic paint by number version of the story their riffing on and then knocked off early that week.
But, ever so often, you get an attempt at doing one of these Christmas classics where the writer or writing team decides that they want to play with the concept. They decide to turn the concept on its ear, twist it inside out, shake it up a bit, and create something that actually has the ability to stand on its own and feel like more than just a lazily done, cheap knockoff of the original. I present to you a few of those attempts that are worth seeking out for your holiday viewing pleasure.
The Sequel You Never Knew Existed and Will Wish Didn’t
The year was 1982, and television’s favorite upper-class, well to do P.I. Matt Houston (Lee Horsley) traded in his tailored suits, fancy cars, and quality time with Pamela Hensley for a scruffy look, a large horse, and Kathleen Beller on the big screen. It may have been a step down all the way around; particularly that last one. But, hey, at least he got to play with a really wicked sword with three blades and spring-loaded blade shooting action. I speak, of course, of 1982’s The Sword and the Sorcerer.
It was low budget, it wasn’t blessed with the best writers- two of the three writers involved with it never wrote another movie -or director, and, well, the acting could get a little scenery chewing. But, damn, for kids of a certain age it became one of the vital building blocks in having a love of darker edged fantasy and sword and sorcery cinema. Like a lot of movies coming out at that time, it even teased a sequel film during the end credits; complete with a title already worked out. We were told to watch for the —Coming soon!— continuing adventures of Talon in Tales of the Ancient Empire.
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