Part 2 from Alex in her tribute to her favorite Christmas movies: The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Incredible information (as always). Some of her words on the marvelous Danny Elfman:
Elfmans brilliance lies in his ability to tell us who the character is by the way he treats his foe. Have you ever heard a song in which Santa Clause is referred to as a villain? This is genius. The Boogie Man assumes from what he’s heard that Santa Clasu is this awful feared gargoyle that reigns supreme in the monster world, and when hes presented as a jolly, fat man with a beard, we look at Clause in a whole different light.
On the movie itself:
I actually resisted this movie for the longest time. Im a huge Burton fan, and have been for years, but Holiday Time is about candy canes and bowls full of jelly. I wanted no part of this film. After I saw it however, I realized what Burton had in mind and how he revelled not only in the Holiday itself, but the fact that, as with all great Christmas movies, its about what you say, and the fact that you say it all: Be Who You Are. Thats where happiness lies. Its a wonderful film.
Here’s the whole post. Go read it!!
i have very mixed feelings about ol’ tim burton. mr. style-no-substance. but i can’t help being drawn in. but i will say this, i HATE danny elfman’s music. sorry to be contrary this close to the holidays, but whenever i hear his music, i think of some kid who got the coolest keyboard on the market for christmas and is scoring the play his little sister wrote and is making the whole neighborhood watch. he uses all the prewritten jingles and pretends he came up with it. compare the music to this, corpse bride with the music randy newman wrote for the pixar films. i cried when buzz lightyear couldn’t fly and that song is burned into my brain. but if you held a cartoon gun to my head i couldn’t hum a single note of any of danny elfman’s tunes.
i have one word for danny elfman.
salieri.
did you just compare Danny Elfman to Salieri??? hahahaha Genius.
I thought Burton was mostly style over substance myself – his movies were rather neat to look at, but a bit cold in the center – until I saw Big Fish – which just ripped me wee heart out. It is certainly his most personal. I loved that movie. One of my favorite movies that I saw that year. well – that and Ed Wood. I loved Ed Wood as well.
Randy Newman is awesome – very much agreed!
When do you all leave, Bren?
i liked ed wood too, but i’m a sucker for black and white. i just think his movies are all ultimately about going to the movies and that just ain’t enough. even big fish. remember a lot of the imagery…no idea what it was about. mostly it was about ewan macgregor’s nose being closer to the camera than any of the amazing set pieces behind him so he looked to be in a state of wonder.
we leave friday am. come to nyc on the 28th. hope the strikers have come back by then. and that they get everything they ask for.
Yeah, hopefully this state will not last long. It didn’t affect me – but it was pretty funny to see people crowding the sidewalks with scooters and roller blades – zooming through the major wind chill we got going on!!
I’m fond of Burton’s stuff, but he’s not a “maestro.” Alex’s post is so enthusiastic about the subject though, it really makes me want to watch the movie again — I was kind of lukewarm about it when I watched it.
Burton has made some of my favorite films though: Beetlejuice, Ed Wood, Mars Attacks, and Big Fish. Everybody’s entitled to a lemon now and then.
Brendan: Ph!
what does PH mean? is that a blog cheer?
Also Bren:
//mostly it was about ewan macgregor’s nose being closer to the camera than any of the amazing set pieces behind him so he looked to be in a state of wonder.//
hahahaha Now I personally feel that I can NEVER get too close to Ewan but that is pretty damn funny.
I was not a big fan of this when it first came out, the kids of course loved it (as did my wife) and I have grown to enjoy the movie more. the last time we watched it was in the car (yes I have the minivan with the tv and vcr – sue me I have 4 kids) and it was a treat just listening to the movie and not seeing it. I had no idea Catherine Ohara was in it – I have loved her since Second City TV). The Oogy Boogy song is catchy. Very Few songwriters are as good as Randy Newman – its a high, high standard.
I like Nightmare a lot, and it is one of daughter’s all-time faves, but all the songs sung by Jack the Pumpkin King mostly make me think that Elfman hasn’t gotten over his crush on Rex Harrison…
I love Newman’s rock opera Faust – anyone have that album?
feeling grinch-y today. love the music, but could james taylor have been more miscast? somehow, dokkers flip flops and a laissez faire attitued towards parenting is not what i imagine when i conjure up the devil. has there ever been a more benign heroin addict?
“yeah, dad would go crazy on the smack. he’d play joan baez at 5 on the stereo and pretend to have a nervous breakdown. then he’d eat a whole jar of marshmallow fluff and lie down.”
James Taylor as the lackadaisacal casual “turn them away from the gate” God is one of my favorite parts of the whole thing. I love God’s songs.
“MERCY!
Oh-oh-oh Lord
How great our lord
HEAVENLY …”
i thought taylor was the devil. world view incorrect…frightened.
hahahahahahahaha
“world view incorrect. frightened”
Hey Bren – my packages for Cashel are due to arrive at their destination manana.
Bren, why are you a poo?
I miss you.
I ryhmed.
This reminds me, sadly, of a moment when Miles (ahem – “my girlfriend gave me a cumquat” Miles) opened up to me and confessed that he wrote poetry – and he had written a poem about me.
What was my first response?
Was it “Ohhh, how sweet”?
No.
Was it: “You wrote a poem about me? Omygod, are we falling in love?”
No.
Was it: “That is so nice. If you ever feel like letting me read it, I would be honored”?
No.
My first response was: “Does it rhyme?”
I am shaking with laughter – I don’t know why I said that – and I TRULY meant it as an honest question – I really wanted to know if it rhymed but that was the first thing that came out.
Miles never let me forget it. He kept doing imitations of me, and in his imitations my voice kept getting shriller and shriller – as though I was some kind of rhyme Nazi – also, in his imitations, I completely cut him off mid-sentence.
“Yeah, so I wrote a poem for –”
“DOES IT RHYME???”
BWA HA HA HAHAHAAAA!!!!
Holy crap.
Cumquat.
Freak.
Window.
Wow.
Yeah, he made it seem like all I cared about was whether or not a poem rhymes. I mean – I have no idea WHY he would get that impression!! hahahaha
“Sheila, wanna hear a poem I wrote for –”
“DOES IT RHYME?????”
That’s so, so, sooooooo good.
So freakin good.
I remember when I was about 7 or 8 and I was reading Sylvia Plath and one of my stupid, stupid teachers that haunted me throughout childhood came up to my desk and ripped it out of my hands.
She said: (and I’m quoting)
“This is filth. It has no ryhnme scheme.”
Filth.
Yeah well, she’s dead now anyway. My teacher, I mean.
DOES IT RYHME?!
Ph.
Filth??
Ph, indeed.
not that i agree with the teacher by any stretch of the imagination, but the words “i was 7 or 8″ and “reading sylvia path” should NEVER go together.
i almost typed saliva instead of sylvia. hee hee.
i’m imagining a sylvia plath poems for children book…
Flat Top
if i were your mommy children
if i were
if i were your mother sweetie
pie you’d always eat
except of course tomorrow…
yes, then you’ll be an orphan
you’ll reek of peach and lye
for mommy made you cook and clean
and then she said, “buh-bye!”
shave my rancid hair, please
before it grows anew
use the burma on my perm-a
make my ball just like a cue
i’m a little teacup
and you are scalding grey
you burn my porcelain torso
whore! so pour my guts away
ted? dost i hear thy gallumph?
really, hee hee, wipe your feet
you silly archetype!
triumph did you say? a star
pierces me and laughs.
twinkle twinkle
cannot … breathe …
I am also going to kill you for “use the burma on my perm-a”
You had no right to say such a ridiculous thing on my blog.
I still can’t breathe.
And yet I also keep reading that damn poem and I can’t stop.
i’m a little teacup
and you are scalding grey
you burn my porcelain torso
whore! so pour my guts away
SHIT – THAT IS FUCKING GENIUS.
The random exclamation of “whore!” hahahahaha
Oh, great. I like to think of myself as intelligent and creative, and here comes another ridiculously talented O’Malley to put me in my place. That poem is scary good.
DBW – i know. i kinda can’t past “you’ll reek of peach and lye”