bradley's almanac - a boston music blog

boston area events of note:

thursday, november 20th

bishop allen

passion pit

electric owls

@ the middle east downstairs

friday, november 21st

robyn hitchcock

performing 'i often dream of trains'

@ the somerville theatre

saturday, november 22nd

sondre lerche

@ the paradise

sunday, november 30th

18th dye

devon williams

@ tt the bears

tuesday, december 2nd

nada surf

delta spirit

jealous girlfriends

@ the paradise

tuesday, december 2nd

owen

caithlin de marrais (rainer maria)

el may

@ the middle east upstairs

wednesday, december 3rd

viva viva

darker my love

the strange boys

@ the middle east upstairs

thursday, december 4th

jukebox the ghost

@ the middle east upstairs

friday, december 5th

mercury rev

dean & britta

@ the paradise

thursday, december 4th

sebastien grainger & the mountains

eksi ekso

@ tt the bears

friday, december 5th

constantines

tim fite

@ tt the bears

friday & saturday

december 5th & 6th

wfnx miracle on tremont st.

with franz ferdinand,

vampire weekend, black kids,

airborne toxic event, & more

@ the orpheum

saturday, december 6th

tigercity

taxpayer

lifestyle

midatlantic (bleedin' bleedins)

@ great scott

saturday, december 6th

noah & the whale

@ the middle east upstairs

sunday, december 7th

bazaar bizarre boston!

(with djs, including brad 'nac)

12-7pm @ the castle, park plaza

monday, december 8th

love is all

crystal stilts

reports

@ great scott

monday & tuesday

december 8th & 9th

letters to cleo

midatlantic (on the 8th)

modern society (on the 9th)

@ the paradise

tuesday, december 9th

radar bros.

@ the middle east upstairs

tuesday, december 9th

jeremy enigk

dave deporis

dj carbo

@ great scott

thursday, december 11th

stella with michael showalter,

michael ian black, & david wain

@ the wilbur theatre

saturday, december 13th

neil young

wilco

everest

@ the dcu center, worcester

sunday, december 14th

bon iver

@ the wilbur theatre

wednesday, december 17th

the broken river prophet

quincunx

shepherdess

@ great scott

sunday, december 21st

hallelujah the hills

aloud

nassy

ad frank & sarah rabdau

@ great scott

monday, december 22nd

tristan da cunha

tom fitzgerril

neptune

@ great scott

sunday, december 28th

akron/family

@ tt the bears

tuesday, december 30th

caspian & constants

@ the middle east downstairs

thursday, january 1st, 2009

one happy island

cotton candy

(mark robinson & evelyn hurley)

the smittens

cathy cathodic

@ the middle east upstairs

sunday, january 4th

glasvegas

rails to russia

dj carbo

@ great scott

thursday, january 8th

forest henderson

the new collisions

the lights out

sir q

@ great scott

saturday, january 10th

head automatica

radio 4

@ great scott

thursday, january 15th

illinois

@ great scott

thursday, january 15th

the raveonettes

@ the paradise

sunday, january 18th

frightened rabbit

@ great scott

saturday, january 24th

vic chesnutt

elf power

@ the middle east

tuesday, january 27th

annuals

jessica lee mayfield

what laura says

@ the paradise

friday, january 30th

andrew bird

loney dear

@ the orpheum

friday, february 13th

los campesinos!

@ the paradise

tuesday, february 24th

tapes 'n tapes

@ the paradise

visit tourfilter for more shows

Friday, October 31, 2003

On Seeing Elf

Can't beat a beautiful day off, now can you? It's a perfect fall Friday, a crisp, blue-skied halloween, and time for us to hit the highway to head northwards... it's up to Vermont to officially usher in my 'mid-thirties'. It ain't nuthin' but a number, right?

Caught a preview screening last night of Elf, which comes out next week, and I've gotta say... it was hands-down high-larious. Will Ferrell is, as always, one seriously funny man-child. The movie was just sweet, plain and simple. And I don't mean "dude!" sweet ... I mean, "awwww..." sweet. Jon Favreau set out to direct a timeless holiday film, and thanks to a good script and an great cast, he may have damn well done it.

Low on bitterness, high on straightforward sentimentality, very light on toilet-humor... the comedy comes straight from Ferrell's reactions to the 'real' world of NYC after being raised by north pole elves. I can be pretty cynical when it comes to blatant attempts to manipulate and tug at the heartstrings, but this movie was enough to knock down those walls. Halfway through I realized my cheeks were starting to hurt from laughing so much. I was sucked in early thanks to all the blatant Rankin-Bass stylee in the first 1/2 hour... all those old stop-animation TV Christmas specials like Rudolph and the Year Without a Santa Claus that I loved so much as a kid. Hell, I still do. The opening credits, the perfect score, the animated characters... you'll see.

They really pulled together a great cast for it, too... James Caan, Zooey Deschanel, Mary Steenburgen, all excellent. The supporting players are almost all welcome familiar faces... Andy Richter, Kyle Gass from Tenacious D, Amy Sedaris, Faizon Love, along with comedy vets like Bob Newhart and Ed Asner. Even Peter Dinklage from the Station Agent shows up in a scene that just killed me. Pay attention to the way Will Ferrell delivers three simple words: "Look at you!". Awesome.

Judging from the reaction of all the kids at the screening, this movie is going to be HUGE. This is an an unashamed family film, and it knows it. It walks this accutely self-aware line between over-sentiment and nudge-nudge, wink-wink sarcasm that no holiday film I've seen in years has done. They didn't need to 'spice' anything up for the adults, didn't need to throw in l.c.d. gross-out stuff to get a laugh from kids.

Amie summed it up best when we walked out... "That movie was just the cutest!". Yeah, it kinda was.

"... and it's halloween, tonight and every night ..." - elliott smith

posted by brad at 10:39 AM | direct link | rss (1 :2) | |

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