Twelve Films At Christmas - 9

I have a soft-spot for biblical epics, so you may find me a tad generous in my assessment of the plodding and worthy King of Kings. It was filmed in Super Technirama and is at least defensible as a lovingly constructed series of rich tableaux of the life of the Christ. I particularly like the portrayal of Barabbas, who probably deserves his own film - you can have that one for free. 58/100.

Twelve Films At Christmas - 6, 7 & 8

No great films to critique on this occasion but sometimes you don't want a great example of cinema. Sometimes you have eaten and drunk too much and want a movie to sort of lap over you rather than having to commit yourself to a headlong dive into its waters. That slovenly mood has been upon me for the past couple of days so these films fitted the bill. First up is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It is a grand tale but the juvenile acting still lags embarrassingly behind the very fine adult talent on display. I would rather read Harry Potter than watch the films. Almost sacrilegiously I feel the other way round about Lord of the Rings. Does this make me a bad person? Oh well. The Potter film - 60/100. 

 Well-paced and nicely mixing slap-stick with occasional pathos, Planes, Trains and Automobiles delivers plenty of laughs. The bedroom sharing sequence is my favourite, closely followed by the build-up to the car crash. This movie has no pretensions to be high art but it is good at what it attempts - 61/100. I discover that it is to be remade with Will Smith in the lead. Why? But equally, I suppose, why not? As another incidental aside, I think that we can just about call this a Christmas film - on the grounds that, to European eyes, one can elide Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Finally another warm-hearted and affecting piece of comedy. Baby Boom could have been thoroughly dreadful - perhaps one of those made-on -the-cheap TV movies that litter the fag end of the film channels. But here we see the benefit of good acting because everyone delivers fine work, most particularly Diane Keaton and Sam Shepard. Even the baby (actually it's a pair of photogenic twins) is good. 61/100.

Twelve Films At Christmas - 4 & 5

Is Die Hard A Christmas film? You do not have to delve too deeply in the interweb thingy to hear both sides of this debate. So here is the definitive answer: of course it is not. That settled, is it actually any good? Yes it is - a thriller full of great effects and with a modicum of comedy that reassures you it is not taking itself too seriously. Bruce Willis in his vest (clever how the plot is framed to rid him of his shirt - and his shoes) is cool and Alan Rickman is a scene-stealing villain. 68/100.

But now for something altogether on a different plane. My old office wall was dominated by my poster of Bogart as Rick in the final scene of Casablanca. That picture now stands at the top of our stairs, and a print of the movie poster is above my desk as I write this. If Willis is cool in Die Hard then Humphrey Bogart is off the scale in this his most famous role. This is a great film - tightly scripted and never a moment too long. It has melodrama, cynicism, style and, of course most memorably, redemptive honour. 93/100. 

Advent 24

To bring us to a grand conclusion, here it is, the song that is my current idea of my favourite cover version. I go through fads of opinion just like anyone else but this has been my rediscovery of the year. In fact it was listening to and admiring this track that got me started on this iteration of the OG calendar.

Behind the coveted Door 24 we find The Byrds and their cover of Dylan's My Back Pages. Enjoy - and take time to decipher the lyrics. In them I find that spirit inculcated by my second exposure to tertiary education. I look back at my last years in private legal practice and I conclude that I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now. 

Thank you for your attention. Happy Christmas and may your God go with you.

Twelve Films At Christmas - 3

As screen-writing credits go the combination of Graham Greene and Terence Rattigan takes a bit of beating. They are together responsible for the script of Brighton Rock, an adaptation for the screen of Greene's own novel. That novel made an appearance in this blog as part of the 2012 advent calendar. The haunting conclusion is changed in the film but that should not put you off what is a skilfully realised portrayal of low-life gangsterism. The film enjoys the accolade of being the only four star movie of 1947 in my edition of Halliwell. Cinematically taut as a drum and Richard Attenborough is suitably terrifying as Pinkie Brown, the teenage hoodlum at the film's centre. 86/100.    

Advent 23

We're getting to the sharp end of this countdown now. Today's song doesn't seem to have an acknowledged author, rather it is a traditional folk song, recorded by many artists going back nearly a century. Those who've had a stab at it include Woody Guthrie and, rather exotically, Johnny Hallyday. However its definitve rendition has to by The Animals in 1964. Unrecorded is the version my mate Big Willy Mac (yes him again) launches into in the small hours of the morning in Irish bars. At those joyous moments my judgement is clouded by alcohol and I will swear that nobody does it better. Much as I love my mate, sober consideration comes down in favour of The Animals. The House of the Rising Sun. Brilliant.  

Advent 22

It is close to impossible to like all of Prince's music, there is so damned much of it. But here is a cover of a song that he wrote for The Family who were one of his Paisley Park project bands. It was written in the mid-eighties and this Sinead O'Connor version was released in 1990. O'Connor seems to be even bat-shit crazier than was Prince himself (I do not count this altogether a bad thing in the creative realms) but this is one of the most perfect pop confections of all time. Nothing Compares 2 U.