Your top 3 favorite Christmas movies
- Thread starter tlwwake_
- Start date
Christmas Story
Die Hard
Stalag 17
In Bruges
And not a movie, but a TV special
Red Skelton's Freddie the Freeloader Christmas Dinner
Die Hard
Stalag 17
In Bruges
And not a movie, but a TV special
Red Skelton's Freddie the Freeloader Christmas Dinner
3 is kind of hard. I guess I am one of the few people in the universe that think Christmas Vacation is incredibly mediocre (and I love the original Vacation).
I'm going to say my top 3 are:
Others I love: Home Alone, A Christmas Story, The Santa Clause, Love Actually, In Bruges (a seriously under-rated film; I'd never really considered it a Christmas movie, but it does, in fact, take place around Christmas), Trading Places, Holiday Inn
I'm going to say my top 3 are:
- It's A Wonderful Life
- Elf
- The Ref
Others I love: Home Alone, A Christmas Story, The Santa Clause, Love Actually, In Bruges (a seriously under-rated film; I'd never really considered it a Christmas movie, but it does, in fact, take place around Christmas), Trading Places, Holiday Inn
There's a great scene in a Christmas themed Cheers episode, were the corner tv is showing "It's a Wonderful Life" and all the bar's regulars are spouting sarcastic remarks about it being so hokey and unrealistic. The show ends, the turn off the TV and they all turn around go back to normal, all of them tearing up and crying.
1. Christmas Vacation
2. The Santa Clause
3. Home Alone 2
Honorable mention: Home Alone, Jingle All the Way, Elf, Miracle on 34th Street (the original).
2. The Santa Clause
3. Home Alone 2
Honorable mention: Home Alone, Jingle All the Way, Elf, Miracle on 34th Street (the original).
I'm going with:
The Tits that Saved Christmas
Miracle on 69th Street
Santa is Coming All Over Town
Hey, don't judge me!
The Tits that Saved Christmas
Miracle on 69th Street
Santa is Coming All Over Town
Hey, don't judge me!
I remember they both were Bing Crosby but one had Danny Kaye (White Christmas) and the other Fred Estaire (Holliday Inn). They were made about ten years apart and had vaguely the same plot.
They're both great, but I like the 2nd one just a little bit more. I realize I'm probably in the minority.
You're a big softie.
(Ditto for me.... really like that list)
I'd add It's a Wonderful Life to the first group.
Group 2:
How The Grinch Stole Christmas - both the movie and cartoon.
A Charlie Brown Christmas
Frosty the Snowman
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
(Really, those 4 should be in group 1)
The Santa Clause
Just Friends
Christmas Vacation
I should have known that there's a bunch of damned commies here who like It's a Wonderful Life. It is/was nothing but subversive commie propaganda designed to make you hate the capitalist banker and support the commie stooge who wants you to help bring our beloved country to it's knees and become another Soviet State.
(Don't believe me? Well read the FBI memo for yourself below)
http://www.wisebread.com/fbi-considered-its-a-wonderful-life-communist-propaganda
BTW, the movie was considered a "bomb" upon release and lost the studio over $500,000 and Producer/Director Frank Capra personally a reported $480,000. It basically went unseen for about 30 yrs after its release, but a failure to renew the copyright in 1974 lead to it becoming public domain and thus was shown by lots of TV networks and local stations since it was "free" of costs. A change in Copyright law allowed the original owners to "rescue" the copyright in both the soundtrack and the underlying story and as such Republic Studios was able to effectively stop anyone from showing the film without their permission and payment of royalties.
(Don't believe me? Well read the FBI memo for yourself below)
http://www.wisebread.com/fbi-considered-its-a-wonderful-life-communist-propaganda
BTW, the movie was considered a "bomb" upon release and lost the studio over $500,000 and Producer/Director Frank Capra personally a reported $480,000. It basically went unseen for about 30 yrs after its release, but a failure to renew the copyright in 1974 lead to it becoming public domain and thus was shown by lots of TV networks and local stations since it was "free" of costs. A change in Copyright law allowed the original owners to "rescue" the copyright in both the soundtrack and the underlying story and as such Republic Studios was able to effectively stop anyone from showing the film without their permission and payment of royalties.
A lot of those old movies had socialist themes but they had interesting actors in them and fit for their time.
Meet John Doe and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington are a couple that come to mind.
Meet John Doe and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington are a couple that come to mind.
Each of those films were directed by Frank Capra, who also directed It's A Wonderful Life.
Capra was a conservative Republican. His films were not intended to promote socialist themes at all, but rather individualism for the most part.
It also wasn't a complete bomb at the box office at the time it was released. But was rather more of a major disappintment due to a bloated budget and high expectations created by the fact that Capra was box office gold before the war. The film was nominated for Best Picture and Capra for Best Director.
Obviously that memo says more about our government, in particular the FBI director's paranoia and political agenda, then it does about the movie or Hollywood in general. Its a Wonderful Life and Capra's legacy have stood the test of time. Hoover's not so much.
Marshal,
A "bomb" in the sense it lost the studio and Capra nearly $1 Million, which was a hell of a lot of money back then as the entire budget for the film was only slightly above $3 Million. It failed miserably to earn back a figure coming close to covering its cost. (Given what it earned in Box Office and considering that amount was typically shared on a 50/50 basis between the theater and the studio, it really only earned about 1/2 of its cost back and that includes all the years up until 1974 when it became public domain.)
FM Poke, yep Hoover and his sycophants at the FBI saw what they wanted to see, much like in later years the FBI produced memos covering the "obscenity" in Louie, Louie (which actually contained no profanity). It brings to mind Jerry Falwell and his pronouncement of one of the telly-tubbies being gay.
Which likewise brings to mind the classic joke of the guy undergoing psychiatric treatment being given a "Rorschach" test. When he responds to every image by noting he sees tits, butts and female sexual organs the psychiatrist asks him: Don't you think you are perhaps a little obsessed with sex? The guy responds: Gee doc, I'm not the one going around showing a bunch of dirty pictures to people.
A "bomb" in the sense it lost the studio and Capra nearly $1 Million, which was a hell of a lot of money back then as the entire budget for the film was only slightly above $3 Million. It failed miserably to earn back a figure coming close to covering its cost. (Given what it earned in Box Office and considering that amount was typically shared on a 50/50 basis between the theater and the studio, it really only earned about 1/2 of its cost back and that includes all the years up until 1974 when it became public domain.)
FM Poke, yep Hoover and his sycophants at the FBI saw what they wanted to see, much like in later years the FBI produced memos covering the "obscenity" in Louie, Louie (which actually contained no profanity). It brings to mind Jerry Falwell and his pronouncement of one of the telly-tubbies being gay.
Which likewise brings to mind the classic joke of the guy undergoing psychiatric treatment being given a "Rorschach" test. When he responds to every image by noting he sees tits, butts and female sexual organs the psychiatrist asks him: Don't you think you are perhaps a little obsessed with sex? The guy responds: Gee doc, I'm not the one going around showing a bunch of dirty pictures to people.
No, Its a Wonderful Life is just a good sentimental movie with no discernable political agenda. Everything is this world is not political.
My opinion of J. Edgar Hoover has nothing to do with his sexual orientation which I never taken seriously nor cared about. Its based on his total contempt for and disregard of the United States Constitution which I do take seriously and care about.