Holiday Favorites

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filmyfan
Joined: Fri Feb 02, 2007 9:50 am

Re: Holiday Favorites

#176 Post by filmyfan » Sat Dec 03, 2016 5:45 pm

Time to resurrect this thread me thinks..

any new offerings this year?

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ianthemovie
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Re: Holiday Favorites

#177 Post by ianthemovie » Sat Dec 03, 2016 6:29 pm

Elle :twisted:

Costa
Joined: Fri Sep 03, 2010 5:10 pm

Re: Holiday Favorites

#178 Post by Costa » Sun Dec 04, 2016 10:12 am

I love Christmas and Christmas-y movies!!!

My yearly staples are Home Alone 1 & 2.
Love the atmosphere, the music, everything about them..

Now, I'll mention some others that may not have been mentioned yet (just did a quick browse in the thread)

The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (1971)
(pilot of The Waltons) (I watch this every year too. I love the simplicity of it, and I hope it could be released on Bluray. Haven't seen any episode of the series)
The Gathering (1977) (TV movie)
One Magic Christmas (1985)
A Muppet Family Christmas (1987)

In the Good old Summertime (1948) (musical remake of The Shop around the Corner)
The Lion in Winter (1968)
Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas (1977)
All Mine To Give (1957)
Prancer (1989)
Batman Returns (1992)


Also another film that I watched for the first time last year, and was blown away and I'm probably be watching it every year now in December is The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.
Not Christmas movie but it ends with a Christmas scene.
Also I adore All that heaven Allows (1955). (starts in the fall, ends in the winter and includes Christmas scenes)

i wish James Ivory had done a Christmas film, because I love the production values of his films, and I have a hunch it would be magnificent aesthetically..

Furthermore, my favourite film of the Christmas Carol story, is the 1984 TV version with George C. cott. Probably because it was the first one I saw? I don't know..
One more vote here too for the anime The Tokyo Godfathers! Great film!
Another thing: I watched last year Mon Oncle Antoine (1971) which is considered the best Canadian film, and I don't know.. I didn't like it.
But I was thinking about it afterwards.. Maybe I should watch it again to reevaluate.
Does anyone have any other suggestions for pre-1995 foreign Christmas films?
I've searched the net but I've found only 4-5.
(eg. Fanny and Alexander (I try to watch at least the first episode of this every year whcih i think is perfectaly viewable as a standalone movie), Sundays and Cybele, my night at Maud's (couldn't finish this) etc.)

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: Holiday Favorites

#179 Post by Michael Kerpan » Sun Dec 04, 2016 8:41 pm

Mon Oncle Antoine is a wonderful film -- but the Christmastime setting does not necessarily a feel-good "Christmas film" make.

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pzadvance
Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2011 7:24 pm
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Re: Holiday Favorites

#180 Post by pzadvance » Sun Dec 04, 2016 10:26 pm

I've had a hankering to revisit Carol this year specifically for its yuletide setting. Good excuse as any to start annually watching an excellent film!

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TMDaines
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 1:01 pm
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Re: Holiday Favorites

#181 Post by TMDaines » Wed Dec 07, 2016 11:24 am

Been watching a lot of Christmas staples and classics over last few years. Not too many bonafide classics that I haven't seen now and I've seen a a lot of the lesser known stuff, but I've got these on the schedule for this year:

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
Christmas Eve (1947)
Susan Slept Here (1954)
White Christmas (1954)
We're No Angels (1955)
Ma nuit chez Maud // My Night with Maud (1969)
Fanny och Alexander // Fanny and Alexander (1982)
Metropolitan (1990)
Tyli naktis // Christmas. Uncensored (2012) [NSFW]
Happy Christmas (2014)
Tangerine (2015)

This Wiki article is a good place for browsing Christmas films. There used to be another page with only tangentially related films, but that was purged unfortunately.

beamish13
Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2007 5:31 am

Re: Holiday Favorites

#182 Post by beamish13 » Thu Dec 08, 2016 1:36 am

The Canadian crime thriller The Silent Partner has become a holiday staple for me. Much like The Ice Harvest, Bad Santa and
Reindeer Games, the Christmas holiday serves as an impetus for its central characters' actions, which result in both tragic and hilarious
consequences. Excellent performances from Elliott Gould, Susannah York and especially Christopher Plummer.

I'm glad Batman Returns was mentioned. I can't think of any other Christmas season film that so eloquently conveys the loneliness
that many people feel during these times. A beautiful film about incredibly damaged individuals, and arguably the greatest superhero comic
book adaptation ever.

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Caligula
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Re: Holiday Favorites

#183 Post by Caligula » Thu Dec 08, 2016 4:49 am

I'm hoping to revisit Fanny & Alexander myself over the festive season. My personal recommendation would be Thomas Vinterberg's The Hunt, in which the small-town hypocrisy around Christmas is a substantial theme.

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ZHansen
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Re: Holiday Favorites

#184 Post by ZHansen » Fri Dec 16, 2016 6:00 pm

A couple of my recent favorites are White Reindeer and Christmas, Again, which both go a long way towards proving that maybe the best holiday films are the loneliest.

My all-time favorite Christmas film is Hellcab, a.k.a. Chicago Cab, which I rented back in college. It was labeled Horror, had a spooky cover, and "starred" Julianne Moore and John Cusack, all of which appealed to me at the time. What I found instead was a fantastic portrait of a lonely cab driver's shift driving the streets of Chicago on Christmas Eve and the various passengers he interacts with. Though Moore and Cusack's screen time is a combined five minutes or so, it was my first exposure to a young Michael Shannon. When I saw Bug years later I was pleasantly surprised to see that the crackhead from Hellcab was on the verge of stardom!

Revisiting the film has now been a Christmas treat for me ever since. Seeing the play the film was based on had been a four-year tradition, as well, at Chicago's Profiles Theatre's, but this tradition likely ended this year forever: http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/pr ... d=22415861.

beamish13
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Re: Holiday Favorites

#185 Post by beamish13 » Fri Dec 16, 2016 6:37 pm

Bill Forsyth's hilarious and allegorical film about warring ice cream vendors, Comfort & Joy, is another holiday-themed film that I greatly enjoy.

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TMDaines
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Re: Holiday Favorites

#186 Post by TMDaines » Wed Dec 21, 2016 7:50 am

Just stumbled across Plácido. Might have to make a beeline for that.

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ando
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Re: Holiday Favorites

#187 Post by ando » Sun Dec 25, 2016 5:30 pm

Image

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays, everyone. 'Fraid my three favorites haven't changed for years. Ermanno Olmi's Carmina Carmina (Keep Walking, 1983), a dramatization of the three magi who foretold and followed the star heralding the birth of Jesus Christ cast among Italian peasantry; BD Hurst's Scrooge(1951), the indelible 20th century version (though I admire the George C. Scott version of A Christmas Carol as well) and, of course, A Charlie Brown Christmas - the quintessential American holiday kid crew.

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TMDaines
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Re: Holiday Favorites

#188 Post by TMDaines » Sun Dec 10, 2017 6:33 am

Mrs Parkington (1944) is a film I had not heard of until yesterday, but the shots of a Christmas tree in HD made me give it a watch. The film opens with the framing story on Christmas Eve, where Mrs Parkington is hosting her family for the festive period. They are depicted as boorish and entitled. Through extended flashbacks, the film charts her rise socially and economically, and her good times and bad with the single love of her life, all the while contrasting that with the family's current arrogant attitude to its immense wealth and her great granddaughter's indecision at being torn between her fiancee and family. Recommended!

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ando
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Re: Holiday Favorites

#189 Post by ando » Sun Dec 17, 2017 3:54 am

TMDaines wrote:Mrs Parkington (1944) is a film I had not heard of until yesterday, but the shots of a Christmas tree in HD made me give it a watch. The film opens with the framing story on Christmas Eve, where Mrs Parkington is hosting her family for the festive period. They are depicted as boorish and entitled. Through extended flashbacks, the film charts her rise socially and economically, and her good times and bad with the single love of her life, all the while contrasting that with the family's current arrogant attitude to its immense wealth and her great granddaughter's indecision at being torn between her fiancee and family. Recommended!
Thanks. Found a nice streamer, which will do until I can get a DVD edition. Revisiting my old faves (mentioned above) again this week.

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TMDaines
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Re: Holiday Favorites

#190 Post by TMDaines » Sun Dec 17, 2017 1:51 pm

There's a ridiculous amount of Warner-owned classic Hollywood films now available in HD. I'm not sure where all the rips of streams are coming from? Amazon US? Such a shame they are not releasing these in volume on Blu-ray.

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Lost Highway
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Re: Holiday Favorites

#191 Post by Lost Highway » Sun Dec 24, 2017 7:56 am

My favourite Christmas scene:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=10OXtPn9r1U&feature=share" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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filmyfan
Joined: Fri Feb 02, 2007 9:50 am

Re: Holiday Favorites

#192 Post by filmyfan » Mon Jan 01, 2018 8:34 am

Hate the end of the holiday season.

Signals the end of my own curated holiday film season.

Succeeded in watching 50 (Festive Fifty) films and shorts..(TV not included) in the month of December.

This year (well last month now!)..I watched a Naruse season (4 films)..and plenty of Chaplin/L&H shorts (always a holiday staple).and rounded off last night with In Search of a Midnight Kiss.

Squeezed in The Apartment on the 23rd-but sadly didnt watch Remember the Night or Shop Around the Corner (2 faves)-and a distinct lack of noirs (always like a good noir at xmas)-also a lack of new films..Things to Come was watched early in December and a poor Great Gatsby was watched on the BBC-that was it for anything new-ish

Will still be watching in January of course but its back to work tomorrow...and time constraints play havoc...but still have a pile of stuff (and a list) of stuff to watch...its never ending.

Cant wait for December now...when I will do it all over again...wonder what I will watch??!!

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TMDaines
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Re: Holiday Favorites

#193 Post by TMDaines » Sun Oct 14, 2018 6:16 pm

Watched In Name Only tonight, not appreciating about a third of it is set at Christmas. I would have saved it for a few months’ times otherwise! Curious how it never seems to appear on any of the mega lists of Christmas films.

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domino harvey
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Re: Holiday Favorites

#194 Post by domino harvey » Sun Oct 14, 2018 6:19 pm

I imagine it being a rather depressing Christmas for Grant's character is part of the reason why it doesn't get trotted out as much!

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TMDaines
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Re: Holiday Favorites

#195 Post by TMDaines » Thu Dec 13, 2018 6:42 pm

This year I’m lining up:

Stella Dallas (1937)
Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938)
Bachelor Mother (1939)
Beyond Tomorrow (1940)
Christmas Eve (1947)
Blast of Silence (1961)
Placido (1961)
The Silent Partner (1978)
Le père Noël est une ordure (1982)
Ma saison preférée (1993)
Pelišky (1999)
The Family Man (2000)
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

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Lowry_Sam
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Re: Holiday Favorites

#196 Post by Lowry_Sam » Thu Dec 13, 2018 7:15 pm

Thanks to Criterion I am now able to watch the best Christmas scene of all time on a blu-ray

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HinkyDinkyTruesmith
Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2017 10:21 pm

Re: Holiday Favorites

#197 Post by HinkyDinkyTruesmith » Thu Dec 13, 2018 7:23 pm

I caught a bit of Eyes Wide Shut last night, and was reminded how much I love it. It's certainly one of my favorite Christmas comedies. It's one of the films I have on rotation around this time of year (usually EWS for Christmas Eve, It's a Wonderful Life for Christmas, and The Apartment for New Year's Eve. Other standards are The Shop Around the Corner, Fanny and Alexander, and Holiday Affair, which I think is quietly extraordinary in its non-melodramatic engagement with war, commercialism, romantic triangles, and single-parent families. I also think it's beautiful in its simple but articulate staging, and understated performances by all. And Robert Mitchum in a light-hearted rom com is the star on top of the tree.

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Feego
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Re: Holiday Favorites

#198 Post by Feego » Thu Dec 13, 2018 9:17 pm

TMDaines wrote:
Thu Dec 13, 2018 6:42 pm
This year I’m lining up:

Bachelor Mother (1939)
Bachelor Mother contains my favorite New Year's scene and has become something of a tradition for me on that evening.
SpoilerShow
The scene in which Ginger Rogers and David Niven get lost among the revelers and make their way back to each other through the crowd and finally kiss is one of the most genuinely romantic moments of any film I've seen.

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Big Ben
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Re: Holiday Favorites

#199 Post by Big Ben » Thu Dec 13, 2018 9:24 pm

HinkyDinkyTruesmith wrote:
Thu Dec 13, 2018 7:23 pm
I caught a bit of Eyes Wide Shut last night, and was reminded how much I love it. It's certainly one of my favorite Christmas comedies.
What movie did you watch? I saw this my junior year in High School on a Censored VHS tape and all I really recall was being unnerved the whole time. :D

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reaky
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Re: Holiday Favorites

#200 Post by reaky » Mon Dec 23, 2019 4:55 pm

This year I discovered the *other* Deanna Durbin Christmas movie, Lady on a Train (1945). It’s a bit of mess, but as much fun as you’d expect from a screwball comedy whodunnit musical.

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