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

[Inspector Abberline]

Originally Posted by MacBlayne

I posted this on Krank and the reaction has been less than great. Oh, well...

Life is full of many mysteries. Why do cows always face north or south while eating? Why did some mammals return to the sea after evolving the ability to walk on land? And why do people, year after year, nominate It’s a Wonderful Life as one of the greatest Christmas films ever made?

That Frank Capra’s ode to corn and bullshit could prove to be so popular is downright perplexing. In case you don’t already know, It’s a Wonderful Life follows the non-adventures of George Bailey, a Walter Mitty type who was forced to give up on his dreams to run his dad’s Savings & Loans business. Driven to the brink after his moronic uncle Billy loses $8,000 (that’ll be around $90,000 today), he is ready to top himself when he is rescued by the guardian angel, Clarence. Fed up with his life, Clarence shows George what life would be like if he didn’t exist.

As George Bailey, Jimmy Stewart delivers the most infuriating performance committed to film. So annoying is he, that only Clarence (Henry Travers) and Jar-Jar Binks come close to him. The film’s best scene is the one that doesn’t feature Stewart – where a young George is slapped about by his elderly boss.

And let’s not forget the film’s running time: two hours and ten minutes. Ask many what It’s A Wonderful Life is about and they will give you some variation of the above synopsis. But, the bloody angel doesn’t show up until the ninety minute mark. So for an hour and a half you will have to put up Jimmy Stewart yelling, “HOTDOG!” again and again; doing his best imitation of a record skipping whenever he says “and” (and believe me, it’s a f****** lot) and being an overall nuisance of a c*** before we get to see the horrors that would happen to his town if he wasn’t born.

And what horrors indeed. Why, there’s a bar that serves hard liquor to the working class. What heinous bastards! And then there’s the… the… the… Forgive me, but it’s as hard to type these following monstrosities as it was to witness them but… there was a dancing club!!! And it was probably filled with scandalous wenches. Honestly, was this the worst Capra could think of? At least toss in an opium den or a pimp or two.

Capra’s ballad for middle-class conformity and white picket fences is one of the most sickly films ever made. It’s the type of film that I could imagine Margaret Thatcher cackling to, as she twirled a glass of sherry between her fingers while Dennis passes out on the recliner. The overall message is one that admonishes you for attempting to aspire to greater things. Instead, you should be proud of licking your superior’s boots. Don’t ever change.

It’s a Wonderful Life. It’s Actually Shite.

nice one sir, also luving the comments on that site about your review, should of ended with a drive by killing and the A bomb going off. Any how I like your style.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

I like It's a Wonderful Life, so disagree with Mac's review.

It is the final half hour or so that makes the film what it is.

That's the beauty of film. We all have our own opinions on each and every one.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

I also really rate It's a Wonderful Life but your review did make me laugh Mac, so have a 'like' on me!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by bizarre_eye@Cult Labs

I also really rate It's a Wonderful Life but your review did make me laugh Mac, so have a 'like' on me!

Yes it made me smile too.

[platostotal]

Well, my intention is to watch these over Chrimbo, not exactly Xmas movies as such but a lighter tone for the holidays.

Ghostbusters.
Close Encounters.
Monty Python Holy Grail.
Daleks-Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.
Blazing Saddles.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

It's a Wonderful Life is one of my top three all-time favourite films – I would love to be George Bailey with that family living in Bedford Falls – so I completely disagree with MacBlayne's review, but I did enjoy reading it.

However, I think you misinterpreted the political slant in the film, as Capra is clearly warning of the dangers of condensed wealth in the hands of a tiny minority. Instead of espousing the virtues of common ownership through a mutual society in which everyone looks out for everyone else, the furthest from Thatcherism you could possibly get, and stressing how each individual is part of a greater whole. (His liberal views are also clearly part of his other great 'Capra-corn' films like Meet John Doe, Mr Smith Goes to Washington and You Can't Take It with You.

In terms of the running time, if it wasn't for the 90 minutes of getting to know George Bailey, you wouldn't care about him when he decided to take his life because the years, financially speaking, worth more dead than alive. That's what makes the following 20-30 minutes so gutwrenchingly awful and the final 10 minutes so life affirming and beautiful.

[MacBlayne]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs

It's a Wonderful Life is one of my top three all-time favourite films – I would love to be George Bailey with that family living in Bedford Falls – so I completely disagree with MacBlayne's review, but I did enjoy reading it.

However, I think you misinterpreted the political slant in the film, as Capra is clearly warning of the dangers of condensed wealth in the hands of a tiny minority. Instead of espousing the virtues of common ownership through a mutual society in which everyone looks out for everyone else, the furthest from Thatcherism you could possibly get, and stressing how each individual is part of a greater whole. (His liberal views are also clearly part of his other great 'Capra-corn' films like Meet John Doe, Mr Smith Goes to Washington and You Can't Take It with You.

In terms of the running time, if it wasn't for the 90 minutes of getting to know George Bailey, you wouldn't care about him when he decided to take his life because the years, financially speaking, worth more dead than alive. That's what makes the following 20-30 minutes so gutwrenchingly awful and the final 10 minutes so life affirming and beautiful.

I think it's those ninety minutes that made me hate George Bailey. He reminds me of the drunk in every pub, the one who keeps poking you and boring you with his dreams while you're trying to talk to somebody else.

As for the political slant, I still stand by my claims. To me, the film is telling me to stay within the status quo - do not rock the boat. Otherwise, terrible things may happen. Watching the film, all I could think of was Judge Smails' callous comment in Caddyshack.

I can see your points alright, but it's not the ones that resonated with me. However, I must stress, with the exception of Arsenic and Old Lace, there isn't a Frank Capra film that I like. I find his style to be overbearing and sickly.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by MacBlayne

I think it's those ninety minutes that made me hate George Bailey. He reminds me of the drunk in every pub, the one who keeps poking you and boring you with his dreams while you're trying to talk to somebody else.

As for the political slant, I still stand by my claims. To me, the film is telling me to stay within the status quo - do not rock the boat. Otherwise, terrible things may happen. Watching the film, all I could think of was Judge Smails' callous comment in Caddyshack.

I can see your points alright, but it's not the ones that resonated with me. However, I must stress, with the exception of Arsenic and Old Lace, there isn't a Frank Capra film that I like. I find his style to be overbearing and sickly.

I see you mean about George Bailey possibly coming across as annoying – after all, Mr Potter ends up quite accurately referring to him as a 'warped, frustrated, young man', because he's been desperate to leave Bedford Falls at just about every significant juncture in his life (travelling, college, work) only to be thwarted at every turn. I find this part makes him so endearing as he always, no matter how begrudgingly, puts others before himself – choosing not to leave in order to keep the Buildings and Loan open and out of Mr Potter's clutches and just generally being the 'everyman' who gets in the way of the arch capitalist treating Bedford Falls as his own personal Monopoly board.

In terms of the politics and economics in the film, it's one which says you need to look at the bigger picture when considering your own finances because the best option for you might jeopardise society as a whole, putting wealth in the hands of 'the 1%'. In that respect and when you look at the whole sub-prime housing scandal and the dangers of unregulated banking, Frank Capra was way ahead of things when saying how dangerous things could be when privatisation goes unchecked.

[Inspector Abberline]

The Signal-Man Original air date 22 December 1976
Based on Charles Dickens short story published in 1866.,According to the notes from the dvd box set ,Dickens wrote this short story after surviving a train crash (Staplehurst rail crash) on the 9th of June 1865,Folkstone Boat Express had derailed and and lay wrecked at the bottom of a river in Kent.So no matter what happens in life were pretty much in the hands of fate,the signals and warnings may all be there but when are times up its up.I suppose Dickens after surviving a train crash was going to have some anxiety about trains. Lawrence Gordon Clark directs an Andrew Davies adaptation of the Dickens story. Denholm Elliott as The Signalman is a very nervous and scared man,one night Bernard Lloyd as The Traveller is passing by and waves down to the Signalman, "Hallo, Below There". fearful the signalman does not reply,eventually the traveller assures him that he has nothing to fear and walks down to the signal box and greets him.I was very surprised to find out from Lawrence Gordon Clark introduction that Denholm Elliott was not 100% familiar with the script at the time of filming and used idiot cards,hiding them all around the set.I have to say he is marvellous in the part, a man full of dread and fear who is almost afraid of his own shadow,there's certainly nothing in his performance that would suggest he was not on top form either. The Dickens story in some ways feels more modern in its adaptation than the later James stories, MR James tales are usually set in the dusty past of old churches and mouldy old books and libraries, where as The Signalman is dealing with what would of been at the time modern technology, kind of like David Cronenberg's Crash but with steam engines.By the way if the spectre waves.don't forget to wave back.

out 0f 5

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Okay so what is it actually about and what happens?