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#Post#: 14518--------------------------------------------------
Christmas Movie Cliche thread
By: Neumatic Date: December 8, 2012, 7:05 pm
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Okay, with the season upon us, I thought it only appropriate for
a thread devoted to X-mas and holiday movies.
For one thing, if the story is magical in any way, the existence
of Christmas ITSELF will be in jeopardy. As if we couldn't
continue well enough on our own. Hogfather actually gave this
some meaning which I quite liked, but you can really only get
away with that one ONCE.
Usually in a Christmas movie, there's usually no consideration
for other holidays, and unless its' strictly Christian, no
mention of Christ as being the accepted origin of the holiday
(instead of the Fonzie of it, having co-opted the celebration
from the Pagans, but that's another issue). it's like Christmas
is a holiday severed from the religious institution, which it
kind of is, to permit more people to spend money at that time of
year.
I think the non-holiday movies they release on Christmas deserve
some mention too, usually big four-quadrant unrisky pictures
that whole families can be dragged out to see (like the upcoming
"Parental Guidance") just so they can drag grandma and the
cousins to see something so they get two hours of silence and a
subject of conversation instead of how sick of each other they
all are.
#Post#: 14520--------------------------------------------------
Re: Christmas Movie Cliche thread
By: Chiprocks1 Date: December 8, 2012, 7:26 pm
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Okay then, I say lets break down some of the bigger Christmas
Themed movies out there, along with some of your favorites. No
discussion of this 'Genre' is complete unless these movies are
included:
Home Alone
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
It's A Wonderful Life
And the Granddaddy of them all....
A Christmas Story
I also think that movies that actually blend the other genre's
with the Xmas theme should be included, because it is after all
thinking outside of the box:
A Nightmare Before Christmas
Gremlins
Honorable Mention:
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (Yes, this is a Thanksgiving
themed movie, but it fits in nicely with Xmas and family)
#Post#: 14521--------------------------------------------------
Re: Christmas Movie Cliche thread
By: Neumatic Date: December 8, 2012, 10:11 pm
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You know, for the longest time (ever since I first heard about
it), I wanted to see the three-hour cut of Planes, Trains, and
Automobiles. I love that flick. Then I read the script and I
realized how much bad stuff they had to cut out. A lot of John
Candy's dialogue got dropped at some point, and it really made
all the difference in the world between him coming off as the
lovable doof he does in the flick or being the guy Neil felt he
was for the longest time. He's really not endearing on the
page.
Home Alone, holy cow, I always dug those first two films
(though, like Star Trek, I took a couple years off to re-build
my affection for them), and those are flicks I think could
probably stand a re-make today. And not those crummy Disney
channel spin-off straight-to-TV whatevers, I'm talking about
going back to the roots of this kind of jerk kid who feels
totally left out and alone because of this giant family, a
dependent who becomes totally independent and learns to fend for
himself... there's a lot of emotional stuff at the core that's
still good that you could rebuild off of... and it's all capped
with zany looney tunes-style pranks and physical violence at the
end (I do feel that maybe we should have been brought up to that
a little bit). I did dislike all the bird lady stuff in the
sequel, though.
Home Alone did something I quite liked which was make Christmas
feel grand and royal. In the commentary track they mentioned
flicks like "Great Expectations" and Dickens and gave this sort
of old England regency, taste, and pomp to all the pure
Christmas stuff. It's like a Serif font. A bit of Victorian
Christmas ideal in the modern age, and I think because I saw
that at such an early age (when I looked just LIKE the kid in
the movie), that's what I thought Christmas should look like.
Can I be honest and say "A Christmas Story" isn't really a fave
of mine. I've seen it a zillion times but, like Elf, I feel
like I'm slightly left out of the joke that everyone else is in
on. I will say that the newly-made cash-grab sequel looks
terrible, and I'm in the same pain every other fan is about it.
[center]
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHJNBZ2rrMM[/center]
I have no desire to see it, but it's got to be better than Randy
Quaid and family stuck on a desert island in Christmas Vacation
2, right?
#Post#: 14522--------------------------------------------------
Re: Christmas Movie Cliche thread
By: Chiprocks1 Date: December 8, 2012, 10:24 pm
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Well, for me A Christmas Story actually means more to me than
the rest of society. Why? Because I saw the movie in the theater
the first week it came out. I got it immediately. This is way
before it became "fashionable" to like it because they started
running it 24 hours straight on TBS. Now everyone loves it? Why?
Where were all these people when it came out? If anyone has a
right to hate the movie now because it's in 'vogue', it's me. I
hate being part of a pack mentality. Usually when something is
loved....I hate it. When something is ignored and hated, it's my
cup of tea. Having said that, I still can't find fault with the
movie at all, even if I have issues with everyone that claims to
have been a fan of the movie since it came out.
The above rant is my version of a Christmas scrooge.
#Post#: 14526--------------------------------------------------
Re: Christmas Movie Cliche thread
By: Chiprocks1 Date: December 8, 2012, 10:34 pm
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Some cliche scenes that seems to appear in most Xmas Flicks in
one way or another....
The Big Turkey Dinner - Duh! Of course you have to have the
family dinner. It's what the entire movie is usually buidling
toward or centered around, which leads to....
The Wacky Relative - Be it a distant cousin or a bullying
brother, whoever the family member it turns out to be, he or she
is usually the source of the comedic moments that always gets
the main character into trouble, one way or another.
#Post#: 14527--------------------------------------------------
Re: Christmas Movie Cliche thread
By: Neumatic Date: December 8, 2012, 11:39 pm
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Well, Christmas Story and It's A Wonderful Life have that in
common, they were both big bombs at the box office... or at
least not very popular. The only reason Wonderful Life became
the mainstay is because some desk clerk forgot to renew the
copyright (which he only had to do once every 28 years) and so
it lapsed into the public domain, and since it took place at
Christmas (at the end at least), all the TV stations treated it
like a Christmas movie. It got played all the time so naturally
everyone thought that was because it was so good, and there you
go. I do like the movie though.
Funny enough, a couple years ago I met this duo who were writing
a sequel to Wonderful Life, they had gotten the necessary rights
and even met the surviving crew and cast members. The first
thing I asked them was if George ever left the town because he
kept going on about that the entire movie. They said I was the
first person who asked that question. We swapped cards and I
asked if I could take a look at the script and they said sure
and I never heard from them again. Take from that what you
will.
My family isn't big on Turkey so we don't have Turkey dinner.
We also don't do the big family meeting, so I can't say how real
or unreal that cliche is. My dad and stepmom have a HUGE
family, 41 people, which I'm curious about but not enough to GO
there for it. Too small and too few bathrooms. But that's too
much for any piece of literature. But that seems more realistic
than what we see in the flicks. And I'm sure I'm the wacky
relative of the group. Or at least the unpredictable one.
#Post#: 14538--------------------------------------------------
Re: Christmas Movie Cliche thread
By: Mac Date: December 9, 2012, 10:47 am
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It's funny how we perceive those things that meant something to
us and how that developed. A guess a majority of them would be
as a kid watching something for first time. Not to be contrary,
but Christmas Story did nothing for me. The Home Alone movies
just made me roll my eyes. I never bought into MaCaulay Culkin's
acting, looks or the story. Not trying to be cynical. Those
movies just never did anything for me. I know... Un-American.
For years, my first wife made a tradition of watching It's a
Wonderful Life while putting up the tree and decorating the
house. After many years of that I've grown to ignore it.
I do like The Santa Claus, well, because I'm a huge Tim Allen
fan and I thought it told a pretty cool story. Miracle on 34th
Street will always be cool to me.
I think one of the biggest cliche's is the protagonist not
believing... in the story, the mythology, the soul. The movie is
the journey to discovery
My favorite move to watch during the holidays is Scrooged with
Bill Murray. Obviously it based on the Charle's Dicken's story,
but with a whole bunch of twists. But at the core is The Story
Dicken's wrote about.
#Post#: 14556--------------------------------------------------
Re: Christmas Movie Cliche thread
By: Neumatic Date: December 9, 2012, 3:10 pm
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I LOVE Scrooged! They tried to scare the DICKENS out of people!
It does make me wonder what other brilliance we were robbed of
by Mr Mike's passing... have you ever seen his dark fairy tales
on the old Saturday Night Live show in the 70s? (to me, the 70s
show is a completely different beast than anything that happened
anywhere else).
I will say that I never really dug Mac Culkin either, despite
digging the flicks. I knew even as a kid the acting was kind of
forced, but having said that, he was wonderfully creepy on
Kings. I never knew what was going on in his head.
Totally agree on the Protag not believing, but it's not just
that, he's usually the ONLY PERSON IN THE WORLD who doesn't
believe in whatever. "Everyone believes in the magic of
Christmas, Frank." I suppose the inversion would be the
character being the only one who believes in a cynical world, or
if you want to go the Christmas Atheist route, finds a logical
reason to celebrate or something along that line.
I never dug The Santa Clause, didn't like any of them, never
understood the appeal, and while I'm a fan of Tim Allen, the
idea of him as Santa seemed forced and unrealistic.
Did anyone else here remember the Santa Clause: The Movie flick
that the Superman producers made in the 80s, with Dudley Moore
as a disgruntled elf? That is HARD to watch now, but something
about the old-school effects and the murky, dark film quality
that you're squinting through... that got into my mind. And it
was the first thing I'd ever seen John Lithgow in and he creeped
me out for a long time since. Maybe even until Third Rock From
The Sun. But now, he's GORGEOUS!
That movie did have the VERY heavy appearance of the street
orphan, urchin, or poor kid who won't have anything this
Christmas.
#Post#: 14557--------------------------------------------------
Re: Christmas Movie Cliche thread
By: Mac Date: December 9, 2012, 3:16 pm
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Uh, no, missed the Dudley Moore flick... apparently for the
better. ;)
#Post#: 14560--------------------------------------------------
Re: Christmas Movie Cliche thread
By: Neumatic Date: December 9, 2012, 3:19 pm
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I don't know why I JUST now made the connection of Duldey Moore
as Patch (who got his own flying Christmas car... which had a
pretty funky Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade look to it) and
Russell Brand as the Easter Bunny.
There's some interesting shots in the Santa Claus flick, I think
those will do.
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