Twelve Blogs of Christmas, Part XII: Movies
It was the best of Christmases. It was the worst of Christmases.
Between now and Christmas I'll be reflecting on the Modern (Postmodern?) Christmas. As I have 11 more Parts to write I'm open to suggestion about future blogs. Today's topic is "Christmas Movies"
Twelve Christmas Movies!
12) Ernest Saves Christmas - Starting out with a whimper. This is one bad movie that I loved as a child. It's got Santa. Ernest pretending to be that snake handler guy. That fat man with the shifty eyes. Favorite Moment: Shifty-eyed guys little friend open an umbrella after noticing Reindeer on the ceiling.
11) Home Alone (1 & 2) - Am I the only one who wished their family would leave them alone for the Holidays. Plus, lots of good shot of bad guys being struck violently in the crotch. Favorite Moment: Joe Pesci catches an Iron in the face, trips on Miro Machines then steps on Christmas ornaments with bare feet.
10) How the Grench Stole Christmas (Original and Carey) - I prefer the original. First of all, there is more singing. Secondly, it is shorter. Favorite Moment: The Grinch's heart breaks that heart-measuring device.
9) Rudolf, Frosty & Other Claymation - I decided to lump these. I like spotty animation, the poor lip syncing and the very cheerful rosey Santa. Favorite Moment: Rudolf's nose lights up and melts Frosty.
8) Christmas Vacation - What is Christmas without time spent with family you'd rather not have to see. The Griswalds really live it with dazzling lighting. Favorite Moment: The squirrel.
7) Die Hard - Arguable the best action Christmas movie! I mean it has everything. And Bruce really delivers! I think more Christmas movies should include C4 and an AK-47. Favorite Moment: Like Anne Lennox says, "Walkin' on, walkin' on broken glass!"
6) Nightmare Before Christmas - Again, I love the claymation stuff! Tim Burton's best work (2nd place Scissorhands). Jack is a great character. The combination of Christmas and Halloween reminds me of this cartoon. Favorite moment: Jack sings, "There's children throwing snowballs / instead of throwing heads / they're busy building toys / and absolutely no one's dead!"
5) UDPATE: ELF! Due to mass appeal Elf has replaced Miracle on 34th street. Take that old people! Elf really is a good movie, Will Farrel is extremely funny. It's hard to watch this and not feel some holidy spirit... and laugh your head off! Favorite Moments: The four elf food groups: Candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup.
4) White Christmas - Ah, now this is really Christmassy. One time I was watching this and all the commercials were for Aluminium Siding. Bing had just begun to sing at the end of the movie, "I'm dreaming of..." STATIC... then a final 3 minute long commercial for Aluminium Siding and not the rest of the movie! I was livid. I called the Siding people and complained. It was in the paper the next day, they got hundreds of complaint phone calls. People wanted to hear that song. Favorite moment: The Song, well duh.
3) A Christmas Carol - This movie has been done over so many times its sad and awesome. I liked Scrooged because I love Bill Murray. There is a good musical version "Scrooge" staring Albert Finney. The Muppets and Mickey Mouse have done a version. I like the old (non-animated) movie. Favorite Moment: "God bless us, everyone!"
2) A Christmas Story - No need for preamble just a collection of my Favorite moments: "You'll shoot your eye out kid!" "FRAGILE... must be from France." "Mashed potatoes. The Double Dog Dare. The Tongue. The Bully and his Henchmen. Fantasy sequence of making Black Bart and his gang push up daisies. The Red Rider BB Gun, with a compass in the stock and everything!
1) It's a Wonderful Life - The best Christmas movie ever. I really miss how they used to show ALL THE TIME during December. It would be on like 4 cable stations at once everyday. You could flip around and catch your favorite moments: The Boy, The Ice, The Pharmacist, The Girl, The Hee-Haw, The Dance Floor, The Pool, The Lasso, The Buffalo Gals, The Saving and Loan, The Honeymoon, The Bert and Ernie, The Bridge, The Richest Man in Town and The Bells.
I'm feeling downright jolly!
Yes I know I missed your favorite... tell me all about it.
(Honorable mention Christmas Movies: Ghostbusters II, Bad Santa, The Ref, Harry Potter 1 & The Nut Cracker. Dishonorable Mention: Anything starring Tim Allen.)
posted by Trey Laminack @ 10:34 AM
11 comments
11 Comments:
"the year without a santa claus": dan used to talk about a xmas special he loved with heatmiser and coldmiser. i had never seen it and thought it was just a weird dream he'd had one time. we finally found it a few years ago and he felt completely validated. now, we even have heatmiser and coldmiser ornaments on our tree.
very good list...I was impressed you had White Christmas...love it! I would've had Christmas Vacation closer to #1...I pretty much have to watch it every Christmas.
I am proud to say that I own "Its a Wonderful Life" and will watch it (without commercial interruption) every year. Let the tears flow!
I also love "Scrooge" with Albert Finney. Great musical of the classic story.
The Ref.
You forgot The Ref.
I'll think of some more, but that is the first one.
What about the music video for "Christmas Time in Hollis'?
That counts right?
"Elf" became a new favorite for us last year. However, I must say that anything with claymation starts my right shoulder jerking.
JINGLE ALL THE WAY! I MEAN COME ON! IT'S A GREAT, A CLASSIC, A MASTERPIECE!
I, too, dislike Miracle on 34th Street. You should have left it off just to stick it to the man!
My list includes:
The Christmas Trinity - not really a movie, just a VHS we've had since I was born that has claymation rudolph, animation frosty, and animation grinch on it. These 3 movies are always lumped together in my mind and last year I got the last of them (frosty) on DVD to complete my collection.
Muppet Christmas Carol - doesn't get any better than this
Elf - I'm about to watch it right now.
I'm looking forward to the rest of this series! Can't wait to see it!
Ok, good feedback all. I agree Elf should probably take the place of Mircale on 34th street. Nobody seems to care about it enought to defend it.
Hey Man - I'll Include Finney's Scrooge as a part of the Christmas Carol item.
Worm - The Ref, honorable mention, it's a good example of how badly we behave around our family.
Stuben - "Jingle all the way?" Automatic Tim-Allen-Veto.
I thought Jingle All the Way was Schwarzenegger and Sinbad...am I thinking of the wrong movie?
I got another one, that will probably go unnoticed...
Lethal Weapon.
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