REFLECTING ON CHRISTMAS MOVIES – PART 2
Of course one of the really fun parts about Christmas is that you get to watch all your favourite Christmas movies! And the good thing about Christmas movies is that it seems slightly odd to watch them at other times during the year (although Die Hard is good all year around) so you save them up for Christmas time and it feels more… specialler.
Or maybe that’s just me.
Anyway… I thought I would share some of my… festive faves.
My Christmas Collection...
Santa centred sensations...
Holiday hijinks....
Let’s start.
HOME ALONE
Read last week’s post
Boom!
See… look what I did there. Already up to number #2
8 BIT CHRISTMAS
This one is a newer Christmas comedy but having watched it a couple of times now I’m happy to say it’s great! The plot is really simple – a dad (Neil Patrick Harris – wonderful) is telling his daughter about the time he was eleven-years old and desperately wanted a Nintendo for Christmas.
And how his parents were opposed to the idea because video games rot your brain.
Or are the work of Satan.
Something like that.
Anyway… it’s a funny movie and it has the tone of those movies where because the story is told as a recollection, things are slightly offbeat and much more entertaining. Suffice to say it’s a worthy addition to classic Christmas movies like Home Alone (see last week’s post) and Gremlins.
RARE EXPORTS: A CHRISTMAS TALE
This one is a little darker but much more fun because of it.
The film is made in Finland and is set there too – right up near the Arctic circle.
It tells the story of a mining company who blow the top off a mountain and discover that something unspeakably old and deeply disturbing has been hibernating in the mountain all this time.
The story of from the point of view of a kid, living with his dad who is a reindeer herder, and how he begins to suspect things are not as they seem on the days leading up to Christmas…
It’s great fun.
A BOY CALLED CHRISTMAS
This is another more recent one which is still loads of fun. A boy called Nicholas lives with his poor father in the woods somewhere cold.
Nicholas is obsessed with stories of a mystical place called Elf-helm where magical Elves live. No one else believes in Elves of course but Nicholas does because one of the few memories he has of his mother before she died is her telling this story.
Some bad stuff happens. Followed by more bad stuff.
Then Nicholas sets out on a journey to find Elf-helm and… well… you might think you can guess the rest but actually you can’t. This movie is beautifully made and also a lot cleverer than it appears.
Highly recommended.
JACK FROST
This movie has a bit of a trash reputation.
And admittedly – there are parts of it which are quite lame.
But… Michael Keaton gives a heck of a performance as the lead character (a jobbing musician named Jack Frost who always seems to be on the verge of making it big… without ever quite getting there), even when he’s a badly CGI’d snowman for half the movie. Kelly Preston as his long suffering wife and Joseph Cross (especially good as his neglected son Charlie) round out the cast, along with Mark Addy as Jack’s best friend and bandmate.
I won’t spoil the movie by saying what happens halfway through except to say… it’s hard to be reincarnated as a snow man when you’re alive.
(Whistles).
Regardless the movie, despite significant flaws, is still quite sweet and charming. I would recommend – especially if your tolerance for snow related puns is high.
That's all I'll post for now. The next one will be some Christmas movies of a darker and more mature tone :-) You've been warned...
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