The Oscars Nominations Predictions 2017

Here we are again. The best time of the year, the Oscars time! And here are my final nominations. In few hours we’ll be hearing what the Academy picked.

BEST PICTURE

• La La Land
• Manchester by the Sea
• Moonlight
• Arrival
• Fences
• Lion
• Hidden Figures
• Hell or High Water
• Hacksaw Ridge

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• Silence
• Deadpool

I couldn’t pick my 10th option because I’m hopeless optimistic and actually think they would go for R-rated comic book movie. Right yeah? I kind of wanted to leave Hidden Figures out as well but this is where the final list now. At the moment it’s either La La Land’s or Moonlight’s to lose.

DIRECTOR

• La La Land – Damien Chazelle
• Manchester by the Sea – Kenneth Longergan
• Hell or High Water – David McKenzie
• Arrival – Denis Villeneuve
• Moonlight – Barry Jenkins

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• Hacksaw Ridge- Mel Gibson
• Fences – Denzel Washington
• Silence – Martin Scorsese
• Lion – Garth Davis

By far the hardest category to predict this year. The three of them are absolute locks (Chazelle, Lonergan and Jenkins) but the two others… I believe that Villeneuve is due with a nomination (I haven’t seen Arrival yet but I’m only hearing good things plus he’s done great job with previous films that were nominated, Prisoners and Sicario) but the last slot was hard to decide. I played a wild card.

ACTOR

• La La Land – Ryan Gosling
• Fences – Denzel Washington
• Manchester by the Sea – Casey Affleck
• Hacksaw Ridge – Andrew Garfield
• Captain Fantastic – Viggo Mortensen

ACTRESS

• La La Land – Emma Stone
• Jackie – Natalie Portman
• Arrival – Amy Adams
• Florence Foster Jenkins – Meryl Streep
• Elle – Isabelle Huppert

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Loving – Ruth Negga

Because of the story of Loving, I wanted to give a slot for Ruth Negga but Huppert has been really strong and one can never leave Streep out, especially when she gave amazing speech at the Golden Globes in the middle of voting of the Oscars nominations.

SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Lion – Dev Patel 10
• Moonlight – Mahershala Ali
• Hell of High Water – Jeff Brigdes
• Florence Foster Jenkins – Hugh Grant
• Nocturnal Animals – Aaron Taylor-Johnson

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• Manchester by the Sea – Lucas Hedges

I just might be hopeful here again but if Nocturnal Animals will soar at least a bit, Taylor-Johnson will be in. And the Academy has avoid to nominate younger actors in this category like Tremblay last year. But Hedges has been strong so far, so this is a game.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Hidden Figures – Octavia Spences
• Fences – Viola Davis
• Manchester by the Sea – Michelle Williams
• Naomi Harris – Moonlight
• Lion – Nicole Kidman

 

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• Manchester by the Sea
• The Lobster
• Hell or High Water
• La La Land
• Captain Fantastic

 

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• Moonlight
• Fences
• Lion
• Nocturnal Animals
• Arrival

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• Hidden Figures

OK, I have a thing for Nocturnal Animals even I haven’t seen it, so again, I’m putting it ahead of probably stronger contender.

CINEMATOGRAPHY

• La La Land
• Silence
• Arrival
• Lion
• Moonlight

EDITING

• La La Land
• Manchester by the Sea
• Arrival
• Moonlight
• Hacksaw Ridge

 

COSTUME DESIGN

• Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them
• Jackie
• La La Land
• Florence Foster Jenkins
• Allied

 

PRODUCTION DESIGN

• La La Land
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
• The Handmaiden
• Jackie
• Arrival

 

MAKE-UP & HAIRSTYLING

• A Man Called Ove
• Deadpool
• Florence Foster Jenkins

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• Star Trek Beyond

I asked my make-up artist friend’s opinion here and she chose Deadpool instead of Star Trek Beyond. I’ll blame her if I’m incorrect.

SOUND MIXING

• La La Land
• Arrival
• Rogue One
• Hacksaw Ridge
• Deepwater Horizon

SOUND EDITING

• Hacksaw Ridge
• Deepwater Horizon
• Roque One
• Arrival
• The Jungle Book

 

VISUAL EFFECTS

• Rogue One
• The Jungle Book 5
• Arrival
• Strange
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

 

SCORE

• Moonlight (Nicholas Britell)
• Jackie (Mica Levi)
• La La Land (Justin Hurwitz)
• The BFG (John Williams)
• Rogue One (Michael Giacchino)

 

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• Lion (Dustin O’Halloran, Hauschka)

I’m still a bit annoyed that Jóhann Jóhannsson is not eligible for Arrival as he is these days one of my definite favourite composers. Love his work! I wanted to leave John Williams out but you know, you just can’t. And it’s traditional that the composers branch always vote for their own and already now there are THREE new comers. I hardly see that happening but I don’t know who else to pick. Justin Hurwitz all the way, I looooooove La La Land’s soundtrack!

 

SONG

• Moana – How Far I’ll Go
• La La Land – Audition (The Fools Who Dream)
• La La Land – City of Stars
• Sing Street – Drive Like You Stole It
• Trolls – Can’t Stop the Feeling

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• Sing – Faith
• Hidden Figures – Runnin’

Always hard category to predict. I gave a chance to Sing Street’s 80’s sounds, it’s a gamble, I know. I hope that the song above wins, I can’t get enough of it.

ANIMATED

• Zootopia
• Kubo and the Two Strings
• The Red Turtle
• Moana
• My Life as a Zucchini

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• Finding Dory

Yes, I left out a Pixar film. I’m aware.

 

DOCUMENTARY

• Cameraperson
• I am Not Your Negro
• 13^th
• OJ: Made in America
• The Eagle Huntress

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• Weiner

 

FOREIGN LANGUAGE

• Toni Erdmann (Germany)
• The Salesman (Iran)
• Land of Mine (Denmark)
• A Man Called Ove (Sweden)
• My Life as a Zucchini (Switzerland)

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• It’s Only the End of the World (Canada)

I have a feeling I should not count out Xavier Dolan but I don’t know what else to do.

 

ANIMATED SHORT

• Inner Workings
• Piper
• Blind Vayasha
• Borrowed Time
• Pearl

 

LIVE ACTION SHORT

• Graffiti
• Nocturne in Black
• Sing (Mindenki)
• Timecode
• The Way of Tea

 

DOCUMENTARY SHORT

• White Helmets
• Joe’s Violin
• Extremis
• The Mute’s House
• Watani: My Homeland

 

Agree, disagree? We’ll now soon enough how I did this year.

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Liebster Award #2

Great JW at Film & Nuance nominated me for a Liebster Award for the second time in my blogging history. THANK YOU! It’s nice to be recognized. 🙂 Check out his site! And if you’re up to it, here’s my previous Liebster post.

Here are the questions he set up for all of us nominated:

1.What is your favourite movie in your least favourite genre. And why?

• This is kinda hard to answer. There are three genres that I don’t like that much: western, war movies and mafia related films. But to be honest, all the films I’ve watched in the last genre mentioned, I’ve liked, so I should probably stop saying that I don’t like it. And I don’t remember watching any westerns that I actually liked. So, let’s say… Atonement. Can I call it a war movie? No? Well, hmmm, what about Inglourious Basterds? Still no? Ok, I’ll change genres back to western as I just realised (after checking my  IMDb ratings) that there is one western that I liked a lot: True Grit, Coens’ version. There you go, found it.

2.If you had to favour a certain style (for directing a film,writing a book or any other art form of your choice), would you prefer a no-frills and direct approach, or an artistic and ambiguous one. Why?

• I’d had to go with no-frills and direct as I enjoy those kind of films more than artsy ones. I do love beautiful writing in a book but without obvious story it just doesn’t work for me.

3.Name a movie you can watch any day.

• That would be something silly and easy to watch like Legally Blonde, Mean Girls, Love Actually, Trainwreck etc.

4.If you could keep an object that you had previously but by now either lost it,sold,misplaced,had it stolen or destroyed, what would it be?

• Nevermind album by Nirvana. I used to listen to it all the time and got fed up with it and for some idiotic reason sold it. Same goes for special edition of Green Day’s Dookie. Idiot.

5.Pick an era to live in.

• Hippietime, sometime around 60s to 70s. Interesting times, a lot of political changes, freedom and great music.

6.The best film you’ve seen this year and an unreleased 2016 film that you think might beat it.

• Spotlight and I doubt there will be one but possible contenders are The Light Between Oceans, Silence, Arrival, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk and La La Land. I’m really picky about films that I give 10/10 and there have been years when I haven’t awarded full points to any film. But La La Land is my the most awaited film of the year as I absolutely love both Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone and Whiplash, that was made by same man, Damien Chazelle, was my absolute favourite from 2015.

7.Name a memory you would keep till your death.

• I don’t think I can single out one memory. I have a lot of those that I’d like to keep. I haven’t done anything THAT spectacular that I could point it out.

8.Ice-cream or popsicles?

• Ice-cream

9.Where do you stand on the Harambe case?

• I wasn’t aware of this case but went and read about it. Idk, to me zoos are no-no anyway, so… But I think the staff acted the best way they thought was suitable at the moment. In case there’s someone as clueless as me, here’s the story.

10.Favourite type of music? And what does it mean to you?

• These days I listen to all kinds of music from classical music to hard rock and anything between, also EDM. But I guess my favourite kind is still rock especially classic rock e.g. Led Zeppelin.

11.How do you cool off after being upset/angry?

• Music. It always works. My ex-roommate aka one of my best friends used to say it was easy to know my mood by the music I was listening to. I use music to manipulate my feelings. It affects me a lot.

There you go. Something about me. Now it’s your turn. I should nominate ten blogs I guess but I’ll settle with half of them. Here are the blogs I love to follow and I hope they will get a lot more followers! I know it should be under 200 followers but I choose not to care. 😉 Check them out!

• Movie Reviews 101
• Vinnieh
• Life of This City Girl
• Jordan and Eddie (the movie guys)
• House of Geekery

So, here are my questions for you guys and girls:

1. What kind of a role in a film would be the most interesting to you to play?
2. If you read, what is the book you always go back to?
3. Three things that would make your life better?
4. Who is your ultimate celebrity crush and why?
5. Who’s your favourite dead director?
6. If you could choose to study whatever despite the future earnings/finding a job/the place of the study/etc. what would you study?
7. What film do you think will win the best picture Oscar next February?
8. Your dream vacation spot?
9. The best movie memory?
10. Do you have a schedule for blogging?

That’s it! Good luck and

 

Fairytale Year in Review

Now, when the year is almost over and I will be partying mostly what’s left of it and actually hang out with my real life friends, it’s time to take a look at my year in the blog-verse.

I had much less traffic this year than I did in 2014 but then again, I posted much less and I was very inconsistent, e.g. I didn’t write a word for five months… As my new year’s resolution, I promise I’ll try to do better. Apart from Homepage, other favourite posts have been my Analysis of Casablanca (made for school originally), “If You Can Dream It You Can Do It” and many of those Best of the Best lists (which I will be writing one more time this year when listing the best films of the year on the last day of the year). And apparently yesterday’s post of Jared Leto has been a huge success. 😀 My top-3 countries of visitors are US, Germany and for some weird reason, France. “Cary Fukunaga” has been, by far, the most popular search word(s) that will link people to my blog. No complaints there, he deserves all the attention coming to his way. Sunday seems to be the day I should post and the late hour of 11pm is the target time (no surprise there if my readers are from the States). Again, my dear readers, let me know if there are some special posts that you like more than others and I’ll try to do my best and write more about them. 🙂

Then… Let’s take a look how I did with all my self-challenges. Badly being the key word here.

50/50 ended up being 8/113 + 4 that I watched double or more times PLUS those that I will watch during these few days. I think that the next year I’ll go for 10/150 or something like it. Something I can actually reach. I definitely should read more though. The best book I read this year was the familiar one; Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. No surprises there. Films I will go through later. But apparently X-Men: Days of Future Past and Star Wars: The Force Awakens are high on my list of movies all in all as I watched them twice this year. And Jurassic World, or perhaps Chris Pratt’s nipples (yay for Chris’ take on objectifying men; it is their time), seems to be THE film for me since I’ve seen it three (!) times since July. Chris Pratt in general was THE crush for me this year.

I did watch two films from my IMDb-250 list. Two. Wohoo. What’s wrong with me, those films are great! I watched The Graduate, not my cup of tea and to me definitely too hyped. Hated the way it looks. Ugh. The other one I just watched yesterday; The General by Buster Keaton (1926). He was a funny man! I enjoyed the film. Obviously it’s old but the story works and so does Keaton. But he’s no Chaplin, I have to say. I will continue tackle the list next year as well (and probably the next one after that too…). I also set up a TV Challenge in September. I haven’t watched too many from that list but I did finish watching the first season of Orphan Black and will definitely continue. I started The Affair and while it’s not bad it hasn’t gotten me hooked either. I didn’t watch five episodes so I need to give it another chance still. And I need to finish Outlander season 1, still four more episodes to go.

On personal side I have two lists; former 101 Things in 1001 Days that I changed to 55 Things in 555 Days; take a look! I only managed to do one so far but that’s kind of huge one as it is living abroad. As I told in the beginning of autumn, I moved to Amsterdam to do my exchange. I’m still there (though right now I’m visiting Finland for Christmas) and I’m planning on staying. I don’t have a proper job, I will loose my student housing in a month and I really need to find an internship to finalize my studies. So, wish me luck! And  if anyone knows any nice marketing/branding/event management internships in Europe (or elsewhere if I can get a permit) preferably in entertainment/sports business, let me know! Oh, I did start to take selfies every month, here’s an example:

I also have my Bucket List here for everyone to see. I haven’t achieved any of those goals, I think I need to start now.

In general note, the end of the year has been great. I loved my studies in Amsterdam, I got to know a bunch of great people that I really, really want to keep in my life in the future too. I’ve been pondering a lot if I’ve deserved all this happiness that I’m feeling now but then again, the spring and the last year were heavy ones, so, I guess, I have deserved some easy times for a change.

New Year’s resolutions? I promise to graduate. I promise to make changes to make me healthier. I promise to be easy on me. I promise to stay in touch with people that matter and I promise to try to remember not to hold on to things that are not worth it and just let them go. Any resolutions there?

I’m not wishing you Happy New Year yet as I hope you’ll come back in few days to see which films I liked the best this year. 😉

The Best of the Best – Movies of Music

Yeah. I’m kind of cheating here. Like I tend to do quite often with my Best of the Best lists. So, this is the listing, idea gotten from a blog of Cinema Disco Parrot when she made a top ten of her favourite musicals. Well, I thought of making the same but then I just noticed, surprisingly I don’t like musicals. Weird. I though I do. But all these 12 films that I mention here have gotten me 10 or 9 in IMDb and that means they’re really good and I think that is good line to draw when making a top ten list, or what do you think? BUT as I said, I cheated and following films are not necessarily musicals but films either musicals or ones where music plays important part of the story.

Let’s go. So, two films just bubbling under top 10 are worth of mention too.

Walk the Line

Pitch Perfect

And then to my actual TOP-10. The Best of the Best of movies that include music in one way or another. Clips of some of my favourite parts of the film. Including music. Videos might contain spoilers.

10)

CRY-BABY

I’m quite sure there are a lot of you who haven’t seen this one. You should. I’ve loved it since I was a kid. And Johnny is as hot as ever. It’s trashy, it has young Ricky Lake and porn star turned actress Tracy Lords and it even has Iggy Pop! Recommended all the way. Good fun!

9)

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

There’s no way that I could have done this list without Disney musicals. This is the first of three.

8)

ALMOST FAMOUS

I know what it is to love music. A band and follow them wherever they go. I love this film and this scene is the best scene in the whole film. It’s hard to explain how cool it is to travel with or after some band on tour. There’s some kind of magic. And Kate Hudson has never been more beautiful than as Penny Lane.

7)

THE PIANIST

A “little” different music film. Usually films with music are on the cheery side of the notes. The Pianist is devastating. But so well done. Adrien Brody really earned his Oscar for the role of Wladyslaw Szpilman.

6)

FROZEN

I have no idea how many times I have already shared that video. At least four in this blog, I think. Well, once more. I love that song! ❤

5) 

THE SOUND OF MUSIC

I just realised I don’t have Mary Poppins on this list. And apparently I thought it’s worth of 8/10. Hmph. Don’t know about that. But at least I have Sound of Music here. I love that song. And all the others in the film as well. I could’ve chosen any of them but that’s classic. Julie Andrews was and is amazing singer.

4) 

THE WIZARD OF OZ

When I was a kid and were sick my mum took me to my grandma to recover while she went to work. It was the best place to be when sick. She made me Nutella sandwiches and I was able to watch Star Wars  or Wizard of Oz. I couldn’t do that at home. It was so nice. You forgot you were sick when you were shipped to Oz with basket full of Nutella sandwiches.

3)

BEGIN AGAIN

It feels kinda wrong to put this tiny little film with Keira Knightley and Adam Levine on top of Julie Andrews and Judy Garland but I just absolutely loved this film when I saw it couple of years ago. It made me feel like I was flying. Kind of believe in the world again. And it describes the effect of music in your life so well. Oh so well.

2)

THE LION KING

Of course this is on the list. My god that is amazing opening for a film. And that film is still amazing. Hakuna matata!

1)

MOULIN ROUGE! 

That is not unfortunately the original clip of the film which they have actually managed to keep out of YouTube. At least I couldn’t find one. But that is by all means the best part of music of any musical ever. I absolutely love it! But again, I could choose any of the songs in Moulin Rouge. Whatthehell, here’s another:

There you go. I thought this would be easy and quick post to write but nooooo. I’ve been here for hours listening to all of those great songs from great movies. Two best things in the world; movies and music. *sigh* How about yours? What are your favourites? Which films that music is in the lead role would you recommend? I have, by no means, seen all of them.

Back on the Saddle!

I thought about this a lot. If I have an interest to write this blog. And if I can find time. But as long as I have time to binge-watch Netflix, I also have time to write my blog.

Let’s take an update.

I live in Amsterdam now. I’m in exchange. For my studies that I started two years ago. If you’re interested in reading more about me and my actual life, not just about movies, feel free to browse “The List Lover” posts that you can find from the left side menu.

I’m still pursuing my dreams. One way or another. I will be studying Business of Sports and Events during my time in Amsterdam. That will start on Monday. And after that I will have my practical training aka Internship time. I have quite big dreams concerning that but I will talk about it later.

So, how about my lists. Well, as you, who have read my blog earlier, know I love the Oscars. And I already made my early (very long lists of) predictions for next February. Check them here. And please feel free to tell me if I’ve forgotten something. Or make suggestions for the best documentary category, I’m so lost with that one. Thankfully, I will be here in Amsterdam when they are having IDFA, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam in November, the mother of documentary film festivals.

Then, IMDB top-250. Yeah, I haven’t watched any since January. Yay for me… Tomorrow I’ll be seeing Manhattan though. I’m going to visit the Eye that is contemporary movie culture centre in here Amsterdam and they are showing the film.

Ok. 50/50. I haven’t watched that many films this year to be honest. But I did see 15/64 in cinemas. That’s not bad, I think. I listed the series, just to explain to myself why there aren’t more films in the list.

Well, my Bucket List. I’ve started number 56. Hah, I actually had my IQ tested (66). It’s normal. I never thought it would be very high but at least a bt. To be honest. It’s not. Wow. I’ve been too honest there… Well, what’s written it’s written… I guess. Number 90. is thankfully getting closer everyday.

And lastly, my list of 101 things in 1001 days. The deadline is gone. I managed to do quite many things from the list:

1. Get into some school to study something you really want to study and stay there. 

Still there.

Then I volunteered at film festivals (though I still want to go to Sundance or Toronto), joined Pinterest and Twitter (still using both) and started a blog (actually two but other one is in Finnish). I unpacked and then packed again as I don’t have home in Finland anymore. I saw new artists and tried new foods and restaurants and shot more people with my camera. I got new haircuts and new glasses as well. I made a short film, I used earrings and started to use more feminine clothes altogether. I saw Wicked and Supernatural season 6 (it was a drag…). I visit Lapland and Louvre. I got a bicycle(s, actually). And I got a pasta machine from my friends for my birthday (didn’t by it myself but who cares!). I managed to do 36/101. Not bad. And I will continue it. From now on it’ll be list of 55 things in 555 days.

@Satumaah

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100th Post – Are dreams still alive?

http://broadway-dreamer.tumblr.com/post/34262596580

It’s been almost two years since I posted for the first time. That makes it one post per week. And almost a year since I’ve posted something about my personal life if you don’t count those mentions in other posts. The last time I wrote about my life was in Spring Rambling in April 2014. It’s been a while. I’ll try to collect some thoughts and happenings in this post. As the readers who have visited my About page or read my first “List Lover” (that’s me) -post, know that I’d like to work in movie industry and I have big plans for me. More about my plans and how I’ve managed to gain them so far, you can read by choosing The List Lover off the menu on left. If you’re interested. 🙂

So, what’s been going on since last April. I was quite tired back then because I was working approximately 25 hours per week plus all that school work. But thankfully during the summer I managed to take it easy. I had just the perfect balance between work and play. And the summer all together was very nice, the weather was warm, even hot and I spend a lot of time at parks and beaches. Or at the sea, my favourite place during a summer. Here’s me enjoying it.

Otherwise the last year was not the easiest one. The summer was good but the rest of the year was quite a struggle. Emotionally and physically in that way that I’ve been sick quite a lot and because I tend to stress about things my whole body gets stressed and my muscles are killing me that badly that I can’t sleep. And when I can’t sleep, I get irritated and restless. And that leads to drinking and so on. You get the picture. When it comes to my dreams; are they still alive? To be honest, I don’t know anymore what I really want and I need to figure that out. Following wise words have been my guide during the last couple of months:

And now when the new year has started, it feels like it’s a bit easier to breath again.

How is it going on with my lists? Well, not so good. I’ve been really lazy with all the stuff from 101 Things. And that’s kinda sad as those things are not that hard to achieve. I only managed to do few things. I unpacked (28.) finally when my nowadays roommate moved here and I changed to the different room in the apartment. I kind of achieved number 39 as my friend moved back from Minsk… 48) I am nice these days most of the time, so that’s not a problem anymore (quite weird to notice that there has been this kind of huge change… Wow.). I did use earrings for a day (59) and several actually. 85) I got a bicycle last summer and I’ve been using it from time to time. My roommate has been using it a lot more though. 😀 And I just decided that my favourite quotes are safe enough in Pinterest where that pic above will lead you (100.) And the last thing that I did was to shoot (read: photograph) at least five different people for practise. That’s one photo of those sessions. I really like taking portraits.

The Bucket List I’ll just leave alone for now.

That leaves us 50/50 that looks like this: 50/50 Challenge where I managed to read four (how sad is that!!!) books and watched only 105 films. But I did watch quite a lot of series. And thankfully, out of those 105 I did watch 26 of them in cinema.

I don’t know if this is any interest of yours but I kind of like to keep this as a part-time diary too. Reminds me of things. In a good way. But I’d like to get your opinions too, what do you, my dear readers and fellow bloggers, find the most interesting to read, so please choose. You can choose more than one. Thanks! And if you have any suggestions please feel free to comment. 🙂

I’ll be back soon with the review of the latest Hobbit (which I didn’t like that much) and my new TV series challenge that I gave to myself. See ya soon!

 

 

My Top-10 of Christmas Movies

Ok, let’s be honest straight from the beginning. I cheated. A lot. I chose films that make me think of Christmas. Maybe because I’ve seen them for the first time during Christmas time or because there just happens to be things related to Christmas, like a song. Or just because it airs during the Christmas time. Some of them actually (bun intended) happen during the holidays. But still, all of these are Christmas movies to me, so here we go:

10)

DIE HARD

Hah, I just wrote elsewhere that this one is way over-appreciated. I still think so but I still liked this. And to be honest this was the last one that I had given 8/10 at IMDb (I’ve done that already 12 years, rating films in there, so it basically covers all the films that I’ve seen and can be trusted whenever checking my opinion on some particular film) that reminded me of Christmas, so here it is. It’s a classic Christmas film and quite alright.

9)

LITTLE WOMEN

One Christmas I watched all versions of Little Women or at least all of them that are made by Hollywood. The main character, Jo March, is probably my biggest literary hero. And in film versions she’s been played by great Katharine Hepburn, June Allyson (in this version, Elisabeth Taylor plays Amy) and Winona Ryder. To me the last version is the dearest but then again, nothing beats the books. I guess I’ve read them more than 10 times. But anyway, as you can see from the poster already, it looks very christmassy and the feel of it is very christmassy and even though it happens during several years, there are a lot of Christmas scenes. So, to me, it is a Christmas movie.

8)

E.T. 

This is one of those films that air here in Finland during the Christmas time. This year is no exception. And what’s more wonderfully magical than E.T.? It suits perfectly to Christmas. This year I will watch it on Boxing Day.

7)

BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY

I don’t know why this isn’t more often mentioned in Christmas movies lists? Maybe people just don’t like it. I do. I love it, I watch it almost every year. It begins from Christmas or more like New Year but still and it ends with it. Christmas written all around. Plus I think that English humour is just waaaaaaay more better than American one. Or maybe it just goes down with me better.

6)

THE SOUND OF MUSIC

This one also airs quite often during the holiday season. And that song is very christmassy. And all in all, I think Christmas is about family and family films and this is one of the better ones in the genre (both family films AND musicals).

5)

THE WIZARD OF OZ

I just realised that Christmas, to me, seems to be all about singing, families/friendship and fairytales. But I guess that’s alright. It’s a winter wonderland during Christmas and Oz is the wonderland. This was the film that made me healthier when I was sick as a kid and it still is one of those that heals my soul.

4)

FROZEN

Well, I did see this only the last holiday season for the first time but hey, it was the best! And we bought this for this Christmas and we are going to watched it tonight after handing out presents. I have all intentions of making this my regular Christmas film. It’s not actually one but it sure looks like one as here in north, Christmas is nothing without snow. A lot of it. It should look about like this:

3)

LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY

Here’s the big cheat. But I do watch these almost every Christmas season. And they came out just before Christmas. And they are THE films for me. The ones that elevate me, the ones that reminds me why I keep on dreaming. And what’s more christmassy than that? And my best going-to-cinema experience is from 2003, December 25th when I went to see Return of the King the second time and when the following scene was on, the whole (fully packed) hall was absolutely silent and then broke in to tears. Unbelievably wonderful.

2)

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE

I can stop cheating now. This is THE Christmas film. And it needs to be watched only during those three Christmas days (it airs here tomorrow). And from telly. My stepdad never gets me, why I want to watch this and cry every single time. But after watching this, don’t you just feel so good?

1)

LOVE ACTUALLY

Every year. Sometimes twice. This is the film that I would leave behind if man kind would (almost) perish. It is so full of hope (that it suffocates some of us) and I looooooove it. The best in its genres (comedy, Christmas movie and something made by Brits). Christmas won’t come without this one.

So that’s it. My Christmas films. I still have some of them to watch this year but I’m quite sure I’ll manage to do that before the end of the year.

Merry Christmas folks!

P.S. Check out my Sporadic Scene from the great blog of Zoë’s The Sporadic Chronicles of Beginner Blogger!

P.P.S. Here’s a skit Saturday Night Live made of Love Actually, with Amy Adams:

SNL Love Actually Skit