Spruce up your holiday viewing with these films
While some films can, and should, be readily identifiable as Christmas movies, there’s a growing list of some contentious titles that may or may not be. Criteria has been formulated, lines have been drawn and opinions have been formed spurring some lively debates as to what belongs where. For every “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “Scrooged” or “Miracle on 34th Street” there’s a “Die Hard,” “Home Alone” or a “Lethal Weapon” for our consideration. Heck, even “Iron Man 3” is on that list. Naughty? Nice? You decide.
What about “A Nightmare Before Christmas”? Is it a Christmas movie or a Halloween movie? To me, it’s a Halloween movie that learned to love itself again after trying to be a horror movie. Be yourself. That’s a pretty good lesson.
I’d like to recommend some titles that, by all accounts, aren’t Christmas movies in the traditional sense but that have their own themes of love, family, redemption and even a little faith. Well, in their own way.
For the record, my favorite Christmas movie is “Elf” (2003), starring Will Ferrell and directed by future “Iron Man” and “Mandalorian” mastermind Jon Favreau.
Fun fact: Legendary stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen, who worked on “Clash of the Titans” (1981), “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad” (1958) and “Jason and the Argonauts” (1963), was the voice of the Polar Bear Cub, one of the three young, stop-motion animals saying goodbye to Buddy as he leaves to go find his father in New York
City. Director Favreau voiced the other two critters as well as Mr. Narwhal, who also shows up to wish Buddy the best.
“Elf” is available for streaming on Hulu and Max.
“Die Hard 2: Die Harder” (1990): While the first “Die Hard”
(1988) has received the majority of ink in the “is it/isn’t it?” Christmas movie debate, I believe this energetic Renny Harlin-directed sequel is actually a superior movie. If not superior, then at the very least the most vibrantly hyperkinetic.
Set at Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., during Christmastime, Bruce Willis’ John McClane — with his profane “Yippee-Ki-Yay ...” catchphrase at the ready — must once again fight an entire cadre of villains led by a cruelly brilliant mastermind.
All the while seemingly getting no one to believe him as he attempts to warn the mostly clueless and incompetent powers-that-be of the growing threat with plenty of action-packed twists and turns to spare.
Where the original “Die Hard” had a real sense of mounting stakes (he had no shoes!), “Die Hard 2” has a sort of nonstop, squirrel-like energy bookended by a cold, precise savagery. That’s due in large part to the calculatingly psychopathic antagonist Colonel Stuart played by William Sadler, and while Sadler doesn’t have the suave ingenuity of Alan Rickman’s Hans Gruber from the first movie, he makes up for
it with an intense, steely ruthlessness that makes him truly unpredictable and sadistic.
Just watch what he does to an unsuspecting British airplane just to show he means business. Back in 1990, watching it in the theater, it was so bleak and terrifying it made me ill. Even now, it’s still stunning to rewatch.
As incredulous as it all seems — McClane’s wife, Holly (Bonnie Bedilia), says it best to him, “Why does this keep happening to us?” — the situations unfold with precise efficiency. You don’t question the “why,” you just go on the roller coaster and hang on.
The opening titles, with the words “Die Hard 2” crashing violently into each other, are like that for a reason.
I also chose this one instead of the original for a strictly personal reason: It’s the last movie my father, Domingo, and I watched and enjoyed together before he died from prostate cancer in 1993. This movie is my own personal Christmas gift in his memory.
“Die Hard 2: Die Harder” is available for streaming on Hulu.
“Gremlins” (1984): This is such a mean little movie and it still packs a punch today. The reptilian finalform gremlins are truly terrifying even if they flirt with Bugs Bunny-level high jinks.
At its core, this black comedy is about a Christmas present gone really, really wrong.
Yeah, the adorable, fuzzy, singing and purring Gizmo the Mogwai was supercute, and totally shrouded in secrecy during the film’s preview advertising, but what it resulted in was something else altogether. Just like The Monkey’s Paw, this is a gift that came with a set of warnings disguised as rules that were broken through either carelessness or maliciousness. Really, the characters here never stood a chance.
I’m a fan of director Joe Dante’s work and I admire his joyful, almost sentimental, appreciation of old ragged B-movie charm and gimmickry. Dante, much like Tobe Hooper who a few years prior directed “Poltergeist”
(1982), was a talented director hired by producer Steven Speilberg to bring his R-rated horror sensibilities to a major studio mainstream PG-rated release. The level of violence and gore displayed here really pushed its PG rating and inspired the MPAA to create the PG-13 rating for future potentially problematic titles in its stead. The 1980s were wild, man.
All three of them succeeded in creating evergreen horror classics that hold up with each new generation, and, just like with “Poltergeist,” I predict someone will remake this one too. My money is on the producers hiring Bill Hader to voice Gizmo instead of Howie Mandel.
“Gremlins” is available for streaming on Max.
“Night of the Comet”
(1984): Lastly, this one is probably the least known of the three on my list but it’s also a fun one.
One part post-apocalyptic zombie movie (yep) and one part 1980s teen comedy, “Night of the Comet” counts as a Christmas movie mostly because the story is set a few days before Christmas.
There was a moment in the mid-1980s where there was quite a bit of uneasiness concerning the return of Halley’s Comet in 1986 after its 75-year orbit. “Night of the Comet,” along with Tobe Hooper’s absolutely bonkers 1985 nude space vampire flick “Lifeforce” (which must be seen to be believed), capitalized on that anxiety.
Watching this film, it’s easy to make the connection from it to future properties like “The Walking Dead ,”” Zombie land” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” in terms of similarities.
There are also a couple of local connections: Hector, one of the main protagonists, is played by Bakersfield-born actor Robert Beltran, and Kelli Maroney, aka Sam, the cheerleader with an Uzi, appeared in two short films, “The Video Store” (2021) and “A Well Respected Man” (2020) released by local indie film company Hectic Films.
“Night of the Comet” is available for streaming on AMC+ and Tubi.
‘WHAMAGEDDON’ IT LOCALLY
For the unfamiliar, “Whamageddon” is a yearly game where participants try to get through the entire holiday season without hearing Wham’s bittersweet 1984 hit “Last Christmas.”
I officially lost last Thursday evening sitting on the second-floor patio of the Padre’s Prairie Fire after a show. The song came over the loudspeakers and I was wrecked.
So, why wait? Take fate into your own hands by choosing when to hear the song but not by revisiting Wham’s ‘80s everlasting gobstopper. No, lose the game with Bakersfield panache by listening to the version released by local indie rock band Modern Wives last year. It sticks pretty close to the original but is more guitar-driven than Wham’s synth-heavy original.
It’s a solid cover and the band obviously had a blast making it, offering up bouncy nostalgia as well as the perfect amount of aggressive melancholy truly appropriate for the winter season.
This song is available on all streaming platforms.
Be well, everyone and may you be safe and stay safe.