'Tis the season to watch movies
So, here we are again. There are less than two weeks to go before Christmas and my family and I have some catching up to do as far as Christmas movies are concerned. We generally watch the same movies every year, but it’s always fun.
We usually start out the season with a screening of “Elf,” the 2004 comedy starring Will Ferrell. To me, it’s the new Christmas movie classic. For weeks following the viewing, lines from the movie are thrown around our house constantly. It never gets old.
As we put up our Christmas tree, we always have “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” on. This classic from 1989 featuring Chevy Chase as the head of the Griswold family is perhaps one of the most quotable movies ever made, as far as I’m concerned. “I’ll give Audrey a quarter too, Audrey.”
Then we move on to some other classics, like 1990’s “Home Alone” and “Home Alone 2” from 1992. It’s hard for me to believe the first one came out over 20 years ago. Every time we watch it, my wife and I talk about how we’d love to live in the McCallister’s house.
The classic 1960s TV specials “Frosty the Snowman,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” are also required viewing. They all bring back many fond memories of childhood Christmases. We usually end up watching The Grinch a few times. It’s definitely one of my favorites.
And what’s the Christmas season without a little dark humor? “Scrooged,” the 1988 film starring Bill Murray is a must-see for us every year. I remember seeing it in the theater when it came out and I’ve probably watched just about every year since.
Another newer classic, “The Santa Clause” from 1995 is another annual treat. I don’t care much for the sequels, but the original movie has a great premise and is great fun to watch. Remember when Tim Allen was a movie star?
Then, of course, we have the perennial favorite, “A Christmas Story” from 1983. I recall being soured on that movie for quite a few years when I was growing up. I’m not sure if I watched it too many times or what, but ever since my son was old enough to enjoy it, we’ve watched it every year. To us, it’s not truly Christmastime until a seeing Ralphie and his Red Ryder BB Gun.
A recent addition to our Christmas movie repertoire is the 2009 version of “A Christmas Carol” with Jim Carrey. We took our son to see it in the theater for his birthday that year and have since decided it should be required viewing every Christmas. Personally, I don’t like it as much as the 1984 made-for-TV version with George C. Scott as Ebenezer Scrooge, which I watch every year on Christmas Eve.
There’s also the annual special of one of my favorite TV shows, “Doctor Who.” Ever since the show came back on the airwaves in 2005, they’ve had annual Christmas episodes that are always a lot of fun. This year, the premise is the Doctor has to save the world (in Victorian England, no less) from killer snowmen that feed off people’s thoughts. It’s sure to be a fantastic episode.
As for movies that I try to avoid, “The Polar Express” from 2004 is certainly at the top of the list. I just can’t get past the “dead-eye syndrome” that the movie’s characters suffer from, though I did love the book when I was a kid. The 2000 movie version of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” is also right up there. It’s really difficult to make a short children’s book into a feature film, which both of these movies fail to do well.
I have also never liked “It’s A Wonderful Life,” which my wife tries to get me to watch every year on Christmas Eve when it’s on TV and I refuse to do. I realize there are many people who look at the 1946 classic as one of the best Christmas movies ever, but I’m not one of them. I can’t nail down why I don’t like it, but it could be because the movie has been spoofed so many times on so many different levels, I just can’t get past that. Who knows?
In any case, there is definitely no shortage of classic Christmas and holiday movies. I’m quite looking forward to watching some this weekend!
What are your favorite Christmas/holiday movies? Do you have any that you watch every year, regardless of how many times you’ve seen them?
Dec 22, 2012 at 6:54 a.m.
Suggest removal
"Bad Santa" & "Gremlins" are some good ones every now and then.
Dec 18, 2012 at 9:27 a.m.
Suggest removal
A movie can be commercially successful and still be artistically flawed.
The device in A Wonder Life of George experiencing his own non-existence in a parallel universe is much too easy and heavy-handed for the serious subject of how one person can make important differences in the lives of others. That heavy handedness had George surrounded by potentially defective people in the main timeline of the story. The real challenge is to show how a person's life influences others without that heavy handedness.
It's similar to Field of Dreams in which a man's estrangement from his dead father is resolved by his dead father walking out of a cornfield. The real challenge of dealing with such estrangement is to not rely on a supernatural event unavailable in real life.
Also, the movie has a black character extol the virtues of Major League baseball though he lived much of his life during a time when black people were banned from Major League baseball.
Dec 17, 2012 at 7:37 p.m.
Suggest removal
Glad you got me thinking, Dave, as I had forgotten that I watched the 2009 animated version of "A Christmas Carol" last year and liked it enough to watch it again, something I don't do with a whole lot of movies.
.
Yeah, the 1955 version of "We're No Angels" is great, but never really thought of it as a Christmas movie.
I like "Polar Express" also, hadn't noticed or been spooked by the dead eyes thing...but probably will be now!!
.
:-)
Dec 17, 2012 at 7:27 p.m.
Suggest removal
As "It's A Wonderful Life" is a very successful and long-lived movie, applying the term "fatal" to it hardly seems apt.
.
A lighter, more optimistic way to look at it is that it simply portrays the concept of how much a single event in any one person's life, and then the consequences and ripples of that event, can alter the rest of that life...for better or for worse.
.
Kind of an interesting concept, really.
Dec 17, 2012 at 10:03 a.m.
Suggest removal
For those of us who like a little dark comedy there's The Ref, starring Kevin Spacey, Judy Davis & Dennis Leary.
Dec 17, 2012 at 8:17 a.m.
Suggest removal
I actually should have added Die Hard and Die Hard 2. They're always on TV this time of year and technically are Christmas movies. And fun ones at that...
Dec 16, 2012 at 8:47 p.m.
Suggest removal
Die Hard
Dec 16, 2012 at 3:58 a.m.
Suggest removal
Christmas in Connecticut is a schmaltzy, enjoyable diversion. Sadly in light of Friday's events, it is cast in a totally different light.
Dec 15, 2012 at 3:19 p.m.
Suggest removal
A Wonderful Life is fatally flawed for this reason:
The movie's rendering of the lives of the other characters in the absence of George leaves them as hapless fools who don't have the wherewithal to live lives with the integrity and backbone of even the average person.
It's amazing that this misanthropic theme has eluded so many people for so many decades. It's as though George is the alter/maniacal-ego of the writers and director. Everyone knows how writers and directors are.
Dec 15, 2012 at 2:24 p.m.
Suggest removal
I doubt it, wisconsingirl52. What's to understand? Can't somebody not like something for other reasons? Sheesh.
Dec 15, 2012 at 12:41 p.m.
Suggest removal
Maybe the author doesn't like the movie 'It's a Wonderful Life' because he doesn't understand it.
Dec 14, 2012 at 8:50 p.m.
Suggest removal
White Christmas...absolutely the best!
Dec 14, 2012 at 8:16 p.m.
Suggest removal
It's A Wonderful Life
Dec 14, 2012 at 7:45 p.m.
Suggest removal
Since You Went Away, I'll Be Seeing You (1944) A Christmas Carol(1951), Emmit Otter's Jug Band Christmas (1977)
Dec 14, 2012 at 5:58 p.m.
Suggest removal
1. Miracle on 34th Street
2. The Bishop's Wife
3. Polar Express
Dec 14, 2012 at 5:46 p.m.
Suggest removal
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation!! But, I love the black and white classics too, like Miracle on 34th Street, and It's a Wonderful Life.
Dec 14, 2012 at 3:07 p.m.
Suggest removal
Home for the Holidays with Holly Hunter.
Dec 14, 2012 at 2:34 p.m.
Suggest removal
“We’re No Angels”: the superb 1955 version, not the gag-reflex overloading 1989 abomination with De Niro and Penn. Bogart, Ray, and Ustinov are incredible together. Had they only worked Peter Lorre in somewhere, it would have been just about perfect.
“The Bishop’s Wife” with Cary Grant is good but a little too saccharine for me. Crosby’s “Going My Way” and “The Bell’s of St. Mary’s” aren’t Christmas movies per se, but always come out this time of year and retain their fun despite becoming dated. Or, if you’re feeling a bit warped and twisted, go with “1941” and watch Belushi and Ackroyd work their holiday magic on LA.
Dec 14, 2012 at 12:14 p.m.
Suggest removal
My favorite Christmas movie would be "The Polar Express" in 3D. Sitting in our living room in front of the large screen in 3D is awsome. The movie comes right out into your living room.
The worst movies are the remakes of "A Christmas Carol". Especially the ones running on Lifetime this year. Stupid Stupid Stupid!!!! Do these film makers out in Hollywood really think these movies are good? Do they not know that the movie has been hashed apart 100 times already and to try the same theme with different people is just adding insult to injury? The only good one I remember seeing is the one Henry Winkler played Scrooge in. Then of course you have the new version of Christmas movies where the girl falls for the underdog at the end of the movie. Henry Winkler played the Uncle in one of those too. But now they are tearing that one apart with remakes and versions all ending the same. I think I will just go down into my music room and rattle my brain with some Pink Floyd and some distortion on my guitar.
Dec 14, 2012 at 11:36 a.m.
Suggest removal
A Christmas Story. It's a true classic.
Do you know what Ralphie just said?
Before you post a comment, consider this:
Note: GazetteXtra.com does not condone or review every comment. Read more in our User Policy AgreementPost Comment
Commenting requires registration.