Holiday Movies

[allyndra]

You may have noticed (if you've gone anywhere near a retail location lately) that it's the holiday season. We're halfway through Hanukkah, and Christmas is right around the corner. So I was thinking about holiday movies. Now, I love traditional ones like "Miracle on 34th Street," but one of my favorite Christmas movies ever is "Die Hard." And my husband has long considered "Gremlins" a holiday classic. What are your favorite holiday movies, traditional or otherwise? I would love to build a viewing list for the month.

Comments

ahhh... the old days...

[rasah.livejournal.com]

believe it or not... Star Wars. And I'll tell you for why. In the UK we've only had hundreds of channels for about the last 15-20 years or so. before that there were three (within my memory anyway) until channel four (yay! new channel! we celebrated LOTS). and dvd's hadn't been invented. and only rich people had actual bought videos! we had the blank kind that you could record tv on, but actually buying a film on video was inheard of! so the only time we ever got to see our favourite films was at christmas - cause that's when all the tv channels would kick off the normal programming and show the classics - such as star wars. i was 20 when i actually managed to buy a copy - so my childhood christmas memories are of watching the trilogy EVERY year. looking forward to it for AGES. it was a real family thing, and to this day, whenever i see Star Wars it makes me feel like christmas.

wow. that made me really nostalgic. and a bit homesick. :o)

what a great post this is!

Re: ahhh... the old days...

[allyndra.livejournal.com]

For me, Star Wars is Sunday mornings at home and the scent of furniture polish. My father is a big scifi buff, and he would put on Star Wars or Star Trek VI (the one with the whales) or Dune, and we would watch them while we did our weekly chores around the house. We didn't buy them, either. We would rent a movie and copy it onto one of those blank tapes by ingeniously connecting our camcorder to the VCR. I was at my parents' house a few months ago, and they still have all those old tapes. *sniff* Now you've got me nostalgic, too.

Re: ahhh... the old days...

[rasah.livejournal.com]

the one with the whales! that's what we always call it in my family ;D
my most abiding memory of childhood is battlestar galactica. we watched it on tv and mum recorded it on vhs - the video was a top loader - and had no remote. we watched them over and over again until they were unwatchable.
last year i bought the dvd box set when it came out - i hadn't seen anything but the 'films' for AT LEAST 15 years but when i watched them? remembered pretty much every line. especially Murder on The Rising Star and The Man With Nine Lives - cause those were our favourites... "only my father would fire a laser in a launch tube..." see - haven't seen that for nearly a year and i didn't have to look that up.

and V. we LOVED V. it was a family ritual watching that. "i care about this lizard." ahhh... Ham Tyler - best sci-fi character ever. made me giggle every time sam tyler's name was mentioned in Life on Mars ;D

Beastmaster.
Willow. ("shut up or i'll break your nose." *g*)
The Day The Earth Stood Still.
Seven Brides For Seven Brothers.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
Flight of The Pheonix.
Ice Cold in Alex.

Films that will FOREVER make me think of family afternoons spent devouring films from the local video store.

ahhh... i feel old and yet strangely young all of a sudden :o)

Re: ahhh... the old days...

[allyndra.livejournal.com]

V! I got my dad V on DVD for Christmas last year. It totally freaked me out as a child. And Willow is one of my favorite movies ever. When I was at Walt Disney World, they had these Star Wars Weekends at Disney MGM Studios (they still have them; I just no longer get to attend them), and actors from Star Wars movies would come and sign autographs. The day that Warwick Davis was there, everyone had Ewok stuff for him to sign, but I had my copy of Willow. So cool!

Movies that make me think of my family:
Blues Brothers
Spies Like Us
Robin Hood (the Disney cartoon version)
Superman I - III
The Last Starfighter

[sublimatedangel]

Oh, look at you being all creative! It's ubertraditional, but The Christmas Story and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas (animated version) are my top two. Seriously, it doesn't feel like it's really Christmas until I've watched them.

[allyndra.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, I love A Christmas Story! I didn't see it until I was nineteen. My husband (then my boyfriend) was aghast and forced me to watch it. Now we watch it on Christmas day, when TBS runs the 24-hour marathon of it. The Grinch is my favorite of the animated Christmas movies (I'm including all the Rankin & Bass stop-motion movies in this category). There's just something so entertaining about the Grinch's evil smile. :o)

[rasah.livejournal.com]

what's The Christmas Story?

[allyndra.livejournal.com]

This movie (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Story). It's great. Source of the ubiquitous quote, "You'll shoot your eye out."

[xanzpet.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Well, I tend to adore A Christmas Carol remakes, so Diva's Christmas Carol with Vanessa Williams is mandatory for me, as is Ebbie, with Susan Lucci. Shannen Doherty (my goddess) also recently did a Christmas flick for the Family Channel called Christmas Caper, which I thought was inordinately cute.

Also, Clue! I got my first copy of it for Christmas one year. :D

[allyndra.livejournal.com]

My favorite A Christmas Carol is A Muppet Christmas Carol. The songs get stuck in my head for days on end. I find it telling that all of your faves star divas. :o)

Clue isn't a Christmas movie for me, but it is extremely awesome. "I am your singing telegram." *pow*

[bentrumors.livejournal.com]

My traditional favorite is White Christmas. I still cry at the end every damn time. *g*

My non-trad pick is Home for the Holidays. It so helps me gear up for dealing with my own psycho family. LOL

[allyndra.livejournal.com]

White Christmas is lovely. It's my mother's favorite (she likes to watch it as a double feature with Holiday Inn), so it always makes me a little homesick.

It so helps me gear up for dealing with my own psycho family. I sometimes think that's half the purpose of Hollywood, to provide evidence that there is insanity out there to match our own. :o) I hope your holiday isn't too psycho.