Elf
Buddy’s Sing & Cheer Along Edition
DVD
Directed by Jon Favreau
Written by David Berenbaum
Starring Will Ferrell, James Caan, Zooey Deschanel, Mary Steenburgen, Edward Asner, Daniel Tay, Faizon Love, Peter Dinklage, Leon Redbone
Warner Brothers
Not Rated | 97 minutes
Release Date: November 27, 2018

Elf is the story of Buddy (Will Ferrell), an orphan who as a baby, crawled into Santa’s bag and accidentally went to the North Pole. One of the elves (Bob Newhart) decides to raise him as his own. 30 years later, Buddy is the biggest elf in the toyshop and not very good at making toys. He accidentally overhears that not only is he not an elf, but he is a human and his father is in New York City. Not only that, he is on the “naughty list.” Hoping to find him anyway for a special reunion, Buddy begins his journey to New York for Christmas.

Today is the celebration of the birthday of the late Ronnie James Dio, the heavy metal and hard rock singer and songwriter who carved his own niche in those aforementioned genres to become a figure as beloved as Ozzy Osbourne (Black Sabbath) or Rob Halford (Judas Priest). But in many ways, Dio’s sound, fan base, versatility, flawless vocals, which metaphorically could move mountains with its rich high and low registers, makes him stand alone as arguably the greatest heavy metal front man of all time.

He was born Ronald James Padavona on July 10th, 1942 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire to Italian parents. Music ran through his veins early on in his life, learning brass instruments first such as the trumpet and French horn.

The New York Times released an online hodgepodge of musicians we lost during 2010, and have omitted three major losses during the year that should anger metalheads across the Earth. In their year review, the Times has snubbed Ronnie James Dio (Black Sabbath, Dio), Peter Steele (Type O Negative), and Paul Gray (Slipknot).

You can view the New York Times montage over at their site if you can be bothered. I’m not embedding it here, because for my part, I’m disgusted they’ve overlooked three significant musicians — presumably just because they’re from the metal genre. The grounds upon which I make this assumption are that there is no metal whatsoever in their “tribute.” Rock, Soul, Pop, R&B, Hip Hop, Post-Punk are all included in the company of Funk, Disco, and others. Metal (and related genres) are nowhere to be seen.

After recording the Christmas Movies episode of Flix of Doom earlier this month, I found out that my mother’s favorite Christmas movie is Bad Santa. Yes, the movie starring Billy Bob Thornton.

Am I little bit disturbed by this? Sure, but hey, plenty of people have told me it’s a cool movie, so I guess I’d better get around to checking it out soon.

Apparently, Mama’s not the only fan of Bad Santa. The folks over at LocateTV have created a fun Christmas-themed infographic called “Bad Santa” which has some behind-the-scenes trivia of on some of the most popular Christmas films, including Bad Santa, It’s A Wonderful Life, Elf, and more.

Check out the infographic here below, courtesy of LocateTV.

Elf
Ultimate Collector’s Edition Blu-ray
Directed by Jon Favreau
Starring Will Ferrell, Zooey Deschanel, James Caan, Peter Dinklage
Warner Bros Home Entertainment
Release date: October 26, 2010

Ask any Will Ferrell fan about his movies, and they most definitely will be able to quote lines from it, almost verbatim. Some like his wacky turn as news reporter/lothario Ron Burgundy in Anchorman. Other prefers him as Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights. For me, my favorite movie from the Ferrell library is Elf, his first major movie and box office success. So, with the holidays right around the corner, it is no surprise that the movie would be re-released on Blu-ray as an Ultimate Collector’s Edition.

Elf stars Will Ferrell as Buddy, a human who when he was just a baby, hopped into Santa’s sleigh and was whisked to the North Pole. Because he was an orphan, an old wise elf (Bob Newhart) decides to raise him as his own. Fast forward 30 years, when Buddy discovers that not only is he not an elf, but his real human father is in New York City. Hoping to reconnect with the father he never knew he had, Buddy embarks on a quest to the Big Apple one special Christmas season.