RHYS BOWEN: It’s the beginning of December and thus time for Christmas movies on TV. Some of them I look forward to with great longing and others I will never watch again. So let’s take a poll:
Christmas Movie I have to watch or it’s not Christmas: It’s a Wonderful Life, White Christmas, The Holiday, A Charlie Brown Christmas. (oh, and Love Actually. Can’t miss that even though Hugh Grant dancing is enough to put anyone off their mince pies).
Christmas Movie I Will Never Watch Again: Rudolph. I used to enjoy it when the kids were young. Now I see horrible flaws that send bad messages to kids. Only the bucks compete in the reindeer games and the does stand there and cheer. Rudolph is bullied and judged because he is different. Even Santa and his father identify him as a failure because of a trait he was born with. The island of misfit toys says that nobody wants you if you look different. What horrible messages! No thank you.
And the Polar Express. While I find it fascinating I hate the image of Santa’s Workshop as an evil looking factory with no adornments. I want my North Pole to have cute snow covered houses and happy elves. And I think the little boy would believe in the magic of Christmas more easily if he'd had a less scary time on the train!
Christmas Movie that should be made;
One in which a girl who runs the donut shop in a small town, lives with her spunky grandmother and has a hunky lumberjack as her boyfriend goes to the big city, becomes a slick lawyer, and finds the true meaning of Christnas at Radio City music hall.
OR
My book THE TWELVE CLUES OF CHRISTMAS????
So how about you? What’s your list?
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Rhys, I love your movie idea, but to make it the true anti-Hallmark film, she also has to dump her boyfriend for a hard-driving executive who doesn’t have time for Christmas.
I confess, I love those Christmas romances - The Holiday, The Princess Switch, A Castle for Christmas, and anything that involves a prince falling for a commoner. Seriously, put “royal” in the title and I am there.
My must-play for the holiday? White Christmas, Christmas in Connecticut (1945,) and The Santa Clause. And I agree with you on Rudolph; despite the fact “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas” is one of my favorite songs of the season, the incredibly dated gender dynamics and bullying are a total turn-off. They need to remake it just so Hermey, who is so clearly gay, can come out and be his fabulous dentist self.
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Yes, Christmas in Connecticut! And White Christmas. I suppose I still like Love, Actually, and Rhys, I think Hugh Grant dancing is fabulous! And it’s worth it to watch for “just in cases.”
Gotta put the old standard Die Hard.
But I have never seen most of the new Christmas movies, I have to admit. Elf and Polar Express and Santa Clause and Rudolph and whatever else there is. I’m not a Grinch (also never seen) I am just not drawn to the new ones.
OH! I forgot. The best best best is THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS which is one of the most fabulous writer movies of all time . It’s about how and why Charles Dickens wrote A CHRISTMAS CAROL, and it is hilarious, touching, insightful, profound, timeless, wry, and moving. Please please watch it, and then let me know what you think.
HALLIE EPHRON: I do love LOVE ACTUALLY, actually. I’ve never seen most of the others. DIE HARD is on my bucket list.
What about YOU’VE GOT MAIL? Takes place at Christmas. I think. Anyone else remember MIRACLE ON 34th STREET? And I still like the original animated adaptation of THE GRINCH.
DEBORAH CROMBIE: Rhys, I am all aboard for your Christmas movie! My must-sees are IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, A CHRISTMAS STORY (yeah, yeah, I know we've all seen it a million time, but I love it,) LOVE ACTUALLY, and THE HOLIDAY, which I try to save for New Year's Eve. Oh, we usually manage to throw in DIE HARD, too.
JENN McKINLAY: Same! IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE is my absolute favorite but I love SCROOGE with Alastair Sim - Hub and I watch it every Christmas Eve. And now, true confession time, I have never watched any Hallmark channel Christmas movies. Shocking? I know! Like Hallie, I still love the original animated THE GRINCH WHO STOLE CHRISTMAS. And I adore LOVE ACTUALLY - except I’m still pissed at Alan Rickman’s character for how he treated Emma Thompson’s - very upsetting. And, of course, DIE HARD - totally a Christmas movie :)
Jenn, that scene is one of the most poignant in movies and so beautifully acted. In fact there are many scenes in that movie that touch the heart. The girl with the handicapped brother. The man in love with his best friend's wife. But the scene that annoys me? Colin Firth, the writer who does not make a copy of the book he's writing and it all blows away. Infuriating.
LUCY BURDETTE: A definite on LOVE ACTUALLY and I do adore ‘YOU’VE GOT MAIL. We had such a funny conversation this week talking with a very smart couple who’d watched many Christmas Hallmark movies after the woman had back surgery. They had the trope nailed and it was HYSTERICAL. The man kept saying, ‘don’t forget, the girl who returns to her hometown to solve some problem but SHE’S MISSING THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT.’ It was truly funny and I absolutely believe he could have written one of them.
RHYs: We could all have written one, Lucy. In fact we should next Christmas. Or how about an original one...
I'll start it off... Mrs. Claus gets fed up with living alone at the North Pole, surrounded by a demanding husband, workaholic elves and escapes to the big city where she makes friends and discovers Christmas is not about receiving gifts, it's about having fun and loving people around you.
Your turn now:
There are many movies of the season that I particularly enjoy . . . I'm right there with you on most of the movies you've mentioned . . . "Miracle on 34th Street" is a particular favorite as is "White Christmas." "Love, Actually," and "You've Got Mail" always make me smile . . . Anything with the Peanuts gang is a must-see . . . As for the oh-so-predictable Hallmark movies, casting makes the decision on them: I watch if there's someone in the cast that I particularly enjoy seeing . . . .
ReplyDeleteLove the original Grinch movie with wonderful animation and Boris Karloff narrating!
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone's choices. Rhys, I am thrilled to find someone who also does not like THE POLAR EXPRESS. I've never seen the movie, but the book came out when my son was the right age and he was given a copy. Despite its glossy art, I found the dark palette creepy, and page after page of bleak landscapes did nothing to draw in a five-year-old. I felt it was a book directed at adults. My son never asked for it to be read to him again and I did not suggest it.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I were talking the other day about the ones we loved when we were kids and this is one they never show anymore, The Little Drummer Boy. We still love Rudolph, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty the Snowman and my favorite The Grinch. I don't consider Die Hard a Christmas movie, I think it's a terrorist movie that takes place at a Christmas party. Every year I have to watch Christmas Vacation, just love Chevy Chase and his wife's dumb cousin Eddie.
ReplyDeleteYes to the original animated Grinch and Charlie Brown Christmas (saw it already on Apple TV+).
ReplyDeleteAnd It's A Wonderful Life. Never seen Love Actually or The Holiday. Although several recent Hallmark Christmas movies are filmed in Ottawa (oddly when there's no real snow...they bring in the fake stuff!), I have never seen one.
Miracle on 34th Street, White Christmas, and Die Hard.
ReplyDeleteI agree with lots of movies on the previous lists, especially "Scrooge" with Alistair Sims! An obscure one that I watched every year as a child was "Amahl and the Night Visitors," a movie based on a one-act opera about the Three Kings stopping at a poor shepherd's hut to spend the night on their way to Bethlehem. My parents had the opera on LP records, so my sister and I knew all the songs by heart. It's lovely music, but I haven't seen the movie in years. Writing about it now has made me decide to try and find it online!
ReplyDeleteI see Amahl and the Night visitors every year ... didn't know there was anyone else.
DeleteOur church put on Amahl and the Night Visitors for Epiphany one year and it was fabulous. I too should look for it on line.
DeleteWhen I was younger, I was all about Christmas movies (both the classics and the newer ones!), but I realized a few years ago that I was getting a bit rigid about "tradition" had to let go of checking them all off the list b/c it was starting to feel another joyless holiday chore. Especially since my children didn't always enjoy them so I either had to watch them on my own or feel like I was forcing it on them. (what fun, right?) I have found the true secret to enjoying them now is watching some of them (but not all!) in that dead week between Christmas and New Year's when everything has calmed down and it feels restful.
ReplyDeleteMy all time favorites are of course, "It's a Wonderful Life" "Miracle on 34th Street" and "White Christmas" and yes, the Hallmark movies! I watch them sometimes, they're especially great as background noise when you're doing something else. Or when you're sick or trying to take a nap. I actually wanted to do a Hallmark cross over with the X-Men where Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is a grumpy widowed Christmas tree farmer (there's always a Christmas tree farm) and Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) is his business partner and of course, also Santa. I mean who better to know who is good and bad than a mind reader? They live in a quiet community where the mutants can be safe, but then the fast talking girl from the big city comes. Will she discover the true meaning of Christmas in time? Stay tuned. . .
Good start, Jill. I'll watch your movie when it comes out.
DeleteJill, now I want the rest of the movie!
DeleteHallie, the original "Miracle on 34th Street" is my absolute favorite Christmas movie. I grew up watching it!
ReplyDeleteJenn, I, too, have never watched any Hallmark Christmas movies.
I love some of the old song and dance Christmas movies but don't watch TV much any more.
Die Hard is definitely a Christmas movie!
Rhys, I love your idea! Besides, lawyers need to have real world business experience in order to better advise clients. A background in a tough business like a donut shop would be a bonus. And I'm finding myself quite drawn to the Patrick Stewart as Santa idea, Jill. Brilliant!
ReplyDeleteWe were watching the Queen's Gambit the other night; the actor who plays Benny was also the adorable stepson of Liam Neeson in Love, Actually, which is actually my favorite part of that movie, along with crazy Bill Nigh's story. Thomas Brodie-Sangster is the young actor, who also played the young deputy in the Netflix Western Godless. He's come a long way since his crush on a cute girl with awesome pipes.
We rarely had TV when I was growing up, so I had a spotty history of watching anything, and Steve is no better. Both of us prefer to read, mostly. I've seen some of the classics, but none of them are really must-sees for us. My oldest daughter loves White Christmas, so if we're with her we watch it. So many of the older movies, especially the ones aimed at kids, are unbearably corny.
However, when I stay with my mom she and I always settle in after dinner and binge watch Hallmark movies, because my brother has a giant TV and that channel. Mother can neither see well, nor hear, so I end up loudly narrating the action, plus identifying the characters--who are the same actors as the previous movie, but in different roles. Hallmark seems to use the same dozen actors for EVERY movie. Anyway, we laugh, and sometimes a tear or two trickles out, and I love making those memories with her. But I couldn't tell you a single individual title, since they're all so similar.
Karen, yes for Patrick Stewart but please include Hugh Jackman, too.
DeleteGoes without saying, Judy!
DeleteEither of the Miracle on 34th St’s, Home Alone 1, Tim Allen’s Santa Claus 1,One Magic Christmas with Mary Steenburgen, maybe the Muppets Christmas Carol, and it seems we always get It’s A Wonderful Life on Christmas Eve with wayyy too many ads. Oh, and Love Actually, but I have to watch it on the sly – He who Harrumphs a lot then harrumphs a lot. My question unvoiced, is why can’t he leave the room, rather than sitting there, shuffling, talking to the cat in meows, farting, and harrumphing – it would let both of us have a more enjoyable evening!
ReplyDeleteI do look forward to many of the Christmas episodes on many of the series - Call the Midwife, All Creatures, and so on. Also what ever foolishness or tragedy that will of course happen on Coronation St.
DeleteMargo, is it possible to have a second TV? That literally saved my marriage!
DeleteI always watch the Call the Midwife special!
DeleteMargo, Karen has the right idea. Even if it is a tiny TV in the kitchen, like mine is, it will be less expensive than a divorce!
DeleteI feign deafness. After a while he gets tired and leaves.
DeleteThere’s a wonderful Rachel Dratch, Ana Gasteyer, Maya Rudolph Hallmark Christmas movie parody “A Clüsterfünke Christmas”
ReplyDeletethat I highly recommend if you can find it.
We have a painter in residence, upstairs doing the bedrooms. Morton him later.
ReplyDeleteOur favorite all time Christmas movie is National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
We watched it earlier this week, gleefully roaring with laughter when the squirrel came out of the tree — so loud that the painter stopped what he was doing and came down to see wth was happening.
It wouldn’t be Christmas without it
I am mortified to admit that I've never seen it. This year!
DeleteI never had either until some friends made me last year.
DeleteWorking on our Hallmark movie, Rhys – – say it’s not Mrs. Claus, but it’s their little known daughter Sandy. Sandy Claus. And she is fed up with the family business and all the pressure and feels that no one pays attention to her, which is sad, she thinks, because she has skills! , so she goes to New York to prove that she knows what she’s doing, and to finally get some attention for herself, but also to hide who she is. So she gets a job at a… What? Something that takes a lot of organization, because she realizes she’s used to that from her years at the north pole. (Maybe it’s silly enough that it’s a toy factory. )And then on Christmas Eve, she volunteers to work because she doesn’t care about Christmas,, and then…..
ReplyDeleteA toy factory with a scene where everything that can go wrong, goes wrong--the production lines speed up, the jack-in-the-boxes all spring open, the rocking horses gallop off in all directions....you get the picture--and poor Sandy either has to laugh or cry as the hunky foreman (who's really the millionaire toy factory owner's son) is being buried under an avalanche of stuffed bears--or rainbow unicorns, whichever. (Flora)
DeleteHey, can we find room in this version for Patrick Stewart and Hugh Jackman?
DeleteI love this idea! And Sandy knows how to make it work, because of all of her years —reluctantly//handling the same thing at the North Pole. And, of course, we are in charge of the casting!
DeleteI am of the same opinions as pretty much everyone. The three movies I try hard not to miss are It's A Wonderful Life, Love Actually, and Die Hard, with the original, animated Grinch in there if I can find it. There are several movies that are now treated as classics that I have never seen, and one of these years I really want to try them -- especially Elf and A Christmas Story.
ReplyDeleteAs for Hallmark (and Hallmark style) Christmas movies, they're kind of like Christmas cookies. I enjoy one or two, (doesn't matter which as they're all so similar) then the sweetness gradually becomes nauseating and I can't face another one.
I have to check the box for Love Actually and You've Got Mail but to be honest I've never watched any of the standard Christmas movies - well except for Home Alone which takes place at Christmas time as I recall.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite is Charlie Brown Christmas. I also like the originals of Miracle on 34th Street and The Grinch. I enjoy Elf, Christmas Vacation, Santa Clause, and Home Alone. I miss The Little Drummer Boy.
ReplyDeleteMy sister always has the Hallmark Channel or Great American Family Channel on so I like watching it with her. The predictability of the story lines is all part of the fun.
I’ve never really loved It’s a Wonderful Life, but this year I have already watched it in its entirety as well as various segments over again as part of a five week Bible Study at my church. It has been interesting to take a deeper dive into it.
It’s very deep, isnt it? And annoying that Mr Potter never gets his dessertd
DeleteOur conversation last night went off on a bit of a tangent talking about Potter what happens after the movie ends. Perhaps it needs a sequel.
DeleteIt's like the books I re-read once a year: LOVE ACTUALLY, YOU'VE GOT MAIL, CHARLIE BROWN'S CHRISTMAS, THE ORIGINAL GRINCH, the movie about Dickens writing A CHRISTMAS CAROL, and for some reason at our house, RED 1 AND 2, AND PIRATE RADIO.
ReplyDeleteSandy Claus should create an elf character and join the Sesame Street crew.
PIRATE RADIO with Bill Nighy? I love that film, but never think of it as a Christmas movie!
DeleteI always sigh a little when the this topic comes around. I don't watch Christmas movies. Not because I'm a grinch, I just don't - except the Call the Midwife special on Christmas night.
ReplyDeleteI love the anti-Hallmark (anti cozy) idea of a reverse Christmas movie!
Love, Actually - yes (watched it last weekend)
ReplyDeleteWhite Christmas
The animated Grinch Who Stole Christmas ("You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch")
My favorite Rankin & Bass Christmas is actually "The Year Without a Santa Claus," where Mrs. Claus saves the day along with Mother Nature (and it has the best song with Snow Miser/Heat Miser)
We've watched our share of Hallmark movies. Some do the trope better than others. There is one with Rob Lowe I particularly liked because, Rob Lowe. He was a bush pilot in Africa. Oh, and the one about the woman who's trying to cancel Operation Christmas, a Christmas present drop operation for the Air Force. It may have been called "Operation Christmas."
The Rob Lowe movie is really good!
DeleteI'm not a holiday movie watcher. When I was a kid, we looked forward every year to the Charlie Brown Christmas special, I was sick a few years ago in November and while flipping channels, I came upon A Golden Christmas on Hallmark, which was followed by A Golden Christmas 2 and then 3. It was the golden retrievers that got me, and the fact that I was sick. Now Hallmark movies are my guilty pleasure--they are so predictable. A few of the newer ones feature black couples, mixed race couples and gay people, which warms my heart.
ReplyDeleteI know live theater wasn't part of the question, but a few years ago (pre-pandemic), a local theater company did A Christmas Carol so well, with a beautiful folk ensemble playing music. My son and I went at least three times to see it.
I'm a Christmas movie junkie, and I have so many on VHS, from all my past Christmases.
ReplyDeleteA few days ago I headed down to the basement to bring up the box of tapes.... and had a horrible realisation. They are all inaccessible this year, behind a wall of 58 cartons and bags, because I had a basement flood and everything's in upheaval until the repairs are done. I don't know if I can make it through Christmas without them.... Miracle on 34th Street, Holiday Inn, It's a Wonderful Life, Alistair Sim....
At least the decorations and gift wrap are safely under the stairs.
Yes for Patrick Stewart, It's A Wonderful Life (although I always forget how looooong it takes to get to the point), Love Actually, and The Vicar of Dibley Christmas Celebration where Alice gives birth to the baby Jesus.
ReplyDeleteThe only holiday movie I watch yearly without fail is Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase. I laugh like an idiot every time. If any of the following movies come on I'll tune in: The Bishop's Wife with Cary Grant, Christmas in Connecticut, and The Man Who Came to Dinner with Bette Davis and Monty Woolley. I am anti-It's a Wonderful Life because Jimmy Stewart's anxiety and desperation are too real and make me anxious. I no longer have the Hallmark channel so don't see any of the permutations of small town/city slicker/going to close down the factory/ let's have a festival to save the business/town. The original grinch still warms my heart.
ReplyDeleteHiya, Popped in to say thank you for yesterday but can't resist recommending SINGLE ALL THE WAY - a new "city slicker goes home to a small town ..." from a couple of years back.
ReplyDeleteThe movie that SHOULD BE MADE is one based on Stephanie Barron's Jane and the Twelve Days of Christmas, featuring Jane Austen as the sleuth in a murder mystery and her hunky love interest, the artist Peale.
ReplyDeleteyes!
DeleteA Christmas Story, for sure. Love Actually, if I feel like it, The Holiday. The original Grinch, yes. I'd actually rather just listen to music (and bake). (Flora)
ReplyDeleteOh dear...41 comments already! I am late to the party this morning. Woke up with an headache and it is finally gone!
ReplyDeleteLove love love Hallmark Christmas movies. However, I need to call the Cable Repair person because my TV is on the Frizz again!
A CASTLE FOR CHRISTMAS on Netflix is a favorite and I downloaded it to my tablet.
More favorites:
MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (the Natalie Wood and the Mara Wilson? versions)
THE HOLIDAY
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
LOVE ACTUALLY
THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS
THE BOY WHO SAVED CHRISTMAS on Nerflix (based on novel by Matt Haig)
ELF with James Caan and Wil Ferrell (hilarious)
CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS
favorite Hallmark Christmas movies
all of the EVERGREEN CHRISTMAS movies (with Barbara Niven, Ashley Williams, Jill Wagner, Maggie Lawson)
REINDEER LODGE CHRISTMAS (?) with Chris Pine's father and Barbara Broderick
there was a Christmas movie with Lindsay Wagner and Lee Majors
There was a Christmas movie with Jane Seymour as the Queen of a small country
Another Christmas movie with Roger Moore and Sam Heughan as his son
A Christmas movie with Kathy Ireland as Santa Claus' daughter who has amnesia and she loves Christmas and celebrates Christmas all year around.
And speaking of books, I always read Rhys' TWELVE CLUES OF CHRISTMAS every Christmas season.
Diana
My all-time favorite movie is It’s a Wonderful Life. It’s the first movie where the ending made me cry because I loved it. I was in second grade at the time. I also love White Christmas and Miracle on 34th Street. I’m not fond of most of the more modern movies. I’ve never seen a Hallmark Christmas movie; I don’t have the Hallmark channel.
ReplyDeleteDebRo
What about a Xmas story about overworked and under-appreciated elves? Who've been enslaved and have to drive dark blue vans delivering gifts because Santa is basking in Honolulu??
ReplyDeleteThere was a Christmas movie with a similar story. I forgot who the actors were.
DeleteDiana
Cary Grant as an angel has my vote every year -THE BISHOP'S WIFE. Emma Thompson as a mom and Liam Neeson as a dad make LOVE ACTUALLY sing.
ReplyDeleteI love Miracle on 34th Street (the original) and It's a Wonderful Life (also the original). I never thought of Love, Actually as a Christmas movie, but I do love it - I will watch it again for the Christmas theme. Die Hard, of course, but the others, not so much.
ReplyDeleteAnd the woman with the back surgery, could have been me. I had back surgery in December 2019 and developed a high fever, so was in the hospital 8 days! My roommate loved Hallmark Christmas movies (I had never watched one before). I didn't feel well enough to care, so we watched them all day long. After a few days I realized that I would be watching a movie and fall asleep halfway through, then wake up halfway through the next and didn't realize it was a different movie! Same theme, story line, and even actors - they were all just a Christmasy blur. LOL
The same sort of thing happened to a friend of mine after hand surgery. So much medication! He'd start watching an episode of House, fall asleep, then wake up before the episode was over. Except, it often wasn't the same episode. But no matter, Hugh Laurie was still there, saving people. Gosh says Pat, it's great that he saved that young white woman, odd that she's now a middle ages Black man! - Melanie
DeleteOkay, I'm putting Love Actually on my list this year. My must watch - It's a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street. Both originals, please. I've taken a Hallmark subscription this year to try to up my game with some newer movies.
ReplyDeleteCharlie Brown Christmas is a sentimental favorite but I don't think it's on a standard channel this year and my miserly self doesn't have all the streaming, binge watching channels out there. I used to watch Hallmark but when their Christmas movies start in July, it's just a bit much for me. I still seek out White Christmas. I love hear the voices of those classic cartoon movie soundtrack all the time. Burl Ives, Boris Karloff are voices that are as comforting as those movies are sentimental favorites.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen a Hallmark movie--we haven't had cable for years. So I was curious and looked up how to stream, and it seems that you can watch them on Peacock (which we have.) But oh my goodness there are a LOT of them! How many do they make every year??? It's an industry all on its own!!
ReplyDeleteSo many tough choices; hard to pick an absolute favorite. But very definitely Christmas in Connecticut is up there. We watch it every year. And for those with the DVD, there is the absolute gem accompanying it, which was the Academy Award winning short feature (1945) called Star in the Night, which apparently is only available as a feature on the Christmas in Connecticut DVD. What an absolute treasure.
ReplyDeleteAnd the best Hallmark Christmas movie ever is easily A Dog Named Christmas!
ReplyDeleteI have to add that DIE HARD is also a holiday must-watch - in fact, my family's tradition is to gather together and see it on Christmas Eve!
ReplyDeleteMy must watches: Charlie Brown, animated Grinch, one of the Santa Clause movies (usually the first) and either George C. Scott's A Christmas Carol of The Muppet Christmas Carol.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of Elf, A Christmas Story, or National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Maybe I watched them too late in life?
I have to push back a little on Rudolph. Yes, he gets bullied. That's the point. It's even in the song. And kids are horrible, so that fits. Yes, the island of misfit toys makes it look like you are going to be overlooked if you look different. But the point of the special is that what makes you different is an asset and you shouldn't be ostracized for it. You need to see that so that when Rudolph saves the day, the lesson really hits home. Now, should Santa and Rudolph's father treat him like they do? Absolutely not. I wish that hadn't been there. And I wish we got more time at the end with other character's apologizing to him. So it could be better, but I don't feel it is as flawed as most people do. Having said that, I don't usually go out of my way to watch it.
Mark, thanks for pointing out that, other than Rudolph’s dad (Donner?) and Santa, much of the story is to show how the “misfits” have great worth. And Julia, love, love, love your comment about Hermey! — Pat S
DeleteNot about Christmas but set at Christmas time, my favorites are The Thin Man (Myrna Loy is just so good) and The Desk Set (didn't Hallie's parents write the script for it and it stars Tracy and Spencer).
ReplyDeleteOoh, it’s been a while since I watched The Thin Man, adding to list.
DeleteMust watch at our house: White Christmas and the musical, Scrooge, with Albert Finney as Scrooge.
ReplyDeleteI just love It's a Wonderful Life, White Christmas, the animated Grinch, and A Christmas Story. And I have a (really this is true) contribution to the anti-Hallmark movie. Many, many years ago when I was in high school, I worked in the Boys' Department of a classic department store. A few days before Christmas, in came a family with a bunch of returns for various departments. They explained, as though this made sense, that they opened presents the week before Christmas, so they could return anything they didn't like before the return crowds after Christmas. Well, Merry Christmas family, whoever you were. - Melanie
ReplyDeleteYES!!! The Colin Firth scene is maddening!!! Then again, Colin Firth in a lake...I'm just saying!
ReplyDeleteWe borrowed a friend’s copy of Love Actually and it had a scratch or some kind of flaw that took out the Hugh Grant dancing (which may have been when he declared his love for his assistant). I just know that we were a little lost. And VERY upset that Alan Rickman treated Emma Thompson badly.
ReplyDeleteAs for favorites, I have to watch White Christmas and at least the first Santa Clause movie every year. We have a big storage bin with Christmas videos (and a separate bin with a CD carousel-type carrier filled with Christmas music) that I just brought out yesterday. I have never seen Christmas Vacation all the way through so this might be the year. I saw Christmas in Connecticut when I was a kid (and was surprised that the lady from The Big Valley was in it!), but not since. I admit I VCR’d a few Hallmark Christmas movies already. Like someone said above, I seek out my favorite actors. Those types of movies are especially good for the middle-of-the-night-when-I-just-can’t-sleep viewing.
And lastly, I think Jill has started everyone with a great plot for a JRW Christmas movie!! — Pat S
Christmas movies I enjoy run from cartoon to high octane. Without any order of what I like best, here are some I try to watch. Love Actually, The Muppet Christmas Carol, The Holiday, A Charlie Brown Christmas, A Christmas Story, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (even though I say I'm tired of it, if it's on, I end up watching it), Scrooged, Home Alone, The Family Man (a 2000 Nicolas Cage movie that I can't help but like), The Santa Clause, Miracle on 34th Street, A Christmas Carol with Patrick Stewart, and A Christmas Carol with George C. Scott. When the kids were little, we enjoyed Mickey's (as in Mickey Mouse) Christmas Carol. My two high octane movies are Die Hard and The Long Kiss Goodnight (Geena Davis and Samuel L. Jackson, a favorite movie anytime). And, I now know I have too watch The Man Who Invented Christmas. Oh, and I don't really watch the Hallmark movies, except for once in a great while.
ReplyDeleteI don’t watch many Christmas movies, I guess it has historically been a busy time at work. I do love A Christmas Story since I grew up in the glow of the open-hearth furnace in NW Indiana. We are going to see the musical this year.
ReplyDeleteI may have to check out A Castle for Christmas. Just met Cary Elwes at an event for his book As You Wish!
Hank, confused by your comment on Rudolf as a newer movie. The one with Burl Ives came out in 1964! Cheers, Elisabeth
ReplyDelete