#Ellen Griswold

[jimsmovieworld]

NATIONAL LAMPOONS CHRISTMAS VACATION- 1989 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The best christmas movie of all time.

Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) goes above and beyond to make sure his family have the best christmas ever. One thing after another goes wrong and he starts to lose his mind....

One of my favourite movies.

This film never gets old. So many funny lines and jokes. In addition to that, some of the funniest parts are phyiscal comedy at its best. Clark running around not knowing the squirrels on his back. Him standing on the floorboards and falling through the attic? Hilarious.

As far as Griswold movies go, its hard to pick a favourite definitively but its either this or the original Vacation which are both classics.

Clark Griswold is one of my favourite movie characters and reminds me of my dad.

Russ and Audrey are ofcourse always played by different actors in each movie. Christmas Vacation has an excellent pairing. Juliette Lewis and Leonard. Both play theyre part well.

Beverly D'Angelo returns as Ellen Griswold. Shes sweet, stunning and hilarious with very amusing facial expressions and eye movements.

Also one of my first childhood crushes.

For those reasons and more id like to formally induct Beverly D'Angelo into the jimsmovieworld hall of fame. Although ive hardly seen her in anything else other than Vacation films, her role as Ellen in these movies still makes her one of my favourite actresses.

Welcome aboard and merry christmas Bev!

[nouklea]

Nothing left to say. Anyone has some ibuprofen? Acetaminophen? Tequila?

[failmarriage-of-the-day]

The failmarriage of the day is Clark and Ellen Griswold from National Lampoon’s Vacation!

[witchybitchybisexual]

As I bisexual, I concur!

Ellen Priscilla Ruth Griswold needs to divorce that loser and get with a real dyke like me

[darby-rowe]

୨⎯ "inches of snow" ⎯୧

young!coriolanus snow ☓ fem!reader summary your boyfriend, coriolanus snow, joins you and your family for christmas dinner, but of course it's nothing short of an insufferable experience. but don't worry, because coryo is there to take care of you!

18+ | nsfw | mdni word count 2,298 cw modern au, coryo & reader are in grad school, it's christmas!!, mentions of food, implied body shaming by family, uh oh grandma and grandpa are being bigoted again, bathroom sex, mirror sex, anal, praise, degradation, sex on the bathroom sink, it's a very anal christmas, coryo has a big dick, ooc(?) coryo, y/n usage, petnames, unprotected sex, spit play, cum play, dirty talk notes i know the title is corny as fuck LMFAO but it made me giggle. also imagine reader in ellen griswold's outift from national lampoon's christmas vacation like the one w the blouse and the green skirt bc mmmmm that fit is FIRE. this fic was slightly based off of this post bc i thought it was just too hot to ignore. this is also NOT proofread so any mistakes you find in this fic... dont talk about it

Sitting down at the pleasantly decorated dining room table, your mother insisted on saying grace before you and the rest of your family could dig in on the splendid feast you and the rest of the women in your family worked so hard on. Your mouth watered at the thought of savoring the sweet potato casserole, the baked macaroni and cheese, the ham, everything at the table was extremely decadent. And it was all displayed out in front of you, and right under your nose.

You were a bit greedy, you had to admit, as your hands were the first to get a generous scoop of the fluffy mashed potatoes, earning a scoff from your ever-so lovely paternal grandmother. Say something, you old bat, you thought to yourself, but a pleasant hand came running to rescue you from your angry thoughts. A slight squeeze on your left thigh made you blush, and you turned your head to grin at your lovely boyfriend, Coriolanus Snow. He gave you a reassuring nod, and you went back to indulging in your Christmas feast.

“So, Y/N,” your grandmother piped up, pretentiously swishing her glass of wine. “Anything interesting as of late?”

You swallowed your forkful of mashed potatoes and peas. “My third year of med school is kicking my butt,” you said, trying to lighten the hostility between you and your grandmother. “I’m definitely finding myself to have less and less free time–”

“And how do you feel about that?” your grandmother interjected right in the middle of your response, causing your brows to furrow. Her attention was now fully on Coriolanus, which you turned your head to see what his response would be.

Coriolanus huffed amusingly. “I don’t necessarily have an opinion on it,” he said. “I am also quite busy with my master’s degree. Distance makes the heart grow fonder, or however that saying goes,”

“We’re just busy little bees,” you said in a light manner, albeit a bit awkwardly. “It’ll all be worth it in the end. All this hard work will pay off,”

Your grandfather motioned his glass towards Coriolanus. “Busy little bees, eh? Bet it’s harder on you than her,” This statement made you nearly choke on your champagne. The crudeness of that man! Oh, if you didn’t know any better, you would reach across the table and slap the wrinkles off that smug face–

“It’s actually not really that hard to endure,” Coriolanus spoke up. “We both know we’ll see each other again after our busy spells and that thought keeps us going,”

You smiled bitterly at your grandfather. “Exactly,”

The table got quiet after that, and you spent a good few minutes awkwardly sipping your champagne and eating your generous plate. You felt your appetite unfortunately begin to dissipate as the unpleasantness of the evening began sinking underneath your skin.

“You know, mother,” your father chimed in. “My wife and I both met during our residency, and you know firsthand exactly how busy I was during that time. The 100 hour work weeks, the skills labs, the exams, my boards. It was hard! But my beloved and I made it through, and I’m sure Y/N and Coryo will also make it,”

“I just don’t see the need in investing this much time in such a demanding career when your husband is already planning on pursuing a career that would help the both of you,” grandmother said to you, making your face contort into one of immense displeasure.

“Coryo is not my husband, first off,” you retorted. “At least not yet, but I’m also not going to be a stay-at-home mom who spends her days dealing with the dog, the baby, and the garden. I want a fulfilling career, too! I mean, don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against stay-at-home mothers, but that life is not for me,”

“Why not?” grandmother knitted her eyebrows together. “Look at you, dear, with that revealing blouse and that pretty face, you don’t need to be pushing yourself like this,”

“Oh my god!” you cried, throwing your hands up. You finally decided you had enough, and with bitterness deep within your soul, you abruptly pushed your chair away from the table and stormed off.

“Watch your mouth, young lady!” your grandmother called out after you. “You weren’t excused!”

“I’m twenty-five years old, grandma, I can excuse myself,” you replied angrily as you traversed upstairs, your heels clicking on the hardwood material.

Slamming the door to the bathroom, you made your way to the bathtub where you sat down on the cold tiles with your knees folded up against your chest. You buried your face in your hands as you breathed in and out. In… and out…

God, you really hated your father’s parents. So judgy and crude, you were only left to wonder why they kept getting invited over to these dinners. Your parents knew how they chastised you, and even with their efforts to put a stop to their bigoted comments, they just kept going and going and going.

You were proud of yourself. You were proud of the life you were building for yourself. Sure, you still had eight years of school left, but at the end of the road you were going to be a kick-ass trauma surgeon. And Coryo was on the fast track to earning his master’s in political science. Soon, he would be running for congress, and the two of you would be unstoppable.

But here you were, practicing breathing exercises on the cold tiles of your parents’ bathroom. You needed to move out of there. Anywhere but there.

Your thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door and the sweet sound of a familiar voice on the other side. Coriolanus, looking as handsome as ever as he gently let himself into the bathroom, joining you on the floor.

“Hey, bunny,” he cooed, taking your hands in his. “Are you okay?”

You grinned dreamily. “Now that you’re here,” this remark elicited a chuckle from Coriolanus, which made you swoon. “Listen, I have to apologize for my family,”

Coriolanus shook his head. “There’s no need to apologize,” he reassured. “You do not have to say anything. You’re not responsible for their actions, not now, not anytime,” he took your hand and kissed the back of it. “Now, how may I make my sweet girl feel better?”

It didn’t take long before the two of you were on each other like two cannibals competing to see who ripped off the other’s flesh first. Your lips crashed and molded into each other as your warm, wet tongues shoved down each other’s throats in desperate attempts to taste the other’s mouths. Coriolanus tasted like the champagne you planned on indulging yourself with later that night, feeling your mind buzz on the remnants of the alcohol. It ignited your nerves on fire.

It took your breath away when Coriolanus spun you around and pressed you against the bathroom sink, forced to look at the reflection. “Look at you, baby,” he panted, his lips red and swollen from the intense kiss he shared with you just seconds ago. “So fuckin’ pretty and fuckable. I’ll take care of you, don’t worry,”

You looked at your reflection in the mirror, your eyes scanning the pathetic, needy look on your face. You gasped slightly as Coriolanus grabbed your jaw, preventing you from looking away. “I want you to look while I fuck you,” he said, pressing his hardened bulge into your backside which made your eyes slightly roll back into your head. “I know that pussy of yours is throbbing for me, hm? Is it, bunny?”

You opened your eyes and looked at the blush that was beginning to appear on your cheeks. “Mmm’yes,” you whined. “Want you so bad, please. But we have to be quiet. Can’t let my family hear us,”

Before you could say anything else, Coriolanus’s hand slapped onto your mouth making your gasps and breaths all muffled. “There’s a solution for you, my dove,” he murmured into your ear. “Now, here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to remove my hand and pull up that pretty little skirt of yours. Then, I’m going take off your panties, then fuck you in the ass. Am I clear?”

You and Coriolanus have indulged in anal before. It wasn’t a common occurrence, but it surely wasn’t unwelcome. Your pussy throbbed with anticipation at the thought of Coryo’s throbbing, hard cock in your tight asshole. You nodded, and he removed his hand from your mouth and cupped it in front of your lips. “Spit in my hand,” he ordered, and you drooled a generous amount of saliva into the palm of his hand.

You could hear his wet hand stroke himself in prep to enter you. With your skirt hiked up and your panties gone, you made sure to relax and breathe as you felt Coriolanus push the tip of his cock into your ass. Your efforts to stay quiet flew out the window as a primal, low groan escaped your throat as your ass became full of his dick.

“Fuuuck…” you groaned, hiking your leg up on the bathroom sink to allow Coriolanus to go deeper. God, it felt so fucking good having his dick deep in your ass. So dirty, and so fucking hot.

In a matter of moments, Coriolanus was thrusting his hips hard and deep inside you, making your mouth fall open in a silent cry of pleasure. You resorted to quiet curses and panting to help you express how good you were feeling in that moment. Goosebumps erupted on your skin. There was a slight sting to being penetrated in the ass, but it wasn’t painful to you. In fact, it only added to the overwhelming pleasure building in your nether regions.

“Such a tight fuckin’ ass,” Coriolanus murmured, grabbing your jaw once again. “Look at you, bunny, so fuckin’ needy for this cock in your ass, yeah?”

You had to be quiet. You needed too. But by god, the sound of Coriolanus speaking pure filth in your ears was insatiable. “Yes,” you growled through gritted teeth, your eyes flicking between your face and Coriolanus’s. “Fuckin’ love your cock in my ass, fuck,”

“Such a naughty girl,” he teased, taking a look down to watch his dick pump in and out of your hole. The sound of your panting and groaning mixed with Coriolanus’s grunts, slightly echoing throughout the bathroom.

You whined as you felt him withdraw from your hole, only for him to spin you around once again and help you on top of the bathroom counter. You willingly spread your legs and watched as Coriolanus re-entered your ass before withdrawing completely once more, and then he repeated these actions again, and again, and again.

“Stop teasing,” you whined, reaching a hand down to play with your pussy only for Coriolanus to swat your hand away, much to your dismay.

Coriolanus pinned both of your hands behind your back. “No touching. You’re going to come from my cock in your ass or you won’t come at all,”

You nodded obediently, your body rocking back and forth in time with his thrusts. You could feel your pussy drooling its juices from how unbelievably aroused you were. It was almost uncomfortable how badly your clit ached to be touched, but you wanted to obey your boyfriend’s orders, so you held back.

“My naughty bunny,” Coriolanus moaned. “Your ass is so tight around my cock. Feels so good. You’re making me feel so – fuck – so fucking good,”

Your mouth fell open as your panting grew more frequent. “Yes, fuck my ass,” you whispered. “Make me come from my ass, baby, please,”

“Are you close, love?”

“Yes, yes – fuck,” you threw your head back as moans threatened to escape your throat, your pleasure only heightened as Coriolanus pressed open-mouthed kisses all along your neck. You were about to come undone from just having his cock in your ass, and it was going to feel so, so good.

“Coming,” you mewled, your legs beginning to shake and the familiar feeling of an itching pulsation deep within your pussy. “Oh god, I’m coming from my ass. Fuck… fuck…!”

In an explosion of pleasure that made you see stars, your orgasm hit you like a truck as your juices gushed out of your pussy. You squeezed your eyes shut and gritted your teeth as it took every fiber of your being to not scream out in pure ecstasy. You continued to squirt all over yourself and Coriolanus’s cock. There was no doubt in your mind that your skirt was ruined.

Coriolanus withdrew from your hole to pump on his own cock until thick, white ropes hit your hole. The sound of his moans and groans pleasantly filled your ears. Your legs were still shaking, and you felt your breath nearly get knocked out of your lungs as you felt his shaft re-enter your ass, fucking his cum into you.

It took a good five minutes before the haze of your orgasm left your brain and you were able to think clearly again. You still sat on the kitchen counter as Coriolanus softly kissed your lips, praising you and telling you how good of a job you did.

“I love you,” you mumbled against his lips, holding his face with your hands.

You felt Coriolanus’s lips tug into a smile. “I know you do, my dove,”

It impressed you how well you cleaned yourself up as you prepared to join your family once again, but as you opened the door of the bathroom, your blood ran cold as you found your older sister waiting outside with a disappointed look on her face.

“Really?” she asked. “During dinner?”

God damnit.

don't be shy, let's talk. ♡

[trollprincess]

Hey, you. Come here.

Closer.

Cloooooseeeeer.

*rests hands on your shoulders*

It’s the holidays again, and the argument is going to start up about whether or not Die Hard is a Christmas movie. And I want to tell you, as someone whose mother ADORES Christmas, and who has seen every traditional Christmas movie seventy bajillion times over the last forty-seven years, that I would rather watch John McClane walk across broken glass to save his family for the holidays than see Ralphie in a pink bunny costume and Clark Griswold’s Christmas lights one more goddamn time. Give me Geena Davis flashing Samuel L. Jackson so she can rip off his bandage, give me a bunch of college girls being murdered one by one at Christmastime, give me the episode of “Tales from the Crypt” where Mary Ellen Trainor goes toe to toe with a serial killer in a Santa suit.

Give me ANYTHING that is not a traditional Christmas movie before I finally see Rudolph get used and abused by everyone around him ONE MORE TIME and I fucking SNAP.

I cannot DO this anymore. Let me have my nontraditional Christmas movies where shit blows up and terrorists get shot. I have strode through Santa’s workshop in a dozen different versions far too many times over the years, and I am TIRED.

[fatsamsgrandslamspeakeasy]

Justice has been served on November 5th and 6th, 2024!

Congratulations to our true POTUS, Donald J Trump, on your rightful win as POTUS #47!

A huge FUCK YOU to a huge list of crybaby so-called "celebrities". The list is so huge, I apologize to anyone who I may leave out: Taylor Swift, Harrison Ford, Cardi B, Jesse The Nobody Ventura, Mick Foley, Robert DeNiro, Stephen (Pedo) King, Jennifer Lopez, Whoopi Goldberg, Quentin Tarantino, Mark Hammil, Christina Applegate, John Cusack, Wendell Pierce, George Clooney, Katy Perry, Cher, Mark Ruffalo, Meryl Streep, Rob (Meathead) Reiner, Miley Cyrus, Lena Dunham, Alec Baldwin, Amy Schumer, Chelsea Handler, Zendaya, Angelina Jolie, Lady Gaga, Rosie O'Donnell, George Takei, America Ferrera, Madonna, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jack Black, Will Smith, Barbara Streisand, Trevor Noah, Charlie Sheen, Johnny Depp, Stephen Colbert, Susan Sarandon, Jimmy Kimmel, LeBron James, Ben Stiller, Samuel L Jackson, Bette Midler, Jane Fonda, Ellen (Degenerate) DeGeneres, Eminem, Harpo, Richard Gere, Bruce Springsteen, Chris Evans, Alyssa Milano, Chrissy Teigan, George Lopez, The View hosts, Pope Francis.......

No true patriot gives a flying fuck what y'all think. Go back to your perverted Hollywoodland, and keep y'alls MF-ing mouths shut while y'all cry rivers of tears. Y'all and y'alls' sick demented fans and followers should crawl into a hole and disappear forever. Better yet, if y'all ain't totally full of shit, and wish to leave America, the Great....I would be only too happy to personally pay for y'alls 1 way ticket the hell out of here! Good bye and good fuckin' riddance........

An even bigger FUCK YOU to: Alvin Bragg, Letitia James, Fani Willis, Juan Merchan, Arthur Engoron, Lewis Kaplan, Merrick Garland, Mehdi Hasan, Tanya Chutkan, Jack Smith, Shenna Bellows, Jena Griswold, George and Alex Soros and of course.... Joe Biden. Y'all led a witch hunt against an innocent man, tried unconstitutionally to get his name off of state ballots, convict him of bullshit crimes, imprison him, empower the DOJ as a weapon against him, simply because he dared to love our country's freedom by opposing your NWO Globalist masters. Because of the rhetoric that y'all helped spread, y'all are directly responsible for the attempts by the crazy leftists loonies who tried to take this great man's life. Thank God that you failed in that attempt. Y'all should be ashamed of yourselves, but when y'all look in the mirrors, y'all must recognize the true Fascists that have been in power for way too long.....yourselves! Each and every one of y'all is an indelible stain on the American Way of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. History will NOT be kind to any of y'all. Y'all do understand that your un-American actions were crucial in getting DJT re-elected. Live with that knowledge daily, as it burns a hole in each of y'alls miserable stomachs.

FINALLY: a well-deserved FUCK YOU to Kamala Harris, puppet extraordinaire to the Globalist regime. It turns out, darlin' that YOU were at the wrong rally, all this time!!!!! You don't get to diss our Lord Jesus and not suffer the consequences. You and your fellow Satanic followers will be finding that out for eternity someday soon, one can only hope! But really, sweettums.....your whole platform was a complete sham and a slap in the face to all hard-working, intelligent, decent Americans. Any true public servant... which you clearly are NOT..... would know that, in order to secure my vote, you need to convince me why I should vote for YOU, not why I should NOT be voting for your opponent. All you had in your arsenal was "Don't vote for Trump, because....". Never once could you say "Vote for me because....." and come up with a legitimate, valid reason why I should cast my vote for you. A lesson that you should have learned long ago! The fact that you didn't, shows you for the charlatan that you are, have been and always will be. The fact that your supporters could not see that is testimony to their brainlessness and/or their indoctrination. Now, please just do the American people a great big favor and pull yourself into a huge hole, go off into oblivion, and leave the adults to clean up the big mess that you and your partners-in-crime have created.

Thank you truly to my friends, family and followers for putting up with me the past 4 years in my time of indignation, depression and rage. While I still plan to keep my blog's finger on the pulse of political events, and especially, any and all injustices that may ensue this historical win, I really need to make this blog more fun and relaxing for myself, the way I initially envisioned it to be. Thanks for putting up with my craziness and for being my support when I felt that the world was going to Hell in a hand basket. I respect and love you all, patriots! Have a blessed day and a great life!

Finally, Thank you to Donald J Trump for being an inspiration to myself and for being a great POTUS for all Americans. Your mantra of FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT will forever be my blueprint of action for future navigation thru turbulent waters.

[kevinsreviewcatalogue]

Review Double Feature: Beetlejuice (1988) and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

Another double feature, and once again, it's a classic movie and its nostalgic, decades-later sequel. How do they fare?

Beetlejuice (1988)

Rated PG

<Originally posted at https://kevinsreviewcatalogue.blogspot.com/2024/09/review-double-feature-beetlejuice-1988.html>

Score: 5 out of 5

While Beetlejuice wasn't the first movie that Tim Burton ever made, it was the one that made him a goth icon, turning his name into a byword for a particular kind of style that has at least one foot in the horror genre and is often rich in gothic flair but combines it with a strong dose of comedy and whimsy. In this case, he takes a classic horror movie premise, that of a family moving into a new house only to find out that it's haunted by ghosts that don't want them there, and turns it completely on its head by making the ghosts the protagonists and using that setup as the basis for a riotous comedy, powered largely by the force-of-nature performance of Michael Keaton in his comic prime as the titular villain. It still stands as one of Burton's best movies and one of the best comedies of the '80s, especially for the less raunchy end of the genre (even if I wouldn't by any means call this a family film, inexplicable PG rating aside), powered by an all-star cast and an early version of Burton's unique style that was already apparent here. It's a movie where, the moment you see it, you don't need to ask why it's a classic, you just know.

Our protagonists are Adam and Barbara Maitland, a young couple living in the idyllic small town of Winter River, Connecticut who have just died in a car accident. What's more, when they get to the afterlife, they find a tangled bureaucracy that tells them that they have to spend 125 years in their house before they can move on, which means that they have to watch as a new family, the Deetzes, move in from the city and renovate their beautiful home into the modernist art project of the stepmom Delia's dreams and the Maitlands' nightmares. As such, they make it their mission to scare the Deetzes out of the house, easier said than done given the Maitlands' easygoing nature, the fact that the Deetz family's yuppie patriarch Charles sees dollar signs in a possibly haunted house, and the fact that the Deetzes' gloomy teenage daughter Lydia can see them and ain't scared of no ghosts. Out of desperation, the Maitlands turn to the "bio-exorcist" Betelgeuse (pronounced "Beetlejuice") for help, only to get far more than they bargained for.

The secret to Burton's success in his glory days was that, while his movies were spooky, they were very rarely scary. Burton is a man who has a clear affection for classic horror movies and injects their style into his own work, but doesn't necessarily try to replicate the actual terror, instead using that style to make comedies and dramas about offbeat people who are actually pretty normal once you get to know them. In this case, he made what's basically Poltergeist as a comedy, with the ghosts getting as much character as the living humans. Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis make for a great comic duo as the dorky yet lovable ghosts who are utterly clueless at being horror movie ghosts. They lift macabre imagery from contemporary '70s and '80s horror movies as they try to frighten their home's unwelcome new inhabitants, but John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper they ain't, and they come off as just lovably pathetic instead as they can't even get Charles and Delia to acknowledge their existence. They're Clark and Ellen Griswold as ghosts, slowly but surely melting down in frustration.

They're not the real reason everybody remembers this movie, though. It is, after all, titled Beetlejuice and not Adam & Barbara, and Michael Keaton walks away with the entire film. Beetlejuice being a comic character may have softened his nastiness and kept this rated PG, but he is otherwise presented as an absolute creep, a guy who sexually harasses every woman he meets, ruins the lives and unlives of everyone of any gender he meets, and looks like a disheveled drunk who isn't allowed within a thousand feet of a school, which only makes his plans for Lydia come off that much worse. (Apparently, the original version of the script made it explicit.) He's a whirlwind of chaos and destruction who, for all his comic presentation, brings the film the closest it comes to being actually scary, like if you took the lower-class lout character from other '80s comedies and recast him as a supernatural villain. There's a reason why Keaton, before his turn towards drama, was one of the biggest comedy stars of the '80s, making both the slapstick and the dialogue feel effortless as he makes both the Deetzes' lives and the Maitlands' afterlives into Hell on Earth.

The other character who's become synonymous with this movie is Winona Ryder's Lydia Deetz, who likely inspired the goth phases ("it's not a phase, Mom!") of an entire generation of teenage girls in the '90s. Her look was instantly iconic, and fortunately, Ryder didn't just let the costume department do all the work for her character. If Lydia comes off in 2024 as something of a cliché, then that's because she helped create the cliché, the archetypal moody teenager of any number of family comedies past and present combined with an interest in the supernatural and a heart of gold beneath her creepy exterior. She's Wednesday Addams as a teen in a yuppie family that doesn't understand her, a few years before Christina Ricci made that character her own, to the point that the only thing that surprises me about the show Wednesday is that it took Burton so long to get the chance to take a crack at a proper Addams Family adaptation. Her parents, meanwhile, serve as her utter antithesis, with Jeffrey Jones making Charles a man who desperately needs to get a clue (especially once his reaction to a haunted house is to turn it and the town around it into a tourist attraction) and Catherine O'Hara having the time of her life as Delia, a full-of-herself artist who it's implied married Charles for his money and whose aesthetic tastes are a comically grotesque parody of everything that people make fun of modern art for. From the moment you meet them, you understand immediately why the Maitlands want them the hell out of their home. If this movie has anything on its mind other than its horror parody and its visual flair, it's making fun of yuppies, and while it's mostly the obvious jokes about how they're a bunch of pretentious dilettantes, they serve the film's style quite well.

And on the note of aesthetic tastes, while this wasn't the first movie that Tim Burton directed, it was the one that made him into "Tim Burton", and it still stands as one of the greatest demonstrations of his distinct and oft-imitated style. It is a special effects showcase, starting with a playful homage to '50s giant monster movies in the opening credits and continuing on with the varied looks of the ghosts we see later in the film, especially as the Maitlands explore an afterlife reminiscent of the worst DMV you've ever been to run by a scene-stealing Sylvia Sidney as a salty, seen-it-all bureaucrat who's Not in the Mood for Your Shit. The music, too, does wonders to set the mood, from Danny Elfman's legendary score that sounds like an '80s New Wave remix of a classic horror soundtrack (as befitting a former member of Oingo Boingo) to the heavy use of Harry Belafonte in some key moments. The look and feel of the film matches the tone of the writing and story, spooky but playful, which makes the jokes that much funnier once they start rolling almost immediately. That said, it's always grounded in something resembling reality, in this case a version of small-town New England drawn less from Stephen King than Norman Rockwell. It's what makes the supernatural mayhem hit that much harder (incidentally, the reason why King himself set so many stories in small-town Maine, before his own style was copied to the point of cliché), and honestly, I think it's the difference between this and other early Burton films on one hand and his late-period decline on the other. A lot of Burton's humor, here most of all, was rooted in the juxtaposition of classically gothic imagery with life in modern America, often suggesting that it was in fact the former that was more level-headed and "normal" than our society that, in its obsession with status and the appearance of normality, can often turn quite whacked-out in its own way. Burton kind of lost sight of this with his later films, but in his earlier movies like this, he was a master at it.

The Bottom Line

Like any great comedy, it's hard to describe in words without ruining the best parts, so I'll just leave it at this: Beetlejuice is still a classic after 36 years. It's a simple movie, but that just means it can sharpen its focus and deliver a hell of a spoof of supernatural horror.

----------

And now, for the sequel...

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024 A.D.)

Rated PG-13 for violent content, macabre and bloody images, strong language, some suggestive material and brief drug use

Score: 3 out of 5

If Beetlejuice was Tim Burton at his best, then Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is, for better or worse, an encapsulation of late-period Burton, both his continued strengths as a filmmaker and the points where he's lost his touch. The plot is perfunctory, a mess of multiple different storylines butting heads with each other, with Monica Bellucci seemingly only being here as the villain because Tim Burton has a Type while an actual, more interesting villain was wasted. It felt like screenwriters Alfred Gough and Miles Millar had tried to cram an idea for a Beetlejuice TV series, or multiple different first drafts from different writers over the course of over three decades, into a feature film, with lots of plot threads that went nowhere and were wrapped up far too hastily for my liking. The first movie wasn't exactly that deep, but this makes it look downright intellectual. But when it comes to the things that Burton's name is associated with, from creepy visuals to a twisted sense of humor, this movie roars to the point that I was able to largely shut off my brain and enjoy it. The returning cast is great, not least of all Michael Keaton demonstrating that he hasn't lost a step even after he became a dramatic actor, while Jenna Ortega gets another opportunity to demonstrate why she's one of the biggest young stars of her generation. The humor is as on-point as it was last time, and while the special effects have a much bigger budget than they did before, they haven't lost the practical, handmade charm of the original. There's more of a focus on horror this time, but much of it comes proudly paired with the comedy, from deaths straight out of Looney Tunes to a running gag about the fate of Charles from the first film that I'm surprised got by with a PG-13 rating. As far as nostalgia-bait sequels are concerned, this one did most of what it needed to, if little else.

The film starts with a grown-up Lydia Deetz, now the host of a talk show dedicated to the supernatural, and her teenage daughter Astrid, a student at a boarding school who believes that ghosts aren't real and that her mother is either crazy or a grifting hack, being called home to Winter River, Connecticut after Charles Deetz dies gruesomely in a plane crash. (He survived the actual crash; shame about the shark in the water around the crash site.) Meanwhile, in the afterlife, Beetlejuice is still plugging away at his bio-exorcist gig, while Delores, the evil witch he married in life who's still pissed at him after they killed each other (the feeling is mutual), escapes from her prison thanks to some carelessness and proceeds to go on a soul-sucking rampage hoping to take her revenge on her ex. Along the way, Lydia's douchebag boyfriend and producer Rory proposes to her out of the blue, Astrid meets a cute boy in town named Jeremy who's into the supernatural, and Delia... doesn't actually get to do much, but any excuse to get Catherine O'Hara back in full form is good in my book.

There are a lot of plot threads going on here, enough that I think I might have missed a few of them, which kind of highlights the biggest problem this movie has, that it's overstuffed with plot and doesn't really have much of an actual story. Even by the third act after everything's started to come together, the plot about Lydia rescuing Astrid from the afterlife with Beetlejuice's help and the plot about Delores hunting down Beetlejuice barely have anything to do with each other, with the former settled in an anticlimatic fashion only to promptly segue into the next as Delores literally barges in. An important plot point hinges on Lydia, a woman obsessed with the supernatural and the dark side of life, being clueless about a grisly true-crime story in her own childhood hometown. This movie does a lot of things right, but its writing is not one of them. It tries to do far too much plot-wise, and it largely faceplants every time it asks me to focus on such. It's a shame, because, while Monica Bellucci had almost nothing to do in this movie beyond look creepy and sexy in that distinct Burtonesque way (see also: Lisa Marie, Helena Bonham Carter, Eva Green), she did it well, and I wanted to see more of her. A better movie would've found a way to incorporate Delores more directly into the plot, perhaps by having her use Lydia or Astrid to get to Beetlejuice, and given Bellucci more of a chance to shine.

Fortunately, this movie didn't forget to do the same for its other top-billed stars. Michael Keaton still has it as a comic actor, and Beetlejuice is still the same force of nature he was before, a guy who's about as profane as the PG-13 rating will allow and feels eager to punch through its bounds. Catherine O'Hara's Delia, like Delores, doesn't really get much of a plot, but she does at least get to make for some hilarious comic relief, still the same shallow yuppie arteeste she was in the '80s and one whose knowledge of the reality of the afterlife has simply given her false hope of finding Charles again. Winona Ryder and Jenna Ortega together get most of the dramatic arc of the film as the mother and daughter Lydia and Astrid, both of them turning in solid performances and Ortega in particular feeling very much like the heir to '90s Ryder in terms of being the one you cast when you want someone who can play a moody teenager really well. (One missed opportunity, though: I think the funniest version of Astrid would've been to make her the biggest girly girl imaginable, one who embraced a life in pink as her own form of rebellion against her goth mother. Not only would it have made sense given the tension between the two, it also would've done a great job of sending up Ortega's typecasting.) The supporting cast, meanwhile, was a who's who of fun bits, from Justin Theroux as Lydia's vapid boyfriend and spiritual guru who feels very much like a male version of Delia (maybe Lydia hasn't escaped her mother's influence as much as she thought) to Willem Dafoe as a Hollywood action hero who died doing his own stunts and now gets to be a loose cannon cop for real in the afterlife chasing Delores and Beetlejuice.

And when it comes to Burton himself, he brings a lot of this movie's best parts. Once I accepted that this was gonna be one of those movies where the plot made no damn sense and wasn't worth following, I stayed for the humor and the style, and this movie largely sticks to what worked last time even if they've got more money to throw around for the effects now. Jeffrey Jones' very public disgrace (I'll spare you the details, but let's just say he was really lucky he didn't land up in prison) means that this movie takes every opportunity it can to piss on Charles' grave with some of the most backhanded "tributes" I can imagine, his over-the-top death rendered in a stop-motion animated sequence being just the start. The afterlife is once again full of cool-looking ghosts whose appearances let you know right away exactly how they died, and while the balance of comedy and horror this time leans more towards actually trying to be scary, the kills are still goofy and cartoonish enough that it manages to remain lighthearted and fun. As a visual stylist, Burton has always been distinct even in his lesser films, and while there's nothing here that's particularly groundbreaking, it's always at least fun to watch.

The Bottom Line

"Nothing particularly groundbreaking, but at least fun to watch" sums up my thoughts on this movie in general. It's kinda dumb and needed a top-to-bottom rewrite, but as a showcase for a great comic cast and a lot of spooky and cool special effects, I had a good time. Check it out.

[twelvegate-blog]

A few things I noticed in my S3 and S4 rewatch. And I finally have a theory about what all those wagons mean!

A hidden Chicago mention in S3

I didn't remember that the kids' codename in S3 is Griswold family!

This is a reference to the 1983 movie National Lampoon's vacation. The story of a man who decides to lead his wife and their kids, a boy and a girl, on a cross-country expedition from the Chicago suburbs to the southern California amusement park Walley World.

In S3 El hears Hopper and Joyce talk about going to Illinois, and at the end of the season Joyce and the kids move to California. They are the Griswolds. I mean, we know that Hopper is El's father and Joyce is Will's mother. But since Jon is never included in these references I think it means that Will and El are Joyce and Hopper's kids, and Jon is Joyce and Lonnie's son. Also, I have thoughts about the wife in the movie, Ellen, meeting her cousin Catherine (russian variant, Katerina-> diminutive form, Katinka) who's married to a guy named Edward. But that's for another post.

The meaning of the wheelbarrows

I'm analyzing all the hints that there might've been a car crash in 1976 and that that's the event that separated Jane from her family. I don't think she was abducted when she was born, I think her life changed because of the car accident: time loop/time manipulation made her end up in the lab and it was like she was never part of the family.

But if she is connected to water- the void, the water tanks, even Stobin's sailor outfit, since they represent Willel (a car accident in a frozen lake?) Will has always been associated with fire. And we see three cars on fire in the show: the engine of Hopper's car explodes in S3, Billy's car catches fire in 3x08, and Fred has a vision of a car on fire in S4. When I rewatched Fred's vision I realized that this is connected to Will.

Before Fred sees the car, a dog barks and we see a wheelbarrow in the trailer park. A clear reference to Will's vanishing in 1x01.

A car in the middle of the street. In 1x01 Will swerves off the roard and crashes his bike in the woods. In 3x01 Billy gets possessed after he's run off the road by a creature.

In his vision, Fred also sees a coffin and the grandfather clock, which has the name Williams on it. A car on fire, the name William on a coffin, and in the same season we see the tombstone of William Hargrove.

I think the wheelbarrows represent the car in the accident in 1976 that changed everything. Maybe a station wagon?

The wheelbarrow in front of Mrs Driscoll's house, when she's already possessed by the particles, after the Castle Byers scene, in which a dog barks and Will is about to realize that the Mind Flayer is back.

And in S1 we see the other person who's involved in all this. Brenner.

EDIT: Found another wheelbarrow

This one. And we even get an "upside down" mention in this scene

And a red one at the end of S4, behind Joyce, Hopper and El, and the wooden pole points right to Joyce and El

[princesssarisa]

"Faerie Tale Theatre" Role Association: Seasons 1 through 3

To honor Shelley Duvall in a silly yet fun way, I decided to finally do what I've been meaning to for some time: play a complete game of Role Association for the characters of Faerie Tale Theatre.

That is, describing the story using the names of the actors' more famous characters. @thealmightyemprex and I once did this together, long ago. I thought I would try doing it myself now, starting with the show's first few seasons.

The Tale of the Frog Prince

The Genie is turned into a frog, and only a kiss from Inga can break the spell. Odo is Inga’s father, while Debbie Dunham and Kramer are Genie’s parents. Brave Sir Robin narrates.

Rumpelstiltskin

Wendy Torrence is ordered to spin straw into gold for Lots-O’-Huggin Bear after her father Sarge lies that she can. Tattoo agrees to spin it for her, but at a price.

Rapunzel

Olive Oyle is hidden away in a tower by her abusive foster mother Gloria Swenson, until she meets and falls in love with Prince Lir. Cornelius narrates.

The Nightingale

Ned Kelly is the Emperor of China, who learns the value of friendship from Hillary Whitney and a bird with the voice of Wendy Torrence. Commander Adama is the Prime Minister, while Harold, Iroh, and Mr. Wing are other members of the court.

Sleeping Beauty

Rita the Cat is cursed to die by Ellen Griswold, but Grandmama Addams softens the curse to a 100-year sleep, from which Superman’s kiss will wake her. Father Mulcahy and “Hot Lips” Houlihan are Rita’s parents.

Jack and the Beanstalk

Dave Stohler lives in poverty with his mother Jessica Tate, until Blinkin gives him magic beans that grow into a beanstalk, which leads him to the castle of gigantic couple Ted and Edith.

Little Red Riding Hood

Emily Hobbs goes into the forest to visit Grandma Gilmore and encounters Alex DeLarge, who sets out to prey on them both. The Mayor of San Francisco and Ida Sessions are Emily’s parents.

Hansel and Gretel

T.J. and Savannah are the children of poor woodcutter Wimpy, who get lost in the woods and are nearly cooked and eaten by Mrs. Potiphar.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Addie Loggins intrudes into the house of papa Mongo, mama Alma Cox, and their son Paco. Dick Solomon and Rosie are Addie’s parents and Randall Peltzer is a forest ranger.

The Princess and the Pea

Stephen Waltham falls in love with Sally Bowles, but to test her worthiness, his mother Dr. Lesh has her sleep on twenty mattresses with a pea beneath them. Dr. Jack Bardofsky is a court jester and Chris Hargensen is a mean-girl princess.

Pinocchio

Pee-Wee Herman is a puppet carved by Saul Bloom and brought to life by Maria Portokalos. Kramer and Rocko are two con artists who lead him astray, and Waternoose turns him into a donkey.

Thumbelina

Two-inch tall Princess Leia is stolen from her mother Berta and nearly forced to marry first Castor Oyle, then the Penguin, before finding true love with Tommy Ross.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Cora Crawley is taken in by seven dwarfs after fleeing from Julia, who wants to kill her because Nicholas Medina claims that Cora is more beautiful than she is. Eventually Julia poisons her, but in the end, she revives and marries Frederic.

Beauty and the Beast

Janet Weiss becomes the prisoner of Count Dracula and eventually learns to love him. Chief Hubbard is her father, while Morticia Addams and Helen Henny are her sisters.

The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers

John Cage isn’t afraid of anything, so he spends three nights in Count Dooku’s haunted castle with the promise of marriage to Dooku’s daughter Max. Bob Cratchit is an innkeeper, Stu Pickles is a clergyman, and Frank Zappa is a hunchbacked servant.

[katsukikitten]

Clark Griswold really got a catch cause Ellen is so fuckin PRETTY

[seaside-writings]

Hiya, all you holly jolly people! It's time once again for me to post another part of my "12 Days of Prompts.*

I will admit this prompt list is a little all over the place considering that it's a lot of quotes from a lot of different Christmas movies, but I still think it works lol.

AS always if you do use these prompts please tag me so I can see what you’ve made!

I hope you all stay blessed and safe throughout your day.

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays: Celia ❤💚❄⛄🎄

❄ “Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to,” - Fred Gailey (Miracle on 34th Street)

❄ “This is extremely important. Will you please tell Santa that instead of presents this year, I just want my family back?" - Kevin McCallister (Home Alone)

❄ “It’s Christmas Eve. It’s the one night of the year when we all act a little nicer, we smile a little easier, we cheer a little more,” - Frank Cross (Scrooged)

❄ “You can mess with a lot of things. But you can’t mess with kids on Christmas,” - Kevin McCallister (Home Alone 2: Lost in New York)

❄ “Just because I cannot see it, doesn’t mean I can’t believe it!” - Jack Skellington (The Nightmare Before Christmas)

❄ “Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around, he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?” - Clarence (It’s a Wonderful Life)

❄ “What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store? What if Christmas perhaps means a little bit more!” - The Narrator (How the Grinch Stole Christmas)

❄ “You say you hate Washington’s birthday or Thanksgiving, and nobody cares, but you say you hate Christmas, and people treat you like you’re a leper,” - Kate Beringer (Gremlins)

❄ “Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals!” - Kevin McCallister (Home Alone 2)

❄ “Of course. Santa. The big man. The head honcho. The connection,” - Ralphie (A Christmas Story)

❄ “A toy is never truly happy until it is loved by a child,” - King Moonraiser (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer)

❄ “No one should be alone on Christmas,” - Cindy Lou Who, (How the Grinch Stole Christmas)

❄ “Oh, Christmas isn’t just a day. It’s a frame of mind,” - Kris Kringle (Miracle on 34th Street)

❄ “A true selfless act always sparks another,” - Klaus (Klaus)

❄ “I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year,” - Ebenezer Scrooge (A Christmas Carol)

❄ “For when the first snow is also a Christmas snow, well, something wonderful is bound to happen,” - The Narrator (Frosty the Snowman)

❄ “You know, I think this Christmas thing is not as tricky as it seems,” - Jack Skellington (The Nightmare Before Christmas)

❄ "But sir, Christmas is a time for giving, a time to be with one’s family,” - Bob Cratchit (A Christmas Carol)

❄ “It’s all humbug, I tell you,” - Ebenezer Scrooge (A Christmas Carol)

❄ “I don’t know what to say, but it’s Christmas, and we’re all in misery,” - Ellen Griswold (National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation)

❄ “Son of a nutcracker!” - Buddy (Elf)

❄ “The thing about trains, it doesn’t matter where they’re going. What matters is deciding to get on,” - Conductor (The Polar Express)

❄ “I never thought it was such a bad little tree. It’s not bad at all really. Maybe it just needs a little love,” - Charlie Brown (A Charlie Brown Christmas)

❄ "This is Christmas! The season of perpetual hope!” - Kate McCallister (Home Alone)

❄ “You’ll shoot your eye out kid!” - Mrs. Parker, Ms. Shields, Mall Santa, & Ralphie (A Christmas Story)

❄ “You have such a pretty face, you should be on a Christmas card,” - Buddy (Elf)

❄ “Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings,” - Zuzu Bailey (It’s a Wonderful Life)

❄ “That’s the one good thing about regret: It’s never too late. You can always change tomorrow if you want to,” - Claire Phillips (Scrooged)

❄ “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!” - Buddy (Elf)

❄ “Seeing is believing, but sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can’t see,” - Conductor (The Polar Express)

❄ “I suppose it all started with the snow. You see, it was a very special kind of snow. A snow that made the happy happier, and the giddy even giddier. A snow that’d make a homecoming homier, and natural enemies, friends, natural,” - The Narrator (Frosty the Snowman)

❄ “Tomorrow is Christmas! It’s practically here!” - The Grinch (How the Grinch Stole Christmas)

❄ “Cheer up, dude! It’s Christmas!” - The Grinch (How the Grinch Stole Christmas)

❄ “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?” - Charlie Brown (A Charlie Brown Christmas)

❄ “Oh, Christmas isn’t just a day. It’s a frame of mind,” - Kris Kringle (Miracle on 34th Street) ❄ “God bless us, everyone!” - Tiny Tim (A Christmas Carol)

[chaoticstateofaffairs]

“Are you ok?”- Ellen Griswold

“I’m fine, honey. 😃😚”- Clark Griswold (who’s so very clearly not fine)

It’s like an exchange between me and others lol

“You ok?”

“Yeah! I’m fine. 😁” (while going through sadness and dysphoria and nose stopped up) ((I was fine but it just hit me all of a sudden because I thought about something that I know is so clearly going to happen lol and I have to deal with it cause it’s not like well yeah anyway lmao I’ll get over it cause I need to and so no talking about it lol))

[theparadoxmachine]

I just got to enjoy the glorious and unparalleled experience that is hearing Beverly D'Angelo, Ellen Griswold herself, call someone a cocksucker

[hollywoodoutbreak]

It's been 40 years since we first took that trip down Holiday Road with the Griswold family in National Lampoon's Vacation. The movie is generally regarded as one of the greatest comedies of the '80s and turned into a franchise, with five sequels having been made to date. Things could have turned out very differently for the film, though -- and we mean that literally. The original script had a very different ending, one that didn't feature John Candy at all. Of course, Candy's appearance became one of the film's most memorable scenes, as he guided the Griswolds through a private tour of Walley World. As Beverly D'Angelo, who played Ellen Griswold, explained at a fan event, it was actually preview audiences who inspired the change and the hiring of Candy, and the rest was history.

National Lampoon's Vacation is currently streaming on Max and available on DVD, Blu-Ray, and most digital platforms.

[nickelodeonshows]

1998 Kids' Choice Awards - Favorite Movie Actress

Alicia Silverstone - Batman & Robin as Barbara Wilson / Batgirl

Beverly D'Angelo - Vegas Vacation as Ellen Griswold

Christina Ricci - That Darn Cat as Patti Randall

Uma Thurman - Batman & Robin as Dr. Pamela Isley / Poison Ivy