CAROL’S CHRISTMAS (2021) – Balladeer’s Blog’s Twelfth Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon continues with this independent flick filmed in Las Vegas for $500,000.00. Special thank you to reader Lee Anne, who in the past recommended 2nd Chance For Christmas, a fun Christmas Carol variation. At the other extreme, Lee Anne wryly recommended Carol’s Christmas, a ridiculous venture that sucks so badly it’s not even So Bad It’s Good.
This was written and directed by David S Womack, who apparently felt he could be “deep” in treating us to A Very Rian Johnson Christmas by having our main character Carol Scrooge get shot to death at the end by Fred, who is her stalker in this film, not Scrooge’s nephew.
Oh, did I subvert expectations by not adding a spoiler warning like I usually do? Well then, I must be a creative genius by the standards of Carol’s Christmas. After all, simply doing something unexpected is brilliant, right? Something you WILL expect is that Amy Pascal’s name shows up in the closing credits.
Regular readers know I’m open to all kinds of dark interpretations of A Christmas Carol, but unlike efforts like the year 2000 Brazilian film in which Scrooge is a drug dealer, Carol’s Christmas is not a flawed but artful dive into a holiday story which gets distorted by grim realities.
No, the overwhelming majority of the movie plays out as a modern day Las Vegas version of the familiar tale, right up through Scrooge’s morning after conversion scene. Carol Scrooge never gets to make things right, however, because as soon as she sets foot outside her door Christmas morning, Fred is waiting and shoots her to death at close range for always rejecting his requests for a date.
It’s the sort of childish twist you could overlook from a teenage filmmaker who thinks they’re being artistic by doing this. Actually, it’s as pointless as producing a modern day adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, but instead of the tragic couple killing themselves at the end they whip out weapons and kill off the supporting cast. Continue reading
BEYOND THE UNIVERSE (1981) – My review of the tenth and final hilariously bad science fiction film from 1980 and 1981 by the Anne Spielberg, Robert Emenegger and Allan Sandler team. Yes, ten films in two years. 
THE REAL DIVIDE IN AMERICA: DEMOCRATS VS THE REST OF US – A piece about how the real divisiveness in America is not black vs white, rich vs poor, gay vs straight, etc. It’s really Democrats vs the rest of us. *** Remember, the people who call others White Supremacists do not speak for all black people, they speak for DEMOCRATS, some of whom happen to be black.
*** People who oppose voter i.d. do not represent all people of color, they represent DEMOCRATS.
ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION – Remarkable Experiences In Another World (1899) 
WITH THE FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION IN SYRIA (1928) – A memoir from a Legionnaire about the war in Syria during the 1920s. Click 
MARVEL COMICS IN THE 1940s – When they were called Timely Comics. 
FUZZ (1972) – This movie is still marketed as if it’s a vehicle for Burt Reynolds and Raquel Welch but in reality it’s an ensemble movie. And not a very good one. Fuzz is based on the 22nd book – of nearly 60 – in the 87th Precinct series of police novels by Ed McBain aka Evan Hunter. The books were set in the fictional city of Isola, but this movie is set in Boston.
Obviously, the science and public image of law enforcement has gone through many, many changes over the decades. The movie Fuzz and its source novel reflect the stylish cynicism and gritty realism of police stories from the period. 
EIGHT JAMES WOODS MOVIES – My reviews of James Woods films like Videodrome, Salvador, The Hard Way and others. Click 
QUALITY COMICS SUPERHEROES – A look at the 1940s and 1950s superheroes from Quality Comics. Figures like Phantom Lady, Margo the Magician, Uncle Sam, Black Condor, etc. Click 
AGON: ATOMIC DRAGON (1964) – The often forgotten giant Japanese kaiju monster. Click 
ANTIFA SETS FIRE TO OCCUPIED BUILDING – Hate squads are gonna hate squad. Click 
FIRST SEMIFINAL – The VALDOSTA STATE BLAZERS took on the COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES OREDIGGERS in this game. A 10-3 1st Quarter lead for the Blazers turned into a 24-14 advantage by Halftime. Valdosta State made it a 34-14 game to end the 3rd Quarter, then withstood an Orediggers rally in the 4th for a 34-31 victory. 
BR’ER RABBIT’S CHRISTMAS CAROL (1992) – Balladeer’s Blog’s Twelfth Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon continues! Br’er Rabbit, Br’er Fox, Br’er Bear, Br’er Gator and many other characters created by Joel Chandler Harris are featured in this animated version of the Dickens tale. 
All the characters live in a town in the American South, where a charity stage production of A Christmas Carol is being performed, with the proceeds going to benefit the terribly ill Timmy Mouse. No, not “Br’er Timmy” or anything like that, just Timmy Mouse as our Tiny Tim stand-in. 
SPIDER-MAN Vol 1 #147 (August 1975) 
Leeds gives Peter copies of the long line of medical tests that the new Gwen has undergone in the past few days. Somehow the cloning process was accelerated, meaning she was created mere months ago, even though she is an adult as much as the real Gwen was when she was killed. 
If you missed it, Jussie Smollett was found guilty in his trial over the consequences of his hate hoax from a few years back when he and some accomplices faked an attack by alleged “Trump supporters in MAGA hats” in the latest in a long line of such Hate Crime Hoaxes in America. For a list of over 170 more such hoaxes click 
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