Do you have a favorite Christmas movie you save for the holidays?
I love "The Christmas Carol" with Patrick Stewart...
I intend to get a DVD of it this year if I can find it.
I also like catching the old cartoons..."Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", "Frosty the Snowman" and all those kids shows from when I was a kid...
ANY holiday?
Then it's got to be Sleepy Hollow. ;D
Great flick for Halloween. ;D When I finally saw it, however ::) I liked it and I didn't like it. I liked it, but I thought, either they should have gone with the business of Crane being a "modern," "scientific" detective--and had it turn out to be nothing supernatural--or else they should have dropped the opening bit about modern science and just made it all supernatural. The mixture of the two left me feeling kind of--I don't know--eh? :-\
that is a HOLIDAY show?!?
I like "A Christmas Carol" too Jess. But my favorite version is the one with George C. Scott as Scrooge. I think it was made in the late 1980s.
Actually, David, it goes all the way back to 1984.
But, thank heavens, I've finally found someone else who likes that version! :laugh:
I love that version! What a great cast: George C. Scott, David Warner, Roger Rees, Susannah York, Edward Woodward. ... :D
My favorite is, and will always be, "It's a Wonderful Life", with Jimmy Stewart.
Brad
Steve and I pick a night when it's snowing and the tree is up, build a big fire, fix Blueberry Tea (decafe English breakfast tea, shot and a half of GrandMarnia (sp), shot of Amaretto, and lemon peel--devine) and immerse ourselves in that movie. Crying like babies when it's done. Perfect.
Brad
Steve and I pick a night when it's snowing and the tree is up, build a big fire, fix Blueberry Tea (decafe English breakfast tea, shot and a half of GrandMarnia (sp), shot of Amaretto, and lemon peel--devine) and immerse ourselves in that movie. Crying like babies when it's done. Perfect.
Brad
And yummy. :)
My favorite is, and will always be, "It's a Wonderful Life", with Jimmy Stewart.
Brad
Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings! ;)
Do you have a favorite Christmas movie you save for the holidays?
I love "The Christmas Carol" with Patrick Stewart...
I intend to get a DVD of it this year if I can find it.
I also like catching the old cartoons..."Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", "Frosty the Snowman" and all those kids shows from when I was a kid...
This particular production is one of my all time favorites! My daughter gave it to me a few years ago as a Christmas present, and I truly treasure it. I may go watch it a little later on. My other Christmas security blanket movies:
Jingle all the Way
A Christmas Carol (Alistar Sim)
The Kid who Loved Christmas
A Diva's Christmas Carol (Vanessa Williams)
Ebbie (Susan Lucci)
Scrooged
The Santa Clause franchise
Are we allowed to make lists? :D
A Christmas Carol with George C. Scott
The Preacher's Wife
Home Alone
Steel Magnolias (I realize this isn't necessarily a Christmas movie, but try watching it as you're wrapping presents and you'll see what I mean!)
Prancer
The Santa Clause (I love Tim Allen!)
A Christmas Story
The Littlest Angel (Does anyone remember this one? I haven't seen it in years.)
The House Without A Christmas Tree
A Christmas Carol With Alistair Sim
There's so many. I can't think of them all.
I also love the traditional Christmas shows - Rudolph the Red Nosed Raindeer, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, and others.
And I'd be a humbug if I didn't love all the old classic Christmas movies - Holiday Inn, Miracle on 34th Street, It's a Wonderful Life and The Bishop's Wife. :D
I have the George C. Scott version on DVD Marie! I bought it at Wal-Mart. :)
I'll bet they'll have it for sale again this year too! There is a special story attached to that movie. I'll tell you about it in a PM in the next day or two, okay?
"A Christmas Memory", a short story by Truman Capote. Maybe one of his best. Quite autobiographical. Based on his childhood relationship with his elderly "aunt" Sook, who I think remained a child her whole life. The film version(1966) stars Geraldine Page as Sook and it is narrated by Truman himself. It's very simple and effective. It's not a traditional Christmas story at all. Now that I think of it, I think it shares some qualities with Brokeback Mountain. It's a short story set in the past, the 1930's in this case. The friendship between the young Truman and Sook is somewhat frowned upon, neither of them are quite accepted as they are. The story does not wallow in sentimentality, but it is wistful and sad. Not a traditional Christmas story in the way BBM was not a traditional love story.
Are we allowed to make lists? :D
A Christmas Carol with George C. Scott
The Preacher's Wife
Home Alone
Steel Magnolias (I realize this isn't necessarily a Christmas movie, but try watching it as you're wrapping presents and you'll see what I mean!)
Prancer
The Santa Clause (I love Tim Allen!)
A Christmas Story
The Littlest Angel (Does anyone remember this one? I haven't seen it in years.)
The House Without A Christmas Tree
A Christmas Carol With Alistair Sim
David did a poll of favorite Christmas movies last year:
http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php?topic=6623.0 (http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php?topic=6623.0)
David, I remember The Littlest Angel! With Johnny Whitaker from "Family Affair". I must have been 6 years old when I saw this. I wonder if it's available now.
I just saw The House Without a Christmas Tree at Barnes & Noble on DVD. When I was in 6th grade, our class put this on as our Xmas play. We actually went over to our teacher's house to watch it together, take notes, and we wrote our own script. Memories!
Hey Barb, I just looked up The Homecoming on IMDb. The "some guy" playing John Walton was Andrew Duggan. Also, Grandpa was played by Edgar Bergen (father of Candace, and famous ventriloquist with Charlie McCarthy).
Interestingly, they list the Bridger-Teton National Forest, Jackson, Wyoming as the filming site!
I just saw the DVD at Barnes & Noble the other day.
Wow, Louise, what a horrible association to have. I'm glad yours had a happy ending.
"A Christmas Memory", a short story by Truman Capote. Maybe one of his best. Quite autobiographical. Based on his childhood relationship with his elderly "aunt" Sook, who I think remained a child her whole life. The film version(1966) stars Geraldine Page as Sook and it is narrated by Truman himself. It's very simple and effective. It's not a traditional Christmas story at all. Now that I think of it, I think it shares some qualities with Brokeback Mountain. It's a short story set in the past, the 1930's in this case. The friendship between the young Truman and Sook is somewhat frowned upon, neither of them are quite accepted as they are. The story does not wallow in sentimentality, but it is wistful and sad. Not a traditional Christmas story in the way BBM was not a traditional love story.
Its not nec my favourie but saw The Holiday last yr with Kate Winslet & Cameron Diaz. It was VG!
Its not nec my favourie but saw The Holiday last yr with Kate Winslet & Cameron Diaz. It was VG!
Yeah, I liked that one too.
And me. But I did wonder why Cameron Diaz got Jude Law and the also ravishing Ms. Winslet got - Jack Black. ??? :-\
Were there no other handsome American actors available for his part?
I have to admit to having a real soft spot for Jack Black!!
I'm off to Netflix to see if I can rent that one.
Highly recommend A Christmas Memory. The late Rev. Kennedy Shultz, my minister back at the Atlanta Church of Religious Science, used to read that aloud the Sunday before Christmas.
I hope you are able to watch it. I think it's one of those rare cases where the film is equal to the book.
Maybe it comes from getting older and living in cynical New York, but I always get a lot of laughs watching Billy Bob Thornton in "Bad Santa." Cloris Leachman has a funny cameo, too. ;D
Maybe it comes from getting older and living in cynical New York, but I always get a lot of laughs watching Billy Bob Thornton in "Bad Santa." Cloris Leachman has a funny cameo, too. ;D
Just finished watching one of my favorite holiday movies Love Actually
I enjoy that movie too. I like the format, the many characters, sadness turning to happiness, connections between people revealed as the movie goes on, good music. There are a lot of bits in that movie I like. And I always tear up at the end, with the Beach Boys singing "God Only Knows" as families and friends meet at the airport, more and more and more of them. Almost every time I'm at the airport to pick someone up, I marvel at how important it is to each of us to get just that certain person who is coming off the airplane, and not their seatmate. People are so not interchangeable.
I have a special fondness for The Homecoming, which is the movie upon which "The Waltons" was based. The movie had different actors playing Olivia and John - Patricia Neal (LOVE her) and ... some guy. Everyone else was the same as in the TV show, I think.
I wonder if they'll show it this year, since it's about the Great Depression, and how this huge family is trying to scrape out an existence in the mountains of West Virginia, and how their Dad makes a long trip into the nearest big town to buy Christmas presents for the family and doesn't return. As the panic starts to set in, it's interesting to see how each of the family members copes with the thought that he may not come back.
On a lighter note, I also love Scrooged, A Christmas Story (you'll shoot your eye out, kid!), and Christmas Vacation.
And I cry every damn time the Grinch's heart grows three sizes that day.
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61VV8nCdVeL.jpg)
This was on today.
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv_YATNhu_I[/youtube]
A European Holiday Classic: Thee Acorns (Nuts) for Cinderella
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bptf3Zlqlgo[/youtube]
The movie is a Czech/GDR coproduction from the early 70ies. The story varies from other versions insofar that Cinderella has three wishes from three magic acorns. And her character is less 'disneyfied' and passive, which is really neat. This girl can hunt and shoot with a crossbow!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C5%99i_o%C5%99%C3%AD%C5%A1ky_pro_Popelku (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C5%99i_o%C5%99%C3%AD%C5%A1ky_pro_Popelku)