No Place Like Movie at Home: Elf

 If think if you don't know where this is going you should be ashamed.

Yes, I watched Elf. Yes, my tree is up and everything is decorated. I well even go one further and say that all of my Christmas presents are already bought, shipped to my place, and are currently wrapped under my tree. I regret nothing.

Now, on to Elf.

An orphan gets into Santa bag on Christmas and is taken to the North Pole by mistake. Upon getting home, Santa discovers him and an older elf decides to adopt him and raise him as an elf. However, things change when he discovers he is really human at about the age of 30. When he finds out who is family is, Buddy goes to New York to find his father, and hopefully get him off the naughty list. 

There are not many movies that come out during your lifetime and you know that it's going to be a classic film that many will watch for years to come. Elf is one of those really rare and wonderful exceptions. It's one that I love to watch every year and since I got my Christmas stuff up last weekend i watched this to keep me from getting annoyed about hanging lights by myself. No matter how many times I see this moive It makes me laugh and I am very happy to watch it again!

No Place Like Movies at Home: Hocus Pocus

 This one is a little bit weird because I do own this movie but I did watch it in the theaters. I love Regal's movie theater and they opened for a few months and then closed back down again. I am still bitter about it because I love going to the movies. I love eating the popcorn. I love just sitting there and watching something that is going to enrapture me for just a few hours. When we got the word that they were shutting down again I went to see one last movie before they closed. They closed like on Thursday and I was super busy that week and could only go on Monday after work. The movie I went to see was Hocus Pocus.

Three witches are trying to steal the lives of children so that they may live forever as young beautiful maidens. However, their plans get foiled when they take Emily Binx. he older brother, Thackery, followers her to try and saver her but he gets there too late. When he is discovered he fights the witches and tries to prevent anymore deaths. For is actions they turn him into a cat that can never die. Right after they seal is fate, the villagers find the witches and kill them for their crimes but not before a prophecy is told. In 300 years they will return when a virgin lights the black flame candle. 

My mom hates this movie. She thinks is very annoying. I love this movie because it's funny, cute, and the cast is wonderful! I hate scary movies so watching this brings me great joy every Halloween. This year it did hit a bit different. I was mad when I went to see the movie because I knew this was the last movie for who knows how long. So, I wanted to sit away from everyone and pout a bit and watch this happy movie. I got my seat before I went to the theater, picked the back row in the corner away from everyone else and was set to go. When I got there two people ended up in my row. I should explain how this theater was set but was it's a split back row so there are two shorter back rows against the wall. Anyway, I got there and people were sitting with me. I was just going to ignore them and be on my phone until the movie started. However, movie theaters are magical places. The two people were a young couple, about my age, and the girl asked me if I had seen this movie before. I told that I did and it's one of my favorites, and I watch it every year at this time but I had not seen it in the theater. She then tells me that her boyfriend has never seen it. We got a little conversation about it in before the movie. I start to feel less angry and just to sad about the movies leaving for a while by the end of the film. It was great being near them because She had not seen it in a very long time and because they both were not as familiar with it they laughed really head, and had a great time seeing the movie. I enjoyed them enjoying the film so much. 

My favorite part of the movie has always been Bette Midler singing 'I Put a Spell On You'. I also am a sucker for musicals so that's not the shocking at all. However, the reason I say this is because that song is played twice in the movie. Once at the party scene where every knows, and again when the credits are rolling. I forgot about the second time it plays. So, I am asking the couple what they thought of the movie and talking to them for a bit as the movies ends and the last fun scene of the parents finally leaving the party, and then the song starts playing. as I am walking down the stairs and our to the exit, the end of the song that says "say bye-bye" comes on. I really did stop and had to make sure that this wasn't me hearing something. In my life movies are a major plot that is played. So, anytime I have a moment when the soundtrack that happens to fit in live perfectly is an amazing moment. In that moment, this is going to sound stupid and cheesy I know, the movies were say "bye" to me. 

It's been just over a month and I am still sad that my Movie Mondays have not happen. I am so ready for them to open again and I hope that it's soon. However, that one moment of "movie magic" I got in real life will hold me over for a while. 

 

No Place Like Movies at Home: The Manchurian Candidate

 When you start doing a deep dive into Frank Sinatra's career this movie becomes almost mythical. Frank Sinatra made many films in his day but few and far between did he make something that everyone knew was special. This is one of those films.

This thriller will have you guessing what is going to happen next all the way through. When a platoon is captured and taken to communist China, the men are hypnotized to believe that one many is a great hero, when in reality he has been made into a sleeper agent and doesn't even know it. When Sinatra begins to believe that something wasn't right about this situation he decides to investigate what happened during their capture. After years of questioning with no proof, another man comes forward to tell what he remembers and identifies a couple of nasty men that are known communist government figures. This mystery unfolds in a few ways that now one sees coming.

This movie seems to be one of those movies in his career that is a must see... however, it's also rarely heard of now a days. you almost really have to be a fan of his in order to know this movie or watch it. I was looking forward to it and dreading it because, I am so tired of watching dramas. This is a drama but I was thoroughly impressed. It was interesting, mysterious, sad, and full of emotion! I would recommend to anyone who was a Sinatra fan or a drama fan!

No Place Like Movies at Home: Can-Can

 We are back to the musical roots of Frank Sinatra. Here we are with a movie that I don't think get enough love, Can-Can.

A Paris nightclub performs a indecent dance called the Can-Can every night. One night the chief of police shows up and sets up a sting to arrest everyone in the building. However, the great legal mind of Frank Sinatra keeps getting the performers released. How long can he let that go on?

I love this movie! I know that most Sinatra fans don't come to this movie first but I love how fun it is! Also, the fact that Shirley Maclaine is in it makes it just that movie fun! It's been a very long time since I last saw this movie and I very happy that it was just as fun as I remember.

  

No Place Like Movies at Home: Hole in the Head

So, after watching so many Frank Sinatra movies in a row I see where there are not as many sweet movies as I thought there were. I tend to be on the Musical and Sweet Side of movies as a whole but I always thought he had more of those than he did drama. However, I find that's not really the case. I finally came back to one that I had almost forgotten about. Hole in the Head was one of the first Sinatra films that I saw that wasn't a musical. Yes, there is singing in this film but I would not classify it as a musical. 

This movie is about a man who is just trying to do the best for his son. He runs a hotel in Florida and is trying to keep it a float. However, things are not going well. He get desperate and contacts his brother for the money. Thing get hairy when they end up flying down there to see him in person. They try to convince him settle down and not continue to go out with wild women and stop chasing after harebrained schemes. Sinatra goes along with this for a little bit until he sees another opportunity when an old, rich, buddy of his comes to town.

I really loved Frank Sinatra in this role. There are not many movies that really show the "dad" side of him. His daughter, Nancy, was in Marriage on the Rocks with him and he played her dad, but she was older in that role and we never saw him play a dad at the same time his children were young. I think that this movie show more of that side of him. I remember this movie fondly and I am very excited that it still holds up. It was a very welcomed break drama after drama from the last few weeks.