Hump Day Movie: Will Vinton's Claymation Christmas Special

© Henstooth Video

For me, a child growing up in the 1980s, the Claymation Christmas Special made far more of an impact than the 1960s stop motion Rudolph and Frosty movies did. The Raisins and their friends were funny, they were unusual, and they were "modern."

Watching them today, the only thing that seems really dated to me is the sophistication of the claymation work. The California Raisins commercials were HUGE when I was little. Of course, I lived in California, but they made TOYS out of them. Those were some of the first toys *I* could ever remember being made from commercials. And they were raisins!  The Will Vinton Christmas Special took that stop-motion technique even further, using unusual characters to share a wide variety of carols.  The hosts are dinosaurs. The Carol of the Bells is done with goofy bells hitting themselves. It's silly, innocent, and still one of my favorite memories of the holidays as a child.

You can still find it on DVD, but I have yet to see this show in-store anywhere. Amazon has it for $20.

There are clips available on Youtube. I love We Three Kings . The shoes and mustaches on the camels kill me.

What's your favorite childhood holiday movie? Have you seen this one?

Hump Day Classic Movie: The Stranger (1946)

I decided it was time to let (force) Oldest watch some film noir with me. After all, he's a bit of an unhappy ending junkie (not really sure how that happened since I tend to be all about HEAs myself). This is his cultural education we're talking about. His grandma has already perverted his film education with Godzilla and Mothra marathons. I've gotta do something!

Enter, a quick Google search of Film Noir classics. Every week, I'm going to torture  treat him to a new-to-him classic movie. I might even let him eat some junk food while we watch. I'm a cool mom, sometimes.

We're starting with The Stranger. Just because. I think we can mock the way nobody in this film is able to follow anyone else with any semblance of stealth. Plus I can sneak in some historical reference points, too.

You can find it on Amazon Prime for free or, if you're not a Prime member, for rent.

Here's the synopsis: The great Orson Welles directed and stars in this tense thriller about as a respected small New England town college professor who will stop at nothing to conceal his shocking and deadly past.

Hump Day Movie: Batman (1989)

While listening to a new-ish song by Prince the other day, we were trying to explain to my eldest son how influential Prince was (and is) as a musician and songwriter. And talking about that eventually led to the whackadoodle soundtrack he made for the 1989 version of Batman. A movie, we discovered, we no longer owned since donating our VHS collection to charity...to which my darling child replied, " a VH--what?"

*Cue sadness and a feeling of being old*

Anyway, despite Heath Ledger's creepy performance as the Joker in the Dark Night, Jack Nicholson's performance is still a favorite with our family. It's been awhile since we've watched it (clearly) so I'm curious to see how it holds up after 23 years.

Yes, I did the math. It's really been that long. *more sadness*

Hump Day Movie: Thunderheart (1992)

This is one of those movies that surprises you. You think you're going to get a standard thriller with some cultural appropriation, and instead you get a thoughtful exposé on real events that happened during the 1970s in South Dakota.

Thunderheart stars Val Kilmer, Sam Shepard, and Graham Greene. I think this is one of the first movies I ever saw Greene in, and it's definitely the one where I developed my crush on him.

Kilmer plays an FBI agent in the 1970s sent as a liason to an Sioux Reservation to investigate a murder because he is 1/4 Sioux. The problem is that he doesn't identify with his Native American heritage, and to the people on the rez, he's just another white man in a suit. Once he arrives, he discovers that there is far more going on than a "simple" murder. He steps into the middle of a war, and some machinations by greedy people that have turned the South Dakota Badlands into the murder capital of the country.

There is a bit of "Hollywood" to the story, but enough heart remains to make this one of the more memorable Kilmer movies. It's one I recently re-watched on Amazon Instant Streaming, and it's held up just fine. It's also available on DVD for around $6.

It is very violent, however, and more than a little disturbing given the subject matter. If you haven't seen it, you've missed out.

Hump Day Movie: Willow (1988)

Warwick Davis has an impressive résumé, but this is the movie I will always remember him for.  It's also the first movie I saw where Dwarfism wasn't presented as a disability. All to the good.

Not only does Willow  have Val Kilmer in it at the height of his career and attractiveness (he did NOT age well IMHO), it also has the future ex-Mrs. Kilmer, Joanne Whalley (who I think is just stunningly gorgeous).

Willow is one of those movies that didn't hold up well in the special effects department, but it was one of those movies I've never forgotten. It has action, adventure, romance and heart all set in a fantastical world.

Hump Day Movie: Demolition Man (1993)

Ok. I'm really not a Sylvester Stallone fan. Never have been. But unlike the rest of America, I liked his comedies. And I sometimes liked the movies where he got to show off his sense of humor. Demolition Man is one of those movies.

It's a sci fi action film. Most would say a mediocre one. But it has some strong sci fi commentary as well as some terrific humor. Sandra Bullock, Benjamin Bratt, and Dennis Leary are just part of the supporting cast.

The stand out scene for me is Stallone swearing at the ticket machine to get enough paper to use as toilet paper because he couldn't figure out the three sea shells. That, and the look on his face when Bullock's character explains about a constitutional amendment allowing Arnold Schwarzenegger to become President of the United States.

Hump Day Movie: Joy Ride

It's been a long time since I've done a Hump Day movie post. This time, I thought I'd stick close to home.

Here it is: the one and only movie Hubs is in. It's just a few seconds. You don't see his face and he is uncredited. But he is there in the background, driving a truck in BFE Nevada. For which he made an obscene amount of money per hour. No wonder budgets are so high on movies.

His favorite part was the fact that a coworker was also on set driving a truck. But Hubs was the only one to make the finished film. There may have been some immature ribbing about that, too. 

Random fact: the working title of this movie was Squelch. What is a squelch? In this context, it has to do with a CB radio. After asking Hubs to explain it to me 3 different times, I still don't understand exactly what it is. Nothing new there. Which is probably why they changed the name, come to think of it.