National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)
There’s no way that National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation should be as good as it is. By 1989, Chevy Chase had become, well, Chevy Chase and a holiday film three movies in feels like a cash-in. And yet this is a movie that my wife’s family watches every single year and now, I’ve become part of that […]
National Lampoon’s European Vacation (1985)
Amy Heckerling followed Fast Times at Ridgemont High with Johnny Dangerously, a movie no one seemed to get at the time and one I still can’t get my wife to watch. Working with writer Robert Klane (Weekend at Bernie’s) she had a tough task. Follow National Lampoon’s Vacation. This time, the Griswolds — Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo […]
A CHRISTMAS STORY: The Star-Crossed Romance of Josephine Cosnowski (1985)
Originally airing on February 11, 1985 on PBS’ American Playhouse, the fourth feature film of the Parker family starts in a movie theater as an older Ralphie (Jean Shepherd, who wrote these stories) relates that seeing a movie by a Polish director reminds him of Josephine Cosnowski (Katherine Kamhi), the neighbor who became his first serious love. Barbara Bolton […]
DISMEMBERCEMBER: Home Alone (1990)
Some see this holiday film — directed by Chris Columbus and written and produced by John Hughes — as a seasonal favorite. I see it as a story of bad parenting, exacerbated by the fact that they allowed the same situation to happen a year later, and a child driven to cruelty by the way […]
American Pie Presents: Band Camp (2005)
Look, if there weren’t going to be any more American Pie movies in theaters, there would always be people who would rent the direct-to-video sequels. You know, like me. I’m a completist. How many Amityville movies does it take to stop my OCD? How many Hellraiser films? Well, here you go: a whole series of American Pie movies that […]
American Reunion (2012)
Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, who directed and wrote this, also made the Harold and Kumar movies and along with Josh Heald, the series Cobra Kai. They also produced Blockers, which is pretty much an American Pie movie. Why the class would all go to a thirteenth reunion, well, who knows, but the film finds them all at different […]
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