Line #99 Blog/UpOnTheShelf


1	->''"You Vote, I Watch, I Review"''
2
3	Up On The Shelf is a movie ReviewBlog. Said Shelf refers to the shelf where the movies are kept, but the reviews are written by a writer who prefers to go by the name of “Shelf”. Hope that’s not confusing.
4
5	If the tag line hasn’t clued you in, she takes the democratic approach to what films she reviews. She mostly avoids being another {{Caustic Critic}}, but isn’t afraid to give criticism when necessary. She’s usually helped out (but mostly agitated) by her sense of Cynicism personified.
6
7	From July 2016 to February 2018 she also reviewed Gravity Falls in its entirety. In April 2020 she put out a vote for what series to review next, with Shelley Duvall’s Faerie Tale Theatre coming out on top. She occasionally writes a series of posts called “By The Cover” where she discusses song covers from movies she’s previously looked at, and sometimes shares original fiction she's wrote as well. In December she usually takes a break from films and looks at Christmas specials.
8
9	While movie reviews are currently on hiatus, the Faerie Tale Theatre reviews are posted on the 6th of every month.
10
11	[[folder: Movies Reviewed So Far:]]
12	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfKells''
13	* ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBaronMunchausen''
14	* ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph''
15	* ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas''
16	* ''Film/TheHobbitAnUnexpectedJourney''
17	* ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians''
18	* ''Film/ChittyChittyBangBang''
19	* ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast''
20	* ''Film/DarbyOGillAndTheLittlePeople''
21	* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad''
22	* ''Anime/SpiritedAway''
23	* ''Film/TheSoundOfMusic''
24	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}''
25	* ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory''
26	* ''Film/TheAdventuresOfRobinHood''
27	* ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''
28	* ''WesternAnimation/PeterPan''
29	* ''Film/SingingInTheRain''
30	* ''Film/ClashOfTheTitans''
31	* ''Film/MuchAdoAboutNothing''
32	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Moana}}''
33	* ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt''
34	* ''Film/MuppetTreasureIsland''
35	* ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone''
36	* ''WesternAnimation/FunAndFancyFree''
37	* ''WesternAnimation/PippiLongstocking''
38	* ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail''
39	* ''Film/TheMusicMan''
40	* ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron''
41	* ''Film/ANightAtTheOpera''
42	* ''WesternAnimation/TheNutcrackerPrince''
43	* ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs''
44	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}''
45	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}''
46	* ''Film/BillAndTedsExcellentAdventure''
47	* ''Film/TheHobbitTheDesolationOfSmaug''
48	* ''Film/BabesInToyland1934''
49	* ''WesternAnimation/Shrek1''
50	* ''Film/SchoolOfRock''
51	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}''
52	* ''Film/ReturnToOz''
53	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia 2000}}''
54	* ''Film/ThePagemaster''
55	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Sleeping Beauty}}''
56	* ''Film/TheGreatRace''
57	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Corpse Bride}}''
58	* ''Film/HomeAlone''
59	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}''
60	* ''WesternAnimation/SongOfTheSea''
61	* ''Film/AbbottAndCostelloMeetFrankenstein''
62	* ''Film/BedknobsAndBroomsticks''
63	* ''WesternAnimation/Klaus2019''
64
65	[[/folder]]
66
67	[[folder: Holiday Specials Reviewed So Far:]]
68	* ''WesternAnimation/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas''
69	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': "Xmas Story", "A Tale of Two Santas"
70	* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'': "Rocko's Modern Christmas"
71	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': "Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire", "Marge Be Not Proud
72	* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': "Christmas Who?"
73	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'': "The Santa Experience"
74	* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'': "Arnold's Christmas"
75	* ''WesternAnimation/MickeysChristmasCarol''
76	* ''WesternAnimation/ToyStoryThatTimeForgot''
77	* ''WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer''
78	* ''WesternAnimation/FrostyTheSnowman''
79	* ''WesternAnimation/SantaClausIsCominToTown''
80	* ''WesternAnimation/CricketOnTheHearth''
81	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleDrummerBoy''
82	* Pluto's Christmas Tree
83	* ''WesternAnimation/AChristmasCarol1971''
84	* ''Recap/Ducktales2017S2E6LastChristmas''
85	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMatchGirl2006''
86	* ''WesternAnimation/OliveTheOtherReindeer''
87
88	[[/folder]]
89
90	You may read all her reviews at [[https://upontheshelfreviews.wordpress.com/ this link]].
91
92	----
93	!!This blog provides examples of:
94	* AuthorAppeal: Shelf is a big fan of nearly all things Disney and animation in general, and it shows whenever she reviews something animated. She'll usually devote a bit of space to talk about some trivia and technical aspects she finds interesting.
95	* AxCrazy: Jeffrey Katzenberg is depicted as [[WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog Eustace Bagge]] eager to “CHOP CHOP CHOP” any film he can get his hands on[[note]]This is due to his infamous botched attempt at editing The Black Cauldron himself[[/note]].
96	* BerserkButton:
97	** Kids being bullied, especially if the bully is an AlphaBitch cheerleader type, citing how badly she was tormented by them in school.
98	** She's not a fan of the ThirdActMisunderstanding or MissedHimByThatMuch since it adds meaningless, easily avoidable conflict that frustrates the audience.
99	** As of writing, Rapunzel is the lowest-ranked Faerie Tale Theatre episode for its disturbingly accurate portrayal of abuse.
100	* BrainBleach: Punctuated with a [[BigNo "No!" montage]] by WebVideo/SomeJerkWithACamera when she realizes that Long John Silver and Miss Piggy did the nasty.
101	* BusCrash: What happens to [[{{Trumplica}} Donald Trump expy]] [[WesternAnimation/The7D Trollnald Drumpf]] in the review of WesternAnimation/AChristmasCarol1971. When he refuses to learn a lesson from the blog characters posing as the various ghosts, Cynicism drags him into WesternAnimation/MickeysChristmasCarol and lets Pete deal with him. Shelf stated this was always her plan to write the character out of the blog after his real-life counterpart lost the 2020 election.
102	* CallBack:
103	** An entire category of the Gravity Falls reviews is devoted to how many call-backs there are to previous episodes, journal entries, etc.
104	** The first movie Shelf reviewed that could be considered appropriate for Halloween was ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'', which is also a Christmas movie. That December, Shelf reviewed ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians'', which seemed like a Christmas movie but is actually an Easter one. Finally, right on time for Easter, she reviewed ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad'', which has stories taking place on Christmas and Halloween respectively. She can't help but comment on how strange the planning for this blog has turned out.
105	*** When she finally has an appropriately themed review in time for Halloween the following year [[note]] that being a review of Gravity Falls' "Northwest Mansion Mystery''[[/note]], she breaks into [[Series/PerfectStrangers the Dance of Joy]].
106	** As punishment for bringing the wrong Irishman down to the underworld, Hades gives the job of haunting Sleepy Hollow to [[Creator/BingCrosby "Crosby"]] instead of the [[Film/DarbyOGillAndTheLittlePeople Headless Coachman]]. At the end of the Ichabod and Mr. Toad review, a half-drunk Headless Coachman pops up whining about how the job of scaring Ichabod should have been his.
107	** The sea monster in ''The Adventures of Baron Munchausen'' is revealed to be [[FluffyTheTerrible Merv]], cousin to Monstro the Whale from Disney's ''Pinocchio''. Monstro is confused as to how Merv is okay with letting the people he's swallowed go after sneezing them out. Nearly four years later when Shelf reviewed ''Pinocchio'', Merv pays Monstro a visit as he's chasing an escaped Gepetto and Pinocchio. He isn't pleased with being brushed off so his cousin can go after an old man and his kid after four years of nothing.
108	** While Shelf lists off the feast that the Ghost of Christmas Present shows to Scrooge in ''Mickey's Christmas Carol'', [[Creator/TheMarxBrothers Chico Marx]] appears from [[Film/ANightAtTheOpera the review a month prior]] adding "And two hardboiled eggs!"
109	* CausticCritic: Largely averts this. While she's not afraid to criticize certain aspects of a beloved film, she still gives every one she looks at an equal chance and encourages readers to check them out for themselves, especially if they haven't seen it yet.
110	* CharacterDevelopment: Cynicism goes from a Gollum clone who hates everything to a deadpan snarker with some tsundere qualities.
111	* ChristmasEpisode:
112	** Will usually devote the whole month of December to look at Christmas specials and at least one Christmas movie.
113	** Played with in her first December review, ''Rise of the Guardians'', which she thought was a Christmas movie until she learned it takes place on Easter.
114	* ContinuityLockout: Teeters on this with the inclusion of characters such as Cynicism (who made her first appearance in the ''Film/ChittyChittyBangBang'' review, and ''Baron Munchausen''.
115	* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: When Cynicism is about to make a necrophilia joke aimed at Snow White's TrueLovesKiss, Shelf threatens to take all the Creator/AdamSandler movies off the list of reviewable films if she does. Since no one loves snarking at bad films more than Cynicism does, it works.
116	%%* DeadpanSnarker: Shelf, occasionally, but especially Cynicism.
117	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
118	** Cynicism, in keeping with who she was based on, initially talked in only in Gollum-speak. It was eventually dropped.
119	** Early reviews would occasionally mention her boyfriend. This stopped when they broke up.
120	** Some reviews in 2016 featured donation requests via Paypal.
121	* TheFaceless: Shelf was this up until the "Weirdmageddon Part 3" review. It turns out she unwittingly entered a deal with Bill Cipher by starting up the blog instead of a video series because she felt uncomfortable with showing her face. His apparent destruction broke the deal and now she's represented by a caricature of herself.
122	* {{Facepalm}}: As shown by [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast The Beast]] doing so when a character or real-life person does or says something stupid or embarrassing.
123	* FairForItsDay[[invoked]]: Has come to the defense of the Native Americans in ''WesternAnimation/PeterPan'', saying that despite being another in a long line of unfair racist depictions, they're more entertaining to watch than the safe, boring natives in ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}''. She also finds them much smarter than they're given credit for, as evidenced in the scene where they outsmart and capture John and the Lost Boys.
124	* ForcedTransformation: Happens to Shelf in the climax of her "Dipper and Mabel Vs. The Future" review when Bill takes over the blog and turns her into [[spoiler:a Funko Pop figurine of Mabel Pines since she adores Mabel so much. Bill is later HoistedByHisOwnPetard when he attempts to smash her and can't thanks to Shelf being able to use Ford's protective unicorn hair spell on herself in that form.]]
125	* GeniusDitz: Shelf usually does an extraordinary amount of research going into her movie reviews, but falls into this category by virtue of little things like forgetting February is the shortest month of the year.
126	* GoshDangItToHeck: Fluctuates between this and ClusterFBomb depending on the situation.
127	* HalloweenEpisode: The reviews of ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'', ''Gravity Falls''' "Northwest Mansion Mystery", and ''The Black Cauldron''.
128	* MoralGuardians: In the form of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Ironic Disney Logo]], who pops up anytime there's something unusually dark going on in a Disney production. It's eventually revealed the logo got its start with Disney during ''The Black Cauldron'', but apparently it doesn't remember that fact. Later it's revealed it blacked out all memory of the movie due to [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids how terrifying it is]]. It's so traumatized that months later it refuses to put in an appearance for the graveyard scene in ''Mickey's Christmas Carol''.
129	* TheMunchausen: Literally THE Munchausen (as seen in the Terry Gilliam movie) occasionally appears to give his two cents. He also plays a big part in saving the blog from Bill Cipher by [[spoiler:bringing back Quentin Trembley to help save the day.]]
130	* NightmareFetishist:
131	** She's both terrified and amazed by [[WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail the Giant Mouse of Minsk]], calling it "the world's biggest, scariest parade float". She also used to be scared of the [[WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad Headless Horseman]] but now thinks he's the best part of the movie he's from.
132	** On the flip side, she found the buildup to the Banshee in ''Darby O'Gill'' to be creepy, but [[NightmareRetardant the creature itself not scary at all despite its insistence that it is]].
133	* ObligatoryJoke: Can't pass up the chance to reference Keifer Sutherland's [[Series/TwentyFour most famous role]] in ''WesternAnimation/TheNutcrackerPrince''. She even sneaks in the famous Christmas tree video!
134	* OhCrap: Shelf ends the reviews of Snow White and Shrek with this reaction when she learns about their upcoming remakes.
135	* RunningGag: If she lists or mentions some kind of food, expect that to be followed up with [[Film/ANightAtTheOpera "And two hardboiled eggs!"]]
136	* SceneryPorn: Will stop the review to admire such scenes in ''Pinocchio'' and ''The Adventures of Baron Munchausen''.
137	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Ironic Disney Logo is so traumatized over having to relive The Black Cauldron that it refuses to appear in the graveyard scene of ''Mickey's Christmas Carol'' and forces Shelf to face it on her own.
138	* ShamelessSelfPromotion:
139	** Donation requests began appearing in reviews from early 2016, though they didn't last long. After Shelf wrapped up the Gravity Falls reviews, a fan discovered the Patreon page she made back when she initially planned to make it a web video series and began donating. Since then each review closes with an advertisement for Shelf's Patreon.
140	** Shelf posts links to the articles she writes for a site called Movie Babble. These are usually shorter, traditional reviews for current movies or ones celebrating milestones.
141	** In late 2018 she advertised her Etsy store as well as an assortment of things for sale on her Ebay so she could raise money for Christmas presents.
142	* SoOkayItsAverage: Her feelings towards ''Toy Story That Time Forgot''. She much prefers ''Toy Story of Terror'' for its stronger story and focus on Jessie.
143	* {{Squee}}: Lets out a big one when Tiger finally shows up in ''An American Tail''
144	* TakeThat:
145	** Any opportunity to stick it to Trump is always taken. He's also represented by his troll counterpart from {{WesternAnimation/The 7D}}.
146	** Since John Lasseter was outed from Pixar for gross misconduct, anytime she has to refer to him she prefaces his name with "some nobody named". She also calls out Pixar's past discrimination against women.
147	** In Cynicism's very first appearance, Shelf called her out for being a one-note joke so run into the ground to make a point that she's surprised she's hasn't been shoved into one of [[WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic Doug Walker's]] reviews yet.
148	** The Deviantart logo will usually be placed following a screengrab of something that could be interpreted as unusual fetish fuel ([[Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory Violet Beauregarde's]] [[BalloonBelly blueberry blowup]], etc.)
149	* ATasteOfTheLash: Accidentally consigns herself to this when she references Jeff Dunham in her ''Black Cauldron'' review.
150	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Shelf feels like ''Toy Story That Time Forgot'' was initially written for Rex before Pixar pushed him aside in favor of Trixie in order to avoid more accusations of sexism.
151	** She considers Yukon Cornelius from Rudolph and Grimsley from Santa Claus is Comin' to Town to be this.
152	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:
153	** Her main gripe with Nelvana's ''Pippi Longstocking''. It presents an opportunity to deconstruct Pippi's happy-go-lucky personality, but it's not taken advantage of.
154	** She's upset that Astrid Lindgren decided not to go with Hayao Miyazaki's original concept back in the 70's.
155	* ThrowTheDogABone: Occasionally raises money for charity while giving out rewards to donors such as extra votes and putting films of their choice up for consideration.
156	* TorchesAndPitchforks: Appears in the form of the mob led by Gaston from ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' if Shelf presents a controversial opinion, like enjoying ''The Hobbit'' movies more than the book they're based on. When she admitted to not liking [[WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer]], she's confronted by the enormous one from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie''.
157	* TrollingCreator:
158	** The very first Weirdmageddon review "written" by Bill Cipher is completely in the Caesar Cipher code [[note]] that's three letters back[[/note]], confusing many readers. Shelf later posted a version that's "translated" to English.
159	** Back when Shelf used to announced what movies won the vote on the first of each month, she announced on one [[Main/AprilFoolsDay April First]] that the winning movie was ''Film/Troll2''.
160	* WhamEpisode:
161	** The "Dreamscaperers" review revealed Bill Cipher [[spoiler: was the one leaving behind coded messages at the end of each Gravity Falls review, taking control of Shelf while she slept. He apparently has big plans for her]].
162	** Topped at the end of "Dipper and Mabel Vs. The Future" where [[spoiler: Bill appears fully formed as he does at the end of said episode. Due to a loophole in the deal Shelf unknowingly made by signing up to make a blog instead of doing videos, Bill now has full control of everything and condemns Shelf to an unknown fate.]]
163	** The Cricket on the Hearth review has Shelf break down after reviewing several bad Rankin-Bass specials. When she questions why she even did them in the first place, Cynicism reveals this was her misguided way of trying to bond with her and help get her negative emotions out after a rough year.

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