Mini movie review: Frozen

I have long been a fan of Disney animated movies but refused to see Frozen in a reaction to everyone's omgitssoawesomeandwonderfulandthebestanimatedmovieelsaissogreat and just generally losing their minds.  Last night I finally decided to see what all the fuss was about and was just a bit underwhelmed, to be honest.  The songs were all forgettable - except for THAT ONE SONG which I admit that I like (although I don't have a little daughter playing it ad nauseum) - and the story was a bit light.  I liked Sven the reindeer the best but was surprised that I enjoyed Olaf the snowman too.  I had assumed that he would be totally annoying, like the Jar-Jar Binks of Frozen, but he wasn't and I actually laughed at a number of his lines.

Elsa, who every little girl dresses up like for Halloween, is an odd character.  Her parents were horrible to her, encouraging her to lock herself up after what was clearly an accident.  And then she finally breaks free and runs away and ... locks herself up again.  She doesn't really do anything (other than making that gorgeous ice palace).  It's Anna who is the hero: she searches for Elsa, battles adverse conditions and makes the ultimate sacrifice to save her sister - but it's Elsa who all the little girls emulate and love.  Anna (yes, annoying at times but she had a crappy, limited childhood) gets shafted, in my opinion.

Movie review: Frozen - in connection with Final Girl Film Club!

This review is part of the Final Girl Film Club over there at the very excellent Final Girl blog.  Please click through and partake of the awesomeness!

I feel I am very well qualified to review Frozen and I'll tell you why.  Frozen is a little horror movie in which three kids - two snowboarders and a skier - get stuck on a chairlift and must fight for their lives; I have been skiing for many, many years now (and will adamantly not admit to just how many, many years).  Frozen is set in New England and gives shout-outs to some local ski mountains, including Okemo and Wachusett; I lived for most of my life in New England.  Frozen was filmed on location at Snowbasin Resort in Utah; not only do I now live in Utah, but I've actually skied at Snowbasin.  Clearly, there is no one better qualified than I!

The story, in a nutshell, is this: Parker, Dan and Joe have taken off from college for a ski day.  Being poor college students, they don't want to pay for tickets and Parker, Dan's girlfriend and perennial thorn in Dan's best buddy Joe's side, flirts with the liftie enough to ride for free.  When they jump on the chair for one last run, none of the lift operators are paying attention and the lift gets shut down with the kids stranded about fifty feet in the air.  They're stuck.  And it's Sunday night, and the little ski resort doesn't open again 'til Friday, so they're screwed.  What are their options?  Jump from the chair, climb the cable to a lift tower or freeze to death.  Oh, and I almost forgot this part: there is a pack of very hungry wolves milling about in the woods below.  I don't want to completely spoil it for you but two of the three options outlined above are explored by the kids, and two of the three characters get eaten by wolves.

I had some nitpicks with Frozen.  There isn't so much foreshadowing as fore-let-me-spell-it-out-for-you when the kids (pre-stranding) discuss what would be the worst ways to die: one thinks jumping from a height would be the worst, while another thinks knowing an animal was coming for you - Jaws is used as an example - would be just horrible.  When Dan insists that Parker wear a helmet because she's a beginner, she whines that "only kids wear helmets" but that is patently not true and, having skied both back east and out west, I would say that probably 80% of skiers/boarders wear helmets these days.  Parker drops a mitten and then spends half the movie holding onto the metal safety bar - I promise you that would never happen: she'd wrap her hand in her hat and stick it inside her parka.  When the chair stops, stranding them, they can still see the lights from the base lodge down the mountain, but when SPOILER Parker finally makes her way to safety, it takes her forever, stumbling through the woods until she comes out onto a road at last - even though the lodge just wasn't that far away.  Pluswhich, I'm not sure it's been confirmed that there are any wolves in New England - and a pack of that size would certainly not go unnoticed.

Picky complaints aside, Frozen is actually a decent little movie.  The focus of the whole film is on these three characters and they acquit themselves pretty well with solid acting and character development.  It's not slashy or gory (although I did shut my eyes when Parker pulled her frozen hand off the metal chair), with all the wolf action taking place off-screen, but the actors' reactions and the sound effects are extremely effective to ratchet up the tension and the fright factor.  I rather liked it (and it's a damn sight better than the last snowboarder horror flick I watched, Shredder - ugh.)

Any skier knows that the scenario in this movie is preposterous, but that doesn't mean that every time the chairlift lurches to a stop, a little voice way back in your head says, "I hope we don't get stuck up here."  And ultimately that's what makes Frozen work.

New Christmas Cookie Recipe

It's been ages since I posted a Christmas cookie recipe (over three years, to be precise), so I'm thrilled to have found a new one to share with you.  I don't know where I got it - looks like somewhere online, either the Portland Press Herald or the Salt Lake Tribune or some food blog/site that I visit occasionally - but I love it because it's easy and very tasty and gorgeously colored and Mr. Mouse doesn't like them* so I don't have to share.  So if this is your recipe, THANK YOU!  I've made three batches thus far (it makes small batches, btw) and we still have a week to go for Christmas.

Pistachio-Cranberry Cookie Sticks

3/4 cup whole pistachios (shelled)
1 cup + 2 Tbsp. all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into chunks
2 Tbsp. water
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. almond extract (optional)
1/3 cup chopped dried cranberries (or dried cherries)

Combine the pistachios, flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse until it is a fine meal.  Add the butter and pulse until the dough looks crumbly.  Combine the water, vanilla and almond extract and add it to the food processor, pulsing until it just looks damp.  Add the dried cranberries and pulse until evenly distributed.

On a piece of parchment paper, roll out the dough into a 6x9 inch rectangle that's a 1/2-inch thick.  Refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat over to 350.  Using a pizza cutter or long knife, cut 3/8-inch thick slices and place them on parchment-lined cookie sheets, about 1 inch apart.  Bake 12-14 minutes, until golden at the edges.  Don't overbake as they will continue to firm as they cool.

* Mr. Mouse is not being deprived.  Just today I made him a whole batch of Giant Ginger Cookies.

'Twas the night before Christmas

... and we wish you good cheer, from those of us at the Mouse House for all through the year. 

Have a glorious Hanuchristmakwanzukkah - or Festivus, if that's your thing - and I'll see you real soon!

The Maine thing, part II

Before I go any further, perhaps I should explain that if you non-Northern New Englanders are thinking of planning a trip to Maine, some times of year are better to come than others. For example, unless you are a skier, snowmobiler, snowshoer or other winter enthusiast, you should come in August or September. Maybe early October or late July, otherwise you're pushing it. Winter usually arrives no later than mid-November and lasts through April, when the slush and the mud combine for extra-exciting driving. Then the rain and the bugs (blackflies first, mosquitoes next) start up right away and can carry through June. I'm only exaggerating slightly. (Our summer vacation in July this year had an average temperature of 55 degrees F.) Maine can have glorious weather but those days are very few and you cannot count on them - which makes them all the more treasured when they do show up.

Now that that's out of the way, come on up and explore this state! Although there's a wealth of things to do in the greater Portland area what with the eating and drinking and shopping and lighthouses and beaches and ferry boat rides among the islands, there's a whole lot more to Maine.

The coast is what everyone thinks of first, of course, and it's gorgeous for sure: Camden, Bar Harbor, Mt. Desert Island, Monhegan Island, Northport, Blue Hill, Winter Harbor, Penobscot Bay ... all incredible. I grew up in the Bath area, right on Route 1. Bath has come a long way in recent years - the cute little downtown has been restored and revitalized and is chockful of great restaurants, coffee shops, bars and stores. If you're driving up Rte. 1, stop in for a visit. There's also a fantastic museum, the Maine Maritime Museum, that's well worth your time.

There's plenty to see and do inland too, though - it ain't all lobsters up here. For hiking, camping, touring, swimming, drinking good beer, exploring, golfing, fishing, bicycling (roads can be sketchy, be advised) antiquing, there's Hallowell, the Belgrade Lakes, Moosehead Lake region, Baxter State Park, the Bridgton area, Bethel. If you like to ski, Sunday River, Sugarloaf, Saddleback are the big ones (dress for cold and be prepared to use your edges. A lot.).

One of Mr. Mouse's and my favorite things, and one we're going to have to miss this year because of our departure date, is the Fryeburg Fair. It's the last fair of the season - this year October 4-11 - and is the closest thing Maine has to a state fair. There are tons of animals (I loooooove the animals and try to pat each one if I can ... except for the poultry - blick) and competitions and exhibits and fair food. There's draft oxen- and horse-pulling and harness racing and sheepdog exhibitions and a firemen's muster and a parade and a carnival and Christmas trees for sale. It's really a lot of fun and I'm sorry we'll miss it this year.

Ooh: the Common Ground Country Fair is going on right this weekend! It's a great fair too, but totally different: it's full of hippies and is all organic, natural fiber, back-to-the-landers, a green fair before green got all cool.

Come on, Mainers, what have I forgotten? Surely that's not all there is to do here?

This Rural Life III

Springtime is a lie. At least up here in Maine it is. Just last Thursday, the temperature was -2°F on my drive into work; yesterday we got another three inches of the white stuff. The snowbanks around the driveway are hovering at around seven feet tall and the backyard will have snow on it until May. I’m not kidding: there’s this one little shady spot that will keep a steadily shrinking snow patch ‘til May. At least that means I can put off the lawn-mowing.

People from away think it’s a big joke when we Mainers say we only have three seasons - winter, mud, and July - but it’s really true. The snows can start in October (or even earlier up to the County) and continue well into April, at which point it all melts, widening the potholes in our paved roads right into the abyss and turning our dirt roads - and we have many - into thick, sticky swamps. April showers bring no May flowers: they bring muck and black flies and mosquitoes, and the rains often continue right up until July. When it finally stops raining, everyone’s lawn quickly dries up and turns brown. After July, well, it’s not that long until October again, now is it?

In all honesty, I never knew that spring was an actual season until my freshman year at a Connecticut college. Like a good girl, I’d gone home for spring break, helping the family shovel out from at least one snow/slush storm. One week later I went back south. There had been a little snow on the ground in Connecticut when I left, but upon my return it was sunny and nearly 70° and the grass was green and dry. I remember calling my mom (this being in the Dark Ages before email) and saying, “I get it! I understand spring!” And then after graduation I moved back to Maine and haven’t seen a springtime since.

I don’t care if the calendar claims that the first day of "spring" is just a few days away; whereas most of the rest of the country (except perhaps for you hardy Minnesotans and North Dakotans) is expecting warming days, cool nights, tiny pale green leaf buds, and cheery robins, I’m expecting more snow – anyone remember the 2007 Patriots’ Day storm where we got 8+ inches on April 16th? The Easter Bunny I can believe in, but spring in Maine is truly a myth.

The mountain is open - let the shussing begin!

Mr. Mouse and I have started our ski season early: Sunday River's official opening day was yesterday. They were open for a few hours on Hallowe'en but I don't count that as the official start of the season - that was just a publicity stunt. Since there is no natural snow yet and temperatures have been fairly warm of late, they only managed to blow snow on a couple of trails and with the throngs of people on-mountain today, those poor trails were really crowded. But everyone was smiling and laughing, so happy to be skiing again. For those of you who like to keep track of such things, I did two runs yesterday (under the snowguns - loud and wet) and four today. A slow start, true, but it's a start.

P.S. With the advent of ski season, my weekend posting will fall off, simply because I will be on my boards, not on my keyboard. I promise to absolutely keep up with the regular recaps and do the best I can with the other stuff.