Christmas movies and specials

[hereiam39]

And I can´t believe that no one has mentioned The Ref with Kevin Spacey and Dennis Leary. It and Die Hard are always on my alt Christmas Movie rotation, along with the staples. Just watched Elf for the first time ever. Wasn´t that impressed. It was meh to me. Bob Newhart is what made it worthwhile.

 

[doctor_octopus]

Emmet Effing Otter, and the rest is all TRASH

 

[Bigs23]

And I can´t believe that no one has mentioned The Ref with Kevin Spacey and Dennis Miller. It and Die Hard are always on my alt Christmas Movie rotation, along with the staples. Just watched Elf for the first time ever. Wasn´t that impressed. It was meh to me. Bob Newhart is what made it worthwhile.

The Ref is great just never connected it to the holidays.

 

[8992Tiger]

If you’re talking about either of the Grinch movies, one is terrible (the Jim Carrey live action one) and the other (the fairly recent animated version) is not good. The 1966 animated TV special is timeless, however, and perhaps the greatest Christmas special of all time.

I think the first Grinch I saw was the '66 cartoon when I was in my mid 20s. I suppose I just didn't get it because somehow it was not part of my childhood. I don't know how I missed it; I was born in '67.

 

[He's Not Here]

A Bishop’s Wife (an old Cary Grant flick)
Muppet’s Christmas Carol

 

[UNCMSinLS]

I watched "Hot Frosty" on Netflix with my wife & mother-in-law. It was so bad that it was ... well ... really bad.

 

[hereiam39]

The Ref is great just never connected it to the holidays.

It literally takes place at Christmas. The family Christmas dinner is the denouement of the movie. It´s more a Christmas movie than Die Hard, which is a Christmas movie to me.

 

[aGDevil2k]

Biltmore Christmas is one of the best made for TV Christmas movies I've ever seen.

Watched it again this year and it may be a new staple

 

[Bigs23]

It literally takes place at Christmas. The family Christmas dinner is the denouement of the movie. It´s more a Christmas movie than Die Hard, which is a Christmas movie to me.

This is the first time I’ve ever seen The Ref put in that category.

 

[hedge]

I generally end up watching several versions of A Christmas Carol every year, this year I came across one with Patrick Stewart as Scrooge. Surprised I'd never seen it, it came out 25 years ago. It wasn't bad but maybe it was just b/c of the excitement of seeing a new (to me) version. Unfortunately, that wasn't my reaction to the "darker" version that came out on FX a few years ago. I wanted to like it but I just didn't...

 

[farce©]

I’m one of the few fans of The Family Stone.

 

[hereiam39]

This is the first time I’ve ever seen The Ref put in that category.

The Ref - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The Ref (Hostile Hostages in some countries) is a 1994 American Christmas black comedy crime film directed by Ted Demme, written by Richard LaGravenese and Marie Weiss, and starring Denis Leary, Judy Davis, and Kevin Spacey. The plot centers on a burglar who, while evading capture from the police, is forced to take a bickering, dysfunctional family hostage on Christmas Eve. The burglar finds himself having to act as a de facto marriage counselor, or "referee", between the squabbling husband and wife, a situation that becomes more complicated when the husband's relatives drop by for Christmas dinner.

 

[nycfan]

We have a rotation — only watch one or two any given year. This year watched 8-bit Christmas.

8-Bit Christmas — new family favorite



The Ref

Joyeux Noel


Silent Night



It’s a Wonderful Life
A Christmas Story
Christmas Vacation

The Grinch (original TV special)
Charlie Brown Christmas
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

We tend to watch favorite clips of a lot of those on YouTube instead now, including the Honest Trailer of Rudolph.

 

[Bigs23]

The Ref - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The Ref (Hostile Hostages in some countries) is a 1994 American Christmas black comedy crime film directed by Ted Demme, written by Richard LaGravenese and Marie Weiss, and starring Denis Leary, Judy Davis, and Kevin Spacey. The plot centers on a burglar who, while evading capture from the police, is forced to take a bickering, dysfunctional family hostage on Christmas Eve. The burglar finds himself having to act as a de facto marriage counselor, or "referee", between the squabbling husband and wife, a situation that becomes more complicated when the husband's relatives drop by for Christmas dinner.

Here it is at #46.

The Top 100 Christmas movies of all-time

Every Year around the holidays, i dust off my VHS Tapes & DVDs and watch some of these flicks to help get into the "Spirit of the Holiday Season." I'm gonna go through a whole lot of crappy made for tv xmas flicks as well to bring you the ones actually worth watching. :D

www.imdb.com

It’s either way underrated or not considered Christmasy enough because it’s not on most of these lists.

 

[Bigs23]

We have a rotation — only watch one or two any given year. This year watched 8-bit Christmas.

8-Bit Christmas — new family favorite



The Ref

Joyeux Noel


Silent Night



It’s a Wonderful Life
A Christmas Story
Christmas Vacation

The Grinch (original TV special)
Charlie Brown Christmas
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

We tend to watch favorite clips of a lot of those on YouTube instead now, including the Honest Trailer of Rudolph.

Rudolph doesn’t hold up that well, imo.

 

[nycfan]

Here it is at #46.

The Top 100 Christmas movies of all-time

Every Year around the holidays, i dust off my VHS Tapes & DVDs and watch some of these flicks to help get into the "Spirit of the Holiday Season." I'm gonna go through a whole lot of crappy made for tv xmas flicks as well to bring you the ones actually worth watching. :D

www.imdb.com

It’s either way underrated or not considered Christmasy enough because it’s not on most of these lists.

The Ref is an absolute comedy classic with a knock-out cast. Maybe the cancellation of Kevin Spacey has undermined it’s popularity of late?

 

[nycfan]

Rudolph doesn’t hold up that well, imo.

Can’t undo my nostalgic love of Rudolph but there is a reason I mostly “watch” it now by watching the Honest Trailer version instead.

 

[Icky Mettle]

Rudolph doesn’t hold up that well, imo.

It’s mainly about nostalgia woth Rudolph. Of course, it’s about nostalgia with much having to do with Christmas, whether it’s shows, movies, songs, traditions, food, etc.

That said, my kids seem to like watching Rudolph, so it’s not really the nostalgia factor driving them. Granted, they want to watch about anything with a Christmas theme during the holiday season, most of which is really bad and unwatchable to me.

 

[Icky Mettle]

It literally takes place at Christmas. The family Christmas dinner is the denouement of the movie. It´s more a Christmas movie than Die Hard, which is a Christmas movie to me.

I would definitely put The Ref in the Christmas movie category. Not only does it take place during Christmas, but the holiday in interwoven into the movie’s theme (which IMO is necessary for something to be a Christmas movie.)

On the other hand, I totally don’t buy Die Hard as a Christmas movie. Other than the time of year the movie takes place— which I guess is the reason John McClain makes his trip to Los Angeles and the reason the eventual hostages are in the building (for a company holiday party)— there’s nothing about it that otherwise weaves Christmas into its theme, and there is no allusion to the holiday during all the pivotal parts of the movie.

 

[UNCatTech]

I watched "Hot Frosty" on Netflix with my wife & mother-in-law. It was so bad that it was ... well ... really bad.

We gave up after 15 minutes. This is one of the movies I was referring to earlier.