The Munsters’ Scary Little Christmas
Directed Ian Emes
Starring Sandy Baron, Elaine Hendrix, Ann Magnuson, Sam McMurray, Bug Hall, Mary Woronov
Universal Studios Home Entertainment

Newer generations of children unfamiliar with the classic 1960s black-and-white TV show The Munsters will get a kick out of this full-color 1996 made-for-TV movie. The Munsters’ Scary Little Christmas continues the saga of the lovably morbid, yet naive Munsters, a middle-class family made up of classic monster stereotypes just trying to fit in with their neighbors.

In this humorous spooky holiday offering, The Munsters family is spending Christmas in Los Angeles, much to young Eddie’s dismay. To cheer him up, bumbling dad Herman makes an effort to get Eddie the best toy of the season, cousin Marilyn plans for the Transylvanian relatives to come in for the holiday, and Grandpa uses his powers of magic and alchemy to make it snow … and accidentally transports Santa and his elves to Los Angeles. Meanwhile, mom Lily enters the home owner association’s holiday decorations competition, threatening to dethrone the usual winner, uppity neighbor Mrs. Dimwitty (played by Mary Woronov, who I’ve loved since seeing her as Principal Evelyn Togar in Rock and Roll High School).

The Munster’s Scary Little Christmas is full of campy moments, much like the original series, and includes classic Munsters ghoulish delights, like a working-guillotine holiday lawn decoration. It’s obvious from the score and set designs that the movie was going for the Home Alone holiday feel while trying to modernize an old TV much like what was done with the The Addams Family movies, and for the most part, the filmmakers pull it off.

Author Neil Gaiman has posted in his blog a sneak preview of Coraline, the animated stop-motion film directed by Henry Selick based on Gaiman’s 2002 children’s book.

A 3D teaser trailer for Coraline ran prior to 3D screenings of the Gaiman-scripted Beowulf, but is now available online.

In the film, Dakota Fanning voices the young girl Coraline, who discovers a parallel home to hers complete with another mother and father who entice her to remain with them. But once she’s there, she finds out that things aren’t what they originally appeared to be.

The voice cast also includes Teri Hatcher, John Hodgman, Ian McShane, Dawn French, and Jennifer Saunders.

Coraline is scheduled for release in late 2008.

Romance & Cigarettes
Directed by John Turturro
Starring James Gandolfini, Kate Winslet, Susan Sarandon, Christopher Walken, Mandy Moore, and Steve Buscemi
Rated R

Romance & Cigarettes boasts a cast that anyone in their right mind would drool over. James Gandolfini, Susan Sarandon, Mandy Moore, Aida Turturro, Mary-Louise Parker, Christopher Walken, Kate Winslet, Steve Buscemi, Eddie Izzard, Bobby Cannavale, and Elaine Stritch. I would pay to see any one of these fine actors just read out of the phone book.

In fact, let’s see if we can’t make that happen, huh? All eleven of them taking turns reading the East Orange, New Jersey White Pages? Because Romance & Cigarettes just doesn’t work. It’s a sprawling mess that gets labeled with the term “personal” because the only person who gets what the hell the film was trying to accomplish is probably writer-director John Turturro. It’s a bizarre hybridization of Moulin Rouge and Moonstruck, and every bit as loud and unsubtle as either of them. This is the kind of movie that, were the director ever to deign to come to our humble little site and read this negative review of mine, he would probably think to himself “Bah! He just doesn’t understand my ARTISTRY!”

And he’d be right. I don’t. I think I understand where he was going, but I’m just not sure how he thought it was going to work. From all outward appearances, it seems that Turturro has morphed into Barton Fink. HE CREATES FOR A LIVING!

Awakening #1 and 2
Written by Nick Tapalansky
Artwork by Alex Eckman-Lawn
Lettering by Thomas Mauer
Archaia Studios Press
Cover price: $3.50; Available Now

In the early winter months of Park Falls, four citizens have gone missing and another three have been found outright murdered. And while Park Falls can sometimes be a tough little town, it has never been this tough. Derrick can feel it in air. When Cynthia comes bursting into his apartment, claiming she knows what and who is responsible for these killings, Derrick is at first quick to dismiss her rantings as just part of her persona. But what she says sticks with him, and he begins to follow through on her claims of zombies, and who the recently shut down Cline Pharmaceutical is responsible for creating them.

Meanwhile, a blond-haired stranger has come into town on command of the Department of Defense to begin his own investigation. He is unsure what exactly he is looking for, but knows that something is definitely amiss, and when his path crosses Derrick’s, their exchange of information only solidifies Derrick’s resolution to look further. After questioning a few of the former employees of Cline, he finally decides to drive out to the abandoned building to take a look for himself not knowing just what, or who, he will find there.

The McCartney Years
3-DVD set
Rhino Entertainment
Available now

The recently released 3-DVD package The McCartney Years is an ambitiously expansive collection of music videos and concert footage from Paul McCartney‘s post-Beatles career. The first two discs are comprised of videos/promo clips of more than 40 songs, including most of the big hits (“Band on the Run,” “Silly Love Songs”), but even more appealingly, many lesser-known pop gems (“Off the Ground,” “Hope of Deliverance”) that didn’t make their way into the classic rock canon because of a change in popular music tastes. McCartney’s knack for primarily guitar-driven, melodic rock doesn’t quite burn up the Billboard charts the way it did in the 1960s and “˜70s

For the videos, McCartney seems to relish the opportunity to get into character, always giving his all as an actor, lip-syncing with the best of “˜em. But let’s face it “” McCartney won’t go down in history as a master thespian, mime, or male model. His genius lies in his music composition, melodicism, musicianship and singing.

McCartney has an endless supply of hooks, and while he’s been rightly bashed, at times, for being overly sentimental and schmaltzy, he rarely gets props for his post-Beatles masterpieces. “Put It There,” “Heart Of The Country,” and “Waterfalls,” among others, are easily on a par with the high standards set by the Beatles.