DVDizzy Forum

Once Upon a Christmas
Elf
Jim Carrey's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"
Glee, "A Very Glee Christmas"
Eureka, "O Little Town"
Disney's "Prep and Landing"
Santa Claus is Comin' to Town
A Miser Brother Christmas
The Year Without a Santa Claus
Absolutely Fabulous, "Christmas Special"
Twice Upon a Christmas
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (original cartoon)
Meet Me in St. Louis
Scrooged
A Charlie Brown Christmas
Prep and Landing: Operation Secret Santa
Rudolph's Shiny New Year
Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey
Disney Holiday Magic with Samantha Brown
Frosty the Snowman
Little Drummer Boy
Little Drummer Boy: Book II
Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July
The Best Thing I Ever Ate, "Holiday Edition"
The Best Thing I Ever Ate, "I Ever Made for the Holidays"
The Man Who Came to Dinner
Winnie the Pooh and Christmas, Too!

pap64 wrote:Before that, though, I finished Meet Me in St. Louis. Technically, this isn't a Christmas movie as it goes through all major holidays, but the Christmas scenes struck me the most. "Have yourself a merry little Christmas" is such a somber yet beautiful song, and the whole last half struck a nerve with me, especially since I've had my share of bittersweet Christmases. I really felt it when Judy Garland's character was trying to cheer her sister up, mainly because she too was heartbroken but was trying to be happy for her sister's sake. I too have been in that situation where I have to be strong for the sake of others. But, I really loved the Christmas ball scene, especially when Judy was dancing with her grandfather, then she ends up dancing with her neighbor. That was a sweet scene.

The rest of the movie I liked. The music was really good, the sets were amazing and the costume design fantastic. My problem is that the movie is pretty light. There is the conflict of the family moving to New York, but that doesn't come into fruition till the very end. The rest is just like watching an 80s family sitcom.

...And no, I didn't find it to be THAT sweet, Albert . Actually, the little girls did add a lot of sweetness to the movie, but they were rambunctious and mischievous, like little kids are. If anything the Tanner girls in Full House were too sweet.

So I thought it was alright, like eating cotton candy. Sweet and fun to watch, but nothing that fills you up. I still like Singin' in the Rain better

Yay! I'm glad you finally saw it. I think I've already made it clear how much I adore that movie, but what's interesting is that my love for it grew with repeated viewings. My initial reaction to it was "very good." After seeing it several times, I began to realize just how much I loved it. Yeah, the story is very light, but somehow it never feels padded. It's a very character-driven film, and the change of seasons+the coming of the fair+moving away help act as the threadlines, like we're actually headed somewhere. The "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" scene and what follows it are some of the most honest and striking elements I've ever seen in a Christmas film (well, it's not really one, but you know what I mean). The whole movie's great, but I'll agree that the Christmas portion is the strongest segment. Glad you liked it in the end!

New additions in bold:

Movies, Short Films, and Specials

• A Christmas Carol (1910)
• A Christmas Carol (1984)
• The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)
• Creating the World of Harry Potter, Part 1: The Magic Begins (2009)
• Creating the World of Harry Potter, Part 2: Characters (2009)
• Disney Sing Along Songs: Very Merry Christmas Songs (1998)
• Fantasia (1940)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) (Extended Edition)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (2010)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
• Home Alone (1990)
• Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas to You (2010)
• Merry Christmas and a HANSON New Year (2010)
• Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983)
• Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962)
• Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962) (with audio commentary)
• Pluto's Christmas Tree (1952)
• The Preacher's Wife (1996)
• Prep & Landing (2009)
• Prep & Landing: Operation Secret Santa (2010)
• Scrooge (1935)
• Scrooge (a/k/a A Christmas Carol) (1951)
• Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost (1901)
• To Grandmother's House We Go (1992)

TV Episodes

• "30 Rock": Christmas Attack Zone (2010)
• "Boy Meets World": Easy Street (1997)
• "Family Guy": Road to the North Pole (2010)
• "Glee": A Very Glee Christmas (2010)
• "The Middle": A Simple Christmas (2010)
• "The Office": Classy Christmas (2010)
• "Saturday Night Live": Paul Rudd/Paul McCartney (2010)
• "Saturday Night Live": Jeff Bridges/Eminem and Lil Wayne (2010)
• "The Simpsons": Donny Fatso (2010)
• "The Simpsons": The Fight Before Christmas (2010)

Recent additions in BOLD.

Films
A Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Mickey's Christmas Carol
Toy Tinkers: A Donald Duck Cartoon (December 16, 1949)
The Santa Clause 2

TV
Growing Pains - "The Kid" (December 16, 1986)
21 Jump Street- "Christmas in Saigon" (December 18, 1987)
Casper's First Christmas (December 18, 1979)
Family Ties - "A Christmas Story" (December 15, 1982)
Family Ties - "A Keaton Christmas Carol" (December 14, 1983)
The Facts of Life - "The Christmas Show" (December 21, 1983)
Who's the Boss - "The Christmas Card" (December 16, 1986)
The Real Ghostbusters - "Xmas Marks the Spot" (December 13, 1986)
Perfect Strangers - "The Gift of the Mypiot" (December 16, 1988)
The Golden Girls - "Twas the Nightmare Before Christmas" (December 20, 1986)
The Golden Girls - "Have Yourself a Very Little Christmas" (December 16, 1989)
Roseanne - "Santa Claus" (December 24, 1991)
Roseanne - "White Trash Christmas" (December 14, 1993)
The Simpsons - "The Fight Before Christmas" (December 5,2010)
A Disney Channel Christmas (December 1983)
Roseanne - "Home for the Holidays" (December 17, 1996)
Good Times - "Penny's Christmas" (December 21, 1977)
Family Guy - "Road to the North Pole" (December 12, 2010)
The Beverly Hillbillies - "Home for Christmas" (December 19, 1962)
The Andy Griffith Show - "The Christmas Story" (December 19, 1960)

Movies
A Christmas Carol (2009)
A Christmas Story
Die Hard
Elf
Home Alone (With Audio Commentary)
It's a Wonderful Life
Miracle on 34th Street
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Scrooge(1951)

TV Shows/Specials/DVD Collections
Batman: The Animated Series: "Christmas with the Joker"
The Big Bang Theory: "The Bath Gift Item Hypothesis"
The Big Bang Theory: "The Maternal Congruence"
A Charlie Brown Christmas
Dr Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966)
King of the Hill: "Livin on Reds, Vitamin C, and Propane"
King of the Hill: "T'was the Nut Before Christmas"
Mr Bean: "Merry Christmas, Mr Bean"
Mystery Science Theater 3000: "#521: Santa Claus"
Rifftrax Live Christmas Shorts-Stravaganza
Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Saturday Night Live Christmas
The Simpsons: "Grift of the Magi"
The Simpsons: "Marge Be Not Proud"
The Simpsons: "She of Little Faith"
The Simpsons: "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire"
The Simpsons: "Skinner's Sense of Snow"
South Park: "It's Christmas in Canada!"
South Park: "Woodland Critter Christmas"
The Twilight Zone: "Night of the Meek"

Frasier- Perspectives on Christmas
Frasier- Merry Christmas, Ms Moskowitz
Friends- The One With Christmas in Tulsa
Happy Days- Richie Branches Out
Kim Possible- A Very Possible Christmas
Married... with Children- The Worst Noel
Mickey's Christmas Carol (in Dutch --or it would have that nice nostalgic feeling to it)

I've been meaning to update this since I've been watching a lot of stuff as of late.

Thanks to ABC Family, been watching a lot of the holiday classics. Nestor the long eared donkey may be one of the most criminally underrated specials in the Ranking Bass canon. Surprisingly, it manages to have the Christmas charm these series has but ties it well with the religious aspect of the holidays. It is also a HUGE tear jerker throughout. I admit I always get teared eyed watching it, especially when Nestor's mother decides to sacrifice herself in order to save him. The narration of that scene is very beautiful while being painfully sad.

Beautiful special, more people need to watch it.

I also watched Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July, which I think is very convoluted for a Christmas special. It tries to tell the origin of how Rudolph got his red nose and ties the Frosty story into it, but it is confusing and the premise is silly. I mean, I know people love Christmas, but is it enough to make a circus out of it? The mythos is also pretty confusing, and it made me yearn for the simpler specials.

I followed it up with The Miser Brothers Christmas. It's an OK special. It would be foolish to expect it to be on the same caliber as the original specials, so I tend to enjoy it more than some fans. The music is pretty horrible, though the classic Miser song is great as always.

Going back to holiday themed episodes, I caught the classic Family Guy Christmas It's a freaking Christmas special. Watching this made me yearn for the simpler days of Family Guy, where the joke a minute themes were present, but had some sweet stories and genuinely funny jabs. It's why I missed out on the newest special. I don't care for new Family Guy at all.

I did, however, catch the Robot Chicken Holiday Special, which sucked. I love Robot Chicken, but man did this special recycle a lot of its jokes. Many of them were just twisted versions of classic Holiday tales being told to traumatized kids by dick parents. This was used THREE times! Seriously, they must be using the manatees for this show too.

Thankfully, King of the Hill was around and caught many of its Christmas specials too. This may be one of those rare series that has solid Christmas stories each other. One of my favorites is an episode in which Hank's mother comes to visit and brings along her boyfriend, a Jewish man. Hank then catches them having sex, and is so traumatized by it that he goes blind.

Pretty, Pretty Dresses is a great Bill episode for both its drama and comedy. Bill is so depressed over his wife leaving him that he starts to have delusions of his wife coming back on Christmas. He gets so traumatized that he starts to cross dress and act like Lenore. Hilarious!

In terms of internet exclusives, I saw the two big reviewers do their specials. The Angry Video Game Nerd did this Christmas special in the style of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The great thing about it was that not only did he pay homage to the story he reviewed games in the process. It was a surprisingly sweet episode for a series that is very rude and crass.

Faring a tad less was Nostalgia Critic's special. While the story was fully show unlike the Nerd's special it wasn't that original. It was pretty much the inversed version of "It's a wonderful life", where the Critic's existence actually affects the people around him in a negative manner. When he learns that he takes delight in being a pain in everyone else's life. The story and jokes were pretty typical. The story had been done by Married with Children, Robot Chicken, the Fairly Oddparents, Black Adder and many more.

It was great seeing the other guys like Linkara, Spoony and such, but I didn't like how the character of Critic is becoming nearly unwatchable outside of his analytical reviews. In that he is Doug Walker and is great.

So of the two, I take the Nerd's special. It pays homage to a great special AND manages to capture the spirit of the holiday while being snarky too.

I have It's a Wonderful Life, White Christmas and the Bishop's Wife lined up in terms of classic holiday fare, along with guilty pleasures like Ernest Saves Christmas and Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights. I'll report on those later.

New additions in bold:

Movies, Short Films, and Specials

• A Christmas Carol (1910)
• A Christmas Carol (1984)
• The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)
• Creating the World of Harry Potter, Part 1: The Magic Begins (2009)
• Creating the World of Harry Potter, Part 2: Characters (2009)
• Disney Sing Along Songs: Very Merry Christmas Songs (1998)
• Fantasia (1940)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) (Extended Edition)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (2010)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
• Home Alone (1990)
• Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas to You (2010)
• Merry Christmas and a HANSON New Year (2010)
• Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983)[/b]
• Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962)
• Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962) (with audio commentary)
• Pluto's Christmas Tree (1952)
• The Preacher's Wife (1996)
• Prep & Landing (2009)
• Prep & Landing: Operation Secret Santa (2010)
• Scrooge (1935)
• Scrooge (a/k/a A Christmas Carol) (1951)
• Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost (1901)
• To Grandmother's House We Go (1992)

TV Episodes

• "30 Rock": Christmas Attack Zone (2010)
• "Boy Meets World": Easy Street (1997)
• "Family Guy": Road to the North Pole (2010)
• "Glee": A Very Glee Christmas (2010)
• "The Golden Girls": Have Yourself A Very Little Christmas (1989)
• "The Golden Girls": 'Twas the Nightmare Before Christmas (1986)
• "The Middle": A Simple Christmas (2010)
• "The Office": Classy Christmas (2010)
• "Saturday Night Live": Paul Rudd/Paul McCartney (2010)
• "Saturday Night Live": Jeff Bridges/Eminem and Lil Wayne (2010)
• "The Simpsons": Donny Fatso (2010)
• "The Simpsons": The Fight Before Christmas (2010)

Once Upon a Christmas
Elf
Jim Carrey's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"
Glee, "A Very Glee Christmas"
Eureka, "O Little Town"
Disney's "Prep and Landing"
Santa Claus is Comin' to Town
A Miser Brother Christmas
The Year Without a Santa Claus
Absolutely Fabulous, "Christmas Special"
Twice Upon a Christmas
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (original cartoon)
Meet Me in St. Louis
Scrooged
A Charlie Brown Christmas
Prep and Landing: Operation Secret Santa
Rudolph's Shiny New Year
Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey
Disney Holiday Magic with Samantha Brown
Frosty the Snowman
Little Drummer Boy
Little Drummer Boy: Book II
Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July
The Best Thing I Ever Ate, "Holiday Edition"
The Best Thing I Ever Ate, "I Ever Made for the Holidays"
The Man Who Came to Dinner
Winnie the Pooh and Christmas, Too!
The Santa Clause
The First Christmas Snow
The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold

New additions in bold:

Movies, Short Films, and Specials

• A Christmas Carol (1910)
• A Christmas Carol (1984)
• Christmas Vacation (1989)
• The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)
• Creating the World of Harry Potter, Part 1: The Magic Begins (2009)
• Creating the World of Harry Potter, Part 2: Characters (2009)
• Disney Sing Along Songs: Very Merry Christmas Songs (1998)
• Fantasia (1940)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) (Extended Edition)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (2010)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
• Home Alone (1990)
• It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
• Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (2010) (forgot to list this to begin with)
• Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas to You (2010)
• Merry Christmas and a HANSON New Year (2010)
• Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983)[/b]
• Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962)
• Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962) (with audio commentary)
• Pluto's Christmas Tree (1952)
• The Preacher's Wife (1996)
• Prep & Landing (2009)
• Prep & Landing: Operation Secret Santa (2010)
• Scrooge (1935)
• Scrooge (a/k/a A Christmas Carol) (1951)
• Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost (1901)
• To Grandmother's House We Go (1992)
• The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974)

TV Episodes

• "30 Rock": Christmas Attack Zone (2010)
• "Boy Meets World": Easy Street (1997)
• "Family Guy": Road to the North Pole (2010)
• "Glee": A Very Glee Christmas (2010)
• "The Golden Girls": Have Yourself A Very Little Christmas (1989)
• "The Golden Girls": 'Twas the Nightmare Before Christmas (1986)
• "The Middle": A Simple Christmas (2010)
• "The Office": Classy Christmas (2010)
• "Saturday Night Live": Paul Rudd/Paul McCartney (2010)
• "Saturday Night Live": Jeff Bridges/Eminem and Lil Wayne (2010)
• "The Simpsons": Donny Fatso (2010)
• "The Simpsons": The Fight Before Christmas (2010)

Once Upon a Christmas
Elf
Jim Carrey's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"
Glee, "A Very Glee Christmas"
Eureka, "O Little Town"
Disney's "Prep and Landing"
Santa Claus is Comin' to Town
A Miser Brother Christmas
The Year Without a Santa Claus
Absolutely Fabulous, "Christmas Special"
Twice Upon a Christmas
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (original cartoon)
Meet Me in St. Louis
Scrooged
A Charlie Brown Christmas
Prep and Landing: Operation Secret Santa
Rudolph's Shiny New Year
Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey
Disney Holiday Magic with Samantha Brown
Frosty the Snowman
Little Drummer Boy
Little Drummer Boy: Book II
Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July
The Best Thing I Ever Ate, "Holiday Edition"
The Best Thing I Ever Ate, "I Ever Made for the Holidays"
The Man Who Came to Dinner
Winnie the Pooh and Christmas, Too!
The Santa Clause
The First Christmas Snow
The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold
Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas
Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas
Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas
Eloise at Christmastime
The Nightmare Before Christmas
One Special Night

I've done pretty pathetically this year.

I started A Charlie Brown Christmas and quit before it was over (computer problems), started Arthur's Perfect Christmas and got too tired, but I actually made it through Tales from the Crypt's "And All Through the House." Which I actually didn't want to watch (though it's one of my favorite episodes) because I wasn't alone at the time.

There's hope for the Chef! Christmas (or is it Thanksgiving) special, though.

I'm going to keep updating 'till New Year's Day since this year I've watched a lot of TV but missed many of Movies and Specials that are meant to watched this time of year. Plus there is a much smaller amount of New Year's things to watch so I'll post them in as well. With that being said you can see what I've watched this year so far one page one.

-Skyler

Recent viewings in bold:

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
Garfield's Thanksgiving
White Christmas
The Nightmare Before Christmas
The Year Without a Santa Claus
A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All!
A Christmas Carol (2009 with Jim Carrey)
How The Grinch Stole Christmas (animated)
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Prep & Landing
Prep & Landing: Tiny's Big Adventure
Prep & Landing: Preperation & Landing: Operation Overview
Prep & Landing: Yuletide Joe
Seinfeld: The Strike "It's a Festivus miracle!"
Elf
Bad(der) Santa
Walt Disney's Animation Collection Volume 7: Mickey's Christmas Carol, The Small One, Pluto's Christmas Tree, Santa's Workshop
It's a Wonderful Life
A Colbert Christmas (again)
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

I'll be watching stuff up to the 12th day of Christmas which is Jan 6 - Three King's Day.

I completed the rest of my Rankin Bass specials, including The Little Drummer Boy Books 1 and 2. Like Nestor, I think Drummer Boy is very underrated. I really enjoyed both stories and to me it showed that Rankin Bass could moving specials that didn't have to be overly whimsical and magical to be memorable.

I also watched The Year Without a Santa Claus. I must confess something... I may be the only guy who hated the fact that the little blue girl ruined the solid ending. Yes, I know that eventually Santa was going to cave in and do his annual delivery. But I thought the way it was going to end was going to be a great, unconventional Christmas ending where it truly was about giving and not receiving. But then this little girl becomes a drama queen, pulls on Santa's heartstrings and BAM, traditional Christmas ending. I just wish Santa had come to that conclusion himself, rather than just have the girl cry about it. I still love it, though!

In terms of movies, of course I had to watch A Christmas Story all day long on Christmas eve and Christmas day. I hate to be cliched, but this truly is a wonderful movie. What I love so much about it is how HONEST it is with itself. It is not trying to mask itself with the typical messages of the holiday. The family is dysfunctional but far from unlikable. Ralphie is the kid we all knew or the kid we were at one point: lovable, cute, but sneaky, selfish and rambunctious.

There is also a lot of harshness to the story that adds depth and realism to the film, like when the mother was beating her son, Ralphie swearing and then fighting with the bully. I think this is why the movie has become so popular: it manages to capture the classic feeling of Christmas while at the same time making fun of suburban life, while being timeless as well. No other movie can claim to do that!

Speaking of which, I caught an airing of Surviving Christmas. Now this movie is a complete reversal of everything good "A Christmas Story" did. While that movie was edgy while still being warm and enjoyable, this one is just mean spirited and crass. I hated all of the characters, even Ben Affleck's character. Christina Applegate's character is a bitch through and through. The parent characters and the little brother are just bitter for the sake of being bitter. There is very little solid justification as to why these people are miserable. In short, Surviving Christmas is an exercise in patience as its very unlikely you will like any of these people.

Finally, I watched "White Christmas" with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye. I was surprised to learn that it is actually a romantic comedy, but it is a great Christmas story. Problem is, Singing in the Rain spoiled me too much, and save for "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas" the musical numbers didn't stood out for me. Good thing the story was good enough that it was enjoyable.

I still have a lot to watch (Christmas doesn't officially end here until the 6th of January ) so I'll be posting those later.

The Nightmare Before Christmas
Prep & Landing: Operation Secret Santa
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D!
The Nativity Story
Mickey's Christmas Carol
The Small One (first viewing; I liked it)

I've also watched/chanced upon scenes of...

How The Grinch Stole Christmas (cartoon)
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
A Charlie Brown Christmas
The Search For Santa Paws (saw the ending; it was painful to watch)
How The Grinch Stole Christmas (live action)
Miracle on 34th Street (yet to see the entire movie)

Lazario wrote:I've done pretty pathetically this year.

Same here, I watched 3 movies total in November, and 2 so far in December. The one and only Christmas film was The Munsters: Scary Little Christmas.

Almost all of my watching these past two months has been taken up by seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation.