Thursday, December 5, 2013

25 Days of Christmas Movies – Day 6 – The Polar Express

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For Day 6 I chose The Polar Express (2004) based on the best selling children’s book by Chris Van Allsburg. The story follows a group of children traveling on a train to the North Pole to see Santa Claus. It was created using motion capture computer animation.

Here’s a confession. I like the story, but I find the movie itself pretty creepy. Maybe it’s the computer-animated faces or the fact that Tom Hanks plays like 18 different characters. The entire sequence in the North Pole is all kinds of creepy. It’s also one of the more melancholy movies as it’s about growing up and losing the belief in Santa and the true Christmas spirit. It’s all symbolized by a bell from the North Pole, which only children can hear.

"At one time, most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed, it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound. Though I've grown old, the bell still rings for me, as it does for all who truly believe."

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Wednesday, December 4, 2013

25 Days of Christmas Movies – Day 5 – While You Were Sleeping

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For Day 5 of 25 Days of Christmas I chose not only one of my favorite Christmas movies, but one of my favorite romantic comedies, While You Were Sleeping (1995).

This movie made Sandra Bullock a bona-fide movie star and established her as the go-to actress for romantic comedies. It may also be one of my favorite movies of hers. There is such sweetness to her character. She’s just heartbreaking and lovable and so relatable.

A lonely token collector is in love with a guy (Peter Gallagher) she’s only seen getting on the train. When she rescues him from the tracks, she gets mistaken for his fiancé. And while he’s…well…sleeping...she falls in love with his brother (Bill Pullman) and his family. I could watch it a million times and still cry when she confesses what she’s done at her wedding…to the wrong brother.

Hmm…maybe I should just buy it so I can watch it right now.


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Tuesday, December 3, 2013

25 Days of Christmas Movies - Day 4 - A Charlie Brown Christmas

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 25 Days of Christmas Movies - A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) written by the incomparable Charles Shultz.

I was going to do this on Day 6, but then it aired last night and I couldn’t help bumping it up the list. My latest Entertainment Magazine had this one in the Bulls-Eye section, with the caption “for 25 minutes all is right with the world”. They're right. This may be the sweetest, most sincere Christmas special ever produced. It also includes the most important message on what Christmas is supposed to be about.

IMO, it’s the best of the Peanuts specials, with the best score ever. (Come on, tell me you don’t start tapping your foot when that jazz version of “O Christmas Tree” begins.)

Poor Charlie Brown is so befuddled over Christmas. He doesn’t get it, wonders why it all seems so commercialized. Just think, the special aired in 1965. How much worse is the commercialism now, with the race to start Black Friday sales now encroaching further into Thanksgiving Thursday? The mad dash of people knocking each other over as they race to save a few bucks on the latest HD TV? 

Then sweet, wise Linus brings it all into perspective, with an unvarnished Bible passage. And Charlie Brown’s little tree just needs a little love.

True story: One year my mom bought a Christmas tree from a kid who was selling them for a school fundraiser. That tree WAS the Charlie Brown tree. It lost EVERY SINGLE NEEDLE. In the end they all ended up on the floor. EVERY SINGLE NEEDLE.




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Monday, December 2, 2013

25 Days of Christmas Movies - Day 3 - Die Hard

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For Day 3 of 25 Days of Christmas Movies I chose Die Hard (1988). 

I know what you’re thinking…Die Hard? A Christmas movie? You bet! Remember, the entire criminal plot was foiled because super cop John McClane was traveling to LA to see his wife for Christmas. There are so many awesome things about this movie. Bruce Willis in a star-making role, the deliciously evil Hans (I’ve never been able to see Alan Rickman as anything other than an oily criminal.), Sgt. Powell down on the street. I love that the entire movie takes place in one building. It adds to the claustrophobic feeling of being trapped. (Unlike the later installments where entire cities are used.) I love that McClane and the cop on the ground can only communicate via walk-talkies. It’s just a great ride. The perfect action movie, with some of the best one-liners ever.

McClane: "Come out to the coast, we'll get together, have a few laughs…"
Supervisor: [as McClane tries to call up police] Attention, whoever you are, this channel is reserved for emergency calls only.
McClane: No s**t, lady. Does it sound like I'm ordering a pizza?

Hans: Who are you then?
McClane: Just a fly in the ointment, Hans. The monkey in the wrench. The pain in the a**.

Hans: …You have me at a loss. You know my name, but who are you? Just another American who saw too many movies as a child? Another orphan of a bankrupt culture who thinks he's John Wayne? Rambo? Marshal Dillon?
McClane: Was always kinda partial to Roy Rogers, actually. I really like those sequined shirts.
Hans: Do you really think you have a chance against us, Mr. Cowboy?

McClane: Yippee-ki-yay, mother--.

 Tell my you don't love this movie!

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Sunday, December 1, 2013

25 Days of Christmas Movies - Day 2: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

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Going classic again for Day 2 of my series, 25 Days of Christmas movies, with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964).  The stop motion animation is pretty rudimentary, but the tale of the little reindeer with the glowing red nose is one I have to stop and watch every time. Rudolph, Hermey the Elf who wants to be a dentist, Yukon the prospector, The Abominable and the incomparable Burl Ives as the Narrator/Snowman. And do you not want to cry over the Island of Misfit Toys? Actually, I realized in later years that the treatment of Rudolph was pretty appalling. The adults, including the flight coach reindeer, his own parents and even Santa himself, are horrid! In modern times child services would be called if a father made his son wear a fake nose because of a "disfigurement". Or someone would post a pic on Facebook, which would of course go viral, causing millions of “outraged” people around the world to rain down furious rants about them. There's even a scene where Rudolph has gone missing and his mother wants to go out with dad to hunt for her son.  And dad says "this is men's work." Hello women's movement, the 60s are calling.  Then of course Rudolph saves the day when the worst blizzard ever hits and suddenly his day-glow nose is an asset.

True story. When I was a little kid and we lived in Washington, D.C. my parents would go to church on Wednesdays for choir practice. They always had kids’ activities while the grownups practiced. On one of those Wednesdays, Rudolph was scheduled to be on TV. This was before DVRs or even VCRs.  And before cable gave you a thousand chances to see it.  You saw it once on a network station or not at all. So, I made my parents bring our TV to church so the kids could watch it. Also before TVs went mini and before anyone knew what a “flat screen” was. So that TV was big sucker…but the effort was worth it.


Another true fact: Rudolph first appeared in a booklet published by Montgomery Ward in 1939. The song, made famous by Gene Autry, became a hit in 1949.

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