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Post by Techguy on Nov 11, 2008 21:19:43 GMT -5
OK, one more post before I have to dash off to class. Get in your last minute holiday movie suggestions before this thread closes tomorrow. I'll post the poll with the top 3 choices after I get home from class tomorrow night.
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fuzzytweetie
Silver Shield Investigator
Bobby's version of the "hokey pokey"
Posts: 153
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Post by fuzzytweetie on Nov 11, 2008 23:08:32 GMT -5
My final list... Grinch.....Boris Karloff Rudolph.....Burl Ives Nat'l Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Die Hard's a good choice but, I see it more as a New Year's action flick.
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Post by nwchimom on Nov 12, 2008 2:26:26 GMT -5
In my wildest notions, I never thought a single soul would support me on Die Hard I. I am amazed that so many of the brightest and best here would like to advance such a gabfest. I am not ashamed to say I LOVE Die Hard. I often watch it while addressing my Christmas cards. Die Hard's a good choice but, I see it more as a New Year's action flick. Why do you see it as a New Year's movie? It takes place at Christmas, at a company Christmas party.
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Post by Techguy on Nov 12, 2008 4:25:55 GMT -5
Update: I'll probably expand the poll to 5 choices so that everyone's suggestions are represented. There seems to be an early pre-poll favorite but let's see what happens when the voting ends. We all know what happened to "inevitable" Hillary in the Democratic primaries.
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Post by Sirenna on Nov 12, 2008 9:36:17 GMT -5
In my wildest notions, I never thought a single soul would support me on Die Hard I. I am amazed that so many of the brightest and best here would like to advance such a gabfest. Such a discussion could prove yeasty, TechGuy. Your thread, and your call Why? Movies are movies and should be made to be enjoyable first and foremost; rather than preachy or treacly which most Christmas movies are, for example It's a Wonderful Life imo. No-one went to see Beloved because I think they thought it would be all that and boring too. Good movie but what's the point of making it if no one wants to see it?Michael Crichton, Stephen King never forgot that. Lot's of people, including actors (including our guy and Chris Noth, for that matter) tend blow off TV as if it's a lesser medium than Theatre or film but I don't think it is, TV and unpretentious movies reach and touch a lot of people.
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fuzzytweetie
Silver Shield Investigator
Bobby's version of the "hokey pokey"
Posts: 153
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Post by fuzzytweetie on Nov 12, 2008 16:00:28 GMT -5
I know it takes place at a company Christmas party but, it just "FEELS" like a New Years action flick to me. I don't see the usual Christmasy things in it. No Santa, Rudolph, elves........the usual Christmas stuff. I think it's a great movie. It's just not snuggly and hot chocolately enough for me !LOL
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Post by Sirenna on Nov 12, 2008 18:42:09 GMT -5
i think new years is a legitimate expansion of the definition since. not everone celbrates christmas.
it's not a warm and fuzzy movie though but does it have to be?
my top three are die hard 1 white christmas elf
maybe we could do two movies - one during christmast and one during new years..?
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Post by Techguy on Nov 13, 2008 1:34:23 GMT -5
imaybe we could do two movies - one during christmast and one during new years..? Depending on how long the first movie discussion lasts and/or CI Season 8 premieres, I see no reason why we can't do 2 movies. The top vote getter in the poll goes first, and the second place finisher will follow.
BTW, the poll is up with 5 entrants so that everyone who posted a suggestion gets represented. I also tried to have a mix of genres and themes to hopefully satisfy everyone's personal taste.
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Post by Techguy on Nov 21, 2008 22:20:32 GMT -5
This just in...
WE HAVE A WINNER!
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Post by NikkiGreen on Dec 2, 2008 15:57:44 GMT -5
Classic holiday stories...inspire...Classic holiday stories in film, TV and books inspire during tough times
December 2, 2008 - 11:39 am By: Leanne Italie, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS[/b] [/u] Hard times have you down this holiday season? Take a trip to the library for some inspiration from treasured stories of Christmas past. The mortgage meltdown, job squeeze and clash between rich and poor evoke long-popular holiday tales with ghostly clarity, offering messages of hope, faith and togetherness during an intensely uncertain year, says William J. Palmer, an English professor and Charles Dickens expert at Purdue University. "The real reason that readers have always returned to 'A Christmas Carol' year after year since the 1840s is that it provides a way of reinvigorating the spirit of Christmas that everyone wants to feel during this season, no matter how hard the times or how bleak the economic outlook," he said. Dusty old stories mingled with more contemporary fare can touch all generations with the promise of better days ahead, says Brandon Mendelson, 25, a graduate student in history at the University of Albany in New York. "This is how we as Americans feel in light of the recession," he said. "For my generation at least, Gen Y, we have never in our lives encountered a situation like this. We have a belief, despite evidence to the contrary, that this situation will end soon and improve for everyone. It may be childlike innocence, but we know it to be true." A sampler of Christmas tales through the ages:-"A Christmas Carol," by Charles Dickens, 1843.
The Tale: Ebenezer Scrooge is so consumed by greed and downright meanness that he's visited by three spirits looking to rehabilitate him at Christmas in Victorian London. They lead him on a back-and-forth journey through his past, present and future. He gets a fly-on-the-wall look at how the Cratchit family really feels about him before he emerges kinder, gentler and joyfully tossing money around.
Lesson: It's never too late to make amends and let charity into your heart.
Notes: The story was hugely popular when released for Christmas, with an unblinking look at social injustice and gaping class disparity. By some accounts, young Dickens wrote it to pay off a debt, but high production costs cut into his profit.-"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus," unsigned editorial in The Sun of New York, 1897.
The Tale: eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon begs for some Santa Claus truth. She follows her papa's advice to consult The Sun, not wanting to believe her "little friends" that St. Nick is a fraud. The newspaper's response in part: "Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy."
Lesson: A little faith in the unseen can go a long way.
Notes: Written by a Sun staffer who covered the Civil War, Francis P. Church, this bit of holiday history has been reprinted in dozens of languages. The real Virginia was the daughter of a coroner's assistant who grew up to be a school teacher. She died in 1971 at 82.-"The Gift of the Magi," by O. Henry, 1906.
The Tale: Jim and Della Young are in love, but they've hit hard times and can barely pay their $8-a-week rent. For Christmas, she sells her prized knee-length hair to buy him a fob chain for his cherished gold pocket watch, but he sells the watch to surprise her with two fancy hair combs. Then it's time for pork chops.
Lesson: The greatest love may require painful sacrifice.
Notes: This short story inspired an episode of "The Simpsons," a place in Steve Martin's "Cruel Shoes" and a song from the band Squirrel Nut Zippers that goes like this: "Though we've pawned away our only pleasures. These gifts we give are not in vain." -"It's a Wonderful Life," directed by Frank Capra, 1946.
The Tale: Beset by bad luck, a bank run and shattered dreams, George Bailey (James Stewart) is about to jump off a bridge on Christmas Eve shortly after the Second World War. But a guardian angel in training, Clarence, grants George's wish that he had never been born. He reveals George's accomplishments and earns himself some wings to-boot.
Lesson: A person's real worth can be measured in family, friends and selfless service.
Notes: Based on "The Greatest Gift," a short story by Philip Van Doren Stern, the movie is among the most popular of all time. But it was a box office bust and fizzled at the Oscars. Some considered it communist propaganda with its indictment of the monied class and the spread-the-wealth zeal of the Building & Loan. -"A Christmas Memory," by Truman Capote, 1956. The Tale: "It's fruitcake weather!" seven-year-old Buddy's childlike, 60-something cousin declares after he was dumped on relatives in the rural South of the 1930s. Poor and inseparable, Buddy and Sook bake for the famous and the unsung, trek into the woods to cut down a Christmas tree and fashion kites for each other as gifts. Adult Buddy describes his grief years later over Sook's death - "a piece of news some secret vein had already received, severing from me an irreplaceable part of myself, letting it loose like a kite on a broken string." Lesson: Friendship can offer hope and joy amid bruising poverty and social isolation. Notes: The semi-autobiographical short story was first published in Mademoiselle. A young Capote wrote it before "In Cold Blood" propelled him to socialite status. A teleplay in 1966 starred Geraldine Page as Sook. In 1997, Patty Duke had the role in a Hallmark TV special. -"How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" by Dr. Seuss, 1957.
The Tale: A furry grouch of a creature lives north of Whoville and makes his way down Mount Crumpit to end infernal Christmas. He steals the gifts and trimmings of the kind and gentle Whos. But it doesn't work. Christmas arrives despite his plundering. The Grinch's heart "two sizes too small" grows large after he meets sweet-faced little Cindy-Lou and hears the Whos singing. He returns the loot and makes new friends.
Lesson: Being together on a special day is more important than how you celebrate it.
Notes: Chuck Jones made an animated TV special in 1966 and turned the Grinch green. Jim Carrey took it live-action in 2000. Seuss has the Grinch conclude: "Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more!" -"A Charlie Brown Christmas," 1965, TV special based on the "Peanuts" comic strip by Charles M. Schulz. The Tale: Reliably depressed Charlie Brown complains about the commercial corruption of Christmas as he tries to organize a Nativity play. He gets a tongue-lashing from Lucy and the gang over the puny tree he chooses as a stage set. Inspired by a reading from Linus from the Gospel of Luke heralding the birth of Christ and urging peace on Earth, the other kids learn to love the little tree as much as Charlie Brown does.
Lesson: Have the courage to stand up for those in need.
Notes: Linus says it best as he props up the overburdened tree with his precious blanket: "I never thought it was such a bad little tree. It's not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love."
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Post by Patcat on Dec 2, 2008 16:32:25 GMT -5
The Capote story is both wonderful and terribly sad. The film with Geraldine Page used to be a mainstay on PBS stations, but I've not seen it in many years. It may be too bittersweet for the holidays.
Patcat
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untitled
Detective
Stuff the Fluff! Save Goren & Eames!
Posts: 274
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Post by untitled on Dec 27, 2008 17:27:20 GMT -5
"The Sound of Music" I watch it every year when it comes on, even though I have it on dvd, vhs, vcd, etc... I know it's not very Christmas-y but someone apparently thinks so to have it play during the Christmas holiday.
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Post by Patcat on Dec 28, 2008 22:31:55 GMT -5
I'm watching S and M (as Christopher Plummer and some others called it) at this moment. I have great fondness for this film. The "Do-Re-Mi" number is imaginatively filmed, the Austrian location are beautiful, and Christopher Plummer brings some blessed acidity to the proceedings. And Julie Andrews is just a force of talent.
I've just finished Mr. Plummer's autobiography, IN SPITE OF MYSELF. It's a funny, wry, lively book. Mr. Plummer admits he was very ungrateful for the great chance he had in making the film, and that, for what it is, it's a remarkable film. He has wonderful things to write about Ms. Andrews.
I've always found it ironic that this film depicts Austrians as opposing unification with Nazi Germany when the vast majority welcomed the Germans with open arms. And that a song--"Edelweiss"--written by a Jewish American and half-Jewish American has become the semi-anthem of Austria.
Patcat
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