Christmas movies

[Andybev01]

Disney can be greedy with content, but I suppose that's why they are as successful as they are.

That being said, 'The Santa Clauses' season 2 is worth a watch.

I enjoy Tim Allen's work going back to his stand up in the 80s, I also have the entire Last Man Standing series, and watch it frequently.

[Murfreesboro]

My older son has seen at least some of the Tim Allen Disney series and says it's pretty good.

Disney used to be successful, but their recent movies have crashed and burned. They need to get back to pleasing their core audience, or they will be history.

[Murfreesboro]

Just asked my daughter if she's actually seen the Dr Who 60th or just heard about it. She says she's been seeing all the reviews, particularly The Critical Drinker's (hysterical Scotsman, a novelist I think; if you've never watched him you've been missing out). So her reactions have been shaped by third parties. Make of that what you will.

She also says she knows some spoilers because of the reviews she's seen/read.

[Andybev01]

'Last Man Standing' originated on ABC, which is owned by Disney and, although consistently bringing in high ratings, was canceled because of Tim Allen's political and religious stances.

A year later it migrated, intact, to FOX where it played out for several more seasons.

There is something to be said about the phrase 'go woke, go broke'.

I apologize if anyone takes offense to this, I typically save this variety of comment for other social media outlets.

[Murfreesboro]

Andy, have you ever watched the Critical Drinker? That guy is so funny, and he is dedicated to attacking the woke agenda of many entertainment companies. I think you'd enjoy him. He has a YouTube channel.

Last year, my daughter discovered some Norwegian guy's discussion about why so many companies have slavishly followed the woke agenda. It has to do with the international banks. They won't loan money unless the companies can prove they are satisfying DEI or whatever that acronym is. It's slightly more complicated than that, but that's the gist of it. The banks are being ruled by the WEF, I think.

Sorry to veer into politics on a Christmas thread, but it is strange to see so many companies deliberately alienating their customers. There is a financial reason why they are so determined to do this. They cannot operate from month to month without the loans they receive as they await anticipated returns.

[MauEvig]

I saw mention of "The Holiday" and you know, I actually did enjoy that one. Maybe because Jack Black is in it, and he's a good actor.
I normally don't go for romantic comedies as my usual go-to. I have to be in the right mood for those. But The Holiday was a good one admittedly.

But as far as Christmas movies go...I feel like some good must watches are Elf, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and a Christmas Carol (Both with Jim Carey), and recently I quite liked Violet Night. I feel like Violent Night would appeal to our Halloween crowd, but I would definitely not recommend it if you want a family friendly movie because...it literally lives up to it's name. But if you want a fun, action filled movie, it's a good watch. It has David Harbour in it from Stranger Things who plays Santa Claus, and provides an interesting backstory for Santa.
But if you like a butt-kicking Santa with less of the violence...I recommend Dreamworks Rise of the Guardians. Rise of the Guardians actually takes place at Easter, but Santa's in it as one of the guardians along with other childhood icons like the Tooth Fairy, Sand Man, and Easter Bunny with Jack Frost as the main character who tries to find his place and purpose in the guardians. I wish they had a Halloween themed guardian, but there is a villain who tries to spread fear so...maybe that's where they were going for it? Would have been cool if they had a pumpkin king or great pumpkin of some kind (or maybe a cat...which would be interesting and a foil to the Easter Bunny) team up with the others, and maybe other holiday icons like cupid and the leprechaun. But here I am just a rambling...
Arthur Christmas was an interesting take on Santa Lore.
Can't forget about the classic stop motion movies...but I actually have a soft spot for Rudolph. I think Rudolph is my all time favorite Christmas related character.
National Lampoon's Christmas vacation, Christmas with the Kranks, Surviving Christmas, The Santa Clause are all movies I enjoy. That said, not all of them are family friendly movies I'd recommend watching with kids. The Santa Clause probably would be.
The Polar Express is a popular movie...but while it's visually appealing I get bored easily with the plot.
If you want something really quirky...there's always Sonic Christmas Blast. Yes, Sonic has his own Christmas special. I remember being excited for it as a kid back in the day, but now watching it feels cheesy. But it's nostalgia I suppose, even if it's a very cheesy story. Definitely meant for kids.
If I think of others I'll be sure to post them here.

[Murfreesboro]

Jack Black is utterly charming in The Holiday. I remember when it first came out, I couldn't imagine him as a romantic figure. I thought, wait a minute, Cameron Diaz gets Jude Law, and Kate Winslett gets Jack Black? Then I saw it, and I couldn't believe how attractive I found him in that role.

Rudolph is probably my favorite of the childhood classics I mentioned. I actually saw it in its first showing. My mother and I were delighted by it and were so happy when they showed it again the next year. My older son was shocked to learn, years ago, that Holly Jolly Christmas was written for that Rudolph special. He'd thought it was just a popular tune they'd commandeered. I told him, no way. That song was written for Rudolph, and the first time anyone heard it was on that TV special in 1964.

My daughter was a big fan of the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy (I liked it, too). We have a Billy and Mandy Christmas soecial on DVD that our Halloween forum folks would probably enjoy. Santa is a vampire in it.

[Murfreesboro]

I've neglected to mention one holiday movie I usually save for New Year's, though it takes place throughout the Christmas season--The Apartment. My favorite Jack Lemmon movie, I think.

[TheHeadlessHorseman]

I'm sure that I have heard that song before, as the lyrics certainly sound familiar to me.

We watched Candy Cane Lane... Andy was right. On a side note, I saw the trailer for Beverly Hills Cop 4, I liked it, and it's only 30 years after the last movie. It's going to be on Netflix in summer.

My favorite New Year's Eve movie is 200 Cigarettes from 1999, it was a good comedy with a great cast.

Oh yeah, one more thing... BEWARE THE GRUMPLE!

grumply.png (979.76 KiB) Viewed 7903 times

[Murfreesboro]

Oh, you had me running to Wikipedia about the Grumple. Not really being a Simpsons fan, I'd never heard of him. (I have seen a few of their episodes over the years, but not many, and never on a regular basis.)

I also had never heard of 200 Cigarettes, so I looked that one up, too. Sounds like an ensemble comedy, a little like Love Actually, and it has a good cast. I would have shied away from it because of its title. Since cigarettes killed my father, that is a dirty word to me. But if I were to see it I might enjoy it.

I sort of have a thing about Jack Lemmon, have always Iiked him. My daughter has never seen The Apartment (Best Picture of 1960), but loves loves loves Some Like It Hot, also a Billy Wilder film (from 1959) featuring Lemmon, so I'm going to make her watch The Apartment with me. It is not at all a screwball comedy like SLIH, and she is very partial to that genre. So I'll have to explain to her that this one is a different kind of movie. Ultimately a comedy, but a very serious one, about adultery, attempted suicide, and ambition. But it's soo good. I hope she likes it as much as I do.

[TheHeadlessHorseman]

I've been a Simpsons fan since day 1, it premiered when I was 8 years old and it's still on to this day, and I've seen every episode. They have some of the best Halloween episodes in tv history, and their Christmas episodes are pretty good as well. Also, Kelsey Grammer plays the recurring character of Sideshow Bob, he has been guest starring on the show for more than 30 years. You can check out a very short video of the Grumple on facebook below, and don't forget to turn up the volume on the video.

https://www.facebook.com/TheDoctorZaius ... 007416080/

The movie 200 Cigarettes doesn't really have anything to do with cigarettes, it was just a last minute gift that one of the characters gave to another character as a joke, I guess someone thought it would be a good title for a movie. It was a really good movie, and I think you might like it, and you can probably find the DVD for a buck online.

I haven't watched many movies with Jack Lemmon in them, mostly his later work like Grumpy Old Men, Grumpier Old Men, and Out to Sea, but I did like the movies I saw him in.

[Andybev01]

Jack Lemmon is also in Bell, Book and Candle, along with James Stewart and Kim Novak. Such a good movie.

As far as The Apartment goes, if all that someone knows about the work of Fred McMurray is playing The Absent-minded Professor or the congenial father in My Three Sons on television, you're in for a rude awakening.

He is deliciously evil in 'Apartment.

[Andybev01]

My favorite new year's movie is an obscure, black and white, nineteen forty five bit of fluff called The Horn Blows at Midnight, starring Jack Benny.

'...A trumpet player in a radio orchestra (Jack Benny) falls asleep during a commercial and dreams he's the angel Athanael. The beautiful angel Elizabeth (Alexis Smith) delivers Athanael to the head of heaven's orchestra, where he's told to return to earth and blow his trumpet at midnight, thus marking the end of the world. When he fails his assignment, he becomes a fallen angel, and though he's given a second chance, his fellow fallen angels conspire to keep him from completing his mission.'

I'm sure that it was a 'B' reel, filler for a matinee, along with a cartoon and newsreel back in the day.

[Murfreesboro]

I watched Bell, Book and Candle this year as sort of a transitional movie between Halloween and Christmas. Yes, Jack Lemmon has a supporting role in it. If someone knows him only for his later work, you really should check out some of his films from the 50s and 60s. I was too young to watch them first run, but he was terrific. I believe he might have won a supporting actor Oscar for Mr Roberts, which is chiefly Henry Fonda's movie. Then in the 70s he got one for best actor, I've forgotten which movie. (An aside: my daughter, who aspires to be an actress, tells me that actors actually value the supporting awards more highly than the "best" category. It is understood that the better actors are in the character categories, or, at least, the character roles demand better acting skills.)

My kids have made sure I've seen at least a few of the Sideshow Bob episodes of the Simpsons. I can't believe how long that show has been on the air. I recall that when it premiered, one of my freshmen at Mary Baldwin wrote a paper evaluating the series for a freshman English assignment. That's been a loooong time ago.

Fred McMurray really got to show another side of his acting ability in The Apartment. Such a strong script.

I've never even heard of that Jack Benny movie, but I might enjoy it. I saw Jack Benny in person one time. When I was growing up in Jackson, Mississippi, we used to have a four day Arts Festival every spring, and they got very big names for that gig. One of the many a-listers I saw in those years was Jack Benny in a comedy concert.

[MauEvig]

Jack Black is utterly charming in The Holiday. I remember when it first came out, I couldn't imagine him as a romantic figure. I thought, wait a minute, Cameron Diaz gets Jude Law, and Kate Winslett gets Jack Black? Then I saw it, and I couldn't believe how attractive I found him in that role.

Rudolph is probably my favorite of the childhood classics I mentioned. I actually saw it in its first showing. My mother and I were delighted by it and were so happy when they showed it again the next year. My older son was shocked to learn, years ago, that Holly Jolly Christmas was written for that Rudolph special. He'd thought it was just a popular tune they'd commandeered. I told him, no way. That song was written for Rudolph, and the first time anyone heard it was on that TV special in 1964.

My daughter was a big fan of the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy (I liked it, too). We have a Billy and Mandy Christmas soecial on DVD that our Halloween forum folks would probably enjoy. Santa is a vampire in it.

I mean, the idea of Santa being a vampire does kind of make sense...even if it's creepy.

Think about it, Santa only comes out at night. He doesn't come through the front door, as vampires need to be invited in, but I think he's "technically" invited by the kids. The parents are no where to be seen...and are always extremely groggy on Christmas...likely from blood loss! I may have to give that show a chance at some point. He also has to get up the chimney somehow. Maybe his vampire powers are how he does it.

Doesn't explain the milk and cookies though. Maybe vampires CAN eat human food, but still need the nutrients of blood to survive? I never understood how they couldn't eat human food at all and ONLY drank blood...I can understand the need for blood but not the inability to ingest human food. Slightly off topic, I know.

I found Adventure Time to be a great series, and they did have a charming Christmas special in it where they made peace with the Ice King. They wore Christmas sweaters, but since it's a series that takes place in a post apocalypse scenario they likely lost the idea of Christmas, yet the spirit of it still lived on in some capacity. They didn't call it Christmas, but it was still Christmas.

I find most of the roles Jack Black has stepped into he's done a great job in. The only one I wasn't crazy about was Nacho Libre. I thought it was going to be good but...it really wasn't. I could see him stepping into the role of the hopeless romantic, he did a great job of that while playing Bowser in the new Mario Movie.

I had no idea that song was made for Rudolph either. I probably would have assumed they had to get permissive rights to use the song in the movie.

I know "Blue Christmas" is played in "The Year Without a Santa Claus" but it's sang by a little girl. That's the first time I'd ever heard the song, until I found out the original was sung by Elvis. Unless it was the other way around?

There's a certain charm in those old stop motion animated movies. I know they can be a bit silly and campy, maybe even cheesy, but they're wholesome and charming.

I always related to Rudolph being a misfit. He was different, and he got picked on for that fact. Then he found other friends who were also misfits. But I think Clarice deserves a lot of merit, and through the eyes of an adult I think she deserves some credit for accepting Rudolph for who he was and not trying to change him. Sure, it's annoying that she ends up being the typical damsel in distress, but at the same time she's sweet and more than just the typical love interest. It would have been nice to see a sequel where Rudolph and Clarice were portrayed as a couple and started their own family, but we didn't get that. We got that weird island of misfit toys movie instead, and I felt like they were touched base enough on in the first movie.

Of course Rudolph's Shiny New Year could have been seen as a sequel, but there's some plotholes. Rudolph is shown to have grown up at the end of the Rudolph movie. He was still little in Shiny New Year, and in Christmas in July where Rudolph meets Frosty the snowman and his snowfamily. One thing I do appreciate about that movie is the lore, and exploring how Rudolph got his shiny nose to begin with.

There's a couple other cartoon interpretations of Rudolph, but I think the stop motion animated one is the most well known. There's an old one that I think was done before the stop motion one that's an animated short, and a newer one where Rudolph has a different love interest.

Due to copy rights, most cartoons and other Christmas movies will refer to Rudolph as "a certain famous reindeer," which...it's sad to me that copy right is such a big deal that they can't even mention his name in another movie. Personally, I like seeing different interpretations of the famous reindeer. I just wonder how he'd look if he was real...because reindeer don't have a tiny pointed nose like a common woodland's deer have. They have two nostrils that stick out from their snout. But I also read somewhere that real reindeer can get red noses. Maybe there's something to the Rudolph story. But in real life Rudolph originated from a department store promotion. "Montgomery Ward Department Store" in 1939 is where the famous reindeer originated: https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/snapshot/ru ... %20gimmick.

Sadly I thought him and Santa were both real and living in the North Pole when I was 5. -sigh- To be a child again...