The Christmas Movie Club #1 - The Grinch

Loughc

So here we are the start of our Christmas Movie Club,

This week's movie up for discussion is 2000's

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

IMDB: 6/10

Plot Summary: Inside a snowflake exists the magical land of Whoville. In Whoville, live the Whos, an almost mutated sort of munchkinlike people. All the Whos love Christmas, yet just outside of their beloved Whoville lives the Grinch. The Grinch is a nasty creature that hates Christmas, and plots to steal it away from the Whos which he equally abhors. Yet a small child, Cindy Lou Who, decides to try befriend the Grinch.


The thread will close on the 1st of June, and the next thread will be opened on the 2nd.

A list of Movie Club Viewing Order List can be found;

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057426932&page=3


Ratings

If you are giving your review please give us your scores for;

Overall Enjoyment (rate out of 5 Christmas Stars)

Christmassy Feeling (rate out of 5 Santas)

And for a bit for fun also post the number of Fully Decorated Unique Christmas Trees that you spot in the film, the trees must be fully decorated and you can't count the same tree twice, there's no right or wrong answer here just a bit of fun


Where to Find It

The Grinch is available to Rent online from the following places;

XBox Video HD - €4.99
XBox Video SD - €3.99

iTunes SD - €2.99

Sky Store SD - €3.49

Feel free to add other places where we can legally view The Grinch

eviltwin

Yay!!! Love this movie.

Loughc

eviltwin wrote: »

Yay!!! Love this movie.

I have never seen all of it from start to finish so I'm looking forward to watching it over the weekend!

Toto Wolfcastle

Excellent. I'll definitely watch this over the next couple of days. Can't wait.

Scarinae

I'll watch it over the weekend I saw this when it first came out but haven't seen it since, so I'm hoping that I'll enjoy it

Toto Wolfcastle

Watched this tonight.

5 for overall enjoyment.

Definitely 5 Santas for Christmassy feeling.

And I counted 17 Christmas trees!

It's a classic 'true meaning of Christmas' film but done in a really funny, and ultimately heart-warming way.

Hightlights for me include (spoiler alert!) the Christmas conga when the Grinch visits Whoville, when the Grinch is telling the dog how to be a reindeer, and when the Grinch and the dog hug near the end.

Great first choice. I feel like putting up the tree now!

Loughc

I am so excited to watch this now

gidget

Has anyone ever managed to watch the original cartoon version of this. I always remember seeing the clip in Home Alone 2, I would love to check it out.

Scarinae

I totally should be doing work, but instead I'm watching trailers for Christmas films. Am I allowed to post the trailer for The Grinch?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD0m9t4WHEQ

Scarinae

I'm just settling down to watch this now, I'll update later!

Loughc

So just after finishing watching this, and I have to say it's great fun!

How I've never seen this movie I'll never understand haha, Jim Carey gives a great performance and it really is his movie. The movie it self touches on the undertones of being a social outcast and commercialism at Christmas and it really hammers home the point, you don't need gifts to enjoy Christmas and nobody should be alone at Christmas.

I've a feeling the commercialism at Christmas theme will feature a few times during the full list of movies.

The feel was great fun, visually fantastic and has the heart warming ending.

Overall I give it, 4 stars out of 5 and 5 Santas out of 5.

I spotted 11 trees when eliminating ones I seen a few times but there were so many I may have missed 1 or 2 or ten haha.

Posy

A nice entertaining Christmas film, but I'm not a big fan of Jim Carrey (except for the Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine) so I'm a little biased!
I think it just dragged a bit for me, I found myself fast-forwarding some of the middle!
I like the message of the film, that they realise you don't need actual presents to enjoy the day with those you love.
And I do like the Faith Hill song from it, very festive!

-Overall Enjoyment: 2 out of 5 Christmas Stars
-Christmassy Feeling: 3 out of 5 Santas

I seen about 15 trees, but I lost count a few times so that's definitely not accurate! :pac:

Scarinae

I'm not a big fan of this film, sorry It was slightly better than I remembered but still not great, I know that's probably a controversial statement!

It's definitely big on the Christmas atmosphere – I loved the music and of course it is super festive, with fantastic set design

Some of the bits that I liked:

• My first genuine laugh was the prank phonecall
• The child Grinch drawing and cackling was hilarious
• I liked Martha's Christmas present hair in this scene, and wish I could do that to my own hair at Christmas
  
• Also the random extra with the hair that looked like a snowman, that's another one to add to my style list - I can't find a photo though
• I loved when he said BOO and everyone screamed, and the guy at the back fell
• Also, I need that Christmas jumper in my life
  
• When he's sitting in the chair being forcefed pudding, and one guy says “This is not pudding!” and gives him some weird blue goop – hilarious!
• The sack race was also amazing, with the Chariots of Fire music
• When the mayor shouts “Do something!” and his lackey shaves his head
• Also the Grinch on the tiny car for pure physical comedy value
• The gag about him speaking in rhyming couplets was good too
• “The Grinch laughed in his throat” *honk*
• The film does have a good overall message, about how Christmas is about more than just commercialism:
  “Maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store
  Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more”
  

Some of the bits that I didn't like:

• The songs, especially Cindy Lou's song. Ugh! I'm not a big fan of cutesy children though
• What was with the Grinch's weird lishpy Sean Connery voice?
• I didn't like all the sexual innuendo – don't get me wrong, I can have a filthy sense of humour myself but I felt it was inappropriate in what is essentially a kids' film. The key party in the flashback, young Martha licking the lollipop suggestively, the Grinch pretty much motorboating her, the mayor kissing the dog's anus... Just no!

Other notes:

• How is Whoville located in a snowflake? What will happen when the snowflake lands, and melts? Will the Whos all die in a horrible tsunami?
• The beginning gave me flashbacks to working in retail. Oh, the horror! The atmosphere in shops can be great at Christmas, but also some of the worst customers you will ever get will appear on Christmas Eve
• The baby Grinch reminded me of the baby from Dinosaurs
  
  
• The women dressed as candy canes looked dodgy from the front, I don't think that was intentional though!
  
• Cindy Lou is played by a young Taylor Momsen! What?
  
• The scene where the Grinch puts on a baseball cap and is instructing the dog on how to be a reindeer is apparently Jim Carrey doing a parody of Ron Howard, the film's director
• Other actors considered to play the Grinch were Eddie Murphy and Jack Nicholson

I think I spotted twelve fully decorated Christmas trees, it was hard to know if I was counting the same trees more than once though.

Overall enjoyment – 3 Christmas stars
Christmassy feeling – 5 Santas

Posy

If we're picking a winner for best review, it's got to be Scarinae!!

Loughc

Posy wrote: »

If we're picking a winner for best review, it's got to be Scarinae!!

Agreed!! Absolutely BRILLIANT review. Scarinae's review was actually better than the film itself!!

Posy

Scarinae wrote: »

What will happen when the snowflake lands, and melts? Will the Whos all die in a horrible tsunami?

Scarinae

And check out this anecdote from Jim Carrey!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXAv8RXmsrc