You know what that sound means? It means it's
another episode of Game for a Movie where we
ask, are you game for a movie? My name is Mike.
I'll be your host this evening. I'm joined by
no one. That's okay. Because I have a very special
episode for you. We have been invited as a podcast
by my friend Don to his film festival that he
has been running every year. It originally was
supposed to be in person. But of course, COVID
did things that it usually does. So the last
couple of years have been virtual. This is the
first real year it's been done in person. And
lucky enough, I was able to attend. Jill and
Andre, unfortunately, were not able to attend
at this time. There's still a chance they could
make it as of this recording. It is Tuesday,
December 20th. If you are hearing this right
now. You also have a chance to attend since it
is a virtual event that is the Yule Film Festival.
Y -U -L -E, of course, because it's Christmas
related or this time of year related, I should
say more so. I highly recommend it. I cannot
recommend it enough. So if you hear this day
one, I highly recommend that you try to see this
on the 21st. That is the reason why I am timestamping
this. Usually I try not to timestamp it. If you
cannot see it on the 21st, don't worry. I'm going
to tell you all about the ones I have seen. Unfortunately,
there's two categories I did not see because
they are virtual and because I am working. So
I will not be able to see those on the 21st.
But if you can, please tell me what you think
of them because truthfully, this festival was
outstanding. But I'll get into more about that
after I tell you what beer I am drinking. It
is the Christmas season and there is a 12 -pack
sampler. from Beer Hug is what it was called.
And so I was originally like, oh, Beer Hug, I've
never heard of this. Is this a new brewery or
is this a new style of beer or whatever? So I
bought it, not even looking any further into
it. Open it up and on the cans is a big old Goose
Island symbol. Being from Chicago, I do love
Goose Island, so I have nothing wrong with this
situation. So I am drinking Secret Beer Hug,
number one. It is 6 .5 % volume. It is a hazy,
IPA and it's really, really good. It's so far
of the 12 because there's four beers, three of
each one. This has been my favorite of the ones
so far. I have only tasted three out of the four
though, but this has been my favorite so far.
So I highly recommend the Secret Beer Hug number
one. All right, now on to our main topic, which
is the Yule Film Festival. I'm going to tell
you all about the films I have seen. And then
if there's time, I'm going to rate them 1 through
10 for the top 10. There is way more than 10,
but I already don't think I'm going to have enough
time for a top 10, let alone a top, I'm pretty
sure it's 35 films that I saw. I didn't get to
the end of my count before I decided to say,
yeah, I'm not going to have time to review them
all. Truthfully. And I'm also going to review
each per their category. Each one was put into
a different category. I'm going to rate each
one in their category one through however many
there are. I think the most is seven. If you
are listening and you submitted a film to this
festival and you hear yourself as number seven
in your category, please understand. Everything
I saw was excellent. More than excellent. Everything
was amazing. I am extremely proud of the films
that I saw. They should be extremely proud as
well, especially with some of these categories.
It's just more so everything was good. So being
less good than everything else, not a problem.
And truthfully, there's going to be winners on
this Wednesday. I'm not going to be able to see
it. So if you see that as well, please let me
know what the winners are. If you are one of
the winners, you can tell me you told me so.
This is just my personal opinion. And again,
everything I saw was excellent. Everybody should
be extremely proud if you are hearing this and
you think, well, he rated me last. He rated me
the worst of the bunch. I was not in the top
10. Trust me, this is just my personal opinion.
And I think everything was excellent. So you
all should be very proud. Okay, enough of that.
I know, I've rambled on for so long at this point.
Let's just get to the films, Mike. What the fuck
are you doing? Let's talk some movies. So I'm
going to read the order they were presented in,
and then when I get to the end of a category,
I will give you my one through however many rating
of each film. So, we started out the film festival
with Best Student Short. The first film that
was... shown was called How to Tie a Tie. It
is a flashback slash a flash forward. So basically
the story mostly takes place in the past of a
dad trying to show his son how to tie a tie.
It is done from the kid's POV most of the film.
So you see the dad through his eyes. When you're
in the flash forward, it is the kid a little
older. Basically he's remembering the advice.
Sometimes it's wrong. Sometimes he remembers,
oh, yeah, you were supposed to do this. And the
dad goes, no, that's not right. And then he remembers,
oh, yeah, I was supposed to do this. It was a
little predictable in the end because he was
remembering this advice before he went to his
dad's funeral. But as somebody who was taught
how to tie a tie from my dad, it was definitely
enjoyable because it's something that I could
definitely relate to. And it's definitely something
that I think a lot of people could relate to
because we all learned how to tie a tie through
someone, whether it's our dad, a parental figure,
or somebody that just wanted to help us out.
I think it was very good, very thought -provoking
in the fact that it struck me, you know? So that
is How to Tie a Tie. That was the first film.
The second film of the Best Student Short is
called To Beirut. It is a man who is speaking
in French the entire time he lives in Paris,
but he is basically sending a love letter to
Beirut, which he has been relocated to. It is
filled with lovely shots of Paris, lovely shots
of people walking down streets that are absolutely
gorgeous. And then, in the middle of it, it just...
turns where we see the war -torn Beirut and it's
really hard to see because especially the huge
juxtaposition of Paris and then Beirut seeing
it under siege and everything like that I thought
it was very well done in the fact that there
was this huge change you hear that it's called
to Beirut you know you're going to see some of
the war -torn imagery and especially because
I think it's very well done in the fact that
it is a love letter completely done in subtitles
where you see this person that has this absolute
love for Beirut and just understands they're
going to be back there one day, hopefully. Hopefully,
I can't even say it at this point, but hopefully.
And though Paris is beautiful, they still find
their love for Beirut. I thought it was very
moving and very... Something that... It was just
something that I think was very well done in
the fact that you knew what was coming, but it
still kind of caught you off guard. It still
kind of caught you, especially seeing some of
the bombings and some of that. You never see
a person die, but you know there's devastation.
You know there's hurt people, injured people,
dead people. It's something that definitely hits
home. Number three of the movies in the Best
Student Short was called Rocky Road. This one
was delightful and especially a good follow to
Beirut. It's definitely a lot more humorous.
It is a college student and his best friend who
is a rock with googly eyes. Basically, they're
doing their thing. They have their fun adventures.
You know, the kid at one point is being held
up by a bully. And the rock just kind of rolls
in there. And the bully kind of goes, oh, my
bad, man. I didn't know you were friends with
Rocky. It was definitely hysterical. One day,
the rock goes missing. And so, heartbroken and
looking for him everywhere, the college student
goes into a depressive, though hilarious, state.
posters up. Have you seen this rock? I miss him.
And sometimes coming home and just absolutely
throwing himself on the bed to cry. And eventually
the rock does come back, but of course he has
a rock wife and a rock child. There's no words
said throughout this thing. It's just kind of
like sound effects and music, but everything
is said perfectly. You exactly know everything
that happened in the story. This was definitely...
I'm giving you spoilers here, but this is definitely
my favorite of the category. I like drama. I
think drama is very hard to do. Don't get me
wrong. But I think humor is harder to do. And
this one hit all the right humor strings. It
wasn't too long where you're kind of like, okay,
come on, I know where this is going. But it also
wasn't too short where you're kind of gypped
on the storyline. I think everything was said
perfectly without a single word. So this was
definitely my favorite of the student short category.
Next up was I Love What You Have Done With The
Place. Basically, a girl escapes a horde of zombies
into a cellar. The beginning of this is just
her looking around the cellar. It's completely
dark except for the glow around her face and
then whatever she illuminates with the... I think
it was a match. I don't remember if it was a
match or a flashlight. It has been a couple of
days. But whatever she sees with the match or
flashlight. Then all of a sudden there's another
person with her. They share a very tender moment.
It is a guy where she leans her head on him.
And then all of a sudden she's up and realizes
it was just a dream. Maybe it's about... I couldn't
really tell what the purpose of this one was.
And the fact that I just couldn't tell what the
message was. I think it was about losing your
best friend. Because it seems like they were
there. At one point. And now they just aren't
anymore. So she's in the cellar. Kind of seeing
him. Even though he may no longer be there. And
the final. Of the student short category. Was
called coach versus coach. This one started.
With a dream sequence. The dream sequence is
basically. This coach is pushing someone to their
wits end. About learning how to ride a bike.
They fall over. And their hood comes off and
you realize it's the coach himself that has been
pushing himself. It's really tough to watch because
that coach is very demanding, very pushy and
everything like that. And then there's a real
life sequence. And truthfully, you can question
whether the dream sequence and the real life
sequence are switched. Obviously, the coach coaching
themselves is a little tougher because it feels
very dream -esque. But so what I've called the
real life sequence follows that same coach who's
working with a soccer player. And the soccer
player is very hard on themselves, but the coach
is very loving and very understanding and wants
to push them to be their best, but also doesn't
want to push them too far. And it keeps going
back and forth between the dream coach and the
real life coach. Dream coach pushing himself,
the real life coach not. pushing the kid too
far where he breaks down or anything like that
um what i definitely felt the message was was
sometimes we are harder on ourselves we coach
ourselves a little harder and we need to go easier
on ourselves we need to be that real life coach
and understand our shortcomings are not because
of a lack of effort or lack of trying it's just
because we can't do the same and it was one of
those things where it Another one that kind of
hit my heartstrings and kind of made me feel
that way. And I don't know if this is what the
filmmaker felt or not. I could be an English
teacher right now telling you the door was blue
because of sadness. But it's just personally
what I felt with it. And that's a lot of what
I'm going to give you the rest of this episode.
So for the best student shorts, last for me was
I Love What You Have Done With The Place. And
again, none of these films are bad. None of these
films. I would watch any of them again in a second.
This one was just more so. I didn't get a meaning
from it. I didn't get the storyline of it. Again,
I think it was somebody that was there and no
longer is there. But that might be what I'm inferencing
versus what I actually know. So that's why I
gave it five. Four was How to Tie a Tie. I just
thought it was a little predictable. That's not
a bad thing because I also said it's something
I very much relate to. It's something that stuck
with me. So I got fourth because of predictability,
not because of content. Coach versus coach was
three. Again, another thing very relatable that
we're harder on ourselves and everything like
that. Just a little confusing at times because
you didn't know if you were in the dream sequence
or the real life sequence, even though they changed
colors and they did a good job with that. You
know, it's just there was a lot of quick swaps
where your brain doesn't quite catch up with
it. Number two was to Beirut. I really like this
one because it really was a good juxtaposition,
and you understand why they still have a love
letter for this country, even though it's war
-torn, and they're in a place that arguably at
this point is prettier. It's not the place you
grew up in. It's not the place you fell in love
with first. Just something like that has stuck
with me. And then finally, Rocky Road. Again,
I've said this enough, but I find humor very
hard to do. Drama is also very hard to do, but
I just find with humor, it's harder to hit without
coming across as hokey or, you know, quippy.
There's a difference between the MCU quippy and
the MCU actually funny, you know, just to compare
it to that. This was actually funny, even though
nothing was said. I got exactly what the point
was and I laughed a ton at this one. So that
was Best Student Short. The next category is
a little shorter. It is Best Documentary Short.
There was only two in this one. And so the first
one was called The Last Photo Walk. It is following
a photographer and his last photo walk in a country
before he moves to the next one. So this idea
was very cool. Essentially, you move to a different
country. for a couple months at a time to kind
of explore, take photos, that kind of thing.
And what I thought was the really good idea of
it was the idea of the photo walks are you can
get a bunch of people together into a group that
take pictures of different things, just whatever
catches them or whatever. But it was just kind
of the idea was you walk with people that are
also photographers. You share these ideas and
you share these tips and everything like that.
And what was really cool is seeing the photos
at the end because what he takes photos of versus
what everybody else takes photos of is completely
different. And it's just the way you interpret
things. One of the things that he said in this
was that the photo walks were created to not
feel as solitary because photography can feel
very solitary. You're taking pictures on your
own. developing them on your own because you're
doing film and you're in a dark room um and you
do it as on yourself um it's really a chance
to connect and feel a part of something and one
of the things that was also cool is the idea
of these photo walks where you go to a different
country to experience a different culture and
you see different things And really, because
of your culture, you're raising everything like
that. I think that's what was the coolest part
is because everybody sees their own thing with
the same subjects. You can take a picture of
the same thing and have four different photographers
take a picture of the same thing. And everyone
might be different in some way because it's just
the way you see it. So this was their last one
before they moved to the next country. So it
was kind of cool to experience that. The second
documentary film was called Celebrating a Century.
And it's all about Danbury, Connecticut, which
is great. Danbury, Connecticut. This is the Lebanon
American Club of Danbury. It's been a century
for this club existing. Basically, the Lebanese
immigrants at this time created a club where
people can go to feel at home. And what was really
cool about this was seeing this. Lebanon American
Club, basically what they do for their area.
So it's a very cool idea. And the fact that like
the Lebanon American Club was a place where Lebanese
Americans could all come together and feel a
part of something. But what they also focus on
is the things they've done in the community and
everything. They were talking about when the
Special Olympics came to Yale. Danbury is not
really right next to Yale, yet the Lebanese American
Club volunteered to host people that were competing
they were volunteering to work the event everything
like that it's just the kind of things they do
around the community that they kind of picked
up on and just were a part of um like I said
it's a very cool concept and the fact that the
Lebanese or Lebanon American Club was a place
that people could feel welcome and especially
in a time where Who knows? I mean, it's been
100 years. Who knows how Lebanese Americans were
felt about at that point? I'm sure they didn't
have as many as they definitely are probably
now. So this may be one of the first. And it
did lead to a lot of Lebanese people coming to
Danbury, Connecticut. So the best documentary
category. I gave The Last Photo Walk the number
one spot. Both of these were awesome. Both of
these I learned a lot. I just found the last
photo walk a little more interesting to me. It's
just one of those things where like the Lebanon
American Club is very cool and it's been around
for a century and it should be remembered in
a film like this. And I hope it is. And I hope
it's seen by a lot more people. Last photo walk
was just kind of more cool because... I like
the idea of photography in different countries
and everything like that, including Lebanon.
Who knows? So that's my thought process there.
The next category of films. So this one is a
little longer. This one was called Best Holiday
Short. So because it is the Yule Film Festival,
there's a lot more holiday shorts at this point.
The first one called Ho -Ho Hostage. Basically,
a man breaks into a house while looking like
Santa, thinking they can get away with stealing
some stuff. The homeowner holds him hostage,
thinking he is Santa, and wanting him to bring
him a long -awaited puppy. The homeowner basically
has been asking for a puppy for years from Santa
Claus, and has never gotten it, because whatever
reason, he thinks he's been good enough, but...
For whatever reason, Santa's never brought him
a puppy. While the guys held hostage, literally
the two bond and they become friends. And they
share a bottle of whiskey for the night. Both
of them falling asleep and waking up the next
morning. They realize that they had fallen asleep
at the same house. And the Santa guy is ready
to get out of there. And all of a sudden they
hear a box start barking. santa has left them
a puppy i thought this one was cute it was kind
of fun it was a definite different idea of santa
and break -ins and stuff like that and it's funny
because this has kicked off kind of a trend i
will say for these shorts uh because the next
one is called the santa situation which is another
break -in related story basically santa Comes
into this couple's house and the husband of the
couple comes downstairs and confuses him for
a robber. And is ready to fight him, ready to
take him out and everything like that. Santa
obviously gets the upper hand because he's Santa
and he knows all and sees all. And then the wife
comes down, also ready to fight because she thinks
Santa's a robber. Another situation unfolds and
the couple's basically tied up and held hostage
by the real Santa. This one was kind of funny
because it was just one of those stop talking
and you'll get out of this situation. But the
couple keeps going back and forth. No, he's a
robber. He's not the real Santa. He's not jolly
enough. He's not fat enough. He's too fat. Whatever
it is, they keep talking back and forth. So the
real Santa gets angry. And especially when they
try to escape, he ties them even tighter and
then decides, you know what? If you think I'm
a robber, I'm going to get my vengeance. And
I called it Holly Jolly Vengeance. Santa basically
robs them of their valuables. And the weirdest
part of this one was he leaves a reindeer present
in their fridge. You can only guess what a reindeer
present is. It is a very long, extreme turd.
So he leaves that in their fridge and leaves.
The next morning they get free. They open the
fridge and they realize what has happened. So
that is the Santa situation. The third one is
called The Wait. It is an animation that is done
completely in black and white, except for one
part. You'll see what it is in a second. Basically,
it's very short. All of these are 11 minutes
or less, but this one was about maybe 2 or 3
minutes. Everybody's waiting for Santa. We are
focused on one kid who is very much getting excited
to see Santa. And it's getting close to the end
of the time Santa's supposed to be at the mall.
So the kid is getting very anxious, doesn't know
if he's going to make it. And it keeps going
back and forth. It's flipping quickly to make
you feel this pressure of time and everything.
Kid jumps on Santa's lap, tells him what they
want. Elf takes a picture. Next, kid jumps on
Santa's lap. And it's back and forth, back and
forth. But it's done so quickly that you kind
of feel like, okay, is this kid going to make
it? Is he going to make it? Is he going to make
it? And finally, the kid makes it to the front.
Great. All right. He's going to be able to tell
Santa what he wants. And he pees on Santa's lap.
That is the only thing that is not black and
white because it is a yellow puddle appearing
on Santa's lap. This was done in a very sketch
comedy, sketch style of animation. And truthfully,
I think that works best for it. If you were to
color it or make it any better, I don't think
you would have the same appeal as it does this
way. So it looks very sketchy. I think honestly
that works for it. The third one of the holiday
short ones is called Cookie Crash. We've all
been there. We had that sugar crash where you
come down from eating a ton of sugar and you
just feel like you can't get the energy anymore.
But normally when you crash on sugar, you get
a little sleepy, you know, that kind of thing.
Santa is preparing his list before the final
check so that he can go on his trip. And he's
run out of cookies. But unlike us, he doesn't
get sleepy. No, he gets hungry. And more specifically,
hangry. So he goes to his cookie vault to try
to figure out if any cookies are in there. Nope,
there's no cookies in there. So what is he going
to do? He goes to the lunchroom where all the
elves are eating lunch happily, you know, talking
with their friends, everything like that. Everything's
cool. Until all of a sudden, Santa... Realizes
there's no cookies in the lunchroom. What's he
to do? There's no cookies. He needs his cookies
because it's Santa. Well, Santa starts seeing
the elves as cookies. Luckily, Santa just locks
the cookies slash elves into his cookie safe.
There's no actual like eating of elves. It's
not an elf. genocide or anything like that he
just goes a little crazy and starts locking up
elves and catching them in different ways and
there's a scene of course where one is away up
on the roof he's trying to get him and the entire
roof comes down but he gets him and locks him
in the safe and then finally the thing that saves
the day is mrs claus brings more cookies so santa
gets a little more sane He eats these cookies.
He's happy again. And then all of a sudden he
starts coughing. Uh -oh. What does Santa need?
He needs milk. And there's no milk. But that
last elf is starting to look a little like some
milk. And there's the end of Cookie Crash. The
fourth one is called Kitsch. K -I -T -S -C -H.
This is... I think stop motion. I can't really
tell. It may be stop motion or a different kind
of animation to make it look like stop motion.
Basically, it is a tale of the mantle pieces
we set up. So when we have our baby Jesus and
our Mary and our snowman and everything else
on the mantle, this is kind of the story of them
being set up on there. There's a snowman who's
our main character that is kind of learning how
to be a mantelpiece. He is learning from the
statue of Mary, who has been through this thousands
of times. You know, she's the pro's pro. She's
been there forever. You only have to get through
the month, everything like that. The problem
is, they were set up the day after Thanksgiving.
And they also last until the 8th or 9th, I can't
remember exactly, but the 8th or 9th. of January
so they last a lot longer than they needed to
to try to appear as mantel pieces filled with
a bunch of different kind of mantel pieces we
have the snowman of course we have Mary we have
the baby Jesus uh we have a jazz Santa that plays
saxophone we have an elf a gnome all these kind
of things that are just on this mantel piece
and basically it just becomes who can last the
longest or remain the sanest while waiting for
the holiday season to end So Kitch was the fifth.
The sixth is called Twas the Night Before Christmas
Break. This is a Christmas story that is done
as a story of Twas the Night Before Christmas,
although it's about two kids in college before
the college break. Basically, they have alcohol
in their room, and an RA finds them as two underage
students with alcohol. She is hosting a Christmas
party before the break, and... Instead of writing
them up, she says, you need to help me set up
my party. Enjoy it. Everything like that, because
I want this to be a rousing success. So the two
boys thinking, OK, we can help this. We can do
this. Whatever goes down. And they basically
find all the decorations and everything and they
start setting it up. And they kind of one thing
leads to another. The decorations start getting
wrecked, the tree gets wrecked, everything starts
getting wrecked, and they are kind of, uh -oh,
what do we do now? Because the RA is going to
come back, she's going to write us up, because
we've screwed this party up for her. They make
a little Christmas tree out of red Solo cups,
which I thought was kind of cute, actually. You
know, it was kind of bringing it full circle
and everything like that, and the RA is just
like, okay, cute, yeah, ha ha ha, that's funny.
They close the door to where the real party was
because they don't want her to see the wreck.
So she gets past the red solar cup Christmas
tree. She opens the door and they're trying to
explain and everything like that. She opens it
up and it's better than she had ever planned.
All the decorations are up. Everything looks
amazing. And the boys get left a little message
saying Santa was here to help. So they get a
little help from Santa. to have this party before
Christmas break, and the RA doesn't write them
up a happy ending for all. And the final one
of this category of best holiday short is called
Santa's Warehouse. Basically, Santa's Warehouse
is an Amazon warehouse, and they have one elf
that was lucky enough to clean it all. It is
done by narration, or there's narration throughout.
Basically, there's no talking besides the narration
that tells the story of the elf. That is meant
to clean up the Amazon slash Santa's warehouse
on Christmas Eve. Now that all the toys have
been packed away and everything like that, basically
just need to clean it, get it ready for the next
year. So this one elf is cleaning the entire
warehouse, but has found a forklift that they
really, really, really want to drive. So he starts
driving it around and... Having a blast on Christmas
Eve. You know if he's going to work. This is
what he should be able to do. And all of a sudden
it breaks. And he's trying to figure out. Oh
no how do I get back to its spot. So Santa knows
I didn't take this forklift out for a ride. He's
doing everything he can. And finally he gives
up. And he's just I can't do this. I can't figure
it out. He cleans up the rest of the warehouse.
Except for the forklift. Knowing he's going to
be in trouble. His goose is cooked. but he finds
in the area where Santa left a previous message
letting him know that he needed to clean the
warehouse. There's another message there. Have
fun riding the forklift. It may die on you, but
it's okay. So Santa's elf gets away with it scot
-free because Santa knew he wanted to ride the
forklift and nothing else. This was a little
bit harder of a category to rate all of these
because every single one was a little bit of
a delight, brought a smile to my face. They were
all funny. They were all good. None of it was
cheesy. None of it was hokey. So, trying to give
it an order. Again, one of these films is going
to be in last. And again, it doesn't deserve
it because truthfully, it was a great film. And
I'm fully ready to be prepared if the awards
say differently that I was wrong about it. The
number seven film of this, I gave to Kitsch.
Not because of the concept. I liked the concept
a lot. The animation style just wasn't quite
lining up to the idea they had. So with more
of a budget, I think this could have been a lot
better. Truthfully, But again, it wasn't bad.
There was nothing wrong with it. It was just
not as good as the other ones. And that's what
I'm also going to say about number six, which
was that ho -ho hostage. I thought it was a fun
concept about the puppy and the Santa getting
held hostage until the next day. I thought that
was a cute idea. And especially their friendship.
You could tell they were actually kind of friends
by the end of it. And they were waiting another
year after it. That was just kind of an epilogue
of the two of them spending Christmas together.
I thought that was kind of nice too. Number five,
I gave to Santa's warehouse. I thought it was
a good idea. The idea was just kind of at the
end, what I give it is just more so the warehouse
setting more than anything else, which is kind
of what it needed. so i gave it that just because
i'm splitting hairs at this point i just needed
to find something to rate something lesser than
another so none of these things i think are bad
or kill it or anything like that i would happily
see any of these again it's just i gotta split
hairs at this point number four was twas the
night before christmas break like that idea a
lot um the ra christmas party i've had that many
times in my life as well as i've been written
up by an ra They weren't really as cool as the
RA in this story. So that kind of brought about
feelings for me as well. Number three was the
wait. The one where the kid peed on Santa's lap
at the mall. I thought that was hysterical. Just
kind of one of those things where it's like they
did nothing wrong, but it was also short. So
that's the difference maker. Number two, I gave
to the Santa situation. Truthfully, the couple's
commentary was the best part of that. It made
me laugh the entire way. If I had anything negative
to say about this one, I think it went a little
too long for what it was. And again, this is
less than 11 minutes, so it's not anything other
than I think it went a little too long in the
fact that I think they could have done their
concept in a little less time. And finally, that
brings me to my number one cookie crash. Cookie
Crash was one of my favorites of the entire thing.
It was so well done and the story and everything.
And there was no real talking except for just
like sound effects and noises and cookie and
that kind of stuff. And so it was really well
done. It was kind of fun to see the animation
style as well as just the idea of the fact that
Santa's committing elf genocide because of cookies.
And then milk. So I thought that was very funny
and very unique. So I'm about halfway through
these films, through the categories at least.
There was three on this end. There is four on
the other end, but that one's a little shorter
because there's not as many films. There's no
categories that had as many as this one, which
was seven. So I'm going to take a quick break,
and then I will come back to tell you about the
rest of the Yule Film Festival. And we are back
talking about the Yule Film Festival. I hope
you've all gotten your Christmas shopping or
your Hanukkah shopping or your Kwanzaa shopping
done. We are on to one of my favorite categories.
So this one is called Best LGBTQ Plus Shorts.
Basically, all three of these stories dealt a
little bit with some kind of lesbian, gay, bisexual,
trans, queer plus storylines. So let's dive into
it. There's three in this category. The first
one to air was called Discovery. It is a story
about two girls that are attending Pride in the
South. It just so happened to be two sisters
that are themselves gay. The older sister came
out a while ago, making it easier for the younger
sister to come out to her mother. And originally
seeming, so this is in the South, so I originally
thought immediately something is going to happen
at this Pride event. Luckily, that is not the
case. And the girls go and have a great time.
Basically, the idea was at the beginning was
it was the younger sister's first pride event.
And the older sister was supposed to take care
of her and get her home in a decent hour. With
that set up, I thought something terrible was
going to happen for the event. It did not. They
actually had a great time. They got home on time.
They sleep. And basically, the younger sister
wakes up the next morning. And she walks out
of her room to the older sister and the mom silently
talking. We don't hear what they're talking about,
but you can tell something has happened. Basically,
the younger sister asks what happened. And then
it goes to her opening her laptop in her room.
And it is a news report that is talking all about
the Pulse nightclub tragedy. The shooter in the
Orlando Pulse nightclub killed a bunch of gay
people. It was based on a true story and a true
experience. And it was one of those things where
it's hard because it is based in true life and
real life. And especially because I did think...
that something was going to happen at this Pride
event in the South, because I believe it was
in Alabama. I don't remember exactly. It was
Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, one of those
three, where I thought something was going to
happen at this Pride event. When I got through
that realization, it was kind of one of those,
okay, cool. Maybe it's not a depressing story.
Maybe it's, you know, it's called discovery.
Maybe it's about discovering yourself and discovering
maybe a true love or something like that. discovery
of this event was definitely a lot harder to
bear um so that is discovery the first of the
lgbtq plus shorts the second was called vlad
and nick i thought this was a very different
take on santa and why he has been around for
forever the story is told by vlad who if you
couldn't guess is vladimir and more specifically
a vampire who has turned santa So Santa is a
vampire and that's why he lives forever. That
is why he punishes naughty kids and rewards the
nice kids. So instead of coal for the naughty
kids, basically they get fed on for their blood
or turned into vampires themselves. They didn't
obviously go into detail about that, but I would
guess probably they got fed on. So there was
that. And it was kind of a unique take on the
fact of Santa being around for forever. And especially
because Vlad and Nick, Saint Nick, got together
for the first time in a couple hundred years.
And that was the premise of the whole thing.
The final one was based in truth as well. It
is called Merchant Marine, Paul Gorky, and Alexander
Hamilton Post 448. I'll tell you the title does
not roll off the tongue, but this was a great
one. It is the first and currently only American
Legion's Veterans Post that is for gay people
made by gay people. This thing dove into a lot
of explaining Don't Ask, Don't Tell and how that
was harmful to many people who didn't feel like
they can be themselves in the Army or the Navy
or whatever. And this was a place where they
could... Truly be themselves and express themselves.
It takes place in San Francisco. And it is named
after Alexander Hamilton. Because of the. I'll
say long believed truths of him being bisexual.
Though no one could actually ever say. It seems
pretty obvious that he was bisexual. So it's
named after him. This was telling the story of
Paul Gorky, who was one of its founding members,
and how they were one of the first gay Marines.
I actually thought this was fantastic, more so
because it is real people telling a real story.
It is people who came out who didn't feel like
they had a spot, and this American Legion veterans
post in San Francisco was... One of those places
that said, hey, we're here. We accept you. We
are here for you. And they've done a ton in the
San Francisco community. I feel after this and
explaining the Celebrating the Century, the Lebanon
American Club, I feel like what I'm trying to
say is that they have to do stuff around the
community to serve a purpose. That is not what
I'm meaning. I just find it amazing that the
places that do. feel like they have to do stuff
like that not only are they doing stuff they're
doing some amazing work um the celebrating the
century one where they were doing the special
olympics at yale and this one especially was
very open and accepting for the gay community
and that's that's what i think was the coolest
part of this whole thing all of it was interviewing
members Who didn't feel like they had a place
before. And it was really cool to see them kind
of open up and brighten up. Talking about this
group. Because they didn't have to feel like
they had to hide who they were. So I thought
this was a very good story. And a very cool story.
And it is my number one of the best LGBTQ plus
stories. Vlad and Nick I thought was pretty interesting.
So that's my number two. And Discovery was number
three. Again another great story. What I'll say
about this one. And this has long been something
personally that I feel is that to create drama,
sometimes you feel like you need to include that
gut punch that you may not necessarily have deserved.
This one, again, I thought there was going to
be that gut punch that they did deserve. Throwing
it into pulse and then not. taking anything from
it because they kind of just ended on that pulse
tragedy and i'm sure there's more to the real
life experience and again these are 11 minute
shorts who knows maybe they couldn't get it in
there that was the problem for me where they
just kind of threw it onto a real life tragedy
and didn't do anything with it it was just kind
of there to close the story so that's why i got
my number three on that one we move to the category
best trailer So there are five of these. All
of these are trailers to films that may come
out or haven't come out yet. So they're all pretty
short. So a lot of my analysis of these are going
to be very short. That's just what it is. So
number one of the best trailer was Voices in
the Vineyard. It's a horror movie taking place
at a vineyard. I said it looked very low budget
and the voices that are drawing you into the
vineyard, and that is just the way a horror movie
should be. I like the fact that it is low budget.
All of these are probably low budget in some
way, shape, or form because it is a film festival
where they haven't been distributed or anything
yet. But this one felt very low budget in a good
way to a horror movie. So I'll say that's what
I thought about that one. The second one I have
in this category is called Just Like Water. I
only really had one note on this one, and that
was I was confused. It's a lot of imagery relating
to the water. There's a lot of age changes and
everything like that, and so I don't really know
where to start with this one. Especially, it
was short, it was mysterious, and I just couldn't
put my mind around it. I will also say, because
I couldn't figure out what it was about, it is
my number five for this category overall. It
was beautiful, but I just don't know what to
think about it. The third trailer in this one
was called Garbage People. It is stop motion
meeting Aqua Teen Hunger Force. That's what I
felt about it. It's like adult animation, but
it was about a bunch of garbage dwelling characters.
It's very funny, but it also relied on a lot
of gross out humor. So that's my issue with it.
Number four was called A Town Full of Ghosts.
It's a found footage horror movie. It's a couple
who basically buy a ghost town that they're trying
to prove if there's actually ghosts there or
not. So they do the whole ghost exploration thing
and there definitely are ghosts and there's definitely
scares aplenty. So that's A Town Full of Ghosts,
the fourth film and best trailer. The final one
is called Tony Martone. It's all about a mob
hitman. And I described this one as basically
The Sopranos, but humorous, even if they didn't
intend to be. I laughed tonder in this one. Basically,
it was, I'm Tony Martone. I'm a mob hitman. Don't
mess with me or I'll fuck you up. Like, that's
kind of the level of dialogue and everything
like that. I laughed hysterically at this one.
When it comes to actual movies I'd rather see
all of, I'd rather see A Town Full of Ghosts
or Voices in the Vineyard, but just the trailer
alone, the Tony Martone had me rolling on the
floor laughing, so that's my number one of this
category. Town Full of Ghosts, number two. Voices
in the Vineyard, number three. I'm also a big
horror fan, so that also kind of decides my order
on this one. Four was Garbage People, and number
five, just because I could not figure it out,
was Just Like Water. So the second to last category
was Best Female Directors. Obviously films directed
by females. The number one for this one, the
first one, not my rating, was Becoming Santa.
It is all about a young girl who is part of the
popular clique in the school area. She has a
party and basically her father was trying to
get her to visit with Santa who was visiting
at this party. Take a picture, you know, tell
him what you want. All of those little things
to make your dad happy. But Santa basically tells
her, like seeing who she is, about the best way
to spread cheer, which is spreading kindness,
smiling, you know, giving your best attitude
towards things and everything like that. And
the idea of the film, I feel like, is she becomes
Santa. And the idea that she spreads generosity
and kindness, she turns a new leaf, even though
she's part of the popular clique, she breaks
out and kind of spreads joy and gets the underappreciated
kids, the people that were shit on by the popular
clique and kind of like reaches out to them,
becomes friendly with them. And at first she's
met with resistance. And I mean, that's honestly,
I would do the same, but she keeps at it and
she keeps it going. What I think was the best
part of it was the end. You see a real smile
from her. It's not just like a, yeah, I'm part
of the popular clique. Ha ha ha ha ha. No, it's
really, hey, it's really nice talking to you.
It's really nice being friendly. And it's just
a real smile and it makes you a little happy
inside. And I think especially with the holiday
season and everything like that, this one hit
home a little more in the fact that it just brightened
my mood. You know, it just made me a little more
happy about the season. So the second film was
called Begin and Ends in Eden. This was about
a girl who makes a wrong turn and ends up at
a house party. The party ends up becoming a drug
trip, both for Eden and the audience. It's a
little, you know, you're supposed to be confused.
You're supposed to be a little messed up. And
we see the after effects of the party and Eden
seems to be like a lot more adult than she was
before. She's no longer this kid. She's kind
of grown up a little bit and she's also kind
of developed a little more as like who she's
going to be. So that's it begins and ends in
Eden. Interesting for sure. That's what that's
all I'll say about this one. The third film of
this category was called The Christmas Heist.
And basically it's home alone, but instead if
the kid idolized the bandits. There's been a
rash of home invasions around the Christmas season.
This kid hears his parents talking about it,
but he's still very excited. And we think it's
originally about the fact that Santa's coming
and he's going to stay up and catch a picture
of Santa. The burglar breaks in. And instead
of Santa, he's very excited to see the burglar.
He gives him a special toy that means a lot to
him. And basically he tries to help him pack
up the belongings and everything. The burglar
appeases him at first and then finally he's just
like, kid, you should not idolize me. You shouldn't
be a fan of me. And what we learn at the end
is the burglar kind of changes heart. He sees
this kid that idolizes him and realizes that
he might not be the idol for everybody, but some
people are learning from him and everything.
And when he sees the toy that the kid gave him,
he kind of changes his mind and gives all the
stuff back. And the kid wakes up the next day
not being taken with the burglar as a henchman.
So he kind of learns as well. Okay, this is not
somebody I should idolize, but, you know, he
didn't take our stuff because he does feel protective
of me. The final film of the Best Female Directors
category was called Contention. This knew what
it was from the very beginning. Basically, it's
8 Mile, but with an immigrant of Middle Eastern
or Indian descent. There's this Indian or Middle
Eastern kid. We never get the exact country,
so I don't want to be... politically incorrect
so this middle eastern or indian kid um he works
for his dad's company his dad grew from the ground
up started his own company when he got here he's
this very successful businessman and so the kid
is following in his footsteps and trying to find
his voice that's what i that's what i keep coming
back to uh the kid likes to rap make his own
rap music He failed miserably in a rap battle,
so he feels kind of like he can't use his own
voice. He feels trapped because he can't use
his voice in the business world. He can't use
his voice in the rap world anymore. So when he's
on business meetings, he can't do it anymore.
He can't talk to people. He always feels like
he's failing. But when he gets home... He can't
go do what he wants to do with rap or anything
like that. So he writes his own stuff and he
raps in his room. And the dad records him rapping
in his room and posts it on the internet. And
it basically goes, it goes viral. I include that
in quotes because it's not viral, but he says
he's got like 8 ,000 views in 24 hours or something
like that. And the kid's just kind of like, wow,
okay, these people like me. And the dad goes,
do what you want to do. Don't feel like I'm holding
you back or anything like that. And so he goes
to a rap battle, just like 8 Mile. He finds his
voice. And of course, we don't see the end, but
you know he won. And the funny thing is about
this one. This is no offense to the filmmaker
or anything like that. I actually felt like his
rap was better before the rap battle. I felt
like that one was a little more contrived, is
what I'll say. I still like it. I like the message,
everything like that. So, the four films and
best female directors. Number four, I give Begins
and Ends in Eden. It was good, but it was very
confusing. Like I said, it was a drug trip for
the audience, so I really just didn't know what
the message was of it. I think I had it, but
again, I personally like films that beat you
over the head with the meaning. Sorry, I do.
I'm simple. I like movies like that. That's just
personally me. Number three, I gave Contention,
which was the eight -mile Middle Eastern Indian
descent kid. It knew what it was, and it did
it well. And because of the contrived rap, I
think that's why it went lower on my list. Or
it might just be these two were in my top ten.
So the two left in this category. Becoming Santa,
I gave number two because I thought the message
was very well spoken and very well done. It's
done with a lot of kid actors and actresses,
so I think that's part of the problem why I gave
it two versus one. It's just because... they
didn't give the best most convincing performances
sometimes but overall i still loved it i loved
the message everything like that and number one
i gave the christmas heist that kid was awesome
and that one and the burglar was great and the
meaning of it was awesome i really liked that
one i thought that one was excellent we have
one category left this one was probably the toughest
to decide between. This one was animation or
stop motion shorts. So all of these are animation
or stop motion. A lot of these made my final
top 10. So that's why I say this was probably
one of the toughest. So jumping in to number
one of the animation stop motion shorts was one
called Despera. I thought this was beautiful.
It is a beautiful stop -motion film. It's a person
falling into a sack of some variety. I can't
really tell what it is, but you know they're
stuck, and they just can't get out of it. Finally,
after a lot of wriggling, their arm breaks free.
You see the arm, and it's just wriggling and
reaching for anything it can, because it just
wants to get out of the sack. The wriggling arm
reaches another... person's arm and you see the
arms and you see them start to slow as they grab
each other's arms but the other person is also
in a sack that got their arm free and though
they are still stuck uh that everything stops
and slows down because they have that human contact
this is the one that i've thought about the most
since this film festival because i thought it
was very beautifully done I have no clue what
it means. I've racked my mind about it. I think
it's human contact. Makes us feel, even if we're
stuck, feel a little more comforted. I don't
know what the meaning is, but I've thought about
this one probably the most because it was so
beautiful and so beautifully done in the stop
motion. And that's what's going to be weird about
my rating at the end. Again, I said this is one
of the tougher ones. The second film was called
The Waltz. This one was done in animation style.
Basically, it's a person that's born and immediately
starts dancing, even though they can't dance,
but they're dancing in the arms of Death, or
the Reaper as we know it. As the film goes on,
the person grows. and becomes more a part of
the dance until finally as an old person they're
nailing all the moves but they finally fall dead
at death's arms and they go to the next part
of their life which is another room outside of
this waltzing ballroom I thought this was the
dance we all do in life. I thought it was a very
good message of just the short time we have on
this earth. Because it's very short. It's not
longer than five minutes, maybe at most. And
even that, I mean, I feel like that's too long
for what I thought I saw. It's just an idea of
dancing with death until finally death catches
up with you. Or you catch up with death, really.
um so that's the waltz the third film is called
from within um this is basically just stop motion
it at first focus well no the entire time it
focuses on what seems like a woman's legs um
the beginning the legs are on the ground then
as the film goes on they step up a little bit
but they like kind of break and Go different
directions. And finally. They stand upright.
And they do their motions. And the motions are
beautiful. And it ends with clapping. And flowers
being surrounded by the feet. And it's just kind
of an idea of. We put ourselves through pain.
Or we put ourselves through misery. To gain adoration
and love. That's what I saw in it. And nobody
sees the struggle to get there. But that's what
we go through to get there. That's what I took
from it. I think it's very well done. And the
fact that it just focuses on feet and that that's
the idea I got from it says a lot about it. The
fourth film in this category is called Smithy.
If you've ever read the comic book Maus, M -A
-U -S and an umlaut over the A, that's a lot
of what I got from this one. It seems like a
World War II background. Basically, these mice
police are looking for owls in a small town.
And there are these mice in this factory or whatever
that are protecting the owls from the mice police
and making sure they don't get taken out. I definitely
thought this was like a take on the Gestapo and
the World War II treatment of Jewish people.
Just because the mice and the owls very much,
even though they're predator prey, that kind
of stuff. In this particular one, they see the
owls as they are and they protect them from the
mouse Gestapo. Very cool animation style. Very
well done. Like I said I thought it was a lot
like Mouse the comic book. If you've never read
that please take the time to do so. It's very
much similar to this too. The fifth film in this
is called Lonely Soul. The comments I say is
all of us need love. Basically this man in stop
motion is following this light beam that he thinks
is a lost soul. And he keeps following it and
following it and following it. And he goes further
following it and gets stuck in this area. And
the light beam becomes this like creature, this
hideous creature with like forearms, big, big
masked face, you know, like could easily take
the person out. And though he's terrified at
first, the man then comes up to the creature
and gives it a hug. At first, the creature's
kind of taken aback by it. And then the creature
kind of moves its front arms forward, kind of
embracing the man as well. And it's just kind
of that idea of no matter what we look like,
no matter what we feel like, no matter what we
lost, sometimes it's just that human contact
that gets us. We just want to hug. We want to
be told we're okay. That kind of stuff. The final
film... Of this entire film festival. As well
as the animation stop motion shorts. It's called
Santa Doesn't Need Your Help. I felt like these
stop motion. And these animations. A lot of them
are very beautiful. And very dramatic. This one.
Also very beautiful. But it's humorous. Basically
Santa has grown old and tired. But he still feels
like he can get the job done. Or he feels like
he needs to do everything on his own. So this
is a rhyming narration and it's very funny dialogue.
Basically, he goes through his normal stuff.
After getting stuck, he realizes he needs to
ask for help. It's just you get to that point
and you think you don't need help. And finally,
you're just like, I need help. I need somebody
to help me. Sans is old at this point, you know,
so he just needs a little bit of help. To get
done what he used to be able to do. Like I said,
this one's done through rhyming. It's all done
through narration. You see, obviously, the animation
and everything like that as it's narrated. This
is my number one of the category. I thought it
was very fun. I thought it was very well thought
out and well done. The rhyming, great. Everything
like that. Despera, I said the beautiful stop
motion one. That is number two. It's the one
I've thought about the most. And even though
I give it number two, it's still something that
I think about to this day because it was really
well done. It's very well done. So I highly recommend
if you can find it anywhere to check this one
out. Number three, I gave to The Waltz. This
idea of dancing with death and finally catching
up with you. I like that one a lot. Smithy, number
four. With the Gestapo mice and the owls and
everything like that. Because of Red Mouse, it's
something that I liked a lot. Because I do know
the storyline and everything like that. And that's
what I picked up from it. Lonely Soul. I actually
think I had the sixth originally. And it's just
more so because the human's design and the stop
motion creeped me the hell out. And it's funny
because the creature was supposed to creep you
out more. But it's the human that creeped me
out. I've watched it a second time finding it
on the internet because it is on the internet
somewhere. After finding that and watching it
again I actually really liked it a lot more the
second time so I gave that fifth. And finally
from within the stop motion feet that are dancing
and everything like that I gave it sixth and
more so just because it was just simple and the
way these transcended simple. I think it's still
very good. Very, very good. If you ask me tomorrow,
six through one could completely change. Just
because this was the toughest category. So, this
may give me an extra commercial in my commercial
break. I hope not, because I don't like to make
you guys sit through commercials. But if it does,
I think this was just very important that I give
you my top ten. So my top 10 of these films.
And again, if you do not hear yourself on these
lists, I think all of these were excellent. They
are very well done. If you can find it online
tomorrow, if you're listening to this day one,
please do. If you can find any of these films
anywhere, check them out and support your local
film festivals. This was a really awesome experience.
So I'm going to give you my top 10, even though
I want to give it all top 10. My number 10, I
gave The Waltz, which is that one about dancing
with death, the animated, and basically dancing
with death your entire life. I thought that was
excellent. Number 9, The Wait. That was the black
and white animated where the kid's waiting in
line, and then he pees on Santa's lap. I thought
it was hysterical. I thought it was very well
done. And the sketchy animated style, and I mean
sketchy, and it looks like a sketch, was very
good for what it is. Number eight, the Santa
situation. That's the couple who thinks that
Santa is just a robber. Again, I said this one
is a little too long, but overall, I laughed
hysterically at this one. I think I actually
had a tear out of my eye that I needed to wipe
away because I was laughing so hard. Number seven
and best documentary was Last Photo Walk. That
was the one where basically the photographer
was doing photo walks in this country. This was
the last one of this country before he moved
away. And how you find different subjects, different
meanings. I thought this was very well done and
something that I truly enjoyed watching. And
I would actually see a lot more of that too.
Number six, best female director is Becoming
Santa. That was the little girl who talked to
Santa who basically said, you need to spread
joy, kindness, smile to make people feel the...
Season a little more. And I thought that was.
A very good message. As well as the smile at
the end. Was just the. Most real smile. That
made it. Truthfully feel. Like the girl in the
story. Had learned her lesson. Number five. The
stop motion. In the sacks. With the arms breaking
free. That one still haunts me. And in the best
way. I keep thinking about that film. and I don't
know what it means. I really don't. I have my
ideas, but I just don't know what it means, and
I think that's what I like best about it. Also
in that same category, Santa Doesn't Need Your
Help. That's my number four. It was a very cute
story. The narration was excellent. The dialogue
was humorous, and the fact that the narration
tells you the story but also makes you laugh,
and it's stuff that I've said before, when humor
feels contrived, that's when I hate it more.
this one doesn't feel contrived it feels really
realistic to what the santa needs your help story
should be number three elf genocide is cookie
crash the animated um in the best holiday short
category where santa is run out of cookies and
he starts seeing the elves cookies i love that
one i thought it was hysterical i thought it
was so good um everything about it was excellent
number two From the student category, a student
category made it to my number two, which they
should be incredibly proud of. Rocky Road. The
kid who is best friends with a rock with googly
eyes. Everything about it, I think I could have
told you exactly what would have happened in
this film. And I still was caught off guard and
laughed so freaking fucking hard. Sorry, I gotta
earn that. explicit grade so i laughed so fucking
hard at this one the rock had the best emotions
and it's a rock uh the kid was excellent in it
and it all around was just amazing and finally
my number one from the best female directors
category the christmas heist home alone if the
kid wanted to join the bandits Everything about
this film was excellent. The look of it, the
kid was hysterical, the burglar, he was perfectly
cast, the parents, everything about it was amazing.
So yeah, I want to talk more about this. I've
gone way over my time limit, but I want to talk
more about this because it was just such a cool
experience to be invited to a film festival.
I can't say thank you enough to my friend Don
and everybody else who made this happen. Truthfully,
this was an amazing experience and I cannot wait
to go in the future. I highly recommend it to
anybody that can check it out tomorrow or check
it out in the future. It seems like virtual is
still going to be a part of it, even if you are
not in the area, which is great because I cannot
wait to be a part of this again and hopefully
see all these films. Truthfully, every last one
of them swung for the fences and they hit a home
run. Not a single one I'm looking at going, oh
wow, they kind of missed the mark there. Every
single one was excellent. And I highly recommend
checking them out if you can find them online
or if you can just support them in some way.
So that is the Yule Film Festival. You should
definitely check it out. My friend Don. He's
done an amazing job running it. I cannot wait
to see what next year brings because truthfully,
we were talking about it. Every single one of
these films was excellent. So that'll do it for
me, Mike. I hope you enjoyed this special edition
of Game for a Movie where we ask, are you Game
for a Movie? I can't wait to give you my Christmas
episode as well because I have watched a terrible
Christmas movie. Hopefully that's going to be
with Jill and Andre. We'll see. Because they
are doing stuff with their families. Because
it is the holiday season. But I have watched
a terrible Christmas movie. I can't wait to present
it to you. Because oh dear lord. On this one.
It is definitely not good enough. To be in the
Yule Film Festival. Which was excellent. I'll
see you next time on Game for a Movie. Where
we ask are you game for a movie? See you next
time.