Christmas Reviews: Die Hard, Eloise at Christmastime, The Star

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In the hustle and bustle of
giving and getting, it's so easy

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to overlook the true meaning of
Christmas.

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But this year, let's come home
to the heart of what Christmas

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is all about.
Come in and.

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Know me better, man.
Wow, what's this?

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This is North Pole.
No it's not.

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Yes it is.
No it's not.

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Yes it is.
No it isn't.

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Yes it is.
No it isn't.

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No it's not.
Worth to sell isn't.

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It a little big.
Not big, just full.

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Yeah.
That's not.

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Yard not going in our yard,
Russ.

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It's going in our living room.
May this be a blessed Christmas

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for you.
Is Jesus Christ in your heart

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and life?
Merry Christmas and welcome to

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the Establishing Shot, a podcast
where we do deep dives into

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directors and their
filmographies.

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I am your host, Eli Price, and
we are here on episode 120 of

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the podcast.
We are obviously in a bit of a

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slump, a bit of a break right
now.

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Finished a long, arduous series
going through the filmography of

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Steven Spielberg.
And yeah, I've kind of been on a

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hiatus.
Life has been busy.

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I've had a lot going on.
I wanted to do some other fun

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special episodes to kind of end
the year, and I just haven't

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been able to get to that.
So sorry to listeners out there

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who may have been wondering
where we've been.

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I haven't really been active on
social media either.

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Yeah, it's just been a crazy,
crazy season.

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Busy season, but I do plan on
keeping the podcast going.

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Might just be a little bit more
sporadic for a bit until I can

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get a new kind of solid schedule
going.

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But we are back for a special
Christmas episode.

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If you couldn't tell, I am here
in my living room in front of

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our Christmas tree.
If you're watching on Spotify or

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on YouTube and yeah, I, if you,
I guess like this is my promo

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part.
If you didn't know, you can

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support the podcast to keep it
going.

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There's a lot of costs involved
with being an independent

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podcaster website, having a
recording studio, a virtual

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recording studio to to kind of
record these episodes and edit

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them, buying the Blu rays with
special features so that we can

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watch those and get more details
into the movies that we cover in

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our main series.
There's a there's a lot of costs

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that that kind of go into
maintaining and keeping it

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going.
And so I would love for you to

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support the podcast if you can.
You can go to

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establishingshotpod.com and you
can find in the menu there where

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to donate in different tiers
with different perks.

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One of the perks leads us to the
episode for today, which is that

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if you support the podcast, you
get to choose a movie each year

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that I will review.
And so I had a few people that

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support the podcast that had not
sent me a movie all year.

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So I reached out and said, hey,
send me a Christmas movie that

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you want me to cover and I'll do
kind of a special end of the

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year episode where I review a
few Christmas movies picked by

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some of my supporters.
So that's what we are doing

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today.
I have three movies chosen by

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three different supporters of
the podcast.

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And yeah, it'll be fun.
I kind of have three different

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very different movies in a in a
way to cover today.

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So that's that's kind of my
promo.

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Support the podcast if you can.
You'll get to pick episodes,

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movies for me to review on
special episodes like this.

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I have not announced my next
series, and that's the next bit

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of news to cover.
I have not announced that yet.

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I have a good idea of who I want
to do for my next director

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series, but I'm not announcing
it yet because, like I said,

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life has been crazy.
I don't want to get too ahead of

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myself as far as that goes, but
you should be hearing about it

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maybe in the new year.
Yeah, I'm looking forward to

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that.
But the Go rate review, the

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podcast on Apple and Spotify
especially, but wherever you

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listen would be a huge help.
It helps the visibility of the

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podcast, helps new people find
it.

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Share stuff on social media for
the podcast.

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Share it with your friend.
A word of mouth is a great way

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to share podcasts.
I would greatly appreciate it to

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give the gift of a new podcast
to your friends and family this

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Christmas season.
But with all that aside and no

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further delay, let's get into
our movies that we're going to

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cover.
So I am here in my living room

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with my cup of hot chocolate
that I'm going to take a sip of.

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Now.
Got a good slurp in there for

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the audio listeners, but we are
going to cover a few movies

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picked by supporters.
The first movie that we're going

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to cover is the animated movie
The Star that came out in 2017.

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And now this is directed by
Timothy Reckert is how I'm going

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to pronounce his last name.
Doesn't have a whole lot of

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directing on his resume, a
little bit of visual effects

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stuff.
But yeah, this this is an

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interesting movie.
It is very So it is basically a

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nativity movie.
It is a movie that kind of like

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fictionalizes a story around the
nativity story of the story of

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the birth of Jesus.
So of course you have Mary and

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Joseph, you have some animals
that talk.

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That's that's kind of the IT
it's kind of like the point of

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view of the animals, I guess is
kind of like the gimmick of the

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movie, the kind of, I guess
thing that makes it, you know,

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you a unique story.
I guess you have a little bit of

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like an extra plot going on with
Herod and this kind of hit man

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that he's Roman soldier hit man
that he sent out with these dogs

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to hunt down Mary and Joseph and
kill this new king that's

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supposed to be born.
And so, yeah, it's it's

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interesting.
So you have some big names

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attached to this.
Steven yen plays the main

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character.
Oh, who is a donkey.

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And you have, I mean, you have
Zachary Levi voicing Joseph

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Keegan, Michael Key, Kelly
Clarkson, Kris Kristofferson,

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Dean Grimes, Gabriel Iglesias
popping up, Christopher Plummer,

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Tyler Perry, Tracy Morgan, Oprah
Winfrey, Mariah Carey.

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I mean, you have a lot of big
names voicing characters in

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this.
And so you know, it, it's I

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believe it was made by Sony
Animation.

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And I guess that that's, that's
where I'll start.

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The voice acting, you know, it's
fine.

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It's just a lot of good voice
actors and celebrities and the

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voice acting, you know, is, is
fine.

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The animation, I, I don't know
how I felt about it.

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It was kind of like it, it was,
I don't know.

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I don't know if I liked it or
not.

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It was a little off putting at
times.

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There's just something about the
animation style.

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It's like this, it's like this
realism, but with like very

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care, like very expressive
character faces.

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And I don't know, there were
there were times where like this

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is 2017, so it's kind of before
the AI craze, but there was like

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some serious like AI vibes at
certain points.

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Yeah.
I don't know if I like this

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animation style.
I'm not sure what other movies

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might similar.
I'm I'm kind of pulling up the

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yeah, I mean, not, not really
any of the other Sony animation

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movie.
I mean, Spider Verse was such

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revolutionary as far as its
animation goes.

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K Pop Demon Hunters is very
different from this.

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The Mitchells versus the
Machines has a little bit of a

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different feel as far as the
animation goes.

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I guess the closest thing might
be Cloudy with a chance of

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Meatballs as far as stuff that
Sony animation has done or maybe

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Hotel Transylvania.
As far as the animation style,

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it's just not my favorite.
I just it's it's it just looks

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weird to me.
So that was one thing that was

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hard for me to like get past is
just I don't I don't enjoy this

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animation style a whole lot.
So that was hard for me to get

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past.
And then I don't know, like I

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know my aunt, my aunt is the one
one of my aunts is the one that

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picked this movie.
Apparently it is one of my

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cousins favorite Christmas
movies and I, I hate to break it

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to them, but I just, I didn't go
for this movie.

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It was a bit boring.
It was a bit of a slog.

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There was like, I don't know,
there wasn't enough happening at

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any given moment to really like
move the plot along.

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The IT has a lot of jokes that
kind of, I don't know, they're

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like kind of like elbow your
neighbor, like, haha, kind of

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like jokes like referencing
maybe stuff in the Bible, like,

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I mean the donkey in the lamb he
runs into or named a bow and

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Boaz Bo for sure.
And Ruth, it's kind of like, Oh

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yeah, hey, Ruth and Boaz.
And then like it just some like

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goofy.
There's some goofy slapstick

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stuff that's like, you know,
it's fine.

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I don't know.
And then like there was a whole

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lot of, I don't know, like the
the reveal of Mary revealing to

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Joseph that she was pregnant was
a bit like anticlimactic and

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awkward.
And I mean, it would be awkward

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in real life, but not in this
way.

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It was, it was the way like, I
don't know, it was just weird.

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There's a lot of weird stuff
like that through the movie.

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And I think just overall, like I
just couldn't get into what they

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did with the story.
Like I wasn't buying any of it.

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It was.
And then again, like I said, it

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just really didn't move.
Like it was it was like you were

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on a journey to Bethlehem going
through the movie.

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And so, you know, it's it's
fine.

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Like it's got it's like, you
know, magical Christmas moments.

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I guess when, you know, everyone
comes together at the end and

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the baby Jesus is born and all
the animals are there and

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everyone's happy.
Like, I mean, like you feel

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happy that, you know, the big
bad Roman soldier didn't get

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Mary and Joseph, but but I don't
know.

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And then, I don't know, I just
it was, it was hard for me to

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really get into this movie.
So sorry, I didn't like this a

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whole lot to the people that
suggested it, but and maybe

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others that enjoy this movie.
I just, I just couldn't get into

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it.
It's just not for me.

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I don't mind trying to do
something creative with a

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nativity story, but this just
didn't do it for me.

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And so yeah, that's that is the
star from 2017.

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That is the first movie that I'm
covering.

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I've got two more.
So the second movie that I'm

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going to talk about was
suggested by my other aunt,

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another aunt that supports the
podcast.

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So shout out to y'all.
Yeah, this movie is from 2003.

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It is Eloise at Christmas Time,
directed by Kevin Lima of

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Enchanted and Tarzan and A Goofy
Movie fame.

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Even 102 Dalmatians with Glenn
Close as Cruella Deville

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directed that, you know, he's
got some, some good stuff under

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his belt.
I don't, I don't remember 102

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Dalmatians a whole lot, but I
know I watched it my childhood.

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But the other 3 great movies,
you know, Enchanted, Tarzan

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Goofy movie, great movies.
And this really like I think, I

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think this movie kind of
captured the feel of that era of

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movies really well.
Eloise at Christmas time was I

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believe it was ATV movie release
in 2003.

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I think Eloise at the Plaza.
These are based on a a book

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series Eloise book series, but I
believe Eloise at the Plaza was

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also ATV movie release that same
year in 2003.

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But this Eloise at Christmas
time I felt like I was like

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going back in time to my
childhood watching this movie.

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It felt very like the movie that
I kept like thinking of that I

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watched over and over in my
childhood was Dunstan checks in

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with the boy in the hotel and
the monk, his monkey friend that

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he makes and named Dunston.
But that it was reminding me of

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like it was giving me Dunston
checks in Richie Rich blank

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check kind of vibes.
And that's like super nostalgic

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for me.
Those were like the the movies

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that like we had on VHS and
watched over and over in my

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childhood.
So just that alone, it had that

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going for it.
But then just like Sophia, let

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me see this last name.
Sophia Vasileva, who plays

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Eloise, who is Eloise is AI
think she's like 8 in the movie.

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00:13:47,840 --> 00:13:52,320
The character is and yeah, she
this Sophia girl like plays her

223
00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:54,560
so good.
There's a lot of like winking at

224
00:13:54,560 --> 00:13:57,240
the camera.
It's kind of this plot where

225
00:13:57,240 --> 00:14:01,520
like Eloise kind of like the 8
year old runs this hotel behind

226
00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:04,000
the scenes sort of thing.
It's got that vibe.

227
00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:07,720
And you know, she's involved in
all the affairs of all the

228
00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:11,160
various workers throughout the
hotel.

229
00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:14,200
She's trying to figure out what
she's getting for Christmas from

230
00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:16,800
her mom and if her mom's going
to be home in time for

231
00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:20,880
Christmas.
And then there's this, the hotel

232
00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:25,320
manager, like the head guy at
the hotel, his daughter is going

233
00:14:25,320 --> 00:14:28,000
to get married to this guy and
she's suspicious of it.

234
00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:32,600
And there's this past love with
one of her best friends at the

235
00:14:32,680 --> 00:14:36,200
hotel who's like a waiter at the
hotel and she's trying to like

236
00:14:36,200 --> 00:14:39,920
hook them up.
The manager's daughter hooked

237
00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:42,880
back up with the old love
instead of this guy that's she's

238
00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:45,120
suspicious of.
And so you've got that sort of

239
00:14:45,120 --> 00:14:48,040
plot going on.
There's like a will they won't

240
00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:51,160
they and Eloise meddling and
trying to hook them up.

241
00:14:51,160 --> 00:14:55,680
And and you've got a Julie
Andrews playing the nanny of

242
00:14:55,880 --> 00:14:58,880
Eloise.
And she Julie Andrews is always

243
00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:02,240
lovely.
So it was fun to see her.

244
00:15:02,240 --> 00:15:06,720
And I just, I enjoy like this.
It's not like this was the best

245
00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:10,280
Christmas movie ever or
anything, but I mean, it's New

246
00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:13,400
York in at the Plaza at
Christmas time.

247
00:15:13,400 --> 00:15:16,920
And so you've got the Christmas
vibes going strong.

248
00:15:16,920 --> 00:15:21,520
And then on top of that you have
the the kind of 90s, early 2000s

249
00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:25,120
nostalgia for me, which is, you
know, my childhood.

250
00:15:25,480 --> 00:15:27,720
And so it's got that going for
it.

251
00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:31,760
And so it's just the best way I
could describe it in my

252
00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:34,840
millennial language is that it
just has really great vibes,

253
00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:37,840
great Christmas vibes, great
nostalgic vibes.

254
00:15:39,920 --> 00:15:44,640
You know, I, I like a good like
kid winking at the camera when

255
00:15:44,640 --> 00:15:47,040
it's done well, which I feel
like it is here.

256
00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:50,240
And this is just, you know,
it's, oh, it's saying she's six

257
00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:52,480
years old.
OK, So she's the same age as my,

258
00:15:52,480 --> 00:15:55,000
my son.
I thought she was 8, but 6 sure.

259
00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:57,800
I don't know.
It's just, it's kind of like a

260
00:15:57,800 --> 00:16:02,200
lovely little movie, like a
charming little movie that I

261
00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:04,600
enjoyed.
I would recommend checking this

262
00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:06,400
out.
I think it's streaming on Amazon

263
00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:09,160
Prime, of which the star, by the
way, I think is streaming on

264
00:16:09,160 --> 00:16:10,880
Netflix.
If you want to check that out

265
00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:13,720
and see if you like it more than
I did, which you very well

266
00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:15,680
might.
But yeah, I would actually

267
00:16:15,680 --> 00:16:17,640
recommend Eloise at Christmas
time.

268
00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:19,640
I had a good time with it.
Me and my wife watched it

269
00:16:19,640 --> 00:16:25,000
together and we loved watching
Elouise Medal in the fairs of

270
00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:26,960
everyone in the hotel at
Christmas time.

271
00:16:26,960 --> 00:16:31,840
And you know, good happy ending
and everything that you expect

272
00:16:31,840 --> 00:16:35,960
is going to happen based on the
plot mechanisms does happen, as

273
00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:38,280
you should expect in a movie
like this.

274
00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:42,560
But there's something I guess
comforting about just seeing

275
00:16:42,560 --> 00:16:45,360
what's coming and knowing it's
going to happen and then it

276
00:16:45,360 --> 00:16:47,640
happening.
There's something like very like

277
00:16:47,720 --> 00:16:51,120
cozy and comforting about that.
That's perfect for a Christmas

278
00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:54,160
movie.
So, yeah, I definitely recommend

279
00:16:54,160 --> 00:16:57,320
Eloise at Christmas time.
Good recommendation there.

280
00:16:57,320 --> 00:16:59,640
So they're the two ants in
battle.

281
00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:01,960
One wins.
She knows who she is.

282
00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:04,440
I'm not going to say it, but,
you know, you know, they'll

283
00:17:04,440 --> 00:17:08,720
battle again, I'm sure.
The last movie that I will be

284
00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:12,599
reviewing very different we're I
mean, we're going to the other

285
00:17:12,599 --> 00:17:15,520
end of the spectrum here, the
star and Eloise at Christmas

286
00:17:15,520 --> 00:17:19,960
time, kid friendly, very much
like not really debatable that

287
00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:24,119
their Christmas movies.
Now we're going from rated GNPG

288
00:17:24,640 --> 00:17:29,200
to the other end of the spectrum
to the R side and we're going to

289
00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:32,800
talk about John Mctiernan's Die
Hard from 1988.

290
00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:36,840
Is it a Christmas movie?
I think I don't really know why

291
00:17:36,840 --> 00:17:40,040
it's debate like it is a
Christmas movie.

292
00:17:40,080 --> 00:17:45,560
Like is it a action cop movie?
Also yes, but I don't understand

293
00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:47,440
why that keeps it from being
Christmas.

294
00:17:47,440 --> 00:17:54,040
Christmas is not a genre.
Christmas is a vibe, a theme, a

295
00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:57,920
setting.
And so I, I, I don't know that

296
00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:03,360
like Christmas, like you're not
going to find a Christmas genre

297
00:18:03,360 --> 00:18:06,760
on IMDb or letterbox because
it's not really a genre.

298
00:18:06,760 --> 00:18:09,600
It's a category.
I mean, I think Diehard fits.

299
00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:13,360
It's you have comedy Christmas
movies, you have drama Christmas

300
00:18:13,360 --> 00:18:15,520
movies, you can have action
Christmas movies.

301
00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:19,080
I mean, Diehard has, it's got
Santas.

302
00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:21,680
It's got a Christmas party as
the setting.

303
00:18:21,680 --> 00:18:24,520
It's got Christmas music and the
soundtrack.

304
00:18:24,560 --> 00:18:28,680
You've got characters using
Merry Christmas as, like, catch

305
00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:31,280
phrases.
Yeah, you've got, you know, a

306
00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:35,080
dead body sent down in the
elevator that says ho, ho, ho on

307
00:18:35,080 --> 00:18:38,960
the note with dressed in the
Santa costume to kind of

308
00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:41,760
intimidate the bad guys.
I don't really know what else

309
00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:44,360
you want to call this, a
Christmas movie, because I think

310
00:18:44,360 --> 00:18:46,240
it is.
And then on top of that, like

311
00:18:46,520 --> 00:18:49,640
you've got Christmas themes,
you've got coming home to see

312
00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:53,960
family in a broken family
situation and hey, we got to

313
00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:56,080
figure this thing out.
Let's get back together at

314
00:18:56,080 --> 00:18:58,600
Christmas time and become a
family again.

315
00:18:58,600 --> 00:19:00,560
You've got those vibes going
too.

316
00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:06,240
So I don't really know what
people want to What more could

317
00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:08,360
you ask for, for this to be a
Christmas movie?

318
00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:10,320
It's a Christmas movie, Die
Hard.

319
00:19:10,320 --> 00:19:13,480
I don't know why people will
hate Bruce Willis and hate John

320
00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:17,120
Mctiernan so much that they want
to take the Christmas movie away

321
00:19:17,120 --> 00:19:19,560
from him.
Now, I know, I know people are

322
00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:22,840
going to say that Bruce Willis
said this is not a Christmas

323
00:19:22,840 --> 00:19:23,920
movie.
Well, guess what?

324
00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:27,520
Actors don't get to decide what
kind of movie a movie is.

325
00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:29,880
They act in it.
They do their job.

326
00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:32,840
Bruce Willis, you know, love the
guy.

327
00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:35,160
It's a Christmas movie.
He's wrong.

328
00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:39,840
Sorry, actors can be wrong even
if they're in the movie now,

329
00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:42,160
they might not have been like,
oh, we're going to make a

330
00:19:42,160 --> 00:19:44,680
Christmas movie.
I don't think they were thinking

331
00:19:44,680 --> 00:19:47,680
that while they were making it,
but that's what they ended up

332
00:19:47,680 --> 00:19:50,320
with.
I mean, it's a Christmas movie.

333
00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:53,240
It's an action movie, but it's
it's a Christmas movie.

334
00:19:55,040 --> 00:19:59,680
But yeah, Die Hard is great.
Like I said, love all the love,

335
00:19:59,680 --> 00:20:02,080
all the like Christmas
references kind of thrown in

336
00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:06,360
throughout the setting.
You've got just a fantastic

337
00:20:06,360 --> 00:20:09,320
protagonist and Bruce Willis's
John McClain.

338
00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:13,040
You've got a phenomenal
antagonist and Alan Rickman's

339
00:20:13,040 --> 00:20:17,040
Hans Gruber.
You've got the great like bro,

340
00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:21,320
the great buddy with Reginald
Val Johnson's Al Powell.

341
00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:25,720
And then, oh man, I'm blanking
on on her name.

342
00:20:25,720 --> 00:20:29,000
Bonnie Bedelia.
Yeah, playing Holly Gennaro

343
00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:31,480
McClain.
She's really good in it.

344
00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:34,520
I don't really know her from
anything else, but she's she's

345
00:20:34,520 --> 00:20:37,480
really good in the movie.
And I don't know, I think Die

346
00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:44,320
hard is just it's just like a
top notch, like top tier action

347
00:20:44,320 --> 00:20:46,440
movie.
And the the Christmas stuff is

348
00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:50,560
like the icing on top the, you
know, Santa Claus hat on top, if

349
00:20:50,560 --> 00:20:53,120
you will.
And so I don't, I don't really

350
00:20:53,120 --> 00:20:54,600
know.
I don't I don't have a whole lot

351
00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:57,960
of like commentary to add to the
die hard discussion.

352
00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:00,840
I've made my argument.
I think it's I mean, it's a

353
00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:04,160
phenomenal movie.
The action is great, the the

354
00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:08,520
intensity is great, the
thrilling aspects of of McClain

355
00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:11,800
and if is he going to get
caught, the endurance of that

356
00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:16,280
character is fun to watch.
The banter with him and and the

357
00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:20,240
bad guys and then the banter
with him and how are great as

358
00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:22,480
well.
And I just really think it's a

359
00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:26,880
fun movie and I don't know, like
it always gets me to.

360
00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:29,840
There's even there's a couple of
like really touching parts

361
00:21:29,840 --> 00:21:34,040
where, you know, one in which
John Mcclane and Al are kind of

362
00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:39,320
connecting over well, John being
the father and Al Gun a father

363
00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:41,800
to be kind of connecting over
that.

364
00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:45,040
There's a there's a really
touching part where John Mcclane

365
00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:49,240
is like coming to terms with
like his own like faults and his

366
00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:53,040
own problems and, you know,
taking the ownership of like

367
00:21:53,440 --> 00:21:57,800
messing up his marriage.
And so I you know, there and

368
00:21:57,800 --> 00:22:00,640
it's touching, like when when
you watch it and you're into the

369
00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:03,000
movie, like it, it's pretty
moving.

370
00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:06,800
So I really appreciate that
those aspects to like it's, it's

371
00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:09,320
a pure like full on action
movie.

372
00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:12,160
But it also like it has some
emotion to it.

373
00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:15,800
Like it has like the character
building is really well done.

374
00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:18,640
It's efficient.
And you like, there's not a

375
00:22:18,640 --> 00:22:24,040
moment where like you, you don't
want John Mcclane to win.

376
00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:28,640
You know, like, yeah, he's a bit
of a jerk, but like he's so

377
00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:34,040
endearing and and you're behind
him for the family aspects that

378
00:22:34,280 --> 00:22:37,560
so much so that like, you can
really can like overlook how

379
00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:41,000
like much of a smart.
Yeah, he is a smart aleck.

380
00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:44,280
I guess you could say.
I'm trying to keep the Christmas

381
00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:50,880
episode family friendly.
But yeah, you know, he what kind

382
00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:54,520
more could you ask for than to,
you know, kill some bad guys in

383
00:22:54,520 --> 00:22:58,800
the name of of Christmas, get
those bad guys out of there and

384
00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:03,240
save some people's lives.
Die hard, great movie.

385
00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:05,880
I I think it's a Christmas
movie.

386
00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:10,040
I think it's undeniable.
I think it's a top tier action

387
00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:14,360
movie now, like, OK, so I have
this Christmas list on

388
00:23:14,360 --> 00:23:18,800
letterboxed.
What kind of like I'll use Die

389
00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:21,840
hard as a springboard.
I have this Christmas movie

390
00:23:22,440 --> 00:23:26,680
ranking list on, on letterbox
and it's like, it's not really a

391
00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:29,560
ranking list like based off of
what I rate the movie because

392
00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:33,600
like I, I think die hard is like
a 4 1/2 star out of five movie

393
00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:37,080
for me, 9 out of 10, if I'm
remembering what I rate it

394
00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:42,840
correctly, but it's not like a
top tier Christmas movie.

395
00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:47,360
It's like a middle of the road
Christmas movie.

396
00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:50,840
And so it's like kind of
somewhere like in the, in the

397
00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:54,760
like top middle of my Christmas
rankings, Christmas movie

398
00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:56,600
rankings.
Because Christmas Christmas

399
00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:59,360
movies like when you think about
what are the best ones, it is

400
00:23:59,360 --> 00:24:01,120
about like the vibe of the
movie.

401
00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:04,720
How Christmassy is it?
How strong are the Christmas

402
00:24:04,720 --> 00:24:07,120
themes?
How strong is like the Christmas

403
00:24:07,120 --> 00:24:10,360
magic and the Christmas spirit.
And you know, Die hard has the

404
00:24:10,360 --> 00:24:13,000
setting, it's got the music,
it's got a little bit of the

405
00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:16,520
theme, but it's not like as
strong as a lot of other movies.

406
00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:21,880
And so there's plenty of movies
that like I have like rated a

407
00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:26,040
good bit lower than Die Hard
just as a movie in general, but

408
00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:28,560
have it ranked higher on my
Christmas list.

409
00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:31,480
So that kind of gives you an
idea of like the way I think

410
00:24:31,480 --> 00:24:37,640
about Christmas movies and what
makes a Christmas movie more or

411
00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:39,720
a better Christmas movie than
others.

412
00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:42,240
It's got to have a lot of
Christmas magic.

413
00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:45,480
It's got to have a lot of like
Christmas theme in the family

414
00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:47,240
theme.
It's got to have a lot of it.

415
00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:49,440
It's just the vibes that you
feel from it, you know?

416
00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:52,280
So those are my movies that I
covered.

417
00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:54,680
The star didn't go for a whole
lot.

418
00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:58,240
Eloise at Christmastime.
Nostalgic, charming, cozy.

419
00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:02,640
And then, yeah, Die Hard, I
mean, one of the best action

420
00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:05,400
movies of all time, probably.
And it's streaming like

421
00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:08,280
everywhere right now.
It's on Prime, it's on Hulu and

422
00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:11,240
Disney Plus, It's on Peacock
Premium.

423
00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:14,640
So you can kind of go wherever
to watch Die Hard or buy it.

424
00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:20,520
You know, I have the Blu-ray.
But I do hope everyone has a

425
00:25:20,520 --> 00:25:23,920
very Merry Christmas, a happy
holiday season.

426
00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:27,160
Stay safe out there with with
all the traveling, I know

427
00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:29,880
there's a lot of traveling
around this time.

428
00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:33,880
So yeah, stay safe out there,
enjoy your family, enjoy your

429
00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:37,520
friends and get you a cup of hot
chocolate like I have now or a

430
00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:39,880
cup of hot coffee.
It's nice.

431
00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:43,200
So I'm not going to be drinking
down in coffee right now, but

432
00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:45,560
but yeah, enjoy some Christmas
movies.

433
00:25:45,560 --> 00:25:49,160
So with your friends and family
and have a good time.

434
00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:53,440
And yeah, just enjoy some
Christmas magic while you watch

435
00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:55,320
your Christmas movies this
season.

436
00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:57,760
But that's all I have for this
episode.

437
00:25:57,840 --> 00:25:59,560
I'm not sure when the next one
will come out.

438
00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:01,880
It will be in the new year for
sure.

439
00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:04,080
But I look forward to seeing you
then.

440
00:26:04,120 --> 00:26:05,440
That's all we have for this
week.

441
00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:08,880
I've been Eli Price and you've
been listening to the

442
00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:11,680
Establishing Shot.
Merry Christmas and we will see

443
00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:12,680
you next time.