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Last Christmas (2019)
Last Christmas (2019)
2019 | Comedy, Romance
I guess I’m not exactly the target audience for a Christmas rom-com, but I don’t usually mind them. Providing the leads have believable chemistry, there’s a good story behind it all, a few laughs and something that gives you that Christmas feel good feeling, I’m happy to watch them. Sadly though, for the most part, Last Christmas struggles to tick most of those boxes.

Emilia Clarke stars as Kate (short for Katerina, her original Yugoslav name), a 26 year old who’s struggling at life right now. Her nights are filled with one-night stands and sleeping over at friends houses, dragging her suitcase behind her the next morning as she either heads to work in a Covent Garden Christmas shop or off to an audition for a West end show. She’s also currently ignoring calls from her mum (Emma Thomson), disappointing her boss (Michelle Yeoh) and coming across as selfish and not really very likeable. It’s safe to say, she’s lost her way - “Why is my life so shit?!” she exclaims after yet another disaster happens.

And then one day, Kate notices a man gazing up at a bird outside the Christmas shop and goes outside to see what he’s doing. His name is Tom (Henry Golding) and he’s handsome and charming (but a bit wooden) and despite them turning out to have zero chemistry together, they strike up a relationship - because, y’know, this is a rom-com after all. Tom takes Kate on spontaneous walks down alleyways and into nearby pocket parks, making her look up regularly so that she can appreciate the world around her. He rides a bike everywhere, doesn’t have a mobile phone and disappears for days on end. Yet his presence and friendship appear to have a positive effect on Kate, who begins to start turning her life around.

The first half of the movie is just terrible. Badly written dialogue and characters in an attempt to try and recapture some kind of Love Actually spirit, but just failing. It even tries to cram in some Brexit references and a little bit of racism to highlight the plight of immigrants. Written by Emma Thomson and directed by Paul Feig, Last Christmas is said to be inspired by the music of George Michael although, aside from its namesake, not very much of it actually ends up featuring much in the movie.

If you’ve seen the trailer, then you may well have figured out the twist that comes towards the end of the movie. If not, then you’ll probably work it out pretty early on anyway. However, I’d be lying if I said that Last Christmas didn’t manage to hit me emotionally when the time came. It also managed to invoke some warm Christmas feels and spirit too, so not quite the complete disaster it started out as.
  
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
1959 | Classics, Comedy, Drama

"When I was a kid it was shown each year around Christmas on Polish state television. No idea why—maybe the communist authorities hoped Marilyn Monroe would undermine the solemn spirit of Christian Christmas. It was a favorite of my father’s and I remember watching it with him as a kid and not getting any of the subtleties but just being gripped by that world, the cool characters, the beautiful images and places, St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, the car chase with booze coming out of punctured caskets, the party on the train, the music, the jokes. The charm hasn’t worn off over the decades, and Billy Wilder’s irony and generosity, and his wisdom about life, will forever remind me of my father."

Source
  
BC
Blue Christmas Balls
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
6 of 230
Kindle
Blue Christmas Balls
By Nick Spalding

A laugh out loud seasonal novella from Nick Spalding, the bestselling author of the smash hit comedies Fat Chance & Love... From Both Sides.

One man. Three women. Twelve days to achieve Yuletide sexual glory!

Christmas is coming and Matt Bunion is on a mission. Somehow, he's made the huge mistake of remaining a virgin well into his twenties - a grievous error he fully intends to rectify before the Queen's speech starts.

But it's not going to be easy...

What with strange requests to molest living room furniture, painfully inserted action figures, and an extremely festive lady of the night, Matt will be lucky to reach Boxing Day with his pride and manhood still intact.

Ok so it was a little funny but in some parts trying to be too funny! For a novella it wasn’t bad at all I would definitely read more of his work! Don’t think I’ll look at an Ewok without thinking of this book though 😂!