On the first day of Christmas...
...I embark on a new quest.
Yes, I know. The song says there are only 12 days of Christmas. Well, I don't know about you, but I'm certain that's not enough. So, welcome to the first of my...
24 days of Christmas
Each day of Christmas, I'll be reviewing a Christmas movie and sharing a new Christmas outfit. December 1 through 24, I'll catch you up on my recent discoveries and additions to my Christmas Movie List, and what to avoid (in my opinion). I'll give my star rating (totally subjective depending on how quickly after viewing I get to it and how many Christmas bevvies were consumed in the making of) and the trailers will be at the bottom of the post. You'll also get to see me in my Christmas t-shirts - I think I've amassed quite a decent collection. Not all of them are suitable for an Australian Summer Christmas, but will I let that stop me?
Wilf gets it.
Day one sees me celebrating Slothmas - something I'm feeling heavily today. It's been busy, busy working all day getting ready for next week's double releases. It's all going okay considering I had an unexpected operation last Friday, but I am definitely ready for a rest when it's all done.
This is only the beginning of the excitement that is our house getting ready for Christmas. I'll have another t-shirt for you tomorrow. I'm just not sure which one it will be yet. Might depend on the weather - the first day of summer Down Under was all of 15 Celsius and stormy. Perfect in my book.
I thought I'd start the month off with a new movie for me, although I've wanted to watch it for ages! It came out in 2017, but we're only just getting around to it in our household. The anticipation paid off.
The Man Who Invented
Christmas - 4.5/5 stars
Starring Dan Stevens as the brilliant author Charles Dickens, The Man Who Invented Christmas follows a fictionalised Dickens as he writes the now infamous Christmas favourite A Christmas Carol. While clearly not sating the historian in me, this movie was everything I love about Christmas, and hubby and I were about half way through when we realised that it was actually just a movie about me. Stevens' Dickens, it turns out, has a very similar approach to getting words on the page as I do, not in the least in having a very short fuse when interrupted in the midst of creative flow and complaining when the characters don't do what he wants.
The movie, directed by Bollywood and Hollywood director Bharat Nalluri, combined Dickens' life in London with the gradual reveal of his past trauma and his Christmas ghost story unfolding. The scenes were interwoven in a way that, like A Christmas Carol, combined humour with the more serious subtexts. As Dickens bickers with his misbehaving characters (in an all-too familiar way), he comes to grips with the man he has truly become. And not only discovers the true meaning of Christmas, but does so in time to share it with the world.
We're introduced to the supposed inspirations for Dickens' characters in his everyday life - a housemaid, his family, a man on the street. Mr and Mrs Fezziwig were a delightful recurring couple of them, and the wonderful Christopher Plummer as Scrooge.
Much like Dicken's Christmas ghost story, The Man Who Invented Christmas was a lovely reminder of what Christmas is really all about in a similar but fresh take on the classic Christmas tale. Husband-permitting, this one will make it onto the regular Christmas rotation.
If you've got a suggestion for a movie, leave it in the comments.
You can check out the trailer below (fingers crossed there isn't any regional bollocks that gets in the way).
