Thursday, December 23, 2010

Day Six: What to Watch

While I may not like a lot of what is produced for the festive winter holiday, I must give a shout out to some well made films.  This, is day six.

Fist and foremost, is A Christmas Story.  This great movie includes such great lines as, "You'll shoot your eye out!"  and "There it was, electric sex in my front window."  I would say that A Christmas Story is probably the most honest of all Christmas movies.  It shows how awkward gifts from Aunt Edna are, and how scary it is for kids to go and talk to the man in the red suit.  It's a genuine classic that hits home every time.



The second movie of note is A Muppet Christmas Carol.  It has all of our favorite Muppet characters such as Gonzo as Charles Dickens, Kermit as Bob Cratchet, Miss Piggy as Emily Cratchet, and Rizzo the Rat as himself.  It has a beautiful mixture of Muppet humor and the true meaning of Dickens's classic.  I'm not gonna lie, I usually cry a little when the movie talks about Tiny Tim.



Moving on!  The last and final one is, of course, The Nightmare Before Christmas.  This Burton classic has the music of Danny Elfman, and a story that mixes Burton's genius and the human condition.  We, like Jack, often get bored with what we're doing and think we'll try to take on someone else's "holiday" as it were.  And, we often fall on our faces, but we can say that we did our best, and it often helps us to get back to what we were doing.  My wife argues that this is only a Halloween movie, but I think it doubles.  It helps us see Christmas through new eyes, and helps us know that some of it doesn't make a lot of sense, but it's the feeling of it that we wish we could share with everyone.



I may not like a lot of Christmas things, but these three are absolute classics that are delightful and fit my picky tastes.  If you haven't seen them, I recommend you give them a shot this Christmas.

4 comments:

  1. Hubby makes me sit through "It's A Wonderful Life".
    "A Muppet Christmas Carol" is my FAVOURITE christmas movie, in fact we are watching it tonight!
    Danny Elfman rocks. Remember his band Oingo Boingo?

    ReplyDelete
  2. A Christmas Story is my favorite. Also Jim Henson's The Christmas Toy, The Bishop's Wife, and The Polar Express. Have a wonderful Christmas.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The muppets are genius. I wish they'd make more movies. Happy Christmas to you and yours.

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Alittlesprite
    I really like "It's a Wonderful Life" too, I probably should have added it to my list. Danny Elfman really is a stud, and I DO remember Oingo Boingo. Good stuff.

    @Clipped Wings
    I've never actually seen The Christmas Toy or The Bishop's Wife, I'll have to give them a look.

    ReplyDelete