Thursday, November 30, 2006
Holiday Flicks
I bid you all adieu from my self-imposed Blog-O-Day for the month of November with the following list of my favorite Christmas time movies. Please notice that I used the time window of Christmas time which nowadays stretches from at least the first week before Thanksgiving to the 7th day of January. Yeah, yeah, I’m stretching it, but I’m just trying to stay modern.Two movies usually not associated with Christmas and hardly ever played, even during holidays, on commercial television are Diner and Nobody’s Fool. Aside from being great holiday movies, these two movies are in my favorite 20 movies pile.
Nobody’s Fool
"Mr. Sullivan, you're wearing a necktie. Are you in trouble with the law again?"
In Robert Benton’s most excellent and faithful rendition of Robert Russo’s fine novel Nobody’s Fool, a superb cast of Paul Newman, Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffith, and the supremely divine Jessica Tandy (who died before the film was completed). Bit parts were aged wine performances by Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Bosco, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Dylan Walsh, and Gene Saks.
The script is to die for; complete sentences were transferred out of Russo’s book. It’s a story of redemption, kindness, hate, the web of small town social interactions, and, in its own quirky way, love. The visible action falls into the Thanksgiving to Christmas time period of one year but the ghosts of the past are forever weaving in and out of the scenes. Jessica Tandy and Paul Newman work off each other with an ease that only comes with age. The little tics, the slight smiles, the clever banter, the ease the comfort; you’ll be stopping and replaying some scenes quite a few times.
I’ve seen this movie at least ten times and it has not lost its shine. I’ve read Russo’s book at least two times and hopefully you will read it as well after seeing this movie. This is about as perfect a movie as one can see.
Diner
"You know what word I'm not comfortable with? Nuance. It's not a real word. Like gesture. Gesture's a real word. With gesture you know where you stand. But nuance? I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong."
Barry Levinson's first major movie, Diner, takes place a few days before and then after Christmas, 1959 in Baltimore, Levinson’s home town. In addition to directing Mr. Levinson provided a great script with quite a fewmemorable lines. As most of you know, great movie lines are a necessity for how you maintain any close relationship. The movie line should be insightful and funny. Brevity is a good thing as well since memorization is not one of our strongest suits these days of instnat information access. The great lines associate persons, actions, past relations and future plans into one quip that allows you to merely say 5-10 words to a person and have that person (who is hopefully as enamored of the same movies as are you) comprehend the specific and unique feeling/thought that your are having. Mouthing a movie line can give you cache that your own words could never match. You should be careful not to overuse movie lines as then you’ll be viewed as a parrot and not the self-deluded original person you think you are. As this exchange synopsizes:
"Beth: That's very mature Fenwick.
Fenwick: Fuck Mature!"
Blackadder's Christmas Carol
"Baldrick, you wouldn't see a subtle plan if it painted itself purple and danced naked on top of a harpsichord, singing "Subtle plans are here again!""
Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Jim Broadbent, Patsy Byrnes, and Robbie Coltrane gather together and demolish any vestige of human kindness possibly associated with Christmas. The result is that you’ll be laughing all the way through while recognizing the types portrayed in this Brit tv series. . Some favorite lines are here.
White Christmas
"Well how do you like that? Not so much as a "kiss my foot" or "have an apple"."
If there’s an older movie that I’d gladly see each Christmas, it would be this Michael Curtiz directed musical comedy. The Script, as with all of the other movies listed here, is excellent with quite a few choice words to throw out. Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye are a delight, Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney get to exercise their pipes on a regular basis and dancer Vera-Ellen is the va-voom factor in this movie. There’s snow, good deeds gone bad, songs inserted into dialogue with the minimal need to suspend belief, and positive vibes a plenty. There’s even George Chakiris in his pre-Sharks days taking a spin with Vera-Ellen.
The Family Stone
"Don't dilly-dally there, pretty lady. We're all gonna be down here talking about you."
To borrow something from Bertrand Blier, you’ll be getting out your handkerchiefs for this recent Christmas movie. Strong performances by Craig T. Nelson, Diane Keaton, Luke Wilson, and the divine Claire Danes and quite decent acting by Sarah Jessica Parker and Dermot Mulroney, without excessive emoting on anyone’s part, make this movie worth watching each year. There is quite a bit of sadness at the end but it’s handled with a minimalism that gives credence to the emotion rather than blanketing the movie with easy tears. The family dynamics are well-portrayed and (mostly) not sugar-coated. The cinematography, from the beginning, makes you feel as if you’re snowed in. An excellent movie to cuddle up in a blanket with folks you want to score points with to prove you can do empathy.
*** Addendum ***
The ever-loving wife, on a visit to see what verbal concoctions I'd been brewing up on the third floor, noticed that I'd neglected to mention one of the all-time best Office work/Christmas season movies, namely,
Desk Set
Bunny Watson: "I don't smoke, I only drink champagne when I'm lucky enough to get it, my hair is naturally natural, I live alone... and so do you.
Richard Sumner: How do you know that?
Bunny Watson: Because you're wearing one brown sock and one black sock.
Ignorance can be bliss and blissful is what I aim to be when I watch this movie so I'll ignore all of the tomes tumbling lately from the upended rumour/gossip/trash bins regarding the personal lives of Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn. Desk Set was originally a play written by William Marchant. The screen play was written by Phoebe Ephron, who also produced Nora Ephron and Amy Ephron. Spencer & Tracy, in their last film together, are, as per their usual, a lively pair. A job interview on the roof of a building on a cold winter's day is especially memorable as is a vaudevillian style piece involving an apartment, wet clothes, 2 men, 1 woman, and a bath robe. Enough said about that. Rent the movie. Granted, Christmas is almost an afterthought here. But the movie does take place during this time of year and renders a legitimate idea of what Christmas office parties were like in the days of No Casual Days. Remember Christmas Office Parties? Nah, neither do I. I've heard tall tales rendered of them prior to the current Dark Age of Litigation that has killed them off like dinosaurs.
How was this 30 straight days of posting? Let me direct you to Mr. Sgazaetti over at Isolglossia for his final word. I could not have stated it any better and certainly not as humorously as he has.
Labels: Holidays
Comments:
<< Home Verging on Pertinence Just some more disposable thoughts clogging up the hinterlands
I agree with all the picks here, particularly the Black Adder and even the surprise addition - White Christmas. There are some downright surreal moments in that last movie, including Danny Kaye in a turtleneck and beret, coming out of nowhere and doing some sort of bohemian homage.
Still, I probably would have replaced that with A Christmas Story.
Still, I probably would have replaced that with A Christmas Story.
I'll be sounding Ebenezeer Blackadder-sih here.
I love Jean Shephard; his books at home are all dog-eared. I loved "The Christmas Story" when it first came out years ago, especially becasue they let him do the voice-over. It was a total bomb when the film played the theatres....whcih made me love it even more as there would only be a small group of us that appreciated all of the jokes and the undercurrent of the anti-Christmas (specifically all the material side of things) messages running throughout.
Then, the movie hit the tv and began to gather momentum until now there are channels that lay it non-stop around the holidays. Ol' Jean would be spinning in his grave if he knew what they were doing with this movie.
Not that he had anything with making a buck...
So, Yeah, I was going to have it on my list. But, truthfully, I haven't seen the whole movie in at least 5 years. I'm waiting for the constant repetition to wear off of me so that I can enjoy it once again.
As its replacement I put a cassette tape of this in the car stereo.
I love Jean Shephard; his books at home are all dog-eared. I loved "The Christmas Story" when it first came out years ago, especially becasue they let him do the voice-over. It was a total bomb when the film played the theatres....whcih made me love it even more as there would only be a small group of us that appreciated all of the jokes and the undercurrent of the anti-Christmas (specifically all the material side of things) messages running throughout.
Then, the movie hit the tv and began to gather momentum until now there are channels that lay it non-stop around the holidays. Ol' Jean would be spinning in his grave if he knew what they were doing with this movie.
Not that he had anything with making a buck...
So, Yeah, I was going to have it on my list. But, truthfully, I haven't seen the whole movie in at least 5 years. I'm waiting for the constant repetition to wear off of me so that I can enjoy it once again.
As its replacement I put a cassette tape of this in the car stereo.
Congratulations on the completion of your self-imposed blog project. I post quite a bit but if I had to do so according to a set of rules or schedule, I'd fail miserably.
# opined by 
: 5:41 PM, November 30, 2006
: 5:41 PM, November 30, 2006
I loved Nobody's Fool! After watching it I went in search of other Robert Benton movies. I liked The Late Show, and how can one complain about Kramer vs. Kramer. But nothing could match "Fool." Great pick!
A Christmas Story has been cliched to death, as has It's A Wonderful Life. I still love both films though... and since I hardly ever watch TV, I never have to see them unless I'm of a mind to.
Oh, and I've always loved the old version of A Christmas Carol with Reginald Owen as Scrooge... it's like he was born to play the role.
Okay, you can have your blog back now.
A Christmas Story has been cliched to death, as has It's A Wonderful Life. I still love both films though... and since I hardly ever watch TV, I never have to see them unless I'm of a mind to.
Oh, and I've always loved the old version of A Christmas Carol with Reginald Owen as Scrooge... it's like he was born to play the role.
Okay, you can have your blog back now.
# opined by : 8:21 PM, November 30, 2006
: 8:21 PM, November 30, 2006
I thoroughly enjoyed your 30 days of non-stop posting. Keep up the good work.
I agree with Jim's comment that A Christmas Story has been cliched to death, but it's still one of my favorites (then again, I don't watch tv either, so maybe that helps keep it "pure" for me).
As usual, a very good list of both known and unknown (to me) films for the holidays. Your reviews always provide great insight.
I agree with Jim's comment that A Christmas Story has been cliched to death, but it's still one of my favorites (then again, I don't watch tv either, so maybe that helps keep it "pure" for me).
As usual, a very good list of both known and unknown (to me) films for the holidays. Your reviews always provide great insight.
I thank you one and all for your too-kind comments. It's been, overall, a good thinig to do this 30 day writing thing. Some pieces, I still like. Others, well, would best be committed to a deep pond, wrapped in rope and stones.
What I was shooting for was that habit-forming practice of doing something for 21 days. Time will tell if it took.
I trruly appreciate you all stopping by; the front porch's always there.
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What I was shooting for was that habit-forming practice of doing something for 21 days. Time will tell if it took.
I trruly appreciate you all stopping by; the front porch's always there.
<< Home Verging on Pertinence Just some more disposable thoughts clogging up the hinterlands
