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Favourite Christmas Movies
17 years ago
General
It's coming to be that time of year again, where the family will gather around the Yule Log and watch it smoulder (in my family, the Yule Log is any bit of wood that we can find. Last christmas it was the actual tree, and a few years ago it was my uncle's wooden leg. Thank god for liquor and eggnog.), a time of giving and recieving, fellowship among men, and that warm fuzzy feeling from the general spirit of the season. I'm not entirely sure if this extends into other holidays such as Channukah, Kwanza or Ramadan (I'm not entirely certain about the spelling on that one, but at least it's closer than how I pronounce it. "Rama-dama-ding-dong.)
There is, however, one ever lasting constant brought to us by the guys in the film industry, and that is the Christmas movies. These are a few that I would heartily recomend to anyone wishing to start the season right.
Nightmare Before Christmas
This film by Tim Burton takes a slightly macabre take on the holiday, which many people (myself included) thoroughly enjoyed. There's something about watching a man with the same approximate body proportions as a European supermodel dance around a village singing to himself while his cohorts back home stuff severed limbs into boxes to send to said villagers.
A Wonderful Life
Oh yeah, the Jimmy Stewart classic. Who could forget those wonderful (albeit slightly hard to understand) words "Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings." I rather liked this one, at least the part that's reminiscent of Back To The Future part II, where Jimmy/Marty stumble about a discordant Gulag, all the while getting nearly run down by cars, drunks, and prostitutes. Nothing says Christmas like "Hey sailor, feeling lucky?"
How The Grinch Stole Christmas
Bear in mind, that I'm referring to the early cartoon version of Dr Seuss phd's story, not the Jim Carrey film, which was equally humourous but for different reasons. The cartoon played like an acid trip, with bell hoopers and flung flounders going off in every part of my clack clunker. Upon later viewings of this movie, I realized just how similar it is to heist movies, such as Ocean's Eleven, The Italian Job, and The Thomas Crown Affair (the latter being the most relevant because he actually gives the stuff back at the end). Although I suppose some of the thrills of those works might have diminished slightly if Matt Damon and Elliot Goulde were stealing millions worth of styrofoam from Whoville...but I'd still go and see it.
Die Hard
I know what you're thinking. "Wait a minute, Die Hard? The shoot 'em up action movie starring Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman (still using his british accent) and the dude that played Ellis? That's no christmas movie!" Well, it takes place on Christmas, at a Christmas party, and John MacLain got a machine gun, ho ho ho. So yes, it is in fact a Christmas movie. This was the first one in the series of four, and the one that had us all saying "yipee ki yay mother fucker" for years after. Guns, C4, white people falling from the sky and more awesome one liners than 007 could have ever hoped for? Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...
There is, however, one ever lasting constant brought to us by the guys in the film industry, and that is the Christmas movies. These are a few that I would heartily recomend to anyone wishing to start the season right.
Nightmare Before Christmas
This film by Tim Burton takes a slightly macabre take on the holiday, which many people (myself included) thoroughly enjoyed. There's something about watching a man with the same approximate body proportions as a European supermodel dance around a village singing to himself while his cohorts back home stuff severed limbs into boxes to send to said villagers.
A Wonderful Life
Oh yeah, the Jimmy Stewart classic. Who could forget those wonderful (albeit slightly hard to understand) words "Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings." I rather liked this one, at least the part that's reminiscent of Back To The Future part II, where Jimmy/Marty stumble about a discordant Gulag, all the while getting nearly run down by cars, drunks, and prostitutes. Nothing says Christmas like "Hey sailor, feeling lucky?"
How The Grinch Stole Christmas
Bear in mind, that I'm referring to the early cartoon version of Dr Seuss phd's story, not the Jim Carrey film, which was equally humourous but for different reasons. The cartoon played like an acid trip, with bell hoopers and flung flounders going off in every part of my clack clunker. Upon later viewings of this movie, I realized just how similar it is to heist movies, such as Ocean's Eleven, The Italian Job, and The Thomas Crown Affair (the latter being the most relevant because he actually gives the stuff back at the end). Although I suppose some of the thrills of those works might have diminished slightly if Matt Damon and Elliot Goulde were stealing millions worth of styrofoam from Whoville...but I'd still go and see it.
Die Hard
I know what you're thinking. "Wait a minute, Die Hard? The shoot 'em up action movie starring Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman (still using his british accent) and the dude that played Ellis? That's no christmas movie!" Well, it takes place on Christmas, at a Christmas party, and John MacLain got a machine gun, ho ho ho. So yes, it is in fact a Christmas movie. This was the first one in the series of four, and the one that had us all saying "yipee ki yay mother fucker" for years after. Guns, C4, white people falling from the sky and more awesome one liners than 007 could have ever hoped for? Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...
