Top 10 Favorite Christmas Movies:

That have nothing to do with Christmas...
(in order of relevance  to Christmas and quality of movie)

10. Peter Pan
9. The Phantom Of The Opera
8. Eternal Sunshine Of the Spotless Mind
7. While You Were Sleeping
6. Little Women
5. Bridget Jones's Diary
4. Sleepless In Seattle
3. Just Friends
2. Someone Like You
1. Die Hard

Adam

This film was a bitter pill to swallow. I liked it, I really did, it was just not a feel good movie. It was sweet and in many instances funny, but the ending was painful. I loved Hugh Dancy's portrayal of Adam, he is a really great actor. I've known a couple of people with Asperger's and my cousin is autistic so I feel like I can say it was an accurate representation. So many parts were so powerful, the mirror scene or when he finds out she lied, in the lawyer's office, or him in the doorway, the extreme anxiety of it, the literalness of his feelings. Everyone always talks about how they feel in metaphors but he put those feelings into real actions, it was scary yet understandable, that's what was so scary. Beth's character was very interesting and intense also. It would be so hard to love someone and never know if they loved you back, to never be able to share feelings with them and have them understand. I just can't even imagine what it must be like, but it was so inspiring, seeing them learn from each other and grow. They both started out so selfish and immature and by the end they had grown up so much, so independent and with purpose, but separate. That's the part that hurt, they meant so much to each other, but they had to be apart to learn how to be better for each other, and then they weren't together. But I think they ended up together, I think that's what the end alluded to. And it was so great, those last 30 seconds, when Adam opens the book and you see his reaction and you know he's just realized something, but you don't know what it is. 'Mind-blindness' like he says, but this time it's the audience that doesn't know what he's thinking, I loved it.

Were The World Mine

HO-LY. SHIT. This movie was the most incredibly sincere, real, out of this world fantasy ride I have ever seen (next to peter pan of course). Probably my favorite Shakespearian play of all time is A Midsummer Night's Dream and I was so excited and intrigued at how they turned the story as they did, made it totally relatable, real, and still so OUT OF THIS WORLD! Not only were the characters charming and wonderful, Timothy and John have the sweetest harmonies and voices! UH! I am, obviously, the least judgmental person, especially when it comes to matters of the heart, and I LOVE GAY BOYS. I love a good gay romance, especially when the boys are as cute as the ones in this movie! But also, man, I don't know I just love seeing people find love, especially those who are discriminated against. And like they said, "The course of true love never did run smooth!" Oh my goodness, and I know there were silly, cliché things about this movie, but I just loved so many things about it! The costumes, the music, the characters, the actors, the set designs, the choreography, the special effects, the PLOT! I realize a lot of it was taken from the play, but really turned on its head and made so much more! I liked it so much more than I Can't Think Straight, like, a million times more. Were the World Mine was everything I could ever want out of a movie and in great quality. It was sentimental and sweet, while still giving the content the seriousness and involvement it deserved as a homosexual film. It makes my heart sing.

Timothy was such a wonderful character to relate to and live through for that two and half hours. Everyone knows what it's like to love someone who you assume you don't have a chance with, and then to have that chance to make them love you, realize its wrong, and has to give them up. I mean, no not everyone has THAT experience, but you get my idea. I loved it. I'm buying it. The end.

CoCo Before Chanel: Chance

For Christmas my senior year, my sister gave me a bottle of Chanel perfume, Chance. I never got so many compliments as I did the year I wore that. It was such a great scent: mature, but still young and sassy, and still sophisicated. That summer I went to Cabbo San Lucas and accidentally bought Chanel Chance Eau Fraiche, almost the exact same perfume, but a clear green and with a much fresher, springtime edge. Now it's all I wear. I don't think I'll ever buy anything else. It literally is my signature scent. I have a friend who, every time I see her, never fails to say, "Oh you smell like a Bonnie!" I love that feeling. Chanel makes every girl feel classy and fabulous. And yes, she did say that. Very smart lady.
I really loved this movie, but definately found it lacking. CoCo's transformation and struggles were heart-wrenching, hillarious, and real. But some how on film, they came off half-heartedly. It was great to see her start out in the bars singing with her sister, I really knew very little to next to nothing about her, so Audrey Tautou's depiction of her seemed true enough for me. Not to mention I am totally obsessed with Audrey Tautou. Anyway, it was just strange how she just seemed to slink into situations and then slink out. I know it's hard to be in someone's mind and really depict their inner genius, but it literally felt like I was just watching someone stumble into their fame. Like her successs was almost completely coincidental. I guess I thought they should have shown more of that progression, the actual process of culminating a style and forming a fashion sense and style. Instead it was just like, yes all these things happened, then she made her own label and then she was famous! And I do realize it's titled CoCo BEFORE Chanel, but I'd like to have seen a little more of that than just, ya she got lucky with who she slept with...
The cinematography was heaven, all the sets and scenery were so beautiful, just breath-taking. Most noteably was when they go to the ocean. Not to mention, how much did I love her English French-speaking lover? I don't know how I feel about how they romantisized that...
It was also so much fun to see how her style made her such an icon. She truly was just so ahead of her time and now I understand why I love her clothes and fashion so much. Her clothes are flattering for most forms, simple, sophisticated, timeless and classy. What's not to love?

I Can't Think Straight

So tonight I PAID to see 'I Can't Think Straight' and was incredibly disappointed. I wasted 7.50 on a campy lesbian chick flick. The characters were wishy-washy and poorly constructed. One second Tallah was rebellious and devil-may-care and the next she's all distraught because her family wouldn't understand? She didn't want to hurt her boyfriend? And overnight Leyla is all the sudden 100% positively a lesbian after dancing with Tallah for, oh, about 2 minutes, even though in the beginning of the film she goes on and on about how she's so strong in her faith and a good little Muslim girl! What gives? It was just too cheesy for any film genre; I honestly contemplated walking out and asking for a refund. It would be one thing if I had seen it for free, I paid for that and all I could do to pass the time was to make fun of it. The drama of it all was so over the top. And they both have understanding younger sisters and fathers, but the moms can't take it? The one real moment I liked where I thought they really made a point of showing what a struggle it can be to be homosexual in a culture of strong religion is when the mom yells "Then you will BURN IN HELL!" Ouchers mom. Anyway, I've seen lesbian films and I've seen gay films and all I'm saying is, there have been better. Much better.

Chris and Don: A Love Story

How much did I love this movie? So much. What a unique time, what a unique love. All through the movie all I could think about was 'Will anyone ever love me as much as these men loved each other?' Maybe not, but their story was nothing if not inspiring. I really liked how the movie followed such a clear time line, so many times in documentaries they jump from event to event, this felt very fluid and as if you were really experiencing their relationship as it unfolded, but the hindsight was nice too. Don seemed very child-like even in his old age, it was impossible to not love him, you immediately knew what Chris saw in him 30 years before and, most importantly, you knew how much he loved Chris. They seemed to live a charmed life of travel and leisure, it seemed so magical, so wonderful, you almost forgot the things that must have brought them together: the second world war, the changing atmosphere of Hollywood, their incredible age difference, and of course the taboo of homosexuality. Still, it seems uncanny.
I regret to say I've never read any of Chris Isherwood's work, but of course I love Cabaret. Everyone and their mother loves Cabaret. Sally Bowles was one of my all time favorite female characters since I was little, she had such spunk and sass, and I wished I could be that confident. She and Holly GoLightly, of course. Both great movies, both great books, both written by gay men. What-da-ya-know.
I had never seen any of Don Bachardy's work either, but my goodness, what a talent. I loved his use of colors for lighting and shadows, I mean wow. I've never seen anything like that, it made me want to take an art class! You just never know what a little hobby can turn into, I mean I wish I had that. And all his drawings of Chris as he was dying... just heartbreaking. Again, I wonder if I will ever find a love like that.