Rick McGinnis:They don’t make Christmas movies like they used to.
5 Replies to “Honey, I Finished The Eggnog”
In the Alistair Sims classic I always thought the contrast between bad Scrooge and good Scrooge was overplayed. To my mind his transformative overnight conversion never seemed an accurate representation of how human nature works. The world has only seen one road to Damascus conversion where change came immediately. McGinnis himself admits to watching Sims every year to get his attitude correct for Christmas. IMO that in itself confirms my belief that Scrooge’s own change of heart is almost cartoon-like; one day a penny-pinching miser, the next day a spend-thrift throwing his money around with abandon.
I like the movie Prancer about looking after a reindeer almost hit on a country road. Also One Magic Christmas with Mary Steenbergen about an ordinary woman who finds out what is really important at Christmas.
They used to show religious movies on t.v at Christmas and Easter. I especially liked Jesus of Nazareth by Franco Zefferelli who did a wonderful Romeo and Juliet in the seventies as well.
The Polar Express is our family yearly Christmas movie tradition. It never gets old.
On the topic of the article, I think great Christmas movies come but once or twice per generation. Let’s not beat the culture too much over this one… yet.
1. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
2. White Christmas
3. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Willy Wonka)
OK so 3 technically isn’t a Christmas movie but watch it with your kids at Christmas.
And then – just for a diversion – play the Rover’s song “Grandma got run over by a reindeer”.
In the Alistair Sims classic I always thought the contrast between bad Scrooge and good Scrooge was overplayed. To my mind his transformative overnight conversion never seemed an accurate representation of how human nature works. The world has only seen one road to Damascus conversion where change came immediately. McGinnis himself admits to watching Sims every year to get his attitude correct for Christmas. IMO that in itself confirms my belief that Scrooge’s own change of heart is almost cartoon-like; one day a penny-pinching miser, the next day a spend-thrift throwing his money around with abandon.
I like the movie Prancer about looking after a reindeer almost hit on a country road. Also One Magic Christmas with Mary Steenbergen about an ordinary woman who finds out what is really important at Christmas.
They used to show religious movies on t.v at Christmas and Easter. I especially liked Jesus of Nazareth by Franco Zefferelli who did a wonderful Romeo and Juliet in the seventies as well.
The Polar Express is our family yearly Christmas movie tradition. It never gets old.
On the topic of the article, I think great Christmas movies come but once or twice per generation. Let’s not beat the culture too much over this one… yet.
1. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
2. White Christmas
3. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Willy Wonka)
OK so 3 technically isn’t a Christmas movie but watch it with your kids at Christmas.
And then – just for a diversion – play the Rover’s song “Grandma got run over by a reindeer”.