Your Christmas Movies! Whatcha' Watchin' this Christmas season?

[Demoncrat]

Christmas Bloody Christmas

Undemanding festive slasher. The plot beggars belief, but the grue was distracting or I need to drink less. Hic!

[Nuno_Miranda]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Gremlins (1984)

I've not seen Gremlins on dvd for years so i'm not sure what made me buy the Blu-ray set of it, and it's 1990 sequel, a couple of weeks ago but i'm glad i did.

I loved the film. It's so brilliantly anarchic. Director Joe Dante (A protege of Roger Corman and mate of Steven Spielberg) absolutely trashes the idyllic view of small town America portrayed in films such as It's A Wonderful Life (1946) (which incidentally plays during the first third of Gremlins) by allowing the Gremlins to go freaking mental.

More violent than you might expect, Gremlins straddles the thin line between fantasy and all out horror.

As far as the Blu-ray goes it looks great, vibrant and colourful with an excellent 5:1 True HD sound mix which really puts you into scenes. From the twinkling of charms in the Chinatown antique store to the all out chaos that ensues in the bar and movie theater, it's terrific. I also noticed how much the fictional town of Kingston Falls looked exactly like the fictional town of Hill Valley. Oh and Steven Spielberg's tiny cameo too.

This is a great choice indeed! I believe I watched it with my kid a couple of years ago and she no longe remembers -- she was only 7. I remember it was an experiment and it was exhausting because I had to narrate the whole thing She was not scared, though, which surprised me, given how violent it turned out to be (memory plays tricks on us). Maybe we'll watch it again this Christmas!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Reindeer Games (2000)

Known as Deception in the UK, this is a hugely entertaining crime thriller starring Ben Affleck as a newly released con who hooks up with the pen pal girlfriend (Charlize Theron) of his now sadly dead cell mate and ends up embroiled in a plot to rob Dennis Farina's casino.

Full of clever plot twists and a great performance from sleazy Gary Sinise as Theron's brother which is just the right side of malevolent and humorous, as are Sinise' henchmen Danny Trejo and Donal Logue.

Ben Affleck is never my idea of an action hero but he's okay in this film which combines snow, Santa Claus outfits and shoot outs to great effect.

[trebor8273]

Die Hard 2

As already been mentioned this sequel might not be quite as good as the first but it's more festive with the snow etc. Always a joy to watch and the first 15 film I saw at the cinema .

Gremlins

A great festive mix of comedy , action and horror. A classic that always surprises just how violent it is.

Lethal weapon

It's Christmas time in LA and cop Roger Murtaugh wants a quite Xmas but is teamed up with a new partner Martin Riggs a loose cannon and things only get worse when he investigates the death of a old army buddies daughter. A classic buddie cop comedy .

Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets

It's Harry's second year at Hogwarts and muggles are being attacked and the chamber of secrets has been opened .


Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban.

It's Harry's third year and things begin from this point on to take a darker turn than the first two. Seruis Black has escaped and is believed to be on his way too kill Harry . My favourite of the series at this point the kids acting has gotten better but are still outs shoune by a stellar British cast as the adults.

Now watching




Followed by.

[MrBarlow]

Scrooge. 1935.

Seymour Hicks steps in as the happy miser, this one seems to miss out one or two things but love the way he tries to hold in his smile on Boxing Day when he comes to his senses.

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Rabid. 1977.

David Cronenberg's epidemic film of the Rabies virus caused by e experimental procedure on Marilyn Chambers and infectious disease control going ballistic when they can't stop the spread.

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[MrBarlow]

Max Payne. 2008.

Not really sure if this is set before, during or after the festive season but here it is detective Payne played by Mark Whalberg teams with assassin Mila Kunis to investigate a state of deaths around New York and a pharmaceutical company that Payne's wife worked for before she was murdered. Based on the game which was brilliant to play, this film has the same dark tone to the game with plenty of action and decent amount of violence in it, not a fan of Mark Whalberg but in this he was decent.

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[nicholasrope]

Home Alone

Kid gets left home alone and has to defend his House against Burglars, Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern. Bone-a-fide classic with one of the greatest sequences ever with the bobby traps.

Like other people, this was the 1st time, I've seen Joe Pesci and not knowing the roles, he's known for (Good Fellas and Home Alone are quite different)

I bet there were some questions that were asked to whoever at Warner Bros didn't authorize the extra budget and let it go to Fox.

Bad Moms: A Bad Mom's Christmas

The Bad Moms are back and this time, their Moms are visiting for Xmas, with Christine Baraniski the best as the domineering Mother. Always a watch this time of year.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

I too watched Home Alone tonight. I also watched Scrooge (1951) last night.

There's no need to review them as i probably write stuff about both films every year in this thread. Needless to say both are timeless classics and both are rather wonderful.

The Blu-ray of Home Alone is light years ahead of the dvd in terms of image quality.

[MrBarlow]

Dead End. 2003.

A family on their way to spend Christmas with relatives take a short cut that leads to a endless road.

I'm sure we have taken a short cut that ends in a turn around and endless arguments, for Ray Wise and Lin Shaye the short cut almost leads to a head on crash and strange things going on with a black car and a woman in white. You don't need a big budget or a lot of actors for this festive chiller that actually plays out well with some tension and usual festive family confessions.

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[Demdike@Cult Labs]

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

James Stewart existing makes everyone's life better, not just the residents of Bedford Falls.

I'm sure i cry more at this with every passing year.