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It is the day before Christmas, and all through the land, there isn’t any news. A City of Calgary access bus was stuck bad at our cul-de-sac entrance, making my son very late for work. He wouldn’t let us help (there were enough guys to push him out), and he was stuck there for about an hour and a half.
Pushing other people’s cars out of the way was a good way to start the day. I’m going to sit for a while now.
So, in the spirit of the season, I’m recycling a post from Christmas past.
What Christmas movies or TV specials that you can’t live without at this time of year?
For me, I have to watch A Wonderful Life and Holiday Inn each year.
A Wonderful Life I’ve likely watched 50+ times. I can do all the lines. It’s always good to have a reminder about the importance of friends. “No man is a failure if he has friends”/I’ll admit to tearing up at the end every time I see it. The funny thing about the movie is that it wasn’t popular when it came out. It was too dark. People didn’t like it., but Jimmy Stewart would always name it when asked his favorite movie and, well, it was cheap to put on TV (someone forgot to renew the copyright), so it got played at Christmas over and over. Times changed. It didn’t seem so dark.
Add in that James Stewart would name it as his favorite movie any time asked and that through a mistake, the copywrite lapsed and TV stations could play it basically for free.
It is kind of funny that the town of Bedford Falls is much more interesting in the time when he didn’t exist. As my son points out, the town is supposedly worse because there is more ethnic diversity. And, of course, his wife’s life is ruined because she has a career. Oh my god, a woman has a job, isn’t that awful.
Of course, my favorite and my most quoted line is: “You call this a happy family. Why’d we have to have so many children.” I relate to that line. (My wife would like me to tell you that I’m joking. She says I love my children.)
But, with all that, I love the movie.
Holiday Inn isn’t a great movie. You have to be a fan of old Hollywood musicals to like it. Bing Crosby at his best minimalist acting and great singing. Fred Astaire dancing and showing off his limited acting ability. A pretty silly plot: Bing is lazy (maybe that’s why I can identify), opens an inn that will only be open on holidays, and, as always in these movies, they fight over a girl. Though with how they treat her, I have no idea why the girl would want either of them, but that’s the way those movies go. Women in those movies didn’t have much choice in men.
I also watch the Alastair Sim Christmas Carol movie.
I have to watch these in the original black and white. I think of colorizing is sort of like remixing old music. I want the original vision of the artists.
And I love the original How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Not a movie, but I still like to see it. I loved Chuck Jones cartoons, and this was one of my favorites. I get a kick out of them doing extended version movies and wonder how they can pad out that little bit of story for an hour and a half. I used to need to see the Charlie Brown Christmas, but either it hasn’t aged well, or my tastes have changed.
Anyway, those are my favorites, tell us about the ones you like best.
Poll
My Favorite Christmas Movie is
This poll is closed
-
8%
Home Alone
(12 votes) -
9%
Elf
(14 votes) -
13%
It’s a Wonderful Life
(19 votes) -
11%
Die Hard (not a Christmas movie to me)
(16 votes) -
15%
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
(23 votes) -
1%
White Christmas
(2 votes) -
1%
Holiday Inn
(2 votes) -
7%
Christmas Carol
(11 votes) -
4%
Love Actually
(6 votes) -
4%
Bad Santa
(7 votes) -
4%
Scrooged
(7 votes) -
1%
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Jim Carry, not the great tv cartoon)
(2 votes) -
0%
The Polar Express
(0 votes) -
15%
Something else
(23 votes)