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Post by brutalis on Dec 3, 2019 7:29:43 GMT -5
I might come up with a big zero for this one, since I'm not a great fan of Christmas movies in general and the handful that I do like I don't feel like re-watching right now. However, I'll be home for Christmas again this year so it's possible I might see something that my mother has playing on the tv set. My goal for this month will be to find something that can reasonably be called a Christmas movie and that I really do want to watch, not just something I can put up with for the sake of not posting a zero. Also, hopefully, something I haven't seen before. Plenty of movies with Christmas within them and not truly the focus of the movie. Sure you can find a few to enjoy and participate in the fun. Quite a few Action and Horror movies come to mind rather readily. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Dec 8, 2019 18:18:42 GMT -5
I watched the movie Noel on Disney+ with the wife...and I didn't hate it. It was attempting to be an off beat modern Christmas movie like Elf but the actors just didn't sell it like Will Farrel did. It wasn't terrible by any means, and I'd sooner watch it again than the Halmark Christmas movies the Mrs. usually enjoys but it wasn't my cup of tea.
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Post by brutalis on Dec 9, 2019 8:31:26 GMT -5
Watched a few Christmas movies this weekend. Began with White Christmas from Michael Curtiz starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen. What more can you say again about a classic that endures today? Just sit back and enjoy! Watched 2 Hallmark style holiday romance/royalty movies that are scrumptious viewing for the eyes and hit the proper holdiay sentimental notes: Christmas at the Palace and A Princess for Christmas. Both capable of bringing tears if you are not too curmudgeonly. Final movie was Deck the Halls with Danny DeVito and Matthew Broderick as feuding neighbors during the holidays. Mostly filled with pranks and prat falls in trying to be humorous but little to actually laugh at.
EDIT: forgot to mention A Princess for Christmas has Katie McGrath (from Supergilr) in it and Roger Moore playing a cranky old Duke meeting his 2 grandchildren after their parents death and learning to open his heart and familial love. Kind of a Scroogeish role and you can really see that he was enjoying himself in the role
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Post by brutalis on Dec 12, 2019 9:03:59 GMT -5
Last night while cooking up for the hospital Potluck I enjoyed Muppet Christmas Carol from 1992. Get to see Michael Caine playing an exquisite Ebenezer Scrooge and the excellently cast Kermit as Bob Cratchit. Some quite inventive Christmas Spirit Muppetry for past and present and future visitations and quite stunningly designed sets. There will be several more Christmas Carols' to watch once more in the next 2 weeks!
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Post by Prince Hal on Dec 12, 2019 12:16:42 GMT -5
Have already seen (not for the first time, of course) three versions of A Christmas Carol: the 1938 MGM version, the tour-de-force by Alastair Sim from 1951, and a more recent discovery, the 1935 movie version with Seymour Hicks.
Still on my "will watch" list are the George C. Scott, Patrick Stewart, and Mr. Magoo versions.
I find each of these compelling in its own way, especially after having seen them many times.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Dec 12, 2019 13:52:53 GMT -5
Have already seen (not for the first time, of course) three versions of A Christmas Carol: the 1938 MGM version, the tour-de-force by Alastair Sim from 1951, and a more recent discovery, the 1935 movie version with Seymour Hicks. Still on my "will watch" list are the George C. Scott, Patrick Stewart, and Mr. Magoo versions. I find each of these compelling in its own way, especially after having seen them many times. Ah, but you've neglected my favorite version of all, less for its adherence to the source material, and more for its rich underlying tone. I shed tears everytime. But it's far more fun to leave you guessing what version I'm thinking of. |
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Post by Prince Hal on Dec 12, 2019 14:27:14 GMT -5
Have already seen (not for the first time, of course) three versions of A Christmas Carol: the 1938 MGM version, the tour-de-force by Alastair Sim from 1951, and a more recent discovery, the 1935 movie version with Seymour Hicks. Still on my "will watch" list are the George C. Scott, Patrick Stewart, and Mr. Magoo versions. I find each of these compelling in its own way, especially after having seen them many times. Ah, but you've neglected my favorite version of all, less for its adherence to the source material, and more for its rich underlying tone. I shed tears everytime. But it's far more fun to leave you guessing what version I'm thinking of. I didn't mention a couple of others we usually watch: The Muppets' version, Mickey's Christmas, Scrooge (with Albert Finney), but methinks you are thinking of something else, perhaps? I'm hoping I haven't heard of it if it has moved you so and I can enjoy yet another take on one of my favorite stories. |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Dec 12, 2019 15:45:03 GMT -5
Ah, but you've neglected my favorite version of all, less for its adherence to the source material, and more for its rich underlying tone. I shed tears everytime. But it's far more fun to leave you guessing what version I'm thinking of. I didn't mention a couple of others we usually watch: The Muppets' version, Mickey's Christmas, Scrooge (with Albert Finney), but methinks you are thinking of something else, perhaps? I'm hoping I haven't heard of it if it has moved you so and I can enjoy yet another take on one of my favorite stories. Mickey's Christmas Carol. There's a rawness to it, an unapologetic acknowledgement of the sadness underlying the whole thing. It's beautiful, but it also dangles on the edge of tragedy. The visuals, voice acting, and music communicate both the severity and warmth so powerfully for me, even while the dialogue is pretty straightforward fare. Or maybe it's just my nostalgia. |
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Post by Prince Hal on Dec 12, 2019 16:50:18 GMT -5
No, Shax, I get it entirely. Christmas Carol is uplifting, but its inspirational character is based on an extraordinary, if not miraculous, intervention. Though much will change because of Scrooge's transformation, his sphere of influence is not so wide that many of the poor people whose lives we glimpse will be lifted. Scrooge should/ could be a stand-in for society at large, but even Dickens and the Spirits of Christmas couldn't imagine that large a transformation occurring. I think that lingers with us. (My kids and I always were appropriately chilled by Pete as the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.) Much like Wonderful Life, which is derided by casual viewers as "Capra-corn" and mawkish sentimentality, CC never avoids showing us the fragile nature of happiness, which depends more on randomness than many of us prefer to believe. In its most famous sequence, George in Pottersville (shades of Ulysses in Nighttown!), we see as forbidding a film noir as was ever made, as dark and hopeless a vision of life as the one shown Scrooge by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. The problem is that those visions come far closer to reality for many of us than the rest of the respective stories. BTW, Shax, this Barks painting is said to be the inspiration for the look of the opening scene in Mickey's CC:  |
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Post by codystarbuck on Dec 12, 2019 20:28:47 GMT -5
I quite like Blackadder's Christmas Carol, where Ebenezer Blackadder, Victorian goody-two-shoes and perpetual doormat to the community who is visited by a Christmas spirit, who has imbibed in too many Christmas spirits, and shows him his nastier ancestors, the future of the clan, and the future if Ebenezer wasn't so good. Jim Broadbent is especially fun as Prince Albert.
Scrooged is actually a fairly emotional take on the material and always gets me right at the end.
Not the best in the world; but, an interesting variation on it was the tv movie An American Christmas Carol, with Henry Winkler. It is set during the Great Depression, with Winkler as the Scrooge figure (named Slate), with a somewhat more believable past for the character and an interesting future, which brings things full circle. David Wayne is especially good as a bookseller, who has a first edition of the original.
My introduction to the tale was Chuck Jones' animated version, with Alistair Sim recording the voice of Scrooge (he was not in good health and it carries over into the vocal performance. It truncated things a bit; but, the rendering of the period and the ghost is wonderful. You can catch it on Youtube.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Dec 12, 2019 20:31:42 GMT -5
Scrooged is actually a fairly emotional take on the material and always gets me right at the end. Very much so. Possibly my very favorite Bull Murray film. |
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Post by Prince Hal on Dec 12, 2019 23:54:02 GMT -5
Anybody remember hearing Lionel Barrymore's Scrooge on the LP that was a recording of his annual radio broadcast?
He was slated to be Scrooge in '38, but his arthritis prevented it and Reginald Owen got the assignment.
I listened to it often and was enthralled by it when we were at my grandmothers's house. (She had a hi-fi; we only had what everyone called a Victrola.)
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Dec 13, 2019 10:55:27 GMT -5
Anybody remember hearing Lionel Barrymore's Scrooge on the LP that was a recording of his annual radio broadcast? He was slated to be Scrooge in '38, but his arthritis prevented it and Reginald Owen got the assignment. I listened to it often and was enthralled by it when we were at my grandmothers's house. (She had a hi-fi; we only had what everyone called a Victrola.) I really need to hear this. Barrymore is perfect for the role! |
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Post by Prince Hal on Dec 13, 2019 11:20:20 GMT -5
Anybody remember hearing Lionel Barrymore's Scrooge on the LP that was a recording of his annual radio broadcast? He was slated to be Scrooge in '38, but his arthritis prevented it and Reginald Owen got the assignment. I listened to it often and was enthralled by it when we were at my grandmothers's house. (She had a hi-fi; we only had what everyone called a Victrola.) I really need to hear this. Barrymore is perfect for the role! Try this, Shax: |
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Post by brutalis on Dec 16, 2019 8:47:53 GMT -5
More Christmas movies watched over the weekend while wrapping gifts (yay I am finished wrapping!) up for friends.
Christmas on the Range with Erin Cahill, Nicholas Gonzalez, A. Martinez and Lindsay Wagner is a well done story and acted movie with spectacular mountain scenery telling the story of 2 families connected that are fighting a Romeo-Juliet setting on cattle ranches. Very touching and moving without a lot of over done soap opera or fake romantics. Very enjoyable.
The Santa Clause: Tim Allen silly fun romp with him becoming the man in the red suit. Who hasn't seen this?
A Christmas Carol: 1999'S Patrick Stewart as Scrooge. Very dark, grim and "depressing" without the Christmasy cheer. Worth seeing for Stewart chewing up the scenery.
Holiday Inn: 1954's Crosby and Astaire romping through the holiday seasons with an emphasis upon winter. Great songs and dances throughout!
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Finding Father Christmas and it's sequel Engaging Father Christmas: Hallmark movies set around Christmas with a woman who lost her mother at age 9 and never knew her fathers name. 20 years later as an adult she is given her mothers old actors bag which leads her to a small town in New England in search of her father. She finds a love and family that she has never known before. Entertaining and emotional.
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