The Advent Calendar of Great Holiday Movies: Day 21 "Edward Scissorhands"

The pre-Christmas Day season of Advent is upon us. Here at SeedSing we love the chocolaty goodness of getting a piece of candy once a day until we get to open our presents. As our gift to you we will present a great movie associated with the holiday season. Many will be awesome, some will be extra awesome. Enjoy.

Day 21: “Edward Scissorhands”

Opened Doors: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13, Day 14, Day 15, Day 16, Day 17, Day 18, Day 19, Day 20

When most of us think of winter we think of snow. The Coca Cola company, Normal Rockwell paintings, and every other piece of western pop culture in between likes to show crisp snow on a cold Christmas evening. It does not matter that a good part of the United States will not see snow on Christmas, or all winter, the image of snow and the holidays is burned into our cultural psyche. If every other part of the holiday season has a legend associated with it’s creation, why not have a legend about where the snowfall comes from?

In December of 1990 director Tim Burton released the movie “Edward Scissorhands”. The story of a kind, not quite finished, man child and his interactions with the modern world was a big hit with critics and the audience. The film has gone on to become one of the most beloved films of the last thirty years. It made a star of Johnny Depp, solidified Winona Ryder as the it girl of the early 1990’s, and was the last major film role for Hollywood legend Vincent Price. The cast also included once and future Oscar winner Diane Wiest, future Oscar winner Alan Arkin, and an unusually buff, and menacing, Anthony Michael Hall. After the success of “Batman”, Tim Burton was given the keys to Hollywood’s best talent, and “Edward Scissorhands” was the legendary end result.

The weirdness of “Edward Scissorhands” was notable, but it was the tenderness of the story that made the movie legendary. Depp gets special recognition for his performance, but the entire cast was hitting homeruns in the movie. The scene of Vincent Price dying in his unfinished creations arms is heartbreaking. The wild topiary, dog grooming, and hairstyle creations of Edward’s are forever iconic. But the true magic of “Edward Scissorhands” comes in the moment when Ryder is dancing in the “snow” coming off of the ice sculpture Edward is creating. The music by Danny Elfman, Ryder’s look, and dance of wonderment, in the “snow”, and Burton’s flowing camera makes the scene a piece of cinematic magic. Ryder and Burton capture the joy of experiencing a quiet snowfall on a peaceful winter evening like no had before or since. In a movie filled with incredible imagery, this scene wins the gold medal.

The idea of snow coming from a Gothic mansion because an unfinished man with scissors for hands is carving an ice sculpture in the image of his beloved he can never see again sounds pretty ridiculous when you put it down on paper. Tim Burton made it into magic. We may know the real reason why the snow falls on Christmas evening, but because of “Edward Scissorhands” we can look at simple snowfall and make it a moment of holiday joy.

RD

RD is the Head Editor for SeedSing. The holiday season is often a time of quiet reflection and hopeful renewal. Dolly Parton sings about these feelings with “Hard Candy Christmas”.

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Ty binges on "BoJack Horseman", and it was great.

These horsemen agree with Ty

I just recently finished season two of "BoJack Horseman" on Netflix, and it was an upgrade from season one.

I liked season one, but season two was better. This show is on a good path after two seasons. It's already been picked up for a third season as well. All of us who watch "BoJack Horseman" know that season one ended with BoJack(Will Arnett) getting the lead role in the upcoming "Secretariat" movie and that's where season two started. Bojack was listening to self help tapes and was trying to be a better person. He was the complete opposite of himself from the first season. He was upbeat, encouraging and ready for the next challenge, but something seemed off. He wasn't truly happy and flashbacks during the season showed that his dad left when he was young and his mom was a bad mother.

As the season moved on, BoJack returned to his old self and was a pretty miserable friend and person. Later on, he meets a female owl named Wanda Pierce(voiced by Lisa Kudrow), who's been in a very long coma, woken up and is now a high level TV executive. Everybody likes her ideas because she's so "nostalgic". Diane(Alison Brie) and Mr. Peanut Butter(Paul F Tompkins) continued their martial "bliss". I put bliss in quotes because, both of them have issues with their marriage. Mr. Peanut Butter feels like he can never make Diane happy and Diane wants to go to a war torn Cordovia to help less fortunate children. They both seem upset with each other, but they constantly are trying to make things work. Princess Carolynn(Amy Sedaris) eventually finds problems with her boyfriend, who's really a couple of kids playing dress up and acting like an adult, and they eventually call it off. Princess Carolynn also is very unhappy at the agency and she starts an agency of her own this season.

The real standout of this season was Todd(Aaron Paul). He had some of my favorite episodes of the season. The episode entitled "Yes And" was a great send up of Improv comedy. The writers treated improv like it was a cult. They even went so far as to have Todd wander around aimlessly, look into Scientology, but turn that down for Improv. I loved the way they skewered that style of comedy and I'm a big fan of improv comedy. The character of Todd kind of grew up this season and in the end, he stills winds up sleeping on BoJack's couch.

Some of the guest voices this season were pretty big named people. The first director of the "Secretariat" movie was a lady named Kelsey Jannings, voiced by an all time great alt comic, Maria Bamford. She was later replaced because she was deemed to good of a director and replaced by an old catfish named Abe voiced by Garry Marshall. John Krasinsky plays the voice of Secretariat in the flashbacks during this season. Academy Award winner Alan Arkin voices JD Salinger this season. By the way, the episodes with JD Salinger aren't flashbacks, they reveal that he's been alive for years and bring him into the world of TV gameshows. The episodes with him, there's two of them, are excellent. Ben Schwartz(Jean Ralphio on "Parks and Rec") plays a new agent that works with Princess Carolynn named Rutabega Rabitowitz. There are many other big name actors and actresses that do voices this season, but the ones I mentioned were the ones that carried over for me and the ones I remembered the most.

The final couple of episodes were very good. We see BoJack leave the movie he's making to try and reconnect with an old flame. Diane moves in with BoJack, his new girlfriend and Todd because she's too afraid to go home to Mr. Peanut Butter. BoJack eventually breaks up with Wanda and buys a boat. And Todd gets out of the "cult" that is improv comedy. The finale seemed a little too crammed with them trying to tie up a ton of loose ends. I enjoyed it, but I would've liked it more had it been an hour long instead of thirty minutes. Things are going the right way for "BoJack Horseman" and I see it getting better and better.

Season two improved upon season one, and the only way to go is up. I really like this show a lot.

Ty 

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the co-host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He would much rather watch a cartoon horseman than a live horseman. Follow him on twitter @tykulik