Christmas in July Blogathon

Originally written for and posted by Drew at Drew's Movie Reviews. Original post can be viewed here.

Today is a wonderful day, everyone. No, I’m not talking about the beautiful July weather right now. It’s Christmas! Or more specifically, it’s Christmas in July, which is just as good! I love this time of the year even more than Summer. Don’t you just love wrapping yourself up in a blanket, lighting some festive-smelling candles, and curling up on the sofa with a good movie?

I’m the worst for reminding people how close Christmas is (I normally start in April) but I have it on good authority that it is completely okay to talk about the C word today! Err, Christmas, that is. 

See, I have proof and everything. Drew has invited us all to celebrate early with a post. For mine, I’d like to share the Christmas movies that I’ll be watching this year. We’ve all got one of these lists, surely? Those movies that become a tradition to watch each year. Well, here are mine!

Love Actually (2003) is the first movie I turn to. It has such a brilliant cast, and never fails to make me laugh and cry within minutes of each other. It’s set in the run up to Christmas, and shows several different storylines that all tie into each other in the end. Plus, that scene with Keira Knightley and Andrew Lincoln with the cardboard signs is the sweetest thing ever!

Jingle All the Way (1996) is a movie I was introduced to when I had just started dating my now fiance. It’s his family’s traditional Christmas movie and since watching it at their house 7 years ago, I’ve watched it every year since. This doesn’t really happen anymore, but it’s about one parent’s mad dash on Christmas Eve to buy the sell-out toy of the year for his son. Thanks to Jingle All the Way, I can name all the reindeer!

Christmas Vacation (1989) follows on from my love of National Lampoon’s Vacation. Featuring Chevy Chase, it’s a hilarious tale of Clark Griswold’s experience of that festive time when his whole family come over to visit. No matter your age, there’s definitely something to relate to here.

I’m not sure if this should count, but Shrek the Halls (2007) was a half-hour TV short that my family still has recorded on their TV box. At the time, my littlest brother was Shrek obsessed, but even now we get together and watch it. It’s kind of sad, because we know all the words by heart, but it’s such a funny little short!

I watched Bad Santa (2003) for the first time last year as part of our 12 Days of Christmas blog series, but I fell head over heels in love with it. Billy Bob Thornton is the best bad santa ever, and this is probably the only Christmas movie I’ve watched which is strictly not for children! It only took 1 viewing for me to know that this will be added to my list every year.

Oh! I almost forgot, Drew also wanted to know who we would like to meet under the mistletoe. This is such a difficult choice! Normally I would try to choose between my usual favourites Ryan Reynolds, Chris Pine or Benedict Cumberbatch, but right now I’m going to make a wish to meet my current crush, Chris Pratt!

Drew, thank you for letting me gush about how much I love Christmas and it’s festive movies in July of all times. Now, to sing Christmas carols for the rest of the day till I get told off…

Thursday Movie Picks - Unrequited Love

It’s been ages since I took part in Wanderer’s weekly Thursday Movie Picks, I really need to kick myself up the backside and get involved more often because I’m loving the look of this year’s themes! If you want to take part check out the master post here.

This week the theme is Unrequited Love, and I er, had to look it up to find out what it meant. You learn something new every day, right? Well now I know! This theme is more challenging than I originally thought, but I had great fun scouring my brain for movies I’d seen that fit the subject. Here’s my list!

(500) Days of Summer (2009)

Possibly my favourite movie of his, Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays broken-hearted Tom, who reflects on the time that he spent with Summer (Zooey Deschanel) - all 500 days, funnily enough. The tale is told in a non-chronological way, which really sets it apart from similar movies.

Tom falls for Summer almost instantly, but the feeling sadly isn’t mutual and Summer admits that she doesn’t believe that love is real. That doesn’t stop Tom, and for a time, the two of them seem to have a relationship, but it sadly doesn’t last. It’s a brilliant movie, and it wasn’t what I was expecting at all. Worth a watch!

Love Actually (2003)

Hold up, don’t worry! I do understand what unrequited love is. Google told me, remember? Love Actually is one of my all-time favourite movies, and one of the tales sums up unrequited love perfectly. Juliet (Kiera Knightly) is convinced her husband’s best friend Mark (Andrew Lincoln) hates her, but when she finally convinces him to show her the wedding video that he shot, she realises that the camera was focussed on her for every moment.

It all concludes with a beautiful scene of Mark stood on her doorstep to silently explain with the use of signs that he loves her.

All About Steve (2009)

This one came to me as I was scouring my Letterboxd account for inspiration. How could I forget All About Steve? Easily, clearly, as it wasn’t the best movie around. But it’s Sandra Bullock! Of course I can forgive it, and it’s a more lighthearted take on the unrequited love theme. Mary (Sandra Bullock) is a crossword puzzle creator and a bit of an oddball. She gets set up on a blind date with Steve (Bradley Cooper), a news cameraman, and she’s besotted with him. Unfortunately, the feeling isn't mutual, but Mary doesn’t see this.

It’s a nice twist on the usual romantic comedy tale of the guy trying to get the girl to be honest!

Top 10 Film Quotes (Allie)

Me and Jenna are planning a lot of 'Top 10' lists for this blog, in fact, we even have a list of the different lists we want to do! We're starting off with Film Quotes. Now, this was a lot harder to write than I thought it would be. The films themselves were easy, these are some of my favourites. The problem was chosing a single quote, for a couple of these I had up to 5 quotes each!

Anyway, I whittled them down, and here is my Top 10...

10. "It's your job to know these things." The Change-Up (2011)

Okay, so not the most memorable moment from this film, but I use this quote so much now I actually had to try and remember where it came from. Sadly I couldn't find a clip of it, so have this funny moment below instead.



9. "To the windows, to the walls..." The Proposal (2009) 

Oh man...this scene! Excuse me for not typing out the whole quote. One of my favourite guilty pleasure films, and I could watch this clip for days and never get bored of it.



8. "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!" Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

This was one of the films that I had 5 quotes noted down for. I wish I could just quote you the whole film! If you've never seen any of the Monty Python films (I'm looking at you Jenna) then you'll either love or hate them. Me and my Dad will watch these and cry from laughter, whereas my Mum just doesn't get it at all.




7. "You hear that? It's the winds of change..." Monsters Inc (2001)

Again, maybe not the most memorable quote from this film, but me and my brother, 13 years later, still quote it all the time and find it hilarious. Plus, Randall is my fave!



6. "I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you." Taken (2008)

Oh man, hasn't this got to be one of the greatest quotes of all time? Liam Neeson is just such a badass, and that voice could put the fear of God into anyone!



5. "Remember that you were loved by me, and you made my life a happy one. And there's no tragedy in that." Third Star (2010)

Not a film many people will have even heard of, but I watched it on one of my Benedict Cumberbatch binges. This whole film was a giant kick in the feelings, and I'll remember this quote forever. If you fancy watching the film, don't watch the clip below. It's more of a fan-made compilation, and filled with spoilers.



4. "Who's...the...moosiest moose we know? Marty Moose!" National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)

My childhood film! In fact, my whole family's childhood film...I can't even remember how many times we all watched it but from my little brother, to my parents, to my aunt and uncle, to my grandparents, we all know every word to this song. Should I be bragging about that?



3. "Stop breaking the law a$$hole!" Liar Liar (1997)

I love this film so much. In fact, I love Jim Carrey so much! This is another of my favourite films from when I was younger, and I was torn between this quote or the moment he made an origami goose in the courtroom, which I think was actually a blooper at the end?



2. "Now if you two don't mind, I'm going to bed, before either of you come up with another clever idea to get us killed, or worse, expelled." Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)

Harry Potter just had to make it into this list somewhere of course. The problem is, there's a whole lot of films in that series and a scroll full of quotes to choose from! My family always told me I was just like Hermione though (insulted?) so I had to go with my favourite quote from her.



1. " When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around." Love Actually (2003)

Here it is! I've had quite a few funny quotes in my top 10 so I had to finish on something beautiful didn't I? I watch this film every year and I love it more every time I watch it.



So there you have it, my Top 10 quotes. How many are your favourites too? Which quotes would you include in your Top 10?