snoozejonc

Yuletide Spirit is not one of the stronger episodes for me, but a nice one to watch around the festive season.

The mix up of Xmas presents is a funny concept but it feels like the joke is milked to within an inch of its life with the amount of dialogue centred around it. That being said Rowan Atkinson and James Dreyfus make best of it, with same great delivery of the dialogue.

Grimm entertains in every scene as always thanks to David Haig's consistently funny performances. My favourite part of the episode is the case of mistaken identity involving the carol singers.

The Devil You Woe feels like the conclusion of Here We Woe Again, whilst expanding on certain aspects of the season's overarching narrative.

I think the central plot is reasonably good. I like that Wednesday has to use her brain to overcome obstacles, but you never feel any sense of a threat. The writers know better than to harm a certain character given the importance of their relationship to the show.

Morticia and Pugsley both have scenes that lay foundations for what looks to be coming next. There is only so much of the controlling parent vs child dynamic can will sustain an interest, as it is a trope that has been done to death in filmmaking. Likewise zombie related horror spectacle! However, it is too early to judge at this point.

One reviewer mention cliches taken from other movies. I prefer to call them tributes and the biggest one comes at Willow Hill. I particularly like the way Thandiwe Newton stands in a similar pose to Hannibal Lecter when she is first revealed and the Silence of the Lambs vibe of the next scene.

Steve Buscemi's principal makes another good contribution with nefarious scheming that makes you want to find out what happens next.

Visually it's another great mix of gothic art design with solid moments of horror free of excessive gore.

It is rare for a feature-length comedy to sustain the humour for the duration, but The Naked Gun does it with a consistently funny script that mixes a very entertaining lead character, great dialogue and hilarious slapstick.

The plot uses the police and detective genre to generate laughs with deadpan parody, silliness and random, unexpected punchlines.

There are so many memorable sight gags and quotable one-liners from Frank Drebin that it is difficult to pick a favourite. Scenes that still make me involuntarily laugh today include the hospital visit, bribery, fishtank, and car chase scenes. I also love the dating montage and everything that happens at the baseball match. If I had to pick a favourite scene, I would choose the endless slapstick of Frank investigating Ludwig's office at night and the subsequent charges brought upon him by Mayor Barkley.

Leslie Neilson gives one of the outstanding lead comedy performances of all time and is supported perfectly by George Kennedy, Ricardo Montalban and Priscilla Presley. The Zuckers and Jim Abrahams gave them such great material to shine.

The production values are strong, with as much attention to detail given to the cop movie elements of the production as to the humour.

The Naked Gun has not dated in my eyes. However, I appreciate that comedy is very much in the eye of the beholder, and what is funny to me might not be as much to others. I watched it recently with my 9-year-old daughter (skipping past the sexualised humour) and she laughed a lot.