Part of Buddy the Elf, What's Your Favorite Color?

“I make the illogical logical.”

Never expose it to bright light, especially sunlight, which will kill it.

Christmas is nostalgia. Most everything about the season, from the movies to the carols to the decorations to the gifts, is about manufacturing memories. Some of those memories may have arisen from a crass or materialistic or cynical place, but once fogged up with the warm glow of the past, they become halcyon and sentimental. Ask what one envisions when they think of Christmas, and the answer is unlikely to be a pure, unfiltered moment from actual days past—it is probably a take informed by A Charlie Brown Christmas or Norman Rockwell or Courier…

Every time that I watch Gremlins I am deeply conflicted because I am always rooting for the gremlins even though I know the inevitable outcome.

They are so cute and hilarious and far more interesting and loveable than any of the human characters. I do like Gizmo because he is even more adorable and funny but I would rather that he just joined the side of the gremlins and stopped acting like such a pussy although it is pretty awesome when he hijacks a pink Barbie Corvette during the climax, my 2nd favorite part.

My favorite part is when all of the gremlins are having the time of their short little lives watching Snow White and the Seven Dwarves not…

It's hard to put into words how astonishingly perfect Joe Dante's Gremlins is. There is simply no horror-comedy that has even come close, except maybe Gremlins 2: The New Batch or The Howling; also directed by Joe Dante. He just understands how to craft a film, plain and simple. He understands that you need to show and not tell, he understands that unnecessary exposition is UNNECESSARY, and he understands that it doesn't hurt to scare the child audience. Truly, this is mean't for kids who want and can take a good scare, because some moments still freak me out.

Man, this review is messy. I mean, It's just so hard to talk about this utter masterpiece without going into endless…

Rewatched for the first time since I saw it in the theater, age 6, and it got me thinking about the Spielbergian PG-13 heyday of the '80s. Spielberg invented the look and feel of parentless childhood for which we are now so nostalgic (Stranger Things), blending the throw-backy '50s nostalgia that was in the air (interest in the nuclear family & youth culture) with contemporary realities of divorce and lost jobs and mom off at work, all of which left kids in charge of their own time to form restless bands led by brace-faced teenagers (Adventures in Babysitting, Goonies, Honey I Shrunk the Kids) roving the suburbs in search of adventure. I think it's not too much to say that Spielberg…

I really love the scale of Gremlins, and the work it does in setting up stakes. While that might seem like just fundamental movie stuff, so many films miss the mark in making us care, confusing the level of destruction with the level of tension. Here, the great threat is a bunch of little green goblins pulling destructive and violent pranks on a small town, and yet we really care and are rooting for Billie, Kate and Gizmo the entire time. It also lies in a unique spot, being a potent balance of mature and childish. The result is a fun ride that doesn't feel like it is looking down at its audience.

Dante, as well as Columbus as the…