5 Great Christmas Movies
Forget caroling, let’s pop in a DVD!
I happen to love Christmas. I recognize that this does not jibe well with my generally cranky, pessimistic and cynical life approach, but I enjoy being a holiday enigma. Part of any great holiday is watching at least one of my favorite movies – most of which would not be considered typical family-friendly holiday fare. Which does actually jibe well with my general world view! Here are 5 of my favorites – one for each day through Christmas! Oh, such timing. And one honorable mention just in case you need a little fix to help with the Christmas DTs.
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
This may be my favorite of all. It isn’t smart or timely or sweet, but it is damn funny. Chevy Chase is at his best as bumbling, well meaning Clark Griswold, determined to give his family the perfect old fashioned Christmas – as well as a big surprise gift. As we know, nothing goes right for Clark and family, so their holiday is filled with mishaps and mayhem. I love it for the uber-lit house, the uptight neighbors (played by a pre-Seinfeld Julia Louis Dreyfuss and Nicholas Guest) and brother in law Randy Quaid’s outfits. A stellar cast including Johnny Galecki, Juliette Lewis, Beverly D’Angelo, Diane Ladd, Doris Roberts and E.G. Marshall keep things lively. The whole thing is silly and stupid and I love it.
Elf
Though relatively much newer, Elf is giving Christmas Vacation a run for its money on my all time favorites list. I love Will Farrell and this may be his shining moment (no matter how much I love him in Old School). Farrell plays Buddy the Elf. Buddy was raised at the North Pole by Papa Elf (the awesome Bob Newhart) but doesn’t fit in. You see, he’s human and huge and has no talent for toy making. Once he finds out the truth about his parentage he travels to New York to bond with his father (who doesn’t know he exists and happens to be on the dreaded Naughty List). Hijinks ensue. Elf is sweet and funny – it’s a perfect family movie for those with older kids. Farrell plays the gentle, innocent giant with gleeful abandon and drags the rest of us into his naive and joyful world. If I was going to choose one movie to go out and buy this year, it would be Elf.
Bad Santa
Now this is more like it – rude, crude and unapologetically vulgar, Bad Santa is the antithesis of every sappy, happy Christmas movie ever made. Billy Bob Thornton stars and he is a seriously bad Santa. Perpetually drunk, foul mouthed, perverted and lacking in basic hygiene, Thornton’s Santa gets jobs at department stores only because he works with a dwarf named Mickey (Tony Cox) who is both the brains behind the operation and the perfect draw as a “real elf” (there is nothing politically correct in this movie – anywhere). The pair runs cons on the stores where they work and this year they run into store detective Bernie Mac as well as hapless store manager John Ritter (in his final movie, something I personally think he would have loved). The great thing about Bad Santa is that with all its filth and inappropriate language, bad behavior, occasional violent, crushing of everything sacred about Christmas and general all-around perversity it still manages to squeeze out a smidgen of Christmas spirit, which is nothing short of amazing. This is one for the adults – save it for after the kiddies toddle off to bed. Then you can laugh and laugh and laugh at each and every completely inappropriate scene. My fave? The boxing practice between Thornton and Cox. Priceless.
It’s a Wonderful Life
How perverse am I that I would jump from Bad Santa to It’s a Wonderful Life? Very, but let’s not dwell on the negative. This is Frank Capra’s sap filled 1946 classic starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. Stewart is George Bailey, long suffering good guy who loses sight of the good things in his life when a financial crisis hits. Angel Clarence (Henry Travers) is sent to show him just how much he means to those around him and does so by showing him what life would be like if he had never been born. It’s a Wonderful Life used to run on TV approximately 150 times per day during December. Not any more. One of the networks bought the rights and only shows it a single time so unless you own it or have a DVR you’re very likely to be out of luck. My suggestion – buy it. This is the movie you watch with cocoa and cookies and cry a little at the end every year. When you need to get your Christmas Spirit on, this is where you turn – even the scroogiest scrooge will feel a little more festive after steeping in Capra for a while.
Die Hard
What? Die Hard isn’t a Christmas movie! It’s an action thriller! That is correct, but also completely wrong. Die Hard was indeed released at Christmas and is filled with holiday goodies, most of them violent and not at all happy. But Die Hard did something with its Christmas setting that few if any other movie have done so completely or so well – it melded the Christmas theme seamlessly into a bullet riddled action hero movie filled with bad language and badder bad guys. Bruce Willis plays hard nosed cop John McClane who is trying to patch up his marriage by showing up at his wife’s fancy Christmas party. Unfortunately there are terrorists in attendance who want to spoil the fun. Especially main terrorist Alan Rickman. But they did not count on the super-human bullet avoidance abilities of one John McClane, badass extraordinaire. No, this is not your typical Christmas movie, but it’s a ton of fun. You can wax nostalgic and spot the Christmas items used as weapons. It’s just like Norman Rockwell!
Honorable Mention
Of course I have to give at least a small shout out to A Christmas Story. It has taken It’s a Wonderful Life‘s place as ubiquitous on TV throughout Christmas day and for the most part it really does stand up to repeated, repeated and repeated viewings. Ralphie and his family are still funny 3000 watchings later and the leg lamp will forever be a classic. Someday I will name a pet “Scut Farkus”.
These are just a few of the wonderful or warped or wacky Christmas movies out there to be consumed with abandon along with plates of cookies and pitchers of eggnog. But these few completely rock. Enjoy!
New on Netflix – December 13th and December 20th
Pre-Christmas Movie Stupor
As the holidays creep (or race) up on us, there is no better time to sit back, relax and chill with some flicks. Netflix, that is. Even in the middle of the ho-ho-hos, we movie junkies still need our movie fix and as always, Netflix has a few goodies in store over the next 2 weeks. As always, you can find release dates for all of 2011 at Everything Netflix.
December 13th
Larry Crowne (romantic comedy, Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts) – This looks sappy and ridiculous and I’ll see it as soon as it reaches my mailbox. Sometimes I’m a sucker for sappy.
Fright Night (horror, Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell) – This was totally off my radar. I’m not really big on horror remakes, but I am big on Colin Farrell. Stays on the queue!
Kung Fu Panda 2 (family animation, Jack Black, Angelina Jolie) – I like you Jack, but I’ll never see your family animated film. Sorry.
Freerunner (action, Sean Faris, Danny Dyer) – A movie about urban freerunning – not an activity with which I’m familiar. It’s sort of Running Man-ish in premise. Looks cool.
The Dead and the Damned (horror/western, David A. Lockhart, Robert Amstler) – Cowboys and zombies, yessir!
Circumstance (foreign drama, Nikohl Boosheri, Sarah Kazemy) – Forbidden Iranian Love.
Monica & David (documentary, Alexandra Codina) – A documentary about an engaged couple with Down Syndrome.
December 20th
Love Begins (romance, Abigail Mavity, Nancy McKeon) – Sniff. Sniff. Does this smell like Lifetime Original Movie to anyone else?
Warrior (sports drama, Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton) – Who could imagine that Mixed Martial Arts and Family Dysfunction would go together? Everyone? That’s what I thought.
Margin Call (thriller, Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany) – Love the cast! Add in Zachary Quinto who rocked Spock in Star Trek 2009 and is currently rocking my world in American Ghost Story and I will indeed watch a thriller about the financial crisis.
Colombiana (thriller, Zoe Saldana, Jordi Molla) – Hot Chick Assassin.
Catch .44 (action, Bruce Willis, Forest Whitaker) – John McClane takes on rural Louisiana.
Blackthorne (action, Sam Shepard, Stephen Rea) – Sam Shepard imagines a life for Butch Cassidy after the Bolivian end of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Burke and Hare (comedy, Simon Pegg, Andy Sirkis) – Directed by John Landis – I never heard of this. Why did I never hear of this?!? John Landis, he of Animal House and Blues Brothers, brings us this British comedy with the super-funny Simon Pegg. Hell yes I’ll watch!
Midnight in Paris (comedy, Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams) – Directed by Woody Allen. I will never see it.
The Tempest (drama/fantasy, Helen Mirren, Felicity Jones) – I love Helen Mirren enough to see anything in which she appears.
And there you have it. Not a whole lot going on, but I’m looking forward to Margin Call, Burke and Hare and, embarrassingly, Larry Crowne – after which I will be forced to watch Fright Night to cleanse my sapped up palate. Now, since it is the seasons for shopping, our choice of what to buy this week is more important than ever. What says “Holiday Cheer” more than a happy, popping fire in the fireplace? How about a happy, popping fire that you don’t have to light, tend or put out? That’s right, folks, this week we’re buying the Happy Holiday Hearth! Oh, technology, we love you so.
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Soap Opera of the Damned
American Horror Story Gathers Steam
When I first wrote about American Horror Story I was impressed. It was just getting started and was filled with sex, violence, bad language and loads of haunted house scary stuff. It still is, and it just keeps getting better.
The peril of those first episodes was that they were scary but the story seemed contained and could have been self-limiting. Family moves into haunted house and gets freaked out before either succumbing to the ghostly horrors or 
getting the hell out. But creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk (who also created Glee – nobody can ever say these guys are limited in creative scope) clearly foresaw those hazards and are taking delicious steps to broaden the story and keep the entire Harmon family attached to their evil house.
Ben (Dylan McDermott), Vivien (Connie Britton) and Violet (Taissa Farmiga) have embarked upon a series of betrayals, lies, mistresses, crimes, deaths, pregnancies, secrets and misunderstandings that would make any good soap opera proud. Add the delightful twists of graphic sex, violence and horror and you have a winner on all counts. McDermott continues to be a sleazy weasel, the guy you love to watch squirm as his every misdeed comes back to haunt him – literally. Britton continues to be our heroine, the ever-abused good girl who we can actively root for without feeling like complete perverts. Farmiga’s role has evolved to allow her to be more sympathetic. She’s not all good, but she does appear to at least have a soul at times.
Jessica Lange continues to chew the scenery in the finest way possible. Good Lord she’s creepy and unpredictable and totally unstable. This role must be an absolute joy to play – her character of Constance the next door neighbor is so completely over the top and vexing you can almost feel Lange rubbing her hands together with glee as she embarks on yet another lunatic plan. Frances Conroy as eternal housekeeper Moira is matching Lange step for step with her rational logic countering Constance’s craziness, plus adding some crazy of her own. She is a dead housekeeper, after all. She wouldn’t be sticking around that house if she didn’t have issues.
What I’m really liking is the expanding world inside this haunted house. More tormented spirits equals more potential complications, conflicting motives and complex shenanigans to keep us on our toes. As things become more and more convoluted and soap-ish, the more delightful is the whole package.
If you have any interest at all in ghost stories and are not averse to R-rated material on your basic cable channels, give American Horror Story a try. You might be scared, but you won’t be disappointed. It’s on Wednesday nights on F/X and you can see back episodes on Hulu or on F/X. The benefit of visiting the F/X site is that it’s filled with behind the scenes goodies, previews and other good stuff. You can see the pilot either place and catch up with some of the episodes already aired – plenty to bring you up to date on the basic story lines.
Another option, once you’ve seen the pilot and determined that the show is, in fact, awesome, is to download individual episodes from Amazon. You can fill in any gaps from what’s available on the free sites or just have all the episodes so you can watch them again and catch little details you might have missed the first time. Now that’s a win/win. Click below to find the Amazon downloads. Enjoy!
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New on Netflix – November 29th and December 6th
Our Idiot Help
So much good stuff coming out on Netflix in the next 2 weeks! After eating myself into a stupor over the long weekend it’s time to get back into my rigorous exercise routine of consuming as much visual media as is humanly possible. It won’t get rid of my Thanksgiving Food Baby, but it will definitely distract me long enough to polish off any and all left-overs. There are some movies here I’ve been waiting for a long time to see – let’s take a look! As always, you can find all of the 2011 release dates (and more!) over at Everything Netflix.
November 29th
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (drama, Bingbing Li, Gianna Jun) – Friendship in 19th century China. Based on the novel by Lisa See.
Water for Elephants (drama, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson)- Based on the novel by Sara Gruen, this one was ruined for me by Witherspoons relentless diatribes about how gross Robert Pattinson was during filming. Really Reese? That’s how you promote a movie?
Our Idiot Brother (comedy, Paul Rudd, Emily Mortimer) – I’m so excited. I’ve been waiting for this to come out. Top of the queue!
The Nutcracker: The Untold Story (family drama, Elle Fanning, Nathan Lane) – A modern retelling of the holiday classic.
Crazy, Stupid, Love (comedy, Steve Carell, Julianne Moore) – Horrible, Wretched, RomCom. But I’ll see it anyway – it has Steve Carell and I can’t help myself.
Beginners (dramedy, Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer) – Another one I’ve been waiting for – this one seemed to take forever to get to DVD! Son learns life lessons from elderly father.
30 Minutes or Less (action comedy, Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride) – Friendship and bank robbery. Meh.
The Future (drama, Miranda July, Hamish Linklater) – I’ve read the descriptions for this and I still don’t quite understand it – something about people knowing the future, disconnecting from the internet and quitting their jobs. I’m intrigued enough to leave it on the queue.
5 Days of War (drama, Rupert Friend, Emmanuelle Chriqui) – A fictionalized account of the 2008 war between Russia and Georgia. Quite good.
Needle (horror, Travis Fimmel, Michael Dorman) – Australian Voodoo Horror!
Becoming Chaz (documentary, Chaz Bono) – The story of how the daughter of Sony & Cher became the son of Sony & Cher. I find him interesting enough to want to see his story from his own perspective. This one stays on the queue.
Kidnapped (foreign horror, Fernando Cayo, Ana Wagener) – Suburban couple attacked in their own home – sounds a lot like a plot remade over and over and over. But this time in Spanish!
Seven Days in Utopia (drama, Robert Duvall, Melissa Leo) – A golf movie. Even Melissa Leo can’t get me to buy into that.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams (documentary, Werner Herzog) – A look at the Chauvet Cave paintings in France.
December 2nd
Friends With Benefits (romantic comedy, Justin Timberlake, Mila Kunis) – I like Justin Timberlake. I like Mila Kunis. Why did they have to make this? WHY?
The Smurfs (family, Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays) – I like Neil Patrick Harris. I like the adorable Jayma Mays (from Glee). Why did they have to make this? WHY? Okay, it’s animated and for kids – I will forgive them. Justin and Mila have to earn back my trust.
December 6th
Jig (documentary) – It’s the Irish Dance Championships!
The Help (drama, Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard) – Adapted from the excellent novel by Kathryn Stockett, this is a good flick. I don’t think it’s Oscar caliber, others disagree.
The Change-Up (comedy, Ryan Reynolds, Jason Bateman) – Magical body swapping. Is this 1985? I’m really getting annoyed at my fave actors, here. I’m talking to you, Jason. I’ll see this, but I’ll hate myself in the morning.
Beethoven’s Christmas Adventure (family, John Cleese, Munro Chambers) – Christmas dogs. Sigh.
Atlas Shrugged: Part 1 (drama, Taylor Schilling, Grant Bowler) – Well, if you need more Ayn Rand in your life, I suppose so. I’ll pass.
A Christmas Wedding Tail (romance, Jennie Garth, Brad Rowe) – More Christmas dogs? Really?
Point Blank (foreign action, Gilles Lellouche, Roschdy Zem) – Nurses, hospitals and hostages. In Paris.
Life, Above All (foreign drama, Khomotso Manyaka) – A South African drama about a young girl shunned after her family becomes ill. This looks fabulous – it stays on the queue.
I’m quite excited about these offerings. Well, some of them. I will not be partaking in any Christmas dogs, than you very much. But now is the time to decide the most important thing – what should we buy this week? It’s the season for shopping, of course, but it’s always the season for shopping here at New on Netflix. Since the world has gone insane and using pepper spray in Wal-Mart is now a way to get a bargain, let’s do something special to celebrate the season. One of my favorite things is non-traditional but still traditional (that makes sense somehow) Christmas music, and one of my favorite albums is Bruce Cockburn’s Christmas. Let’s buy that! Listen to some clips – it’s fab.
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A Forgotten War
Where were you?
Where was I during the summer of 2008? I have no idea, but my best guess would be sitting in my comfortable living room watching the Olympics on TV. The people of Georgia (the country, not the state) were not so lucky. They were busy having a war.
The amazing thing about the world we live in today is that there is news and information everywhere, yet events like an entire war can still pass us by without a blink. Chalk it up to a press and governments willing to pander to the Russian aggressors, our own apathy or just too much information but the truth is that people were dying and nobody cared.
Renny Harlin set out to remedy that in the film 5 Days of War, documenting the Georgian version of the events of the summer of 2008. Lots of action, sympathetic characters and beautiful cinematography help him tell the story, which will be coming out on DVD on November 29th. You can read my full review here.
I love movies – they can be anything. Light, funny, dramatic, romantic or a way to document parts of history that might otherwise be buried forever. Well played, Mr. Harlin, well played.
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