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Best (and blurst) Christmas films

Started by turnstyle, December 14, 2009, 10:46:44 AM

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An tSaoi

"Hey, spreken ze talk?"

New page in 'Ruining Everything' shocker.

MuteBanana

I quite enjoyed Bad Santa. Lauren Graham was smokin' hot. Bernie Mac was hilarious. Favourite scene was when he and Marcus the elf argued over how he was meant to carry Willy to the car. "I'm three foot. It's physics!" - "Sketch it up!"

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Yeah I hadn't seen that before but I can see why everyone I know including my parents finds it hilarious. To the untrained eye a lot of the stuff that happens isn't exactly that detached from some really shit films but the characters and the general quality of the lines, especially Billy Bob Thornton's just raises it to the point of enjoyability. The constant swearing isn't an issue either really. Some genuine belly laughs at points.

Was that Sheriff John Bunnell making a cameo at the end too?

Ginyard

Yippee ki yay motherfucker, apparently so.

I went to order the Director's Cut from amazon earlier and discovered the boxing sequence has been removed. WTF? That's a great bit.

Meh

I noticed 'National Lampoons Christmas Vacation' when I was flicking through Chevy Chase's imdb page. I've only seen the one where they go to Rocky World. Can anyone here recommend it?

biggytitbo

Quote from: Meh on December 15, 2009, 07:29:12 AM
I noticed 'National Lampoons Christmas Vacation' when I was flicking through Chevy Chase's imdb page. I've only seen the one where they go to Rocky World. Can anyone here recommend it?

No. European Vacation is great though, but not very christmassy.

Jumble Cashback

N.L.'s Christmas Vacation is one of the best Christmas films
Spoiler alert
since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny fuckin' Kay
[close]
.  It has a million brilliant set-pieces and manages to be genuinely warm without going all religious.  The only thing about it that jars a little is the whole 'no Christmas bonus for a swimming pool = hard done by' element which, in retrospect, is a little piece of eighties/early nineties materialism that slipped through the net (like the end of the first Back to The Future).

I do have some other favourites that aren't really Xmas films, but instill in me the appropriate spirit.  Strangely, one of them is Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (don't ask me why, it just has a festive feel for me.  If you haven't seen it in a while, you probably have no idea what I mean, but watch it again and tell me you don't get a fuzzy, fairy-light feeling).  Another is Disney's 'Legend of Sleepy Hollow', despite being a film you might more readily associate with hallowe'en.

My Top 10 (in no particular order)

Scrooged
A Christmas Story (which is a lot better known over here than some posters seem to think).
Batman Returns
A Muppet Christmas Carol
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Walt Disney's The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow
The Wrong Trousers
Scrooge (The Sim version)
Chuck Jones' How The Grinch Stole Christmas

biggytitbo

Quote from: Jumble Cashback on December 15, 2009, 09:50:45 AM

I do have some other favourites that aren't really Xmas films, but instill in me the appropriate spirit.  Strangely, one of them is Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (don't ask me why, it just has a festive feel for me.  If you haven't seen it in a while, you probably have no idea what I mean, but watch it again and tell me you don't get a fuzzy, fairy-light feeling).

Spock is like Jesus in many ways in that film (and 3)...

Johnny Townmouse

Quote from: Jumble Cashback on December 15, 2009, 09:50:45 AM
A Christmas Story (which is a lot better known over here than some posters seem to think).

I have only ever met one person that has seen or heard of it. You are the second. Hence the use of the word 'practically'.

SavageHedgehog

I can only recall it ever being show on TV once, back in 1995 (I was 9). By contrast, some cable channels in the US have been known to show it on a continuous loop for a day around this time.

Serge

Quote from: Jumble Cashback on December 15, 2009, 09:50:45 AMThe Wrong Trousers

I know where you're coming from with this one. I now try to watch this and 'A Close Shave' whenever they're shown over christmas, in the same way I used to try to catch 'Father Christmas' (which we were talking about in the Christmas TV thread). They're now so tied in with christmas in my mind that, even though they have nothing to do with christmas really, they are christmas films to me.

Jemble Fred

I've never heard of 'A Christmas Story', but Wikipedia tells me it's about a little American who wants a gun for Christmas, at all costs. Er... joyous?

Jumble Cashback

I watched A Christmas Story again last year after about a decade's hiatus.  I assumed it would be less funny.  I was very wrong.  I hope nobody posts any spoilers because some of it really just has to be seen in context to be funny.  I know quite a few people who've seen it and I think most folks over 25 in the film and T.V. biz (even this side of the Atlantic) consider it a classic.  It's been shown at intervals of about 5 years on telly (I think).  The crucial thing that makes it work is the narration.  That's what makes it bear up so well when you watch it as an adult. 

The big Christmas classics in America that are virtually never shown or referred to over here are things like the Charlie Brown Christmas Special.  Seen as quintessential Xmas fodder over there, I've never seen it or known it to have been broadcast over here.  I can't really watch Peanuts though - I don't find it funny and there's a strangely bleak quality to it.  'Snoopy Come Home' is widely considered the most depressing children's cartoon of all time.

An tSaoi

Moreso than Bambi or that one with the rabbits?

biggytitbo

Quote from: Jumble Cashback on December 15, 2009, 10:54:54 AM
I watched A Christmas Story again last year after about a decade's hiatus.  I assumed it would be less funny.  I was very wrong.  I hope nobody posts any spoilers because some of it really just has to be seen in context to be funny.  I know quite a few people who've seen it and I think most folks over 25 in the film and T.V. biz (even this side of the Atlantic) consider it a classic.  It's been shown at intervals of about 5 years on telly (I think).  The crucial thing that makes it work is the narration.  That's what makes it bear up so well when you watch it as an adult. 

The big Christmas classics in America that are virtually never shown or referred to over here are things like the Charlie Brown Christmas Special.  Seen as quintessential Xmas fodder over there, I've never seen it or known it to have been broadcast over here.  I can't really watch Peanuts though - I don't find it funny and there's a strangely bleak quality to it.  'Snoopy Come Home' is widely considered the most depressing children's cartoon of all time.

I'm sure both those Charlie Brown's have been shown quite a bit, certainly Charlie Brown's Christmas, which is a bit of a favourite with me.

MuteBanana

A Christmas Story is one of those films I know, but can never remember the title. That could be the same for a lot of people. I mean unless you rate it as one of your favourite movies ever, trying to remember it's title amongst the hundreds of other films with Christmas, Story, Tale, Adventure...whatever in the title is going to be difficult.

Johnny Townmouse

Marrying an American completely opened me up to a whole roster of Xmas films and cartoons that I had never seen before. A Christmas Story was quite a revelation, though even the hundreds of media types and people I have worked with in the TV and film industry have not heard of it.

All I can say is "fragilay".

CaledonianGonzo

Quote from: Jumble Cashback on December 15, 2009, 10:54:54 AMThe big Christmas classics in America that are virtually never shown or referred to over here are things like the Charlie Brown Christmas Special.  Seen as quintessential Xmas fodder over there, I've never seen it or known it to have been broadcast over here.

Not for a while, but certainly back in the 1980s it was, along with other US specials like Ziggy's Gift, Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas and The Christmas Raccoons.

A Charlie Brown Christmas does have great music and that moment where Linus explains Christmas, which makes it definitely worth a watch if you haven't seen it.

How The Grinch Stole Christmas is perhaps the ultimate example of the US festive tradition that didn't really impact over here much until relatively recently, like eggnog and candy canes.

Still - they don't have crackers, mulled wine, The Snowman or A Christmassy Ted, so they're the ones losing out.

Quote from: Jemble Fred on December 15, 2009, 10:18:46 AMI've never heard of 'A Christmas Story', but Wikipedia tells me it's about a little American who wants a gun for Christmas, at all costs. Er... joyous?

See also Christmas Vacation.  One man's quest to buy a swimming pool where he can oggle bikini-clad lingerie saleswomen.  "It's a bit 'nippley' out", oh my sides, etc.

Quote from: Serge on December 15, 2009, 10:14:11 AMI now try to watch this and 'A Close Shave' whenever they're shown over christmas

It was on BBC 3 last night ('A Close Shave', that is).

Anyway, I'll also nominate The Curse of the Were-Rabbit to the general Wallace & Gromit lovefest after I watched it end-to-end 3 times in a row on a flight to Cape Town on the 23rd December a few years back.  A Matter of Loaf & Death is no slouch either, if not quite living up to Jonathan King's claims from last year that it was the best TV programme ever.

SavageHedgehog

I really don't like The Snowman it depresses me. I preferred the other one where Mel Smith was the voice of Father Christmas, and he got diarrhea or something.

As for the idea that A Christmas Story isn't good because the kid wants a gun, that's kind of the joke, as far as I can remember.

SetToStun

Quote from: biggytitbo on December 14, 2009, 08:05:39 PM
I'm holding out for a cracking Blu Ray release. A film as packed with gorgeous boys as this needs the full works.

You disgust me. Seriously.

Gulftastic

Quote from: niat on December 14, 2009, 09:21:51 PM
Yes! When "Let It Snow" is played right at the end, it's just about the most festive thing ever.

Well, that or the joy that the Policeman feels when he learns he can gun down scum bags again!

VegaLA

My first Christmas here in America I was subjected to 'A Christmas story'. I'd never heard of it before but I hated it. It seemed so old fashioned and depressing, I was shocked to discover it was made in 83, I thought it was a 60s production!

Peanuts depresses the hell out of me too.

As you were.

Emma Raducanu

The BBC used to show A Christmas story each year till it became a tradition of mine to dive eargely into the Radio Times each year only to be met with disappointment at it's exclusion from the year's schedules. It's a film that can be watched by children but which makes no pretense about Father Christmas not being real, which I always found intriguing.

Home Alone 1+2.

One Magic Christmas for being the most disneyish and heartwarming christmas film.

The Snowman for it's wonderful animation and for the sadness of a snowman melting.

Polar Express for the first 30 minutes, although I found that uncanny valley article explained what I always felt was wrong with it. Turns to utter shit.

Merry Christmas Mr Bean is comedy gold so I'll include it as a mini tv film.

An tSaoi

If I hear that bloody Welsh choir boy warbling on about walking in the air I'll go fucking spare. I hate that song.

copylight

Quote from: Jumble Cashback on December 15, 2009, 09:50:45 AM
N.L.'s Christmas Vacation is one of the best Christmas films
Spoiler alert
since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny fuckin' Kay
[close]
.

2nded. Chase shines like he best Tony Soprano moment. It makes anything Sandler tries to do pale into comparison. Stiller has it in him though at a push..

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation - Trailer

jennifer

Quote from: Ginyard on December 14, 2009, 11:11:31 PM
Yippee ki yay motherfucker, apparently so.

I went to order the Director's Cut from amazon earlier and discovered the boxing sequence has been removed. WTF? That's a great bit.

You can see what's changed on the directors cut on Bad Santa's wiki page. Seems to be a lot of willfull "AHA, I get to make this daaaaark now" changes and it's 2 mins shorter than the original film.

Fun fact: The Coen Bros did a script punch up with Terry Zweigler but aren't credited. (I'd put money on them coming up with the name Therman Merman).

Emma Raducanu

One Magic Christmas on BBC2 12:40pm today. Harry Dean Stanton + a harmonica = Christmas fun.

surreal

Quote from: Ginyard on December 14, 2009, 11:11:31 PM
Yippee ki yay motherfucker, apparently so.

I went to order the Director's Cut from amazon earlier and discovered the boxing sequence has been removed. WTF? That's a great bit.

I have the Unrated version - this is the first time I've heard about the Director's Cut though... it's criminal to take that boxing scene out, and I thought the ending with the "Shit Happens When You Party Naked" t-shirt was excellent.  Leave it alone Zwigoff, what the hell do you know???

I'd like to throw "When Harry Met Sally" in as one of my Christmas picks, being set mostly around the holidays. I haven't watched it properly for a few years, but I caught it on TV the other night and I ended up watching most of it and reciting the dialogue from memory.

Just kill me now...

Marty McFly


Catalogue Trousers

Let's not forget:

QuoteWhistler: I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
Bernard Abbott: Oh, this is ridiculous.
Martin Bishop: He's serious.
Whistler: I want peace on earth and goodwill toward men.
Bernard Abbott: We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Martin Bishop: You're just gonna have to try.
Bernard Abbott: All right, I'll see what I can do.
Whistler: Thank you very much. That's all I ask.

SNEAKERS