Well, the holiday season has arrived at last and with the pretty lights, festive trees, delectable treats and a feel of the joyous chill in the air comes the line of holiday movies and specials for us to partake in from new one to old staples.
Here's the Ghosts of Christmas past movie lists:
2017:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...29&postcount=2
2018:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...50&postcount=3
2019:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...78&postcount=2
11/25:
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973)
This is America, Charlie Brown: The Mayflower Voyagers (1988)
1/2
I remember seeing this when I was a kid but didn't remember much about it. Since this was on the disc, I decided to revisit it and it's okay. It has a more of a serious tone given the subject but it still has some of the Peanuts charm.
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
11/26:
Bugs Bunny's Thanksgiving Diet (1979)
A watchable Looney Tunes compilation special.
The framing bits weren't as funny as the original cartoons themselves but still manages to be amusing.
Intergalactic Thanksgiving (1979)
*First time viewing*
Decent early work from Nelvana Studios. It's weird but has real charm to it and the alien characters are funny with Sid Caesar voicing the alien king but the other characters felt too bland and the story felt rushed and could've benefitted from more character development and a longer runtime to flesh out the story.
Still worthwhile to check out.
Garfield's Thanksgiving (1989)
*First time viewing* 1/2
Kind of a dud. Some minor humorous bits but it's not as awesome or even enjoyable as Garfield's Christmas, though Grandma from that special shows up to energize things.
Blood Rage aka Nightmare at Shadow Woods (1987)
1/2
There's a decent premise in here somewhere but derailed by an uneven execution with lead characters with not enough depth to them but what it lacks in execution, it's made up for with nice gore fx, many unintentionally humorous moments and plain absurdity.
There's also a decent performance from Mark Soper and then you have Louise Lasser's performance that goes over the top where it dives into camp territory.
Overall, it's a highly entertaining 80s slasher flick.
Home Sweet Home (1981)
1/2
A highly generic early 80s slasher flick that so utterly atrocious that it's just outright hilarious. Jake Steinfeld's performance is so off the rails as the psycho killer, you can't help but to just laugh out loud. Some of the characters are just dull while other characters are just beyond obnoxious to the point where it will force you to laugh or kick in your flatscreen.
If you are a connoisseur of bad movies, this is a must see. I'm surprised that this hasn't been done by Rifftrax yet.
11/27:
CHRISTMAS STAPLES
Scrooge (1951)
An American Christmas Carol (1979)
11/28:
Santa's Christmas Circus (1966) *First time viewing* 1/2
Oh, where do I even begin with this one? This is truly a bizarre on screen display that leaves you shaking your head and wanting a cup of heavily spiked Eggnog and that might not get the job done.
I watched this via Rifftrax and that didn't help and it was clear that even those guys struggled to get through it and this is truly a struggle to get through.
I understand that Whizzo the Clown was the Midwest's answer to Bozo the Clown but Whizzo comes off as mentally unstable and his schtick gets old after the first two minutes and tries to pad this with B-roll Christmas displays to get it to feature length and then you have many awkward and quite cringeworthy moments throughout and it's surrounded by some really cheap and cheesy no-budget scenery and cinematography.
This isn't one of those movies that can be fun to watch and rag on due to how cheap and bad it is.
This one just leaves you weirded out and also leaves you as bored as the kids who appeared in this.
11/29:
Deck the Halls (1994)
Jim Henson's The Christmas Toy (1986)
1/2
I wasn't impressed by this one. While Jim Henson's Muppets are pretty neat here, the toy characters weren't very interesting or engaging for me to care about them. There have been many that say that Pixar's Toy Story rips this off but while this does have heart to it, Toy Story takes this concept and improves upon it by having better characters and a stronger story. The best part about this special are all of the Kraft recipes during the commercial breaks.
O Christmas Tree (1994) *First time viewing*
Dumb and plain flat animated special about two feuding polar bear neighbors fighting over a Christmas tree.
11/30:
Adventure Time "Holly Jolly Secrets" (Season 3, Episode 19 & 20)
1/2
An entertaining and vibrant episode. It's also an interesting one as this delves a bit into the Ice King's history
12/1:
White Christmas (1954)
12/2:
CHRISTMAS STAPLES
Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas (1965)
The Year Without A Santa Claus (1974)
Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer (1964)
12/3:
Black Christmas (2006)
*Revisit* 1/2
I remember seeing this when it was originally released and I absolutely despised it. So I tracked down an old HD-DVD copy and decided to give it another shot.
The movie is still awful. All of the elements that made the original so great is essentially absent and we get your standard slasher flick with interchangeable characters that you don't really care about, over the top gore that would make Lucio Fulci smile and it's swimming so deep in sheer stupidity, it's actually laughable. However, there are positives that this movie has. I did like the camerawork and the cinematography was pretty good as well as it has very vibrant colors that gives a strong Christmas atmosphere. While the movie's terrible, it does work as an unapologetically sleazy drive-in exploitation gorefest and can be entertaining on that level.
12/4:
RANKIN/BASS TRIPLE FEATURE
*Christmas staple*
Frosty The Snowman (1969)
The Little Drummer Boy (1968) *First time viewing*
This one felt very lackluster. The animation wasn't very good, the songs aren't very good with the exception of the song when the lead character arrives in Bethlehem. The story and characters aren't fleshed out very well and not very compelling or even interesting and the voice acting was very spotty though Jose Ferrer did a decent job plus the Vienna Boys Choir make a good addition here.
*New Christmas staple*
Cricket on the Hearth (1967)
1/2
12/5:
"DRIVE-IN" SATURDAYS
Toy Tinkers (1949)
Santa's Christmas Elf (Named Calvin) (1971) *First time viewing*
Imagine a powerpoint presentation stretched to feature length with a budget of $1.00 and some loose pocket change and you have this...well, I can't call it a movie since this literally has zero motion to speak of yet I was simply mesmerized on how laughably atrocious it was, even as it drags and drags and drags itself out in such a molasses pace but that got old as it went on then it became a struggle to get through and the odd thing is that there's actually a decent children's story hidden somewhere in this if done by better filmmakers but as is, it's pure z-grade kiddie matinee schlock.
Alias St. Nick (1939)
Mediocre MGM animated short with some creepy looking animation and some annoying characters.
CHRISTMAS STAPLE
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1966)
12/6:
Christmas Staples
A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown (1992)
The Christmas Orange (2002)
An enjoyable Canadian animated special. The story is basic and goes the path many Christmas stories go that teaches the old lesson of giving and not always getting but this one is done without being preachy or pretentious and it feels . The animation isn't high quality but it's not bad looking.
It's not a classic but it has plenty of funny moments and has legit charm to be entertaining.
Santabear's High Flying Adventure (1987)
I found this one among my old VHS tapes of Christmas specials. This one is pretty bad.
It's a weak effort all around from the animation to the story and characters. The voice acting was surprisingly lackluster given the huge talent attached to this like Kelly McGillis, Bobby McFerrin, Glenne Headly and John Malkovich but it's cardinal sin is that it's just plain dull.
Snowden's Christmas (1999)
1/2
A standard Toy Story clone bankrolled by Target with below average stop motion animation made watchable by solid voice talent, some funny spots and charm.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (1983) *First time viewing*
I'm wasn't feeling this one. The concept of a Christmas pageant with the worst kids possible in it seem to be a recipe for comedy gold but this was poorly executed despite one or two legitimately funny spots. The adult characters ranged from unlikable to flat out annoying and the same applies to the kid characters. Loretta Swit manages to come through this relatively well enough. The scenes that meant to be sentimental feel forced to where you just roll your eyes especially in the third act.
This is one that could've been much better than the product we got.
12/7:
Christmas Staple
A Christmas Carol (1984)
12/8:
Santa Claus: The Movie (1985) *Revisit*
Alexander and Ilya Salkind uses the Superman: The Movie playbook on the Santa Claus legend and it's all over the place. The first half builds an interesting but kind of cheesy origin story in spectacular fashion with the massive North Pole sets and colorful visual effects and look and feels like an magical epic fantasy film and it just draws you in while the second half goes off the rails into Superman III levels of over the top camp thanks in part, to John Lithgow's scene chewing yet fun performance. Despite its issues, it's clear that real effort was put into it all plus the movie is very entertaining, full of heart and is infused with so much Christmas spirit where you can't help but to have a big smile on your face, much of that is due to David Huddleston as he made a great Santa.
Not perfection but it's a joy to watch and will be added to my Christmas rotation.
12/9:
Trading Places (1983)
The new "Paramount Presents" remastered Blu-Ray has a really nice 4K transfer.
Wished we could've gotten a legit 4K UHD Blu release but what can you do?
12/10:
The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree (1979) *First time viewing*
1/2
This was a bizarre special. With its disco-esque music and trippy visuals, there's no question that this was a product of the 70s. But there's fun to be had here just by watching how off the rails it goes.
Noel (1992)
1/2
Here's another one from the VHS archives. This one doesn't hold up after all these years.
The concept of ornaments that comes to life ala Toy Story is a neat one but it falls totally flat even Charlton Heston's narration feels phoned in.
Christmas staple
A Garfield Christmas Special (1987)
12/11:
The Night They Saved Christmas (1984) *First time viewing*
1/2
A heavily contrived, slowly paced and corny movie salvaged by some nice looking sets, decent special effects, considering the time frame it was made and for a made-for-TV movie and a certain level of charm but not enough charm for it to be enjoyable.
Art Carney was a nice Santa but nothing very memorable and Jaclyn Smith and Paul Williams also put in solid work here.
12/12:
"DRIVE-IN" SATURDAYS
Silent Night, Bloody Night (1972) *First time viewing*
Despite its cheap look and some low budget shortcomings, it manages to be a slow burning yet engaging early 70s slasher mystery where the mystery is quite compelling.
The performances were off a bit but solid overall. The movie does have a real chilly feel to it with an eerie atmosphere and solid tension in places enhanced by a moody and quite excellent score. This one's a hidden gem for sure.
Don't Open Till Christmas (1984) *First time viewing*
This movie is an outright mess. It lacks any kind of suspense or tension though the violence is quite vicious and nasty. Lots of dull spots, mainly the pointless subplot involving a victim's daughter and her boyfriend that drags the movie even further and amounts to very little. It fails as a police procedual, it's not enough sleaze to be an all out grindhouse style sleazefest and it barely passes for a slasher or at least, a somewhat enjoyable one as the filmmakers manages to screw up a simple premise.
12/13:
*Christmas staple*
Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas (1977)
Christopher The Christmas Tree (1994)
Here's another from the my VHS archives. A bland Rudolph-ish clone loaded with a Country/Folk soundtrack
The Story of Santa Claus (1996)
I'm not sure how this one gets re-aired every Christmas because it's not very good.
The story is lame and the whole thing felt lacking from the songs to the characters to where it was almost a chore to sit through. It's not the worst but it's quite forgettable.
12/14:
*Christmas staples*
Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962)
SpongeBob SquarePants: Season 8, Episode 26 "It's A Spongebob Christmas" (2012)
Gremlins (1984) *New to 4K UltraHD*
The 4K transfer isn't perfect but a solid enough one.
12/15:
Alien XMas (2020) *First time viewing*
1/2
A unique and cute hybrid of How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Invader Zim. The Chiodo Brothers puts a new spin on a traditional Christmas story and it's very well done. There's beautiful stop motion animation here with a lot of funny moments but it's also heartfelt and a has a cheerful spirit. I enjoyed this one a lot.
*Christmas staple*
Scrooge (1970)
12/16:
*Christmas staple*
Christmas Evil (aka You Better Watch Out) (1980)
12/17:
A Wish for Wings that Work (1991) *First time viewing*
A very weird and very funny Christmas special.
The Wish That Changed Christmas (1991) *First time viewing*
1/2
There's some sweetness here and there but it's mainly a dull and bland one with a script that's not very good and flat animation.
12/18:
Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
12/19:
Fatman (2020) *First time viewing*
A real twisted Santa Claus story and I really enjoyed it. It has plenty of dark humor that reminiscent of the Coen Brothers along with really violent and gruesome action. There's fleeting moments of cheer but the movie has a real bleak and heavy tone to it.
Mel Gibson made for a gritty, almost disgruntled kind of Santa and he's really good here but this has other performances of note like Walter Goggins as a quirky hitman and Chance Hurstfield as a sociopathic rich brat with a grudge. Some spots here and there that slow things down but doesn't deter things. I did wish that some of the more satirical aspects were stronger because the seeds were planted for it but never followed through with it.
It's worth checking out as an alternative to the nonstop Hallmark/Lifetime Christmas flicks or you want something out of left field.
12/20:
Klaus (2019) *First time viewing*
1/2
Been wanting to check this for a while now and it was worth it.
While the story feels run of the mill, has several familiar tropes associated with this type of Christmas story, it's done quite creatively and it has cleverness and wit to it along with some oddball moments but the amount of heart it has really make it that much loveable. The animation is really beautiful and it's another creative element in how it was achieved and the voice talent did a great job here.
Despite its flaws, it's still a funny, heartfelt, charming and entertaining flick that I will add as a new Christmas staple.
TaleSpin: Season 1, Episode 43 "A Jolly Molly Christmas" (1990)
Not as cool as it was as I watched it growing up. It mainly a whole lot of blah.
Darkwing Duck: Season 1, Episode 41 "It's A Wonderful Leaf" (1991)
This one I remember more fondly and it does hold up many years later.
While the show is a superhero satire, this episode feels like satire of capitalism during the holidays. The story is simple but it's spiced up with some witty writing and lots of funny moments. It does have the standard wrap up many Christmas themed episodes have but it wasn't done in an eye rolling fashion and it has a funny stinger to close the episode.
Winne The Pooh and Christmas Too (1993)
1/2
Super cute, super sweet and just plain adorable Pooh special. This one always leaves me smiling after watching it.
Nick & Noel (1993)
This is one I totally forgot that I recorded when it first aired. I watched it again and it's easy why I forgot about it after all these years as this special is so bland and average. It wasn't terrible, just blah.
Rocky IV (1985)
1/2
Many things has been said about this entry of the franchise and while many of it is accurate like how it's a product of its time, how it's jingoistic as all get out and how it jumped the shark going into high camp cheese but thanks to all of that plus constant montages fueled by an epic soundtrack, it's pure unadulterated entertainment that's a ton of fun to watch.
12/21:
Christmas Rush (2002) *First time viewing*
A surprisingly fun made-for-TV Die Hard ripoff at the mall and while the dialogue's laughable, the plot is totally predictable and it gets quite ridiculous and downright cheesy but it's fast paced with plenty of good action scenes that make it an entertaining watch.
12/22:
*Christmas staple*
It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947) *New to Blu-Ray*
The newly released Blu-Ray has finally arrived and the 4K transfer from the nitrate film source looks quite nice.
*New Christmas staple*
29th Street (1991)
12/23:
*Christmas staples*
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
Scrooged (1988)
Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)
*Revisit* 1/2
It's been a long time since I've seen this and thought to check out the new Scream Factory Blu-ray. Well, the restored transfer is quite spectacular but the movie itself is anything but.
The central premise is a solid one but it's poorly done across the board and just plain stupid. As a sleazy exploitation flick, there are a couple of entertaining spots but it's far too mean spirited and lacks any real charm to be enjoyable as a whole.
If it weren't for all of the controversy upon its release, this would've been somewhat forgotten.
12/24:
Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987)
*Revisit*
Once you get past the overlong and unnecessary recap of the first film, you get pure unadulterated camp and it's a fun film to watch and more satisfying and much of why it's so fun is Eric Freeman's legendary performance.
One of the few sequels that got better by getting worse.
Jack Frost (1997) *First time viewing*
1/2
With laughable special effects, ridiculous kills, constant snow puns/one-liners and insanity with some dark humor added in, this is fun drive-in style B movie goodness.
A Christmas Horror Story (2015) *First time viewing*
While the structure is uneven and the pacing is inconsistent, it's an overall decent and entertaining horror anthology flick with the Santa segment being the most fun and William Shatner makes a nice festive addition.
*13th Annual Christmas Eve viewing*
Black Christmas (1974)
12/25:
The Lawrence Welk Christmas Reunion (1985)
Ace Ventura: The Reindeer Hunter (1995)
Bump in the Night: Twas the Night Before Bumpy (1995)
*Christmas staple*
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Ernest Saves Christmas (1988)
It's the usual Ernest goofiness and it still gets laughs but this one has major Christmas spirit along with charm and a great deal of heart plus it's just a whole lot off fun. Ernest's lovable nature fits best here and Douglas Seale joins the ranks of one of the best movie Santas ever.
Miracle on 34th Street (1994)
For whatever reason, this one gets a bum wrap but it's one of the few remakes that's done right. It works on its own merits and stands on its own two feet by putting a modern spin to things, adding a bit of a darker tone and inserting many interesting twists and changes that actually improves upon the original story plus the John Hughes vibe is strong here.
The cinematography and the overall look is quite beautiful as is Bruce Broughton's score.
The cast is pretty good all around with Richard Attenborough's performance landing on par with Edmund Gwenn's that lands him on the list of all time best movie Santas and Mara Wilson's performance that manages to be better than Natalie Wood's.
It will never reach the same level as the original but it more than holds it own but still retains the same amount of heart, delight and charm.
All countries
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25 Days of Christmas/Holiday Movies (2020)
Happy Holidays And Enjoy Everyone!!!!
25 Days or more of Christmas Movies/TV Shows (2020)
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