Unlikely Christmas Movies

[pjAngel]

I was watching the above for the umpteenth time last night and was struck with what a great Christmas movie it was. I had forgotten that. Not only is it probably the funniest movie ever made, Preston Sturges' best point-in-fact, it ends during the holiday season, making it ideal viewing for this time of year.

We all love It's a Wonderful Life and other Christmas movies, especially those that feature Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range model air rifles, but what films do you like to watch during Christmas that aren't really Christmas movies?

I'm going to start with DIE HARD. I always pull that one off the shelf in December. Other than it taking place during the Holidays there is nothing Christmas-y about the darn thing, but there it is, one of my perennial late December favorites. Go figure.

By the way, isn't that a great HS (or TC) image?

pj

[kovacs01]

Swiss Family Robinson

Definitely not a Christmas movie, but it has a Christmas song in it, and I grew up watching it.  And, its a great family movie.

[CSM]

Die Hard 

[cinemarts]

I appear to be headed for a film noir bender as we head into Christmas week.
THIS GUN FOR HIRE tonight.
Interesting just how much of Melville's LE SAMOURAI protagonist owes to
Alan Ladd's portrayal of Raven, the amoral hitman.

[CSM]

Excellent movie Phil.  I am sure you will enjoy as you no doubt have in the past.

[kovacs01]

I just watched 4 Christmases and was really pleasantly surprised.  It was really funny.  It was what Meet the Parents would have been without the excessively irritating Ben Stiller.

[easyenders]

'get carter' maybe not normally associated with christmas, but michael caine could be viewed has an alternative Father Christmas dishing out his own brand of seasonal cheer. it's a perfect compliment to all the other mush that is going on at this time of the year.

will

[kauaitx]

Hello, PJ!   It's been so long since you've been around.  Your presence is missed.  How goes the weather tracking?  Were you watching the East Coast snow storm?

As for unlikely Christmas movies, well, how "un"-anything can Star Wars be?  You can never go wrong with 16 hours straight of Star Wars.  Thirty-two hours if you count how I'd change the order in which I watch them.  Take that, Prequels haters!   REVENGE OF THE SITH is the best movie EVER!  (In case I failed to mention it before now.)   

This year, I'm doing a Battlestar Galactica marathon on Blu-Ray.  Assuming I don't get called in.

And I'd watch It's a Wonderful Life any time during the year.



Jeannie

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

Take that, Prequels haters!  REVENGE OF THE SITH is the best movie EVER!  (In case I failed to mention it before now.)  

Jeannie

My (stolen) thoughts: "The general opinion of Revenge of the Sith seems to be that it marks a distinct improvement on the last two episodes, 'The Phantom Menace' and 'Attack of the Clones.' True, but only in the same way that dying from natural causes is preferable to crucifixion." (The New Yorker)

But I do love the Phantom Menace teaser poster:

[pjAngel]

Hi Jeannie!

Yeah, I come and go alot, don't I. I'm never too far away and keep up as much as I can and none of you are ever too far from my thoughts. Too many forum friends, here and there, to completely disappear, I'd miss them too much. Especailly my Kauai-Friend from Houston. 

Still the weatherman doing my National Weather Service thing and the only thing I can say about the East Coast storm is, that while I feel for everyone there (well, maybe not everyone. There are few politicians I won't name that need a snowball to the face), I'm glad it's there this year and not in Idaho like it was last Christmas. I know what they're going through.

So, you like Star Wars movies, huh? That's news. I never would have guessed. 

Still sticking with ESB as the best in the SW series and certainly one of the better sequels ever made. I'm good with that.

Tonight I'm watching the 1937 version of The Prisoner of Zenda with Ronald Colman. Also on the same DVD is the 1952 Technicolor version with Granger and Kerr, which, for some reason, I don't give a hoot about.

I just bought The Hangover and that needs watching.

The Prisoner of Zenda and The Hangover make a pretty weird double-feature. I may need "medication" afterwards. Or before.

pj

[kauaitx]

I, for one, am very glad to know that you're at the National Weather Service keeping an eye out for us, PJ.   And I hear that's there another storm heading north and east, so you might just be in the brunt of things in oh-so cold Idaho.  (How different from when you were working in Hawaii, right?) 

I've never heard of The Hangover, but how a propos it would be for New Year's Day.

I'm looking forward to seeing what posters you've been picking up, PJ.

As for you, Mel, lucky for you I'm still too sleepy to rage against the shameful lack of love for the best movie ever made.   I do admit that the the Phantom Menace teaser is the best of all the Prequels posters and the one for Revenge of the Sith could have been better.  The advance poster campaign for Attack of the Clones is really good, though, and very romantic.  The US advance version seemed to draw mixed responses, but it's one of my favorites.  The Italian advance for AOTC is one of my Holy Grails and I only know one other person who has it, though it's not the bus stop version that I've been looking for for years. 

I am feeling the need for some Star Wars....



Jeannie

[CSM]

The Original Trilogy (well the 1997 special editions anyways) is marathoning (probably not a work but fits fell) on SpikeTV today...

Not watching them right now but flipping through I've already seen an improved death explosion and extended Wampa rampages!

[Bruce]

Holiday Affair takes place at Christmas, but is a great offbeat love story, and Mitchum and Janet Leigh have great chemistry and both are as good as ever.

Bruce

[paul waines]

I always have quite a lot of Laurel & hardy, and the Marx bros at Christmas. It also seems the right time to break out the Universal monsters again (though I need no excuse for these). My Harryhausen collection gets quite a bit of playing, mostly his Black & whites. As dose some of the early (50's/60's) Hammer films.