A little girl needs her friends, her special Yule powers, classic Christmas movies, Kylie Minogue and Pierce Brosnan to fight capitalism in a Northern Irish village
Wee Noelle (Erin Galway-Kendrick) was born on Christmas Day in a barn, lives in a factory town where they make festive snow globes, and has a magical ability to defuse arguments and strike good cheer into the hearts of all with a blink. But even her supernaturally enhanced Yule powers are not enough to defeat the forces of capitalism without help from her school friends. This Northern Ireland-set fable steals adroitly from all kinds of classic Christmas-themed movies – a bit of Miracle on 34th Street, a dash of Nativity!, a big dollop of It’s a Wonderful Life, and so on. But the slapdash, script-on-the-back-of-an-envelope aesthetic becomes part of the charm in the end, especially when a parade of random celebrities (including Liam Neeson,...
Wee Noelle (Erin Galway-Kendrick) was born on Christmas Day in a barn, lives in a factory town where they make festive snow globes, and has a magical ability to defuse arguments and strike good cheer into the hearts of all with a blink. But even her supernaturally enhanced Yule powers are not enough to defeat the forces of capitalism without help from her school friends. This Northern Ireland-set fable steals adroitly from all kinds of classic Christmas-themed movies – a bit of Miracle on 34th Street, a dash of Nativity!, a big dollop of It’s a Wonderful Life, and so on. But the slapdash, script-on-the-back-of-an-envelope aesthetic becomes part of the charm in the end, especially when a parade of random celebrities (including Liam Neeson,...
- 11/12/2015
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Guardian - Film News
On the eve of its 40th anniversary special (though the anniversary itself isn't until October), what is left to say about "Saturday Night Live"? There have been multiple books written about the show, several documentaries, countless essays — riding the never-ending roller-coaster between "Saturday Night Dead" and "Saturday Night Lives Again!" — best-ofs, worst-ofs, and every other kind of list you can think of. I don't know that anything I write over the next few pages will provide new insight into one of the most influential comedy shows ever made, but I wondered if you could tell the story of the show — through good times and bad, through revolutions and evolutions and retrenchments — by looking at its sketches. I wound up picking 21 in all: some among the show's most famous, some obscure but important. These aren't meant as a definitive breakdown of the best "SNL" ever had to offer, but as a...
- 2/12/2015
- by Alan Sepinwall
- Hitfix
“Oops.”
That’s how Gov. Rick Perry capped his 53 seconds of horror during last night’s Republican debate, when he couldn’t recall the third department of government that he intended to axe once he became president. It was painful to watch for supporters of the Texas governor, but also for anyone who’s ever blanked or fumbled for words in front of an audience. On the scale of 1 to 10 Stockdales, it was a solid 9.3.
What’s a Stockdale, you ask? Well, it’s a fictional unit of measurement that rates the campaign-killing effects of a politician’s televised blunder.
That’s how Gov. Rick Perry capped his 53 seconds of horror during last night’s Republican debate, when he couldn’t recall the third department of government that he intended to axe once he became president. It was painful to watch for supporters of the Texas governor, but also for anyone who’s ever blanked or fumbled for words in front of an audience. On the scale of 1 to 10 Stockdales, it was a solid 9.3.
What’s a Stockdale, you ask? Well, it’s a fictional unit of measurement that rates the campaign-killing effects of a politician’s televised blunder.
- 11/10/2011
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW.com - PopWatch
Hal Bruno, the longtime political director at ABC News and a frequent analyst on TV and radio, died Tuesday in Bethesda, Md., due to complications from a fall. He was 83. Bruno covered his first election for Newsweek magazine in 1960, the New York Times wrote, and in 1978 joined ABC, where he oversaw election and campaign coverage at the network until he retired in 1999. It was Bruno who moderated the 1992 vice presidential debate between Al Gore and Dan Quayle that was famous for Ross Perot’s running mate James Stockdale asking, “Who am I; why am I here?” “Everybody remembers the Stockdale moment,” Ken Rudin, Bruno’s deputy at the time, told the Times. “But they don’t remember it was Hal who said, ‘Admiral Stockdale, your opening statement, please, sir?’ “...
- 11/10/2011
- by THE DEADLINE TEAM
- Deadline TV
He's out to win the White House. But as Michael Tomasky explains, Newt's campaign is merely comic relief. Plus, Eve Conant on Newt's dirty polluter money.
I don't know much in this life. I can't tell you who's going to win the NBA championship or when the Pakistani Isi will become a bulwark against extremism or what year Keith Richards' lungs will finally cry uncle. But I do know this: Newt Gingrich will never be president of the United States.
Related story on The Daily Beast: The Gop's Bin Laden Jitters
It will of course be fun to watch him run. Following Gingrich is a form of entertainment-he's an all-around vaudevillian of political theatre. Journalists have a soft spot for him, even avowedly liberal ones like me, because if nothing else he is sui generis. I met him in 1992 when I was down in Atlanta for that year's vice-presidential debate,...
I don't know much in this life. I can't tell you who's going to win the NBA championship or when the Pakistani Isi will become a bulwark against extremism or what year Keith Richards' lungs will finally cry uncle. But I do know this: Newt Gingrich will never be president of the United States.
Related story on The Daily Beast: The Gop's Bin Laden Jitters
It will of course be fun to watch him run. Following Gingrich is a form of entertainment-he's an all-around vaudevillian of political theatre. Journalists have a soft spot for him, even avowedly liberal ones like me, because if nothing else he is sui generis. I met him in 1992 when I was down in Atlanta for that year's vice-presidential debate,...
- 5/11/2011
- by Michael Tomasky
- The Daily Beast
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