Well, it’s December, so I thought I'd write about Christmas movies. Not a whole lot about Christmas movies, because I haven’t seen that many. And of the ones I’ve seen, I don’t remember them. Everyone else calls them classics. Me, not so much.
It may just be I don’t place an emphasis on Christmas like so many other people do. Theologically, Christmas is far less important than Easter. To make a baseball analogy, Christmas is like stepping into the batter’s box. Easter is hitting a Grand Slam. Technically, the grand slam can’t happen without Jesus first stepping into the batter’s box, but no one’s excited about the batter’s box – just the grand slam. The only reason people cheer when players step into the box is because of the potential for a grand slam. And if you don’t get that, maybe I just need to work on analogies.
Anyway, if you haven’t seen many Christmas movies (like me), you can tune into almost any channel on TV. By the time the 25th rolls around, some of them will be playing on a continuous loop.
First, there are the animated movies from the sixties. Rudolph, The Grinch (which had a nice live-action version in 2000), and so on, that parents grew up on, and seem to think their kids will love. We grew up on Transformers and Ninja Turtles. Do you really think we’ll love Dr. Suess? The books? Yes. The adaptions? Not so much.
Then the live action ones from all over. Miracle on 34th st, which has Santa Claus in it (I think). I saw ads all the time for it 15 years ago on CBC, and made a point to do something else. It’s a Wonderful Life, about a suicidal man who learns life would be better if he lived. A Christmas Story, involving a BB gun and eye injuries, but doesn’t look that interesting despite those elements (my friends all rave about it). Any one of the adaptations of A Christmas Carol, where Scrooge learns to be generous. Good for him. Never mind that they’re all incredibly cheap for stations to air, which is the only reason they’re on.
For my money, there are only two Christmas movie really worth watching - Die Hard, and Die Hard 2: Die Harder. They’ve got love (John and Holly get together in each movie), redemption (Al overcoming his fear of guns in the first), and terrorists. They’re perfect for Christmas. Snow, carols, and blowing the snot out of whatever bad guy has taken over whichever building. Plus, they have a smarmy guy getting his comeuppance. And it’s the same guy. Twice!
And of course, if it weren't for Die Hard, we wouldn't have this great song (NSFW: Language).
You and me think a little too much along the same lines... Mandi asked me which Christmas movie I wanted to watch, and I said Die Hard, and she said, "I knew you were going to say that." How can you beat "Yippe-kay-yay motherf****er" for sheer holiday joy?
ReplyDeleteSeriously, the Grinch with Jim Carrey and the Muppets Christmas Carol (with Michael Caine as Scrooge) are two that I watch year after year. Good stuff!