kameeleoned_out

It also had a few very good lines of dialogue -- about three or four very inspired quips or comebacks, and that's pretty rare. All in all, a recommended watch, you get exactly what's advertised: silly fun, overly sappy Chrismas moments, some funny highjinks, cartoonish violence, but you also get several interesting characters, topped off by an excellent John Leguizamo on a really great day, playing it schlocky and straight at the same time. Every scene that features him really (really) works.

It was an interesting choice to have so many references to Die Hard (first part of the movie was almost beat for beat Die Hard 1, and the second part also had some Die Hard 2 references sprinkled in there). The parts that paid homage to Home Alone 1 were surprisingly good, it felt like you finally got to see what would've happened if that movie had real(er) consequences.

I know it's probably strange to see so many 10 star ratings for a single episode, but all the people rating and reviewing really aren't wrong. This was without a doubt the best episode of the entire series so far, it was packed so full of exceptional moments that it's truly a wonder that it could could even be done. It would probably easily beat the vast majority of episodes of any series in history in terms of interesting events per minute. Everything is simply perfect with this episode, one for the ages.

Michael Bay is getting more Michael Bayish by the movie. Going into this one, it feels like you're making a deal with him: he supplies the uninterrupted stream of energy but you have to surrender some expectations of what you think movies should be.

For example, in this movie, at times, Bay doesn't even try to connect some scenes to other scenes. There's just no time. He has something to do, a grander scope for things, and you can perceive it only if you unfocus your eyes from the details and just keep them pointed in the larger direction of the experience.

The difference between Bay and other directors trying to do something like this is that, with Bay, everything is completely intentional. And that's something that deserves respect.