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  My blog was filled up. I'm too lazy to clean it out. So I started a new one. |
| Yes, I know the Hallmark Channel, the Hallmark Movie Channel, and a few others start running Christmas movies, mostly romances, made especially for TV, before Thanksgiving. Some of them are quite good, if you really want to watch TV and hate everything else on the 100 plus channels you have. After a few, I find I have trouble keeping them straight, and don't want to watch them over again. The titles are similar. The actors are on contract and appear in multiple movies. There are a lot of good ones, or good movies with Christmas settings but not so "good" stories. Bad Santa is one such movie, not to be viewed by children, yet I'm crazy about it. Maybe it's Billy Bob Thornton's charm coming through this creepy character. Maybe it's because he is rehabilitated, and the kid gets a happy ending. It makes you have hope despite the sordid details. However, it's hardly ever shown near Christmas, which is probably a good thing. It's A Wonderful Life in black and white is my favorite. It's film noir and it makes the mind soar with possibilities for one's own life. And everyone knows the line about when a bell rings, an angel gets his wings. Some people would vote for Chevy Chase in Christmas Vacation, Others would pick the first Home Alone. A local radio station did a call-in to see what listeners chose. This is a slow process so there aren't that many answers, but they include The Sound of Music, Die Hard, A Christmas Story, and A White Christmas. I think the DJ had already mentioned Elf, one of the top sellers, and Miracle on 34th Street. I was surprised no one mentioned Love Actually, which has been shown locally in our historic theater at Christmas last year to a sold out audience. Others would include The Santa Claus and The Santa Claus 2, both starring Tim Allen, Holiday Inn, starring Bing Crosby, Scrooged with Bill Murray, and Scrooge, the musical starring Albert Finney. It looks like Christmas with the Kranks is becoming a classic. I'm glad I read the book first by John Gresham, Skipping Christmas, on which the film is based. Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis were cute, but nothing like what I had imagined. Prancer, with Sam Elliot, who makes my heart beat faster, is pretty good. No one mentioned Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, starring John Candy and Steve Martin. That's definitely a Christmas based story. I like A Christmas Story because it is told from a child's point of view in retrospect, and it stars Darin McGaven, whom I have adored since I was a child watching River Boat. I also like Christmas in Connecticut, in black and white with Barbara Stanwyck, not the newer versions. The movie that introduced the Walton's was an excellent Christmas movie. I saw a good one the other night for the first time, Deck The Halls. It starred Matthew Broderick and Danny Devito, and was one of those movies that plays up the catharsis. Just when you're laughing your head off at the antics of these two men, someone draws you in with serious dialog and your eyes swell up with tears. The woman playing Broderick's wife got the best lines, which include something like this: Life is made up of the little chocolate milk and French fry moments. (loose quote) So what is you favorite Christmas movie? It doesn't have to be a Christmas story, just have a Christmas setting, like Die Hard. I've even compared several versions of A Christmas Carol--one with George C Scott, one with Patrick Stewart, and a 1935 British version with Sim Sinclair. The story is always the same, of course, but there are interesting differences in interpretation. We all visualize something different when we read. I'd love to hear about ones you've seen. |
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