A return to normal programming...

Quinn and I decided to cut our Holiday Hoopla a little shorter than was originally advertised. Stopping at Christmas Day seems most logical, and 31 movies in a month was always a bit of a tall order for me. Pretty soon I'll have some more Doctor Who and Disney reviews up. See you then!

[Holiday Hoopla 25] Arthur Christmas (2011)

 

Arthur Christmas (dir. Sarah Smith) is one of the Sony Animation films from before Spider-Verse, so kind of a blank void for me until tonight. The actual team behind reins is Aardman, well known for their Wallace and Gromit series.

Stylistically, the movie doesn't look quite like their claymation shorts that I was accustomed to, but it does have its own visual identity which generally looks pretty nice. The soundtrack is also pretty good for what it is, and so is the voice cast.

Although I wouldn't call it a classic, it's still a very cute movie with a nice message about Christmas spirit, and the ending put a big smile on my face. It was a nice thing for us to end out our Christmas Day on. All in all, things were quite merry.

7/10

And incidentally, a very merry Christmas to all you at home!

[Holiday Hoopla 24] Elf Bowling the Movie: The Great North Pole Elf Strike (2007)

 

This one was probably a mistake. For most movies, a 1 hour 20 minute running time would be fairly manageable, but in the case of Elf Bowling the Movie it proved an obstacle too great to surmount. Quinn and I ended up skipping the middle third of the movie (and apparently missed its pro-slavery villain song in the process).

Everything about this movie is bafflingly misjudged, from the pirate origin for the main character, to its villain, to just about every side character. The music sucks, the animation is pretty risible at best, and the story moves like sludge.

To say nothing about the racist caricature elf. I'm not even going to get deep into that.

This movie crosses well past the boundary of "so bad it's good" to simply being "so bad it's bad". Humbug.

0/10

[Holiday Hoopla 23] The Family Stone (2005)

 

And here's The Family Stone. Directed by Thomas Bezucha, this movie has a romantic story line that wasn't totally my favorite, but the family aspects of the drama were, in my opinion, outstanding. It does a great job of portraying the chaos and drama inherent in a family holiday, and all of the actors are pretty great.

Sybil's part of the story is a real tearjerker, especially the scene with "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", which just so happens to be my favorite holiday song. I recently lost my grandfather whose birthday was December 25th, so this hit a little close to home, but perhaps in a cathartic way.

Overall, a pretty great movie.

7/10

[Holiday Hoopla 22] Single Santa Seeks Mrs. Claus (2004)

 

Continuing the trend of making me question my past self's sanity when she was assembling this list, here's Single Santa Seeks Mrs. Claus, directed by Harvey Frost.

Hallmark holiday movies are a pretty infamous subgenre at this point, but I was completely uninitiated in them until tonight. I can't say that my life has been enriched by the experience, but at least it wasn't as bad as I was expecting.

The worst I can say about this movie is that it's fairly bland and that I was bored a bit before the hour mark passed. The lead actors are pretty good but the story is about as threadbare as you'd expect from the title. Since this movie is 19 years old, I now have a sick curiosity to compare it with a more recent Hallmark Christmas movie and see if they've gotten better or worse. Good lord...

4/10

[Holiday Hoopla 21] Love Actually (2003)

 

I really had no idea what to expect of this movie, since I'd only ever heard its title and never anything substantial about its actual content. Overall I enjoyed Love Actually (dir. Richard Curtis), although I was left rather confused by the overabundance of characters which made it a little difficult to follow at times. There are also, needless to say, plenty of jokes that have aged poorly in the last 20 years. The fatphobic jokes in particular come up far too often for my liking.

That said, some of these love stories are quite touching, even if others don't quite land. Our favorite actor here was Emma Thompson, whose scene listening to the Joni Mitchell CD was the most emotional of the movie.

For enjoyers of romcoms. But others might enjoy it anyway.

7/10

[Holiday Hoopla 20] Eight Crazy Nights (2002)

Rather by accident, this ended up being the only Hanukkah-related movie on the list for this year. It was a crowded selection process. If I do this again someday I'll hopefully rectify that - and hopefully they'll all be better than this crap.

Eight Crazy Nights (dir. Seth Kearsley) is unforgivably bad. What few redeeming moments it has are constantly and immediately undercut by poorly timed, tasteless jokes. It's a pretty bad sign when a movie that's marketed as a "comedy" fails to make me laugh even once in its entire too-long runtime.

It's a shame that such a talented animation team was wasted on an irredeemable dumpster fire like this. Avoid at all costs.

1/10

[Holiday Hoopla 19] The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus (2000)

 

Continuing our tradition of repeats, we return again to L. Frank Baum's forest of Burzee and its strange inhabitants. The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus (dir. Glen Hill) differs from the Rankin-Bass version in a number of ways. As it's a fair bit longer, it gets to spend a little more time developing St. Nick's journey into becoming a toymaker. In other ways, it borrows heavily from the imagery of the earlier film.

Although the animation is rather cheap and sometimes a little difficult to look at for prolonged periods, the background paintings are very pretty, and the music is also nice. I enjoy the pagan undertones of this story, which mark a bit of a departure from most Christmas stories.

Not bad at all. I definitely recommend it for someone looking for something a little different for their yearly Christmas films.

7/10

[Holiday Hoopla 18] How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

 

Watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas (dir. Ron Howard) was a bit of an odd experience, since I half-remembered the movie from seeing it in theaters back in 2000, when I was just a little Who myself. I remembered Jim Carrey's strange antics most of all, but also the terrifying baby Grinch puppet.

As far as adaptations of classic Christmas stories go, this is not a bad one at all. It can be a bit headache inducing in parts, especially in the overuse of Dutch angles seen throughout, but once I got used to them I was able to appreciate the set and costume design more. This movie is overflowing with imagination and wonder, and it hits the right emotional beats without feeling like a retread of the original.

7/10

[Holiday Hoopla 17] Olive the Other Reindeer (1999)

 

As we make our way toward the 21st century, we finally start seeing movies and TV specials I remember from when I was a kid. Olive the Other Reindeer (directed by Steve Moore and produced by Matt Groening) was one I experienced first as a book in elementary school, and then finally as a TV special a little later on.

This seems to have Groening's fingerprints all over it, from the sense of humor to the cadre of familiar voices featured. It's a silly, funny, and delightful experience overall, and Olive the titular dog-slash-reindeer is just adorable.

45 minutes of cute cartoon is just about what Quinn and I needed after the twin Jacks Frost the last two days, since both of those movies were far longer than they had any right to be, and less funny than they thought they were.

8/10

[Holiday Hoopla 16] Jack Frost (1998)

 

And now, here's Jack Frost. No, not that one. The other one.

This is the one directed by Troy Miller and released a year after the other one. Truly an impossible mistake to make. Honestly, with as creepy as the snowman's face in this movie looks, it's hard for the uninitiated to tell at a glance.

 Jack Frost is a pretty boring movie, stretched out too thin over a 1 hour 40 minute runtime and with numerous odd pacing decisions that continually bring us down from whatever fun or comedic moments there might be. Those are fewer than the movie would like anyway, as the writing isn't as clever or funny as it clearly thinks it is.

 We were somewhat impressed by the snowman puppet, but not by the writing or any of the characters in particular. I have a feeling I will have mostly forgotten this movie by the time the year is out, except for the one nice moment it has, the final goodbye.

 4/10

[Holiday Hoopla 15] Jack Frost (1997)

 

And now, here's Jack Frost. No, not that one. The other one.

This is the 1997 slasher/comedy film directed by Michael Cooney. I'm having a hard time deciding if what we've just watched is actually intended as a pastiche of the slasher genre or not. It seems just a little too silly and self-aware for that not to be the case.

That doesn't mean that I'll give it a pass, however. It veers outside of the realm of good taste too many times for that (if indeed it ever intended to stay inside those bounds at all). Not really my thing, but some laughs of disbelief were had.

1/10

[Holiday Hoopla 14] Home Alone 3 (1997)

 

It might be customary for things to come in threes, but in this case I would have made an exception. Home Alone 3 (dir. Raja Gosnell) is the first in the series not to be directed by Chris Columbus or scored by John Williams, and their absence is sorely felt. None of the magic of the first two is really here. It's also debatable whether it's actually a holiday movie, since it's set well into January, but I didn't know that going in.

This movie does apparently have its fans, and there are admittedly a few parts I thought were fun, such as the RC car jousting with the mini-van and some parts of the obligatory booby trap sequences. It just all feels more repetitive and poorly paced than the original, and trying to hit all the same beats as the first two movies just makes it more tiresome.

4/10

[Holiday Hoopla 13] The Santa Clause (1994)

 

I don't have a whole lot to say about this one, so I'll keep it short out of necessity. The Santa Clause (dir. John Pasquin) kind of rides on Tim Allen's celebrity power, but as someone who thinks he's just alright a lot of that doesn't quite land with me. Still, there were some funny and charming moments here. By far the best part of the movie is the creativity of the North Pole workshop and all the Santa tech.

Decent. Watch with family.

7/10

[Holiday Hoopla 12] The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

 

And so the unlikeliest trilogy of them all is concluded. The Muppet Christmas Carol (dir. Brian Henson) is the final adaptation of the Dickens story on the list... for this year, at least.

Although it's hard to hold a candle to Scrooge, I still found this version thoroughly enjoyable and had a big smile on my face the whole time. I always enjoy seeing the Muppets in action, since the usual Jim Henson practical effects magic is all over the place here. I was interested to note, though, that this movie seems to be the first on the marathon to have any CGI present.

The lighting and shooting are very nice, the environments have an interesting cartoonish slant to them, and the music is, while inferior to Scrooge's, pretty good. Michael Caine is also a wonderful Ebenezer Scrooge, and it's a credit to him that he treats the part with such seriousness despite acting with silly puppets the whole time.

I'd definitely recommend this to anyone, young or old. God bless us, every one!

8/10

[Holiday Hoopla 11] Home Alone 2 (1992)

 

A movie that surely needs no introduction, Home Alone 2 (dir. Chris Columbus) is the first of several 90s Christmas films... hey wait, haven't we been here before?

Produced about a year after the original, this sequel inherits a lot more than just its cast and production crew from the first, repeating many parts of the first movie's story beat for beat. It just about earns them, as they're played as wink-at-the-camera callbacks to the last movie; it isn't really pretending to do anything original.

The thing about imitating perfection is that you still land on "pretty good". Columbus and John Williams are geniuses at what they do, and the cast remains perfect, this time with the edition of Tim Curry, who is always a delight.

Nothing to complain about here. Gee, I sure hope some other sequels don't drive this IP into the ground one day...

7/10

[Holiday Hoopla 10] The Christmas Tree (1991)

 

The Christmas Tree (dir. Flamarion Ferreira) is possibly the most baffling movie I've ever seen, but all of its peculiarities can probably be explained by how desperately cheap the production was. It's obvious that the company who made it barely had a few dollars to rub together, so I can afford to be a little forgiving, in the holiday spirit...

All that being said, please treat yourself to this sometime if you want to have a good laugh. The crap animation, constantly misjudged voices, and bizarre story are enough to make sure I won't be forgetting this anytime soon...

2/10

[Holiday Hoopla 9] Home Alone (1990)

 

A movie that surely needs no introduction, Home Alone (dir. Chris Columbus) is the first of several 90s Christmas films on our list, some of which are even classics...

This is one of those, for the record. It's one of the funniest movies I've seen in a long time; it's a family movie, so the humor is all the wholesome sort, which has a considerably longer expiration date than the sort of edgier humor we saw in Christmas Vacation last night.

Compliments are owed to Macaulay Culkin, who must be up there with some of the best, most natural child actors in recent memory, but both of the Wet Bandits are great, too and we liked Catherine O'Hara as Kevin's mom. I'll look forward to rewatching the sequel in a few days.

9/10

[Holiday Hoopla 8] National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

 

Would you believe I've never seen this? I'm actually more familiar with Chevy Chase from The Three Amigos than from any of the Vacation movies. This is evidently one of my dad's favorites - and probably not coincidentally, one of Quinn's dad's favorites, too. Christmas Vacation is a dad movie from front to back, and the jokes reflect that. I've heard more than once that people of a certain age consider this the funniest movie of all time. It is actually pretty funny, but I suspect that newer generations' absurdist humor have long since outgrown this type of amusement.

It feels like this movie takes a little while to ramp up to full intensity, and I found the first two acts pretty hit or miss in general. The third act, though — that's properly hilarious. And that's where the heart of the movie is, too, and it lets up on the holiday pessimism to tell us what it's really all about.

We had fun watching it in spite of any nitpicks, though. Shout out to Beverly D'Angelo, whom I'm tentatively naming the best actor in this movie. Her expressions are phenomenal.

7/10

[Holiday Hoopla 7] The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (1985)

 

It's late and I'm tired, so here are my quick thoughts on The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (directed unsurprisingly, again, by Rankin and Bass). I was more familiar with the 2000 animated version of this film (which you might see here in a few days) and didn't really know what to expect. The "animagic" style of stop-motion animation suits the whimsical fairy tale nature of this story, but at a short 45 minutes it feels like it hurries to reach its conclusion.

Worth a watch at least once, especially to take in the weirdness of the story when compared with every other Santa story out there, but not essential.

5/10

[Holiday Hoopla 6] Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983)

I spent almost the entire day working, or outside of the house, so coming home to this short but delightful TV special was a treat. It's technically not a movie, mea culpa, but nobody but God can judge me.

Coming just a couple of days after watching Scrooge, it is fun to compare and contrast with Mickey's Christmas Carol (dir. Burny Mattinson). This is really a cliff notes version of the A Christmas Carol story, but it hits the important parts just fine. The animation is rather nice for television, with some moody coloring and interesting environments that suit a Dickens story just right.

I could have sworn I watched this once as a kid, but since the cartoon I was thinking of had Max Goof in it this is definitely not the right one. But it was fun anyway.

7/10

[Holiday Hoopla 5] Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July (1979)

 

I'm kind of in a hurry tonight, so this one will be even briefer than the others! This is fine, because there's not a whole lot of in-depth analysis one can make of (most) Rankin-Bass Christmas films. Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July (directed by uh... Rankin and Bass) is cute but a little baffling to the unaware. It goes back in time a bit to explain the true origin of Rudolph's powers, not a special inborn talent but the gift of a benevolent goddess at birth. Wizards and magic and guys turning into horrifying trees abound.

It also feels a bit longer than it has to be, but I was rarely bored. It's a little too insane to bore anybody. I'd perhaps recommend it as long as you're willing to truly immerse yourself in the Rudolph Cinematic Universe.

7/10

[Holiday Hoopla 4] Scrooge (1970)

 

I'm not sure if there is such a thing as a perfect Christmas movie, but Scrooge (dir. Ronald Neame) comes quite close. Unsurprisingly, it's an adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and not the last that we'll see this month either. But although Ebenezer Scrooge is almost as common as Santa Claus in these films, I have to say that I'll be shocked if anyone plays him as well as Albert Finney. He's a marvel in this, and I was stunned to see how young he actually was when he was out of the old man makeup in a different scene. I was honestly convinced that he was actually elderly until that point.

Transforming the story into a musical works surprisingly well; the songs are very catchy, and their reprises in the final minutes of the movie were especially delightful. Compliments are also owed to all the various visual design staff, as the visual style, sets, and costumes are quite appealing.

Scrooge uses its inherited Dickensian wit well, but also nearly brought a tear to my eye on a few occasions as Scrooge drifted through his past. There are even some surprisingly ghoulish parts, particularly the skeletal face of the Spirit of Christmases Yet to Come and the decaying masks of the spirits Marley shows to Scrooge.

It's hard to top this.

10/10

[Holiday Hoopla 3] Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)

 

We take a brief detour into pure pulp territory with the hilarious Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, directed by Nicholas Webster as his one and only motion picture. This is another MST3K alumnus apparently; unfortunately I'm a philistine and have never watched it, but Quinn certainly has. They echoed more than a few of the movie's no doubt iconic quotes for me, which I tolerated in the spirit of the season.

Oh, I'm kidding. This was a lot of fun, even though any serious attempts to apply media critique will inevitably fail. It's just a silly kid's movie. The combination of the holiday and science fiction genres is definitely something a bit fun and different. Pop it on sometime and you probably won't be bored.

5/10

[Holiday Hoopla 2] Santa Claus (1959)

The second day of Holiday Hoopla finds us watching Santa Claus (1959, dir. René Cardona), better known by its unofficial sobriquet Santa Claus vs. the Devil. Contrary to my expectations, this was not in fact about a knock-out, drag-out, bare-knuckle brawl between St. Nick and Lucifer himself. In fact, the pseudo-titular Prince of Darkness barely features outside of a momentary vocal appearance, and the antagonist of the movie is a lesser devil named Pitch.

Quinn was giddy about me watching this one, since they had seen the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode featuring this movie and had at least some idea of the insanity that awaited.

The movie kind of plays out like a fever dream, lulling me into a drowsy torpor with ten minutes of awfully dubbed singing before throwing out bonkers concepts without warning. It continued to pull this trick all the way through its runtime; at an hour and a half in total, it feels about twice as long as it probably needs to be for the amount of content the story actually has.

But it's hard to say I was bored at the end of it. The zany, random moments Santa Claus that has, kept my eyes on the screen for most of the duration. The inventiveness of the set design and effects certainly helped, as they're pretty impressive for the time, especially given that this was one of the first effects-heavy movies to ever be produced in its country of origin, Mexico.

Apparently a lot of later Mexican sci-fi and fantasy films owe a bit of their DNA to this production, which seems like a worthy legacy to me. Even if the movie isn't, strictly speaking, "good", you will probably have fun watching it.

4/10

[Holiday Hoopla 1] The Bishop's Wife (1947)

 

Quinn and I are going in chronological order for this watchalong, so we start with the oldest of the thirty-one movies on my list, 1947's The Bishop's Wife, directed by Henry Koster. As a blind first watch for the both of us, it proved especially entertaining, as we had no idea going in exactly where the story was headed.

Although the story feels a bit light on incident at times and doesn't have a whole lot of twists and turns, the central message of not losing sight of what's truly important in life was a poignant one. As I've grown older and have become more busy with both work and various projects, I feel like I've often let life pass me by. It's a pretty important lesson for anyone to learn, holiday season or not.

7.5/10

Holiday Hoopla - 31 Days of Fun?!

I've been locked away in my dark tower scheming these last two autumn months, and I think I'm due for some winter wonder. Every day this December (2023, natch), I'm going to be watching and posting brief reviews for each, which probably won't be much longer than this introductory blurb.

After spending November writing more than 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo, I certainly need something light to take a break. I wish you all a blessed holiday season, if you celebrate any holidays this month, and to everyone else a warm and restful December. :)