So I love this movie. It is probably because anything that Bill Murray touches is brilliant, but the premise is that of Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol." Frank Cross (Murray) is a TV Exec and is a complete a-hole driven by money with no care for those around them. Yes the premise has been done before but Murray makes this movie awesome. His ability to deliver dry witted callous remarks is tremendous in this movie. His mullet is also tremendous.
There isn't much more to say on this because Bill Murray is awesome. So lucky for you some dude on the internet compiled the top 10 moments from the movie. Enjoy.
Ok so for today's Honorable Mention we are going with It's a Wonderful Life. It supposed to be THE Christmas movie and I am sure it's been review at least 200 times a year since it was made in 1946. That is like a thousand reviews or something. So I will spare you the details and just say that "When a bell rings an angel gets its wings." Profound.
Everyone has their own favorite scene from this 1983 classic, but our favorite thing about the movie is how the film manages to convey the entire adolescent experience. The following themes are presented by Ralphie, et al, in a tight 94 minutes.
Sexuality. This was a little before our time, but it seemed like the leg lamp was the Sears catalog and a Madonna video all rolled into one.
Male bonding. FUDGE.
Bullying. The boys, terrorized for years by an idiot in a coonskin cap, finally get back their dignity when Ralphie rages out.
Interpersonal relationships. Flag. Pole. Licker.
Disenfranchisement. If the nasty elves didn't do it, the reminder to drink more ovaltine sure did.
Crime and punishment. We still fear soap blindness.
Small arms safety. He did damn near shoot his eye out.
In the end, this nostalgic tale does a great job of giving people something to relate to. Making a timeless period piece isn't easily done, but the Pink Nightmare came through to the point that the house used in filming has been turned into a museum. We leave you with a collection of memorable clips (Youtube sort of let us down, but it'll do).
Today's honorable mention (a film we don't have time to flesh out) is Trading Places. It seems that for this committee a drunk Dan Akroyd in a Santa suit trying to kill Eddie Murphy does not a Christmas movie make.
We'll
start the list of great Christmas movies off with Elf. Unlike my
conspirator on here I have seen the movie. So with that, I have the street cred
to review it. Elf while recently released in 2003 was an instant classic. A
movie with Will Ferrell dressed up as an kind of mythical creature is worth the
price of admission. However this movie has a lot more to offer. The story is
that of Buddy the Elf (Will Ferrell) and how he set out in search of his real
father (James Kaan) after 30 years of being raised by Santa and his elves in
the North Pole. He treks from the North Pole to NYC and the movie shapes up
from there. He meets a pretty attractive/fantastic singer named Jovie (Zooey
Deschanel) along the way and everyone is happy in the end.
I
probably didn't do the movie too much justice but I am really having an issue
reviewing a movie that is 8 years old and that 95% of you have probably already
seen. I can tell you that my kids love the movie. They think Buddy is great and
they learned the words to "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" from this
movie. Also, I have convinced them that I know Buddy the Elf personally and
will call him to relay messages about what they want for Christmas or if they
are misbehaving. Its really a nice break in the day from threatening Santa all
the time.
Not
all movies can be that great. So we are also instituting a Horrible Mention for
every post. Today's is Polar Express. The movie is about a doubting boy who gets
on a train and then with the help of Tom Hanks believes in Santa. I don't know
why I don't like this movie outside of the fact that it boring and it looks
like a really bad video game. Oh wait, now I know why I don't like it...
Ok
so tune in tomorrow and we will have some more magical BS coming your way.
We hope you've been enjoying our Christmas Movie Countdown so far (check out our thoughts on Elf, A Christmas Story, and Scrooged). Now it's time to enjoy the more dysfunctional side of the holidays and look into 1994's largely forgotten The Ref.
Why is this movie largely forgotten? We're not sure. It has all of the elements of a classic 1990's era Christmas story. No-good hoodlum son home from military school for the holidays? Check. Hateful, dim-witted family members at each other's throats? Check. Bungling cops? Check. Former stand-up comedian trying desperately to finagle a film career? Check.
This movie did actually make use of every one of Denis Leary's considerable talents. He was snarky. He smoked. He smoked snarkily. You watch a movie like this and for a moment remember when we all thought Denis Leary was going to rule the world. And then we realized that no matter what, he could really only play one character: Denis Leary. To be fair, Denis is, and was, a very funny character, but he's probably best left to playing a crook who breaks into the middle of a dysfunctional family holiday and ends up salvaging everything. Unfortunately, he already made that movie, so we're pretty much done with him now.
This film actually had a great cast all around that included a pre-The Usual SuspectsKevin Spacey, who was pretty damned good. And the wife/mom? She's actually Australian. But she doesn't sound Australian. How is that even possible?
In the end, the film isn't challenging, it isn't dangerous, it isn't unpredictable, but you know exactly what you are getting yourself into, and it is a lot of fun.
Today's honorable mention movie is Bad Santa. The mom from Gilmore Girls making "requests" of Billy Bob Thornton isn't nearly enough to make us forget that it's still Billy Bob Thornton playing a miserable alcoholic who aspires to be a marginally-less miserable alcoholic, and we still can't forgive him for giving up on Angelina, weirdo that she may have been.
Seasons Greetings. We here at the SFA are working to make your holidays brighter one half-arsed blog post at a time. Through a IM session between Jamie and me we have decided you our reading public would really like to hear our reviews on Christmas movies that were released years ago. We also determined that Top 5 or Top 10 lists are kind of dumb, and would only take up 1 post. We need to stretch this out as long as possible so we don't have to write about other crap.
However if we are going to do this right, we need to get out as many reviews as possible before Santa arrives. So starting Monday and throughout the week you can expect some literary gold on movies you have probably watched already this holiday season.
Now while I should end the post right there, I am going to forge on because I am just that great. What I'd like to do is offer some wisdom or nuggets (apparently with a theme of "butthole") to think about while leading up to the Big Baby J's birthday.
Remember what the Holiday is about. No I am not going to get all Catholic on you, but remember its the season of giving. So don't be a butthole this week.
If other people are being buttholes, take it with a grain of salt and totally get back at them in March (but not too close to Easter).
Spend some extra time with your kids and teach them how to be grateful for what they already have (read: Not Buttholes). Let them know and appreciate that other kids aren't as lucky and could not be getting anything for Christmas.
If you haven't started the tradition, I cannot suggest enough the Elf on the Shelf. We have had some fun times with that elf (Jingle Bells) and my kids look forward to seeing what that tricky little butthole has been up to the previous night.
Buy an ornament every year and put the year on it. It may seem pretty dumb right now but 20 years from now, It will be pretty cool to look back and remember that year of Christmas. My wife still has ornaments from the year she was born and I think its pretty incredible. And not to brag too much on my ornament collection, but I have a Willie McGee Jersey & Spuds McKenzie.
That's it. Looking forward to having your virtual faces staring at our poorly written blogs this week.
