It’s getting close to Christmas, which means that I start thinking about all the Christmassy films that it feels wrong to watch over the rest of the year, like Home Alone and stuff. So here are some John Candy fillums because he was pretty cool.

1) Uncle Buck
2) Spaceballs
3) Blues Brothers
4) Home Alone
5) Little Shop of Horrors
6) Caddyshack
7) Canadian Bacon
8) Planes, Trains and Automobiles
9) The Great Outdoors
10) Cool Runnings

and also

11) Stripes

I don’t know whether it was because I had spent two days with just cats for company, or whether I was a bit fragile from a bottle of red to myself the night before, but I actually found myself crying. More than once, too. I can’t remember which specific bits I cried at, although I think the ‘Chiquitita’ scene was one, but I was pretty surprised that such a pile of schmaltz reduced me to tears. Actually, now I think of it, it was because the friendship between the three women played by Meryl Streep, Julie Walters and Christine Baranski reminded me of my two best friends and made me miss them and want to go to a beautiful Greek island and frolick in the sun singing Abba songs.

Anyway. Some parts I loathed. Mostly any parts with Pierce Brosnan singing. He’s awful. Also Colin Firth is very hammy and far too heterosexual (thanks to his Mr Darcy phase I reckon) to be anything else. The ‘gay dad’ storyline completely passed me by until right near the end when he snogs the face off some poor young man.

The rest of the film, I’m ashamed to admit, I liked. Not to the point of wanting it on DVD for any birthdays or Christmases, but it was fun, silly and a welcome change to the film noirs I normally find myself watching. Don’t tell anyone I said so though.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Anyway, the film. I loved it. As much as I’ve always rated Meryl Streep, her foray into camp musicals (I still haven’t seen Mamma Mia! and I refuse to) made me pull that face where you can taste a bit of sick in your mouth. Her portrayal of Julia Child worked like a good gargle with Listerine; the vomit taste has gone.

I have to admit to never having heard of Julia Child or Mastering the Art of French Cooking, but I’m officially a fan of both, the latter taking pride of place at the top of my Amazon wishlist with immediate effect. Amy Adams plays Julie Powell, a sort-of-failed writer fed up with her lot in life, who decides to cook all the recipes in Julia’s book over the course of a year – 524 dishes in 365 days. The film flits between both Julie and Julia’s lives, drawing parallels between the two nicely.

An excellent choice for fans of blogging, cooking, and above all, laughing.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

1) The Godfather
2) Scarface
3) Carlito’s Way
4) Ocean’s Thirteen
5) The Devil’s Advocate
6) Scent Of A Woman
7) Insomnia
8) Heat
9) The Recruit
10) Donnie Brasco

and

11) Righteous Kill

1) Ghost World
2) The Island
3) Con Air
4) Airhead
5) Armageddon
6) Reservoir Dogs
7) Big Fish
8) The Wedding Singer
9) Things To Do In Denver When You’re Dead
10) I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry

and

11) The Big Lebowski

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

1) King Arthur
2) Croupier
3) Children of Men
4) Shoot ‘Em Up
5) Gosford Park
6) Derailed
7) Duplicity
8) Closer
9) The Bourne Identity
10) Inside Man

Very original, moving and beautiful, and I’m going to buy it : )

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I really thought I’d already done this. Shows what I know, don’t it?

1) Thelma and Louise
2) Kalifornia
3) Ocean’s Eleven
4) Babel
5) Mr and Mrs Smith
6) Spy Game
7) Interview with The Vampire
8) Se7en
9) Fight Club
10) Inglourious Basterds
11) The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
12) Burn After Reading
13) Troy
14) Seven Years in Tibet
15) Snatch
16) Meet Joe Black
17) A River Runs Through It
18) The Mexican
19) Legends of The Fall
20) The Assassination of Jesse James

A.K.A Mr Maggie Gyllenhaal.

1) Year of The Dog
2) Garden State
3) Orphan
4) Elegy
5) The Skeleton Key
6) The Man in The Iron Mask
7) Flightplan
8) Rendition
9) Jarhead
10) Boys Don’t Cry