THE DANMAN CAN

"Crowbars up." John Hughes Penned Feature Films Ranked

3615 Code Père Noël  (aka  Deadly Games  aka  Dial Code Santa Claus  aka  Game Over ) (1989) plays as a horror-centric  Home Alone  (1990) crossed with  Commando ,  Rambo: First Blood Part II  (both 1985), and  Die Hard   (1988) [ review ], filtered through the minds of directors like  Jean-Pierre Jeunet  and  Terry Gilliam .  French director  René Manzor  cast his own son ( Alain LaLanne ) to portray child prodigy Thomas, a tween boy who likes to play pretend war games in his widowed mother Julie's ( Brigitte Fossey ) mansion. When Julie is away on Christmas Eve, managing the  Printemps  department store where she works, Thomas, believing he's contacting Santa Claus via a  Minitel  (an online precursor to the World Wide Web), accidentally reveals to a deranged man ( Patrick Floersheim ) where he lives. When the killer Santa shows up at his home, it's up to Thomas to use hi...

The Muppet Christmas Carol   (1992) was the first  Muppet  movie made after Jim Henson 's death two years earlier (regular Muppet performer  Richard Hunt  also passed away earlier the year that  MCC  was released). The film, directed by Henson's son  Brian  and adapted from  Charles Dickens 's timeless  1843 novella , arrived eight years after the previous theatrical Muppet movie, 1984's  The Muppets Take Manhattan   [ review ]. It’s great that all of the remaining living Muppet performers were involved in this production and the artistry shows. I love the puppets, the sets, and a good deal about the film. But this film hit at an age where Muppets weren't really my thing (I loved them when I was younger and then picked them back up in my twenties), so I didn't first see it until 2014. Meaning, I don't have the same sense of attachment to it that I know many people do. Steve Whitmire  does a commendable job of per...

"Look, Ma! I'm a Picasso!" "Gosh. I only axed you for a smoke." "Well, it ain't fucking Frosty!"

There is definitely some fun to be had in this update and I appreciate that it did its best to set itself apart from the 1984  original  [ review ] (other than the obvious but expected callbacks), but it leaned too hard on the Dexter angle and did that whole going-for-gravitas-while-also-eating-its-exploitation-cake thing that a lot of modern horror films attempt and don't quite nail.

Greetings,  Weirdos ! Tune in as your favorite local horror hosts,  Uncle Spooky ,  Demented Danman , and  Lil Spooky , unwrap their must-see Christmas horror picks and bring some spooky cheer to the holiday season! 🎄 Listen to  Weirdo Wednesday Podcast : Episode Eight  here . Let us know what topics/films you'd like to hear us talk about!  Follow us  on your favorite streaming platform and on  Instagram . We love feedback and positive reviews too. Don't forget that WW takes place every Wednesday evening at  Cinema Salem  in Salem, MA at 7:30 PM (tickets  here ). Dates for fall 2025 Freakout Fridays at  The Owl Theatre  in Lowell, MA are listed below (tickets  here ). Come get Weird with us in both Salem and Lowell! WW Podcast Themes  by  Demented Danman WW Logo by  Iris Miller FF Poster by  Lil Spooky

The plot isn't anything special and White Christmas (1954) is certainly hokey and old-fashioned (plus Christmas only serves to bookend the film and other Michael Curtiz pictures bear more of his stamp), but the dance numbers are fantastic, the Irving Berlin songs are memorable, and the cinematography, costumes, and production design are all grand ( WC  was the first feature film to utilize  VistaVision ). All four leads are excellent, but Vera-Ellen is the MVP. Michael Curtiz Feature Films Ranked

I only saw  Vincente Minnelli 's  Meet Me In St. Louis   (1944) for the first time in 2023, but I loved it instantly. The film is filled with all the qualities that make a truly classic movie musical—exuberance, melodrama, memorable songs, beautiful costumes, and wonderful performances. Though it seems tenuous, the illusion of the perfect family dynamic is never shattered. Even in the picture's darker moments (speaking of, Tootie is delightfully macabre) the Smith family bond seems to be unbreakable.  MMISL  hits all the precise beats for maximum entertainment—it's joyful, it's fun and fancy free, it's melancholic, and it's a tearjerker. As the saying goes, they don't make 'em like they used to.

An undeniably old-fashioned and tender romance (though not without a scrappy charm and some darker moments) but handled so beautifully—thanks in large part to a brilliant script by Preston Sturges  (his last one before becoming a director himself) and a wonderful cast—that it's impossible not to get teary-eyed (and also impossible not to fall in love with Barbara Stanwyck ). I only saw Remember The Night (1940) for the first time in 2023, but I loved it instantly and I love it even more on a rewatch.