Saturday, December 22, 2007
Incomplete Top 10: Christmas Movies That Aren't It's a Wonderful Life
Found this link through imdb. Heard of E, never heard of Reel Girl. At any rate, her top ten...
1. Love Actually - Excellent choice. This movie works on so many levels it's not even funny.
2. The Family Stone - Another good one. Still, despite its holiday setting, I don't think of it as a "Christmas movie," in the same way I don't think of Home for the Holidays as a "Thanksgiving movie."
3. Trading Places - Another killer flick, another movie I've never thought of as a Christmas movie.
4. Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas - Here's where she loses me. I'm a huge fan of Emmet Otter (And all Muppet movies/shows in general regardless of holiday theme.), but this was a TV (HBO?) special, not a "movie." If the definition of movie is on a sliding scale, where's Rudolph? Where's a Muppet Family Christmas for that matter? Besides, everyone knows the pinnacle of Muppet Christmas movies is The Muppet Christmas Carol. ;)
5. Home Alone - My 7-Up of Hollywood - never seen it, never will.
6. Die Hard - A couple days ago I was pondering why I hadn't included Die Hard in my yearly Christmas Movie ritual. Good choice Reel Girl - score two for Alan Rickman.
7. National Lampoons Christmas Vacation - Required holiday viewing.
8. A Christmas Story - I get the feeling she included this one on the list to save her ass from being rode out on a rail. Peer pressure's a bitch, but this should have rated much, much higher.
9. Funny Farm - Chevy Chase outside of a National Lampoon movie is a sad, sad thing.
10. You tell me! - She left this open for comments, which is a cop-out in itself. But since she asked...
Bad Santa - I list this one first because she mentioned it in the article. This is a movie that I never thought I would like despite being a huge Billy Bob Thornton fan. After one viewing I was hooked.
Elf - How she left Elf off the list is beyond me. Few movies become instant classics, Elf is one of them.
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer - If Emmet Otter makes the list, Rudolph does too. It's an hour and a half long - by Reel Girl's standards, that constitutes a movie.
The Polar Express - Close to, but not quite, an instant classic.
The Muppet Christmas Carol - I've already mentioned it earlier, but for my money, TMCC is the finest Muppet production A.H. (After Henson). Which is not to say that A Muppet Family Christmas, or A Very Muppet Christmas aren't awesome in their own right.
I've got a few more to add to this list, but I'm bored now so I'll stop.
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