Unlike last year this is going to be the only blog before
Christmas as well as the last blog until New Years, yeah I'm taking a leave of
absence for a week. So as the last blog before Christmas and the last blog of
the year let's leave it off with a bang, right? Actually there isn't too much
to discuss on this blog (I’m lying there’s something big to discuss) so instead
I have the first of two videos that i’ve been waiting to make all year, the
Christmas Lights Extravaganza 2017!
If anyone is a veteran ZAK Entertainment reader you’ll be aware I
did a three part video series of travel montages using footage I filmed while
out with my family looking at Christmas lights, a tradition we’ve upheld all my
life. This year's isn't going to be a part three but the lights are just as
awesome as ever. Today part 1 will be up for you guys to watch and this Friday
December 22nd part 2 will drop. So without further ado let's get ready to
jingle!
Everyone enjoy? I haven't yet mastered the whole keeping my
camera to stay focused on the lights. My auto focus wouldn't work very well so
I had to switch to manual focus to try and keep it focused on the lights, which
isn't easy on this camera. I really enjoy doing these videos so expect this to
be a ZAK Entertainment tradition. Stay tuned for Part 2 this Friday! There may
be a secret part 3 if we get to go out on another trip but I'm not making any
promises.
Moving on I have some massive news to discuss, that is one of the
most game changing buyouts the entertainment industry has seen in years. As a
lot of you are already aware the Walt Disney Company will be purchasing a
majority of 21st Century Fox’s assets including TV properties, Movie properties
and more for $52.4 billion in stock.
What does this mean? Disney will acquire 20th Century Fox’s
massive film library including a Film Rights to movies as well as intellectual
properties held by 20th Century, which means only one thing. Disney/Marvel now
has the rights to X-Men and Fantastic Four back under it’s belt! Yes in a feat
that seemed almost impossible it actually has happened. 20th Century Fox’s
studios will also now operate under Disney similar to LucasFilms and Marvel
Studios. So does this mean we’ll be seeing a 20th Century Disney? Who knows.
Disney will also purchase many of Fox’s TV networks as well as
properties such as The Simpsons. Yeah remember that episode where The Simpsons
predicted Disney buying out Fox? Yeah I don't either but apparently it happened
in the episode “Wish You Dish Upon A Star” which first aired on November 8th,
1998. Remember those Disney parodies? Yeah you can now say the Simpsons were
making fun of it’s future parent company.
Funny enough this isn't the first time Disney has bought assets
from Fox, know what I'm on about? Yes the buyout of Fox Family (Which was
something Murdoch bought from CBN anyway) and Saban’s properties was a previous
deal made with the two companies
There's quite a lot of other nitty gritty involved in this deal
but what does this leave Fox with? Well Murdoch is basically going back to
basics, being left with his news corporation and sports networks in which he’ll
be spinning off into a separate business.
There is a big but involved in his however, this buyout has not
been approved by the United States Department of Antitrust Division and the
European Commission. While this deal seems awesome in regards to Marvel it
could still fall flat just the same as the AT&T and Time Warner merger did.
With a merger of two massive film studios the possibility of this merger
actually being approved now teeters on the edge.
Back to Marvel I'm extremely excited to see the possibility of
the Fantastic Four finally being interpreted into the Marvel Cinematic
Universe. The four residents of the Baxter Building have been my long standing
favorite heroes in the Marvel universe so it’ll be incredible to see how Marvel
reboots the franchise and integrates it into the MCU.
We’ll just have to wait and see what the future holds but I can
see a lot of good coming out of this buyout despite it being such a disruption
in the industry.
Speaking of Disney… Star Wars The Last Jedi has officially
launched in theaters, just in time for Christmas! The latest part in the Star
Wars saga is here, continuing after the events of The Force Awakens. Rey has
now begun training under Luke Skywalker, previously missing and while learning
she seems to be discovering something about herself, something dangerous. I
haven't seen the movie myself so I can't review it yet but apparently Carrie
Fisher was done Justice in this film in her role as Leia. You can watch it now
so go grab yourself some tickets and get ready to experience one of the biggest
movies of the year!
Christmas is only one week away so you’re probably indulging in
holiday classic movies. If you have Netflix you actually have a pretty decent
selection of Christmas movies available to watch this year so for this next
segment I'm going to list of some of my personal favorite Christmas movies on
Netflix that I believe you should watch in this next week.
Tim Allen is forever in my heart as the voice behind Buzz
Lightyear but he’s also pretty well known for being Santa Claus in The Santa
Clause movie series. Tim Allen plays Scott Calvin, a father of one who’s life
is turned upside down when he accidentally causes a man in a Santa suit to fall
of their roof Christmas night. In a crazy turn of events Scott ends up having
to take the place of the man, who is revealed to be the real Santa and become
Santa himself, to his own disbelief.
I absolutely adore this series of films, especially the first
movie. It doesn't have the greatest reviews in the world but it’s a Christmas
thrill ride from start to finish. I don't find the second and third movies as
great as the first but they too are filled with laughter and Christmas spirit.
You can also purchase this movie on iTunes as well as the other two by
clicking the link below.
Next up is something more on the green side, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I’ve
discussed Jim Carrey a few months ago and I have to admit I love his version of
The Grinch just slightly better then the original animation (And even the book
itself). This movie takes the basic story of The Grinch and fleshes it out,
giving a backstory to The Grinch and making you realize he’s not such a bad guy
after all. Of course Jim Carrey brings his humor to the table as well, which
leads to some hilarity as well as a funny dig at his own director, Ron Howard. Jim
Carrey actually manages to turn a pretty unlikable character into a funny and
actually almost relatable character while still keeping that Christmas hating
grump attitude. I believe I reviewed this movie last year but I have nothing
but praise for this movie. It's one of my favorites that I loved watching every
year as I grew up.
Switching over to animation Netflix has, like always the three
Mickey Mouse Christmas specials. The first one is of course Mickey’s Once Upon
A Christmas which is made up of three classic original stories that tell some
worthwhile morals as well as providing Christmas joy to any Disney kid, or me
who gets really nostalgic when watching this.
Then there’s Mickey’s
Twice Upon a Christmas which is a 2004 sequel to the previously mentioned
movie. Until I watched this on Netflix I actually had no idea this movie even
existed but it’s
just as magical as the first movie and the CGI is actually pretty good for
2004.
Finally out of the three Mickey movies is Mickey’s Magical Christmas: Snowed in
at the House of Mouse. House of Mouse is one of my favorite cartoons as a kid,
bringing together cameos of all the Disney animated characters as well as
playing old Disney Cartoons. Well this special plays a bunch of old Christmas
animations as well as the infamous Mickey Mouse Christmas Carol which
originally released in 1983.
Next up is White Christmas, which is a Christmas classic by all
means. Starring Bing Crosby, Phil Davis, Rosemary Clooney (The more famous Aunt
of George Clooney), Dean Jagger, Danny Kaye, Mary Wickes and Anne Whitfield.
This Christmas Musical movie stars a singing and dancing duo played by Bing and
Danny who team up with a sister act played by Rosemary and Vera-Ellen to
perform a Christmas show to show a rural inn in Vermont from going broke. This
movie is sweet, sentimental and just plain fun and it really has aged well over
the years. Bing Crosby brings his amazing singing talents to the table with his
White Christmas song that has become a worldwide classic of a song as well as
the best version despite not being the original cover of the song.
Finally there’s
two animated movies which I discovered last year and immediately watched again
this year. Santa’s
Apprentice and The Magic Snowflake.
Santa’s
Apprentice features Santa Claus nearing retirement. He is forced to find out of
a pool of a million children an apprentice to take over as the new Santa. Some
of the requirements are however that the kid had to be named Nicholas, be an
orphan and have a pure heart. These two movies follow Nicholas as he copes with
what’s happening in
his new life as well as Santa coping with his eventual retirement and this
movie is beautifully animated to boot.
All of these movies are available to watch on Netflix so check
these movies out over the next week as you await Santa to visit on the eve of
Christmas.
For now I’m
going to head out, you’ll
see me again Friday for part 2 but until the next blog I bid you all a Merry
Christmas and Happy Holidays! Please enjoy yourself but also stay safe during
this next week. This is the end of the blog for this year and while I had to
make some changes to the blog schedule this year was amazing regardless, we
discussed a lot this year so let’s
hope we got even more to discuss next year. Actually I have a large backlog
that stems back to earlier on this year so I don’t
think that’ll be a
problem.
This was ZAK Entertainment
See you next year!
Merry Christmas!
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