The Office Christmas Special (2003) Ricky Gervais, Lucy Davis, Martin Freeman, Mackenzie Crook
I’m going to do my best to do this episode justice in the write up, but I was shanghaied by the local public transportation system for two hours this evening, so let it be known that my cup doesn’t exactly runneth over with holiday spirit at the moment. Read the rest of this entry »
Mixed Nuts (1994) Steve Martin, Madeline Kahn, Juliette Lewis, Liev Schreiber, Rita Wilson
Like an actual jar of mixed nuts, there are a few bits of this film that I love and a whole lot of bits I’d rather discretely spit into a waste basket when no one’s looking. It’s such a bizarre mix of stupid and delightful. Mostly stupid. I have really fond memories of watching this with Erin back in the ’90s, and maybe if we’d been able to watch it over the phone together this year I would have enjoyed it more, but sadly Erin’s pre-Christmas baking schedule got in the way, so I watched it alone. Read the rest of this entry »
Miracle on 34th Street (1947) Natalie Wood, Edmund Gwenn, Maureen O’Hara, John Payne
Miracle on 34th Street is definitely on my list of top Christmas films. I like that it isn’t too sappy, that it has a sense of humor, and that it acknowledges the stresses of a commercialized Christmas without completely denouncing it. Read the rest of this entry »
Love Actually (2003) Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Bill Nighy, Colin Firth, Every Actor in the UK
Love Actually has about a million plot threads going at once, but all you need to know really is that it follows the lives—romantic and otherwise—of a set of loosely related London-based characters in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Most of them live happily ever after, but some of them just live. Read the rest of this entry »
Vicar of Dibley Christmas Episode (2006/2007) Dawn French, Richard Armitage
There’s more than one Vicar of Dibley Christmas special, but for the purposes of the 25 Days I’m focusing on the 2006/2007 episodes “The Handsome Stranger” and “The Vicar in White.” It wasn’t until I started watching it that I remembered that this Vicar of Dibley two-parter is the least Christmas-themed of all the films and TV specials I am watching this year. In retrospect I guess I should have chosen one of the show’s other Christmas specials, but I don’t care—this one makes me happy. Read the rest of this entry »
The Shop Around the Corner (1940) James Stewart, Margaret Sullavan, Frank Morgan
One of the joys of The Shop Around the Corner is that it is a Christmas film that doesn’t seem like a Christmas film. So, unlike White Christmas or Miracle on 34th Street, it actually occurs to me to watch The Shop Around the Corner at other times of the year. Almost the whole movie is set around Christmastime, so when you are actually watching The Shop Around the Corner it seems like a holiday film, but the plot of this romantic comedy really could have been set in any season. Read the rest of this entry »
He-Man and She-Ra: A Christmas Special (1985) a bunch of voice actors who should be ashamed of themselves
I’m not positive, but I think the He-Man and She-Ra Christmas Special may be the worst Christmas special ever. It’s so awful that in the year since Larry and I last saw it, we forgot almost the entire thing. The only explanation I can think of is that watching it the first time was so traumatic for the both of us that we designed, built, and used some sort of memory-wiping device to erase the event from our minds. I just wish that we’d left ourselves the plans for the device so we could do it again. Read the rest of this entry »