Doc's Favorite Christmas Movies
Nov 02 '05 (Updated Apr 06 '06)
The Bottom Line The Bottom Line adores the mistletoe...
I'm not a religious type at all, in fact, I love the commercialism of the holidays. Yeah, I said that. I love the crowds, the last minute hecticness, the tree decorating, the glow on the faces of excited children anticipating the arrival of Santa.. all of it. I also like the movies. Handy, that, since this is a movie list...
So, given the above, this is not a list having to do with Jesus or any of that... it's about fun. And Commercialism. And and... silliness, warped family gatherings, and relationships.
In no particular order:
Bad Santa ~ What we have here is a department store Santa played by Billy Bob Thornton. That should be your first warning right there, folks. Love him or hate him, you pretty much know what to expect when you see his name. He is, after all, the quintessential bad boy of Hollywood. He holds nothing back here and this Santa is fun as hell. He's a thief see, and uses the Santa gig every year to get the inside scoop on store security so he can rob them blind on Christmas Eve.
Nightmare Before Christmas ~ Tim Burton pulls out all the stops in this kinda-sorta animated number in which Jack (the mayor of Halloween) gets bored and pretty much raids Christmas-ville... or whatever they called it. Some very fun moments in this one.
A Christmas Carol ~ Here I have a problem. There have been sooo many remakes of this Dickens classic that I'm not sure of which I speak. It's the one that is played every year over the holidays and I am fairly sure it's the one with Vincent Price narrating from 1949..but I could be wrong. At any rate, it's a wonderful adaptation of the novel dealing with a miserly boss who gets visiting by various spirits during the night.
Scrooged ~ Bill Murray flips the old tale of Ebenezer on it's ear in this twisted version of Dickens' Christmas Carol (see above), and it works wonderfully.
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation ~ As with all of National Lampoon's stuff, this one is stupid-funny. Stars Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo and of course has to do with the very warped Griswold family, this time centering around a screwed up family Christmas.
Elf ~ I'm not a big fan of Will Ferrell, but he does a credible job in this movie about an over-sized Elf at Christmas time. Pretty stupid in places, but over-all a darn good kid's holiday flick.
Home Alone ~ The film that made Macaulay Culkin a household word. This is the first in what has grown into a never-ending series with the young lad getting accidently left alone over Christmas while his family flies off to visit France. Another one which is stupidly fun.
The Santa Clause ~ Tim Allen accidently kills off Santa and has to take his place on Christmas Eve. I adore Tim Allen and had a lot of fun watching this one. Good family flick. I really need to get around to watching the sequels...
Die Hard ~ Yeah yeah bite me.. it occurs at Christmas, alright? Look, I just like Bruce Willis in this and it's the right time of year. So there. Willis is a lone cop against some terrorists who have taken over a high-rise. Lots of excitement here.
Love Actually ~ In the month before the holidays, 8 different couples who seem to be unrelated, are. err yeah. Badly worded but I think you get the drift. Colin Firth rawks... and so does Liam Neeson.
Trapped in Paradise ~ A bonus eleventh selection! Hooya! How could I leave out this much-overlooked masterpiece starring Nicolas Cage, Jon Lovitz, and Dana Carvey? It's about some crooks stuck in a small town which is just good-will-obsessed. Funny as hell.
Bonus 11th Selection:
Surviving Christmas ~ This one has been slammed, panned, and beaten bloody by numerous reviewers and film critics. As usual, I disagree. I found much to like about this quirky flick starring Ben Affleck as a too-rich dude who tries to recapture his missing childhood by paying a family $250k to spend Christmas with them. Also stars Christina Applegate, James Gandolfini, and Catherine O'Hara.
Yuletide's a bitch, ain't it?
There ya go... and now I feel the urge to go start shopping...
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This has been an entry in the annual Lean-n-Mean Write Off. To join in this year, go here:
http://www.epinions.com/content_4557283460
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Member: Lori Leidig
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