Holiday Viewing Log 2011

[JiminyCrick91]

Secret Santa's Underway, The Toronto Santa parade is this weekend, Christmas music is on the radio, and holiday films are out in the cinemas so I'd say it's time for a Holiday viewing log. I personally include any viewing that is about any holiday taking place from Nov. 1st when Halloween ends to Jan. 6th when Little Christmas is held for some. Please list everything you watch during the season from Kwanzaa‎ to New Year's, Winter solstice to Hanukkah, and Christmas to Festivus in this list. Thanksgiving I suppose counts for American's but if I stumble upon Thanksgiving shows (other than the Macy's parade which is already so Christmasy) I will ignore them as Thanksgiving is an October Holiday where I come from. Let's get started here's how far I am tonight:


Movies
1. Christmas With The Kranks
2. A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas
3. Rifftrax: Live Christmas Shorts-Stravaganza! (Was not sure to if I should count this as 8 shorts or one special or one film but it was done live in movie theaters in Dec 2009 and is feature length so let’s count it as that)
4. The Muppet Christmas Carol
5. It’s A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie


TV shows/Specials/ Shorts
1. SNL Christmas
2. The 2003 Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade
3. Blackadder’s Christmas Carol
4. Mr. Bean: Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean
5. The Addams Family: Christmas With The Addams Family
6. A Muppet Family Christmas

Internet shows:
N/A

-Skyler

[Barbossa]

I'll be starting on Nov 24 with Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

[dvdjunkie]

I'm with Barbossa on this one. The official "100 Holiday Movies in 31 Days" starts on Thanksgiving Day, and ends on New Year's Eve, and as with the Horror films, shorts shouldn't be counted as part of the "100", but knowing everyone else here they will count everything from lame Disney Channel Holiday shows to Adult Swim Holiday shows.

[TheSequelOfDisney]

^ Does it really matter what people count? What are you going to do? Go to their houses and punch them in the face for watching something Christmas-related that's on the Disney Channel?

Personally, I'm not much of a Christmas film watcher. If I watch anything it probably won't occur until December.

[JiminyCrick91]

I'm with Barbossa on this one. The official "100 Holiday Movies in 31 Days" starts on Thanksgiving Day, and ends on New Year's Eve, and as with the Horror films, shorts shouldn't be counted as part of the "100", but knowing everyone else here they will count everything from lame Disney Channel Holiday shows to Adult Swim Holiday shows.

A) I'm from Canada so again I'd have been counting since Oct 11th if I wanted to follow your rules. I don't care however. B) I let the list open for whoever wanted to put whatever they damn well please down from the day after Halloween to Epiphany (which I know few people celebrate now but I thought it would be a nice to give that extra time in case people had something they watch or do for it). I said Americans can include Thanksgiving things if they'd like too. C) I never cared what The Digital Bits or whatever site you got your rules from said and really you shouldn't either. D) We all have our own rules and should be happy with them for us and nobody else. Who cares if I watch A Charlie Brown Christmas and who cares if somebody else watches Good Luck Charlie: It's Christmas? I say let the season wash over you and do your own thing in a merry way rather than saying what other people are doing is wrong.

-Skyler

[Barbossa]

My rules are kinda open for Christmas as there aren't as many Christmas movies as there are horrors for Halloween. I like to watch the Disney DACs at this time of year too, so I'll be watching some of those.

[dvdjunkie]

There are not a lot of Christmas or Holiday themed movies available, but there are lots of movies that people chose to watch for the Holidays, and like Barbossa, I will probably watch several DAC's in my Holiday watching, and I will watch tons of Holiday shorts, just won't list them because there are a ton of them to use for intermission when watching two or three movies in a row on a single viewing.

And yes, "Die Hard 1 and 2" are Holiday movies as are "Home Alone 1 and 2". Those will be among the movies that I watch and list for the 100 films before the end of the year.

I am not trying to enforce any rules on those here who have their own watching lists. That would be sort of dumb on my part. Just want everyone to know that there are more things out there than just Disney.

[PixarFan2006]

I am also waiting until after Thanksgiving to start my Holiday Movie viewing. The only Thanksgiving-related movie I have is Planes Trains and Automobiles (which I still need to watch) and the tv special A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (which I also need to watch).

UPDATE: I just noticed the 100 movie challenge amongst the discussion. I am not sure I have many movies to join. Here are the movies I have in my household (mine and *my family's* combined):

Movies
The Bishop's Wife*
A Christmas Story*
Christmas in Connecticut*
Die Hard (Technically counts as a Christmas movie I suppose)
Disney's A Christmas Carol (2009)
Elf
Home Alone
Home Alone 2: Lost In New York
It's A Wonderful Life
Miracle on 34th Street*
The Muppet Christmas Carol
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
The Nightmare Before Christmas (Yes this CAN count as well)
The Santa Clause
Scrooge (a.k.a. A Christmas Carol (1951))

Cartoons and Shorts
Mickey's Christmas Carol
Rifftrax Christmas Shorts-Stravaganza Live
Simpsons Christmas DVD

[Barbossa]

I'll probably be watching the Narnia movies as well.

[Barbossa]

I'm kicking off my holiday viewing with The Muppets today (4:55 show). I just saw the trailer for Hugo - that looks interesting as well.

[slave2moonlight]

Hmm, this is going to be rough just getting going, because I lost my dad last month, and I also got ditched without much explanation by the girl of my dreams, and I've spent all of November taking my mom to chemo, I have a ton of commission work to get done (for very little pay), and I'm still not done taking my mom to chemo. However, I am trying. I just bought Muppet Christmas Carol, and finally A Christmas Story on Blu-Ray (one of my all-time favorite films).

I DID watch A Christmas Story already.

I also watched another movie with the same title about the real Santa Claus. Completely made up, of course, which is funny since it is meant to be a realistic Santa Claus tale... I think. The ending is a bit ambiguous. I forget where it's from, Norway or something. Interesting movie though.

And... I've watched a few on Hallmark Channel over my mom's shoulder. Most thoroughly, that one with Candace Cameron and Tom Arnold, and the one with Matt Frewer and Daniel Stern. Might be forgetting some others.

Tomorrow, I hope to catch the Macy's parade, but I often end up sleeping too late. I for sure will watch the Garfield and Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Specials though. Then, Christmas movies are more officially fair game, but I will hopefully be near the front of the line at Best Buy. Can't say for sure though.
[/b]

[Barbossa]

Here we go...

Recent viewings in bold
1. The Muppets
2. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
3. WALL-E

Ok, I did mention earlier that I enjoy watching Disney DACs and other live action movies at this time of year, ones that have some sort of "magical" feel to them. Just wanted to give a reason for why non-holiday movies show up on my list.



The Muppets (2011)

Saw the second show today. A great way to kick-off the holiday season. The Muppets are back! And I hope Disney does more with them. Very enjoyable. Great songs. Great to hear the Rainbow connection again. Thanks Jim for giving us these great characters.



Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Had the Blu-Ray since last year and I finally got around to watching it for the first time in HD. Looked and sounded great. It was great to revisit this one, a landmark in animated movies. The one that started it all! If it wasn't for Snow White, we may not have had this site and forum.



WALL-E

My most favourite Pixar movie. I admit, I'm a 32 year-old guy and this one makes me tear-up in a few places. Fantastic animation, beautiful music, Pixar's best. Picked up the Blu-Ray combo at BB recently and watched the Blu - looked great in HD.

[slave2moonlight]

Argh! Slept through the parade! My mom's computer is getting all screwed up! It kept turning off on my while I was working last night, so I kept having to redraw stuff! So, I was up all night! I woke up during the dog show!!! I think she needs a new battery back up, among other things.

[Barbossa]

Argh! Slept through the parade! My mom's computer is getting all screwed up! It kept turning off on my while I was working last night, so I kept having to redraw stuff! So, I was up all night! I woke up during the dog show!!! I think she needs a new battery back up, among other things.

I find it amusing that I can't find any links on CNN for an article or footage from the parade, but the BBC does:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15882687
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15879139
And the fact that it made the first page on BBC.

[slave2moonlight]

Ha, cool, I'll check those links out. I think it sucks that they don't have it somewhere online for late sleepers or people busy cooking, ha. Unless I just am missing it. Okay, haven't searched this year, but I think I did the year before last. Websites for ABC and NBC should have their coverage available to watch on there for at least a week, ha.

[Barbossa]

Recent viewings in bold
1. The Muppets
2. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
3. WALL-E
4. Pocahontas
5. Planes, Trains and Automobiles



Pocahontas

I think this one is kinda underrated. Great animation, great music. Will be awesome to watch this one on Blu-Ray next year.



Planes, Trains and Automobiles

A John Hughes classic. However, I kind of found this one a little depressing this year as I'm going to be celebrating the holidays alone. Steve Martin's tirade at the auto rental place always cracks me up.

[slave2moonlight]

Watched Charlie Brown and Garfield Thanksgiving Specials, though I hardly got to pay attention the the first one, and later on we watched Christmas Vacation, Christmas with the Kranks, and The Shop Around the Corner.

All perfection except Garfield and Kranks. My problem with Garfield, well, only that song at the end. Ugh. The girl who starts singing when all is right with the world. As for Kranks, it's a goofy movie. The whole time you're watching it, you're thinking, "What is the big deal? Why is this town so obsessed with this family's decision to celebrate Christmas or not? What a lot of horrible, nosy/pushy people!" Still, it has so many moments that I enjoy, that I still really enjoy putting it on every year. The Christmas party really does look like a lot of fun, and I love the Peruvian music they play there, ha.

[PixarFan2006]

I kicked off my Holiday Viewing Fest today.

1.Popeye Short: Seasin's Greetinks (1933)
2.The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978) (With Rifftrax commentary)


Seasin's Greetink's - I am not a big Popeye fan, but I bought the first DVD set of Popeye cartoons for my classic cartoon collection. The short, Seasin's Greetinks, is a Christmas-themed short only at the beginning and at the end. The rest is just Popeye and Olive Oyl skating on the ice. It also shows how much of a jerk Popeye can be, laughing at his girlfriend when she falls on the ice.


Star Wars Holiday Special - I FINALLY got around to watching this in its entirety, only with the Rifftrax commentary featuring Mike Nelson that I downloaded over the Summer. Even with the hilarious jokes from the Rifftrax crew from time to time (I do highly recommend the Rifftrax, BTW. They even riff on the commercials that aired during the special), this was still a pretty tough 2 hours (barely) to watch. Musical sequences and sketches that do not belong in a Star Wars film and go on way too long, a horribly animated cartoon, Harvey Korman in drag. Need I go on? The main problem with this whole special, however (and many people who saw this will agree with this), is that it mainly focuses on a roaring Wookiee family. It's not that that the roaring is annoying, it's just that it is a very boring idea. In all fairness, though, it does have some camp appeal (Similar to the prequels) and I may find myself watching it again in the future.

[slave2moonlight]

I forgot to mention that I watched "Popeye's Voyage: The Quest for Pappy" shortly after coming home for the holidays. It's actually a Christmas program, but just at the beginning and the end. Considering when it came out, it's a decent little CGI animated movie, thankfully taking inspiration from the early Popeye shorts. It's nothing spectacular though, just nice to see something new from Popeye, and interesting to see him in this medium, though I still would have preferred a hand-drawn Popeye adventure.

[Barbossa]

Recent viewings in bold
1. The Muppets
2. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
3. WALL-E
4. Pocahontas
5. Planes, Trains and Automobiles
6. The Muppet Movie



The Muppet Movie (1979)

After watching the new one, I had to watch the original. I have to say, even though I enjoyed the new one, it felt disjointed in a few parts. The first movie is still the best. Great music, great jokes, and great celebrity cameos. The best of course is Big Bird's cameo. This movie just has a whole lot of charm. Great one to watch for the holidays. Hopefully, Disney will release the Muppet movies they own to Blu-Ray soon.