Christmas Movie Marathon Day 5

          I'm trying something different to get in the holiday spirit this year. Every day, from now through Christmas, I will be watching a different Christmas movie or television special. I have compiled the list of features ahead of time and am drawing one, at random, from my Christmas stocking everyday to determine what gets watched. Thank you for joining me in this endeavor. Now let's look at day 5's selection.

Elf (2003)

           Elf was released when I was in my senior year of high school, but I didn't see it until the holiday season of 2010. I'm not exactly sure why this is. At first I thought I might have been experiencing Will Ferrell burn-out, but a quick Google search reveals to me that Anchorman and the rest of his run of hit comedies came out after this. Only Old School predates it. The hard truth is I guess I must have thought myself too good for a Christmas movie in 2003. That sadly makes sense; I was not far removed from the height of my moody teenage years at that point. Regardless of why I didn't see it initially, I have enjoyed seeing it since. However, I am pretty sure I have only ever watched it on cable. This viewing marks my first time ever seeking it out specifically.

Christmas Movie Marathon Day 4

           I'm trying something different to get in the holiday spirit this year. Every day, from now through Christmas, I will be watching a different Christmas movie or television special. I have compiled the list of features ahead of time and am drawing one, at random, from my Christmas stocking everyday to determine what gets watched. Thank you for joining me in this endeavor. Now let's find out what I'm watching for day 4.

Christmas Eve on Sesame Street (1978)

           Now this is quite the change from yesterday. Christmas Eve on Sesame Street is from a different, and in my opinion, better era of the long running educational program. Specifically, this special is from the time before Sesame Street was hit with the annoying red blight know as Elmo. If you want some insight in to some of the reasons Elmo is terrible you should check out this article. Moving away from my seething Elmo hatred and back to the feature at hand, this special was a Christmas staple. PBS ran it almost every holiday season from its premiere until 1996 when it was finally retired and replaced...with Elmo Saves Christmas. Ignoring how angry that makes me, this special has it all. It is legitimately funny with jokes that land for both kids and adults. It teaches tolerance for other cultures with out being preachy. And it does a wonderful job of capturing the spirit of giving and caring that under scores the whole of the holiday season.

           To say that I am a fan of this special would be an understatement. I have loved it since I was a child and it is hard to convey the excitement I felt when I found it on DVD at a random grocery store during the 2006 holiday season. It has been a yearly watch since that day and I am not even sure that this will be my only viewing this year. Enough with my gushing, let's dig on in

Christmas Movie Marathon Day 3

          I'm trying something different to get in the holiday spirit this year.  Every day, from now through Christmas, I will be watching a different Christmas movie or television special.  I have compiled the list of features ahead of time and am drawing one, at random, from my Christmas stocking everyday to determine what gets watched.  Thank you for joining me in this endeavor.  Now let's find out what the third pick is.

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)

         So, this is one that simply had to be added to the list of Christmas films.  Rare Exports is a very unique entry on this list.  Normally, when one thinks about Christmas movies, horror-comedy is not a genre that jumps to mind.  Despite the admittedly awkward genre, Rare Exports is a Christmas movie through and through.  It is also our first and, unless I am totally forgetting what is in the stocking, only foreign feature.  I was lucky enough to catch this one when it was on its theatrical run in the holiday season of 2010.  I have watched it one time since then and am excited to give it another viewing.

Christmas Movie Marathon Day 2

 Day 1 available: Here

           I'm trying something different to get in the holiday spirit this year. Every day, from now through Christmas, I will be watching a different Christmas movie or television special. I have compiled the list of features ahead of time and am drawing one, at random, from my Christmas stocking everyday to determine what gets watched. Thank you for joining me in this endeavor. Now let's find out what the second pick is.

He-Man and She-Ra: A Christmas Special (1985)

           Okay, second day and this is already making life a little more fun. Even though the toy line was all but dead by the time I was old enough for it, hand-me-downs, the stocking vagaries of toy stores in the 1980s, and reruns of the cartoon on the USA Network conspired to ensure that Masters of the Universe dominated my childhood. It is still one of my favorite properties to this day, and that is despite Matty Collector doing everything in its power to make being a MOTU fan a frustrating experience.

           That being said, it wasn't until 2008 that I actually saw this special. Hell, I didn't even know it existed until the late nineties when I read about it on He-Man.org. To me, that is a real tragedy. Because, while I enjoy it now for what it is, I would have absolutely loved it as a kid. Christmas was already a uniquely magical time of the year for me back then and, if I could have hitched that season up to a prime time He-Man and She-Ra special, I would likely have been running back and forth through the house in a manner that would have made my mom think I had finally snapped completely.

Christmas Movie Marathon Day 1

           I love Thanksgiving. I acknowledge that that is a strange way to open a blog post about a Christmas movie marathon but bear with me. Every year it seems as though Thanksgiving is being given less and less attention and getting further crushed between the commercial blitz of Halloween and Christmas. My response to this is to push back as hard as I can to keep Thanksgiving alive for me. However, this has an unintended consequence. I am frequently not feeling the Christmas spirit at all until a day or two before the main event. As such, I am forced to try to catch up by cramming in as many holiday festivities as possible in to too short a span of time. Unsurprisingly, this doesn't work very well. This year I am trying something different. For each of the thirty days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I will be watching a different Christmas movie or television special. I have compiled the list of features ahead of time and will draw one, at random, from my Christmas stocking everyday to determine what gets watched. Assuming you are still with me through that convoluted intro, thank you. Now let's find out the first pick.

Jingle All the Way (1996)

           I'm actually pretty pumped for this pick. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not under any illusions about this actually being a good movie. However, it is one that has not been overplayed in my life. I haven't actually watched it since I saw it in theaters in 1996, and even then I was there more for the Star Wars Trilogy: Special Edition trailer that preceded it than I was for the actual movie. I'll be interested to see if it is as cheesy as I remember or if it has developed a quaint charm.

Synopsis

           Arnold Schwarzenegger plays Howard Langston, a father largely absent from the life of his son, Jamie (played by Jake Lloyd), due to focusing too much on work. After missing Jamie's karate class, Howard promises him that he will make sure Santa gets him a Turbo-Man action figure for Christmas. Unbeknownst to Howard, Turbo-Man is the hot ticket holiday item of the year and, as it is already Christmas Eve it will be almost impossible to find. The quest for Turbo-Man brings him in to conflict with fellow desperate dad, Myron Larabee (played by Sinbad). Madcap action ensues and Howard fails to get Turbo-Man multiple times. Meanwhile, back at Howard's house his next door neighbor, Ted (played by Phil Hartman) is trying to make moves on Howard's wife in his continued absence. The multiple plot threads culminate at the Wintertainment Parade. Through mistaken identity, Howard ends up dressed at Turbo-Man in the parade and is able to give Jaime a limited edition Turbo-Man figure. Myron will have none of this and steals the costume of Turbo-Man's arch-nemesis, Dementor. They battle and eventually Myron is defeated and Howard saves Jamie from what would have been a fatal fall. After Howard reveals that he is under the Turbo-Man helmet, Ted flees the parade fearful of Howard and Jaime gives Myron the limited edition Turbo-Man as he now has the real thing at home.

Final Thoughts

           Overall, this film was fairly enjoyable. Most of the jokes fall flat, but there are a few here and there that are capable of bringing a smile to ones face. Also, assuming you are of the right age and nostalgically inclined, there is fun to be had simply in the shots of mid-nineties toy aisles. There is also a very early appearance of Chris Parnell in a bit part which is fun to see. And, as a lifelong Minnesotan, it is neat to see Twin Cities locations as they existed in early 1995 captured forever. As an aside, the reduced amount of snow is an obvious tell that it was filmed in the spring and not in the season it purports to be. However, there are parts that seem off putting in our modern world. Jokes about explosives in the mail are probably less funny in a world struggling to deal with terrorism than they were in the long end of history victory lap of the nineties. Further, the special effects in the climax have not aged particularly well, but that is to be expected. Wrapping up, this wouldn't have been my first choice for a holiday film, but compared to some of the ones coming up later it is more earnest and therefore an okay one to start on. If nothing else it has reminded me that I should get off my ass and get my Christmas shopping done sooner rather than later. One down, twenty-nine to go.