24 Days of Christmas Movies: What Did You Watch Today?

ploverwing said:
Christmas Story - required watching in our household each Christmas. Love it.
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This is a polarizing movie in my household. I love it and agree that it's a very worthy annual watch. My wife hates it. I'm still trying to understand why she dislikes it so. I think part of it is because the movie comes from the perspective of a boy and she can't relate to that point of view or what it's like to grow up as a boy. I also think that part of it is that she can't relate to the time period and how that influences the story. It's supposed to take place in 1940 which is almost 20 years before my time, almost 30 years if you put me at Ralphie's age. Even though it was before my time I could relate to so much of it because I grew up in a small town that was behind the times in my youth so there were still a lot of vestiges of the 40's that I could relate to. (I remember there was still a leatherworking saddlery with worn wooden floors and leather yolks for horses still on display among other things. I remember picking up a pair of repaired shoes for my Dad. I also remember stores with retractable canvas awnings over the sidewalk which probably predates the 40's!) I could also really relate to one of the big plot points in the movie. Ralphie wanted the Red Ryder BB gun more than anything and for me it was a Daisy BB gun. I was still of an age where I believed in Santa Claus and can clearly remember what a thrill it was to find one under the Christmas tree! For me, the whole feel and vibe of the movie is a fond and warm nostalgia trip.
 
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I never realized that A Christmas Story was set in the '40s...I thought it was the '60s.
Today I'm watching Meet Me in St. Louis with Judy Garland.
 
I'm having a hard time trying to figure out if most of the films I've watched so far are really Christmas movies at all. Sure, they happen at Christmas time, but that's about it. Is that enough to qualify it as a Christmas movie? To that end, tonights Christmas film will be Batman Returns with Michelle Pfeiffer and others.
 
Mike $ said:
I'm having a hard time trying to figure out if most of the films I've watched so far are really Christmas movies at all. Sure, they happen at Christmas time, but that's about it. Is that enough to qualify it as a Christmas movie? To that end, tonights Christmas film will be Batman Returns with Michelle Pfeiffer and others.
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For me Christmas movies have to be pretty holiday specific and reliant or very closely related. (Ex., Home Alone might squeak by as a Christmas movie but I don't really consider it one because the main jist of the story is Kevin being alone and dealing with the burglers.) I doubt anyone would contest anything on my Christmas movie list, it's pretty traditional and conventional. But everyone's traditions are different. I never considered Die Hard a Christmas movie but I know people who do so I'm not going to argue with them if that's their annual tradition. I heard somewhere that someone asked Bruce Willis if Die Hard was a Christmas movie and he had the perfect reply. He said it was a Bruce Willis movie!
 
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mikelz777 said:
I never considered Die Hard a Christmas movie but I know people who do so I'm not going to argue with them if that's their annual tradition.
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Definitely been part of our tradition for 35 years -- in fact it CREATED the tradition of "Christmas movies where things blow up." Hence The Long Kiss Goodnight being on the list too.

I count both of those as Christmas movies, because they only make sense as Christmas movies. Take away Christmas, and you don't just have to rewrite a few lines -- you have to rewrite entire swaths of the movie. Why is Bruce on an airplane? Christmas. Why are people in the building that isn't technically open? Christmas party. Why is Ellis snorting cocaine? Christmas. LOL On and on and on. COULD you write a version of Die Hard without Christmas? Yeah, I guess, but it'd be a big freaking deal, and would change a lot about the tone.

Note that NOBODY here is talking about Die Hard 2 as a Christmas movie, even though it too takes place at Christmas...because really, Christmas is just the day on the calendar. Has nothing to do with the action. They could have been at the airport for Thanksgiving, and other than the snow, it wouldn't have changed a thing, and the snow was really only there for a snowmobile fight. Didn't need to be there at all. NOT a Christmas movie, even though it takes place at Christmas.

I'm putting RED in the NOT a Christmas movie, even if it is most definitely part of our "Christmas movies where things blow up" tradition, because we like it, and it's our watchlist. :) But once you get past the opening scene, there's nothing irreplaceably holiday-oriented at all. I'll say the same thing about Lethal Weapon, which is NOT on our list (just don't like it enough, nothing specific), because Christmas is irrelevant to the plot, except to add a little color.

Christmas is essential to The Long Kiss Goodnight, though, for even more reasons than Die Hard. There's a Christmas parade that sets the plot in motion, the snow and ice are essential to a number of key plot points and general events (plus Geena the sharpshooter WHILE ICE SKATING is nutso!), the feeling of family cheer, Geena in the kitchen, and the climactic fight with Christmas lights as deadly weapons -- that's just scratching the surface. Christmas all the way.

There's certainly another aspect of Christmas movies where the characters discover a new appreciation for the "true meaning of Christmas" -- of which there are almost as many as there are Christmas movies, which is as it should be imo -- your Christmas is not the boss of my Christmas, any more than mine is the boss of yours after all....but I generally don't care much for those movies, unless they're Elf, and I think a great many people would take issue of that perspective on the true meaning of Christmas anyway. :)

I don't remember anyone mentioning The Miracle on 34th Street, but man, I love that one. The original is the best -- Maureen O'Hara, Edmund Gwenn, Natalie Wood, are you kiddin' me??? -- and it's good enough to have been remade FOUR MORE TIMES. (Don't get me started. And yes, I've seen them all, which is why I'm begging you.)

As part of a long line of New Yorkers, I'm especially partial to a story that begins with Santa in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, because (and here is A Truth That Is Boss Of Us All) Christmas does not begin one moment before, or one minute after, the appearance of Santa at the end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. :ROFLMAO: And at the risk of getting political, I also have a belated appreciation for the role of the US Postal Service as the heroes of the story. This remains my one and only non-Elf "meaning of Christmas" movie worth rewatching.

That said, I did in fact watch an ACTUAL Christmas movie in late November that I forgot about, but enjoyed quite a bit: Dashing Through the Snow on Disney+, with Chris "Ludacris" Bridges and Lil Rel Howery. Chris is a much put-upon social worker, who is trying to escort an apparently delusional man (OR IS HE????) who thinks he's Santa Claus (OR IS HE????) (Lil Rel) to the police for safe keeping. Midnight Run is one of my all-time favorites, and this is nowhere as good as that, but the notion of escorting a guy who may not be telling the whole truth, accompanied by the dawning awareness that the destination will not be as safe as originally presumed, with a hilarious cast of characters and mishaps along the way, is actually quite entertaining.

There's also a "Sad Dad" subset of Christmas movies, and this definitely falls into that. Chris's parents broke up at Christmas when he was 8, and now his own daughter is 8 and he and his wife are separated, and he can't figure out how to stop history from repeating itself, certain that his own fear is making things worse, which it is. It winds up being more moving than it actually earns...especially because it came out BEFORE Santa showed up in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I have no idea what Disney was thinking, but I rarely do. :ROFLMAO: Recommended nonetheless.
 
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TimWilson said:
Definitely been part of our tradition for 35 years -- in fact it CREATED the tradition of "Christmas movies where things blow up." Hence The Long Kiss Goodnight being on the list too.

I count both of those as Christmas movies, because they only make sense as Christmas movies. Take away Christmas, and you don't just have to rewrite a few lines -- you have to rewrite entire swaths of the movie. Why is Bruce on an airplane? Christmas. Why are people in the building that isn't technically open? Christmas party. Why is Ellis snorting cocaine? Christmas. LOL On and on and on. COULD you write a version of Die Hard without Christmas? Yeah, I guess, but it'd be a big freaking deal, and would change a lot about the tone.

Note that NOBODY here is talking about Die Hard 2 as a Christmas movie, even though it too takes place at Christmas...because really, Christmas is just the day on the calendar. Has nothing to do with the action. They could have been at the airport for Thanksgiving, and other than the snow, it wouldn't have changed a thing, and the snow was really only there for a snowmobile fight. Didn't need to be there at all. NOT a Christmas movie, even though it takes place at Christmas.

I'm putting RED in the NOT a Christmas movie, even if it is most definitely part of our "Christmas movies where things blow up" tradition, because we like it, and it's our watchlist. :) But once you get past the opening scene, there's nothing irreplaceably holiday-oriented at all. I'll say the same thing about Lethal Weapon, which is NOT on our list (just don't like it enough, nothing specific), because Christmas is irrelevant to the plot, except to add a little color.

Christmas is essential to The Long Kiss Goodnight, though, for even more reasons than Die Hard. There's a Christmas parade that sets the plot in motion, the snow and ice are essential to a number of key plot points and general events (plus Geena the sharpshooter WHILE ICE SKATING is nutso!), the feeling of family cheer, Geena in the kitchen, and the climactic fight with Christmas lights as deadly weapons -- that's just scratching the surface. Christmas all the way.

There's certainly another aspect of Christmas movies where the characters discover a new appreciation for the "true meaning of Christmas" -- of which there are almost as many as there are Christmas movies, which is as it should be imo -- your Christmas is not the boss of my Christmas, any more than mine is the boss of yours after all....but I generally don't care much for those movies, unless they're Elf, and I think a great many people would take issue of that perspective on the true meaning of Christmas anyway. :)

I don't remember anyone mentioning The Miracle on 34th Street, but man, I love that one. The original is the best -- Maureen O'Hara, Edmund Gwenn, Natalie Wood, are you kiddin' me??? -- and it's good enough to have been remade FOUR MORE TIMES. (Don't get me started. And yes, I've seen them all, which is why I'm begging you.)

As part of a long line of New Yorkers, I'm especially partial to a story that begins with Santa in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, because (and here is A Truth That Is Boss Of Us All) Christmas does not begin one moment before, or one minute after, the appearance of Santa at the end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. :ROFLMAO: And at the risk of getting political, I also have a belated appreciation for the role of the US Postal Service as the heroes of the story. This remains my one and only non-Elf "meaning of Christmas" movie worth rewatching.

That said, I did in fact watch an ACTUAL Christmas movie in late November that I forgot about, but enjoyed quite a bit: Dashing Through the Snow on Disney+, with Chris "Ludacris" Bridges and Lil Rel Howery. Chris is a much put-upon social worker, who is trying to escort an apparently delusional man (OR IS HE????) who thinks he's Santa Claus (OR IS HE????) (Lil Rel) to the police for safe keeping. Midnight Run is one of my all-time favorites, and this is nowhere as good as that, but the notion of escorting a guy who may not be telling the whole truth, accompanied by the dawning awareness that the destination will not be as safe as originally presumed, with a hilarious cast of characters and mishaps along the way, is actually quite entertaining.

There's also a "Sad Dad" subset of Christmas movies, and this definitely falls into that. Chris's parents broke up at Christmas when he was 8, and now his own daughter 8 and he and his wife are separated, and he can't figure out how to stop history from repeating itself, certain that his own fear is making things worse, which it is. It winds up being more moving than it actually earns...especially because it came out BEFORE Santa showed up in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I have no idea what Disney was thinking, but I rarely do. :ROFLMAO: Recommended nonetheless.
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I'll have to check out some of the movies you mentioned here, there are several I haven't seen.

Your post got me thinking about the themes of my annual favorite Christmas movies/shows and I think only one points to the birth of Christ as the true meaning of Christmas and not all the "busy-ness" of what the season often entails. (A Charlie Brown Christmas) The majority of them revolve around Santa Claus or fall in that periphery. (The Year Without A Santa Claus, Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, Elf, Fred Claus) The rest revolve around personal transformation, peace, goodwill, loving, caring for, and helping fellow mankind. (Multiple and various versions of A Christmas Carol, It's A Wonderful Life) I suppose The Grinch Who Stole Christmas (1966) could fit in the latter two categories. A Christmas Story is more a story of the Christmas season as seen through the eyes of a nine year old boy so I'm not sure where that fits in.
 
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Tonight's viewing will be the 1951 film, Scrooge, or A Christmas Carol, with Alastair Sim. I haven't seen this version before. I am used to seeing the 1938 version on Family Classics with Frazier Thomas.
 
Yesterday I watched It's a Wonderful Life, my number one favorite movie of any kind. I also watched Meet John Doe. Will get to a some more in the next couple of days.
 
Today it's The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.
 
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Today was a big movie day as my wife was home with no plans other than wrapping gifts and taking it easy after a couple of busy weeks so she was playing a little catch up.

The Preacher's Wife (1996) - This is one of her holiday favorites. I personally wouldn't choose this one but it's OK. After watching it again it made me curious to check out the 1948 original with Cary Grant and Loretta Young. I haven't seen it and read that it's supposed to be worthwhile.

A Charlie Brown Christmas - A classic and an annual must-watch! A perfect marriage of music and content. I love listening to the soundtrack each year as well. It planted the seeds in my childhood mind which eventually grew into a love for jazz.

Love Actually - I quite like this movie and it will get an annual watch if my wife and I have the time to sit down and watch it during the Christmas holiday. Bill Nighy is a hoot and has one of my favorite story lines in the movie. 😄

White Christmas - This one's a favorite for many but I'm pretty ambivalent about it. I also don't share their affinity for snow. It's great to look at until you have to shovel it, drive in it or have to deal with it in any other way. (Bah, humbug!)
 
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There's an interesting piece in The Guardian today examining the most watched movies at Christmas in the UK. Trends are changing, naturally, but as well as the vast majority of films at Christmas not being Christmas films, the real surprise for me was which Christmas movie has actually been broadcast the most: rather than A Christmas Carol or It's a Wonderful Life, that accolade goes to… Santa Claus: The Movie…

'The film, which left the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw asking why “there are no workhouses for the people who made it”, has aired 21 times on UK screens since its 1985 release.'
 
Just got notified the power company is disabling power to the area because of an "event". Probably means they broke something trying to repair old infrastructure.

Hoping we are able to enjoy the day- 1951 A Christmas Carol, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer; White Christmas; A Charlie Brown Christmas...It's A Wonderful Life- are all on tap for today!

Merry Christmas to everyone at Ukulele Underground!
 
Then we got to see Patrick Stewart in A Christmas Carol. Best Ebeneezer Scrooge ever.

Last eve we saw A Christmas Story Christmas, a follow up to A Christmas Story. The sequel is just as good as the original.
 
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