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Post by chrislc on Dec 9, 2022 18:05:12 GMT -5
A Place To Vent
Hey, Casey played songs from Christmas movies sometimes, so this thread adheres to the folder more than most of my threads, for what that's worth.
I find White Christmas annoying in multiple ways. The script, Danny Kaye, the script again, etc. Very inferior attempt to piggyback on Holiday Inn, but Holiday Inn is undeniably racist. Can you even imagine being a little African-American kid and seeing that on TV? It's unthinkable. And we (most of us) thought nothing of it for decades. Yikes. So yes, some things have become better through the years. Couldn't Holiday Inn be shown edited? Would that work? I'm not sure. It's too bad we're denied Fred Astaire and get Danny Kaye over and over.
Christmas With The Kranks. The end with Tim Allen going across the street is really good and very emotional, but the rest of it is just strange. That guy from South America? What's up with that? And Oh My God Blair is coming home. Blair Blair Blair Blair Blair. Sheesh.
There must another dozen I find annoying but I can't think of one, so maybe not.
So fire away! This should be polarizing. And yes I love that one.
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Post by LC on Dec 9, 2022 21:07:24 GMT -5
You want polarizing? All I gotta do is say "my favorite Christmas movie is Die Hard and my second is Batman Returns" and the polarizing will begin!
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Post by trekkielo on Dec 9, 2022 21:13:29 GMT -5
You want polarizing? All I gotta do is say "my favorite Christmas movie is Die Hard and my second is Batman Returns" and the polarizing will begin! You forgot Lethal Weapon, that even has "Jingle Bell Rock" by Bobby Helms played over its opening credits, 30 years after it was first a hit in 1957.  |
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Post by dth1971 on Dec 10, 2022 6:58:19 GMT -5
I wouldn't go see the recent "Violent Night" and "The Mean One" 2022 Christmas horror movies.
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Post by dth1971 on Dec 10, 2022 9:07:51 GMT -5
Here's a Christmas related cartoon short that may be a grievance: A 1955 MGM Cartoon Short (By the same animation team who did the Tom and Jerry cat and mouse cartoon shorts) called "Good Will To Men" that may be related to a World War 1 and/or 2 flashback or something like that: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTbGSTqnhfY |
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Post by michaelcasselman on Dec 10, 2022 10:19:23 GMT -5
I fully support categorizing 'Die Hard' and 'Lethal Weapon' as Christmas movies. However, I can't get behind 'Christmas Vacation' being considered a 'Vacation' movie, since they never go anywhere on a proper vacation.
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Post by mga707 on Dec 10, 2022 11:22:41 GMT -5
Here's a Christmas related cartoon short that may be a grievance: A 1955 MGM Cartoon Short (By the same animation team who did the Tom and Jerry cat and mouse cartoon shorts) called "Good Will To Men" that may be related to a World War 1 and/or 2 flashback or something like that: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTbGSTqnhfYHow might this cartoon be a 'grievance'? Defend your thesis... |
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Post by mkarns on Dec 10, 2022 14:29:59 GMT -5
I fully support categorizing 'Die Hard' and 'Lethal Weapon' as Christmas movies. However, I can't get behind 'Christmas Vacation' being considered a 'Vacation' movie, since they never go anywhere on a proper vacation. Under that theory “Gremlins” (released in June 1984) would count as a “Christmas movie” as well. And a vacation can be defined simply as time off from work or school, and doesn’t have to involve travel. Though “National Lamp***’s Christmas Staycation” does perhaps have a certain ring or edge to it… |
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Post by chrislc on Dec 10, 2022 15:18:53 GMT -5
I fully support categorizing 'Die Hard' and 'Lethal Weapon' as Christmas movies. However, I can't get behind 'Christmas Vacation' being considered a 'Vacation' movie, since they never go anywhere on a proper vacation. Under that theory “Gremlins” (released in June 1984) would count as a “Christmas movie” as well. And a vacation can be defined simply as time off from work or school, and doesn’t have to involve travel. Though “National Lamp***’s Christmas Staycation” does perhaps have a certain ring or edge to it… True. And the Griswolds could have flown to Paris or New York for a proper vacation (who knew we were all so well off here?), but we know what can happen with that at Christmastime, even pre-covid. And what's the deal with Chicago and holiday movies? Must be a Second City connection. I wonder if Glen Campbell ever told his bosses at Capitol and CBS that he needed a small vacation. Then they took him literally and gave him a third of a day off. Choose your words wisely! |
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Post by michaelcasselman on Dec 10, 2022 15:32:10 GMT -5
I fully support categorizing 'Die Hard' and 'Lethal Weapon' as Christmas movies. However, I can't get behind 'Christmas Vacation' being considered a 'Vacation' movie, since they never go anywhere on a proper vacation. Under that theory “Gremlins” (released in June 1984) would count as a “Christmas movie” as well. And a vacation can be defined simply as time off from work or school, and doesn’t have to involve travel. Though “National Lamp***’s Christmas Staycation” does perhaps have a certain ring or edge to it… It not only showed Clark while he was still at work, but also deal with the boss, the Christmas bonus issue, kidnapping the boss... Hardly makes for a worthwhile 'vacation' when you're still wrapped up in work matters! The travel aspect is almost incidental. I get worked up about how much love this movie gets when it totally squanders the good will the first two built up by having the Griswolds on proper vacation outings. It's the 'Christmas movie' hill that I'll die on   |
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Post by dth1971 on Dec 10, 2022 16:02:36 GMT -5
Here's a Christmas related cartoon short that may be a grievance: A 1955 MGM Cartoon Short (By the same animation team who did the Tom and Jerry cat and mouse cartoon shorts) called "Good Will To Men" that may be related to a World War 1 and/or 2 flashback or something like that: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTbGSTqnhfYHow might this cartoon be a 'grievance'? Defend your thesis... If there was no more humans on earth and the animals ruled the post acpoypse earth/world, that is. |
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Post by mga707 on Dec 10, 2022 16:36:03 GMT -5
Under that theory “Gremlins” (released in June 1984) would count as a “Christmas movie” as well. Hey, that's my favorite Christmas movie outside of 'Ralphie'. Would love to find Phoebe Cates under my tree! Even today she looks great. |
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Post by rayshae3 on Dec 11, 2022 17:56:29 GMT -5
How about that 3-hour 1999 film that its entire storyline happens in a few days around Dec. 25th? “Eyes Wide Shut”. But don’t go to subchannels eg. Christmas Hallmark-like streaming services to look for it or its director: “Stanley Kubrick” (of 2001 Space Odyssey, Dr. Strangelove, Full Metal Jacket, etc.). I am familiar with the original story that was an Austrian short published in the 1920s and happened not during Xmas but around Mardi-Gras like carnival. But this updated weird adaptation has its own ”Christmas setting” subsection in its wikipedia article and is in IMDB Xmas lists)!! So much for a film that barely escaped NC-17 rating (but eventually was rated R.) Recently I caught it again on Showtime, but I think even for a basic-cable channel (at least in North America) it is still too risque & Recall when I first saw it in a mall in suburban Philly in 1999, the manager of the multiplex I went to, was adamant not letting anybody under 18 into the theater. Reportedly some call it “Christmas movie for grownups”; but to me it is anything but (with vague story full of dream sequences and/or flashbacks, not unlike films like “Mulholland Dr.” or the ending of Kubrick’s own “2001: A Space Odyssey” some 30 years earlier.) But less intelligent films like “Black Christmas” series (the remake of an original 1974 movie), to me, are like bad Halloween slashers only its subjects replaced in a Xmas season environment. Its themes are as familiar as above-mentioned Hallmark Christmas series (but obviously on the other side of the scale); For me Hallmark movies Xmas storylines also seem like slight variations of Little House on the Prairie or The Waltons’ (that incidentally its pilot was a Christmas movie-of-the-week on CBS); only the place or background period might have changed. My other beef is with the so-called end of the year blockbusters, superficially with a Christmas scene shoved in. Case in point, last year’s “Spider-man: No Way Home”. While overall I thought it was one of the better Marvel films, I was bothered by the last minutes’ Xmas scene (talking about MIT in Cambridge, MA in a coffee shop). Anything to boost the movie during year-end holidays… |
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Post by trekkielo on Dec 11, 2022 19:31:52 GMT -5
But less intelligent films like “Black Christmas” series (the remake of an original 1974 movie) Ironically, Black Christmas from 1974 as directed by Bob Clark who would later direct A Christmas Story 9 years later in 1983, eventually gained a cult following, and is notable for being one of the earliest slasher films. It went on to inspire other slasher films, the biggest one of all being John Carpenter's Halloween (which was inspired by Clark suggesting what a Black Christmas sequel would be like). |
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Post by rayshae3 on Dec 11, 2022 20:52:03 GMT -5
But less intelligent films like “Black Christmas” series (the remake of an original 1974 movie) Ironically, Black Christmas from 1974 as directed by Bob Clark who would later direct A Christmas Story 9 years later in 1983, eventually gained a cult following, and is notable for being one of the earliest slasher films. It went on to inspire other slasher films, the biggest one of all being John Carpenter's Halloween (which was inspired by Clark suggesting what a Black Christmas sequel would be like). I know 1974 original version has a cult following. I myself discovered it first on one of the TCM late Friday overnight airings of “TCM underground”. And no matter what awards it might have been nominated for or won, in hindsight even the 74 version looks too juvenile and amateurish to me. After 1968’s Romeo& Juliet, Olivia Hussey was a disappointment, although Margot Kidder's status improved thanks mostly to Christopher Reeves’ Superman series. And John Saxon of course was too robotic (like his other character in the big movie of the time “Enter the Dragon”) |
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